CHAPTER I
THE ARTICLED PUPIL
Where is Miss Palliser inquired Miss Pew in that awful voice of hers at which the classroom trembled as at unexpected thunder A murmur ran along the desks from girl to girl and then some one near that end of the long room which was sacred to Miss Pew and her lieutenants said that Miss Palliser was not in the classroom
I think she is taking her music lesson maam faltered the girl who had ventured diffidently to impart this information to the schoolmistress
Think exclaimed Miss Pew in her stentorian voice How can you think about an absolute fact Either she is taking her lesson or she is not taking her lesson There is no room for thought Let Miss Palliser be sent for this moment
At this command as at the behest of the Homeric Jove himself half a dozen Irises started up to carry the rulers message but again Miss Pews mighty tones resounded in the echoing classroom
I dont want twenty girls to carry one message Let Miss Rylance go
There was a grim smile on the principals coarselyfeatured countenance as she gave this order Miss Rylance was not one of the six who had started up to do the schoolmistresss bidding She was a young lady who considered her mission in life anything rather than to carry a message—a young lady who thought herself quite the most refined and elegant thing at Mauleverer Manor and so entirely superior to her surroundings as to be absolved from the necessity of being obliging But Miss Pews voice when fortified by anger was too much even for Miss Rylances calm sense of her own merits and she rose at the ladys bidding laid down her ivory penholder on the neatly written exercise and walked out of the room quietly with the slow and stately deportment imparted by a long course of instruction from Madame Rigolette the fashionable dancingmistress
Rylance wont much like being sent on a message whispered Miss Cobb the Kentish brewers daughter to Miss Mullins the Northampton carriagebuilders heiress
And old Pew delights in taking her down a peg said Miss Cobb who was short plump and ruddy a picture of rude health and unrefined good looks—a girl who bore beer written in unmistakable characters across her forehead Miss Rylance had observed to her own particular circle I will say that for the old lady added Miss Cobb she never cottons to stuckupishness
Vulgarity of speech is the peculiar delight of a schoolgirl off duty She spends so much of her life under the allpervading eye of authority she is so drilled and lectured and ruled and regulated that when the eye of authority is off her she seems naturally to degenerate into licence No speech so interwoven with slang as the speech of a schoolgirl—except that of a schoolboy
There came a sudden hush upon the classroom after Miss Rylance had departed on her errand It was a sultry afternoon in late June and the four rows of girls seated at the two long desks in the long bare room with its four tall windows facing a hot blue sky felt almost as exhausted by the heat as if they had been placed under an airpump Miss Pew had a horror of draughts so the upper sashes were only lowered a couple of inches to let out the used atmosphere There was no chance of a gentle west wind blowing in to ruffle the loose hair upon the foreheads of those weary students
Thursday afternoons were devoted to the study of German The sandyhaired young woman at the end of the room furthest from Miss Pews throne was Fräulein Wolf from Frankfort and it was Fräulein Wolfs mission to go on eternally explaining the difficulties of her native language to the pupils at Mauleverer Manor and to correct those interesting exercises of Ollendorffs which ascend from the primitive simplicity of golden candlesticks and bakers dogs to the loftiest themes in romantic literature
For five minutes there was no sound save the scratching of pens and the placid voice of the Fräulein demonstrating to Miss Mullins that in an exercise of twenty lines ten words out of every twenty were wrong and then the door was opened suddenly—not at all in the manner so carefully instilled by the teacher of deportment It was flung back rather as if with an angry hand and a young woman taller than the generality of her sex walked quickly up the room to Miss Pews desk and stood before that bar of justice with head erect and dark flashing eyes the incarnation of defiance
Was für ein Mädchen muttered the Fräulein blinking at that distant figure with her pale graygreen eyes
Miss Pew pretended not to see the challenge in the girls angry eyes She turned to her subordinate Miss Pillby the useful drudge who did a little indifferent teaching in English grammar and geography looked after the younger girls wardrobes and toadied the mistress of the house
Miss Pillby will you be kind enough to show Ida Palliser the state of her desk asked Miss Pew with aweinspiring politeness
She neednt do anything of the kind said Ida coolly I know the state of my desk quite as well as she does I daresay its untidy I havent had time to put things straight
Untidy exclaimed Miss Pew in her appalling baritone untidy is not the word Its degrading Miss Pillby be good enough to call over the various articles which you have found in Ida Pallisers desk
Miss Pillby rose to do her employers bidding She was a dull piece of human machinery to which the idea of resistance to authority was impossible There was no dirty work she would not have done meekly willingly even at Miss Pews bidding The girls were never tired of expatiating upon Miss Pillbys meanness but the lady herself did not even know that she was mean She had been born so
She went to the locker lifted the wooden lid and proceeded in a flat drawling voice to call over the items which she found in that receptacle
A novel The Children of the Abbey without a cover
Ah sighed Miss Pew
One stocking with a rusty darningneedle sticking in it Five apples two mouldy A square of hardbake An old neckribbon An odd cuff Seven letters A knife with the blade broken A bundle of penandink—well I suppose they are meant for sketches
Hand them over to me commanded Miss Pew
She had seen some of Ida Pallisers penandink sketches before today—had seen herself represented in every ridiculous guise and attitude by that young persons facile pen Her large cheeks reddened in anticipation of her pupils insolence She took the sheaf of crumpled paper and thrust it hastily into her pocket
A ripple of laughter swept over Miss Pallisers resolute face but she said not a word
Half a New Testament—the margins shamefully scribbled over pursued Miss Pillby with implacable monotony Three Brazil nuts A piece of slatepencil The photograph of a little boy—
My brother cried Ida hastily I hope you are not going to confiscate that Miss Pew as you have confiscated my sketches
It would be no more than you deserve if I were to burn everything in your locker Miss Palliser said the schoolmistress
Burn everything except my brothers portrait I might never get another
Papa is so thoughtless Oh please Miss Pillby give me back the photo
Give her the photograph said Miss Pew who was not all inhuman although she kept a school a hardening process which is supposed to deaden the instincts of womanhood And now pray Miss Palliser what excuse have you to offer for your untidiness
None said Ida except that I have no time to be tidy You cant expect tidiness from a drudge like me
And with this cool retort Miss Palliser turned her back upon her mistress and left the room
Did you ever see such cheek murmured the irrepressible Miss Cobb to her neighbour
She can afford to be cheeky retorted the neighbour She has nothing to lose Old Pew couldnt possibly treat her any worse than she does If she did it would be a police case
When Ida Palliser was in the little lobby outside the class room she took the little boys photograph from her pocket and kissed it passionately Then she ran upstairs to a small room on the landing where there was nothing but emptiness and a wornout old square piano and sat down for her hours practice She was always told off to the worst pianos in the house She took out a book of fivefinger exercises by a Leipsic professor placed it on the desk and then just as she was beginning to play her whole frame was shaken like a bulrush in a sudden gust of wind she let her head fall forward on the desk and burst into tears hot passionate tears that came like a flood in spite of her determination not to cry
What was the matter with Ida Palliser Not much perhaps Only poverty and povertys natural corollary a lack of friends She was the handsomest girl in the school and one of the cleverest—clever in an exceptional way which claimed admiration even from the coldest She occupied the anomalous position of a pupil teacher or an articled pupil Her father a military man living abroad on his half pay with a young second wife and a fiveyear old son had paid Miss Pew a lump sum of fifty pounds and for those fifty pounds Miss Pew had agreed to maintain and educate Ida Palliser during the space of three years to give her the benefit of instruction from the masters who attended the school and to befit her for the brilliant and lucrative career of governess in a gentlemans family As a setoff against these advantages Miss Pew had full liberty to exact what services she pleased from Miss Palliser stopping short as Miss Green had suggested of a police case
Miss Pew had not shown herself narrow in her ideas of the articled pupils capacity It was her theory that no amount of intellectual labour including some manual duties in the way of assisting in the lavatory on tubnights washing hairbrushes and mending clothes could be too much for a healthy young woman of nineteen She always talked of Ida as a young woman The other pupils of the same age she called girls but of Ida she spoke uncompromisingly as a young woman
Oh how I hate them all said Ida in the midst of her sobs I hate everybody myself most of all
Then she pulled herself together with an effort dried her tears hurriedly and began her fivefinger exercises tum tum tum with the little finger all the other fingers pinned resolutely down upon the keys
I wonder whether if I had been ugly and stupid they would have been a little more merciful to me she said to herself
Miss Pallisers ability had been a disadvantage to her at Mauleverer Manor When Miss Pew discovered that the girl had a knack of teaching she enlarged her sphere of tuition and from taking the lowest class only as former articled pupils had done Miss Palliser was allowed to preside over the second and third classes and thereby saved her employers forty pounds a year
To teach two classes each consisting of from fifteen to twenty girls was in itself no trifling labour But besides this Ida had to give music lessons to that lowest class which she had ceased to instruct in English and French and whose studies were now conducted by Miss Pillby She had her own studies and she was eager to improve herself for that career of governess in a gentlemans family was the only future open to her She used to read the advertisements in the governess column of the Times supplement and it comforted her to see that an allaccomplished teacher demanded from eighty to a hundred a year for her services A hundred a year was Idas idea of illimitable wealth How much she might do with such a sum She could dress herself handsomely she could save enough money for a summer holiday in Normandy with her neglectful father and her weak little vulgar stepmother and the halfbrother whom she loved better than anyone else in the world
The thought of this avenue to fortune gave her fortitude She braced herself up and set herself valourously to unriddle the perplexities of a nocturne by Chopin
After all I have only to work on steadily she told herself there will come an end to my slavery
Presently she began to laugh to herself softly
I wonder whether old Pew has looked at my caricatures she thought and whether shell treat me any worse on account of them
She finished her hours practice put her music back into her portfolio which lived in an ancient canterbury under the ancient piano and went to the room where she slept in company with seven other spirits as mischievous and altogether evilly disposed as her own
Mauleverer Manor had not been built for a school or it would hardly have been called a manor There were none of those bleak bare dormitories specially planned for the accommodation of thirty sleepers—none of those barracklike rooms which strike desolation to the soul With the exception of the large classroom which had been added at one end of the house the manor was very much as it had been in the days of the Mauleverers a race now as extinct as the Dodo It was a roomy rambling old house of the time of the Stuarts and bore the date of its erection in many unmistakable peculiarities There were fine rooms on the ground floor with handsome chimneypieces and oak panelling There were small low rooms above curious old passages turns and twists a short flight of steps here and another flight there various levels irregularities of all kinds and in the opinion of every servant who had ever lived in the house an unimpeachable ghost All Miss Pews young ladies believed firmly in that ghost and there was a legend of a frizzyhaired girl from Barbados who had seen the ghost and had incontinently gone out of one epileptic fit into another until her father had come in a fly—presumably from Barbados—and carried her away for ever epileptic to the last
Nobody at present located at Mauleverer Manor remembered that young lady from Barbados nor had any of the existing pupils ever seen the ghost But the general faith in him was unshaken He was described as an elderly man in a snuffcoloured squarecut coat kneebreeches and silk stockings rolled up over his knees He was supposed to be one of the extinct Mauleverers harmless and even benevolently disposed given to plucking flowers in the garden at dusk and to gliding along passages and loitering on the stairs in a somewhat inane manner The bolderspirited among the girls would have given a twelvemonths pocket money to see him Miss Pillby declared that the sight of that snuffcoloured stranger would be her death
Ive a weak art you know said Miss Pillby who was not mistress of her aspirates—she managed them sometimes but they often evaded her—the doctor said so when I was quite a little thing
Were you ever a little thing Pillby asked Miss Rylance with superb disdain the present Pillby being long and gaunt
And the group of listeners laughed with that frank laughter of school girls keenly alive to the ridiculous in other people There was as much difference in the standing of the various bedrooms at Mauleverer Manor as in that of the London squares but in this case it was the inhabitants who gave character to the locality The fivebedded room off the front landing was occupied by the stiffest and best behaved of the first division and might be ranked with Grosvenor Square or Lancaster Gate There were rooms on the second floor where girls of the second and third division herded in inelegant obscurity the Bloomsbury and Camden Town of the mansion On this story too slept the rabble of girls under twelve—creatures utterly despicable in the minds of girls in their teens and the rooms they inhabited ranked as low as St Giless
Ida Palliser was fortunate enough to have a bed in the butterflyroom so called on account of a gaudy wall paper whereon Camberwell Beauties disported themselves among roses and lilies in a strictly conventional style of art The butterflyroom was the most fashionable and altogether popular dormitory at the Manor It was the May Fair—a district not without a shade of Bohemianism a certain fastness of tone The wildest girls in the school were to be found in the butterflyroom
It was a pleasant enough room in itself even apart from its association with pleasant people The bow window looked out upon the garden and across the garden to the Thames which at this point took a wide curve between banks shaded by old pollard willows The landscape was purely pastoral Beyond the level meadows came an undulating line of low hill and woodland with here and there a village spire dark against the blue
Mauleverer Manor lay midway between Hampton and Chertsey in a land of meadows and gardens which the speculating builder had not yet invaded
The butterflyroom was furnished a little better than the common run of boardingschool bedchambers Miss Pew had taken a good deal of the Mauleverer furniture at a valuation when she bought the old house and the Mauleverer furniture being of a rococo and exploded style the valuation had been ridiculously low Thus it happened that a big wainscot wardrobe with doors substantial enough for a church projected its enormous bulk upon one side of the butterflyroom while a tall narrow cheval glass stood in front of a window That cheval was the glory of the butterflyroom The girls could see how their skirts hung and if the backs of their dresses fitted On Sunday mornings there used to be an incursion of outsiders eager to test the effect of their Sabbath bonnets and the sets of their jackets by the cheval
And now Ida Palliser came into the butterflyroom yawning wearily to brush herself up a little before tea knowing that Miss Pew and her younger sister Miss Dulcibella—who devoted herself to dress and the amenities of life generally—would scrutinize her with eyes only too ready to see anything amiss
The butterflyroom was not empty Miss Rylance was plaiting her long flaxen hair in front of the toilet table and another girl a plump little sixteenyearold with nutbrown hair and a fresh complexion was advancing and retiring before the cheval studying the effect of a cherrycoloured neckribbon with a gray gown
Cherrys a lovely colour in the abstract said this damsel but it reminds one too dreadfully of barmaids
Did you ever see a barmaid asked Miss Rylance languidly slowly winding the long flaxen plait into a shining knob at the back of her head and contemplating her reflection placidly with large calm blue eyes which saw no fault in the face they belonged to
With features so correctly modelled and a complexion so delicately tinted Miss Rylance ought to have been lovely But she had escaped loveliness by a long way There was something wanting and that something was very big
Good gracious yes Ive seen dozens of barmaids answered Bessie Wendover with her frank voice Do you suppose Ive never been into an hotel or even into a tavern When I go for a long drive with papa he generally wants brandy and soda and thats how I get taken into the bar and introduced to the barmaid
When you say introduced of course you dont mean it said Miss Rylance fastening her brooch Calling things by their wrong names is your idea of wit
I would rather have a mistaken idea of wit than none at all retorted Miss Wendover and then she pirouetted on the tips of her toes and surveyed her image in the glass from head to foot with an aggravated air I hope Im not vulgarlooking but Im rather afraid I am she said Whats the good of belonging to an old Saxon family if one has a thick waist and large hands
Whats the good of anything at Mauleverer Manor asked Ida coming into the room and seating herself on the ground with a dejected air
Bessie Wendover ran across the room and sat down beside her
So you were in for it again this afternoon you poor dear thing she murmured in a cooing voice I wish I had been there It would have been Up guards and at em if I had Im sure I should have said something cheeky to old Pew The idea of overhauling your locker I should just like her to see the inside of mine It would make her blood run cold
Ah sighed Ida she cant afford to make an example of you You mean a hundred and fifty pounds a year I am of no more account in her eyes than an artists lay figure which is put away in a dark closet when it isnt in use She wanted to give you girls a lesson in tidiness so she put me into her pillory Fortunately Im used to the pillory
But you are looking white and worried you dear lovely thing exclaimed Bessie who was Ida Pallisers bosom friend Its too bad the way they use you Have this neckribbon suddenly untying the bow so carefully elaborated five minutes ago You must you shall I dont want it I hate it Do dear
And for consolation Miss Wendover tied the cherrycoloured ribbon under her friends collar patted Idas pale cheeks and kissed and hugged her
Be happy darling do she said in her loving halfchildish way while Miss Rylance looked on with ineffable contempt You are so clever and so beautiful you were born to be happy
Do you think so pet asked Ida with cold scorn then I ought to have been born with a little more money
What does money matter cried Bessie
Not very much to a girl like you who has never known the want of it
Thats not true darling I never go home for the holidays that I dont hear father grumble about his poverty The rents are so slow to come in the tenants are always wanting drainpipes and barns and things Last Christmas his howls were awful We are positive paupers Mother has to wait ages for a cheque
Ah my pet thats a very different kind of poverty from mine You have never known what it is to have only three pairs of wearable stockings
Bessie looked as if she were going to cry
If you were not so disgustingly proud you horrid thing you need never feel the want of stockings she said discontentedly
If it were not for what you call my disgusting pride I should degenerate into that loathsome animal a sponge said Ida rising suddenly from her dejected attitude and standing up before her admiring little friend
A daughter of the gods divinely tall And most divinely fair
That fatal dower of beauty had been given to Ida Palliser in fullest measure She had the form of a goddess a head proudly set upon shoulders that were sloping but not narrow the walk of a Moorish girl accustomed to carrying a waterjug on her head eyes dark as night hair of a deep warm brown rippling naturally across her broad forehead a complexion of creamiest white and richest carnation These were but the sensual parts of beauty which can be catalogued But it was in the glorious light and variety of expression that Ida shone above all compeers It was by the intellectual part of her beauty that she commanded the admiration—enthusiastic in some cases in others grudging and unwilling—of her schoolfellows and reigned by right divine despite her shabby gowns and her cheap readymade boots the belle of the school
CHAPTER II
I AM GOING TO MARRY FOR MONEY
When a schoolgirl of sixteen falls in love with one of her schoolfellows there are no limits to her devotion Bessie Wendovers adoration of Miss Palliser was boundless Idas seniority of three years her beauty her talent placed her as it were upon a pinnacle in the eyes of the younger girl Her poverty her inferior position in the school only made her more interesting to the warmhearted Bessie who passionately resented any slight offered to her friend It was in vain that Miss Rylance took Bessie to task and demonstrated the absurdity of this childish fancy for a young person whose future sphere of life must be necessarily remote from that of a Hampshire squires daughter Bessie despised this worldly wisdom
What is the use of attaching yourself to a girl whom you are never likely to see after you leave school argued Miss Rylance
I shall see her I shall ask her home said Bessie sturdily
Do you think your people will let you
Mother will do anything I ask her and father will do anything mother asks him I am going to have Ida home with me all the summer holidays
How do you know that she will come
I shall make her come It is very nasty of you to insinuate that she wont
Palliser has a good deal of pride—pride and poverty generally go together dont you know I dont think shell care about showing herself at the Grange in her old clothes and her three pairs of stockings one on one off and one at the laundresss said Miss Rylance winding up with a viperish little laugh as if she had said something witty
She had a certain influence with Bessie whom she had known all her life It was she who had inspired Bessie with the desire to come to Mauleverer Manor to be finished after having endured eight years of jogtrot education from a homely little governess at home—who grounded the boys in Latin and mathematics before they went to Winchester and made herself generally useful Miss Rylance was the daughter of a fashionable physician whose headquarters were in Cavendish Square but who spent his leisure at a something which he called a place at Kingthorpe a lovely little village between Winchester and Romsey where the Wendovers were indigenous to the soil whence they seemed to have sprung like the armed men in the story for remotest tradition bore no record of their having come there from anywhere else nor was there record of a time when the land round Kingthorpe belonged to any other family
Dr Rylance whose dainty verandahshaded cottage stood in gardens of three and a half acres and who rented a paddock for his cow was always lamenting that he could not buy more land
The Wendovers have everything he said It is impossible for a new man to establish himself
It was to be observed however that when land within a reasonable distance of Kingthorpe came into the market Dr Rylance did not put himself forward as a buyer His craving for more territory always ended in words
Urania Rylance had spent much of her girlhood at Kingthorpe and had always been made welcome at The Knoll but although she saw the Wendovers established upon their native soil the rulers of the land and revered by all the parish she had grown up with the firm conviction that Dr Rylance of Cavendish Square and Dr Rylances daughter were altogether superior to these country bumpkins with their narrow range of ideas and their strictly local importance
The summer days wore on at Mauleverer Manor not altogether unpleasantly for the majority of the girls who contrived to enjoy their lives in spite of Miss Pews tyranny which was considered vile enough to rank that middleaged loudvoiced lady with the Domitians and Attilas of history There was a softening influence happily in the person of Miss Dulcibella who was slim and sentimental talked about sweetness and light loved modern poetry spent all her available funds upon dress and was wonderfully girlish in her tastes and habits at nineandthirty years of age
It was a splendid summer a time of roses and sunshine and the girls were allowed to carry on their studies in the noble old garden in the summerhouses and pleasure domes which the extinct Mauleverers had made for themselves in their day of power Grinding at history grammar and geography did not seem so oppressive a burden when it could be done under the shade of spreading cedars amid the scent of roses in an atmosphere of colour and light Even Idas labours seemed a little easier when she and her pupils sat in a fastdecaying old summerhouse in the rosegarden with a glimpse of sunlit river flashing athwart the roses
So the time wore on until the last week in July and then all the school was alive with excitement and every one was looking forward to the great event of the term breaking up Old Pew had sent out her invitations for a garden party an actual garden party—not a mere nambypamby entertainment among the girls themselves in which a liberal supply of blancmange and jam tarts was expected to atone for the absence of the outside world Miss Pew had taken it into her head that Mauleverer Manor ought to be better known and that a garden party would be a good advertisement With this idea she had ordered a hundred invitation cards and had disseminated them among the most eligible of her old pupils and the parents and guardians of those damsels now at the Manor The good old gardens where velvet greensward and cedars of Lebanon cost little labour to maintain in perfect order were worthy to be exhibited The roses Miss Dulcibellas peculiar care were in that ladys opinion equal to anything outside Chatsworth or Trentham A garden party by all means said Miss Dulcibella and she gave the young ladies to understand that the whole thing was her doing
I waited till Sarah was in a good temper she told her satellites half a dozen or so of the elder girls who worshipped her and who in the slang phraseology of the school were known as Miss Dulcies cracks and then I proposed a garden party It required a great deal of talking to bring her even to think about such a thing You see the expense will be enormous Ices tea and coffee cakes sandwiches claretcup Thank goodness its too late in the year for people to expect strawberries Yes my dears you may thank me for your garden party
Dear Miss Dulcibella exclaimed one
You too delicious darling cried another
What will you wear asked a third knowing that Miss Dulcie was weak about dress and had a morbid craving for originality
Well dears began Miss Dulcie growing radiant at the thrilling question I have been thinking of making up my art needlework tunic—the pale green you know with garlands of passion flowers worked in crewels—over a petticoat of the faintest primrose
That will be quite too lovely exclaimed four enthusiasts in a chorus
You know how fond I am of those delicate tints in that soft Indian cashmere that falls in such artistic folds
Heavenly sighed the chorus and Miss Dulcie went on talking for halfanhour by Chertsey clock in fact till the teabell broke up the little conclave
What was Ida Palliser going to wear at the garden party The question was far more serious for her than for Miss Dulcibella who had plenty of money to spend upon her adornment In Ida the necessity for a new gown meant difficulty perhaps mortification
Why should I not spend the day in one of the garrets darning stockings and packing boxes she said bitterly when a grand discussion about the garden party was being held in the butterflyroom nobody will want me I have no relations coming to admire me
You know you dont mean what you say said Miss Rylance You expect to have halfadozen prizes and to lord it over all of us
I have worked hard enough for the prizes answered Ida I dont think you need grudge me them
I do not said Miss Rylance with languid scorn You know I never go in for prizes My father looks upon school as only a preliminary kind of education When I am at home with him in the season I shall have lessons from better masters than any we are favoured with here
What a comfort it is for us to know that retorted Ida her eyes dancing mischievously
It was now within a week of the garden party Miss Pew was grimmer of aspect and louder of voice than usual and it was felt that at the slightest provocation she might send forth an edict revoking all her invitations and the party might be relegated to the limbo of unrealized hopes Never had the conduct of Miss Pews pupils been so irreproachable never had lessons been learned and exercises prepared so diligently
Ida had received a kind little note from Mrs Wendover asking her to spend her summer holidays at Kingthorpe and at Bessies earnest desire had accepted the cordial invitation
You dont know what a foolish thing you are doing Bess said Miss Palliser when—reluctant to the last—she had written her acceptance Bessie looking over her shoulder all the while Foolish for you foolish for me It is a mistake to associate yourself with paupers You will feel ashamed of me halfadozen times a day at Kingthorpe
No no no cried the energetic Bessie I shall never feel anything but pride in you I shall be proud to show my people what a beautiful brilliant wonderful friend I have chosen for myself
Ardent child exclaimed Ida with a touch of sadness even in her mockery What a pity you have not a bachelor brother to fall in love with me
Never mind the brother I have two bachelor cousins
Of course The rich Brian and the poor Brian whose histories I have heard almost as often as I heard the story of Little Red Ridinghood in my nursery days Both goodlooking both clever both young One a man of landed estate All Kingthorpe parish belongs to him does it not
All except the little bit that belongs to papa
And Dr Rylances garden and paddock dont forget that
Could I forget the Rylances Urania says that although her father has no land at Kingthorpe he has influence
The other cousin dependent on his talents and fighting his way at the
Bar Is not that how the story goes Bess
Yes darling I am afraid poor Brian has hardly begun fighting yet He is only eating his terms I have no idea what that means but it sounds rather low
Well Bess if I am to marry either of your cousins it must be the rich one said Ida decisively
Oh Ida how can you say so You cant know which you will like best
My likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it I am going to marry for money
Miss Rylance had brought her desk to that end of the table where the two girls were sitting during the latter part of the conversation It was evening the hour or so of leisure allowed for the preparation of studies and the writing of home letters Miss Rylance unlocked her desk and took out her paper and pens but having got so far as this she seemed rather inclined to join in the conversation than to begin her letter
Isnt that rather a worldly idea for your time of life she asked looking at Ida with her usual unfriendly expression
No doubt I should be disgusted if you or Bessie entertained such a notion But in me it is only natural I have drained the cup of poverty to the dregs I thirst for the nectar of wealth I would marry a soapboiler a linseedcrusher a selfeducated navvy who had developed into a great contractor—any plebian creature always provided that he was an honest man
How condescending said Miss Rylance I suppose Bessie you know that Miss Pew has especially forbidden us all to indulge in idle talk about courtship and marriage
Quite so said Bessie but as old Pew knows that we are human Ive no doubt she is quite aware that this is one of her numerous rules which we diligently set at nought
Urania began her letter but although her pen moved swiftly over her paper in that elegant Italian hand which was as it were a badge of honour at Mauleverer Manor her ears were not the less open to the conversation going on close beside her
Marry a soapboiler indeed exclaimed Bessie indignantly you ought to be a duchess
No doubt dear if dukes went about the world like King Cophetua on the look out for beggarmaids
I am so happy to think you are coming to Kingthorpe It is the dearest old place We shall be so happy
It will not be your fault if we are not darling said Ida looking tenderly at the loving face uplifted to hers Well I have written to my father to ask him for five pounds and if he sends the five pounds I will go to Kingthorpe If not I must invent an excuse—mumps or measles or something—for staying away Or I must behave so badly for the last week of the term that old Pew will revoke her sanction of the intended visit I cannot come to Kingthorpe quite out at elbows
You look lovely even in the gown you have on said Bessie
I dont know anything about my loveliness but I know that this gown is absolutely threadbare
Bessie sighed despondently She knew her friends resolute temper and that any offer of clothes or money from her would be worse than useless It would make Ida angry
What kind of man is your father darling she asked thoughtfully
Very goodnatured
Ah Then he will send the five pounds
Very weak
Ah Then he may change his mind about it
Very poor
Then he may not have the money
The lot is in the urn of fate Bess We must take our chance I think somehow that the money will come I have asked for it urgently for I do want to come to Kingthorpe Bessie kissed her Yes dear I wish with all my heart to accept your kind mothers invitation though I know in my secret soul that it is foolishness for me to see the inside of a happy home to sit beside a hospitable hearth when it is my mission in life to be a dependent in the house of a stranger If you had half a dozen small sisters now and your people would engage me as a nursery governess—
You a nursery governess cried Bessie you who are at the top of every class and who do everything better than the masters who teach you
Well if my perfection prove worth seventy pounds ayear when I go out into the world I shall be satisfied said Ida
What will you buy with your five pounds asked Bessie
A black cashmere gown as plain as a nuns a straw hat and as many collars cuffs and stockings as I can get for the rest of the money
Miss Rylance listened smiling quietly to herself as she bent over her desk To the mind of an only daughter who had been brought up in a supremely correct manner who had had her winter clothes and summer clothes at exactly the right season and of the best that money could buy there was a piteous depth of poverty and degradation in Ida Pallisers position The girls beauty and talents were as nothing when weighed against such sordid surroundings
The prizeday came a glorious day at the beginning of August and the gardens of Mauleverer Manor the wide reach of blue river the meadows the willows the distant woods all looked their loveliest as if Nature was playing into the hands of Miss Pew
I am sure you girls ought to be very happy to live in such a place said one of the mothers as she strolled about the velvet lawn with her daughters instead of being mewed up in a dingy London square
You wouldnt say that if you saw the bread and scrape and the sloppy tea we have for breakfast answered one of the girls
Its all very well for you who see this wretched hole in the sunshine and old Pew in her best gown and her company manners The place is a whited sepulchre I should like you to have a glimpse behind the scenes ma
Ma smiled placidly and turned a deaf ear to these aspersions of the schoolmistress Her girls looked well fed and healthy Bread and scrape evidently agreed with them much better than that reckless consumption of butter and marmalade which swelled the housekeeping bills during the holidays
It was a great day Miss Pew the elder was splendid in applegreen moiré antique Miss Pew the younger was elegant in pale and flabby raiment of cashmere and crewelwork The girls were in that simple white muslin of the jeune Meess Anglaise to which they were languishing to bid an eternal adieu There were a great many pretty girls at Mauleverer Manor and on this day when the whiterobed girlish forms were flitting to and fro upon the green lawns in the sweet summer air and sunshine it seemed as if the old manorial mansion were a bower of beauty Among the parents of existing pupils who had accepted the Misses Pews invitation was Dr Rylance the fashionable physician whose presence there conferred distinction upon the school It was Miss Rylances last term and the doctor wished to assist at those honours which she would doubtless reap as the reward of meritorious studies He was not blindly devoted to his daughter but he was convinced that like every thing else belonging to him she was of the best quality and he expected to see her appreciated by the people who had been privileged to educate her
The distribution of prizes was the great feature of the day It was to take place at four oclock in the ball room a fine old panelled saloon in which the only furniture was a pair of grand pianos somewhat the worse for wear a table at the end of the room on which the prizes were arranged and benches covered with crimson cloth for the accommodation of the company
There was to be a concert before the distribution Four of the best pianoforte players in the school were to hammer out an intensely noisy version of the overture to Zampa arranged for eight hands on two pianos The crack singer was to sing Una voce and Ida Palliser was to play the Moonlight Sonata
Dr Rylance had come early on purpose to be present at this ceremonial He was the most important guest who had yet arrived and Miss Pew devoted herself to his entertainment and went rustling up and down the terrace in front of the ballroom windows in her armour of applegreen moiré listening deferentially to the physicians remarks
Dr Rylance was a large faircomplexioned man who had been handsome in his youth and who at sevenandforty was still remarkably goodlooking He had fine teeth good hair full blue eyes capable of the hardest coldest stare that ever looked out of a human countenance Mr Darwin has told us that the eyes do not smile that the radiance we fancy we see in the eye itself is only produced by certain contractions of the muscles surrounding it Assuredly there was no smile in the eyes of Dr Rylance His smile which was bland and frequent gave only a vague impression of white teeth and brown whiskers He had a fine figure and was proud of his erect carriage He dressed carefully and well and was as particular as Brummel about his laundress His manners were considered pleasing by the people who liked him while those who disliked him accused him of an undue estimate of his own merits and a tendency to depreciate the rest of humanity His practice was rather select than extensive for Dr Rylance was a specialist He had won his reputation as an adviser in cases of mental disease and as happily mental diseases are less common than bodily ailments Dr Rylance had not the continuous work of a Gull or a Jenner His speciality paid him remarkably well His cases hung long on hand and when he had a patient of wealth and standing Dr Rylance knew how to keep him His treatment was soothing and palliative as befitted an enlightened age In an age of scepticism no one could expect Dr Rylance to work miraculous cures It is in no wise to his discredit to say that he was more successful in sustaining and comforting the patients friends than in curing the patient
This was Laurence Rylance a man who had begun life in a very humble way had raised himself by his own efforts if not to the top of the medical tree certainly to a very comfortable and remunerative perch among its upper branches a man thoroughly satisfied with himself and with what destiny had done for him a man who to be a new Caesar would hardly have foregone the privilege of being Laurence Rylance
My daughter has done well during this last term I hope Miss Pew he said interrogatively but rather as if the question were needless as he walked beside the rustling moiré
She has earned my entire approval replied Miss Pew in her oiliest accents She has application Dr Rylance nodded assentingly She has a charming deportment I know of no girl in the school more thoroughly ladylike I have never seen her with a collar put on crookedly or with rough hair She is a pattern to many of my girls
That is all gratifying to my pride as a father but I hope she has made progress in her studies
Miss Pew coughed gently behind a mittened hand
She has not made quite so great an advance as I should have wished She has talent no doubt but it is hardly of a kind that comes into play among other girls In afterlife perhaps there may be development I am sorry to say she is not in our rollcall of honour today She has won no prize
Perhaps she may have hardly thought it worth her while to compete said Dr Rylance hurt in his own individual pride by the idea that his daughter had missed distinction just as he would have been hurt if anybody had called one of his pictures a copy or made light of his blue china With the Rylances it has always been Caesar or nothing
I regret to say that my three most important prizes have been won by a young woman whom I cannot esteem said Miss Pew bristling in her panoply of applegreen at the thought of Ida Pallisers insolence I hope I shall ever be just at whatever sacrifice of personal feeling I shall today bestow the first prize for modern languages for music and for English history and literature upon a young person of whose moral character I have a very low opinion
And pray who is this young lady asked Dr Rylance
Miss Palliser the daughter of a halfpay officer residing in the neighbourhood of Dieppe—for very good reasons no doubt
Palliser yes I have heard my daughter talk of her An insolent illbred girl I have been taught to consider her somewhat a disgrace to your excellent and wellmanaged school
Her deportment is certainly deplorable admitted Miss Pew but the girl has remarkable talents
More visitors were arriving from this time forward until everyone was seated in the ballroom Miss Pew was engaged in receiving people and ushering them to their seats always assisted by Miss Dulcibella—an image of limp gracefulness—and the three governesses—all as stiff as perambulating blackboards Dr Rylance strolled by himself for a little while sniffed at the great ivory cup of a magnolia gazed dreamily at the river—shining yonder across intervening gardens and meadows—and ultimately found his daughter
I am sorry to find you are not to be honoured with a prize Ranie he said smiling at her gently
In no relation of life had he been so nearly perfect as in his conduct as a father Were he ever so disappointed in his daughter he could not bring himself to be angry with her
I have not tried for prizes papa Why should I compete with such a girl as Ida Palliser who is to get her living as a governess and who knows that success at school is a matter of life and death with her
Do you not think it might have been worth your while to work as hard as Miss Palliser for the mere honour and glory of being first in your school
Did you ever work for mere honour and glory papa asked Urania with her unpleasant little air of cynicism
Well my love I confess there has been generally a promise of solid pudding in the background Pray who is this Miss Palliser whom I hear of at every turn and whom nobody seems to like
There you are mistaken papa Miss Palliser has her worshippers though she is the most disagreeable girl in the school That silly little Bessie raves about her and has actually induced Mrs Wendover to invite her to The Knoll
That is a pity if the girl is illbred and unpleasant said Dr
Rylance
Shes a horror exclaimed Urania vindictively
Five minutes later Dr Rylance and his daughter made their entrance into the ballroom which was full of people and whence came the opening crash of an eighthanded Zampa Father and daughter went in softly and with a hushed air as if they had been going into church yet the firing of a cannon or two more or less would hardly have disturbed the performers at the two pianos so tremendous was their own uproar They were taking the overture in what they called orchestral time though it is doubtful whether even their playing could have kept pace with the hurrying of excited fiddles in a presto passage or the roll of the big drum simulating distant thunder Be that as it may the four performers were pounding along at a breathless pace and if their pianissimo passages failed in delicacy there was no mistake about their fortissimo
What an abominable row whispered Dr Rylance Is this what they call music
Urania smiled and felt meritorious in that after being chosen as one of the four for this very Zampa she had failed ignominiously as a timist and had been compelled to cede her place to another pupil
I might have toiled for six weeks at the horrid thing she thought and papa would have only called it a row
Zampa ended amidst polite applause the delighted parents of the four players feeling that they had not lived in vain And now the music mistress took her place at one of the pianos the top of the instrument was lowered and Miss Fane a little fair girl with a round face and frizzy auburn hair came simpering forward to sing Una voce in a reedy soprano which had been attenuated by halfguinea lessons from an Italian master and which frequently threatened a snap
Happily on this occasion the thin little voice got through its work without disaster there was a pervading sense of relief when the crisis was over and Miss Fane had simpered her acknowledgments of the applause which rewarded a severely conscientious performance
Any more singing inquired Dr Rylance of his daughter not with the air of a man who pants for vocal melody
No the next is the Moonlight Sonata
Dr Rylance had a dim idea that he had heard of this piece before He waited dumbly admiring the fine old room with its lofty ceiling and florid cornice and the sunny garden beyond the five tall windows
Presently Ida Palliser came slowly towards the piano carrying herself like an empress Dr Rylance could hardly believe the evidence of his eyes Was this the girl whose deportment had been called abominable whom Urania had denounced as a horror Was this the articled pupil the girl doomed to lifelong drudgery as a governess this superb creature with her noble form and noble face looking grave defiance at the world which hitherto had not used her too kindly
She was dressed in black a sombre figure amidst the white muslins and rainbow sashes of her comrades Her cashmere gown was of the simplest fashion but it became the tall full figure to admiration Below her linen collar she wore a scarlet ribbon from which hung a silver locket the only ornament she possessed It was Bessie Wendover who had insisted on the scarlet ribbon as a relief to that funereal gown
I was never so surprised in my life whispered Dr Rylance to his daughter She is the handsomest girl I ever saw
Yes she is an acknowledged beauty said Urania with a contraction of her thin lips nobody disputes her good looks It is a pity her manners are so abominable
She moves like a lady
She has been thoroughly drilled sneered Urania The original savage in her has been tamed as much as possible
I should like to know more of that girl said Dr Rylance for she looks as if she has force of character Im sorry you and she are not better friends
Ida seated herself at the piano and began to play without honouring the assembly with one glance from her dark eyes She sat looking straight before her like one whose thoughts are far away She played by memory and at first her hands faltered a little as they touched the keys as if she hardly knew what she was going to play Then she recollected herself in a flash and began the firm slow legato movement with the touch of a master hand the melody rising and falling in solemn waves of sound like the long slow roll of a calm sea
The Moonlight Sonata is a composition of some length Badly or even indifferently performed the Moonlight Sonata is a trial but no one grew weary of it today though the strong young hands which gave emphasis to the profound beauties of that wonderful work were only the hands of a girl Those among the listeners who knew least about music knew that this was good playing those who cared not at all for the playing were pleased to sit and watch the mobile face of the player as she wove her web of melody her expression changing with every change in the music but unmoved by a thought of the spectators
Presently just as the sonata drew to its close an auburn head was thrust between Dr Rylance and his daughter and a girls voice whispered
Is she not splendid Is she not the grandest creature you ever saw
The doctor turned and recognized Bessie Wendover
She is Bessie he said shaking hands with her I never was so struck by anyone in my life
Urania grew white with anger Was it not enough that Ida Palliser should have outshone her in every accomplishment upon which schoolgirls pride themselves Was it not enough that she should have taken complete possession of that foolish little Bessie and thus ingratiated herself into the Wendover set and contrived to get invited to Kingthorpe No Here was Uranias own father her especial property going over to the enemy
I am glad you admire her so much papa she said outwardly calm and sweet but inwardly consumed with anger for it will be so pleasant for you to see more of her at Kingthorpe
Yes he said heartily I am glad she is coming to Kingthorpe That was a good idea of yours Bessie
Wasnt it I am so pleased to find you like her I wish you could get
Ranie to think better of her
Now came the distribution of prizes and accessits Miss Pew took her seat before the table on which the gaudilybound books were arranged and began to read out the names It was a hard thing for her to have to award the three first prizes to a girl she detested but Miss Pew knew the little world she ruled well enough to know that palpable injustice would weaken her rule Ninetynine girls who had failed to win the prize would have resented her favouritism if she had given the reward to a hundredth girl who had not fairly won it The eyes of her little world were upon her and she was obliged to give the palm to the real victor So in her dull hard voice looking straight before her with cold unfriendly eyes she read out—
The prize for modern languages has been obtained by Miss Palliser and Ida came slowly up to the table and received a bulky crimson volume containing the poetical works of Sir Walter Scott
The prize for proficiency in instrumental music is awarded to Miss
Palliser
Another bulky volume was handed to Ida For variety the binding was green and the inside of the book was by William Cowper
The greatest number of marks for English history and literature nave been obtained by Miss Palliser
Miss Palliser was now the happy possessor of a third volume bound in blue containing a selection from the works of Robert Southey
With not one word of praise nor one smile of approval did Miss Pew sweeten the gifts which she bestowed upon the articled pupil She gave that which justice or rather policy compelled her to give No more Kindliness was not in the bond
Ida came slowly away from the table laden with her prizes her head held high but not with pride in the trophies she carried Her keenest feeling at this moment was a sense of humiliation The prizes had been given her as a bone might be flung to a strange dog by one whose heart held no love for the canine species An indignant flush clouded the creamy whiteness of her forehead angry tears glittered in her proud eyes She made her way to the nearest door and went away without a word to the crowd of younger girls her own pupils who had crowded round to congratulate and caress her She was adored by these small people and it was her personal influence as much as her talent which made her so successful a teacher
Dr Rylance followed her to the door with his eyes He was not capable of wide sympathies or of projecting himself into the lives of other people but he did sympathize with this girl so lonely in the splendour of her beauty so joyless in her triumph
God help her poor child in the days to come he said to himself
CHAPTER III
AT THE KNOLL
Between Winchester and Romsey there lies a region of gentle hills and grassy slopes shadowed by fine old yew trees a land of verdure lonely and exceeding fair and in a hollow of this undulating district nestles the village of Kingthorpe with its halfdozen handsome old houses its richly cultivated gardens and quaint old squaretowered church It is a prosperous welltodo little settlement where squalor and want are unknown Its humbler dwellings belong chiefly to the labourers on the Wendover estate and those are liberally paid and well cared for An agricultural labourers wages at Kingthorpe might seem infinitely small to a London mechanic but when it is taken into account that the tiller of the fields has a roomy cottage and an acre of garden for sixpence aweek his daily dole of milk from the home farm as much wood as he can burn blankets and coals at Christmas and wine and brandy soup and bread from the great house in all emergencies he is perhaps not so very much worse off than his metropolitan brother
There was an air of comfort and repose at Kingthorpe which made the place delightful to the eye of a passing wanderer—a spot where one would gladly have lain down the burden of life and rested for awhile in one of those white cottages that lay a little way back from the high road shadowed by a screen of tall elms There was a duckpond in front of a low redbrick inn which reminded one of Birkett Foster and made the central feature of the village a spot of busy life where all else was stillness There were accommodation roads leading off to distant farms above which the treetops interlaced and where the hedges were rich in blackberry and sloe dogroses and honeysuckle and the banks in springtime dappled with violet and primrose purple orchids and wild crocus and all the flowers that grow for the delight of village children
Ida Palliser sat silent in her corner of the large landau which was taking Miss Wendover and her schoolfellows from Winchester station to Kingthorpe Miss Rylance had accepted a seat in the Wendover landau at her fathers desire but she would have preferred to have had her own smart little ponycarriage to meet her at the station To drive her own carriage were it ever so small was more agreeable to Uranias temper than to sit behind the overfed horses from The Knoll and to be thus in some small measure indebted to Bessie Wendover
Ida Pallisers presence made the thing still more odious Bessie was radiant with delight at taking her friend home with her She watched Idas eyes as they roamed over the landscape She understood the girls silent admiration
They are darling old hills arent they dear she asked squeezing Idas hand as the summer shadows and summer lights went dancing over the sward like living things
Yes dear they are lovely answered Ida quietly
She was devouring the beauty of the scene with her eyes She had seen nothing like it in her narrow wanderings over the earth—nothing so simple so beautiful and so lonely She was sorry when they left that open hill country and came into a more fertile scene a high road which was like an avenue in a gentlemans park and then the village duckpond and red homestead the old gray church with its gilded sundial marking the hour of six the gardens brimming over with roses and as full of sweet odours as those spicy islands which send their perfumed breath to greet the seaman as he sails to the land of the Sun
The carriage stopped at the iron gate of an exquisitely kept garden surrounding a small Gothic cottage of the fanciful order of architecture—a cottage with plateglass windows shaded by Spanish blinds a glazed verandah sheltering a tesselated walk sloping banks and terraces on a very small scale stone vases full of flowers a tiny fountain sparkling in the afternoon sun
This was Dr Rylances country retreat It had been a yeomans cottage plain substantial and homely as the yeoman and his household The doctor had added a Gothic front increased the number of rooms but not the general convenience of the dwelling He had been his own architect and the result was a variety of levels and a breakneck arrangement of stairs at all manner of odd corners so ingenious in their peril to life and limb that they might be supposed to have been designed as traps for the ignorant stranger
Dont say goodbye Ranie said Bessie when Miss Rylance had alighted and was making her adieux at the carriage door youll come over to dinner wont you dear Your father wont be down till Saturday Youll be dreadfully dull at home
Thanks dear no Id rather spend my first evening at home Im never dull answered Urania with her air of superiority
What a queer girl you are exclaimed Bessie frankly I should be wretched if I found myself alone in a house Do run over in the evening at any rate We are going to have lots of fun
Miss Rylance shuddered She knew what was meant by lots of fun at The Knoll a romping game at croquet or the newlyestablished lawntennis with girls in short petticoats and boys in Eton jackets a raid upon the plumtrees on the crumbling red brick walls of the fine old kitchengarden winding up with a boisterous bout at hideandseek in the twilight and finally a banquet of sandwiches jam tarts and syllabub in the shabby old diningroom
Ill come over to see Mrs Wendover if I am not too tired she said with languid politeness and then she closed the gate and the carriage drove on to The Knoll
Colonel Wendovers house was a substantial dwelling of the Queen Anne period built of unmixed red brick with a fine pediment a stone shell over the entrance four long narrow windows on each side of the tall door and nine in each upper story a house that looked all eyes and was a blaze of splendour when the western sun shone upon its many windows The house stood on a bit of rising ground at the end of the village and dominated all meaner habitations It was the typical squires house and Colonel Wendover was no bad representative of the typical squire
A fine old iron gate opened upon a broad gravel drive which made the circuit of a wellkept parterre where the flowers grew as they only grow for those who love them dearly This gate stood hospitably open at all times and many were the vehicles which drove up to the tall door of The Knoll and friendly the welcome which greeted all comers
The door like the gate stood open all day long—indeed open doors were the rule at Kingthorpe Ida saw a roomy old hall paved with black and white marble a few family portraits considerably the worse for wear against panelled walls painted white a concatenation of guns fishingrods whips canes cricketbats croquetmallets and all things appertaining to the outdoor amusements of a numerous family A large tiger skin stretched before the drawingroom door was one memorial of Colonel Wendovers Indian life a tigers skull gleaming on the wall between a pair of elephants ears was another One side of the wall was adorned with a collection of Indian arms showing all those various curves with which oriental ingenuity has improved upon the straight simplicity of the western sword
It was not a neatly kept hall There had been no careful study of colour in the arrangement of things—hats and caps were flung carelessly on the old oak chairs—there was a licentious mixture of styles in the furniture—half Old English half Indian and all the worse for wear but Ida Palliser thought the house had a friendly look which made it better than any house she had ever seen before
Through an open door at the back of the hall she saw a broad gravel walk long and straight leading to a temple or summerhouse built of red brick like the mansion itself On each side of the broad walk there was a strip of grass just about wide enough for a bowlinggreen and on the grass were orangetrees in big wooden tubs painted green Slowly advancing along the broad walk there came a large lady
Is that you mother asked Ida
No its Aunt Betsy You ought to have known Aunt Betsy at a glance Im sure Ive described her often enough How good of her to be here to welcome us and Bessie flew across the hall and rushed down the broad walk to greet her aunt
Ida followed at a more sober pace Yes she had heard of Aunt Betsy—a maiden aunt who lived in her own house a little way from The Knoll A lady who had plenty of money and decidedly masculine tastes which she indulged freely a very lovable person withal if Bessie might be believed Ida wondered if she too would be able to like Aunt Betsy
Miss Wendovers appearance was not repulsive She was a woman of heroic mould considerably above the average height of womankind with a large head nobly set upon large wellshaped shoulders Bulky Miss Wendover decidedly was but she carried her bulkiness well She still maintained a waist firmly braced above her expansive hips She walked well and was more active than many smaller women Indeed her life was full of activity spent for the most part in the open air driving walking gardening looking after her cows and poultry and visiting the labouringclasses round Kingthorpe among whom she was esteemed an oracle
Bessie hung herself round her large aunt like ivy on an oak and the two thus united came up the broad walk to meet Ida Bessie chattering all the way
So this is Miss Palliser said Aunt Betsy heartily and in a deep masculine voice which accorded well with her large figure I have heard a great deal about you from this enthusiastic child—so much that I was prepared to be disappointed in you It is the highest compliment I can pay you to say I am not
Wheres mother asked Bessie
Your father drove her to Romsey to call on the new vicar Theres the phaeton driving in at the gate
It was so Before Ida had had breathing time to get over the introduction to Aunt Betsy she was hurried off to see her host and hostess
They were very pleasant people who did not consider themselves called on to present an icy aspect to a new acquaintance
The Colonel was the image of his sister tall and broad of figure with an aquiline nose and a commanding eye thoroughly goodnatured withal and a man whom everybody loved Mrs Wendover was a dumpy little woman who had brought dumpiness and a handsome fortune into the family She had been very pretty in girlhood and was pretty still with a roundfaced innocent prettiness which made her look almost as young as her eldest daughter Her husband loved her with a fondly protecting and almost paternal affection which was very pleasant to behold and she held him in devoted reverence as the beginning and end of all that was worth loving and knowing in the Universe She was not an accomplished woman and had made the smallest possible use of those opportunities which civilization affords to every young lady whose parents have plenty of money but she was a lady to the marrow of her bones—benevolent kindly thinking no evil rejoicing in the truth—an embodiment of domestic love
Such a host and hostess made Ida feel at home in their house in less than five minutes If there had been a shade of coldness in their greeting her pride would have risen in arms against them and she would have made herself eminently disagreeable But at their hearty welcome she expanded like a beautiful flower which opens its lovely heart to the sunshine
It is so good of you to ask me here she said when Mrs Wendover had kissed her knowing so little of me
I know that my daughter loves you answered the mother and it is not in Bessies nature to love anyone who isnt worthy of love
Ida smiled at the mothers simple answer
Dont you think that in a heart so full of love some may run over and get wasted on worthless objects she asked
Thats very true cried a boy in an Eton jacket one of a troop that had congregated round the Colonel and his wife since their entrance You know there was that halfbred terrier you doted upon Bess though I showed you that the roof of his mouth was as red as sealingwax
I hope you are not going to compare me to a halfbred terrier said
Ida laughing
If you were a terrier the roof of your mouth would be as black as my hat said the boy decisively It was his way of expressing his conviction that Ida was thoroughbred
The ice being thus easily broken Ida found herself received into the bosom of the family and at once established as a favourite with all There were two boys in Eton jackets answering to the names of Reginald and Horatio but oftener to the friendly abbreviations Reg and Horry Both had chubby faces liberally freckled warts on their hands and rumpled hair and it was not easy for a new comer to distinguish Horatio from Reginald or Reginald from Horatio There was a girl of fourteen with flowing hair who looked very tall because her petticoats were very short and who always required some one to hug and hang upon If she found herself deprived of human support she lolled against a wall
This young person at once pounced upon Ida as a being sent into the world to sustain her
Do you think you shall like me she asked when they had all swarmed up to the long corridor out of which numerous bedrooms opened
I like you already answered Ida
Do thoo like pigs asked a smaller girl round and rosy in a holland pinafore putting the question as if it were relevant to her sisters inquiry
I dont quite know said Ida doubtfully
Cos there are nine black oneths tho pwutty Will thoo come and thee them
Ida said she would think about it and then she received various pressing invitations to go and see lopeared rabbits guineapigs a tame waterrat in the rushes of the duckpond a collection of eggs in the schoolroom and the new lawntennis ground which father had made in the paddock
Now all you small children run away cried Bessie loftily Ida and I are going to dress for dinner
The crowd dispersed reluctantly with low mutterings about rabbits pigs and waterrats like the murmurs of a stage mob and then Bessie led her friend into a large sunny room fronting westward a room with three windows cushioned windowseats two pretty whitecurtained beds and a good deal of oldfashioned and heterogeneous furniture half English half Indian
You said you wouldnt mind sleeping in my room said Bessie as she showed her friend an exclusive dressingtable daintily draperied and enlivened with blue satin bows for the refreshment of the visitors eye
While the girls were contemplating this work of art the door was suddenly opened and Blanches head was thrust in
I did the dressingtable Miss Palliser every bit on purpose for you
And the door then slammed to and Bessie rushed across the room and drew the bolt
We shall have them all one after another she said
Dont shut them out on my account
Oh but I must You would have no peace I can see they are going to be appallingly fond of you
Let them like me as much as they can Do you know Bessie this is my first glimpse into the inside of a home
Oh Ida dear but your father remonstrated Bessie
My father has never been unkind to me but I have had no home with him When my mother brought me home from India—she died very soon after we got home you know—Ida strangled a sob at this point—I was placed with strangers two elderly maiden ladies who reared me very well no doubt in their stiff businesslike way and who really gave me a very good education That went on for nine years—a long time to spend with two old maids in a dull little house at Turnham Green—and then I had a letter from my father to say he had come home for good He had sold his commission and meant to settle down in some quiet spot abroad His first duty would be to make arrangements for placing me in a highclass school where I could finish my education and he told me quite at the end of his letter that he had married a very sweet young lady who was ready to give me all a mothers affection and who would be able to receive me in my holidays when the expense of the journey to France and back was manageable
Poor darling sighed Bessie Did your heart warm to the sweet young lady
No Bess Im afraid it must be an unregenerate heart for I took a furious dislike to her Very unjust and unreasonable wasnt it Afterwards when my father took me over to his cottage near Dieppe to spend my holidays I found that my stepmother was a kindhearted pretty little thing whom I might look down upon for her want of education but whom I could not dislike She was very kind to me and she had a baby boy I have told you about him and how he and I fell in love with each other at first sight
I am horribly jealous of that baby boy protested Bessie How old is he now
Nearly five He was two years and a half old when I was at Les
Fontaines and that was before I went to Mauleverer Manor
And you have been at Mauleverer Manor more than two years without once going home for the holidays said Bessie That seems hard
My dear poverty is hard It is all of a piece It means deprivation humiliation degradation the severance of friends My father would have had me home if he could have afforded it but he couldnt He has only just enough to keep himself and his wife and boy If you were to see the little box of a house they inhabit in that tiny French village you would wonder that anybody bigger than a pigeon could live in so small a place They have a narrow garden and there is an orchard on the slope of a hill behind the cottage and a long white road leading to nowhere in front It is all very nice in the summer when one can live half ones life out of doors but I am sure I dont know how they manage to exist through the winter
Poor things sighed Bessie who had a large stock of compassion always on hand
And then she tied a bright ribbon at the back of Idas collar by way of finishing touch to the girls simple toilet which had been going on while they talked and then Bessie in white and Ida in black like sunlight and shadow they went downstairs to the drawingroom where Colonel Wendover was stretched on his favourite sofa reading a county paper Since his retirement from active service into domestic idleness the Colonel had required a great deal of rest and was to be found at all hours of the day extended at ease on his own particular sofa During his intervals of activity he exhibited a large amount of energy When he was indoors his stentorian voice penetrated from garret to cellar when he was out of doors the same deeptoned thunder could be heard across a couple of paddocks He pervaded the gardens and stables supervised the home farm and had a finger in every pie
Mrs Wendover was sitting in her own particular armchair close to her husbands sofa—they were seldom seen far apart—with a large basket of crewelwork beside her containing sundry squares of kitchen towelling and a chaos of manycoloured wools which never seemed to arrive at any result
The impression which Mrs Wendovers drawingroom conveyed to a stranger was a general idea of homeliness and comfort It was not fine it was not aesthetic it was not even elegant A great bay window opened upon the garden a large oldfashioned fireplace with carved wooden chimneypiece faced the bay The floor was polished oak with only an island of faded Persian carpet in the centre and Indian prayer rugs lying about here and there There were chairs and tables of richly carved Bombay blackwood Japanese cabinets in the recesses beside the fireplace a fiveleaved Indian screen between the fireplace and the door There was just enough Oriental china to give colour to the room and to relieve by glowing reds and vivid purples the faded deadleaf tint of curtains and chair covers
The gong began to boom as the two girls came into the room and the rest of the family dropped in through the open windows at the same moment Aunt Betsy bringing up the rear There was no nursery dinner at The Knoll Colonel Wendover allowed his children to dine with him from the day they were able to manage their knives and forks Save on state occasions the whole brood sat down with their father and mother to the seven oclock dinner as the young sprigs of the House of Orleans used to sit round good King Louis Philippe in his tranquil retirement at Claremont Even the lisping girl who loved pigs had her place at the board and knew how to behave herself There was a subdued struggle for the seat next Ida whom the Colonel had placed on his right but Reginald the elder of the Winchester boys asserted his claim with a quiet firmness that proved irresistible Grace was said with solemn brevity by the Colonel whose sum total of orthodoxy was comprised in that brief grace and in regular attendance at church on Sunday mornings and then there came a period of chatter and laughter which might have been a little distracting to a stranger Each of the boys and girls had some wonderful fact usually about his or her favourite animal to communicate to the father Aunt Betsy broke in with her fine manly voice at every turn in the conversation Ripples of laughter made a running accompaniment to everything It was a new thing to Ida Palliser to find herself in the midst of so much happiness
After dinner they all rushed off to play lawn tennis carrying Ida along with them
Its a shame protested Bessie I know youre tired darling Come and rest in a shady corner of the drawingroom
This sounded tempting but it was not to be
No shes not asserted Blanche boldly Youre not tired are you
Miss Palliser
Not too tired for just one game replied Ida But you are never to call me Miss Palliser
May I really call you Ida Thats too lovely
May we all call you Ida asked Horatio Dont begin by making distinctions Blanche is no better than the rest of us
Dont be jealous said Miss Palliser laughing I am going to be everybodys Ida
On this she was borne off to the garden as in a whirlwind
There were some bamboo chairs and sofas on the grass in front of the bay window and here the elder members of the family established themselves
I like that schoolfellow of Bessies said Aunt Betsy with her decided air whereupon the Colonel and his wife assented as they always did to any proposition of Miss Wendovers
She is remarkably handsome said the Colonel
She is good and thorough and thats of much more consequence said his sister
She takes to the children and that is so truly nice in her murmured
Mrs Wendover
CHAPTER IV
WENDOVER ABBEY
The next day was fine The children had all been praying for fine weather that they might entertain Miss Palliser with an exploration of the surrounding neighbourhood Loud whoops of triumph and sundry breakdown dances were heard in the top story soon after five oclock for the juvenile Wendovers were early risers and when in high spirits made themselves distinctly audible
The eight oclock breakfast in the old painted diningroom—all oak panelling but painted stone colour by generations of Goths and Vandals—was even more animated than the seven oclock dinner
Such a breakfast after the thick bread and butter and thin coffee at Mauleverer Relays of hot buttered cakes and eggs and bacon fish honey fresh fruit from the garden a picturesque confusion of form and colour on the lavishlyfurnished table and youthful appetites ready to do justice to the good cheer
What are you going to do with Miss Palliser asked the Colonel Am I to take her for a drive
No father you cant have Miss Palliser today Shes going in the jauntingcar said Reginald talking of the lady as if she were a horse Were going to take her over to the Abbey
The Abbey was the ancestral home of the Wendovers now in possession of Brian Wendover only son of the Colonels eldest brother and head of the house
Well dont upset her oftener than you can help replied the father I suppose you dont much mind being spilt off an outside car Miss Palliser I believe young ladies of your age rather relish the excitement
She neednt be afraid said Reginald I am going to drive
Then we are very likely to find ourselves reposing in a ditch before the day is over retorted Bessie I hope you—or the pony—will choose a dry one
Ill risk it ditches and all said Ida goodnaturedly I am longing to see the Abbey
The rich Brians Abbey said Bessie laughing What a pity he is not at home for you to see him too Do you think Brian will be back before Idas holidays are over father
I never know what that young man is going to do answered the Colonel When last I heard from him he was fishing in Norway He doesnt care much about the sport he tells me indeed he was never a very enthusiastic angler but he likes the country and the people He ought to stay at home and stand for the county at the next election A young man in his position has no business to be idle
Is he clever asked Ida
Too clever for my money answered the Colonel He has too much booklearning and too little knowledge of men and things What is the good of a man being a fine Greek scholar if he knows nothing about the land he owns or the cattle that graze upon it and has not enough tact to make himself popular in his own neighbourhood Brian is a man who would starve if his bread depended on his own exertions
Hes a jolly kind of cousin for a fellow to have suggested Horry looking up from his eggs and bacon He lets us do what we like at the Abbey By the way Blanche have you packed the picnic basket
Yes
What have you put in
Thats my secret answered Blanche Do you think I am going to tell you what you are to have for lunch That would spoil all the fun
Blanche isnt half a bad caterer said Reg I place myself in her hands unreservedly I will only venture to hint that I hope she hasnt forgotten the chutnee Tirhoot and plenty of it Whats the good of having a father who was shoulder to shoulder with Gough in the Punjab if we are to run short of Indian condiments
At nine oclock the young people were all ready to start The jauntingcar held five including the driver Bessie and her friend were to occupy one side Eva the round child who loved pigs was to have a seat and a place was to be kept for Miss Rylance who was to be invited to join the exploration party much to the disgust of the Winchester lads who denounced her as a stuckup minx and distinguished her with various other epithets of an abusive character selected from a vocabulary known only to Wyckhamists Blanche and Horatio and a smaller boy called Ernest who was dressed like a gillie and had all the wildness of a young Highlander were to walk with the occasional charity of a lift
The jauntingcar was drawn by a large white pony fat and pampered overfed with dainties from the childrens tables and petted and played with until he had become almost human in his intelligence and a match for his youthful masters in cunning and mischief This impish animal had been christened Robin Goodfellow a name that was shortened for convenience to Robin Robins eagerness to depart was now made known to the family by an incessant rattling of his bit
Reginald took the reins and got into his seat with the quiet grandeur of a celebrity in the fourinhand club Ida and Bessie were handed to their places by Horatio the chubby Eva scrambled into her seat with a liberal display of Oxford blue stocking under the shortest of striped petticoats and off they drove to the cottage Dr Rylances miniature dwelling where the plateglass windows were shining in the morning sun and the colours of the flowerbeds were almost too bright to be looked at
Bessie found Miss Rylance in the dainty little drawingroom all ebonized wood and blue china as neat as an interior by Mieris The fair Urania was yawning over a book of travels—trying to improve a mind which was not naturally fertile—and she was not sorry to be interrupted by an irruption of noisy Wendovers even though they left impressions of their boots on the delicate tones of the carpet and made havoc of the cretonne chaircovers
Miss Rylance had no passion for country life Fields and trees hills and winding streams even when enlivened by the society of the lower animals were not allsufficient for her happiness It was all very well for her father to oscillate between Cavendish Square and Kingthorpe avoiding the expense and trouble of autumn touring and taking his rest and his pleasure in this rustic retreat But her summer holidays for the last three years had been all Kingthorpe and Miss Rylance detested the picturesque village the busy duckpond the insignificant hills which nobody had ever heard of and the monotonous sequence of events
We are going to the Abbey for a nice long day taking our dinner with us and coming round to Aunt Betsys to tea on our way home said Bessie as if she were proposing an entirely novel excursion and we want you to come with us Ranie
Miss Rylance stifled a yawn She had been trying to pin her thoughts to a particular tribe of Abyssinians who fought all the surrounding tribes and always welcomed the confiding stranger with a shower of poisoned arrows She did not care for the Wendover children but they were better than those wearisome Abyssinians
You are very kind but I know the Abbey so well she said determined to yield her consent as a favour
Never mind that Ida has never seen it We are going to show her everything We want her to feel one of us
We shall have a jolly lunch interjected Blanche There are some lemon cheesecakes that I made myself yesterday afternoon Cook was in a good temper and let me do it
I hope you washed your hands first said Horatio Id sooner cook had made the cheesecakes
Of course I washed my hands you too suggestive pig But I shouldhope that in a general way my hands are cleaner than cooks It is only schoolboys who luxuriate in dirt
Youll come Ranie pleaded Bess
If you really wish it
I do or I shouldnt be here But I hope you wish it too You ought to be longing to get out of doors on such a lovely morning Houses were never intended for such weather as this Come and join the birds and butterflies and all the happiest things in creation
I must go for my hat and sunshade I wasnt born fulldressed like the birds and butterflies replied Urania
She ran away leaving Bessie and Ida in the drawingroom The younger children having rushed in and left their mark upon the room had now rushed out again to the jauntingcar
A pretty drawingroom isnt it asked Bess It looks so neat and fresh and bright after ours
It doesnt look half so much like home said Ida
Perhaps not But I believe it is just the exact thing a drawingroom ought to be in this latter part of the nineteenth century or at least so Dr Rylance says How do you like the blue china Dr Rylance is an amateur of blue china He will have no other Dresden and Sevres have no existence for him He recognizes nothing beyond his own particular breed of gingerjars
Miss Rylance came back dressed as carefully as if she had been going for a morning lounge in Hyde Park hat and feather pongee sunshade mousquetaire gloves The Wendovers all wore their gloves in their pockets and cultivated blisters on the palms of their hands as a mark of distinction which implied great feats in rowing or the pulling in of desperate horses
Now they were all mounted on the car just as the church clock struck ten Reginald gave the reins a shake cracked his whip and Robin who always knew where his young friends wanted to go twisted the vehicle sharply round a corner and started at an agreeable canter expressive of good spirits
Robin carried them joltingly along a lovely lane till they came to a gentle acclivity by which time having given vent to his exuberance the pony settled down into a crawl Vainly did Reginald crack his whip—vain even stinging switches on Robins fat sides Out of that crawl nothing could move him The sun was gaining power with every moment and blazing down upon the occupants of the car but Robin cared not at all He was an animal of tropical origin and had no apprehension of sunshine his eyes were so constructed as to accommodate themselves to a superfluity of light
I think we shall be tolerably well roasted by the time we get to the Abbey said Bessie Dont you think if we were all to get down and push the back of the car Robin might go a little faster
Hell go fast enough when he has blown a bit said Reg Cant you admire the landscape
We could if we were not being baked replied Ida
Miss Rylance sat silent under her pongee umbrella and wished herself in Cavendish Square even though western London were as empty and barren as the great wilderness
They were on the ridge of a hill overlooking undulating pastures and quiet sheepwalks fair hills on which the yewtrees cast their dark shadows a broad stretch of pastoral country with sunny gleams of water shining low in the distance
Suddenly the road dipped and Robin was going downhill with alarming speed
This means that we shall all be in the ditch presently said Bessie Never mind Its only a dry bed of dock and usedup stinging nettles We shant be much hurt
After two or three miraculous escapes they landed at the bottom of the hill and Ida beheld the good old gates of Kingthorpe Abbey low iron gates that stood open between tall stone pillars supporting the sculptured escutcheon of the Wendovers There was a stone lodge on each side of the gate past which the car drove in triumph into an avenue of ancient yewtrees low and widespreading with a solemn gloom that would better have become a churchyard than a gentlemans park
It was a noble old park richly timbered with oaks as old as those immemorial trees that make the glory of Stoneleigh There was a lake in a wooded hollow in front of the Abbey a long low pile of stone the newest part of which was as old as the days of the last Tudor Nor had much money been spent on the restoration or decorative repair of that fine old house It had been kept wind and weather proof It had been protected against the injuries of time and that was all There it stood a brave and solid monument of the remote past grand in its stern simplicity and its historic associations
Oh what a dear old house cried Ida clasping her hands as the car came out of the yewtree avenue into the open space in front of the Abbey a wide lawn where four mighty cedars of Lebanon spread their dense shadows—grave old trees—which were in somewise impostors as they looked older than the house and yet had been saplings in the days of Queen Anne What a sweet old place repeated Ida and how I envy the rich Brian
Dont you think the rich Brians wife will be still more enviable sneered Miss Rylance
That depends She may be a VeredeVereish kind of person and pine amongst her halls and towers said Ida
Not if she had been brought up in poverty She would revel in the advantages of her position as Mrs Wendover of the Abbey asserted Miss Rylance
Would she The Earl of Burleighs wife had been poor and yet did not enjoy being rich and great said Bessie It killed her poor thing And yet she had married for love and had no remorse of conscience to weigh her down
She was a sensitive little fool said Ida I have no patience with her
Modern young ladies are not easily crushed remarked Miss Rylance they make marrying for money a profession
Is that your idea of life asked Ida
No but I understand it is yours I heard you say you meant to marry for money
Then you must have been listening to a conversation in which you had no concern Ida answered coolly I never said as much to you
The three girls and the chubby Eva had alighted from the car which was being conveyed to the stables at a handgallop and this conversation was continued on the broad gravel sweep in front of the Abbey Just as the discussion was intensifying in unpleasantness the arrival of the pedestrians made an agreeable diversion Blanche and her two brothers had come by a short cut across fields and common had given chase to butterflies experimented with tadpoles and looked for hedgebirds eggs in the course of their journey and were altogether in a state of dilapidation—perspiration running down their sunburnt faces—their hats anyhow—their hands embellished with recent scratches—their boots coated with clay
Did ever anyone see such objects exclaimed Bessie who had imbibed certain conventional ideas of decency at Mauleverer Manor you ought to be ashamed of yourselves
I daresay we ought but we arent retorted Horatio I found a tadpole in an advanced stage of transmutation Miss Palliser and it has almost converted me to Darwinism Given a single step and you may accept the whole ladder If from tadpoles frogs why not from monkeys man
Go and be a Darwinian and dont prose said Blanche impatiently We are going to show Ida the Abbey How do you like the outside darling asked the tooaffectionate girl favouring Miss Palliser with the full weight of her seven stone and threequarters
I adore it It is like a page out of an old chronicle
Isnt it gasped Blanche and you can fancy the fat old monks sitting on those stone benches nodding in the sunshine The house is hardly altered a bit since it was an actual abbey except that half a dozen cells have been knocked into one comfortable bedroom The long dark passages are just the same as they were when those sly old monks went gliding up and down them—such dear old passages smelling palpably of ghosts
Mice said Horatio
No sir ghosts Do you suppose my sense of smell is of such inferior quality that I cant distinguish a ghost from a mouse
Now how about luncheon demanded Horatio I propose that we all go and sit under that prime old cedar and discuss the contents of the picnic basket before we discuss the Abbey
Why it isnt halfpast eleven said Bessie
Ah sighed Blanche Im afraid its too early for lunch We should have nothing left to look forward to all the rest of the day
Thered be afternoon tea at Aunt Betsys to build upon said Horry I gave her to understand we were to have something good blue gages from the south wall cream to a reckless extent
Strawberry jam and poundcake suggested Eva
If you go on like that youll make me distracted with hunger said Blanche a young person who at the seaside wanted twopence to buy buns directly after she had swallowed her dinner
Bessie and Miss Rylance had been walking up and down the velvet sward beside the beds of dwarf roses and geraniums with a ladylike stateliness which did credit to their training at Mauleverer Ida was the centre of the juvenile group
Come and see the Abbey exclaimed Horry putting his arm through Miss Pallisers and at the stroke of one we will sit down to lunch under the biggest of the cedars—the tree which according to tradition was planted by John Evelyn himself when he came on a visit to Sir Tristram Wendover
They all trooped into the Abbey the hall door standing open as in a fairy tale Bessie and Urania followed at a more sober pace but Ida had given herself over to the children and they did what they liked with her Blanche hanging on her bodily all the time
They were now joined by Reginald who appeared mysteriously from the back premises where he had been seeing Robin eat his corn having a fixed idea that it was in the nature of all grooms and stablemen to cheat horses
The Abbey was furnished with a sober grandeur in perfect tone with its architecture Everything was solid and ponderous save here and there where in some ladys bower there appeared the spindlelegged tables and inlaid cabinets of the Chippendale period which had an air of newness where all else was so old The upper rooms were low and somewhat dark the heavily mullioned windows being designed to exclude rather than to admit light There was much tapestry subdued in hue but in good condition and as frankly uninteresting in subject as the generality of old English needlework
Below the rooms were large and lofty rich in carved chimney pieces well preserved panelling and old oak furniture There were some fine pictures from Holbein downwards and the usual array of family portraits which the boys and girls explained and commented upon copiously
Theres my favourite ancestor Sir Tristram cried Blanche pointing to a darkeyed cavalier with stronglymarked brow and bronzed visage He was middleaged when that picture was painted but I know he was handsome in his youth The face is still in the family
Of course it is said Horatio—on my shoulders
Your shoulders ejaculated Blanche contemptuously As if my Sir Tristram ever resembled you He fought in all the great battles from Edgehill to Worcester continued the girl and he was wounded seven times and he was true to his master through every trial and he had all the Wendover plate melted down and he followed Charles the Second into exile he mortgaged his estate to raise money for the king and he married a very lovely French woman who introduced turnedup noses into the family concluded Blanche giving her tiptilted nose a complacent toss
I thought it was a mercy that we were spared the old housekeeper said
Urania but really Blanche is worse
Ida doesnt know all about our family if you do protested Blanche
It is all new to her
Yes dear it is all new and interesting to me said Ida
How much more deeply you would have been interested if Mr Wendover had been here to expatiate upon his family tree said Urania
That might have made it still more interesting admitted Ida with a frankness which took the sting out of Miss Rylances remark
The young Wendovers had shown Ida everything They had opened cabinets peered into secret drawers sniffed at the stale potpourri in old crackle vases they had dragged their willing victim through all the long slippery passages by all the mysterious stairs and byways they had obliged her to look at the interior of ghostly closets where the ladies of old had stored their house linen or hung their mantuas and farthingales they had made her look out of numerous windows to admire the prospect they had introduced her to the state bedroom in which the heads of the Wendover race made a point of being born they made her peep shuddering into the deathchamber where the family were laid in their last slumber The time thus pleasantly occupied slipped away unawares and the chapel clock was striking one as they all went trooping down the broad oak staircase for about the fifteenth time
A gentleman was entering the hall as they came down They could only see the top of his hat
Its father cried Eva
You little idiot did you ever see my father in a stovepipe hat on a weekday cried Reg with infinite scorn
Then its Brian
Brian is in Norway
The gentleman looked up and greeted them all with a comprehensive smile
It was Dr Rylance
So glad I have found you young people he said blandly
Papa exclaimed Urania in a tone which did not express unmitigated pleasure this is a surprise You told me you would not be down till late in the evening
Yes my dear but the fine morning tempted me I found my engagements would stand over till Monday or Tuesday so I put myself into the eight oclock train and arrived at The Cottage just an hour after you and your friends had left for your picnic So I walked over to join you I hope I am not in the way
Of course not said Bessie Im afraid youll find us hardly the kind of company you are accustomed to but if you will put up with our roughness and noise we shall feel honoured
We are going to get lunch ready said Blanche You grownups will find us under Evelyns tree when youre hungry and youd better accommodate yourselves to be hungry soon
Or you may find a dearth of provisions interjected Reg I feel in a demolishing humour
The troop rushed off leaving the three elder girls and Dr Rylance standing in the hall listlessly contemplative of Sir Tristrams dinted breastplate hacked by Roundhead pikes at Marston Moor
CHAPTER V
DR RYLANCE ASSERTS HIMSELF
The luncheon under Evelyns tree took a cooler shade from Dr Rylances presence than from the farreaching branches of the cedar His politeness made the whole business different from what it would have been without him
Blanche and the boys accustomed to abandon themselves to frantic joviality at any outdoor feast of their own contriving now withdrew into the background and established themselves behind the trunk of the tree in which retirement they kept up an insane giggling varied by low and secret discourse and from which shelter they issued forth stealthily one by one to pounce with crafty hands upon the provisions These unmannerly proceedings were ignored by the elders but they exercised a harassing influence upon poor little Eva who had been told to sit quietly by Bessie and who watched her brothers raids with roundeyed wonder and listened with envious ears to that distracting laughter behind the tree
Did you see Horry take quite half the cake just now she whispered to
Bessie in the midst of a polite conversation about nothing particular
And anon she murmured in horrified wonder after a stolen peep behind the tree Reg is taking off Dr Rylance
The grownup luncheon party was not lively Tongue and chicken pigeonpie cheesecakes tarts cake fruit—all had been neatly spread upon a tablecloth laid on the soft turf Nothing had been forgotten There were plates and knives and forks enough for everybody—picnicking being a business thoroughly well understood at The Knoll but there was a good deal wanting in the guests
Ida was thoughtful Urania obviously sullen Bessie amiably stupid but Dr Rylance appeared to think that they were all enjoying themselves intensely
Now this is what I call really delightful he said as he poured out the sparkling Devonshire cider with as stately a turn of his wrist as if the liquor had been Cliquot or Roederer An openair luncheon on such a day as this is positively inspiring and to a man who has breakfasted at seven oclock on a cup of tea and a morsel of dry toast—thanks yes I prefer the wing if no one else will have it—such an unceremonious meal is doubly welcome Im so glad I found you Lucky wasnt it Ranie
He smiled at his daughter as if deprecating that stolid expression of hers which would have been eminently appropriate to the funeral of an indifferent acquaintance—a total absence of all feeling a grave nullity
I dont see anything lucky in so simple a fact answered Urania You were told we had come here and you came here after us
You might have changed your minds at the last moment and gone somewhere else Might you not now Miss Palliser
Yes if we had been very frivolous people but as todays exploration of the Abbey was planned last night it would have indicated great weakness of mind if we had been tempted into any other direction answered Ida feeling somewhat sorry for Dr Rylance
The coldest heart might compassionate a man cursed in such a disagreeable daughter
I am very glad you were not weakminded and that I was so fortunate as to find you said the doctor addressing himself henceforward exclusively to Ida and her friend
Bessie took care of his creaturecomforts with a matronly hospitality which sat well upon her She cut thin slices of tongue she fished out savouriest bits of pigeon and egg when he passed by a natural transition from chicken to pie She was quite distressed because he did not care for tarts or cake But the doctors appetite unlike that of the young people on the other side of the cedar had its limits He had satisfied his hunger long before they had and was ready to show Miss Palliser the gardens
They are fine old gardens he said approvingly Perhaps their chief beauty is that they have not a single modern improvement They are as oldfashioned as the gardens of Sion Abbey before the good queen Bess ousted the nuns to make room for the Percies
They all rose and walked slowly away from the cedar leaving the fragments of the feast to Blanche and her three brothers Eva stayed behind to make one of that exuberant group and to see Reg take off Urania and her father His mimicry was cordially admired though it was not always clear to his audience which was the doctor and which was his daughter A stare a strut a toss an affected drawl were the leading features of each characterization
I had no opportunity of congratulating you on your triumphs the other day Miss Palliser said Dr Rylance who had somehow managed that Ida and he should be side by side and a little in advance of the other two But believe me I most heartily sympathized with you in the delight of your success
Delight echoed Ida Do you think there was any real pleasure for me in receiving a gift from the hands of Miss Pew who has done all she could do to make me feel the disadvantages of my position from the day I first entered her house to the day I last left it The prizes gave me no pleasure They have no value in my mind except as an evidence that I have made the most of my opportunities at Mauleverer in spite of my contempt for my schoolmistress
You dislike her intensely I see
She has made me dislike her I never knew unkindness till I knew her I never felt the sting of poverty till she made me feel all its sharpness I never knew that I was steeped in sinful pride until she humiliated me
Your days of honour and happiness will come said the doctor days when you will think no more of Miss Pew than of an insect which once stung you
Thank you for the comforting forecast answered Ida lightly But it is easy to prophesy good fortune
Easy and safe in such a case as yours I can sympathize with you better than you may suppose Miss Palliser I have had to fight my battle I was not always Dr Rylance of Cavendish Square and I did not enter a world in which there was a fine estate waiting for me like the owner of this place
But you have conquered fortune and by your own talents said Ida
That must be a proud thought
Dr Rylance who was not utterly without knowledge of himself smiled at the compliment He knew it was by tact and address smooth speech and clean linen that he had conquered fortune rather than by shining abilities Yet he valued himself not the less on that account In his mind tact ranked higher than genius since it was his own peculiar gift just as blue gingerjars were better than Sevres because he Dr Rylance was a collector of gingerjars He approved of himself so completely that even his littlenesses were great in his own eyes
I have worked hard he said complacently and I have been patient But now when my work is done and my place in the world fixed I begin to find life somewhat barren A man ought to reap some reward—something fairer and sweeter than pounds shillings and pence for a life of labour and care
No doubt assented Ida receiving this remark as abstract philosophy rather than as having a personal meaning But I think I should consider pounds shillings and pence a very fair reward if I only had enough of them
Yes now when you are smarting under the insolence of a purseproud schoolmistress but years hence when you have won independence you will feel disappointed if you have won nothing better
What could be better
Sympathetic companionship—a love worthy to influence your life
Ida looked up at the doctor with naïve surprise Good heavens was this middleaged gentleman going to drop into sentiment as Silas Wegg dropped into poetry She glanced back at the other two Happily they were close at hand
What have you done with the children Bessie asked Ida as if she were suddenly distracted with anxiety about their fate
Left them to their own devices I hope they will not quite kill themselves We are all to meet in the stable yard at four so that we may be with Aunt Betsy at five
Dont you think papa and I had better walk gently home suggested Urania I am sure it would be cruel to inflict such an immense party upon Miss Wendover
Nonsense exclaimed Bessie Why if all old Pews school was to march in upon her without a moments notice Aunt Betsy would not be put out of the way one little bit If Queen Victoria were to drop in unexpectedly to luncheon my aunt would be as cool as one of her own early cucumbers and would insist on showing the Queen her stables and possibly her pigs
How do you know that asked Ida
Because she never had a visitor yet whom she did not drag into her stables from archbishops downwards and I dont suppose shed draw the line at a queen answered Bessie with conviction
I am going to drink tea with Miss Wendover whatever Urania may do said Dr Rylance who felt that the time had come when he must assert himself I am out for a days pleasure and I mean to drink the cup to the dregs
Urania looked at her father with absolute consternation He was transformed he had become a new person he was forgetting himself in a ridiculous manner letting down his dignity to an alarming extent Dr Rylance the fashionable physician the man whose nice touch adjusted the nerves of the aristocracy to disport himself with unkempt barehanded young Wendovers It was an upheaval of things which struck horror to Uranias soul Easy after beholding such a moral convulsion to believe that the Wight had once been part of the mainland or even that Ireland had originally been joined to Spain
They all roamed into the rosegarden where there were alleys of standard rosetrees planted upon grass that was soft and springy under the foot They went into the old vineries where the big bunches of grapes were purpling in the gentle heat Dr Rylance went everywhere and he contrived always to be near Ida Palliser
