against her _fiance_ grew in her mind; for did it not seem that he had
always been unlucky, that the brief space of prosperity that had
preceded her engagement had been the exception, not the rule, in his
experiences? Old Mr Talbot had died while Ned was still at college,
and the necessity of looking after the business for the benefit of the
family had compelled the young fellow to sacrifice his own hopes of a
profession, and settle down to a commercial life. Mr Talbot had owned
"Works" of some kind; Lilias had the haziest idea of their purport. Ned
manufactured "engines and things," she told her friends vaguely, and
spent his days amidst clanking machinery, in an atmosphere impregnated
with steam and oil. A dozen years before, "the Works" had been a
profitable concern, but it had steadily declined in value, as more
powerful firms monopolised the trade. Ned had struggled hard against
the tide, but his term of management had been far from prosperous, and
when, a year ago, his most formidable rival had come forward with an
offer to take over the smaller firm, and instal him in the position of
manager over the united businesses, he had been thankful to accept, and
to believe that his anxieties were at an end. Six months--scarcely six
months--and already he was beginning to feel uneasy, to suspect trouble
ahead! Lilias tightened her lips, and her eyes gave out an impatient
flash. It requires a noble nature to preserve unswerving confidence in
a man through a period of reverse, and Lilias was not capable of the
effort. It seemed to her that such a want of success must surely be
Ned's own fault, and something startlingly like dislike sprang up in her
heart, as she realised how closely she herself would be involved in his
failure. Her mother had declared that it was her duty to encourage Ned
in his quixotic scruples; but surely, surely, it was also Ned's duty to
consider her interests, and to be ready to sacrifice his scruples, if
they threatened injury to the future which she had agreed to share!
Lilias was as angry as it was in her nature to be, but her love of
approval made her unwilling to exhibit herself in so unamiable a mood,
and she rushed upstairs to the porch room to recover her composure
before joining her sisters in the garden. The worst of belonging to a
large family, however, is that it is exceedingly difficult to secure
privacy, and, as fate would have it, who should be seated in the porch
room but Nan herself, the very last member of the household whom Lilias
would have wished to meet in the circumstances. Her flushed face and
tearful eyes could not escape attention, but while Maud would have been
tactfully silent, Elsie sympathetic, Agatha gushing, and Christabel
apparently unconscious, Nan must needs stare with all her eyes, whistle
like a schoolboy, and exclaim inelegantly--
"Halloa! What's up? What in the world are you in a rage about now?"
"Now," indeed! As if she were in the habit of flying into rages every
ten minutes of the day! As if it were not universally acknowledged that
she had the sweetest temper in the family! Lilias felt more irritated
than ever, and would have enjoyed nothing so much as taking the big
blundering creature by the shoulders and giving her a good shaking. She
controlled herself, however, and answered with a gallant attempt at
pathos--
"Rage is hardly the word, Nan. I am very, very miserable. You don't
understand, and I am not at liberty to explain the reason. I am in
trouble--horrible trouble!"
"Humph!" quoth Nan sceptically. "Doesn't seem to have a chastening
effect upon you. It affects us all differently, I suppose. I should
have said you were in a savage rage, if you'd asked me!"
"But I didn't ask you, you see, and it is very wrong of you to judge.
If I could tell you the truth, you would realise your mistake, but I
must keep my own counsel."
"Of course, of course! Don't tell me, I beseech you; I can't keep a
secret if I'm paid for it," said Nan calmly, and with an absence of
curiosity altogether maddening to the listener. There was nothing
Lilias wanted more than to be coaxed to tell her trouble and pose as a
suffering martyr, for her sister's benefit. She flounced out of the
room in high dudgeon, and Nan stopped her work and looked after her with
thoughtful eyes.
"This is the beginning," she said tragically to herself--"the beginning
of the end!"
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
NED IN TROUBLE.
