MAKING FRIENDSHIP.
Mr. Gibson believed that Cynthia Kirkpatrick was to return to England
to be present at her mother's wedding; but Mrs. Kirkpatrick had
no such intention. She was not what is commonly called a woman
of determination; but somehow what she disliked she avoided, and
what she liked she tried to do, or to have. So although in the
conversation, which she had already led to, as to the when and the
how she was to be married, she had listened quietly to Mr. Gibson's
proposal that Molly and Cynthia should be the two bridesmaids, still
she had felt how disagreeable it would be to her to have her young
daughter flashing out her beauty by the side of the faded bride, her
mother; and as the further arrangements for the wedding became more
definite, she saw further reasons in her own mind for Cynthia's
remaining quietly at her school at Boulogne.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick had gone to bed that first night of her engagement
to Mr. Gibson, fully anticipating a speedy marriage. She looked to
it as a release from the thraldom of keeping school--keeping an
unprofitable school, with barely pupils enough to pay for house
rent and taxes, food, washing, and the requisite masters. She saw
no reason for ever going back to Ashcombe, except to wind up her
affairs, and to pack up her clothes. She hoped that Mr. Gibson's
ardour would be such that he would press on the marriage, and urge
her never to resume her school drudgery, but to relinquish it now and
for ever. She even made up a very pretty, very passionate speech for
him in her own mind; quite sufficiently strong to prevail upon her,
and to overthrow the scruples which she felt she ought to have, at
telling the parents of her pupils that she did not intend to resume
school, and that they must find another place of education for their
daughters, in the last week but one of the midsummer holidays.
It was rather like a douche of cold water on Mrs. Kirkpatrick's
plans, when the next morning at breakfast Lady Cumnor began to decide
upon the arrangements and duties of the two middle-aged lovers.
"Of course you can't give up your school all at once, Clare. The
wedding can't be before Christmas, but that will do very well. We
shall all be down at the Towers; and it will be a nice amusement for
the children to go over to Ashcombe, and see you married."
"I think--I am afraid--I don't believe Mr. Gibson will like waiting
so long; men are so impatient under these circumstances."
"Oh, nonsense! Lord Cumnor has recommended you to his tenants, and
I'm sure he wouldn't like them to be put to any inconvenience. Mr.
Gibson will see that in a moment. He's a man of sense, or else he
wouldn't be our family doctor. Now, what are you going to do about
your little girl? Have you fixed yet?"
"No. Yesterday there seemed so little time, and when one is agitated
it is so difficult to think of anything. Cynthia is nearly eighteen,
old enough to go out as a governess, if he wishes it, but I don't
think he will. He is so generous and kind."
"Well! I must give you time to settle some of your affairs to-day.
Don't waste it in sentiment, you're too old for that. Come to a clear
understanding with each other; it will be for your happiness in the
long run."
So they did come to a clear understanding about one or two things.
To Mrs. Kirkpatrick's dismay, she found that Mr. Gibson had no more
idea than Lady Cumnor of her breaking faith with the parents of her
pupils. Though he really was at a serious loss as to what was to
become of Molly till she could be under the protection of his new
wife at her own home, and though his domestic worries teased him more
and more every day, he was too honourable to think of persuading Mrs.
Kirkpatrick to give up school a week sooner than was right for his
sake. He did not even perceive how easy the task of persuasion would
be; with all her winning wiles she could scarcely lead him to feel
impatience for the wedding to take place at Michaelmas.
"I can hardly tell you what a comfort and relief it will be to me,
Hyacinth, when you are once my wife--the mistress of my home--poor
little Molly's mother and protector; but I wouldn't interfere with
your previous engagements for the world. It wouldn't be right."
"Thank you, my own love. How good you are! So many men would think
only of their own wishes and interests! I'm sure the parents of
my dear pupils will admire you--will be quite surprised at your
consideration for their interests."
"Don't tell them, then. I hate being admired. Why shouldn't you say
it is your wish to keep on your school till they've had time to look
out for another?"
"Because it isn't," said she, daring all. "I long to be making you
happy; I want to make your home a place of rest and comfort to you;
and I do so wish to cherish your sweet Molly, as I hope to do, when
I come to be her mother. I can't take virtue to myself which doesn't
belong to me. If I have to speak for myself, I shall say, 'Good
people, find a school for your daughters by Michaelmas,--for after
that time I must go and make the happiness of others.' I can't bear
to think of your long rides in November--coming home wet at night
with no one to take care of you. Oh! if you leave it to me, I shall
advise the parents to take their daughters away from the care of one
whose heart will be absent. Though I couldn't consent to any time
before Michaelmas--that wouldn't be fair or right, and I'm sure you
wouldn't urge me--you are too good."
