LINKS IN A CHAIN.
Gertrude had never had such a summer of gaieties.
She had not long returned from Whitecliff when a young American,
cousin to Pauline Stacey, with a long purse and unlimited ideas of
enjoying himself, made his appearance in Old Keston.
He had "done" England, and wished to stay with his Aunt Stacey "for
a few days" before going on to Switzerland, and with his cousin
Pauline's very ready help, he inaugurated a series of boating
excursions, moonlight strolls, tennis matches and picnics, which
lengthened his visit into weeks instead of days, and in which
Gertrude, to her great delight, found herself involved from the very
first. Pauline Stacey had long ago found Gertrude a far more congenial
spirit than her first friend, Denys, had ever been, so that though
Denys was occasionally invited to the American's festivities, it
generally fell out that Gertrude and Willie or Gertrude and Conway,
but always Gertrude, helped to make up the large parties, without
which the American could not be satisfied and which stirred up and
drew together the social side of Old Keston in an unprecedented
manner.
The weather was glorious, and Gertrude spent every halfpenny she could
scrape together on white frocks, and though she professed to hate
needlework, she suddenly became extremely industrious and worked
early and late, turning out dainty blouses which far outshone Denys's
creations and astounded her family. On Saturday mornings she gave up
all her usual avocations, denied herself to the general public, and
devoted her energies to the wash-tub and the ironing board, the result
of which operations she proudly displayed in a pile of muslins which
would have done credit to an experienced laundry-maid.
"People think I can't do things," she said complacently to her mother,
"Denys is not the only one who can get up frocks and make blouses."
"Very likely not," muttered Conway, who overheard the remark, "you
only do them when it is for yourself. Denys does them every day for
everybody else."
Gertrude carefully laid by her freshly got up stock of elegancies, and
stretched her tired back on the bed which they had occupied, hoping to
get half an hour's sleep before she dressed for a picnic.
"Money would have sent all those horrid frills to the laundry and
saved me a backache," she said to herself, "frills are bad enough to
make, but they are infinitely worse to iron. Of course I want money to
do things with! I don't want to be poor all my life."
Then she smiled as she closed her eyes and composed herself to sleep.
"I believe I really _am_ having my chance," she reflected. "I know
pretty nearly everybody who is worth knowing here now."
And then, as so often happened when Gertrude contemplated her
matrimonial prospects, a vision of Reggie Alston rose up before her,
and disturbed her serenity.
"Reggie _was_ a nice boy--it is a pity he is poor," she thought
regretfully, and then she suddenly sprang into a sitting posture, all
thought of sleep completely banished from her mind.
Reggie's birthday! It had come and gone weeks ago and she had missed
it--she had completely forgotten it! What must Reggie have thought?
She glanced at the clock; there was just time to scribble a note
before she dressed for the picnic, and of course, though she had no
wish to encourage Reggie's friendship, yet a birthday was a special
occasion, and had she remembered it she would certainly have written!
Why, it was on Easter Monday! No wonder she had forgotten it! Mrs.
Henchman had sent all her young party and several other friends off
for a lovely expedition to an old castle, and Audrey had been hostess
and had felt herself tied to the luncheon basket and the elder guests,
while Cecil Greyburne and Gertrude had wandered about together all day
and she had never once thought of Reggie.
But she ought to have written on the Friday or Saturday. She
remembered how they had all come in late from a long walk, and Cecil
had discovered that the country post had gone out, and he had not sent
off a particular letter and an Easter card. He had fumed and worried
to such an extent that she had thought it really unnecessary, and
wondered whoever could be of such importance to him. Then Charlie
had recollected that there was a later country post in Dennetford
and Cecil had sat down at Charlie's desk and written furiously, and
enclosed a lovely Easter card--Gertrude had seen enough of it to know
that--and then, without waiting for even a cup of tea, he had ridden
off to Dennetford as if his very life depended on catching that post!
If she had only thought of Reggie's birthday, Cecil would have posted
the letter with his, as he posted one for Charlie.
She went hot all over as she suddenly realised that Charlie's letter
must have been a birthday letter for Reggie. She distinctly remembered
Charlie's words,
"It will reach Scotland on Monday morning."
Charlie might have reminded her!
Hastily now she gathered her writing materials and wrote Reggie his
long delayed birthday letter, and in her haste and regret she forgot
all about her casual on-the-top-of-things style, and though the letter
was very short it was just such a letter as she had written him before
these new ideas came into her head. "I am rushing off to a picnic with
the Stacey people, so cannot write more," she ended up. "We are going
to the Roman Hill. Do you remember how we went there last year and
what a jolly time we had?"
