[Illustration: Cover art]
_Odeyne's Marriage._
BY
EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN,
AUTHOR OF "ARNOLD INGLEHURST"; "EUSTACE MARCHMONT";
"HER HUSBAND'S HOME," ETC.
NEW EDITION.
_LONDON:_
JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.,
48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
COPYRIGHT BOOKS UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.
THE CRUISE OF THE ARCTIC FOX . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
CLEARED FOR ACTION . . . . . . . W. B. ALLEN.
EXILES OF FORTUNE . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
A REAL HERO . . . . . . . . . . G. STEBBING.
A TANGLED WEB . . . . . . . . . E. S. HOLT.
BEATING THE RECORD . . . . . . . G. STEBBING.
THRO' UNKNOWN WAYS . . . . . . . L. E. GUERNSEY.
IN SHIPS OF STEEL . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
IN CLOISTER AND COURT . . . . . E. EVERETT-GREEN.
THE UGLY DUCKLING . . . . . . . HANS ANDERSEN.
ODEYNE'S MARRIAGE . . . . . . . E. EVERETT-GREEN.
ENGLAND'S HERO PRINCE . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES . . . . . H. C. ANDERSEN.
FACING FEARFUL ODDS . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
EDGAR NELTHORPE . . . . . . . . ANDREW REED.
WINNING AN EMPIRE . . . . . . . G. STEBBING.
HONOUR NOT HONOURS . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
IDA VANE . . . . . . . . . . . . ANDREW REED.
GRAHAM'S VICTORY . . . . . . . . G. STEBBING.
THE END CROWNS ALL . . . . . . . EMMA MARSHALL.
HER HUSBAND'S HOME . . . . . . . E. EVERETT-GREEN.
FOSTER SISTERS . . . . . . . . . L. E. GUERNSEY.
DOROTHY'S STORY . . . . . . . . L. T. MEADE.
A TRUE GENTLEWOMAN . . . . . . . EMMA MARSHALL.
BEL MARJORY . . . . . . . . . . L.T. MEADE.
WINNING GOLDEN SPURS . . . . . . H. M. MILLER.
ON TO THE RESCUE . . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
DASHING DAYS OF OLD . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
TWO SAILOR LADS . . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
IN SEARCH OF FORTUNE . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
ENGLAND, HOME, AND BEAUTY . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
HEARTS OF OAK . . . . . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
OLD ENGLAND ON THE SEA . . . . . DR. GORDON STABLES.
LONDON: JOHN F. SHAW & CO.,
48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
ANTICIPATION
CHAPTER II.
ODEYNE'S HOME
CHAPTER III.
FAREWELLS AND GREETINGS
CHAPTER IV.
A LITTLE CLOUD
CHAPTER V.
THE RITCHIES AT HOME
CHAPTER VI.
AUTUMN DAYS
CHAPTER VII.
BEATRICE AT HOME
CHAPTER VIII.
AN ADVENTUROUS DRIVE
CHAPTER IX.
NEW FRIENDSHIPS
CHAPTER X.
CHRISTMAS
CHAPTER XI.
A SHOCK
CHAPTER XII.
LITTLE GUY
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOME-COMING
CHAPTER XIV.
A CHANGED LIFE
CHAPTER XV.
CLOUDS IN THE SKY
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PACE THAT KILLS
CHAPTER XVII.
DARK DAYS
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CRASH
CHAPTER XIX.
THE TWO WIVES
CHAPTER XX.
A STRANGE CHRISTMAS
CHAPTER XXI.
HUSBAND AND WIFE
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION
ODEYNE'S MARRIAGE.
CHAPTER I.
ANTICIPATION.
"And so this is really Desmond's wedding-day?" remarked the dainty
invalid, as she donned a remarkably becoming cap, and settled herself
comfortably upon her pillows. "Well, to be sure, it is natural
enough, I suppose, but somehow he has always seemed such a boy.
Really I find it difficult to realise him with a wife. I wonder how
the poor girl will get on."
"The _poor_ girl, mother; really I do not think she is to be pitied.
I think she has done uncommonly well for herself--a country
clergyman's daughter," answered Maud, with a lifting of the delicate
dark brows that showed a trace of superciliousness.
