BEGINNING A FAIRY TALE.
'Mr. Falkirk, I _must_ go and seek my fortune!'
Wych Hazel made this little remark, sitting on a low seat by
the fire, her arms crossed over her lap.
'Wherefore?' said her guardian.
'Because I want to, sir. I have no other than a woman's
reason.'
'The most potent of reasons!' said Mr. Falkirk. 'The rather,
because while professing to have no root, it hath yet a dozen.
How long ago did Jack show his lantern, my dear?'
'Lantern!' said the girl, rather piqued,--adding, under her
breath, 'I'm going to follow--Jack or no Jack! Why, Mr.
Falkirk, I never got interested a bit in a fairy tale, till I
came to--"And so they set out to seek their fortune." It's my
belief that I belong in a fairy tale somewhere.'
'Like enough,' said her guardian shortly.
'So you see it all fits,' said Wych Hazel, studying her future
fortunes in the fire.
'What fits?'
'My going to seek what I am sure to find.'
'That will ensure your missing what is coming to find you.'
'People in fairy tales never wait to see what will come, sir.'
'But, my dear, there is a difficulty in this case. Your
fortune is made already.'
'Provokingly true, sir. But after all, Mr. Falkirk, I was not
thinking of money.'
'A settlement, eh?' said Mr. Falkirk. 'My dear, when the
prince is ready, the fairy will bring him.'
'Now, Mr. Falkirk,' said the girl, with her cheeks aglow, 'you
know perfectly well I was not thinking of _that_.'
'Will you please to specify of what you were thinking, Miss
Hazel?'
Miss Hazel leaned her head on her hand and reflected.
'I don't believe I can, sir. It was a kind of indefinite
fortune,--a whole windfall of queer adventures and people and
things.'
Mr. Falkirk at this turned round from his papers and looked at
the girl. It was a pretty vision that he saw, and he regarded
it somewhat steadily; with a little break of the line of the
lips that yet was not merriment.
'My dear,' he said gravely, 'such birds seldom fly alone in a
high wind.'
'Well, sir, never mind. Could you be ready by Thursday, Mr.
Falkirk?'
'For what, Miss Hazel?'
'Dear me!' said the girl with a soft breath of impatience. 'To
set out, sir. I think I shall go then, and I wanted to know if
I am to have the pleasure of your company.'
'Do _I_ look like a fairy tale?' said Mr. Falkirk.
He certainly did not! A keen eye for practical realities, a
sober good sense that never lost its foothold of common
ground, were further unaccompanied by the graces and charms
wherewith fairy tales delight to deck their favourites.
Besides which, Mr. Falkirk probably knew what his fortune was
already, for the grey was abundantly mingled with the brown in
his eyebrows and hair. However, to do Miss Hazel's guardian
justice, if his face was not gracious, it was at least in some
respects fine. A man always to be respected, easily to be
loved, sat there at the table, at his papers.
As for the little 'nut-browne mayd' who studied destiny in the
fire, she merely glanced up at him in answer to this appeal;
and with a shake of the head as if fairy tales and he were
indeed hopelessly disconnected, returned to her musings. Then
suddenly burst forth--
'I am so puzzled about the colour of my new travelling dress!
"Contrasts," and "harmonies," and all that stuff, belong to
the pink and white people. But pink and brown--Mr. Falkirk, do
you suppose I can find anything browner than myself, that will
set me off, and do?--I can't travel in gold colour.'
'You want to have as much as possible the effect of a picture
in a frame?'
'Not at all, sir. That is just what I want to avoid. The dress
should be a part of the picture.'
'I don't doubt it will be!' said Mr. Falkirk sighing. 'Before
you set out, my dear, had you not better invest your property?
so that you could live upon the gathered interest if the
capital should fail.'
'I thought it was invested?' said the girl, looking up.
'Only a part of it,' replied Mr. Falkirk. 'Nothing but your
money.'
'Nothing but!' said Wych Hazel. 'Why what more have I, Mr.
Falkirk?'
