MISS AGATHA'S CABINET.
"MAMMINA! I have found them! I have found them!" cried Hildegarde,
rushing like a whirlwind into her mother's room, and waving something
over her head.
"What have you found, darling?" asked Mrs. Grahame, looking up from her
writing. "Not your wits, for example? I should be so glad!"
"One may not shake one's mother," said Hildegarde, "but beware, lest you
'rouse an Indian's indomitable nature.' I have found the keys of Miss
Agatha's cabinet."
"Really!" cried Mrs. Grahame, laying down her pen. "Are you sure? where
were they?"
"In that old secretary in Uncle Aytoun's room," said Hildegarde. "You
know you said I might rummage in it some day, and this rainy afternoon
seemed to be the very time. They were in a little drawer, all by
themselves; and see, they are marked, 'Keys of the cabinet in my sister
Agatha's room, containing miniatures, etc.'"
"This is indeed a discovery!" said Mrs. Grahame, rising. "We will
examine the cabinet together, dear; as you say, it is just the day for
it."
Hildegarde led the way, dancing with excitement and pleasure; her mother
followed more slowly. There might be sadness, she thought, as well as
pleasure, in looking over the relics of a family which had died out,
leaving none of the name, so far as she knew, in this country at least.
Miss Agatha's room did not look very cheerful in the grey light of a
wet day. The prevailing tint of walls and ceiling was a greyish yellow;
the faded curtains were held back by faded ribbons; the furniture was
angular and high-shouldered. On the wall was a coloured print of "London
in 1802," from which the metropolis would seem to have been a singular
place. The only interesting feature in the room was the cabinet which
they had come to explore, and this was really a beautiful piece of
furniture. It stood seven feet high at least, and was apparently of
solid ebony, inlaid with yellow ivory in curious spiral patterns. In the
centre was a small door, almost entirely covered with the ivory tracery;
above, below, and around were drawers, large and small, deep and
shallow, a very wilderness of drawers. All had silver keyholes of
curious pattern, and all were fast locked, a fact which had seriously
interfered with Hildegarde's peace of mind ever since they came to the
house. Now, however, that she actually stood before it with the "Open
sesame," this bunch of quaint silver keys in her hand, she shrank back,
and felt shy and afraid.
"You must open it, mamma," she said. "I dare not."
Mrs. Grahame fitted a key to one of the larger drawers, and opened it. A
faint perfume floated out, old roses and lavender, laid away one knows
not how many years. Under folds of silver paper lay some damask towels,
fine and thick and smooth, but yellow with age. They were tied with a
lilac ribbon, and on the ribbon was pinned a piece of paper, covered
with writing in a fine, cramped hand.
"Lift them out carefully, dear," said Mrs. Grahame, "and read the
label."
Hildegarde complied, and read aloud: "These towels were spun and woven
by my grandmother Grahame in Scotland, before she came to this country.
Her maiden name was Annot McIntosh."
"What beautiful linen!" said Mrs. Grahame, smoothing the glossy folds
with the hand of a housewife. "I always wished I had learned to spin and
weave. Linen that one buys has no feeling in it. Lay it back reverently,
degenerate daughter of the nineteenth century, and your degenerate
mother will open another drawer."
The next drawer contained several sets of baby-clothes, at sight of
which Hildegarde opened her eyes very wide indeed. Her mother was an
exquisite needle-woman, so was her cousin Wealthy Bond, and she herself
had no need to be ashamed of the "fine seam" she could sew; but never
had she seen such needlework as this: tiny caps, wrought so thick with
flower and leaf that no spot of the plain linen could be seen; robes of
finest lawn, with wonderful embroidered fronts; shawls of silk flannel,
with deep borders of heavy "laid work." One robe was so beautiful that
both Hildegarde and her mother cried over it, and took it up to examine
it more carefully. On the breast was pinned a piece of paper, with an
inscription in the same delicate hand: "Hester's christening-robe. We
think it was in consequence of this fine work that our dear mother lost
her eyesight."
"I should think it highly probable," said Mrs. Grahame, laying the
exquisite monument of folly back in the drawer. "I did not know that old
Madam Aytoun was blind. What is written on that tiny cap, in the corner
there? It must be a doll's cap; no baby could be so small."
Hildegarde read the inscription: "Worn by our uncle Hesketh, who weighed
two pounds at birth. He grew to be six feet and six inches in height,
and weighed three hundred pounds."
"What a wonderful person Miss Agatha must have been!" said Hildegarde.
