Minnie returned home at a quick gallop. She felt as if pursued by some
visionary being. Not once did she pause or look back, after the one
gentle wave of her hand to Miles, who stood statue-like, watching her,
beside the old ruin, as she passed. Even poor, old Thomas could not
extract a word from her, she flew so quickly homewards. On alighting
from "Jet," she hastened to her own room, and, throwing off the hat
which bound her brows, sat down to think, and thus she sat some silent
moments; then rising gently, as though she had held communing with some
spirit, she crept quietly about, as she changed her riding-suit for her
ordinary one. When this was accomplished, she opened her door, and
stealing down the passage, rapped at her aunt Dorcas's room. "Come in,"
answered the quiet voice which ever fell soothingly on her ear, and
Minnie was in an instant beside her. A few desultory remarks passed
about her ride, where she had been, etc.; to these Minnie replied with
evident constraint. Dorcas at last noticed her manner, and, looking up
from a purse she was knitting, exclaimed, "My child, are you not well?
Why do you seem so much oppressed?"
This was all the young heart required to unburthen itself. She flung her
arms round her aunt's neck, and burst into tears. "Dear, dear aunt!" she
sobbed; "forgive me--forgive Minnie--for deceiving you, though not for
long, dear aunt."
"My child, what do you mean? Good heavens! what has occurred?" and she
folded her arms around her.
"Aunt, I have wickedly deceived you," sobbed the girl still; "I--I----."
She was unable to continue for her tears.
"Tell me, Minnie, my own dear child; I forgive you before knowing,"
exclaimed the gentle woman. "I am sure you exaggerate some slight fault;
be calm, tell me all: what do you mean?"
For some moments Minnie could not summon courage to reply; then at last,
by a supreme effort, she confessed her many accidental meetings with
Miles Tremenhere at first, and this one by appointment.
"Dear Aunty," she whispered, "I know now how very wrong it has been; but
I feared telling you, lest you should betray me to the others. And
though I know you will be just, they would not perhaps, but by coercion,
endeavour to force me to their wills; they have spoken of such things,
and I couldn't bear that!"
Dorcas was pained beyond measure. Her surprise left her speechless; for
the suspicions instilled into Juvenal's mind by Burton, were strangers
to her. Sylvia, we have seen, was on a wrong road altogether; thus, she
had been kept in complete ignorance. She durst scarcely question her
niece: she feared lest some new sorrow might come to light--some
positive engagement. In her alarm, she dreaded almost to hear that they
were married. Minnie mistook her silence, and, clasping her again in her
arms, besought her not to betray her. "I was so wretched in deceiving
you," she cried; "but do not let my uncle, or aunt Sylvia, know; and oh,
not Dora!" And she shuddered with a blind terror, not seeing the phantom
of her fear: "They will lock me up, and be unkind, and harsh--I know
they will; and then I will answer for nothing I may do!"
"Minnie, Minnie--my child--my own child, do not say such things--there,"
and she fondly kissed her; "be calm; you have done wrong, but no one
shall know it, so you promise me never to meet him again without my
knowledge."
"I promise all, aunt--my mother; for indeed you have been one to the
motherless child. I never will conceal any thing again from you; and you
won't tell Dora?"
"No one, Minnie; but why especially not Dora?"
Minnie looked down in thought. "It is not my secret," she said at last,
looking in Dorcas's face; "but I will tell you, for I cannot understand
it." And she related the morning's meeting between the two. Dorcas
started! "Something of this Sylvia has hinted to me," she said; "how did
she know it? I paid little attention to it, she fancies so many things."
"She must have been in the garden, too!" exclaimed Minnie. "It is a
strange mystery; for Dora professes to hate him, and is always speaking
against him to me."
"Beware, my child!" said her aunt, sadly; "men, they say, are deceitful.
Take a lesson of what his father was; for we have _no proof_, however we
may believe his mother innocent. Then his cousin, Marmaduke Burton, is a
wicked, bad man." She thought of Mary Burns. "Wickedness often takes
root, as a canker in a family: this Miles Tremenhere----"
"Oh!" cried Minnie, with a glowing face, "do not say he is a bad man,
dear aunt, for my sake;" and she grasped her hand, and the eye filled
with the tears of a noble soul defending an oppressed person: "he is all
goodness--worth. Think to what he has devoted himself; but you do not
know all." And here the quick tongue depicted all his wrongs--his labour
of duty and love, for his mother's sake.
