MISS TALLOWAX IS SHOWN THE HOUSE.
The Dean took his aunt over to Manor Cross in his brougham. The Dean's
brougham was the neatest carriage in Brotherton, very much more so than
the bishop's family carriage. It was, no doubt, generally to be seen
with only one horse; and neither the bishop or Mrs. Barton ever stirred
without two; but then one horse is enough for town work, and that one
horse could lift his legs and make himself conspicuous in a manner of
which the bishop's rather sorry jades knew nothing. On this occasion,
as the journey was long, there were two horses--hired; but,
nevertheless, the brougham looked very well as it came up the long
Manor Cross avenue. Miss Tallowax became rather frightened as she drew
near to the scene of her coming grandeur.
"Henry," she said to her nephew, "they will think so little of me."
"My dear aunt," replied the Dean, "in these days a lady who has plenty
of money of her own can hold her head up anywhere. The dear old
marchioness will think quite as much of you as you do of her."
What perhaps struck Miss Tallowax most at the first moment was the
plainness of the ladies' dresses. She, herself, was rather gorgeous in
a shot-silk gown and a fashionable bonnet crowded with flowers. She had
been ashamed of the splendour of the article as she put it on, and yet
had been ashamed also of her ordinary daily head gear. But when she saw
the Marchioness, and especially when she saw Lady Sarah, who was
altogether strange to her, she wished that she had come in her
customary black gown. She had heard something about Lady Sarah from her
niece, and had conceived an idea that Lady Sarah was the dragon of the
family. But when she saw a little woman, looking almost as old as
herself,--though in truth the one might have been the other's
mother,--dressed in an old brown merino, with the slightest morsel of
white collar to be seen round her neck, she began to hope that the
dragon would not be very fierce.
"I hope you like Brotherton, Miss Tallowax," said Lady Sarah. "I think
I have heard that you were here once before."
"I like Brotherton very much, my lady." Lady Sarah smiled as graciously
as she knew how. "I came when they first made Henry dean, a long time
ago now it seems. But he had not then the honour of knowing your mamma
or the family."
"It wasn't long before we did know him," said the Marchioness. Then
Miss Tallowax turned round and again curtseyed with her head and
shoulders.
The Dean at this moment was not in the room, having been withdrawn from
the ladies by his son-in-law at the front door; but as luncheon was
announced, the two men came in. Lord George gave his arm to his wife's
great aunt, and the Dean followed with the Marchioness.
"I really am a'most ashamed to walk out before her ladyship," said Miss
Tallowax, with a slight attempt at laughing at her own ignorance.
But Lord George rarely laughed at anything, and certainly did not know
how to treat pleasantly such a subject as this. "It's quite customary,"
he said very gravely.
The lunch was much more tremendous to Miss Tallowax than had been the
dinner at the deanery. Though she was ignorant,--ignorant at any rate
of the ways of such people as those with whom she was now
consorting,--she was by no means a stupid old woman. She was soon able
to perceive that in spite of the old merino gown, it was Lady Sarah's
spirit that quelled them all. At first there was very little
conversation. Lord George did not speak a word. The Marchioness never
exerted herself. Poor Mary was cowed and unhappy. The Dean made one or
two little efforts, but without much success. Lady Sarah was intent
upon her mutton chop, which she finished to the last shred, turning it
over and over in her plate so that it should be economically disposed
of, looking at it very closely because she was short-sighted. But when
the mutton chop had finally done its duty, she looked up from her plate
and gave evident signs that she intended to take upon herself the
weight of the conversation. All the subsequent ceremonies of the lunch
itself, the little tarts and the jelly, and the custard pudding, she
despised altogether, regarding them as wicked additions. One pudding
after dinner she would have allowed, but nothing more of that sort. It
might be all very well for parvenu millionaires to have two grand
dinners a-day, but it could not be necessary that the Germains should
live in that way, even when the Dean of Brotherton and his aunt came to
lunch with them.
"I hope you like this part of the country, Miss Tallowax," she said, as
soon as she had deposited her knife and fork over the bone.
"Manor Cross is quite splendid, my lady," said Miss Tallowax.
"It is an old house, and we shall have great pleasure in showing you
what the people call the state rooms. We never use them. Of course you
know the house belongs to my brother, and we only live here because it
suits him to stay in Italy."
"That's the young Marquis, my lady?"
