CHAPTER XXII.
THE REAL THING AND NO MISTAKE.
'With asses all his time he spent, Their club's perpetual president, He caught their manners, looks, and airs-- An ass in everything but ears.' _Gay._
The master of the house was unable to contribute much more than hisname to the propriety of the arrival of the suitors, and this madeWilmet the more determined that Geraldine should precede them. Nor,since the half-crown must be disbursed on an escort for her, did thehousewifely conscience object to the expedition; for Wilmet could notbut long to thank the Superior and Sister Constance, and to obtainDr. Lee's advice as to future management. Her coming was great joyto Cherry, who had dreaded the meeting almost with a sense of guilt,though still hoping Felix had been silent on her motive; and Wilmet didnot betray him, but only treated her sister with a mixture of almostshy tenderness and reverence. Nor did Cherry dare to ask a questionas to Wilmet's own affairs, nor even about Ferdinand Travis, lest sheshould seem to be leading in that direction. However, Wilmet, in apersuasive tone, communicated that Ferdinand had been long withoutwriting, and though Cherry tried to be sorry for Alda, her spiritquailed at the state of temper her sister evidently meant to prepareher for.
But fate was more kind than she expected. That very Saturday broughtboth gentlemen, and by the same train. They made each other out as theywere leaving their bags at the Fortinbras Arms, and arrived togetherin marked contrast--the tall, dark, regular-featured, soft-eyedLife-guardsman, and the little sandy freckled sun-dried engineer;and thus two courtships had to be carried on in the two rooms, onlysupplemented by the narrow parallelogram of a garden! For FerdinandTravis was back again, rather amused at the family astonishment at therapidity of his journey to America, which to his Transatlantic notionsof travel was as nothing, and indeed had been chiefly performed in abig steamer, where he could smoke to his heart's content.
For the first few days there was a good deal of restraint: Wilmet wasmore shy than in the unconscious days of Bexley; while John Harewoodwas devoid of his family's assurance and bonhomie, and so thoroughlymodest and diffident as to risk nothing by precipitation in beggingfor a decision. Felix, inexperienced, and strongly sensible of hisoffice as guardian of his sister's dignity, would not hint at theresult of his investigations into Wilmet's sentiments; and it was toGeraldine that Captain Harewood's attentions were chiefly paid. KnowingAlda's resolute monopoly of her Cacique, Cherry at first held back,and restrained her keen enjoyment of real conversation; but she foundWilmet thankful to have the talk done for her, and content to sit atwork, listening almost in silence, but proud that her Captain shouldbe interested in her sister, and pleased to see Cherry's expressiveface flash and sparkle all over for him. While Wilmet was at MissPearson's, Cherry was his chief resource; they read, drew, and talked,and in that half-hour's out-of-door exercise, which Dr. Lee had sostrongly enjoined, his arm was at her service. They were soon on theborders of confidence, though never quite plunging over them. Perhapsthe broad open-mouthed raillery at his home made the gentle reticenceof the Underwoods the more agreeable to him; at any rate, he did nottry to break through it, nor to presume beyond the step he had gained.Alda, who could best perhaps have acted as helper, had her own affairsto attend to; and they were evidently unsatisfactory, for Ferdinandwas more than ever the silent melancholy Don, and she was to domesticeyes visibly cross, and her half-year at home had rendered her muchless capable of concealing ill-humour. Something was owing to wear andsuspense, together with the effects of the summer heat and confinedmonotonous life without change or luxury; but much was chargeable onthe manifestations of temper to which she had given way in the homecircle. She told Wilmet the trouble, which Ferdinand wished to havekept from open discussion till he had received a final statement of hismeans to lay before Felix. He had received no remittances since thespring, and on demanding his own share of the capital and investments,had found it, instead of the lion's, a ridiculously small portion. Thewhole fortunes of the house of Travis had been built on his mother'sinheritance; but the accounts laid before him represented all theunprosperous speculations undertaken by his father, William, while thesmall ventures of his Uncle Alfred had, alongside of them, swelled intothe huge wealth of which Ferdinand had been bred to believe himselfthe heir! So palpably outrageous was this representation, that hehad persuaded himself that personal investigation on the spot wouldclear it up, or perhaps more truly, his blood was up, and he could notbear to be inactive. He had rushed over to New York, and of course hehad been baffled. Exposure was of no use where sympathy was for thelucky rather than the duped and luckless, and where the AnglicisedLife-guardsman could expect it least of all--at a time, too, when allbusiness affairs were convulsed by the uncertainties of civil war. Aldacould not believe at first that he had done his utmost, and seemed tohave reproached him with weakness and mismanagement; but by her ownaccount she had roused the innate lion. He would not tell her whathad passed in the interview with his uncle, but he had shuddered overthe remembrance; and when she upbraided him with not having gone farenough, he terrified her by the fierceness with which he had turnedupon her, bidding her never recur to what she knew nothing about, andmuttering to himself, 'Far enough--thank God I went no further, orI should not be here now!' and then falling into deep gloom. He hadcertainly made Alda afraid of him, and she burst into tears as she toldWilmet, declaring herself the most miserable girl in the world.
'No, that you can't be, Alda, while he is so good and true.'
'But he says he must sell out! Think of that! Never was anybody sotaken in as I have been!'
'Don't talk so, Alda. It is just as if you had engaged yourself to aLife-guardsman and nothing else.'
'I wonder how you would like to be buried in some horrid wild place inAmerica, where you would never see anybody!'
'One would not want to see anybody but him.'
'That's your nonsense! How tired of it one would be!'
'There would be no time. It would be so nice to do everything for himoneself!'
'In some horrid uncivilized place, with no servants! I'm not goingto be a drudge. It is all very well for you, who like it, and haveno notion of society, but for me--! And there he is furious to takeme out. Men grow so wild and rough too in such places. You never sawanything blaze like his eyes!'
'I don't understand you. Could not you trust yourself anywhere withhim?'
'You have no right to say such things,' pouted Alda, 'only because Ihave a little common prudence. Some one must have it!'
