"And you got jealous! You actually were jealous of Owen and that poor,
dear, pretty Mrs. Bransby?"
"Yes, Granny."
"And you were such a _goose_--I won't use a stronger word, though I
could--as to pay any attention to what that idiot of an aunt of
yours--Lord forgive me!--chose to say in her anger and disappointment?"
"Yes, Granny."
"And you let the jabber of poor Amelia Simpson--as kind a soul as ever
breathed, but as profitable to listen to as the chirping of sparrows on
the house-top--prey upon your mind, and bias your common sense?"
"Yes, Granny."
"Why, then, I'm ashamed of you, May! Downright ashamed--there now!"
"Oh, thank you, Granny!"
And May seized her grandmother's hands one after the other as the old
woman drew them away impatiently, and kissed them in a kind of rapture.
This little scene, with but slight variations, had been enacted several
times since May's arrival on the previous evening at Jessamine Cottage.
May had ceased to make any excuses for herself, or to endeavour to
describe and account for her state of mind. She was only too thankful to
have her doubts treated with supreme disdain. To be scolded and chidden,
and told that she did not deserve such a true lover as Owen, was such
happiness as she could not be grateful enough for!
"Jealous of Owen because a parcel of mischievous magpies had nothing
better to do than to dig their foolish bills into a poor widow's
reputation? Why, I think you must have had softening of the brain!" Mrs.
Dobbs would say. Whereupon May would kneel down, and bury her face in
her grandmother's lap, and laugh and cry, and murmur in a smothered
voice--
"Bless you, Granny darling!"
"Not but what," Mrs. Dobbs admitted afterwards in a private
confabulation with Jo Weatherhead, "not but what I do think it's pretty
well enough to soften any one's brain to undergo a long course of Mrs.
Dormer-Smith. I thought I knew pretty well what she was, and I told you
so long ago, Jo Weatherhead, as you must well remember. But, mercy! I
hadn't an idea! Her goings on, from what the child tells me, and that
_fool_ of a letter she's written to me, display a wrongheadedness and an
aggravating kind of imbecility that beats everything."
Mr. Weatherhead, for his part, was inclined to be seriously wrathful
with everybody who had contributed to make May unhappy--not excluding
Mr. Owen Rivers, who, said Jo, might have had more gumption than to rush
to Mrs. Bransby's the moment he returned to England, and make such a
fuss about her, just as though _she_, and not May, were the object of
his solicitude and affection.
"And I think, Sarah," said honest Jo, "that you're too hard on Miranda.
It's all very fine, but it seems to me that she _had_ enough, and more
than enough, to make her uneasy. What with disagreeable things being
dinned into her ears from morning to night, and facts that couldn't be
denied, interpreted all wrong, and no friend near to interpret 'em
right, and her own modesty and humble-mindedness making her suspect that
the young man had offered to her before he was sure of his own mind, and
had begun to repent--take it altogether, I consider it's unkind and
unfair to bully her as you do, Sarah, and so I tell you."
"You do, do you?" answered Mrs. Dobbs, who had listened with much
composure to this attack. "Well, I'm not likely to quarrel with you for
_that_. But you needn't worry yourself about May. I think I understand
the case pretty well. If you doubt it, just try sympathizing with her,
and telling her you think Mr. Rivers behaved bad and thoughtless. You'll
see how pleased she'll be with you, and what a lot of gratitude you'll
get for taking her part. Try it, Jo."
Mr. Weatherhead, on reflection, did not try it.
The unexpected legacy from Lucius Cheffington to his cousin was hailed
by Mrs. Dobbs with heartfelt thankfulness. May's account of it at first
was a very vague one. She had only imperfectly heard Mr. Bragg's
communication in the railway carriage. And, indeed, at that moment, it
had seemed to her an affair of very secondary importance. But now, when
it occurred to her that this money would render them so independent as
to put it out of the question for Owen to have to seek his fortune in
South America, or any other distant part of the world, she was as elated
by it as the best regulated mind could desire.