Dorcas sighed deeply. "Minnie," she said, "you love this man. Oh!
promise me to see him no more. If really he love you, he will struggle
for a good purpose _alone_. I will see him, and should he prove himself
hereafter worthy of you, you are a mere child; well, you can wait for
the proof of his affection, in his constancy."
Much more was said. Dorcas was lost in perplexity how to act for the
best; she, the ignorant woman in all the affairs of the heart. One thing
she promised, to see and calmly listen to Tremenhere; she was too truly
just a woman to mar Minnie's happiness for any whim of her own. Much as
she would have wished Skaife to be her niece's choice, she resolved to
weigh all well; and if Tremenhere hereafter proved himself worthy of
the girl, to support their affections in every way. Still she hoped it
was a merely passing fancy, which would soon, in absence, be forgotten
by both; for he must shortly leave--this Minnie had assured her--and for
the present there was nothing to fear. In this mood she dismissed Minnie
fondly; and, closing her door, sat down to ruminate on what was to be
done. As a last resource, she determined to confide in the confidant of
all, Mrs. Gillett, and ask her advice; she, as a matron, might be
enabled to guide her more ignorant thoughts in such matters. But with
the worthy housekeeper her comfort was small. We have said that this
good woman made a point of never betraying the confidence of one person
to another; nevertheless, she reserved to herself the satisfaction of
casting forth on the troubled waters around her, her innuendoes, which,
as an invariable rule, troubled them still more. Thus she left Dorcas in
the most uncomfortable state of doubt and fear, above both of which
feelings there predominated a dread that Miles Tremenhere was a villain,
trifling, for some unworthy purpose, with the affections of both her
nieces, whom, by strange chance, he had become acquainted with. While
she sat with Mrs. Gillett, Minnie was above in her room, much happier
and light-hearted for the confidence she had made to her "dear aunty,"
and full of love and faith in Tremenhere. Lady Ripley and her daughter
returned from Ripon, and thus diversified many gloomy thoughts and
fears, by their presence. Minnie and Dora warmly embraced. Minnie's
first movement was all delight at seeing her cousin again; and Dora,
the seemingly cold Dora, held her in her arms in one long embrace. But
it was an _awkward_ kiss--in the midst of it Minnie thought of
Tremenhere and her cousin! A kiss should be all self-absorbing; the
moment you are sufficiently collected to _think_, the embrace should
cease, for the fire is extinct, and only ashes remain on the lip. Both
girls simultaneously loosened their hold of one another, and turned
away. Somehow, both actions arose from one cause--Miles. Dinner was
over: Juvenal had been in a state of the greatest discomfort all the
time; he ate little or nothing, snapped at every one. Dorcas was
thoughtful; so was Minnie. Lady Ripley alone was in spirits; something
had pleased her on her journey; she had learned that Lord Randolph Gray,
whom she had mentally decided upon as Dora's husband, would shortly be
in town. Dora was calm, though rather pensively disposed, when suddenly
Sylvia awoke the bright blush in her cheek, and a displeased and amazed
frown on her brow, by remarking, "Dora, you look paler than when you
left us; I fear you have not taken your usually early walk before
breakfast." And before any one could reply, asked, as if the previous
sentence were allied to the latter question--"How far is it from
Gatestone to Ripon?--I mean to----Court, where you were staying?"
"About ten miles, I think, are there not, Dora?" said Lady Ripley.
"A mere canter for a gentleman before breakfast," observed Sylvia,
before the other could reply. Several looked embarrassed, for various
reasons. Lady Dora was deeply confused, and evidently still more annoyed
and amazed. Juvenal alone seemed a stranger to all conversation, only
busy with his own thoughts. Now and then he looked at his watch, then at
the door. At last, a horse's hoof sounded on the gravelled drive,
outside the window; the bell rung, and, a few moments afterwards,
Marmaduke Burton was ushered in. He looked paler than usual, and his
hand trembled as he shook hands with all, but Minnie, who merely bowed;
as she did so, he bit his lip, and a cold smile of triumph passed over
his face. At that moment, the servant opened the door.