When Ned Talbot arrived a fortnight later, his face showed that his
anxiety had been no imaginary thing. He looked, indeed, so worn and
aged, that his friends were shocked to see him, and tears of
commiseration rose in Lilias's pretty eyes. The consciousness that Ned
looked to her for consolation roused a natural womanly tenderness in her
heart, and nothing could have been sweeter than her behaviour on the day
of his arrival. As for Ned himself, fresh from the grim northern town,
with the everlasting clang of machinery sounding in his ears, it seemed
a very foretaste of paradise to find himself in the fragrant southern
garden, seated beneath the shade of the trees, with Lilias's lovely face
smiling upon him. He told her as much in lover-like fashion, and she
protested modestly, and smiled more angelically than ever for the rest
of the evening, in order to live up to her reputation.
"We won't talk about disagreeable things to-night! We will just be
happy!" she said coaxingly; and Ned assented, only too thankful to
banish anxiety for a few hours, and to talk sweet nothings among the
flowers. Lilias was the most delightful plaything in the world, and
queened it over him with such amusing little airs of sovereignty, that
he asked nothing better than to play the part of adoring slave. So the
first evening passed happily enough; but the next day brought the lovers
face to face with reality. When a great anxiety is tugging at a man's
heart, it is not possible to banish it for more than a few hours at a
time, and Ned yearned for his sweetheart's sympathy, and felt a
corresponding chilling of heart when she persistently checked his
confidences, and tried to continue the playful banter of the first
interview. He could not respond, could not laugh and jest and pay
compliments; the cloud of coming disaster seemed to blot out the
sunshine, and the light words jarred upon his ears.
"It is no use, dear; I am sorry to be such a doleful companion, but I
cannot pretend to be cheerful. You must bear with me, for my anxiety is
on your account even more than my own," he told the girl tenderly. "I
cannot bear to think of bringing anxiety upon you, when I had hoped
instead to have shielded you from it all your life; but trouble is said
to draw hearts more closely together, and if we stand shoulder to
shoulder now we may find unexpected sweetness in the midst of our
trial."
He looked at Lilias entreatingly, and she gave a forced little smile.
"I should like to know exactly what the trial is, Ned. You have said a
good deal about being unhappy in your letters, but nothing really
definite. I can understand that, after being your own master, it is
trying to accept a subordinate position, and that many little things jar
and fret you, just because it is a new thing to be under subjection. It
is certain to be trying at first, but if you have patience--"
Ned stopped her with an exclamation, half amused, half irritated.
"Patience--patience! My dear girl, you don't understand of what you are
talking! You surely don't imagine that it is about my own dignity that
I am anxious! I should not allow any personal slight to disturb my
equanimity, for I did not make this change without counting the cost."
"But it is so different when it comes to the test. However brave you
have resolved to be, you cannot help being annoyed and fretted. I know!
Oh, I know quite well," declared Lilias, with an elaborate forbearance
which seemed to have an irritating effect upon the hearer. He drew in
his lips, as if struggling against a hasty reply, and when he spoke it
was in a tone of studied moderation.
"Come and sit down, dear, and let me thrash this out! It is your right
to know exactly how matters stand, and I will try to explain them to
you. What affects me affects you now, so I look to you to advise and
counsel. No one can help me as you can; no one has so much right to
speak; so let me begin at the beginning, and try to make all clear to
your dear little mind. You know that at my father's death I had to give
up my own dream of going into a profession, in order to carry on the
Works for the benefit of the family. It had been decided that Frank,
the second boy, should take this place, but he was still a youngster,
and could not then have taken so responsible a post. It was a blow to
me, for it was anything but the sphere which I should have chosen, and
it was hard to have to give up all my own dreams--"
"It must have been! I can sympathise with you, for I know the feeling.
Nothing tries me more than to have my plans upset, and it is constantly
happening in a house like this, where there are so many others to
consider. And it must have been bad for the business too, for you knew
nothing about it, and had no experience--"
Ned coloured, and made an uneasy movement with his shoulders. As a
matter of fact, his early days of authority had been accompanied by
mistakes which he had been glad to forget, though he had mastered the
details of the business in a surprisingly short space of time. It was
not pleasant to hear a reminder of his inexperience from the lips of his
_fiancee_, and he could not stifle a reflection that it would have been
kinder on her part to have spared him even so covert a reproach. He
tried to hide all signs of annoyance, but there was an edge in his voice
as he replied--
"I was inexperienced, no doubt, though perhaps not so much so as you
imagine. All my life I had been accustomed to spend a great deal of
time at the Works, and as I grew up my father had taken me into his
confidence about his growing anxieties, for even in his days he was
beginning to feel the strain of competing with the bigger firms. The
day for small men is over, Lilias, and one by one the private
manufacturers go under, ruined by the struggle to compete with the great
firms who are backed by practically unlimited capital. It was a dying
cause which I had to fight, and I became more and more convinced of the
folly of holding on until everything was lost; and then, in the very
nick of time, as it seemed, our most powerful rivals stepped forward and
offered to take over our business and to give me the post of manager.
