Beechcroft at Rockstone

by Charlotte M. Yonge

  It seemed to be a very long time before the inquest was over, and AuntJane had almost yielded to her niece's impatience and her own, andconsented to walk down to meet the intelligence, when Ferguscame tearing in, 'I've seen the rock, and there is a flaw ofcrystallisation in it! And the coroner-man called me an incipientgeologist.'

  'But the verdict?'

  'They said it was accidental death, and something about more care beingtaken and valuable lives endangered.'

  'And Alexis White--'

  'Oh! there was a great bother about his not being there. They said itlooked very bad; but they could not find him.'

  'Not find him! Oh! Where is Cousin Rotherwood?'

  'He is coming home, and he said I might run on, and tell you that if youhad time to come in to the hotel he would tell you about it.'

  With which invitation Miss Mohun hastened to comply; Gillian was ardentto come too, and it seemed cruel to prevent her; but, besides that Janethought that her cousin might be tired enough to make his wife wish himto see as few people as possible, she was not sure that Gillian mightnot show suspicious agitation, and speech and action would not be freein her presence. So the poor girl was left to extract what she couldfrom her little brother, which did not amount to much.

  It was a propitious moment, for Jane met Lord Rotherwood at the door ofthe hotel, parting with Mr. White; she entered with him, and his wife,after satisfying herself that he was not the worse for his exertions,was not sorry that he should have his cousin to keep him quiet in hiseasy-chair while she went off to answer a pile of letters which had justbeen forwarded from home.

  'Well, Jenny,' he said, 'I am afraid your protege does not come out ofit very well; that is, if he is your protege. He must be an uncommonlyfoolish young man.'

  'I reserve myself on that point. But is it true that he never appeared?'

  'Quite true.'

  'Didn't they send for him?'

  'Yes; but he could not be found, either at the works or at home.However, the first might be so far accounted for, since he met at hisdesk a notice of dismissal from White and Stebbing.'

  'No! Really. Concocted at that unlucky dinner yesterday! But, of course,it was not immediate.'

  'Of course not, and perhaps something might have been done for him; buta man who disappears condemns himself.'

  'But what for? I hope Fergus explained that the stone was not near thespot when he showed it.'

  'Yes; Fergus spoke up like a little man, and got more credit than hedeserved. If they had known that of all varieties of boys the scientificis the worst imp of mischief! It all went in order due--surgeonexplained injuries to poor little being--men how the stone came down andthey dug him out--poor little baby-sister made out her sad littlestory. That was the worst part of all. Something must be done for thatchild--orphanage or something--only unluckily there's the father andmother. Poor father! he is the one to be pitied. I mean to get at himwithout the woman. Well, then came my turn, and how I am afflicted withthe habit of going where I ought not, and, only by a wonderful mercy,was saved from being part of the general average below. Then we gotto the inquiry, Were not dangerous places railed off? Yes, Stebbingexplained that it was the rule of the firm to have the rocks regularlyinspected once a month, and once a fortnight in winter and spring, whenthe danger is greater. If they were ticklish, the place was markedat the moment with big stones, reported, and railed off. An oldforeman-sort of fellow swore to having detected the danger, and putstones. He had reported it. To whom? To Mr. Frank. Yes, he thought itwas Mr. Frank, just before he went away. It was this fellow's businessto report it and send the order, it seems, and in his absence AlexanderWhite, or whatever they call him, took his work. Well, the old mandoesn't seem to know whether he mentioned the thing to young White ornot, which made his absence more unlucky; but, anyway, the presence ofthe stones was supposed to be a sufficient indication of the need of therail, or to any passenger to avoid the place. In fact, if Master Whitehad been energetic, he would have seen to the thing. I fancy that is thelong and short of it. But when the question came how the stones came tobe removed, I put Fergus forward. The foreman luckily could identify hisstone by the precious crack of spar; and the boy explained how hehad lugged it down, and showed it to his friend far away from itsplace--had, in fact, turned over and displaced all the lot.'

  'Depend upon it, Alexis has gone out of the way to avoid accusingFergus!'

  'Don't make me start, it hurts; but do you really believe that,Jane--you, the common-sense female of the family?'

  'Indeed I do, he is a romantic, sensitive sort of fellow, who would notdefend himself at the boy's expense.'

  'Whew! He might have stood still and let Fergus defend him, then,instead of giving up his own cause.'

  'And how did it end?'