"If you please, sir," he said, addressing Burton, "the groom bade me say
'Viper' is not with your horse; and, as he always accompanies you, he
thought you must have lost him."
"I have," answered the other, scowling malignantly; "he's dead!"
"Dead!" exclaimed Juvenal. "Why, you had him to-day!"
"True, Formby; never mind now--he's dead;" and he turned to Lady Dora,
and made some commonplace remark.
Before we proceed further, we will step back to where Marmaduke Burton
quitted the manor-house that evening, followed by his dog, in the good
guardianship of which he had much faith. Juvenal had consulted with him
on the best plan to be pursued as regarded Minnie; and it had been
decided upon, that Marmaduke should drop in, as if accidentally, in the
evening, and that then her uncle should, thus fortified, lecture her
before "a friend of the family," on her great imprudence. This was the
very worst plan which could have been adopted with a girl of her spirit.
Any thing just, might have been accomplished by kindness; but bad
management, and too many to order and control, had deteriorated the
character of an else perfect creature. Minnie was a little headstrong
and wilful, having too much good sense blindly to submit to injustice.
Burton anticipated the results: he really loved her as much as he could
love; he thought, by judiciously taking her part, to win her
gratitude--a great step, when he saw her every feeling went against him;
and, should she be resolute in her rejection, from want of affection, or
even toleration of him, perhaps a feeling of shame to know, that he
might blight her good name elsewhere, by speaking of her secret meetings
with Miles, might weigh with her prudence. Any thing, so he gained her,
now more than ever, for he no longer could doubt a mutual attachment,
though, perhaps, not very firmly knit, between her and his cousin. Thus
ruminating, he quitted home on a bright summer's evening. The
manor-house was about three miles, by the road, from Gatestone. His
horse's rein was on its neck, his dog at the animal's heels, when
suddenly a man, in a turning in the road, stood before him. One glance
was sufficient for Marmaduke. Had he dared, he would have turned hastily
homewards again; something like shame withheld him.
"Stop!" cried Miles, calmly standing before his horse's head, and
grasping the rein. "One word, cousin Marmaduke!"
"Unhand the rein!" exclaimed the other, "or I will spur the animal over
you, fellow!"
"Pshaw!" said Miles, contemptuously, "you'll but unhorse yourself; I
wish not to detain you long--a few brief words will suffice; do not be
alarmed, I have come without a cudgel to-night, so hear me quietly."
"I swear to you!" cried Burton, though his voice slightly trembled with
an alarm Miles ever inspired him with. "Unless you loosen your hold, and
let me pass, I will do as I said--one prick of my rowel in his flank,
and this good servant of mine will pass over you; but I do not wish to
harm you."
"No; or else you would bid your familiar there at your side, attack me!"
Burton in his terror had forgotten Viper, who stood at his side, shewing
his range of huge tusks, ready at a word to spring upon Miles, whom he
knew for an enemy. Burton raised his hand in signal.
"Stop him!" cried Miles, still grasping the horse firmly. "I would not
kill the brave brute, but I tell you I am prepared to do so--for hear me
you shall. I mean no violence, I have never interfered with you, save
when your coward acts obliged me; leave me in peace, and I will not war
with you, except on our day of retribution, _for it will come_--but I
have something to say to you to-day----"
Before he could complete the sentence, at a quiet signal from his
master, Viper flew at his throat; at the same moment, Marmaduke gave
the rowel into the horse's flank, which sprang forward. This spring
threw Viper back, or else the day had been Burton's in flight, for the
dog aimed at the other's throat. Miles was firm, and on his guard
against treachery. The dog reeled with a blow from the horse's shoulder;
Miles drew the rein with a jerk, which almost brought the animal on his
haunches, and Marmaduke from his saddle. Quick as thought Miles drew a
small pocket-pistol from his bosom, and just as Viper was making a
second rush towards him, he shot him dead. Burton groaned with terror.
The horse made a mad effort to escape; then, finding the strong grasp on
his rein, stood still, trembling with fear.
