"Because," John said, "the world says we are not equals; and it would be
neither for Miss March's honour nor mine did I try to force upon it the
truth--which I may prove openly one day--that we _are_ equals."
Miss March looked up at him--it were hard to say with what expression,
of pleasure, of pride, or simple astonishment; perhaps a mingling of
all; then her eyelids fell. Her left arm was hanging over the sofa, the
scar being visible enough. John took the hand, and pressed his lips to
the place where the wound had been.
"Poor little hand--blessed little hand!" he murmured. "May God bless it
evermore!"
_III.--The Rise of John Halifax_
After John Halifax had returned to Norton Bury he was seized with fever,
and for a time his recovery seemed doubtful. In his delirium he called
aloud for Ursula, and dreamed that she had come to sit with him, asking
him to live for her sake. Phineas, in his anxiety for his friend,
brought Ursula to him, and the dream came true, for she did ask him to
live for her sake.
Not long after his recovery John Halifax became Mr. Fletcher's partner.
Going to London on behalf of the business, he met there the great
statesman, Mr. Pitt, who was impressed with the natural abilities of the
young man. John's reputation for honesty and sound commonsense had now
grown so great at Norton Bury that when he returned there he found
himself one of the most respected men in the town.
Although still far from being rich, he was no longer a poor worker, and
as Ursula was willing to share his life, they boldly determined to be
married, in spite of her guardian, who asserted that John would never
touch a penny of Ursula's fortune. They contrived, however, to be happy
without it, for he refused to go to law to recover his wife's money, and
was determined he would work honestly to support her.
With the death of old Mr. Fletcher, however, came misfortune, for it was
found that the tannery was no longer a paying property, and there were
only the mills to go on with. At this time Ursula's relative, Lord
Luxmore, who was anxious to see the Catholic Emancipation Bill passed,
thought he could use John Halifax for his purpose by offering to get him
returned to parliament for the "rotten borough" of Kingswell, the member
for which was then elected by only fifteen voters. Twelve of these were
tenants of Lord Luxmore, and the other three of Phineas. But although
John would have supported the Bill, he was too honest to let himself be
elected for a "rotten borough." So he declined, and Luxmore next tried
to win him over by offering the lease of some important cloth-mills he
owned; but these he would not take on credit, and he had no money to pay
for them.
At this juncture, Ursula told Luxmore about the behaviour of his kinsman
Brithwood, with the result that his lordship went to Brithwood and made
him turn over the money to her. When John now purchased the lease of the
mills, his lordship thought that he had secured him firmly, and that
Halifax would use his great and growing influence with the people of the
district to further Luxmore's political schemes.
While all this was going on, young Lord Ravenel, the son and heir of
Luxmore, had been a constant visitor at the Halifax home, and delighted
in the company of John's daughter. Halifax had now three children: two
boys, named Guy and Edmund, and Muriel, who, alas! had been born blind.
Perhaps on account of her infirmity she had been the pet of her parents;
but she was of a gentle nature, and was beautiful to look upon, even
with her sightless eyes.
The time for the election of the member for Kingswell had come round,
and as Luxmore had failed to induce John Halifax to stand, he put up a
pliable nominee. But he was greatly mistaken in supposing that John
would use his influence to make the handful of voters, most of whom were
employed in his mills, vote for Luxmore's man. Instead of that, Halifax
advised them to be honest, and vote as they thought right; with the
result that Luxmore promptly evicted them from their homes. But John
found new homes for them.
As his riches increased, he bought a stately country mansion, named
Beechwood, not far from Rose Cottage, ever dear in memory to him.
Another son, Walter, was born there, and everything seemed to smile on
him in his beautiful country home. Luxmore now sought to injure him by
diverting the water from his cloth-mills, and leaving his great wheels
idle. Halifax could have taken him to law; but, instead of that, he set
up a strange, new-fangled thing, called a steam-engine; and his mills
did better than ever.
Finding it useless to fight against the resourceful Halifax, Luxmore
went abroad, and left his son, Lord Ravenel, alone at Luxmore Hall. The
young man, despite his father's unfriendly conduct, was still a frequent
visitor at Beechwood, and when poor Muriel died, his grief at her loss
was only less than that of her parents.