"Yes; my elder brother is Marquis of Brotherton, but I cannot say that
he is very young. He is two years my senior, and ten years older than
George."
"But I think he's not married yet?" asked Miss Tallowax.
The question was felt to be disagreeable by them all. Poor Mary could
not keep herself from blushing, as she remembered how much to her might
depend on this question of her brother-in-law's marriage. Lord George
felt that the old lady was enquiring what chance there might be that
her grand niece should ever become a marchioness. Old Lady Brotherton,
who had always been anxious that her elder son should marry, felt
uncomfortable, as did also the Dean, conscious that all there must be
conscious how important must be the matter to him.
"No," said Lady Sarah, with stately gravity; "my elder brother is not
yet married. If you would like to see the rooms, Miss Tallowax, I shall
have pleasure in showing you the way."
The Dean had seen the rooms before, and remained with the old lady.
Lord George, who thought very much of everything affecting his own
family, joined the party, and Mary felt herself compelled to follow her
husband and her aunt. The two younger sisters also accompanied Lady
Sarah.
"This is the room in which Queen Elizabeth slept," said Lady Sarah,
entering a large chamber on the ground floor, in which there was a
four-post bedstead, almost as high as the ceiling, and looking as
though no human body had profaned it for the last three centuries.
"Dear me," said Miss Tallowax, almost afraid to press such sacred
boards with her feet. "Queen Elizabeth! Did she really now?"
"Some people say she never did actually come to Manor Cross at all,"
said the conscientious Lady Amelia; "but there is no doubt that the
room was prepared for her."
"Laws!" said Miss Tallowax, who began to be less afraid of distant
royalty now that a doubt was cast on its absolute presence.
"Examining the evidence as closely as we can," said Lady Sarah, with a
savage glance at her sister, "I am inclined to think that she certainly
did come. We know that she was at Brotherton in 1582, and there exists
the letter in which Sir Humphrey Germaine, as he was then, is desired
to prepare rooms for her. I myself have no doubt on the subject."
"After all it does not make much difference," said Mary.
"I think it makes all the difference in the world," said Lady Susanna.
"That piece of furniture will always be sacred to me, because I
believe it did once afford rest and sleep to the gracious majesty of
England."
"It do make a difference, certainly," said Miss Tallowax, looking at
the bed with all her eyes. "Does anybody ever go to bed here now?"
"Nobody, ever," said Lady Sarah. "Now we will go through to the great
dining hall. That's the portrait of the first earl."
"Painted by Kneller," said Lady Amelia, proudly.
"Oh, indeed," said Miss Tallowax.
"There is some doubt as to that," said Lady Sarah. "I have found out
that Sir Godfrey Kneller was only born in 1648, and as the first earl
died a year or two after the restoration, I don't know that he could
have done it."
"It was always said that it was painted by Kneller," said Lady Amelia.
"There has been a mistake, I fear," said Lady Sarah.
"Oh, indeed," said Miss Tallowax, looking up with intense admiration at
a very ill-drawn old gentleman in armour. Then they entered the state
dining-room or hall, and Miss Tallowax was informed that the room had
not been used for any purpose whatever for very many years. "And such a
beautiful room!" said Miss Tallowax, with much regret.
"The fact is, I believe, that the chimney smokes horribly," said Lord
George.
"I never remember a fire here," said Lady Sarah. "In very cold weather
we have a portable stove brought in, just to preserve the furniture.
This is called the old ball room."
"Dear me!" ejaculated Miss Tallowax, looking round at the faded yellow
hangings.
"We did have a ball here once," said Lady Amelia, "when Brotherton came
of age. I can just remember it."
"Has it never been used since?" asked Mary.
"Never," said Lady Sarah. "Sometimes when it's rainy we walk up and
down for exercise. It is a fine old house, but I often wish that it
were smaller. I don't think people want rooms of this sort now as much
as they used to do. Perhaps a time may come when my brother will make
Manor Cross gay again, but it is not very gay now. I think that is all,
Miss Tallowax."
"It's very fine;--very fine indeed," said Miss Tallowax, shivering.
Then they all trooped back into the morning room which they used for
their daily life.
The old lady when she had got back into the brougham with her nephew,
the Dean, was able to express her mind freely. "I wouldn't live in that
house, Henry, not if they was to give it me for nothing."
"They'd have to give you something to keep it up with."
