Miss Rothesay was very silent during the walk home. She accounted for it
to Christal by telling the simple truth--that in the churchyard she had
found the grave of an early and dear friend. Her young companion looked
serious, condoled in set fashion; and then became absorbed in the
hateful labyrinths of the muddy road. Certainly, Miss Manners was never
born for a simple rustic. Olive could not help remarking this.
“No; I was born for what I am,” answered the girl, proudly. “My parents
were aristocrats; so am I. Don't lecture me! Wrong or right, I always
felt thus, and always shall. If I have neither friends nor relatives, I
have at least my family and my name.”
She talked thus, as she did sometimes, until they came to the
garden-gate of Farnwood Dell. There stood an elegant carriage. Christars
eyes brightened at the sight, and she trod with a more patrician air.
The maid--a parting bequest of Miss Meliora's, and who had long and
faithfully served at Woodford Cottage--came anxiously to communicate
that there were two ladies waiting. One of them she did not know; the
other was Mrs. Fludyer. “The latter would have disturbed Mrs. Rothesay,”
Hannah added, “but the other lady said, 'No; they would wait.'” Whereat
Olive's heart inclined towards “the other lady.”
She went in and found, with Mrs. Fludyer, an ancient dame of large and
goodly presence. Aged though she seemed, her tall figure was not bent;
and dignity is to the old what grace is to the young. She stood a little
aside, and did not speak, but Olive, labouring under the weight of
Mrs. Mudyer's gracious inquiries, felt that the old lady's eyes were
carefully reading her face. At last Mrs. Fludyer made a motion of
introduction.
“No, I thank you,” said the stranger, in the unmistakable northern
tongue, which, falling from poor Elspie's lips, had made the music
of Olive's childhood, and to which her heart yearned evermore. “Miss
Rothesay, will you, for your father's sake, let me shake hands with his
child? I am Mrs. Gwynne.”
Thus it was that Olive received the first greeting of Harold's mother.
It startled--overpowered her; she had been so much agitated that day.
She was surprised into that rare weakness, a hearty, even childish burst
of tears. Mrs. Gwynne came up to her, with a softness almost motherly.
“You are pained, Miss Rothesay; you remember the past But I have now
come to hope that everything may be forgotten, save that I was your
father's old friend. For our Scottish friendship, like our pride,
descends from generation to generation. Fortune has made us neighbours,
let us then be friends. It is my earnest wish, and that of my son
Harold.”
“Your son!” echoed Olive; and then, half-bewildered by all these
adventures, coincidences, and _éclaircissements_, she told how she
had already met him, and how that meeting had shown to her her old
companion's grave.
“That is strange, too. Never while she lived did Mrs. Harold Gwynne
mention your name. And you loved her so! Well! 'twas like her--like
her!” muttered Harold's mother; “but peace be with the dead!”
She walked up, and laid her hand on Olive's shoulder.
“My dear, I am an old woman; excuse my speaking plainly. You know
nothing of me and of my son, save what is harsh and painful. Forget all
this, and remember only that I loved your father when he was quite a
child, and that I am prepared to love his daughter, if she so choose.
You must not think I am taking a hasty fancy--we Scottish folk rarely do
that. But I have learnt much about you lately--more than you guess--and
have recognised in you the 'little Olive' of whom Angus Rothesay told me
so much only a few days before his death.”
“Did you see my dear father then?--did he talk of me?” cried Olive,
eagerly, as, forgetting all the painful remembrances attached to
the Gwynne family, she began to look at Harold's mother almost with
affection.
But Mrs. Gwynne, who had unfolded herself in a way most unusual, now
was relapsing into reserve. “We will talk of this another time, my dear.
Now, I should much desire to see Mrs. Rothesay.”
Olive went to fetch her. How she contrived to explain all that had
transpired, she never clearly knew herself. However, she succeeded, and
shortly re-appeared, with her mother leaning on her arm.
And, beholding the pale, worn, but still graceful woman, who, with
her sightless eyes cast down, clung to her sole stay--her devoted
child--Mrs. Gwynne seemed deeply moved. There was even a sort of
deprecatory hesitation in her manner, but it soon passed.--She clasped
the widow's hands, and spoke to her in a voice so sweet, so winning,
that all pain vanished from Mrs. Rothesay's mind.
In a little while she was sitting calmly by Mrs. Gwynne's side,
listening to her talking. It went into the blind woman's heart. Soft
the voice was, and kind; and above all, there were in it the remembered,
long unheard accents of the northern tongue. She felt again like
young Sybilla Hyde, creeping along in the moonlight by the side of her
stalwart Highland lover, listening to his whispers, and thinking that
there was in the wide world no one like her own Angus Rothesay--so
beautiful and so brave!
