MEG AND CAPTAIN MIDDLETON
Meg had worked hard and faithfully ever since Ayah left. Very soon after
she took over the children entirely she discovered that, however naughty
and tiresome they were in many respects, they were quick-witted and
easily interested. And she decided there and then that to keep them good
she must keep them well amused, and it acted like a charm.
She had the somewhat rare power of surrounding quite ordinary everyday
proceedings with a halo of romance, so that the children's day developed
into a series of entrancing adventures.
With Meg, enthusiastic make-believe had never wholly given place to
common sense. Throughout the long, hard days of her childhood and early
apprenticeship to a rather unkindly world she had pretended joyously,
and invented for herself all sorts of imaginary pleasures to take the
place of those tangible ones denied to her. She had kept the width and
wistfulness of the child's horizon with a good deal of the child's
finality and love of detail; so that she was as responsive to the drama
of common things as the children themselves.
Thus it came about that the daily donning of the uniform was in very
truth symbolic and inspiring; and once the muslin cap was adjusted, she
felt herself magically surrounded by the atmosphere most conducive to
the production of the Perfect Nurse.
For Tony and little Fay getting up and going to bed resolved themselves
into feats of delicious dexterity that custom could not stale. The
underneaths of tables were caves and dungeons, chairs became chariots at
will, and every night little Fay waved a diminutive pocket-handkerchief
to Tony from the deck of an ocean-going P. and O.
The daily walks, especially since they came to Wren's End, were filled
with hopeful possibilities. And to hunt for eggs with Mrs. Earley, or
gather vegetables with her son, partook of the nature of a high and
solemn quest. It was here Meg showed real genius. She drew all the
household into her net of interest. The children poked their busy
fingers into everybody's pies, and even stern Hannah was compelled,
quite unconsciously, to contribute her share in the opulent happiness of
their little world.
But it took it out of Meg.
For weeks she had been on the alert to prevent storms and tempests. Now
that the children's barometer seemed at "set fair" she suddenly felt
very tired.
Jan had been watching her, and on that particular Sunday, had she been
able to catch Meg before she got up, Jan would have dressed the children
and kept her in bed. But Meg was too nimble for her, washed and dressed
her charges, and appeared at breakfast looking a "wispy wraith."
She had slept badly; a habit formed in her under-nourished youth which
she found hard to break; and she had, in consequence, been sitting up in
bed at five in the morning to make buttonholes in garden smocks for
Tony.
This would have enraged Jan had she but known it. But Meg, frank and
honest as the day in most things, was, at times, curiously secretive;
and so far had entirely eluded Jan's vigilance. By the time Anne Chitt
came with the awakening tea there wasn't a vestige of smock, needles, or
cotton to be seen, and so far lynx-eyed little Fay had never awoke in
time to catch her at it.
This morning, however, Jan exerted her authority. She slung the hammock
between two trees in the sunniest part of the garden; she wrapped Meg in
her own fur coat, which was far too big for Meg; covered her with a
particularly soft, warm rug, gave her a book, a sun-umbrella, and her
cigarette case; and forbade her to move till lunch-time unless it
rained.
Then she took the two children and William into Squire Walcote's woods
for the morning and Meg fell fast asleep.
Warm with the double glow that came from being wrapped in Jan's coat
because Jan loved her; lulled by the songs of birds and a soft, shy wind
that ruffled the short hair about her forehead, little Meg was supremely
happy. To be tired, to be made to rest, to be kissed and tucked in and
sternly commanded to stay where she was till she was fetched--all this,
so commonplace to cherished, cared-for folk, seemed quite wonderful to
Meg, and she snuggled down among the cushions in blissful content.
Meanwhile, on that same Sunday morning, Captain Middleton, at Amber
Guiting Manor, was trying to screw his courage up to the announcement
that he did not intend to accompany his aunt and uncle to church. Lady
Mary Walcote was his mother's only sister, and Mrs. Walcote, wife of
Jan's tenant, was one of his father's, so that he spoke quite truly when
he told Meg he had "stacks of relations down at Amber Guiting."