"And it isn't so _very_ much money, after all, is it, Granny?" she said,
with an air of satisfaction, which Mrs. Dobbs did not quite understand.
"Well," she answered, "it seems a pretty good deal of money to me.
Between four and five hundred a year, as I understand."
"Yes; but it isn't a _fortune_. Mr. Bragg said it wasn't a fortune. I
mean--it is very little more than Owen has with what he earns, Granny."
"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs, a light beginning to dawn upon her. "I see.
Well, you can't have the proud satisfaction of marrying him without a
penny belonging to you. But perhaps he might take a situation for five
years on the Guinea Coast, so as to bring his income up above yours."
"Oh, Granny!"
"Why not? It would be quite as natural and sensible as his wanting to
marry poor Mrs. Bransby and her five children. Things are getting too
comfortable to be let alone. The least he can do is to undergo a course
of yellow fever, and----"
"Granny, how can you?" And the young arms were round Granny, and the
blushing face hidden in Granny's breast.
"Was I ever so foolish about Dobbs, I wonder?" murmured Mrs. Dobbs, as
she stroked the girl's hair. "He was a good-looking young fellow, was
Isaac, in our courting days, and a temper like a sunshiny morning, and
we were over head and ears in love, I know that; and--yes, I believe I
was every bit as soft-hearted and silly, the Lord be praised!"
Mr. Bragg called at Jessamine Cottage about noon the day after May's
return. He asked to see Mrs. Dobbs, and remained talking with her alone
for some time. He had made up his mind, he told her, to give Mr. Rivers
a permanent post in his employment, if he chose to accept it. He thought
of offering him the management of the Oldchester office, if, after a
three months' trial, he found it suited him, and he suited it. There was
no technical knowledge of the manufacture needed for this post: merely a
clear head, honesty, the power of keeping accounts, and of conducting a
large business correspondence.
"I think he can do it," said Mr. Bragg; "and, if he can, he may." Then
he informed Mrs. Dobbs that he had telegraphed to Mr. Rivers to come
down to Oldchester. He would there find, at the office in Friar's Row, a
letter with all details. "As for me," said Mr. Bragg, "I shall cross him
on the road. I am going to town by the three-thirty express. You needn't
mention what I've told you to Miss C. I thought, perhaps, she'd like
better to hear it--as an agreeable bit of news, I hope--from him."
What more may have passed between them Granny never reported. He went
away without seeing May, merely leaving a message, "His kind regards,
and he hoped she was feeling well and rested."
"Oh, I wish I had seen him!" exclaimed May, when this message was
faithfully delivered by Granny. "I wanted so much to thank him again.
It's too bad! I wonder why he went away without seeing me."
"Do you?" said Granny shortly. "Well, perhaps he thought he'd had bother
enough with you for one while. He's got other things to do besides
dancing attendance on young ladies who wander about the world, fainting
from want of food, and requiring special trains, and all manner of
dainties." Privately she observed to Mr. Weatherhead that innocence was
mighty cruel sometimes, as could be exemplified any day by trusting a
young child with a kitten.
"H'm! Mr. Bragg isn't exactly a kitten, Sarah," returned Jo.
"True, a kitten will scratch! He's a man, and a good 'un; and I'll tell
you what, Jo, if Joshua Bragg wanted his shoes blacked, I'd go down on
my old knees to do it for him."
May's legacy was a great piece of news for Mr. Weatherhead. He was not
only delighted at it for her sake, but he enjoyed the importance of
disseminating it. Jo went about the city from the house of one
acquaintance to another. He also looked in at the Black Bull, where he
ordered a glass of brandy-and-water in honour of May's good fortune. The
item of news he brought was a welcome contribution to the general fund
of gossip. The subjects of Mr. Lucius Cheffington's funeral, and how the
old lord had taken the death, and whether Captain Cheffington would come
back to England now that he was the heir, and make it up with his uncle,
were by this time beginning to be worn a little threadbare; or, at all
events, had lost their first gloss.
