CONCLUSION
Katharine sided with the lovers, as her husband had foretold, and he
withdrew his opposition.
“Only, how do you intend to live?” he enquired one day of Sydney, as she
sat nursing the little heir upon her knee.
“We are going to wait, of course,” she explained, “till Hugh is earning
rather more, and in the meantime I am going to be so busy. I shall learn
cooking and housekeeping and everything useful I can think of, and then
it won’t matter if Hugh and I are not so very rich at first, will it?”
“H—m,” said St. Quentin. “You’re right about not being in a hurry.
Katharine and I can’t do without you yet. But, you ridiculous little
goose! has it never struck you that there are such things as wedding
presents—and as marriage settlements? Look here, old Lorry wants to
retire, if he can get a good offer for his practice. It’s a first-rate
one, you know, and it appears your Hugh won golden opinions here at the
time of the fever. Lorry thinks if he were to come down and work in with
him a little, the youngster would be received with enthusiasm by the
patients when he himself cuts the concern. If your Hugh likes the notion,
I’ll buy the practice for him and set you up in Lorry’s house, which
you can have rent free, of course. How would that suit you as a wedding
present? You see, old Lorry means to retire on Donisbro’, where some of
his own people hang out.
“It’s a nice enough house and handy to the Castle, which is fortunate;
for even if Katharine and I would allow you to leave Lislehurst, my
tenants wouldn’t. So if this plan suits you and your Hugh, you can go
on with your work-parties and soup-kitchens and all the rest of it, and
you and Katharine together see what you can do towards turning me into a
model landlord. What do you say to that scheme, eh?”
“Hugh come here, and he and I live here for always!” Sydney cried. “Oh,
St. Quentin, you don’t mean it?”
“Then you like the notion?” said her cousin with a pleased smile.
“Like it!” cried Sydney. “Why, the part of being married that I minded
was the leaving you!”
* * * * *
Lord Lisle entertained quite a large party at his christening feast.
Mrs. Chichester was there, seeming to grow visibly younger in the
freedom from household cares, and rapidly finding a congenial spirit
in Katharine, and Dolly, very happy to be with Sydney again, and Fred
and Prissie, who in spite of some natural disappointment at finding
no merry-go-rounds in St. Quentin’s Park, managed to enjoy themselves
exceedingly, with the ecstatic joy of London children in the country.
And Lord Braemuir was there, burly and good-natured as ever, and most
hearty in his congratulations both to Hugh and St. Quentin, and Mr.
Fenton, absolutely beaming, and looking with a nervous interest at the
baby, whom he liked very much, he explained, “at a distance.”
And Hugh was there, with Dr. Lorry, whose door already bore the brass
inscription,
DR. GUSTAVUS LORRY.
DR. HUGH CHICHESTER.
And Mr. Seaton was there, looking as though all his cares had rolled
away with the coming of the bright-faced bride on his arm, who made all
the better housekeeper, he used to say proudly, for knowing as much Greek
as he did himself.
And Pauly was there, but in no very sociable frame of mind, for he
ignored everyone but Freddie, the length of whose nine-year-old legs
filled him with awe and admiration. He refused to even look at the baby,
but kept his round eyes fixed on Freddie, who patronised him in a way
that amused the looker-on considerably.
Both boys, however, managed to do full justice to the splendid
christening cake, on which Mrs. Fewkes had expended her utmost pains and
skill. Indeed, Pauly very decidedly made up for his abstinence upon that
celebrated fifth birthday.
And old Mr. Hudder was there, rather prosy but extremely happy, and never
more so than when St. Quentin asked his “oldest tenant” to propose the
health of the son and heir.
“My Lord, Your Ladyship, and Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said, “man and
boy I’ve held my farm under the Marquesses of St. Quentin. They’ve been
good landlords to me, and I’ve been a good tenant to them. My Lord, Your
Ladyship, Ladies and Gentlemen, we didn’t look to see this happy day. All
of us standing here have got a lot to thank God for. He has raised up
his lordship and given us the fine strong heir as we’re thanking Him for
to-day. I’ll not deny but that we looked forward to seeing the young lady
that we’ve learned to love reign over us, but it seems she’s satisfied
with the woman’s kingdom that is hers to-day. God bless her! and give
her and her husband that is to be every happiness, and the same to you,
My Lord and Your Ladyship. And in the name of your lordships’ tenants, I
wish a long and happy life, and all prosperity, to Sidney, Lord Lisle.”