There was no denying that life in the far west would be a foolish thingeither for or with Alda; and Felix thought so when Ferdinand came tohim for consultation over the letters that made it finally clear thatAlfred Travis had appropriated everything available but half a blockof unreclaimed land on the wrong side of America, and a few thousandsinvested in Peter Brown's firm; and what was worse, the sudden failureof the supplies had occasioned serious debts. Ferdinand's own plan wasto clear these off with the price of his commission, and take Alda outwith him to rule in American luxury over the unbounded resources of themagnificent land, the very name and scent of which had awakened in himhis old prairie-land instincts, and her absolute refusal and even alarmat his enjoyment had greatly mortified him. 'She should not even haveto rough it,' he said. 'I could make her like a queen out there, if shewould only believe it.'
Felix could not but think Alda might be wise, though it was not prettywisdom. Go out alone and make the fortune? Ferdinand did not seem tothink the separation possible. He said he would rather go to work inPeter Brown's office, where he had already a hold; and his familiaritywith Spanish would secure him usefulness and promotion, and five or sixyears would bring him into a position to marry. He did not look fit fordesk-work in London, but his mind was made up to any privation, so thathe could be in reach of Alda, and hope to give her what he had oncethought easily within his grasp.
Hearing this, Felix propounded an old longing of his--nam
ely, tomake the Pursuivant a daily paper, and use means for promptitudeof intelligence, such as might neutralize the unpopularity it wasincurring on behalf of Mr. Smith. Rumours of a rival paper were afloat;but if Ferdinand would throw in his capital, and undertake the jointeditorship and proprietorship, the hold that the Pursuivant alreadyhad warranted quite success enough to permit an immediate marriage.There would be no need to be concerned with the shop; they might take acottage in the country, and he need not ride in so often as every day.In fact, it was his capital rather than his personal assistance thatwas wanted. He caught at the notion. He was too Transatlantic to haveany dignities to stand upon, and he said almost with tears in his eyesthat he could never be so happy as in working with Felix; and he wentoff to the Fortinbras Arms, only lamenting that it was too late to tellAlda; while Felix, on his side, could not help knocking at Geraldine'sdoor. Within he found another auditor, Wilmet, who still alwayshelped Cherry to bed. 'It will be the making of the Pursuivant,' hesaid. How often I have sighed, "If I had but capital, or Mr. Froggattenterprise!"'
'Ah, Felicissimo mio, that Pursuivant is as dear to you as any brotheror sister of us all!'
'So it ought to be, for it has been the making of us.--Come Cherry,confess that you had rather see Pur triumph, than--'
'Than you at Vale Leston,' said Cherry, not knowing what a bolt sheshot. 'It would be grand to steal a march on the enemy!'
'And safe?' asked Wilmet.
Felix demonstrated to the comprehending ears of his sisters thecirculation that he could securely reckon upon.
'There would be an immense deal more to do,' said Cherry; but at thathe smiled, full of vigour.
'True; but we should have a larger staff. There would be Fernan--'
'For the racing articles,' said Cherry dryly.
'And a good deal besides, which only needs application; and that hehas.'
'He has great resolution,' said Cherry, 'but he always seems to me asort of Christian panther of the wilderness; and you seem to be gettinghim into a cage.'
'Not such a cage as Peter Brown's office; and besides it is only whenhe is lashed up that the panther leaps about his den. Generally he isa quiet determined animal, with the practical Yankee element strong inhim. It may be true, as Edgar says, that he does not see an inch oneither side of his nose, but that only makes him go right away in theline he does see. I know he will work well.'
'If Alda--' said Cherry.
'Oh, she will be willing. A cottage in the country! Besides, it is theonly reasonable possibility.'
'I should think it would satisfy her,' said Wilmet.
'And then--'
Everybody understood that 'And then.' It was Alda's pretension to beat the head of the family that was the chief obstacle to Wilmet'sabdicating that post. Without her, Geraldine, stronger and less lame,might undertake the charge of the comparatively few permanently athome. _Might_ indeed hardly expressed the amount of uncertainty as toher capability; and yet but for that 'And then,' Wilmet would hardlyhave yielded as she did the next day.
Stella had a blackberry fever. Possibly Wilmet's frugal regimenengendered a hankering for fruit, or it might have been the mere loveof enterprise that rendered her eagerly desirous of an expedition to alane where splendid blackberries were reported to grow. Since the dayshe had been lost, she had never been allowed to go out with Bernard;but in Lance she had acquired a much more complaisant play-fellow,who not only promised his escort to the lane, but the purchase of thesugar, and aid in the concoction of the jam; but he durst not venturetill late in the day, and thereupon John Harewood suggested, 'Would notyour sister be at liberty by that time?'
'Lance can take care of me,' said Stella; but in her eyes the wholeromance of the expedition was destroyed by his acquiescence. 'We'llcatch her as she comes out, and make her go with us.'
'Among all the girls?' laughed Cherry; and Captain Harewood coloured,shook his head, and shuddered.
'The girls won't hurt me,' said Lance, 'not if there were twentyhundred. I'll bring her from the very teeth of them. Jack may waitround the corner if he likes.'
The party waited, till their patience was worn to a thread, for theopening of the tall olive door, until Lance valiantly resolved on asingle-handed assault, and had just mounted the steps, when it suddenlyopened, and he found himself obstructing the path of a swarm of littlegirls and big, who all stared, most giggled, and some greeted him. Tothe least of these he confided that he wanted his sister, when sheinnocently piloted him to the school-room, where Wilmet, with her haton, was keeping guard over three victims detained by unfinished tasks.Every one gazed at him as if he had been a sort of Actaeon; but nothingdaunted, he answered his sister's anxious exclamation. 'Nothing is thematter; but we are going for a walk, and want you.--Miss Maria,' hecried, as the sound of the unfeminine step and voice brought in one ofthe heads, '_please_ do let off these impositions, we do so want her!'
'What, you here! This is an invasion!' she added good-humouredly. 'Am Ito take it as a convalescent's privilege?'