"Poor brute!" said Miles, putting back his pistol and looking at the
dead dog; "but 'tis better so, he might have been made to do some bad
deed some day, in bad hands. I thought he would be made your protector
again, so I came prepared. Now we are two--man to man--hear me."
Burton could scarcely keep his seat from a coward fear, thus quite alone
with the man he had so much injured.
"To-day," continued Miles, "you were in the old ruin by the river's
side--you and her uncle: I saw you, but she did not--for this, I
abridged her stay. I did not know your companion, till I watched you
creep forth, like a base hound as you are, ever working in secret and
darkness; and now, hear me--I love that girl--love her, as _I_ love and
hate, with all my soul, if all the powers of earth stood between us,
she shall be mine, or none other's. She does not yet know all my feeling
towards herself. I would not expend all the force of that affection in
one interview. I garner it up, like my hatred for you; and now I tell
you, that unsleeping as my hatred is, so is my love undying, and I will
accomplish both! What I have to say to you is, do not come between her
and me; you will not prevent, but you may cause her pain; and every hair
of her fair head is counted in my heart to hang loving thoughts upon,
and woe betide if the weight of one of these be lost to her in peace,
through you. Now I have said all I wished to say, you may go; but stay,"
he added, again grasping the loosening rein, "remember, not by
counsellings of others, darken one moment of her life, neither watch,
report, nor seek her; yours she never will be, and I am here to avenge
any grief to her; I have more friends at Gatestone, perhaps, than you
think--now, go; and if you advise, let it be wisely done!" He dropped
the rein, and Marmaduke, who had vainly looked about, stealthily, hoping
for some friendly face, some one to witness against Miles for violence,
but all was silent, putting spurs to his horse, reached Gatestone. No
wonder, then, he looked pale with his cousin's words ringing in his
ears; especially those, "I have more friends at Gatestone, perhaps, than
you think." He was in a mood to utter every syllable in fear and
trembling before the person he had started from home with the intention
of confounding--namely, poor little Minnie. As he seated himself, he
caught Juvenal's eye, and made a sign which he intended for one
imploring silence. He was afraid of his shadow just then; but Juvenal
was not one of very vivid intellect--he saw the sign--he had been
awaiting the other's coming to speak. Thinking this the right moment, he
commenced. Marmaduke coughed--all went as encouragement into Juvenal's
ear; so, fixing his eyes on the thoughtful Minnie, he began in his
peculiarly nasal twang to give utterance to a speech he had been conning
over an hour before.
"We are all friends here, Marmaduke Burton. I look upon you _already_ as
almost one of the family; therefore I choose you to be witness of my
just resentment, and firm resolution to have things amended. I see you
approve me," he added, catching Burton's grimace, and mistaking its
meaning. "You have blamed me, my friend, for supineness; you shall see
how resolute I can be!"
All looked up in amazement; Sylvia fixed her eyes on Dora, who began,
even she, to feel uncomfortable. Such prefaces are like bats flying
round a room in some old house; every one fears them, not knowing on
whom they may alight. Minnie was most unconcerned of all, until her
uncle, pitching his voice in its most tenor and unpleasant key,
exclaimed--"Minnie Dalzell, I am addressing myself to you. This day I,
and my worthy friend Burton, were in the old ruin, when you, forgetting
all maiden modesty, left your horse and old Thomas, the coachman, to sit
upon a heap of ruins with----"
"For mercy's sake, uncle, not before him!" almost shrieked Minnie,
springing up in terror of something, she scarcely knew what, and
glancing at Burton.
"Brother, brother!" cried Dorcas, grasping his arm, herself pale with
anguish for her beloved niece; she knew Minnie better than any one else
did, and dreaded the consequences of this ill-advised exposure, which
would only harden a resolute mind, where reasoning and love might have
soothed, and turned away from its will.
"But I will speak, Dorcas!" cried he. "I am advised to do so, and
publicly, to show her what people will think of her. Minnie, I say, was
sitting alone on a heap of ruins with that scoundrel, Miles Tremenhere,
this worthy man's base-born cousin."