When Mrs. Gwynne quitted the Dell, she left on the hearts of both mother
and daughter a pleasure which they sought not to repress. They were
quite glad that the next day was Sunday, when they would go to Harbury,
and hear Harold Gwynne preach. Olive told her mother all that had passed
in the churchyard, and they agreed that he must be a very peculiar,
though a very clever man. As for Christal, she had gone off with her
friend, Mrs. Fludyer, and did not interfere in the conversation at all.
When Sunday morning came, Mrs. Rothesay's feeble strength was found
unequal to a walk of two miles. Christal, apparently not sorry for the
excuse, volunteered to remain with her, and Olive went to church alone.
She was loth to leave her mother; but then she did so long to hear Mr.
Gwynne preach! She thought, all the way, what kind of minister he would
make. Not at all like any other, she was quite sure.
She entered the grey, still, village church, and knelt down to pray in a
retired corner-pew. There was a great quietness over her--a repose like
that of the morning before sunrise. She felt a meek happiness, a
hopeful looking forth into life; and yet a touch would have awakened the
fountain of tears.
She saw Mrs. Gwynne walk up the aisle alone, with her firm, stately
step, and then the service began. Olive glanced one instant at the
officiating minister;--it was the same stern face that she had seen
by Sara's grave; nay, perhaps even more stern. Nor did she like his
reading, for there was in it the same iron coldness. He repeated
the touching liturgy of the English Church with the tone of a judge
delivering sentence--an orator pronouncing his well-written, formal
harangue. Olive had to shut her ears before she herself could heartily
pray. This pained her; there was something so noble in Mr. Gwynne's
face, so musical in his voice, that any shortcoming gave her a sense of
disappointment. She felt troubled to think that he was the clergyman of
the parish, and she must necessarily hear him every Sunday.
Harold Gwynne mounted his pulpit, and Olive listened intently. From
what she had heard of him as a highly intellectual man, from the
faint indications of character which she had herself noticed in their
conversation, Miss Rothesay expected that he would have dived deeply
into theological disquisition. She had too much penetration to look to
him for the Christianity of a St. John--it was evident that such was not
his nature; but she thought he would surely employ his powerful mind
in wrestling with those knotty points of theology which might furnish
arguments for a modern St. Paul.
But Harold Gwynne did neither. His sermon was a plain moral
discourse--an essay such as Locke or Bacon might have written; save that
he took care to translate it into language suitable to his hearers--the
generality of whom were of the labouring class. Olive liked him for
this, believing she recognised therein the strong sense of duty, the
wish to do good, which overpowered all desire of intellectual display.
And when she had once succeeded in ignoring the fact that his sermon was
of a character more suited to the professor's chair than the pulpit,
she listened with deep interest to his teaching of a lofty, but somewhat
stern morality. Yet, despite his strong, clear arguments, and his
evident earnestness, there was about him a repellent atmosphere,
which prevented her inclining towards _the man_, even while she was
constrained to respect the intellect of the preacher.
Nevertheless, when Mr. Gwynne ended his brief discourse with the usual
prayer, that it might be “grafted inwardly” in his hearers' minds, it
sounded very like a mockery--at least to Olive, who for the moment had
almost forgotten that she was in a church. During the silent pause
of the kneeling congregation, she raised her eyes and looked at the
minister. He, too, knelt like the rest, with covered face, but his
hands were not folded in prayer--they were clenched like those of a
man writhing under some strong and secret agony; and when he lifted his
head, his rigid features were more rigid than ever. The organ awoke,
pealing forth Handel's “Hallelujah Chorus,” and still the pastor sat
motionless in his pulpit, his stern face showing white in the sunshine.
The heavenly music rolled round him its angelic waves--they never
touched his soul. Beneath, his simple congregation passed out,
exchanging with one another demure Sunday greetings, and kindly Sunday
smiles; he saw them not. He sat alone, like one who has no sympathy
either with heaven or earth.
But there watched him from the hidden corner eyes he knew not of--the
wondering, half-pitying eyes of Olive Rothesay. And while she gazed,
there came into her heart--involuntarily, as if whispered by an unseen
angel at her side--the words from the Litany--words which he himself had
coldly read an hoar before:--
“_That it may please Thee to lead into the way of truth all such as have
erred and are deceived. We beseech Thee to hear us, O Lord!_”
Scarcely conscious was she why she thus felt, or for whom she prayed;
but, years after, it seemed to her that there had been a solemn import
in these words.
Miss Rothesay was late in quitting the church. As she did so, she felt
her arm lightly touched, and saw beside her Mrs. Gwynne.
“My dear, I am glad to meet you--we scarcely expected to have seen
you at church to-day. Alone, too! then you must come with me to the
Parsonage to lunch. You say nay? What! are we still so far enemies that
you refuse our bread and salt?”