In this way it speedily became known to those interested in the matter
that May Cheffington had arrived at her grandmother's house. Among
others, the intelligence reached Theodore Bransby. Theodore had been
frequently in Oldchester of late, on business of various kinds, chiefly
connected with the approaching election. He had never relinquished the
hope of winning May; and he believed that the death of Lucius was a
circumstance favourable to his hopes. He did not doubt that the new turn
of affairs would bring Captain Cheffington to England forthwith; and he
as little doubted that many doors--including Mr. Dormer-Smith's--would
be opened widely to Captain Cheffington now, which had been closed to
him for years. Moreover, Theodore was convinced that one immediate
result of her father's presence would be to separate May altogether from
Mrs. Dobbs, and the unfitting associates who haunted her house, and
claimed acquaintanceship with Miss Cheffington. May, he knew, had a weak
affection for the vulgar old woman. But her father's authority would be
strong enough to sever her from Mrs. Dobbs; and, for the rest, Captain
Cheffington was his friend; whereas he was instinctively aware that Mrs.
Dobbs was not. Latterly, too, ever since his father's death, May's
manner to him had been very gentle.
He was meditating these things as he walked up the garden path to
Jessamine Cottage. May caught sight of him from the window, and sprang
up in consternation, crying to Granny to tell Martha he was not to be
admitted. Mrs. Dobbs, however, told May to run upstairs out of the way,
and determined to receive the visitor herself.
"I'm so afraid he will persist in asking for me! He is wonderfully
obstinate, Granny!" said May, ready to fly upstairs at the first sound
of the expected knock at the door.
"Ah!" rejoined Mrs. Dobbs, setting her mouth rather grimly, "so am I.
Show the gentleman into the parlour, Martha."
Theodore was ushered into the little room, and found Mrs. Dobbs seated
in state in her big chair. The place was far smaller and poorer than the
house in Friar's Row, but in Theodore's eyes it was preferable. There
was the possibility of some pretentions to gentility on the part of a
dweller in Jessamine Cottage, whereas Friar's Row, though it might,
perhaps, be comfortable, was hopelessly ungenteel.
Theodore, when he entered the room, made a low bow, which, unlike his
salutation on a former occasion, was distinctly a bow, and not a
nondescript gesture halfway between a bow and a nod. He had learned by
experience that it did not answer to treat Mrs. Dobbs _de haut en bas_.
He also made a movement as if to shake hands; but this Mrs. Dobbs
ignored, and asked him to sit down, in a coldly civil voice.
She had been knitting when he came in, but laid the needles and worsted
aside on his entrance, and sat looking at him with her hands folded in
her lap.
Theodore could scarcely tell why, but this action seemed to prelude
nothing pleasant. There was an air of being armed at all points about
the old woman, as she sat there looking at him with a steady attention
unshared by her knitting. But possibly the work had been laid aside out
of politeness. In any case, Theodore told himself that _he_ was not
likely to be disconcerted by such a trifle.
"How do you do, Mrs. Dobbs?" he asked, when he was seated.
"Very well, I'm much obliged to you."
Here ensued a pause.
"It is some time since we met, Mrs. Dobbs."
"It's over a twelvemonth since you called at my house in Friar's Row,
Mr. Theodore Bransby."
Another pause.
"There has been trouble in the Cheffington family since then," said
Theodore, at length. "Ah, how strange and unexpected was the death of
the eldest son! Lucius, of course, was always delicate. Still, he might
have lived. His death has been a sad blow to Lord Castlecombe."
Theodore considered himself to be condescending and conciliatory, in
thus assuming that Mrs. Dobbs took some part in the affliction of the
noble family. In his heart he resented her having the most distant
connection with them. But he intended to be polite.