He did not again lapse into sentiment and he made himself fairly agreeable in his somewhat stilted fashion Ida accepted his attention with a charming unconsciousness but she was perfectly conscious of Uranias vexation and that gave a zest to the whole thing
Well Ida what do you think of Kingthorpe Abbey asked Bessie when they had seen everything even to the stoats and weasles and various vermin nailed flat against the stable wall and were waiting for Robin to be harnessed
It is a noble old place It is simply perfect I wonder your cousin can live away from it
Oh Brians chief delight is in roaming about the world The Abbey is thrown away upon him He ought to have been an explorer or a missionary However he is expected home in a month and you will be able to judge for yourself whether he deserves to be master of this old place I only wish it belonged to the other Brian
The other Brian is your favourite
He is ever so much nicer than his cousin—at least the children and I like him best My father swears by the head of the house
I think I would rather accept the Colonels judgment than yours Bess said Ida You are so impulsive in your likings
Dont say that I am wanting in judgment urged Bessie coaxingly for you know how dearly I love you You will see the two Brians I hope before your holidays are over and then you can make your own selection Brian Walford will be with us for my birthday picnic I daresay wherever he may be now I believe he is mooning away his time in Herefordshire with his mothers people
Is his father dead
Yes mother and father both ages ago in the days when I was a hardhearted little wretch and thought it a treat to go into mourning and rather nice to be able to tell everybody Uncle Walfords dead He had a fit and he never speaked any more It was news you know and in a village that goes for something
After a lengthy discussion and some squabbling it was decided that the children were to have the benefit of the jauntingcar for the homeward journey and that Dr Rylance and the three young ladies were to walk attended by Reginald who insisted upon attaching himself to their service volunteering to show them the very nearest way through a wood and across a field and over a common and down a lane which led straight to the gate of Aunt Betsys orchard
Urania wore fashionable boots and considered walking exercise a superstition of medical men and oldfashioned people yet she stoutly refused a seat in the car
No thanks Horatio I know your pony too well Id rather trust myself upon my own feet
Theres more danger in your high heels than in my pony retorted Horatio I shouldnt wonder if you dropped in for a sprained ankle before you got home
Urania risked the sprained ankle She began to limp before she had emerged from the wood She hobbled painfully along the rugged footpath between the yellow wheat She was obliged to sit down and rest upon a furzy hillock on the common goodnatured Bess keeping her company while Ida and Reginald were half a mile ahead with Dr Rylance Her delicate complexion was unbecomingly flushed by the time she and Bessie arrived wearily at the little gate opening into Miss Wendovers orchard
There were only some iron hurdles between Aunt Betsys orchard and the lawn before Aunt Betsys drawingroom The house was characteristic of the lady It was a long redbrick cottage solid substantial roomy eschewing ornament but beautified in the eyes of most people by an air of supreme comfort cleanliness and general wellbeing In all Kingthorpe there were no rooms so cool as Aunt Betsys in summer—none so warm in winter The cottage had originally been the homestead of a small grassfarm which had been bequeathed to Betsy Wendover by her father familiarly known as the Old Squire the chief landowner in that part of the country With this farm of about two hundred and fifty acres of the most fertile pasture land in Hampshire and an income of seven hundred a year from consols Miss Wendover found herself passing rich She built a drawingroom with wide windows opening on to the lawn and a bedroom with a covered balcony over the drawingroom These additional rooms made the homestead allsufficient for a lady of Aunt Betsys simple habits She was hospitality itself receiving her friends in a largehearted gentlemanlike style keeping open house for man and beast proud of her wine still prouder of her garden and greenhouses proudest of her stables fond of this life and of her many comforts yet without a particle of selfishness ready to leave her cosy fireside at a moments notice on the bitterest winter night to go and nurse a sick child or comfort a dying woman religious without ostentation charitable without weakness stern to resent an injury implacable against an insult
A refreshing sight yet not altogether a pleasant one for Miss Rylance met the eyes of the two young ladies as they neared the little iron gate opening from the orchard to the lawn A couple of teatables had been brought out upon the grass before the drawingroom window The youngsters were busily engaged at one table Blanche pouring out tea while her brothers and small sister made havoc with cake and fruit homemade bread and butter and jams of various hues At the other table less lavishly but more elegantly furnished sat Miss Wendover and Ida Palliser with Dr Rylance comfortably established in a Buckinghamshire wickerwork chair between them
Does not that look a picture of comfort exclaimed Bessie
My father seems to be making himself very comfortable said Urania
She hobbled across the lawn and sank exhausted into a low chair near her parent
My poor child how dilapidated you look after your walk said Dr
Rylance Miss Palliser and I enjoyed it immensely
I cannot boast of Miss Pallisers robust health retorted Urania contemptuously as if good health were a sign of vulgarity I had my neuralgia all last night
Whenever the course of events proved objectionable Miss Rylance took refuge in a complaint which she called her neuralgia indicating that it was a species of disorder peculiar to herself and of a superior quality to everybody elses neuralgia
You should live in the open air like my sunburnt young friends yonder said the doctor with a glance at the table where the young Wendovers were stuffing themselves I am sure they never complain of neuralgia
Urania looked daggers but spoke none
It was a wearisome afternoon for that injured young lady Dr Rylance dawdled over his tea handed teacups and bread and butter was assiduous with the sugar basin devoted with the cream jug talked and laughed with Miss Palliser as if they had a world of ideas in common and made himself altogether objectionable to his only child
Byandby when there was a general adjournment to the greenhouses and stables Urania contrived to slip her arm through her fathers
I thought I told you that Miss Palliser was my favourite aversion papa she said tremulous with angry feeling
I have some faint idea that you did express yourself unfavourably about her answered the doctor with his consultingroom urbanity but I am at a loss to understand your antipathy The girl is positively charming as frank as the sunshine and full of brains
I know her You do not said Urania tersely
My dear it is the speciality of men in my profession to make rapid judgments
Yes and very often to make them wrong I was never so much annoyed in my life I consider your attention to that girl a deliberate insult to me a girl with whom I never could get on—who has said the rudest things to me
Can I be uncivil to a friend of your friend Bessie
There is a wide distance between being uncivil and being obsequiously ridiculously attentive
Urania said the doctor in his gravest voice I have allowed you to have your own way in most things and I believe your life has been a pleasant one
Of course papa I never said otherwise
Very well my dear then you must be good enough to let me take my own way of making life pleasant to myself and you must not take upon yourself to dictate what degree of civility I am to show to Miss Palliser or to any other lady
Urania held her peace after this It was the first deliberate snub she had ever received from her father and she added it to her lengthy score against Ida
CHAPTER VI
A BIRTHDAY FEAST
Ida Pallisers holidays were coming to an end like a tale that is told There was only one day more left but that day was to be especially glorious for it was Bessie Wendovers birthday a day which from time immemorial—or at all events ever since Bessie was ten years old—had been sacred to certain games or festivities—a modernized worship of the great god Pan
Sad was it for Bessie and all the junior Wendovers when the seventh of September dawned with gray skies or east winds rain or hail It was usually a brilliant day The clerk of the weather appeared favourably disposed to the warmhearted Bessie
On this particular occasion the preparations for the festival were on a grander scale than usual in honour of Ida who was on the eve of departure A cruel cruel car was to carry her off to Winchester at six oclock on the morning after the birthday the railway station was to swallow her up alive the train was to rush off with her like a fiery dragon carrying off the princess of fairy tale and the youthful Wendovers were to be left lamenting
In six happy weeks their enthusiasm for their young guest had known no abatement She had realized their fondest anticipations She had entered into their young lives and made herself a part of them She had given herself up heart and soul to childish things and foolish things to please these devoted admirers and the long summer holiday had been very sweet to her The openair life—the balmy noontides in woods and meadows beside wandering trout streams—on the breezy hilltops—the afternoon teadrinking in gardens and orchards—the novels read aloud seated in the heart of some fine old tree with her auditors perched on the branches round about her like gigantic birds—the boating excursions on a river with more weeds than water in it—the jaunts to Winchester and dreamy afternoons in the cathedral—all had been delicious She had lived in an atmosphere of homely domestic love among people who valued her for herself and did not calculate the cost of her gowns or despise her because she had so few The old church was lovely in her eyes the old vicar and his wife had taken a fancy to her Everything at Kingthorpe was delightful except Urania She certainly was a drawback but she had been tolerably civil since the first day at the Abbey
Ida had spent many an hour at the Abbey since that first inspection She knew every room in the house—the sunniest windows—the books in the long library with its jutting wings between the windows and cosy nooks for study She knew almost every tree in the park and the mild faces of the deer looking gravely reproachful as if asking what business she had there She had lain asleep on the sloping bank above the lake on drowsy afternoons tired by wandering far afield with her young esquires She knew the Abbey by heart—better than even Urania knew it though she had used that phrase to express utter satiety Ida Palliser had a deeper love of natural beauty a stronger appreciation of all that made the old place interesting She had a curious feeling too about the absent master of that grave gray old house—a fond romantic dream which she would not for the wealth of India have revealed to mortal ear that in the days to come Brians life would be in somewise linked with hers Perhaps this foolish thought was engendered of the blankness of her own life a stage on which the players had been so few that this figure of an unknown young man assumed undue proportions
Then again the fact that she could hear very little about Mr Wendover from his cousins stimulated her curiosity about him and intensified her interest in him Brians merits were a subject which the Wendover children always shirked or passed over so lightly that Ida was no wiser for her questioning and maidenly reserve forbade her too eager inquiry
About Brian Walford the son of Parson Wendover youngest of the three brothers for seven years vicar of a parish near Hereford and for the last twelve years at rest in the village churchyard the young Wendovers had plenty to say He was goodlooking they assured Ida She would inevitably fall in love with him when they met He was the cleverest young man in England and was certain to finish his career as Lord Chancellor despite the humility of his present stage of being
He has no fortune I suppose hazarded Ida in a conversation with
Horatio
She did not ask the question from any interest in the subject Brian Walford was a being whose image never presented itself to her mind She only made the remark for the sake of saying something
Not a denarius said Horry who liked occasionally to be classical
But what of that If I were as clever as Brian I shouldnt mind how poor
I was With his talents he is sure to get to the top of the tree
What can he do asked Ida
Ride a bicycle better than any man I know
What else
Sing a firstrate comic song
What else
Get longer breaks at billiards than any fellow I ever played with
What else
Pick the winner out of a score of racehorses in the preliminary canter
Those are great gifts I have no doubt said Ida But do eminent lawyers in a general way win their advancement by riding bicycles and singing comic songs
Dont sneer Ida When a fellow is clever in one thing he is clever in other things Genius is manysided universal Carlyle says as much If Napoleon Bonaparte had not been a great general he would have been a great writer like Voltaire—or a great lawyer like Thurlow
From this time forward Ida had an image of Brian Walford in her mind It was the picture of a vapid youth fairhaired with thin moustache elaborately trained and thinner whiskers—a fribble that gave half its little mind to its collar and the other half to its boots Such images are photographed in a flash of lightning on the sensitive brain of youth and are naturally more often false guesses than true ones
There was delightful riot in the house of the Wendovers on the night before the picnic The Colonel had developed a cold and cough within the last week so he and his wife had jogged off to Bournemouth in the Tcart with one portmanteau and one servant leaving Bessie mistress of all things It was a grief to Mrs Wendover to be separated from home and children at any time and she was especially regretful at being absent on her eldest daughters birthday but the Colonel was paramount If his cough could be cured by sea air to the sea he must go with his faithful wife in attendance upon him
Dont let the children turn the house quite out of windows darling said Mrs Wendover at the moment of parting
No mother dear we are all going to be goodness itself
I know dears you always are And I hope you will all enjoy yourselves
Were sure to do that mother answered Reginald with a cheerfulness that seemed almost heartless
The departing parent would not have liked them to be unhappy but a few natural tears would have been a pleasing tribute Not a tear was shed Even the little Eva skipped joyously on the doorstep as the phaeton drove away The idea of the picnic was allabsorbing
The Colonel and his wife were to spend a week at Bournemouth Ida would see them no more this year
You must come again next summer Mrs Wendover said heartily as she kissed her daughters friend
Of course she must cried Horry She is coming every summer She is one of the institutions of Kingthorpe I only wonder how we ever managed to get on so long without her
All that evening was devoted to the packing of hampers and to general skirmishing The picnic was to be held on the highest hilltop between Kingthorpe and Winchester one of those little Lebanons fair and green on which the yewtrees flourished like the cedars of the East but with a sturdy British air that was all their own
The birthday dawned with the soft pearly gray and tender opal tints which presage a fair noontide Before six oclock the children had all besieged Bessies door with noisy tappings and louder congratulations At seven they were all seated at breakfast the table strewn with birthday gifts mostly of that useless and semiidiotic character peculiar to such tributes—ormolu inkstands holding a thimbleful of ink—penholders warranted to break before they have been used three times—purses with impossible snaps—photograph frames and pomatumpots
Bessie pretended to be enraptured with everything The purse Horry gave her was too lovely Reginalds penholder was the very thing she had been wanting for an age Dear little Evas pomatumpot was perfection The pointlace handkerchief Ida had worked in secret was exquisite Blanches crochet slippers were so lovely that their not being big enough was hardly a fault They were much too pretty to be worn Urania contributed a more costly gift in the shape of a perfume cabinet all cutglass walnutwood and ormolu
Uranias presents are always meant to crush one said Blanche disrespectfully they are like the shields and bracelets those rude soldiers flung at poor Tarpeia
Urania was to be one of the picnic party She was to be the only stranger present There had been a disappointment about the two cousins Neither Brian had accepted the annual summons One was supposed to be still in Norway the other had neglected to answer the letter which had been sent more than a week ago to his address in Herefordshire
Im afraid youll find it dreadfully like our everyday picnics Bessie said to Ida as they were starting
I shall be satisfied if it be half as pleasant
Ah it would have been nice enough if the two Brians had been with us
Brian Walford is so amusing
He would have sung comic songs I suppose said Ida rather contemptuously
Oh no you must not suppose that he is always singing comic songs He is one of those versatile people who can do anything
I dont want to be rude about your own flesh and blood Bess but in a general way I detest versatile people said Ida
What a queer girl you are Ida Im afraid you have taken a dislike to
Brian Walford complained Bessie
No said Ida deep in thought—the two girls were standing at the halldoor waiting for the carriage—it is not that
You like the idea of the other Brian better
Idas wildrose bloom deepened to a rich carnation
Oh Ida cried Bessie do you remember what you said about marrying for money
It was a revolting sentiment but it was wrung from me by the infinite vexations of poverty
Wouldnt it be too lovely if Brian the Great were to fall in love with you and ask you to be mistress of that dear old Abbey which you admire so much
Dont be ecstatic Bessie I shall never be the mistress of the Abbey I was not born under a propitious star There must have been a very ugly concatenation of planets ruling the heavens at the hour of my birth You see Brian the Great does not even put himself in the way of falling captive to my charms
This was said half in sport half in bitterness indeed there was a bitter flavour in much of Ida Pallisers mirth She was thinking of the stories she had read in which a woman had but to be young and lovely and all creation bowed down to her Yet her beauty had been for the most part a cause of vexation and had made people hate her She had been infinitely happy during the last six weeks but embodied hatred had been close at hand in the presence of Miss Rylance and if anyone had fallen in love with her during that time it was the wrong person
The young ladies were to go in the landau leaving the exclusive enjoyment of Robins variable humours to Horatio and the juveniles There was a general idea that Robin in conjunction with a hilly country might be sooner or later fatal to the young Wendovers but they went on driving him nevertheless as everybody knew that if he did ultimately prove disastrous to them it would be with the best intentions and without loss of temper
Bessie and Ida took their seats in the roomy carriage Reginald mounted to the perch beside the coachman and they drove triumphantly through the village to the gate of Dr Rylances cottage where Urania stood waiting for them
I hope we havent kept you long said Bessie
Not more than a quarter of an hour answered Urania meekly but that seems rather long in a broiling sun You always have such insufferably hot weather on your birthdays Bessie
It will be cool enough on the hills byandby said Bess apologetically
I daresay there will be a cold wind returned Urania who wore an unmistakable air of discontent There generally is on these unnatural September days
One would think you bore a grudge against the month of September because I was born in it retorted Bessie And then remembering her obligations she hastened to add How can I thank you sufficiently for that exquisite scentcase It is far too lovely
I am very glad you like it One hardly knows what to choose
Miss Rylance had taken her seat in the landau by this time and they were bowling along the smooth high road at that gentle jogtrot pace affected by a country gentlemans coachman
The day was heavenly the wind due south a day on which life—mere sensual existence—is a delight The landscape still wore its richest summer beauty—not a leaf had fallen They were going upward to the hilly region between Kingthorpe and Winchester to a spot where there was a tableshaped edifice of stones supposed to be of Druidic origin
The young Wendovers were profoundly indifferent to the Druids and to that hypothetical race who lived ages before the Druids and have broken out all over the earth in stony excrescences as yet vaguely classified That threelegged granite table whose origin was lost in the remoteness of past time seemed to the young Wendovers a thing that had been created expressly for their amusement to be climbed upon or crawled under as the fancy moved them It was a capital rallyingpoint for a picnic or a gipsy teadrinking
We are to have no grownups today said Reginald looking down from his place beside the coachman The pater and mater are away and Aunt Betsy has a headache so we can have things all our own way
You are mistaken Reginald said Urania my father is going to join us byandby I hope he wont be considered an interloper I told him that it was to be a young party and that I was sure he would be in the way but he wouldnt take my advice He is going to ride over in the broiling sun Very foolish I think
I thought Dr Rylance was in London
He was till last night He came down on purpose to be at your picnic
I am sure I feel honoured said Bessie
Do you I dont think you are the attraction answered Urania with a cantankerous glance at Miss Palliser
Idas dark eyes were looking far away across the hills It seemed as if she neither heard Miss Rylances speech nor saw the sneer which emphasized it
Dr Rylances substantial hunter came plodding over the turfy ridge behind them five minutes afterwards and presently he was riding at a measured trot beside the carriage door congratulating Bessie on the beauty of the day and saying civil things to every one
I could not resist the temptation to give myself a days idleness in the
Hampshire air he said
Reginald felt unutterably savage What a troublefeast the man was They would have to adapt the proceedings of the day to his middleaged good manners There could be no wild revelry no freedom Dr Rylance was an embodiment of propriety
Halfanhour after dinner they were all scattered upon the hills
Reginald who cherished a secret passion for Ida which was considerably in advance of his years and who had calculated upon being her guide philosopher and friend all through the day found himself ousted by the West End physician who took complete possession of Miss Palliser under the pretence of explaining the history—altogether speculative—of the spot He discoursed eloquently about the Druids expatiated upon the City of Winchester dozing in the sunshine yonder among its fat water meadows He talked of the Saxons and the Normans of William of Wykeham and his successors until poor Ida felt sick and faint from very weariness It was all very delightful talk no doubt—the polished utterance of a man who read his Saturday Review and Athenaeum diligently saw an occasional number of Fors Clavigera and even skimmed the more aesthetic papers in the Architect but to Ida this expression of modern culture was all weariness She would rather have been racing those wild young Wendovers down the slippery hillside on which they were perilling their necks she would rather have been lying beside the lake in Kingthorpe Park reading her wellthumbed Tennyson or her shabby little Keats
Her thoughts had wandered ever so far away when she was called back to the workaday world by finding that Dr Rylances conversation had suddenly slipped from archaeology into a more personal tone
Are you really going away tomorrow he asked
Yes answered Ida sadly looking at one of the last of the butterflies whose brief summertide of existence was wearing to its close like her own
You are going back to Mauleverer Manor
Yes I have another halfyear of bondage I am going back to drudgery and selfcontempt to be browbeaten by Miss Pew and looked down upon by most of her pupils The girls in my own class are very fond of me but Im afraid their fondness is half pity The grownup girls with happy homes and rich fathers despise me I hardly wonder at it Genteel poverty certainly is contemptible There is nothing debasing in a smockfrock or a fustian jacket The labourers I see about Kingthorpe have a glorious air of independence and I daresay are as proud in their way as if they were dukes But shabby finery—genteel gowns worn threadbare there is a deep degradation in those
Not for you answered Dr Rylance earnestly with an admiring look in his bluegray eyes They were somewhat handsome eyes when they did not put on their cruel expression Not for you Nothing could degrade nothing could exalt you You are superior to the accident of your surroundings
Its very kind of you to say that but its a fallacy all the same said Ida Do you think Napoleon at St Helena squabbling with Sir Hudson Lowe is as dignified a figure as Napoleon at the Tuileries in the zenith of his power But I ought not to be grumbling at fate I have been happy for six sunshiny weeks If I were to live to be a century old I could never forget how good people at Kingthorpe have been to me I will go back to my old slavery and live upon the memory of that happiness
Why should you go back to slavery asked Dr Rylance taking her hand in his and holding it with so strong a grasp that she could hardly have withdrawn it without violence There is a home at Kingthorpe ready to receive you If you have been happy there in the last few weeks why not try if you can be happy there always There is a house in Cavendish Square whose master would be proud to make you its mistress Ida we have seen very little of each other and I may be precipitate in hazarding this offer but I am as fond of you as if I had known you half a lifetime and I believe that I could make your life happy
Ida Pallisers heart thrilled with a chill sense of horror and aversion She had talked recklessly enough of her willingness to marry for money and lo here was a prosperous man laying two handsomely furnished houses at her feet—a man of gentlemanlike bearing goodlooking wellinformed wellspoken with no signs of age in his wellpreserved face and figure a man whom any woman friendless portionless a mere waif upon earths surface at the mercy of all the winds that blow ought proudly and gladly to accept for her husband
No too bold had been her challenge to fate She had said that she would marry any honest man who would lift her out of the quagmire of poverty but she was not prepared to accept Dr Rylances offer generous as it sounded She would rather go back to the old treadmill and her old fights with Miss Pew than reign supreme over the dainty cottage at Kingthorpe and the house in Cavendish Square Her time had not come
Dr Rylance had not risen to eloquence in making his offer and Idas reply was in plainest words
I am very sorry she faltered I feel that it is very good of you to make such a proposal but I cannot accept it
There is some one else said the doctor Your heart is given away already
No she answered sadly my heart is like an empty sepulchre
Then why should I not hope to win you I have been hasty no doubt but I want if possible to prevent your return to that odious school If you would but make me happy by saying yes you could stay with your kind friends at The Knoll till the day that makes you mistress of my house We might be married in time to spend November in Italy It is the nicest month for Rome You have never seen Italy perhaps
No I have seen very little that is worth seeing
Ida why will you not say yes Do you doubt that I should try my uttermost to make you happy
No she answered gravely but I doubt my own capacity for that kind of happiness
Dr Rylance was deeply wounded He had been petted and admired by women during the ten years of his widowhood favoured and a favourite everywhere He had made up his mind deliberately to marry this penniless girl Looked at from a worldlings point of view it would seem at the first glance an utterly disadvantageous alliance but Dr Rylance had an eye that could sweep over horizons other than are revealed to the average gaze and he told himself that so lovely a woman as Ida Palliser must inevitably become the fashion in that particular society which Dr Rylance most affected and a wife famed for her beauty and elegance Would assuredly be of more advantage to a fashionable physician than a commonplace wife with a fortune Dr Rylance liked money but he liked it only for what it could buy He had no sons and he was much too fond of himself to lead laborious days in order to leave a large fortune to his daughter He had bought a lease of his London house which would last his time he had bought the freehold of the Kingthorpe cottage and he was living up to his income When he died there would be two houses of furniture plate pictures horses and carriages and the Kingthorpe cottage to be realized for Urania He estimated these roughly as worth between six and seven thousand pounds and he considered seven thousand pounds an ample fortune for his only daughter Urania was in happy ignorance of the modesty of his views She imagined herself an heiress on a much larger scale
To offer himself to a penniless girl of whose belongings he knew absolutely nothing and to be peremptorily refused Dr Rylance could hardly believe such a thing possible The girl must be trifling with him playing her fish with the fixed intention of landing him presently It was in the nature of girls to do that kind of thing Why do you reject me he asked seriously is it because I am old enough to be your father
No I would marry a man old enough to be my grandfather if I loved him answered Ida with cruel candour
And I am to understand that your refusal is irrevocable he urged
Quite irrevocable But I hope you believe that I am grateful for the honour you have done me
That is the correct thing to say upon such occasions answered Dr Rylance coldly I wonder the sentence is not written in your copy books among those moral aphorisms which are of so little use in after life
The phrase may seem conventional but in my case it means much more than usual said Ida a girl who has neither money nor friends has good reason to be grateful when a gentleman asks her to be his wife
I wish I could be grateful for your gratitude said Dr Rylance but I cant I want your love and nothing else Is it on Uranias account that you reject me he urged If you think that she would be a hindrance to your happiness pray dismiss the thought If she did not accommodate herself pleasantly to my choice her life would have to be spent apart from us I would brook no rebellion
The cruel look had come into Dr Rylances eyes He was desperately angry He was surprised humiliated indignant Never had the possibility of rejection occurred to him It had been for him to decide whether he would or would not take this girl for his wife and after due consideration of her merits and all surrounding circumstances he had decided that he would take her
Is my daughter the stumblingblock he urged
No she answered there is no stumblingblock I would marry you tomorrow if I felt that I could love you as a wife ought to love her husband I said once—only a little while ago—that I would marry for money I find that I am not so base as I thought myself
Perhaps the temptation is not large enough said Dr Rylance If I had been Brian Wendover and the owner of Kingthorpe Abbey you would hardly have rejected me so lightly
Ida crimsoned to the roots of her hair The shaft went home It was as if Dr Rylance had been inside her mind and knew all the foolish daydreams she had dreamed in the idle summer afternoons under the spreading cedar branches or beside the lake in the Abbey grounds Before she had time to express her resentment a cluster of young Wendovers came sweeping down the greensward at her side and in the next minute Blanche was hanging upon her bodily like a lusty parasite strangling a slim young tree
Darling cried Blanche gaspingly such news Brian has come—cousin Brian—after all though he thought he couldnt But he made a great effort and he has come all the way as fast as he could tear to be here on Bessies birthday Isnt it too jolly
All the way from Norway asked Ida
Yes said Urania who had been carried down the hill with the torrent of Wendovers all the way from Norway Isnt it nice of him
Blanches frank face was brimming over with smiles The boys were all laughing How happy Brians coming had made them
Ida looked at them wonderingly
How pleased you all seem she said I did not know you were so fond of your cousin I thought it was the other you liked
Oh we like them both said Blanche and it is so nice of Brian to come on purpose for Bessies birthday Do come and see him He is on the top of the hill talking to Bess and the kettle boils and we are just going to have tea We are all starving
After such a dinner exclaimed Ida
Such a dinner indeed—two or three legs of fowls and a plate or so of pie ejaculated Reginald contemptuously I began to be hungry a quarter of an hour afterwards Come and see Brian
Ida looked round her wonderingly feeling as if she was in a dream
Dr Rylance had disappeared Urania was smiling at her sweetly more sweetly than it was her wont to smile at Ida Palliser
One would think she knew that I had refused her father mused Ida
They all climbed the hill the children talking perpetually Ida unusually silent The smoke of a gipsy fire was going up from a hollow near the Druid altar and two figures were standing beside the altar one a young man with his arm resting on the granite slab and his head bent as he talked with seeming earnestness to Bessie Wendover He turned as the crowd approached and Bessie introduced him to Miss Palliser My cousin Brian—my dearest friend Ida she said
She is desperately fond of the Abbey said Blanche so I hope she will like you Love me love my dog says the proverb so I suppose one might say Love my house love me
Ida stood silent amidst her loquacious friends looking at the stranger with a touch of wonder No this was not the image which she had pictured to herself Mr Wendover was very goodlooking—interesting even he had the kind of face which women call nice—a pale complexion dreamy gray eyes thin lips a wellshaped nose a fairly intellectual forehead But the Brian of her fancies was a man of firmer mould larger features a more resolute air an eye with more fire a brow marked by stronger lines For some unknown reason she had fancied the master of the Abbey like that Sir Tristram Wendover who had been so loyal a subject and so brave a soldier and before whose portrait she had so often lingered in dreamy contemplation
And you have really come all the way from Norway to be at Bessies picnic she faltered at last feeling that she was expected to say something
I would have come a longer distance for the sake of such a pleasant meeting he answered smiling at her
Bessie cried Blanche who had been grovelling on her knees before the gipsy fire the kettle will go off the boil if you dont make tea instantly If it were not your birthday I should make it myself
You may said Bessie although it is my birthday
She had walked a little way apart with Urania and they two were talking somewhat earnestly
Those girls seem to be plotting something said Reginald a charade for tonight perhaps Its sure to be stupid if Uranias in it
You mean that it will be too clever said Horatio
Yes that kind of cleverness which is the essence of stupidity
While Bessie and Miss Rylance conversed apart and all the younger Wendovers devoted their energies to the preparation of a tremendous meal Ida and Brian Wendover stood face to face upon the breezy hilltop the girl sorely embarrassed the young man gazing at her as if he had never seen anything so lovely in his life
I have heard so much about you from Bessie he said after a silence which seemed long to both Her letters for the last twelve months have been a perpetual paean—like one of the Homeric hymns with you for the heroine I had quite a dread of meeting you feeling that after having my expectations strung up to such a pitch I must be disappointed Nothing human could justify Bessies enthusiasm
Please dont talk about it Bessies one weak point is her affection for me I am very grateful I love her dearly but she does her best to make me ridiculous
I am beginning to think Bessie a very sensible girl said Brian longing to say much more so deeply was he impressed by this goddess in a holland gown with glorious eyes shining upon him under the shadow of a coarse straw hat
Have you come back to Hampshire for good asked Ida as they strolled towards Bessie and Urania
For good No I never stay long
What a pity that lovely old Abbey should be deserted
Yes it is rather a shame is it not But then no one could expect a young man to live there except in the hunting season—or for the sake of the shooting
Could anyone ever grow tired of such a place asked Ida
She was wondering at the young mans indifferent air as if that solemn abbey those romantic gardens were of no account to him She supposed that this was in the nature of things A man born lord of such an elysium would set little value upon his paradise Was it not Eves weariness of Eden which inclined her ear to the serpent
And now the banquet was spread upon the short smooth turf and everybody was ordered to sit down They made a merry circle with the teakettle in the centre piles of cake and bread and butter and jampots surrounding it Blanche and Horatio were the chief officiators and were tremendously busy ministering to the wants of others while they satisfied their own hunger and thirst hurriedly between whiles The damsel sat on the grass with a big crockery teapot in her lap while her brother watched and managed the kettle and ran to and fro with cups and saucers Bessie as the guest of honour was commanded to sit still and look on
Dreadfully babyish isnt it said Urania smiling with her superior air at Brian who had helped himself to a crust of homemade bread and a liberal supply of gooseberry jam
Uncommonly jolly he answered gaily I confess to a weakness for bread and jam I wish people always gave it at afternoon teas
Has it not a slight flavour of the nursery
Of course it has But a nursery picnic is ever so much better than a swell gardenparty and bread and jam is a great deal more wholesome than salmonmayonaise and Strasbourg pie You may despise me as much as you like Miss Rylance I came here determined to enjoy myself
That is the right spirit for a picnic said Ida People with grand ideas are not wanted
And I suppose in the evening you will join in the dumb charades and play hideandseek in the garden all among spiders and cockchafers
I will do anything I am told to do answered Brian cheerily But I think the season of the cockchafer is over
What has become of Dr Rylance asked Bessie looking about her as if she had only that moment missed him
I think he went back to the farm for his horse said Urania I suppose he found our juvenile sports rather depressing
Well he paid us a compliment in coming at all answered Bessie so we must forgive him for getting tired of us
The drive home was very merry albeit Bessie and her friend were to part next morning—Ida to go back to slavery They were both young enough to be able to enjoy the present hour even on the edge of darkness
Bessie clasped her friends hand as they sat side by side in the landau
You must come to us at Christmas she whispered I shall ask mother to invite you
Brian was full of talk and gaiety as they drove home through the dusk He was very different from that ideal Brian of Idas girlish fancy—the Brian who embodied all her favourite attributes and had all the finest qualities of the hero of romance But he was an agreeable wellbred young man bringing with him that knowledge of life and the active world which made his talk seem new and enlightening after the strictly local and domestic intellects of the good people with whom she had been living
With the family at The Knoll conversation had been bounded by Winchester on one side and Romsey on the other There was an agreeable freshness in the society of a young man who could talk of all that was newest in European art and literature and who knew how the world was being governed
But this fund of information was hinted at rather than expressed Tonight Mr Wendover seemed most inclined to mere nonsense talk—the lively nothings that please children Of himself and his Norwegian adventures he said hardly anything
I suppose when a man has travelled so much he gets to look upon strange countries as a matter of course speculated Ida If I had just come from Norway I should talk of nothing else
The dumbcharades and hideandseek were played but only by the lower orders as Bessie called her younger brothers and sisters
Ida strolled in the moonlit garden with Mr Wendover Bessie Urania and Mr Ratcliffe a very juvenile curate who was Bessies admirer and slave Urania had no particular admirer She felt that every one at Kingthorpe must needs behold her with mute worship but there was no one so audacious as to give expression to the feeling no one of sufficient importance to be favoured with her smiles She looked forward to her first season in London next year and then she would be called upon to make her selection
She is worldly to the tips of her fingers said Ida as she and Bessie talked apart from the others for a few minutes I wonder she does not try to captivate your cousin
What—Brian Oh he is not at all in her line He would not suit her a bit
But dont you think it would suit her to be mistress of the Abbey
Bessie gave a little start as if the idea were new
I dont think she has ever thought of him in that light she said
Dont you If she hasnt she is not the girl I think her
Oh I know she is very worldly but I dont think shes so bad as that
Not so bad as to be capable of marrying for money—no I suppose not said Ida thoughtfully
Im sure you would not darling said Bessie You talked about it once when you were feeling bitter but I know that in your heart of hearts you never meant it You are much too highminded
I am not a bit highminded All my highmindedness if I ever had any has been squeezed out of me by poverty My only idea is to escape from subjection and humiliation—a degrading bondage to vulgarminded people
But would the escape be worth having at the cost of your own degradation urged Bessie who felt particularly heroic this evening exalted by the moonlight the loveliness of the garden the thought of parting with her dearest friend Marry for love dearest Sacrifice everything in this world rather than be false to yourself
You dear little enthusiast I may never be asked to make any such sacrifice I have not much chance of suitors at Mauleverer as you know—and as for falling in love—
Oh you never know when the fatal moment may come How do you like
Brian
He is very gentlemanlike he seems very well informed
He is immensely clever answered Bessie almost offended at this languid praise he is a man who might succeed in any line he chose for himself Do you think him handsome
He is certainly nice looking
How cool you are I had set my heart upon your liking him
What could come of my liking asked Ida with a touch of bitterness Is there a portionless girl in all England who would not like the master of Wendover Abbey
But for his own sake urged Bessie with a vexed air surely he is worthy of being liked for his own sake without a thought of the Abbey
I cannot dissociate him from that lovely old house and gardens Indeed to my mind he rather belongs to the Abbey than the Abbey belongs to him You see I knew the Abbey first
Here they were interrupted by Brian and Urania and presently Ida found herself walking in the moonlight in a broad avenue of standard roses at the end of the garden with Mr Wendover by her side and the voices of the other three sounding ever so far away On the other side of a low quickset hedge stretched a wide expanse of level meadow land while in the farther distance rose the Wiltshire hills and nearer the heathy highlands of the New Forest The lamplit windows of Miss Wendovers cottage glimmered a little way off across gardens and meadows
And so you are really going to leave us tomorrow morning said Brian regretfully
By the eight oclock train from Winchester Tomorrow evening I shall be sitting on a form in a big bare classroom listening to the babble of a lot of girls pretending to learn their lessons
Are you fond of teaching
Just imagine to yourself the one occupation which is most odious to you and then you may know how fond I am of teaching and of schoolgirls and of schoollife altogether
It is very hard that you should have to pursue such an uncongenial career
It seems so to me but perhaps that is my selfishness I suppose half the people in this world have to live by work they hate
Allowing for the number of people to whom all kind of work is hateful I dare say you are right But I think in a general way congenial work means successful work No man hates the profession that brings him fame and money but the doctor without patients the briefless barrister can hardly love law or medicine
He beguiled Ida into talking of her own life with all its bitterness There was something in his voice and manner which tempted her to confide in him He seemed thoroughly sympathetic
I keep forgetting what strangers we are she said apologizing for her unreserve
We are not strangers I have heard of you from Bessie so much that I seem to have known you for years I hope you will never think of me as a stranger
I dont think I ever can after this conversation I am afraid you will think me horribly egotistical
She had been talking of her father and stepmother the little brother she loved so fondly dwelling with delight upon his perfections
I think you all that is good and noble How I wish this were not your last evening at the Knoll
Do you think I do not wish it Hark theres Bessie calling us
They went back to the house and to the drawingroom which wore quite a festive appearance in honour of Bessies birthday ever so many extra candles dotted about and a table laid with fruit and sandwiches cake and claretcup the children evidently considering a superfluity of meals indispensable to a happy birthday Blanche and her juniors were sitting about the room in the last stage of exhaustion after hideandseek
This has been a capital birthday said Horatio wiping the perspiration from his brow and then filling for himself a bumper of claretcup and now we are going to dance Blanche give us the Faust Waltz and go on playing till we tell you to leave off
Blanche considerably blown and with her hair like a mop sat down and began to touch the piano with resolute fingers and forcible rhythm ONE two three ONE two three The boys pushed the furniture into the corners Brian offered himself to Ida Bessie insisted upon surrendering the curate to Urania and took one of her brothers for a partner and the three couples went gliding round the pretty old room the cool night breezes blowing in upon them from wideopen windows
They danced and played and sang and talked till midnight chimed from the old eightday clock in the hall—a sound which struck almost as much consternation to Bessies soul as if she had been Cinderella at the royal ball
TWELVE OCLOCK and the little ones all up she exclaimed looking round the circle of towzled heads with remorseful eyes What would mother say And she told me she relied on my discretion Go to bed every one of you this instant
Oh come now remonstrated Blanche theres no use in hustling us off like that after letting us sit up hours after our proper time Im going to have another sandwich and theres not a bit of good in leaving all those raspberry tarts The servants wont thank us They have as many jam tarts as they like
You greedy little wretches you have been doing nothing but eat all day said Ida When I am back at Mauleverer I shall remember you only as machines for the consumption of pudding and jam Obey your grownup sister and go to bed directly
Grown up indeed How long has she been grown up I should like to know exclaimed Blanche vindictively Shes only an inch and a quarter taller than me and shes a mere dumpling compared with Horry
The lower orders were got rid of somehow—driven to their quarters as it were at the point of the bayonet and then the grownups bade each other goodnight the curate escorting Miss Rylance to her home and Brian going up to the top floor to a bachelors room
Who is going to drive Miss Palliser to the station he asked as they stood candlestick in hand at the foot of the stairs
I am of course answered Reginald Robin will spin us over the hills in no time Ive ordered the car for seven sharp
There was very little sleep for either Bessie or her guest that night Both girls were excited by memories of the day that was past and by thoughts of the day that was coming Ida was brooding a little upon her disappointment in Brian Wendover He had very pleasant manners he seemed softhearted and sympathetic he was very goodlooking—but he was not the Brian of her dreams That ideal personage had never existed outside her imagination It was a shock to her girlish fancy There was a sense of loss in her mind
I must be very silly she told herself to make a fancy picture of a person and to be vexed with him because he does not resemble my portrait
She was disappointed and yet she was interested in this new acquaintance He was the first really interesting young man she had ever met and he was evidently interested in her And then she pictured him at the Abbey in the splendid solitude of those fine old rooms leading the calm studious life which Bessie had talked of—an altogether enviable life Ida thought
Mr Wendover was in the diningroom at halfpast six when the two girls went down to breakfast All the others came trooping down a few minutes afterwards Reginald got up to the last degree of fourinhandishness which the resources of his wardrobe allowed and with a flower in his buttonhole There was a loud cry for eggs and bacon kippered herrings marmalade Yorkshire cakes but neither Ida nor Bessie could eat
Do have a good breakfast pleaded Blanche affectionately you will be having bread and scrape tomorrow We have got a nice hamper for you with a cake and a lot of jam puffs and things but those will only last a short time
You dear child I wouldnt mind the bread and scrape if there were only a little love to flavour it answered Ida softly
The jauntingcar came to the door as the clock struck seven Idas luggage was securely bestowed then after a perfect convulsion of kissing she was banded to her place Reginald jumped into his seat and took the reins and Brian seated himself beside Ida
You are not going with them exclaimed Bessie
Yes I am to see that Miss Palliser is not spilt on the hills
What rot cried Reginald I should be rather sorry for myself if I were not able to manage Robin
This is a new development in you who are generally the laziest of living creatures said Bessie to Brian and before he could reply Robin was bounding cheerily through the village making very little account of the jauntingcar and its occupants Urania was at her garden gate fresh and elegantlooking in pale blue cambric She smiled at Ida and waved her a most gracious farewell
I dont think I ever saw Miss Rylance look so amiable said Ida She does not often favour me with her smiles
Are you enemies asked Brian
Not open foes we have always maintained an armed neutrality I dont like her and she doesnt like me and we both know it But perhaps I ought not to be so candid She may be a favourite of yours
She might be but she is not She is very elegant very ladylike—according to her own lights—very viperish
It was a lovely drive in the crisp clear air across the breezy hills Ida could not help enjoying the freshness of morning the beauty of earth albeit she was going from comfort to discomfort from love to cold indifference or open enmity
How I delight in this landscape she exclaimed Is it not ever so much better than Norway appealing to Brian
It is a milder smaller kind of beauty he answered Would you not like to see Norway
I would like to see all that is lovely on earth yet I think I could be content to spend a lifetime here This must seem strange to you who grow weary of that beautiful Abbey
It is not of his house but of himself that a man grows weary answered Brian
Robin was in a vivacious humour and rattled the car across the hills at a good pace They had a quarter of an hour to wait at the busy little station Brian and Ida walked up and down the platform talking while Reginald looked after the pony and the luggage They found so much to say to each other that the train seemed to come too soon
They bade each other goodbye with a tender look on Brians part a blush on Idas Reginald had to push his cousin away from the carriage window in order to get a word with the departing guest
We shall all miss you awfully he said but mind you must come back at Christmas
I shall be only too glad if Mrs Wendover will have me Goodbye
The train moved slowly forward and she was gone
Isnt she a stunner asked Reginald of his cousin as they stood on the platform looking at each other blankly
She is the handsomest girl I ever saw and out and away the nicest answered Brian
CHAPTER VII
IN THE RIVERMEADOW
The old hackneyed round of daily life at Mauleverer Manor seemed just a little worse to Ida Palliser after that happy break of six weeks pure and perfect enjoyment Miss Pew was no less exacting than of old Miss Pillby for whose orphaned and friendless existence there had been no such thing as a holiday and who had spent the vacation at Mauleverer diligently employed in mending the houselinen resented Idas visit to The Knoll as if it were a personal injury and vented her envy in sneers and innuendoes of the coarsest character
If I were to spoon upon one of the rich pupils I dare say I could get invited out for the holidays she said à propos to nothing particular but I am thankful to say I am above such meanness
I never laid myself under an obligation I didnt feel myself able to return said Miss Motley the English governess who had spent her holidays amidst the rank and fashion of Margate When I go to the seaside with my sister and her family I pay my own expenses and I feel Ive a right to be made comfortable
Miss Pillby who had flattered and toadied every welltodo pupil and laboured desperately to wind herself into the affections of Bessie Wendover that warmhearted young person seeming particularly accessible to flattery felt herself absolutely injured by the kindness that had been lavished upon Ida She drank in with greedy ears Miss Pallisers description of The Knoll and its occupants—the picnics carpetdances afternoon teas and the thought that all these enjoyments and festivities the good things to eat and drink the pleasant society ought to have been hers instead of Idas was wormwood
When I think of my kindness to Bessie Wendover she said to Miss Motley in the confidence of that one quiet hour which belonged to the mistresses after the pupils curfewbell had rung youth and hope and gaiety into retirement when I think of the mustard poultices I have put upon her chest and the bronchial troches I have given her when she had the slightest touch of cold or cough I am positively appalled at the ingratitude of the human race
I dont think she likes bronchial troches said Miss Motley a very matteroffact young person who saved money wore thick boots and was never unprovided with an umbrella I have seen her throw them away directly after you gave them to her
She ought to have liked them exclaimed Miss Pillby sternly They are very expensive
No doubt she appreciated your kindness said Miss Motley absently being just then absorbed in an abstruse calculation as to how many yards of merino would be required for her winter gown
No she did not said Miss Pillby If she had been grateful she would have invited me to her home I should not have gone but the act would have given me a higher idea of her character
Well she is gone and we neednt trouble ourselves any more about her retorted Miss Motley who hated to be plagued about abstract questions being a young woman of an essentially concrete nature born to consume and digest three meals a day and having no views that go beyond that function
Miss Pillby sighed at finding herself in communion with so coarse a nature
I dont easily get over a blow of that sort she said I am too tenderhearted
So you are acquiesced Miss Motley It doesnt pay in a big boardingschool however it may answer in private families
Ida having lost her chief friend and companion Bessie Wendover found life at Mauleverer Manor passing lonely She even missed the excitement of her little skirmishes her passagesatarms with Urania Rylance in which she had generally got the best of the argument There had been life and emotion in these touchandgo speeches covert sneers quick retorts innuendoes met and flung back in the very face of the sneerer Now there was nothing but dull dead monotony Many of the old pupils had departed and many new pupils had come daughters of welltodo parents prosperous welldressed talking largely of the gaieties enjoyed by their elder sisters of the wonderful things done by their brothers at Oxford or Cambridge and of the grand things which were to happen two or three years hence when they themselves should be out Ida took no interest in their prattle It was so apt to sting her with the reminder of her own poverty the life of drudgery and dependence that was to be her portion till the end of her days She did not in the Mauleverer phraseology take to the new girls She left them to be courted by Miss Pillby and petted by Miss Dulcibella She felt as lonely as one who has outlived her generation
Happily the younger girls in the class which she taught were fond of her and when she wanted company she let these juveniles cluster round her in her garden rambles but in a general way she preferred loneliness and to work at the cracked old piano in the room where she slept Beethoven and Chopin Mozart and Mendelssohn were companions of whom she never grew weary
So the slow days wore on till nearly the end of the month and on one cool misty afternoon when the river flowed sluggishly under a dull grey sky she walked alone along that allotted extent of the riverside path which the mistresses and pupilteachers were allowed to promenade without surveillance This river walk skirted a meadow which was in Miss Pews occupation and ranked as a part of the Mauleverer grounds although it was divided by the high road from the garden proper
A green paling and a little green gate always padlocked secured this meadow from intrusion on the roadside but it was open to the river To be entrusted with the key of this pastoral retreat was a privilege only accorded to governesses and pupilteachers
It was supposed by Miss Pew that no young person in her employment would be capable of walking quite alone where it was within the range of possibility that her solitude might be intruded upon by an unknown member of the opposite sex She trusted as she said afterwards in the refined feeling of any person brought into association with her and until rudely awakened by facts she never would have stooped from the lofty pinnacle of her own purity to suspect the evil consequences which arose from the liberty too generously accorded to her dependents
Ida detested Miss Pillby and despised Miss Motley and the greatest relief she knew to the dismal monotony of her days was a lonely walk by the river with a shabby Wordsworth or a battered little volume of Shelleys minor poems for her companions She possessed so few books that it was only natural for her to read those she had until love ripened with familiarity
On this autumnal afternoon she walked with slow steps while the river went murmuring by and now and then a boat drifted lazily down the stream The boating season was over for the most part—the season of picnics and beanfeasts and Cockney holidaymaking and noisy revelry smart young women young men in white flannels with bare arms and sunburnt noses It was the dull blank time when everybody who could afford to wander far from this suburban paradise was away upon his and her travels Only parsons doctors schoolmistresses and poverty stayed at home Yet now and then a youth in boating costume glided by his shoulders bending slowly to the lazy dip of his oars his keel now and then making a rushing sound among long trailing weeds
Such a youth presently came creeping along the bank almost at Idas feet but passed her unseen Her heavy lids were drooping her eyes intent upon the familiar page The young man looked up at her with keen gray eyes recognised her and pushed his boat in among the rushes by the bank moored it to a pollard willow and with light footstep leaped on shore
He landed a few yards in the rear of Idas slowly moving figure followed softly came close behind her and read aloud across her shoulder
There was a Power in this sweet place
An Eve in this garden a ruling grace
Which to the flowers did they waken or dream
Was as God is to the starry scheme
Ida looked round first indignant then laughing
How you startled me she exclaimed I thought you were some horrid impertinent stranger and yet the voice had a familiar sound How are they all at The Knoll It is nearly a fortnight since Bessie wrote to me If she only knew how I hunger for her letters
Very sweet of you answered Mr Wendover holding the girls hand with a lingering pressure releasing it reluctantly when her rising colour told him it would be insolent to keep it longer
How those large dark eyes beamed with pleasure at seeing him Was it for his own sake or for love of her friends at Kingthorpe The smile was perhaps too frank to be flattering
Very sweet of you to care so much for Bessies girlish epistles he said lazily they are full of affection but the style of composition always recalls our dear Mrs Nickleby Aunt Betsy was asking after you the other day and that reminds me that the last litter of black Hampshires was sixteen—the largest number father ever remembers having The vicar and his wife are coming to dinner on Tuesday and do tell me if this new picture that everybody is talking about is really better than the Derby Day and that sort of thing Not a very consecutive style dont you know
Every word is interesting to me said Ida with a look that told him she was not one of those young ladies who enjoy a little goodnatured ridicule of their nearest and dearest Is it long since you left Kingthorpe
Not fourandtwenty hours I promised Bessie that my very first occupation on coming to London should be to make my way down here to see you in order that I may tell her faithfully and truly whether you are well and happy She has a lurking conviction that you are unable to live without her that you will incontinently go into a galloping consumption and keep the fact concealed from all your friends until they receive a telegram summoning them to your deathbed I know that is the picture Bessies sentimental fancies have depicted
I did not think Bessie was so morbid said Ida laughing No I am not one of those whom the gods love I am made of very tough material or I should hardly have lived till now I see before me a perspective of lonely loveless old age—finishing in a governess almshouse I hope there are almshouses for governesses
Nobody will pity your loneliness or lovelessness retorted Brian for they will both be your own fault
She blushed looking dreamily across the darkgray river to the level shores beyond—the low meadows—gentle hills in the background—the wooded slopes of Weybridge and Chertsey If this speaker whose voice dropped to so tender a tone had been like the Brian of her imaginings—if he had looked at her with the dark eyes of Sir Tristrams picture how differently his speech would have affected her As it was she listened with airy indifference only blushing girlishly at his compliment and wondering a little if he really admired her—he the owner of that glorious old Abbey—the wealthy head of the house of Wendover—the golden fish for whom so many pretty fishers must have angled in days gone by
Did you stay at The Knoll all the time she inquired her thoughts having flown back to Kingthorpe or at the Abbey
At The Knoll It is ever so much livelier and my cousins like to have me with them
Naturally But I wonder you did not prefer living in that lovely old house of yours To occupy it must seem like living in the Middle Ages
Uncommonly One is twelve miles from a station and four from postoffice butcher and baker Very like the Middle Ages There is no gas even in the offices and there are as many rats behind the wainscot as there were Israelites in Egypt All the rooms are draughty and some are damp No servant who has not been born and bred on the estate will stay more than six months There is a deficient water supply in dry summers and there are three distinct ghosts all the year round Extremely like the Middle Ages
I would not mind ghosts rats anything if it were my house exclaimed
Ida enthusiastically The house is a poem
Perhaps but it is not a house in the modern sense of the word that is to say which implies comfort and convenience
Ida sighed deeply disgusted at this want of appreciation of the romantic spot where she had dreamed away more than one happy summer noontide while the Wendover children played hideandseek in the overgrown old shrubberies
No doubt life was always thus The people to whom blind fortune gave such blessings were unable to appreciate them and only the hungry outsiders could imagine the delight of possession
Are you living in London now she asked as Mr Wendover lingered at her side and seemed to expect the conversation to be continued indefinitely
His boat was safe enough moving gently up and down among the rushes with the gentle flow of the tide Ida looked at it longingly thinking how sweet it would be to step into it and let it carry her—any whither so long as it was away from Mauleverer Manor
Yes I am in London for the present
But not for long I suppose
I hardly know I have no plans I wont say with Romeo that I am fortunes fool—but I am fortunes shuttlecock and I suppose that means pretty much the same
It was very kind of you to come to see me said Ida
Kind to myself for in coming I indulged the dearest wish of my soul said the young man looking at her with eyes whose meaning even her inexperience could not misread
Please dont pay me compliments she said hastily or I shall feel very sorry you came And now I must hurry back to the house—the teabell will ring in a few minutes Please tell Bessie I am very well and only longing for one of her dear letters Goodbye
She made him a little curtsey and would have gone without shaking hands but he caught her hand and detained her in spite of herself
Dont be angry he pleaded dont look at me with such cold proud eyes Is it an offence to admire to love you too quickly If it is I have sinned deeply and am past hope of pardon Must one serve an apprenticeship to mere formal acquaintance first then rise step by step to privileged friendship before one dares to utter the sweet word love Remember at least that I am your dearest friends first cousin and ought not to appear to you as a stranger
I can remember nothing when you talk so wildly said Ida crimson to the roots of her hair Never before had a young lover talked to her of love Pray let me go Miss Pew will be angry if I am not at tea
To think that such a creature as you should be under the control of any such harpy exclaimed Brian Well if I must go at least tell me I am forgiven and that I may exist upon the hope of seeing you again I suppose if I were to come to the halldoor and send in my card I should not be allowed to see you
Certainly not Not if you were my own cousin instead of Bessies
Goodbye
Then I shall happen to be going by in my boat every afternoon for the next month or so There is a dear good soul at the lock who lets lodgings I shall take up my abode there
Please never land on this pathway again said Ida earnestly Miss Pew would be horribly angry if she heard I had spoken to you And now I must go
She withdrew her hand from his grasp and ran off across the meadow lightfooted as Atalanta Her heart was beating wildly beating furiously when she flew up to her room to take off her hat and jacket and smooth her disordered hair Never before had any man except middleaged Dr Rylance talked to her of love and that this man of all others this man sole master of the old mansion she so intensely admired her friends kinsman owner of a good old Saxon name this man who could lift her in a moment from poverty to wealth from obscurity to place and station that this man should look at her with admiring eyes and breathe impassioned words into her ear was enough to set her heart beating tumultuously to bring hot blushes to her cheeks It was too wild a dream
True that for the man himself considered apart from his belongings his name and race she cared not at all But just now in this tumult of excited feeling she was disposed to confuse the man with his surroundings—to think of him not as that young man with gray eyes and thin lips who had walked with her at The Knoll who had stood beside her just now by the river but as the living embodiment of fortune pride delight
Perhaps the vision really dominant in her mind was the thought of Herself as mistress of the Abbey herself as living for ever among the people she loved amidst those breezy Hampshire hills in the odour of pinewoods—rich important honoured and beloved doing good to all who came within the limit of her life Yes that was a glorious vision and its reflected light shone upon Brian Wendover and in somewise glorified him
She went down to tea with such a triumphant light in her eyes that the smaller pupils who sat at her end of the table so as to be under her surveillance during the meal exclaimed at her beauty
What a colour youve got Miss Palliser said Lucy Dobbs and how your eyes sparkle You look as if youd just had a hamper
Im not quite so greedy as you Lucy retorted Ida I dont think a hamper would make my eyes sparkle even if there were anybody to send me one
But there is somebody to send you one argued Lucy with her mouth full of bread and butter your father isnt dead
No
Then he might send you a hamper
He might if he lived within easy reach of Mauleverer Manor replied
Ida but as he lives in France—
He could send a postoffice order to a confectioner in London and the confectioner would send you a big box of cakes and marmalade and jam and mixed biscuits and preserved ginger said Lucy her cheeks glowing with the rapture of her theme That is what my mamma and papa did when they were in Switzerland on my birthday I never had such a hamper as that one I was ill for a week afterwards
And I suppose you were very glad your mother and father were away said
Ida while the other children laughed in chorus
It was a splendid hamper said Lucy stolidly I shall never forget it So you see your father might send you a hamper she went on for the sake of argument though he is in France
Certainly said Ida if I were not too old to care about cakes and jam
We are not too old persisted Lucy you might share them among us
Idas heart had not stilled its stormy vehemence yet She talked lightly to her young companions and tried to eat a little bread and butter but that insipid fare almost choked her Her mind was overcharged with thought and wonder
Could he have meant all or half he said just now—this young man with the delicate features pale complexion and thin lips He had seemed intensely earnest Those gray eyes of his somewhat too pale of hue for absolutely beauty had glowed with a fire which even Idas inexperience recognised as something above and beyond common feeling His hand had trembled as it clasped hers Could there be such a thing as love at first sight and was she destined to be the object of that romantic passion She had read of the triumphs of beauty and she knew that she was handsome She had been told the fact in too many ways—by praise sometimes but much more often by envy—to remain unconscious of her charms She was scornful of her beauty inclined to undervalue the gift as compared with the blessings of other girls—a prosperous home the worlds respect the means to gratify the natural yearnings of youth—but she knew that she was beautiful And now it seemed to her all at once that beauty was a much more valuable gift than she had supposed hitherto—indeed a kind of talisman or Aladdins lamp which could win for her all she wanted in this world—Wendover Abbey and the position of a country squires wife It was not a dazzling or giddy height to which to aspire but to Ida just now it seemed the topmost pinnacle of social success
Oh what a wretch I am she said to herself presently what a despicable mercenary creature I dont care a straw for this man and yet I am already thinking of myself as his wife
And then remembering how she had once openly declared her intention of marrying for money she shrugged her shoulders disdainfully
Ought I to hesitate when the chance comes to me she thought I always meant to marry for money if ever such wonderful fortune as a rich husband fell in my way
And yet she had refused Dr Rylances offer without a moments hesitation Was it really as he had said in the bitterness of his wrath because the offer was not good enough the temptation not large enough No she told herself she had rejected the smug physician with his West End mansion and dainty Hampshire villa his courtly manners his perfect dress because the man himself was obnoxious to her Now she did not dislike Brian Wendover—indeed she was rather inclined to like him She was only just a little disappointed that he was not the ideal Brian of her dreams The darkbrowed cavalier with grave forehead and eagle eyes She had a vague recollection of having once heard Blanche say that her cousin Brian of the Abbey was like Sir Tristrams portrait but this must have been a misapprehension upon her part since no two faces could have differed more than the pale delicatefeatured countenance of the living man and the dark rugged face in the picture
She quieted the trouble of her thoughts as well as she could before tea was over and the evening task of preparation—the gulfs and straits the predicates and noun sentences rule of three common denominators and all the dryasdust machinery was set in motion again
Helping her pupils through their difficulties battling with their stupidities employed her too closely for any daydreams of her own But when prayers had been read and the school had dispersed and the butterflyroom was hushed into the silence of midnight Ida Palliser lay broad awake wondering at what Fate was doing for her
To think that perhaps I am going to be rich after all—honoured looked up to able to help those I love she thought thrilling at the splendour of her visions
Ah if this thing were verily to come to pass how kind how good she would be to others She would have them all at the Abbey—the shabby old halfpay father shabby no longer in those glorious days the vulgar little stepmother improved into elegance the fiveyear old brother that loveliest and dearest of created beings How lovely to see him rioting in the luxuriance of those dear old gardens rolling on that velvet sward racing his favourite dogs round and round the grand old cedars What a pony he should ride His daily raiment should be Genoa velvet and old point lace He should be the admiration and delight of half the county And Bessie—how kind she could be to Bessie repaying in some small measure that which never could be fully repaid—the kindness shown by the prosperous girl to the poor dependent And above all—vision sweeter even than the thought of doing good—how she would trample on Urania Rylance—how the serpentine coils of that damsels malice and pride could be trodden under foot Not a ball not a dinner not a gardenparty given at the Abbey that would not be a thorn in Uranias side a nail in Uranias coffin
So ran her fancies—in a very fever—all through the troubled night but when the first streak of the autumn dawn glimmered coldly in the east dismal presage of the discordant dressingbell then she turned upon her pillow with a weary sigh and muttered to herself—
After all I daresay Mr Wendover is only fooling me Perhaps it is his habit to make love to every decentlooking girl he meets
The next day Ida walked on the same riverside path but this time not alone Her natural modesty shrank from the possibility of a second têteàtête with her admirer and she stooped from her solitary state to ask Fräulein Wolf to accompany her in her afternoon walk
Fräulein was delighted honoured even by the request She was a wishywashy person sentimental vapourish altogether feeble and she intensely admired Ida Pallisers vigorous young beauty
The day was bright and sunny the air deliciously mild the river simply divine The two young women paced the path slowly talking of German poetry The Fräulein knew her Schiller by heart having expounded him daily for the last four years and she fondly believed that after Shakespeare Schiller was the greatest poet who had ever trodden this globe
And if God had spared him for twenty more years who knows if he would not have been greater than Shakespeare inquired the Fräulein blandly
She talked of Schillers idea of friendship as represented by the
Marquis of Posa
Ah sighed Ida I doubt if there is any such friendship as that out of a book
I could be like the marquis said the Fräulein smiling tenderly Oh Ida you dont know what I would do for anyone I loved—for a dear and valued friend like you for instance if you would only let me love you but you have always held me at arms length
I did not mean to do so answered Ida frankly but perhaps I am not particularly warmhearted It is not in my nature to have many friends I was very fond of Bessie Wendover but then she is such a dear clinging thing like a chubby child that puts its fat arms round your neck—an irresistible creature She made me love her in spite of myself
Why cannot I make you love me asked the fair Gertrude with a languishing look
Ida could have alleged several reasons but they would have been unflattering so she only said feebly—
Oh I really like you very much and I enjoy talking about German literature with you Tell me more about Schiller—you know his poetry so well—and Jean Paul I never can quite understand the German idolatry of him He is too much in the clouds for me
Too philosophic you mean said Fräulein I love philosophy
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet it helps not it avails not said a manly voice from the river close by and Brian Wendover shot his boat in against the bank and leapt up from among the rushes like a rivergod
Miss Palliser blushed crimson but it hardly needed her blushes to convince Fräulein Wolf that this young stranger was a lover Her sentimental soul thrilled at the idea of having plunged into the very midst of an intrigue
Idas heart throbbed heavily not so much with emotion at beholding her admirer as at the recollection of her visions last night She tried to look calm and indifferent
How do you do she said shaking hands with him Mr Wendover—Miss
Wolf our German mistress
The Fräulein blushed sniggered and curtseyed
This gentleman is Bessie Wendovers first cousin Fräulein said Ida with an explanatory air He was staying at The Knoll during the last part of my visit
Yes and you saw much of each other and you became heartfriends gushed Miss Wolf beaming benevolently at Brian with her pale green orbs
Brian answered in very fair German sinking his voice a little so as only to be heard by the Fräulein who was in raptures with this young stranger So goodlooking so elegant and speaking Hanoverian German He told her that he had seen only too little of Ida at The Knoll but enough to know that she was his Schicksal and then he took the Fräuleins hand and pressed it gently
I know you are our friend he said
Bis den Tod gasped Gertrude
After this no one felt any more restraint The Fräulein dropped into her place of confidante as easily as possible
What brings you here again this afternoon Mr Wendover asked Ida trying to sustain the idea of being unconcerned in the matter
My loadstar the same that drew me here yesterday and will draw me here tomorrow
You had better not come here any more you have no idea what a terrible person Miss Pew is These riverside fields are her own particular property Didnt you see the board Trespassers will be prosecuted
Let her prosecute If her wrath were deadly I would risk it You know what Romeo says—
Wert thou as far
As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea
I would adventure for such merchandize
And shall I be afraid of Miss Pew when the path to my paradise lies so near
Please dont talk such nonsense pleaded Ida Fräulein will think you a very absurd person
But Miss Wolf protested that she would think nothing of the sort
Sentiment of that kind was her idea of common sense
I am established at Penton Hook said Brian I live on the water and my only thought in life is to be near you I shall know every stump of willow—every bulrush before I am a month older
But surely you are not going to stay at Penton Hook for a month exclaimed Ida buried alive in that little lockhouse
I shall have my daily resurrection when I see you
But you cannot imagine that I shall walk upon this path every afternoon in order that you may land and talk nonsense protested Ida
I only imagine that this path is your daily walk and that you would not be so heartless as to change your habits in order to deprive me of the sunshine of your presence replied Brian gazing at her tenderly as if Miss Wolf counted for nothing and they two were standing alone among the reeds and willows
You will simply make this walk impossible for me It is quite out of the question that I should come here again so long as you are likely to be lying in wait for me Is it not so Fräulein You know Miss Pews way of thinking and how she would regard such conduct
Fräulein shook her head dolefully and admitted that in Miss Pews social code such a derogation from maiden dignity would be in a manner death—an offence beyond all hope of pardon
Hang Miss Pew exclaimed Brian If Miss Pew were Minerva with all the weight and influence of her father the Thunderer to back her up I would defy her Confess now dear Fräulein—liebste Fräulein—how tender his accents sounded in German—you do not think it wrong for me to see the lady of my love for a few alltoohappy moments once a day
The Fräulein declared that it was the most natural thing in the world for them thus to meet and that she for her part would be enchanted to play propriety and to be her dearest Idas companion on all such occasions nor would thumbscrew or rack extort from her the secret of their loves
Nonsense exclaimed Ida in future I shall always walk in the kitchen garden the walls are ten feet high and unless you had a horse that could fly like Perseus you would never be able to get at me
I will get a flying horse answered Brian Dont defy me Remember there are things that have been heard of before now in lovestories called ladders
After this their conversation became as light and airy as that dandelion seed which every breath of summer blows across the land They were all three young happy in health and hope despite of fortune Ida began to think that Brian Wendover if in nowise resembling her ideal was a very agreeable young man He was full of life and spirits he spoke German admirably He had the Fräuleins idolized Schiller on the tip of his tongue He quoted Heines tenderest love songs Altogether his society was much more intellectual and more agreeable than any to be had at Mauleverer Manor Miss Wolf parted from him reluctantly and thought that Ida was unreasonably urgent when she insisted on leaving him at the end of half an hours dawdling walk up and down the river path
Ach how he is handsome how he is clever What for a man exclaimed Miss Wolf as they went back to the Manor grounds across the dusty highroad the mere passage over which had a faint flavour of excitement as a momentary escape into the outside world How proud you must be of his devotion to you
Indeed I am not answered Ida frankly I only wonder at it We have seen so little of each other we have known each other so short a time
I dont think time counts for lovers argued the romantic Gertrude One sees a face which is ones fate and only wonders how one can have lived until that moment since life must have been so empty without him
Have you done that sort of thing often asked Ida with rather a cynical air You talk as if it were a common experience of yours
Fräulein Wolf blushed and simpered
There was one she murmured when I was very young He was to me as a bright particular star His father kept a shop but oh his soul would have harmonized with the loftiest rank in the land He was in the Landwehr If you had seen him in his uniform—ach Himmel He went away to the FrancoPrussian war I wept for him I thought of him as Leonora of her Wilhelm He came back Ach
Was he a ghost Did he carry you off to the churchyard
Neither to churchyard nor church sighed Gertrude He was false He married his fathers cook—a fat rosycheeked Swabian All that was delicate and refined in his nature every poetical yearning of his soul had been trampled out of him in that hellish war
I dare say he was hungry after a prolonged existence upon wurst said
Ida and that instinct drew him to the cookmaid
After this there came many afternoons on which the Fräulein and Ida walked in the meadow path by the river and walk there when they would the light wherry always came glancing along the tide and shot in among the reeds and Miss Pallisers faithful swain was in attendance upon her On doubtful afternoons when Ida was inclined to stay indoors the sentimental Fräulein was always at her side to urge her to take the accustomed walk Not only was Mr Wendovers society agreeable to her poetic soul but he occasionally brought some tender offering in the shape of hothouse grapes or Jersey pears which were still more welcome to the fair German
The governesses Miss Motley Miss Pillby and Mademoiselle were always on duty on fine afternoons in attendance upon the pupils regulation walks—long dusty perambulations of dull high roads and thus it happened that Ida and the Fräulein had the meadow path to themselves
Nothing occurred during the space of a fortnight to disturb their sense of security The riverside seemed a kind of Paradise without the possibility of a serpent Idas lover had not yet made her any categorical and formal offer of marriage Indeed he had never been one minute alone with her since their first meeting but he talked as if it was a settled thing that they two were to be man and wife in the days to come He did not speak as if their marriage were an event in the near future and at this Ida wondered a little seeing that the owner of Wendover Abbey could have no need to wait for a wife—to consider ways and means—and to be prudently patient as struggling professional youth must be This was curious for that he loved her passionately there could be little doubt Every look every tone told her as much a hundred times in an hour Nor did she make any protest when he spoke of her as one pledged to him though no formal covenant had been entered upon She allowed him to talk as he pleased about their future and her only wonder was that in all his conversation he spoke so little of the house in which he was born and indeed of his belongings generally
Once she expatiated to Fräulein Wolf in Brians presence upon the picturesque beauties of the Abbey
It is the dearest noblest old house you can conceive she said and the old old gardens and park are something too lovely but I believe Mr Wendover does not care a straw about the place
You know what comes of familiarity answered Brian carelessly I have seen too much of the Abbey to be moved to rapture by its Gothic charms every time I see it after the agony of separation
But you would like to live there
I would infinitely prefer living anywhere else The place is too remote from civilization A spot one might enjoy perhaps on the downhill side of sixty but in youth or active middle age every sensible man should shun seclusion A man has to fight against an inherent tendency to lapse into a vegetable
Fox did not become a vegetable said Ida yet how he adored St Anns
Hill
Fox was a hard drinker and a fast liver answered Brian If he had not let the clock run down now and then the works would have worn out sooner than they did
But do you never feel the need of rest asked Ida
Brian stifled a yawn
No Im afraid I have never worked hard enough for that The need will come perhaps later—when the work comes
On more than one occasion when Ida talked of the Abbey Mr Wendover replied in the same tone It was evident that he was indifferent to the family seat or that he even disliked it He had no pride in surroundings which might have inspired another man
One would think you had been frightened by the family ghost Ida said laughingly you so studiously avoid talking about the Abbey
I have not been frightened by the ghost—I am too modern to believe in ghosts
Oh but it is modern to believe in everything impossible—spiritrapping thoughtreading
Perhaps but I am not of that temper And then with a graver look than
Ida had ever seen in his face he said You are full of enthusiasm about
that old place among the hills Ida I hope you do not care more for the
Abbey than for me
She crimsoned and looked down The question touched her weakness too nearly
Oh no she faltered what are cedars and limestone as compared with humanity
And if I were without the Abbey—if the Abbey and I were nothing to each other—should I be nobody in your sight
It is difficult to dissociate a man from his surroundings she answered but I suppose you would be just the same person
I hope so said Brian The rank is but the guinea stamp the mans a man for a that But the guinea stamp is an uncommonly good thing in its way I admit
These afternoon promenades between four and five oclock while the rest of the school was out walking had been going on for a fortnight and no harm to Ida had come of her indiscretion Perhaps she hardly considered how wrong a thing she was doing in violating Miss Pews confidence by conduct so entirely averse from Miss Pews ideas of good behaviour The confidence had been so grudgingly given Miss Pew had been so systematically unkind that the girl may be forgiven for detesting her nay even for glorying in the notion of acting in a manner which would shock all Miss Pews dearest prejudices Her meeting with her lover could scarcely be called clandestine for she took very little pains to conceal the fact If the affair had gone on secretly for so long it was because of no artifice on her part
But that any act of any member of the Mauleverer household could remain long unknown was almost an impossibility If there had been but one pair of eyes in the establishment and those the eyes of Miss Pillby the thing would have been discovered for those pale unlovely orbs were as the eyes of Argus himself in their manifold power to spy out the proceedings of other people—more especially of any person whom their owner disliked
Now Miss Pillby had never loved Ida Palliser objecting to her on broad grounds as a person whose beauty and talents were an indirect injury to mediocre people Since Idas visit to The Knoll her angry feeling had intensified with every mention of the pleasures and comforts of that abode Miss Pillby who never opened a book for her own pleasure who cared nothing for music and whose highest notion of art was all blacklead pencil and breadcrumbs had plenty of vacant space in her mind for other peoples business She was a sharp observer of the fiddlefaddle of daily life she had a keen scent for evil motives underlying simple actions Thus when she perceived the intimacy which had newly arisen between the Fräulein and Miss Palliser she told herself that there must be some occult reason for the fact Why did those two always walk together What hidden charm had they discovered in the rivermeadow
For this question looked at from Miss Pillbys point of view there could be only one answer The attraction was masculine One or other of the damsels must have an admirer whom she contrived to see somehow or to correspond with somehow during her meadow walk That the thing had gone so far as it really had gone that any young lady at Mauleverer could dare to walk and talk with an unlicensed man in the broad light of day was more than Miss Pillbys imagination could conceive But she speculated upon some transient glimpse of a man on the opposite bank or in the middle distance of the river—a handkerchief waved a signal given perhaps a loveletter hidden in a hollow tree This was about the culminating point to which any intrigue at Mauleverer had ever reached hitherto Beyond this Miss Pillbys fancy ventured not
It was on the second Sunday in October when the Mauleverer pupils were beginning to look forward almost hopefully to the Christmas vacation that a flood of light streamed suddenly upon Miss Pillbys troubled mind The revelation happened in this wise Evening service at a smart little newlybuilt church where the function was Anglican to the verge of Ritualism was a privilege reserved for the elder and more favoured of the Mauleverer flock All the girls liked this evening service at St Dunstans It had a flavour of dissipation The lamps the music the gaily decorated altar the Saintsday banners and processional hymn were faintly suggestive of the opera The change from the darkness of the country road to the glow and glitter of the tabernacle was thrilling Evening service at St Dunstans was the most exciting event of the week There was a curate who intoned exquisitely with that melodious snuffle so dear to modern congregations and whose voice had a dying fall when he gave out a hymn which almost moved girlworshippers to tears He was thought to be in a consumption—had a little dry hacking cough actually caused by relaxed tonsils but painfully recalling her of the camelias The Mauleverer girls called him interesting and hoped that he would never marry but live and die like St Francis de Sales On this particular Sunday Miss Pew—vulgarly Old Pew—happened to be unusually amiable That mornings post had brought her the promise of three new pupils daughters of a mighty sheep farmer lately returned from Australia and supposed to be a millionaire He was a widower and wanted motherly care for his orphans They were to be clothed as well as fed at Mauleverer they were to have all those tender cares and indulgences which a loving mother could give them This kind of transaction was eminently profitable to the Miss Pews Maternal care meant a tremendous list of extra charges—treats medical attendance little comforts of all kinds from old port to lambswool sleepingsocks Orphans of this kind were the pigeons whose tender breasts furnished the down with which that experienced crow Miss Pew feathered her nest She had read the Australians letter over three times before evening service and she was inclined to think kindly of the human race so when Miss Palliser asked if she too—she the Pariah might go to St Dunstans—she whose general duty of a Sunday evening was to hear the little ones their catechism or keep them quiet by reading aloud to them Pilgrims Progress or Agathos perhaps—Miss Pew said loftily I do not see any objection
There was no kindness no indulgence in her tone but she said she saw no objection and Ida flew off to put on her bonnet—that poor little black lace bonnet with yellow rosebuds which had done duty for so many services
It was a relief to get a way from school and its dull monotony even for a couple of hours and then there was the music Ida loved music too passionately to be indifferent to the harmony of village voices carefully trained to sing her favourite hymns to the sound of a small but excellent organ
The little church was somewhat poorly attended on this fine autumn evening when the hunters moon hung like a big golden shield above the river glorifying the dipping willows the narrow eyots haunts of swan and cygnet and the distant woodlands of Surrey It was a night which tempted the free to wander in the cool shadowy riverside paths rather than to worship in the warm little temple
The Mauleverer girls made a solid block of humanity on one side of the nave but on the other side the congregation was scattered thinly in the open oaken seats
Miss Pillby perusing those figures within her view as she stood in the back row of the school seats perceived a stranger—a stranger of elegant and pleasing appearance who was evidently casting stolen glances at the lambs of the Mauleverer fold Nor was Miss Pillbys keen eye slow to discover for which lamb those ardent looks were intended The object of the strangers admiration was evidently Ida Palliser
I thought as much mused Miss Pillby as she listened or seemed to listen to the trials and triumphs of the children of Israel chanted by fresh young voices with a decidedly rural twang this explains everything
When they left the church Miss Pillby was perfectly aware of the stranger following the Mauleverer flock evidently in the hope of getting speech with Miss Palliser He hung on the pathway near them he shot ahead of them and then turned and strolled slowly back All in vain Ida was too closely hemmed in and guarded for him to get speech of her and the maiden procession passed on without any violation of the proprieties
Did you see that underbred young man following us as we came home asked Miss Pillby with a disgusted air as she shared an invigorating repast of bread and butter and toast and water with the pupils who had been to church Some London shopman no doubt by his bad manners She stole a look at Ida who flushed ever so slightly at hearing Brian Wendover thus maligned
Fräulein Wolf slept in the room occupied by Miss Pillby and Miss Motley—three narrow iron bedsteads in a particularly inconvenient room always devoted to governesses and supposed to be a temple of learning
While Miss Motley was saying her prayers Miss Pillby wriggled up to the Fräulein who was calmly brushing her flaxen tresses and whispered impetuously I have seen him I know all about it
Ach Himmel cried the Fräulein Thou wouldst not betray
Not for the world
Is he not handsome godlike demanded the Fräulein still in German
Yes he is very nicelooking Dont tell Palliser that I know anything about him She mightnt like it
The Fräulein shook her head and put her finger to her lips just as Miss Motley rose from her knees remarking that it was impossible for anybody to pray in a proper businesslike manner with such whispering and chattering going on
Next day Miss Pillby contrived to get a walk in the garden before the early dinner Here among the asparagus beds she had a brief conversation with a small boy employed in the kitchengarden a youth whose mother washed for the school and had frequent encounters with Miss Pillby that lady having charge of the linen and being in the laundresss eye a power in the establishment Miss Pillby had furthermore been what she called kind to the laundresss hope She had insisted upon his learning his catechism and attending church twice every Sunday and she had knitted him a comforter the material being that harsh and scrubby worsted which makes the word comforter a sound of derision
Strong in the sense of these favours Miss Pillby put it upon the boy as a duty which he owed to her and to society to watch Ida Pallisers proceedings in the rivermeadow She also promised him sixpence if he found out anything bad
The influence of the Church Catechism learned by rote parrot fashion had not awakened in the laundresss boy any keen sense of honour He had a dim feeling that it was a shabby service which he was called upon to perform but then of course Miss Pillby who taught the young ladies and who was no doubt a wise and discreet personage knew best and a possible sixpence was a great temptation
Them rushes and weeds down by the bank wants cutting Garner told me about it last week said the astute youth Ill do em this very afternoon
Do Sam Be there between four and five Keep out of sight as much as you can but be well within hearing I want you to tell me all that goes on
And when shall I see you agen miss
Let me see Thats rather difficult Im afraid it cant be managed till tomorrow You are in the house at six every morning to clean the boots
Yes miss
Then Ill come down to the bootroom at halfpast six tomorrow morning and hear what youve got to tell me
Lor miss its such a mucky place—all among the coalcellars
I dont mind said Miss Pillby which was quite true There was no amount of muckiness Miss Pillby would not have endured in order to injure a person she disliked
I have never shrunk from my duty however painful it might be Sam she said and left the youth impressed by the idea of her virtues
In the duskiness of the October dawn Miss Pillby stole stealthily down by back stairs and obscure passages to the bootroom where she found Sam hard at work with brushes and blacking by the light of a tallow candle in an atmosphere flavoured with coals
Well Sam asked the vestal eagerly
Well miss I seed em and I heerd em answered the boy such goins on Orful
What kind of thing Sam
Lovemakin miss keepin company The young ladies hadnt been there five minutes when a boat dashes up to the bank and a young gent jumps ashore My how he went on I was down among the rushes right under his feet as you may say most of the time and I heerd him beautiful How he did talk like a poetry book
Did he kiss her
Yes miss just one as they parted company She was very standoffish with him but he catched hold of her just as she was wishing of him goodbye He gave her a squeedge like and took her unawares It was only one kiss yer know miss but he made it last as long as he could The foreigner looked the other way
Shameful creatures both of them exclaimed Miss Pillby Theres your sixpence Sam and dont say a word to anybody about what youve seen till I tell you I may want you to repeat it all to Miss Pew If I do Ill give you another sixpence
Lawks miss that would be cheap at a shilling said the boy It would freeze my blood to have to stand up to talk before Miss Pew
Nonsense Sam you will be only telling the truth and there can be nothing to frighten you However I dare say she will be satisfied with my statement She wont want confirmation from you
Confirmation from me muttered Sam as Miss Pillby left his den No I should think not Why thats what the bishops do Fancy old Pew being confirmed too—old Pew in a white frock and a veil That is a goodun and Sam exploded over his blackingbrush at the preposterous idea
It was Miss Pews habit to take a cup of tea and a square of buttered toast every morning at seven before she left her pillow in order to fortify herself for the effort of getting up and dressing so as to be in her place at the head of the chief table in the school diningroom when eight oclock struck Had Miss Pew consulted her own inclination she would have reposed until a much later hour but the maintenance of discipline compelled that she should be the head and front of all virtuous movements at Mauleverer Manor How could she inveigh with due force against the sin of sloth if she were herself a slugabed Therefore did Miss Pew vanquish the weakness of the flesh and rise at a quarter past seven summer and winter But this struggle between duty and inclination made the ladys temper somewhat critical in the morning hours
Now it was the custom for one of the mistresses to carry Miss Pews teatray and to attend at her bedside while she sipped her bohea and munched her toast It was a delicate attention a recognition of her dignity which Miss Pew liked It was the lever du roi upon a small scale And this afforded an opportunity for the mistress on duty to inform her principal of any small fact in connection with the school or household which it was well for Miss Pew to know Not for worlds would Sarah Pew have encouraged a spy according to her own view of her own character but she liked people with keen eyes who could tell her everything that was going on under her roof
Good morning Pillby said Miss Pew sitting up against a massive background of pillows like a female Jove upon a bank of clouds an awful figure in frilled white raiment with an eye able to command but hardly to flatter what kind of a day is it
Dull and heavy answered Miss Pillby I shouldnt wonder if there was a thunderstorm
Dont talk nonsense child its too late in the year for thunder We shall have the equinoctial gales soon I dare say
No doubt replied Miss Pillby who had heard about the equinox and its carryings on all her life without having arrived at any clear idea of its nature and properties We shall have it very equinoctial before the end of the month Ive no doubt
Well is there anything going on Any of the girls bilious One of my black draughts wanted anywhere
Miss Pew was not highly intellectual but she was a great hand at finance household economies and domestic medicine She compounded most of the doses taken at Mauleverer with her own fair hands and her black draughts were a feature in the school The pupils never forgot them However faint became the memory of youthful joys in after years the flavour of Miss Pews jalap and senna was never obliterated
No theres nobody ill this morning answered Miss Pillby with a faint groan
Ah you may well sigh retorted her principal the way those girls ate veal and ham yesterday was enough to have turned the school into a hospital—and with raspberry jam tart after too
Veal with ham was the Sunday dinner at Mauleverer a banquet upon which Miss Pew prided herself as an instance of luxurious living rarely to be met with in boardingschools If the girls were ill after it that was their look out
Theres something wrong I can see by your face said Miss Pew after she had sipped half her tea and enjoyed the whole of her toast is it the servants or the pupils