"And not then, neither. Of course it's all very well having a bed that
Queen Elizabeth slept in."
"Or didn't sleep in."
"I'd teach myself to believe she did. But dear me, that isn't
everything. It nearly gave me the horrors to look at it. Room after
room,--room after room,--and nobody living in any of them."
"People can't live in more than a certain number of rooms at once,
aunt."
"Then what's the use of having them? And don't you think for the
daughters of a Marchioness they are a little what you'd call--dowdy?"
"They don't go in for dress much."
"Why, my Jemima at home, when the dirty work is done, is twice smarter
than Lady Sarah. And, Henry,--don't you think they're a little hard
upon Mary?"
"Hard upon her;--how?" The Dean had listened to the old woman's
previous criticisms with a smile; but now he was interested and turned
sharply round to her. "How hard?"
"Moping her up there among themselves; and it seemed to me they snubbed
her whenever she spoke." The Dean had not wanted his aunt's observation
to make him feel this. The tone of every syllable addressed to his girl
had caught his ear. He had been pleased to marry her into so good a
family. He had been delighted to think that by means of his prosperity
in the world his father's grand-daughter might probably become a
peeress. But he certainly had not intended that even for such a reward
as that his daughter should become submissive to the old maids at Manor
Cross. Foreseeing something of this he had stipulated that she should
have a house of her own in London; but half her time would probably be
spent in the country, and with reference to that half of her time it
would be necessary that she should be made to understand that as the
wife of Lord George she was in no respect inferior to his sisters, and
that in some respects she was their superior. "I don't see the good of
living in a big house," continued Miss Tallowax, "if all the time
everything is to be as dull as dull."
"They are older than she is, you know."
"Poor little dear! I always did say that young folk should have young
folk about 'em. Of course it's a great thing for her to have a lord for
her husband. But he looks a'most too old himself for such a pretty
darling as your Mary."
"He's only thirty-three."
"It's in the looks, I suppose, because he's so grand. But it's that
Lady Sarah puzzles me. It isn't in her looks, and yet she has it all
in her own way. Well;--I liked going there, and I'm glad I've been; but
I don't know as I shall ever want to go again." Then there was silence
for some time; but as the brougham was driven into Brotherton Miss
Tallowax spoke again. "I don't suppose an old woman like me can ever be
of any use, and you'll always be at hand to look after her. But if ever
she should want an outing, just to raise her spirits, old as I am, I
think I could make it brighter for her than it is there." The Dean took
her hand and pressed it, and then there was no more said.
When the brougham was driven away Lord George took his wife for a walk
in the park. She was still struggling hard to be in love with him,
never owning failure to herself, and sometimes assuring herself that
she had succeeded altogether. Now, when he asked her to come with him,
she put on her hat joyfully, and joined her hands over his arm as she
walked away with him into the shrubbery.
"She's a wonderful old woman;--is not she, George?"
"Not very wonderful."
"Of course you think she's vulgar."
"I didn't say so."
"No; you're too good to say so, because she's papa's aunt. But she's
very good. Don't you think she's very good?"
"I dare say she is. I don't know that I run into superlatives quite so
much as you do."
"She has brought me such a handsome present. I could not show it you
before them all just now, and it only came down from London this
morning. She did not say a word about it before. Look here." Then she
slipped her glove off and showed him a diamond ring.
"You should not wear that out of doors."
"I only put it on to show you. Wasn't it good of her? 'Young people of
rank ought to wear nice things,' she said, as she gave it me. Wasn't it
an odd thing for her to say? and yet I understood her." Lord George
frowned, thinking that he also understood the old woman's words, and
reminding himself that the ladies of rank at Manor Cross never did wear
nice things. "Don't you think it was nice?"
"Of course she is entitled to make you a present if she pleases."
"It pleased me, George."
"I dare say, and as it doesn't displease me all is well. You, however,
have quite sense enough to understand, that in this house more is
thought of--of--of--" he would have said blood, but that he did not
wish to hurt her,--"more is thought of personal good conduct than of
rings and jewels."
"Rings and jewels, and--personal conduct may go together; mayn't they?"
"Of course they may."
"And very often do. You won't think my--personal conduct--will be
injured because I wear my aunt's ring?"
When Lord George made his allusion to personal conduct one of her two
hands dropped from his arm, and now, as she repeated the words, there
was a little sting of sarcasm in her voice.