  'Accidental death, of course; couldn't be otherwise; but censure on thedelay and neglect of precaution, which the common opinion of the Courtnaturally concentrated on the absent; though, no doubt, the firstomission was young Stebbing's; but owing to the hurry of his start forItaly, that was easily excused. And even granting that Fergus did thelast bit of mischief, your friend may be romantically generous, if youplease; but he must have been very slack in his work.'

  'Poor fellow--yes. Now before I tell you what I know about him, I shouldlike to hear how Mr. Stebbing represents him. You know his father was alieutenant in the Royal Wardours.'

  'Risen from the ranks, a runaway cousin of White's. Yes, and there's ason in a lawyer's office always writing to White for money.'

  'Oh! I never had much notion of that eldest--'

  'They have no particular claim on White; but when the father died hewrote to Stebbing to give those that were old enough occupation at theworks, and see that the young ones got educated.'

  'So he lets the little boys go to the National School, though there's nogreat harm in that as yet.'

  'He meant to come and see after them himself, and find out what theyare made of. But meantime this youth, who did well at first, is alwaysrunning after music and nonsense of all kinds, thinking himself abovehis business, neglecting right and left; while as to the sister, she issaid to be very clever at designing--both ways in fact--so determined todraw young Stebbing in, that, having got proof of it at last, they havedismissed her too. And, Jane, I hardly like to tell you, but somehowthey mix Gillian up in the business. They ate it up again when I cutthem short by saying she was my cousin, her mother and you like mysisters. I am certain it is all nonsense, but had you any notion of anysuch thing? It is insulting you, though, to suppose you had not,' headded, as he saw her air of acquiescence; 'so, of course, it is allright.'

  'It is not all right, but not so wrong as all that. Oh no! and I knowall about it from poor Gill herself and the girl. Happily they areboth too good girls to need prying. Well, the case is this. There wasa quarrel about a love story between the two original Whites, who mustboth have had a good deal of stuff in them. Dick ran away, enlisted,rose, and was respected by Jasper, etc., but was married to aGreco-Hibernian wife, traditionally very beautiful, poor woman, thoughrather the reverse at present. Lily and her girls did their best for theyoung people with good effect on the eldest girl, who really in looksand ways is worthy of her Muse's name, Kalliope. Father had to retirewith rank of captain, and died shortly after. Letters failed to reachthe Merrifields, who were on the move. This Quarry cousin was writtento, and gave the help he described to you. Perhaps it was just, butit disappointed them, and while the father lived, Alexis had beenencouraged to look to getting to the University and Holy Orders. He hasa good voice, and the young curate at the Kennel patronised him, perhapsa little capriciously, but I am not quite sure. All this was unknownto me till the Merrifield children came, and Gillian, discovering theseWhites, flew upon them in the true enthusiastic Lily-fashion, added tothe independence of the modern maiden mistrustful of old cats of aunts.Like a little goose, she held trystes with Kalliope, through the railsat the top of the garden on Sunday afternoons.'

  'Only Kall
iope!'

  'Cela va sans dire. The brother was walking the young ones on the cliffswhence she had been driven by the attentions of Master Frank Stebbing.Poor thing, she is really beautiful enough to be a misfortune to her,and so is the youth--Maid of Athens, Irish eyes, plus intellect. Gilllent books, and by and by volunteered to help the lad with his Greek.'

  'Whew--'

  'Just as she would teach a night-school class. She used to give himlessons at his sister's office. I find that as soon as Kalliope found itwas unknown to me she protested, and did all in her power to prevent it,but Gillian had written all to her mother, and thought that sufficient.'

  'And Lily--? Victoria would have gone crazy--supposing such a thingpossible,' he added, sotto voce.

  'Lily was probably crazy already between her sick husband and her bridaldaughters, for she answered nothing intelligible. However, absence gavetime for reflection, and Gillian came home after her visits convinced byher own good sense and principle that she had not acted fairly towardsus, so that, of her own accord, the first thing she did was to tell methe whole, and how much the sister had always objected. She was quitewilling that I should talk it over with Kalliope before she went nearthem again, but I have never been able really to do so.'

  'Then it was all Greek and--"Lilyism!" Lily's grammar over again, eh!'

  'On her side, purely so--but I am afraid she did upset the boy's mind.He seems to have been bitterly disappointed at what must have appearedlike neglect and offence--and oh! you know how silly youths can be--andhe had Southern blood too, poor fellow, and he went mooning and mopingabout, I am afraid really not attending to his business; and insteadof taking advantage of the opening young Stebbing's absence gave him ofshowing his abilities, absolutely gave them the advantage against him,by letting them show him up as an idle fellow.'

  'Or worse. Stebbing talked of examining the accounts, to see if therewere any deficiency.'