'Thank you, Ma'am,' said Lance, bowing with his audacious sweetness;'and please let me have Wilmet. I'd do the impositions myself, only Idon't know French.'
The victims tittered uncontrollably, and Miss Maria laughed, as onewho, like her neighbours, descried why Wilmet was in request. 'I willattend to these exercises, Miss Underwood,' she said. 'You must notlose this fine evening for the idleness of these young ladies.'
'Indeed, Ma'am!' began Wilmet, in a blaze of colour. 'I never thoughtof such a thing.'
'I daresay not, my dear,' said Miss Maria; 'but now you had better doit. I wish you a pleasant walk.'
'Lance, how could you?' broke out Wilmet, as they descended the steps.'I never was so ashamed in my life.'
'Never mind. We are going to get blackberries at Mile End Lane, and Ishall lose Stella to a dead certainty if you don't come and look afterher.'
'My dear Lance, I can't go all that way without their knowing it athome.'
'Oh! that's all settled with Cherry.'
'And where's Alda?'
'Off somewhere with her Don. Come, W. W., or who knows whether Stel andI shall ever come home?'
By this time they had reached the corner where Captain Harewood andStella were lying perdu, and Wilmet made no more resistance, onlykeeping the little girl's not altogether willing hand till they came tothe stile leading to the field and woodland, and then Stella's duranceended, and her adventures with Lance became as free as though no grave'sister' had been near.
Perhaps, since Wilmet had perceived that surrender was her fate, shewas willing that the summons should be over and a mutual understandingreached, so as to waste no more of the time already so short. Howeverthat might be, though the talk began with Lance's health and Cherry'stalents, there was a tendency towards topics closer still; nor did shestart aside, but rather listened pensively as to a strain that touchedher quiet soul more deeply than she showed in word or gesture.
The blackberry lane was deep and hollow, the brambles outstretchingtheir arching wreaths, laden with heavy clusters of shining fruit,glossy black, scarlet or green, sometimes with a lingering pearlyflower. A step-ladder stile led down into it from the field, and on thetopmost step, her back against the rail, sat Wilmet. On the lowest,turned at right angles to the first, was John Harewood, looking up toher; while scrambling on the bank, contending with the brambles, werethe younger ones; Lance, unable to help now and then sending a furtiveglance through the tangle.
It was a pretty sight. Sitting aloft, Wilmet was framed by an archwayof meeting branches, with nothing but the pale opal of the eveningsky behind the beautifully shaped head and shoulders, and the clearcut features, drooping just enough to enhance her own peculiar modestdignity, and give it a soft graciousness that had once been wanting.Her dress was the same in which Captain Harewood had first seen her--aplain black hat, a pale fawn-coloured skirt, and a loose open jacketover a white cambric vest and sleeves, only that now there had beena budding forth of dainty fresh
knots of rose-coloured ribbon at thethroat and down the front, as though a slight sensibility to thevanities as well as the cares of life had begun to dawn on the graveyoung house-mother.
Leaning back against the rough rail to assist the hand of the climber,John Harewood looked up with as much worship in his countenance as evergood man feels for the being he loves in all her maiden glory. Thusthey had been for some moments, only broken by the children's distantcalls, till the fervent words broke from him, 'May I not speak now?'
No word of reply sounded, but the delicate lips quivered and parted;the eyes were cast down, and seemed to swim in a soft mist ofbrightness; the queenly head bent, and the roseate tint on the cheekdeepened and spread, while something came over the face that caused thelow glad exclamation, 'You sweetest, I do believe you can love me!'
A tremulous smile, a glitter of tears on the eye-lashes--a whisper,'You won't let me be able to help it!'
Then the hands were clasped, and no words but 'Thank you' would come tothe young man's lips; and then, and the sound reminded him, he bowedhis head, adding, 'Thank God!'
'Thank God!' echoed Wilmet softly. 'For indeed,' she added, as she lether eyes fully meet his ardent gaze, 'I know you will help me to dowhatever may be His Will.'
'He helping me,' said John Harewood; and there was a reverent silenceof untold peace and bliss, first interrupted by his long sigh ofinfinite relief and joy; and then, as he looked and looked with allhis soul in his eyes, an exclamation, almost in spite of himself, 'Youbeautiful creature, you are mine indeed!'
Her colour deepened, but her lips moved into an odd little smile, outof which came the words, 'Isn't that rather foolish?'
'I couldn't help it--I beg your pardon,' said he, reddening. 'You dolook so lovely! but indeed it is not the externals only, but what looksthrough.'
'And that is what makes me afraid,' said Wilmet, as the dew gathered onher eye-lashes. 'I don't think I'm so nice as you take me for.'
'Probably you don't,' he said, smiling.
'But just hear me,' she said, laying her hand on his, as if to silencehim. 'You ought to know what all the others would tell you if theywere not too kind. I know they all feel me strict, and managing, anddomineering! Yes, it makes you laugh, but I really am. I don't thinkyou would have liked me at all if you had not seen me out of my usuallife, with only Lance--' and as all she said only made him press herhand the closer--'You see, I've always had to do _things_. Ever since Iwas a little girl I have had to keep order, great boys and all, and Iknow it has made me disagreeable;' then, in answer to some sound moreincredulously negative than words, 'Yes indeed! Felix and all go toCherry with whatever comes very near them. She hasn't been hardened andsharpened and dried up like me, and wasn't stupid to begin with.'
'Cherry is very clever, but she is--not--'
'Now don't. I know how it is. I know I'm horribly pretty, and I've beena wonder always for keeping the house going, and doing for them all,and so you fancy me everything charming; but I do so wish you couldreally know, as my brothers do, how it takes out of one all that isnice and sweet, and that people like.'
'People?' said John, smiling; but seeing that a mirthful even thougha loving answer was not what she wanted, he gravely said, 'I dounderstand, dearest, that you have had to be too much of an authorityto be altogether the companion and confidante that Geraldine is free tobe, but perhaps I feel that this renders you more wholly and altogethermy own.'
