In spite of being glad that ‘things were not in her hands,’ Miss Monro tried to take affairs into her charge by doing all she could to persuade Ellinor to allow her to invite the canon to their ‘little sociable teas.’ The most provoking part was, that she was sure he would have come if he bad been asked; but she could never get leave to do so. ‘Of course no man could go on for ever and ever without encouragement,’ as she confided to herself in a plaintive tone of voice; and by-and-by many people were led to suppose that the bachelor canon was paying attention to Miss Forbes, the eldest daughter of the family to which the delicate Jeanie belonged. It was, perhaps, with the Forbeses that both Miss Monro and Ellinor were the most intimate of all the families in East Chester. Mrs Forbes was a widow lady of good means, with a large family of pretty, delicate daughters. She herself belonged to one of the great houses in --shire, but had married into Scotland; so, after her husband’s death, it was the most natural thing in the world that she should settle in East Chester; and one after another of her daughters had become first Miss Monro’s pupil and afterwards her friend. Mrs Forbes herself had always been strongly attracted by Ellinor, but it was long before she could conquer the timid reserve by which Miss Wilkins was hedged round. It was Miss Monro, who was herself incapable of jealousy, who persevered in praising them to one another, and in bringing them together; and now Ellinor was as intimate and familiar in Mrs Forbes’s household as she ever could be with any family not her own.
Mrs Forbes was considered to be a little fanciful as to illness; but it was no wonder, remembering how many sisters she had lost by consumption. Miss Monro had often grumbled at the way in which her pupils were made irregular for very trifling causes. But no one so alarmed as she, when, in the autumn succeeding Mr Ness’s death, Mrs Forbes remarked to her on Ellinor’s increased delicacy of appearance, and shortness of breathing. From that time forwards she worried Ellinor (if anyone so sweet and patient could ever have been worried) with respirators and precautions. Ellinor submitted to all her friend’s wishes and cares, sooner than make her anxious, and remained a prisoner in the house through the whole of November. Then Miss Monro’s anxiety took another turn. Ellinor’s appetite and spirits failed her - not at all an unnatural consequence of so many weeks’ confinement to the house. A plan was started, quite suddenly, one morning in December, that met with approval from everyone but Ellinor, who was, however, by this time too languid to make much resistance.
Mrs Forbes and her daughters were going to Rome for three or four months, so as to avoid the trying cast winds of spring; why should not Miss Wilkins go with them? They urged it, and Miss Monro urged it, though with a little private sinking of the heart at the idea of the long separation from one who was almost like a child to her. Ellinor was, as it were, lifted off her feet and borne away by the unanimous opinion of others - the doctor included - who decided that such a step was highly desirable, if not absolutely necessary. She knew that she had only a life interest both in her father’s property and in that bequeathed to her by Mr Ness. Hitherto she had not felt much troubled by this, as she had supposed that in the natural course of events she should survive Miss Monro and Dixon, both of whom she looked upon as dependent upon her. All she had to bequeath to the two, was the small savings, which would not nearly suffice for both purposes, especially considering that Miss Monro had given up her teaching, and that both she and Dixon were passing into years.
Before Ellinor left England she had made every arrangement for the contingency of her death abroad that Mr Johnson could suggest. She had written and sent a long letter to Dixon; and a shorter one was left in charge of Canon Livingstone (she dared not hint at the possibility of her dying to Miss Monro) to be sent to the old man.
As they drove out of the King’s Cross station, they passed a gentleman’s carriage entering. Ellinor saw a bright, handsome lady, a nurse, and baby inside, and a gentleman sitting by them whose face she could never forget. It was Mr Corbet taking his wife and child to the railway. They were going on a Christmas visit to East Chester deanery. He had been leaning back, not noticing the passers-by, not attending to the other inmates of the carriage, probably absorbed in the consideration of some law case. Such were the casual glimpses Ellinor had of one, with whose life she had once thought herself bound up.