Colonel Walcote was much better off than his elder brother, the squire
of Amber Guiting, for he benefited by the Middleton money.
Miles Middleton's father was the originator of "Middleton's Made
Starch," which was used everywhere and was supposed to be superior to
all other starches. Why "Made" scoffers could never understand, for it
required precisely the same treatment as other starches. But the British
Public believed in it, the British Public also bought it in large
quantities, and George Middleton, son of Mutton-Pie Middleton, a
well-to-do confectioner in Doncaster, became an exceedingly rich man. He
did not marry till he was forty, and then he married "family," for Lady
Agnes Keills, younger daughter of Lord Glencarse, had a long pedigree
and no dower at all. She was a good wife to him, gentle, upright, and
always affectionate. She adored their only child, Miles, and died quite
suddenly from heart failure, just after that cheerful youth had joined
at Woolwich. George Middleton died some three years later, leaving his
money absolutely to his son, who came of age at twenty-five. And, so
far, Miles had justified his father's faith in him, for he had never
done anything very foolish, and a certain strain of Yorkshire shrewdness
prevented him from committing any wild extravagance.
He was generous, kindly, and keen on his profession, and he had reached
the age of thirty-two without ever having felt any overwhelming desire
to marry; though it was pretty well known that considerable efforts to
marry him suitably had been made by both mothers and daughters.
The beautiful and level-headed young ladies of musical comedy had failed
to land this considerable fish, angled they never so skilfully; though
he frankly enjoyed their amusing society and was quite liberal, though
not lavish, in the way of presents.
Young women of his own rank were pleasant to him, their mothers cordial,
and no difficulty was ever put in the way of his enjoying their society.
But he was not very susceptible. Deep in his heart, in some dim,
unacknowledged corner, there lay a humble, homely desire that he might
_feel_ a great deal more strongly than he had felt yet, when the time
and the woman came to him.
Never, until Meg smiled at him when he offered to carry little Fay up
that long staircase, had the thought of a girl thoroughly obsessed him;
and it is possible that even after their meetings in Kensington Gardens
her image might gradually have faded from his mind, had it not occurred
to Mrs. Trent to interfere.
He had seen a good deal of the Trents while hunting with the Pytchley
two winters ago. Lotty was a fearless rider and what men called "a real
good sort." At one time it had sometimes crossed Captain Middleton's
mind that Lotty wouldn't make half a bad wife for a Horse Gunner, but
somehow it had always stopped at the idea, and when he didn't see Lotty
he never thought about her at all.
Now that he no longer saw Meg he thought about her all day and far into
the night. His sensations were so new, so disturbing and unpleasant, his
life was so disorganised and upset, that he asked himself in varying
degrees of ever-accumulating irritation: "What the deuce was the
matter?"
Then Mrs. Trent asked him to luncheon.
She was staying with her daughters at the Kensington Palace Hotel, and
they had a suite of rooms. Lotty and her sister flew away before coffee
was served, as they were going to a _matinée_, and Miles was left
_tête-à-tête_ with Mrs. Trent.
She was most motherly and kind.
Just as he was wondering whether he might now decently take leave of
her, she said: "Captain Middleton, I'm going to take a great liberty and
venture to say something to you that perhaps you will resent ... but I
feel I must do it because your mother was such a dear friend of mine."
This was a piece of information for Miles, who knew perfectly well that
Lady Agnes Middleton's acquaintance with Mrs. Trent had been of the
slightest. However, he bowed and looked expectant.
"I saw you the other day walking with Miss Morton in Kensington Gardens;
apparently she is now in charge of somebody's children. May I ask if you
have known her long?"
Mrs. Trent looked searchingly at Miles, and there was an inflection on
the "long" that he felt was in some way insulting to Meg, and he
stiffened all over.