"Not base-born, uncle," cried Minnie, starting up again; she had dropped
on her chair. At these words she forgot all but Miles's sacred love for
his mother, who, by this slander of him, was doubly calumniated. "Not
base-born, uncle, though that man say it. His mother was as pure as my
own, or she had never given birth to so worthy a son!" then a sense of
her shame, before so many, coming over her, she sank on her chair, and,
covering her face, sobbed aloud. Dorcas clasped her in her arms; Dora,
too, though trembling, pressed her hands, as she drew them from the
face, which turned in maiden shame into Dorcas's neck.
"Brother," cried Sylvia, with self-satisfied scorn, "you always are
discovering some wonder. You are wrong--quite wrong--as usual. _If_
Minnie were there, 'twas wrong; but others are more to blame than she,
and, I make no doubt, _could_ explain, _if they would_." She glanced
angrily at Dora, who certainly was colouring, though without noticing
Sylvia's personality. Lady Ripley looked amazement on all. Juvenal was
completely thrown out; he had made up a complete discourse, questions,
answers, prayers, confessions, and final forgiveness--for he loved
Minnie dearly, in his little way. Marmaduke almost would have preferred
the lane and Miles's society, to this scene. There, he knew in his
heart, he had no actual violence to fear, for every day was not one of
retributive justice, as when his cousin avenged poor Mary Burns's case;
but here he dreaded some unseen trap, to draw him into something which
would bring Miles in revenge down upon him.
"I ask you, Burton," cried the perplexed Juvenal, at length, "whether we
did not discover Minnie and your worthless cousin together? and whether
you did not suggest our following her, on the assurance that they
frequently met in secret? Come, speak out, Burton--they won't believe
me," whined the wretched man. Dora raised her fine eyes, and fixed them
intently upon the traitor. Lady Ripley rose. "Why--why," stammered
Burton, "this is a most unpleasant affair--a family one--I have no right
to be here. I would rather not reply," and he too rose.
"Stay!" cried Lady Dora, looking very pale, but with much dignity,
placing herself in his way. "Mr. Burton has been chosen, or been
selected, most unadvisedly by my uncle, to hear accusations against my
dear cousin Minnie, who is, I am certain, innocent of all wrong. I am
called upon to confess the truth, now--that _I_ have sought, met, and
walked, early in the morning with Mr. Tremenhere. My motive for so doing
I will answer to my mother, and I _know_ him to be incapable of wrong
towards Minnie!"
"But, pardon me, Lady Dora!" exclaimed the amazed Burton, gaining
courage from surprise. "You were assuredly not the person who met Mr.
Tremenhere to-day."
"She wasn't here--she wasn't here!" cried the perplexed and heated
Juvenal, almost in a fit from anxiety. "She only returned home before
dinner."
Minnie tried to speak. "Hush!" exclaimed Dora, taking her hand. "Do not
compromise yourself for me. You met him on my business. _I_ will explain
that satisfactorily, when I am bound so to do."
"I knew it--I knew it!" cried the delighted Sylvia, rejoicing in her own
perspicacity.
"She is taking my fault on herself," sobbed Minnie, with streaming eyes.
"I alone am to blame!"
"Can any one understand this, or them?" asked Juvenal, almost whining.
"Come, Lady Dora," said the mother, haughtily. "This requires
explanation elsewhere," and she sailed away, followed by Dora, who
stopped, however, first, and whispered softly to her cousin, as she
embraced her. "Do not betray yourself. _I_ have saved you this
time--_save yourself_ before it be too late." Poor Minnie was too weak
with weeping to reply; she could only press her hand. Dorcas too arose,
and, taking her niece fondly round the waist, led her away, and the door
closed on Marmaduke, Sylvia, and Juvenal, and these three decided that
it would be well if Lady Dora left. There was a mystery no one could
fathom. Sylvia then related Dora's morning walk, which certainly still
further obscured the affair, and then she too left the room, to consult
with Mrs. Gillett; and, when quite alone with Juvenal, no longer fearing
traitors, Marmaduke related his meeting with his cousin--the
threats--the acknowledgment of his love for Minnie, and thereupon these
two worthies decided; one, that it would be best to prevent any more
meetings by a little gentle coercion, and Juvenal at once resolved that
she should be locked up!