"Well, if you think that they will consider we have acted uprightly
by them, let it be Michaelmas with all my heart. What does Lady
Cumnor say?"
"Oh! I told her I was afraid you wouldn't like waiting, because of
your difficulties with your servants, and because of Molly--it would
be so desirable to enter on the new relationship with her as soon as
possible."
"To be sure; so it would. Poor child! I'm afraid the intelligence of
my engagement has rather startled her."
"Cynthia will feel it deeply, too," said Mrs. Kirkpatrick, unwilling
to let her daughter be behind Mr. Gibson's in sensibility and
affection.
"We will have her over to the wedding! She and Molly shall be
bridesmaids," said Mr. Gibson, in the unguarded warmth of his heart.
This plan did not quite suit Mrs. Kirkpatrick: but she thought it
best not to oppose it, until she had a presentable excuse to give,
and perhaps also some reason would naturally arise out of future
circumstances; so at this time she only smiled, and softly pressed
the hand she held in hers.
It is a question whether Mrs. Kirkpatrick or Molly wished the most
for the day to be over which they were to spend together at the
Towers. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was rather weary of girls as a class. All
the trials of her life were connected with girls in some way. She was
very young when she first became a governess, and had been worsted
in her struggles with her pupils, in the first place she ever went
to. Her elegance of appearance and manner, and her accomplishments,
more than her character and acquirements, had rendered it easier
for her than for most to obtain good "situations;" and she had been
absolutely petted in some; but still she was constantly encountering
naughty or stubborn, or over-conscientious, or severe-judging, or
curious and observant girls. And again, before Cynthia was born, she
had longed for a boy, thinking it possible that if some three or
four intervening relations died, he might come to be a baronet; and
instead of a son, lo and behold it was a daughter! Nevertheless, with
all her dislike to girls in the abstract as "the plagues of her life"
(and her aversion was not diminished by the fact of her having kept
a school for "young ladies" at Ashcombe), she really meant to be as
kind as she could be to her new step-daughter, whom she remembered
principally as a black-haired, sleepy child, in whose eyes she had
read admiration of herself. Mrs. Kirkpatrick accepted Mr. Gibson
principally because she was tired of the struggle of earning her own
livelihood; but she liked him personally--nay, she even loved him in
her torpid way, and she intended to be good to his daughter, though
she felt as if it would have been easier for her to have been good to
his son.
Molly was bracing herself up in her way too. "I will be like Harriet.
I will think of others. I won't think of myself," she kept repeating
all the way to the Towers. But there was no selfishness in wishing
that the day was come to an end, and that she did very heartily. Mrs.
Hamley sent her thither in the carriage, which was to wait and bring
her back at night. Mrs. Hamley wanted Molly to make a favourable
impression, and she sent for her to come and show herself before she
set out.
"Don't put on your silk gown--your white muslin will look the nicest,
my dear."
"Not my silk? it is quite new! I had it to come here."
"Still, I think your white muslin suits you the best." "Anything but
that horrid plaid silk" was the thought in Mrs. Hamley's mind; and,
thanks to her, Molly set off for the Towers, looking a little quaint,
it is true, but thoroughly lady-like, if she was old-fashioned. Her
father was to meet her there; but he had been detained, and she had
to face Mrs. Kirkpatrick by herself, the recollection of her last
day of misery at the Towers fresh in her mind as if it had been
yesterday. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was as caressing as could be. She held
Molly's hand in hers, as they sate together in the library, after the
first salutations were over. She kept stroking it from time to time,
and purring out inarticulate sounds of loving satisfaction, as she
gazed in the blushing face.
[Illustration: THE NEW MAMMA.]
"What eyes! so like your dear father's! How we shall love each
other--shan't we, darling? For his sake!"
"I'll try," said Molly, bravely; and then she could not finish her
sentence.
"And you've just got the same beautiful black curling hair!" said
Mrs. Kirkpatrick, softly lifting one of Molly's curls from off her
white temple.
"Papa's hair is growing grey," said Molly.