Olive coloured with sensitive fear lest she might have given pain.
Besides, she felt a strong attraction towards Mrs. Gwynne--a sense of
looking up, such as she had never before experienced towards any woman.
For, it is needless to say, Olive's affection for her mother was the
passionate, protecting tenderness of a nurse for a beloved charge--nay,
even of a lover towards an idolised mistress; but there was nothing of
reverential awe in it at all. Now Mrs. Gwynne carried with her dignity,
influence, command. Olive, almost against her will, found herself
passing down the green alley that led to the Parsonage. As she walked
along--her slight small figure pressed close to her companion, who had
taken her “under her arm,”--she felt almost like a child beside Harold's
mother.
At the door sat little Ailie, amusing herself with a great dog. She
looked restless and wearied, as a child does, kept in the house under
the restrictions of “Sunday play.” At the sight of her grandmother,
the little girl seemed half-pleased, half-frightened, and tried to calm
Rover's frolics within the bounds of Sabbatic propriety. This being
impossible, Mrs. Gwynne's severe voice ordered both the offenders away
in different directions. Then she apologised to Miss Rothesay.
“Perhaps,” she continued, “you are surprised that Ailie was not with me
this morning. But such is her father's will. My son Harold is peculiar
in his opinions, and has a great hatred of cant, especially infantile
cant.”
“And does Ailie never go to church?”
“No! but I take care that she keeps Sunday properly and reverently at
home. I remove her playthings and her baby-books, and teach her a few of
Dr. Watt's moral hymns.”
Olive sighed. She felt that this was not the way to teach the faith of
Him who smiled with benign tenderness on the little child “set in the
midst.” And it grieved her to think what a wide gulf there was between
the untaught Ailie, and that sincere, but stern piety over which had
gathered the formality of advancing years.
Mrs. Gwynne and her guest had sat talking for some minutes, when Harold
was seen crossing the lawn. His mother called him, and he came to the
window with the quick response of one who in all his life had never
heard that summons unheeded. It was a slight thing, but Olive noticed
it, and the loving daughter felt more kindly towards the duteous son.
“Harold, Miss Rothesay is here.”
He glanced in at the open window with a surprised half-confused air,
which was not remarkable, considering the awkwardness of this second
meeting, after their first rencontre. Remembering it, Olive heard his
steps down the long hall with some trepidation. But entering, he walked
up to her with graceful ease, took her hand, and expressed his pleasure
in meeting her. He did not make the slightest allusion either to their
former correspondence, or to their late conversation in the churchyard.
Olive's sudden colour paled beneath his unconcerned air; her
faintly-quickened pulses sank into quietness; it seemed childish to
have been so nervously sensitive in meeting Harold Gwynne. She felt
thoroughly ashamed of herself, and was afraid lest her shyness might
have conveyed to him and to his mother the impression, which she would
not for worlds have given,--that she bore any painful or uncharitable
remembrance of the past.
Soon the conversation glided naturally into ease and pleasantness. Mrs.
Gwynne had the gift of talking well--a rare quality among women,
whose conversation mostly consists of disjointed chatter, long-winded
repetitions, or a commonplace remark, and--silence. But Alison Gwynne
had none of these feminine peculiarities. To listen to her was like
reading a pleasant book. Her terse, well-chosen sentences had all the
grace of easy chat, and yet were so unaffected that not until you paused
to think them over, did you discover that you might have “put them all
down in a book;” and made an excellent book too.
Her son had not this gift; or, if he had, he left it unemployed. It was
a great moment that could draw more than ordinary words from the lips
of Harold Gwynne; and such moments seemed to have been rare indeed
with him. Generally he appeared--as he did now to Olive Rothesay--the
dignified, but rather silent master of the household--in whose most
winning grace there was reserve, and whose very courtesy implied
command.
He showed this when, after an hour's pleasant visit, Miss Rothesay moved
to depart. Harold requested her to remain a few minutes longer.
“I have occasion to go to the Hall before evening service, and I
shall be happy to accompany you on the way, if you do not object to my
escort.”
If Olive had been quite free, probably she would have answered that she
did; for her independent habits made her greatly enjoy a long quiet walk
alone, especially through a beautiful country. She almost felt that the
company of her redoubtable pastor would be a restraint. But in all that
Harold Gwynne did or said there lurked an inexplicable sway, to which
every one seemed to bend. Almost against her will, she remained; and in
a few minutes was walking beside him to the little wicket-gate.
Here they were interrupted by some one on clerical business. Mr. Gwynne
desired her to proceed; he would overtake her ere she had descended the
hill. Thither Olive went, half hoping that she might after all take her
walk alone. But very soon she heard behind her footsteps, quick, firm,
manly, less seeming to tread than to crush the ground. Such footsteps
give one a feeling of being haunted--as they did to Olive. It was a
relief when they came up with her, and she was once more joined by
Harold Gwynne.