'Oh!'--a strange half sob--'do you know, I had just begun to know howsolitary I was when Lance was so happy to get Robina, when you--'
'And if I told you all, you would know that I was feeling a certainloneliness at home, and that if you had asked my sisters, they wouldhave said that Jack was not the harmonious element he appeared.There--there's a pleasing prospect!'
'But you'll not let me be masterful?' said Wilmet earnestly.
'Just as much as is good for me--for us,' he said, smiling. Then aftera moment's silence, he took out of his pocket a little box, and makinga table of her lap, took out a ring of twined ruby and diamonds, suchas could not but startle the instincts of Wilmet's soul.
'Oh, it is a great deal too beautiful! Please, I couldn't--'
'You must. It was my mother's.'
'Then she cannot like to part with it.'
'Did you not know that she died when I was five years old? Look!' andhe showed where within the lid of the box was written, 'For my LittleJohnny's Wife. August 1839. L. H.'
'Ought you not to keep it till--' faltered Wilmet, growing crimson asshe found what she was saying.
'No,' he said decidedly, 'not after this. When I spoke to my fatherthat Sunday evening, he unlocked his desk and gave me this, which I hadnot seen since I remember playing with it on my mother's bed. You willwear it, dearest. You will let me have the pleasure of knowing you haveit on.'
The answer was the drawing off of her glove; and he fitted it on, butit was rather loose. 'I am afraid it will want a guard,' he said.
'I'll ask Felix whether I may take one of Mamma's,' she said. For theshapely notable fingers had never worn a ring before this almost sacredpledge; and the few jewels either too valuable or not valuable enoughfor the parents to have parted with in times of need had never beentouched.
'Do,' he said; 'I shall like that. The year 1839. Was not that the yeara certain little girl was born?'
'The month. Our birth-day is on the 19th.' And the coincidence gave allthe foolish delight such facts do under the circumstances.
'Was this long before she died?' asked Wilmet.
'The last day of that August. You never saw her brass in the cloister?'
'No; I never guessed that you were not Mrs. Harewood's son, though Iwondered at your being so unlike the rest.'
'She has been kindness itself,' he warmly said. 'My father did wellboth for himself and me in marrying.'
'Tell me of your own mother,' said Wilmet, looking from the sparklingstones to the initials. 'L.-- What was her name?'
'Lucy. Lucy Oglandby. My father was tutor at Oglandby Hall. There wasa long attachment, through much opposition; and even when he was madepriest-vicar after waiting six years, her father could not consent.After six years more, when her health was failing, he gave a sort ofsanction on his death-bed. The rest of the family contrived to get herfortune so tied up that after her death it was of no use to any onetill I came of age. She only lived seven years after her marriage, andthen the Oglandbys wanted to take possession of me, and I fancy thatdrove my father into marrying.'
'Was it with them you went to stay?'
'Yes, my father makes a point of it; and they have a turn forpatronizing me, if I would turn my back on home.'
'Now I understand better,' said Wilmet.
'You understand how much you were wanting to me,' he said, rightlyinterpreting the words. 'After five years' absence, while my sisterswere growing up, you can perceive that dear, fond, and hearty asour house is, it did not fulfil all that perhaps I had been ratherunreasonable in expecting. O Wilmet, this time of leave would have beenvery different if you had not come to the precincts!'
And so they fell back on the exquisite time present, which neitherwished to disturb by looking beyond; and perhaps John felt as thoughhis bird had scarcely perched, and any endeavours to hold it might makeit flutter loose, while she was too glad of the calm and repose torenew the struggle between conflicting claims.
At last, with basket laden with dark fruit, and lips vying with thebabes in the wood, Stella was launched on them by Lance, when hissense of time overpowered his half shy, half diverted respect fortheir bliss. He was very curious, but had to be satisfied with CaptainHarewood's manner of tossing Stella over the stile, and bright look athimself.
They did not get into the town till the chimes of half-past seven werepealing. Captain Harewood hurried into the hotel, to prepare for theevening; and Wilmet was mounting the stairs, still under the spell ofher newly-found joy, when she was startled by Alda's voice in a key ofquerulous anger.
/> 'Exactly like you, always laying out for attention.'
'What's this?' said Wilmet, as she saw Alda in her habit, standingwith her back to the open door, and Geraldine leaning on the table,trembling and tearful, crimson and burning even to passion in herpanting reply, 'I don't know--except that he helped me in from thegarden.'
'That's what I say,' retorted Alda. 'She is always putting herselfforward, to be interesting, and get waited on. All affectation. I don'tknow such a flirt anywhere.'
'Hush, Alda! you are insulting Cherry,' said Wilmet, in her tone ofcommand.
'Take care of yourself, Wilmet,' cried Alda; 'it is the way she goes onall day with Captain Harewood--reading poetry, and drawing, and all.'
'Captain Harewood knows,' said Wilmet, coming to the support of thequivering Geraldine, 'that the kinder he is to Cherry the better I likeit.'
'Oh, if you do, it is your own concern. I only spoke for your sake.'And Alda marched off, while Wilmet's strong tender arms helpedCherry into her own room, and tended her through one of those gusts,part repentant, part hysterical, which had belonged to her earliergirlhood, though the present was now enhanced by the tumult of insultedmaidenliness. Formerly, Wilmet had not treated these attacks on thesoft system, but now all her bracing severity was gone. Greatlyincensed with Alda, she gave her whole self to sympathy with thevictim, showing herself so ineffably sweet and loving, that Cherry felta thrill of delicious surprise; and as her eye lit on the glitteringring, a little ecstatic cry, still slightly hysterical, welcomed thetoken.
'O Wilmet, oh! You have! You have--'
'To be sure I have,' answered Wilmet, not in the least heeding what shesaid, in her anxiety to calm her sister. 'It is all right, if only youwill not go and be silly about it.'
The woman was so much more than her words, that their odd simplicity,coming from the grand-looking figure bending over her in tendersolicitude, touched Cherry the more, and she threw her arms round hersister's neck, whispering, 'Oh! I am so glad!'
Poor Wilmet! At that moment all her gladness had gone into a weightlike lead on her heart, though it only made her more gentle. 'DearCherry,' she softly said, 'don't talk of anything to upset you. Willyou be good and lie quite still while I take off my things, and thenI'll come and dress you? You must not be knocked up to-night.'