"Is it? I never see it. I never shall see it. He will always be to me
the handsomest of men."
Mr. Gibson was really a very handsome man, and Molly was pleased with
the compliment; but she could not help saying,--
"Still he will grow old, and his hair will grow grey. I think he will
be just as handsome, but it won't be as a young man."
"Ah! that's just it, love. He'll always be handsome; some people
always are. And he is so fond of you, dear." Molly's colour flashed
into her face. She did not want an assurance of her own father's love
from this strange woman. She could not help being angry; all she
could do was to keep silent. "You don't know how he speaks of you;
'his little treasure,' as he calls you. I'm almost jealous
sometimes."
Molly took her hand away, and her heart began to harden; these
speeches were so discordant to her. But she set her teeth together,
and "tried to be good."
"We must make him so happy. I'm afraid he has had a great deal to
annoy him at home; but we will do away with all that now. You must
tell me," seeing the cloud in Molly's eyes, "what he likes and
dislikes, for of course you will know."
Molly's face cleared a little; of course she did know. She had not
watched and loved him so long without believing that she understood
him better than any one else: though how he had come to like Mrs.
Kirkpatrick enough to wish to marry her, was an unsolved problem that
she unconsciously put aside as inexplicable. Mrs. Kirkpatrick went
on,--"All men have their fancies and antipathies, even the wisest.
I have known some gentlemen annoyed beyond measure by the merest
trifles; leaving a door open, or spilling tea in their saucers, or
a shawl crookedly put on. Why," continued she, lowering her voice,
"I know of a house to which Lord Hollingford will never be asked
again because he didn't wipe his shoes on both the mats in the hall!
Now you must tell me what your dear father dislikes most in these
fanciful ways, and I shall take care to avoid it. You must be my
little friend and helper in pleasing him. It will be such a pleasure
to me to attend to his slightest fancies. About my dress, too--what
colours does he like best? I want to do everything in my power with a
view to his approval."
Molly was gratified by all this, and began to think that really,
after all, perhaps her father had done well for himself; and that
if she could help towards his new happiness, she ought to do it. So
she tried very conscientiously to think over Mr. Gibson's wishes and
ways; to ponder over what annoyed him the most in his household.
"I think," said she, "papa isn't particular about many things; but I
think our not having the dinner quite punctual--quite ready for him
when he comes in, fidgets him more than anything. You see, he has
often had a long ride, and there is another long ride to come, and he
has only half-an-hour--sometimes only a quarter--to eat his dinner
in."
"Thank you, my own love. Punctuality! Yes; it's a great thing in a
household. It's what I've had to enforce with my young ladies at
Ashcombe. No wonder poor dear Mr. Gibson has been displeased at his
dinner not being ready, and he so hard-worked!"
"Papa doesn't care what he has, if it's only ready. He would take
bread-and-cheese, if cook would only send it in instead of dinner."
"Bread-and-cheese! Does Mr. Gibson eat cheese?"
"Yes; he's very fond of it," said Molly, innocently. "I've known
him eat toasted cheese when he has been too tired to fancy anything
else."
"Oh! but, my dear, we must change all that. I shouldn't like to
think of your father eating cheese; it's such a strong-smelling,
coarse kind of thing. We must get him a cook who can toss him up an
omelette, or something elegant. Cheese is only fit for the kitchen."
"Papa is very fond of it," persevered Molly.
"Oh! but we will cure him of that. I couldn't bear the smell of
cheese; and I'm sure he would be sorry to annoy me."
Molly was silent; it did not do, she found, to be too minute in
telling about her father's likes or dislikes. She had better leave
them for Mrs. Kirkpatrick to find out for herself. It was an awkward
pause; each was trying to find something agreeable to say. Molly
spoke at length. "Please! I should so like to know something about
Cynthia--your daughter."
"Yes, call her Cynthia. It's a pretty name, isn't it? Cynthia
Kirkpatrick. Not so pretty, though, as my old name, Hyacinth Clare.
People used to say it suited me so well. I must show you an acrostic
that a gentleman--he was a lieutenant in the 53rd--made upon it. Oh!
we shall have a great deal to say to each other, I foresee!"
"But about Cynthia?"
"Oh, yes! about dear Cynthia. What do you want to know, my dear?"
"Papa said she was to live with us! When will she come?"