Who so proud as Miss Monro when a foreign letter came? Her correspondent was not particularly graphic in her descriptions, nor were there any adventures to be described, nor was the habit of mind of Ellinor such as to make her clear and definite in her own impressions of what she saw, and her natural reserve kept her from being fluent in communicating them even to Miss Monro. But that lady would have been pleased to read aloud these letters to the assembled dean and canons, and would not have been surprised if they had invited her to the chapter-house for that purpose. To her circle of untravelled ladies, ignorant of Murray, but laudably desirous of information, all Ellinor’s historical reminiscences, and rather formal details were really interesting. There was no railroad in those days between Lyons and Marseilles, so their progress was slow, and the passage of letters to and fro, when they had arrived in Rome, long and uncertain. But all seemed going on well. Ellinor spoke of herself as in better health; and Canon Livingstone (between whom and Miss Monro great intimacy had sprung up since Ellinor had gone away, and Miss Monro could ask him to tea) confirmed this report of Miss Wilkins’s health from a letter which he had received from Mrs Forbes. Curiosity about that letter was Miss Monro’s torment. What could they have had to write to each other about! It was a very odd proceeding; although the Livingstones and Forbeses were distantly related, after the manner of Scotland. Could it have been that he had offered to Euphemia, after all, and that her mother had answered; or, possibly, there was a letter from Effie herself, enclosed? It was a pity for Miss Monro’s peace of mind that she did not ask him straight away. She would then have learnt what Canon Livingstone had no thought of concealing, that Mrs Forbes had written solely to give him some fuller directions about certain charities than she had had time to think about in the hurry of starting. As it was, and when a little later on, she heard him speak of the possibility of his going himself to Rome, as soon as his term of residence was over, in time for the Carnival, she gave up her fond project in despair, and felt very much like a child whose house of bricks has been knocked down by the unlucky waft of some passing petticoat.
Meanwhile, the entire change of scene brought on the exquisite refreshment of entire change of thought. Ellinor had not been able so completely to forget her past life for many years; it was like a renewing of her youth; cut so suddenly short by the shears of fate. Ever since that night, she had had to rouse herself on awakening in the morning into a full comprehension of the great cause she had for much fear and heavy grief. Now, when she wakened in her little room, fourth piano, No. 36, Babuino, she saw the strange, pretty things around her, and her mind went off into pleasant wonder and conjecture, happy recollections of the day before, and pleasant anticipations of the day to come. Latent in Ellinor was her father’s artistic temperament; everything new and strange was a picture and a delight; the merest group in the street, a Roman facchino, with his cloak draped over his shoulder, a girl going to market or carrying her pitcher back from the fountain, everything and every person that presented it or himself to her senses, gave them a delicious shock, as if it were something strangely familiar from Pinelli, but unseen by her mortal eyes before. She forgot her despondency, her ill health disappeared as if by magic; the Misses Forbes, who had taken the pensive, drooping invalid as a companion out of kindness of heart, found themselves amply rewarded by the sight of her amended health, and her keen enjoyment of everything, and the half-quaint, half-naïve expressions of her pleasure.