'Oh! I had much rather stay here!'
'No indeed! John would be so disappointed. He does like you so much,and I always depend on you to make it pleasant for him. You can't sendword that Alda has been scolding you.'
'Oh dear! why can't I behave decently to her the moment we are alonetogether?'
'Don't begin on that, for pity's sake, or you'll get crying again,'broke out Wilmet, in her natural voice. ''Tis she can't behave properlyto anybody--that's all; so don't think any more about anything, like agood child, but lie still till I come back.'
So up went Wilmet, not rejoicing in her room-mate, whom she found, asusual, all injured innocence and self-justification.
'You have been petting Cherry all this time! She is quite spoilt amongyou! It is quite true what I said, though she didn't like it. Insociety, I never saw a more arrant flirt, with her pathetic ill-usedairs. Why, Ferdinand actually found fault to-day with my manner to her!'
Save for the effects, Wilmet was glad to hear it. 'Well, Alda, it isnot always kind.'
'I only don't fuss and coax her; I see through her better than you do.She is the sharp one. As I told Ferdinand, it is I who have reason tocomplain of his manner to her, only I know it is not his fault. Ifthere were no other objection to this preposterous scheme of Felix's,she would be a reason against it.'
'For shame, Alda! You don't consider what you are saying of yoursister.'
'I do!' said Alda. 'I have been more in the world than you, Wilmet,and I know what comes of sticking oneself down close to one's family,especially when there is that sort of spoilt invalid, backed up in allkinds of unreasonable expectations. I advise you to take care, Wilmet;you don't know what goes on in your absence. I should not wonder if itnever came to an engagement after all.'
At that moment Felix's step and knock were at the door. Wilmet went toit, and both her hands were clasped in her brother's. 'My Wilmet, mydear, this is well!'
Then Alda turned from her glass and understood. 'What? He has spoken? OWilmet, and you never told me!'
'I had not time.'
'And what a splendid ring! but it is not a proper engaged-ring. Youcan't wear it.'
'I must! He wishes it. It was his mother's.--Felix, may I have one ofMamma's for a guard?'
'May you!' said Felix, smiling.
'I should like you to give it to me. Come in.'
He came to inspect the unlocking of the ponderous old inlaiddressing-case, with velvet-lined compartments mostly empty, or onlywith little labelled papers of first curls, down as far as 'EdwardClement, 1842,' after which stern reality had absorbed sentiment--asad declension from the blue enamel shrine with a pearl cypher, whereFelix's downy flax reposed.
To do Alda justice, there was no greed in her nature, and she evenoffered Wilmet a turquoise hoop of her own, instead of a littlebattered ring of three plaited strands of gold, which their motherhad worn till her widowhood, and they believed to be the ring of herbetrothal. And when Wilmet suggested that the locket would delightCherry, Alda's ready assent inspired the hope that she felt somecompunction for her jealous unkindness.
The locket did prove a soothing charm, coupled with the littleconsultation as to the ribbon, and the capture of a smooth brown lockof the present to add to the original. And as the manly fingers dealtwith the hasp, and the kind smile welcomed her pleasure, Cherry's heartfelt that while she had her Felix, Alda need little comprehend hercraving for attention from any one.
Yet her greeting to John Harewood was shy, tame, and frightened,compared with Alda's pretty graceful cordiality, as she told him thatshe was delighted, and envied Lance his powers of diplomacy. In fact,it was Alda who kept up the conversation, and made things pleasant,with the ease of society; while Felix was shy, Wilmet longed forsilence, and Ferdinand looked like a picture of Spanish melancholy,such as had almost infected the whole table.
'I believe I must ask you to bestow a little time on me,' he said, assoon as the meal was over; and Alda made it evident that she meant tobe in the conclave, which took place in the back drawing-room. It wasat once made evident that the Pursuivant proposal was abhorrent to her;not that she behaved to Felix, nor indeed did she ever do so to any ofhis sex, as she permitted herself to do to Geraldine, but she showedgreat displeasure at the idea having been started.
'Things are unfortunate enough already,' she said, with something likeWilmet's dignity; 'but I should never forgive such hopeless ruin todear Ferdinand's prospects.'
'Have I not told you that no prospect is anything to me if you can onlybe mine?'
'We know all that,' said Alda, drawing herself away rather sharply fromthe caressing hand, 'and therefore I must think for you, and I will notbe the means of lowering your position in life.'
'Alda, dearest!' cried Ferdinand, glancing at Felix in such genuinedistress as made him interfere in pity.
'We understand about position, Ferdinand; and you and Alda have beenable to observe how far life is enjoyable in this lowered position.'
'Felix,' said Alda, who had evidently wound herself up for this crisis,'you know very well that you stand quite out of common rules; but I amsure you can see that however valuable your work may be, it would bewrong to draw Ferdinand to the same level.'
'As for that,' said Ferdinand moodily, yet with the air of a banishedprince, 'Felix knows what my father was; and if I knew that mygrandfather was an honest man, it would be well. A stray wanderer, castup at your door, has no right to talk of levels.'
'You are not to talk,' said Alda, more affectionately. 'You are toogenerous to be allowed to think.'
'In plain English, Alda,' said her brother, 'the objection is yours.'
'I cannot see him sacrifice himself for my
sake,' said Alda.
'As though it could be a sacrifice!' exclaimed Ferdinand, 'when itopens the way to make you my own at once, my peerless beauty! If you--'
'Come, we have had all this over before,' said Alda, shrinking a littlepetulantly as he hovered over her, speaking with the fervour of hisMexican nature, and his eyes glowing with eagerness; 'if you will nothave common sense, I must.'
'Common sense! It is not common sense I want! It is love!'
'If you doubt my affection--' said Alda, with dignity, drawing back.