Strange to say Miss Pew did not look grateful to the bearer of evil tidings This was one of her idiosyncrasies She insisted upon being kept informed of all that went wrong in her establishment but she was apt to be out of temper with the informant
Neither answered Miss Pillby with an awful shake of her sandy locks I dont believe there is a servant in this house who would so far forget herself And as to the pupils—
We know what they are snapped Miss Pew I never heard of anything bad enough to be beyond their reach Who is it
Your clever pupil teacher Ida Palliser
Ah grunted Miss Pew setting down her cup I can believe anything of her That girl was born to be troublesome What has she done now
Miss Pillby related the circumstances of Miss Pallisers crime setting forth her own cleverness in the course of her narrative—how her misgivings had been excited by the unwonted familiarity between Ida and the Fräulein—a young person always open to suspicion as a stranger in the land—how her fears had been confirmed by the conduct of an unknown man in the church and how urged by her keen sense of duty she had employed Mrs Joness boy to watch the delinquents
Ill make an example of her said Miss Pew flinging back the bedclothes with a tragic air as she rose from her couch That will do Pillby I want no further details Ill wring the rest out of that boldfaced minx in the face of all the school You can go
And without any word of praise or thanks from her principal Miss Pillby retired yet she knew in her heart that for this piece of ill news Miss Pew was not ungrateful
Never had Sarah Pew looked more awful than she appeared that morning at the breakfast table clad in sombre robes of olive green merino and a cap bristling with olivegreen berries and brambly twigs—a cap which to the more advanced of the pupils suggested the headgear of Medusa
Miss Dulcibella gentle limp seagreeny looked at her strongerminded sister and was so disturbed by the gloom upon that imperial brow as to be unable to eat her customary rasher Not a word did Miss Pew speak to sister or mistresses during that brief but awful meal but when the delft breakfast cups were empty and the stacks of thick bread and butter had diminished to nothingness and the girls were about to rise and disperse for their morning studies Miss Pews voice arose suddenly amidst them like the sound of thunder
Keep your seats if you please young ladies I am about to make an example and I hope what I have to say and do may be for the general good Miss Palliser stand up
Ida rose in her place at that end of the table where she was supposed to exercise a corrective influence upon the younger pupils She stood up where all the rest were seated a tall and perfect figure a beautiful statuesque head supported by a neck like a marble column She stood up among all those other girls the handsomest of them all pale with flashing eyes feeling very sure that she was going to be illtreated
Pray Miss Palliser who is the person whom it is your daily habit to meet and converse with in my grounds Who is the man who has dared to trespass on my meadow at your invitation
Not at my invitation answered Ida as calm as marble The gentleman came of his own accord His name is Brian Wendover and he and I are engaged to be married
Miss Pew laughed a loud ironical laugh a laugh which froze the blood of all the seventeenyearold pupils who were not without fear or reproach upon the subject of clandestine glances little notes or girlish carryingson in the flirtation line
Engaged she exclaimed in her stentorian voice That is really too good a joke Engaged Pray which Mr Brian Wendover is it
Mr Wendover of the Abbey
Mr Wendover of the Abbey the head of the Wendover family cried Miss Pew And you would wish us to believe that Mr Wendover of Wendover Abbey—a gentleman with an estate worth something like seven thousand a year young ladies—has engaged himself to the youngest of my pupilteachers whose acquaintance he has cultivated while trespassing on my meadow Miss Palliser when a gentleman of Mr Wendovers means and social status wishes to marry a young person in your position—a concatenation which occurs very rarely in the history of the human race—he comes to the hall door Mr Wendover no more means to marry you than he means to marry the moon His views are of quite a different kind and you know it
Ida cast a withering look at her tyrant and moved quickly from her place
You are a wretch to say such a thing to me she cried passionately I will not stay another hour under your roof to be so insulted
No you will not stay under my roof Miss Palliser retorted Miss Pew My mind was made up more than an hour ago on that point You will not be allowed to stay in this house one minute longer than is needed for the packing up of your clothes and that I take it added the schoolmistress with an insolent laugh will not be a lengthy operation You are expelled Miss Palliser—expelled from this establishment for grossly improper conduct and I am only sorry for your poor fathers sake that you will have to begin your career as a governess with disgrace attached to your name
There is no disgrace except in your own foul mind said Ida I can imagine that as nobody ever admired you or made love to you when you were young you may have mistaken ideas as to the nature of lovers and lovemaking—despite the universal awe this provoked a faint irrepressible titter—but it is hard that you should revenge your ignorance upon me Mr Wendover has never said a word to me which a gentleman should not say Fräulein Wolf who has heard his every word knows that this is true
Fräulein will leave this house tomorrow if she is not careful said Miss Pew who had however no intention of parting with so useful and cheap a teacher
She could afford to revenge herself upon Ida whose period of tutelage was nearly over
Fräulein knows that Mr Wendover speaks of our future as the future of man and wife
Ja wohl murmured the Fräulein that is true ganz und gan
I will not hear another word cried Miss Pew swelling with rage while every thorn and berry on her autumnal cap quivered Ungrateful impudent young woman Leave my house instantly I will not have these innocent girls perverted by your vile example In speech and in conduct you are alike detestable
Goodbye girls cried Ida lightly you all know how much harm my speech and my example have done you Goodbye Fräulein dont you be afraid of dismissal—you are too well worth your salt
Polly Cobb the brewers daughter sat near the door by which Ida had to make her exit She was quite the richest and perhaps the bestnatured girl in the school She caught hold of Idas gown and thrust a little Russialeather purse into her hand with a tender squeeze
Take it dear she whispered I dont want it I can get plenty more Yes yes you must you shall Ill make a row and get myself into disgrace if you refuse You cant go to France without money
God bless you dear Ill send it you back answered Ida
Dont I shall hate you if you do
Is that young woman gone demanded Miss Pews awful voice
Going going gone cried Miss Cobb forgetting herself in her excitement as the door closed behind Ida
Who was that roared Miss Pew
Half a dozen informants pronounced Miss Cobbs name
Now Miss Cobbs people were wealthy and Miss Cobb had younger sisters all coming on under a homely governess to that critical stage in which they would require the polishing processes of Mauleverer Manor so Sarah Pew bridled her wrath and said quietly—
Kindly reserve your jocosity for a more appropriate season Miss Cobb
Young ladies you may proceed with your matutinal duties
CHAPTER VIII
AT THE LOCKHOUSE
Miss Pew had argued rightly that the process of packing would not be a long one with Ida Palliser The girl had come to Mauleverer with the smallest number of garments compatible with decency and her stock had been but tardily and scantily replenished during her residence in that manorial abode It was to her credit that she had contrived still to be clean still to be neat under such adverse conditions it was Natures royal gift that she had looked grandly beautiful in the shabbiest gowns and mantles ever seen at Mauleverer
She huddled her poor possessions into her solitary trunk—a battered hair trunk which had done duty ever since she came as a child from India She put a few necessaries into a convenient morocco bag which the girls in her class had clubbed their pocketmoney to present to her on her last birthday and then she washed the traces of angry tears from her face put on her hat and jacket and went downstairs carrying her bag and umbrella
One of the housemaids met her in the hall a buxom goodnatured country girl
Is it true that you are going to leave us miss she asked
What you all know it already exclaimed Ida
Everybody is talking about it miss The young ladies are all on your side but they dare not speak up before Miss Pew
I suppose not Yes it is quite true I am expelled Eliza sent out into the world without a character because I allowed Mr Wendover to walk and talk with the Fräulein and me for half an hour or so in the rivermeadow Mr Wendover my best my only friends first cousin Rather hard isnt it
Hard its shameful cried the girl I should like to see old Pew turning me off for keeping company with my young man But she darent do it Good servants are hard to get nowadays or any servants indeed for the paltry wages she gives
And governesses are a drug in the market said Ida bitterly
Goodbye Eliza
Where are you going miss Home
Yes I suppose so
The reckless tone the careless words alarmed the goodhearted housemaid
Oh miss pray go home straight home—wherever your home is You are too handsome to be going about alone among strangers Its a wicked world miss—wickeder than you know of perhaps Have you got money enough to get you home comfortable
Ill see answered Ida taking out Miss Cobbs fat little purse and looking into it
There were two sovereigns and a good deal of silver—a tremendous fortune for a schoolgirl but then it was said that Cobb Brothers coined money by the useful art of brewing
Yes I have plenty of money for my journey said Ida
Are you certain sure now miss pleaded the housemaid for if you aint Ive got a pound laid by in my drawer ready to put in the Post Office Savings Bank and youre as welcome to it as flowers in May if youll take it off me
God bless you Eliza If I were in any want of money Id gladly borrow your sovereign but Miss Cobb has lent me more than I want Goodbye
Ida held out her hand which the housemaid after wiping her own paw upon her apron clasped affectionately
God bless you Miss Palliser she said fervently I shall miss the sight of your handsome face when I waits at table
A minute more and Ida stood in the broad carriage sweep with her back to the stately old mansion which had sheltered her so long and in which despite her dependency and her poverty she had known some lighthearted hours Now where was she to go and what was she to do with her life She stood with the autumn wind blowing about her—the fallen chestnut leaves drifting to her feet—pondering that question
Was she or was she not Brian Wendovers affianced wife How far was she to trust in him to lean upon him in this crucial hour of her life There had been so much playfulness in their lovemaking his tone had been for the most part so light and sportive that now when she stood as it were face to face with destiny she hardly knew how to think of him whether as a rock that she might lean upon or as a reed that would give way at her touch Rock or reed womanly instinct told her that it was not to this fervent admirer she must apply for aid or counsel yet awhile Her duty was to go home at once—to get across the Channel if possible as quickly as Miss Pews letter to her father
Intent on doing this she walked along the dusty high road by the river in the direction of the railway station This station was more than two miles distant a long straight walk by the river and then a mile or so across fields and by narrow lanes to an arid spot where some newlybuilt houses were arising round a hopelesslooking little loopline station in a desert of agricultural land
She had walked about threequarters of a mile when she heard the rapid dip of oars as if in pursuit of her and a familiar voice calling to her
It was Brian who almost lived in his boat and who had caught sight of her in the distance and followed at racing speed
What are you doing he asked coming up close to the bank and standing up in his boat Where are you going at such a pace I dont think I ever saw a woman walk so fast
Was I walking fast she asked unconscious of the impetus which excitement had given to her movements
She knew in her heart of hearts that she did not love him—that love—the passion which she had read of in prose and poetry was still a stranger to her soul but just at this Moment galled and stung by Miss Pews unkindness heartsick at her own absolute desolation the sound of his voice was sweet in her ears the look of the tall slim figure the friendly face turned towards her was pleasant to her eyes No he was not a reed he was a rock She felt protected and comforted by his presence
Were you walking fast Galloping like a threeyearold—quæ velut latis equa trima campis quoted Brian Are you running away from Mauleverer Manor
I am going away she answered calmly I have been expelled
Ex—what roared Brian
I have been expelled—sent away at a minutes notice—for the impropriety of my conduct in allowing you to talk to me in the rivermeadow
Brian had been fastening his boat to a pollard willow as he talked He leapt on to the bank and came close to Idas side
My darling my dearest love what a burning shame What a villainous old hag that Pew woman must be Bessie told me she was a Tartar but this beats everything Expelled Your conduct impeached because you let me talk to you—I Bessies cousin a man who at the worst has some claim to be considered a gentleman while you have the highest claim to be considered a lady It is beyond all measure infamous
It was rather hard was it not said Ida quietly
Abominable insufferable I—well Ill call upon the lady this afternoon and make her acquainted with my sentiments upon the subject The wicked old harridan
Please dont urged Ida smiling at his wrath it doesnt give me any consolation to hear you call her horrid names
Did you tell her that I had asked you to be my wife
I said something to that effect—in selfdefence—not from any wish to commit you and she told me that a man in your position who intended to marry a girl in my position would act in a very different manner from the way in which you have acted
Did she She is a wise judge of human nature—and of a lovers nature above all Well Ida dearest we have only one course open to us and that is to give her the lie at once—by our conduct Deeds not words shall be our argument You do care for me—just a little—dont you pet just well enough to marry me All the rest will come after
Whom else have I to care for faltered Ida with downcast eyes and passionately throbbing heart Who else has ever cared for me
I am answered So long as I am the only one I will confide all the rest to Fate We will be married tomorrow
Tomorrow No no no
Yes yes yes What is there to hinder our immediate marriage And what can be such a crushing answer to that old Jezebel We will be married at the little church where I saw you last Sunday night looking like St Cecilia when you joined in the Psalms We have been both living in the same parish for the last fortnight I will run up to Doctors Commons this afternoon bring back the licence interview the parson and have everything arranged for our being married at ten oclock tomorrow morning
No no not for the world
For some time the girl was firm in her refusal of such a hasty union She would not marry her lover except in the face of the world with the full consent of his friends and her own Her duty was to go by the first train and boat that would convey her to Dieppe and to place herself in her fathers care
Do you think your father would object to our marriage asked Brian
No I am sure he would not object she answered smiling within herself at the question
As if Captain Palliser living upon his halfpay and the occasional benefactions of a rich kinsman could by any possibility object to a match that would make his daughter mistress of Wendover Abbey
Then why delay our marriage in order to formally obtain a consent which you are sure of beforehand As for my friends Bessies people are the nearest and dearest and you know what their feelings are on your behalf
Bessie likes me as her friend I dont know how she might like me as her cousins wife said Ida
Then I will settle your doubts by telling you a little secret Bessie sent me here to try and win you for my wife It was her desire as well as mine
More arguments followed and against the lovers ardent pleading there was only a vague idea of duty in the girls mind somewhat weakened by an instinctive notion that her father would think her an arrant fool for delaying so grand a triumph as her marriage with a man of fortune and position Had he not often spoken to her wistfully of her beauty and the dim hope that her handsome face might some day win her a rich husband
Its a poor chance at the best he told her The days of the Miss Gunnings have gone by The world has grown commercial Nowadays money marries money
And this chance which her father had speculated upon despondently as a remote contingency was now at her feet Was she to spurn it and then go back to the shabby little villa near Dieppe and expect to be praised for her filial duty
While she wavered Brian urged every argument which a lover could bring to aid his suit Tomorrow they might be married and in the meanwhile Ida could be safely and comfortably housed with the good woman at the lockhouse Brian would give up his lodgings to her and would stay at the hotel at Chertsey Ida listened and hesitated before her lay the dry dusty road the solitary journey by land and sea the doubtful welcome at home And here by her side stood the wealthy lover the very embodiment of protecting power—is not every girls first lover in her eyes as Olympian Jove—eager to take upon himself the burden of her life to make her footsteps easy
Step into the boat dearest he said I know your heart has decided for me You are not afraid to trust me Ida
Afraid no she answered frankly looking at him with heavenly confidence in her large dark eyes I am only afraid of doing wrong
You can do no wrong with me by your side your husband tomorrow responsible for all the rest of your existence
True after tomorrow I shall be accountable to no one but you she said thoughtfully How strange it seems
At the worst I hope you will find me better than old Pew answered
Brian lightly
You are too good—too generous she said but I am afraid you are acting too much from impulse Have you considered what you are going to do have you thought what it is to marry a penniless girl who can give you none of the things which the world cares for in exchange for your devotion
I have thought what it is to marry the woman I fondly love the loveliest girl these eyes ever looked upon Step into my boat Ida I must row you up to the lock and then start for London by the first train I can catch I dont know how early the licenceshop closes
She obeyed him and sank into a seat in the stern of the cockleshell craft exhausted mentally and physically by the agitation of the last two hours She felt an unspeakable relief in sitting quietly in the boat the water rippling gently past like a lullaby the rushes and willows waving in the mild western breeze Henceforth she had little to do in life but to be cared for and cherished by an allpowerful lord and master Wealth to her mind meant power and this devoted lover was rich Fate had been infinitely kind to her
It was a lovely October morning warm and bright as August The river banks still seemed to wear their summer green the blue bright water reflected the cloudless blue above The bells were ringing for a saintsday service as Brians boat shot past the waterside village with its old squaretowered church All the world had a happy look as if it smiled at Ida and her choice
They moved with an easy motion past the pastoral banks here and there a villa garden here and there a rustic inn and so beneath Chertseys wooded heights to the level fields beyond and to a spot where the Thames and the Abbey River made a loop round a verdant little marshy island and here was the silvery weir brawling noisily in its ceaseless fall and the lockhouse where Mr Wendover had lodgings
The proprietress of that neat abode had just been letting a boat through the lock and stood leaning lazily against the woodwork tasting the morning air She was a comfortable welltodo person who rented a paddock or two by the towingpath and owned cows Her little garden was gay with late geraniums and manycoloured asters
Mrs Topman I have brought you a young lady to take care of for the next twentyfour hours said Brian coolly as he handed Ida out of the boat Miss Palliser and I are going to be married tomorrow morning and as her friends all live abroad I want you to take care of her in a nice motherly way till she and I are one You can give her my rooms and I can put up at the inn
Mrs Topman curtseyed and gazed admiringly at Ida
I shall be proud to wait upon such a sweet young lady she said But isnt it rather sudden You told me there was a young lady in the case, but I never knowed you was going to be married offhand like this
I never knew it myself till an hour ago Mrs Topman answered Brian gaily I knew that I was to be one of the happiest of men some day but I did not know bliss was so near me And now I am off to catch the next train from Chertsey Be sure you give Miss Palliser some breakfast I dont think she has had a very comfortable one
He dashed into the cottage and came out again five minutes afterwards having changed his boating clothes for a costume more appropriate to the streets of London He clasped Idas hand murmured a loving goodbye and then ran with light footsteps along the towingpath while Ida stood leaning against the lock door looking dreamily down at the water
How lighthearted he was and how easily he took life This marriage which was to her an awful thing signifying fate and the unknown future seemed to him as a mere whim of the hour a caprice a fancy And yet there could be no doubt of his affection for her Even if his nature was somewhat shallow as she feared it must be he was at least capable of a warm and generous attachment To her in her poverty and her disgrace he had proved himself nobly loyal
I ought to be very grateful to him she said to herself and then in her schoolgirl phrase she added and he is very nice
Mrs Topman was in the house tidying and smartening that rustic sittingroom which had not been kept too neatly during Mr Wendovers occupation Presently came the clinking of cups and saucers and anon Mrs Topman appeared on the doorstep and announced that breakfast was ready
What a luxurious breakfast it seemed to the schoolgirl after a month of the Mauleverer bread and scrape Frizzled bacon new laid eggs cream marmalade and a dainty little cottage loaf all served with exquisite cleanliness Ida was too highly strung to do justice to the excellent fare but she enjoyed a cup of strong tea and ate one of the eggs to oblige Mrs Topman who waited upon her assiduously palpably panting with friendly curiosity
Do take off your hat miss she urged you must be very tired after your journey—a long journey I daresay Perhaps you would like me to send a boy with a barrow for your luggage directly after breakfast I suppose your trunks are at the station
No Mr Wendover will arrange about my trunk byandby faltered Ida and then looking down at her wellworn gray cashmere gown she thought that it was hardly a costume in which to be married Yet how was she to get her box from Mauleverer Manor without provoking dangerous inquiries And even if she had the box its contents would hardly solve the question of a wedding gown Her one white gown would be too cold for the season her best gown was black Would Brian feel very much ashamed of her she wondered if she must needs be married in that shabby gray cashmere
And then it occurred to her that possibly Brian while procuring the licence might have a happy thought about a wedding gown and buy her one ready made at a London drapers He to whom money was no object could so easily get an appropriate costume It would be only for him to go into a shop and say I want a neat pretty travelling dress for a tall slim young lady and the thing would be packed in a box and put into his cab in a trice Everything in life is made so easy for people with ample means
It was some time before Mrs Topman would consent to leave her new lodger She was so anxious to be of use to the sweet young lady and threw out as many feelers as an octopus in the way of artfullydevised conjectures and suppositions calculated to extract information But Miss Palliser was not communicative
You must be tired after your journey Those railways are so hot and so dusty said Mrs Topman with a despairing effort to discover whence her unexpected guest had come that morning
I am rather tired admitted Ida I think if you dont mind Ill take a book and lie down on that comfortable sofa for an hour or two
Do miss Youll find some books of Mr Wendovers on the cheffonier But perhaps youll be glad to take a little nap Shall I draw down the blind and darken the room for you
No thanks I like the sunshine
Mrs Topman unwillingly withdrew and Ida was alone in the sittingroom which her lover had occupied for the last fortnight
Much individuality can hardly be expected in a temporary lodging—a mere caravansary in lifes journey and yet even in the brief space of a fortnight a room takes some colour from the habits and ideas of the being who has lived in it
Ida looked round curiously wondering whether she would discover any indications of her lovers character in Mrs Topmans parlour The room despite its open casements smelt strongly of tobacco That was a small thing for Ida knew that her lover smoked She had seen him several times throw away the end of his cigar as he sprang from his boat by the river meadow But that array of various pipes and cigarholders—that cedar cigar box—that brass tobacco jar on the mantelpiece hinted at an ardent devotion to the nymph Nicotina such as is rarely pleasing to woman
I am sorry he is so wedded to his pipes thought Ida with a faint sigh
And then she turned to the cheffonier to inspect her lovers stock of literature
A man who loves his books never travels without a few old favourites—Horace or Montaigne Elia an odd volume of De Quincey a battered Don Juan a wornout Faust a shabby Shelley or a ponderous Burton in his threadbare cloth raiment
But there was not one such book among Mr Wendovers possessions His supply of mental food consisted of a half a dozen shilling magazines the two last numbers of Punch and three or four sporting papers Ida turned from them with bitter disappointment She seemed to take the measure of Brian Wendovers mind in that frivolous collection and she was deeply pained at the idea of his shallowness
What has he done with himself in the long evenings she asked herself
Has he done nothing but smoke and read those magazines
She took up the Cornhill and found its graver essays uncut It was the same with the other magazines Only the most frivolous articles had been looked at Mr Wendover was evidently anything but a reading man
No wonder he does not like the Abbey she thought The country must always seem dull to a man who does not care for books
And then she reminded herself remorsefully of his generous affection his singleminded devotion to her and how much gratitude she owed him
She read all that was worth reading in the magazines she laughed at all that was laughable in Punch and the long slow day wore on somehow Mrs Topman brought her lunch and consulted her about dinner
You will not dine until Mr Wendover comes back I suppose miss You and he can have a nice little dinner together at seven
Ida blushed at the mere notion of hobnobbing alone with a gentleman in that waterside lodging
No thanks this will be my dinner she answered quietly Please dont get anything more for me No doubt Mr Wendover will dine at the hotel if he has not dined in London I shall want nothing more except a cup of tea
After luncheon Ida went out and strolled by the river that river of which no one ever seems to grow weary She wandered about the level meadows where the last of the wildflowers were blooming or she sat on the bank watching the ripple of the water the slow smooth passage of pleasureboat or barge and the day was long but not dreary It was so new to her to be idle to be able to fold her hands and watch the stream and not to fear reproof because she had ceased from toil At Mauleverer at this tranquil afternoon hour while those rooks were sailing so calmly high above her head—yonder belated butterfly fluttering so happily over the feathery grasses—all nature so full of rest—they were grinding away in the hot schoolroom grinding at the weekly geography lesson addling their brains with feeble efforts to repeat by rote dryasdust explanations about the equator and the torrid zone latitude longitude winds and tides the height of mountains the population of towns manufactures creeds not trying in the least to understand or caring to remember only intent on getting over todays trouble and preparing in some wise to meet the debts of tomorrow
Oh thank God to have got away from that treadmill said Ida looking up at the bright blue sky can I ever be sufficiently grateful to Providence and to the man whose love has rescued me
Her deliverer came strolling across the fields in quest of her presently tired and dusty but delighted to be with her again He sat down by her side and put his arm round her waist for the first time in his life
Dont he said as she instinctively recoiled from him you are almost my own now I have got the licence I have seen the parson and he is quite charmed at the idea of marrying us tomorrow morning He had heard of your little escapade it seems and he thinks we are doing quite the wisest thing possible
He had heard—already exclaimed Ida deeply mortified Has Miss Pew been calling out my delinquencies from the housetop Oh no—I understand Tuesday is Mr Dalys afternoon for Bible class and he has been at the school
Exactly and Miss Pew unburdened her mind to him
Did he think me a dreadful creature
He thinks you charming but that I ought to have gone to the halldoor when I courted you as I should have done dearest only I wanted to be sure of you first He was all kindness and will marry us quietly at nine oclock tomorrow just after Matins when there will be nobody about to stare at us and he has promised to say nothing about our marriage until we give him leave to make the fact public
I am glad of that said Ida looking at her shabby gown Do you think it will matter much—will you be very much ashamed of me if I am married in this threadbare old cashmere
She had a faint hope that he would exclaim My love I have brought you a wedding dress from Regent Street come and see it But he only smiled at her tenderly and said—
The gown does not matter a jot you are lovelier in your shabby frock than any other bride in satin and pearls And some of these days you shall have smart frocks
He said it hopefully but as if it were a remote contingency
He spoke very much as her impecunious father might have spoken He the master of Wendover Abbey to whom the possession of things that money could buy must needs be a dead certainty But it was evidently a part of his character to make light of his wealth assuredly a pleasant idiosyncrasy
They dawdled about on the bank for half an hour or so talking somewhat listlessly for Ida was depressed and frightened by the idea of that fateful event giving a new colour to all her life to come which was so soon to happen Brian was very kind very good to her she wished with all her heart that she had loved him better yet it seemed to her that she did love him—a little Surely this feeling was love this keen sense of obligation this warm admiration for his generous and loyal conduct Yes this must be love And why loving him should she feel this profound melancholy at the idea of a marriage which satisfied her loftiest ambition
Perhaps the cause of her depression lay in the strangeness of this sudden union its semiclandestine character her loneliness at a crisis in life when most girls are surrounded by friends Often in her reckless talk with Bessie Wendover she had imagined her marriage She would marry for money Yes the soapboiler the candlestick maker—anybody It should be a splendid wedding—a dozen of the prettiest girls at Mauleverer for her bridesmaids bells ringing flowers strewn upon her pathway carriage and four postilions in blue jackets and white favours all the world and his wife looking on and wondering at her high fortune This is how fancy had painted the picture when Ida discoursed of her future in the butterflyroom at Mauleverer Miss Rylance listening and making sarcastic comments Bessie in fits of smothered laughter at all the comic touches in the description for did not truehearted Bessie know that the thing was a joke and that her noble Ida would never so degrade herself as to marry for money And now Ida was going to do this thing scarcely knowing why she did it not at all secure in her own mind of future happiness not with unalloyed pride in her conquest but yielding to her lover because he was the first who had ever asked her because he was warm and true when all else in life seemed cold and false and because the alternative—return to the poor home—was so dreary
The conversation flagged as the lovers walked in the twilight The sun was sinking behind the low hedge of yonder level meadow Far away in mountainous regions the same orb was setting in rocky amphitheatres distant unapproachable Here in this level land he seemed to be going down into a grave behind that furthest hedge
It was a lovely evening—orange and rosy lights reflected on the glassy river willows stirred with a murmurous movement by faintest zephyrs—a wind no louder than a sigh Brian proposed that they should go on the river his boat was there ready it was only to step into the light skiff and drift lazily with the stream
They got into the Abbey river among waterlilies whose flowers had all died long ago face downwards The season of golden flowers buttercup marshmallow was over The fields were grayishgreen with ruddy tinges here and there The year was fading
Ida sat in dead silence watching the declining light one listless hand dipping in the river
Brian was thoughtful more thoughtful than she had known him in any period of their acquaintance
Where shall we go for our honeymoon he asked abruptly jingling some loose coins in his pocket
Oh that is for you to decide I—I know what I should like best faltered Ida
What is that
I should like you to take me to Dieppe where we could see my father and explain everything to him
Did you write to him today
No I thought I would tell him nothing till after our marriage You might change your mind at the last
Cautious young party said Brian laughing There is no fear of that I am too far gone in love for that For good or ill I am your faithful slave Yes we will go to Dieppe if you like It is late in the year for a place of that kind but what do we care for seasons Do you think your father and I will be able to get on
My father is the soul of good nature He would get on with anyone who is a gentleman and I am sure he will like you very much My stepmother is—well she is rather vulgar But I hope you wont mind that She is very warmhearted
Vulgarians generally are I believe answered Brian lightly At least one is always told as much It is hard that the educated classes should monopolize all the cold hearts Vulgar but warmhearted—misplaces her aspirates—but affectionate That is the kind of thing one is told when Achilles marries a housemaid Never mind Ida dearest I feel sure I shall like your father and for his sake I will try to make myself agreeable to his wife And your little brother is perfection I have heard enough about him from those dear lips of yours
He is a darling little fellow and I long to see him again How I wish they could all be with me tomorrow
It would make our wedding more domestic but dont you think it would vulgarize it a little said Brian There is something so sweet to me in the idea of you and me alone in that little church with no witnesses but the clerk and the pewopener
And God said Ida looking upward
Did you ever read the discourses of Colonel Bob Ingersoll asked Brian smiling at her
No what has that to do with it
He has curious ideas of omnipotence and I fancy he would say that the Infinite Being who made every shining star is hardly likely to be on the lookout for our wedding
He cares for the lilies and the sparrows
Thats a gospel notion Colonel Bob is not exactly a gospel teacher
Then dont you learn of him Brian said Ida earnestly
CHAPTER IX
A SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT
The sun shone upon Idas wedding morn She was dressed and down before seven—her shabby cashmere gown carefully brushed her splendid hair neatly arranged her linen collar and cuffs spotlessly clean This was all she could do in the way of costume in honour of this solemn day She had not even a new pair of gloves Mrs Topman who was to go to church with her in a fly from Chertsey was gorgeous in purple silk and a summer bonnet—a grand institution worn only on Sundays Breakfast was ready in the neat little parlour but Ida would only take a cup of tea She wandered out to the riverside and looked at the weir and the little green island round which the shining blue water twined itself like a caress All things looked lovely in the pure freshness of morning
What a sweet spot it is said Ida to Mrs Topman who stood at her gate watching for the fly which was not due for half an hour I should almost like to spend my life here
Almost but not quite answered the matron Young folks like you wants change But I hope you and Mr Wendover will come here sometimes in the boating season in memory of old times
Well come often said Ida I hope I shall always remember how kind you have been to me
A distant church clock struck the half hour
Only halfpast seven exclaimed Mrs Topman and Simmonss fly is not to be here till eight Well we are early
Ida strolled a little way along the bank glad to be alone It was an awful business this marriage when she came to the very threshold of Hymens temple Yesterday it had seemed to her that she and Brian Wendover were familiar friends today she thought of him almost as a stranger
How little we know of each other and yet we are going to take the most solemn vow that ever was vowed she thought as she read the marriage service in a Prayerbook which Mrs Topman had lent her for that purpose
Its as well to read it over and understand what youre going to bind yourself to said the matron I did before I married Topman It made me feel more comfortable in my mind to know what I was doing But I must say its high time there was a change made in the service It never can have been intended by Providence for all the obedience to be on the wifes side or God Almighty wouldnt have made husbands such fools If Topman hadnt obeyed me hed have died in a workhouse and if Id obeyed him I shouldnt have a stick of furniture belonging to me
Ida was not deeply interested in the late Mr Topmans idiosyncrasies but she was interested in the marriage bond which seemed to her a very solemn league and covenant as she read the service beside the quietly flowing river
For better for worse for richer or poorer in sickness and in health to love and to cherish till death us do part
Yes those were awful words—words to be pronounced by her presently binding her for the rest of her life She who was marrying a rich man for the sake of his wealth was to swear to be true to him in poverty She who was marrying youth and good spirits was to swear to be true to sickness and feeble age A terrible covenant And of this man for whom she was to undertake so much she knew so little
The fly drove along the towingpath and drew up in front of Mrs Topmans garden gate as the Chertsey clocks struck the hour and Mrs Topman and her charge took their places in that vehicle and were jolted off at a jogtrot pace towards the town and then on by a dusty high road towards that new church in the fields at which the Mauleverer girls deemed it such a privilege to worship
It was about forty minutes drive from the lock to the church and Matins were only just over when the fly drew up at the Gothic door
The incumbent was hovering near in his surplice and the pewopener was all in a fluster at the idea of a runaway marriage Brian came out of the dusky background—the daylight being tempered by small painted windows in heavy stone mullions—as Ida entered the church Everything was ready Before she knew how it came to pass she was standing before the altar and the fatal words were being spoken
Brian Walford wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife
Brian Walford she heard the words as in a dream Surely Walford was
the second name of Bessies other cousin the poor cousin Ida had heard
Bessie so distinguish him from the master of the Abbey But no doubt
Walford was some old family name borne by both cousins
Brian Walford She had not much time to think about this when the same solemn question was asked of her
And then in a low and quiet voice the priest read the rest of the timehallowed ceremonial and Brian and Ida glorified by a broad ray of morning sunshine streaming through an open window stood up side by side man and wife
Then came the signing of the register in the snug little vestry Mrs
Topman figuring largely as witness
I did not know your name was Walford said Ida looking over her husbands shoulder as he wrote
Didnt you Second names are of so little use to a man unless he has the misfortune to be Smith or Jones and wants to borrow dignity from a prefix Wendover is good enough for me
The young couple bade Mrs Topman goodbye at the churchdoor The fly was to take them straight to the station on the first stage of their honeymoon trip
You know where to send my luggage Brian said to his landlady at parting
Yes sir Ive got the address all right and the fly drove along another dusty high road still within sight of the river till it turned at right angles into a bye road leading to the station
At that uncongenial place they had to wait a quarter of an hour walking up and down the windy platform where the porter abandoned himself to the contemplation of occasional rooks and was sometimes surprised by the arrival of a train for which he had waited so long as to have become sceptical as to the existence of such things as trains in the scheme of the universe The station was a terminus and the line was a loop for which very few people appeared to have any necessity
Would you mind telling me where we are going Brian Ida asked her husband presently when they had discussed the characteristics of the station and Brian had been mildly facetious about the porter
She had grown curiously shy since the ceremonial Her lover seemed to her transformed into another person by those fateful words He was now the custodian of her life the master of her destiny
Would I mind telling you my dearest What a question You proposed
Dieppe for our honeymoon and we are going to Dieppe
Does this train go to Newhaven
Not exactly Nothing in this life is so convenient as that This train will deposit us at Waterloo Station The train for Newhaven leaves London Bridge at seven in time for the midnight boat We will go to my chambers and have some lunch
Chambers exclaimed Ida wonderingly Have you really chambers in
London
Yes
What a strange man you are
That hardly indicates strangeness But here at last is our train
A train had come slowly in and deposited its handful of passengers about ten minutes ago and the same train was now ready to start in the opposite direction
Ida and her husband got into an empty firstclass compartment and the train moved slowly off And now that they were alone as it were within four walls she summoned up courage to say something that had been on her mind for the last quarter of an hour—a very hard thing for a bride of an hour old to say yet which must be said somehow
Would you mind giving me a little money while we are in London to buy some clothes she began hesitatingly It is a dreadful thing to have to ask you when if I were not like the beggar girl in the ballad I should have a trousseau But I dont know when I may get my box from Mauleverer and when I do most of the things in it are too shabby for your wife and in the meantime I have nothing and I should not like to disgrace you to make you feel ashamed of me while we are on our honeymoon tour
She sat with downcast eyes and flaming cheeks deeply humiliated by her position hating her poverty more than she had ever hated it in her life before She felt that this rich husband of hers had not been altogether kind to her—that he might by a little forethought have spared her this shame He must have known that she had neither clothes nor money He who had such large means had done nothing to sweeten her poverty On this her wedding morning he had brought her no gift save the ring which the law prescribed He had not brought her so much as a flower by way of greeting yet she knew by the gossip of her schoolfellows that it was the custom for a lover to ratify his engagement by some splendid ring which was ever afterwards his betrotheds choicest jewel The girls had talked of their elder sisters engagementrings how one had diamonds another rubies another catseyes more distinguished and artistic than either
And now she sat with drooping eyelids expecting her loverhusband to break into an outburst of selfreproach then pour a shower of gold into her lap But he did neither He rattled some loose coins in his pocket just as he had done yesterday when he talked of the honeymoon and he answered hesitatingly with evident embarrassment
Yes youll want some new clothes I daresay All girls do when they marry dont they Its a kind of unwritten law—new husband new gowns But Im sure you cant look better than you do in that gray gown and it looks to me just the right thing for travelling And for any other little things you may want for the moment if a couple of sovereigns will do—producing those coins—you can get anything you like as we drive to my chambers We could stop at a drapers on our way
Ida was stricken dumb by this reply Her cheeks changed from crimson to pale Her wealthy husband—the man whose fortune was to give her all those good things she had ever pictured to herself in the airy visions of a splendid future—offered her with a halfreluctant air as if offering his lifes blood two sovereigns with which to purchase a travelling outfit What could she buy for two sovereigns Not all the economy of her girlhood could screw half the things she wanted out of that pitiful sum
She thought of all those descriptions of weddings which were so eagerly devoured at Mauleverer whenever a fashionable newspaper fell in the way of those eager neophytes She recalled the wonderful gifts which the bridegroom and the bridegrooms friends showered on the bride—the glorious gown and bonnet in which the bride departed on her honeymoon journey And she was offered two sovereigns wherewith to supply herself with all things needful for comfort and respectability
Pride gave her strength to refuse the sordid boon She had the contents of her small travelling bag and she was going to her fathers house where her stepmother would perhaps contrive to provide what was absolutely necessary Anything was better than to be under an obligation to this rich husband who so little understood her needs
Could she have married that most detestable of all monsters a miser No she could hardly believe that It was not in a Wendover to be mean And all that she had observed hitherto of Brians way of acting and thinking rather indicated a recklessness about money than an undue care of pounds shillings and pence
If you dont object to this gown and hat I can manage very well till we get to my fathers house she said quietly
I adore you in that hat and gown replied Brian eagerly dropping the sovereigns back into his pocket and so the question was settled
An elderly lady came into the carriage at the next station and there was no renewal of confidences between bride and bridegroom till they came to Waterloo nor even then for there is not much opportunity for confidential utterances in a hansom and it was that convenient vehicle which carried Brian and his bride to the Temple
They alighted at a gate on the Embankment and made their way by a garden to a row of grave old houses with a fine view of the river Brian led his wife into one of these houses and up the uncarpeted stair to the third floor where he ushered her into a room with two oldfashioned windows looking out upon grass and trees and oldfashioned buildings all grave and gray and having an air of sober peacefulness as of a collegiate or monastic seclusion while beyond the broad green lawn shone the broad blue river
What a nice old place said Ida looking down at the garden How quiet how grave how learnedlooking I dont wonder you like this piedàterre in London as a change from your grand old Abbey
Brian gave a little nervous cough as if something were choking him He came to the window and put his arm round his wifes waist
Ida he began somewhat huskily I am going to tell you a secret
What is that she asked turning and looking at him
The Abbey does not belong to me
What she cried with wideopen eyes
You have been rather fond of talking about the Abbey but I hope your heart is not too much set upon it You told me the other day you know that you did not value me upon account of the Abbey or my position as its owner I hope that was the truth Ida for Wendover Abbey belongs to my cousin You have married the poor Brian and not the rich one
What she cried You have lied to me all this time—you have fooled and deluded me
She turned and faced him with eyes that flamed indignant fire lips that quivered with unrestrained passion
It was not my doing he faltered shrinking before her like the veriest craven it was the girls—Urania and Bessie—who started the notion as a practical joke just to see what you would think of me believing me to be my cousin And when you seemed to like me—a little—Bessie who is fond of me and who adores you urged me to follow up my advantage
But not to cheat me into a marriage No it is not in Bessie to suggest such falsehood
She hardly contemplated an immediate marriage I was to win your heart and when I was sure of that—
You were to tell me the truth said Ida looking him straight in the eyes
His head drooped upon his breast
And you did not tell me You knew that I saw in you Brian Wendover the head of the family the owner of a great estate that I was proud of being loved and sought by a man who stooped from such a high position to love me who renounced the chance of a brilliant marriage to marry me a penniless body You knew that it was in that character I admired you and respected you and was grateful to you Not as the briefless barrister—the man without means or position
You harped a good deal upon the Abbey But I had some right to suppose you liked me for my own sake and that you would forgive me for a stratagem which was prompted by my love for you How could I know that you looked upon marriage as a matter of exchange and barter
No said Ida bitterly You are right You could not know how mean I am I did not know it myself till now And now she pursued with flashing eyes with a look in her splendid face that seemed to blight and wither him with all her beauty all her womanhood up in arms against him and now to punish you for having kept the truth from me I will tell you the truth—plainly I have never cared one straw for you I thought I did while I still believed you Brian Wendover of the Abbey I was dazzled by your position I was grateful in advance for all the good things that your wealth was to bring me I tried to delude myself into the belief that I really loved you but the voice of my conscience told me that it was not so that I was in sober truth the basest of creatures—a woman who marries for money And now standing here before you I know what a wretch I seem—what a wretch I am
You are my wife said Brian trying to take her hand and we must both make the best of a bad bargain
Your wife she echoed in a mocking voice
Yes my very wife Ida The knot that was tied today can only be loosened by death—or dishonour
You have married me under a false name
No I have not You married Brian Walford Wendover There is no other man of that name
You have cheated me into a miserable marriage I will never forgive that cheat I will never acknowledge you as my husband I will never bear your name or be anything to you but a stranger except that I shall hate you all the days of my life That will be the only bond between us she added with a bitter laugh
Come Ida said Brian soothingly feeling himself quite able to face the situation now the first shock was over I was prepared for you to be disappointed—to be angry even but you are carrying matters a little too far Even your natural disappointment can hardly excuse such language as this I am the same man I was yesterday morning when I asked you to marry me
No you are not I saw you in a false light—glorified by attributes that never belonged to you
In plain words you thought me the owner of a big house and a fine income I am neither but I am the same Brian Wendover for all that—a briefless barrister but with some talent not without friends and with as fair a chance of success as most young men of my rank
You are an idler—I have heard that from your uncle—selfindulgent fond of trivial pleasures Such men never succeed in life But if you were certain to be Lord Chancellor—if you could this moment prove yourself possessed of a splendid fortune—my feelings would be unchanged You have lied to me as no gentleman would have lied I will own no husband who is not a gentleman
You carry things with a high hand said Brian with sullen wrath and then love prevailed over anger and he flung himself on his knees at her feet clasping her reluctant hands urging every impassioned argument which young lips could frame but to all such prayers she was marble You are my wife he pleaded you are my snared bird your wings are netted darling Do you think I will let you go Yes I was false but it was love made me deceive you I loved you so well that I dared not risk losing you
You have lost me for ever she cried breaking from him and moving towards the door perhaps had you been loyal and true you might have taught me to love you for your own sake Women are easier won by truth than falsehood
It seems to me they are easier won by houses and lands answered Brian with a sneer
And then he followed her to the door caught her in his arms and held her against his passionately beating heart covering her angry face with kisses
Let me go she cried tearing herself from his arms with a shriek of horror your kisses are poison to me I hate you—I hate you
He recoiled a few paces and stood looking at her with a countenance in which the passionate love of a moment ago gave place to gloomy anger
So be it he said if we cannot be friends we must be enemies You reveal your character with an admirable candour You did not mind marrying a man who was absolutely repulsive to you—whose kisses are poison—so long as you thought he was rich But directly you are told he is poor you inform him of your real sentiments with a delightful frankness Suppose this confession of mine were a hoax and that I really were the wealthy Brian after all—playing off a practical joke to test your feelings—what a sorry figure you would cut
Despicable said Ida with her hand on the handle of the door Yes I know that I despise and loathe myself as much as I despise and loathe you I have drained the cup of poverty to the dregs and I languished for the elixir of wealth When you asked me to marry you I thought Fate had thrown prosperity in my way—that it would be to lose the golden chance of a lifetime if I refused you
Not much gold about it said Brian lightly
He had one of those shallow natures to which the tragedy of life is impossible He was disappointed—angry at the turn which affairs had taken but he was not reduced to despair To take things easily had been his complete code of morals and philosophy from earliest boyhood He was not going to break his heart for any woman were she the loveliest the cleverest the noblest that ever the gods endowed with their choicest gifts She might be ever so fair but if she were not fair for him she was in a manner nonexistent Life in his philosophy was too short to be wasted in following phantoms
You must have thought me a mean cad this morning when I offered you a couple of sovereigns he said yet they constituted a third of my worldly possessions and I was sorely puzzled how we were to get to Dieppe on less than four pounds I have been living from hand to mouth ever since I left the university picking up a few pounds now and then by literature writing criticisms for a theatrical journal and so on—by no means a brilliant living Perhaps after all it is as well you take things so severely he added with a sneer If we had been well disposed towards each other we must have starved
I could have lived upon a crust with a husband whom I loved and respected but not with a man who could act a lie as you did said Ida
She took her bag from the chair where Brian had thrown it as they entered the room and went out on the landing
Goodbye Mrs Wendover he called after her let me know if I can ever be of any use to you
She was going downstairs by this time and he was looking down at her across the heavy old banister rail
I suppose you are going straight to your fathers
Yes
Hadnt you better stop and have some lunch The train doesnt go for hours
No thanks
The gray gown fluttered against the sombre brown panelling as his wife turned the corner of the lower landing and disappeared from his view—perhaps for ever
Brian went back to his room and stood in the middle of it looking round him with a contemplative air It was a pleasant room arranged with rather a dandified air—pipes walkingsticks old engravings bricàbrac—the relics of his college life
Well if she had been more agreeable I should have had to get new rooms and that would have been a bore he said to himself and then he sank into a chair gave a laugh that was half a sob and wiped a mist of tears from his eyes
What fools we have both been he muttered to himself I knew she was in love with the Abbey but I dont believe a word she says about hating me
And yet—and yet—she had seemed very much in earnest when she tore herself from his arms with that agonized shriek
CHAPTER X
A BAD PENNY
Ida made her way back to the Embankment somehow hardly knowing where she was going or what she was going to do The airy castle which she had built for herself had fallen about her ears and she was left standing amidst the ruins Wendover Abbey wealth position independence the worlds respect were all as far from her as they had been a month ago Her sense of disappointment was keen but not so keen as the sense of her selfabasement Her own character stood revealed to herself in all its meanness—its sordid longing for worldly wealth—its willingness to stoop to falsehood in the pursuit of a womans lowest aim a good establishment Seen in the light of abject failure the scheme of her life seemed utterly detestable Success would have gilded everything As the wife of the rich Brian she would have done her duty in all wifely meekness and obedience and would have gone down to the grave under the comforting delusion that she had in no wise forfeited honour or selfrespect Cheated duped degraded she now felt all the infamy implied in her willingness to marry a man for whom she cared not a straw
Oh it was cruel iniquitous she said to herself as she hurried along the dusty pavement impelled by agitated thoughts to trade upon my weakness—my misery—to see me steeped to the lips in odious poverty and to tempt me with the glitter of wealth I never pretended to love him—never—thank God for that I let him tell me that he loved me and I consented to be his wife but I pretended no love on my side Thank God for that He cannot say that I lied to him
She hurried along citywards following the stream of people and found herself presently in broad busy Queen Victoria Street with all the traffic hastening by her staring helplessly at the cabs and omnibuses waggons carriages streaming east and west under the murky London sky vaguely wondering what she was to do next
He—her husband—had asked her if she were going back to her father and she had said Yes Indeed it was the only course open to her She must go home and face the situation and accept any paternal reproof that might be offered her She had lost a day No doubt Miss Pews indictment would have arrived before her and she would have to explain her conduct to father and stepmother But the little whitewalled house near Dieppe was the only shelter the universe held for her and she must go there
Wendover Abbey she repeated to herself I the mistress of Wendover Abbey That was too good a joke Why did I not see the folly of such a dream But it was just like other dreams When one dreams one is a queen or that one can fly there is no consciousness of the absurdity of the thing
She stood staring at the omnibuses till the conductor of one that was nearly empty murmured invitingly in her ear London Bridge
It was the place to which she wanted to go She nodded to the man who opened his door and let her in
She was at the station at a quarter to four and the train for Newhaven did not leave till seven—a long dismal stretch of empty time to be lived through But she could not improve her situation by going anywhere else The station with its dingy waitingrooms and garish refreshmentroom was as good an hotel for her as any other She was faint for want of food having taken nothing since her apology for breakfast at seven oclock
Can one get a cup of tea here she asked of the dryasdust matron in charge of the waitingroom whereupon the matron goodnaturedly offered to fetch her some tea
If you would be so kind she faltered too exhausted to speak above a whisper I dont like going into that crowded refreshmentroom
No to be sure—not much used to travelling alone I daresay You will be better when youve had a cup of tea
The tea with a roll and butter revived exhausted nature Ida paid for this temperate refreshment went to the bookingoffice made some inquiries about her ticket and bought herself a book at the stall wherewith to beguile the time and to distract her mind from brooding on its own miseries
She felt it was a frightful extravagance as she paid away two of Miss Cobbs shillings for Bulwers Caxtons but she felt also that to live through those three tedious hours without such aid would be a step on the road to a lunatic asylum
Armed with her book she went back to the waitingroom settled herself in a corner of the sofa and remained there absorbed immovable while travellers came and went all alike fussy flurried and full of their own concerns—not one of them stopping to notice the pale tiredlooking girl reading in the remotest corner of the spacious room
A somewhat stormy passage brought the boat which carried Ida and her fortunes to straggling stony smelly Dieppe now abandoned to its native population and deprived of that flavour of fashion which pervades its beach in the brighter months of August and September The town looked gray cold and forbidding in the bleak October morning when Ida found herself alone amidst its stoniness the native population only just beginning to bestir itself in the street above the quay and making believe by an inordinate splashing and a frantic vehemence in the use of birchbrooms to be the cleanest population under the sun an assertion of superiority somewhat belied by an allpervading odour of decomposed vegetable matter a small heap of which refuse including eggshells and fishy offal—which the town in the matutinal cleansing process offered up to the sungod as incense upon an altar—lay before every door to be collected by the local scavenger at his leisure or to be blown about and disseminated by the winds of heaven
Alone upon the stony quay in the freshness and chilliness of early morning Ida took temporary refuge in the humblest café she could find where a feeble old woman was feebly brooming the floor and where there was no appearance of any masculine element Here she expended another of Miss Cobbs shillings upon a cup of coffee and a roll She had spent five and twenty shillings for her secondclass ticket The debt to Miss Cobb now amounted to a sovereign and a half and Ida Palliser thought of it with an aching sense of her own helplessness to refund so large a sum Yesterday morning believing herself about to become the wife of a rich man she had thought what fun it would be to send Cobby a fivepound note in the prettiest of ivory purses from one of those shops in the street yonder
She drank her coffee slowly not anxious to hasten the hour of a homecoming which could not be altogether pleasant She was as fond of her father as adverse circumstances had allowed her to be she adored her halfbrother and was not unkindly disposed towards her stepmother But to go back to them penniless threadbare disgraced—go back to be a burden upon their genteel poverty That was bitter
She had made up her mind to walk to Les Fontaines rather than make any further inroad upon Miss Cobbs purse for coachhire What was she that she should be idle or luxurious or spare the labour of her young limbs She went along the narrow stony street where the shops were only now being opened past the wide market where the women were setting out their stalls in front of the fine old church and where Duguesclin heroic and gigantic defied the stormy winds that had ruffled his sculptured hair
Two years and a half ago it had been a treat to her to walk in that marketplace hanging on her fathers arm to stand in the sombre stillness of that solemn cathedral while the organ rolled its magnificent music along the dusky aisles They two had chaffered for fruit at those stalls laughing gaily with the goodtempered countrywomen They had strolled on the beach and amused themselves economically from the outside with the diversions of the établissement An afternoon in Dieppe had meant fun and holidaymaking Now she looked at the town with weary eyes and thought how dull and shabby it had grown
The walk to Les Fontaines along a white dusty road seemed interminable If she had not been told again and again that it was only four miles from the town to the village she would have taken the distance for eight—so long so weary seemed the way There were hills in the background hills right and left of her orchards glimpses of woodland—here and there a peep of sea—a pretty enough road to be whirled along in a comfortable carriage with a fast horse but passing flat stale and unprofitable to the heavyhearted pedestrian
At last the little straggling village the halfdozen new houses—square white boxes which seemed to have been dropped accidentally in square enclosures of ragged garden—whitewalled penitentiaries on a small scale deriving an air of forced liveliness from emeraldgreen shutters here a tree and there a patch of rough grass but never a flower—for the scarlet geraniums in the plaster vases on the wall of the grandest of the mansions had done blooming and beyond scarlet geraniums on the wall the horticultural taste of Les Fontaines had never risen The old cottages with heavy thatched roofs and curious attic windows with fruit trees sprawling over the walls and orchards in the rear were better than the new villas but even these lacked the neatness and picturesque beauty of an English cottage in a pastoral landscape There was a shabby dustiness a barren comfortless look about everything and the height of ugliness was attained in the new church a plastered barn with a gaudily painted figure of our Blessed Lady in a niche above the door all red and blue and gold against the whitewashed wall
Ida thought of Kingthorpe—the rustic inn with its queer old gables shining lattices quaint dovecots the green the pond with its willowy island the lovely old Gothic church—solid and grave and gray—calm amidst the shade of immemorial yews The country about Les Fontaines was almost as pretty as that hilly region between Winchester and Romsey but the English village was like a gem set in the English landscape while the French village was a wart on the face of a smiling land
Why call it Les Fontaines Ida wondered in her parched and dusty weariness It is the dryest village I ever saw and I dont believe there is anything like a fountain within a mile
Her fathers house was one of the white boxes with green shutters It enjoyed a dignified seclusion behind a plaster wall which looked as if anyone might knock it down in very wantonness The babyboy had varied the monotony of his solitary sports by picking little bits out of it There was a green door opening into this walled forecourt or garden but the door was not fastened so Ida pushed it open and went in The babyboy now a sturdy vagabond of five years old was digging an empty flowerbed He caught sight of his sister and galloped off into the house before she could take him in her arms shouting Maman une dame—une dame lady lady lady exercising his lungs upon both those languages which were familiar to his dawning intelligence
His mother came out at his summons a pretty blueeyed woman with an untidy gown and towzley hair aged and faded a little since Ida had seen her
Oh Ida she said kissing her stepdaughter heartily enough despite her reproachful tone how could you go on so We have had such a letter from Miss Pew Your father is awfully cut up And we were expecting you all yesterday He went to Dieppe to meet the afternoon boat Where have you been since Tuesday
I slept at the lockhouse with a nice civil woman who gave me a nights lodging said Ida somewhat embarrassed by this question
But why not have come home at once dear asked the stepmother mildly
She always felt herself a poor creature before her Junolike daughter
I was flurried and worried—hardly knew what I was doing for the first few hours after I left Mauleverer and I let the time slip by till it was too late to think of travelling yesterday answered Ida Old Pew is a demon
She seems to be a nasty unkind old thing said Mrs Palliser for after all the worst she can bring against you is flirting with your friends cousin I hope you are engaged to him dear for that will silence everybody
No I am not engaged to him—he is nothing to me answered Ida crimsoning I never saw him except in Fräuleins company Neither you nor my father would like me to marry a man without sixpence
But in Miss Pews letter she said you declared you were engaged to Mr Wendover of the Abbey a gentleman of wealth and position She was wicked enough to say she did not believe a word you said but still Ida I do hope you were not telling falsehoods
I hardly knew what I said replied Ida feeling the difficulties of her position rising up on every side and hemming her in She had never contemplated this kind of thing when she repudiated her marriage and turned her face homewards She maddened me by her shameful attack talking to me as if I were dirt degrading me before the whole school If you had been treated as I was you would have been beside yourself
I might have gone into hysterics said Mrs Palliser but I dont think I should have told deliberate falsehoods and to say that you were engaged to a rich man when you were not engaged and the man hasnt a sixpence was going a little too far But dont fret dear added the stepmother soothingly as the tears of shame and anger—anger against fate life all things—welled into Idas lovely eyes Never mind Well say no more about it Come upstairs to your own room—its Vernies daynursery now but you wont mind that I know—and take off your hat Poor thing how tired and ill you look
I feel as if I was going to be ill and die and I hope I am said Ida petulantly
Dont dear its wicked to say such a thing as that You neednt be afraid of your poor pa he takes everything easily
Yes he is always good Where is he
Not up yet He comes down in time for his little déjeûner à la fourchette Poor fellow he had to get up so early in India
Captain Palliser had for the last seven years been trying to recover those arrears of sleep incurred during his Eastern career He had been active enough under a tropical sky when his mind was kept alive by a modicum of hard work and a very wide margin of sport—pigsticking peacockshooting paperchases all the delights of an Indian life But now vegetating on a slender pittance in the semislumberous idleness of Les Fontaines he had nothing to do and nothing to think about and he was glad to shorten his days by dozing away the fresher hours of the morning while his wife toiled at the preparation of that elaborate meal which he loved to talk about as tiffin
Poor little Mrs Palliser made strenuous efforts to keep the sparsely furnished dusty house as clean and trim as it could be kept but her life was a perpetual conflict with other peoples untidiness
The house was let furnished and everything was in the thirdrate French style—inferior mahogany and cheap gilding bare floors with gaudy little rugs lying about here and there tables with flaming tapestry covers chairs cushioned with red velvet of the commonest kind sham tortoiseshell clock and candelabra on the diningroom chimneypiece alabaster clock and candelabra in the drawingroom There was nothing homelike or comfortable in the house to atone for the smallness of the rooms which seemed mere cells to Ida after the spaciousness of Mauleverer Manor and The Knoll She wondered how her father and mother could breathe in such rooms
That bedchamber to which Mrs Palliser introduced her stepdaughter was even a shade shabbier than the rest of the house The boy had run riot here had built his bricks in one corner had stabled a headless wooden horse and cart in another and had scattered traces of his existence everywhere There were his little Windsor chair the nursegirls rocking chair a battered old table a heap of old illustrated newspapers and torn toybooks
You wont mind Vernons using the room in the day dear will you said
Mrs Palliser apologetically It shall be tidied for you at night
This meant that in the daytime Ida would have no place for retreat no nook or corner of the house which she might call her own She submitted meekly even to this deprivation feeling that she was an intruder who had no right to be there
I should like to see my father soon she said with a trembling lip stooping down to caress Vernon who had followed them upstairs
He was a lovely fairhaired boy with big candid blue eyes a lovable confiding child full of life and spirits and friendly feeling towards all mankind and the whole animal creation down to its very lowest forms
You shall have your breakfast with him said Mrs Palliser feeling that she was conferring a great favour for the Captains breakfast was a meal apart I dont say but what hell be a little cross to you at first but you must put up with that Hell come round afterwards
He has not seen me for two years and a half said Ida thinking that fatherly affection ought to count for something under such circumstances
Yes its only two years and a half sighed Mrs Palliser and you were to have stayed at Mauleverer Manor three years Miss Pew is a wicked old woman to cheat your father out of six months board and tuition He paid her fifty pounds in one lump when he articled you—fifty pounds—a heap of money for people in our position and here you are come back to us like a bad penny
I am very sorry faltered Ida reddening at that unflattering comparison But I worked very hard at Mauleverer and am tolerably experienced in tuition I must try to get a governesss situation directly and then I shall be paid a salary and shall be able to give you back the fifty pounds by degrees
Ah thats the dreadful part of it all sighed Mrs Palliser who was very seldom in the open air and had that despondent view of life common to people who live within four narrow walls Goodness knows how you are ever to get a situation without references Miss Pew says you are not to refer to her and who else is there who knows anything of you or your capacity
Yes there is some one else Bessie Wendover and her family
The people you went to visit in Hampshire Ah there went another five pounds in a lump You have been a heavy expense to us Ida I dont know whether anyone wanting to employ you as a governess would take such a reference as that People are so particular But we must hope for the best and in the meantime you can make yourself useful at home in taking care of Vernon and teaching him his letters He is dreadfully backward
He is an angel said Ida lifting the cherub in her arms and letting the fair curly head nestle upon her shoulder I will wait upon him like a slave You do love me dont you pet
Ess I love oo but I dont know who oo is Connais pas said
Vernon shaking his head vehemently
I am your sister darling your only sister
My halfsister said Vernon Maman said I had a halfsister and she was naughty Dites donc would a whole sister be twice as big as you
Thus in his baby language which may be easier imagined than described gravely questioned the boy
I am your sister dearest heart and soul There is no such thing as halflove or halfsisterhood between us You should not have talked to him like that mother said Ida turning her reproachful gaze upon her stepmother who was melted to tears
Your father was so upset by Miss Pews letter she murmured apologetically To pay fifty pounds for you and for it to end in such humiliation as that You must own that it was hard for us
It was harder for me said Ida I had to stand up and face that wicked woman who knew that I had done no wrong and who wreaked her malignity upon me because I am cleverer and betterlooking than ever she was in her life
I must go and make your fathers omelette said the stepmother while you tidy yourself for breakfast I think theres some water on the washstand and Vernon shall bring you a clean towel
The little fellow trotted out after his mother and trotted back presently with the towel—one towel which was about in proportion to the waterjug and basin Ida shuddered remembering the plentitude of water and towels at The Knoll She made her toilet as well as she could with the scantiest materials as she might have done on board ship shook and brushed the shabby gray cashmere—her wedding gown she thought with a bitter smile—before she put it on again and then went down the bare narrow deal staircase superb in all the freshness of her youth and beauty which neither care nor poverty could spoil
Captain Palliser was pacing up and down his little dining parlour looking flurried and anxious He turned suddenly as Ida entered and stood staring at her
By Jove how handsome you have grown he said and then he look her in his arms and kissed her But you know my dear this is really too bad he went on in a fretful tone to come back upon us like a bad penny
That is what my stepmother said just now
My dear how can one help saying it when its the truth After my paying fifty pounds dont you know and thinking that you were comfortably disposed of for the next three years and that at the expiry of the term Miss Pew would place you in a gentlemans family where you would receive from sixty to a hundred per annum according to your acquirements—those were her very words—to have you sent back to us like this in disgrace and to be told that you had been carrying on in an absurd way with a young man on the bank of a river It is most humiliating And now my wife tells me the young man has not a sixpence which makes the whole thing so very culpable
Please let me tell you the extent of my iniquity father and then you can judge what right Miss Pew had to expel me
Whereupon Ida quietly described her afternoon promenades upon the riverpath with the Fräulein always in her company and how her friends cousin had been permitted to walk up and down with them
Nobody supposes there was any actual harm replied Captain Palliser but you must have been perfectly aware that you were acting foolishly—that this kind of thing was a violation of the school etiquette Come now you knew Miss Pew would disapprove of such goings on did you not
Well yes no doubt I knew old Pew would be horrified Perhaps it was the idea of that which gave a zest to the thing
Precisely and you never thought of my fifty pounds and you ran this risk for the sake of a young man without a penny who never could be your husband
Ida grew scarlet and then deadly pale
There dont look so distressed child I must try to forget my fifty pounds and to think of your future career It is a deuced awkward business—here come the omelette and the coffee—an escapade of this kind is always cropping up against a girl in after life—sit down and make yourself comfortable—capital dish of kidneys—the world is so small and of course every pupil at Mauleverer Manor will gabble about this business No mushrooms—what is the little woman thinking about
Captain Palliser seated himself and arranged his napkin under his chin French fashion His features were of that aquiline type which seems to have been invented on purpose for army men His eyes were light blue like his boys—Idas dark eyes were a maternal inheritance—his hair was auburn sprinkled with gray his moustache strawcolour and with a carefully trained cavalry droop His clothes and boots were perfect of their kind albeit they had seen good wear He had been heard to declare that he had rather wear feathers and warpaint like a red Indian than a coat made by a thirdrate tailor He was tall and inclining to stoutness broadshouldered and with an easy carriage and a nonchalant air which were not without their charm He had what most people called a patrician look—that is to say the air of never having done anything useful in the whole course of his existence—not such a patrician as a Palmerston a Russell a Derby or a Salisbury but the ideal lotuseating aristocrat who dresses drives and dines and gossips through a languid existence
The Captains career in the East had not been particularly brilliant His lines had not lain in great battles or stirring campaigns Except during the awful episode of the Mutiny when he was still a young man he had seen little active service His life since his return from India had been a blank
His mind never vigorous had rusted slowly in the slow monotony of his days He had come to accept the rhythmical ebb and flow of lifes river as allsufficient for content Breakfast and dinner were the chief events of his life—if it was well with these it was well with him
There was a rustic tavern where in summer a good many people came to dine either in the house or the garden and in a room adjoining the kitchen there was a small French billiardtable with very big balls Here the Captain played of an evening with the habitués of the place and was much looked up to for his superior skill An occasional drive into Dieppe on the banquette of the diligence and a saunter by the sea was his only other amusement
His daughter poured out his coffee and ministered to his various wants as he breakfasted eating with but little appetite herself albeit the fare was excellent
Captain Palliser talked in a desultory way as he ate not often looking up from his plate but meandering on Happily for Ida who had been reduced to the lowest stage of selfabasement by her welcome he said no more about Miss Pew or his daughters gloomy prospects It was not without a considerable mental effort that he was able to bring his thoughts to bear upon other peoples business He had strained his mind a good deal during the last twentyfour hours and he was very glad to relax the tension of the bow
Rather a dull kind of life for a man who has been used to society—eh Ida he murmured as he ate his omelette but we contrive to rub on somehow Your stepmother likes it and the boy likes it—wonderful healthy air dont you know—no smoke—no fogs—only three miles from the sea as the crow flies It suits them and its cheap—a paramount consideration with a poor devil on halfpay and in the season there are some of the best people in Europe to be seen at the établissement
I suppose you go to Dieppe often in the season father said Ida pleased to find he had dropped Miss Pew and the governess question
Well yes I wander in almost every fine day
You dont walk exclaimed Ida surprised at such activity in a man of his languid temper
Oh no I never walk I just wander in—on the diligence—or in a return fly I wander in and look about me a little and perhaps take a cup of coffee with a friend at the Hôtel des Bains There is generally some one I know at the Bains or the Royal Ah bythebye whom do you think I saw there a fortnight ago
I havent the least idea answered Ida I know so few of your friends
No of course not You never saw Sir Vernon Palliser but youve heard me talk about him
Your rich brother the wicked old baronet in Sussex who never did you a kindness in his life
My dear old Sir Vernon has been dead two years
I never heard of his death
No bythebye It wasnt worth while worrying you about it especially as we could not afford to go into mourning Your stepmother fretted about that dreadfully poor little woman as if it could matter to her when she had never seen the man in her life She said if one had a baronet in ones family one ought to go into mourning for him I cant understand the passion some women have for mourning They are eager to smother themselves in crape at the slightest provocation and for a mean old beggar like Vernon who never gave me a sixpence But as I was saying these two young fellows turned up the other day in front of the Hôtel des Bains
Which two young fellows my dear father I havent the faintest idea of whom you are talking protested Ida who found her fathers conversation very difficult to follow
Why Sir Vernon of course—the present Sir Vernon and his brother Peter ugly name isnt it Ida but there has always been a Peter in the family and as a rule added Captain Palliser growing slower and dreamier of speech as he fell into reminiscences of the past—as a rule the Peter Pallisers have gone to the dogs There was Major Palliser—fought in the Peninsula—knew George the Fourth—married a very pretty woman and beat her—died in the Bench
Tell me about the present Sir Vernon asked Ida more interested in the moving breathing life of today than in memories of the unknown dead Is he nice
He is a fine broadshouldered young fellow—seven or eight and twenty No not handsome—my brother Vernon was never distinguished for beauty though he had all the markings of race There is nothing like race Ida you see it in a mans walk you hear it in every tone of a mans voice
Dear father I was asking about this particular Sir Vernon urged Ida with a touch of impatience unaccustomed to this slow meandering talk
And I was telling you about him answered the Captain slightly offended His little lowborn wife never hurried and hustled his thoughts in this way She was content to sit at his feet and let him meander on for hours True that she did not often listen but she was always respectful I was remarking that Sir Vernon is a fine young fellow and likely to live to see himself a greatgrandfather His brother too is nearly as big and healthy—healthy to a degree The breakfast I saw those two young men devour at the hotel would have made your hair stand on end But thank heaven I have never been the kind of man to wait for dead mens shoes
I see said Ida If these boys had been sickly and had died young you would have succeeded to the baronetcy
To the baronetcy and to the estate in Sussex which is a very fine estate worth eight thousand a year
Then of course they are strong and likely to live to the age of Methuselah exclaimed Ida with a laugh of passing bitterness Who ever heard of luck coming our way It is not in our race to be fortunate
The shame and agony of her own failure to win fortune were still strong upon her
Who knows what might happen said the Captain with amiable listlessness I have never allowed my thoughts to dwell upon the possibilities of the future yet it is a fact that so long as those young men remain unmarried there are only two lives between me and wealth They feel the position themselves for when Sir Vernon came over here to lunch he patted my boy on the head and said in his joking way If Peter and I had fallen down a crevasse the other day in the Oberland this little chap would have been heir to Wimperfield
No doubt Sir Vernon and his brother will marry and set up nurseries of their own within the next two or three years said Ida carelessly Eager as she had been to be rich during those two and a half bitter years in which she had so keenly felt the sting of poverty she was not capable of seeing her way to fortune through the dark gate of death
Yes I daresay they will both marry replied Captain Palliser gravely folding his napkin and whisking an accidental crumb off his waistcoat Young men always get drifted into matrimony If they are rich all the women are after them If they are poor—well there is generally some woman weak enough to prefer dual starvation to bread and cheese and solitude Vernon told me he had no idea of marriage He and his brother are both rovers—fond of mountainclimbing yachting every openair amusement
Did you see much of them while they were at Dieppe
They only stayed three days They walked over here to lunch put the poor little woman in a fluster—although they were very pleasant and easy about everything—invited me to dinner tipped the boy munificently and went off by the nightboat bound straight for Wimperfield and the partridges Very fine partridge shooting at Wimperfield Vernon asked me to go across with him and stay at the old place for a week or two but my sporting days are over I cant get up early and I cant walk in shootingboots Besides the little woman would have fretted if I had left her alone so long
But the change would have done you good father
No my dear any change of habits would worry me I have dropped into my groove and I must stay in it What a pity you were not here when your cousins called Who knows what might have happened Vernon might have fallen over head and ears in love with you
Dont father cried Ida with absolute pain in her voice Dont talk about marrying for money There is nothing in life so revolting so degrading Be sure it is a sin which always brings its own punishment
My dear said the Captain gravely there are so many lovematches which bring their own punishment that I am inclined to believe that marrying for money is a virtue which ought to ensure its own reward You may depend if we could get statistics upon the subject one would find that after ten years marriage the couples who were drawn together by prudential motives are just as fond of each other as those more romantic pairs who wedded for love A decade of matrimony rounds a good many sharp angles and dispels a good many illusions
CHAPTER XI
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A DISCOUNT
Now began for Ida a life of supreme dullness—an empty almost hopeless life waiting upon fortune Her father was kind to her in his easygoing lymphatic way liking well enough to have her about him pleased with her affection for his boy proud of her beauty and her talents but with no earnest care for her welfare in the present or the future What was to become of wife son and daughter when he was dead and gone was a question which Captain Palliser dared not ask himself For the widow there would be a pittance for son and daughter nothing It was therefore vital that Ida should either marry well or become a moneyearning personage Of marriage at Les Fontaines there seemed not the faintest probability since the experiences of the past afford so few instances of wandering swains caught and won by a face at a window or the casual appearance of a beautiful girl on a country road
Of friends or acquaintance in his present abode Captain Palliser had none The only people he had ever cared for were the men and women he had known in India and he had lost sight of those since his marriage They were scattered and he was too proud to expose his fallen fortunes to those who had known him in his happier days those days when the careless expenditure of his modest capital had given him a false air of easy circumstances
His life at Les Fontaines suited him well enough individually It was a kind of hibernation He slept a good deal and ate a good deal and smoked incessantly and took very little exercise For all that is best and noblest in life Captain Palliser might just as well have been dead He had outlived hope and ambition thought invention He exercised no influence upon the lives of others except upon the little homely wife who was a slave to him He was no possible good in the world Yet his daughter was fond of him and pleased to bear him company when he would have her and under her influence his sluggish intellect brightened a little
For the first few weeks of her residence at Les Fontaines Ida was tortured by a continually recurring fear of Brian Wendovers pursuit He had let her go coolly enough but what if he were to change his mind and follow and claim her She belonged to him She was his goods his chattels—to have and to hold till death did them part Her life was no longer her own to dispose of as she pleased Would he let her alone—he who had held her in his arms with passionate force who had entreated her to stay with him and had surrendered her reluctantly in sullen anger
What if anger which had been stronger with him than love at that last moment should urge him to denounce her—to tell the world how base a thing she was—a woman who had been eager to marry a rich man and had been trapped by a pauper She glanced with a sickening dread at every letter which her father received lest it should be from Brian telling her shameful story She counted the days as they went by saying to herself A fortnight since we were married surely if he had meant to claim me he would have come before now Three weeks now I must be safe And then came the dull November morning which completed the calendar month since her weddingday and her husband had made no sign She began to feel easier to believe that he repented his marriage as deeply as she did and that he was very glad to be free from its bondage
And now she was able to think more seriously of her future She had answered a great many advertisements in the Times wherein paragons were demanded for the tuition of youth or the companionship of age but as she saw the papers only on the day after their publication other paragons on the spot were beforehand with her She did not receive a single answer to those carefully written letters setting forth her qualifications and her willingness to work hard
I shall waste a small fortune in postagestamps father she said at last and shall be no nearer the mark My only chance is to advertise Will you give me the money for an advertisement I am sorry to ask you but—
My dear you are always asking me for money replied Captain Palliser peevishly which was hardly fair as she had asked him nothing since her return except the sum of thirty shillings being the exact amount of which she stood indebted to kindhearted Miss Cobb However I suppose you must have it He produced a half sovereign from his meagrelyfurnished purse It is only right you should do something indeed anything is better than wasting your life in such a hole as this But what if you do get any answers to your advertisement Who is to give you a character since that old witch at Mauleverer Manor has chosen to put up her back against you
That must be managed somehow answered Ida moodily Will it not be enough for the people to know who you are and that I have never been in a situation before Why should they apply to the schoolmistress who finished my education
People are so suspicious said the Captain and the handsomer a girl is the more questions they ask They seem to think she has no right to be so handsome However you must risk it
Ida wrote her advertisement an unvarnished statement of her qualifications as a teacher and of her willingness to be useful not a word about references The advertisement appeared a few days later and the little family at Les Fontaines anxiously awaited the result even little Vernon eagerly expressing himself on the subject his youthful ears being open to every topic discussed in his presence and his youthful mind quick to form opinions
You shant go away he exclaimed Ma she shant go shall she lady shant have her I want her always you mustnt go sissie all in baby language with a curious perversion of consonants He had climbed on her knee and had his arms round her neck—energetic young arms which almost throttled her She had been his chief companion and playfellow for the last five weeks had read him all his favourite fairytales over and over again had sat with him of an evening till he fell asleep an invincible defence against bogies and vague fears of darkness She had taken him for long rural rambles over breezy downs towards the sea had dug and delved with him on the lonely beach below the great white lighthouse warmly coated and shawled and working hard in the November wind and now just when he had grown fonder of her than anyone else in the world she was going to leave him He lifted up his head and howled and refused all comfort from mother or father Ida cried with him My pet I cant bear to leave you but I must my darling I shall come back she protested clasping him to her breast kissing his fair tearful face soft round cheeks lovely blue eyes swimming in tears
Tomorrow inquired Vernon with a strangled sob
No darling not tomorrow there would be no use in my going just for one day but I am not going yet—I dont know when I am going—Vernon must not cry See how unhappy he is making poor mamma
Mrs Palliser put her hands before her face and made a bohooing noise to keep up the illusion whereupon the affectionate little fellow slipped off his sisters knee and ran to his mother to administer comfort
I am not going away yet Vernon indeed I hardly know whether I am ever going at all I have come back like a bad penny and I seem likely to be as difficult to get rid of as other bad pennies said Ida despondingly for three posts had gone by since the insertion of her advertisement and had brought her nothing The market was evidently overstocked with young ladies knowing French and German able to play and sing and willing to be useful
After this Vernon would hardly let his sister out of his sight He had a suspicion that she would leave him unawares—slip out of the door some day and be gone without a moments warning That is how joy flees
My pet be reasonable said Ida I cant go away without my trunk
This comforted him a little and he made a point of sitting upon one of Idas trunks when they two were alone in that barely furnished chamber which served for her bedroom and his daynursery
She contrived to tell him fairytales and to keep him amused albeit she was now busy at carefully overhauling patching and repairing her scanty wardrobe—trying to make neat mending do duty for new clothes and getting ready against any sudden summons She could not bring herself to ask her father for money sadly as she wanted new garments He had given her five pounds in August and two sovereigns since her return and the way he had doled out those sums indicated the low state of his funds No the gown that had been new at The Knoll must still be her best gown Last winters jacket albeit threadbare in places must do duty for this winter Before the next summer she might be in the receipt of a salary and able to clothe herself decently and to send presents to this beloved boy who was not much better clad than herself
But the days wore on and brought no answer to her advertisement
I shouldnt wonder if it were the foreign address said Captain Palliser when they were all speculating upon the cause of this dismal silence People are suspicious of anyone living abroad If you had been able to advertise from a rectory in Lincolnshire or even an obscure street at the west end of London theyd have thought better of you But Boulogne Calais Dieppe they all hint at impecuniosity and enforced exile Its very unlucky
The postman stopped at the little green gate next morning and Ida flew to receive his packet It was a letter for her—a bulky letter—in a hand she knew well and her heart seemed to stop beating as she looked at the address
The hand was Bessie Wendovers Who could tell what new trouble the letter might announce Brian might have told his family the whole history of his marriage and her unworthy conduct Oh what shame what agony if this were so And how was she to face her father when he asked her the contents of the letter She ran out into the garden—the little bare joyless garden—to read her letter alone and to gain time
This is how the dreaded epistle ran—
My dear darling illused cruel thing—
However could you treat me so badly What is friendship worth if you set no higher value upon it than this I dont believe you know what friendship means or you never could act so How miserable you have made me how wretched you must have been yourself you proud nobleminded darling—under the sting of such vile treatment
I wrote to you three times last month and could not imagine why my letters were unanswered Brian had told me that you were perfectly well and looking splendid when he saw you in October so I did not think it could be illness that kept you silent and at last I began to feel angry and to fancy you had forgotten me and were ungrateful No I dont mean that dearest What reason had you for gratitude The obligation was all on my side
Towards the end of October I wrote to Brian telling him of your silence and asking if he could find out if you were well He answered with one of his short unsatisfactory scrawls that he had reason to know you were quite well After this I felt really offended for I thought you must have deceived me all along and that you had never cared a straw about me so I coiled myself up in my dignity and although I felt very unhappy I resolved never to write you another line till you wrote to me I was very miserable but still I felt that I owed a duty to my own selfrespect dont you know and just at this time we all went to Bournemouth where we were very gay Father and mother knew no end of people there and I began to feel what it really is to be out which no girl ever could at Kingthorpe where there are about three parties in a twelvemonth
Well darling so I went on leading a frivolous life among people I did not care twopence for and hardening my heart against my dearest friend when on the day we came home I happened to take up the Times in the railway carriage I hate newspapers in a common way but one reads such things when one is travelling and out of mere idleness I amused myself skimming the advertisements which I found ever so much more interesting than the leading articles What should my eye light upon but an advertisement from a young lady wanting to go out as a governess—address IP Le Rosier Les Fontaines near Dieppe—and the whole murder was out You must have left old Pews and be living with your father I was horribly indignant with you—as indeed I am still—for not having told me anything about it but directly I got home I telegraphed to Polly Cobb as the bestnatured girl I knew at Mauleverer asking where you were and why you had left I had such a letter from her next day—spelling bad but full of kind feeling—giving me a full account of the row and old Pews detestable conduct She told me that Fräulein vouched for your having behaved with the most perfect propriety and never having seen Brian out of her presence but Brians meanness in not having told me about the trouble he had brought upon you is more than I can understand
Well darling I went off to Aunt Betsy who is always my confidante in all delicate matters because shes ever so much cleverer than dear warmhearted mother who never could keep a secret in her life sweet soul and is no better than a speakingtube for conveying information to the Colonel I told Aunt Betsy everything—how it was all Brians fault and how I adore you and how miserable I felt about you and how you were trying to get a situation as governess in spite of that malignant old Pew—she must be a lineal descendant of the wicked fairy—having said she would give you no certificate of character or ability
Now what do you think that sweetest and best of aunties said Let her come to me she said I am getting old and dull and I want something bright and clever about me to cheer me and rouse me when I feel depressed Let her come to me as a companion and amanuensis help me to look after my cottagers who are getting too much for me and play to me of an evening I like that girl and I should like to have her in my house
I was enchanted at the thought of your being always near us and I fancied you wouldnt altogether dislike it although Kingthorpe certainly is the dullest sleepiest old hole in the universe So I begged Aunt Betsy to write to you instanter said I knew you would be charmed to accept such a situation and that she would secure a treasure and in all probability youll have a letter from her tomorrow
And now dear I must repeat that you have treated me shamefully Why did you not write to me directly you left Mauleverer Could you think that I could believe you had really done wrong—that I could possibly be influenced by the judgment of that old monster Pew If you could think so you are not worthy to be loved as I love you However come to us sweetest directly you get aunties letter and all shall be forgiven and forgotten as the advertisements say
Ida kissed the loving letter So far therefore Brian had not betrayed her and having kept her secret so long it might be supposed he would keep it for all time
Poor little warmhearted Bessie Was not she by her foolish falsification—a piece of mild jocosity no doubt—the prime author of all the evil that had followed And yet Ida could not feel angry with her any more than she could have been angry with Vernon for some piece of sportive mischief
Thank God he has kept our wretched secret she thought as she folded Bessies long letter and went back to the house I am grateful to him for that