'A young life,' said her guardian,--'a young and warm heart,--
good looks, an excellent constitution, a head and hands that
might do much. To which I might add,--an imagination.'
'My dear Mr. Falkirk,' said the girl laughing, 'I shall want
them all to pay my travelling expenses. All but the last--and
that is invested already, to judge by the interest.'
He smiled, a shaded smile, such as he often wore when she
danced away from his grave suggestions. He never pursued her.
But when she added,
'After all, sir, investments are your affair,'--
'My dear,' he said, 'a woman's jewels are in her own keeping--
unless indeed God keep them. Yet let her remember that they
are not hers to have and to hold, but to have and to use; a
mere life interest--nor always that.'
And then for a while silence fell.
'Will you think me _very_ extravagant if I get a new travelling
dress, sir?' the girl began again.
'I have not usually been the guardian of your wardrobe, Miss
Hazel.'
'No, sir, of course; but I wanted your opinion. You gave one
about my jewels. And by the way, Mr. Falkirk, won't you just
tell me the list over again?'
Mr. Falkirk turned round and bent his brows upon Wych Hazel
now, but without speaking.
'Well, sir?' she repeated, looking up at him, 'what are they,
if you please?'
'Two brilliants of the first water,' replied Mr. Falkirk
looking down into her eyes. 'To which some people add, two
fine bits of sardius.'
'And which some people say are set in bronze,'--said the young
lady, but with a pretty little laugh and flush.
'Where do you propose the search should begin?' said the
gentleman, disregarding this display.
'At Chickaree, sir. I should go down there at once, and so
start from home in proper style.'
'And your plan of operations?' pursued Mr. Falkirk.
'Perfectly simple, sir. Of two roads I should always take the
most difficult, and so on--ad infinitum.'
'Perfectly simple, indeed,' said Mr. Falkirk. 'Yet it might
lead to a complication. I'm afraid it would prove a Western
line of travel, my dear--end in a squirrel track, and run up a
tree.'
'What a lookout we shall have!' said Wych Hazel. 'But about
the dress, Mr. Falkirk--you know my last one is quite new--and I
do so want another!'
'Then get it,' he said with a smile. 'Though I am afraid, my
dear, it is hardly in keeping. Quickear began the search in
rags, and Cincerella in ashes, and the "Fair one with the
golden locks" had, I think, no other adornment. Puss in boots
was indeed new rigged--but Puss was only a deputy. What do you
say to sending me forth in boots, to seek a fortune for you?'
An irrepressible laugh rippled forth--sweet and sound, and, oh,
so heartwhole!
'Let me see,' she said; 'To-day is Monday. To-morrow I will
get the dress and distract my dressmaker. And next Monday we
will set out, and take Chickaree for our first stage. My dear
Mr. Falkirk--most potent, grave, and reverend sir,--if you sally
forth as Puss in boots, of course I shall at once turn into
the Marquis of Carrabas, which would not suit your notions at
all--confess!' she added, locking both hands round his arm, and
flashing the brilliants before his eyes.
'Next Monday we will take the first stage for Chickaree,' said
Mr. Falkirk in an unmoved manner. 'How many servants in your
train, Miss Hazel?'
'None, sir. Mrs. Bywank is there already, and Mrs. Saddler can
"forward" me "with care." I'll pick up a new maid by the way.'
'Will you pick up a page too? or does Dingee keep his place?'
'If he can be said to have one. O, Dingee, of course.'
'Wych Hazel,' said Mr. Falkirk from under his brows, 'what is
your plan?--if you are capable of such a thing.'
'My plan is to unfold my capabilities, sir,--for your express
benefit, Mr. Falkirk. We will beat the bush in every
direction, and run down any game that offers.'
Mr. Falkirk turned his chair half away, and looked into the
fire. Then slowly, but with every effect of expression, he
repeated,--
'A creature bounced from the bush,
Which made them all to laugh,
"My lord," he cried, "A hare! a hare!"
But it proved an Essex calf.'
'Yes,' said Wych Hazel with excellent coolness,--'men do make
such little mistakes, occasionally. But this time I shall be
along. Good night, sir.'