"Before I answer that question, Mrs. Trent, may I ask why you should
want to know?"
"My dear boy, I see perfectly well that it must seem impertinent
curiosity on my part. But I assure you my motive for asking is quite
justifiable. Will you try not to feel irritated and believe that what I
am doing, I am doing for the best?"
"I have not known Miss Morton very long; why?"
"Do you know the people she is living with at present?"
Again that curious inflection on the "present."
"Oh, yes, and so do my people; they think all the world of her."
"Of Miss Morton?" Shocked astonishment was in Mrs. Trent's voice.
"I was not speaking of Miss Morton just then, but of the lady she is
with. I've no doubt, though," said Miles stoutly, "they'd think just
the same of Miss Morton if they knew her. They may know her, too; it's
just a chance we've never discussed her."
"It is very difficult and painful for me to say what I have got to say
... but if Miss Morton is in charge of the children of a friend of your
family, I think you ought to know she is not a suitable person to be
anything of the kind."
"I say!" Miles exclaimed, "that's a pretty stiff thing to say about any
girl; a dangerous thing to say; especially about one who seems to need
to earn her own living."
"I know it is; I hate to say it ... but it seemed to me the other day--I
hope I was mistaken--that you were rather ... attracted, and knowing
what I do I felt I must speak, must warn you."
Miles got up. He seemed to tower above the table and dwarf the whole
room. "I'd rather not hear any more, Mrs. Trent, please. It seems too
beastly mean somehow for me to sit here and listen to scandal about a
poor little unprotected girl who works hard and faithfully--mind you,
I've seen her with those children, and she's perfectly wonderful. Don't
you see yourself how I can't _do_ it?"
Mrs. Trent sat on where she was and smiled at Miles, slowly shaking her
head. "Sit down, my dear boy. Your feelings do you credit; but we
mustn't be sentimental, and facts are facts. I have every reason to know
what I'm talking about, for some years ago Miss Morton was in my
service."
Miles did not sit down. He stood where he was, glowering down at Mrs.
Trent.
"That doesn't brand her, does it?" he asked.
Still smiling maternally at him, Mrs. Trent continued: "She left my
service when she ran away with Mr. Walter Brooke--you know him, I think?
Disgraceful though it was, I must say this of him, that he never made
any concealment of the fact that he was a married man. She did it with
her eyes open."
"If," Miles growled, "all this happened 'some years ago' she must have
been about twelve at the time, and Brooke ought to have been hounded out
of society long ago."
"I needn't say that _we_ have cut him ever since. She was, I believe,
about nineteen at the time. She did not remain with him, but you can
understand that, naturally, I don't want _you_ to get entangled with a
girl of that sort."
Miles picked up his hat and stick. "I wish you hadn't told me," he
groaned. "I don't think a bit less highly of her, but you've made _me_
feel such a low-down brute, I can't bear it. Good-bye--I've no doubt you
did it for the best ... but----" And Miles fairly ran from the room.
Mrs. Trent drummed with her fingers on the table and looked thoughtful.
"It was quite time somebody interfered," she reflected. And then she
remembered with annoyance that she had not found out the name of Meg's
employer.
Miles strode through Kensington Gore and past Knightsbridge, when he
turned down Sloane Street till he came to a fencing school he
frequented. Here he went in and had a strenuous half-hour with the
instructor, but nothing served to restore his peace of mind. He was
angry and hurt and horribly worried. If it was true, if the whole
miserable story was true, then he knew that something had been taken
from him. Something he had cherished in that dim, secret corner of his
heart. Its truth or untruth did not affect his feeling for Meg. But if
it were true, then he had irretrievably lost something intangible, yet
precious. Young men like Miles never mention ideals, but that's not to
say that in some very hidden place they don't exist, like buried
treasure.
