First love is like furze; it is very beautiful and golden, but about and
under that rich yellow there are thorns many and sharp. It catches
fire, too, quickly, and burns up with a tremendous deal of crackling,
and the heat is great but not always lasting.
Christie Bayle did not take this simile to heart, but a looker-on might
have done so, especially such a looker-on as Robert Hallam, who visited
at the doctor's just as of old--before the arrival of the new curate,
whose many calls did not seem to trouble him in the least.
All the same, though, he was man of the world enough to see the bent of
Christie Bayle's thoughts, and how quickly and strongly his love had
caught and burned. For treating Gemp's statements as James Thickens
suggested, and dividing them by five, the half-quotient was quite
sufficiently heavy to show that if the curate did not marry Millicent
Luttrell, it would be no fault of his.
He was, as his critics said, very young. Twenty-four numbered his
years, and his educational capabilities were on a par therewith; but in
matters worldly and of the heart twenty would better have represented
his age.
He had come down here fresh from his studious life, to find the place
full of difficulties, till that evening when he found in Millicent a
coadjutor, and one who seemed to take delight in helping and advising
him. Then the old Midland town had suddenly become to him a paradise,
and a strange eagerness seemed to pervade him.
How was he to attack such and such an evil in one of the low quarters?
He would call in at the doctor's, and mention the matter to Miss
Luttrell.
It was to find her enthusiastic, but at the same time full of shrewd
common-sense, and clever suggestions which he followed out, and the way
became smooth.
His means were good, for just before leaving college the death of an
aunt had placed him in possession of a competency; hence he wished to be
charitable, and Millicent advised him as to the best channels into which
he could direct his molten gold.
Then there were the Sundays when, after getting easily and well through
the service, he ascended the pulpit to commence his carefully elaborated
sermon, the first sentences of which were hard, faltering, and dry, till
his eyes fell upon one sweet, grave face in the middle of the aisle,
watching him intently, and its effect was strange. For as their eyes
met, Christie Bayle's spirit seemed to awaken: he ceased to read the
sermon. Words, sentences, and whole paragraphs were crowding in his
brain eager to be spoken, and as they were spoken it was with a fire and
eloquence that deeply stirred his hearers; while when, perhaps, at the
very last, his eyes fell once more upon Millicent's calm, sweet face, he
would see that it was slightly flushed and her eyes were suffused.
He did not know it; but her influence stirred him in everything he did,
and when he called, there was no mistaking the bright, eager look of
pleasure, the friendly warmth, and the words that were almost
reproachful if he had allowed three or four days to pass.
Work? No man could have worked harder or with a greater display of
zeal. She would be pleased, he felt, to see how he had made changes in
several matters that were foul with neglect. And it was no outer
whitewashing of that which was unclean within. Christie Bayle was very
young, and he had suddenly grown enthusiastic; so that when he commenced
some work he never paused until it was either well in train or was done.
"You're just the man we wanted here," said Doctor Luttrell. "Why,
Bayle, you have wakened me up. I tried all sorts of reformations years
ago, but I had not your enthusiasm, and I soon wearied and jogged on in
the old way. I shall have to begin now, old as I am, and see what I can
do."
"But it is shameful, papa, what opposition Mr Bayle meets with in the
town," cried Millicent warmly.
"Yes, my dear, it is. There's a great deal of opposition to everything
that is for people's good."
Millicent was willing enough to help, for there was something
delightfully fresh and pleasant in her association with Christie Bayle.
"He's working too hard, my dear," the doctor said. "He wants change.
He's a good fellow. You and your mother must coax him here more, and
get him out." Bayle wanted no coaxing, for he came willingly enough to
work hard with the doctor in the garden; to inspect Mrs Luttrell's
jams, and see how she soaked the paper in brandy before she tied them
down; to go for walks with Millicent, or, on wet days, read German with
her, or practise some instrumental or vocal duet.
How pleasantly, how happily those days glided by! Mr Hallam from the
bank came just as often as of old, and once or twice seemed disposed to
speak slightingly of the curate, but he saw so grave and appealing a
look in Millicent's eyes that he hastened, in his quiet, gentlemanly
way, to efface the slight.
Sir Gordon Bourne, as was his custom, when not at the Hall or away with
his yacht, came frequently to the doctor's evenings, heavy with the
smartest of sayings and the newest of stories from town. Gravely civil
to the bank manager, a little distant to the new curate, and then, by
degrees, as the months rolled by, talking to him, inviting him to
dinner, placing his purse at his disposal for deserving cases of
poverty, and at last becoming his fast friend.
"An uncommonly good fellow, doctor, uncommonly. Very young--yes, very
young. Egad, Sir, I envy him sometimes, that I do."
"I'm glad you like him, Sir Gordon," cried Millicent, one day.
"Are you, my dear, are you?" he said, half sadly. "Well, why shouldn't
I? The man's sincere. He goes about his work without fuss or pretence.
He does not consider it his duty to be always preaching at you and
pulling a long face; but seems to me to be doing a wonderful deal of
good in a quiet way. Do you know--"
He paused, and looked from the doctor to Mrs Luttrell, and then at
Millicent, half laughingly.
"Do we know what?"
"Well, I'll confess. I've played chess with him, and we've had a rubber
at whist here, and he never touched upon sacred subjects since I've
known him, and it has had a curious effect upon me."
"A curious effect?" said Millicent wonderingly.
"Yes, egad, it's a fact; he makes me feel as if I ought to go and hear
him preach, and if you'll take me next Sunday, Miss Millicent, I will."
Millicent laughingly agreed; and Sir Gordon kept his word, going to the
doctor's on Sunday morning, and walking with the ladies to church.
It is worthy of remark though, that he talked a good deal to himself as
he went home, weary and uncomfortable from wearing tight boots, and
bracing up.
"It won't do," he said. "I'm old enough to know better, and if I can
see into such matters more clearly than I could twenty years ago,
Bayle's in love with her. Well, a good thing too, for I'm afraid Hallam
is taken too, and--no, that would not do. I've nothing whatever against
the fellow; a gentleman in his manners, the very perfection of a
manager, but somehow I should not like to see her his wife."
"Why?" he said after a pause.
He shook his head.
"I can't answer that question," he muttered; and he was as far off from
the answer when six months had passed.