There could be no doubt about accepting such an offer, and all my
friends rejoiced with me in the belief that the lean days were over, and
that a long lease of prosperity lay ahead."
"But why did they make you such an offer when your business was so bad
as you say? I can understand that it was a capital thing for you, but
where did they come in? They must have had an idea that it was for
their advantage as well as for yours, or they would not have tried to
get you," said Lilias, with a shrewdness that brought the smiles back to
her lover's face.
"Why, what a cute little woman!" he cried fondly. "She grasps the
position at once! Yes, of course, they made the offer for their own
advantage, not mine, for, you see, dear, there were a certain number of
good old-fashioned customers who still kept to us, and their business
was well worth having, though not valuable enough to make our Works pay
when the smaller orders dropped off. By taking over our connection they
made a considerable addition to their profits, even allowing for the
handsome salary given to me. Looking at the offer from a business point
of view, I saw no reason to doubt its good faith, but six months'
experience has raised some ugly doubts. More than once of late I have
felt convinced--"
"Of what? What are your doubts? What do you believe they mean to do?"
Ned jumped to his feet, and stood facing the girl, with clenched hands
and a face convulsed with emotion. His eyes flashed, the veins stood
out upon his forehead.
"I believe that they mean to suck my brains,--to get all they can out of
me,--experience, introductions, connections, to suck me dry as they
would an orange, and then throw me on one side! I believe that the
salary was a bait to bribe me to give up my independence, and that it
did not matter to them that it was unusually large, since at the very
moment of offering it they had determined that my lease of office should
be of precious short duration. They cannot, for shame's sake, for their
own reputation's sake, dismiss me already, but in a hundred ways they
are bringing pressure to bear; in a hundred ways which you could not
understand, they are making it impossible for me to go on,--forcing me
into resignation--"
"Oh, hush, hush! Don't get excited. You frighten me when you are so
fierce. I am sure you are mistaken. You are worn out after all these
years of anxiety, and imagine what is not true. I am sure they do not
want to get rid of you; and if they did, what does it matter, since you
say yourself they dare not dismiss you? Come, be a good boy, and be
happy with me, and forget all about this horrid old business. All men
have worries, but they should try to forget them when they come home! I
give you full notice that I shall forbid business to be mentioned in our
house when we get one."
The glance which accompanied these words was meant to be irresistibly
coaxing; but, so far from being sobered yet, Ned seemed goaded into
fresh irritation.
"Worries! Worries! You call it by a contemptible little name like
that, when I am face to face with ruin,--when our whole future is
trembling in the balance? Don't you understand that there are things
that a man may not do, and that orders may be put upon him which he
cannot obey and preserve his self-respect? He may be forced to resign
even when he would gladly work his fingers to the bone, if by any fair
means he could keep his post?"
"Ah-ah!" cried Lilias, with a deep, indrawn breath, as if now, at last,
she had come to the real pivot on which the question hung. "Ah, yes,
Ned, I understand that if you once get the idea in that romantic head of
yours that you are being coerced to do what is not according to your
lights, there is an end of all peace until you are undeceived! We have
known you so long, remember, and heard all about your college days from
Jim. `Don Quixote,' they called you, because you were always taking up
high-flown notions of duty. It was delightful at Oxford, and such a
good example to the other men; but in business--you can't keep it up in
business, Ned! I am only a girl, but I hear people talk, and I know
quite well how it is. It is impossible to make a living at all, if you
are too particular what you do, and are always stopping to consider
other people besides yourself. You say that you were beaten by the
other firms when you were managing your father's Works, and now you will
let yourself be beaten again, if you give way to these foolish
prejudices and scruples."