'No! no! no! I never was so profane. Only it drives me frantic to hearyou so coolly willing to keep us apart for--'
'Because my affection is less selfish and narrow than yours,' saidAlda, raising her voice as his became like a roll of distant thunder.'I tell you, I will not be the means of binding you to a pettyprovincial paper, that may give an immediate pittance, but will lead tonothing. Would that be love worth having? I appeal to Felix, his schemethough it was.'
Felix was a very uncomfortable third party, especially as Alda's appealimplied a certain accusation of himself. 'I own,' he said, 'thatthis situation is not likely to lead to promotion, but it would becompetence. Ferdinand would be satisfied, but you--'
'I, who know what he is used to, cannot be satisfied for him.'
'As if you--' gasped the lover; but Alda would not let him go on.
'No,' she said, 'we must be patient. For him to remain in theLife-guards would be madness; but a few years at Mr. Brown's, with theinterest he already has in the business, will open a career to him.'
'And I can run down every Sunday,' said Ferdinand. 'It is herdetermination; I suppose she is right, Felix, but I wish-- If I couldwish her otherwise, she should be less prudent!'
'I cannot see that she has any right to ask it of you,' indignantlyexclaimed Felix.
But he found this was putting his head into a hornet's nest. Ferdinandwould not have contested her right to send him down among the lions,and would never have given her back her troth, like Knight Des Lorges.No, he hotly contended that Alda had a perfect right to make her ownterms, and still more hotly, though most inconsistently, that to workat Peter Brown's was his own free choice.
It was incontestable that a South American merchant's career offeredmore possibilities of rising into opulence and consideration than theproprietorship of a country paper; and though Felix privately doubtedwhether desk-work would suit Ferdinand half as well as the work wherehe himself could have contributed wits, he could say no more. Ferdinandwas greatly disappointed; but there was no sacrifice that he would notmake, and persist in with his silent Spanish perseverance, for Alda'ssake. Indeed, he could not bear not to begin at once. He would returnat once to his regiment, send in his papers, and dispose of his horsesand equipments, making arrangements with Peter Brown to enter hishouse. He seemed to be in a fever till the matter was in train, and wasentirely past remonstrance. And Felix recognised that the lovers mustact for themselves, and could only feel thoroughly vexed with Alda, andequally vexed with himself for the consternation with which he thoughtof having her at home three years longer!
It was the next evening; and not only had Alda's own lover departed,but Captain Harewood was missing, and with him Lance, and the onlyexplanation was from Bernard, that they were gone to Minsterham. Nodoubt Wilmet was sensible of a blank when she came home, though shewould not allow it, and stoutly defended her Captain's right of goingwhere and when he pleased without notice. She had to fight his battles,till late in the evening he walked in. 'Here we are! It is later than Iexpected.'
'Where's Lance?'
'He came in with me. Gone to his room, then.--Here, Geraldine, thislittle gentleman requests the honour of your leaning on him.'
'Oh, what a beauty! What a dear little ivory monster! Turbaned head,serpent's tail, and such a fascinating face!'
'Is the cane the right length? I measured yours.'
'You don't mean that he is for me? So smooth and so steady! Where doeshe come from?'
'From Benares--I bought him at the great fair; and from the moment Isaw you, it was plain that in the eternal fitness of things he wasdestined to you.'
'To make a Pagan of her,' said Felix. 'See her worshipping her littleidol!'
'Not my idol, but my prop and companion for life.'
'Your Lord Gerald,' laughed Felix, as she walked triumphantly round theroom, perhaps her first unnecessary promenade since she was seven yearsold.
'This is just the time I didn't expect you,' said Wilmet; 'is the seveno'clock train put on again?'
'We didn't come by the train.' And Felix and Cherry smiled at oneanother as they detected that Wilmet's economical soul was vexed. 'Iwanted Lance to see his doctor again, and the railway seems so bad forhis head, that I drove.'
'How very kind!' exclaimed Wilmet.
'I am afraid I have not managed it well. I would not make anappointment, lest it should be a glaring day; so Manby was out, and wecould only leave a message before going to the precincts. Lance was inwild spirits, and the boys gave him such an uproarious welcome, thatold Canon Burley sent in to know what was the matter, and was told itwas only little Underwood come back. He dined with us, but I am afraidI was off guard, for I never thought of his going and taking a place inthe Cathedral.'
'I should think not!' said Wilmet, 'except that it is in the nature ofboys to be provoking, even about Church-going. Then it has knocked himup.'
'He was forced to come out in the Psalms; and Poulter, one of thelay-vicars, got anxious about him, and went after him when the Lessonbegan, found him with his head down on the table in the sacristy, andthought he had fainted, but he was only crying and entirely done up.Manby came just as Poulter brought him in, and gave him a proper goodlecture.'
'A very good thing,' said Wilmet, 'if one could only get him to believethere is any need of care when his head is not actually painful. Whatdid Mr. Manby think of him?'
'He says he is as well as could reasonably be hoped--quite recoveredfrom the fever; but the sun-stroke was as severe as any he has seenin England, and coming on the top of all that overwork, both studyand music, it has left an amount of irritability and excitability ofbrain that must not be trifled with. He made poor Lance confess all thelittle experiments he has been trying on himself, and ordered him toleave off whatever he is about at the first threatening of dizziness orpain.'
'Then there's not much chance of his going back?'
'Not before Christmas at soonest. One would think the poor littlefellow must have been aware of that; but the verdict cut him up verymuch. I thought he had better be quiet till the heat of the day waspast, so he lay on my bed till six o'clock, and then he said he wasbetter; but he hardly spoke all the way home.'
Wilmet went at once to see after him, and found him already in bed; butwhether sleepy, suffering, or sorrowful, she could not make out, forhe hid his eyes from the candle, and only muttered 'No, thank you,' inreply to whatever she offered, till she yielded to his evident longingfor darkness and silence.
He was up and about in the morning; but when at noon Bernard rushed infrom school, he was neither in the drawing-room, garden, nor office,and the door of his--or rather Mr. Froggatt's--bed-room was locked.Bernard bounced at it, calling, 'Let me in, I say; I'll not make a row.'
'There aren't any more of you?' parleyed Lance.
'No! Let me in, I say!'--kicking at the panels--'I must speak to you!'