"There has been trouble in other families besides the Cheffingtons,"
returned Mrs. Dobbs gravely, with her eyes on the young man's mourning
garments.
"Oh! Yes. Of course. But no trouble with which you can be expected to
concern yourself," he answered. He was annoyed, and preserved his smooth
manner only by an effort.
"And, anyway," continued Mrs. Dobbs, "Lord Castlecombe's sons have left
no fatherless children, nor widows, nor any one to be desolate and
oppressed--like your poor father did."
Theodore raised his eyebrows in his favourite supercilious fashion.
"Your figurative language is a little stronger than the case requires,"
he said.
"Widowhood is a desolate thing, and poverty oppressive. There's no
figure in that, I'm sorry to say."
"Oh, really? I was not aware," said Theodore, nettled, in spite of
himself, into showing some _hauteur_, "that Mrs. Bransby and her family
had excited so much interest in you!"
"No; I dare say not. I believe you were not. I think it very likely
you'd be surprised if you knew how many folks in Oldchester and out of
it are interested in them."
The young man sat silent, casting about for something to say which
should put down this old woman, without absolutely quarrelling with her.
He was glad to remember that he had always disliked her. But he had come
there with a purpose, and he did not intend to be turned aside from it.
Seeing that he did not speak, Mrs. Dobbs said, "Might I ask if you did
me the favour to call merely to condole upon the death of my late
daughter's husband's cousin?"
This was an opening for what he wanted to say, and he availed himself of
it. He replied, stiffly, that the principal object of his visit had been
to see Miss Cheffington, who, he was told, had returned to Oldchester;
and that, in one sense, his visit might be held to be congratulatory,
inasmuch as Miss Cheffington inherited something worth having under her
cousin's will. He did not fear being suspected of any interested motive
here. Besides that he was rich enough to make the money a matter of
secondary importance; his conscience was absolutely clear on this score.
He had desired, and offered, to marry May when she was penniless; he
still desired it, but truly none the more for her inheritance.
"Oh! So you've heard of the legacy, have you?" said Mrs. Dobbs.
"Heard of it! My good lady, I was present at the reading of the will.
There were very few persons at the funeral; it was poor Lucius's wish
that it should be private, but I thought it my duty to attend. There are
peculiar relations between the family and myself, which made me desirous
of paying that compliment to his memory. I think there was no other
stranger present except Mr. Bragg. You have heard of him? Of course! All
Oldchester persons are acquainted with the name of Bragg. After the
ceremony Lord Castlecombe invited us into the library, and the will was
read. I understood that the deceased had wished its contents to be made
known as soon as possible."
This narration of his distinguished treatment at Combe Park was soothing
to the young man's self-esteem. He ended his speech with patronizing
suavity. But Mrs. Dobbs remained silent and irresponsive.
"I wish," said Theodore, after vainly awaiting a word from her, "to see
Miss Cheffington, if you please."
Mrs. Dobbs slowly shook her head. He repeated the request, in a louder
and more peremptory tone.
"Oh, I heard you quite well before," she said composedly; "but I'm sorry
to say your wish can't be complied with."
"Miss Cheffington is in this house, is she not?"
"Yes, she is at home; but you can't see her."
Theodore grew a shade paler than usual, and answered sharply, "But I
insist upon seeing her." He threw aside the mask of civility. It
evidently was wasted here.
"'Insist' is an unmannerly word to use; and a ridiculous one under the
circumstances--which, perhaps, you'll mind more. You can't see my
granddaughter."
He glared at her in a white rage. Theodore's anger was never of the
blazing, explosive sort. If fire typifies that passion in most persons,
in him it resembled frost. His metal turned cold in wrath; but it would
skin the fingers which incautiously touched it. A fit of serious anger
was apt, also, to make him feel ill and tremulous.
"May I ask why I cannot see her?" he said, almost setting his teeth as
he spoke.