All the shrewd Yorkshire strain in him shouted that he must set this
doubt at rest. That whatever was to be his action in the future he must
know and face the truth. All the delicacy, the fine feeling, the
sensitiveness he got from his mother, made him loathe any investigation
of the kind, and his racial instincts battled together and made him very
miserable indeed.
When he left the fencing school, he turned into Hyde Park. The Row was
beginning to fill, and suddenly he came upon his second cousin, Lady
Penelope Pottinger, sitting all alone on a green chair with another
empty one beside it. Miles dropped into the empty chair. He liked Lady
Pen. She was always downright and sometimes very amusing. Moreover she
took an intelligent interest in dogs, and knew Amber Guiting and its
inhabitants. So Miles dexterously led the conversation round to Jan and
Wren's End.
Lady Pen was looking very beautiful that afternoon. She wore a
broad-leaved hat which did not wholly conceal her glorious hair. Hair
the same colour as certain short feathery rings that framed a pale,
pathetic little face that haunted him.
"Talking of Amber Guiting," he said, "did you ever come across a Miss
Morton down there? A friend of Miss Ross."
Lady Pen turned and looked hard at him. "Oh dear, yes; she's rather a
pal of mine. I knew her long before I met her at the Ross's. Why, I knew
her when she was companion at the Trents, poor little devil."
"Did she have a bad time there? Weren't they nice to her?"
"At first they were nice enough, but afterwards it was rotten. Clever
little thing she is, but poor as a rat. What do you know about her?"
Again Lady Pen looked hard at Miles. She was wondering whether Meg had
ever given away the reason for that short hair of hers.
"Oh, I've met her just casually, you know, with Miss Ross. She strikes
me as a ... rather unusual sort of girl."
"Ever mention me?"
"No, never that I can remember. I haven't seen much of her, you know."
"Well, my son, the less you see of her the better, for her, I should
say. She's a clever, industrious, good little thing, but she's not in
your row. After all, these workin' girls have their feelin's."
"I don't fancy Miss Morton is at all the susceptible idiot you appear
to think her. It's other people's feelings I should be afraid of, not
hers."
"Oh, I grant you she's attractive enough to some folks. Artists, for
instance, rave over her. At least, Anthony Ross did. Queer chap, that;
would never paint me. Now can you understand any man in his senses
refusin' to paint me?"
"It seems odd, certainly."
"He painted her, for nothin' of course, over an' over again ... just
because he liked doin' it. Odd chap he was, but very takin'. You
couldn't dislike him, even when he refused to paint you. Awful swank
though, wasn't it?"
"Were his pictures of Miss Morton--sold?"
"Some were, I believe; but Janet Ross has got a lot of 'em down at
Wren's End. She always puts away most of her father's paintin's when she
lets the house. But you take my advice, Miley, my son: you keep clear of
that little girl."
This was on Thursday, and, of course, after two warnings in one
afternoon, Miles went down to Amber Guiting on Saturday night.
"Aunt Mary, it's such a lovely morning, should you mind very much if I
go for a stroll in the woods--or slack about in the fresh air, instead
of going to church?"
At the word "stroll" he had seen an interested expression lighten up
Squire Walcote's face, and the last thing he wanted was his uncle's
society for the whole morning.
"I don't feel up to much exercise," Miles went on, trying to look
exhausted and failing egregiously. "I've had rather a hard week in town.
I'll give the vicar a turn in the evening, I will truly."
Lady Mary smiled indulgently on this large young man, who certainly
looked far from delicate. But only a hard-hearted woman could have
pointed this out at such a moment, and where her nephew was concerned
Lady Mary's heart was all kindly affection. So she let him off church.
Miles carried out a pile of books to a seat in the garden and appeared
to be settled down to a studious morning. He waved a languid hand to his
aunt and uncle as they started for church, and the moment they were out
of sight laid down his book and clasped his hands behind his head.