"I was intending to answer your aunt's opinion that young people ought
to wear nice things. No doubt there is at present a great rage for rich
ornaments and costly dress, and it was of these she was thinking when
she spoke of nice things. When I spoke of personal conduct being more
thought of here, I intended to imply that you had come into a family
not given to rich ornaments and costly dress. My sisters feel that
their portion in this world is assured to them without such outward
badges, and wish that you should share the feeling."
This was a regular sermon, and to Mary's thinking was very
disagreeable, and not at all deserved. Did her husband really mean to
tell her that, because his sisters chose to dress themselves down in
the country like dowdy old maids whom the world had deserted, she was
to do the same up in London? The injustice of this on all sides struck
home to her at the moment. They were old and she was young. They were
plain; she was pretty. They were poor; she was rich. They didn't feel
any wish to make themselves what she called "nice." She did feel a very
strong wish in that direction. They were old maids; she was a young
bride. And then what right had they to domineer over her, and to send
word to her through her husband of their wishes as to her manner of
dressing? She said nothing at the moment; but she became red, and began
to feel that she had power within her to rebel at any rate against her
sisters-in-law. There was silence for a moment or so, and then Lord
George reverted to the subject.
"I hope you can sympathise with my sisters," he said. He had felt that
the hand had been dropped, and had understood something of the reason.
She wished to rebel against them, but by no means wished to oppose him.
She was aware, as though by instinct, that her life would be very bad
indeed should she fail to sympathise with him. It was still the
all-paramount desire of her heart to be in love with him. But she could
not bring herself to say that she sympathised with them in this direct
attack that was made on her own mode of thought.
"Of course, they are a little older than I am," she said, hoping to get
out of the difficulty.
"And therefore, the more entitled to consideration. I think you will
own that they must know what is, and what is not, becoming to a lady."
"Do you mean," said she, hardly able to choke a rising sob, "that
they--have anything--to find fault with in me?"
"I have said nothing as to finding fault, Mary."
"Do they think that I do not dress as I ought to do?"
"Why should you ask such a question as that?"
"I don't know what else I am to understand, George. Of course I will
do anything that you tell me. If you wish me to make any change, I will
make it. But I hope they won't send me messages through you."
"I thought you would have been glad to know that they interested
themselves about you." In answer to this Mary pouted, but her husband
did not see the pout.
"Of course they are anxious that you should become one of them. We are
a very united family. I do not speak now of my elder brother, who is in
a great measure separated from us and is of a different nature. But my
mother, my sisters, and I, have very many opinions in common. We live
together, and have the same way of thinking. Our rank is high, and our
means are small. But to me blood is much more than wealth. We
acknowledge, however, that rank demands many sacrifices, and my sisters
endeavour to make those sacrifices most conscientiously. A woman more
thoroughly devoted to good works than Sarah I have never even read of.
If you will believe this, you will understand what they mean, and what
I mean, when we say that here at Manor Cross we think more of personal
conduct than of rings and jewels. You wish, Mary, to be one of us; do
you not?"
She paused for a moment, and then she answered, "I wish to be always
one with you."
He almost wanted to be angry at this, but it was impossible. "To be one
with me, dearest," he said, "you must be one, also, with them."
"I cannot love them as I do you, George. That, I am sure, is not the
meaning of being married." Then she thought of it all steadily for a
minute, and after that, made a further speech. "And I don't think I can
quite dress like them. I'm sure you would not like it if I did."
As she said this she put her second hand back upon his arm.
He said nothing further on the subject till he had brought her back to
the house, walking along by her side almost mute, not quite knowing
whether he ought to be offended with her or to take her part. It was
true that he would not have liked her to look like Lady Sarah, but he
would have liked her to make some approach in that direction,
sufficient to show submission. He was already beginning to fear the
absence of all control which would befall his young wife in that London
life to which, she was to be so soon introduced, and was meditating
whether he could not induce one of his sisters to accompany them. As to
Sarah he was almost hopeless. Amelia would be of little or no service,
though she would be more likely to ingratiate herself with his wife
than the others. Susanna was less strong than Sarah and less amiable
than Amelia. And then, how would it be if Mary were to declare that she
would rather begin the campaign without any of them?
The young wife, as soon as she found herself alone in her own bedroom,
sat down and resolved that she would never allow herself to be
domineered by her husband's sisters. She would be submissive to him in
all things, but his authority should not be delegated to them.