"Because she wishes to avoid you. She fled away when she saw you
coming," answered Mrs. Dobbs, with pitiless frankness.
He drew two or three long breaths, like a person who has been running
hard, before saying, "That is very strange! It is only a few days ago
that Miss Cheffington was sitting beside me at dinner; talking to me in
the sweetest and most gracious manner."
"As to sitting beside you, I suppose she had to sit where she was put!
And as to sweetness--no doubt she was civil. But, at any rate, she
declines to see you now. She has said so as plain as plain English can
express it."
"Your statement is incredible. Suppose I say I don't believe it! What
guarantee have I that you are telling me the truth?"
"None at all," she answered quietly.
He stared blankly for a moment. Then he said, "Mrs. Dobbs, for some
reason, or no reason, you hate me. That is a matter of perfect
indifference to me." (His white lips, twitching nostrils, and icily
gleaming eyes, told a different tale.) "But I am not accustomed to be
treated with impertinence by persons of your class."
"Only by your betters?" interpolated Mrs. Dobbs.
"And, moreover, I shall take immediate steps to inform Captain
Cheffington of your behaviour. He will scarcely approve his daughter's
remaining with a person who--who----"
"Says, she'd rather not see Mr. Theodore Bransby."
"Who insults his friends. With regard to Miss Cheffington, I have no
doubt you will endeavour to poison her mind against me. But you may
possibly find yourself baffled. I have made proposals to Miss
Cheffington--no doubt you are acquainted with the fact--which, although
not immediately accepted, were not definitively rejected: at least, not
by the young lady herself. And I shall take an answer from no one else.
Miss Cheffington's demeanour to me, of late, has been distinctly
encouraging. If it be now changed, I shall know quite well to whose low
cunning and insolent interference to attribute it. But you may find
yourself mistaken in your reckoning, Mrs. Dobbs. Captain Cheffington is
my friend: and Captain Cheffington will hardly be disposed to leave his
daughter in such hands when I tell him all."
He was speaking in a laboured way, and his lips and hands were
tremulous.
Mrs. Dobbs looked at him gravely, but with no trace of anger. "Look
here," she said when he paused, apparently from want of breath--"you may
as well know it first as last--May is engaged to be married; has been
engaged more than three months."
Theodore gave a kind of gasp, and turned of so ghastly a pallor that
Mrs. Dobbs, without another word, went to a closet in the room, unlocked
it, took out a decanter with some sherry in it, poured out a brimming
glassful of the wine, and, placing one hand behind the young man's head,
put the glass to his lips with the other. He made a feeble movement to
reject it.
"Off with it!" she said in the voice of a nurse talking to a refractory
child.
He swallowed the sherry without further resistance, and a tinge of
colour began to return to his face.
"You haven't got too much strength," observed Mrs. Dobbs, as she stood
and watched him. "Your mother was delicate, and I suppose you take after
her."
She had no intention, no consciousness, of doing so, but, in speaking
thus, she touched a sensitive chord. Any allusion to his mother's feeble
constitution made him nervous. He closed his eyes, and murmured that he
feared he had caught a chill at the funeral; that the sensation of
shivering pointed to that.
Mrs. Dobbs stood looking down on him as he sat with his head thrown back
in the chair.
"And so, my lad, you think I hate you?" she said. "Why, I should be
sorry to be obliged to hate your father's son; or, for that matter, your
mother's son either. She was a good, quiet, peaceable sort of young
woman. I remember her well, and your grandfather, old Rabbitt, that kept
the Castlecombe Arms when I was young. No; I don't hate you. Not a bit!
But I'll tell you what I do hate; I hate to see young creatures, that
ought by rights to be generous, and trusting, and affectionate, and
maybe a little bit foolish--there's a kind of foolishness that's better
than over-wisdom in the young--I hate to see 'em setting themselves up,
valuing themselves on their 'cuteness; ashamed of them that have gone
before 'em. I hate to see 'em hard-hearted to the helpless. Young things
may be cruel from thoughtlessness; but, to be cruel out of
meanness--well, I'll own I do hate that. But as for you, it comes into
my head that perhaps I've been a bit too hard on you."