The vicar of Amber Guiting was a family man and merciful. The school
children all creaked and pattered out of church after morning prayer,
and any other small people in the congregation were encouraged to do
likewise, the well-filled vicarage pew setting the example. Therefore,
Miles reckoned, that even supposing Miss Morton took the little boy to
church (he couldn't conceive of anyone having the temerity to escort
little Fay thither), they would come out in about three-quarters of an
hour after the bell stopped. But he had no intention of waiting for
that. The moment the bell ceased he--unaccompanied by any of the dogs
grouped about him at that moment--was going to investigate the Wren's
End garden. He knew every corner of it, and he intended to unearth Meg
and the children if they were to be found.
Besides, he ardently desired to see William.
William was a lawful pretext. No one could see anything odd in his
calling at Wren's End to see William. It was a perfectly natural thing
to do.
Confound Mrs. Trent.
Confound Pen, what did she want to interfere for?
Confound that bell. Would it never stop?
Yes it had. No it hadn't. Yes ... it had.
Give a few more minutes for laggards, and then----
Three melancholy and disappointed dogs were left in the Manor Garden,
while Miles swung down the drive, past the church, and into the road
that led to Wren's End.
What a morning it was!
The whole world seemed to have put on its Sunday frock. There had been
rain in the night, and the air was full of the delicious fresh-washed
smell of spring herbage. Wren's End seemed wonderfully quiet and
deserted as Miles turned into the drive. As he neared the house he
paused and listened, but there was no sound of high little voices
anywhere.
Were they at church, then?
They couldn't be indoors on such a beautiful day.
Miles whistled softly, knowing that if William were anywhere within
hearing, that would bring him at the double.
But no joyfully galumphing William appeared to welcome him.
He had no intention of ringing to inquire. No, he'd take a good look
round first, before he went back to hang about outside the church.
It was pleasant in the Wren's End garden.
Presently he went down the broad central path of the walled garden, with
borders of flowers and beds of vegetables. Half-way down, in the
sunniest, warmest place, he came upon a hammock slung between an
apple-tree not quite out and a pear-tree that was nearly over, and a
voice from the hammock called sleepily: "Is that you, Earley? I wish
you'd pick up my cigarette case for me; it's fallen into the lavender
bush just below."
"Yes, Miss," a voice answered that was certainly not Earley's.
Meg leaned out of the hammock to look behind her.
"Hullo!" she said. "Why are you not in church? I can't get up because
I'm a prisoner on _parole_. Short of a thunderstorm nothing is to move
me from this hammock till Miss Ross comes back."
Miles stood in the pathway looking down at the muffled figure in the
hammock. There was little to be seen of Meg save her rumpled, hatless
head. She was much too economical of her precious caps to waste one in a
hammock. She had slept for nearly two hours, then Hannah roused her with
a cup of soup. She was drowsy and warm and comfortable, and her usually
pale cheeks were almost as pink as the apple-blossom buds above her
head.
"Do you want to sleep? Or may I stop and talk to you a bit?" Miles
asked, when he had found the somewhat battered cigarette case and
restored it to her.
"As I'm very plainly off duty, I suppose you may stay and talk--if I
fall asleep in the middle you must not be offended. You'll find plenty
of chairs in the tool house."
When Miles returned Meg had lit her cigarette, and he begged a light
from her.
What little hands she had! How fine-grained and delicate her skin!
Again he felt that queer lump in his throat at the absurd, sweet pathos
of her.
He placed his chair where he had her full in view, not too near, yet
comfortably so for conversation. Jan had swung the hammock very high,
and Meg looked down at Miles over the edge.
"It is unusual," she said, "to find a competent nurse spending her
morning in this fashion, but if you know Miss Ross at all, you will
already have realised that under her placid exterior she has a will of
iron."
"I shouldn't say _you_ were lacking in determination."
"Oh, I'm nothing to Jan. _She_ exerts physical force. Look at me perched
up here! How can I get down without a bad fall, swathed like a mummy in
wraps; while my employer does my work?"