* * * * *
That was indeed a happy day, but there was one to come that was even
happier—the day on which Sydney Lisle laid down her maiden name and
became, what she had always felt herself, a Chichester.
Lord St. Quentin gave the bride away. “A thing which I am bound to do
considering it was I who took her from you,” he said, laughing.
He and Hugh were good friends by this time, all the better perhaps
for having begun, as the famous Mrs. Malaprop would say, with “a
little aversion,” and Hugh did not misunderstand the marquess when
he said—“Sydney used to annoy me by insisting upon being three-parts
Chichester when I wished her to be all Lisle: now it is my turn to insist
that she does not quite forget the Lisle side, when she is a Chichester
by right.”
“But we are all _one_ family now, aren’t we, Quin?” Sydney said softly,
and her cousin did not contradict the statement.
It was on a perfect September day, with that deeper blue in the clear sky
and wonderful freshness in the air which summer’s end brings with it,
that Sydney was married.
As on that first morning at the Castle long ago, she rose before the rest
of the household, and went out into the Park, where diamond dew lay thick
and the hedges sparkled with jewelled cobwebs.
She would not call Dolly to come with her: she wanted for a little while
upon this happy morning to be the lonely Sydney again.
But there was little to recall that first walk, as she stood on the
marble steps of the Castle and looked into the glory of September
sunshine glittering around her.
She went through the Park, making for the gap in the hedge she knew
so well, and drinking in the beauty which was so atune with her heart
to-day—the dark-foliaged trees, the upland fields, some bare, some
covered still with corn-sheaves, stacked in _hiles_, as the Blankshire
people called them—the glitter of dew at her feet, where every tiny blade
of grass seemed jewelled in the sunshine.
She could not resist one peep through the mullioned windows of the
quaint, dark, comfortable, Queen Anne house, furnished throughout by
loving hands to suit the girl’s taste. The fittings from her luxurious
rooms in the Castle had gone with her to this new home by St. Quentin’s
wish, and the beautiful plate on the sideboard spoke eloquently enough of
the feeling among the tenantry of the estate for “our young lady.”
Mackintosh had filled the conservatory with his choicest flowers, and
Bessie and the pair of ponies already inhabited the roomy stables. This
was to be her home and Hugh’s. Her home and Hugh’s!—how good it sounded!
Her eyes shone as she turned into the road leading into the village.
How different all was from that first walk, when the new life had
appeared so strange and lonely, and home so terribly far away! Had it
ever seemed possible then that she would come to love Lislehurst so well,
could come to be as happy there as she was to-day?
At the gap where they had first met Pauly was waiting, with a basket and
a broad smile of satisfaction on his round chubby face.
“Going to get mushrooms,” he explained, submitting to her kiss. “Muvver’s
coming, and daddy, and dear Dr. Hugh. Come too!”
“Not this morning, Pauly dear,” said Sydney, “but another morning we will
all go out together, won’t we, and have a good time? Now good-bye, and
don’t forget to come and help us eat the wedding cake.”
“Do I hear you pressing wedding cake on Pauly?” observed Pauly’s father,
appearing at the moment, also armed with a mighty basket. “Please don’t,
for I assure you it is quite unnecessary. He never needs much pressing,
do you, Pauly? Miss Lisle, won’t you come into the Vicarage and have some
milk or something, in memory of that first visit that you paid us?”
“When I missed breakfast altogether, and had such a scolding from Lady
Frederica for paying calls upon my own account,” Sydney said, laughing.
“No, not this morning, thank you, Mr. Seaton: I must hurry home.”
“You’re not afraid of a scolding now?” the Vicar asked with a twinkle in
his eyes.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I don’t think Katharine ever learned the way to
scold, and St. Quentin has forgotten it.”
And then she put her hand on the Vicar’s arm, as he held the gate open
for her.
“Do you remember our talk on that first morning that we met, and how you
told me there was work for everyone to do, if they would look for it? I
don’t suppose you know how much that helped me.”
“Thank you,” said the Vicar with a smile, “that is a thing it does one
good to hear. But it is not everyone who looks to such good purpose as
you did.”
And, as Sydney walked rapidly away, he looked after her, thinking of the
great results which had followed on the girl’s simple straightforward
performance of that work she found to do.
He thought of the enormous difference to be seen in the villages all over
the estate; of their owner, honestly striving to do his best for the
people whose comfort was committed to his charge; of the happy marriage
brought about by her means, and he did not wonder at the hearty cheers
with which the bride was received, as she came down the crimson-covered
churchyard path upon her cousin’s arm.