So March came round; Lent was late that year. The great nosegays of violets and camellias were for sale at the corner of the Condotti, and the revellers had no difficulty in procuring much rarer flowers for the belies of the Corso. The embassies had their balconies; the
attachés of the Russian embassy threw their light and lovely presents at every pretty girl, or suspicion of a pretty girl, who passed slowly in her carriage, covered over with her white domino, and holding her wire mask as a protection to her face from the showers of lime confetti, which otherwise would have been enough to blind her; Mrs Forbes had her own hired balcony as became a wealthy and respectable Englishwoman. The girls had a great basket full of bouquets with which to pelt their friends in the crowd below; a store of moccoletti lay piled on the table behind, for it was the last day of Carnival, and as soon as dusk came on the tapers were to be lighted, to be as quickly extinguished by every means in everyone’s power. The crowd below was at its wildest pitch; the rows of stately contadini alone sitting immovable as their possible ancestors, the senators who received Brennus and his Gauls. Masks and white dominoes, foreign gentlemen, and the riffraff of the city, slow-driving carriages, showers of flowers, most of them faded by this time, everyone shouting and struggling at that wild pitch of excitement which may so soon turn into fury. The Forbes girls had given place at the window to their mother and Ellinor, who were gazing half amused, half terrified, at the mad parti-coloured movement below; when a familiar face looked up, smiling a recognition; and ‘How shall I get to you?’ was asked in English, by the well-known voice of Canon Livingstone. They saw him disappear under the balcony on which they were standing, but it was some time before he made his appearance in their room. And when he did, he was almost overpowered with greetings; so glad were they to see an East Chester face.
‘When did you come? Where are you? What a pity you did not come sooner! It is so long since we have heard anything; do tell us everything! It is three weeks since we have had any letters; those tiresome boats have been so irregular because of the weather.’ ‘How was everybody - Miss Monro in particular?’ Ellinor asks.
He, quietly smiling, replied to their questions by slow degrees. He had only arrived the night before, and had been hunting for them all day; but no one could give him any distinct intelligence as to their whereabouts in all the noise and confusion of the place, especially as they had their only English servant with them, and the canon was not strong in his Italian. He was not sorry he had missed all but this last day of Carnival, for he was half blinded, and wholly deafened, as it was. He was at the Angleterre; he had left East Chester about a week ago; he had letters for all of them, but had not dared to bring them through the crowd for fear of having his pocket picked. Miss Monro was very well, but very uneasy at not having heard from Ellinor for so long; the irregularity of the boats must be telling both ways, for their English friends were full of wonder at not hearing from Rome. And then followed some well deserved abuse of the Roman post, and some suspicion of the carelessness with which Italian servants posted English letters. All these answers were satisfactory enough, yet Mrs Forbes thought she saw a latent uneasiness in Canon Livingstone’s manner, and fancied once or twice that he hesitated in replying to Ellinor’s questions. But there was no being quite sure in the increasing darkness, which prevented countenances from being seen; nor in the constant interruptions and screams which were going on in the small crowded room, as wafting handkerchiefs, puffs of wind, or veritable extinguishers, fastened to long sticks, and coming from nobody knew where, put out taper after taper as fast as they were lighted.
‘You will come home with us,’ said Mrs Forbes. ‘I can only offer you cold meat with tea; our cook is gone out, this being a universal festa; but we cannot part with an old friend for any scruples as to the commissariat.’
‘Thank you. I should have invited myself if you had not been good enough to ask me.’
When they had all arrived at their apartment in the Babuino (Canon Livingstone had gone round to fetch the letters with which he was entrusted), Mrs Forbes was confirmed in her supposition that he had something particular and not very pleasant to say to Ellinor, by the rather grave and absent manner in which he awaited her return from taking off her out-of-door things. He broke off, indeed, in his conversation with Mrs Forbes to go and meet Ellinor, and to lead her into the most distant window before he delivered her letters.
‘From what you said in the balcony yonder, I fear you have not received your home letters regularly?’
‘No!’ replied she, startled and trembling, she hardly knew why.
‘No more has Miss Monro heard from you; nor, I believe, has someone else who expected to hear. Your man of business - I forget his name.’
‘My man of business! Something has gone wrong, Mr Livingstone. Tell me - I want to know. I have been expecting it - only tell me.’ She sat down suddenly, as white as ashes.
‘Dear Miss Wilkins, I’m afraid it is painful enough, but you are fancying it worse than it is. All your friends are quite well; but an old servant --’
‘Well!’ she said, seeing his hesitation, and leaning forwards and griping at his arm.
‘Is taken up on a charge of manslaughter or murder. - Oh! Mrs Forbes, come here!’