“You are exact in keeping your word,” observed Miss Rothesay, by way of
saying something.
“Yes, always; when I say _I will_, it is generally done. The road is
uneven and rough, will my arm aid you, Miss Rothesay?”
She accepted it, perhaps the more readily because it was offered less
as a courtesy than a support, and one not unneeded, for Olive was rather
tired with her morning's exertions, and with the excitement of
talking to strangers. As she walked, there came across her mind the
thought--what a new thing it was for her to have a strong kindly arm
to lean on! But it seemed rather pleasant than otherwise, and she felt
gratefully towards Mr. Gwynne.
They conversed on the ordinary topics, natural to such a recent
acquaintance--the beauty of the country around, the peculiarities
of forest scenery, etc. etc. Never once did Harold's conversation
assimilate to that which had so struck Olive when they stood beside poor
Sara's grave. It seemed as though the former Harold Gwynne--the object
of her girlhood's dislike, her father's enemy, her friend's husband--had
vanished for ever, and in his stead was a man whose strong individuality
of character already interested her. He was unlike all other men she had
ever known. This fact, together with the slight mystery that hung over
him, attracted the lingering romance of Olive's nature, and made her
observe his manner and his words with a vigilant curiosity, as if to
seek some new revelation of humanity in his character or his history.
Therefore, every little incident of conversation in that first walk
was carefully put by in her hidden nooks of memory, to amuse her mother
with,--and perhaps also to speculate thereupon herself.
They reached Farnwood Dell, and Olive's conscience began to accuse her
of having left her mother for so many hours. Therefore her adieux and
thanks to Mr. Gwynne were somewhat abrupt. Mechanically she invited him
in, and, to her surprise, he entered.
Mrs. Rothesay was sitting out of doors, in her garden chair. A beautiful
picture she made, leaning back with-a mild sweetness, scarce a smile
hovering on her lips. Her pale little hands were folded on her black
dress; her soft braids of hair, already silver-grey, and her complexion,
lovely as that of a young girl, showing delicately in contrast with her
crimson garden-hood, the triumph of her daughter's skilful fingers.
Olive crossed the grass with a quick and noiseless step,--Harold
following. “Mamma, darling!”
A light, bright as a sunburst, shone over Mrs. Rothesay's face--“My
child! how long you have been away. Did Mrs. Gwynne”--
“Hush, darling!”--in a whisper--“I have been at the Parsonage, and Mr.
Gwynne has kindly brought me home. He is here now.”
Harold stood at a distance and bowed.
Olive came to him, saying, in a low tone, “Take her hand, she cannot see
you, she is blind.”
He started with surprise. “I did not know--my mother told me
nothing.”--And then, advancing to Mrs. Rothesay, he pressed her hand in
both his, with such an air of reverent tenderness and gentle compassion,
that it made his face grow softened--beautiful, divine!
Olive Rothesay, turning, beheld that look. It never afterwards faded
from her memory.
Mrs. Rothesay arose, and said in her own sweet manner, “I am happy to
meet Mr. Gwynne, and to thank him for taking care of my child.” They
talked for a few minutes, and then Olive persuaded her mother to return
to the house.
“You will come, Mr. Gwynne?” said Mrs. Rothesay. He answered,
hesitating, that the afternoon would close soon, and he must go on to
Farnwood Hall. Mrs. Rothesay rose from her chair with the touching,
helpless movement of one who is blind.
“Permit me,” said Harold Gwynne, as, stepping quickly forward, he drew
her arm through his, arranging her shawl with a care like a woman's. And
so he led her into the house, with a tenderness beautiful to see.
Olive, as she followed silently after, felt her whole heart melted
towards him. She never forgot Harold's first meeting with, and his
kindness to, her mother.
He went away, promising to pay another visit soon.
“I am quite charmed with Mr. Gwynne,” said Mrs. Rothesay. “Tell me,
Olive, what he is like.”
Olive described him, though not enthusiastically at all. Nevertheless,
her mother answered, smiling, “He must, indeed, be a remarkable
person. He is such a perfect gentleman, and his voice is so kind and
pleasant;--like his mother, too, he has a little of the sweet Scottish
tongue. Truly, I did not think there had been in the world such a man as
Harold Gwynne.”
“Nor I,” answered Olive, in a soft, quiet, happy voice. She hung over
her mother with a deeper tenderness--she looked out into the lovely
autumn sunset with a keener sense of beauty and of joy. The sun was
setting, the year was waning; but on Olive Rothesay's life had risen a
new season and a new day.