'I'm coming; hold your din!' And Lance revealed himself without coat orboots.
'Holloa--how dark! You were never asleep? I came, because one can nevercatch you without a string of girls and babies after you.'
'Cut on,' said Lance resignedly, shaking up his horse-hair pillow:while Bernard seated himself on the table, and in the half-light of theshuttered room, began to disentangle some knotted twine.
'Did you come here to do that?' said Lance, wanting to finish his nap,and chiefly restrained by the trouble of the thing from kicking theintruder out.
'Only, I s
ay, Lance, have you any tin?'
'Not the valley of a brass farthing!' (The last pence of the ValeLeston sovereign had gone into Stella's jam.)
'Wouldn't Felix give you some?'
'I don't know.' (Very gruffly.)
'I wish you'd ask.'
'You have as many tongues as I.'
'Well, you see Felix is not half a bad fellow for one's governor, buthe doesn't know what's what; and Sims says he'll go to him if I don'tcome down with something before to-morrow.'
'Sims! Sims in Smoke-jack Alley? Is that your sort?' demanded Lance, inineffable disgust.
'He's been keeping a dog for me,' said Bernard sulkily.
'A dog!' Lance sat up in astonishment immeasurable.
'Yes. It's the thing, and no mistake,' said Bernard eagerly. 'His nameis Stingo; only we are not quite sure whether he is a bull-terrier or ashort-haired King Charles.'
Lance dropped back, wriggling in suppressed convulsions, as hedemanded, 'Where did you steal this unmistakeable animal?'
'I bought him,' said Bernard, with a certain magnificence intended tobe overawing.
'Then where did you steal the money?'
'Travis,' said Bernard, who considered Christian names unworthy ofmale lips. 'He always used to tip me a sovereign; and Ben Bowyer, thedog-fancier, said Stingo was worth thirty shillings any day, only helet me have him for eight and six, because he wanted to sell off hisstock.'
'I thought as much. And Sims keeps him for you?'
'At ninepence a week; but the brute is at me for ever, and says it istwelve weeks.'
'Pray, how were you to raise ninepence a week? By waiting on Providenceor turning coach-wheels?'
'I had some then; and Froggy sometimes gives one half-a-crown, but theold beast hasn't lately, just because I wanted it--nor Travis either,bad luck to him!' quoth this grateful young man. 'I put them all off,making sure of him; and now he's cut, and never tipped me at all! It'san abominable sell, and they are all at me.'
'All! what more? Have it out,' grunted Lance, with a sound of bodilypain in his tone such as would have silenced any one above ten yearsold, and a bored contemptuous manner that would have crushed anyattempt at confidence--if he had been the right person to confess to.
Nevertheless, Bernard mumbled, 'Shooting-gallery. And Mother Goldievowed she would lug me up to Wilmet if I don't fork out!'
'Mother Goldie! You little disgusting ape! You've been tucking in whatyou owed in pies and tarts!' cried Lance, who was too constitutionallyheedless of the palate to have any charity for its temptations.
'It's all Wilmet's fault,' said Bernard. 'She never gives one anythingfit to eat. There was that beastly lamp out there went and got broke,and what does she do but crib it out of our grub! Now, Lance, was anyliving soul served like that before? She gave us only that beastlystir-about at breakfast,' (Bernard worked his single adjective hard,)'no butter nor sugar at tea, and no pudding, except when there's thatbeastly mess of rice.'
'I'm sure I've seen pudding.'
'Oh! she came round when Felix came home. She knew he wouldn't standit. Alda used to buy marmalade and anchovy on her own hook, so I don'tsee why I shouldn't.'
'Alda didn't go on tick, I suppose.'
'Serve Wilmet right if we all did. I don't believe there's a beggar sobadly fed. Nares says--'
'You unnatural little sneak, you haven't been and gone and complainedto him!'
'No; but all the town is crying out upon her shabbiness. They say it isa perfect shame how little butcher's meat she gets. Nares's mother andsisters do nothing but laugh at it, and Nares says nothing will make uscomfortable but a bankruptcy. Hollo!'
For a well-aimed swing of the bolster laid him sprawling on the floor.
'Take that for mentioning such a word!'
'My eyes, Lance, is it swearing?' said Bernard, with a littleaffectation of innocence. 'How you have been and bumped my knees;' andhe sat on the floor, pulling up his trousers to gain a view; 'there'llbe a bruise as big as half-a-crown! Well, but Nares says it was a realblessing to them; for before it old Nares was always in a rage, and hismother boohooing; and now it is over they live like fighting-cocks,on champagne, and lobster-salad, and mulli--what's his name?--firstchop; and the women dress in silks and velvets and feathers, no end ofswells! and they say it is regular stoopid to pinch like that, for noone will believe we ain't going to smash while she is such a screw!'
'If you weren't nothing but a little donkey,' said Lance, sittingcoiled up with his head on his knee, grimly contemplating him, 'you'dbe a show specimen of precocious depravity.'
'I declare,' persisted Bernard, 'Nares says it is coming as sure asfate; for his governor, and Jackman, and Collis are going to stump upthe old Pursuivant with their new Bexley Tribune, and Redstone is to besub-editor.'
'The black-hearted rascal!' cried Lance, bounding on his feet in arage. 'He ought to be kicked out of the shop this instant!'
'Now don't, Lance,' entreated Bernard, 'for Nares will pitch into mefor telling. He says they've got an opening through the Pur backing upthat mean beggar Smith; and Collis and Jackman will find the cash, andNares's father is to be editor, and they vow Froggatt and Underwoodwill be beat out of the field.'
'Catch them,' said Lance, and he stood leaning against the solid oldcarved bed-post in silence, till Bernard returned to the insolvency atpresent far more pressing.
'Won't you help me about Stingo?' he said.
'Do you want me to send him to the dog-show, ticketted "The Real Animaland no mistake"?'
'Don't, Lance,' said the boy peevishly. 'I thought you weregood-natured, and would lend me some tin, or at least stop theblackguard from being such a baboon. He's found out that Travis hascut, and he says he'll come to Felix this very day,' ended he, not farfrom crying.