Sydney flushed with pleasure: it was very pleasant to feel herself
surrounded by so much affection and goodwill.
“I am so very glad it is not ‘good-bye’ to this home,” she whispered to
St. Quentin; and he smiled, well pleased.
She had her own way about the wedding festivities, and all the tenants,
rich and poor alike, were feasted in the Castle grounds.
It was a day long remembered through the county, and any doubt
the tenants may have felt as to Sydney’s perfect pleasure in her
dispossession were quite swept away then by the sight of her radiant face.
“Our young lady,” she would be always to the Lislehurst people, but they
plainly saw that she was happy in the humbler path her feet were to tread.
“She looked for all the world like a bit of spring and sunshine,” Mrs.
Sawyer used to say, in talking of that happy wedding day, “and Dr. Hugh,
his face matched hers for gladness, as it should. God bless ’em both!”
It was a bewilderingly happy day, from the moment that Sydney put her
hand into Hugh’s strong one, where she could so safely trust her future,
to that in which Pauly, after some loudly whispered directions from
old Mr. Hudder, marched forward, and laid in Sydney’s hand the lovely
little gold watch, with which she had parted for the sake of her poorer
neighbours. “For you,” he said briefly.
“A testimony of respectful affection from his lordship’s tenantry in
Lislehurst to their young lady,” Mr. Hudder amended.
“And I gave free pennies for it,” Pauly put in.
I think Sydney nearly cried as she kissed the little boy and held out her
hand to Mr. Hudder.
“Thank you, and thank everybody, oh, so much!” she said.
But perhaps the very best moment in the whole long happy day was that
in which Sydney Chichester was able to throw her arms about the neck of
father and mother, and call herself “their little girl” again.
THE END
_THE CREAM OF JUVENILE FICTION_
THE BOYS’ OWN LIBRARY
A Selection of the Best Books for Boys by the Most Popular Authors
The titles in this splendid juvenile series have been selected with
care, and as a result all the stories can be relied upon for their
excellence. They are bright and sparkling; not over-burdened with lengthy
descriptions, but brimful of adventure from the first page to the last—in
fact they are just the kind of yarns that appeal strongly to the healthy
boy who is fond of thrilling exploits and deeds of heroism. Among the
authors whose names are included in the Boys’ Own Library are Horatio
Alger, Jr., Edward S. Ellis, James Otis, Capt. Ralph Bonehill, Burt L.
Standish, Gilbert Patten and Frank H. Converse.
SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BOYS’ OWN LIBRARY
All the books in this series are copyrighted, printed on good paper,
large type, illustrated, printed wrappers, handsome cloth covers stamped
in inks and gold—fifteen special cover designs.
_150 Titles—Price, per Volume, 75 cents_
For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price by
the publisher,
DAVID McKAY,
610 SO. WASHINGTON SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
HORATIO ALGER, Jr.
One of the best known and most popular writers. Good, clean, healthy
stories for the American Boy.
Adventures of a Telegraph Boy
Dean Dunham
Erie Train Boy, The
Five Hundred Dollar Check
From Canal Boy to President
From Farm Boy to Senator
Backwoods Boy, The
Mark Stanton
Ned Newton
New York Boy
Tom Brace
Tom Tracy
Walter Griffith
Young Acrobat
C. B. ASHLEY.
One of the best stories ever written on hunting, trapping and adventure
in the West, after the Custer Massacre.
Gilbert, the Boy Trapper
ANNIE ASHMORE.
A splendid story, recording the adventures of a boy with smugglers.
Smuggler’s Cave, The
CAPT. RALPH BONEHILL.
Capt. Bonehill is in the very front rank as an author of boys’ stories.
These are two of his best works.
Neka, the Boy Conjurer
Tour of the Zero Club
WALTER F. BRUNS.
An excellent story of adventure in the celebrated Sunk Lands of Missouri
and Kansas.
In the Sunk Lands
FRANK H. CONVERSE.
This writer has established a splendid reputation as a boys’ author,
and although his books usually command $1.25 per volume, we offer the
following at a more popular price.
Gold of Flat Top Mountain
Happy-Go-Lucky Jack
Heir to a Million
In Search of An Unknown Race
In Southern Seas
Mystery of a Diamond
That Treasure
Voyage to the Gold Coast
HARRY COLLINGWOOD.