"Oh, was it not sweet of your kind father? I thought of nothing
else but Cynthia's going out as a governess when she had completed
her education; she has been brought up for it, and has had great
advantages. But good dear Mr. Gibson wouldn't hear of it. He said
yesterday that she must come and live with us when she left school."
"When will she leave school?"
"She went for two years. I don't think I must let her leave before
next summer. She teaches English as well as learning French. Next
summer she shall come home, and then shan't we be a happy little
quartette?"
"I hope so," said Molly. "But she is to come to the wedding, isn't
she?" she went on timidly, not knowing how far Mrs. Kirkpatrick would
like the allusion to her marriage.
"Your father has begged for her to come; but we must think about it a
little more before quite fixing it. The journey is a great expense!"
"Is she like you? I do so want to see her."
"She is very handsome, people say. In the bright-coloured
style,--perhaps something like what I was. But I like the dark-haired
foreign kind of beauty best--just now," touching Molly's hair, and
looking at her with an expression of sentimental remembrance.
"Does Cynthia--is she very clever and accomplished?" asked Molly, a
little afraid lest the answer should remove Miss Kirkpatrick at too
great a distance from her.
"She ought to be; I've paid ever so much money to have her taught by
the best masters. But you will see her before long, and I'm afraid we
must go now to Lady Cumnor. It has been very charming having you all
to myself, but I know Lady Cumnor will be expecting us now, and she
was very curious to see you,--my future daughter, as she calls you."
Molly followed Mrs. Kirkpatrick into the morning-room, where Lady
Cumnor was sitting--a little annoyed, because, having completed her
toilette earlier than usual, Clare had not been aware by instinct
of the fact, and so had not brought Molly Gibson for inspection a
quarter of an hour before. Every small occurrence is an event in
the day of a convalescent invalid, and a little while ago Molly
would have met with patronizing appreciation, where now she had to
encounter criticism. Of Lady Cumnor's character as an individual she
knew nothing; she only knew she was going to see and be seen by a
live countess; nay, more, by "_the_ countess" of Hollingford.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick led her into Lady Cumnor's presence by the hand, and
in presenting her, said,--"My dear little daughter, Lady Cumnor!"
"Now, Clare, don't let me have nonsense. She is not your daughter
yet, and may never be,--I believe that one-third of the engagements
I have heard of, have never come to marriages. Miss Gibson, I am very
glad to see you, for your father's sake; when I know you better, I
hope it will be for your own."
Molly very heartily hoped that she might never be known any better
by the stern-looking lady who sate so upright in the easy chair,
prepared for lounging, and which therefore gave all the more effect
to the stiff attitude. Lady Cumnor luckily took Molly's silence for
acquiescent humility, and went on speaking after a further little
pause of inspection.
"Yes, yes, I like her looks, Clare. You may make something of her.
It will be a great advantage to you, my dear, to have a lady who has
trained up several young people of quality always about you just at
the time when you are growing up. I'll tell you what, Clare!"--a
sudden thought striking her,--"you and she must become better
acquainted--you know nothing of each other at present; you are not
to be married till Christmas, and what could be better than that
she should go back with you to Ashcombe! She would be with you
constantly, and have the advantage of the companionship of your young
people, which would be a good thing for an only child! It's a capital
plan; I'm very glad I thought of it!"
Now it would be difficult to say which of Lady Cumnor's two hearers
was the most dismayed at the idea which had taken possession of
her. Mrs. Kirkpatrick had no fancy for being encumbered with a
step-daughter before her time. If Molly came to be an inmate of her
house, farewell to many little background economies, and a still
more serious farewell to many little indulgences, that were innocent
enough in themselves, but which Mrs. Kirkpatrick's former life
had caused her to look upon as sins to be concealed: the dirty
dog's-eared delightful novel from the Ashcombe circulating library,
the leaves of which she turned over with a pair of scissors; the
lounging-chair which she had for use at her own home, straight and
upright as she sate now in Lady Cumnor's presence; the dainty morsel,
savoury and small, to which she treated herself for her own solitary
supper,--all these and many other similarly pleasant things would
have to be foregone if Molly came to be her pupil, parlour-boarder,
or visitor, as Lady Cumnor was planning. One--two things Clare was
instinctively resolved upon: to be married at Michaelmas, and not
to have Molly at Ashcombe. But she smiled as sweetly as if the plan
proposed was the most charming project in the world, while all the
time her poor brains were beating about in every bush for the reasons
or excuses of which she should make use at some future time. Molly,
however, saved her all this trouble. It was a question which of the
three was the most surprised by the words which burst out of her
lips. She did not mean to speak, but her heart was very full, and
almost before she was aware of her thought she heard herself
saying,--
"I don't think it would be nice at all. I mean, my lady, that I
should dislike it very much; it would be taking me away from papa
just these very few last months. I will like you," she went on,
her eyes full of tears; and, turning to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, she put
her hand into her future stepmother's with the prettiest and most
trustful action. "I will try hard to love you, and to do all I can
to make you happy; but you must not take me away from papa just this
very last bit of time that I shall have him."