She went in radiant gladdened at the thought of being able to relieve her father and stepmother of the burden of her maintenance for the fact that she was a burden had not been hidden from her They had been kind they had given her to eat and to drink of their best and had admired her talents and accomplishments but they had let her know at the same time that she was a failure and that her future was a dark problem still far from solution—a problem which troubled them in the silent watches of the night Nor did they forget to remind her from time to time that by her imprudence—pardonable although that imprudence might be—she had forfeited six months board and lodging together with those educational advantages the Captains fifty pounds had been intended to purchase for her These facts had been reiterated not altogether unkindly but in a manner that made life intolerable and she felt that were she to continue at Les Fontaines for the natural term of her existence the same theme would still furnish the subject for parental harpings
Father she said going behind Captain Pallisers chair as he smoked his afterbreakfast cigar and read yesterdays Times I want you to read this letter It is a foolish schoolgirl letter perhaps but it will show you that my friends are not going to discard me on account of Miss Pew
The Captain laid down his paper and slowly made his way through Bessies lengthy epistle which although prettily written with a good deal of grace in the slopes and curves of the penmanship gave him considerable trouble to decipher It was only when he had discovered that all the Bs looked like Hs and that all the Gs were Ks and all the Ls Ss and had as it were made a system for himself that he was able to get on comfortably
Bless my soul he murmured why cannot girls write legibly
It is the real Mauleverer hand papa and is generally thought very pretty said Ida
Pretty yes you might have a zigzag pattern over the paper that would be just as pretty One wants to be able to read a letter This is almost as bad as Arabic However the girl seems a good warmhearted creature and very fond of you and I should think you could not do better than accept her aunts offer It will be a beginning
It is Hobsons choice papa but I am sure I shall be happy with Miss Wendover said Ida and then she gave a faint sigh and her heart sank at the thought of that Damoclesian sword always hanging over her head—the possibility of her husband claiming her
Mrs Palliser was much more rapturous when she heard the contents of the letter—much more interested in all details about Idas future home She wanted to know what Miss Wendover was like—how many servants she kept—whether carriage or no carriage—what kind of a house she lived in and how it was furnished
You will be quite a grand lady she said with a touch of envy when Ida had described the cosy redbrick cottage the verandahed drawingroom and conservatory added by Miss Wendover the pair of cobs which that lady drove the large wellkept gardens you will look down upon us with our poor ways and this house in which all the rooms smell of whitewash
No indeed mamma I shall always think of you with affection for you have been very kind to me although I know I have been a burden
Everything is a burden when one is poor sighed her stepmother even one extra in the washingbills makes a difference and we shall feel it awfully when Vernon grows up Boys are so extravagant and one cannot talk to them as one can to girls
But I hope you will be better off then mamma
My dear you might as well hope we should be dukes and duchesses What chance is there of any improvement Your poor papa has no idea of earning money Im sure I have said to him often and often Reginald do something Write for the magazines Surely you can do that Other men in your position do it Yes he growled and thats why the magazines are so stupid No Ida your fathers circumstances will never improve and when the time comes for giving Vernon a proper education we shall be paupers
Poor papa sighed Ida I am afraid he is not strong enough to make any great effort
He has given way my dear that is the root of it all We shall never be better off unless those two healthy broadshouldered young men were to go and get themselves swallowed up by an earthquake and that is rather too much for anyone to expect
What young men asked Ida absently
Your two cousins
Oh Sir Vernon and his brother No I dont suppose they will die to oblige us poor creatures
They went up the whatsitsname Horn in Switzerland said Mrs Palliser plaintively It made my blood run cold to hear them talk about it By Jove Peter I thought it was all over with you said Sir Vernon when he told us how foolhardy his brother had been But you see they got to the bottom all safe and sound though ever so many people have been killed on that very mountain
Im glad they did mamma We may want their money very badly but we are not murderers even in thought
God forbid sighed the little woman They are finegrown gentlemanly young men too Sir Vernon gave my Vernie a sovereign and promised him a pony next year but good gracious how could we afford to keep a pony even if we had a stable You had better make it the other kind of pony says your father and then they all burst out laughing
So little makes a man laugh said Ida somewhat contemptuously That picture of her father making sport of his poverty irritated her Well dear mamma she said presently moved by one of those generous impulses which were a part of her frank unwise nature if ever I can earn a hundred a year—and there are many governesses who get as much—you shall have fifty to help pay Vernons schooling
You are a dear generous arted girl exclaimed the stepmother and the two women kissed again with tears an operation which they usually performed in the hour of domestic trouble
Miss Wendovers letter came next day a hearty frank affectionate letter offering a home that was really meant to be like home and a salary of forty pounds a year just to buy your gowns Miss Wendover said I know it is not sufficient remuneration for such accomplishments as yours but I want you rather than your accomplishments and I am not rich enough to give as much as you are worth But you will at least stave off the drudgery of a governesss life till you are older and better able to cope with domineering mothers and insolent pupils
Such a salary was a long way off that hundred per annum which Ida had set before her eyes as the golden goal to be gained by laborious pianoforte athletics and patient struggles with the profundities of German grammar but as Captain Palliser paid it was a beginning and Ida was very glad so to begin She wrote to Miss Wendover gratefully accepting her offer and in a very humble spirit
I fear it is pity that prompts your kind offer she wrote and that you take me because you know I left Mauleverer Manor in disgrace and that nobody else would have me I am a bad penny That is what my father called me when I came home to him And now I am to go back to Kingthorpe as a bad penny But please God I will try to prove to you that I am not altogether worthless and whatever may happen I shall love you and be grateful to you till the end of my life
As you are so kind as to say I may come as soon as I like I shall be with you on the day after you receive this letter
Idas preparations for departure were not elaborate Her scanty wardrobe had been put in the neatest possible order A few hours sufficed for packing trunk and bonnetbox On the last afternoon Mrs Palliser came to her highly elated and proposed a walk to Dieppe and a drive home in the diligence which left the Market Place at five oclock
I am going to give you a new hat she said triumphantly You must have a new hat
But dear mamma I know you cant afford it
I will afford it Ida You will have to go to church at Kingthorpe—Mrs Palliser regarded churchgoing as an oppressive condition of prosperous respectability One of the few privileges of being hard up and quite out of society was that one need not go to church—and I should like you to appear like a lady You owe it to your pa and I A hat you must ave I can pay for it out of the housekeeping money and your pa will never know the difference
No mamma but you and Vernon will have to pinch for it said Ida knowing that there was positively no margin to that households narrow means of existence
A little pinching wont hurt us Vernie is as bilious as he can be he eats too many compots and little fours I shall keep him to plain bread and butter for a bit and it will do him a world of good Theres no use talking Ida I mean you to ave a at and if you wont come and choose it I must choose it myself concluded the little woman dropping more aspirates as she grew more excited
So mother and daughter walked to Dieppe in the dull November afternoon Vernon trudging sturdily by his sisters side They bought the hat a gray felt with partridge plumage which became Idas rich dark bloom to perfection and then they went to the Cathedral and knelt in the dusky aisle and heard the solemn melody of the organ and the subdued voices of the choir in the plaintive music of Vesper Psalms monotonous somewhat but with a sweet soothing influence music that inspired gentle thoughts
Then they went back to the MarketPlace and were in time to get good places on the banquette of the diligence before the big white Norman horses trotted and ambled noisily along the stony street
Ida left Dieppe late on the following evening by the same steamer that had brought her from Newhaven The British stewardess recognised her
Why you was only across the other day miss she said what a gadabout you must be
She arrived in London by ten oclock next morning and left Waterloo at a quarterpast eleven reaching Winchester early in the day How different were her feelings this time as the train wound slowly over those chalky hills how full of care was her soul And yet she was no longer a visitor going among strangers—this time she went to an assured home she was to be received among friends But the knowledge that her liberty was forfeited for ever that she was a freeagent only on sufferance made her grave and depressed Never again could she feel as glad and frank a creature as she had been in the golden prime of the summer that was gone when she and Bessie and Urania Rylance came by this same railway over those green English hillsides to the city that was once the chief seat of Englands power and splendour
A young man in a plain gray livery and irreproachable topboots stood contemplatively regarding the train as it came into the station He touched his hat at sight of Miss Palliser and she remembered him as Miss Wendovers groom
Any luggage maam he asked as she alighted as if it were as likely as not that she had come without any
There is one box Needham That is all besides these things
Her bonnetbox—frail ark of womans pride—was in the carriage with a wrap and an umbrella and her dressing bag
All right maam If youll show me which it is Ill tell the porter to bring it Ive got the cobs outside
Oh I am so sorry—how good of Miss Wendover
They wanted exercise um They was a bit above themselves and the drive has done em good
Miss Wendovers cherished brown cobs animals which in the eyes of Kingthorpe were almost as sacred as that Egyptian beast whose profane slaughter was more deeply felt than the nations ruin—to think that these exalted brutes should have been sent to fetch that debased creature a salaried companion But then Aunt Betsy was never like anyone else
Needham took the cobs across the hills at a pace which he would have highly disapproved in any other driver Had Miss Wendover so driven them he would have declared she was running them off their legs But in his own hands Brimstone and Treacle—so called to mark their difference of disposition—could come to no harm They wanted it he told Miss Palliser when she remarked upon their magnificent pace they never got half work enough
The hills looked lovely even in this wintry season—yew trees and grass gave no token of Novembers gloom The sky was bright and blue a faint mist hung like a veil over the city in the valley the low Norman tower of the cathedral the winding river and flat fertile meadows—a vision very soon left far in the rear of Brimstone and Treacle
How handsome they look said Ida admiring their strong bold crests like warhorses in a Ninevite picture their shining blackbrown coats Is Brimstone such a very vicious horse
Vicious mum no not a bit of vice about him answered Needham promptly but hes a rare difficult horse to groom There aint none but me as dares touch him I let the boy try it once and I found the poor lad half an hour afterwards standing in the middle of the big loose box like a statter while Brimstone raced round him as hard as he could go just like one of them circus horses The boy dursnt stir If hed moved a limb Brimstone ud have molished him
What an awful horse But isnt that viciousness
Lor no mum That aint vice answered the groom smiling amusedly at the ladys ignorance Vice is cribbiting or jibbing or boring or summat o that kind Brimstone is a game hoss and hes got a bit of a temper but he aint got no vice
Here was Kingthorpe looking almost as pretty as it had looked when she gazed upon it with tearful eyes in her sad farewell at the close of summer The big forest trees were bare but there were flowers in all the cottage gardens even late lingering roses on southern walls and the clipped yewtree abominations—dumbwaiters peacocks and other monstrosities—were in their pride of winter beauty The ducks were swimming gaily in the village pond and the village inn was still glorious with red geraniums in redder pots The Knoll stood out grandly above all other dwellings—the beds full of chrysanthemums and a bank of big scarlet geraniums on each side of the hall door
It seemed strange to be driven swiftly past the familiar carriagedrive and round into the lane leading to Miss Wendovers cottage It was only an accommodation lane—or a backout lane as the boys called it since no two carriages could pass each other in that narrow channel—and in bad weather the approach to the Homestead was far from agreeable A carriage and horses had been known to stick there with wheels hopelessly embedded in the clay while Miss Wendovers guests picked their footsteps through the mud
But the Homestead when attained was such a delightful house that one forgot all impediments in the way thither The red brick front—old red brick be it noted which has a brightness and purity of colour never retained for above a twelvemonth by the red brick of today—glowing athwart its surrounding greenery like the warm welcome of a friend the exquisite neatness of the garden where every flower that could be coaxed into growing in the open air bloomed in perfection the spickandspan brightness of the windows the elegant order that prevailed within from cellar to garret the old carefullychosen furniture which had for the most part been collected from other oldworld homesteads the artistic colouring of draperies and carpets—all combined to make Miss Wendovers house delightful
My house had need be orderly she said when her friends waxed rapturous I have so little else to think about
Yet the sick and poor within a radius of ten miles might have testified that Miss Wendover had thought and care for all who needed them and that she devoted the larger half of her life to other peoples interests
It was a clear balmy day one of those lovely autumn days which hang upon the edge of winter and Miss Wendover was pacing her garden walks bareheaded armed with gardening scissors and formidable brown leather gauntlets nipping a leaf here or a withered rosebud there with eyes whose eagle glance not so much as an aphis could escape From the slope of her lawn Aunt Betsy saw the cobs turn into the lane and she was standing at the gate to welcome the traveller when the carriage drew up
There was no carriagedrive on this side of the house only a lawn with a world of flowerbeds Those visitors who wanted to enter in a ceremonious manner had to drive round by shrubbery and orchard to the back where there were an old oak door and an entrancehall On this garden front there were only glass doors and long French windows verandahs and sunny parlours opening one out of another
How do you do my dear said the spinster heartily as Ida alighted I am very glad to see you Why how bright and blooming you look—not a bit like a seasick traveller
Dear Miss Wendover I ought to look bright when I am so glad to come to you and as to the other thing I am never seasick
What a splendid girl That unhappy little Bessie cant cross to the
Wight without being a martyr But Ida I am not going to be called Miss
Wendover Only bishops and county magnates and people of that kind call
me by that name To you I am to be Aunt Betsy as I am to the children at
The Knoll
Is not that putting me too much on a level—
With my own flesh and blood Nonsense I mean you to be as my own flesh and blood I could not bear to have anyone about me who was not
You are too good faltered Ida How can I ever repay you
You have only to be happy It is your nature to be frank and truthful so I will say nothing about that
Ida blushed deepest scarlet Frank and truthful—she—whose very name was a lie And yet there could be no wrong done to Miss Wendover she told herself by her suppression of the truth It was a suppression that concerned only Brian Walford and herself No one else could have any interest in the matter
Betsy Wendover herself led the way to the bedchamber that had been prepared for the new inmate It was a dear old room not spacious but provided with two most capacious closets in each of which a small gang of burglars could have hidden—dear old closets with odd little corner cupboards inside them and a most elaborate system of shelves One closet had a little swing window at the top for ventilation and this Miss Wendover told Ida was generally taken for a haunted corner as the ventilating window gave utterance to unearthly noises in the dead watches of the night and sometimes gave entrance to a stray cat from adjacent tiles A cat less agile than the rest of his species had been known to entangle himself in the little swing window and to hang there all the night sending forth unearthly caterwaulings to the unspeakable terror of Miss Wendovers guest unfamiliar with the mechanism of the room and wondering what breed of Hampshire demon or afrit was thus making night hideous
There was a painted wooden dado halfway up the wall and a florid rose and butterfly paper above it There was a neat little brass bedstead on one side of the room a tall Chippendale chest of drawers with writingtable and pigeonholes on the other side the dearest oldest dressingtable and shieldshaped glass in front of the broad latticed window while in another window there was a cushioned seat such as Mariana of the Moated Grange sat upon when she looked across the fens and bewailed her deadandgone joys There were old cups and saucers on the high narrow chimneypiece below which a cosy fire burned in a little old basket grate Altogether the room was the picture of homely comfort
Oh what a lovely room cried Ida inwardly contrasting this cheery chamber with that whitewashed den at Les Fontaines with its tawdry mahogany and brass fittings its florid six feet of carpet on a deal floor stained brown its alabaster clock and tin candelabra—a cheap caricature of Parisian elegance
Im glad you like it my dear answered Miss Wendover Bessie said it would suit you and all I ask you is to keep it tidy I hope I am not a tyrant but I am an old maid Of course I shall never pry into your room but I warn you that I have an eye which takes in everything at a flash and if I happen to go past when your door is open and see a bonnet and shawl on your bed or a gown sprawling on your sofa my teeth will be set on edge for the next halfhour
Dear Miss Wen— dear Aunt Betsy said Ida corrected by a frown I hope you will come into my room every day and give me a good scolding if it is not exactly as you like Everything in this house looks lovely I want to learn your nice neat ways
Well my love you might learn something worse replied Miss Wendover with innocent pride And now come down to luncheon I kept it back on purpose for you and I am sure you must be starving
The luncheon was excellent served with a tranquil perfection only to be attained by careful training and yet Miss Wendovers youthful butler three years ago had been a bird boy while her rosycheeked parlourmaid was only eighteen and had escaped but two years from the primitive habits of cottage life Aunt Betsy had a genius for training young servants
You had better unpack your boxes directly after luncheon said Miss Wendover when Ida had eaten with very good appetite and arrange your things in your drawers That will take you an hour or so I suppose—say till five oclock when Bessie is coming over to afternoon tea
Oh I am so glad I am longing to see Bessie Is she as lovable and pretty as ever
Well yes replied Aunt Betsy with a critical air I think she has rather improved She is plump enough still in all conscience but not quite so stumpy as she was last summer Her figure is a little less like a barrel
I hope she was very much admired at Bournemouth
Yes strange to say she had a good many admirers answered Miss Wendover coolly She made a point of never being enthusiastic about her relations She had always partners at the dances I am told even when there was a paucity of dancing men and she was considered rather remarkable at lawn tennis No doubt she will tell you all about it this afternoon I have some work to do in the village and I shall leave you two girls together
This was a delicacy which touched Ida She was very anxious to see Bessie and to talk to her as they could only talk when they were alone She wanted to know her faithful friends motive for that cruel deception about Brian Walford That the frank tenderhearted Bessie could have so deceived her from any unworthy motive was impossible
Five oclock struck and Ida was sitting alone in the drawingroom waiting to receive her friend just as if she were the daughter of the house instead of a salaried dependent The pretty carved Indian teatable—a gem in Bombay blackwood—was wheeled in front of the fireplace which was old as regarded the high wooden mantelpiece and capacious breadth of the hearth but essentially new in its glittering tiles and dainty brass fireirons
The clock had hardly finished striking when Bessie bounced into the room rosy and smiling in sealskin jacket and toque
Oh you darling isnt this lovely she exclaimed hugging Ida You are to live here for ever and ever and never never never to leave us again and never to marry unless you marry one of the Brians Dont shudder like that pet they are both nice And Im sure you like Brian Walford though perhaps not quite so much as he liked you You do like him now dont you darling urged Bess
Ida had withdrawn from her embrace and was seated before the low Bombay table occupied with the tea pot There was no light but the fire and one shaded lamp on a distant table The curtains were not yet drawn and white mists were rising in the garden outside like a sea
Bessie Ida began gravely as her old schoolfellow sat on a low stool in front of the fire how could you deceive me like that What could put such a thing in your head—you so frank so open
I am sure I hardly know answered Bess innocently It was my birthday dont you know and we were all wild Perhaps the champagne had something to do with it though I didnt take any But that sort of excitement communicates itself and running up and down hill gets into ones head We all thought it would be such fun to pass off penniless B W for his wealthy cousin—and just to see how you liked him with that extra advantage But there was no harm in it was there dear Of course he told you afterwards when you saw him at Mauleverer
Yes he told me—afterwards
Naturally and having begun to like him as the rich Brian you didnt leave off liking him because of his poverty—did you darling The man himself was the same
Ida was silent remembering how with the revelation of the fraud that had been practised upon her the very man himself had seemed to undergo a transformation—as if a disguise altering his every characteristic had been suddenly flung aside
She did not answer Bessies question but looking down at her with grave searching eyes she said—Dear Bessie it was a very foolish jest I know it is not in your nature to mean unkindly to anyone least of all to me to whom you have been an angel of light but all practical jokes of that kind are liable to inflict pain and humiliation upon the victim—however innocently meant Whose idea was it Bess Not yours I think
No it was Urania who proposed it She said it would be such fun
Miss Rylance is not usually so—funny
No but she was particularly jolly that day dont you remember in positively boisterous spirits—for her
And the outcome of her amiability was this suggestion
Yes darling She had noticed that you had a kind of romantic fancy about Brian of the Abbey—that you had idealised his image as it were—and set him up as a kind of demigod Not because of his wealth darling—dont suppose that we supposed that—but on account of that dear old Abbey and its romantic associations which gave a charm to the owner And so she said what fun it would be to pass off Brian Walford as his cousin and see if you fell in love with him I know she is ready to lay her heart at the feet of the owner of the Abbey Urania said and I thought it would be too delicious if you were to fall in love with Brian Walford who could not help falling in love with you for of course it would end in your marrying him and his getting on splendidly at the Bar for with his talents he must do well He only wants a motive for industry And then you would be our very own cousin I hope it wasnt a very wicked idea Ida and that you will find it in your heart to forgive me pleaded Bess kneeling by her friends chair with clasped bands upon Idas knees and sweet halftearful face looking up My darling I have never been angry with you answered Ida clasping the girl to her heart with a stifled sob But I dont think Miss Rylance meant so kindly Her idea sprang from a malevolent heart She wanted to humiliate me—to drag my most sordid characteristics into the light of day—to make me more abject than poverty had made me already That was the motive of her joke
Never mind her motive dear All I am interested in is your opinion of
Brian I hope he behaved nicely at Mauleverer
Very nicely
Cobb says that Fräulein positively raves about him—declares he is quite the most gentlemanly young man she ever saw—a godly young man she called him in her funny English And she says that he was madly in love with you Of course he made you an offer
How could he do that when I was always with the Fräulein
Oh nonsense Brian is not the kind of young man to be kept at bay by a mild nonentity like the Fräulein He told me before he left that he was desperately in love with you and that he meant to win you for his wife I asked him how he intended to keep a wife and he said he should write for the magazines and do theatrical criticisms for the newspapers till briefs began to drop in He was determined to win you if you were to be won So I feel sure that he made you an offer unless indeed that horrid old Pew spoiled all by her venomous conduct
That is it dear Miss Pew brought matters to an abrupt close
And you are not engaged to Brian said Bess dolefully
No
And he didnt follow you to Dieppe
No
Then he is not half so fine a fellow as I thought him
Suppose Bessie that after a little mild flirtation with Fräulein Wolf for an audience we both discovered that our liking for each other was of the very coolest order and that it was wiser to let the acquaintance end
You might feel that but I would never believe it of Brian Why he raved about you he was passionately in love He told me there was no sacrifice he would not make to call you his wife
He had so much to sacrifice said Ida with a cynical air
Dont be unkind Ida Of course I know that he has his fortune to make but he is so thoroughly nice—so full of fun
Did you ever know him do anything good or great anything worth being remembered—anything that proved the depth and nobility of his nature asked Ida earnestly
Good gracious no not that I can remember He is always nice and amusing He doesnt like carrying a basket or skates and things but of course where there are younger boys one couldnt expect him to do that and he hates plain girls and old women but I suppose that is natural for even father does it in his secret soul though he is always so utterly sweet to the poor things But I am sure Brian Walford has a tender heart because he is so fond of kittens
I didnt mean to insinuate that he was a modern Domitian answered Ida smiling at Bessies childish earnestness What I mean is that there is no depth in his nature no nobility in his character He is shallow and I fear selfish But Bessie my pet I am going to ask you a favour
Ask away cried Bessie cheerfully I cant give you the moon but anything which I really do possess is yours this instant
Dont let us ever talk of Brian Walford I can never get over the feeling of humiliation which Miss Rylances practical joke caused me and my only chance of forgetting it is to forget your cousins existence
Oh but he will come to The Knoll I hope at Christmas and then you will think better of him
If he should come I—I hope I shall not see him
Has he offended you so deeply
Dont let us talk about him Bess Tell me all about your Bournemouth triumphs I hear you were the belle of the place
Then you have heard a most egregious fib There were dozens of girls with nineteeninch waists before whom I felt myself a monster of dumpiness But I got on pretty well I dont pretend to be a good dancer but I can generally adapt myself to the badness of other peoples steps and that goes for something
And now having got away from all painful subjects Bessie rattled on at a tremendous pace describing girls and gowns and partners and tennis tournaments and yachting excursions all in a breath as she sat in front of the fire sipping her tea and devouring a particular kind of buttered bun for which Miss Wendovers cook was famous
Aunt Betsys tea is always nicer than any one elses and so are her buns and her butter in fact everything in this house is nicer than it is anywhere else said Bessie pausing in her reminiscences You are in clover here Ida
Thanks to your goodness Bess
To mine But I have positively nothing to do with it
Yes you have It is from the wish to please her warmhearted little niece that Miss Wendover has been so good to me
But if you had been plain or stupid she would have only been kind to you at a distance Aunt Betsy has her idiosyncrasies and one of them is a liking for beauty in individuals as well as in chairs and tables and cups and saucers You will see that all her servants are pretty She picks them for their good looks I believe and trains them afterwards She would not have so much as a badlooking stable boy
Hard upon ugliness to be shut out of this paradise said Ida
Oh but she finds places for the ugly boys and girls with people whose teeth are not so easily set on edge she says herself And now I must be off to change my frock for dinner You know the back way to The Knoll—across the fields to the little door in the kitchengarden You will always come that way of course When are you coming to see us Tomorrow
You forget that my time is not my own I will come whenever Miss
Wendover can best spare me
Oh you will have plenty of spare time I am sure
I hope not too much or I shall be too sharply reminded that Miss
Wendover has taken me out of charity
Charity fiddlestick A prizewinner like you And now goodbye pet or
I shall be late for dinner which offends the Colonel beyond measure
Bessie scampered off Ida following her to the glass door only in time to see her running across the lawn as fast as her feet could carry her It was characteristic of Bessie to cut everything very fine in the way of time
CHAPTER XII
THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES
And now began for Ida a life of exceeding peacefulness comfort happiness even for how could a girl fail to be happy among people who were so friendly and kind who so thoroughly respected her and so warmly admired her for gifts altogether independent of fortune—who never by word or look reminded her that she was in anywise of less importance than themselves
Nor had the girl any cause to fear that she was a useless member of Miss Wendovers household That lady found plenty of occupation for her young companion—varied and pleasant duties which made the days seem too short and the leisure of the long winter evenings an agreeable relief from the busy hours of daylight
That exquisite neatness which gave such a charm to Wendovers house was not attained without labour The polished surface of the old Chippendale bureaus the inlaid Sheraton chairs and tables could only be maintained by daily care A housemaids perfunctory dusting was not sufficient here and Miss Wendover gloved and aproned and armed with leathers and brushes gave at least half an hour every morning to the care of her old furniture Another half hour was devoted to china and the floral arrangements indoors even in this wintry season occupied half an hour more This was all active work about which Aunt Betsy and Ida went merrily talking tremendously as they polished and dusted and upon all possible subjects for Miss Wendovers lonely evenings had enabled her to read almost as much as Southey and she delighted in telling Ida the curious outoftheway facts that were stored up in her memory
Sometimes there was an hour or so given to culinary matters—new dishes new kickshaws hors doeuvres savouries—to be taught the young teachable cookmaid for whenever Miss Wendover went to a great dinner her eagle eye was on the alert to discover some modern improvement in the dishes or the table arrangements
Then there was gardening which absorbed a good deal of time in fine weather for Aunt Betsy held that no gardener however honestly inclined would long feel interested in a garden to which its owner was indifferent Miss Wendover knew every flower that grew—could bud and graft and pot and prune and do everything that her youthful gardeners could do beside being ever so much more learned in the science of gardening
Then there were inspections of piggery and poultryyard medicines and particular foods to be prepared for the poultry hospitals to be established and looked after in odd corners of the orchard and the propagation of species to be carried on by mechanical contrivances
On wet days there was art needlework for which Miss Wendover had what artists would call a great deal of feeling without being very skilful as an executant Under her direction Ida began a mauresque border for a tawny plush curtain which was to be a triumph of art when completed and which was full of interest in progress She worked at this of an evening while Miss Wendover who had a fine full voice and a perfect enunciation read aloud to her Then when Miss Wendover was tired Ida went to the piano and played for an hour or so while the elder lady gave herself up to rare idleness and dreamy thought
These were home duties only The two ladies had occupations abroad of a more exacting nature Miss Wendover until now had given two botany lessons and one physical science lesson every week in the village school The botany lessons she now handed over to Ida whom she coached for that purpose Summer or winter these lessons were always given out of doors in the course of an hours ramble in field lane or wood Then Miss Wendover had a weekly class for domestic economy a class attended by all the most promising girls from thirteen years old upwards within five miles This class was held in the kitchen or housekeepers room at the Homestead and many were the savoury messes of broth or soup cheap stews and meat puddings and the jellies and custards compounded at these lessons to be sent off next day to the sick poor upon Miss Wendovers list
Then there was house to house visiting all over the widelyscattered parish much talk with gaffers and goodies in all of which Ida assisted She would have hated the work had Miss Wendover been a person of the Pardiggle stamp but as love was the governing principle of all Aunt Betsys work her presence was welcome as sunshine or balmy air so welcome that her sharpest lectures and she could lecture when there was need were received with meekness and even gratitude In these visits Ida learned to know a great deal about the ways and manners of the agricultural poor all the weakness and all the nobility of the rural nature
Every Saturday or halfholiday at the village school—blessed respite which gave the hardworked mistress time to mend her clothes and make herself bright and trim for Sunday and opened for the master brilliant possibilities in the way of a jaunt to Bomsey or Winchester—Miss Wendover gave a dinner to all the school children under twelve She had taken up Victor Hugos theory that a substantial meat dinner even on one day out of seven will do much to build up the youthful constitution and to prevent scrofulous diseases Moved by these considerations she had fitted up a disused barn as a rustic dininghall the walls plastered and whitewashed or buffwashed the massive cross timbers painted a dark red a long deal table and a few forms the only furniture Here every Saturday at halfpast one oclock she provided a savoury meat dinner and very strong must be that temptation or that necessity which would induce Aunt Betsy to abandon her duties as hostess at this weekly feast It was she who said grace before and after meat—save when some suckling parson was admitted to the meal it was she who surveyed and improved the manners of her guests by sarcastic hints or friendly admonitions and it was she who furnished intellectual entertainment in the shape of anecdote historical story or excruciating conundrum
Ida was allowed to assist at these banquets and there was nothing in her new life which she enjoyed more than the sight of all those glad young faces round the board or the sound of that frank rustic laughter Some there were naturally of a bovine dullness in whom even Miss Wendover could not awaken a ray of intelligence but these were few The generality of the children were far above the average rustic in brightness of intellect and this superiority might fairly be ascribed to Aunt Betsys influence
A fortnight before Christmas by which time Ida had been at the Homestead more than a month Miss Wendover suggested a drive to Winchester and before starting she handed Ida a tenpound note You may want some additional finery for Christmas she said kindly Girls generally do So you may as well buy it today
But dear Aunt Betsy I have only been with you a month
Never mind that my dear We will not be particular as to quarterdays When I think you want money I shall give it to you and we can make up our accounts at the end of the year
You are ever so much too good to me said Ida with a loving look that said a good deal more than words
There was a light frost that whitened the hills and the keen freshness of the air stimulated Brimstone to conduct of a somewhat riotous character but Miss Wendovers firm hand held his spirits in check Treacle was a sagacious beast who never did more work than he was absolutely obliged to do and who allowed Brimstone to drag the phaeton while he trotted complacently on the other side of the pole But Miss Wendover would stand no nonsense even from the amiable Treacle She sent the pair across the hills at a splendid pace and drove them under the old archway and down the stony street with a style which won the admiration of every experienced eye
They drew up at the chief drapers of the town and here Miss Wendover retired to hold a solemn conference with the head milliner a judicious and accomplished person who made Aunt Betsys gowns and bonnets—all of a solid and substantial architecture as if modelled on the adjacent cathedral Ida left alone amidst all the fascinations of the chief shop in a smart county town and feeling herself a Croesus had much need of fortitude and coolness of temper Happily she remembered what a little way that fivepound note had gone in preparing her for her summer visit to The Knoll and this brought wisdom Before spending sixpence upon herself she bought a gown—an olive merino gown and velvet to trim it withal—for her stepmother
I dont think she gets a new gown much oftener than I do she thought and even if this costs four or five shillings for carriage it will be worth the money as a Christmas surprise
The gown left only trifling change out of two sovereigns so that by the time Ida had bought herself a dark brown cloth jacket and a brown cashmere gown there were only four sovereigns left out of the ten She spent one of these upon some pale pink cashmere for an evening dress and half a sovereign on gloves as she knew Miss Wendover liked to see people neatly gloved Ten shillings more were spent upon calico and another sovereign went byandby at the bootmakers leaving the damsel with just twenty shillings out of her quarters wage but as the need of pocketmoney at Kingthorpe except for the Sunday offertory was nil she felt herself passing rich in the possession of that last remaining sovereign She would have liked to spend it all upon Christmas gifts for her young friends at The Knoll but this fond wish she relinquished with a sigh Paupers could not be givers of gifts Whatever she gave must be the fruit of her own labour—some delicate piece of handiwork made out of cheap materials
They are all too good to think meanly of me because I can only show my gratitude in words she told herself
As Christmas drew near Ida listened anxiously for any allusion to Brian Walford as a probable visitor and to her infinite relief just three days before the festival she heard that he was not coming He had been invited and he had left his young cousins in suspense as to his intentions till the last moment and then had written to say that he had accepted an invitation to Norfolk where there would be shooting and a probability of a staghunt on foot
Which I call horridly mean of him protested Horatio who had come across the fields expressly to announce this fact to Ida Why cant he come and shoot here I dont mean to say that there is anything particular to shoot but he and I could go out together and try our luck Our hills are splendid for hares
Do you mean that there are plenty of hares inquired Ida
No not exactly that But it would be capital ground for them dont you know if there were any
And where is your other cousin Brian asked Ida merely for the sake of conversation
All interest all idle dreaming about the unknown Brian was over with her since the fatal mistake which had marred her life She could not conceive that anything save evil could ever arise to her henceforward out of that hated name
Oh he is in Sweden or Turkey or Russia or somewhere replied Horatio with a disgusted air always on the move instead of keeping up the Abbey in proper style and cultivating his cousins A man with such an income is bound in duty to his fellowcreatures to keep a pack of foxhounds What else was he sent into the world for I should like to know
Perhaps to cultivate the knowledge of his fellowcreatures in distant countries and to improve his mind
Rot exclaimed Horatio who was not choice in his language What does he want with mind or to make a walking Murray or Baedeker of himself Society requires him to lay out his money to the local advantage Here we are with no foxhounds nearer than the New Forest when we ought to have a pack at our door
Ida could not enter into the keen sense of deprivation caused by a dearth of foxhounds so she went on quietly with her work shading the wing of the inevitable swallow flitting across the inevitable bulrushes which formed the design for a piano back
Presently Bessie came bouncing in her sealskin flung on anyhow and the most disreputable thing in hats perched sideways on her bright brown curls
Mother is going to let us have a dance she burst forth breathlessly on Twelfth Night Wont that be too jolly A regular party dont you know with a crumbcloth and a pianiste from Winchester and perhaps a cornet Its only another guinea and if fathers in a good temper hes sure to say yes You must come over to The Knoll every evening to practise your waltzing We shall have nothing but round dances in the programme Ill take care of that
But if there are any matrons who like to have a romp in the Lancers or the Caledonians aint it rather a shame to leave them out in the cold suggested Horatio Youre so blessed selfish Bess
We are not going to have any matrons Mother will matronize the whole party We are going to have the De Travers and the Pococks and the Ducies and the Bullinghams over from Bournemouth
And where the deuce are you going to put em
Oh we can put up at least twenty—on spare mattresses dont you know in the old nursery and in the dressingrooms and bathroom and as for us why of course we can sleep anywhere
Thank you replied Horatio I hope you dont suppose I am going to turn out of my den or to allow a pack of girls to ransack my drawers and smoke my favourite pipe
I dont suppose any decentminded girl would consent to sleep in such a loathsome hole retorted Bessie She would prefer a pillow and a rug on the landing
My den is quite as tidy as that barrack of yours said the Wykhamiste though I havent yet risen to disfiguring my walls with kitchen plates and fourpenny fans The cheap aesthetic is not my line
Dont pretend to be cantankerous Horatio said Ida looking at him with the loveliest eyes twinkling a little at his expense we all know that you are brimming over with goodhumour Perhaps Aunt Betsy will take in some of your visitors Bess I am sure they shall be welcome to my room if I have to sleep in the poultry yard
Happy thought cried Bessie Ill sound the dear creature as to her views on the subject this very day
Aunt Betsy was all goodness and offered to accommodate half a dozen young ladies of neat and cleanly habits She protested that she would have no candlegrease droppers or doormat despisers in her house
The Homestead is the only toy I have she said and I wont have it illused
So six irreproachable young women the pride of careful mothers were billeted on Miss Wendover while the more Bohemian damsels were to revel in the improvised accommodation of The Knoll
That particular Christmastide at Kingthorpe was a time of innocent mirth and youthful happiness which might have banished black care for the nonce from the oldest weariest breast For Ida still young and fresh loving and lovable the contagion of that youthful mirth was irresistible
She forgot by how fine a hair hung the sword that dangled over her guilty head—or began to think that the hair was tough enough to hold good for ever And what mattered the existence of the sword provided it was never to fall Sometimes it seemed to her in the pure and perfect happiness of this calm rural home this useful innocent life as if that illadvised act of hers had never been acted—as if that autumn morning that one halfhour in the modern Gothic church still smelling of mortar and pitchpine set in flat fields from which October mists were rising ghostlike was no more than a troubled dream—a dream that she had dreamed and done with for ever Could it be that such an hour—so dim so shadowy to look back upon from the substantial footing of her present existence—was to give colour to all the rest of her life No it was the dark dream of a troubled past and she had nothing to do but to forget it as soon as possible
Forgetfulness—or at least a temporary kind of forgetfulness—was tolerably easy while Brian Walford was civil enough to stay away from Kingthorpe but the problem of life would be difficult were he to appear in the midst of that cordial circle—difficult to impossibility
It is evident that he doesnt mean to come while I am here she told herself and that at least is kind But in that case I must not stay here too long It is not fair that I should shut him out of his uncles house It is I who am the interloper
She thought with bitterest grief of any change from this peaceful life among friends who loved her to service in the house of a stranger but her conscience recognised the necessity for such a change
She had no right to squat upon the family of the man she had married—to exclude him from his rightful heritage she who refused to acknowledge his right as her husband He had done her a deep wrong he had deceived her cruelly and she deemed that she had a right to repudiate a bond tainted by fraud but she knew that she had no right to banish him from his family circle—to dwell under false pretences by the hearth of his kindred
I did wrong in coming here she thought it was a mean thing to do Yet how could I resist the temptation when no other place offered and when I knew I was such a burden at home
In the very midst of her happiness therefore there was always this corroding care this remorseful sense of wrongdoing This present life of hers was all blissful but it was bliss which could not which must not last Yet what fortitude would be needed ere she could break this flowery bondage loosen these dear fetters which love had laid upon her
Once during that jovial Christmas season she hinted at a possible change in the future
What a happy day this has been she said as she walked across the wintry fields with Miss Wendover on the verge of midnight after a Christmas dinner and a long evening of Christmas games at The Knoll Needham marching in front of them with an unnecessary lantern and all the stars of heaven shining in blue frosty brilliance above their heads and what a happy home I feel it is a privilege to have seen so much of it and byandby when I am among strangers—
What do you mean exclaimed Aunt Betsy sharply there is to be no such byandby or if there ever be such a time it will be your making not mine You suit me capitally and I mean to keep you as long as ever I can without absolute selfishness If an eligible husband should want to carry you off I must let you go but I will part with you to no one less than a husband—unless indeed and here Betsy Wendovers voice took a colder and graver tone unless you should want to better yourself as the servants say and get more money than I can afford to give you I know your accomplishments are worth much more but it is not everybody to whom you would be as their own flesh and blood
Oh Aunt Betsy can you think that I should ever set money in the scale against your kindness—your infinite goodness to me
When you talk of a change byandby you set me thinking Perhaps you are already beginning to tire of this rustic dullness
No no no I never was so happy in my life—never since I was a child playing about on board the ship that brought my mother and me to England Everybody was kind to me and made much of me My mother and I adored each other and I did not know that she was dying Soon after we landed she grew dangerously ill and lay for weeks in a darkened room which I was not allowed to enter It was a dreary miserable time a lonely friendless child pining in a furnished lodging with no one but a servant and a sicknurse to speak to and then one dark November morning the black hearse and coaches came to the door and I stood peeping behind a corner of the parlour blind and saw my mothers coffin carried out of the house No from the time we left the ship till I came to The Knoll I had never known what perfect happiness meant
Surely you must have had some happy days with your father said Aunt
Betsy
Very few There was always a cloud Papa is not the kind of man who can be cheerful under difficulties Besides I have seen so little of him poor dear He did not come home from India till I was thirteen and then he fell in love with my stepmother and married her and took her to France where he fancies it is cheaper to live than in England Yet I cannot help thinking there are corners of dear old England where he might find a prettier home and live quite as cheaply
Of course if he were a sensible man but I gather from all you have told me that there is a gentlemanlike helplessness about him—as of a person who ought to have inherited a handsome income and is out of his element as a struggler
That is quite true answered Ida my father was not born to wrestle with Fate
They were at the glass door which opened into the morningroom by this time The room was steeped in rosy light—such a pretty room with chintz curtains and chintzcovered easychairs low luxurious inviting the only ponderous piece of furniture an old Japanese cabinet rich in gold work upon black lacquer On the dainty little octagon table there was a large shallow brown glass vase full of Christmas roses and there was an odour of violets from the celadon china jars on the chimneypiece Aunt Betsys favourite Persian cat a marvel of fluffy whiteness rose from the hearth to welcome them It was a delightful picture of home life
Miss Wendover seemed in no hurry to go to bed She seated herself in the low armchair by the fire and allowed the Persian to rub its white head and arch its back against her dark brocade skirt No one within twenty miles of Winchester wore such brocades or such velvets as Miss Wendovers They were supposed to be woven on purpose for her Her gowns were gowns of the old school and lasted for years smelling of the sandal or camphor wood chests in which they reposed for months at a stretch yet by virtue of some wonderful tact in the wearer never looked dowdy or out of date
Now said Miss Wendover with a resolute air let us understand each other my dear Ida I dont quite like what you said just now and I want to hear for certain that you are satisfied with your life here
I am utterly happy here dear Aunt Betsy Is that a sufficient answer Only when I came here I felt that it was charity—an impulse of kindness for a friendless girl—that prompted you to offer me a home that in accepting your kindness I had no right to become an encumbrance that having enjoyed your genial hospitality for a space I ought to move on upon my journey to go where I could be of more use
You too ridiculous girl can you suppose that you are not useful to me exclaimed Aunt Betsy impatiently Is there a single hour of your day unoccupied Granted that my original motive was a desire to give a comfortable home to a dear girl who seemed in need of new surroundings but that idea would hardly have occurred to me unless I had begun to feel the want of some energetic helpmate to lighten the load of my daily duties The experiment has answered admirably so far as I am concerned But it is just possible you feel otherwise You may think that you could make better use of your powers—earn double my poor salary win distinction by your fine playing dress better see more of the world I daresay to a girl of your age Kingthorpe seems a kind of living death
So far from that I love Kingthorpe with all my heart so much that I almost hate myself for not having been born here for not being able to say these are my native fields I was cradled among these hills
So be it If you love Kingthorpe and love me you have nothing to do but to stay here till the hero of your lifestory comes to carry you off
There will be no such hero
Oh yes there will Every story however humble has its hero but yours is going to be a very magnificent personage I hope
The little clock on the chimneypiece chimed the halfhour after midnight whereupon Aunt Betsy started up and called for her candle She and Ida kissed as they wished each other good night on the threshold of the elder ladys room
After this conversation how could Ida ever again broach the subject of departure and yet she felt that sooner or later she must depart Honour conscience womanly feeling forbade that she should remain at the cost of Brian Walfords banishment
CHAPTER XIII
KINGTHORPE SOCIETY
On New Years Eve Miss Wendover gave one of her famous dinnerparties famous because it was always said that her dinners were on their scale better than anybody elses—yea even that Dr Rylances although that gentleman spared no expense and had been known to induce the French cook from the Dolphin at Southampton to come over and prepare the feast for him
Miss Wendovers dinner was an excuse for the bringing forth of rich stores of old china old glass and older silver—the accumulations of aunts and uncles for past generations and in some part of the lady herself who had the true spirit of a collector that special gift which the French connoisseur calls le flair Ida and the lady of the house worked diligently all the morning in papering and polishing these treasures and the dinner table with its antique silver Derby china heavy diamondcut glass and white and scarlet exotics was a picture to gladden the eyes of Aunt Betsys guests
The party consisted of Colonel and Mrs Wendover with their daughter Bessie admitted to this sacred function for the first time in her young life and duly impressed with the solemnity of the occasion the Vicar and his wife the new curate an Oxford MA and a sprig of a good old family tree altogether something very superior in the way of curates Mr and Mrs Hildrop Havenant the great people of a neighbouring settlement with their eldest son also an Oxonion and Dr and Miss Rylance
Be sure you two girls look your best tonight said Miss Wendover as she sat before the fire with Bessie and Ida enjoying the free and easy luxury of a substantial afternoon tea which would enable them all to be gracefully indifferent to the more solid features of dinner and duly on the alert to make conversation We shall have three eligible men
How do you make three Aunt Betsy inquired her niece Of course we all know that young Hildrop Havenant is heir to nearly all the land between Havenant and Romsey but he is such a mass of affectation that I cant imagine anybody wanting to marry him And as for Mr Jardine—
Is he a mass of affectation too Bess inquired Aunt Betsy with intention for Mr Jardine the curate was supposed to have impressed the damsels fancy more deeply than she would care to own He is an Oxford man
There is Oxford and Oxford said Bess If all the Oxford men were like young Havenant the only course open to the rest of the world would be to burn Oxford just as Oxford burned the martyrs
Well we may count Mr Jardine as an eligible I suppose
But that only makes two Who is your third asked Bessie
Dr Rylance
Dr Rylance an eligible cried Bessie with girlhoods frank laughter at the absurd idea of middle age coming into the market to bid for youth Why auntie the man must be fifty
Fiveandforty at most and very younglooking for his age very polished very well off There are many girls who would be proud to win such a husband said Miss Wendover glancing at Ida in the firelight
She wanted to test the girls temper—to find out were it possible whether this girl whom she so inclined to love tried in the fierce furnace of poverty had acquired mercenary instincts She had heard from Urania of that reckless speech about marrying for money and she wanted to know how much or how little that speech had implied
Ida was silent She had never told anyone of Dr Rylances offer She would have deemed it dishonourable to let anyone into the secret of his humiliation—to let his little world know that he so superior a person could offer himself and be rejected
What do you think now Bess pursued Miss Wendover would it not be rather a nice thing if Dr Rylance were to marry Ida We all know how much he admires her
It would be a very horrid thing cried the impetuous Bess I would ever so much rather Ida married poor Brian although they had to pig in furnished lodgings for the first ten years of their life Crabbed age and youth cannot dwell together
But Dr Rylance is not crabbed and he is not old
Let him marry a lady of the same doubtful age which seems old to me but young to you and then no one will find fault with him said Bess savagely I feel an inward and spiritual conviction that Ida is doomed to marry Brian Walford The poor fellow was so hopelessly in love with her when he left this place that if she had not a stone inside her instead of a heart she would have accepted him but magno est amor et praevalebit concluded Bess with a mighty effort Im sure I hope thats right
I think it must be time for you to go home and dress if you really wish to look nice tonight said Ida severely You know you generally find yourself without frilling or something wrong at the last moment
Heavens exclaimed Bessie starting up and upsetting the petted Persian which had been reposing in her lap and which now skulked off resentfully with a swollen tail to hide its indignation under a chair you are as bad as an oracle I have yards and yards of frilling to sew on before I dress—my sleeves—my neck—my sweeper
Shall I run over and sew the frills on for you asked Ida
You when you are going to wear that lovely pink gown You will want hours to dress No Blanche must make herself useful for once in her ridiculous life Au revoir auntie darling Go lovely rose—to Ida—and make yourself still lovelier in order to captivate Dr Rylance
The dinner was over It had passed without a hitch and the gentlemen were now enjoying their claret and conversation in a comfortable semicircle in front of Miss Wendovers roomy hearth
The conversation was for the most part strictly local Colonel Wendover and Mr Hildrop Havenant leading and the Vicar a good second but now and then there was a brief diversion from the parish to European politics when Dr Rylance—who secretly abhorred parochial talk—dashed to the fore and talked with an authority which it was hard for the others to keep under He spoke of the impending declaration of war—there is generally some such thing—as if he had been at the War Office that morning in confidential converse with the chief officials but this was more than Squire Havenant could endure and he flatly contradicted the physician on the strength of his mornings correspondence Mr Havenant always talked of his letters as if they contained all the law and the prophets His correspondents were high in office unimpeachable authorities men who had the ear of the House or who pulled the strings of the Government
I am told on the best authority that there will be no war he said swelling or seeming to swell as he spoke
He was a large man with a florid complexion and gray muttonchop whiskers
Dr Rylance shrugged his shoulders and smiled blandly It was the calm incredulous smile with which he encountered any rival medico who was bold enough to question his treatment
That is not the opinion of the War Office he said quietly
But it is the opinion of men who dictate to the War Office replied Mr
Havenant
We couldnt have a better place for the working mens club than old
Parkers cottage said the Vicar addressing himself to Colonel
Wendover
If Russia advances a foot farther there must be war in Beloochistan said Dr Rylance and if England is blind to the exigencies of the situation I should like to know how you are going to get your troops through the Bolan Pass
A single line to Romsey would send up the value of land fifty per cent said the Colonel who cared much more about Hampshire than Hindostan although the best years of his life had been spent under Indian skies
Hildrop Havenant pricked up his ears and forgot all about the War
Office
If the railway company had the pluck they ought to get that Bill through next Session he said meaning a Bill for a loop between Winchester and Romsey
While the elder gentlemen prosed over their wine the two younger men had found their way first to the garden for a cigar under the frosty moon then back to Miss Wendovers pretty drawing room where Ida was playing Schumanns Träumerei at one end of the room with Bessie for her only audience while Miss Rylance Miss Wendover and the three matrons made a stately group around and about the fireplace
Urania was providing the greater part of the conversation She had spent a delightful fortnight in Cavendish Square at the end of November and had been everywhere and seen everything—winter exhibitions—new plays
I had no idea there could be so many nice people in town out of the season she said with a grand air But then my father knows all the nicest people he cultivates no Philistines
The Vicars wife required to have this last remark explained to her She only knew the Philistines of Scripture an unfortunate people who seem always to have been in the wrong
And you saw some good pictures inquired Aunt Betsy
A few good ones and acres of daubs replied Urania Why will so many people paint There are pictures which are an affliction to the eye—an outrage upon common sense Instead of a huge gallery lined from floor to ceiling with commonplace why cannot we have a Temple with a single Watts or Burne Jones or Dante Bossetti which one could go in and worship quietly in a subdued light
That is a horridly expensive way of seeing pictures said the Vicars wife I hate paying a shilling for seeing a single picture If it is ever so good one feels one has had so little for ones money Now at the Academy there are always at least fifty pictures which delight me
You must be very easy to please said Urania
I am replied the Vicars wife curtly and that is one of the blessings for which I am thankful to God I hate your nil admiraris added the lady as if it were the name of a species
After this Urania became suddenly interested in Schumann and glided across the room to see what the music meant
That is very sweet she murmured sinking into a seat by Bessie classical of course
Schumann answered Ida briefly
I thought so It has that delicious vagueness one only finds in German music—a halfdeveloped meaning—leaving wide horizons of melodious uncertainty
This was a conversational style which Miss Rylance had cultivated since her entrance into the small world of Kingthorpe and the larger world of Cavendish Square as a grownup young woman She had seen a good deal of a semiartistic quasiliterary circle in which her father was the medical oracle attending actresses and singers without any more substantial guerdon than free admittance to the best theatres on the best nights prescribing for newspapermen and literary lions who sang his praises wherever they went
Urania had fallen at once into all the tricks and manners of the new school She had taken to short waists and broad sashes and a style of drapery which accentuated the elegant slimness of her figure She affected outoftheway colours and quaint combinations—pale pinks and olive greens tawny yellow and faded russet—and bought her gowns at a Japanese warehouse where limp lengths of flimsy cashmere were mixed in artistic confusion with sixpenny teapots and paper umbrellas In a word Miss Rylance had become a disciple of the peacockfeather school of art and affected to despise every other development of intellect or beauty
This was the first time that she and Ida had met since the latters return to Kingthorpe except indeed for briefest greetings in the churchyard after morning service Ida had not yet upbraided her for the trick of which she was the author and originator but Urania was in no wise grateful for this forbearance She had acted with deliberate maliciousness and she wanted to know that her malice had given pain The whole thing was a failure if it had not hurt the girl who had been audacious enough to outshine Miss Rylance and to fascinate Miss Rylances father Urania had no idea that the physician had offered himself and his two houses to Ida Palliser nay had even pledged himself to sacrifice his daughter at the shrine of his new love She knew that he admired Miss Palliser more than he had ever admired anyone else within her knowledge and this was more than enough to make Ida hateful
Ida was particularly obnoxious this evening in that pale pink cashmere gown with a falling collar of fine old Brussels point a Christmas gift from Mrs Wendover The gown might not be the highest development of the Grosvenor Gallery school but it was at once picturesque and becoming and Ida was looking her loveliest
Why have you never come to see me since your return inquired Urania with languid graciousness
I did not think you wanted me Ida answered coolly
I am always glad to see my friends I stop at home on Thursday afternoons on purpose but perhaps you have not quite forgiven Bess and me for that little bit of fun we indulged in last September said Urania
I have quite forgiven Bess her share of the joke answered Ida scanning Miss Rylances smiling countenance with dark scornful eyes because I know she had no idea of giving me pain
But wont you forgive me too Are you going to leave me out in the cold
I dont think you care a straw whether I forgive or do not forgive you You wanted to wound me—to humiliate me—and you succeeded—to a certain degree But you see I have survived the humiliation You did not hurt me quite so much as you intended perhaps
What a too absurd view to take of the thing cried Urania with an injured air An innocent practical joke not involving harm of any kind a little girlish prank played on the spur of the moment I thought you were more sensible than to be offended—much less seriously angry—at any such nonsense
Ida contemplated her enemy silently for a few moments as her hands wandered softly through one of those Kinderscenen which she knew by heart
If I am mistaken in your motives it is I who have to apologize she said quietly Perhaps I am inclined to make too much of what is really nothing But I detest all practical jokes and I should have thought you were the very last person to indulge in one Miss Rylance Sportiveness is hardly in your line
Nobody is always wise murmured Urania with her disagreeable simper
Not even Miss Rylance questioned Ida without looking up from the keys
Please dont quarrel pleaded Bessie piteously such a bad use for the last night of the year It was more my fault than anyone elses though the suggestion did certainly come from Urania—but no harm has come of it—nor good either I am sorry to say—and I have repented in sackcloth and ashes Why should the dismal failure be raked up tonight
I should not have spoken of it if Miss Rylance had been silent said Ida and here happily the two young men came in and made at once for the group of girls by the piano whereupon Urania had an opportunity of parading her newest ideas all second third or even fourthhand before the young Oxonians One young Oxonian was chillingly indifferent to the later developments of modern thought and had eyes for no one but Bessie whose childish face beamed with smiles as he talked to her although his homely theme was old Sam Joness rheumatics and the Providence which had preserved Martha Morriss boy from instant death when he tumbled into the fire It was only parish talk but Bessie felt as happy as if one of the saints of old had condescended to converse with her—proud and pleased too when Mr Jardine told her how grateful old Jones was for her occasional visits and how her goodness to Mrs Morris had made a deep impression upon that personage commonly reported to have a temper and to be altogether a difficult subject
The conversation drifted not unnaturally from parochial to more personal topics and Mr Jardine showed himself interested in Bessies pursuits studies and amusements
I hear so much of you from those two brothers of yours said the
Curate—fine frank fellows They often join me in my walks
Im sure it is very good of you to have anything to say to them replied Bessie feeling like other girls of eighteen that there could hardly be anything more despicable—from a Society point of view—than her two brothers They are laboriously idle all through the holidays
Well I daresay they might work a little more with ultimate advantage said Mr Jardine smiling but it is pleasant to see boys enjoy life so thoroughly They are fond of all open air amusements and they are keen observers and I find that they think a good deal which is a stage towards work
They are not utterly idiotic sighed Bessie but they never read and they break things in a dreadful way The legs of our chairs snap under those two boys as if old oak were touchwood and Blanche and Eva who ought to know better devote all their energies to imitating them
The other gentlemen had come in by this time and Dr Rylance came gliding across the room with his gentlemanly but somewhat catlike tread and planted himself behind Ida bending down to question her about her music and letting her see that he admired her as much as ever and had even forgiven her for refusing him But she rose as soon as she decently could and left the piano
Miss Rylance will sing I hope she said politely Miss Wendover came over to make the same request and Urania sang the last fashionable ballad Blind Mans Holiday in a hard chilly voice which was as unpleasant as a voice well could be without being actually out of tune
After this Bessie sang Darby and Joan in a sweet contralto but with a doleful slowness which hung heavily upon the spirits of the company and a duly dismal effect having been produced the young ladies were cordially thanked for—leaving off
A pair of whisttables were now started for the elders while the three girls and the two Oxonians still clustered round the piano and seemed to find plenty to talk about till sweetly and suddenly upon the still night air came the silver tones of the church bells
Miss Wendover started up from the cardtable with a solemn look as the curate opened a window and let in a flood of sound A silent hush fell upon everyone
The New Year is born said Aunt Betsy may it spare us those we love and end as peacefully for us as the year that is just dead
And then they all shook hands with each other and parted
The dance at The Knoll was a success and Ida danced with the best men in the room and was as much courted and admired as if she had been the greatest heiress in that part of Hampshire Urania Rylance went simpering about the room telling everybody in the kindest way who Miss Palliser was and how she had been an illused drudge at a suburban finishing school before that dear good Miss Wendover took her as a useful companion but even that crushing phrase useful companion did not degrade Ida in the eyes of her admirers
Pallisers a good name said one youth Theres a Sir Vernon
Palliser—knew him and his brother at Cambridge—members of the Alpine
Club—great athletes Any relation
Very distant I should think from what I know of Miss Pallisers circumstances answered Miss Rylance with an incredulous sneer
But Urania failed in making youth and beauty contemptible and was fain to admit to herself that Ida Palliser was the belle of the room Dr Rylance who had not been invited but who looked so well and so young that no one could be angry with him for coming hung upon Miss Pallisers steps and tortured her with his politeness
For Ida the festivity was not all happiness She would have been happier at the Homestead sitting by the fire reading aloud to Miss Wendover—happier almost anywhere—for she had not only to endure a kind of gentlemanly persecution from Dr Rylance but she was tormented by an everpresent dread of Brian Walfords appearance Bessie had sent him a telegram only that morning imploring him as a personal favour to be present at her ball vowing that she would be deeply offended with him if he did not come and more than once in the course of the evening Bessie had told Ida that there was still time there was a train now just due at Winchester and that might have brought him Ida breathed more freely after midnight when it was obviously too late for any one else to arrive
It is your fault said Bessie pettishly If you had not treated him very unkindly at Mauleverer he would be here tonight He never failed me before
Ida reddened and then grew very pale
I see she said you think I deprive you of your cousins society I will ask Miss Wendover to let me go back to France
No no no you inhuman creature how can you talk like that You know that I love you ever so much better than Brian though he is my own kith and kin I would not lose you for worlds I dont care a straw about his coming for my own sake Only I should so like you to marry him and be one of us Oh heres that odious Dr Rylance stealing after you Aunt Betsy is quite right—the man would like to marry you—but you wont accept him will you darling—not even to have your own house in Cavendish Square a victoria and brougham and all those blessings we hear so much about from Urania Remember you would have her for a stepdaughter into the bargain
Be assured dear Bess I shall never be Uranias stepmother And now darling put all thoughts of matrimony out of your head for me at least
That brief flash of Christmas and New Years gaiety was soon over The Knoll resumed its wonted domestic calm Dr Rylance went back to Cavendish Square and only emerged occasionally from the London vortex to spend a peaceful day or two at Kingthorpe His daughter was not installed as mistress of his town house as she had fondly hoped would be the case She was permitted to spend an occasional week sometimes stretched to ten days or a fortnight in Cavendish Square but the cookhousekeeper and the clever German servant half valet half butler still reigned supreme in that wellordered establishment and Urania felt that she had no more authority than a visitor She dared not find fault with servants who had lived ten years in her fathers service and who suited him perfectly—even had there been any legitimate reason for faultfinding which there was not
Dr Rylance having got on so comfortably during the last twelve years of his life without a mistress for his town house was disinclined to surrender his freedom to a daughter who had more than once ventured to question his actions to hint that he was not allwise He considered it a duty to introduce his daughter into the pleasant circles where he was petted and made much of and he fondly hoped she would speedily find a husband sufficiently eligible to be allowed the privilege of taking her off her fathers hands But in the meanwhile Urania in London was somewhat of a bore and Dr Rylance was never more cheerful than when driving her to Waterloo Station
Miss Rylances life therefore during this period alternated between rural seclusion and London gaiety She came back to the pastoral phase of her existence with the feelings and demeanour of a martyr and her only consolation was found in those calm airs of superiority which seemed justified by her intimate acquaintance with society and her free use of a kind of jargon which she called modern thought
How you can manage to exist here all the year round without going out of your mind is more than I can understand she told Bessie
Well I know Kingthorpe is dull replied Bess meekly but its a dear old hole and I never find the days too long especially when those odious boys are at home
But really now Bessie dont you think it is time you should leave off playing with boys and begin wearing gloves sneered Urania
I did wear gloves at Bournemouth religiously—mousquetaires up to my elbows never went out without them No Ranie I am never dull at old Kingthorpe and then there is always a hope of Bournemouth
Bournemouth is worse than this exclaimed Urania There is nothing so laboriously dismal as a semifashionable wateringplace
Talk as she might Miss Rylance could not sour Bessies happy disposition with the vinegar of discontent Hers was a sweet joyous soul and just now had she dared to speak the truth she would have said that this pastoral village of Kingthorpe this cluster of fine old houses and comfortable cottages grouped around an ancient parish church was to her the central point of the universe to leave which would be as Eves banishment from Eden The pure and tender heart had found its shrine and laid down its offering of reverent devotion Mr Jardine had said nothing as yet but he had sedulously cultivated Bessie Wendovers society and had made himself eminently agreeable to her parents who could find no fault with a man who was at once a scholar and a gentleman and who had an income which made him comfortably independent of immediate preferment
He was enthusiastic and he could afford to give his enthusiasm full scope Kingthorpe suited him admirably It was a parish rich in sweet associations The present Vicar was a good easygoing man a High Churchman of the old school rather than the new yet able to sympathize with men of more advanced opinions and fiercer energies
Thus it was that while Miss Rylance found her bower at Kingthorpe a place of dullness and discontent Bessie rose every morning to a new day of joy and gladness which began oh so sweetly in the early morning service in which John Jardines deep musical voice gave new force and meaning to the daily lessons new melody to the Psalms Ida was always present at this morning service and the two girls used to walk home together through the dewy fields sometimes one sometimes the other going out of her way to accompany her friend Bessie poured all her innocent secrets into Idas ear expatiating with sweet girlish folly upon every look and tone of Mr Jardines asking Ida again and again if she thought that he cared ever so little for her
You never tell me any of your secrets Ida she said reproachfully after one of these lengthy discussions I am always prosing about my affairs until I must seem a lump of egotism Why dont you make me listen sometimes I should be deeply interested in any dream of yours if it were ever so wild
My darling I have no dreams wild or tame said Ida She could not say that she had no secret having that one dreadful secret hanging over her and overshadowing her life
And have you never been in love
Never I once thought—almost thought—that I was in love It was like drifting away in a frail dancing little boat over an unknown sea—all very well while the sun shone and the boat went gaily—suddenly the boat fell to pieces and I found myself in the cold cruel water
Horrid cried Bess with a shudder That could not have been real love
No dear it was a willothewisp not the true light
And you have got over it
Quite I am perfectly happy in the life I lead now
This was the truth There are these calm pauses in most lives—blessed intervals of bliss without passion—a period in which heart and mind are both at rest and yet growing and becoming nobler and purer in the time of repose just as the body grows during sleep
And thus Idas life full and useful glided on and the days went by only too swiftly for it was never out of her mind that these days of tranquil happiness were numbered that she was bound in honour to leave Kingthorpe before Brian Walford could feel the oppression of banishment from his kindred At present Brian Walford was living in Paris with an old college friend both these youths being supposed to be studying the French language and literature with a view to making themselves more valuable at the English bar He had given up his chambers in the Temple as too expensive for a man living from hand to mouth He was understood to be contributing to the English magazines and to be getting his living decently which was better than languishing under the cognizance of the Lamb and Flag with no immediate prospect of briefs
CHAPTER XIV
THE TRUE KNIGHT
Kingthorpe beautiful even in the winter with its noble panorama of hills and woods was now looking its loveliest in the leafy month of June Ida had been living with Miss Wendover nearly eight months and had become to her as a daughter waiting upon her with faithful and loving service always a bright and cheerful companion joining with heart and hand in all good works Her active life her freedom from daily cares had brightened her proud young beauty She was lovelier than she had ever been as the belle of Mauleverer Manor for that defiant look which had been the outcome of oppression had now given place to softness and smiles The light of happiness beamed in her dark eyes Between December and June this tranquil existence had scarcely been rippled by anything that could be called an event save the one grand event of Bessie Wendovers life—her engagement to John Jardine who had proposed quite unexpectedly as Bessie declared one evening in May when the two had gone into a certain copse at the back of The Knoll gardens famous as the immemorial resort of nightingales Here instead of listening to the nightingales or silently awaiting a gush of melody from those pensive birds Mr Jardine had poured out his own melodious strain which took the form of an ardent declaration Bessie who had been doing he loves me loves me not with every flower in the garden—forgetting that from a botanical point of view the result was considerably influenced by the nature of the flower—pretended to be intensely surprised made believe there was nothing further from her thoughts and then when her emboldened lover folded her to his breast owned shyly and with tears that she had loved him desperately ever since Christmas and that she would have been heartbroken had he married anyone else
Colonel and Mrs Wendover received the Curates declaration with the coolness which is so aggravating in parents who would hardly be elated if the sons of God came down once more to propose for the daughters of men
They both considered that Bessie was ridiculously young—much too young to receive an offer of marriage They consented ultimately to an engagement but Bessie was not to be married till after her twentyfirst birthday This meant two years from next September and Mr Jardine pleaded hard for a milder sentence Surely one year would be long enough to wait when Bessie and he were so sure of their own minds
Bessie is too young to be sure of anything said the Colonel and two years will only give you time to find a living and a nice cosy vicarage or rectory as the case may be
Mr Jardine did not venture to remind Colonel Wendover that for him the cosiness of vicarage or rectory was a mere detail as compared with a worthy field for his labours He meant to spend his life where it would be of most use to his fellowcreatures even although the call of duty should come to him from the smokiest of manufacturing towns or in the flat dull fields of Lincolnshire among pitmen and stockingers He was not the kind of man to consider the snug rectory houses or fat glebes but rather the kind of man to take upon himself some longneglected parish and ruin himself in building church and schools
Fortunately for Bessies hopes however Colonel Wendover did not know this
The Curate complained to Aunt Betsy of her brothers hardness
Why cannot we be married at the end of this year he said We have pledged ourselves to spend our lives together Why should we not begin that bright new life—bright and new at least to me—in a few months That would be ample time for the Colonel and Mrs Wendover to get accustomed to the idea of Bessies marriage
But a few months will not make her old enough or wise enough for a clergymans wife said Miss Wendover
She has plenty of wisdom—the wisdom of a generous and tender heart—the best kind of wisdom All her instincts all her impulses are pure and true and noble What can age give her better than that Girl as she is my parish will be the better for her sweet influence She will be the sunshine of my peoples life as well as of mine How will she grow wiser by living two years longer and reading novels and dancing at Bournemouth I dont want her to be worldlywise and the better kind of wisdom comes from above She will learn that in the quiet of her married home
I see said Miss Wendover smiling at him you dont quite like the afternoon dances and tennis parties at Bournemouth
Pray dont suppose I am jealous said the Curate My trust in my darlings goodness and purity is the strongest part of my love But I dont want to see the best years of her youth her freshness her girlish energy and enthusiasm frittered away upon dances and tennis and dress which has lately been elevated into an art I want her help I want her sympathy I want her for my own—the better part of myself—going hand in hand with me in all my hopes and acts
Two years sounds a long time said Miss Wendover musingly and I suppose at your age and Bessies it is a long time though at mine the years flow onward with such a gliding motion that it is only ones lookingglass and the quarterly accounts that tell one time is moving However I have seen a good many of these twoyear engagements—
Yes
And I have seldom seen one of them last a twelvemonth
They have ended unhappily
Quite the contrary They have ended in a premature wedding The young people have put their heads together and have talked over the flintyhearted parents and some bright morning when the father and mother have been in a good temper the order for the trousseau has been given the bridesmaids have received notice and in six weeks the whole business was over And the old people rather glad to have got rid of a lovesick damsel and her attendant swain There is no greater nuisance in a house than engaged sweethearts Who knows whether you and Bessie may not be equally fortunate
I hope we may be so said the Curate but I dont think we shall make ourselves obnoxious
Oh of course you think not Every man believes himself superior to every form of silliness but I never saw a lover yet who did not lapse sooner or later into mild idiocy
Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur
Of course Indeed with the gods of Olympus it was quite the other way
Nothing could be more absurd than their goings on
Ida was delighted at her friends happiness and was never tired of hearing about Mr Jardines virtues Love had already begun to exercise a sobering influence upon Bessie She no longer romped with the boys and she wore gloves She had become very studious of her appearance but all those little coquettish arts of the toilet which she had learned last autumn at Bournemouth the cluster of flowers pinned on her shoulder the laces and frivolities were eschewed lest Mr Jardine should be reminded of the wantoneyed daughters of Zion with their tinkling ornaments and chains and bracelets and mufflers and rings and nosejewels She began to read with a view to improving her mind and plodded laboriously through certain books of the advanced Anglican school which her lover had told her were good But she learnt a great deal more from Mr Jardines oral instructions than from any books and when the Winchester boys came home for an occasional Sunday they found her brimful of ecclesiastical knowledge and at once nicknamed her the Perambulating Rubric or by the name of any feminine saint which their limited learning suggested Fortunately for Bessie however their jests were not unkindly meant and they liked Mr Jardine whose knowledge of natural history the ways and manners of every creature that flew or walked or crawled or swam in that region of hill and valley made him respectable in their eyes
Hes not half a bad fellow—for a parson said Horatio condescendingly
And wouldnt he make a jolly schoolmaster exclaimed Reginald Boys would get on capitally with Jardine Theyd never try to bosh him
Schoolmaster indeed echoed Bessie with an offended air
I suppose you think it wouldnt be good enough for him You expect him to be made an archbishop offhand without being educated up to his work by the rising generation No doubt you forget that there have been such men as Arnold and Temple and Moberly Pray what higher office can a man hold in this world than to form the minds of the rising generation
I wish your master would form your manners said Bessie for they are simply detestable
It was nearly the end of June and the song of the nightingales was growing rarer in the twilight woods
Ida started early one heavenly midsummer morning with her book and her luncheon in a little basket to see the old lodgekeeper at Wendover Abbey who had nursed the elder Wendovers when they were babies in the nurseries at the Abbey and who had lived in a Gothic cottage at the gate—built on purpose for her by the last squire—ever since her retirement from active service This walk to the Abbey was one of Idas favourite rambles and on this June morning the common the wood the cornfields and distant hills were glorious with that fleeting beauty of summer which gives a glamour to the most commonplace scenery
She had a long idle morning before her a thing which happened rarely Miss Wendover had driven to Romsey with the Colonel and his wife to lunch with some old friends in the neighbourhood of that quiet town and was not likely to be home till afternoon tea Bessie was left in charge of the younger members of the household and was further deeply engaged in an elaborate piece of ecclesiastical embroidery all crimson and gold and peacock floss which she hoped to finish before All Saints Day
Old Mrs Rowse the gatekeeper was delighted to see Miss Palliser The young lady was a frequent visitor for the old woman was entitled to particular attention as a sufferer from chronic rheumatism unable to do more than just crawl into her little patch of garden or to the grassplat before her door on a sunny afternoon Her days were spent for the most part in an armchair in front of the neat little grate where a handful of fire burnt winter and summer diffusing a turfy odour
Ida liked to hear the old woman talk of the past She had been a bright young girl undernurse when the old squire was born and now the squire had been lying at rest in the family vault for nigh upon fifteen years and here she was still without kith or kin or a friend in the world except the Wendovers
She liked to hold forth upon the remarkable events of her life—from her birth in a labourers cottage about half a mile from the Abbey to the last time she had been able to walk as far as the parish church now five years ago She was cheerful yet made the most of her afflictions and seemed to think that chronic rheumatism of her particular type was a social distinction She was also proud of her advanced age and had hopes of living into the nineties and having her death recorded in the county papers
That romantic feeling about the Abbey which had taken possession of Idas mind on her first visit had hardly been lessened by familiarity with the place or even by those painful associations which made the spot fatal to her The timeold deserted mansion was still to her fancy a poem in stone and although she could not think about its unknown master without a shudder recalling her miserable delusion she could not banish his image from her thoughts when she roamed about the park or explored the house where the few old servants had grown fond of her and suffered her to wander at will
When she had spent an hour with Mrs Rowse she walked on to the Abbey and seated herself to eat her sandwiches and read her beloved Shelley under the cedar beneath which she and the Wendover party had picnicked so gaily on the day of her first visit Shelley harmonized with her thoughtful moods for with most of his longer poems there is interwoven that sense of wrong and sorrow that idea of a life spoiled and blighted by the oppression of stern social laws which could but remind Ida of her own entanglement She had bound herself by a chain that could never be broken and here she read of how all noblest and grandest impulses are above the law and refuse to be so bound and how in such cases it is noble to defy and trample upon the law A kind of heroic lawlessness spiritualized and diffused in a cloud of exquisite poetry was what she found in her Shelley and it comforted her to know that before her time there had been lofty souls caught in the web of their own folly
When she was tired of reading she went into the Abbey The great hall door stood open to admit the summer air and sunshine Ida wandered from one room to another as freely as if she had been in her own house knowing that any servant she met would be pleased to see her there The old housekeeper was a devoted admirer of Miss Palliser the two young housemaids were her pupils in a class which met every Sunday afternoon for study of the Scriptures She had no fear of being considered an intruder Many of the casements stood open and there was the scent of flowers in the silent old rooms where all was neat and prim albeit a little faded and gray
Ida loved to explore the library where the books were for the most part quaint and old original editions of seventeenth and eighteenth century books in sober substantial bindings It was pleasant to take out a volume of one of the old poets or the eighteenth century essayists and to read a few stanzas or a paper of Addisons or Steeles standing by the open window in the air and sunlight
The rooms in which she roamed at will were the public apartments of the Abbey and although beautiful in her eyes they had the stiffness and solemnity of rooms which are not for the common uses of daily life
But on one occasion Mrs Mawley the housekeeper in a particularly communicative mood showed her the suite of rooms in which Mr Wendover lived when he was alone and here in the study where he read and wrote and smoked and brooded in the long quiet days she saw those personal belongings which gave at least some clue to the character of the man Here on shelves which lined the room from floor to ceiling she saw the books which Brian Wendover had collected for his own especial pleasure and the neatness of their arrangement and classification told her that the master of Wendover Abbey was a man of calm temper and orderly habits
Youll never see a book out of place when he leaves the room said Mrs Mawley Ive seen him take down fifty volumes of a morning when hes at his studies Ive seen the table covered with books and books piled up on the carpet at each side of his chair but theyd all be back on their shelves as neat as a new pin when I went to tidy up the room after him I never allow no butterfingered girls in this room except to sweep or scrub under my own eye Theres not many ornaments but what there is is precious and the apple of masters eye
It was a lovely room with a panelled oak ceiling and a fine old oak mantelpiece on which were three or four pieces of Oriental crackle The large oak writingtable was neatly arranged with crimson leather blottingbook despatchbox old silver inkstand and a pair of exquisite bronze statuettes of Apollo and Mercury which seemed the presiding geniuses of the place
I dont believe Mr Wendover could get on with his studies if those two figures werent there said Mrs Mawley
The rooms were kept always aired and ready—no one knew at what hour the master might return He was a good master honoured and beloved by the old servants who had known him from his infancy and his lightest whim was respected The fact that he should have given the best part of his life since he left Oxford to roving about foreign countries was lamented but this roving temper was regarded as only an eccentric manner of sowing those wild oats which youth must in some wise scatter and it was hoped that with ripening years he would settle down and spend his days in the home of his ancestors He might come home at any time he had informed Mrs Mawley in his last letter received six weeks ago
That glimpse of the room in which he lived gave Ida a vivid idea of the man—the calm orderly student who had won high honours at the University and was never happier than when absorbed in books that took him back to the past—to that very past which was presided over by the two pagan gods on the writingtable She noted that the wide block of books nearest Mr Wendovers chair were all Greek and Latin and straying round the room she found Homers and Horaces Greek playwrights and historians repeating themselves many times in various quaint costly editions A scholar evidently—perhaps pragmatical and priggish Bessies coolness about her cousin implied that he was not altogether agreeable
Perhaps I should have liked him no better than the false Brian she said to herself today as she stood musing before the old brown books in the library thinking of that more individual collection which she had been allowed to inspect on her last visit
She shuddered at the image of that other Brian remembering but too vividly how she had last seen him kneeling to her claiming her as his own God could he so claim her Was she verily his to summon at his will—his by the law of heaven and earth and only enjoying her liberty by his sufferance
The thought was horrible She snatched a book from the shelf—anything to distract her mind Happily the book was Shakespeare and she was soon lost in Lears woes wilder deeper than any sorrow she had ever tasted
She read for an hour the soft air fanning her the sun shining upon her the scent of roses and lilies breathing gently round her as she sat in the deep oak windowseat Then the clock struck three and it was time to think of leaving this enchanted castle where no prince or princess of fairy tale ever came
There was no need for haste She might depart at her leisure and dawdle as much as she pleased on her homeward way All she wanted was to be seated neat and trim in a carefully arranged room ready to pour out Aunt Betsys afternoon tea when the cobs returned from Romsey She put Lear back in his place and strolled slowly through the rooms opening one into another to the hall where she stopped idly to look at her favourite picture that portrait of Sir Tristram Wendover which was attributed to Vandyke—a noble portrait and with much of Vandykes manner whoever the painter It occupied the place of honour in a richlycarved panel above the wide chimneypiece a trophy of arms arranged on each side
Ida stood gazing dreamily at that picture—the dark earnest eyes under strongly marked brows the commanding features somewhat ruggedly modelled but fine in their general effect—a Rembrandt face—every line telling a face in which manhood and intellect predominated over physical beauty and yet to Idas fancy the face was the finest she had ever seen It was her ideal of the knightly countenance the face of the man who has won many a hard fight over all comers and has beaten that last and worst enemy his own lower nature leaving the lofty soul paramount over the world the flesh and the devil So must Lancelot have looked Ida thought towards the close of life when conscience had conquered passion It was a face that showed the traces of sorrows lived down and temptations overcome—a face which must have been a living reproof to the butterfly sybarites of Charles the Seconds Court Ida knew no more of Sir Tristrams history than that he had been a brave soldier and a faithful servant of the Stuarts in evil and good fortune that he had married somewhat late in life to become the father of an only son from whom the present race of Wendovers were descended Ida had tried in vain to discover any resemblance to this pictured face in the Colonel or his sister but it was only to be supposed that the characteristics of the loyal knight had dwindled and vanished from the Wendover countenance with the passage of two centuries
No there is not one of them has that noble look murmured Ida thinking aloud as she turned to leave the hall
She found herself face to face with a man who stood looking at her with friendly eyes which in their earnest expression and grave dark brows curiously resembled the eyes of the picture Her heart gave one leap and then seemed to stand still There could be only one man in the world with such a face as that and in that house Yes it was a modified copy of the portrait—younger the features less rugged the skin paler and less tawny the expression less intense Yet even here despite the friendly smile there was a gravity a look of determination which verged upon severity
This time she was not deceived This was that very Brian Wendover whom she had thought of in her foolish daydreams the first romantic fancy of her girlhood last year and now in the flush and glory of summer he stood before her smiling at her with eyes which seemed to invite her friendship
I am glad you like my ancestors portrait he said I could not resist watching you for the last five minutes as you stood in rapt contemplation of the hero of our race so unlike the manner of most visitors to the Abbey who give Sir Tristram a casual glance and go on to the next feature in the housekeepers catalogue
She stood with burning cheeks looking downward like a guilty thing and for a moment or two could hardly speak Then she said faltering—
It is a very interesting portrait after which brilliant remark she stood looking helplessly towards the open door which she could not reach without passing the stranger
I think I have the pleasure of speaking to Miss Palliser he said Old
Mrs Rowse told me you were here I am Brian Wendover
Ida made him a little curtsey so fluttering so uncertain as to have elicited the most severe reproof from Madame Rigolette could she have seen her pupil at this moment
I hope you do not mind she said hesitatingly Bessie and I have roamed about the Abbey often while you were away and today I came alone and have been reading in the library for an hour or so
I am delighted that the old house should not be quite abandoned
How different his tone in speaking of the Abbey from the false Brians
There was tenderness and pride of race in every word
And I hope that my return will not scare either you or Bessie away that you will come here as often as you feel inclined I am something of a recluse when I am at home
You are very kind said Ida moving a little way towards the door
Have you been to The Knoll yet
I have only just come from Winchester I landed at Hull yesterday afternoon and I have been travelling ever since But I am very anxious to see my aunts and cousins especially Aunt Betsy If you will allow me I will walk back to Kingthorpe with you
Ida looked miserable at the suggestion
I—I—dont think Miss Wendover will be at home just yet she said
She has gone to The Grange near Romsey you know to luncheon
But a luncheon doesnt last for ever What time do you expect her back
Not till five at the earliest
And it is nearly halfpast three If youll allow me to come with you I can lounge in that dear old orchard till Aunt Betsy comes home to give me some tea
What could Ida say to this very simple proposition To object would have been prudish in the last degree Brian Wendover could not know what manifold and guilty reasons she had for shrinking from any association with him He could not know that for her there was something akin to terror in his name that a sense of shame mingled with her every thought of him For him she must needs be as other women and it was her business to make him believe that he was to her as other men
I shall be very happy she said and then with a final effort she added but are you not tired after your journey Would it not be wiser to rest and go to the Homestead a little later at halfpast seven when you are sure of finding Miss Wendover at home
I had rather risk it and go now I am only tired of railway travelling smoke and sulphur dust and heat A quiet walk across the common and through the wood will be absolute refreshment and repose
After this there was nothing to be said and they went out into the carriageway in front of the Abbey side by side and across the broad expanse of turf on which the cedars flung their wide stretching shadows and so by the Park to the cornfields where the corn waved green and tall and to the open common above which the skylarks were soaring and singing as if the whole world were wild with joy