The years passed by, and happiness still reigned at Beechwood; but
Ravenel had deserted them, until one day John Halifax met him, greatly
changed from the gentle youth of the past, at Norton Bury. John invited
him to ride over with him to Enderley.
"Enderly? How strange the word sounds! Yet I should like to see the
place again," said Ravenel, who decided to accompany John Halifax and
Phineas Fletcher in their drive back to Beechwood. He inquired kindly
for all the family, and was told that Guy and Walter were as tall as
himself, while the daughter----
"Your daughter?" said his lordship, with a start. "Oh, yes; I
recollect--Baby Maud! Is she at all like--like----"
"No," said John Halifax. Neither said more than this; but it seemed as
if their hearts warmed to one another, knitted by the same tender
remembrance.
_IV.--The Journey's End_
Lord Ravenel had returned to reside again at Luxmore Hall, and his
visits to Beechwood became as regular as they had been in the old days
at the Halifax home, when Muriel was alive. It was the society of Maud
in which his lordship now delighted, though he never forgot the serene
and happy days he had spent with her blind sister.
Before long, Lord Ravenel sought to be regarded as suitor for the hand
of Maud, who would thus have become the future Countess of Luxmore. He
said that he would wait two years for her, if her father wished it; but
John Halifax would make him no promise, and urged him rather to
endeavour first to become a more worthy man, so that he might redeem the
evil reputation which the conduct of his own father had brought upon the
name of Luxmore.
"Do you recognise what you were born to be?" said Halifax to him. "Not
only a nobleman, but a gentleman; not only a gentleman, but a man--man
made in the image of God. Would to heaven that any poor word of mine
could make you feel all that you are--and all that you might be!"
"You mean, Mr. Halifax, what I might have been--now it is too late."
"There is no such word as 'too late' in the wide world--nay, not in the
universe."
Lord Ravenel for a time sat silent; then he rose to go, and thanked Mrs.
Halifax for all her kindness in a voice choked with emotion.
"For your husband, I owe him more than kindness, as perhaps I may prove
some day; if not, try to believe the best of me you can. Good-bye!"
It was not many weeks after this that the old Earl of Luxmore died in
France, and it then became known that his son, who now succeeded to the
title, had voluntarily given up his claims on the estate in order to pay
the heavy debts of his worthless father.
The home at Beechwood had lost another inmate--for Edmund was now
married--when Guy, first going to Paris, had later sailed for America.
Years passed by, and he became a successful merchant in Boston, and then
one day he wrote home to say he was coming back to the Old Country, and
was bringing with him his partner.
The ship in which Guy and his friend sailed from America was wrecked,
and Ursula, in her grief at the supposed loss of her eldest son, seemed
to be wearing away, when one day a strange gentleman stood in the
doorway--tall, brown, and bearded--and asked to see Miss Halifax. Maud
just glanced at him, then rose, and said somewhat coldly, "Will you be
seated?"
"Maud, don't you know me? Where is my mother?"
The return of the son whom she had given up for dead brought joy again
to the heart of Ursula, and her health seemed to revive, but it was
clear that her days were now uncertain. Scarcely less than the delight
in Guy's return was the discovery that his partner was none other than
the new Earl of Luxmore, who, as plain Mr. William Ravenel, had by his
life in America proved John Halifax was right when he said it was not
too late for him to model his life on lines of true manliness. He had,
indeed, become all that John had desired of him--a man and a
gentleman--so that Maud was, after all, to be the Countess of Luxmore.
But the days of John Halifax himself were now drawing to a close, and he
was not without premonitions of his end; for in his talks with Phineas
Fletcher, who had remained his faithful companion all these years, he
spoke as one would speak of a new abode, an impending journey. Death
came to him very gently one day at sunset, just after he had smiled to
Phineas, when his old friend, looking towards Lord Luxmore and his
future bride, who were with a group of the young people, had said, "I
think sometimes, John, that William and Maud will be the happiest of all
the children."
He smiled at this, and a little later seemed to be asleep; but when Maud
came up and spoke to him, he was dead. While he was sleeping thus, the
Master had called him. His sudden end was so great a shock to the frail
life of Ursula, that when they buried John Halifax in the pretty
Enderley churchyard they laid to rest with him his wife of three-and-
thirty years, who had been a widow but for a few hours.
* * * * *