One of England’s most successful writers of stories for boys. His best
story is
Pirate Island
GEORGE H. COOMER.
Two books we highly recommend. One is a splendid story of adventure at
sea, when American ships were in every port in the world, and the other
tells of adventures while the first railway in the Andes Mountains was
being built.
Boys in the Forecastle
Old Man of the Mountain
WILLIAM DALTON.
Three stories by one of the very greatest writers for boys. The stories
deal with boys’ adventures in India, China and Abyssinia. These books are
strongly recommended for boys’ reading, as they contain a large amount of
historical information.
Tiger Prince
War Tiger
White Elephant
EDWARD S. ELLIS.
These books are considered the best works this well-known writer ever
produced. No better reading for bright young Americans.
Arthur Helmuth
Check No. 2134
From Tent to White House
Perils of the Jungle
On the Trail of Geronimo
White Mustang
GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
For the past fifty years Mr. Fenn has been writing books for boys
and popular fiction. His books are justly popular throughout the
English-speaking world. We publish the following select list of his boys’
books, which we consider the best he ever wrote.
Commodore Junk
Dingo Boys
Golden Magnet
Grand Chaco
Weathercock
ENSIGN CLARKE FITCH, U. S. N.
A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and thoroughly
familiar with all naval matters. Mr. Fitch has devoted himself to
literature, and has written a series of books for boys that every
young American should read. His stories are full of very interesting
information about the navy, training ships, etc.
Bound for Annapolis
Clif, the Naval Cadet
Cruise of the Training Ship
From Port to Port
Strange Cruise, A
WILLIAM MURRAY GRAYDON.
An author of world-wide popularity. Mr. Graydon is essentially a friend
of young people, and we offer herewith ten of his best works, wherein he
relates a great diversity of interesting adventures in various parts of
the world, combined with accurate historical data.
Butcher of Cawnpore, The
Camp in the Snow, The
Campaigning with Braddock
Cryptogram, The
From Lake to Wilderness
In Barracks and Wigwam
In Fort and Prison
Jungles and Traitors
Rajah’s Fortress, The
White King of Africa, The
LIEUT. FREDERICK GARRISON, U. S. A.
Every American boy takes a keen interest in the affairs of West Point. No
more capable writer on this popular subject could be found than Lieut.
Garrison, who vividly describes the life, adventures and unique incidents
that have occurred in that great institution—in these famous West Point
stories.
Off for West Point
Cadet’s Honor, A
On Guard
West Point Treasure, The
West Point Rivals, The
HEADON HILL.
The hunt for gold has always been a popular subject for consideration,
and Mr. Hill has added a splendid story on the subject in this romance of
the Klondyke.
Spectre Gold
HENRY HARRISON LEWIS.
Mr. Lewis is a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and has
written a great many books for boys. Among his best works are the
following titles—the subjects include a vast series of adventures in all
parts of the world. The historical data is correct, and they should be
read by all boys, for the excellent information they contain.
Centreboard Jim
King of the Island
Midshipman Merrill
Ensign Merrill
Sword and Pen
Valley of Mystery, The
Yankee Boys in Japan
LIEUT. LIONEL LOUNSBERRY.
A series of books embracing many adventures under our famous naval
commanders, and with our army during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Founded on sound history, these books are written for boys, with the
idea of combining pleasure with profit; to cultivate a fondness for
study—especially of what has been accomplished by our army and navy.
Cadet Kit Carey
Captain Carey
Kit Carey’s Protégé
Lieut. Carey’s Luck
Out With Commodore Decatur
Randy, the Pilot
Tom Truxton’s School Days
Tom Truxton’s Ocean Trip
Treasure of the Golden Crater
Won at West Point
BROOKS McCORMICK.
Four splendid books of adventure on sea and land, by this well-known
writer for boys.
Giant Islanders, The
How He Won
Nature’s Young Nobleman
Rival Battalions
WALTER MORRIS.
This charming story contains thirty-two chapters of just the sort of
school life that charms the boy readers.
Bob Porter at Lakeview Academy
STANLEY NORRIS.
Mr. Norris is without a rival as a writer of “Circus Stories” for boys.
These four books are full of thrilling adventures, but good, wholesome
reading for young Americans.
Phil, the Showman
Young Showman’s Rivals, The
Young Showman’s Pluck, The
Young Showman’s Triumph
LIEUT. JAMES K. ORTON.
When a boy has read one of Lieut. Orton’s books, it requires no urging to
induce him to read the others. Not a dull page in any of them.