"Who else would think of all these pleasant bits of information? And now
for the next drawer!"
She opened it, and gave a little shriek of delight. Here truly were
beautiful things, such as neither she nor her mother had ever seen
before: three short aprons of white silk, trimmed with deep gold lace,
and covered with silk-embroidered flowers of richest hues, one with
tulips, another with roses, a third with carnations. Folds of tissue
paper separated them from each other, and the legend told that they had
been worn by "our great-grandmother Ponsonby, when she was Maid of
Honour to Queen Caroline. She was an Englishwoman."
Then came a tippet of white marabou feathers, buttoned into a silk
case, and smelling faintly of camphor; a gown of rose-coloured satin,
brocaded with green, and one of ruby-coloured velvet, which bore the
inscription: "This was the gown on which our great-grandmother Ponsonby
wore the diamond buttons which have since been divided among her
descendants. A sinful waste of money which might have been put to good
purpose."
"How _very_ frivolous Great-grandmother Ponsonby must have been!" said
Hildegarde. "I think Miss Agatha is rather hard on her, though. Perhaps
the buttons were wedding presents. I wonder what has become of them all!
See, Mammina, here are her red shoes--just like Beatrix Esmond's, aren't
they? My foot would not begin to go into them. And here--oh! the lace!
the lace!" For there was a whole drawer full of lace, all in little
bundles neatly tied up and marked. Here was Madam Aytoun's wedding veil,
Grandmother This One's Mechlin tabs, Aunt That One's Venetian flounces.
It would take pages to describe all the laces, and the pleasure that
mother and daughter had in examining them. What woman or girl does not
love lace? Finally, in a corner of the drawer, was a morocco box
containing a key, whose ivory label said: "Central compartment.
Miniatures."
"This will be the best of all!" cried Hildegarde, eagerly. "Perhaps we
shall find Great-grandmother Ponsonby herself. Who knows?"
The ivory door flew open as the key turned, and revealed a space set
round with tiny drawers. Each drawer contained one or more miniatures,
in cases of red or green morocco, and Hildegarde and her mother examined
them with delight. Here, to be sure, was Great-grandmother Ponsonby; in
fact, she appeared twice: first, as a splendid young matron, clad in
the identical ruby velvet with the diamond buttons, her hair powdered
high and adorned with feathers; and, again, as a not less superb old
lady, with folds of snowy muslin under her chin, and keen dark eyes
flashing from under her white curls, and a wonderful cap. Here was
Grandfather Aytoun, first as a handsome boy, with great dark eyes, and a
parrot on his hand, then as a somewhat choleric-looking gentleman with a
great fur collar.
"How they do change!" said Hildegarde. "I am not sure that I like to see
two of the same person. Let me see, now! He married--"
"The daughter of Great-grandmother Ponsonby," replied Mrs. Grahame.
"Here she is! Caroline Regina Ponsonby, _aet._ 16. Named after the royal
patroness, you see. What a sweet, gentle-looking girl! I fear her
magnificent mother and her decided-looking husband may have been too
much for her, for I see she died at twenty-three."
"Oh! and he married again!" cried Hildegarde, opening another case. "See
here! Selina Euphemia McKenzie, second wife of John Aytoun. Oh! and here
is a slip of paper inside the frame.
"'Sweet flower, that faded soon
In Rapture's fervid noon.
'J. A.'
"Dear me! he must have written it himself!" she added. "It is not like
Miss Agatha's handwriting. Why, she only lived three months, poor dear!
He makes very sure about the rapture, doesn't he?"
"I think he does," said her mother, smiling, "considering that he
married a third time, inside a year from the fading of the sweet flower.
Look at this aquiline dame, with the remarkably firm mouth, and the
bird of paradise in her turban. 'Adelaide McLeod, third wife of John
Aytoun. She survived him.' I'll warrant she did!" said Mrs. Grahame.
"She carries conquest in her face. All the children were of the first
marriage, and I fear she was not a gentle stepmother. I wonder who this
may be!" She took up a heavy bracelet of dark hair, with a small
miniature set in the clasp. "What a pretty, pretty child! Good Miss
Agatha has surely not left us in the dark concerning him. 'Little John
Hesketh, 1804.' That is all."
"Why Hesketh?" asked Hildegarde. "I have never heard of any Heskeths."
Mrs. Grahame was about to plunge into genealogical depths, when
Hildegarde, who had been opening a case of purple morocco, carefully
secured with silver clasps, gave an exclamation of pleasure.