'I can't anyhow, to-day, Bear,' said Lance, more kindly. 'My head isvery bad, and you've not mended it.'
'It was well enough when you broke my knees,' grumbled Bernard. 'Come,Lance, you used to be a fellow to help one.'
'I can't, I tell you,' said Lance, hastily throwing himself back onthe bed, and shutting his eyes. 'It isn't that I won't, but I can't. Icouldn't walk straight down the street for giddiness; and if I did, Idon't suppose I could talk sense.'
Bernard was startled by the tone as well as the words; but he had notarrived at much pity for any one but himself, and he whined, 'Butwhat shall I do, then?' repeating it dolefully, as Lance lay for somemoments silent and with closed eyes.
'Bother!' he broke out angrily at last. 'Look here. Tell theblackguard--let me see--I don't well know what I'm saying. Tell himyou've spoken to me--no, to your brother--mind, you needn't saywhich--and that he'll come and see about it. Now give me that bolster,and take yourself off. Tell them I want no dinner, and don't let anyone come! Get along, and shut the door.'
Bernard could extract no more, and departed as the dinner-bell rang,leaving him without energy even to lock the door. Presently Felix wasstanding anxiously over him; but he reiterated that he could not bearto think of food, and only wanted to be left alone; but just as hisbrother was leaving him, he said, 'Fee, do you know that Redstone isgoing over to the enemy?'
'The opposition paper? Nothing more likely. How did you hear?'
'Bear picked it up. I say, wasn't that little beggar to have gone toStoneborough?'
'Not possible, Lance; I've gone into it with Wilmet. She is in troubleabout household expenses, as it is; and with this rival paper on ourhands, I can't undertake anything extra. Has he been bothering you? I'mvery sorry, but we must keep him here.'
Lance shut his eyes without reply; but no sooner was he left alonethan he rolled over, gave vent to a heavy groan from the bottom of hisheart, and clenched his hands as he lay. Then followed some heavy sobs,and a few great tears; but gradually a look of purpose and hope cameover his face, and he slept. He was lying between sleeping and waking,when a quiet step and cautious knock made him call out, 'Come in, Jack.'
'Your sister wants to know if you are be
tter, and ready for some tea.'
'Thank you, I'm mending. Is Wilmet come home?'
'Yes, but only to become the prey of an ancient female.'
'Mrs. Bisset! Come to inspect you!'
'She won't, then! Shall I get you some tea?'
'No, thank you. But, I say, Jack, do you see my big box that we broughthome yesterday? Would you just dig into it for me?'
John Harewood applied himself to disentangle a frightful knot,observing, 'This looks like Bill's handiwork.'
'Ay! Bill put all my traps together when our other fellows came back.'
'Together indeed!' said the Captain, looking at the heterogeneouscollection.
'There's nothing to hurt,' said Lance. 'Do you see a green box?'
'A fiddle-case, you boy?'
'A violin-case,' said Lance, with dignity. 'Give it me.' And taking outhis purse, he produced its only contents--namely, the key--tried tosit up to unlock his treasure, but was forced by giddiness to lie backagain with a gasp, and hold out the key to his friend.
'Come, I should think a fiddle the last thing you could want just now,'said John.
'Just so. I'm afraid it is. Only, just let me see if she is all right.Ay!' and then, after a gaze, a fond touch or two, an irrepressible sighstrangled in the midst, 'lock her up again! You ain't by any chancegoing home to-morrow?'
'Do you want anything?'
'Why, when I got her at old Spicer's sale for twenty-two and sixpence,Poulter was beside himself at my luck, and said she was worth doublethat any day, and he would give it me if I got tired of her. Now, ifI'd only known yesterday, I could have done it myself; but I can't go,and I can't write--but if you could but send or take it to Poulter, andget the money for me!'
'Do you feel bound to give Poulter the refusal? for if it is really agood instrument, it ought to be worth more than that.'
'Poulter has been very good to me. He taught me to play on it,' saidLance; 'that is, he showed me a little; but Robin made me lock it upand give her the key all last spring, for fear of hindering my mugging;and I can't touch her now, so she has been very little use to me. Ipromised Poulter, and I think he should have her. Besides, I want themoney slick at once. It's no good sticking it in a window to wait forsome one to give what it is worth.'
John marvelled what need of money could have come upon the boy inthe last twenty-four hours, but he was too discreet a friend to takeadvantage of necessity to ask questions, and said, 'The fact was, I wasthinking of running up to town to get a sewing-machine for your sister,but if I start by the earlier train, I can see Poulter on the way, andif he does not want it himself, he can tell me where to dispose of itto the best advantage.'
'Only it must be ready money,' said Lance; it must be owned withscarcely the alacrity of gratitude John deserved. 'If it didn't makemuch difference, I wish Poulter could have her, for then I shouldsometimes see her and handle her again, and I think he would use herwell.'
'Very well, I'll tell him.'
'And don't tell any one here,' added Lance. 'You don't go and tell W.W. everything, do you?' he added, wistful and perplexed.
'Not other people's secrets,' said John. 'Now I am going to fetch yousome food; you are looking quite faint, you have had nothing sinceyesterday's dinner.'
Poor Lance! when John was gone, he turned with another groan, once moretook the violin in his arms, laid it on his shoulder, and made themotions of playing, then kissed it, and whispering, 'Poulter will begood to you, my pretty. It's not for that little beggar of a Bear! It'sfor Felix, for Felix--' and then at a sound of steps, hastily replacedit, shut the box, and fell back again, dizzy and exhausted.
The next day, he betook himself to a refuge more impregnable to Bernardthan even Mr. Froggatt's bed-room, namely the office, which suited hissociable nature, and where he was always welcome. He found employmentthere, too, in cutting out extracts from newspapers, labelling librarybooks, and packing parcels, and sometimes also, it must be owned, indrawing caricatures of the figures he spied through the chinks of thedoor.
The Pillars of the House; Or, Under Wode, Under Rode, Vol. 1 (of 2) Page 22