  'That can be only for the sake of prejudicing Mr. White--they cannotreally suspect him.'

  'If not, it was very good acting, and Stebbing appears to me just theman to suspect a parson's pet, and a lady's--as he called this unluckyfellow.'

  'Ask any of the workmen--ask Mr. Flight.'

  'Well, I wish he had come to the front. It looks bad for him, and yourplea, Jenny, is more like Lily than yourself.'

  'Thank you; I had rather be like Lily than myself.'

  'And you are equally sure that the sister is maligned?'

  'Quite sure--on good evidence--the thing is how to lay it all before Mr.White, for you see these Stebbings evidently want to prevent him fromtaking to his own kindred--you must help me, Rotherwood.'

  'When I am convinced,' he said. 'My dear Jenny, I beg your pardon--Ihave an infinite respect for your sagacity, but allow me to observe,though your theory holds together, still it has rather an ancient andfish-like smell.'

  'I only ask you to investigate, and make him do so. Listen to any onewho knows, to any one but the Stebbings, and you will find what anadmirable girl the sister is, and that the poor boy is perfectlyblameless of anything but being forced into a position for which he wasnever intended, and of all his instincts rebelling.'

  They were interrupted by the arrival of the doctor, whom Lady Rotherwoodhad bound over to come and see whether her husband was the worse for hisexertions. He came in apologising most unnecessarily for his tardiness.And in the midst of Miss Mohun's mingled greeting and farewell, shestood still to hear him say that he had been delayed by being calledin to that poor woman, Mrs. White, who had had a fit on hearing thepoliceman inquiring for that young scamp, her son.

  'The policeman!' ejaculated Jane in consternation.

  'It was only to summon him to attend the inquest,' explained Dr. Dagger,'but there was no one in the house with her but a little maid, and theshock was dreadful. If he has really absconded, it looks exceedingly illfor him.'

  'I believe he has only been inattentive,' said Jane firmly, knowing thatshe ought to go, and yet feeling constrained to wait long enough to askwhat was the state of the poor mother, and if her daughter were withher.

  'The daughter was sent for, and seems to be an effectiveperson--uncommonly handsome, by the bye. The attack was hysteria, butthere is evidently serious disease about her, which may be accelerated.'

  'I thought so. I am afraid she has had no advice.'

  'No; I promised the daughter to come and examine her to-morrow when sheis calmer, and if that son is good for anything, he may have returned.'

  And therewith Jane was forced to go away, to carry this wretched news topoor Gillian.

  Aunt and niece went as soon as the mid-day meal was over to inquire forpoor Mrs. White, and see what could be done. She was sleeping under anopiate, and Kalliope came down, pale as marble, but tearless. Sheknew nothing of her brother since she had given him his breakfast thatmorning. He had looked white and haggard, and had not slept, neither didhe eat. She caught at the theory that had occurred to Miss Mohun, thathe did not like to accuse Fergus, for even to her he had not mentionedwho had removed the stone. In that case he might return at night. Yetit was possible that he did not know even now whence the stone had come,and it was certain that he had been at his office that morning, andopened the letter announcing his dismissal. Kalliope, going later, hadfound the like notice, but had had little time to dwell on it beforeshe had been summoned home to her mother. Poor Mrs. White had been muchshaken by the first reports of yesterday's accident, which had been sotold to her as to alarm her for both her children; and when her littlemaid rushed in to say that 'the pelis was come after Mr. Alec,' it wasno wonder that her terror threw her into a most alarming state, whichmade good Mrs. Lee despatch her husband to bring home Kalliope; andas the attack would not yield to the soothing of the women or to theirdomestic remedies, but became more and more delirious and convulsive,the nearest doctor was sent for, and Dr. Dagger, otherwise a higherflight than would have been attempted, was caught on his way and broughtin to discover how serious her condition already was.

  This Kalliope told them with the desperate quietness of one who couldnot afford to give way. Her own affairs were entirely swallowed up inthis far greater trouble, and for the present there were no means ofhelping her. Mr. and Mrs. Lee were thoroughly kind, and ready to giveher efficient aid in her home cares and her nursing; and it could onlybe hoped that Alexis might come back in the evening, and set the poorpatient's mind at rest.

  'We will try to make Mr. White come to a better understanding,' saidMiss Mohun kindly.

  'Thank you' said Kalliope, pushing back her hair with a half-bewilderedlook. 'I remember my poor mother was very anxious about that. But itseems a little thing now.'

  'May God bless and help you, my dear,' said Miss Mohun, with a partingkiss.

  Gillian had not spoken all the time; but outside she said--'Oh, aunt! isthis my doing?'