"Hester!" she cried. "This is Hester, I know."
Her mother looked, and nodded; and they both gazed in silence at the
lovely face, with its earnest grey eyes.
"The dear!" murmured Hildegarde. "How I should have loved her! I am sure
we should have liked the same things. I wish she had not died."
"You must remember that she would be a dear old lady now, were she
alive, and not a young lassie. What does the slip say, darling? Miss
Agatha's hand is rather trying for my eyes."
"'Our dearest Hester,'" Hildegarde read. "'A duplicate of the one
painted for Robert Ferrers.' Robert Ferrers!" she repeated thoughtfully.
"Is that Colonel Ferrers? and do you suppose--"
At this moment came a knock at the door, and Janet informed them that
Mrs. Lankton was in the hall, and would like to speak to one of the
ladies.
"I will go," said Hildegarde, laying down the miniature reluctantly.
"We will both go," said her mother. "The poor old dame! We have
neglected her all these days."
They locked the drawer of the treasure-cabinet, and Hildegarde ran to
put the precious keys in a safe place, while her mother went directly
downstairs. By the time Hildegarde appeared, Mrs. Lankton was launched
on the full tide of her woes, and was sailing along with a good breeze.
"And it's comin' in, Mis' Grahame--I'd say like a house afire, if
'twa'n't that 'twas wet. Dreepin' all down the chimbley, and runnin'
over the floor in streams. I stepped into a pool o' water with my bar'
feet, gittin' out o' bed; likely I caught my death, but it's no great
matter. Ah! Mis' Grahame, I've seen trouble all my life. Mr. Aytoun, he
was like a father to me. He wouldn't never ha' let me go bar'foot in
water if he'd ben alive. I've ben a hard-workin' woman all my life, and
he knowed it. I hope your own health is good, dear?"
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Lankton?" asked Mrs. Grahame, kindly, as a
moment's pause gave her a chance to get in a word. "Does the roof need
shingling?"
"Mr. Aytoun was goin' to have it shingled for me last Janooary," said
Mrs. Lankton, with a sigh that was almost a groan; "and he was called on
to die in Febooary. Jest afore he passed away, he was tryin' dretful
hard to say somethin', and I ain't no manner o' doubt myself but what
'twas 'Shingle!' He had it on his mind; they needn't tell me. But nobody
seemed to feel a call after he was gone. Ah, dear me! You don't know
nothin' about it, Mis' Grahame. You ain't never stepped bar'foot out o'
your bed into a pool o' water, and you all doubled up with neurology in
your j'ints. Ah, well, 'twon't be long now that I shall trouble
anybody."
"Which is your house, Mrs. Lankton?" asked Mrs. Grahame. "I will try to
have something done about the roof at once."
"I know!" said Hildegarde, quickly. "It is a brown cottage with a green
door."
"See how she knows!" exclaimed Mrs. Lankton, with a sad smile. "Ain't
that thoughtful? Ah! she'll be a comfit to you, Mis' Grahame, if you've
luck to raise her, but there's no knowin'. Don't you set your heart on
it, that's all. Ah! I know what trouble is."
"Don't you think I am 'raised' already, Mrs. Lankton?" Hilda asked,
smiling down on the weazened face that did not reach to her shoulder.
"So fur ye be, dear!" replied the widow, with a doleful shake of the
head. "So fur ye be, but there's no knowin'. My Phrony was jest like
you, hearty and stout, and she's gone. Ah! dear me! She had a store
tooth, where she knocked out one of hers, slidin', and she swallered it
one night, and she never got over it. Lodged on her liver, the doctor
said. He went down and tried to fetch it up, but 'twa'n't no use. She
was fleshy, same as you be. Yes, gals is hard to raise."
At this, Hildegarde retreated suddenly into the parlour, and Mrs.
Grahame, in a voice which shook a little, expressed proper regret and
sympathy, and repeated that she would have the roof attended to.
"And now," she added, "go into the kitchen, and auntie shall give you a
cup of hot tea. You must dry your feet, too, before you go out again."
"The Lord'll reward you, dear!" said Mrs. Lankton, turning with a faint
gleam of cheerfulness toward the kitchen door. "It ain't long before I
shall go the way of all, but it doos seem as if I mought go dry, 'stead
o' dreepin'. But _you_'ll be rewarded, Mis' Grahame. I felt as if you'd
be a mother to me, soon as I sot eyes on ye. _Good_-mornin', dear!" and
with a groan that ended in a half-chuckle, she disappeared.