They had not much to talk about being such utter strangers to each other and Brian Wendover naturally reserved and inclined to silence but the little he did say was made agreeable by a voice of singular richness and melody—just such a voice as that deep and thrilling organ which Canon Mozley has described in the famous Provost of Oriel and which was a marked characteristic of at least one of Bishop Coplestones nephews—a voice which gives weight and significance to mere commonplace
Ida not prone to shyness was today as one stricken dumb She could not think of this man walking by her side so unconscious of evil without unutterable humiliation If he had been an altogether commonplace man—pompous underbred ridiculous in any way—the situation would have been a shade less tragic But he came too near her ideal This was the kind of man she had dreamed of and she had accepted in his stead the first frivolous foppish youth whom chance had presented to her under a borrowed name Her own instinct her own imagination had told her the kind of man Brian of the Abbey must needs be and in her sordid craving for wealth and social status she had allowed herself to be fobbed off with so poor a counterfeit And now her very ideal—the darkbrowed knight with quiet dignity of manner and that deep earnest voice—had come upon the scene and she thought of her folly with a keener shame than had touched her yet
Brian walked at her side saying very little but not unobservant He knew a good deal about this Miss Palliser from Bessies letters which had given him a detailed account of her chosen friend He knew that the damsel had carried on a clandestine flirtation with his cousin and had been expelled from Mauleverer Manor in consequence and these facts albeit Bessie had pictured her friend as the innocent victim of tyranny and wrong had not given him a favourable opinion of his cousins chosen companion A girl who would meet a lover on the sly a girl who was ignominiously ejected from a boardingschool although clever and useful there could not be a proper person for his cousin to know He was sorry that Aunt Betsys good nature had been stronger than her judgment and that she had brought such a girl to Kingthorpe as a permanent resident He had imagined her a flashy damsel underbred with a vulgar style of beauty a superficial cleverness and all those baser arts by which the needy sometimes ingratiate themselves into the favour of the rich Nothing could be more different from his fancy picture than the girl by whose side he was walking under that cloudless sky where the larks were singing high up in the blue
What did he see as he gravely contemplated the lady by his side A perfect profile in which refinement was as distinctly marked as beauty of line Darkly fringed lids drooping over lovely eyes which looked at him shyly shrinkingly with unaffected modesty when compelled to look A tall and beautifully modelled figure set off by a simple white gown glorious dark hair crowned with the plainest of straw hats There was nothing flashy or vulgar here no trace of bad breeding in tone or manner Was this a girl to carry on illicit flirtations to be mean or underhand to do anything meriting expulsion from a genteel boardingschool A thousand times no He began to think that Bessie was right that Aunt Betsys judgment face to face with the actual facts had been wiser than his own view of the case at a distance And then suddenly remembering upon what grounds he was arriving at this more liberal view he began to feel scornful of himself after the manner of your thinking man given to metaphysics
Heaven help me I am as weak as the rest of my sex he said to himself Because she is lovely I am ready to think she is good—ready to fall into the old old trap which has snapped its wicked jaws upon so many victims However be she what she may at the worst she is not vulgar I am glad of that for Bessies sake
He tried to make a little conversation during the rest of the way asking about different members of the Wendover family and telling Ida some stray facts about his late wanderings But she did not encourage him to talk Her answers were faltering her manner absentminded He began to think her stupid and yet he had been told that she was a wonder of cleverness
I daresay her talent all lies in her fingers ends he thought She plays Beethoven and works in crewels That is a girls idea of feminine genius Perhaps she makes her own gowns which is a higher flight since it involves usefulness
It was only four oclock when they went in at the little orchard gate and Miss Wendover could hardly be expected for an hour What was Ida to do with her guest unless he kept his word and stayed in the orchard
Shall I send you out the newspapers or any refreshment she asked
There were rustic tables and chairs a huge Japanese umbrella every accommodation for lounging in that prettiest bit of the spacious old orchard which adjoined the garden and here Ida made this polite offer of refreshment for mind or body
No thank you Ill stay here and smoke a cigarette I can get on very well without newspapers having lived so long beyond easy reach of them
She left him but glancing back at the garden gate she saw him take a book from his pocket and settle himself in one of the basket chairs with a luxurious air like a man perfectly content This was a kind of thing quite new to her in her experience of the Wendovers who were not a bookish race
She went into the house and made all her little preparations for afternoon tea filling the vases with freshlycut flowers drawing up blinds arranging booktables workbaskets curtains—all the details of the prettiest drawingroom in Kingthorpe but walking to and fro all the while like a creature in a dream She had not half recovered from her surprise her painful wonder at Brian Wendovers appearance at his strange likeness to her ideal knight—strange to her but not miraculous since such hereditary faces are to be found after the lapse of centuries
When all her small duties had been performed she went up to her room bathed her face and brushed her hair and put on a fresher gown and then sat down to read trying to lose herself in the thoughts of another mind trying to forget this embarrassment this sense of humiliation which had come upon her She sat thus for half an hour or so reading The Caxtons one of her favourite novels and felt a little more composed and philosophical when the rythmical beat of Brimstone and Treacles eight iron shoes told her that Miss Wendover had returned
She ran to the gate to welcome that kind friend looking so fresh and bright in her clean white gown that Aunt Betsy saw no sign of the past struggle
Mr Wendover is here she said shyly when Aunt Betsy had kissed her and given her some brief account of the days adventures The rest of the party had been deposited at The Knoll
Whom do you mean by Mr Wendover child
Mr Wendover of the Abbey He is reading in the orchard
Of course I never saw him without a book in his hand So he has come back at last I am very glad He is a good fellow a little too reserved and selfcontained too fond of brooding over some beautiful truism of Platos when he ought to be thinking of deep drainage and a new schoolhouse but a good fellow for all that and always ready with his chequebook Let us go and look for him
You will find him in the orchard said Ida I will go and hurry on the tea You must want some tea after your dusty drive
Dusty exclaimed Miss Wendover we are positively smothered Yes I am dying for my tea but I must see this nephew of mine first
Ida went back to the drawingroom where everything was perfectly ready as she knew very well beforehand but she shrank with a sickly dread from any further acquaintance with the master of Wendover Abbey She hoped that he and his aunt might say all they had to say to each other in the orchard and that he would go on to The Knoll to pay his respects to the rest of his relations
In this she was disappointed Scarcely had she seated herself before the teatable when Aunt Betsy and her nephew entered through the open window
You two young people have contrived to get acquainted without my aid said Miss Wendover cheerily so theres no necessity for any introduction Now Brian sit down and make yourself comfortable Give him some tea Ida I believe he is just civilized enough to like tea in spite of his wanderings
On account of them you might as well say Aunt Betsy I drank nothing but tea in Scandinavia It was the easiest thing to get
Idas occupation at the table gave her an excuse for silence She had only to attend to her cups and saucers and to listen to Miss Wendover and her nephew who had plenty to talk about To hear that deep full voice with its perfect intonation was in itself a pleasure—pleasant also to discover that Brian Wendover albeit a famous Balliol man and a Greek scholar after the Porsonian ideal could still be warmly interested in simple things and lowly folk She began to feel at ease in his presence she began to perceive that here was a thoroughly noble nature a mind so lofty and liberal that even had the man known her pitiful sordid story he would have been more inclined to compassionate than to condemn
Having recovered her favourite nephew after so long a severance Aunt Betsy was in no wise disposed to let him go She insisted upon his staying to dinner and before the evening was over Ida found herself quite at home with the dreaded master of the Abbey At Miss Wendovers request she played for nearly an hour and Brian listened with evident appreciation sitting at his ease just outside the open window among the roses and lilies of June under a moonlit sky It was a calm peaceful rational kind of evening and Idas mind was tranquillized by the time it was over and when she went to her room after a friendly parting with Miss Wendovers nephew she told herself that she was not likely to be often troubled with his society He was too much a lover of learned solitude to be likely to be interested in the small amusements and occupations of the family at The Knoll—too much in the clouds to concern himself with Aunt Betsys various endeavours to improve her poorer neighbours in themselves and their surroundings
She did not long remain under this delusion She was busy in the garden with basket and scissors trimming away fading roses and cankered buds from the luxuriance of bush and standard arch and trellis at eleven oclock next morning when she heard the garden gate open and beheld Mr Wendover Bessie and Urania coming across the lawn
We are going for a botanical prowl in the woods said Bessie and we want you to come with us You are always anxious to improve your mind and here is a grand opportunity for you Brian is a tremendous botanist and Mr Jardine is not an ignoramus in that line
Oh then Mr Jardine is going to prowl too said Ida smiling at her
Yes he is going to give himself a holiday for once in a way Blanche is packing a basket She and Eva are to have the car but the rest of us are going to walk Come along Ida just as you are We are going to grovel and grub after clubmosses and toadstools Your oldest gown is too good
Please wear a white gown as you did yesterday said Brian White has such a lovely effect amidst the lights and shadows of a wood
Isnt it rather too violent a contrast argued Urania A faint sagegreen or a pale gray—or even that too lovely terracotta red—
Flowerpot colour screamed Bessie Horrid
I should like to go faltered Ida but I have so much to do—an afternoon class—no it is quite impossible Thank you very much for thinking of me all the same
You utterly disagreeable thing exclaimed Bessie and at this moment Miss Wendover came upon the scene from an adjacent greenhouse where she had been working diligently with sponge and wateringpot She heard the rights and wrongs of the case and insisted that Ida should go
Never mind the afternoon class—Ill take that You work hard enough child you must have a holiday sometimes
I had a holiday yesterday Aunt Betsy and really I had rather not go
The day is so very warm and I have a slight headache already
Go and lose it in the wood where Rosalind lost her heartache Nothing like a long ramble when one is a little out of sorts Go and get rid of your basket and get your sunshade Where are you going for your botanising
All over the world said Bessie just as fancy leads us If you will promise to meet us anywhere well be there
So be it replied Aunt Betsy Suppose we arrange a teameeting I will be ready for you by the Queen Beech in Framleigh Wood as the clock strikes five and we will all come home together And now run away before the day gets old Glad to see you unbending for once in a way Urania
Miss Rylance had been curiously willing to unbend this morning when Bessie ran in and surprised her at her morning practice with the wonderful tidings of Brians return She appeared delighted at the idea of a botanising expedition though she cared as little for botany as she did for Hebrew But when a young lady of large aspirations is compelled to vegetate in a village—even after her presentation at court and introduction into society—she is naturally avid for the society of the one eligible man in the parish
Mr Jardine is coming with us Bessie told her as a further temptation
Urania gave her hand a little squeeze and murmured Yes darling Ill come Mr Jardine is so nice Will my frock do
The frock was of the preRaffaelite or BedfordParkian order shortwaisted flowing and flabby colour the foliage of a lavender bush relieved by a broad brickdust sash An amber necklace a large limp Leghorn hat with a sunflower in it and a pair of long yellow gloves completed Uranias costume
Your frock will be spoilt in the woods said Bessie but Urania did not mean to do much botanical work and was not afraid of spoiling her frock
They found Mr Jardine waiting for them at the churchyard gate and to him Bessie presented her cousin somewhat reversing the ceremonial order of things since Brian Wendover was the patron of the living and could have made John Jardine vicar on the arising of a vacancy
Brian and the Curate walked on ahead with Miss Rylance who seemed bent upon keeping them both in conversation and Bessie fell back a little way with Ida
You dearest darling she exclaimed squeezing her arm rapturously
What has happened Bess Why such unusual radiance
Do you suppose I am not glad of Brians return
I thought you liked the other one best
Well yes one is more at home with him dont you see This one was a doublefirst—got the Ireland Scholarship Why Ireland when it was at Oxford he got it He is awfully learned knows Greek plays by heart just as that sweet Mr Brandram who came last winter to read for the new schoolhouse knows Shakespeare But I am very fond of him all the same and oh Ida what a too heavenly thing it would be if he were to fall in love with you
Bessie exclaimed Ida with an indignant frown
Dont look so angry You should have heard how he spoke of you this morning at breakfast such praise Approbation from Sir Hubert Whatshisname is praise indeed dont you know Theres Shakespeare for you added Bessie whose knowledge of polite literature had its limits
Bessie you contrived once—meaning no harm of course—to give me great pain to humiliate me to the very dust said Ida seriously Let us have no more such fooling Your cousin is—your cousin—quite out of my sphere However civil he may be to me however kindly he may speak of me he can never be any more to me than he is at this moment
Very well said Bess meekly I will be as silent as the grave I dont think I said anything very offensive but—I apologize Do you think you would very much mind kissing me just as if nothing had happened
Ida clasped the lovable damsel in her arms and kissed her warmly And now Mr Jardine turned back and joined them at the entrance to a wood supposed to be particularly rich in mosses flowers and fungi Urania still absorbed the attention of Mr Wendover who strolled by her side and listened somewhat languidly to her disquisitions upon various phases of modern thought
What a beautiful girl Bessie has discovered for her bosom friend he said presently
Miss Palliser yes she is quite too lovely is she not said Urania with that air of heartiness which every welltrained young woman assumes when she discusses a rival beauty but she has not the purity of the early Italian manner It is a CarloDolci face—the beauty of the Florentine decadence I was at school with her
So I understood Were you great friends
No replied Miss Rylance decisively if we had been at school for as many years as it took to evolve man from the lowest of the vertebrata we should not have been friends
I understand The thousandth part of an inch unbridged is as metaphysically impassable as the gulf which divides us from the farthest nebula In your case there was no conveying medium no sympathy to draw you together said Brian answering the young lady in her own coin
She glanced at him doubtfully rather inclined to think he was laughing at her if any one could laugh at Miss Rylance
She was frankly detestable said Urania I endure her here for
Bessies sake just as I would endure the ungraceful curves of a
Dachshund if Bess took it into her head to make a pet of one but at
school I could keep her at a distance
What has she done to offend you
Done nothing She exists that is quite enough Her whole nature—her moral being—is antagonistic to mine What is your opinion of a young woman who declares in cold blood that she means to marry for money
Not a pleasant avowal from such lips certainly said Brian She may have been only joking
After events showed that she was in earnest
How so Has she married for money I thought she was still Miss
Palliser
She is but that is not her fault She tried her hardest to secure a husband whom she supposed to be rich
And then Miss Rylance told how in frolic mood his penniless cousin had been palmed upon Miss Palliser as the owner of the Abbey how she had fallen readily into the trap and had carried on a clandestine acquaintance which had resulted in her expulsion from the school where she had filled the subordinate position of pupilteacher
I have heard most of this before from Bessie but not the full particulars of the practical joke which put Brian Walford in my shoes said Mr Wendover
He felt more shocked more wounded than there was need for him to feel perhaps but the girls beauty had charmed him and he was prepared to think her a goddess
How do you know that Miss Palliser did not like my cousin for his own sake he speculated presently Brian Walford is a very nice fellow
She did not like him well enough to marry him when she knew the truth replied Urania I believe the poor fellow was passionately in love with her She encouraged him fooled him to the top of his bent and then flung him over directly she found he was not the rich Mr Wendover He has never been to Kingthorpe since That would show how deeply he was wounded
The fooling was not all on her side said Mr Wendover She had a right to resent the trick that had been played upon her I am surprised that Bessie could lend herself to such a mean attempt to put her friend at a disadvantage
Oh I am sure Bessie meant only the most innocent fun her tremendous animal spirits carry her away sometimes dont you know And then again she thinks her chosen friend perfection She could not understand that Miss Palliser could really marry a man for the sake of his houses and lands I knew her better
And it was you who hatched the plot I think said Brian
Miss Rylance had not been prepared to admit as much She intended Bessie to bear whatever blame there might be attached to the escapade in Mr Wendovers mind but it seemed from this remark of his that Bessie had betrayed her
I may have thrown out the idea when your cousin suddenly appeared upon the scene We were all in wild spirits that day And really Miss Palliser had made herself very absurd by her romantic admiration of the Abbey
Well I hope this young ladylike conspiracy did no harm said Brian but I have a hearty abhorrence of all practical jokes
They were in a deep rutty lane by this time a lane with banks rich in ferns and floral growth and here came Blanche and Eva and the youngest boy released from Latin grammar and Greek delectus at an earlier hour than usual The car was sent on to the wood and Bessie and her two sisters produced their fern trowels and began digging and delving for rare specimens—real or imaginary—assisted by Mr Jardine who had more knowledge but less enthusiasm than the girls
I cant think what you can want with more ferns said Urania disdainfully every corner at The Knoll has its fernery
Oh but one cant have too much of a good thing and then there is the pleasure of looking for them Arent you going to hunt for anything
Thanks no It is a day for basking rather than work Shall we go to the end of the lane—there is a lovely view from there—and sit and bask
With all my heart replied Mr Wendover Come Miss Palliser of course youll join the basking detachment
Urania would have liked to leave Ida out of the business but she smiled sweetly at Mr Wendovers speech and they all three strolled to the end of the lane which ascended all the way till they found themselves upon a fine upland with a lovely view of woodland and valley stretching away towards Alresford Here in the warm June sunshine they seated themselves on a ferny bank to wait for the diggers and delvers below It was verily weather in which to bask was quite the most rapturous employment The orchestral harmonies of summer insects made a low drowsy music around them There was just enough air to faintly stir the petals of the dogroses without blowing them from their frail stems The dazzling light above the cool verdure around made a delicious contrast Ida looked dreamily across the bold grassy downs with here and there a patch of white which shone like a jewel in the sun It was very pleasant to sit here—very pleasant to listen to Brian Wendovers description of Norway and the Norwegians A book of travels might have been ever so much better perhaps but there was a charm in these vivid pictures of recent experiences which no printed page could have conveyed And then the talk was delightfully desultory now touching upon literature now upon art now even descending to family reminiscences stories of the time when Brian had been a Winchester boy as his cousins were now and his happy hunting grounds had been among these hills
Ida talked very little She was disposed to be silent but had it been otherwise she would have found slight opportunity for conversation Miss Rylance educated up to the standard of good professional society was ready to give her opinions upon anything between heaven and earth from the spectrum analysis of the suns rays to the latest discovery in the habits of ants She did not mean Ida to shine and she so usurped the conversation that Miss Pallisers opinions and ideas remained a blank to Mr Wendover
Yet a glance at Idas face now and then told him that she was not unintelligent and by the time that summer day was over and they all sat round the gipsy teakettle in the wood with Aunt Betsy presiding over the feast Mr Wendover felt as if he knew a good deal about Miss Palliser They had talked and walked and botanized together in the wood in spite of Miss Rylance and Urania felt somehow that the day had been a failure She had made up her mind long ago that Mr Wendover of the Abbey was just the one person in Hampshire whom she could allow herself to marry Anyone else in that locality was impossible
Under these circumstances it was trying to behold Mr Wendover laying himself as it were at the feet of a poor dependent and hangeron of his family merely because that young person happened to be handsome He could have no ulterior views he was only revealing that innate shallowness and frivolity of the masculine mind which allows even the wisest man to be caught by a pair of fine eyes a Grecian nose and a brilliant complexion Mr Wendover was no doubt a great deal too wise to have any serious ideas about such a person as Ida Palliser but he liked to talk to her he liked to watch the sensitive colour come and go upon the perfect oval of her cheek while the dark eye brightened or clouded with every change of feeling and while he was yielding to these vulgar distractions there was no chance of his falling in love with Urania Rylance
It was a crushing blow to Miss Rylance when a little conversation at teatime showed that Mr Wendover was not disposed to think Miss Palliser altogether a nobody and that a young woman who earned a salary as a useful companion might belong to a better family than Miss Rylance could boast
I have heard your name before today Miss Palliser said Brian Is your father any relation to Sir Vernon Palliser
Sir Vernon is my fathers nephew
Indeed Then your father is the Captain Palliser of whom Ive heard
Vernon and Peter Palliser talk sometimes Your cousins are members of the
Alpine Club and of the Travellers and we have often met Capital
fellows both of them
I have never seen them said Ida so much of my life has been spent at school Sir Vernon and his brother went to see my father and stepmother last October and made a very good impression But that is all I know of them
A baronet for a first cousin and she had never mentioned the fact at Mauleverer where it would have scored high What an unaccountable kind of girl and quite wanting in human feeling thought Urania listening intently though pretending to be interested in a vehement discussion between Blanche and Bessie as to whether a certain puffy excrescence was or was not a beefsteak fungus and should or should not be cooked for dinner
Do you know your cousins Sussex property Have you ever been at
Wimperfield inquired Brian
Never I have heard my father say it is a lovely place a little way beyond Petersfield
Yes I know every inch of the country round It is charming
It cannot be prettier than this said Ida with conviction
I hardly agree with you there It is a wilder and more varied landscape Hampshire has nothing so picturesque on this side of the New Forest If Sir Vernon and his brother are at Wimperfield this summer we might make up a party and drive over to see the place I know he would give us a hearty welcome
Ida was silent but Aunt Betsy and her niece declared that it was a splendid idea of Brians and must certainly be carried out
Fancy Brian introducing Ida to her cousin exclaimed Bessie Would it not be quite too deliciously absurd Sir Vernon Palliser permit me to introduce you to your first cousin
And then Bessie who was an incorrigible matchmaker where Ida was concerned began to think what a happy thing it would be if Sir Vernon Palliser were to fall in love with his cousin and incontinently propose to make her mistress of this delightful place near Petersfield
They all walked back to Kingthorpe together and parted at the Homestead gate
Miss Rylance who hated woods wildflowers ferns and toadstools and all the accompaniments of rustic life went back to her aesthetic drawingroom in a savage humour albeit that fine training which comes of advanced civilization enabled her to part from her friends with endearing smiles
She expected her father that evening and she was looking forward to the refreshment of hearing of that metropolis which suited her so much better than Hampshire hills and woods nay there was even the possibility that he might bring someone down with him as it was his custom to do now and then But instead of Dr Rylance she found an orangecoloured envelope upon the hall table containing an apologetic message
Sorry to disappoint you Have been persuaded to go to first representation of new play at Lyceum with Lady Jinks and the Titmarshes All London will be there
And I am buried alive in this loathsome hole where nobody cares a straw about me cried Urania banging her bedroom door and flinging herself upon her luxurious sofa in as despairing an attitude as if it had been the straw pallet of a condemned cell
From the very beginning of things she had hated Ida Palliser with the jealous hatred of conscious inferiority She who had made up her mind to go through life as a superior being to be always on the top rung of the social ladder found herself easily distanced by the penniless pupilteacher This had been bitter to bear even at Mauleverer where that snobbish feeling which prevails among schoolgirls had allowed the fashionable physicians daughter a certain superiority over the penniless beauty But here at Kingthorpe where rustic ignorance was ready to worship beauty and talent for their own sakes it was still harder for Urania to assert her superiority while in the depths of her inner consciousness lurked the uncomfortable conviction that she was in many ways inferior to her rival And now that she discovered Ida Pallisers near relationship to a baronet of old family owner of a fine property within thirty miles of Kingthorpe Urania began to feel that she must needs be distanced in the race She might have held her own against the shabby halfpay captains daughter but Sir Vernon Pallisers first cousin was quite a different person If Brian Wendover admired Ida her lack of fortune was hardly likely to influence him seeing that in family she was his equal Such a man might have shrunk from allying himself with a woman of obscure parentage and vulgar associations but to a man of Brian Wendovers liberal mind and ample fortune Ida Palliser would no doubt seem as suitable a match as a daughter of a duke
Miss Rylance had grown worldlywise since her introduction to London society that particular and agreeable section of uppermiddle class life which prides itself upon cleverness rather than wealth and which spices its conversation with a good deal of smart personality She had formed a more correct estimate of life in general and her fathers position in particular and had acquired a keener sense of proportion than she had learnt at Mauleverer Manor She had learnt that Dr Rylance of Cavendish Square was not quite such a great man as she had supposed in the ignorant faith of her girlhood She had discovered that his greatness was at best a kind of lapdog or tame cat distinction that he was better known as the caressed and petted adviser of patrician dowagers and effeminate old gentlemen of fashionable beauties and hysterical matrons than as one of the lights of his profession He was a clever specialist who had made his fortune by halfadozen prescriptions as harmless as Morrisons pills and who owed more to the grace of his manner and the excellence of his laundress and his tailor than to his original discoveries in the grandest science of the age Other people made discoveries and Dr Rylance talked about them and he was so quick in his absorption of every new idea so glib in his exposition of every new theory that his patients swore by him as a man in the front rank of modern thought and scientific development He was a clever man and he had a large belief in the great healer Nature so he rarely did much harm while his careful consideration of every word his patients said to him his earnest countenance and thoughtful brow taken in conjunction with his immaculate shirtfront and shapely white hand rarely failed to make a favourable impression
He was a comfortable physician lenient in the article of diet exacting only moderate sacrifices from the high liver His Hygeia was not a severe goddess—rather a friendly matron of the monthlynurse type who adapted herself to circumstances
We have been taking a pint of Cliquot every day at luncheon and we dont feel that we could eat any luncheon without it
Well well suppose we try about half the quantity very dry and make an effort to eat a cutlet or a little bit of plain roast mutton Dr Rylance would murmur tenderly to a stout middleaged lady who had confessed that her appetite was inferior to her powers of absorption Men who were drinking themselves to death in a gentlemanly manner always went to Dr Rylance He did not make their lives a burden to them by an impossible regimen he kept them alive as long as he could and made departure as gradual and as easy as possible but his was no killorcure system he was not a man for heroic remedies And now Urania had found that her father was not a great man—that he was praised and petted and had made his nest in the purple and velvet of this world but that he was not looked up to or pointed at as one of the beaconlights on the coastline of the age—and that he being so small a Somebody she his daughter was very little more than Nobody Knowing this she had made up her mind that whenever Brian Wendover of the Abbey should appear upon the scene she would do her uttermost to make him her captive
CHAPTER XV
MR WENDOVER PLANS AN EXCURSION
The happy summer glided by—the season of roses and butterflies strawberries and cream haymaking lawn tennis picnics gipsy teas—an idle joyous life under blue skies The Knoll family gave themselves up heart and soul to summer pleasures—simple joys which were at once innocent and inexpensive—and Ida Palliser found herself a sharer in all these holiday rambles Conscience told her that she had no right to be there that she was an impostor sailing under false colours Conscience speaking more loudly told her that she had no right to accept Brian Wendovers quiet homage no right to be so happy in his company day after day for there were few of their summer joys in which he was not among them Bessie was warm in her praises of him full of wonder at his having developed into such a companionable being
Norway has done him good she said He used to be such a reserved creature dawdling away day after day in his library poring over Greek and Latin and now he is almost as companionable as Brian Walford
Hell have to live a good many years before hes up to B W said Horace who had walked across the hills for an afternoon at home and the chance of a tip B W knows every musichall in London and can sing a topical song as well as men who get their sixty pounds a week
I wish you wouldnt put on that knowing air What do you know of men who get sixty pounds a week exclaimed Bessie contemptuously
As much as you do anyhow answered her brother
Ida made many faint efforts to keep aloof from the summer revelries but Miss Wendover insisted upon her enjoying herself with the others She had been such a conscientious and devoted coadjutor in all Aunt Betsys good works she had been so thoroughly energetic and industrious never relaxing her efforts or growing weary of labour that it seemed only right and fair that she should enjoy the summer holidaytime the blessed season when every day was full of temptations
Enjoy yourself to your hearts content my dear said Aunt Betsy Our English summers are so short that if we do not make the most of the bright warm days while they are with us we have to endure all the pangs of remorse through a rainy autumn and a cold winter
Not only did Miss Wendover give this generous advice but she herself joined in many of their expeditions and her presence was always a source of pleasure She was so genial so hearty so thoroughly wellinformed and yet so modest in the use of her knowledge that the young people loved to have her with them Her enjoyment of the free roving life was almost as keen as theirs while her capacity for planning an agreeable day and her foresight in the commissariat department far exceeded that of youth And so and so June and July drifted by and it was the beginning of August and Ida felt as if she had known Mr Wendover of the Abbey all her life
What did she know of him after two months of almost daily association She knew that no unworthy thought ever found utterance upon his lips that no vulgar instinct ever showed itself in his conduct that he was essentially to the very core of his heart a gentleman that without any highflown affectation of chivalry he was as chivalrous as Bayard that without any languid airs and graces of the modern aesthetic school he was a man of the highest and broadest culture and that—oh rara avis among modern scholars and young laymen—he was honestly and unaffectedly religious a staunch Anglican of the school of Pusey and not ashamed to confess his faith at all times and seasons In this day when the majority of young men affect to regard the services of their church as an intolerable bore only endured as a concession to the weaklings of the inferior sex it was pleasant to see the master of the Abbey a regular attendant at his parish church an earnest and frequent worshipper at the altar at which his parents and progenitors had knelt before him
This much and a great deal more had Ida Palliser discovered of the man whom nearly a year ago her fancy had exalted into an ideal character It was strange to find her most romantic visions realised strange but a strangeness not without pain He was full of kindness and friendliness for her whenever they met but she told herself that his manner to her involved no more than kindly feeling and friendliness To imagine anything beyond this was foolhardiness and vanity And yet there were times when she felt she had no right to be in his society—that every day she spent at Kingthorpe was an offence against honour and right feeling
One August afternoon Ida had for once in a way succeeded in making her domestic occupations an excuse for absenting herself from what Bessie called a barrowhunt on the downs Brian Wendover being a great authority upon this ancient form of sepulture and discoursing eloquently on those widely different races whose funeral chambers are hidden under the long and the round barrow
The day closely as Ida had been occupied had seemed just a little dreary certainly much duller than such days had been wont to seem before Brians return to the Abbey yet she was glad to be alone it was a relief even to be a trifle melancholy rather than to enjoy that happiness which was always blended with a faint consciousness of wrongdoing And now the slow day was nearly over she had worked at the village girlsschool in the morning she had lectured upon domestic economy to a class of incipient housemaids and scullery maids after luncheon and now at five oclock she was sitting in a basket chair in the rosewreathed verandah working at the swallows and bulrushes upon that elaborate design which she had begun before Christmas for the adornment of Miss Wendovers piano
It was a deliciously drowsy afternoon but Idas active brain was not prone to slumber She sat working diligently and thinking deeply when a shadow came between her and the sunshine and on looking up she saw Mr Wendover standing before her
How do you do Have they all come home she asked laying aside her work on the convenient basket table and preparing to welcome Aunt Betsy
I have not been with them—at least not since the morning answered Brian I left Bessie to hunt out her own barrows she is so lazyminded that as long as I do all the pointing she will never know the true barrow from the natural lumpiness of the soil Besides she has Aunt Betsy a tower of strength in all things
And Miss Rylance I suppose
No Miss Rylance thought there would be too much walking for her or for Pinet I have been at the Abbey all day getting up my arrears of correspondence This fine weather has made me incorrigibly idle After I had written about a score of letters I thought myself entitled to a little rest and refreshment so I strolled over here to tell you some news and to ask you for a cup of tea
You shall have some tea directly said Ida going indoors to ring the bell an act in which she was naturally anticipated by her guest What news can you possibly have that concerns me she asked when they had come back to the verandah I know by your face that it is not bad news
God forbid I should ever have to tell you that I think it would hurt me more than you said Brian with an earnestness which brought the crimson glow into Idas cheeks and made her bend a little lower over the swallows in her crewelwork No this is pleasant news I hope I wrote to Vernon Palliser more than a month ago to propose that I should drive you and a lot of people over to luncheon He was in Switzerland as usual and I had no answer to my letter till the second post today when I received a most hearty invitation to bring my party immediately But you shall hear your cousins own words
Mr Wendover produced the letter and read as follows—
I shall be delighted to make my cousins acquaintance She was in England when I last saw her father at his retreat near Dieppe Bring her as soon as you can and with as large a party as you like—the larger the better and the sooner the better—as Peter and I will most likely be on the wing again for Scotland soon after the twelfth We shall come back for the partridges which I hear are abundant The road is rather intricate so you had better bring your ordnance map but pretty fair in dry weather like this and youll come through some lovely scenery Telegraph your time and Peter and I will be in the way to welcome you
What do you say to our going tomorrow I waited to know what you would like before I telegraphed
You are very good but there are others to be consulted replied Ida with her head still bent over her work
Good manners demanded that she should look at him but at this particular moment she felt it quite impossible to be mannerly He had said nothing of a thrilling nature yet his whole tone and expression his air of deferential regard stirred a new feeling in her mind—the conviction that he cared for her more than it was well for either of them that he should care
You are the first person to be consulted he said would you like to go tomorrow
I will go whenever the others like answered Ida still intent upon the shading of her swallows wing but I really think you had better leave me out of your party—I have wasted so much time roaming about—and there are so many things I want to finish before the summer is over
That elaborate arrangement in swallows and rushes for instance said Brian laughingly you are working at it as if for a wager Perhaps it is a wager—so many stitches in so many consecutive days—is that it No Miss Palliser your swallows must wait The party has been planned on your account and to leave you at home would be like leaving Hamlet out of the play Besides I thought you would like to see your cousins and your ancestral halls
I shall be very glad to see my cousins for my father likes them very much but I do not feel any thrilling interest in the ancestral halls
And yet your father was born there
Yes that is a reason for being interested in Wimperfield But my father has so seldom talked about his birthplace He speaks a great deal more of India That life in a strange faraway land seems to have blotted out the memory of his childhood He talks of Addiscomb sometimes but hardly ever of Wimperfield
She laid aside her work as the youthful butler brought out the teatable It was no new thing for her to pour out Mr Wendovers tea since it was his custom to drop in at his aunts very often at this hour when the day had not been given up to excursionising but it was new for her to be alone with him at this social meal and she found herself longing ardently for Aunt Betsys return
She who could have found so much to talk about had her mind been at ease was curiously silent as she handed Mr Wendover his tea and offered the cake and fruit which always accompanied the meal at the Homestead Her heart was beating much faster than it should have done and she was considering whether it was worth while to place herself in the way of feeling the pain the hidden shame the sense of falsehood which oppressed her at this moment whether it would not be better to run any risk even the hazard of offending Betsy Wendover the kindest friend she had in the world rather than remain in her present position
One thing she could have done which would have given her immediate extrication and that which seemed the most natural thing to do She could have told the truth—told Betsy Wendover all about her unlucky marriage But she would rather have killed herself than do this one righteous thing for she thought that if her marriage were once known to Brians relations she would be compelled to assume her natural position as his wife So long as the marriage remained a secret to all the world except those two whom it most concerned they were free to ignore the tie They could live their lives apart and to the end of time it might be as if such a marriage had never been Her husband being consentient to this lifelong separation her lot might be fairly happy She had never tried to penetrate the future Perhaps today for the first time there had flashed into her mind the thought of what a bright and glorious future might have been hers had she not so forfeited her freedom
Voices at least half a dozen all talking at once told her that the barrowhunt was winding homewards gleams of colour athwart the hedges told her that the hunters were in the lane and in a minute or two Miss Wendover and her young kinsfolk appeared all more or less sunburnt and towzled by their tramp across the downs
Found a splendid long barrow said Bessie on a lovely point one of the finest views in the county What clever corpses they must have been to pick such glorious spots Long barrow longheaded race dolichocephalic skulls men of the stone age eh she said looking at Brian You see I know my lesson but it was very mean of you not to come with us all the same
I wanted you to exercise your own acumen to cultivate the antiquarian flair Besides I had a heap of letters to write
You only found that out after we had started You never have letters to write when Ida is with us said Bessie a remark which made two people blush To think that I had known that spot all my life and never suspected a barrow she continued I thought it was only a convenient bank which Providence had thrown up ready for picnics
Ida had enough to do now in providing for the wants of half a dozen hungry people Blanche of the short petticoats was at an age when girls are ogres distinguished for nothing but the rapidity of their digestion and the length of their legs There was a demand for jam and the unsophisticated halfgallon loaf instead of the conventional thin bread and butter
Eat as much as you like dears said Aunt Betsy but remember that your father will expect you to have some appetite at seven
We wont disappoint him said Bessie seven is an hour and half from now Blanche can do wonders in an hour and a half
Blanches appetite was one of the stock family jokes like Uranias tight boots so there was a laugh and the others went on eating
Brian Wendover told them about tomorrows excursion I shall put four horses into the wagonette he said I almost wish I had a drag to do honour to the occasion but we must resign ourselves to a wagonette You will go of course Aunt Betsy and Bessie must come and I suppose we ought to invite Miss Rylance She has joined in most of our excursions and it would be invidious to leave her out of this And I daresay Bessie would think the whole thing flat without Mr Jardine
Its very kind of you to think of him but I dont believe hell be able to spare the day said Bessie
Well ask him at any rate and then you cant say weve used you badly
That makes a party of six Ill go and telegraph to Sir Vernon
Will there be lawntennis after lunch asked Blanche with a very long face
I shouldnt wonder if there were answered Brian does that mean that you want to go
I shall not have a creature to speak to at home and I never go anywhere said Blanche despairingly
Both statements were obvious untruths but no doubt the damsel herself believed them
Have you a gown that covers your knees asked Aunt Betsy severely
My new frock is awfully long It only came from the dressmakers last week
Then you have hardly had time to grow out of it said Brian
Suppose we strain a point Aunt Betsy and take her It will enable us to say we are seven
We shall be a tremendous party said Miss Wendover I hope Sir Vernon is a hospitable easygoing man and that your intimacy with him warrants such an intrusion
I am taking him a cousin answered Brian stealing an admiring glance at Ida surely that ought to secure our welcome
I hope his housekeeper has large ideas about luncheon said Bessie or Blanches appetite will throw her out in her calculations If she is the sort of person who thinks a pair of ducklings and a dish of rissoles substantial fare for a large party I pity her
Youre vastly witty said Blanche preparing her final slice of bread and jam one would think you lived upon roses and lilies like the ascetics
The poor child means aesthetes explained Bessie
Bother the pronunciation But if people had seen you eating rabbitpie on the barrow—why a wolf wouldnt have been in it concluded Blanche who acquired her flowers of speech from the Wintonians
Ill go and despatch my telegram said Brian taking up his hat
CHAPTER XVI
THICKER THAN WATER
The weather was altogether favourable for the thirtymile drive The wagonette with its scratch team and a couple of smart grooms was at the Homestead gate at ten oclock and after picking up Miss Wendover and her companion went on to The Knoll for Bessie and Blanche and then to Dr Rylances for Urania who had accepted the invitation most graciously Kingthorpe was unwontedly excited by this gorgeous apparition and the inhabitants remained at garden gates and cottage doors while so much as a horses tail was visible Everybody was pleased to see the young squire driving fourinhand It had been supposed that as a bookish young man given over to Greek and Latin he must needs be a poor hand with horses But this mornings exhibition gave rise to more hopeful views
We shall see the squire setting up his coach and settling down at the
Abbey said one
Ay when he gets married said another thats whatll settle he I believes as him is sweet on that young ooman at the Homestead Her be a clipper her be
Over the hills and far away went the scratch team—a little fresh but behaving beautifully Aunt Betsy sat beside her nephew and watched his coachmanship with a jealous eye conscious that she could have kept the team better in hand herself but still with moderate approval The girls and the grooms were in the back of the vehicle—Bessie Blanche and Ida full of talk and merriment Urania thoughtful This days entertainment was too much in Idas honour to be pleasant to Miss Rylance yet she could not deny herself the painful privilege of being there She wanted to see what happened—how far Mr Wendover was disposed to make an idiot of himself She saw more than enough in the glances of the charioteer when he turned to talk to the girls behind him—now to point out some feature in the landscape now to ask some idle question but always with looks that lingered upon one face and that face was Ida Pallisers
It was a long cross country drive by rustic lanes and dubious roads but Mr Wendover took things easily He had sent forward a second scratch team over night to a village half way and here they changed horses while he and his party spent half an hour pleasantly enough exploring an old gray church and humble graveyard where the tombstones all bore record of unrenowned lives that had slowly rusted away in a pastoral solitude Blanche whose schoolroom appetite was wont to damp its keen edge upon bread and butter at this hour felt it rather a hard thing that no one proposed a light refection at the lowly inn but she bore her inward gnawings in silence conscious of the dignity of a frock which almost reached her ankles and desirous to prove that she was worthy to be the associate of grownups
Half way between this village inn and Wimperfield they met a couple of horsemen These were no other than Sir Vernon and his brother Peter who had come to meet their guests and show them the nearest way which from this point became especially intricate
Brian walked his team gently up a gentle hill while Sir Vernon and his brother walked their horses beside him and during this ascent all necessary introductions were duly made everybody being properly presented except Blanche who felt that she was being treated with contumely
I am very glad to see you at last cousin Ida said Sir Vernon pleasantly I have been hearing of you all my life but we seemed fated not to meet
He was a fine broadshouldered young fellow with a frank freshcoloured countenance auburn whiskers and curly brown hair His brother was after the same pattern hair a little lighter no whiskers eyes rather a brighter blue They were as much alike as brothers can be without being mistaken for each other There was nothing romantic looking about either of them Bessie thought regretfully She would have liked Sir Vernon to have resembled her favourite hero in fiction the man she always put in confession books and to have fallen desperately in love with Ida at first sight And here he was a most matteroffact looking young man riding behind the wagonette in a provokingly matteroffact way
Yet perhaps there was a providence in this for if Brian of the Abbey were in love with Ida as Bessie shrewdly suspected it would have been a terrible thing for him to have found a rival in a titled cousin If Ida were ambitious the title might have turned the scale
And I have so set my heart upon having her for my cousin thought Bessie The other Brian was a failure but this Brian may win the prize
Mr Jardine had not been able to leave his parish for a long day so Bessie had plenty of leisure to speculate upon the possible loves of other people instead of enjoying the blissfulness of her own love affair
Wimperfield was a mansion built in the Italian manner which prevailed about a century ago a style about as uninteresting as any order of domestic architecture but which makes a house a good feature in a fine landscape The Corinthian façade of Wimperfield stood boldly out against the verdant slope of a hill backed and sheltered on either side by woods Behind that classic portico there was the usual prim range of windows and there were the usual barracklike rooms The furniture was of the same heavy and substantial character rich dark rosewood amber satin hangings faded by a quarter of a century Spanish mahogany in diningrooms and bedrooms Gillows fine workmanship everywhere but the style dating back to the very infancy of that ancient house
The large finelylighted hall which looked like the vestibule of some learned institute was adorned with four Carrara marble statues placid gods and goddesses smirking at vacancy on pedestals of verde antico The only pictures in the receptionrooms were family portraits and a few of those large Dutch landscapes battle scenes seapieces and fruitpieces which cry aloud that they are furniture pictures and have been bought to fit the panelling of the rooms
But for its noble situation this temple of English domestic life would have been utterly without charm but the situation was superb the gardens were in beautiful order and the stables as Aunt Betsy declared after personal inspection were perfect
Sir Vernon did the honours of his house in a frank friendly manner He took his guests round the gardens and stables showed Ida the old nursery in which his father and her father had spent their infancy the gunroom in which their first guns were carefully preserved the very rockinghorse on which they had ridden and which now occupied a recess in an obscure lobby opening into the garden
Peter and I didnt care to ride him said Sir Vernon We had Shelties when we were threeyearolds but I know when I began Virgil I used to think the wooden horse that got into Troy was an exaggerated copy of this one
He showed his cousin the room in which her grandfather and grandmother died—an immense apartment wherein stood grim and tall a gigantic mahogany fourposter draped with dark green velvet
I cant fancy anybody doing anything else in such a room said Ida to whom the spacious chamber looked as gloomy as a charnelhouse I beg your pardon I hope you dont sleep here
No my diggings are at the other end of the house looking into the stableyard I like to be able to put my head out of window and order my horse—saves time and trouble We keep the rooms at this end for visitors
The gong boomed loud and long much to the relief of poor Blanche whose spirits had been slowly sinking in unison with her inward cravings and who had begun to think that the promised luncheon was a delusion and a snare which would end in the fashionable frivolity of afternoon tea
Sir Vernon offered his arm to Miss Wendover and asked Brian to take Miss Palliser while Peter was told off to Miss Rylance leaving Bessie and the clinging Blanche like twin cherries on one stem It was curious for Ida to find herself seated presently beside the wealthy cousin of whom she had heard as a faroff and almost mythical personage of very little account in her life since it was so improbable that any of his wealth would ever come her way
The luncheon was of the oldfashioned and ponderous order excellent of its kind the orchardhouses had given up their finest peaches and nectarines and their earliest grapes to do honour to the occasion Miss Rylance contemplated the table decorations with mute scorn which she hardly cared to disguise No Venetian wineflasks no languorous lilies swooning in Salviati goblets no pottery of the new green and yellow school but massive silver and heavy diamondcut glass—gaudy Staffordshire china of too utterly quite the worst period of art Everything essentially Philistine
Sir Vernon had placed his cousin on his left hand and he talked to her a good deal during luncheon—asking questions as to her past life which she answered with perfect candour It was only when he spoke of her future that the fair brow clouded and the cheeks reddened with a painful glow
I hope now that the ice has been broken that we are not going to be strangers any more said Vernon pleasantly To think that you should be such a near neighbour of mine and that I should know nothing about it You have been at Kingthorpe since last November you say How long are you going to stay there
For a good many Novembers I hope said Aunt Betsy unless she gets tired of rural solitude or unless a husband steals her away from me
Ah that is what all young ladies anticipate They never are but always to be blest replied Vernon laughing He was one of those openhearted souls who always appreciate their own mild jokelets
Brian who saw Idas pained expression made haste to change the conversation by an inquiry about Sir Vernons plans for the autumn which set that gentleman on a sporting tack and spared Miss Palliser all further trouble
After luncheon they went to look at the hothouses and dawdled away the time very agreeably until afternoon tea Miss Rylance doing her best to improve the occasion with Peter who was not educated up to the standard of metropolitan or South Kensingtonian young ladyhood and who came out very badly under the process of development for when talked to about Ruskin he was at first altogether vacuoous but on being pushed har believed there was a biggish swell of some such name among the Oxford dons about whom he could not fairly be expected to know anything as he and his brother were Cantabs while on being languidly asked his opinion of Swinburnes last tragedy he grew cheerful and said he had seen him play the King to Irvings Hamlet and that it was a very fine performance the actor in question being a good stayer
The thing was hopeless and Miss Rylance felt she was wasting herself upon a dolt After this she hardly took the trouble to suppress her yawns yet if she had condescended to question Peter about his Alpine adventures or to talk about his horses guns and dogs she would have found him lively enough as a companion but an education of musical at homes and afternoon teas had tuned Miss Rylances slender pipe to one particular strain which did not suit everybodys dancing She was heavy at heart feeling that the whole business of the day had conduced to Ida Pallisers glorification To be the daughter of a man born in that substantial family mansion—scion of a respectable old county family—was in itself a distinction far beyond anything Miss Rylance could boast her grandfather having been a chemist and druggist in an obscure market town and her father the architect of his own fortunes She had done her best to forget this fact hitherto but it was brought home to her mind unpleasantly today when she saw the articled pupil whose three pairs of stockings had moved her to scornful wonder strolling about her ancestral home by the side of her first cousin and that first cousin a baronet of Charles IIs creation
Sir Vernon and his brother were full of cordiality for their cousin full of anticipations of future meetings and of hopes that Captain Palliser would come to them in October for what they called a shy at the pheasants
Ida had good cause to remember that parting in front of the classic portico in the warm afternoon sunlight the two brothers standing side by side with frank bright faces looking up at their departing guests all smiles and cheerful pleasure in this worlds pleasantest things—a Dandie Dinmont and a big blackandtan colley looking on at their masters knees—the beau idéal of young English manhood—frank generous outspoken fearless—the men who can do and die when the need comes Her eyes lingered affectionately on that picture as the wagonette drove away by the broad gravel sweep towards the avenue and those two figures in the sunlight haunted her memory in the days to come
CHAPTER XVII
OUGHT SHE TO STAY
A week after the drive to Wimperfield Miss Wendover received a very big box of peaches and grapes enclosing a very brief letter from Vernon Palliser to his cousin Ida
My dear Ida—I venture to send Miss Wendover some of our fruit he wrote for I understood her to say she has not much glass and grows only flowers Peter and I are just off to Scotland where I suppose we shall do a little shooting and I hope a good deal of yachting and fishing I wish you and that nice plump little friend of yours—Bessie I think you called her—were coming to us Such a jolly life bobbing about between the islands and the mainland with the chance of an occasional storm But I shall look forward to seeing you again in October when I hope Miss Wendover will bring you over to stay for a week or two What splendid ideas she has about summering hunters—never met a more sensible woman Always your affectionate cousin VERNON PALLISER
Aunt Betsy was pleased with the tribute of hothouse fruit and even more gratified by that remark about summering horses
Your cousin is a fine thoroughbred young fellow she said If I had not been fully satisfied you came from a good stock by my knowledge of your own organisation I should be sure of the fact now I have seen those two young men They are all that Englishmen ought to be
Ida was silent for to her mind there was one Englishman who more completely realised her ideal of manhood—one who was no less generous and outspoken than her kind young cousins but whose intellectual gifts whose highly cultivated mind and passionate love of all that is most beautiful in life made him infinitely their superior
And now came perhaps the most bitter trial of a young life which had already seen more cloud than sunshine The hour had come when Ida told herself that she must no longer dawdle along the flowery path of sin no longer palter with fate Stern duty must be obeyed She must leave Kingthorpe It was no longer a question of feeling but a question of conscience—right against wrong truth against falsehood honour against dishonour for she knew in her heart of hearts that Brian loved her and that she gave him back his love measure for measure He had said nothing definite she had contrived to ward off anything like a declaration but she had not been able to prevent his absorbing her society on all possible occasions taking possession of her as it were as of one who belonged to him in the present and the future deferring to her lightest wish as only a lover defers to his mistress studying her preferences in everything and hardly taking the trouble to hide his comparative indifference to the society of other people It had come to this and she knew that there must be no further delay
One evening when she and Aunt Betsy had been dining alone and had returned to the drawingroom where it was Idas custom at this hour to play her kind patroness to sleep with all the dreamiest and most pensive melodies in her extensive répertoire the girl suddenly faltered in her playing wandered from one air into another and with a touch so uncertain that Aunt Betsy who was fast lapsing into dreamland became broad awake again all at once and wanted to know the reason why
Is anything the matter Are you ill child she asked abruptly
Ida rose from the piano where her tears had been dropping on the keys and came out of the shadowy corner to the verandah where Aunt Betsy sat among her roses wrapped in a China crape shawl one of the gifts of that Indian warrior Colonel Wendover August was nearly over but the weather was still warm enough for sitting out of doors in the twilight
What is the matter Ida What has happened repeated Miss Wendover with her hand on the girls shoulder as she bent to listen to her
Ida was kneeling by Aunt Betsys side her head leaning against the arm of her chair her face hidden
Nothing nothing that you can help or cure dearest friend she answered in a broken voice You must know how good you have been to me Yes even you must know that although it is your nature to make light of your goodness I think you know I love you and am grateful Tell me that you believe that before I say another word
I do believe it Your whole conduct since you have been with me has shown as much answered Miss Wendover calmly She saw that Ida was powerfully moved and she wanted to tranquillise her What is the meaning of this preface
Only that I must ask you to let me leave you
Leave me Oh you want a holiday I suppose—that is natural enough We neednt be tragic about that You want to go over to Dieppe to see your people
I want to go away from Kingthorpe for ever
For ever Ah now we are really tragic said Miss Wendover lightly her broad firm white hand tenderly smoothing the girls hair and brow My dear child what has gone amiss with you Something has I can see Have you and Miss Rylance quarrelled I know she is a viper but I did not think she would play any of her viperish tricks with my property
Miss Rylance has done nothing I have quarrelled with nobody I love and honour you and the whole house of Wendover with all my heart and mind But there is a reason—a reason which I implore you to refrain from asking—why I ought never to have come into your house as I did come—why I ought to leave it—must leave it for ever
This is very mysterious said Aunt Betsy thinking deeply I could understand a reason—which might exist in a girls romantic mind—a mistaken generosity or a mistaken pride—the outcome of late events—which might urge you to run away—like that always wrongheaded and misguided young person the heroine of a novel but what reason there could have been when you came to me last winter against your coming—no—that is more than I can comprehend
You are not to comprehend It is my secret—my burden—which I must bear I want you to believe me that is all—only to believe me when I say that I love you dearly and that I have been unspeakably happy in your house—and just quietly let me go and seek my fortune elsewhere—without saying anything to anybody until I am gone
And a nice weeping and wailing there will be from Bessie and her brothers and sisters when you are gone exclaimed Miss Wendover a pleasant time I shall have of it with all of them—to say nothing of my own feelings Do you think it is fair Ida to treat me like this to make yourself pleasant to me useful necessary to me—to wind yourself into my heart—and then all at once with a sudden wrench to pluck yourself out again and leave me to do without you Do you call that fair play
I know that it must seem like base ingratitude answered Ida calm now with a despairing calmness but I cannot help myself I am more proud than I can say that you should care for me—that my loving services have not been unwelcome I know that you took me out of charity and it is a delight to know that I have not been altogether a bad bargain But I must go away
I begin to see light said Miss Wendover who had been thinking all this time Its your fathers doing He thinks you are not making a profitable use of your education and talents He has ordered you to go where you will get a larger salary But dont let his needs separate us my dear I love you better than a few pounds a quarter I will give you seventy or even eighty pounds a year if that will satisfy Captain Palliser
No no dear Aunt Betsy Thank God my father is not that kind of man He knows how happy I have been he is grateful to you for all your goodness to me and more than content that I should be happy without being a burden to him
Then why do you want to leave me asked Miss Wendover with her hands on the girls shoulders her eyes reading the white agonised face looking up at her in the thickening twilight There was just light enough for her to see the look of intense pain in that pallid countenance
Why do you want to go away she repeated What kind of reason can that be which you fear to tell me It must be an unworthy reason and yet I cannot believe that you could have such a reason Is it on account of my nephew Brian Have you found out what I have suspected for a long time Have you discovered that he is in love with you and do you fancy yourself an ineligible match for him because he is rich and you are poor and do you think that you ought to run away in order to give him a chance of doing better for himself If you have any such highflown idea abandon it The Wendovers are not a mercenary tribe We shall welcome Brians bride whoever she be for her own sake and not for her dowry
It is no such reason I cannot tell you You must forgive me and let me go
Then I forgive you and you can go replied Miss Wendover coldly I am deeply disappointed in you If you cared for me as you say you do you would trust me Love without faith is an impossibility However I dont want to distress you If you are to leave me I will make your departure as pleasant as I can When do you want to go
Immediately As soon as you can spare me
I cannot spare you at all a few weeks or days more or less will make no difference to me Do you want to go among strangers to be a governess or do you wish to go back to your people
I want to earn my own living The harder I have to work the better I shall like it I would not mind even going into a school though my experience of Mauleverer is hateful
You shall not go into a school I will send an advertisement to the Times
Would it not be better for me to go to Winchester and apply at some agency for servants and governesses When I advertised in the Times there was not a single answer
You may have better luck this time replied Miss Wendover in a businesslike tone She was too proud to show any further indications of sorrow or even to reveal how deeply she was wounded I will do what I can to help you though—
Though I do not deserve it said Ida
You know best about that Yes after some moments of silent thought it may not be too late even now When I lunched with the Trevors at Romsey the day of Brians return Mrs Trevors sister Lady Micheldever was in a state of anxiety about governesses Her old governess was to be married in a few weeks such an inestimable treasure that Lady Micheldever thought it would be impossible to replace her so sweet so ladylike so accomplished Now if the situation is not yet filled I think it would suit you exactly They are people who would give you a liberal salary—you would be able to help your father
I should be glad of that Do the Micheldevers live near here faltered
Ida I want to go quite away
They have property near here but their place is close to Savernake Forest and they spend their winters in Italy Sir George has a weak chest and all the children are delicate If you go to them nearly half your life will be spent abroad
I should like that very much said Ida
Nothing so pleasant as variety of scenery and people replied Miss
Wendover with a touch of irony in her voice
She began to think Ida coldhearted and hypocritical It was evident to her that this feverish longing for change was mere selfish ambition a desire to be better placed in the world She had met with the same kind of feeling too often in her rustic protégées of the cook and housemaid class who when they had learnt all she could teach them were eager to spread their wings and soar to the servants halls of Mayfair and the society of powdered footmen
Nine oclock said Miss Wendover wrapping her shawl round her and rising to go into the drawingroom as the church clock chimed silversweet across the elm tops and the misty meadows Too late for this evenings post but I will write to Lady Micheldever tonight and my letter will be ready for the midday mail tomorrow I hope she has not found anybody yet
You are too good faltered Ida as they went into the lamplit room
I am only doing my duty replied Miss Wendover Welcome the coming speed the parting guest
You will not tell Bessie or anyone till I am gone pleaded Ida earnestly
Certainly not—if that is your wish
CHAPTER XVIII
AFTER A STORM COMES A CALM
While Ida Palliser was thus planning her escape from that earthly paradise where she was dangerously happy Brian Wendover was thinking of her and dreaming of her and building the whole fabric of his life on a happy future to be shared with her cherishing the sweet certainty that she loved him and that he had only to say the word which was to unite them for ever He had been in no haste to say that fateful word life was so sweet to him in its present stage—he was so confident of the future He had closely and carefully studied the character of the woman he loved in the beginning of their acquaintance before his judgment had lost its balance before affection had got the better of the critical faculty He had been in somewise impressed by what Urania had told him about Ida The slanderers malice was obvious but the slander might have some element of truth He watched Ida narrowly during the first month of their acquaintance expecting to find the serpenttrail somewhere but no trace of the evil one had appeared She was frank straightforward intelligent to a high degree and with that eager thirst for knowledge which is generally accompanied by a profound humility He could see in her no base worship of wealth for its own sake no craving for splendour or fashionable pleasures She found delight in all the simplest things in rustic scenery in hill and down and wood in dogs and horses and birds and flowers music and books A girl who could be happy in such a life as Ida Palliser lived at Kingthorpe must be in a manner independent of fortune her pleasures were not those that cost money
If she is the kind of girl Miss Rylance describes her she will set her cap at me he thought If she wants to be mistress of Wendover Abbey one mistake and one failure will not daunt her
But there was no such setting of caps For a long time Ida treated Mr Wendover of the Abbey with the perfect frankness of friendship Then as his love grew showing itself by every delicate and unobtrusive token there came a change and a subtle one in her conduct and the lover told himself with triumphant heart that he was beloved Her sweet shyness her careful avoidance of every possible têteàtête her evident embarrassment on those rare occasions when she found herself alone with him—surely these things meant love and love only There could be no other meaning He was no coxcomb ready to believe every woman in love with him He had gone through the world very quietly admiring many women but never till now having found one who seemed to him worth the infinite anxieties and fevers and agues of love And now he had found that pearl above price the one woman predestinate to be adored by him
He was happily placed in life for a lover since a lover should always be an orphan Fathers and mothers are sore clogs upon the fiery wheel of love He was rich in every way his own master His kindred were kindly simpleminded people who would give gracious welcome to any virtuous woman whom he might choose for his wife There was no impediment to his happiness provided always that Ida Palliser loved him and he believed that she did love him This sense of security had made him less eager to declare himself He was content to wait for his opportunity
And now summer was waning though it was summer still The days were no less lovely not a leaf had fallen in the woods red roses flushed the gardens with bloom yellow roses hung in luxuriant clusters on arches and walls but the days were shortening the sunsets were earlier coming inconveniently before dinner was over at The Knoll and the Wykehamists began to be weighed down by a sense of impending doom in the direful necessity of going back to school
Bessies birthday had come round again—that date so fatal to Ida Palliser—and there was much cheerfulness at The Knoll in honour of the occasion This year the event was not to be signalised by a picnic They had been picnicking all the summer and it was felt that the zest of novelty would be wanting to that form of entertainment so it was decided in family counsel that a friendly dinner at home with a little impromptu dancing and perhaps a charade or two afterwards would be an agreeable substitute for the usual outdoor feast Brian Mr Jardine Dr and Miss Rylance Aunt Betsy and Ida Palliser were to be the only guests but these with the family made a good sized party Blanche undertook to play as many waltzes as might be required of her and also took upon herself the arrangement and decoration of the dessert which was to be something gorgeous More boxes of peaches and grapes had been sent over from Wimperfield in the absence of Sir Vernon and his brother who were still in Scotland
Bessies anniversary was heralded somewhat inauspiciously by a tremendous gale which swept across the Hampshire Downs after doing no small mischief in the Channel and wrecking a good many fine old oaks and beeches in the New Forest It was only the tail of a storm which had been blowing furiously in Scotland and the north of England and no one as yet knew the extent of its destructive force
The morning after that night of howling winds was dull and blustery with frequent gusts of rain
How lucky we didnt go in for a picnic said Horatio as the slanting drops lashed the windows at breakfast time It may rain and blow as hard as it likes between now and six oclock for all we need care A wet day will give us time to get up our charades and for Blanche to thump at her waltzes Be sure you give us the Blue Danube
The Blue Danube is out said Blanche tossing up her pointed chin
Out of what Out of time
Out of fashion
Hang fashion What do I care for fashion cried the Wykehamist Fashion means other peoples whims and fancies People who are led by fashion have no ideas of their own Byron is out of fashion but hes my poet added Horatio as who should say and that ought to be a sufficient setoff against any lessening of his European renown
Think of the poor creatures at sea murmured kindhearted Mrs
Wendover as a sharp gust shook the casement nearest to her
Very sad for them poor beggars said Reginald but it would have been sadder for us if wed been starting for a picnic Travellers by sea must expect bad weather its an important factor in the sum of their risk and their minds are prepared for the contingency but when one has planned a picnic party on the downs a wet day throws out all ones calculations
The rain came and went in fitful showers the wind blustered a little and then died away in sobs while the young Wendovers spent their morning noisily and excitedly in laborious industries of the most frivolous kind the end and aim of which was to make a gorgeous display in the evening
Before luncheon the wind was at rest and the gardens were smiling in the sunlight under the hot blue sky of summer and after luncheon the Wendover girls and boys were rushing all over the garden cutting flowers
I only wish Dr Rylance were not coming said Blanche stopping to pant and wipe her crimson countenance when her two baskets were nearly full Hell impart his own peculiar starchiness to the whole business
Oh hang it hell give the thing a grownup flavour anyhow replied Reginald Besides the man can talk—though hes deuced shallow—and that is more than anyone else can in these parts
Brian will be the hero of this evenings festivity just as Brian
Walford was of the last Dont you remember how nice he looked said
Blanche as they went back to the house loaded with roses heliotrope
geranium and ferns
Poor fellow sighed Bessie who was so sentimental that she could but suppose her favourite cousin a martyr to blighted love
If Brian of the Abbey proposes to Ida as I feel convinced he will and if she accepts him as she is sure to do it will simply break Brian Walfords heart
Not a little bit said Reginald If he did spoon her last year is that any reason do you think that he should care for her now If she be not fair to me what the deuce care I how fair she be And do you suppose I am going to waste in despair and all that kind of thing Not if I know it
Say what you like I believe Brian Walford was deeply in love with Ida and that he has never been here since that time because he cant bear to see her knowing she doesnt care for him
Thats skittles exclaimed the youthful sceptic using a favourite expression of his fathers to express incredulity The reason Brian doesnt come to Kingthorpe is that he has other fish to fry elsewhere As if anybody would come to Kingthorpe who wasnt obliged
Brian used to come
Yes when he was young and verdant and I daresay my father used to tip him He knows better now he is enjoying himself in Paris—under the pretence of studying law and modern languages—dancing at the jardin Bullier and going on no end I daresay I know what Paris is
How can you exclaimed Bessie you were never there
I was never in the moon but Im pretty well acquainted with the geography of that planet We have fellows in the Upper Sixth who think no more of going to Paris than you do of going to Winchester and a nice life they lead there Why a man who thoroughly knows Paris can steep himself in dissipation for a fivepound note
Loud exclamations of horror concluded the conversation
CHAPTER XIX
AFTER A CALM A STORM
The dinnerparty was a success Bessie beamed radiantly with her plump arms and shoulders set off by a white gown and a good deal of rather incongruous trinketry in the way of birthday presents every item of which she felt bound to wear lest the givers should be wounded by her neglect Thus dear mothers amber necklace did not exactly accord with Mr Jardines neat gold and sapphire locket while the family subscription gift of pink coral earrings hardly harmonised with either Yet earrings locket and necklace were all displayed and the round white arms were coiled from wrist to elbow with various monstrosities of the bangle breed
There was a flavour of happiness in the whole feast which could not be damped by any ceremonious stiffness on the part of Dr Rylance and his daughter The physician was all sweetness all geniality yet a very close observer might have perceived that his sentiments about Miss Palliser were of no friendly nature He had tried that young lady and had found her wanting—wanting in that first principle of admiration and reverence for himself the lack of which was an unpardonable fault
He had been willing to pardon her for her first rejection of him telling himself that he had spoken too soon that he had scared her by his unwise suddenness that she was wild and wilful and wanted more gentling before she was brought to the lure But after a prolonged period of gentle treatment after such courtesies and flatteries as Dr Rylance had never before lavished upon anybody under a countess it galled him to find Ida Palliser growing always colder and more distant and obviously anxious to avoid his distinguished company Then came the appearance of Brian Wendover on the scene and Dr Rylance was keen enough to see that Mr Wendover of the Abbey had acquired more influence over Miss Palliser in a week than he had been able to obtain in nearly a years acquaintance And then Dr Rylance decided that this girl was incorrigible she was beyond the pale she was a kind of monster a being of imperfect development a blunder of nature—like the sloth and his fellow tardigrades a psychological mystery inasmuch as she did not care for him
So having made up his mind to have done with her Dr Rylance found that the end of love is the beginning of hate
It happened rather by lack of arrangement than by any special design that Brian sat next to Ida Dr Rylance had taken Mrs Wendover in to dinner but Brian was on his aunts left hand and Ida was on Brians left He talked to her all dinner time leaving his aunt who loved to get hold of a medical man to expatiate to her hearts content on all the small ailings and accidents which had affected her children during the last six months down to that plague of warts which had lately afflicted Reginald and which she would be glad to get charmed away by an old man in the village who was a renowned wartcharmer if Dr Rylance did not think the warts might strike inward
Our own medical man is a dear good creature but so very matteroffact Mrs Wendover explained I dont like to ask him these scientific questions
Brian and Ida talked to each other all through the dinner and although their conversation was of indifferent things they talked as lovers talk—all unconsciously on Idas part who knew not how deeply she was sinning It was to be in all probability their last meeting She let herself be happy in spite of fate What could it matter In a few days she would have left Kingthorpe for ever—never to see him again For ever and never are very real words to the heart of youth which has no faith in time and mutability
After dinner the young people all went straying out into the garden in the lovely interval between day and darkness There had been a glorious sunset and red and golden lights shone over the low western sky while above them was that tender opalescent green which heralds the mellow splendour of the moon The atmosphere was exquisitely tranquil after last nights storm not a breath stirring the shrubberies or the tall elms which divided the garden from adjacent paddocks
Ida scarcely could have told how it was that Brian and she found themselves alone The boys and girls had all left the house together A minute ago Bessie and Urania were close to them Urania laying down the law about some distinction between the old Oxford highchurch party and the modern ritualists and Bessie very excited and angry as became the intended wife of an Anglican priest
They were alone—alone at the end of the long straight gravel walk—and the garden around them lay wrapped in shadow and mystery all the flowers that go to sleep had folded their petals for the night and the harvest moon was rising over churchtower and churchyard yews trees and tower standing out black against the deep purple of that perfect sky On this same night last year Ida and the other Brian had been walking about this same garden talking laughing full of fun and good spirits possibly flirting but in what a different mood and manner Tonight her heart was overcharged with feeling her mind weighed down by the consciousness that all this sweet life which she loved so well was to come to a sudden end all this tender love given her so freely was to be forfeited by her own act Already as she believed she had forfeited Miss Wendovers affection Soon all the rest of the family would think of her as Aunt Betsy thought—as a monster of ingratitude and Urania Rylance would toss up her sharp chin and straighten her slim waist and say Did I not tell you so
Close to where she was standing with Brian there was an old old stone sundial supposed to be almost as ancient as the burialplaces of the longheaded men of the stone age and against this granite pillar Brian planted himself as if prepared for a long conversation
The voices of the others were dying away in the distance and they were evidently all hastening back to the house which was something less than a quarter of a mile off Brian and Ida had been silent for some moments—moments which seemed minutes to Ida who felt silence much more embarrassing than speech She had nothing to say—she wanted to follow the others but felt almost without power or motion
I think we—I—ought to go back she faltered looking helplessly towards the lighted windows at the end of the long walk There is going to be dancing They will want us
They can do without us Ida he said laying his hand upon her arm but I cannot do without telling you my mind any longer Why have you avoided me so Why have you made it so difficult for me to speak to you of anything but trivialities—when you must know—you must have known—what I was longing to say
The passion in his lowered voice—that voice of deep and thrilling tone—which had a power over her that no other voice had ever possessed the expression of his face as he looked at her in the moonlight told her much more than his words She put up her hands entreatingly to stop him
For Gods sake not another word she cried if—if you are going to say you care for me ever so little even Not one more word It is a sin I am the most miserable most guilty among women even to be here even to have heard so much
What do you mean What else should I say What can I say except that I love you devotedly with all my heart and mind that I will have no other woman for my wife You cant be surprised Ida dont pretend that you are surprised I have never hidden my love I have let you see that I was your slave all along My darling my beloved why should you shrink from me What can part us for an instant when I love you so dearly and know—yes dearest I know that you love me That is a question upon which no man ever deceived himself unless he were a fool or a coxcomb Am I a fool Ida
No no no For pitys sake say no more You ought not to have spoken I am going away from Kingthorpe tomorrow perhaps for ever Yes for ever How could I know how could I think you would care for me Let me go she cried struggling away from him as he clasped her hand as he tried to draw her towards him It is hopeless mad wicked to talk to me of love some day you will know why but not now Be merciful to me forget that you have ever known me
Ida Ida shrieked shrill voices in the distance White figures came flying down the broad gravelwalk ghostlike in the moonlight
It was a blessed relief Ida broke from Brian and ran to meet Blanche and Bessie
Ida Ida such fun such a surprise shrieked Blanche as the flying white figures came nearer wavered and stopped
Only think of his coming on my birthday again exclaimed Bessie and at this late hour—just as if he had dropped from the moon
Who—who has come cried Ida looking from one to the other with a scared white face
It seemed to her as if the moonlit garden was moving away in a thick white cloud spots of fire floated before her eyes and then all the world went round like a fiery wheel
Brian—the other Brian—Brian Walford Isnt it sweet of him to come tonight said Bessie
Ida reeled forward and would have fallen but for the strong arm that caught her as she sank earthwards the grip which would have held her and sustained her through all lifes journey had fate so willed it
She had not quite lost consciousness but all was hazy and dim She felt herself supported in those strong arms caressed and borne up on the other side by Bessie and thus upheld she half walked and was half carried along the smooth gravelpath to the house whence sounds of music came faintly on her ear She had almost recovered by the time they came to the threshold of the lighted drawingroom but she had a curious sensation of having been away somewhere for ages as if her soul had taken flight to some strange dim world and dwelt there for a space and were slowly coming back to this workaday life
The drawingroom was cleared ready for dancing Urania was sitting at the piano playing the Swing Song with dainty mincing touch ambling and tripping over the keys with the points of her carefully trained fingers She had given up Beethoven and all the men of might and had cultivated the niminypiminy school which is to music as sunflowers and blue china are to art
Brian Walford was standing in the middle of the big empty room talking to his uncle the Colonel Mrs Wendover and her sisterinlaw were sitting on a capacious old sofa in conversation with Dr Rylance
Oh you have come at last said Brian Walford as Ida came slowly through the open window pale as death and moving feebly
He went to meet her and took her by the hand then turning to the
Colonel he said quietly and seriously
Uncle Wendover it is just a year tonight since this young lady and I met for the first time From the hour I first saw her I loved her and I had reason to hope that she returned my love We were married at a little church near Mauleverer Manor on the ninth of October last After our marriage my wife—finding that I was not quite so rich as she supposed me to be—fearful I suppose for the chances of our future—refused to live with me—told me that our marriage was to be as if it had never been—and left me within three hours of our wedding for ever as she intended
Ida was standing in the midst of them all—alone She had taken her hand from her husbands—she stood before them pale as a corpse but erect ready to face the worst
Brian of the Abbey that Brian who would have given his life to save her this agony of humiliation stood on the threshold of the window watching her Could it be that she was false as fair—she whom he had so trusted and honoured
Urania had left off playing and was watching the scene with a triumphant smile She looked at Mr Wendover of the Abbey with a look that meant Perhaps now you can believe what I told you about this girl
Aunt Betsy was the first to speak
Ida she said standing up is there any truth in this statement
That question is not very complimentary to your nephew said Brian
Walford
I am not thinking of my nephew—I am thinking of this girl whom I have loved and trusted
I was unworthy of your love and your trust answered Ida looking at Miss Wendover with wide despairing eyes It is quite true—I am his wife—but he has no right to claim me It was agreed between us that we should part—for ever—that our marriage was to be as if it had never been It was our secret—nobody was ever to know
And pray after having married him why did you wish to cancel your marriage asked Colonel Wendover in a freezing voice You married him of your own free will I suppose
Of my own free will—yes
Then why repent all of a sudden
She stood for a few moments silent enduring such an agony of shame as all her sad experiences of life had not yet given her The bitter galling truth must be told—and in his hearing He must be suffered to know how sordid and vile she had been
Because I had been deceived she faltered at last her eyelids drooping over those piteous eyes
Brian of the Abbey had advanced into the room by this time He was standing by his uncles side his hand upon his uncles arm He wanted if it were possible to save Ida from further questioning to restrain his uncles wrath
I married your nephew under a delusion she said I believed that I
was marrying wealth and station I had been told that the Brian Wendover
I knew—the man who asked me to be his wife—was the owner of Wendover
Abbey
I see said the Colonel you wanted to marry Wendover Abbey
Miss Rylance gave a little silvery laugh—the most highly cultivated thing in laughs—but the scowl she got from Brian of the Abbey checked her vivacity in a breath
Oh I know what a wretch I must seem to you all said Ida looking up at the Colonel with pleading eyes But you have never known what it is to be poor—a genteel pauper—to have your poverty flung into your face like a handful of mud at every hour of your life to have the instincts the needs of a lady but to be poorer and lower in status than any servant to see your schoolfellows grinning at your shabby boots making witty speeches about your threadbare gown to patch and mend and struggle yet never to be decently clad to have the desire to help others but nothing to give If any of you—if you Miss Rylance with that exquisite sneer of yours you who invented the plot that wrecked me—if you had ever endured what I have borne you would have been as ready as I was to thank Providence for having sent me a rich lover and to accept him gratefully as my husband
Brian Walford interrogated the Colonel looking severely at his nephew am I to understand that you married this girl without undeceiving her as to the childrens or rather Miss Rylances most illjudged practical joke—that you stood before the altar in Gods House the temple of truth and holiness and won her by a lie
I never lied to her answered Brian Walford sulkily My cousins chose to have their joke but there was no joke in my love for Ida I loved her and was ready to marry her and take my chance of the future as another young man in my position would have done I never bragged about the Abbey or told her that it belonged to me She never asked me who I was
Because she had been told a wicked shameful falsehood and believed it poor darling cried Bessie running to her friend and embracing her Oh forgive me dear—pray pray do It was all my fault But as you have married him darling and it cant be helped do try and be happy with him for indeed dear he is very nice
Ida stood silent with lowered eyelids
My daughter is right Miss Palliser—Mrs Brian Walford said the Colonel in a less severe tone than he had employed before It is quite true that you have been hardly used Any deception is bad worst of all a cheat that is maintained as far as the steps of the altar But after all in spite of your natural disappointment at finding you had married a poor man instead of a rich one my nephew is the same man after marriage as he was before the man you were willing to marry And I cannot think so badly of you as to believe that you would marry a man you did not love for the sake of his wealth and position No I cannot think that of you I take it therefore that you liked my nephew for his own sake and that it was only pique and natural indignation at having been duped which made you cast him off and agree to cancel your marriage And I say that there is only one course open to you as a good and honourable young woman and that is to take your husband by the hand as you took him in the house of God for better for worse and face the difficulties of life honestly and fearlessly Heaven is always on the side of truehearted young couples
Ida lifted her drooping eyelids and looked not at the Colonel not at her husband not at her staunch friend Aunt Betsy but at that other Brian—at him who this night only had declared his love She looked at him with despair in her eyes humbly beseeching him to stand between her and this loathed wedlock But there was no sign in his sad countenance no indication except of deepest sorrow no ray of light to guide her on her path The Colonel had spoken with such perfect common sense and justice he had so clearly right on his side that Brian Wendover as a man of principle could say nothing Here was this woman he loved and she was another mans wife and that other man claimed her If the King of Terrors himself had stretched forth his bony hand and clasped her she could not be more utterly lost to the man who loved her than she was by this preexisting tie Brian of the Abbey was not the man to woo his cousins wife
Do dearest be happy pleaded Bessie Im sure father is right And you are our cousin our own flesh and blood now as it were And you know I always wanted you to belong to us And we shall all be fonder of you than ever And you and Mr Jardine will be cousins later on she whispered as a conclusive argument as if for the sake of so high a privilege a girl might fairly make some sacrifice of inclination
Is it my duty to do as Colonel Wendover tells me asked Ida looking round at them all with piteous appeal Is it really my duty
In the sight of God yes said the Colonel and John Jardine
Yes my dear yes there can be no doubt of it said the Colonels wife and Aunt Betsy
Brian of the Abbey said not a word and Dr Rylance looked on in silence with a diabolical sneer
What a fate for the girl who had refused a house in Cavendish square one of the prettiest victorias in London and a matchless collection of old hawthorn blue
Then I will do my duty said Ida and then before Brian Walford could take her in his arms or make any demonstration of delight she threw herself upon Miss Betsy Wendovers broad bosom sobbing hysterically and crying Take me away take me out of this house for pitys sake
Ill take her home with me She will be calm and quiet and happy tomorrow said Aunt Betsy And then as Brian Walford was following them Stay where you are Brian she said authoritatively She shall see no one but me till tomorrow You will drive her crazy among you all if you are not careful
Miss Wendover took the girl away almost in her arms and Brian Walford disappeared at the same time without further speech
And now that the bride and bridegroom are gone I suppose the wedding party can have their dance sneered Urania playing the first few bars of Sweethearts
But Brian of the Abbey had vanished immediately after his cousin and no one was disposed for dancing so after a good deal of talk Bessies birthday party broke up
What a dismal failure it has been though it began so well said
Bessie as she and the other juveniles went upstairs to bed
What still you are not happy quoted Horatio Why I thought you wanted Brian Walford to marry Ida Palliser
So I did once sighed Bessie but I would rather she had married Brian of the Abbey and I know hes over head and ears in love with her
Ah then hell have to put his love in his pipe and smoke it That kind of thing wont do out of a French novel said Horatio whose personal knowledge of French romancers was derived from the Philosophe sous les toits as published with grammatical notes for the use of schools but he liked to talk large
CHAPTER XX
WAS THIS THE MOTIVE
Brian Walford came back to The Knoll after the younger members of the family had gone to their rooms
Where have you been all this time asked the Colonel who was strolling on the broad gravel drive in front of the house soothing his nerves with a cheroot after the agitations of the last hour You are to have your old room I believe I heard it was being got ready
You are very kind I walked half way to the Abbey with my cousin We had a smoke and a talk
I should be glad of a little more talk with you This business of tonight is not at all pleasant you know Brian It does not redound to anybodys credit
I never supposed that it did but it is not my fault that there should be this fuss If my wife had been true to me all would have gone well
I dont think you had a right to expect things to go well when you had so cruelly deceived her It was a base thing to do Brian
You ought not to say so much as that sir knowing so little of the circumstances I did not deliberately deceive her
Thats skittles said the Colonel flinging away the end of his cigar
It is the truth The business began in sport Bessie asked me to pretend to be my cousin just for fun to see if Ida would fall in love with me Ida had a romantic idea about my cousin it appears that he was an altogether perfect being and so on Well I was introduced to her as Brian of the Abbey and though she may have been a little disappointed—no doubt she was—she accepted me as the perfect being As for me—well sir you know what she is—how lovely how winning I was a gone coon from that moment We kept up the fun—Bess and the boys and I—all that evening I talked of the Abbey as if it were my property swaggered a good deal and so on Then Bess knowing that I often stayed up the river for weeks on end asked me to go and see Ida to make sure that old Pew was not illusing her that she was not going into a decline and all that kind of thing So I went saw Ida always in the company of the German teacher and took no pains to conceal my affection for her But I said not another word about the Abbey I never swaggered or put on the airs of a rich man I only told her that I loved her and that I hoped our lives would be spent together I did not even suggest our marriage as a fact in the near future I knew I was in no position to maintain a wife
You should have told her that plainly As a man of honour you were bound to undeceive her
I meant to do it but I wanted her to be very fond of me first Then came the row old Pew expelled her because she had been carrying on a clandestine flirtation with a young man Her character was compromised and as a man of honour I had no course but to propose immediate marriage
Her character was not compromised because Miss Pew chose to act like a vulgar old tyrant The German governess everybody in the school knew that Miss Palliser was unjustly treated There was no wound that needed to be salved by an imprudent marriage But in any case before proposing such a marriage it was your bounden duty to tell her the truth about your circumstances not to marry her to poverty without her full consent to the union
Then I did not do my bounden duty Brian Walford answered sullenly I believed in her disinterested affection Why should she be more mercenary than I who was willing to marry her without a sixpence in her pocket without a second gown to her back How could I suppose she was marrying me for the sake of a fine place and a fine fortune I thought she was above such sordid considerations
You ought to have been sure of that before you married her you ought to have trusted her fully said the Colonel However having married her why did you consent so tamely to let her go Having let her go why do you come here tonight to claim her
Why did I let her go Well she shrewed me so abominably when she found out my lowly position that my pride was roused and I told her she might go where she pleased Why did I come here tonight Well it was an impulse that brought me I am passionately fond of her I have lived without her for nearly a year—angry with her and with fate—but to day was the anniversary of our first meeting I knew from Bessie that my wife was here happy There was even some hint of a flirtation between her and the real Brian—these last words were spoken with intense bitterness—and I thought it was time I should claim my own
I think so too said Colonel Wendover severely you should have claimed her long ago Your whole conduct is faulty in the extreme You will be a very lucky man if your married life turns out happy after such a bad beginning
Come Colonel we are both young remonstrated Brian with that careless lightness which seemed natural to him as a man who could hardly take the gravest problems of life seriously there is no reason why we should not shake down into a very happy couple byandby
And pray how are you to live inquired the Colonel You are taking this girl from a most comfortable home—a position in which she is valued and useful What do you intend to give her in exchange for the Homestead A garret and a red herring