"But you don't want to get down. You look awfully comfortable."
"I am awfully comfortable--but it's most ... unprofessional--please
don't tell anybody else."
Meg closed her eyes, looking rather like a sleepy kitten, and Miles
watched her in silence with a pain at his heart. Something kept saying
over and over again: "Six years ago that girl there ran off with Walter
Brooke. Six years ago that apparently level-headed, sensible little
person was dazzled by the pinchbeck graces of that epicure in
sensations." Miles fully granted his charm, his gentle melancholy, his
caressing manner; but with it all Miles felt that he was so plainly "a
wrong-'un," so clearly second-rate and untrustworthy--and a nice girl
ought to recognise these things intuitively.
Miles looked very sad and grave, and Meg, suddenly opening her eyes,
found him regarding her with this incomprehensible expression.
"You are not exactly talkative," she said.
"I thought, perhaps, you wanted to rest, and would rather not talk.
Maybe I'm a bit of a bore, and you'd rather I went away?"
"You have not yet asked after William."
"I hoped to find William, but he's nowhere to be seen."
"He's with Jan and the children. I think"--here Meg lifted her curly
head over the edge of the hammock--"he is the very darlingest animal in
the world. I love William."
"You do! I knew you would."
"I do. He's so faithful and kind and understanding."
"Has he been quite good?"
"Well ... once or twice he may have been a little--destructive--but you
expect that with children."
"I hope you punish him."
"Jan does. Jan has a most effectual slap, but there's always a dreadful
disturbance with the children on these occasions. Little Fay roars the
house down when William has to be chastised."
"What has he done?"
"I'm not going to tell tales of William."
Miles and Meg smiled at one another, and Walter Brooke faded from his
mind.
"Perhaps," he said, and paused, "you will by and by allow to William's
late master a small portion of that regard?"
"If William's master on further acquaintance proves half as loyal and
trustworthy as William--I couldn't help it."
"I wonder what you mean exactly by loyal and trustworthy?"
"They're not very elastic terms, are they?"
"Don't you think they mean rather the same thing?"
"Not a bit," Meg cried eagerly; "a person might be ever so trustworthy
and yet not loyal. I take it that trustworthy and honest in tangible
things are much the same. Loyalty is something intangible, and often
means belief in people when everything seems against them. It's a much
rarer quality than to be trustworthy. William would stick to one if one
hadn't a crust, just because he liked to be there to make things a bit
less wretched."
Miles smoked in silence for a minute, and again Meg closed her eyes.
"By the way," he said presently, "I didn't know you and my cousin Pen
were friends. I met her in the Park the day before yesterday. Her hair's
rather the same colour as yours--handsome woman, isn't she?"
Meg opened her eyes and turned crimson. Had the outspoken Lady Pen said
anything about her hair, she wondered.
Miles, noting the sudden blush, put it down to Lady Pen's knowledge of
what had happened at the Trents, and the miserable feelings of doubt and
apprehension came surging back.
"She's quite lovely," said Meg.
"A bit too much on the big side, don't you think?"
"I admire big women."
Silence fell again. Meg pulled the rug up under her chin.
Surely it was not quite so warm as a few minutes ago.
Miles stood up. "I have a guilty feeling that Miss Ross will strongly
disapprove of my disturbing you like this. If you will tell me which way
they have gone I will go and meet them."
"They've gone to your uncle's woods, and I think they must be on their
way home by now. If you call William he'll answer."
"I won't say good-bye," said Miles, "because I shall come back with
them."
"I shall be on duty then," said Meg. "Good-bye."
She turned her face from him and nestled down among her cushions. For a
full minute he stood staring at the back of her head, with its crushed
and tumbled tangle of short curls.
Then quite silently he took his way out of the Wren's End garden.
Meg shut her eyes very tight. Was it the light that made them smart so?