Lilias finished with a breathless gasp, and Ned stood looking down at
her in silence. An expression of absolute horror had grown in his eyes
as he listened to her words, and now he threw himself down on the chair
beside her, and grasped her hands in appeal.
"Lilias! Lilias!--don't! Don't speak like that, darling! My little
white girl, don't turn pleader against me! You are to be my helpmeet,
my good angel, the inspiration of my life; don't begin by wishing me to
do less than my best! I am not imagining difficulties--you know I am
not--but even if I were, would it not be better to lose something for
conscience' sake, than deliberately to sell myself for gain? I am in
great perplexity, Lilias, and need all my courage. I beseech you not to
discourage me!"
His words were, in effect, a repetition of Mrs Rendell's on the same
subject, and now, as then, Lilias was shocked into a softer, more
unselfish frame of mind. The ready tears started to her eyes, and her
voice quivered with emotion.
"Indeed, indeed, I long to help you! I would not hinder you for the
world. I was trying to reconcile you to your position--to save you, if
possible, from worse trouble in the future. I know you will never
consent to do what is wrong, but if you are firm and patient, all may
still be well. It is worth trying, at least, for if you threw up this
post what is to happen next? You would have nothing to do."
"I could always earn a salary of a few hundreds a year. If they have
done nothing else, these last years have given me a thorough technical
knowledge of my own business, and that has a marketable value nowadays.
With the influence of the old name to back me up, I could find some firm
ready to take me in and give me a subordinate post. If I had only
myself to think of, I should not worry my head, for I have never had any
ambition to be a rich man; and the mater has her private income--I need
not be anxious about her. The change would fall heaviest on you, and it
is of you I think. I meant to give you a home worthy of yourself, with
every luxury and comfort, but that may not be possible now. Can you
forgive me, dear, for bringing all this trouble upon you?"
He looked wistfully into the lovely face, and Lilias pressed her lips
together, staring fixedly at the ground. At that moment she could not
bring herself to say that she forgave him, or to express any
complaisance at the thought of the future. Imagination ran riot, and
she saw as in a picture a little house in a smoky manufacturing town,
and shrank with distaste from its narrow walls and meagre furnishings.
Yes, indeed! Ned might well declare that she was the greatest sufferer,
and it was only right that he should pity her. If this breakdown had
happened three months before, her parents would not have consented to
her engagement, and it should have been his duty to be well assured of
his position before involving another, as she was now involved. The
swelling of resentment grew so strong, that, against her better
judgment, it forced itself into speech.
"You seem fated to misfortune! It follows you wherever you go. But
this cannot all have sprung up within the last two months. You must
have known something about it in March,--in April,--before you spoke to
me!"
From the flash in Ned's eyes she feared that he was about to make some
hot reply, but he checked himself, and answered with gentle forbearance.
Only, if she had had eyes to see it, the shadow had fallen deeper than
ever over his face, and his shoulders bent, as if an additional burden
had fallen upon them.
"No, Lilias, I knew nothing! I would never have proposed to you if I
had not honestly believed in my good prospects. The difficulty has
arisen since then; but don't be afraid, I shall not urge you to any
sacrifices on my behalf. I will work hard, and you shall stay at home
until I can give you all you desire. I will not ask you to share a
poverty which you dread so much."
"I wouldn't mind it for myself. It is of you I think!" murmured Lilias
sweetly. "I should love nothing so much as to help you, Ned, but I am
such a useless little thing that I should only be a drag. If it had
been Maud, it would have been different. Maud is cut out for a poor
man's wife, and would be blissfully happy living on twopence-halfpenny a
week, and making it go as far as half a crown, but I am so stupid. My
money seems to fly away, and I could not be economical if my life
depended on it."
Ned sighed, and looked round the garden with a wistful air.
"I wish Maud were at home!" he said. "She is always so good and
helpful. It puts new strength in a man to hear her talk. The house
does not seem like itself when Maud is away!"
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
GERVASE VANBURGH.
"Humph!" remarked Miss Nan to herself the next afternoon, as she watched
the lovers pacing the garden walk, "Humph! unless my eyes deceive me,
relationships are strained between our dear young friends. The
atmosphere seems charged with--not electricity, but an amount of ice
which is suitable neither to the season nor the occasion. Strikes me,
I'd better be out of the way! I'll do an act of charity to another and
a good turn to myself at one and the same time, and go and have tea with
Diogenes!"