Oh no sir I hope it will be a long time before we come to that—though Beranger says that at twenty a man and the girl he loves may be happy in a garret I think we shall do pretty well My literary work widened a good deal while I was in Paris I wrote for some of the London magazines and the editors are good enough to think that I am rather a smart writer I can earn something by my pen I think enough to keep the pot boiling till briefs begin to drop in My cousin was generous enough to offer me an income just now—four or five hundred a year so long as I should require it—but I told him that I thought I could support my wife with my pen for the next few years
Your cousin is always generous said the Colonel
Yes he is an openhanded fellow I suppose you know that he helped me while I was in Paris
I did not know but I am not surprised
Very kind of him wasnt it The fact is I was dipped rather deeply in my small way—tailor and hosier and so on—before I left London and I could not have come back unless Brian had helped me to settle with them or I should have had to go through the Bankruptcy Court and I daresay some of you would have thought that a disgrace
Some of us exclaimed the Colonel we should all have thought so Do you suppose the Wendovers are in the habit of cheating their creditors
Oh but it was not a question of cheating them only of paying them a rather insignificant dividend My only assets are my books and furniture and unluckily some of those are still unpaid for
Assets You have no assets You are a spendthrift and a scamp protested his uncle angrily I am deeply sorry for your wife Good night If you want any supper after your journey there are plenty of people to wait upon you
And with that the Colonel turned upon his heel and went into the house leaving his nephew to follow at his leisure
Comme il est assommant le patron muttered Brian strolling after his kinsman
Brian Walford was not ordinarily an early riser but he was up betimes on the morning after Bessies birthday breakfasted with the family and strolled across dewy fields to the Homestead a little after nine oclock But although this was a late hour in Miss Wendovers household his young wife was not prepared to receive him It was Aunt Betsy who came to him after he had waited for nearly a quarter of an hour prowling restlessly about the drawingroom looking at the books and china and watercolours
I have come for Ida he said abruptly when he had shaken hands with his aunt There is a train leaves Winchester at twenty minutes past eleven She will be ready for that I suppose
He was half prepared for reproaches from his aunt and wholly prepared to set her at defiance But if she were civil he would be civil he did not court a quarrel
I dont know that she can be ready
But she must I have made up my mind to travel by that train Why should there be any delay Everybody is agreed that we are to begin our lives together and we cannot begin too soon
You need not be in such a hurry You have contrived to live without her for nearly a year
That is my business I am not going to live without her any longer
Please tell her she must be ready by halfpast ten
I will tell her so I am heartily sorry for her But she must submit to fate What home have you prepared for her
At present none We can go to an hotel for a day or two and then I shall take lodgings in South Kensington or thereabouts
Have you any money
Yes enough to carry on answered Brian
Truthfulness was not his strong point although he was a Wendover and that race deemed itself free from the taint of falsehood There may have been an injurious admixture of races on the maternal side perhaps albeit his mother personally was good and loyal However this was Brian Walford had even in trifles shown himself evasive and shifty
His aunt looked at him sharply
Do not take her to discomfort or want she said earnestly She has been very happy with me poor girl and although she deceived me I cannot find it in my heart to be angry with her
There is no fear of want replied Brian We shall not be rich but we shall get on pretty comfortably Please tell her to make haste The dogcart will be round in half an hour Ill walk about the garden till it comes
Miss Wendover sighed and left him without another word He went out into the sunlit garden and walked up and down smoking his favourite meerschaum which was a kind of familiar spirit always carried in his pocket ready for every possible opportunity He had arranged with one of his uncles men to drive the dogcart over to Winchester his travellingbag was put in ready he had taken leave of his kindred—not a very cordial leavetaking upon anybodys part and on Bessies despondent even to tears He was not in a good humour with himself or with fate and yet he told himself that things had gone well with him much better than he could reasonably have expected Yet it was hard for a young man of considerable personal attractions and some talent to be treated like one of the monsters of classical legend a damseldevouring Minotaur when he came to claim his young wife
The dogcart was at the gate for at least ten minutes and Brian had looked at his watch at least ten times before Ida appeared at the glass door He was pale with anxiety There were reasons why it might be ruin to him to lose this morning train and yet he did not want to betray too much eagerness lest that should spoil his chances
Here she was at last white as a corpse and with red swollen eyelids which indicated a night of weeping Her appearance was far from flattering to her husband yet she gave him a wan little smile and a civil good morning
Here Pluto take your Proserpine said Miss Wendover trying to make light of the situation though sore at heart I wish you would be content to keep her six months of the year and let me have her for the other six
It neednt be an eternal parting Aunt Betsy answered Brian with assumed cheeriness Ida can come to see you whenever you like and Idas husband too if you will have him We are not starting for the Antipodes
Be kind to her said Miss Wendover gravely for my sake if not for her own It shall be the better for you when I am dead and gone if you make her a happy woman
This promise from a lady who owned a snug little landed estate and money in the funds meant a good deal Brian grasped his aunts hand
You know that I adore her he said I shall be her slave
Be a good husband honest and true She doesnt want a slave replied
Miss Wendover in her incisive way
Ida flung her arms round that generous friends neck and kissed her with passionate fervour
God bless you for your goodness to me God bless you for forgiving me she said
He is a Being of infinite love and pity and He will not bless those who cannot pardon answered Miss Wendover There my dear go and be happy with your young husband He may not be such a very bad bargain after all
This was as it were the old shoe thrown after the bride and bridegroom In another minute the dogcart was rattling along the lane Brian driving and the groom sitting behind with Idas luggage which was more important by one neat black trunk than it had been a year ago
Bessie and the younger children were standing on the patch of grass outside The Knoll gates in garden hats and no gloves waving affectionate adieux Brian gave them no chance of any further leavetaking driving towards the downs at a smart pace Do you remember my driving you to catch the earlier train a year ago this day he asked his pale companion by way of conversation
Yes perfectly
Odd isnt it—exactly one year today
Very odd
And this was about all their discourse till they were at Winchester
Station
London papers in yet asked Brian
No sir Youll get them at Basingstoke
He took his wife into a firstclass carriage—an extravagance which surprised her knowing his precarious means
I hope you are not travelling firstclass on my account she said I am not accustomed to such luxury
Oh we can afford it today I am not quite such a pauper as I was when I offered you those two sovereigns If you would like to buy yourself a silk gown or a new bonnet or anything in that line today I can manage it
No thank you I have everything I want she answered with a faint shiver
The memory of that bygone day was too bitter
What a wonderful wife I thought that to be in want of a new bonnet was a womans normal condition said Brian trying to be lively
He had bought Punch and other comic journals at the station and spread them out before his wife—as an intellectual feast The breezy drive over the downs had revived her beauty a little The eyelids had lost their red swollen look but she was still very pale and there was a nervous quiver of the lips now and then which betokened a tendency to hysteria She sat at the open window looking away towards those vanishing hills A moment and the tufted crest of St Catherines had gone—the lowlying meadows—the winding stream—the cathedrals stunted tower—it was all gone like a dream
Dreadful hole of a place said Brian contemptuously a comfortably feathered old nest for rooks and parsons and ancient spinsters but a dungeon for anybody else
I think it is the dearest old city in the world
Old enough and dear enough in all conscience answered Brian My uncles tailor had the audacity to charge me thirty shillings for a waistcoat But its the most deadlylively place I know All country towns are deadlylively in fact there are only two places fit for young people to live in—London and Paris
I suppose you mean to live in London said Ida listlessly She did not feel as if she were personally interested in the matter If she were forced to live with a man she despised the place of her habitation would matter very little
I mean to oscillate between the two answered Brian Were you ever in
Paris
Never
I envy you You have something left to live for—a new sensation—a new birth We will go there in November
He looked for a smile an expression of pleasure but there was none His wifes face was still turned towards the landscape her sad eyes still fixed on the vanishing hills—no longer those familiar hilltops around the cathedral city but like them in character Soon the last of those chalky ridges would vanish and then would come the heathy tracts about Woking and the fertile meads in the Thames valley
The train stopped for five minutes at Basingstoke and Brian offered his wife tea lemonade anything which the refreshmentroom could produce but she declined everything
We two have not broken bread together since we were one he said still struggling after liveliness let us eat something together if it be only a Bath bun
I am not hungry thanks she answered listlessly
Papers papers shouted the small imp attached to the bookstall
Morning paper—Times Standard Telegraph Daily News Morning Post
Brian drew up the window abruptly as if he had seen a scorpion
An elderly gentleman trotted up to the carriage opened the door and came in his arms full of newspapers He settled himself in his corner and looked about him with a benevolent air as if courting friendly intercourse Brian seated himself opposite his wife looking black as thunder Ida was indifferent to such petty details of life as unknown elderly gentlemen Her mind was full of troubled thoughts about the friends she had left—most of all that one friend whose thrilling voice still sounded in her ears—that one voice which had power to move her deepest feeling
And come what may I have been blessd That is a womans first thought in any desperate case of this kind The poet struck a note of universal truth in that immortal line There is endless consolation in the knowledge that heart has answered to heart that the fond futile love to which Fate forbids a happy issue has not been lavished on a dumb irresponsive idol If there has been madness folly it has not been onesided foolishness He too has loved he too must suffer Bind Eloisa with what vows surround her with what walls you will even in her despair there is one golden thought her Abelard has loved her—will love on till the end of life—since such a flame should be eternal as the stars
He had loved her Pride and rapture were in the thought She told herself that such pride such delight was sinful and that she must fight against and conquer this sin She must shut Brian of the Abbey out of her mind for evermore she must school herself to believe that he and she had never met so train and subjugate herself that a few months hence she might be able to read the announcement of his marriage—should such a thing occur—without one guilty pang
And then she looked back and tried to recall her life before she had known him What was it like A blank She felt like one who has received some injury to the brain or endured severe illness which has blotted out all memory of the life which went before She sat with her pale fixed face turned towards the open window her eyes gazing on the landscape with a vacant faraway look—her husband watching her every now and then furtively anxiously
The elderly gentleman in the corner beamed at her occasionally through his spectacles She was young handsome and looked unhappy He was interested in her in a benevolent paternal spirit He thought it likely that the young man was her brother though there was no likeness between them and that she was being parted by family authority from some other young man who was less and yet more than a brother He made up his little story about her and then by way of consolation offered her his Times which he had done with by this time
Brian turned quickly and stretched out his hand as if to intercept the paper but he was too late Ida had taken it and was staring absently at the leading articles She read on listlessly vaguely for a little while going over the words mechanically reading how Sir Somebody Something a leading light of the Opposition had been holding forth at an agricultural meeting arguing that never since the date of Magna Charta had the national freedom been in such peril as it was at this hour never had any Ministry so wantonly trifled with the rights of a great people or so supinely submitted to the degradation of a once glorious country never within the memory of man or he would go further and say within the records of history was our agricultural interest so wantonly neglected our commercial predominance so supinely surrendered our army so unprepared for action and our influence in the affairs of Europe so audaciously set at naught The right honourable gentleman gave the Ministry another year to complete the ruin of their country They might do it in six months yes he would venture to say or even in three months but he gave them at most a year Favourable accidents against which even the blind fatuity and garrulous pigheadedness of septuagenarian senility could not prevail might prolong the struggle but the day of doom was inevitable unless—and so on and so on with a running commentary by the leader writer
Ida read without knowing what she was reading till presently her eyes glanced idly to another part of the page and there were arrested by a short paragraph headed FATAL STORM IN THE HEBRIDES
Was it not in the Hebrides she had last heard of Sir Vernons yacht the Seamew
Among other accidents in the terrible gale on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we regret to number the loss of the schooner yacht Seamew which was capsized in a squall off the Isle of Skye with the loss of the owner Sir Vernon Palliser his brother Mr P Palliser Captain Greenway and seven of the crew Three men and the cabinboy were saved by a fishing boat the crew of which witnessed the sad catastrophe but were too far off to be of much help And then followed a description of the accident which had been caused by the violence of the storm rather than by bad seamanship or carelessness on the part of the captain who with Sir Vernon and his brother both skilled seamen had the vessel well in hand a few minutes before she went down
Ida let the paper fall from her hand with a cry of horror
Vernon poor Vernon and Peter too—those good kindhearted young men—dead—both—dead
She burst into tears remembering the two frank kind faces looking at her from the marble portico in the afternoon sunlight the warm welcome the feeling of kindred which had shown itself so thoroughly in their words and looks And they were gone—they who a month ago were full of life and gladness The cruel inexorable sea had devoured their youth and strength and all the promises and hopes of their being
The elderly gentleman moved to the seat next hers full of compassion
Look at that she said as Brian picked up the paper my cousins both of them
I am sorry you have found bad news in the paper said the elderly stranger looking at her sympathetically through his spectacles
My two cousins sir she said they have both been drowned Such fine honest young fellows It is too dreadful
That wreck in the Hebrides Yes it is a sad thing and Sir Vernon Palliser and his brother were your cousins I am so sorry I showed you the paper But I wonder you had not heard of this sooner it was in the evening papers yesterday
Then you must have known that my cousins were dead when you came to
Kingthorpe last night said Ida looking up at her husband
Suddenly in a flash of memory came back those thoughtless words of hers spoke at Les Fontaines when her father talked of the possibility of inheriting a fortune and a baronetcy She remembered how she had said in bitterness of spirit Of course they will live to the age of Methuselah Whoever heard of luck coming our way And now this kind of luck which meant sudden death for two amiable openhanded young men had come her way How lightly she had spoken of those two young lives how bitter had been her thoughts about the rich and happy
This thing had been known in London yesterday afternoon It was this
knowledge which had sent Brian Walford to Kingthorpe to claim his wife
She had suddenly become a wife worth claiming—the daughter of Sir
Reginald Palliser of Wimperfield
You knew this she repeated looking at her husband with infinite scorn expressed in eye and lip
No upon my soul he answered I left town early It flashed upon me that it was Bessies birthday—you would be all assembled at The Knoll—there was just time for me to get there before the fun was over—dont you know—
And you had not seen the papers you did not know this added Ida fixing him with her eyes
No upon my word I had no idea
She knew that he was lying
Then it was a very curious coincidence she said freezingly
How a coincidence
That after so long an absence you should happen to come to Kingthorpe on the day that made such a change in my fathers fortunes
I came because of Bessies birthday—as I told you before Does this sad event make any difference to your father he asked innocently Are there not——nearer relatives
None that I know of
The elderly gentleman a little hard of hearing as he called it looked on and wondered at this somewhat eccentric young couple who seemed from those snatches of speech which reached him to be on the verge of a quarrel He felt very sorry for the lady who was so handsome and so interesting The young man was gentlemanlike and good looking but had not that frank bright outlook which is the glory of a young Englishman He was dressed a little too foppishly for the elder mans liking and had the air of being overcareful of his own person
And now the train had passed Sandown was rushing on to Wimbledon and the London smoke All the blue had gone out of the sky all the beauty had gone from the earth Ida thought as small suburban villas followed each other in a monotonous sequence some old and shabby others new and smart and then all that is ugliest in the great city surrounded them as they steamed slowly into Waterloo station
A fourwheel cab took them to an hotel in the purlieus of Fleet Street a big new hotel but so shut in and surrounded by other buildings that Ida felt as if she could hardly breathe in it—she who had lived among gardens and green fields and with all the winds of heaven blowing on her across the rolling downs from the forest and the sea
What a hateful place London is she exclaimed Can any one like to live in it
All sensible people like it better than any other bit of the world bar
Paris answered Brian But it is not particularly pretty to look at
City life is an acquired taste
This was on the stairs while they were following the waiter to the private sittingroom for which Mr Walford had asked It was a neat little room on the first floor looking into a stony city square surrounded by business premises
The waiter after the manner of his kind was loth to leave without an order Ida declined anything in the way of luncheon so Brian ordered tea and toast and the man departed with an air of resignation rather than alacrity considering the order a poor one
When they were quite alone Ida went up to her husband laid her hand upon his arm and looked up at him with earnest imploring eyes
Brian she said I have come with you because I was told it was my duty to come—told so by people who are wiser than I
Of course it was your duty Brian answered impatiently Nobody could doubt that We have been fools to live asunder so long
Do you think we may not be more foolish for trying our lives together—if we do not love each other—or trust each other
I love you—thats all I know about it As for trusting—well I think I have been too easy have trusted you too far
But I do not either love you—or trust you she said lifting up her head and looking at him with kindling eyes and burning cheeks—ashamed for him and for herself I thought once that I could love you I know now that I never can and what is still worse that I never can trust you No Brian never You told me a lie today
How dare you say that
I dare say what I know to be the truth—the bitter shameful truth You lied to me today in the railwaycarriage when you told me that you did not know of my cousins death last night—that you did not know of the change in my fathers position
You are a nice young lady to accuse your husband of lying he answered scowling at her I tell you I saw no evening papers I left London at halfpast five oclock But even if I had known what does that matter It makes no difference to my right over your life You are my wife and you belong to me I was fool enough to let you go last October you were in such a fury that you took me off my guard I had no time to assert my rights and then vogue la galère has always been my motto But the time came when I felt that I had been an ass to allow myself to be so treated and I made up my mind to claim you and to stand no denial of my rights This determination was some time ripening in my mind and then came Bessies birthday the anniversary of our first meeting the birthday of my love and I said to myself that I would claim you on that day and no other
And that day and no other made my father a rich man Poor Vernon poor Peter so brave so frank so true to think that you should profit by their death this she said with ineffable contempt looking at him from head to foot as if he were a creature of inferior mould But perhaps you mistook the case I am not an heiress remember even now I have a little brother who will inherit everything
I have not forgotten your brother I dont want you to be an heiress I want you—and your love
That you never will have she cried passionately and then she fell on her knees at his feet—she to whom he had knelt on their weddingday—and lifted her clasped hands with piteous entreaty Brian Walford be merciful to me I do not love you I never loved you can never love you In an evil hour I took the fatal step which gives you power over me But for Gods sake be generous and forbear to use that power No good can ever come of our union—no good but unspeakable evil nothing but misery for me—nothing but bitterness for you We shall quarrel—we shall hate each other
Ill risk that he said you are mine and nothing shall make me give you up
Nothing she cried rising suddenly and flaming out at him like a sibyl—nothing Not even the knowledge that I love another man
Not even that Let the other man beware whoever he is And you beware how you keep to your duty as my wife No Ida I will not let you go I was a fool last year—and I was taken unawares I am a wiser man now and my decision is irrevocable You are my wife my goods my chattels—God help you if you deny my claim
CHAPTER XXI
TAKING LIFE QUIETLY
It was the second week in October and the woods were changing their green liveries of summer for tawny and amber tints so various and so harmonious in their delicate gradations that the eye of the artist was gladdened by their decay The hawthorns in Wimperfield Park glowed in the distance like patches of crimson flame and the undulating sweeps of bracken showed goldenbrown against the greensward while the oakssymbolic of all that is solid ponderous and constant in woodland nature slow to bloom and slow to die—had hardly a faded leaf to mark the coming of winter
A fine domain this Wimperfield Park with its hill and vale its oaks and beeches and avenue of immemorial elms to be owned by the man who six weeks ago had no better shelter than a lath and plaster villa in a French village and who had found it a hard thing to pay the rent of that trumpery tenement and yet Sir Reginald Palliser accepted the change in his circumstances as tranquilly as if it had been but a migration from the red room to the blue He took good fortune with the same easy indolent air with which he had endured evil fortune He had the Horatian temperament uneager to anticipate the future content if the present were fairly comfortable sighing for no palatial halls overarched with gold and ivory no porphyry columns or marble terraces encroaching upon the sea He was a man to whom it had been but a slight affliction to live in a small house and to be deprived of all pomp and state nay even of the normal surroundings of gentle birth so long as he had those things which were absolutely necessary to his own personal comfort He was honestly sorry for the untimely fate of his young kinsmen but he slipped into his nephews vacant place with an ease which filled his wife and daughter with wonder
To poor little Fanny Palliser who had never known the sensation of a spare fivepound note nay of even a sovereign which she might squander on the whim of the moment this sudden possession of ample means was strange even to bewilderment Not to have to cut and contrive any more not to have to cook her husbands dinners or to run about from morning till twilight supplementing the labours of an incompetent maidofallwork was to enter upon a new phase of life almost as surprising as if she Fanny Palliser had died and been buried and been resolved back into the elements to be born again as a princess of the blood royal She kept on repeating feebly that it was all like a dream—she had not been able to realise the change yet
To Reginald Palliser the inheritance of Wimperfield was only a return to the home of his childhood To his lowlyborn little helpmeet it was the beginning of a new life It was a new sensation to Fanny Palliser to live in large rooms to walk about a house in which the long corridors the wide staircase the echoing stone hall the plenitude of light and space seemed to her to belong to a public institution rather than to a domestic dwelling—a new sensation and not altogether a pleasant one She was awestricken by the grandeur—the largeness and airiness of her new surroundings
There was not one of the sittingrooms at Wimperfield in which even after a months residence she could feel thoroughly at home She envied Mrs Moggs the housekeeper her parlour looking into the stableyard which seemed to Sir Reginalds wife the only really snug room within the four walls of that respectable mansion Mrs Moggs oldfashioned grate and brass fender little round table teatray and kettle singing on the hob reminded Fanny Palliser of her own girlhood when her mothers sitting room had worn just such an air of humble comfort Those white and gold drawingrooms with their amber satin curtains and Georgian furniture had a scenic and altogether artificial appearance to the unaccustomed eyes of one born and reared amidst the narrow surroundings of poverty
And then again how terrible was that highly respectable old butler who knew the ways of gentle folks so much better than his new mistress did and who put her to shame in a quiet unconscious way a hundred times a day by his superior knowledge and experience How often she asked for things that were altogether wrong how continually she exposed her ignorance both to Rogers the butler and to Moggs the housekeeper and what a feeble creature she felt herself in the presence of Jane Dyson her own maid who had come to her fresh from the sainted presence of an archbishops wife and who was inclined to be slightly dictatorial in consequence always quoting and referring to that paragon of women her late mistress whose only error in life had been the leaving it before Jane Dyson had saved enough to justify her retirement from service Those highlyeducated retainers were a terror to poor little Fanny Palliser There were times when she would have been glad to be impecunious again and running after her faithful Lizette who had every possible failing except that of being superior to her mistress These Wimperfield servants were models but they did not disguise their quiet contempt for a lady who was evidently a stranger in that sphere where powdered footmen and elaborate dinners are among the indispensables of existence
Only six weeks and Sir Reginald and his family were established in the place that had been Sir Vernons and the old servants waited on their new lord and all the mechanical routine of life went on as smoothly as if there had been no change of masters Ida found herself wondering which was the reality and which the dream—the past or the present There had been a few days of excitement hurry and confusion at Les Fontaines after the awful news of the wreck and then Sir Reginald had come to London with his wife and boy and had put up at the Grosvenor Hotel while the lawyers settled the details of his inheritance Sir Vernon had left no will Everything went to the heiratlaw—pictures plate horses and carriages and those wonderful cellars of old wine which had been slowly accumulated by Sir Reginalds father and grandfather
Reginald Palliser passed from the pittance of a halfpay captain eked out by the desultory donations of his openhanded nephew to the possession of a fine income and a perfectlyappointed establishment There was nothing for him to do no trouble of furnishing or finding servants He came into his kingdom and everything was ready for him Yet in this house where he was born in which every stone was familiar to him how little that was mortal was left of those vanished days of his youth Among all these old servants there was only one who remembered the new masters boyhood and that was a deaf old helper in the garden a man who seemed past all labour except the sweeping up of dead leaves being himself little better than a withered leaf This man remembered wheeling the present baronet about the gardens in his barrow forty years ago—his function even then being to collect the fallen leaves—and was a little offended with Sir Reginald for having forgotten the man and the fact
At the Grosvenor Hotel calm even in the dawn of his altered fortunes Brian Walford found his fatherinlaw and told with the pleasantest most plausible air the story of Idas clandestine marriage slurring over every detail that reflected on himself and making very light of Idas revulsion of feeling which he represented as a girlish whim rather than a womans bitter anger against the husband who had allowed her to marry him under a delusion as to his social status
Sir Reginald was at first inclined to be angry The whole thing was a mystification—absurd discreditable His daughter had grossly deceived him It needed all the stepmothers gentle influence to soften the outraged fathers feelings But Lady Palliser said all that was kindly about Idas youth and inexperience her impulsive nature and a man who has just dropped into £7000 a year is hardly disposed to be inflexible Sir Reginald was too generous even to question Brian closely as to his capability of supporting a wife The man was a gentleman—young goodlooking with winning manners and a member of a family in which his daughter had found warm and generous friends Idas father could not be uncivil to a Wendover
Well my good fellow it is altogether a foolish business he said but whats done cannot be undone I am sorry my daughter did not ask my leave before she plunged into matrimony but I suppose I must forgive her and her husband into the bargain You have both acted like a pair of children falling in love and marrying and quarrelling and making friends again without rhyme or reason but the best thing you can do is to bring your wife—your wife my little Ida a wife—Good God how old I am getting—yes you had better bring her to Wimperfield next week and then we can get better acquainted with you and I shall see what I can do for you both
This no doubt meant a handsome allowance Brian Walford felt for the first time in his life that he had fallen on his feet He hated the country and Wimperfield would be only a shade better than Kingthorpe but it was essential that he should please his easytempered fatherinlaw
If he wanted me to live in the moon I should have to go there he said to himself And then Lady Palliser went into an adjoining chamber and brought forth little Vernon to exhibit him as a particular favour and privilege to Idas husband and Brian who detested children had to appear grateful and to address himself to the irksome task of making friends with the little man This was not easy for the boy though frank and bright enough in a general way did not take to his new connexion and it was only when Brian spoke of Ida that his young brotherinlaw became friendly Where is she why havent you brought her Take me to her directlyminute said the child whose English savoured rather of the lower than the upper strata of society
Brian snapped at the opportunity and carried the boy off instanter in a Hansom cab to that hotel near Fleet Street where his young wife was pining in her secondfloor sittingroom like a wild woodland bird behind the bars of a cage The young man thought the little fellow might be a harbinger of peace—nor was he mistaken for Ida melted at sight of him and seemed quite happy when they three sat down to a dainty little luncheon she waiting upon and petting her young brother all the while
This is partridge isnt it asked Vernie I like partridge We always have nice dinners now—jellies and creams and wine that goes fizz and we all have the same as pa We didnt in France you know explained the boy unconscious of any reason for suppressing facts in the presence of the waiter
Mamma and I used to have any little bits—it didnt matter for us you know—we could pinch Mamma was used to it and it was good for me you know because Im often bilious—and its better to go without rich things than to take Gregorys powder isnt it
Decidedly said Brian who was not too old to remember that bugbear of the Edinburgh pharmacopæia
And now we have dessert every day continued Vernie lovely dessert—almonds and raisins and pears and nuts and things just like Christmas Day I thought that kind of dessert was only meant for Christmas Day And we have men to wait upon us dressed like clergymen just like him added the child pointing to the waiter
Oh Vernie its so rude to point murmured Ida
Not for me I cant be rude replied the boy with conviction Im a baronets son I shall be a baronet myself some day Mamma told me I may do what I like
No pet you must be a gentleman If you were a kings son you would have to be that
Then I wouldnt Whats the use of being rich if you cant do what you like demanded Vernie who already began to have ideas and who was as sharp for his age as the chicken which begins to catch flies directly its head is out of the shell
Whats the good of being somebody if you have to behave just as well as if you were nobody said Brian Little Vernon has the feudal idea strongly developed no doubt an evolution from some longdeparted ancestor who lived in the days when there were different laws for the knight and the villain Now how are we going to amuse this young gentleman I have leave to keep him till halfpast seven when we are all three to dine with Sir Reginald and Lady Palliser at the Grosvenor
Vernie who was half way through his second glass of sparkling moselle burst out laughing
Lady Palliser he exclaimed its so funny to hear mamma called Lady because she isnt a lady you know She used to run about the house all day with her sleeves tucked up and she used to cook and Jane our English servant said no lady ever did that Jane and mamma used to quarrel explained the infant calmly
Jane knew very little about what makes a lady or not a lady said Ida grieved to find a want of elevation in the little mans ideas Some of the truest and noblest ladies have worked hard all their lives
But not with their sleeves tucked up argued the boy no lady would do that Papa told mamma so one day and he must know He told her she was cook slush and bottlewasher Wasnt that funny You worked hard too didnt you Ida interrogated Vernon Papa said you were a regular drudge at Miss Pews He said it was a hard thing that such a handsome girl as you should be a drudge but his poverty and not his will consented
Vernie quotes Shakespeare exclaimed Brian trying to take the thing lightly but painfully conscious of the head waiter who was deliberately removing crumbs with a silver scraper It could not matter to any one what the waiter—a waif from Whitechapel or the Dials most likely—knew or did not know of Mr and Mrs Wendovers family affairs but there is an instinctive feeling that any humiliating details of life should be kept from these menials They should be maintained in the delusion that the superior class which employs them has never known want or difficulty Perhaps the maintenance of this great sham is not without its evil as it is apt to make the waiter class rapacious and exacting and ready to impute meanness to that superior order which has wallowed in wealth from the cradle
Suppose we go to the Tower inquired Brian Perhaps Vernie has never seen the Tower
Neither Vernon nor Ida had seen that stony page of feudal history and Vernon had to be informed what manner of building it was his sole idea of a tower being Babel which he had often tried to reproduce with his wooden bricks with no happier result than was obtained in the original attempt So another Hansom was chartered and they all went off to the Tower Vernon sitting between them perky and loquacious and intensely curious about every object they passed on their way
Interested in the associations of the grim old citadel amused and pleased by little Vernons prattle as he trotted about holding his sisters hand Ida forgot to be unhappy upon that particular afternoon The whole history of her marriage was a misery to her the marriage itself was a mistake but there are hours of respite in the saddest life and she was brave enough to try and make the best of hers Above all she was too generous to wish her husband to be painfully conscious of the change in their relative positions that he was now in a manner dependent upon her father Her own proud nature which would have profoundly felt the humiliation of such a position as that which Brian Walford now occupied was moved to pity for those feelings of shame and degradation which he might or might not experience and she was kinder to him on this account than she would have been otherwise
The dinner at the Grosvenor went off with as much appearance of goodwill and proper family feeling as if there had been no flaw in Idas matrimonial bliss Sir Reginald was full of kindness for his new soninlaw as he would have been for any other human creature whom he had asked to dinner Hospitality was a natural instinct of his being and he invited Brian Wendover to take up his abode at Wimperfield as easily as he would have offered him a cigar
There are no end of rooms It is a regular barrack he said You and Ida can be very comfortable without putting my little woman or me out of the way
This had happened just six weeks ago and now Ida and her halfbrother were wandering about among the ferny hollows and breezy heights of the park or roving off to adjacent heaths and hills and it seemed almost as if they had lived there all their lives Vernon had been quick to make himself at home in the stately old house rummaging and foraging in every room routing out all manner of forgotten treasures riding his fathers old rockinghorse exploring stables and lofts saddlerooms and longdisused holes and corners going up ladders climbing walls and endangering life and limbs in every possible way which infantine ingenuity could suggest
Mamma however could we live so long in that horrid little house in France he demanded one day as he prowled about his mothers spacious morningroom in the autumn dusk dragging fine old folios out of a book shelf in his search for picturebooks while Lady Palliser and her stepdaughter sat at tea by the fire
The lady of the house gave a faint sigh
I dont know Vernie she said I almost think I was happier there than I am here It was a poor little place but I felt it was my own house and I never feel that here
It will be my house when papas dead replied Vernon cheerfully seating himself on the ground in front of the broad bay window and turning over Gells Pompeiiana everything will be mine Is that why you dont feel as if it was yours now
No Vernie thats not it I hope it will be a great many years before your father is taken away
But you dont think so argued Vernon You told him the other day that if he did not walk more and take less champagne he would soon kill himself
But I didnt mean it darling I only spoke for his good The doctor says he must take no champagne or only the dryest of the dry
What a silly that doctor must be interrupted Vernon all wine is wet
The doctor meant wine that is not sweet dear
Then he should have said so remarked Vernon sententiously He had lived all his little life in grownup society and had been allowed to hear everything and to talk about everything whereby he had come to consider himself an oracle
The doctor thinks your poor papa has a lym—lym—
Lymphatic temperament suggested Ida
Yes dear thats the name of his complaint replied Lady Palliser who was not scientific He has a—well that particular disease continued the little woman breaking down again and he ought to diet himself and take regular exercise and he wont diet himself and he wont walk or ride and I lay awake at nights thinking of it she concluded piteously
You cant lay awake said the boy Ida says you cant You can lay down your hat or your umbrella but you cant lay Its impossible
But I tell you I do Vernie I lay awake night after night protested
Lady Palliser not seeing the grammatical side of the question Oh
Vernie as the folio plates gave an alarming crackle you are tearing
that beautiful big book which cost your grandfather so much money
Its a nasty book said Vernon all houses and posts and things Show me some nice books Ida please do
Ida was sitting on the carpet beside him in the next minute and together they went through a bulky quarto Shakespeare with aweinspiring illustrations by Fuseli She told him what the pictures meant and this naturally compelled her to tell the stories of the plays and in this manner she kept him amused till it was time to dress for dinner and almost bedtime for the little man The happiest hours of her life were those in which she devoted herself mentally and bodily to her young brother If he had loved her in adversity a year ago he loved her still better in prosperity when she was able to do so much more for his comfort and amusement He was rarely out of her sight the companion of all her rides and rambles the exacting charge of her life Brian Walford was not slow to perceive that the boy took precedence of him in all his wifes thoughts that the boys society was more agreeable to her than that of her husband and his health and happiness of more importance As a wife she was amiable submissive dutiful but it needed no hypersensitiveness on the husbands part to warn him that she gave him duty without love submission without reverence or esteem The consciousness of his wifes indifference made Mr Wendover less agreeable than he had been during that brief courtship among the willows and rushes by the river He was inclined to be captious and did not conceal his jealousy of the boy from Ida although he set a watch upon his tongue in the presence of Vernons father and mother
After all it was a rather pleasant thing to have free quarters at Wimperfield to have hunters to ride and covers to shoot over which were almost as much his own as if they had belonged to him Sir Reginald Palliser had a large way of conferring benefits which was instinctive in a man of his open and careless temper Having given Brian Wendover what he called the run of his teeth at Wimperfield he had no idea of limiting the privileges of residence there Even when the studgroom grumbled at the laming of a fine horse by injudicious bucketting up hill and down hill in a lively run with the Petersfield Harriers Sir Reginald made light of the injury and sent Pepperbox into the strawyard to recover at his leisure His own use of the stable was restricted to an occasional ride on an elderly brown cob of aristocratic lineage and manners that would have been perfect but for the oldgentlemanlike habit of dropping asleep over his work The new baronet was too lazy to hunt too liberal to put down the hunting stable established by his predecessor The horses were there—let Ida and Brian ride them Of those good things which the blind goddess had flung into his lap nothing was too good for his daughter or his daughters husband in Sir Reginalds opinion
Happily for the domestic peace Lady Palliser was able to get on harmoniously with her stepdaughters husband and was not disposed to grudge him the luxuries of Wimperfield
Brian Walford had been quick to take that goodhearted little womans intellectual measure He flattered her small vanities and made her so pleased with herself that she was naturally pleased with him His shallow and frivolous nature made him livelier company than a man of profounder thought and deeper feeling He sang light and lively music from the comic operas of the day nay would even stoop to some popular strain from the musichalls He was clever at all round games and drawingroom amusements He enlivened conversation with puns which ranged from the utterly execrable to the tolerably smart He quoted all the plays and burlesques that had been acted in London during the last five years he could imitate all the famous actors and he was a past master of modern slang There was not much society within an easy drive of Wimperfield but the few jogtrot county people who dined or lunched or afternoontead with the Pallisers were enlivened by Mr Wendovers social gifts and talked of him afterwards as a talented young man
So far Mr Wendover had taken the goods the gods provided with a placid acceptance and had shown no avidity for independence He was silent as to his professional prospects although Sir Reginald had told him in the beginning of things that if he wanted to make his way at the Bar any money required for the smoothing of his path should be provided
You are too good Brian answered lightly but it isnt a question of money—its a question of time The Bar is a horribly slow profession A man has to eat his heart out waiting for briefs
Yes I have always heard as much said Sir Reginald but will it do as well for you to eat your heart out down here as in the Temple Will the briefs follow you to Wimperfield when the propitious time comes
I believe they are about as likely to find me here as anywhere else answered Brian moodily—he was apt to turn somewhat sullen at any suggestion of hard work—and in the meanwhile I am not wasting my time I can go on writing for the magazines
That writing for the magazines was an unknown quantity The young man occasionally shut himself in a little upstairs study on a wet day smoked excessively and was supposed to be writing laboriously his intellect being fed and sustained by tobacco Sometimes the result of the day was a fat package of manuscript despatched to the postoffice sometimes there was no result except a few torn sheets of foolscap in the wastepaper basket Sometimes the manuscript came back to the writer after a considerable interval and at other times Mr Wendover informed his wife vaguely that those fellows had accepted his contribution Whatever honorarium he received for his work was expended upon his menus plaisirs—or may be said rather to have dribbled from his waistcoat pocket in a series of trivial extravagances which won him a reputation for generosity among grooms and such small deer To his wife he gave nothing she was amply provided with money by her father who would have lavished his newlyacquired wealth upon her if she had been disposed to spend it but she was not Her desires were no more extravagant now than when she was receiving ten pounds a quarter from Miss Wendover Sooth to say the temptations to extravagance at Wimperfield were not manifold Idas only need for money was that she might give it to the poor and that according to Jeremy Taylor is to send ones cash straight to heaven
The few oldestablished inhabitants of the neighbourhood mostly sons of the soil who attended the village church were very plain in their raiment knowing that they occupied a position in the general regard which no finery of velvets or satins could modify Did not everybody about Wimperfield know everybody elses income how much or how little the various estates were encumbered the poverty or richness of the soil and the rent of every farm upon it It was only when Lady Pontifex of Heron Court came down from town bringing gowns and cloaks and bonnets from Regent Street or the Rue de la Paix that a transitory flash of splendour lighted up the shadowy old nave with the glow of newlyinvented hues and the sheen of newlywoven fabrics But the natives only gazed and admired There was nobody adventurous enough to imitate the audacities of a lady of fashion Miss Emery of Petersfield was quite good enough for the landed gentry of this quiet region She had the fashions direct from Paris in the gailycoloured engravings of Le Follet and what could anyone want more fashionable than Paris fashions True that Miss Emerys conscientious cutting and excellent workmanship imparted a certain heaviness to Parisian designs but who would care to have a gown blown together as it were by girls who were not allowed to sit down at their work
The life at Wimperfield was a pleasant life albeit exceedingly quiet There were times when Brian Walford felt the dulness of this rustic existence somewhat oppressive but if life indoors was monotonous and uneventful he had a good deal of amusement out of doors—hunting shooting football and an occasional steeplechase within a days drive And a grand point was that nobody asked him to work hard He could make a great show of industry with books and foolscap and nobody pryed too closely into the result
CHAPTER XXII
LADY PALLISER STUDIES THE UPPER TEN
Ida was not left long in ignorance as to the friendly feelings of those she had left behind at Kingthorpe Bessies first letter reached her within a few days of her arrival at Wimperfield—a loving little letter full of sorrowful expressions about the two good young fellows who were gone yet not concealing the writers pleasure at her friends elevation
When are we to meet again dearest asked Bessie after she had given full expression to her feelings are you to come to us or are we to go to you What is the etiquette of the situation Father and mother know nothing about outside points of etiquette Beyond the common rules of dinners and calls calls and dinners I believe they are in benighted ignorance Shall we tell John Coachman to put four horses to the landau—with himself and the undergardener as postilions—and post over to Wimperfield—just as they pay visits in Miss Austins novels Perhaps now we have gone back to Chippendale furniture we shall return to muslin frocks and the manners of Miss Austins time Im sure I wish we could Life seems to have been so much simpler in her day and so much cheaper Darling I am longing to see you Remember you are my cousin now—my very own near relation It was Fate you see that made me so fond of you from that first evening when you helped me so kindly with my German exercise
There was also a letter from Aunt Betsy quite as affectionate but in much fewer words and more to the purpose
We shall drive over to see your father and mother as soon as we hear that they are disposed to receive visitors said Miss Wendover in conclusion
I wonder Miss Wendover did not say Sir Reginald and Lady Palliser observed Idas stepmother when she had read this letter
The little woman had been devoting herself very earnestly to the perusal of books of etiquette—The Upper Circles What is What The Crême de la Crême and works of a corresponding order and was now much more learned in the infinitesimals of polite life than was Sir Reginald or his daughter She had a profound belief in the mysterious authors of these interesting volumes
The Crême de la Crême must be right you know Ida she said when some dictum was disputed for the book was written by a Countess
A Countess who wears a shoddy tourist suit and smokes shag and sleeps in a two pair back in Camden Town most likely said Sir Reginald laughing
The new baronet utterly refused to be governed by the hard and fast rules of the Crême de la Crême He daily did things which were absolute and awful heresies in the sight of that authority and Lady Palliser was sorely exercised at her very first dinnerparty by seeing the county people of Wimperfield setting at naught the precepts of the anonymous Countess at every stage of the evening They did those things which they ought not to have done and they left undone those things which they ought to have done and from the Countesss point of view were utterly without manners
But although Lady Palliser thought Miss Wendovers letter deficient in ceremony she was not the less ready to welcome Idas Kingthorpe friends so a hearty invitation to dine and stay the night was sent to the Colonel and his wife to Aunt Betsy and as many of the junior members of the family as the biggest available carriage would hold
It was the beginning of November when this visit occurred but the foliage was still green on the elm tree tops while many a lovely tint of yellow and brown still glowed on the woodland The weather was balmy sunshiny the sky as blue as at midsummer and Ida with her face as radiant as the sunlight stood in the porch ready to welcome her friends when the wagonette drove up
Oh but where are Blanche and Eva and why did not the boys come she inquired when she had shaken hands with the Colonel and had been kissed and embraced by Mrs Wendover Aunt Betsy and Bessie surely they are coming too
No dear I think we are quite a strong enough party as it is answered
Mrs Wendover
Not half strong enough you have no idea what a barrack Wimperfield is—but Bessie knows and ought to have told you There are twoandtwenty bedrooms It would have been a charity to have filled some of them I am dreadfully disappointed
Never mind dear you will see enough of them depend upon it But where is Brian
Oh it is one of his harrier days He left all sorts of apologies for not being at home to receive you He will be home before dinner Here is mamma as Lady Palliser came sailing out in a fortyguinea gown from Jay all glitter of bugles and sheen of satin putting Mrs Wendovers homespun travelling dress to shame There was a dinnergown with the luggage but a gown which in comparison with Lady Pallisers satin and jet would be like the cloudy countenance of Luna on a November night as compared with the glory of Sol on a midsummer morning But then happily Mrs Wendover was not the kind of person to suffer at being worse dressed than her hostess Lady Palliser sank in a low curtsey when Ida murmured a rather vague presentation and again beheld the Countesss eternal laws violated by her guests for the Colonel and his wife shook hands with a vigour which in the Crême de la Crême was stigmatised as a barbarous vulgarity while Aunt Betsy was so taken up with Ida that after a smile and a nod she actually turned her back upon the lady of the house
My poor child how horridly ill you are looking Miss Wendover exclaimed holding Ida by both hands and looking searchingly into her face Prosperity has not agreed with you I can see the traces of sleepless nights under your eyes
It was such a shock murmured Ida
Yes it was a terrible shock Those fine frank young fellows It was ever so long before I could get the images of them out of my mind And I could not help feeling very sorry for them in spite of your good fortune—
Dont call it my good fortune said Ida I am glad my father is better off but I was happier when I was poor
And yet you used to say such bitter things about poverty
Yes I was a worshipper of Mammon in those days but now I have got inside the temple and have found out that he is a false god
He is not a god but a devil The least erected spirit that fell from heaven My poor Ida And so you have found out that there are dust and ashes inside golden apples Never mind you will learn to enjoy the privileges and comforts of wealth better when you are better used to being rich And in the meantime tell me that you are happy in your married life that you and Brian are getting on pleasantly together
We never quarrel said Ida looking downward
Oh that is a bad sign Tell me something better than that
You all told me that it was my duty to live with my husband I am trying to do my duty Ida answered gravely
There was no radiance upon her face now All the happiness—the unselfish delight of welcoming her friends—had faded and left her pale and despondent
She threw off all gloomy thoughts presently and was running about the house showing her friends their rooms giving directions to servants making a good deal more fuss and making more use of her own hands than the author of La Crême de la Crême would have tolerated
A ladys hands said that exalted personage are not for use but for ornament Her first object should be to preserve their delicacy of form and colour her second to be always bien gantée She should never lift anything heavier than her teacup and she should rather endure some inconvenience from cold while waiting the attendance of her footman than she should so far derogate from feminine dignity as to put on a shovel of coals The rule of her life should be to do nothing which her domestics or her dame de compagnie can do for her
My dearest Ida remonstrated Lady Palliser remembering this classic passage what do you mean by carrying that bag Are there no servants in the house
Halfadozen too many mamma but I like to do something with my own hands for those I love
Lady Palliser sighed recalling the days when she had cooked her husbands breakfasts and dinners and had been happier—so it seemed to her now—in performing that domestic duty than in giving orders to a housekeeper of whom she stood in awe But Fanny Palliser had made up her mind that she ought to become a fine lady in order to do credit to her husbands altered fortunes and she was working assiduously with that intent
The guests had arrived in time for luncheon and after luncheon Lady Palliser and the three elders went for a long drive in the landau to explore the best points in the surrounding scenery while Ida and Bessie with Vernon in their company started for a long ramble in the Park and woods The boy ran about hither and thither flitting from bank to bank in quest of flowers or insects curious about everything in nature vivid as a flash in all his movements Thus the two girls were left very much to themselves and were able to talk as they liked only occasionally giving their attention to some newlydiscovered wonder of Vernons a tadpole in the act of shedding his horny beak or some gigantic development of the genus toadstool which species was just then in full season
At first there was a shadow of constraint upon Bessies manner and in one whose nature was so frank the faintest touch of reserve was painfully obvious For a little while all her talk was of Wimperfield and its beauties
And to think that my dear old pet should be a leading member of our county families she exclaimed it is too delightful
Indeed Bess I am nothing of the kind I am a very insignificant person—nothing but my fathers daughter Brian and I are only here on sufferance
Oh thats nonsense dear I heard Sir Reginald tell my father that Wimperfield was to be your home and Brians as long as ever you both like—as long as your father lives in fact Brian can have his chambers in town and work at his profession but you are to live at Wimperfield
That can hardly be answered Ida gloomily when Brian goes to London I must go with him It will be my duty you know with a shade of bitterness
Well then this will be your country house—and that will be ever so much better for after all you know however delightful the country may be it is rather like being buried alive to live in it all the year round I suppose Brian will soon begin to work at his profession—to read law books and wait for briefs dont you know
I hope so answered Ida coldly but I do not think your cousin is very fond of hard work
Oh but he must work—manhood demands it He cannot possibly go on sponging upon your father for ever
There is no question of sponging Brian is welcome here as you have heard Lady Palliser likes him very much and we all get on very well together
But you would like your husband to work wouldnt you Ida
I should like him to be a man answered Ida curtly
In all this time there had been no mention of that other Brian—the owner of Wendover Abbey No word of congratulation had come to Ida from him upon the change in her fortunes nor had her husband told her of any communication from his cousin She concluded therefore that Brian the elder had made no sign It might be that he had dismissed her from his mind as unworthy of further thought or care He had discovered her falsehood her worthlessness and she was no longer the woman he had once loved and honoured She had passed out of his life like an evil dream which he had dreamed and forgotten
His voice had been silent when those other voices—the Colonels and the Curates—had told her that it was her duty to fulfil the vow she had vowed before Gods altar to share her husbands fate for good or ill Brian her lover of a few minutes before had held his peace What had he thought of her in those bitter moments Had there been one touch of pity mingled with his scorn She could not tell He had made no sign
From the moment of her friends arrival she had tremulously expected some mention of Mr Wendovers name but that name had not been spoken The silence was a relief and yet she yearned to know something more whether he had spoken of her with friendly feeling whether he thought of her with compassion
Not for worlds would she have questioned Bessie upon this subject not even Bessie whose childish love so invited confidence before whose tender eyes she could never feel ashamed
After that little talk about Brian Walford there followed a good deal of talk about Mr Jardine He was promised a living not a big benefice by any means but still an actual living and an actual Vicarage in the vicinity of Salisbury Plain and he and Bessie were to be married early in the following year as soon as there were enough spring flowers to decorate Kingthorpe Church the Colonel had said
It is to be in the time of daffodils just before Lent said Bess
Easter comes late next year you know
I dont know but no doubt you have found out all about it Ida answered laughing God bless you dear and make your wedded life one long honeymoon
I have seen marriages like that said Bess Father and mother for instance They are always spooning Oh Ida doesnt it seem dreadfully soon to be married
There is plenty of time for reflection answered Ida with a sigh
Bessie remembered how sudden a thing matrimony had been in her friends case
Ah darling I know what you are thinking about she said tenderly You married on the spur of the moment and were just a little sorry afterwards but I have been so fenced and guarded by parental wisdom that I could not do anything foolish—if I tried ever so And then John is far too wise to propose anything wild or romantic—yet I think if he had come to me and said There is a dogcart at the gate let us drive over to Romsey Church and be married I should hardly have known how to say no But Ida dear tell me that your hasty marriage has turned out a happy one after all Brian is so very nice Confess now that you are happy with him
Bessie had intended scrupulously to avoid any such home question but her feelings carried her away directly she began to talk of John Jardine
I cannot tell you a lie Bessie no my life is not a happy one All colour and brightness all youthfulness and fervour went out of me when I left Kingthorpe but it is an endurable life and I make the best of it
Brian is not unkind to you I hope cried Bessie prepared to be indignant
No he is not unkind I have no complaint to make against him
But surely he is nice argued Bessie I have always thought him one of the nicest young men I know He has very good manners he knows a good deal can talk of almost any subject and he is full of life and spirits when he wants to be amusing
I have no doubt he is a very agreeable person answered Ida gloomily I have never disputed that And yet our marriage was a mistake all the same
But when you married him surely then you must have cared for him just a little
I thought I did It was the glamour of his imaginary wealth It was the worship of the golden calf exemplified in one of its vilest phases a mercenary marriage
Do not lower yourself too much dearest pleaded Bessie hugging her friends arm affectionately as they tramped across the withered bracken You are too good to have been governed by any sordid feeling The delusion must have gone deeper
It did I married in a rhapsody of gratitude thinking that I had found a modern Cophetua Say no more about it Bess if you love me
I will never say another word dear sighed Bess but I do wish you had been single when you met the other Brian for I know he was more than half in love with you And now he is going off to the other end of the world again and goodness knows if he will ever come back
The upper tracts of heaven were beginning to grow gray the sun was sinking in a bed of red and gold behind a clump of oaks on the edge of the horizon—the dark and delicate outline of leafless branches distinctly marked against that yellow light Wimperfield Park was almost at its best upon such an afternoon as this the turf soft and springy after autumnal rains the atmosphere tranquil and balmy and all animal creation—deer oxen rabbits feathered game and an innumerable army of rooks—full of life and motion Ida was slow to reply to Bessies news about her cousin The two girls walked on in silence for a little way Vernon running ever so far ahead of them to look for fallen nuts in a grove of fine old Spanish chestnuts which stood boldly out on the top of a hill
Dont you feel sorry that he is going away asked Bessie at last just as he had established himself among us and begun all kinds of improvement at the Abbey farm and was even thinking of building new schools
It is a pity said Ida
It is simply horrid He is quite as bad as those Irish Absentees who are continually getting murdered or he would be as bad if he had not arranged with my father for the carrying on of all his plans while he is away
That is very good of him
Good yes but it will be a dreadful responsibility for poor father and I daresay we shall all be worried about it He will have builders on the brain till the work is finished My poor John has promised to look after the schools and he is so conscientious that he will wear himself to a shadow rather than neglect the smallest detail
But are you not pleased that he can be of so much use
I am obliged to be pleased I am going to be a clergymans wife and I must teach myself to look at everything from the parochial point of view John and I will not belong to ourselves but to our parish Our own pleasure our own health our own interests must be as nothing to us We must only exist as machines for the maintenance of the proper church services and for the relief of the sick and poor
If you think it too hard a life dear there is time for you to draw back
Oh Ida do you think I am like Lots wife regretting the false frivolous world I am going to renounce What life could be too hard shared with him
God bless you dear I believe your life will be a very happy one said Ida earnestly and with a touch of melancholy There was so much that was enviable in Bessies fate Then after a pause she said hesitatingly Do you know why your cousin is going to leave England
No I know no reason except his natural restlessness He is a member of the Geographical you know and attends all their meetings The other day he went up to hear some old fellow prose about the regions north of Afghanistan and he was so interested that he made arrangements at once for an exploration on his own account And I daresay he will get killed by some savage tribe or die of fever
He is not going alone I hope
No he has a friend almost as mad as himself and they are going together That will mean two for the savages to kill instead of one and I suppose they will have an interpreter and two or three servants which will be a few more for the savages
Let us hope they will not go into really dangerous places There must be so much for a traveller to see in India without running any great risks said Ida affecting a cheerful tone
But you know English travellers love to run risks It is their only idea of enjoyment A man like Brian is told of some mountain or some settlement where no Englishman has ever set his foot before and he says That is the very place for me and the experiment naturally results in his getting murdered They had finished their ramble and were in front of the portico by this time
Oh Bessie said Ida with a stifled sob life is full of sad changes Do you remember that summer afternoon three mouths ago when Vernon and Peter stood on those steps bidding us goodbye as we drove away with your cousin and now those two are lying at the bottom of the sea and he is going to the other end of the world
The Wendover visit was altogether a success There was something so conciliating so sympathetic so entirely comfortable in Mrs Wendovers nature and outward characteristics that Lady Palliser felt almost immediately at her ease with her and forgot her newlyacquired manners becoming a good deal more ladylike in consequence since the strict and stern system of etiquette formulated in the Crême de la Crême did not lie conformably to the original formation of the little womans disposition To be free and easy loquacious fussy and kind was Fanny Pallisers nature and she became odious when she tried to restrain those simple impulses by the armour of formal manners
I never had a lady friend I liked better than Mrs Wendover she told
Ida in confidence on the second day of the visit
Fanny Palliser was not quite so much at ease with Aunt Betsy She had an idea that the spinster was satirical and was inwardly critical of her shortcomings She was impressed by the wide extent of Aunt Betsys information most especially when that lady talked politics with Sir Reginald and contrived to hem him into corners whence there was no logical thoroughfare Aunt Betsy was Liberal to the verge of Radicalism Sir Reginald a Tory of the good old pigheaded type who looked upon all advance movements as revolutionary and thought that his own party had gone mad
I dont like strongminded women Lady Palliser told Ida when the guests had left I have no doubt Miss Wendover is very kindhearted and generous—Im sure her kindness to you was wonderful—but she is not my idea of a lady That brocade dinnergown was lovely and fitted her like a glove but the way she put her elbows on the table when she talked to Sir Reginald at dessert—well I never did
Brian Walford had made himself particularly agreeable during the brief visit of his kindred—agreeable to both sides of the house It was his desire to stand well with both He wanted his uncle and aunts to see that he was thought much of at Wimperfield—that he was a valued member of the household respected and liked by his wifes family that he had done well for himself by his marriage and that whatever cloud had overshadowed the opening of his wedded life had vanished altogether from his horizon People so soon forgive and forget a little wrongdoing if the sinner comes comfortably out of his difficulties and becomes a prosperous member of society The Colonel and his wife who had always liked Ida liked her all the better now that they saw her established in a stately home—the only daughter of a man of fortune and position
On the morning of her departure Miss Wendover contrived to have a téteâtéte with Sir Reginald in the course of which she informed him that she meant to leave half her money to her niece Bessie and the other half to her nephew—Brian Walford
The land of course will go to Brian of the Abbey she said We Wendovers cant afford to divide the soil Our chances of doing good in the land depend upon our having a large interest in the neighbourhood
Why Miss Wendover I thought you were a Radical exclaimed Sir
Reginald
So I am in many of my ideas but not for cutting up the land into little bits to pass from hand to hand like a tenpound note until there should not be an estate left in England with a long family history nor a rich man left in the rural districts to take care of the poor England would be badly off without her squirearchy
Sir Reginald and Miss Wendover were thoroughly agreed upon this point He thanked her for her generous intentions towards her nephew and he told her that he meant to provide fairly for his daughter The entail expires in my person he said I can do what I like for my girl Of course the whole of the estate will go to Vernon He is the last of his race and I hope I may live to see him married and the father of sons to inherit his name It is a hard thing to think that a good old name must perish off the face of the land However I am free to make my will as I like and I shall leave Ida six or seven hundred a year She and Brian ought to get on very well with that and his profession I should like to see him a little more energetic—a little fonder of hard work pursued Sir Reginald with a sigh conscious of having never felt a strong inclination that way on his own part but I suppose all young men are idle
No they are not retorted Aunt Betsy sharply There are workers and idlers in all families—men born to honour or to dishonour—races apart—like the drones and the working bees Look at my other nephew for example—a man who has seven thousand a year and not a creature to gainsay him if he chose to dissipate his days and nights on worldly pleasures He is your true type of worker—a fine Greek scholar—a naturalist a traveller a thorough sportsman where sport means courage adventure intelligence endurance Fortune made him a rich man but he has made himself a man of mark in every circle in which he has ever lived and I am proud to own him for my own flesh and blood Nature gave Brian Walford many gifts and what has he done for himself Learnt to dress as foplings dress and to think as foplings think
He is a very nice young fellow said Sir Reginald kindly we are all fond of him only we think—for his own sake—it would be better if he took life more seriously
He must be made to take life seriously replied the spinster sternly Yes he is very nice—that is the worst of it if he were nasty no one would tolerate him Im afraid his good qualities will be his ruin And thus promising good things yet prophesying evil Miss Wendover left Wimperfield Ida was to go and stay with her later on at the Homestead when Brian Walford should be reading law in those new Chambers which he often talked about There were times when to hear him talk people thought him a youth gnawed and consumed by ambition only panting for the opportunity to work
Two days after the Wendovers had gone back Brian showed his wife a letter from his cousin Brian of the Abbey
I am leaving England for a longer period than usual and going farther afield wrote the master of Wendover Abbey so before starting I feel myself bound to do something definite for you
He has helped me with odd sums now and then I suppose you know said
Brian as Ida read this passage
I did not know she answered coldly but I am not surprised to hear that he has been generous to you
No he is your paragon—your preux chevalier—is he not sneered Brian
Bessie told me as much
She told you only the truth No one who lives at Kingthorpe can help knowing that your cousin is a good man
She went on with the letter
Now you are married the claims upon you will be larger than they have been and I know you will not care to be a pensioner upon your fatherinlaws bounty I have therefore arranged with my bankers that you should draw on me quarterly for a hundred and fifty pounds while I am away This will help you to keep the wolf from the door while you are reading for the Bar I hope to find you a successful junior in the first stage of a prosperous journey to the Bench when I come back
Six hundred a year Not half bad is it Ida
It is very good of him I hope you will do as he suggests
How do you mean
Work hard at your profession
I shall work hard enough answered Brian turning sullen unless you all badger me I hate being badgered
CHAPTER XXIII
ALL OUR LIFE IS MIXED WITH DEATH
Four years and more had gone and there were changes at Wimperfield—changes at Kingthorpe Death had come to the Georgian mansion among the woodcrowned hills The easygoing master of that good old house had taken life a little too easily had disregarded the warnings of wife and doctor had dined and slept and drunk his favourite wines—not immoderately but with utter disregard of medical regimen—had neither walked nor ridden but had let life slip by him in a placid plethoric selfindulgence—shunning all exertion all pleasure even if it were allied with activity of any kind So in an existence almost as sleepy as the spellbound slumber in Beautys enchanted palace Idas father had left the door of his mansion ajar to the fell visitor Death and the fatal day had come suddenly with no more warning than Sir Reginald heard Sunday after Sunday in church or read any evening in his favourite Horace as he turned the carminebordered leaves of one of Firmin Didots exquisite duodecimos and mused pleasantly over the poets perpetual variations upon the old theme—
Brother we must all die
The guest came like a thief in the night and snatched his prey in the midst of the family circle in the leisurely lamplit hour after dinner with the sound of gay voices and light laughter in the air The senseless body breathed and throbbed for another day and another light and then all was over—and Ida and her stepmother knelt side by side clasped in each others arms by the clay which both had fondly loved
They were alone in their sorrow Brian was in London Vernon was with Mr and Mrs Jardine at their parsonage on Salisbury Plain being prepared for Eton The two women grieved together in a mournful solitude for the first day on which the house was darkened and the presence of death was palpable in their midst
Brian hurried down to Wimperfield directly the news reached him He was agitated by the event which had happened without any note of warning He was not given to forecasting the future and it had seemed to him that life at Wimperfield was to go on for ever in the same groove—immutable as the course of the planets that he was always to have a luxurious home there—a fine stable—an indulgent fatherinlaw He had been really fond of Sir Reginald after his manner and his sudden death shocked and grieved him And then it gave a shade of uncertainty to his own future He did not know how the estate might be left—how tied up and hedged round by executors and trustees shutting him out of his present almost proprietorial enjoyment of the place Some smug London lawyer perhaps would put his sleek paw upon everything during the boys minority Sir Reginald had never talked to Brian of his will
The smug town lawyer came down but not to impound Wimperfield—only to read the late baronets will which was entirely in harmony with the dead mans easy and generous temper
He left his widow an annuity of fifteen hundred pounds and the privilege of occupying Wimperfield until his son should come of age and on leaving Wimperfield she was to receive the sum of two thousand pounds to enable her to furnish any house she might choose to rent for herself To his daughter he left any two horses she might select from the existing stud and seven hundred a year in the Three per Cents the principal to be divided among her children if of age at the date of her death or to be held in trust for them if under age In the event of Vernon dying unmarried Ida was to inherit everything in the event of his marrying but having no children his widow was to take the same annuity as that bequeathed to Lady Palliser and the estate was to go to Ida with reversion to her eldest son or in the event of no son to her eldest daughter whose husband was to take the name of Palliser In this manner had shortlived man endeavoured to make his name live after him
Ida and her stepmother were left joint guardians of the boy Vernon
To Brian Walford Wendover Sir Reginald bequeathed only his favourite hunter a leash of chumber spaniels and fifty pounds for a memorial ring Mr Wendover could not find fault with a will which left his wife seven hundred a year but he felt that his position was diminished by his fatherinlaws death and he was morbidly jealous of the boy who had absorbed so much of his wifes care and affection from the first hour of their coming to Wimperfield
I suppose we are to turn out now he said to Ida the night after the funeral when they two were slowly and sadly pacing the terrace in front of the drawingroom windows It was the beginning of December—bleak cheerless weather—and the woods looked black against a dull gray sky There was only one feeble streak of pale yellow light in the west yonder behind gaunt patriarchal oaks
Your fathers will is a very handsome will continued Brian but it leaves no provision for our living on here and I suppose we shall have to clear out
Leave Wimperfield Oh no Im sure Lady Palliser has no idea of such a thing Leave Wimperfield and Vernon He has a double claim upon me now my fatherless darling
Of course Vernon is your first thought sneered Brian But wouldnt it be just as well to think of ways and means Who is to keep up Wimperfield Lady Palliser on her fifteen hundred a year or you on your seven hundred
I can help mamma She can have all my income except just enough to buy my clothes and my father gave me gowns enough to last for the next five years But I heard the lawyer say that the place would be kept up for Vernie Lady Palliser would hardly have any occasion to spend her income except in paying for actual personal expenses her own servants and so on
Good for Lady Palliser but that doesnt make our position any more secure if she should want to get rid of us
Im sure she will want us to stay You ought to know her better than to suggest such a thing You must know her affectionate nature and how fond she is of us both
I never presume to know anything of any woman She seems to like us but who can tell what may lurk under that seeming She may marry again and want to make a clean sweep of old associations
Mamma How can you think of such a horrid thing No she is as true as steel she has been a good and loyal wife to my father
That doesnt prevent her being good and loyal to a second husband nay her very virtues—affectionateness a soft clinging nature—point to the probability of a second marriage It is just such women who fall into the adventurers trap However we wont quarrel about her and so long as she is cordial and likes to have us here Wimperfield can be our country house
This was a somewhat loose way of speaking for Wimperfield had been Idas only house during her married life Brian had his chambers in the Temple at a rent of a hundred and twentyfive pounds a year his sittingroom furnished with none of that Spartan ruggedness which so well became George Warrington of Pump Court but in the willowpattern and peacockfeather style of art the dingy old walls glorified by fine photographs of Gerômes Roman Gladiators Phryne before her judges Socrates searching for Alcibiades at the house of Aspasia and enlarged carbonized portraits of the reigning beauties in London society But these chambers though supposed to be devoted to days of patient work and much consumption of midnight oil had served chiefly as a basis for late breakfasts clubdinners and theatregoing while the midnight oil had been mostly associated with lobster salad at snug little suppers after the play Ida had never been at these chambers although she had been invited there frequently during the first few months of her husbands tenancy As time went by Mr Wendover found it was more convenient that his town and country residences should be completely distinct and it had gradually become an accepted fact at Wimperfield that Temple Chambers were a kind of habitation which a mans wife could hardly visit without violating the first principles of legal etiquette
Brian Walford was speedily reassured as to his position at Wimperfield Lady Palliser clung to her stepdaughter in her widowhood with a still warmer affection than she had shown during her husbands lifetime Ida was her adviser her strong rock her resource in all difficulties and perplexities social or domestic Nor would she allow her stepdaughter or her stepdaughters husband to share the expenses of housekeeping at Wimperfield The allowance for the young baronets maintenance during his minority was large enough to cover all expenses of the very quiet household likely to be even more quiet now that Sir Reginald Palliser a man of particularly social habits was gone
Lady Palliser had never been able to feel thoroughly at home among the county people Their language was not her language nor their habits her habits She could have got on ever so much better with them had they been less homely and free and easy in their ways She had schooled herself in a politeness of line and rule had learnt good manners by rote and to find all her theories continually ignored or traversed was a perplexity and a trouble to her If the county people had only treated her with the rigid stiffness enjoined in a threeandsixpenny manual she could have met them upon equal ground She could have remembered the social laws made and provided for her guidance as guest or hostess—how to enter and leave a room in what attitude to stand or sit with the fitting use of every item of table furniture from the fish knife and fork to the salver of rose water But when she beheld the county people doing outrageous things with their legs and altogether heterodox in their way of eating and drinking when she heard them talk very much as the lady friends of her girlhood had talked over their washtubs or kitchen ranges yet with an indescribable difference and never by any chance realising her own innate ideas of company manners Lady Palliser felt herself more and more at sea in this new world of hers Thus it was that she fell into the way of letting Ida manage everything for her and of meekly accepting such friends as Ida brought round her and making much of those mothers whose boys were of an age to be playfellows for her own beloved son
And now the master of the house the central figure in the family picture was gone and the two women had to face life for the most part alone Brian had grown fonder of London lately He had held a few briefs during the last twelve months and could plead business in the metropolitan lawcourts as a reason for being very little at Wimperfield out of the hunting season The boy was with the Jardines at Hopsley Vicarage except during the happy interval of holidays He was always glad to come home but he was generally tired of home before the holiday was over and went back to the Jardines with a keen delight which made his mothers heart ache
Idas character had ripened and strengthened in the years which were gone years of quiet submissive performance of duty She had been a fond and obedient daughter an almost adoring sister a good and faithful wife If she had not given her husband the love he had hoped to inspire she had been more considerate more sympathetic than many a wife who has married for love She had never wounded him by hard words had never exacted sacrifices from him never pursued her own pleasure when it was at variance with his She had long ago gauged his shallow nature—she knew but too well that he was a reed and not a rock and that in all the trials of life she would have to stand alone but if she sometimes inwardly scorned him she never betrayed her scorn either to him or to the world after she had once made up her mind as to the nature of the bond between them and the duties attached to that bond With ripening years and growing wisdom she had atoned nobly for the errors of impulse and reckless anger
Brian knew that she was good and loyal but although he admired and respected her he could not forgive her for that innate superiority which made him all the more conscious of his own shortcomings for that growing strength of character which accentuated his own weakness When the charm of novelty had departed when the triumph of having won her in spite of herself was over Brian Walfords love for his beautiful wife wore to a very thin thread The tie was not broken but it was sorely attenuated He had never ceased to be jealous of the brother whom she loved so much more fondly than she had ever loved or even pretended to love her husband but he had left off expressing that jealousy in open unbraiding Once he had been in the habit of saying You will have a boy of your own some day and then Master Vernie will be nowhere but that hopedfor son had never come and Vernon was still all in all to his sister Brian knew that it was so and submitted to his lot in sullen acquiescence After all his marriage had brought him much that was good—had smoothed his pathway in life and if—if byandby some such fatality as that which had cleared the way for Reginald Palliser should clear the way for Ida his wife would be the owner of one of the finest estates in Sussex He wished no evil to the young baronet he bore no grudge against him for Idas idiotic fondness but the fact remained that the boys death would make Brian Walford Wendovers wife a rich woman It is not in the nature of a man living among sharpwitted lawyers and men about town to ignore a fact of this kind His friends had talked to him about it after the publication of Sir Reginald Pallisers will
A fine thing for you if that young gentleman were to go off the hooks said they but Brian protested that he had no desire for such promotion He was fond of the boy and was very well satisfied with his own position
I daresay you do like the little beggar answered his particular friend who was loafing away the earlier half of the afternoon in Mr Wendovers chambers smoking Mr Wendovers cigarette and sipping Mr Wendovers Apollinaris slightly coloured with brandy—a very modest form of entertainment surely and yet the cigarettes and the superfine cognac which were always on tap in Elm Court made no small appearance in the accounts of tobacconist and wine merchant You would be sorry if anything were to happen to him no doubt just as I shall be sorry when the governor bursts up—poor old fellow But I know I want his money very badly and I think you could spend a good deal more than your present income
Brian admitted with a light laugh that his capacity for expenditure was considerably in excess of his resources
You know how quietly I live he began
Comme çi comme ça muttered his friend
And yet even now I am in debt
And have been ever since I first knew you and would be if you had fifty thousand a year
Oh thats inevitable said Brian A man with an income of that kind must always be in debt He never can know when he comes to the boundary line When a man starts in life by believing he is enormously rich and can have everything he wants he is pretty sure to go to the dogs Thats the way the sons of millionaires so often drift towards the gutter
CHAPTER XXIV
FRUITS FAIL AND LOVE DIES AND TIME RANGES
Brian found Wimperfield duller as a place of residence after Sir Reginalds death or it may be that he found London gayer and his professional duties more absorbing It was not often that his wife and motherinlaw were gratified by any public notification of his engagements but now and then the name of Mr Wendover appeared as junior counsel in some insignificant case and Lady Palliser who read the Times and Post diligently apprised Ida of the fact
You see Brian is getting on quite nicely she said approvingly and byandby when he has plenty of work you will have a small house in town I suppose—somewhere about Belgravia—and only come to Wimperfield for your holidays
Fanny Palliser had never left off compassionating Ida for her frequent separation from her husband She had never divined that Ida was happier in Brians absence than when he was with her The wife had so borne herself that her husband should not be put to shame by her indifference She lived the larger half of her life apart from him but Lady Palliser and her gossips believed that in so doing the young couple sacrificed inclination to prudence So soon as they could afford to maintain a town house they would have one
It was midsummer weather and the rose garden at Wimperfield that garden which had been Idas own peculiar care for the last four years the garden which she had improved and beautified with every art learned from that ardent roseworshipper Aunt Betsy was glorious with its first blooms Sir Reginald Palliser had been dead a year and a half but Ida still wore black gowns and the widow had in no wise mitigated the severity of her weeds The two women had lived peaceably and affectionately together ever since the baronets death leading a quiet but not unhappy life the placid monotony of their existence agreeably varied by frequent intercourse with the family at Kingthorpe
The only changes at The Knoll were of a gentle domestic character No cloud of trouble had darkened that happy household Bessie had become a brisk businesslike little matron dividing her cares between her yearling baby and her husbands parish troubled like Martha about many things but only in such a manner as women of her temperament like to be troubled Reginald had begun his University career as an undergraduate of Balliol and talked largely about Professor Jowett and Greek Horatio was still a Wintonian The Colonel had grown a little stouter and his wife was too polite to cultivate a slimness which might have seemed a reproach to her husbands comfortable figure Blanche was out a development of her being which meant that she was occasionally invited to a friendly dinnerparty with her father and mother that her clothes cost three times as much as they had cost while she was in that she had ideas about blue china and sunflowers lamented the shabbiness of The Knoll drawingroom and the general untidiness of the household and that she abandoned herself to despondency whenever there was a long interval between one garden party and another The child Eva had become exactly what Blanche had been four years ago Urania was still Urania Rylance just a shade more selfopinionated and more conscious of the inferiority of her fellowcreatures These innate instincts had been ripened and developed by several London seasons and were now accompanied by a flavour of sourness which was meant for wit She had not been without offers but there had been no offer tempting enough to induce her to abandon her privileges as Dr Rylances daughter She had an idea that her marriage would be the signal for Dr Rylance to take unto himself a second wife and she was disinclined to give that signal The more anxious her father seemed to dispose of her in the marriage market the more tenaciously she clung to the privileges of spinsterhood
I hope you are not in a hurry to get rid of me father she said at breakfast one morning when Dr Rylance urged the claims of a cultured youth in the War Office
No my dear I dont think I have shown any undue haste This is your fifth London season
I hope you do not call my intermittent glimpses of town a season sneered Urania
I have you here as often and as long as I can answered her father becoming suddenly stony of countenance and I take you out as much as I can Mr Fitz Wilson has seven hundred a year I could give you—say three and surely with a thousand a year two young people might live in very good style—even in these pretentious days
No doubt But I dont care for Mr Fitz Wilson and I care still less for the kind of style which can be maintained upon a thousand a year replied Urania with the air of a duchess That would mean a small house on the skirts of Regents Park or a flat in the Marylebone Road I suppose—and no carriage
Marry whom you please my love and when you please said her father but remember that time is not standing still with any of us
There had been no change at the Abbey in the years which were gone since Brian Walford claimed his bride except that the new schools had been built under Colonel Wendovers superintendence The old house still resembled the palace of the sleeping beauty except that trustworthy servants took care of it and kept moths spiders mice and all such small deer at a distance The owner of the mansion was still absent roaming about somewhere in Northern India as it was supposed but his letters were few and far between His kindred at Kingthorpe were accustomed to think of him as a wanderer in faraway places and gave themselves very little anxiety about him To have been anxious once would be to be anxious always since a travellers risks are manifold and there is never a year when the eager spirit of some valiant explorer is not quenched in sudden death Brian Wendover had been away so long that people had left off talking about him and it seemed a natural condition for the Abbey to be tenantless—a capital place for picnics and afternoon teas The Wendovers of The Knoll took all their visitors there as a matter of course—played tennis on the lawn between the goodly old cedars and Blanche who was of a much more enterprising disposition than her sister Bessie had tried her hardest to induce Mrs Wendover to give a ball in the old refectory
Ida and her husband were strolling about the rosegarden in the quiet hour after luncheon while Lady Palliser dozed over her knittingneedles in her favourite chair by the long French window Brian had come to Wimperfield somewhat unexpectedly while the London season was still at its height and all the law courts in full swing He came home invalided and wanting rest and care but he refused to consult the family doctor a general practitioner born and bred in the adjacent village—clever sagacious homely in dress and manners and in the opinion of Lady Palliser a tower of strength She liked a fatherly doctor
What is the use of seeing old Fosbroke when I have had the best advice in London Brian said peevishly when urged by his motherinlaw to take advice from the family doctor I know exactly what ails me—nervous exhaustion an overworked brain and that kind of thing I suppose it is a natural consequence of modern civilisation mens brains have to go at express speed in order to keep pace with the average intelligence of the time
If you had only a better appetite sighed Lady Palliser who had been distressed at seeing her soninlaw send away plate after plate with its contents hardly touched
I wouldnt mind having a bad appetite if I could sleep said he its insomnia that tells upon a fellow
Brian did not enter into the causes of this dire malady which had begun with long nights given to dissipation—not to gross pleasures or vulgar companions but to a semiintellectual dissipation wit fun copious talk about all things between heaven and earth in the society of artists actors journalists Bohemians of all the arts To the man who begins by doing without sleep there sometimes comes a day when sleep will refuse to answer to his bidding He has acquired the habit of perpetual wakefulness The sleepmechanism of the brain is out of gear It will go for halfanhour perhaps or for a few minutes in spasmodic jerks and then it stops all at once as if the machinery had gone wrong
So it was with Brian Those festive nights given over to the feast of reason and the flow of soul—not to riot or drunkenness but to the halfunconscious consumption of much brandy and soda—nights in which the atmosphere seemed charged with wit and wisdom as with mental electricity—nights in which a young man able to talk smartly upon any given topic was carried away by the consciousness of his power and thought himself a god
Brian was a member of all those joyous clubs—the night flowers of the club world which unfold their petals in the small hours when the playhouses are shut and the lights have been extinguished in all sober households There was no offence in any of these institutions and they offered a fine intellectual arena afforded a splendid training for literary youth but to a man who loved them too well they meant a shattered constitution
Brian had come to Wimperfield in the hope that quiet and country air would bring back sleep to his eyelids and steadiness to his nerves but he had been there a week and his hand was no steadier his nights were no less wakeful He fancied himself growing weaker day by day and although the great authority in Harley Street had strictly forbidden any stimulant except one glass of stout with his mutton chop at luncheon Brian who was quite unable to eat the chop found it impossible to lunch without plenty of dry sherry or to dine without champagne and after dinner drank a good deal of that fine old port which had been laid down by old Sir Vernon Palliser in fortyseven
Ida was very kind and gentle to her husband at this time seeing that he was really in need of her tenderness She devoted herself to his amusement walked with him rode with him drove with him but although he was grateful he was not happy A terrible depression of mind broken by flashes of hilarity had taken possession of him The London physician had told him frankly that his nerves were shattered but that all would be well with him if he left off all stimulants ate chops and steaks and lived in the open air but as yet he had been unable to cope with the most diminutive chop or to exist for three hours without stimulants Even those rides and drives with Ida seemed a weariness to him and he would have escaped them if he could
This afternoon he paced the rosegarden listlessly by Idas side smoking a cigarette—that cigarette which was rarely absent from his lips
Are you sure your London doctor does not object to your smoking so much Ida asked presently noting the languid uncertainty of the fingers which held the cigarette
I am not sure about anything I told him I could not live without tobacco and he said I might smoke two or three cigarettes in the course of the day—
Oh Brian and you smoke—
Two or three dozen Not quite so bad as that eh But no doubt I do go considerably outside the medicos mark I could no more exist by line and rule in that way than I could fly No if I am to die of tobacco and late hours I am doomed
But there is no such thing as being doomed every man is his own master—he can mould his life as he likes
Can he That depends upon the man I am not going into the mystery of fate and free will There is the question of temperament—hereditary instinct If I cannot have intellectual society—new ideas—variety—I must die I could not lead the life you live here—not life but stagnation
I have the books I love this dear park and all the lovely country round us—horses—dogs—and some very pleasant neighbours and I try to do a little good in my generation
All very well but you are as much out of the world as if you were in the centre of Africa I could not exist under such conditions Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay This to me would be as bad as Cathay But now I suppose you are going to be perfectly happy now that your brother is coming home
Yes I am always happy when I have him—he is more and more companionable every day of his life
Vernon was expected that afternoon He was coming home for a summer holiday just when summer was at her loveliest He was not bound by public school rules or obliged to wait for the stereotyped wateringplace season The Jardines were to bring him over this afternoon and were to stay at Wimperfield for a couple of days Ida glanced towards the avenue every now and then expecting to catch a glimpse of the approaching carriage between the leafy elms
Brian strolled by her side with a listless air smoking and murmuring a few words now and then for courtesys sake He had very little to say to his wife She did not care for the things he cared for or understand the kind of life he lived She loved books the books which are for all time he was a mere skimmer of books and reviews—mostly reviews and he cared only for new books new ideas new theories new paradoxes His cleverness was the cleverness of the daily press—the floating froth upon the sea of knowledge He liked to talk to a man of his own stamp with whom he could argue upon equal terms but not to a woman who had steeped her mind in the wisdom and poetry of the past
He stifled a yawn every now and then in that halfhour of waiting longing to go back to the diningroom and refresh his parched lips with the contents of a syphon dashed with brandy He had given his own orders to the butler and the spirit stand was always on the sideboard ready for his use The butler had made a note of the brandy which was dribbled away in this desultory form of refreshment and had made up his own mind as to Mr Wendovers habits but it is a servants duty to hold his peace upon such matters
At last there came the sound of wheels and Ida flew round to the portico to receive her guests Brian following at his leisure The slender figure in the black gown reminded Brian of those old days by the river—the tranquil October afternoons—the clear light—the placid water—a gray river under a gray sky with a lovely line of yellow light behind the tufted willows How happy he had been in those days—caring nothing for the future—bent on winning this girl at any price—laughing within himself at her delusion—trusting to his own merits as an ample setoff against his empty purse when he should stand revealed as the wrong Brian