Mrs. Kirkpatrick fondled the hand thus placed in hers, and was
grateful to the girl for her outspoken opposition to Lady Cumnor's
plan. Clare was, however, exceedingly unwilling to back up Molly
by any words of her own until Lady Cumnor had spoken and given the
cue. But there was something in Molly's little speech, or in her
straightforward manner, that amused instead of irritating Lady Cumnor
in her present mood. Perhaps she was tired of the silkiness with
which she had been shut up for so many days.
She put up her glasses, and looked at them both before speaking. Then
she said--"Upon my word, young lady! Why, Clare, you've got your work
before you! Not but what there is a good deal of truth in what she
says. It must be very disagreeable to a girl of her age to have a
stepmother coming in between her father and herself, whatever may be
the advantages to her in the long run."
Molly almost felt as if she could make a friend of the stiff old
countess, for her clearness of sight as to the plan proposed being
a trial; but she was afraid, in her new-born desire of thinking for
others, of Mrs. Kirkpatrick being hurt. She need not have feared as
far as outward signs went, for the smile was still on that lady's
pretty rosy lips, and the soft fondling of her hand never stopped.
Lady Cumnor was more interested in Molly the more she looked at her;
and her gaze was pretty steady through her gold-rimmed eye-glasses.
She began a sort of catechism; a string of very straightforward
questions, such as any lady under the rank of countess might have
scrupled to ask, but which were not unkindly meant.
"You are sixteen, are you not?"
"No; I am seventeen. My birthday was three weeks ago."
"Very much the same thing, I should think. Have you ever been to
school?"
"No, never! Miss Eyre has taught me everything I know."
"Umph! Miss Eyre was your governess, I suppose? I should not have
thought your father could have afforded to keep a governess. But of
course he must know his own affairs best."
"Certainly, my lady," replied Molly, a little touchy as to any
reflections on her father's wisdom.
"You say 'certainly!' as if it was a matter of course that every
one should know their own affairs best. You are very young, Miss
Gibson--very. You'll know better before you come to my age. And I
suppose you've been taught music, and the use of globes, and French,
and all the usual accomplishments, since you have had a governess? I
never heard of such nonsense!" she went on, lashing herself up. "An
only daughter! If there had been half-a-dozen, there might have been
some sense in it."
Molly did not speak, but it was by a strong effort that she kept
silence. Mrs. Kirkpatrick fondled her hand more perseveringly than
ever, hoping thus to express a sufficient amount of sympathy to
prevent her from saying anything injudicious. But the caress had
become wearisome to Molly, and only irritated her nerves. She took
her hand out of Mrs. Kirkpatrick's, with a slight manifestation of
impatience.
It was, perhaps, fortunate for the general peace that just at this
moment Mr. Gibson was announced. It is odd enough to see how the
entrance of a person of the opposite sex into an assemblage of either
men or women calms down the little discordances and the disturbance
of mood. It was the case now; at Mr. Gibson's entrance my lady took
off her glasses, and smoothed her brow; Mrs. Kirkpatrick managed
to get up a very becoming blush, and as for Molly, her face glowed
with delight, and the white teeth and pretty dimples came out like
sunlight on a landscape.
Of course, after the first greeting, my lady had to have a private
interview with her doctor; and Molly and her future stepmother
wandered about in the gardens with their arms round each other's
waists, or hand in hand, like two babes in the wood; Mrs. Kirkpatrick
active in such endearments, Molly passive, and feeling within herself
very shy and strange; for she had that particular kind of shy modesty
which makes any one uncomfortable at receiving caresses from a person
towards whom the heart does not go forth with an impulsive welcome.