Mrs. Dobbs here laid her broad hand on his shoulder. He would fain have
shaken it off. But, although the wine had greatly restored him, he
thought it prudent to remain quiet, and recover himself completely
before going away.
"You are but a lad to me," continued Mrs. Dobbs. "And perhaps I've been
hard on you. There's a deal of excuse to be made. You love my
granddaughter, after your fashion--and nobody can love better than his
best--and it's bitter not to be loved again. You'll get over it. Folks
with redder blood in their veins than you, have got over it before
to-day. But I know you can't think so now; and it's bitter. But if
you'll take an old woman's advice--an old woman that knew your mother
and grandmother, and is old enough to be your grandmother
herself--you'll just make up your mind to bear a certain amount of pain
without flinching:--like as if you'd got a bullet in battle, or broke
your collar-bone out hunting--and turn your thoughts to helping other
folks in their trouble. There's no cure for the heart-ache like that,
take my word for it. Come now, you just face it like a man, and try my
recipe! You've got good means and good abilities. Do some good with 'em!
Some young fellows when they're out of spirits, take to climbing up
mountains, slaughtering wild beasts, or getting into scrimmages with
savages--by the way, I did hear that you were going into Parliament--but
there's your stepmother now, with her five children, your young brothers
and sisters, on her hands. Just you go in for making her life easier.
There's a good work ready and waiting for you."
Theodore moved his shoulder brusquely, and Mrs. Dobbs immediately
withdrew her hand. He stood up and said stiffly, "I must offer you my
acknowledgments for the wine you administered."
Mrs. Dobbs merely waved her hand, as though putting that aside, and
continued to look at him, with a grave expression, which was not without
a certain broad, motherly compassion.
"I presume the name of the man to whom Miss Cheffington has engaged
herself is not a secret?"
"It is Mrs. Hadlow's nephew; Mr. Owen Rivers," answered Mrs. Dobbs
simply.
He had felt as sure of what she was going to say as though he had seen
the words printed before him; nevertheless, the sound of the name seemed
to pierce him like a sword-blade. He drew himself up with a strong
effort to be cutting and contemptuous. But as he went on speaking, he
lost his self-command and prudence.
"Miss Cheffington is to be congratulated, indeed! Captain Cheffington
will, no doubt, be delighted at the alliance you have contrived for his
daughter! Mr. Owen Rivers! A clerk in Mr. Bragg's counting-house--which,
however, is probably the most respectable occupation he has ever
followed! Mr. Owen Rivers, whose name is scandalously connected
throughout Oldchester with that of the person you were so kind as to
recommend to my good offices just now! A person whose conduct disgraces
my family, and dishonours my father's memory! Mr. Owen Rivers, who----"
"Hush! Hold your tongue!" cried Mrs. Dobbs, fairly clapping one hand
over his mouth, and pointing with the other to the window.
There at the bottom of the garden was Owen, hurriedly alighting from a
cab; and May, who had witnessed his arrival from an upper window,
presently came flying down the pathway into his arms.
Theodore had but a lightning-swift glimpse of this little scene, for
Mrs. Dobbs saying, "Come along here!" resolutely pulled him by the arm
into a back room, and so to a door opening on to a lane behind the
house. He was astonished at this summary proceeding, but he affected
somewhat more bewilderment than he really felt, so as to cover his
retreat. And he muttered something about having to deal with a mad
woman.
"Now go!" said Mrs. Dobbs, opening the door. "I can forgive a deal to
love and jealousy and disappointment, but that cowardly lie is not to be
forgiven. To think that you--_you_--should be Martin Bransby's son! Why,
it's enough to make your father turn in his grave!"
And with that she thrust him out, and shut the door upon him.