She spoke with a certainty of welcome, justified by the delight with
which Mr Vanburgh invariably greeted her appearance, for she had
discovered that nothing pleased him so much as to see her running in and
out of the house, popping in for ten minutes' chat on her return from a
walk, or livening a dull afternoon by taking her work across the road,
and stitching by his couch. This latter attention had also brought
about the happy results of interesting the invalid in the coming sale,
and more than one of Nan's efforts was bought before it was completed,
thereby affording that young lady a terrible temptation to scamp the
work which remained. On the present occasion, however, she was in a
lazy mood, and frowned sternly on her conscience, when it suggested that
she should make use of the opportunity to finish a certain table centre.
No, indeed, she decided, she would do nothing of the kind. Unwilling
work was invariably a failure, and she felt no vocation to do anything
more energetic than sit still and eat Mr Vanburgh's delicious cakes,
and drink Mr Vanburgh's excellent tea.
She stood up then, and, as a preliminary step, regarded herself
critically in the mirror, for among other things which had been borne in
upon her concerning her new neighbour, one was that he was exceedingly
fastidious about appearances, and as sharp as a needle to discover any
discrepancies in her attire. He was too polite to put his criticisms
into words, but his face spoke volumes, and certain historic occasions,
when she had sat smarting beneath the consciousness of a missing button
or a crooked tie, had made a lasting impression on the mind of the
careless young woman. Nowadays, however fleeting might be her visit to
the Grange, she never went without a careful examination of her
appearance. A shop window answered the purpose of a mirror, if nothing
better could be found, and one morning, as Agatha and Christabel walked
along the village street, they had been reduced to a state of speechless
amazement by discovering Nan twisting and turning before the wired
windows of the Bank, with as much concern for her appearance as though
she had been Lilias herself.
On the present occasion there were only a few stray locks to be pinned
in order, and then the glass reflected a charming picture of happy
girlhood. The pique skirt was fresh and neat; the pink shirt belted in
by a natty white band, and the dark hair curled softly round the fresh
bright face. Nan stared at herself solemnly, contorting her face into
the curious, strained expression with which nine women out of ten regard
themselves in a mirror, twisted round, to be sure that her belt showed
no unsightly gap, pulled her tie accurately into the middle of her
collar, and finally fastened on a sailor hat, and ran gaily across the
street. She did not go to the front door this time, for--unique and
extraordinary sign of favour--to her, and to her alone, had been granted
permission to use the garden gate, enter the house by the side door, and
so make her way upstairs unannounced. Mr Vanburgh had been anxious to
put every facility in his favourite's way, for only an invalid can
appreciate the brightness which had come into his life since this merry-
hearted girl had taken compassion upon his loneliness. To see her
bonnie face peering in at the door, to hear her ringing laugh, and
listen to her voice, was better than any tonic, and seemed to put fresh
strength into his feeble body.
Up the stairs, then, Nan ran, and made straight for the study where the
invalid spent his afternoons. The door was closed, but to wait to
announce her arrival by a knock was a proceeding far too dignified for
one of her impetuous nature; she merely turned the handle, thrust a
mischievous face round the corner, and announced boldly, "I've come to
tea!"
There was no answering exclamation of delight, and Nan had just
discovered, with a gasp of surprise, that the couch was empty, when a
tall, fair-haired man rose suddenly and confronted her.
"Oh," cried Nan, and stood agape with astonishment.
"I beg your pardon," drawled the stranger, and stared back out of a pair
of handsome, sleepy eyes, "You--er--you expected to see Mr Vanburgh; I
am sorry to say he is not very well--"
"Not well? Oh dear, I'm sorry! And are you the doctor?--Have you come
from town?"
"Oh no!" The tall man smiled, as if, for some reason, the idea seemed
quite preposterous to his mind. "I am not the doctor. I am Mr
Vanburgh's nephew. I was coming to visit him shortly in any case, and
as I heard that he was not well, I thought it better to come down and
see for myself exactly how he was."
"Of course. I am so vexed that I did not know about it, but I have been
so busy this week that I have not seen him since Sunday. He is really
ill? In bed? Not able to get up?"