Simple words--and yet Reggie treasured them like gold-dust.
Gertrude posted her letter on her way to the Stacey's house and she
felt vaguely relieved when it slipped from her fingers into the chasm
of the red pillar box. She felt that now she could enjoy herself in
peace.
She was the most popular, the most sought-after girl at the picnic
that afternoon; she was never short of a cavalier to wait on her
lightest behest; she was her prettiest, her most charming self.
The American whispered to her that a picnic without her would be
a desolation and he had half a mind to stop another week at his
aunt's--but Gertrude was not enjoying herself. From behind the gorse
bushes, from between the moss-grown boulders, from beneath the dark
foliage of the Scotch firs, there peeped at her a ghost.
She saw it everywhere. It was the ghost of Reggie Alston.
The next day was Sunday; always a quiet home day in the St. Olave's
household, and in the little interval between tea-time and
evening service the whole family were gathered in the cool shaded
drawing-room, reading, or listening to Gertrude's description of the
yesterday's picnic. Suddenly she broke in upon her own narrative with
a question--
"Mother, how did you and father happen to meet and like one another?"
Mrs. Brougham smiled as she glanced over at Mr. Brougham.
"My dear!" she said, "that's a very old story!"
"Mother won't tell it!" said Willie in his slow, drawly way, "so I
will; I know all about it. Father made up his mind that there was
nobody like mother in all the world, but prospects were bad in England
and he did not see how he could buy the furniture, so he did not say
a word to anybody except to his own mother, and he went to China and
saved up, and in four years he came back because the firm shut up
shop, and the first thing he heard when he got back, was that mother
was going into a big hospital to train as a nurse, and he said to
himself, 'One of those doctors will take a fancy to her, as sure as
sure,' so he put on his best clothes and rushed off--and--and--"
"Proposed," ended up Gertrude. "Of course I know all that as well as
you do. What I want to know is before all that."
"Now it is my turn," said Mr. Brougham looking up from his book,
"before that, mother used to give music lessons to my little
step-sister and brother--and two more rampageous little mortals
I never came across--and they were always in hot water with their
masters and mistresses. But whatever they did, she was so patient and
gentle--though she made them mind her too--but she never spoke
sharply or raised her voice. I used to stand on the stairs outside the
drawing-room door, to be sure that they were not very naughty to her,
and I made up my mind then. When true love comes to bless us, it
is generally through some little everyday thing, some strength or
tenderness of character, some simple good quality, some sympathetic
tone, or some unselfish act."
"Oh, what fun it would have been if mother had come out and caught
you," cried Tony exultantly.
"I wonder what Charlie chose Denys for," murmured Gertrude.
"Really!" said Denys, flushing and rising, "this conversation is
getting altogether too personal. Come, Maudie, it is your bedtime."
She carried the child off, and Conway said a little pointedly--
"I wonder what anybody could choose Gertrude for."
Gertrude coloured angrily and his mother said gently, "Conway, dear!"
"Well!" said Willie's drawly voice again, "I should like to know what
a girl looks for in a fellow. What should you expect, for instance,
Gertrude?"
One word rose involuntarily to Gertrude's lips, but she choked it
back.
"My dear Willie!" she said with her easy laugh.
And that same word had risen to Conway's lips, but with a tremendous
effort he too choked it back. Gertrude always aggravated him, and it
was a daily fight with him to be civil to her.
He rose abruptly and went into the garden, and in a few minutes the
others drifted after him, and Mr. and Mrs. Brougham were left alone.
"It is nice to see them all together like this," said Mrs. Brougham
fondly, as she watched the moving figures in the garden.
There was a smile in Mr. Brougham's eyes as he quoted--
"And the ancient arrow maker
Turned again unto his labour,
Sat down by his sunny doorway,
Murmuring to himself, and saying,
That it is our daughters leave us."
"We shan't have to part with little Maud--yet," answered Mrs. Brougham
with a low laugh.
There did not rise before her mental vision a picture of a vengeful
woman cowering over a handful of red embers, her mind set on one
object and one object only--some mode of vengeance.
But even if she could have seen such a picture, how could she have
formed a chain of association which should link that woman with the
maid in her own kitchen, or with the golden-haired child upstairs, the
patter of whose little feet sounded over her head?
How the patter of those childish footsteps came back to her heart's
memory on Monday night!
"No," repeated Mr. Brougham thoughtfully, "not yet!"