For Ellinor had fainted, falling forwards on the arm she had held. When she came round she was lying half-undressed on her bed; they were giving her tea in spoonfuls.
‘I must get up,’ she moaned. ‘I must go home.’
‘You must lie still,’ said Mrs Forbes, firmly.
‘You don’t know. I must go home,’ she repeated; and she tried to sit up, but fell back helpless. Then she did not speak, but lay and thought. ‘Will you bring me some meat?’ she whispered. ‘And some wine?’ They brought her meat and wine; she ate, though she was choking. ‘Now, please, bring me my letters, and leave me alone; and after that I should like to speak to Canon Livingstone. Don’t let him go, please. I won’t be long-half an hour, I think. Only let me be alone.’
There was a hurried feverish sharpness in her tone that made Mrs Forbes very anxious, but she judged it best to comply with her requests.
The letters were brought, the lights were arranged so that she could read them lying on her bed; and they left her. Then she got up and stood on her feet, dizzy enough, her arms clasped at the top of her head, her eyes dilated and staring as if looking at some great horror. But after a few minutes she sat down suddenly, and began to read. Letters were evidently missing. Some had been sent by an opportunity that had been delayed on the journey, and had not yet arrived in Rome. Others had been despatched by the post, but the severe weather, the unusual snow, had, in those days, before the railway was made between Lyons and Marseilles, put a stop to many a traveller’s plans, and had rendered the transmission of the mail extremely uncertain; so, much of that intelligence which Miss Monro had evidently considered as certain to be known to Ellinor was entirely matter of conjecture, and could only be guessed at from what was told in these letters. One was from Mr Johnson, one from Mr Brown, one from Miss Monro; of course the last mentioned was the first read. She spoke of the shock of the discovery of Mr Dunster’s body, found in the cutting of the new line of railroad from Hamley to the nearest railway station; the body so hastily buried long ago, in its clothes, by which it was now recognized - a recognition confirmed by one or two more personal and indestructible things, such as his watch and seal with his initials; of the shock to everyone, the Osbaldistones in particular, on the further discovery of a fleam, or horse-lancet, having the name of Abraham Dixon engraved on the handle; how Dixon had gone on Mr Osbaldistone’s business to a horse-fair in Ireland some weeks before this, and had had his leg broken by a kick from an unruly mare, so that he was barely able to move about when the officers of justice went to apprehend him in Tralee.
At this point Ellinor cried out loud and shrill.
‘Oh, Dixon! Dixon! and I was away enjoying myself.’
They heard her cry, and came to the door, but it was bolted inside.
‘Please, go away,’ she said; ‘please, go. I will be very quiet, only, please, go.’
She could not bear just then to read any more of Miss Monro’s letter; she tore open Mr Johnson’s - the date was a fortnight earlier than M
iss Monro’s.’ he also expressed his wonder at not hearing from her, in reply to his letter of January 9; but he added, that he thought that her trustees bad judged rightly; the handsome sum the railway company had offered for the land when their surveyor decided on the alteration of the line, Mr Osbaldistone, &c. &c., she could not read any more; it was Fate pursuing her. Then she took the letter up again and tried to read; but all that reached her understanding was the fact that Mr Johnson had sent his present letter to Miss Monro, thinking that she might know of some private opportunity safer than the post. Mr Brown’s was just such a letter as he occasionally sent her from time to time; a correspondence that arose out of their mutual regard for their dead friend Mr Ness. It, too, had been sent to Miss Monro to direct. Ellinor was on the point of putting it aside entirely, when the name of Corbet caught her eye: ‘You will be interested to hear that the old pupil of our departed friend who was so anxious to obtain the folio Virgil with the Italian notes, is appointed the new judge in room of Mr Justice Jenkin. At least I conclude that Mr Ralph Corbet, Q.C., is the same as the Virgil fancier.’
Delphi Complete Works of Elizabeth Gaskell Page 375