Then came the early dinner; Lady Cumnor having hers in the quiet of
her own room, to which she was still a prisoner. Once or twice during
the meal, the idea crossed Molly's mind that her father disliked his
position as a middle-aged lover being made so evident to the men in
waiting as it was by Mrs. Kirkpatrick's affectionate speeches and
innuendos. He tried to banish every tint of pink sentimentalism from
the conversation, and to confine it to matter of fact; and when Mrs.
Kirkpatrick would persevere in referring to such things as had a
bearing on the future relationship of the parties, he insisted upon
viewing them in the most matter-of-fact way; and this continued even
after the men had left the room. An old rhyme Molly had heard Betty
use, would keep running in her head and making her uneasy,--
Two is company,
Three is trumpery.
But where could she go to in that strange house? What ought she to
do? She was roused from this fit of wonder and abstraction by her
father's saying--"What do you think of this plan of Lady Cumnor's?
She says she was advising you to have Molly as a visitor at Ashcombe
until we are married."
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's countenance fell. If only Molly would be so good
as to testify again, as she had done before Lady Cumnor! But if the
proposal was made by her father, it would come to his daughter from
a different quarter than it had done from a strange lady, be she
ever so great. Molly did not say anything; she only looked pale, and
wistful, and anxious. Mrs. Kirkpatrick had to speak for herself.
"It would be a charming plan, only--Well! we know why we would rather
not have it, don't we, love? And we won't tell papa, for fear of
making him vain. No! I think I must leave her with you, dear Mr.
Gibson, to have you all to herself for these last few weeks. It would
be cruel to take her away."
"But you know, my dear, I told you of the reason why it does not do
to have Molly at home just at present," said Mr. Gibson, eagerly. For
the more he knew of his future wife, the more he felt it necessary
to remember that, with all her foibles, she would be able to stand
between Molly and any such adventures as that which had occurred
lately with Mr. Coxe; so that one of the good reasons for the step he
had taken was always present to him, while it had slipped off the
smooth surface of Mrs. Kirkpatrick's mirror-like mind without leaving
any impression. She now recalled it, on seeing Mr. Gibson's anxious
face.
But what were Molly's feelings at these last words of her father's?
She had been sent from home for some reason, kept a secret from her,
but told to this strange woman. Was there to be perfect confidence
between these two, and she to be for ever shut out? Was she, and what
concerned her--though how she did not know--to be discussed between
them for the future, and she to be kept in the dark? A bitter pang
of jealousy made her heart-sick. She might as well go to Ashcombe,
or anywhere else, now. Thinking more of others' happiness than
of her own was very fine; but did it not mean giving up her very
individuality, quenching all the warm love, the true desires, that
made her herself? Yet in this deadness lay her only comfort; or so it
seemed. Wandering in such mazes, she hardly knew how the conversation
went on; a third was indeed "trumpery," where there was entire
confidence between the two who were company, from which the other was
shut out. She was positively unhappy, and her father did not appear
to see it; he was absorbed with his new plans and his new wife that
was to be. But he did notice it; and was truly sorry for his little
girl: only he thought that there was a greater chance for the future
harmony of the household, if he did not lead Molly to define her
present feelings by putting them into words. It was his general plan
to repress emotion by not showing the sympathy he felt. Yet, when he
had to leave, he took Molly's hand in his, and held it there, in such
a different manner to that in which Mrs. Kirkpatrick had done; and
his voice softened to his child as he bade her good-by, and added the
words (most unusual to him), "God bless you, child!"
Molly had held up all the day bravely; she had not shown anger, or
repugnance, or annoyance, or regret; but when once more by herself in
the Hamley carriage, she burst into a passion of tears, and cried her
fill till she reached the village of Hamley. Then she tried in vain
to smooth her face into smiles, and do away with the other signs of
her grief. She only hoped she could run upstairs to her own room
without notice, and bathe her eyes in cold water before she was seen.
But at the Hall-door she was caught by the squire and Roger coming in
from an after-dinner stroll in the garden, and hospitably anxious to
help her to alight. Roger saw the state of things in an instant, and
saying,--
"My mother has been looking for you to come back for this last hour,"
he led the way to the drawing-room. But Mrs. Hamley was not there;
the Squire had stopped to speak to the coachman about one of the
horses; they two were alone. Roger said,--
"I'm afraid you've had a very trying day. I have thought of you
several times, for I know how awkward these new relations are."
"Thank you," said she, her lips trembling, and on the point of crying
again. "I did try to remember what you said, and to think more of
others, but it is so difficult sometimes; you know it is, don't you?"