Beach Boy Joe
Last Chance Mine
Secret Chart, The
Tom Havens with the White Squadron
JAMES OTIS.
Mr. Otis is known by nearly every American boy, and needs no introduction
here. The following copyrights are among his best:
Chased Through Norway
Inland Waterways
Unprovoked Mutiny
Wheeling for Fortune
Reuben Green’s Adventures at Yale
GILBERT PATTEN.
Mr. Patten has had the distinction of having his books adopted by the
U. S. Government for all naval libraries on board our war ships. While
aiming to avoid the extravagant and sensational, the stories contain
enough thrilling incidents to please the lad who loves action and
adventure. In the Rockspur stories the description of their Baseball
and Football Games and other contests with rival clubs and teams make
very exciting and absorbing reading; and few boys with warm blood in
their veins, having once begun the perusal of one of these books, will
willingly lay it down till it is finished.
Boy Boomers
Boy Cattle King
Boy from the West
Don Kirke’s Mine
Jud and Joe
Rockspur Nine, The
Rockspur Eleven, The
Rockspur Rivals, The
ST. GEORGE RATHBORNE.
Mr. Rathborne’s stories for boys have the peculiar charm of dealing with
localities and conditions with which he is thoroughly familiar. The
scenes of these excellent stories are along the Florida coast and on the
western prairies.
Canoe and Camp Fire
Paddling Under Palmettos
Rival Canoe Boys
Sunset Ranch
Chums of the Prairie
Young Range Riders
Gulf Cruisers
Shifting Winds
ARTHUR SEWELL.
An American story by an American author. It relates how a Yankee boy
overcame many obstacles in school and out. Thoroughly interesting from
start to finish.
Gay Dashleigh’s Academy Days
CAPT. DAVID SOUTHWICK.
An exceptionally good story of frontier life among the Indians in the far
West, during the early settlement period.
Jack Wheeler
The Famous Frank Merriwell Stories.
BURT L. STANDISH.
No modern series of tales for boys and youths has met with anything like
the cordial reception and popularity accorded to the Frank Merriwell
Stories. There must be a reason for this and there is. Frank Merriwell,
as portrayed by the author, is a jolly whole-souled, honest, courageous
American lad, who appeals to the hearts of the boys. He has no bad
habits, and his manliness inculcates the idea that it is not necessary
for a boy to indulge in petty vices to be a hero. Frank Merriwell’s
example is a shining light for every ambitious lad to follow. Twenty
volumes now ready:
Frank Merriwell’s School Days
Frank Merriwell’s Chums
Frank Merriwell’s Foes
Frank Merriwell’s Trip West
Frank Merriwell Down South
Frank Merriwell’s Bravery
Frank Merriwell’s Races
Frank Merriwell’s Hunting Tour
Frank Merriwell’s Sports Afield
Frank Merriwell at Yale
Frank Merriwell’s Courage
Frank Merriwell’s Daring
Frank Merriwell’s Skill
Frank Merriwell’s Champions
Frank Merriwell’s Return to Yale
Frank Merriwell’s Secret
Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty
Frank Merriwell’s Reward
Frank Merriwell’s Faith
Frank Merriwell’s Victories
VICTOR ST. CLAIR.
These books are full of good, clean adventure, thrilling enough to please
the full-blooded wide-awake boy, yet containing nothing to which there
can be any objection from those who are careful as to the kind of books
they put into the hands of the young.
Cast Away in the Jungle
Comrades Under Castro
For Home and Honor
From Switch to Lever
Little Snap, the Post Boy
Zig-Zag, the Boy Conjurer
Zip, the Acrobat
MATTHEW WHITE, JR.
Good, healthy, strong books for the American lad. No more interesting
books for the young appear on our lists.
Adventures of a Young Athlete
Eric Dane
Guy Hammersley
My Mysterious Fortune
Tour of a Private Car
Young Editor, The
ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.
One of the most popular authors of boys’ books. Here are three of his
best.
Mark Dale’s Stage Venture
Young Bank Clerk, The
Young Bridge Tender, The
GAYLE WINTERTON.
This very interesting story relates the trials and triumphs of a Young
American Actor, including the solution of a very puzzling mystery.
Young Actor, The
ERNEST A. YOUNG.
This book is not a treatise on sports, as the title would indicate, but
relates a series of thrilling adventures among boy campers in the woods
of Maine.
Boats, Bats and Bicycles
DAVID McKAY, Publisher, Philadelphia