Things had gone fairly enough with him since then He had had plenty of pleasure a good deal of money though not half enough and very little work And yet he felt that his life was a failure—and he was languid and old before his time An idle life had exhausted him sooner than other men are exhausted by a hardworking career He knew of men at the Bar who had lived hard and worked like galley slaves and who yet retained all the fire and freshness of youth
The guests had alighted by the time Brian reached the portico and Vernon was in his sisters arms She held him away from her to show him to her husband—a thin fairhaired boy of eleven in a gray highland kilt and jacket like a gillie—fresh rosy cheeks bright blue eyes
Hasnt he grown Brian and isnt he a darling she asked hugging him again
He is a jolly little fellow and he shall go out shooting with me as soon as there is anything to shoot
We can fish said Vernon theres plenty of trout but you dont look strong enough to throw a fly My rods ever so heavy he added with a flourish of his arm
That weakness and languor which was obvious even to the boy was still more apparent to Mr and Mrs Jardine Bessie had not seen her cousin since Christmas when he and Ida had spent a couple of days at Kingthorpe
Oh Brian she exclaimed have you been ill Nobody told me anything
I have had no illness worth telling about but I have not been in vigorous health London life takes too much out of a man
Then you should not live in London You ought to be out all day roaming about on those pineclad hills yonder—hangers I think you call them in these parts
Yes answered Ida we are very proud of our hangers but Brian is not able to walk much just yet
Bessie was full of concern for Brian after this She devoted herself to him in the interval before dinner and left Ida free to roam about the garden with Vernie She remembered how he had always been her favourite cousin She had been angry with him for allowing that foolish practical joke of hers to take so fixed and fatal a form but now she saw him wan and brokenlooking she was prepared to forgive him everything
You must take care of yourself Brian she said when they were sitting side by side in one of the drawingroom windows while Lady Palliser dispensed afternoon tea
I am taking care of myself I am here for that purpose but it is dreary work
What dreary work to live in this lovely place and with such a sweet wife But I know you never liked the country
I frankly detest it
And you miss the intellectual society to which you are accustomed in London—literary men—poets—playwrights How delightful it must be to know the men who write books
They are not always the pleasantest people in the world I never cared much for your deepthinker—the man who believes he is sent into the world to promulgate his own particular gospel But the men who write for newspapers—critics humourists—they are jolly fellows enough
And you have glorious nights at your clubs dont you We had a friend of Johns with us the other day who had met you at some literary club near the Strand Do you ever sing comic songs now
Sometimes after midnight One does not feel moved to that kind of thing till the small hours
Ah sighed Bessie our only idea of the small hours is getting up at four to be ready for a five oclock service But I dont think the small hours agree with you Brian You are looking ten years older than when you were at Kingthorpe last summer
Better wear out than rust out said Brian
After dinner Vernie was eager for an exploration of the village and Blackmans Hanger the wild pineclad hill which sheltered the village from northeast winds and the salt breath of a distant sea
Ida was ready to go with him and the Jardines always tremendous walkers were equally anxious for a ramble but Brian was much too languid for evening walks
Ill stay and smoke my smoke and talk to the Mater he said always contriving to keep on pleasant terms with Lady Palliser I hate bats owls twilight and all the Grays Elegy business
But you stop such a time over your cigar said the widow Last night I sat for an hour waiting tea for you I like company over my cup of tea
Tonight you shall have the advantage of intellectual society said Brian I will come and dribble out my impressions of the last Contemporary Review which I dozed over between breakfast and luncheon
Brian stayed in the diningroom dimly lighted by two hanging moderator lamps while the soft shades of evening were just beginning to steal over the landscape outside He had his favourite pointer for company—the last Sir Vernons favourite a magnificent beast and of almost human intelligence and he had plenty of wine in the decanters before him—choice port and claret which had been set on the table in honour of the Jardines who had hardly touched it He had his cigarette case and his own thoughts which were idle as the smokewreaths which went curling up to the ceiling light as the ashes of his tobacco
Out of doors the evening was divine Vernon was delighted to be frisking about upon his patrimonial soil The five years he had lived at Wimperfield seemed the greater half of his life—seemed indeed almost to have absorbed and blotted out his former history He remembered very little of the shabbier circumstances of his babyhood and had all the feelings of a boy born in the purple to whom it was natural to be proprietor of the landscape and to patronise the humbler dwellers on the soil
Blackmans Hanger was a rugged ridge of hill above the village of Wimperfield They lingered here to listen to the nightingales and to admire the sunset and then when the glow above the western horizon was changing from golden to deepest crimson they all went down into the village where lights were beginning to glimmer faintly in some of the cottages
Wimperfield was a snug primitive settlement consisting of about fiveandtwenty habitations not one of which had been built within the last century a general shop a bakery and three publichouses a fact which shows that the brewing interests were well protected in this part of the world One of these village taverns a dingy old lowbrowed cottage with a pile of outbuildings which served for stable piggery or anything else and about half an acre of garden stood a little way aloof from the village and on the skirt of the copse that clothed the sloping steep below Blackmans Hanger There was a piece of waste land in front of this inn which served as the theatre for such itinerary exhibitors Cheap Jacks and Bohemians of all kinds who took quiet little Wimperfield in the course of their perambulations
Here tonight in the dusk there stood a covered cart of the peddler order and Vernon who had been walking on in front with Mr Jardine rushed back to his sister to say that there was a Cheap Jack in front of the Royal Oak
Oh he has been there for a long time—ever since the beginning of the year said Ida he is quite an institution
Whats an institution asked Vernon
Something fixed and lasting dont you know I believe he does no end of good among the villagers—doctoring them and advising them and helping them when they are ill or out of work but he has a very churlish way with the gentry Mr Mason our curate says the man always reminds him of the Black Dwarf except that he is not so ugly nor deformed in any way
Then he cant be like the Black Dwarf said Vernon who knew almost all
Sir Walters novels his sister having read Shakespeare Scott and
Dickens to him for hours on end during the long winter evenings at
Wimperfield
Does he live in that cart always asked Bessie
Not always he has taken possession of that dilapidated cottage upon the Hanger which used to be occupied by Lord Pontifexs gamekeeper and I believe he oscillates between the cart and the cottage I have hardly seen him for he is such a morose personage that he always hides when any of the gentry approach his hut
Sulks in his tent like Achilles said Mr Jardine
They were on the edge of the little patch of green by this time The cart—painted a lively yellow and with a little window on each side—stood in the middle of the green backed by a clump of tall elms There was a little crowd in front of the cart and a man with a black beard and a red fez cap was discoursing in a deep sonorous voice to the assembly—descanting with seeming fluency upon a picture which he held in his hand his tawny gipsylike face only half shown by the flame of a flaring naphtha lamp and his features rendered grotesque by the play of lights and shadows The party from the park however had very little opportunity for seeing what manner of man he was for no sooner did he catch sight of Mr Jardines tail hat over the circle of rustic heads than he flung the engraving he had been exhibiting inside the cart extinguished his lamp wished his audience an abrupt good night and shut the door of his dwelling upon the outside world
The rustics gave him a round of applause before they dispersed The women and children moved towards the village the men and lads lingered a little on the green irresolute and then slowly gravitated to the Royal Oak touching their hats as they passed the gentlefolks Mr Jardine stopped one of the men midway
A curious customer that he said looking towards the cart
Yes sir so he be but rale right down clever
Was he trying to sell you that picture
No sir him dont often sell things to we sometimes him do—knives and comforters and corderoy waistcoats and flannel shirts and such like and oncommon good they be too and oncommon cheap He wor givin we a bit of a lecture loike on lions and tigers and ryenosedhorses and suchloike beasts and on they queer creatures wot lived before the flood Lord there was one beast with a long neck and paddles for swimmin with as made we all ready to bust with laughin when him showed us the pictur of his skeleton
Does he often give you a lecture of that kind
Yes sir him do lecture we about all manner o things—flowers and ferns and insects—kindness to hanimals—hinstinct in dogs—Lord knows what but he have a way of makin it all go down—much better nor parson and ha allus gets a good laugh out o we And when theres any on us ill or out o work then Cheap Jack be a real good friend and very ready with the brass
But can he afford to help you is he so much better off than you are
Well sir you see him havent got no missus nor young uns and I fancy hims got a few pounds saved in a old stocking Him dont drink nayther—not so much as a mug o beer
Is he a native of these parts
Lor no sir hims a furriner why his skins as brown as a berry
Is he a gipsy do you think
I aint sure o that but him can talk their patter and when the gipsies come this way him and them is as thick as thaves
I see—half a gipsy and half a foreigner and altogether a rover I suppose Well Im glad he gives you a little instruction and amusement now and then and I hope hell find the way to keep you out of the publichouse said Mr Jardine
Why you see parson a man must have his mug o beer but its summot to the good if he dont sit down over it and make it three or four mugs o beer There aint been so much sitting down since Cheap Jack comed among us
Isnt that a desolate hovel up on the hill where he lives sometimes
It was oncommon deserlate till Cheap Jack took it in hand there aint a owl in the wood that would have liked to live in it but Jack hammers a bit of wood here and a plank there and a bit o matting up agen the walls and puts in a stove from Petersfield and makes it as snug as a burds nest Ive smoked many a pipe with him alongside that stove and drank many a cup o coffee Thats Jacks drink—not a drain o beer or sperrits ever goes inside o he
That accounts for the money in the stocking said Bessie
The rustic shook his head dubiously
Him aint got no childer he said Its them as makes the coin go
I wish hed come out again and go on lecturing exclaimed Vernon with an aggrieved air I do so want to hear him
Oh but him wont show the end of his nose now youre here Sir Vernon answered the rustic Him cant abide gentlefolks Parson ha tried his hardest to get round he but Jack shuts the door in parsons face Him dont want nothing of em and dont want their company
A natural corollary said Mr Jardine laughing But Im afraid your friend is a desperate radical
Well I dont know sir Him dont speak hard agen the Queen him dont want to do away with soldiers and sailors like grocer down street and though Jack dont go to church Jack reads his Bible and holds by his Bible I fancy as some rich gentleman must ha done he a great injury once upon a time and that it turned he agen the breed
Very like the Black Dwarf said Mr Jardine to Ida I daresay I shall hear of your playing the part of Isabella Vere and interviewing this halfsavage halfChristian recluse But do you mean to tell me that he has lived here six months within a mile and a half of your house and you have never seen him
It is a fact You had a specimen of his manners just now Whenever I have passed his cottage he has shut the door or the window in my face if he happened to be standing at either To Mr Mason he has been absolutely rude
It isnt every man who appreciates the privilege of being interviewed by a parson said John Jardine
Oh Jack cried Bessie all your people love to see you at their doors
Yes they are a sociable lot That comes from living on Salisbury Plain far from the madding crowd
After this they went home watching the golden summer moon rise above the pineclad Hanger as they went They found Lady Palliser nodding in her armchair in front of the low tea table the teapot still intact It was ten oclock but Brian had not come in to talk to her after her tea John Jardine went in quest of him and found him in the diningroom mooning over his wine He murmured a vague excuse about feeling too tired to talk to anybody and then bade Mr Jardine good night and went up to his room not to sleep but to fling the window wide open and lean his elbows on the sill and stare out into the exquisite summer night the leafy wood the moonkissed crest of the hill in a halfdreamy halfhysterical state of mind
I begin to think I am like Swift and shall go first at top he said to himself this quiet life is killing and yet if I was to go back I should be worse The nights in Elm Court when I went home alone after a glorious evening were devilish
CHAPTER XXV
MY SEED WAS YOUTH MY CROP WAS ENDLESS CAKE
Mr and Mrs Jardine went back to their Wiltshire parsonage after a two days visit and Ida had her boy all to herself His education from a classical and mathematical point of view had only begun when he went to John Jardine but the foundations of education the development of thought and imagination had begun long ago at Les Fontaines when Ida and he took their long wintry rambles together and the girl talked to the child of all things in heaven and earth imparting in the easiest way much of that information which she had acquired as pupil and teacher in the educational mill at Mauleverer Beyond learning to read and to write and the most elementary forms of arithmetic this oral instruction was all the education which Vernie had received up to the time of his leaving home but then what a large range of information can be imparted by an intelligent woman who reads a great deal and who reads with the students deep love of knowledge Vernon without being a prodigy like the infant Goethe or that wondrous product of paternal scholarship John Stuart Mill knew more about things in general from the course of the planets to the constitution of the glowworms in the hedges than many fullgrown undergraduates Flowers and ferns shells and minerals had been his playthings His sister had taught him the nature and attributes of all the animals and birds he loved or slaughtered and then his imagination had been fed upon Shakespeare and Scott Dickens and Goldsmith He had derived his first vivid impressions of history from Shakespeare and Scott his knowledge of a wide range of life outside his own home from Dickens and with that knowledge a quickened sympathy with the joys and sorrows of the humbler classes All that Vernon knew of the struggles of the lower middle classes was derived from that great panorama of life which Charles Dickens painted for us His own small experiences of village life had taught the boy very little for he had only seen the rustic from that outside and smoothly varnished aspect which the tiller of the soil presents to the squire
And now the boy had come home after an absence of some months and he wanted to absorb Ida from morning till night She must walk and drive with him read to him play with him be interested in his dogs his guns his fishingtackle every detail of his busy young life
Ida was never happier than when thus occupied The boy seemed to her the incarnate spirit of youth and joy and hope and all those bright impulses which wear out in ourselves at so early a stage of lifes journey that we are very glad to taste them vicariously in the unspoiled ardour of childhood To be with Vernon was to escape from the narrowness of her own fettered life to forget its disappointments its disillusions its one deep incurable regret—regret for her own mad folly which had bartered freedom for a sordid hope—folly as mad as Esaus when he sold his birthright—regret for him who loved her too late
Unhappily even her unselfish delight in her brothers society was not unalloyed with pain She never forgot her duty as a wife nor failed in any act of attention to her husband And yet Brians morbid jealousy of the boy was but too evident He rarely spoke of Vernon without a sneer when he and his wife were alone although he was careful not to say anything uncivil before Lady Palliser He scoffed at the little lads position as if it had been an offence in the child himself—called him the microscopic baronet the baby thane laughed with bitterest laughter at any little touch of arrogance which clouded the natural sweetness of the boys character
Ida endured this morbid jealousy with a patience that was almost heroic She saw that her husband was ill and that this mysterious malady of his which had at first seemed to her sheer hypochondriasis was only too real It was a malady which affected the mind more than the body Brians character had undergone a complete change since his illness He who had been of old so easytempered so lively was now melancholy and irritable at times garrulous to a degree that was painful to his hearers keenly resentful of trifles always fancying himself neglected or slighted
In vain did Lady Palliser and Ida urge the necessity of medical advice Brian obstinately refused to see the local apothecary and as there was nothing tangible in his illness and he was able to be about all day to go out of doors and do pretty much as he pleased there was no excuse for calling in the doctor without his permission
If I felt that I wanted advice I would go up to town and see Mallison he said but there is nothing amiss with me except a disappointed life I begin to feel that I am a failure Other fellows of my age have passed me in the race and it is hard at nineandtwenty to feel oneself beaten
But Brian his wife answered gently dont you think if your contemporaries have outstripped you it is because they have tried harder than you Remember what St Paul says about the one who obtaineth the prize
For Heavens sake dont preach cried Brian irritably I tell you I tried hard enough tried—yes slaved night after night scribbling articles for those infernal magazines to get my manuscript returned with thanks after nearly a twelvemonths detention spelling over dryasdust briefs for a guinea fee in order to post up some bloated Queens Counsel who treated me as if I were dirt and pretended not to know my name I tell you Ida the Bar is a sickening profession literature is worse all the professions are played out Europe is overcrowded with educated men they swarm like aphides in a hot summer—your single fly the progenitor of a quintillion of living creatures When I see the men in their wigs and gowns hurrying up and down the Temple courts swarming on all the staircases choking up the doors of the lawcourts they remind me of the busy hungry creatures on an antheap
Every door is barred with gold and opens but to golden keys Every gate is thronged with suitors all the markets overflow
He was walking up and down the room in an agitated way angry excited beyond the occasion
But in your case Brian it seems to me that the path has been made so smooth With such an independence as ours it must be so easy to get on
I thank you for reminding me how much I owe your father sneered her husband
I was not thinking especially of my father You owe as much to your cousin
Yes my cousin has been vastly generous—damnably generous but if I had married any other woman do you suppose he would have done as much Of course I know it was for your sake he gave me that income Was he ever so liberal before do you think No he dribbled out an occasional hundred or two when I was up a tree but nothing more It was for your sake his pursestrings relaxed
You have no right to say that Ida answered indignantly I have a right to say what I think to my wife I have not forgotten what you said to me at the hotel that day You told me to my face that you loved another man Do you think I was such a dullard as not to guess that mans name You fell in love with Wendover of the Abbey before you saw him and your innocent love for the shadow grew into guilty love for the man after you were my wife I knew all about it but I was not going to let you give me the slip I have known all along that I am nothing to you that you despise me detest me perhaps and that knowledge has made me what I am—a broken blighted man a wreck at nineandtwenty
Oh Brian this is too cruel Have I ever failed in my duty to you
Damn duty cried Brian savagely I wanted your love not your duty—love such as I thought you gave me in those autumn days by the river Great God how happy I was in those days I hadnt a sixpence I was up to my eyes in debt but I thought you loved me and that we were going to be happy in our garret till good fortune tumbled down the chimney
I dont think a garret would have suited you long Brian had I been ever so devoted You are too much of a sybarite
I should have been happy with you I should have thought myself in Eden Well fate never meant me to be happy I am a wretch judged before I was born foredoomed to misery in this world and the next Yes I begin to think Calvin was right—there are some creatures predestined to damnation Before ever the stars spun into their places when all the suns and moons and planets were rings of fiery gas revolving in space my doom was already written in the book of fate
It had been a common thing of late for Brian to ramble on in such despondent strains as these half angry half despairing Ida was supremely patient with him sometimes soothing him sometimes arguing with him yet hardly knowing how much of his talk arose from real gloom of mind or how much was sheer rhodomontade The hours which she spent with him were intensely painful and as the days went by he became more and more exacting more and more resentful of her absence and grudgingly jealous of Vernon
Another cause for pain was Idas growing conviction that her husbands frequent doses of soda and brandy and the champagne which he drank at dinner and the port or Burgundy which he took after dinner had a great deal to do with his altered mental condition Painful as it was to speak of such a thing she took courage one morning and told him plainly that she believed he was suffering from the effect of habitual—almost unconscious—intemperance
You are taking soda and brandy all day long You have brandy in your bedroom at night Brian she said I am sure you can have no idea how much you take in the course of the twentyfour hours
I have no idea that I am a drunkard if thats what you mean he answered white with rage and then he burst into a torrent of abuse—such language as she had never heard from mortal lips until that hour and his wife fled shuddering and terrorstricken from the room
When next they met he cowed before her with a craven air and made no allusion to this scene But after this she observed that he pretended to drink less and had a crafty way of getting his glass refilled at dinner He no longer kept a brandy bottle on the table beside his bed as he had done heretofore on the pretence that a little weak brandy and water helped him to sleep nor did the sodawater bottles and spirit decanter adorn one of the tables in his study but more than once his wife met him creeping to the diningroom with a stealthy air to supply himself at the sideboard and when she went into his room at night to see if he slept his fevered breath reeked of brandy It seemed to her later as time went on that even his garments exhaled spirituous odours
It was not long after this that he began to talk mysteriously of some trouble which menaced him which gradually took the shape of a criminal prosecution overhanging him He had been falsely accused of some awful crime—some nameless unspeakable offence—hateful as the gates of hell He was innocent but his enemies were legion and at any moment a detective might be sent to Wimperfield to arrest him One evening in the summer twilight after dinner he took it into his head that one of the footmen—a man whose face ought to have been thoroughly familiar to him—was a detective in disguise He flew at the worthy young fellow in a furious rage and the butler had hard work to prevent his doing poor John Thomas a mischief But when the lamps were brought in Brian perceived his mistake and apologised to the footman for his violence
You dont know what devils those detectives are he said deprecatingly they can make themselves look like anybody And if they once get hold of me the case will be tried at Westminster Hall It will take weeks to try and all the Bar will be engaged and then it will have to go to the House of Lords There has not been such a case within the last century All Europe will ring with it
Dear Brian I am sure this is a delusion of yours said Ida trying to soothe him you cannot have done anything so wicked
Done no I am as innocent as a baby but the whole Bar—the Bench too—is in league against me Theyll make out their case depend upon it Its a case for a jury thats what the Lord Chancellor said when I told him about it
After this there could be no doubt that there was actual mental disturbance Lady Palliser sent for the local medical man who had very little difficulty in diagnosing the case Sleeplessness restless nights tossing from side to side an utter inability to keep still horrible dreams impaired vision clouds floating before the eyes—these symptoms Mr Fosbroke heard from the wife The patient himself was obstinately silent about his sensations declared that there was nothing the matter with him and let the doctor know he considered his visit an impertinent intrusion
I had a touch of brain fever early in the year he said I had the best advice in London during my illness and afterwards I know exactly how to treat myself The symptoms which alarm my wife are nothing but the natural reaction after a severe shock to the nervous system The tonics I am taking will soon pull me up again but as I am now under a special treatment by Dr Mallison of Harley Street you will under stand that I dont care about further advice
Undoubtedly replied the medical man meekly But I believe it would be a satisfaction to Lady Palliser and to Mrs Wendover both if you would do me the honour to consult me and allow me to look after you while you are here I could place myself under Dr Mallisons instructions if you like
No there is no necessity I tell you I know exactly what is amiss and how to manage my own health
Mr Fosbroke argued the point but in vain Brian would not even allow him to feel his pulse But the doctor knew very well what was amiss and told Mrs Wendover with delicate circumlocution that her husband was suffering from an imprudent use of stimulants for some time past
That is what I feared said Ida but it is too dreadful It is the very last thing I expected I thought nobody drank nowadays
Very few people get drunk my dear Mrs Wendover replied the doctor but unhappily though there is very little drunkenness there is a great deal of what is called pegging—an intermittent kind of tippling which goes on all day long beginning very early and ending very late A man whose occupation in life is headwork begins to think he wants a stimulant—begins by having his brandy and soda at twelve oclock perhaps then finds he cant get on without it after eleven then takes it before breakfast—in lieu of breakfast and goes on with brandy and soda at intervals till dinnertime At dinner he has no appetite tries to create one with a bottle of dry champagne eats very little but dines on the champagne feels an unaccountable depression of spirits later on in the evening and takes more brandy without soda this time and so on and so on till after a period of sleeplessness he begins to have ugly dreams then to see waking visions hear imaginary voices stumble upon the edge of an imaginary precipice If he is an elderly man he gets shaky in the lower limbs then his hands become habitually tremulous especially in the early morning when he is like a figure hung on wires—and so on and so on and unless he pulls himself up by a great moral effort the chances are that he will have a sharp attack of delirium tremens
You do not fear such an attack for my husband
Mr Wendover is a young man but he has evidently abused his constitution there is no knowing what may happen if you dont take care of him Alcohol is a cumulative poison and that pegging I have told you of is diabolical Nature throws off an overdose of alcohol but the daily hourly dose eats into the system
How am I to take care of him asked Ida despairingly
You must keep wine and spirits away from him except in extreme moderation
What speak to the butler Tell him that my husband is a drunkard
You need not go quite so far as that but it will be necessary to cut off the supplies somehow and to substitute a nourishing diet for stimulants
Yes if he could eat but he has no appetite—he eats hardly anything
Unhappily that is one of the symptoms of his disease and the most difficult to overcome But you must do your utmost to make him eat and to prevent his getting brandy A little light claret or Rhine wine may be allowed nothing more I will send you a sedative which you can give him at bedtime
I do not think he will take anything of that kind He has set his face against accepting your advice
I believe if you were to take a decided tone he would succumb if not you had better ask Dr Mallison to come down and see him It will be a costly visit and money thrown away as the case is perfectly simple but I dare say you will not mind that
I should mind nothing if he could be cured It is horrible to see such ruin of body and mind in one so young Ida answered sadly
Well you must see what influence you can exercise over him for his own good I will call every other day and hear how you are getting on with him and if you fail we must summon Dr Mallison
Ida spoke to the butler It was a hard thing to do and it seemed to her a kind of treachery against her husband—as if she were inflicting everlasting disgrace upon him in secret like a midnight assassin who stabs his victim in the back Her voice trembled and her face was deadly pale as she spoke to the butler an old servant who had been in the household from his boyhood
Rogers I want you to be a little more careful in your arrangements about wine and spirits she began falteringly Mr Wendover is in a low state of health—suffering from a nervous complaint in fact and we fear that he is taking too much brandy Will you kindly try to prevent it
It will be very difficult maam Mr Wendover gives his orders and he expects to be obeyed
But upon this one point you must not obey him You can say that you have Lady Pallisers orders that no more brandy is to be brought up from the cellar I shall tell her that I have told you this
Yes maam I was afraid too much brandy was being drunk but it was not my place to mention it said Rogers politely
He would have said the same perhaps had the house been on fire
Neither sherry nor champagne was served at dinner that day and the claret which was offered Mr Wendover was of a very thin quality
Ill take champagne he said to the butler
There is not any upstairs sir
Brian turned angrily upon the man and Ida pale but resolute came to the rescue
We do not drink champagne at dinner when we are alone Brian she said and I dont think it is quite fair to Vernies cellars that Moët should be served every day because you are here
Vernons cellars Ah I forgot that we are all here on sufferance and that I am drinking Vernons wine
You may have as much of my champagne as you like said Vernie getting very red but I dont think it does you any good for you are always so cross afterwards
Brian looked at the boy with a savage gleam in his eyes and muttered something but made no audible reply
Ill go back to my chambers tomorrow he said I can have a bottle of Moët there without being under an obligation to anybody Give me some brandy and soda he said to the butler I cant drink this verjuice
There is no brandy sir
Oh Sir Vernons cognac is to be kept sacred too I congratulate you Vernon upon having two such economical guardians Your minority will be a period of considerable saving
He made no further remonstrance drank neither claret nor hock ate hardly anything but sat through the dinner in sullen silence and went off to his room directly Lady Palliser had said grace leaving the others to take their strawberries and cream alone Vernon was what Rogers the butler called a mark on strawberries and cream
When Vernie had finished his strawberries Ida went to her husbands study but the door was locked and when she asked to be admitted Brian refused
Id rather be alone thank you he answered curtly I have an article to write for one of the legal papers You can amuse yourself with the baronet I know you are always glad to be free
Come for a stroll in the park Brian she pleaded gently pitying him with all her heart more tenderly inclined to him in his decay and degradation than she had been in his prime of manhood before these fatal habits began Do come with us dear We wont walk further than you like its a lovely evening
I hate a summer twilight returned Brian it always gives me the horrors—a creepy time when all sorts of loathsome creatures are abroad—bats and owls and stagbeetles cockchafers and other abominations Cant you let me alone he went on angrily I tell you I have work to do
Ida left him upon this without a word What was she to do This was her first experience of a mind diseased and it seemed to her worse than any trouble that had ever touched her before She had stood beside her fathers deathbed and the hair of her flesh had stood up at the awful moment of dissolution when it was as if verily a spirit had passed before her face calling her beloved from the known to the unknown Yet in the awe and horror of death there had been holiness and comfort a whisper of hope leading her thoughts to higher regions a promise that this pitiful inexplicable parting was not the end This dissolution in the living man this palpable progress of degradation visible day by day and hour by hour was worse than death It meant the decay and ruin of a mind the wreck of an immortal soul What place could there be in heaven for the drunkard who had dribbled away his reason his power to discriminate between right and wrong by perpetual doses of brandy what could be pleaded in extenuation of this gradual and deliberate suicide
Ida went slowly downstairs her soul steeped in gloom seeing no ray of light on the horizon for with the most earnest desire to save her erring husband she felt herself powerless to help him against himself If he were denied the things he cared for at Wimperfield there was little doubt that he would go back to his solitary chambers where he was his own master He was not so ill either in mind or body as to justify her in using actual restraint
At the moment she thought of telegraphing for Aunt Betsy whose firm manly mind might offer valuable aid in such a crisis but she shrank from the idea of exposing her husbands degradation even to his aunt She did not want the family at Kingthorpe to know how low he had fallen Mr and Mrs Jardine had been impressed by the change in him and Bessie had harped upon his lost good looks habitual irritability and deteriorated manners but neither had hinted at an inkling of the cause and Ida hoped the hideous truth had been unsuspected by either She decided therefore during those few minutes of meditation which she spent in the portico waiting for Vernon that she would rely on her own intelligence and upon professional aid rather than upon any family intervention If she could by her own strong hand with the help of the London physician lead her husbands footsteps out of this Tophet into which he had sunk himself she would spare no trouble withhold no sacrifice to effect his rescue and she and her stepmother the kindliest of women would keep the secret between them
Vernon came bounding out of the hall eager for the accustomed evening ramble This evening walk with the boy had been Idas happiest time of late perhaps the only portion of her day in which she had enjoyed the sense of freedom from ever present anxiety in which she had put away troubled thought She had gone back to her duty meekly and resignedly when this time of respite was over but with a sense of unspeakable woe Wimperfield with its lighted windows stone walls and classic portico had seemed to her only as a prisonhouse a whited sepulchre fair without and loathsome within
Vernie was full of curiosity about that little scene at the dinner table The boy had that quick perception of the minds and acts of others which is generally developed in a child who spends the greater part of his life with grownup people and he had been quite as conscious as his elders of the unpleasantness of the scene
I hope Brian doesnt think Im stingy about the wine he said he might drink it all for anything I should care I dont want it
I know darling but you were quite right in what you said at dinner The wine does Brian harm and thats why mamma and I dont want him to take any
Has it always done him harm asked Vernon
Always that is lately
Then why did you let him take so much—a whole bottle sometimes two bottles—all to himself at dinner I heard Rogers tell Mrs Moggs about it
Rogers ought not to have given him so much
Oh but Rogers said it wasnt his place to make remarks only he was very sorry for poor Mrs Wendover—thats you you know—not Mrs Wendover at Kingthorpe
Oh Vernie you were not listening
Of course not I wasnt listening on purpose but I was in the lobby outside the housekeepers room waiting for some grease for my shooting boots I always grease them myself you know for nobody else does it properly and Rogers said the brandy Mr Wendover had drunk in three weeks would make Mrs Moggs hair stand on end but it couldnt—could it—when she wears a front A front couldnt stand on end said Vernon exploding at his own small joke which like most of the witticisms of childhood was founded on the physical deficiencies of age
Look Vernie there is going to be a lovely sunset said Ida anxious to change the conversation
But Vernons inquiring mind was not satisfied
Is it wicked to drink champagne and brandy he asked
Yes dear it is wicked to take anything which we know will do us harm
It would be wicked to take poison and brandy is a kind of poison
Except for poor people when they are ill they always come to the vicarage for brandy when they are ill and Mrs Jardine gives them a little
Brandy is a medicine sometimes but it is a poison if anyone takes too much of it—a poison that ruins body and soul I hope Brian will not take any more but we mustnt talk about it darling above all to strangers
No I shouldnt talk of it to anybody but you because I like Brian He used to go fishing with me and to be so goodnatured and to tell me funny stories and do imitations of actors for me but now hes so cross Is that the brandy
Im afraid it is
Then I hate brandy
They were in the park by this time wandering in the wildest part of the ground where the bracken grew breast high in great sweeps of feathery green They came to a spot on the edge of a hill where three or four noble old elms had been felled and where a couple of men in smock frocks were sawing coffin boards
What are those broad planks wanted for the boy asked and why do you make them so short
Theyre not uncommon short Sir Vernon the man answered touching his hat the shortest on em is six foot Them be for coffins Sir Vernon
How horrid I hope they wont be wanted for ages said the boy
Not much chance o that sir theres allus summun a wantin a weskit o this make answered the man with a grin as Vernon and Ida went on uncomfortably impressed by the idea of those two men sawing their coffinboards in the calm bright evening with every articulation of the branching fern standing sharply out against the yellow light as on the margin of a golden sea
They rambled on and presently Ida was repeating passages from those Shakespearian plays which had formed Vernons first introduction to English history and of which he had never tired Ida knew all the great speeches and indeed a good many of the more famous scenes by heart and Vernon liked to hear them over and over again alternately detesting the Lancastrians and pitying the Yorkists or hating York and compassionating Lancaster as the fortunes of war wavered And then there was Richard the Second more tenderly touched by Shakespeare than by Hume or Hallam and Richard the Third whose iniquities were made respectable by a kind of diabolical thoroughness and that feebler villain John Vernon was as familiar with them as if they had been flesh and blood acquaintances
Cheap Jack knows Shakespeare as well as you do said Vernon presently when they had left the park by a wooden gate that opened into a patch of common land which lay between the Wimperfield fence and Blackmans Hanger
Who is Cheap Jack asked Ida absently
The man you saw the night I came home when Mr Jardine was with us
Dont you remember
The man in the cart—the showman Yes I know but I did not see him
No he hates the gentry and women too I think But he likes
Shakespeare
I shouldnt have thought he would have known anything about
Shakespeare
Oh but he does—better than you even When he was mending my fishingrod—you remember dont you—I told you how clever he was at fishingrods
Yes I remember—it was the day you were out so long quite alone and I was dreadfully frightened about you
Oh but that was silly Besides I wasnt alone—I was with Jack all day And if I had been alone I can take care of myself—I shall be twelve next birthday Nobody would try to steal me now said Vernon drawing himself up and swaggering a little
What not even good Mrs Brown Well no I think you are too clever to be stolen Still you must not go out again without Robert Robert was a youth of twoandtwenty Sir Vernons bodyguard and particular attendant to whom the little baronet occasionally gave the goby Besides I dont think you ought to associate with such a person as this Cheap Jack—a vagabond stroller whose past life nobody knows
Oh but you dont know what kind of man Jack is—hes the cleverest man I ever knew—cleverer than Mr Jardine he knows everything Lets go up on the hanger
No dear its getting late we must go home
No we neednt go home till we like—nobody wants us Mamma will be asleep over her knitting—how she does sleep—and shell wake up surprised when we go home and say Gracious is it ten oclock These summer evenings are so short
But you ought to be in bed Vernie
No I oughtnt The thrushes havent gone to bed yet Hark at that one singing his evening hymn Do come just a wee bit further
They were at the foot of the hanger by this time and now began to climb the slope The atmosphere was balmy with the breath of the pines and there was an almost tropical warmth in the wood—languorous inviting to repose The crescent moon hung pale above the tops of the trees pale above that rosy flush of evening which filled the western sky
What makes you think Jack so clever inquired Ida more for the sake of sustaining the conversation than from any personal interest in the subject
Oh because he knows everything He told me all about Macbeth the witches dont you know and the ghost and Mrs—no Lady Macbeth—walking in her sleep and then he made my flesh creep—worse than you do when you talk about ghosts And then he told me about Agamemnon the same thats in Homer I havent begun Greek yet but Mr Jardine told me about him and Cly—Cly—whats her name—his wife And then he told me about Africa and the black men and about India and tigerhunts and snakes and the great mountains where there are tribes of wild monkeys—I should so like to have a monkey Ida Can I have a monkey And he told me about South America just as if he had been there and seen it all
He must be a genius said Ida smiling
Can I have a monkey
If your mother doesnt object and if we can get a nice one that wont bite you
Oh he wouldnt bite me I should be friends with him directly When I am grown up I shall shoot tigers
I shall not like Mr Cheap Jack if he puts such ideas into your head
Oh but you must like him Ida for I mean to have him always for my friend and when I come of age I shall go to the Rockies with him and shoot moose and things
Oh you unkind boy is that all the happiness I am to have when you are grown up
You can come too
What go about America with a Cheap Jack What a dreadful fate for me
He is not dreadful—he is a splendid fellow
But if he hates women he would make himself disagreeable
Not to you He would like you I talked to him about you once and he listened and seemed so pleased and made me tell him a lot more
Impertinent curiosity said Ida with a vexed air You are a very silly boy to talk about your relations to a man of that class
He is not a man of that class retorted Vernon angrily besides I didnt talk about my relations as you call it I only talked about you When I told him about mamma he didnt seem to listen I could see that by his eyes you know but he made me go on talking about you and asked me all kinds of questions
He is a very impertinent person
Hush there he is smoking outside his cottage cried the boy pointing to a figure sitting on a rude bench in front of that hovel which had once sheltered Lord Pontifexs underkeeper
Ida saw a tall broadshouldered figure with a tawny face and a long brown beard The face was half hidden under a slouched felt hat the figure was clad in clumsy corduroy Ida was just near enough to see that the outline of the face was good when the man rose and went into his hut shutting the door behind him
Discourteous to say the least of it she exclaimed laughing at
Vernons disconcerted look
Ill make him open his door said the boy running towards the cottage but Ida ran after him and stopped him midway
Dont my pet she said every mans house is his castle even Cheap
Jacks Besides I have really no wish to make your friends acquaintance
Oh Vernie looking at her watch its a quarterpast nine We must go
home as fast as ever we can
He is a nasty disagreeable thing said Vernon I did so want you to see the inside of his cottage He has no end of books and the handsomest fox terrier you ever saw—and such a lot of pipes and black bear skins to put over his bed at night—such a jolly comfortable little den I shall have one just like it in the park when I come of age
You talk of doing so many things when you come of age
Yes and I mean to do them every one unless you and mother let me do them sooner Its a dreadful long time to wait till Im twentyone
I dont think we are tyrants or that we shall refuse you anything reasonable
Not a cottage in the park
No not even a cottage in the park
They walked back at a brisk pace by common and park not loitering to look at anything though the glades and hills and hollows were lovely in that dim halflight which is the darkness of summer The new moon hung like a silver lamp in midheaven and all the multitude of stars were shining around and above her while far away in unfathomable space shone the mysterious light which started on its earthward journey in the years that are gone for ever
Lady Palliser was not calmly slumbering in front of the teatable in the mellow light of a duplex lamp after her wont She was standing at the open window watching for Idas return
Oh my dear I have been so frightened she exclaimed as Ida and
Vernon appeared
About what dear mamma
About Brian He has been going on so Rogers came to tell me and I went up to the corridor and asked him to unlock his door and let me in but he wouldnt Perhaps it was providential that he didnt unlock the door for he might have killed me
Oh mamma what nonsense exclaimed Ida She hurried Vernon off to bed before his mother could say another word and then went back to the widow who was walking about the drawingroom in much perturbation
Now tell me everything said Ida I did not want Vernon to be frightened
No indeed poor pet But oh Ida if he should try to kill Vernon
Dear mother he has no idea of killing anyone What can have put such dreadful notions in your head
The way he went on Ida I stopped outside his door ever so long listening to him He walked up and down like a madman throwing things about talking and muttering to himself all the time I think he was packing his portmanteau
There is nothing so dreadful in that—nothing to alarm you
Oh Ida when a person is once out of their mind there is no knowing what they may do
Ida did all in her power to soothe and reassure the frightened little woman and having done this she went straight to her husbands room
She knocked two or three times without receiving any answer then came a sullen refusal I dont want to be worried by anyone You can go to your own room and leave me alone
But upon her assuming a tone of authority he opened the door grumbling all the while
The room was in frightful confusion—a couple of portmanteaux lay open on the floor books papers clothes were scattered in every direction There was nothing packed Brian was in shirtsleeves and slippers and had been smoking furiously for the room was full of tobacco
Why dont you open your windows Brian said his wife the atmosphere is horrible
She went over to one of the windows and flung open the sash Thats a comfortable thing to do he said coming over to her to open my window on a snowy night
Snowy Brian Why its summer—a lovely night
Summer nonsense Dont you see the snow Why its falling thickly Look at the flakes—like feathers Look look He pointed out of the window into the clear moonlit air and tried to catch imaginary snowflakes with his long nervous fingers
Brian you must know that it is summertime Ida said firmly Look at the woods—those deep masses of shadow from the oaks and beeches—in all the beauty of their summer foliage
Yes its odd isnt it—midsummer and a snowstorm
What have you been doing with all those things
Packing I must go to London early tomorrow I have an appointment with the architect
What architect
The man who is to plan the alterations for this house I shall make great alterations you know now that the place is yours I am going to build an underground riding school like that at Welbeck
The place mine What are you dreaming of
Of course it is yours now Vernon is dead You were to inherit everything at his death You cannot have forgotten that
Vernon dead Why Brian he is snug and safe in his room a little way off I have seen him within this halfhour
You are a fool he said he died nearly three months ago You are the sole owner of this place and I am going to make it the finest mansion in the county
He rambled on talking rapidly wildly of all the improvements and alterations he intended making with an assumption of a businesslike air amidst all this lunacy which made his distracted state so much the more painful to contemplate He talked of builders specifications estimates and quantities—was full of selfimportance—described picture galleries music rooms highart decorations which would have cost a hundred thousand pounds and all with absolute belief in his own power to realise these splendid visions Yet every now and then in the very rush of his projects there came a sudden cloud of fear—his jaw fell—he looked apprehensively behind him—became darkly brooding—muttered something about that hideous charge hanging over him—a conspiracy hatched by men who should have been his friends—the probability of a great trial in Westminster Hall and then he ran on again about builders and architects—Whistler Burne Jones—and the marvellous mansion he was going to erect on the site of this present Wimperfield
He rambled on with this horrible garrulity for a time that seemed almost an eternity to his agonised wife and only ceased at last from positive exhaustion But when Ida talked to him with gentle firmness reminding him that Vernon was still the owner of Wimperfield and that she was never likely to be its mistress he changed his tone and appeared to be in some measure recalled to his right senses
What have I been talking rot again he muttered with a sheepish look Yes of course the boy is still owner of the place The alterations must stand over Get me some brandy and soda Ida my mouth is parched
Ida rose as if to obey him and rang the bell but when the servant came she ordered sodawater only
Brandy and soda Brian said do you hear Bring a bottle of brandy I cant get through the night without a little now and then
Ida gave the man a look which he understood He left the room in silence
Brian she said when he was gone you must not have any more brandy It is brandy which has done you harm which has filled your brain with these horrible delusions Mr Fosbroke told me so You affect to despise him but he is a sensible man who has had large experience
Large experience in an agricultural village—physicking a handful of rustics cried Brian scornfully
I know that he is clever and I believe him answered Ida my own common sense tells me that he is right I see you the wreck and ruin of what you have been and I know there is only one reason for this dreadful change
It is your fault he said sullenly I should be a different man if you had cared for me I had nothing worth living for
Ida soothed him and argued with him with inexhaustible patience full of pity for his fallen state She was firm in her refusal to order brandy for him in spite of his angry protest that he was being treated like a child in spite of his assertion that the London physician had ordered him to take brandy She stayed with him for hours during which he alternated between rambling garrulity and sullen despondency till at last worn out with the endeavour to control or to soothe him she withdrew to her own room adjoining his and left him in the hope that if left to himself he would go to bed and sleep
Rest of any kind for herself was impossible weighed down with anxiety about her husbands condition and stricken with remorse at the thought that it was perhaps his illstarred marriage which had in some wise tended to bring about this ruin of a life And yet things had gone well with him existence had been made very easy for him since his marriage and only moral perversity would have so blighted a career which had lain open to all the possibilities of good fortune The initial difficulty—poverty which so many men have to overcome had been conquered for Brian within the first year of his marriage And now six years were gone and he had done nothing except waste and ruin his mind and body
Ida left the door ajar between the two rooms and lay down in her clothes ready to go to her husbands assistance if he should need help of any kind She had taken the key out of the door opening from his room into the corridor so that he would have to pass through her own room in going out She had done this from a vague fear that he might go roaming about the house in the dead of the night scaring her stepmother or the boy by some mad violence She made up her mind to telegraph for the London physician early next morning and to obtain some skilled attendant to watch and protect her husband She had heard of a man in such a condition throwing himself out of a window or cutting his throat and she felt that every moment was a moment of fear until proper means had been taken to protect Brian from his own madness
She listened while he paced the adjoining room muttering to himself once she looked in and saw him sitting on the floor hunting for some imaginary objects which he saw scattered around him
How did I come to drop such a lot of silver he muttered what a devil of a nuisance not to be able to pick it up properly
She watched him groping about the carpet pursuing imaginary objects with eager sensitive fingers and muttering to himself angrily when they evaded him
Byandby he flung himself upon his bed but not to sleep only to turn restlessly from side to side over and over again with a weary monotony which was even more wearisome to the watcher than to himself
Two or three times he got up and hunted behind the bed curtains evidently with the idea of some lurking foe and then lay down again apparently but half convinced that he was alone Once he started up suddenly just as he was dropping off to sleep and complained of a flash of light which had almost blinded him
Lightning he muttered I believe I am struck blind Come here Ida
She went to him and soothed him and told him there had been no lightning it was only his fancy
Everything is my fancy he said the world is built out of fancies the universe is only an extension of the individual mind and then he began to ramble on upon every metaphysical theory he had ever read about from Plato and Aristotle to Leibnitz and Kant from Hegel to Bain—talking talking talking through the slow hours of that terrible night
At last when the sun was high he fell into what seemed a sound sleep and then Ida utterly worn with care and watching changed her gown for a cashmere peignoir and lay down on her bed
She slept soundly for a blessed hour or more of respite and forgetfulness then woke suddenly with an acute consciousness of trouble yet vaguely remembering the nature of that trouble Memory came back only too soon She rose hurriedly and went to look at her patient
His room was empty He had passed through her room and gone out into the corridor without awakening her She rang her bell and was answered by Lady Pallisers own maid Jane Dyson who came in a leisurely way with the morning cups of tea It was now seven oclock
Is Mr Wendover downstairs—in the diningroom or library Ida asked trying not to look too anxious
I have not seen him maam
Inquire please I want to know where he is and why he left his room so much earlier than usual
She had a dismal feeling that all the household must know what was amiss that the shame and degradation of the case could hardly be deepened
Yes maam Ill go and see
Do please while I take my bath said Ida You can come back to me in ten minutes
The cold bath refreshed her and she was dressing hurriedly when Jane Dyson returned to announce that Mr Wendover and Sir Vernon had gone out fishing at halfpast six—the underhousemaid had seen them go and had heard Mr Wendover say that they would have a long day
Go and ask her if she heard where they were going said Ida going on with her dressing eager to be out of doors on her brothers track
That wild talk of Brians last night—that horrible delusion about the boys death—coupled with this early expedition filled her with unspeakable fear It was no new thing for Brian and the boy to go out fishing together They had spent many a long day whipping distant trout streams in the summer that was gone but this year Vernon had vainly endeavoured to tempt his old companion to join him in his wanderings with rod and line Brian had refused all such invitations peevishly or sullenly as if it were an offence to remind him how poor a creature he had become And now after a night of wakefulness and delirium Brian with his brain still wild and disordered perhaps had taken the boy out with him on some indefinite excursion—alone—the helpless child in the power of a maniac
Ida did not wait for the return of the maid but ran downstairs as soon as she was dressed and questioned Rogers the butler Rogers as an old and valuable servant took his ease of a morning and only appeared upon the scene when underlings had made all things comfortable and ready to his hand He therefore knew nothing of the mode and manner of Mr Wendover and the boys departure
Robert Sir Vernons bodyguard groom and general outdoor retainer was fetched from his breakfast and he was able to inform Mrs Wendover how Sir Vernon had gone out to the stables at twenty minutes past six with his fishing basket slung over his shoulder to ask for some artificial flies which Robert had been making for him and to say that he should not want the pony or Robert all the morning as he was going out with Mr Wendover He had not mentioned his destination but Robert knew that the water meadows on the other side of Blackmans Hanger were his favourite ground for such sport He had been there with Robert many a day
His remotest point in this direction was five or six miles from home The boy was able to walk twelve miles in a day without undue fatigue resting a good deal and taking his own time but in a general way he rode his pony when he went on any long excursion and dismounted from time to time as the fancy took him
Im afraid he may overtire himself with Mr Wendover said Ida anxious to give a good reason for her anxiety Get Cleopatra ready for me and get a horse for yourself and well ride after them Mr Wendover is an invalid and ought not to have the trouble of a child upon his hands all day If I can overtake them I shall persuade them both to come back
If they dont theyll be likely to get caught said Robert exploring the clouds with the sagacious eyes of a rustic observer schooled by long experience to read signs and tokens in the heavens Therell be a storm Im afeard before dinnertime
Dinnertime with Robert meant the hour of the suns meridian which he took to be the universal and legitimate dinnerhour for all mankind designed so to be from the creation
How soon can you have the horses ready
In a quarter of an hour maam
Ida flew upstairs meeting her stepmother on the way Lady Palliser had gone to her sons room as soon as she left her own—her custom always and on missing the boy had made instant inquiries as to his whereabouts and had already taken fright
Oh Ida if that dreadful husband of yours should lure him into some lonely place and kill him My boy my beloved my lovely boy
Dear mother be reasonable Brian would not hurt a hair of his head Brian loves him urged Ida soothingly yet with a torturing pain at her heart remembering Brians delirious raving last night
What will not a madman do Who can tell what he will do cried Lady
Palliser wringing her hands
Trust in God mother no harm will come to our boy No harm shall come to him—except perhaps a wetting Get warm clothes ready for him against I bring him home I am going to ride after him said Ida hurrying off to her room
In less than ten minutes she had put on her habit and was in the stable yard and three minutes afterwards Fanny Palliser roaming up and down and round about her sons room like a perturbed spirit heard the clatter of hoofs and saw her stepdaughter ride out of the yard attended by Robert the best and kindest of grooms and devoted to his young master
Lady Palliser went downstairs and again interrogated the housemaid who had witnessed Sir Vernous departure How had Mr Wendover seemed she asked—goodtempered and pleasant and quiet
Very goodtempered and very pleasant the girl told her but not quiet he talked and laughed a great deal and seemed full of fun but in a great hurry
The mother remembered how many a time her boy and Brian Wendover had been out together and tried to put away fear After all Brian was a nice fellow—he had always made himself agreeable to her It was only of late that he had become fitful and strange in his ways She had seen such a case before in her own family her own flesh and blood her mothers only brother That victim to his own vice had been elderly at the time she knew him—a chronic sufferer She but too well remembered his tottering knees and restless tremulous feet those painful morning hours when he shook like an aspen leaf those dreadful nights when he sat cowering over the fire glancing askant over his shoulder every now and then haunted by phantoms hearing and replying to imaginary voices striving with restless shivering hands to rid himself of imaginary vermin He had been mad enough at times in all conscience as mad as any lunatic in Bedlam but he had never tried to injure any one but himself Once they found him with an open razor possibly contemplating suicide but he abandoned the idea meekly enough when surprised by his friends and explained himself with one of those lies with which his tremulous tongue was every so ready
Arguing with herself by the light of past experience that after all this drinkmadness was a disease apart seldom culminating in actual violence Lady Palliser sat down before her silver urn and made believe to breakfast in solitary state thinking as she poured out her tea how very little all these grand things upon the table could help or comfort one in the hour of trouble Nay in such times of misfortune the little sittingroom of her childhood the round table and shabby old chairs the kettle on the hob and the cat upon the hearth had seemed to possess an element of sympathy and comfort entirely wanting in this spacious formal diningroom with its perpetual repetition of straight lines and its chilling distances
Ida rode through the park and across the common and round the base of Blackmans Hanger as fast as her clever mare could carry her with any degree of comfort to either The clever mare was somewhat skittish from want of work and inclined to show her cleverness by shying at every stray rabbit or crocodileshaped excrescence in the way of fallen timber lying within her range of vision but Ida was too anxious to be disconcerted by any such small surprises and rode on without drawing rein to the banks of the troutstream which wound its silvery way through the valley on the other side of Blackmans Hanger If they could have crossed the hill the distance would have been lessened by at least twothirds but the steep was much too sheer for any horse to mount and Ida had to circumnavigate the wooded promontory which narrowed and dwindled to a furzy ridge at the edge of the river Once in the valley her way was easy with only here and there a low hedge for the mare to jump just enough to put her in good spirits But after riding for about seven miles along the bank of the stream Ida pulled up in despair to ask Robert where next she must look for his master It was evident this was the wrong scent
Theyd hardly have come further nor this within the time Robert admitted with a rueful look at the lather on Cleopatras dark brown neck and shoulder and this is further nor ever I come with Sir Vernon We must try somewheres else maam
And so they turned and at Roberts direction Ida rode off this time at a walking pace for another of Vernons happy hunting grounds
A sudden ray of hope occurred to her as they returned by the base of Blackmans Hanger What if Vernon should have taken Brian to Cheap Jacks cottage to have introduced him to that gifted misanthrope who among his other accomplishments had a talent for repairing fishing tackle
Moved by this hope Ida dismounted and gave Cleopatras bridle to
Robert who was on his feet almost as soon as his mistress
Let the mare rest for a little while Robert she said I am going up to the top of the hill to see the pedlar—Sir Vernon may have been with him this morning
Not unlikely maam—he be a rare favourite with Sir Vernon
I hope hes a respectable person
Oh I think the chaps honest enough answered the groom with a patronising air but hes a queer customer—a reglar Peter the wild boy he is
Ida who had never heard of this gentleman was not particularly enlightened by the comparison She went lightly and quickly up the steep ascent and along a furzy ridge which rose imperceptibly skywards until she came to the fir plantation which sheltered the gamekeepers cottage The lattice stood wide open and a man was leaning with folded arms on the sill as she came in sight but in a flash the man had gone and the lattice was closed
She ran on nothing deterred by this discourtesy and knocked at the door with the handle of her whip
Is my brother Sir Vernon Palliser here she asked
No a gruff voice answered from within
Please open the door I want to ask your advice The boy has wandered off on a fishing expedition Have you seen anything of him this morning
No
Are you sure
Do you think I should tell you a lie growled the sulky voice from within
What a surly brute thought Ida How can Vernon like to make a companion of such a man
She lingered only half convinced and nervously repeated her story—how Sir Vernon had gone out with Mr Wendover that morning before seven and how she had been looking for them and was afraid they would be caught in the storm which was evidently coming
Youd better go home before youre half drowned yourself growled the surly voice Ill look for the boy and send him home to you if hes above ground
Will you will you really look for him faltered Ida in a rapture of gratitude You know his ways and he is so fond of you Pray find him and bring him home You shall be liberally rewarded We shall be deeply grateful she added hastily fearing she had offended by this suggestion of sordid recompense
Ill do my best grumbled the womanhater when youve cleared off I shant stir till youre gone
I am going this instant my horse is at the bottom of the Hanger God bless you for your goodness to my brother
God bless you replied the voice in a deeper and less strident tone
Big drops were falling slowly and far apart from the lowering sky as Ida went down the hill a steep and even dangerous descent for feet less accustomed to that kind of ground
Youd better ride home as fast as you can maam said Robert as he mounted Cleopatras light burden The mares had a good blow and you can canter her all the way back
I dont care about the storm for myself Sir Vernon must be out in it
A low muttering peal of thunder rolled slowly along the valley as she settled herself in her saddle
Sir Vernon wont hurt maam Besides who knows if he aint at home by this time
There was comfort in this suggestion but after a smart ride home under a drenching shower diversified by thunder and lightning Ida found Lady Palliser waiting for her in the portico There had been no tidings of the boy Two of the gardeners had been despatched in quest of him—each provided with a mackintosh and an umbrella and now the mother no longer apprehensive of homicidal mania on the part of Brian was tortured by her fear of the fury of the elements the pitiless rain which might give her boy rheumatic fever lightnings which might strike him with blindness or death rivers which might heave themselves above their banks to drown him trees which might wrench themselves up from their roots on purpose to tumble on him Lady Palliser always took the catastrophic view of nature when she thought of her boy
Luncheon was out of the question for either Ida or her stepmother They went into the diningroom when the gong sounded and each was affectionately anxious that the other should take some refreshment but they could do nothing except watch the storm the fine old trees bending to the tempest the darkly lurid sky brooding over the earth thick sheets of rain driven across the foregound and almost shutting out the distant woods and hills The two women stood silently watching that unfriendly sky and listened for every footstep in the hall in the fond hope of the boys return And then they tried to comfort each other with the idea that he was under cover somewhere at some village inn eating a homely meal of bread and cheese happy and cheery as a bird perhaps while they were so miserable about him
I have an idea that Cheap Jack will find them said Ida byandby Vernon says he is such a clever fellow and a rover like that would know every inch of the country
The day wore on the storm rolled away towards other hills and woods and a rent in the duncoloured clouds showed the bright blue above them Soon all the heaven was clear and the wet grass was shining in the afternoon sunlight
One of the messengers now returned with the useless mackintosh He had been able to hear nothing of Sir Vernon and his companion He had been at Wimperfield village and through two other villages and had taken a circuitous way back by another meadowstream where there might be a hope of trout but he had seen no trace of the missing boy The field labourers he had met had been able to give him no information
There was nothing to be done but to wait and wait and wait Robert had mounted a fresh horse and had gone off to scour the country wondering not a little that there should be such a fuss about a days fishing
Five oclock came and afternoon tea usually the pleasantest hour of the day for in this summertime the five oclock teatable was prepared in the rose garden in front of the drawingroom under a Japanese umbrella and in the shade of a screen of magnolia and Portugal laurel mock orange and guelder rose that had been growing for half a century Today Lady Palliser and her stepdaughter took their tea in silent dejection They had grown weary of comforting each other—weary of all hopeful speculations
It was on the stroke of six—the boy and his companion had been away nearly twelve hours They could do nothing but wait
Suddenly they heard voices—two or three voices talking excitedly and all together—and then a shrill sweet cry in a voice they both knew so well
He is alive cried Fanny Palliser starting up and rushing towards the house
She had scarcely gone halfadozen steps when Rogers came out crimson puffing with excitement leading Vernon by the arm
Here he is my lady safe and sound said Rogers but he has had a rare drenching—the sooner we put him to bed the better
Yes yes he must go to bed this instant Oh thank God my darling my darling Oh you naughty boy how could you give me such a fright You have almost broken your poor mothers heart and Idas too
Dear mother dear Ida I am so sorry But I didnt go alone I went with
Brian That wasnt naughty was it the boy asked innocently
Naughty to stay away so long—to go so far Where have you been
Birdsnesting in the woods and I have got a honeybuzzards nest—two lovely eggs worth ten shillings apiece—the nest is built on the top of a crows nest dont you know First we went fishing but there were no fish and then I asked Brian to let me do some birdsnesting and we went into the woods—oh a long long way and I got very tired—and we had no lunch Brian had something in a bottle he bought it at an inn on the road I think it was brandy He swore because it was so bad but he didnt give me any and when the storm came on we were on Headborough Hanger and Brian and I lost each other and I suppose he came straight home
No Brian has not come home
Oh dear said the boy I hope hes not looking for me all this time
Come darling you must go to bed we must get off these wet clothes said Ida and Vernons mother and sister carried him off to his room where a fire was lighted and blankets heated and hotwater bottles brought for the comfort of the young wanderer
The boy prattled on unweariedly all the time he was being undressed telling his days adventures—how Brian had been frightened because he thought there were some men following them who wanted to take Brian to prison He did not see the men but Brian saw them hiding behind trees and watching and following them secretly
I was very tired said the boy with a piteous look and my feet ached for Brian would go so fast And I wanted to come home badly but Brian said the men were after us and we must double upon them and we went round and round and round till we lost ourselves and then Brian told me to rest on the trunk of a tree while he went a little way further to see if the men were really gone and I sat and waited till I got very cold but he did not come back and then I went to look for him and couldnt find him and then I began to cry I was not frightened mother but I was so tired
My poor darling how could Brian be so cruel sobbed the mother hugging her boy while Ida was preparing warm negus and chicken sandwiches for his refreshment
He wasnt cruel explained Vernon he was frightened about those men ever so much more afraid than I was But I never saw any men Ida How was it Brian could see them when I couldnt
How did you find your way home at last dearest asked Ida
I didnt find it I should be in the wood still if it was not for Jack—Jack found me and carried me across the Hanger on his back and took me up to his cottage and took off my clothes and dried them and gave me some brandy in a teaspoon and then wrapped me in a bearskin and carried me all the way here
How good of him said Ida and how I should like to thank him for his kindness
He doesnt want to be thanked He hates girls said Vernon with perfect frankness He just gave me into Rogers arms and walked off But I shall go and thank him tomorrow morning and I shall take him my onyx breastpin—the one you gave me last Christmas mother You dont mind do you
No dear you may give him anything you like But I think he would rather have a sovereign—or a nice warm overcoat for the winter What would be the good of an onyx pin to him
What would be the good of it Why he would keep it for my sake of course answered Vernie with a grand air
Vernon had no appetite for the chicken sandwiches or inclination for Madeira negus He took a few sips of the latter to please his womankind but he could eat nothing He had fasted all day and now in his over excited state he had no power to eat Lady Palliser took fright at this and sent off for the family doctor that fatherly counsellor in whose wisdom she had such confidence The boy was evidently feverish his eyes were too bright his cheeks flushed He was restless and unable to sleep off his fatigue in that placid slumber of childhood which brings healing with its rythmical ebb and flow
The dinnergong sounded and Brian was still missing but at halfpast eight he came in and walked straight to the drawingroom where Ida was sitting alone Neither she nor her stepmother had sat down to dinner Lady Palliser was in her boys room waiting for the doctor
Oh Brian thank God you are safe said his wife as he came slowly into the room and sank into a chair What a scare you have given us all
Did you think I was drowned or that I had cut my throat he asked sneeringly I dont think either event would have mattered much to anyone in this house
His manner was entirely different from what it had been last night His words were cool and deliberate his expression moody but in nowise irrational
You have no right to say that but people who say such things seldom mean what they say replied Ida quietly Had you not better go to your room at once and change your clothes or take a warm bath It is a kind of suicide to wander about all day in wet clothes as you have done
Who told you I was wandering about all day
Vernon told us
Vernon He started as if suddenly remembering the boys existence and then in an agitated manner asked Did he come home Is he all right
He came home thank God at least he was brought home I doubt if he could have found his way back alone I am afraid he is going to be ill
Nonsense a little cold perhaps nothing more It was a diabolical day I never saw such rain—a regular tropical downpour But what is a shower of rain for a healthy boy
Not much perhaps if he is able to change his clothes directly afterwards But to be wandering about for hours in wet clothes without food—that is enough to kill a stronger boy than my brother
It wont kill him you may depend said Brian with a cynical laugh I should profit too much by his death and Im not one of fortunes favourites Hes tough enough
Brian you have no more heart than a stone
Perhaps not All the heart I had I gave to you and you made a football of it but Why should a heart have been there in the way of a fair womans foot as the poet asks
Had you not better go to your room and take off your wet clothes repeated Ida
She had no inclination to argue or remonstrate with a man whose mind was so evidently askew who had long ago passed the boundary line of principle and noble thought and had become a mere creature of impulse blown this way or that way by every gust of passion—so weak a sinner that her scornful anger was tempered by pity
If you are anxious I should escape a severe cold perhaps you will be liberal enough to allow me a little brandy said Brian
Ida was doubtful how to reply She had been told to withhold all stimulants and yet this was an exceptional case Happily at this very moment the door was opened and Mr Fosbroke the family doctor was announced
She ran to meet him Vernon has had a severe wetting and we are afraid he is going to be ill she said Ill take you upstairs at once Mamma is with him
As soon as they were outside in the hall she told him about Brians request and asked his advice
I think I would give him a small tumbler of grog after his wetting To refuse would seem too severe But take care he hasnt the control of the bottle
She ran back to her husband told him she would take some brandy and water to his room for him by the time he had hanged his clothes and then she went with Mr Fosbroke to Vernons room that bright airy room overlooking the rose garden which maternal and sisterly love had decorated with all possible prettinesses and furnished with every appliance of comfort
Mr Fosbroke examined the boy carefully and seemed hardly to like the aspect of the case though he maintained the customary professional cheeriness
The boy was feverish very feverish he admitted—pulse a good deal too rapid temperature high One could never tell how these cases were going to turn The boy had suffered unusual fatigue and deprivation and for a child so reared the strain was severe but in all probability a gentle febrifuge which would throw him into a perspiration and a good nights rest would be all that was needed and he would be as well as ever tomorrow morning
These small things get out of order so easily said Mr Fosbroke smiling down at the flushed cheek on the pillow They are like those foolish little Geneva watches ladies are so fond of wearing My old turnip never goes wrong You must make haste and grow big Vernon and then mamma will not be so easily frightened about you
Vernon smiled faintly without opening his eyes
You see you have contrived between you to make him an exotic said the doctor and you mustnt be surprised if he gives you a little trouble now and then Orchids are beautiful flowers but they are difficult to rear
Oh Mr Fosbroke said Lady Palliser how can you say so Vernie is so hardy—riding his pony in all weathers
Yes but always provided with a mackintosh—always told to hurry home at the first drop of rain Well I dare say he will be ready for his pony tomorrow if he takes my draught
Tomorrow came but Vernon was not in a condition to ride his pony The fever and prostration were worse than they had been over night and while Brian seemed to have taken no harm from his exposure to the storm the boy had evidently suffered a shock to the system from which he would be slow to recover
Tortured with anxiety about this idolised brother Ida did not forget her duty to her husband She did what she had resolved to do during the long watches of that agonising night in which she had seen Brian the victim of his own weak selfindulgence to all intents and purposes a madman yet unworthy of the compassion which lunacy inspires since this madness was selfinduced—she telegraphed to the London physician whose advice her husband affected to value and at five oclock in the afternoon she had the satisfaction of seeing a soberlyclad grayhaired gentleman alight from a Petersfield fly in front of the portico This was Dr Mallison of Harley Street a great authority in all nervous disorders—as thorough and as real a man as Dr Rylance was artificial and shallow yet a man whom some of Dr Rylances most profitable patients denounced as a brute
Dr Mallisons plain and straightforward manner invited confidence and Ida confided her fears and anxieties to him without scruple telling him faithfully all that she had observed in her husbands conduct before and after that one dreadful night which she described shudderingly
Yes I remember his case This seems to have been rather a sharp attack
He had one early in the spring just before he came to me
An attack—like this one—an attack of—
Delirium tremens Not quite so bad as this last from his own account but then one can never quite trust a patients account And you say he is better now
Yes he has been in his room all today writing or reading He seems dull and lowspirited that is all
No delusions today
Not that I have discovered but I have only seen him now and then My little brother is ill and I have been in his room most of my time
Poor soul that is a bad job said Dr Mallison kindly Well you must have an attendant for your husband Can you get anybody here do you think Or shall I send you a man from town
I shall be very grateful if you will send some one It would be difficult to get any one here
I dare say it would Ill get a person despatched to you by the mail train if I am back in time Your husband must not be left to himself That is a vital point Still so long as he is reasonable and shows no sign of violence it will not do to let him suppose that he is watched That would aggravate matters You must be diplomatic Let the man pass as an extra servant not a professional nurse All invalids detest professional nurses
Is this dreadful malady likely to pass away asked Ida falteringly
It was unspeakably painful to her to discuss her husbands failing and yet she wanted to learn all that could be known about it
Undoubtedly Remove the cause and the effect will cease But you have to do more than that You have to restore the constitution to its normal state—to renew the tissues which intemperance has destroyed—in a word to eliminate the poison and then the craving for drink will cease and your husband may begin life again like Naaman after his seventh dip in Jordan At Mr Wendovers age such a habit ought not to be fatal There is ample time for reform but I give you fair warning that it is not an easy disease to cure Im not talking of delirium tremens which is a symptom rather than a disease but of alcoholic poisoning The craving for alcohol once established is an ugly weed to root out
If patience and care can cure him he shall be cured said Ida with a steadfast look which gave new nobility to her beautiful face in the observant eyes of the physician—a man keen to appreciate every gradation of the physical and the mental and to tell to the nicest shade where sense left off and soul began Here was a woman assuredly in whom soul predominated over sense
I believe that madam he said kindly and you shall have my best assistance depend upon it
Why should a young man bring upon himself such an affliction as this
Ida asked wonderingly Ours is counted a sober era
Why indeed Afterdinner boozing and threebottle men are a tradition of the dark ages and yet there are dozens of young men in London—gifted young men some of them—who are doing this thing every year Half the untimely deaths you hear of might be traced home to the brandy bottle if a man had only the curiosity to look into first causes One man dies of congestion of the lungs Yes but he had burnt up his lungs first with perpetual alcohol Another is a victim to liver Why madam a temperate man may work thirty years under an Indian sun and hardly know that he has a liver Another is said to have died of too much brain work Yes work done by a brain steeped in alcohol—not a brain but a preparation in spirits They all do the same thing—pegging—pegging—pegging—from breakfast to bedtime and most of them would deny that they are drunkards
Do you think that if my husband drank it was because he was not happy—because he had something on his mind
Much more likely that it was because he had nothing on his mind my dear madam These briefless barristers in the Temple—men with private means not obliged to hunt for work with a little fancy for literature and a little taste for the drama—these idle youths whose only idea of social intercourse is to be gossiping and drinking in one anothers rooms all day long living an undomestic life in chambers without the public interests or athletic sports of a university—these are the chosen victims of alcohol Of course I dont pretend for a moment that they all drink but where the tendency to drink exists this is the kind of life to foster it
My husband was not obliged to live in chambers—he had a home here
Yes but young men unless they are sportsmen hate the country and then once in the London vortex a man cant easily escape And now I suppose I had better go and see the patient Does he know I have been sent for
No
Then perhaps we shall have a scene He may be angry
I must risk that said Ida firmly He refused to be treated by our family doctor and I felt that things could not go on any longer as they were going on
She led the way to Brians room He was lounging by the open window smoking his books and papers were scattered about the tables in reckless disorder
Dr Mallison has come to see you Brian said Ida quietly as the physician followed her into the room
You sent for him then exclaimed Brian starting up angrily
There was no alternative you refused to be attended by Mr Fosbroke
Fosbroke—a village apothecary the parish doctor who would have poisoned me Yes I should think so How dare you send for anyone How dare you treat me like a child
I dare do anything which I believe to be for your good Ida answered unflinchingly
He quailed before her and changed his tone in a moment Well if it gratifies you to spend your money upon physicians—How do you do Dr Mallison Of course I am very glad to see you as a friend but I want no doctoring
Im afraid you do said the physician You have not done what I told you when I saw you in London
What was that
To give up all stimulants
Oh that was impossible Its just like asking a man to shut his mouth and breathe only through his nostrils when he has lived all his life with his mouth open No man can change his habits all at once at the fiat of a physician But I have been very moderate ever since I saw you
And yet you have had another attack
Who told you that asked Brian with an angry glance at his wife
Your own appearance tells me—yes and your pulse You have been indulging in the old habits—nipping all day long and you have been sleeping badly
Sleeping badly muttered Brian moodily I wish to Heaven I could sleep anyhow I have forgotten the sensation of being asleep—I dont know what it means Just as I fancy myself dropping off there comes a flash of light in my eyes and I am broad awake again The other night I thought it lightened perpetually but my wife said there was no lightning
A case of shattered nerves and all your own doing said Dr Mallison
You must leave off brandy
Brandy has left me off retorted Brian My wife and her stepmother have gone in for strict economy I am not allowed a spoonful of cognac although I tell them it is the only thing that staves off racking neuralgic pains
You must endure neuralgia rather than go on poisoning yourself with brandy For you alcohol is rank poison—you are suffering now from the cumulative effect of all you have taken within the last twelve months There are men who can drink with impunity—go on drinking hard through a long life but you are not one of those Drink for you means death
A man can die but once grumbled Brian and an early death is better than an aimless life
For shame said the physician If I had such a wife as you have the aim of my life would be to make myself worthy of her and to win distinction for her sake
Ah there was a time when I thought the same answered Brian but thats over and done with
Ida left the doctor and his patient together and walked up and down the corridor outside her husbands room waiting to hear Dr Mallisons final directions He remained closeted with Brian for about a quarter of an hour
I have said all I could and I have written a prescription which may do some good he told Ida This is a case for moral suasion rather than medical treatment If you can exercise a good influence over your husband and keep all stimulants away from him he will recover But his constitution has been undermined by bad habits—an indolent unhealthy life—a life spent in hot rooms by artificial light Get him out of doors as much as you can without exposing him to bad weather or undue fatigue He is very weak and altogether out of gear and you mustnt expect much improvement until he recovers tone and appetite but if you can ward off any return of the delirium that will be something gained
Indeed it will The delirium was too terrible
Well keep all drink away from him
Even if he seems to suffer for want of it
Yes The oldfashioned idea was that stopping a mans drink suddenly would bring on an attack of delirium tremens but we know better than that now We know that the delirium is only a consequence of alcoholic poisoning and inevitable where that goes on
Ida went back to the drawingroom with the doctor The teatable was ready and there were decanters and sandwiches on another table Dr Mallison took a cup of tea and a sandwich while he gave Ida minute directions as to the treatment of the patient And then he accepted the handsome cheque which had been written for him with Mr Fosbrokes advice as to amount and took his departure promising to send a skilled attendant within the next twelve hours
Ida felt happier after she had seen Dr Mallison There was very little that could be done for her husband He had sown his wild oats and that light scattering of the seeds of folly had been pleasant enough no doubt in the time of sowing and this was the unanticipated result—a bitter harvest of care and pain which had to be endured somehow
And now came for that household at Wimperfield a period of agonising trouble and fear The boys illness developed into an acute attack of rheumatic fever and for three dreadful days and nights his life trembled in the balance Not once did Ida enter her husbands room during that awful period of fear She could not steel herself to look upon the man whose sin or whose folly had brought this evil on her beloved one My murdered boy she kept repeating to herself Even on her knees when she tried to pray humbly and meekly appealing to the Fountain of mercy and grace—even then while she knelt with bowed head and folded hands those awful words flashed into her mind Her murdered boy
If he were to die who could doubt that his death would lie at Brians door who could put away the dark suspicion that Brian had wantonly and with murderous intent exposed the delicate child to bad weather and long hours of fasting and fatigue
CHAPTER XXVI
AND IF I DIE NO SOUL WILL PITY ME
At last their long watchings their tender care directed by one of the most famous men in London—who was summoned to Wimperfield at Mr Fosbrokes suggestion within a week of Dr Mallisons visit—and attended twice or thrice a day by the clever apothecary were rewarded by the assurance that the time of immediate danger was over and that now a slow and gradual recovery might fairly be anticipated It was only then that Ida could bring herself to face Brian again and even then she met him with an icy look as if the life within her were frozen by grief and care and those rigid lips of hers could never again melt into smiles
Brian had been leading a fitful and wandering life during the boys illness watched and waited upon by Towler the man from London with whom he quarrelled twenty times a day and who needed his long experience of the ways of alcoholic victims to enable him to endure the fitfulness and freakishness of his present charge
Warned by Dr Mallison that he must spend as much of his life in the open air as possible Brian had taken to going in and out of the house fifty times a day now wandering for five or ten minutes in the garden anon rambling as far as the edge of the park then running into the stable yard and ordering a horse to be saddled instantly but never mounting the horse After seeing the animal led up and down the yard once or twice he would always find some excuse for not riding the fact being that he had no longer courage enough to get into the saddle His riding days were over Even the stable mastiff an old favourite with Brian gave him a painful shock when the great tawny brute leapt out of his kennel straining at his chain and baying deepmouthed thunder by way of friendly greeting
Towler had a hard time of it following his charge here and there waiting upon him bearing his abuse but Towler had a peculiar gift a faculty for getting on with patients of this kind He knew how to dodge and follow and circumvent them how to take liberties with them and scold them without too deeply wounding their amourpropre how to humour and manage them and although Mr Wendover quarrelled with his attendant fifty times a day he yet liked the man and tolerated his presence and had already come to lean upon him and to be angry when Towler absented himself
Well said Brian looking up as Ida entered his room on that happy morning on which she had been told that her brother was out of danger—the boy is better I hear
These things are quickly known in a household when there has been general anxiety about the issue of an illness
Yes he is better By Gods grace he will live but his life has trembled in the balance Brian it would have been your fault if he had died
Would it Yes I suppose indirectly I should have been the cause I was a fool to take him out that morning but shrugging his shoulders I wanted a ramble and I wanted company Who could tell there would be such a diabolical storm or that we should lose our way Thank God he is out of danger Poor little beggar Did you think I wanted to put him out of the way he asked suddenly looking at her with a keen flash of interrogation
To think that would be to think you a murderer she answered coldly I have thought that you had little affection for him or for me when you exposed him to that danger and then I schooled myself to think better of you—to remember that perhaps on that day you were hardly responsible for your actions
In fact that I was a lunatic said Brian
I would rather think you mad than wicked
Perhaps I am neither Why have you put that man as a spy upon me
The discreet Towler had retired into the adjacent bedroom during this conversation
He is not a spy Dr Mallison said you ought to have a servant specially to wait upon you that in your sleepless nights you might not be left alone
No they are a trial those long nights Towler is not a bad fellow but he irritates me sometimes Last night he let a blackmuzzled gipsy brute hide behind my curtains and then told me it was my delusions Delusions when I saw the fellow as plain as I see you now
Ida was silent She had hoped that the patient had passed this stage and was on the road to recovery of health and reason She interrogated Towler byandby and he assured her that Mr Wendover had taken no stimulants since he had been attending upon him
Are you sure he cannot get any without your knowledge Ida asked Dr Mallison told me that in this malady a patient is terribly artful—that he will contrive to evade the closest watchfulness if it is any way possible to get drink
Ah thats true enough maam sighed the man theres no getting to the bottom of their artfulness but Im an old hand and I know all the ins and outs of the complaint It isnt possible for Mr Wendover to get any drink in this house and he never goes out of it without me Every drop of wine and spirits is under lock and key and all the servants are warned against giving him anything
Ida sighed full of shame at the thought that her husband the man whom it was her duty to honour and obey should be degraded by such humiliating precautions and yet there was no help for it He had brought himself to this pass This is the end of ambrosial nights the feast of reason the flow of soul wit drowned in whisky satire stimulated by brandy and soda
Ida went back to her brothers room It was there her love her fears her cares were all concentrated Duty might make her careful and thoughtful for her husband but here love was paramount To sit by his pillow to talk to him or read to him or pray for him to minister to him jealous of the skilled nurse who had been hired to perform these offices—these things were her delight Lady Palliser worn out with watching and anxiety had now broken down altogether and had consented to take a long days rest but Idas more energetic nature could do with much less rest—half an hours delicious sleep now and then with her head on her darlings pillow was allsufficient to restore her
And so the blessed days of hope went on and every morning and every afternoon Mr Fosbrokes report was more favourable It was a tedious recovery from a cruel disease happily shortened by at least twothirds of its oldfashioned length by modern treatment but all was going well and the hearts of the watchers were at ease The boy lay swathed in cotton wool very helpless very languid fed and petted from morning till night like a young bird brought up by hand and Ida and her stepmother had to be patient and thankful
Ida had often thought during the boys illness of the man who had found him and brought him safely home to them on that anxious day and she wished much to testify her gratitude to the misanthropic dweller in the gamekeepers cottage but she hesitated as to her manner of approaching him To go herself would be futile when he had so obdurately shut his door against her Then she had Vernons assurance that this Bohemian hated women She might have sent a servant with a message but she had reason to know from Vernons description of the man that he was altogether above the servant class and would be likely to resent such a form of approach She might have written to him but her pride recoiled from that course remembering his cavalier treatment of her And so she let the days slip by until Vernon began to recover strength and good spirits and to inquire about his friend
I want Jack to come and see me and sit with me said the boy he could come to tea couldnt he mother You wouldnt mind would you
My dear he is not a proper person for you to associate with replied Lady Palliser You oughtnt to bemean yourself by associating with your inferiors
Bemean fiddlesticks cried Vernie I dont believe there is such a word Jack is the cleverest man I know—cleverer than Mr Jardine and thats saying a great deal
Vainly did the widow endeavour to awaken her sons mind to the great gulf which divides a baronet from a hawker—a gulf not to be bridged over by the genius of a Dalton or a Whewell—and to those nice distinctions which obtain between a casual outofdoor intercourse with a man of this class and a deliberate invitation to tea
When Im well enough to go out I can go to him answered Vernon doggedly but now Im ill he must come to me and its very unkind of you not to let him come Blow his station in life If he was a duke I shouldnt want him
I cant think what you can want with this low person when Ida and I are always doing everything to amuse you moaned Lady Palliser
Idas a darling and you too mother said the boy putting his thin little arms round his mothers neck He was now just able to move those poor arms which had been so racked with pain a little while ago But I get tired of everything—Shakespeare Dickens even Its so long to stay in bed and I think Jack would amuse me more than anyone if youd let him come
He shall come darling Is there anything I could refuse you said the mother eagerly moved by the sight of tears in Vernons innocent blue eyes
Ask him to come to tea this afternoon
Yes love Ill go and see about it this minute
Lady Palliser went in quest of Ida who was sitting in Brians study reading while her husband wrote or made believe to write at a table in the window piled with books of reference which he consulted every now and then lolling back in his chair and reading listlessly—altogether a mere show and pretence of study never likely to result in anything—a weary dawdling away of the long summer morning
To Ida Lady Palliser explained her difficulty A note of some kind must be written to this Cheap Jack and the little woman did not know how to word that note
If I say Lady Palliser presents her compliments to Mr Cheap Jack and requests the pleasure of his company it seems like patting myself on a level with him dont you know I wish youd write for me Ida
Willingly dear mother but Im afraid the man wont come He is such a very rough diamond
Oh but surely he will be gratified at an invitation to tea
Im afraid not But Ill write at once Anything to please Vernon Ida wrote as follows—
Sir Vernon Palliser who is slowly recovering from a serious illness will be very pleased if his friend Jack will spend an hour or two with him this afternoon Any hour convenient to Jack will be agreeable to Sir Vernon but he would much like Jack to drink tea with him between four and five The other members of the family will not intrude upon the sick room while Jack is there
I think that will do said Ida and Lady Palliser carried off the note wondering at her stepdaughters cleverness yet inclined to fear that the hermit of Blackmans Hanger might be offended at being addressed as Jack tout court and yet how could one deal ceremoniously with a man who acknowledged no surname and was known to all the neighbourhood only as Cheap Jack
Mr Fosbroke came for his noontide visit just after this business of the letter and found Ida and her stepmother both with the invalid He was told what they had done
Do you think hell come Vernon asked eagerly
I should think he would Sir Vernon answered the doctor for I know he takes a keen interest in your recovery All the time you were really bad he used to hang about the Park gate every day as I went out and stopped me to ask how you were And he asked after you too Mrs Wendover—seemed to be afraid your anxiety about this little man would be too much for you
Remarkably polite of him said Ida laughing yet he treated me in the most bearish manner when I went to his cottage
If he is a bear he is a bear with gentlemanly instincts replied the doctor Nothing could be more respectful more delicate than his inquiries about you and I could see by the expression of his eyes that he really felt for you He has very fine eyes
One of the tokens of his gipsy blood I suppose said Ida
Yes I believe he is a gipsy They are a keenwitted race