  'Not quite,' said Aunt Jane kindly. 'There were other causes.'

  'Oh, if I could do anything!'

  'Alas! it is easier to do than to undo.'

  Aunt Jane was really kind, and Gillian was grateful, but oh, how shelonged for her mother!

  There was no better news the next morning. Nothing had been heard ofAlexis, and nothing would persuade his mother in her half-delirious andwholly unreasonable state that he had not been sent to prison, and thatthey were not keeping it from her. She was exceedingly ill, and Kalliopehad been up all night with her.

  Such was the report in a note sent up by Mrs. Lee by one of the littleboys early in the morning, and, as soon as she could reasonably do so,Miss Mohun carried the report to Lord Rotherwood, whom she found muchbetter, and anxious to renew the tour of inspection which had beeninterrupted.

  Before long, Mr. White was shown in, intending to resume the businessdiscussion, and Miss Mohun was about to retreat with Lady Rotherwood,when her cousin, taking pity on her anxiety, said--

  'If you will excuse me for speaking about your family matters, Mr.White, my cousin knows these young people well, and
I should like you tohear what she has been telling me.'

  'A gentleman has just been calling on me about them,' said Mr. White,not over-graciously.

  'Mr. Flight?' asked Jane anxiously.

  'Yes; a young clergyman, just what we used to call Puseyite when I leftEngland; but that name seems to be gone out now.'

  'Anyway,' said Jane, 'I am sure he had nothing but good to say of MissWhite, or indeed of her brother; and I am afraid the poor mother is veryill.'

  'That's true, Miss Mohun; but you see there may be one side to a lady ora parson, and another to a practical man like my partner. Not but that Ishould be willing enough to do anything in reason for poor Dick's widowand children, but not to keep them in idleness, or letting them thinkthemselves too good to work.'

  'That I am sure these two do not. Their earnings quite keep the family.I know no one who works harder than Miss White, between her business,her lodgers, the children, and her helpless mother.'

  'I saw her mosaics--very fair, very clever, some of them; but I'm afraidshe is a sad little flirt, Miss Mohun.'

  'Mr. White,' said Lord Rotherwood, 'did ever you hear of a poor girlbeset by an importunate youth, but his family thought it was all herfault?'

  'If Mr. White would see her,' said Jane, 'he would understand at aglance that the attraction is perfectly involuntary; and I know fromother sources how persistently she has avoided young Stebbing; giving upSunday walks to prevent meeting him, accepting nothing from him, alwaysavoiding tete-a-tetes.'

  'Hum! But tell me this, madam,' said Mr. White eagerly, 'how is it that,if these young folks are so steady and diligent as you would make out,that eldest brother writes to me every few months for help to supportthem?'

  'Oh!' Jane breathed out, then, rallying, 'I know nothing about thateldest. Yes, I do though! His sister told my niece that all the rentsof the three houses went to enable Richard to appear as he ought at thesolicitor's office at Leeds.'

  'There's a screw loose somewhere plainly,' said Lord Rotherwood.

  'The question is, where it is,' said Mr. White.

  'And all I hope, said Jane, 'is that Mr. White will judge for himselfwhen he has seen Kalliope and made inquiries all round. I do not sayanything for the mother, poor thing, except that she is exceedingly illjust now, but I do thoroughly believe in the daughter.'

  'And this runaway scamp, Miss Mohun?'

  'I am afraid he is a runaway; but I am quite sure he is no scamp,' saidJane.

  'Only so clever as to be foolish, eh?' said the Marquis, ratherprovokingly.

  'Exactly so,' she answered; 'and I am certain that if Mr. White willtrust to his own eyes and his own inquiries, he will find that I amright.'

  She knew she ought to go, and Lord Rotherwood told her afterwards, 'Thatwas not an ill-aimed shaft, Jane. Stebbing got more than one snub overthe survey. I see that White is getting the notion that there's a systemof hoodwinking going on, and of not letting him alone, and he is not theman to stand that.'

  'If he only would call on Kalliope!'

  'I suspect he is afraid of being beguiled by such a fascinating youngwoman.'

  It was a grievous feature in the case to Gillian that she could reallydo nothing. Mrs. White was so ill that going to see Kalliope was of nouse, and Maura was of an age to be made useful at home; and there werefeatures in the affair that rendered it inexpedient for Gillian to speakof it except in the strictest confidence to Aunt Jane or Mysie. It wasas if she had touched a great engine, and it was grinding and clashingaway above her while she could do nothing to stay its course.

  CHAPTER XVII. -- 'THEY COME, THEY COME'