"Yes," said he, gravely. He was gratified by her simple confession
of having borne his words of advice in mind, and tried to act up to
them. He was but a very young man, and he was honestly flattered;
perhaps this led him on to offer more advice, and this time it was
evidently mingled with sympathy. He did not want to draw out her
confidence, which he felt might very easily be done with such a
simple girl; but he wished to help her by giving her a few of the
principles on which he had learnt to rely. "It is difficult," he went
on, "but by-and-by you will be so much happier for it."
"No, I shan't!" said Molly, shaking her head. "It will be very dull
when I shall have killed myself, as it were, and live only in trying
to do, and to be, as other people like. I don't see any end to it.
I might as well never have lived. And as for the happiness you speak
of, I shall never be happy again."
There was an unconscious depth in what she said, that Roger did not
know how to answer at the moment; it was easier to address himself
to the assertion of the girl of seventeen, that she should never be
happy again.
"Nonsense: perhaps in ten years' time you will be looking back on
this trial as a very light one--who knows?"
"I daresay it seems foolish; perhaps all our earthly trials will
appear foolish to us after a while; perhaps they seem so now to
angels. But we are ourselves, you know, and this is _now_, not some
time to come, a long, long way off. And we are not angels, to be
comforted by seeing the ends for which everything is sent."
She had never spoken so long a sentence to him before; and when she
had said it, though she did not take her eyes away from his, as they
stood steadily looking at each other, she blushed a little; she could
not have told why. Nor did he tell himself why a sudden pleasure came
over him as he gazed at her simple expressive face--and for a moment
lost the sense of what she was saying, in the sensation of pity for
her sad earnestness. In an instant more he was himself again. Only
it is pleasant to the wisest, most reasonable youth of one or two
and twenty to find himself looked up to as a Mentor by a girl of
seventeen.
"I know, I understand. Yes: it is _now_ we have to do with. Don't let
us go into metaphysics." Molly opened her eyes wide at this. Had she
been talking metaphysics without knowing it? "One looks forward to
a mass of trials, which will only have to be encountered one by one,
little by little. Oh, here is my mother! she will tell you better
than I can."
And the _tte--tte_ was merged in a trio. Mrs. Hamley lay down; she
had not been well all day--she had missed Molly, she said,--and now
she wanted to hear of all the adventures that had occurred to the
girl at the Towers. Molly sate on a stool close to the head of the
sofa, and Roger, though at first he took up a book and tried to read
that he might be no restraint, soon found his reading all a pretence:
it was so interesting to listen to Molly's little narrative, and,
besides, if he could give her any help in her time of need, was it
not his duty to make himself acquainted with all the circumstances of
her case?
And so they went on during all the remaining time of Molly's stay
at Hamley. Mrs. Hamley sympathized, and liked to hear details; as
the French say, her sympathy was given _en dtail_, the Squire's
_en gros_. He was very sorry for her evident grief, and almost felt
guilty, as if he had had a share in bringing it about, by the mention
he had made of the possibility of Mr. Gibson's marrying again, when
first Molly came on her visit to them. He said to his wife more than
once,--
"'Pon my word, now, I wish I'd never spoken those unlucky words that
first day at dinner. Do you remember how she took them up? It was
like a prophecy of what was to come, now, wasn't it? And she looked
pale from that day, and I don't think she has ever fairly enjoyed her
food since. I must take more care what I say for the future. Not but
what Gibson is doing the very best thing, both for himself and her,
that he can do. I told him so only yesterday. But I'm very sorry for
the little girl, though. I wish I'd never spoken about it, that I do!
but it was like a prophecy, wasn't it?"
Roger tried hard to find out a reasonable and right method of
comfort, for he, too, in his way, was sorry for the girl, who bravely
struggled to be cheerful, in spite of her own private grief, for his
mother's sake. He felt as if high principle and noble precept ought
to perform an immediate work. But they do not, for there is always
the unknown quantity of individual experience and feeling, which
offer a tacit resistance, the amount incalculable by another, to all
good counsel and high decree. But the bond between the Mentor and his
Telemachus strengthened every day. He endeavoured to lead her out
of morbid thought into interest in other than personal things; and,
naturally enough, his own objects of interest came readiest to hand.
She felt that he did her good, she did not know why or how; but after
a talk with him, she always fancied that she had got the clue to
goodness and peace, whatever befell.