A gipsy—and with so much plate as there is in this house exclaimed
Lady Palliser Oh Vernie you ought not to have asked me to ask him
Dont be afraid mother said Ida he shall be sharply looked after if he does come
Looked after indeed Why you might give him the run of a silver mine What does he care for your trumpery silver spoons cried Vernon contemptuously
The invalid was doomed to disappointment About two hours after Idas letter had been despatched a small boy brought Cheap Jacks reply to the following effect—Jack is very sorry he cannot drink tea with his little friend—
Little friend indeed What vulgar familiarity exclaimed Lady
Palliser
But he belongs to the dwellers in tents and would be out of place in a fine house—
Then he is a gipsy said Lady Palliser What a luck escape
He looks forward to the pleasure of seeing Sir Vernon on the Hanger before long Meanwhile he can only send his duty and best wishes for Sir Vernons speedy recovery
The end is a little better than the commencement said Lady Palliser but I call it a great liberty for a Cheap Jack to talk of my son as his little friend
He might have left out little considering that I shall be twelve next birthday said Vernon with dignity But I am his friend mother and I mean to be his friend always And when I am grown up I shall take him to the Rocky Mountains and we will hunt moose and things
Lady Palliser sighed and hoped that this passion for low company would pass with the other follies of childhood
Now that all danger was past and that Vernon was on the highroad to health Ida spent the greater part of her time in attendance upon her husband It was her duty she told herself and she who had so failed in love must needs fulfil every duty But the performance of this simple wifely duty of attendance on an invalid husband was fraught with pain his temper was so irritable his mind was so weak his whole being so degraded and sunk by his infirmity that the progress of his decay was of all forms of dissolution the most painful for the lookeron That he was sinking into a lower depth of degradation rather than recovering was sadly obvious to Ida in spite of occasional intervals of better feeling and rare flashes of his old brightness
The case was altogether perplexing Towler admitted that he was more puzzled than he had ever been about any patient whom he had enjoyed the honour of attending Mr Wendover under his present conditions of absolute sobriety and with youth on his side ought to have shown a decided improvement by this time and yet there was no substantial amelioration of his state and his latest fit of the horrors which occurred only a night ago had been quite as bad as the first which Towler had witnessed
You do not think that he gets brandy without your knowledge inquired
Ida blushing at the question
No maam Im too careful for that Ive searched his trunks even and every cupboard in his rooms and Ive looked behind the registers of the stoves which are very handy places for patients hiding bottles in summer time but theres not so much as an ounce phial And Mr Wendovers hardly out of my sight except when he takes his bath or just going in and out of his bathroom where he keeps his pipes as you know maam Besides even if he had any hidingplace for the drink who is likely to supply him with it
No I hope there is no one said Ida thoughtfully I hope no one in this house would so betray my confidence
Ive taken stock of all the servants maam and I dont think theres one that would do it
Ida was of the same opinion The servants were old servants as loyal to the heads of the house as a highland clan to their chief
Sunday came—a peaceful summer Sabbath—a day of sunshine and azure sky and Ida whose anxiety about Vernon had kept her away from her parish church for the last three Sundays was able to set out upon her walk to the village with a heart quite at rest on the boys account Even the mother could find no excuse for staying at home with her boy and felt that conscience and society alike required that she should assist at the service of her parish church Vernie was convalescent able to sit up in his bed propped with pillows and eat hothouse grapes and turn over the leaves of endless volumes of Punch laughing with his hearty childish laugh at Leechs jokes and the curious garments of a departed era
How could men wear such trousers and how could women wear such bonnets he asked his mother wonderingly contemplating fashionable youth as represented by the great penandink humourist
I dont know why we shouldnt wear them Vernie said his mother with rather an offended air those spoon bonnets were very becoming I wore one the day your pa first saw me
And hoops under your gown like that said Vernie pointing and those funny little boots What a guy you must have looked
When a boy has come to this pass he may fairly be left with servants for a couple of hours so Lady Palliser put on her stateliest mourning—her thick corded silk flounced with crape and her Mary Stuart bonnet and went across the park and up hill and down hill for it was a country of hills and hollows—to the parish church of Wimperfield a very ancient edifice with massive columnar piers Norman groined roof and walls enriched by a grand array of memorial tablets setting forth the honours and virtues of those dead and gone landowners whose bones were mouldering in the vaults below the square oaken pews in which the living worshipped In the chancel there was the usual stately monument to some magnate of the middle ages who was represented kneeling by his wifes side with a graduated row of sons and daughters kneeling behind them as if the whole family had died and petrified simultaneously in the act of pious worship
Ida did not invite her husband to join her in her Sabbath devotions assured that he would claim an invalids privilege to stay at home He had very rarely attended the parish church with his wife affecting to despise such humdrum and conventional worship He had just that thin smattering of modern science which enables shallow youth to make a merit of disbelief in all things beyond the limit of mathematical demonstration He had skimmed Darwin and spoke lightly of mankind as the latest development of time and matter and no higher a being from a spiritual point of view than the first worm that wriggled in its primeval slime He had dipped into Herbert Spencer and talked largely of God as the Unknowable and how could the Unknowable be supposed to take pleasure in the automatic prayers of a handful of bumpkins and clodhoppers met together in a mouldy old church time out of mind the temple of superstitions and ceremonies The vast temple of the universe was Brian Walfords idea of a church and a very fine church it is if a man will only worship faithfully therein but the man who abandons formal prayers and set seasons of devotion with a vague idea of worshipping in the woodland or on the hill top very rarely troubles himself to realise his ideal
Brians broadlydeclared agnosticism had long been a cause of pain and grief to his wife She had felt that this alone would have made sympathy impossible between them had there been no other ground for difference She thought with a bitter sense of contrast of his cousin who was a student and a thinker and who yet was not ashamed to believe and to worship as a little child Surely it was not a sign of a weak intelligence for a man to believe in something better and higher than himself when Socrates Plato Aristotle Homer and Virgil could so believe Brian Walfords idea of cleverness was to consider himself the ultimate product of incalculable antecedent time the fullstop of creation
Here were all the pious parishioners the county families and the country bumpkins meekly kneeling on their knees and uplifting their voices in perfect faithfulness—not thinking very deeply of any element in the service perhaps but honest in their reverence and their love The old church was a pretty sight on such a summer morning—the white robes of the choristers touched with supernal radiance the light tempered by the deep rubies and purples and ambers in windows old and new—the very irregularities and architectural anomalies of the building producing a quaintness which was more pleasing than absolute beauty
The litany was nearly over when Ida heard a familiar step on the stone pavement of the nave It was Brians step and presently he stopped at the door of the high oaken pew opened it and came in and seated himselfon the bench opposite to the spot where she knelt by her stepmothers side It was a capacious old pew and would have held ten people Brian kicked about the hassocks and made himself comfortable but he did not kneel or take any part in the service He sat with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands staring at the floor His presence filled Ida with anxiety He had not risen from his bed when she left home and Towler had given her to understand that he would not get up for some time as he had had a very bad night He must have risen and dressed hurriedly in order to follow her to church His eyes had the wild look in them which she had noticed on the night when he saw visions
It was in vain that Ida tried after this to fix her mind upon the service—every movement every look of Brians alarmed her She was thankful for the high pew which sheltered him from the gaze of the congregation and presently when they stood up to sing a hymn she was glad that Brian remained seated albeit there was irreverence in the attitude
But when the last verse was being sung he rose suddenly and looked all round the church with those wild eyes of his took up a book and turned the leaves abstractedly and remained standing like a sleepwalker for a minute or so after the congregation had gone down on their knees for the communion service
When the gospel was read he rose again and lolled with his back against the plastered wall his head just under a winged cherub head in marble which adorned the base of a memorial tablet This time he stood till all the service was over so obviously apart from all the rest of the congregation so evidently uninterested in anything that was going on that Ida felt as if every eye must be watching him every creature in the church conscious of his infirmity He was carelessly dressed his collar awry his necktie loose his hair unbrushed His very appearance was a disgrace which Lady Palliser whose great object in life was to maintain her dignity before the eyes of the county families felt could hardly be lived down in the future
That pale haggard countenance those bloodshot wandering eyes—surely every creature in the church must know that they meant brandy
The sermon began—one of those orthodox oldfashioned dryasdust sermons often heard in village churches a discourse which sets out with a small point in Bible history not having any obvious bearing upon modern thought or modern life and discusses and explains and enlarges upon it with deliberate scholarship for about halfanhour and then in a brisk five minutes endeavours to show how the conduct of Ahab or Jehoram or Ahaziah in this little matter was an exact counterpart or paradigm of our conduct my dear brethren when we etc etc
The Vicar had not arrived at this point but was still expatiating upon the unbridled wickedness of Jehoram when Brian who after a period of alarming restlessness had been sitting like a statue for the last few minutes suddenly started up and exclaimed wildly I cant endure it a moment longer—the stench of corruption—the dead rotting in their graves—the horrid nauseous odour of graveclothes—the foul stink of earthworms How can you bear it You must have no feeling you must be made of stone
Ida and her stepmother had both risen each in her way was trying to soothe to quiet him to induce him to sit down again The Vicar had stopped in his discourse scared by that other voice but as Brians loud accents sank into mutterings he took up the thread of his argument and went on denouncing Jehoram
Brian indeed there is nothing—no bad odour here
Yes there is the stench of death he protested staring at the ground and then pointing with a convulsive movement of his wasted hand he cried Dont you see under that seat there the worms crawling up through the rotten flooring there there—fifty—a hundred—legion For Gods sake get me out of this charnel house I can hear the dry bones rattle as the worms swarm out of the mouldering coffins
His deadly pallor his countenance convulsed with disgust showed how real this horror was to him Ida put her hand through his arm and led him quietly away out of the stony church into the glow of the summer noontide
He sank exhausted upon a grassy mound in the churchyard—a village childs grave with the rose wreath which loving hands had woven fading above the sod
How can you sit in such a vault he asked how can you live in such foul air
Indeed dear Brian it is only fancy There is nothing amiss
There is everything amiss Death is everywhere—we begin to die directly we are born—life is a descending scale of decay—we rot and rot and rot as we walk about the world pretending to be alive First a man loses his teeth and then his hair and then he looks in the glass and sees himself withered and haggard and wrinkled and knows that the skeletons clutch is upon him I tell you we are always dying Why go to that vault yonder pointing to the church to breathe the concentrated essence of mortality
It is good for us to remember the dead when we worship God Brian He is the God of the dead as well as the living There is nothing terrible in death if we believe
If we believe If The whole future is an if The future What future can there be for us We came from nothing we go back to nothing—we are resolved into the elements which renew the earth for new comers The wheel of progress is always revolving—for the mass there is eternity infinity—no beginning no end but for the individual his little span of life begins and ends in corruption
The sound of the organ and the fresh rustic voices singing a familiar hymn told Ida that the sermon was over Lady Palliser was in an agony of anxiety to get Brian away before the congregation came out She and Ida contrived to beguile him out of the churchyard and away towards Wimperfield Park by a meadow path which was but little frequented He grew more rational as they walked home but talked and argued all the way with that semihysterical garrulity which was so painful to his hearers
They found Vernon sitting up in bed reading Grimms Goblins and in very high spirits A most wonderful event had happened Cheap Jack had been to see him He came with Mr Fosbroke at twelve oclock He had overtaken Mr Fosbroke in the park and had asked leave to go up to the house with him just for a peep at his patient
He only stayed a quarter of an hour said Vernie for old Fos was in a hurry but it was such fun He made me laugh all the time and Fos laughed too—he couldnt help it and he said Jacks funny talk was better for me now than all the medicine in his surgery and I am to get up for an hour or two this afternoon and I am to have some chicken and as much asparagus as ever I can eat—and in less than a week I shall be able to go up to the hanger and see Jack
My darling you will have to be much stronger first said Ida
Oh but I am very strong now Ah theres Brian as his brotherinlaw looked in at the door What a time since youre been to see me Youve been ill too mother said Come in Brian Dont mind about giving me a bad cold that day It wasnt your fault
Brian came into the room with a hangdog look and sat by the boys bed
Yes it was my fault Vernie I am a wretched creature Everything that
I do ends badly I didnt mean to do you any harm
Of course not You thought it was fun and so did I till I got tired and hungry But those men who were chasing you There were no men were there I didnt see any said the boy with his clear blue eyes on Brians haggard face
Yes they were there dodging behind the trees I saw them plain enough answered Brian moodily It was about that business I told you of No I couldnt tell you it was not a thing to tell a child—a shameful accusation but I have given them the slip
Brian said Ida laying her hand on his shoulder why do you say these things You know you are talking nonsense
Am I he muttered cowering as he looked up at her Well its as likely as not Ta ta Vernie Youre as well as ever you were It is I who am booked for a coffin
He went away with his feeble shuffling steps so unlike the step of youth Ida following him thinking sadly of the autumn afternoons when he used to come leaping out of his boat—young bright and seemingly full of life and energy and when she half believed she loved him
CHAPTER XXVII
JOHN JARDINE SOLVES THE MYSTERY
The Jardines came the next day selfinvited guests Ida had tried to prevent any such visit in her desire to keep her husbands degradation from the knowledge of his kindred but Bessie was not to be so put off She had heard that Brian was ill and that Vernon had been dangerously ill and her heart overflowed with love and compassion for her friend It was not easy for Mr Jardine to leave his parish but he would have done a more difficult thing rather than see his wife unhappy so on the Monday morning after that scene in the church Ida received a telegram to say that Mr and Mrs Jardine were going to drive over to see her and that they would claim her hospitality for a couple of days
It was a drive of over thirty miles only to be done by a merciful man between sunrise and sunset Mr and Mrs Jardine started at five oclock breakfasted and lunched on the road and brought their faithful steed Drummer Boy up to the Wimperfield portico at seven in the evening with not a hair turned Ida was waiting for them in the portico
You darling how pale and worried you look exclaimed Bessie as she hugged her friend and why didnt you let me come before
You could have done me no good dear when my troubles were at the worst Thank God the worst is over now—Vernie is getting on splendidly He was downstairs today and ate such a dinner We were quite afraid he would bring on a relapse from overeating He is delighted at the idea of seeing you and Mr Jardine
Has he gone to bed Ill go up to see him at once if I may said John
Jardine
He is in his own room He asked to stop up till seven on purpose to see you
Then Ill go to him this instant
The luggage had been brought out of the light T cart and the Drummer Boy had been led round to the stables Ida took Bessie to a room at the end of the house remote from Brians apartments
Why this isnt our usual room said Bessie astonished
No I thought this would be a pleasanter room in such warm weather It looks east Ida answered rather feebly
Its a very nice room only I felt more at home in the other I have occupied it so often you know I felt almost as if it were my own Oh you cruel girl why didnt you let me come sooner I wanted so to be with you in your trouble and I offered to come directly I heard Vernie was ill
I know dear but you could have done no good We were in Gods hands
We could only pray and wait
Love can always do good I could have comforted you
Nothing could have comforted me if he had died
And Brian—poor Brian has been ill too I thought him very much changed when we were here—so thin so nervous so depressed
Yes he was ill then—he is very ill now We take all the care we can of him but he doesnt get any better
Poor dear Brian and he was once the soul of fun and gaiety—used to sing comic songs so capitally I suppose it is a poor thing for a man to do but it was very nice especially at Christmas time There are so few people who can do anything to help one over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Brian was good at everything—charades clumps consequences dumb crambo And to think that he should be ill so long What is his complaint Ida asked Bessie suddenly becoming earnest after a lapse into childishness
It is a nervous complaint faltered Ida he will soon get over it I hope and believe if we take proper care of him He is very excitable very unlike his old self and you must not be astonished at anything he may say or do
You dont mean that he is out of his mind said Bessie with an awestricken look
No no nothing of the kind—at least nothing that is likely to be lasting but he has delusions sometimes—a kind of hysterical affection Oh Bessie I did not want you to know anything I tried to keep you away
Bessie had her arms round her old friend and Ida quite broken down by the fears and agitations of the last six weeks hid her face upon Mrs Jardines shoulder and sobbed aloud It was a complete collapse of heroic resolutions of that unflinching courage and strength of mind which had sustained her so long but it was also a blessed relief to the overcharged heart and brain
It is very selfish of me to plague you with my troubles she said when Bessie had kissed and comforted her with every expression of sympathy and tenderness in the gamut of womanly love but I wanted you to be prepared for the worst And now let me help you to change your gown if you are going to make any change for dinner The gong will sound in less than halfanhour
Oh those gongs they always fill me with despair cried Bess I am never ready when ours begins to buzz through the house like a gigantic melancholymad bumble bee Of course I must change dear firstly because I am smothered with dust and sixthly as Dogberry says because I have brought a pretty gown to do honour to Wimperfield
And Bessie rushing to her portmanteau and tearing out its contents in a frantic way shook out the laces and ribbons of a gracious Watteaulike arrangement in Madras muslin while she chattered to her hostess
Shall I send for Jane Dyson the immaculate maid who had lived with an archbishops wife She can unpack your things
Not for worlds I have oceans to tell you and I should hate that prim personage looking on and listening Such news Ida Urania is engaged
At last
That was what everybody said This was her sixth season and it was rapidly becoming a case of real distress and she was getting blue oh to a frightful extent—a perambulatory epitome of HuxleycumDarwin—thats what our boys call her And now after refusing ever so many nice young men in the Government offices because they were not rich enough for her she is going to make a great match and marry a nasty old man
Oh Bessie nasty and old
Strong language isnt it but the gentleman has been to Kingthorpe and there is no doubt about the fact One wouldnt mind his being elderly if he were only a gentleman but he is not
Then why in mercys name does Miss Rylance marry him
Because he is Sir Tobias Vandilk one of the richest men on the Stock Exchange He is of Dutch extraction they say and this is supposed to account for his utter destitution with regard to English aspirates He has a palace in Park Lane and a park in Yorkshire gives dinners of a most recherché description every Thursday in the season and immense shooting parties at which I am told he and his friends slaughter quintillions of pheasants and flood the London market every autumn and it is whispered that he has lent money to royal personages
Is Urania happy
If she is not I know who is Dr Rylance looks twenty years younger since the engagement He was beginning to get weighed down by Urania You remember with what a firm hand he managed her in days gone by Well after she took to Huxley and Darwin and the rest of them that was all over She was always tripping him up with some little shred of scientific knowledge fresh from Tyndall always attacking his oldfashioned notions with some new light He was as merry as a boy let loose from school when he came down to Kingthorpe the other day He went to one of our picnics and made himself tremendously agreeable We took Sir Tobias to see the Abbey and had afternoon tea there He pretended to admire everything but in a patronising way that made me savage affected to think Wendover Abbey a little bit of a place as compared with his modern barrack in Yorkshire with its ridingschool tan gallop range of orchardhouses picturegallery and so on And Uranias grandeur is something too large for words You and Mr Jardine must come and stay with us at Hanborough some day she said as if she were promising me a treat so I told her plainly that my husbands parish work made such a visit impossible Oh but some day she said sweetly Never said I we are rooted in the chalk of Salisbury Plain Poor things she sighed what a destiny
And you all drank tea at the Abbey said Ida musingly dear old Abbey I can fancy you there in the long low library with the afternoon sunlight shining in at the open windows and Mary Stuart smiling at you from the panelling over one fireplace and crafty Elizabeth looking sideways at you from over the other and the Dijon roses clambering and twining round every lattice
How well you remember the old place Isnt it horrid of Brian to stay away all these years
It is—rather eccentric
Eccentric It is positively wicked when we know how agreeable he can make himself Why in that happy summer we spent at the Abbey he brightened all our lives Didnt he now Ida
He was very kind faltered Ida like a slave giving evidence under torture Have you heard from him lately
Not for more than a year but father hears of him through his London
agent and we know he is well He sent us all lovely presents last
Christmas—Indian shawls prayerrugs ivories carved sandalwood boxes
The Vicarage is glorified by his gifts
The gong began booming and buzzing as Bessie pinned a big yellow rose among the folds of her Madras fichu and Mrs Jardine and her hostess went down to the drawingroom lovingly arms entwined as in that longago holiday when Ida was a guest at Kingthorpe
Lady Palliser and Mr Jardine were in the drawingroom talking to each other while Brian paced up and down the room pale and wan as he had looked yesterday in the church He offered his arm to Bessie at his wifes bidding without a word Mr Jardine followed with Lady Palliser and Ida and the little party of five sat down to dinner with a blight upon them the awful shadow of domestic misery There are many such dinners eaten every day in England—than which the Barmecides was a more cheerful feast a red herring and bread and butter in a garret a banquet of sweeter savour
For the first two courses Brian preserved a sullen silence He ate nothing—did not even pretend to eat—and drank the sherry and sodawater which were offered to him without comment With the third course the butler who had supplied him with the prescribed amount of sherry gave him plain sodawater He looked at his tumbler for a moment or so and burst out laughing
Byron used to drink sodawater at dinners when he was the rage in London society he said It was chic and Byron was like Sara Bernhardt—he would have done anything to get himself talked about
I should have thought the fame he won by Childe Harold would have satisfied him without any outside notoriety as a total abstainer said Mr Jardine
Oh if you think that you dont know Byron exclaimed Brian He wanted people always to be talking of him A man may write the greatest book that was ever written and the world will accept it and put him on a pinnacle but they soon leave off talking about him unless he does something He must keep a bear in his rooms—quarrel with his wife—wear a peagreen overcoat—cross the Channel in a balloon—and go on doing queer things—if he wants to be famous Byron was an adept in the art of réclame—just as Whistler is on his smaller scale It wasnt enough for Byron to be the greatest poet of modern Europe he wanted to be the most notorious rake and roué into the bargain
It was a curious nature said Mr Jardine—half gold and half tinsel
Ah but the tinsel caught the public I really dont think for a man who wants to make a stir in his generation a fellow could have played his cards better than Byron did
It is a life that one can only contemplate with infinite pity and regret—a great nature wrecked by small vices and smaller follies said Mr Jardine and then Brian took up the strain and talked with loud assertiveness of the right of genius to do what it likes in the world launching out into a broad declaration of infidelity and rank materialism which shocked and scared the three women who heard him
Ida gave an imploring look at her stepmother and they all three rose simultaneously and hastily retired driven away by that blatant blasphemy John Jardine closed the door upon the ladies and then went quietly back to his seat He heard all that Brian had to say—he listened to his wild ramblings as to the voice of an oracle and then when Brian had poured out his little stock of argument in favour of materialism had quoted Aristotle and Holbach and Hume and Comte and Darwin and had perverted their arguments against a personal God into the divine right of man to ruin his soul and body John Jardine who had read more of Aristotle than Brian knew of all the metaphysicians put together and who had Plato Kant and Dugald Stewart in his heart of hearts gravely took up the strain and made mincemeat of Mr Wendovers philosophy
Brian listened meekly and did not appear to take offence when the Vicar went on to warn him against the peril here and hereafter of a life misspent a constitution ruined by selfindulgence talents unused opportunities neglected The pale and haggard wretch sat cowering as the voice of reproof and warning went on solemnly earnestly with the warm sympathy which springs from perfect pity from the Christians wide love of his fellowmen
For your wifes—for your own sake—for the love of Him in whose image you were made—wrestle with the devil that possesses you said John Jardine when they had risen to leave the room laying his hand affectionately upon Brians shoulder Believe me victory is possible
Not now Brian answered with a semihysterical laugh It is too late There comes an hour you know even in your allmerciful creed when the door is shut Too late ye cannot enter now The door is shut upon me I fooled my life away in London It was pleasant enough while it lasted but its over now I can say with Cleopatra—O my life in Egypt O the dalliance and the wit
They were in the hall by this time The broad marblepaved hall with its marble figures of gods and goddesses of which nobody ever took any more notice than if they had been umbrella stands They were crossing the hall on their way to the drawingroom when Brian suddenly clutched John Jardines arm and reeled heavily against him with an appalling cry
Hold me he screamed hold me I am going down
It was one of the dreadful symptoms of his dreadful disease All at once with the solid black and white marble beneath his feet he felt himself upon the edge of a precipice felt himself falling falling falling into a bottomless pit
It was an awful feeling a waking nightmare He sank exhausted into John
Jardines arms panting for breath
You are safe it is only a momentary delusion said Mr Jardine Have you had that feeling often before
Yes—sometimes—pretty often gasped Brian
Mr Jardines wide reading and large experience as a parish priest had made him half a doctor He knew that this was one of the symptoms of delirium tremens and a symptom seen mostly in cases of a dangerous type He had suspected the nature of Mr Wendovers disease before now but now he was certain of it
He went with Brian to his room advising him to lie down and rest Brian appearing consentient Mr Jardine left him with Towler in attendance
In the drawingroom the Vicar contrived to get a little quiet talk with
Ida while at the other end of the room Lady Palliser was expatiating to
Bessie upon the minutest details of her boys illness He invited Idas
confidence and frankly told her that he had fathomed the nature of
Brians disease
I have seen too many cases in the course of my parochial experience not to recognise the painful symptoms I am so sorry for you and for him It is a bright young life thrown away
Do you think he will not recover
I think it is a very bad case He is wasted to a shadow and has a worn haggard look that I dont like And then he has those painful hallucinations—that idea of falling down a precipice for instance which are oftenest seen in fatal cases
Ida told him of the scene in the church yesterday—she confided in him fully—telling him all that Dr Mallison had said of the case
What can I do she asked piteously
I dont think you can do more than you are doing That man who waits upon your husband is a nurse I suppose
Yes Dr Mallison sent him
And care is taken that the patient gets no stimulants supplied to him
Every care—and yet—
And yet what
I have a suspicion—and I think Towler suspects too—that Brian does get brandy—somehow
But how can that be if your servants are honest and this attendant is to be depended upon
I cant tell you I believe the servants are incapable of deceiving me
Towler the attendant comes to us with the highest character
Well I will be on the alert while I am with you said Mr Jardine and Ida felt as if he were a tower of strength I have seen these sad cases and had to do with them only too often On some occasions I have been happy enough to be the means of saving a man from his own folly
Pray stop as long as you can with us and do all you can entreated Ida I wish I had asked you to come sooner only I was so ashamed for him poor creature I thought it would be a wrong to him to let anyone know how low he had fallen
It is part of my office to know how low humanity can fall and yet be raised up again said Mr Jardine
You wont tell Bessie—she would be so grieved for her cousin
I will tell her nothing more than she can find out for herself But you know she is very quickwitted
There was a change for the worse in Towlers charge next morning when Ida who still occupied the room adjoining her husbands bedchamber went in at eight oclock to inquire how he had passed the night Brian was up half dressed pacing up and down the room and talking incoherently He had been up ever since five oclock Towler said but it was impossible to get him to dress himself or suffer himself to be dressed A frightful restlessness had taken possession of him more intense than any previous restlessness and it was impossible to do anything for him His hallucinations since daybreak had taken a frightful form he had seen poisonous snakes gliding in and out of the folds of the bedclothes he had fancied every kind of hideous monster—the winged reptiles of the jura formation—the armourplated fish of the old red sandstone—everything that is grotesque revolting terrible—skeletons poisonspitting toads vampires werewolves flying cats—they had all lurked amidst the draperies of bed or windows or grinned at him through the panes of glass
Look he shrieked as Ida approached him soothing pleading in gentlest accents look dont you see them he cried pointing to the shapes that seemed to people the room and trying to push them aside with a restless motion of his hands dont you see them the lares and lemures Look there is Cleopatra with the asp at her breast That bosom was once beautiful and see now what a loathsome spectacle death has made it—the very worms recoil from that corruption See there is Canidia the sorceress who buried the boy alive Look at her hair flying loose about her head hair no those locks are living vipers and Sagana with hair erect like the bristles of a wild boar See Ida how she rushes about sprinkling the room with water from the rivers of hell And Veia whose cruel heart never felt remorse Yes he knew them well Horace These furies were the women he had loved and wooed
Fancies memories flitted across his disordered brain swift as lightning flashes In a moment Canidia was forgotten and he was Pentheus struggling with Agave and her demented crew They were tearing him to pieces their fingers were at his throat Then he was in the East a defenceless traveller in the tropical desert surrounded by Thugs He pointed to one particular spot where he saw his insidious foe—he described the dusky supple figure the sinuous limbs gliding serpentlike towards him the oiled body the dagger in the uplifted hand An illustration in Sir Charles Bells classic treatise had flashed into his brain So from memory to memory with a frightful fertility of fancy his unresting brain hurried on while his wife could only watch and listen tortured by an agony greater than his own To look on and to be powerless to afford the slightest help was dreadful Up and down and round about the room he wandered talking perpetually perpetually waving aside the horrid images which pursued and appalled him his eyeballs in constant motion the pupils dilated his hollow cheeks deadly pale his face bathed in perspiration
Send for Mr Fosbroke said Ida speaking on the threshold of the adjoining room to the maid who brought her letters and in the midst of his distraction Brians quick ear caught the name
Fosbroke me no Fosbrokes he said I will have no village apothecaries diagnosing my disease no ignorant quack telling me how to treat myself
I will telegraph for Dr Mallison if you like Brian Ida answered gently but I know Mr Fosbroke is a clever man and he perfectly understands—
Yes he will have the audacity to tell you he knows what is the matter with me He will say this is delirium tremens—a lie and you must know it is a lie
To her infinite relief Mr Jardine appeared at this moment He questioned Towler as to the possibility of tranquillising his patient and he found that the sedatives prescribed by Dr Mallison had ceased to exercise any beneficial effect Nights of insomnia and restlessness had been the rule with the patient ever since Towler had been in attendance upon him
I never knew such a brain or such invention exclaimed Towler the people and the places and the things he talks about is enough to make a mans hair stand on end
The natural result of a vivid memory and a good deal of desultory reading
Most patients takes an idea and harps upon it said Towler Its the multiplication table—or the day of judgment—or the volcanoes and hotsprings and whatyoumaycallems in the centre of the earth and theyll go on over and over again—always coming back to the same point like a merrygoround but this one is quite different Theres no bounds to his delusions Were at the North Pole one minute and digging up diamonds in Africa the next
Brian had flung himself upon his bed rolled in the damask curtain like
Henry Plantagenet what time he went off into one of his furyfits about
Thomas Becket and Mr Jardine and Towler were able to talk
confidentially at a respectful distance
Are you sure that he does not get brandy without your knowledge
No sir said Towler that is what I am not sure about Its a puzzling case He didnt ought to be so bad as he is after my care of him There ought to be some improvement by this time instead of which its all the other way
What precautions have you taken
Ive searched his rooms and not a thing have I found stowed away anywhere It isnt often that hes left to himself for when I get my midday sleep Mrs Wendover sits with him or if hes cranky and wants to be alone she stays in the next room with the door ajar between them and Robert the groom is on duty in the passage in case the patient should get unmanageable
I see—you have been very careful but practically your patient has been often alone—the halfopen door signifies nothing—he was unobserved and free to do what he pleased all the same
But he couldnt drink if there was no liquor within reach
Was there none that is the question answered Mr Jardine
Look about the rooms yourself sir and see if he could hide anything except in such places as Ive overhauled every morning said Towler with an offended air and then swelling with outraged dignity he flung open doors of wardrobes and closets pulled out drawers and otherwise demonstrated the impossibility of anything remaining secret from his eagle eye
What about the next room asked Mr Jardine going into the adjoining room which was Brians study
The room was littered with books and papers heaped untidily upon tables and chairs and even strewn upon the carpet Brian had objected to any attempt at setting this apartment in order—the servants were to leave all books and papers untouched on pain of his severe displeasure Thus everything in the shape of litter had been allowed to accumulate with its natural accompaniment dust Everyone knows the hideous confusion which the daily and weekly newspapers alone can make in a room if left unsorted and unarranged for a month or so and mixed with these there were pamphlets magazines manuscripts and piles of more solid literature in the shape of books brought up from the library for reference and consultation
In one corner there were a pile of empty boxes and on one of these Mr Jardines eye lighted instantly on account of its resemblance to a wine merchants case
He pulled this box out from the others—a plain deal box roughly finished just the size of a twodozen case One label had been pulled off but there was a railway label which gave the date of delivery just three weeks back
Have you any idea what this box contained inquired Mr Jardine
No sir It was here when I came just as you see it now
It looks very like a wine merchants box
Well it might be a winecase sir as far as the look of it goes but it might have held anything It was empty when I came here and theres no stowage for wine bottles in these rooms as you have seen with your own eyes
Dont be too sure of that and now go back to your patient and get him to eat some breakfast if you can while I go downstairs
He cant eat sir Its pitiful he dont eat enough for a robin We try to keep up his strength with strong soups and such like but its hard work to get him to swallow anything
Mr Jardine went down to the family breakfast room where his wife Ida and her stepmother were sitting at table with pale perturbed faces and very little inclination for that excellent fare which the Wimperfield housekeeper provided with a kind of automatic regularity and would have continued to provide on the eve of a deluge or an earthquake He told Ida that all was going on quietly upstairs and that he would share Towlers task as nurse all that day so that she might be quite easy in her mind as to the patient And then the servants came trooping in as the clock struck nine and they all knelt down and John Jardine read the daily portion of prayer and praise
It had been decreed by medical authority that on this day provided the sky were propitious and the wind in a warm quarter Vernon was to go out for his first drive Mr Jardine accordingly entreated that the three ladies would accompany him and that Ida would have no fear as to her husbands welfare during her absence
I dont like to leave him she said in confidence to Mr Jardine he seems so much worse this morning—wilder than I have ever seen him yet—and so white and haggard
He is very bad but your remaining indoors will do him no good I will not leave him while you are away
Ida yielded It was a relief to her to submit to authority—to have some one able to tell her to do this or that She felt utterly worn out in body and mind—all the energy the calm strength of purpose which had sustained her up to a certain point was now exhausted Despair had taken possession of her and with despair came that dull apathy which is like death in life
John Jardine took his wife aside before he went back to Brians rooms
I want you to take care of Ida to keep with her all day She has been sorely tried poor soul and needs all your love
She shall have it in full measure answered Bessie How grave and anxious you look Is Brian very ill
Very ill
Dangerously
I am afraid so I shall hear what Mr Fosbroke says presently and if his report be bad I shall telegraph for the physician
Poor Brian How strangely he talked at dinner last night Oh John I hardly dare say it—but—is he out of his mind
Temporarily—but it is the delirium of a kind of brain fever not madness
And he will recover
Please God but he is very low I am seriously alarmed about him
Poor dear Brian sighed Bess He was once my favourite cousin But I must go back to Ida You need not be afraid of my neglecting her I shant leave her all day
Mr Jardine went to the housekeepers room to make an inquiry He wanted to know what that box from London had contained a box delivered upon such and such a date
The housekeepers mind was dark or worse than dark upon the subject—an obscurity enlightened by flashes of delusive light Two housemaids and an odd man who looked after the coal scuttles were produced and gave their evidence in a manner which would have laid them open to the charge of rank prevarication and perjury as to the receipt of a certain wooden box which at some stages of the inquiry became hopelessly entangled with a hamper from the Petersfield fishmonger and a bandbox from Lady Pallisers Brighton milliner
The carriage must have been paid said the housekeeper thats the difficulty If thered been anything to pay it would have been entered in my book but when the carriage is paid dont you see sir its out of my jurisdiction as you may say with conscious pride in a free use of the English language and I may hear nothing about it
But now the odd man after much thoughtful scratching of his head was suddenly enlightened by a flash of memory from the paleozoic darkness of three weeks ago He remembered a heavy wooden box that had come in his dinnertime—the fact of its coming at that eventful hour had evidently impressed him—and he had carried it up to Mr Wendovers own sittingroom
It was very heavy and Mr Wendover had told him that it contained books
Did you open it for Mr Wendover
No sir I offered to open it but Mr Wendover says hed got the tools himself and would open it at his leisure He had no call for the books yet awhile he says and didnt want it opened
I see the box contained books Thank you thats all I wanted to know
John Jardine had very little doubt in his mind now as to the actual contents of the box He had no doubt that Brian finding himself refused drink for which he suffered the drunkards incessant craving had contrived to get himself supplied from London and that if the fire of his disease had known no abatement it was because the fuel that fed the flame had not been wanting
The only question that remained to be answered was how Brian carefully attended as he had been had managed to dispose of his secret store of drink under the very eyes as it were of his keeper But Mr Jardine knew that the sufferer from alcoholic poison is no less cunning than the absolute lunatic and that falsehood meanness and fraud seem to be symptoms of the disease
When he went back to Brians rooms he found the patient lying on his bed exhausted by the agitation and restlessness of the last few hours He was not asleep but was quieter than usual in a semiconscious state muttering to himself now and then Towler was sitting at a little table by the open window breakfasting comfortably his enjoyment of the coffeepot and a dish of ham and eggs being in no manner lessened by the neighbourhood of the patient
Havent been able to get him to take any nourishment whispered Towler as Mr Jardine came quietly into the room Hes uncommon bad
Mr Fosbroke will be here presently I hope
I dont think hell be able to do much good when he does come said Towler doctors aint in it with a case of this kind If he dont go off into a good sleep byandby Im afraid this will be a fatal case
Mr Jardine made no reply to this discouraging observation There are times when speech is worse than useless He stood by the window looking over at that shrunken figure on the great oldfashioned fourpost bed with its voluminous drab damask curtains its cords fringes tassels and useless decorations—the nerveless helpless figure of wasted youth the wreckage of an illspent life The haggard countenance damp with the dews of mental agony and of a livid pallor looked like the face of death What could medicine do for this man beyond diagnosing his case and giving an opinion about it for the satisfaction—God save the mark—of his friends John Jardine knew in his heart that not all the doctors in Christendom could pick this shattered figure up again and replace it in its former position among mankind
Still intent upon solving that mystery about the contents of the winecase Mr Jardines eyes wandered about the room trying to discover some hidingplace which the careful had overlooked But so far he could see no such thing There was the tall fourposter with its square cornice a ponderous mahogany frame with fluted damask stretched across it Could Brian have hidden his brandy up yonder behind the mahogany cornice Surely not First the damask would have bulged with the weight of the bottles and secondly the place was not accessible enough He must have hidden his poison in some spot where he could apply himself to it furtively hurriedly twenty fifty a hundred times in the day or night
Presently Mr Jardines glance fell on the halfopen door of the bathroom It was a slip of a room cut off the study a room that had been created within the last twenty years It was the only room which Mr Jardine had not inspected before he went down to breakfast
He pushed open the door and went in followed by Towler wiping the egginess and haminess from his mouth as he went
You kept your eye upon this room as well as the others I suppose said
Mr Jardine looking about him
Yes sir I have kept an eye upon everything
The apartment was not extensive A large copper bath with a ponderous mahogany case panelled moulded bevelled the elaborate workmanship of local cabinetmakers a row of brass hooks hung with bath towels which looked like surplices pendent in a vestry a washstand in a corner a dressingtable and glass with its belongings in the window and a wicker armchair comprised the whole extent of furniture No hidingplace here one would suppose
Mr Jardine looked about the room thoughtfully It was the one apartment in which the patient could hardly be intruded upon by his attendant Here he could be sure of privacy
Did you examine the case of the bath he inquired presently his mathematical eye quick to take in the difference between the inner shell of copper and the outer husk of mahogany
No sir answered Towler briskly Is it oller
Of course its hollow Surely your eye tells you that
Yes sir but theres the hotwater pipes inside—and theres no getting at it except for a plumber
Nonsense said Mr Jardine kneeling down at one end of the bath where there was a convenient mahogany door for the accommodation of the plumber a door which lay somewhat in shadow and had escaped Towlers observation
Bring me a candle said Mr Jardine unconsciously imitating the brotherhood of plumbers whose consumption of candles is a household terror
Towler returned to fetch a candle while Mr Jardine with cautious hand explored the cavernlike recesses between the bath and its outer shell recesses in which lurked serpentlike convolutions of hotwater pipes and coldwater pipes waste and overflow
Yes before Towler could arrive with the candle he had fathomed the mystery Three or four full bottles and a large number of empties were stowed away in this dusty receptacle He drew one of the full bottles out into the light Hennessys Fine Old Cognac said the label This had been the secret source of fever and delirium—here had lurked the evil which had made all remedial measures vain
Mr Fosbroke was announced while John Jardine was washing the dust and the stains of rusty iron from his hands Brian was in too low a condition to be rude to the country practitioner much as he had protested against his interference He suffered the apothecary to sit by his bed and feel his pulse without a word of remonstrance
How do you find him asked Mr Jardine when Mr Fosbroke had left the bedside
Very bad pulse small and thready—a hundred and forty in the minute violent throbbing in the temporal and carotid arteries profuse perspiration—all bad signs What medicines has he been taking
He was shown the prescriptions
Hum—hum—digitalis—bromide of potassium I should like to inject chloral but as the case is in Dr Mallisons hands—
If you think there is danger I will telegraph for Mallison
There is always danger in this stage of the malady especially in the case of a patient of Mr Wendovers age The season too is unfavourable—the mortality in this complaint is nearly double in summer If we can get him into a sound sleep of some hours he may wake with a decided turn for the better—the delirium subjugated but in his low state even sleep may be fatal—there is so little vital power Yes I should certainly telegraph for Dr Mallison and in the meantime Ill try what can be done with chloral
You must do the utmost you can Mrs Wendover has implicit faith in you
Ill drive back and get the chloral
When the apothecary was gone Mr Jardines first act was to telegraph to the London physician his next to put the unused bottles of cognac under lock and key and with Towlers help to clear away the empty bottles without the knowledge of the servants No doubt every member of the household knew the nature of Mr Wendovers illness but it was well to spare him the exposure of these degrading details
CHAPTER XXVIII
AN ENGLISHMANS HOUSE IS HIS CASTLE
Ida felt a strange relief to her spirits despite the absolute blackness of her domestic horizon when the carriage drove away from Wimperfield She had left the house very seldom of late feeling that duty chained her to the joyless scene of home and there was an infinite relief in turning her back upon that stately white building in which was embodied all the misery of her blighted life No charnelhouse could be fuller of ghastly unspeakable horrors than Wimperfield had become to her since that long nevertobeforgotten night when she had listened to her husbands ravings and when all the loathsome objects his distracted fancy had conjured into being and his neverresting tongue had described had been only a little less real to her mind than they had been to his Could she ever again know peace and rest in those rooms ever tread those corridors without shuddering and dread ever know happiness again in all the days of her life She leaned back in the carriage as they drove along the avenue and rested with halfclosed eyes her soul heavy within her her body weighed down by the soreness and weariness of her mind If life could but end now She felt that she could be of no more use in the world She could do nothing to help her wretched husband He had chosen to go his own way to destruction and he was too near the edge of the pit now to be snatched back by any friendly hand She felt that his fate had passed beyond the regions of hope God might pity the selfdestroyer and deal lightly with him at the great audit but on this earth there was no hope of cure Brian Wendover was going down to the pit
Bessie sat by Idas side tenderly watching her worn white face while Lady Palliser was entirely absorbed by the delight of administering fussily to her boy who was well enough to laugh her shawls and comforters and motherly precautions to scorn and to jump about in the carriage as at each break in the wood some new object of interest caught his eye—a rabbit a squirrel a hawk high up in the blue invisible to any gaze less eager than his own He was in wild spirits at being out of doors again a restless eager soul not to be restrained by any medical ordinances or maternal anxieties
They went for a long drive the horses very fresh after the little exercise of the last month devouring the ground under them—the summer breeze brisk and inspiring—the country beautiful beyond measure—an evervarying landscape of hill and wood and valley green pastures and golden grain
Bessie chatted gaily in her desire to distract Idas mind and the boys vivacity never flagged but Ida sat silent feeling the blessedness of this brief respite from the horror of home but quite unable to talk of indifferent subjects She was haunted by the image of her husband as she had seen him that morning—his ashen countenance the perpetual movement of his eyes those nervous attenuated hands almost transparent in their bloodlessness for ever pushing aside the formless horrors that crowded round him—pictures painted on the empty air pictures for ever changing yet hideously real to that disorganised brain pictures that spoke and gibbered at him shadows with which he carried on conversations
With this awful image fresh in her mind Ida could not even pretend to be cheerful or interested in common things
Dont be unhappy about me dear she said once when Bessie squeezed her hand and looked at her with tender anxiety I must bear my burden Nobody can help me
Except God whispered the Vicars faithful wife He lightens all burdens in His good time
On the homeward road they wound near the base of Blackmans Hanger and at this point Vernon got up and ordered the coachman to drive as near as he could to the old gamekeepers cottage
We can walk the rest of the way said the boy
Walk shrieked Lady Palliser Oh Vernie what are you dreaming about
Mr Fosbroke never said you might walk
Very likely not retorted the boy but you dont suppose Im going to ask old Fosbrokes leave before I use my legs Look here mother dear Im as well as ever I was and Im not going to be mollicoddled any more
But Vernie—
I am not going to be mollicoddled any more and Im going to see old
Jack
Nonsense Vernie
He came to see me and Im going to see him said Vernon resolutely Remember what your favourite author the Countess of Seven Stars says about the necessity of returning a call—and if the person calling happen to be your inferior in social status the obligation to return the visit within a reasonable time will be so much the stronger There mother there are the very words of your Crême de la Crême for you
But Vernon the countess would never have imagined such a person as a
Cheap Jack calling upon anyone for whom her book was intended
The book was intended for a parcel of stuckup cads said Vernon Get on Jackson
This to the coachman who was driving slowly perfectly conscious of the squabble going on behind him and anticipating the reversal of Sir Vernons order But Lady Palliser said nothing so Jackson quickened his pace a little and drove along the rough winding road which skirted the base of the hill
Directly he drew up his horses Vernon leapt out and the three women followed him After all the mother inwardly argued it were a pity to thwart her darling He was in such high spirits and seemed so thoroughly himself again His very wilfulness was delightful for it told of renewed vigour
They all climbed the hill together by a corkscrew track which was not too distressing The atmosphere was cool and fresh at this altitude the odour of the pines ambrosial
I suppose we had better wait a little way off Vernie said Ida when they were within a dozen yards of the hut Your friend is so very uncivil to ladies
Yes youd better rest yourselves on that fir tree answered Vernon pointing to a prostrate giant of the grove which had been lately felled while I run on and see him
They obeyed but in less than five minutes Vernon came back
Jack is out but his house is open he said eagerly and I want you all to come and see it I want you to see the house that my Jack built
But would it be right to go into his cottage when he is away asked
Ida
Of course it would cried her brother dancing along before them You must come—theres nothing to be ashamed of I can tell you Mother will see that my Jack isnt a vulgar person that he can read and write and has the ways of a gentleman
I should certainly like to see what kind of person my son associates with said Lady Palliser who in common with the nonstudious class of mankind was a keen inquirer into the details of daily life
She liked to know where her acquaintance had their gowns made and what wages they gave their cooks and to be the first to hear of matrimonial engagements and dangerous illnesses
The cottage door stood wide open and as there was neither hall nor passage the moment the three Fatimas had crossed the threshold they were standing in the innermost sanctuary of Mr Cheap Jacks private life and the character of the man stood revealed to them so far as surroundings can reveal a mans character
He was a smoker for the room albeit the lattice stood wide open smelt strongly of tobacco and over the narrow wooden mantelpiece were slung three pipes one a long cherrywood tube of decidedly Oriental appearance
Quite gentlemanly looking pipes said Lady Palliser
The room was in perfect order everything arranged with an exquisite neatness The floor was covered with a coarse substantial matting spotlessly clean The furniture consisted of a clumsy old walnutwood table evidently picked up at some farmhouse or cottage in the neighbourhood a heavy piece of cabinet work of the same order half secretaire half bookcase a couple of substantial armchairs and a ponderous old oak chest—also the relic of some dismantled homestead There was a brass clock on the chimneypiece and there were a number of rather dingylooking volumes in the bookcase while the floor under the table was piled with quartos and thick octavos which looked like books of reference An old leathern despatch box much the worse for wear stood on the table Ornaments pictures or photographs there were none
It really looks like a gentlemans room said Lady Palliser after her eyes had devoured every detail
It is a gentlemans room answered Vernon decisively Didnt I tell you my friend Jack is a gentleman
Vernie dear a man who goes about the country in a cart selling things cant be a gentleman said his mother
I dont quite see that Lady Palliser exclaimed Bessie who was inspecting the bookshelves A gentleman may fall upon evil days and have to earn his living somehow dont you know and why shouldnt he have a cart and go about selling things Theres nothing disreputable in it though he could hardly go into society perhaps while he was driving the cart because the mass of mankind are such fools Why shouldnt Vernies instinct be right and this Cheap Jack be a reduced gentleman Froude says that in the colonies Oxford men may be seen mending the roads Why shouldnt one man in the world have the courage to do humble work in his own country This Jack is a University man
How do you know that asked Lady Palliser eagerly She was ready to bow down before a University man as a necessarily superior being There had never been such a person of her own blood
Here is a volume of Æschylus—the Clarendon Press—with his college arms He is a Balliol man the same college as my cousin Brians
That proves nothing said Lady Palliser contemptuously He may have bought the book at a stall All his furniture is secondhand why not his books
Oh but here are more books with the Balliol arms—Pindar Theocritus
Catullus Horace Virgil
Cant you find his name in any of them
No that has been erased in some of the books and has never been written in the others Poor fellow I daresay he would not like his real name to be known
Didnt I tell you he was a gentleman mother exclaimed Vernon triumphantly
Lady Palliser was almost convinced The neat substantially furnished room—so free from frippery or foppishness—the queer Oriental pipes—the wellused books in sober calf bindings which had once been splendid—the college arms on almost every volume—these details impressed her in spite of herself
Poor young man I should like to send him some money she said
He would not take it he would scorn your money said Vernon What does he want with pounds shillings and pence He told me that so long as he has his books to read his pipe to smoke and a fine country to roam about he cares for nothing else Your money wouldnt buy him anything
You dont understand Vernie dear We might do something substantial for him—set him up in a nice little shop at Petersfield perhaps a stationers or with a glance at the rack of pipes a tobacconists
My Jack keeping a shop my Jack behind a counter cried Vernon if you knew anything about him you would never talk of such a thing Why he likes to be as free as the birds of the air—to roam about all day—and sit up reading half the night
They were all clustered in front of the bookcase Bessie and Ida looking at the books Lady Palliser and her boy intent on their own talk when the door was flung open and the master of the house suddenly appeared amidst them—a tall broadshouldered figure roughly clad in shooting jacket corduroy and leather like a gamekeeper—a dark bearded face under a slouched hat But the intruders had only the briefest time in which to observe his appearance At sight of the group by the bookcase Jack tilted his felt hat further over his brows and strode across the room to that corner whence a corkscrew stair led to the upper story He went up these stairs in three or four bounds banged and bolted the door of the upper chamber and his unbidden guests were left looking at each other in bewildered silence
Lady Palliser after a gasp or two was the first to speak
Did you ever see such manner she exclaimed such a perfect brute Vernie you must never speak to that horrid creature again I never want to have anything more to do with University men if this is a specimen of their manners Never so much as to take off his hat to us
We had no right to come crowding into his room said Bessie who could seldom find it in her heart to be angry with anyone I daresay the poor thing feels the change in his position When Brian of the Abbey comes home—if ever he does come home—Ill ask him to hunt this poor fellow out and help him in some way One Balliol man ought to help another
Let us go back to the carriage instantly said Lady Palliser almost shouting the substantive in order that Jack might be reminded what kind of people he had insulted by his ruffianly bearing I feel that I am bemeaning myself every moment I stay in this house
They hurried down the sandy hill path to the road where they had left the carriage and Lady Palliser hustled them into it breathless with the combined effect of the rapid descent and her indignation
Why Ida how deadly pale you are exclaimed Bessie I hope you are not ill Have we walked too fast for you
No dear—only—that mans face reminded me—
Of Brians when he first came home from Norway and was so dreadfully sunburnt said Bessie so it did me The idea flashed upon me as the rude wretch rushed past us that he had a sort of look of Brian Just the way he carried his head you know and something in the shape of his shoulders—not a real resemblance
Of course not
CHAPTER XXIX
AS ONE DEAD IN THE BOTTOM OF A TOMB
Dr Mallison came to Wimperfield at the same hour as on the occasion of his first visit He was with the patient for nearly halfanhour and he confabulated with Mr Fosbroke for at least another half hour so it could not be said that he performed the physicians duty in a careless or perfunctory manner But his opinion was not hopeful and there was a gravity in his manner when he talked to Ida and her stepmother which was evidently intended to prepare them for the worst He gave a peremptory order for a second nurse an ablebodied experienced woman who could relieve Towler in his now most onerous duties—duties growing hourly more painful since the last development of the patients delirium was a violent hatred of his attendant who as he believed was always lying in wait to do him some injury Dr Mallison also advised that Mrs Wendover should no longer occupy the bedroom adjoining her husbands Upon this point he was very firm when Ida urged her anxiety to forego no duty which she owed to her husband
I am so sorry for him she said I would do anything in the world to help or to comfort him
Unhappily dear madam you can do neither When these paroxysms are upon him he will mistake his best friend for his worst enemy—he was quite violent to Towler just now You can do absolutely nothing and your presence is even likely to irritate him He must be given over entirely to his nurses Towler will obey my directions implicitly and the female attendant—Mr Fosbroke tells me he can find a thoroughly competent person—will assist him in carrying them out If we can stimulate the patients vital power which is just now at the lowest ebb and if we can induce natural sleep why there may still be a favourable result But I do not conceal from you that Mr Wendovers condition is critical—very critical Lady Palliser you will insist I hope that your daughter removes to an apartment at some distance from her husbands for the present A few days hence when the delirium is subjugated as I trust it may be by—ahem—the removal of the exciting cause Mrs Wendover may resume her attendance upon her husband Just at present the less she sees of him the better for both
Ida could not disobey this injunction especially as Lady Palliser and Mrs Jardine took the matter into their own hands Jane Dyson was ordered to convey all Mrs Wendovers belongings to a room on the second and topmost floor of the mansion exactly over that she now occupied—a fine airy apartment with a magnificent view but less lofty and less ponderously furnished than the apartments of the first floor Bessie vowed that this upper chamber with its French bedstead and light chintz draperies and maple furniture was a much prettier room than the one below She ran up and down stairs carrying flowers Japanese fans teatables and other frivolities until she made the new room a perfect bower and then carried Ida off triumphantly to inspect her new quarters
Isnt it lovely she said such a nice change Do let us have our tea up here if that good Dyson wont mind bringing it Nearly six oclock and we havent had a cup of tea I do so enjoy thoroughly new surroundings Well have the table just in front of this window What a sweet architect to give this room windows down to the ground and a lovely balcony You must have some large Japanese vases in the balcony Ida That lovely deep red or orange tawny Oh you poor pet how wretched you look
I have just been talking to the new nurse Bessie She seems a good honest creature She has nursed other people in the same complaint and—and—she thinks Brian is desperately ill
Oh but he may get over it dear The London doctor did not give him up and there is no good in your making yourself ill with worry and fear If you do you wont be able to wait upon Brian when he begins to get better and convalescents want so much attention dont you know
The tea came and Bessie persuaded her friend to take some prattling on all the time in the hope of diverting Ida from the silent contemplation of her trouble But the horror of the case had taken too stern a hold upon Idas brain It was the dominant idea as with the somnambulist whose perceptions are dead to every other subject save the one absorbing thought and all subsidiary ideas linked with it by the subtle chain of association Ida smiled a wan smile and pretended to be interested in Bessies parochial anecdotes—the idiosyncrasies of the new curate the fatuity of every young woman in the parish in running after him
He is such a perfect stick but then certainly there is no other single man in the parish under forty He is like Robinson Crusoe It is an awfully deceptive position for a young man to occupy I know he is beginning to think himself quite handsome while as for pimples—well his face is like a Wiltshire meadow before it has been bushharrowed
Ida did not go down to dinner that evening She felt utterly unequal to the effort of pretended cheerfulness and she did not want to inflict a countenance of stony gloom upon Mr and Mrs Jardine or on Vernie who was going to dine late for the first time since his illness So she sat by the open window overlooking the woods gray in the universal twilight grayness and she read Victor Cousins History of Philosophy which was a great deal more comforting than fiction or poetry would have been as it carried her into regions of abstract thought where human troubles entered not
For the next three days things went on quietly enough Brian never left his own apartments now an ample range since Idas bedroom had been thrown into the suite so as to give him space and verge enough for his roaming when the restless fit was on him and alas how seldom did he cease from his restlessness He now saw scarcely anyone but his nurses and Mr Fosbroke who called three times a day and was altogether devoted in his watchfulness of the case
Ida had not ceased from visiting the invalid until it became too obvious that her presence was irritating to him He recalled the most painful scenes of their past experience raved about his marriage and accused his wife of cruelty and greed of wealth wept stormed blasphemed until Ida rushed shuddering from the room To the nurses this wild talk was only part and parcel of the patients hallucinations to Ida it was too real
Mr Jardine and his wife stayed till the end of the week but on Saturday the Vicar was compelled to go back to his parishioners and although Bessie wanted to remain at Wimperfield separating herself from her husband for the first time in her wedded life Ida would not consent to such a sacrifice Vernon who was pronounced thoroughly convalescent was to go back to Salisbury Plain with the Jardines everybody being agreed that Wimperfield Park was no place for him under existing circumstances If Brians malady were doomed to end fatally it was well that the boy should be gone before the dreaded guest crossed the threshold
Ida saw her friends depart with a sense of despair too deep for words She hugged Vernie with the passionate fervour of one who never hoped to see him more She felt as if it were she whose hours were numbered she for whom the thin thread of life was gradually dwindling to nothingness The very atmosphere was charged with the odour of death The light was shadowed by the gloom of the grave Again and again in troubled dreams she had recalled that dreadful scene in the church with Brian and she had seen the worms crawling out through the mouldering timbers of the churchfloor—she had smelt the sickening taint of corruption
She stood in the portico in the early summer morning watching Mr Jardines phaeton dwindle to a speck in the distance of the avenue and then she went slowly back to the house feeling as if she were quite alone in her misery It was not that Fanny Palliser was wanting in kindness or sympathy but she was wanting in comprehension of Idas feelings and the stronger nature could not lean upon the weaker and then the mother would be absorbed in her grief at the loss of her boy who had become doubly precious since his illness No Ida felt that now John Jardine was gone she must bear her burden alone Help for her strength outside her own courageous nature there was none
She longed on this exquisite morning to be roaming about the park and woods or riding far afield but she had made up her mind that so long as her husband remained in his present critical condition it was her duty to stay close at hand within call lest at any moment there might be a return to reason and she might again have power to soothe and support him as she had done many a time in the long downhill progress of his malady
With this idea she spent the greater part of her day in the bedroom which Bessie had made so bright and so comfortable Here she was within easy reach of the nurse in the rooms below and could be summoned to her husband without a minutes delay Here she had her favourite books and the view of park and woods in all their summer glory She could sit out in her balcony reading or looking idly at the wide expanse of hill and valley brooding sadly over days that were gone full of fear for the immediate present and not daring to face the dreaded future
Dont think me unsociable she said to Lady Palliser before going back to her room after a hasty breakfast but I am too completely miserable to put on the faintest show of cheerfulness and I should only make you wretched if I were with you Go out for a drive and pay a few visits mamma You have had a trying time and you must want a little change of scene
I believe I do Ida replied Lady Palliser gravely I feel that I am below par and that I really want sea air What should you think of our going to Bournemouth directly after the funeral
The funeral murmured Ida pale as death
Yes dear Mr Fosbroke has quite given up all hope I know and after the funeral you will want a change as badly as I do I thought it would be as well to write to the Bournemouth agent to secure nice apartments for I shouldnt care about staying at an hotel
Oh mamma dont make your plans so much beforehand Wait till he is dead said Ida bitterly
There seemed to her something ghoulish and stonyhearted in this prevision of coming doom this arrangement for making the best of life and being comfortable when the sufferer upstairs should have ceased from the struggle with mans last foe
Lady Palliser contrived to get on without her stepdaughters society She had Jane Dyson who was a person of considerable conversational powers and who had an inexhaustible wellspring of interesting discourse in her recollections of the Archbishops wifes lingering illness The mistress and maid spent the morning not unpleasantly in conversation of the charnel house order and in looking over Lady Pallisers wardrobe with a view to discovering what new mourning she would require in the event of Brians death She had liked him and had been kind to him in life and she was not going to stint him in death by any false economy in crape or bugles
CHAPTER XXX
A FIERY DAWN
The Jardines had been gone three days and there was no change either for good or evil in Brians condition Mr Fosbroke admitted that he was as ill as he could possibly be—the malady must either take a turn for the better or end fatally within a day or two The servants all talked of the impending funeral as complacently as Lady Palliser The event must happen and it would be as well to make the best of it They had not yet gone out of mourning for Sir Reginald and here was another death at hand to start them again with new suits of black This was one of the advantages of service in a really good family where the King of Terrors was treated with proper distinction
It was eleven oclock at night and the house was hushed in silence—save in that suite of rooms where the invalid and his nurses were hardly ever at rest One of the men servants slept in his clothes on a truckle bed in the corridor ready for service in any emergency Every one else had gone to bed except Ida who sat at her window looking out at the wild windy sky and the forest trees swaying in the gale
The day had been rainy and tempestuous and the wind was still raging—just such a wind as Ida remembered upon Bessies birthday the day of that terrible storm which had cost so many lives and had made Reginald Palliser master of Wimperfield
She sat gazing idly at the sky in sheer despondency and weariness Her devotional books which had been her chief comfort in these dark days and nights lay unopened on her table The effort to read any other kind of literature had been abandoned for the last day or two Her mind refused to understand the words which her eyes mechanically perused She could only read such books as spoke of comfort to a weary soul of hope beyond a sinful world
She had eaten hardly anything for the last few days living on cups of tea and semitransparent slices of bread and butter Her nights had been almost sleepless her brief snatches of slumber disturbed by hideous dreams She was thoroughly worn out in body and mind and as she sat by the open window loosely dressed in a tea gown with a chinacrape shawl wrapped round her shoulders the monotonous moaning of the wind in the elms had a soothing sound like a lullaby and hushed her to sleep She lay back in her low luxurious chair with her head half buried in the comfortable down pillow and slept as she had not slept for a month It was the slumber of sheer exhaustion deep and sweet and long—very long for when she opened her eyes and looked about her awakened by a strange oppression of the chest there was the livid light of earliest dawn in the room—a light that changed all at once to a bright red glow vivid as the sky at sundown
The oppression of her breath increased she felt suffocated The livid dawn the crimson sunset changed to gray the atmosphere around her grew thick there was a smarting sensation in her eyes a stifling sensation in her throat Mechanically not knowing what she did she began to grope her way to the door But in that thickening atmosphere she did not know which was the door—her outspread arms clasped some heavy piece of furniture—the wardrobe She leaned against it exhausted helpless stupified by that horrible smoke and as she leaned there a wild shrill shriek pealed out from below—the cry of Fire Again and again that dreadful cry resounded in a womans piercing treble Then came a hubbub of other voices—without within—she could not tell where or how near or how far—but all the sounds seemed distant
She could just see the open window by which she had been sleeping a few minutes ago—she could distinguish it by the red light outside which was just visible through the dense smoke within momently thickening
She made for the window—anything to escape from that suffocating atmosphere but just as she was approaching that red patch of light shining amidst the blackness a sudden tongue of flame shot up from below caught the light chintz drapery and in an instant the window was framed in fire The flame ran from one curtain to another fanned by the wind which was still blowing—valence draperies all the ornamentation of the three windows were in a blaze Ida stood helpless motionless as Lots wife confronting the flames To rush through them to leap through the open window although it were to certain death was her first impulse Any death must be better than to fall down suffocated on the floor and to be burned alive
Then came the thought of her husband—so weak and mad and helpless—of her stepmother Were they too in danger of instant death Or was she on this upper floor the only victim
The thin chintz curtains flamed and blazed into nothingness while she was looking at them The woodwork round the windows crackled and blistered but the flame died out into ashes Only the intolerable smoke remained and the everincreasing glow of the fire below more vivid with every moment She made one mad rush for the balcony Great Heaven what a scene greeted her eyes as she looked downwards Masses of flame mingled with black smoke clouds were being vomited out of the lowerwindows There was a little crowd of men below—gardeners stablemen who lived close at hand Some of these were making feeble efforts with garden engines sending out little jets of water which seemed only to feed the flames as if the water had been oil while others were trying to adjust a fire escape deposited in the stables years ago in the reign of Sir Reginalds father and out of working order from long disuse Three or four grooms were rushing to and fro with buckets and splashing water against the stone walls with an utter absence of any effect whatever
Ida stood in the balcony leaning against the ironwork waiting for rescue or death The atmosphere was a little less stifling here but every now and then a dense cloud of smoke rolled over her and almost suffocated her before the wind drove it upward The sky was alight with reflected fire The burning pyre of Dido or Sardanapalus could hardly have made a grander effect—and far away in the east against the dark undulations of wooded hills there was another light—the tender roseate flush of summer dawn full of promise and peace
Ida stood with clasped hands and lips moving dumbly in prayer She gave her soul back to her Creator she prayed for pardon for her sins she closed her eyes waiting meekly for death
Suddenly as she prayed full of resignation the balcony creaked under a footstep—a strong arm was wound round her waist—she was lifted bodily over the iron rail and carried carefully firmly easily down a ladder amidst a shout of rapture from the little crowd below
Every Englishman is not heroic but every Englishman knows how to admire heroism in his fellowman
Before the bearer of his burden reached the lowest rung of the ladder Ida was unconscious She lay lifeless and helpless in her preservers arms When they were on the solid ground he bent his bare head over hers which rested on his shoulder and kissed her on the forehead
The crowd saw and did not condemn the action
It might be a liberty said the head gardener but hed earned the right to do it None of us could have done what he did
When Ida awakened to consciousness she was lying in the lodgekeepers little bedroom at the Park gates and her stepmother was seated at the bedside ready to offer her the usual remedy for all feminine woes—a cup of tea
Thank God you are safe said Ida the memory of that terrible dawn quickly recurring to her mind a little bewildered at the first moment by her strange surroundings Where is Brian
Fanny Palliser burst into tears
Oh Ida it was Brian set the house on fire in one of his mad fits—hunting for some horrible thing behind his bedcurtains and poor Towler and the nurse were both asleep when it happened—at least Towler who was sitting up with him had fallen into a doze and heard Brian talk about looking for serpents in the curtains and then about flames and fire—but didnt take any notice or so much as open his eyes—for his talk had been so often of fire and flames—poor creature—and when he woke the whole room was in a blaze and the fire had spread through the open door to the window curtains in the next room Towler and the nurse and Rogers all did their uttermost and risked their lives trying to get Brian away but he wouldnt leave the burning rooms He got wilder and wilder and then just as they were calling a couple of the stablemen to help them meaning to get him away by main force he rushed to the window and threw himself out
And he was killed cried Ida
Yes the shock killed him But you know dear theres no use in fretting Mr Fosbroke says that he could not have lived till the end of the week His constitution was quite gone It was a happy release
Not such a death murmured Ida tears streaming down her wan cheeks such a death could not be a happy release
Lady Palliser shook her head and sighed plaintively Perhaps she had been inclined to take the survivors view of the question Euthanasia to Fanny Pallisers mind meant a death which relieves the family of the deceased from the burden of a long illness
He did not suffer at all dearest she said soothingly
Mr Fosbroke said the shock killed him There were no bones broken He fell on the grass in front of the library windows And oh Ida what a blessing that everything at Wimperfield is fully insured The house is completely gutted
Ida could not feel sorry about Wimperfield The place had been to her of late the abode of horror If she could be glad of anything in her present frame of mind it would have been to know that Wimperfield House was razed to the ground
The portico and the walls are standing pursued Lady Palliser and no doubt a clever architect will be able to build the house up again in the old style
But mamma it was an ugly uninteresting house—not a hundred years old
Exactly so If it had been really an old house one would be glad to get rid of it but it was all as good as new and so thoroughly substantial and how you can call it ugly with such a portico I cant imagine I wonder you have not more classical taste I love anything Grecian The only thing I ever felt proud of at Les Fontaines was the plaster urns with scarlet geraniums in them
Mamma how was I saved Who was it saved me asked Ida presently when she had taken her cup of tea and the Swiss clock over the chimneypiece had struck nine
The sun was shining through the open lattice and upon the roses and the lilies in the little lodge garden Everything wore a glad and cheerful aspect in the summer morning
Ah my dear that is a story exclaimed Lady Palliser nodding her head with intense significance and pleased at being able to divert Idas thoughts from her husbands miserable end I never did You will be surprised Oh my dear I thought it was all over with you All the gardeners and stablemen were there—and Rogers—and John and William—and Henry—half dressed and in slippers poor creatures and I begged and implored of them to save you—to get to your room somehow—inside or out But the staircase to the second floor was choked with smoke and flame and falling timbers one of the men tried to go up but he came back and said he must wait for the firemen—nobody but a fireman could do it And then they got ladders but the first ladder wasnt long enough and nobody seemed to be in their proper senses Thomas rode off to Petersfield for the engine directly the fire broke out but thats eight miles off as you know and it all seemed hopeless I was running about among them all like a mad woman in my dressinggown and slippers and as for Jane Dyson she sat on the lowest step of the portico and went out of one fit of hysterics into another just as she did when the Archbishops wife died and I thought all hope was over when a man rushed in among us snatched the longest ladder from the men who were bringing it from the walled garden and put it up against the balcony He went up it just like a sailor and before I could hardly breathe he was coming down again with you in his arms safe and sound And who do you think the man was
The firebrigade man I suppose
Not a bit of it The man who saved you was Vernies friend Cheap Jack
CHAPTER XXXI
SOLE PARTNER AND SOLE PART OF ALL THESE JOYS
More than a year had gone by since that awful night and a new Wimperfield House was slowly rising from the ashes of the Bath stone mansion with the Grecian portico Only the walls and the portico had remained intact after the fire and these had been pulled down to make room for a spacious edifice in the Early English manner the heavy insurances on the old building providing for the cost of this newer and more beautiful Wimperfield But Ida was not near to watch the new Wimperfield in the progress of erection She had spent the greater part of the last year at the Homestead with Miss Wendover and the residue with her stepmother at Bournemouth where Lady Palliser had taken and furnished for herself one of the pretty villas on the Boscomb estate a pleasant home for the placid joys of widowhood and a nice place for Vernons holidays were he contented to spend them there which he was not greatly preferring the more rustic life of Kingthorpe Here he was a welcome guest both at the Knoll and at the Homestead while there was a third house open to him within a walk of the village for Mr Wendover had returned from his distant wanderings and he and Vernie were on very friendly terms
Ida had as yet seen but little of the master of the Abbey albeit she heard of him almost daily from some of The Knoll family He had returned at Easter unexpectedly as usual and much to the surprise of a neighbourhood which had grown accustomed to the idea of his never coming back at all But although he had settled himself at the Abbey declaring that he had made an end of his wanderings seen all he wanted to see and never meant to go far afield any more he had taken no share in the picnics and rustic festivities with which the Knoll family celebrated their worship of the great god Pan whereupon Blanche informed her cousin frankly that he was not half so nice as he had been seven years ago when he had joined in their fungus hunts and barrow hunts and blackberry gatherings just as if he had been one of themselves
Seven years ago I was seven years younger Blanche We were all children then
Blanche sighed and shook her head despondently
As for me I feel centuries old she said but that is only natural in such a deadandalive hole as Kingthorpe
Which speech being interpreted meant that Miss Wendover had not had a new frock or an invitation to a garden party for the last fortnight
Still she argued one ought to make the best of ones life even at Kingthorpe and picnics and rambles help one to endure existence You used to be such a delightful companion and now no one but little Vernie ever seems to get any fun out of you He is always talking of the larks he has at the Abbey
Sir Vernon is good enough to call the mildest form of diversion a lark said Brian Wendover smiling at her
Come now I will make a bargain with you said Blanche John Jardine and Bess are coming over next week to spend Bessies birthday with us which as you know is a family festival that we never allow to be celebrated anywhere else Bess and John and the babies are coming to us and Vernon Palliser is going to the Homestead and his mother is coming over from Bournemouth to stay a few days with Aunt Betsy so you see it will be a grand family gathering of Wendovers and Pallisers Now if you are anything like the man you were seven years ago prove it by joining us on this occasion
I cannot refuse and I will try my uttermost to forget that I have lived seven lonely years since that happy summer
Ah it was a happy summer sighed Blanche who affected to be weighed down by the burden of mature years I wasnt out in those days and I hadnt a care
What form does your festival take this year and where do you mean to celebrate it
Oh a picnic of course if this lovely weather only holds out We have not had one really proper picnic this year
But dont you think the seventh of September is just a little late for an al fresco feast Suppose we were to make it luncheon and afternoon tea at the Abbey with unlimited tennis in the afternoon
That would be simply delicious said Blanche concluding that Mr Wendover intended to invite all the eligible young men of his acquaintance to be found within twenty miles
Then it is agreed You need give yourself no further trouble You have only to bring your people—the Knoll party and the Homestead party
Precisely Of course you can ask as many as you like
The year which was gone had been one of perfect peace for Ida peace overshadowed by the memories of pain and horror but those memories had been lightened and her mind had been comforted and soothed and fortified by Aunt Betsys loving companionship by that commonsense and broad way of thinking which was as a tower of strength in the day of trouble Yet for months after that awful time at Wimperfield her nights had been broken by dreadful dreams or too vivid reminiscences of her husbands evil fate that terrible decay of mind and body that gradual annihilation of the energies and powers of manhood which it had been her painful lot to witness
Aunt Betsy took care that the young widows days should be too busy for much thought She found constant occupation for her She sent her about to the remotest corners of the parish to minister to the sorrows of others she gave her the sick to nurse and the old and feeble to care for and the young to teach so that there should be no leisure left from dawn to sunset for futile lamenting over the irrevocable past But in the silence of night those dreaded memories crept out of their hidingplaces as other vermin creep out of their holes under cover of darkness and it was long before they began to grow less vivid and less terrible
From the moment Miss Wendover appeared at Wimperfield on the afternoon after the fire coming as quickly after the receipt of the news as horses could convey her Ida had been sheltered and protected by her love No sooner was Brian laid at rest in his grave in Wimperfield churchyard than Aunt Betsy carried off the hopeless brokendown widow to the Homestead where Ida resumed all her old duties so that there were times when it seemed as if all the years of her married life were but a dream from which she had awakened a dream which had subdued and saddened her whole nature and had made her feel old and weary
But there was much of happiness in her life so much that she was fain to put aside all signs and tokens of grief except her dense black gowns and crape bonnets and to rejoice with those who rejoiced for here was Aunt Betsy the most cheery and unselfish of women whose life ought to be all sunshine inasmuch as she spent so large a portion of it in brightening the lives of others and here were the boys and girls from the Knoll always in uproarious spirits and wanting Idas sympathy in all their delights and here was Vernon coming over from the Vicarage on Salisbury Plain at all times and seasons for a few days holiday rosier and stronger and more sporting every time she saw him great upon hawking and hunting and full of grand schemes for his future life at the new Wimperfield He had forgotten Brians melancholy doom as easily as youth is apt to forget everything in the hurry and ardour of lifes morning but his love for his sister knew no abatement He wanted her to share in all his future joys
You are not going to stay at the Homestead all your life are you he asked one day Of course you are going back to Wimperfield directly the new house is finished
No dear I could never live at Wimperfield again—it would recall too many sad scenes When Aunt Betsy is tired of me I shall go abroad I have seen so little of the world you know
Oh if you want to travel you can go with me when I come of age but in the meantime you must help mother to keep house at Wimperfield It will be quite a new place—everything new—nothing to remind you of father or Brian And then in a few years I shall be of age and then we can go off to the Rockies together
With Cheap Jack for our guide philosopher and friend said Ida
Well no Im afraid Cheap Jack wont go with us answered Vernon laughing
I have such a reason to be grateful to him that I could hardly object to his company said Ida and I am quite unhappy at never having been able to thank him or reward him for saving my life
He didnt want to be thanked or rewarded Didnt I tell you that he was not that kind of man
But why should any man go through life doing good to others and never getting thanks or praise for his goodness said Ida It is a most unpleasant form of misanthropy I feel quite uncomfortable under the burden of my obligations to Mr Jack and though I have made every effort to put myself in communication with him through Mr Mason and others I have not been able to find out where he is or anything about him
Odd isnt it said Vernon He left the cottage on the day after the fire didnt he shut it up and took the key to Lord Pontifexs steward and drove off with his books and things packed in his cart goodness knows where after having made a free gift of his stock to the villagers
Not a very profitable way of carrying on business said Ida He must have had means independent of his trade
Well I dont suppose we shall ever see him again returned Vernon cheerfully somewhat to Idas disgust for this indifference to the sudden close of a once enthusiastic friendship argued a lightness and fickleness of disposition in Sir Vernon Palliser
And now it was again the eve of Bessies birthday that day which had twice been fraught with fatal influences for Bessies friend and Ida could not put away the feeling that this seventh of September finding her once again on the scene of past fatalities must needs bring her some new evil some undreamed of crisis in her life Yet what would happen to her now she asked herself The play was played out She had lived her life For her tragedy and comedy were alike over and done with
The morning of the seventh dawned fair and bright If there were any omen in those pinky clouds which flecked the tender gray of early morning surely it must be a portent of good and not of evil although Lady Palliser who was not given to overcheerful views declared at breakfast that such roseate hues in early morning meant bad weather before noon
Let the weather be never so unkind well find a way of enjoying ourselves at the Abbey said Aunt Betsy who was in tremendous spirits wont we Vernie
Of course answered Vernon Mother has a new bonnet and is afraid of getting it spoiled The weather wont interfere with us We can play hideandseek in the Abbey cellars
Oh Vernie and get shut behind a secret panel or in a chest like that poor girl in the poem Ida used to read to us
Dont be afraid mother If I get into a chest you may depend I shall know how to get out of it That girl in the poem was a duffer for not having made more row and her lover was a beastly sneak for not ferreting out her hidingplace
They ought to have had a detective down from London remarked Lady
Palliser ignoring both the scene and the date of the story
Her reading had lain much among novels in which the private detective was omnipotent the unraveller of all mysteries the avenger of every wrong
Miss Wendover drove Lady Palliser to the Abbey in her phaeton and the party from the Knoll went in the roomy family waggonette but Vernon and his sister walked across the fields and the common by that path which Ida had trodden on the day she first saw the master of the Abbey How vividly she recalled her feelings on that day—the pain and embarrassment she felt in Brian Wendovers presence the agony of humiliation And then had followed the too happy too perilous days in which he had been her familiar friend the fatal night on which he had declared himself her lover
Well she was free now She could meet him and think of him without sin but since his return she had met him at most half a dozen times and then always in the company of other people He had greeted her cordially as friend should greet friend but he had not sought her society He knew that she was living in his aunts house but he had only been to that house once since his return
Time was time is times past said the brazen oracle Ida began to tell herself that for her time was verily past Life and youth and love had been hers but fate had been adverse and she had wasted them and they were over and gone
She had some time for pensive reverie as she walked to the Abbey Vernon being as usual more occupied by the inhabitants of the hedges and ditches than by his companion but once arrived at the Abbey there was no time for sadness Bessie was on the threshold to welcome her and the whole Knoll family were swarming in the great hall where Brian standing under the picture of the famous Sir Tristram was giving cordial welcome to everyone
How handsome he looked under the likeness of his ancestor and how vividly the modern face recalled the ancestral lineaments Time had only deepened the noble lines of his countenance and added dignity to his figure and bearing He looked happy too like a man upon whom the future smiles assuringly The fancy flashed across Idas mind that he was engaged to be married and that he meant to announce the fact to his family today perhaps and to introduce the lady She looked hastily round the hall almost expecting to see some new face young lovely beaming with smiles—the face of the chosen one But there was no one except Lady Palliser and the house of Wendover
I have not asked any strangers Blanche said Brian I thought we should all have more fun if we had the old place to ourselves
How good of you replied the matronly Bess Im sure we shall all enjoy ourselves ever so much more
Blanche was disappointed Lawntennis among relations was all very well but she had plenty of that at the Knoll She felt sorry she had put on her best hat and Indian silk frock elaborately frilled with twinecoloured lace A cotton gown and the oldest thing in garden hats would have been good enough for such an assembly
The Colonel and Mrs Wendover had driven over with their children It was quite a family party—Bessies babies a girl able to toddle and a boy in the nurses arms were the great features of the entertainment the grandmother openly worshipping them the grandfather condescending to occasional patronage of this third generation but evidently anxious to dissemble his pride
Bessie makes such a preposterous fuss about her babies said Blanche after declining lawntennis with Eva and her two brothers I hope if ever I am deluded into marrying I shall not degenerate into an upper nurse
The Abbey had been swept and garnished in honour of the occasion every room brightened with flowers—even that sacred apartment Brians study thrown open to the public After luncheon it happened somehow—Ida could hardly have explained how—that she and Brian were alone together in this very room the afternoon sunlight shining on them—for in spite of Lady Pallisers prophecy the day had been lovely—the scent of stocks and mignonette and sweetpeas blowing in upon them from the oldfashioned garden at the back of the Abbey They had strayed to this spot with the others and the others had strayed off and left them Ida looking absently at the backs of the Greek dramatists Brian looking intently at her
I dont think you have been in this house since the day we first met in the hall below he said interrogatively
No I have never been here since
And yet you were once fond of the Abbey You used to like wandering about the old house and gardens You would sit reading in the library The housekeeper has often talked to me about you
She stood before him with lowered eyelids pale and dumb shrinking from him almost as she had shrunk from him seven years ago by the old sundial in the moonlit garden when it was a sin to listen to his ardent avowal
Ida why are you silent Why will you not speak of the past
The past is past she said falteringly It was full of grief and shame for me I want to forget it if I can
Forget all that is bitter remember all that is sweet he pleaded drawing nearer to her There is much of that old time which is unspeakably dear to me—the happy time in which I first loved you deeming you were free to be loved and won You are free now Ida sole mistress of your fate and mine and I love you as dearly now as I loved you seven years ago More I could not love you for I loved you then with all my heart and mind Ida you once talked of being mistress of Wendover Abbey Its master is at your feet your faithful slave to the end of his life Will you have this old house for your own Ida and thus and thus only make it home for me
His arm was round her gently experimentally the answer not being quite certain even yet
She slowly lifted the darkfringed lids looked at him with adoring eyes—eyes which never before had looked thus upon the face of man
Can you be in earnest she asked in a low sweet voice Can you lift me so high—I that had fallen so low
He clasped her to his heart and sealed the promise of their unclouded future with a passionate kiss
At last at last I hold you in my arms he said fondly but not for the first time my angel
What do you mean
Who was it carried you out of the burning house last year he asked smiling at her
Cheap Jack
I was Cheap Jack
You
Yes I lived far from the sight of this dear face as long as I could bear my life and then after five years of exile in far lands where my soul sickened for the sight of you I came back to England heard in London that your husband was an idler and a drunkard and foresaw evil days for my darling I could be nothing to her but at least I could watch over her near at hand yet unknown So I took up my abode on the Hanger within a mile or so of her dwelling Dont pity me dearest It was not a hard life after all I had my books and Nature for my companions all the joy I could have not having you
However shall I repay you
Only look up to me as you looked just now and let me feel you are my own for ever