"That is just the whole point of the matter, my dear. If he had
selected a bride out of his own world she would have known exactly
what to expect from her marriage--she would have understood the risk
she ran with a youth of Desmond's temperament; but this rustic maiden
probably knows nothing, and will not even be on her guard. It makes
me anxious for them both."
Maud looked up quickly, knitting her brows somewhat.
"But, mother, Desmond is steady enough now. He has never been more
than a little wild and extravagant at Oxford, and so many young men
are that. I am sure the last year or two he has been a model of
discretion, and his marriage will sober him down still more--at least
that is generally supposed to be the effect it has."
"I hope it may--perhaps that is his best chance. Oh no, Maud, I am
not running down your brother--you need not give me such black looks.
But facts are stubborn things, and it is no use trying to blink them;
and the fact remains that your beloved Desmond has never yet stood up
with any success against temptation. When there is no special
inducement to take him out of the beaten path, he keeps to it pretty
steadily; but he cannot withstand temptation, and anyone can lead
him, who goes to work the right way."
"You talk as if Desmond were a pitiably weak creature, and I am sure
he is anything but that."
The mother smiled a little, and shrugged her shoulders with an almost
imperceptible gesture.
"We will not discuss the matter further. Desmond is one of the most
attractive men I have ever seen in my life, though I am his mother
that say it. He is a great many charming things, as we all know.
Let us endow him with all the cardinal virtues as well, if you will.
I have no objection, certainly."
Maud made no immediate reply. It was no new thing that her mother's
conversation irritated her a good deal more than she would ever have
admitted. But the friction was too chronic to be much noticed, and
it was not long before she spoke again.
"I almost wish I had gone, after all. I think you could have spared
me for two days, mother."
"I am sure I could. I told you so all along, but I thought you
rather wished for a valid excuse for staying away."
"Well, I believe I did then, and now I am rather sorry. It seemed as
if Desmond were almost throwing himself away, to marry like that. He
could have made a really good match if he had liked, and this girl
has nothing, I suppose?"
"She has a good old name and a charmingly pretty face, if her
photographs do not flatter her outrageously. Of course Desmond might
have done better; but then, again, he might have done worse--got into
some tiresome or dangerous entanglement, so we will not fall foul of
his engagement to Miss Hamilton. Why, they will be positively
getting married at this very moment--yes, I wish you had been there,
Maud. You could have told me all about it afterwards--how the bride
behaved, and what the dresses were like, though, to be sure, in a
place like that they would be nothing much to look at. Why, whoever
can that be, coming at this hour of the morning? Oh, very likely
only a friend to ask at the door after me."
"I think it is surely Beatrice," said Maud a moment later. "I am
sure that is her step on the stairs."
"Beatrice--impossible! Beatrice is in town----"
"Is she indeed?" cried a clear, vibrating voice from without; and the
next moment the door was thrown open to admit the entrance of a very
stylish-looking figure, whose every movement was accompanied by the
rustle of silk and the sweeping sound of rich raiment.
Beatrice Vanborough had the knack of producing an impression wherever
she went. She was decidedly good-looking, but many better-looking
women would attract less notice. Her figure was more perfect than
her face, and she had the art of dress almost in perfection--dress in
her own style, that is; and her style was to be rather extreme in
richness and abundance of adornment. Still, she contrived never to
look over-dressed in an ostentatious way, and was greatly admired
wherever she went. She spoke with a good deal of gesture, and had
several little mannerisms that some people called affectations; but
she was abundantly good-natured, and delighted to do anyone a
kindness, especially if it did not put her out at all personally, and
she was a marked contrast in most external ways to her quiet sister
Maud, albeit an excellent understanding existed between them.
"Yes, here I am, you see. We ran down last night, Algy and I. Ascot
fairly knocked me up--it was so fearfully hot, I felt like being
grilled alive every hour of the day, and then Algy was unlucky, and
that made the dear boy a bit bearish; so on the whole we decided that
a week of country air would do us good, and here we are. And so
Desmond is really being married to-day? Why, Maud, it is too bad of
you not to be there. I did my best to get Algy to the scratch, but a
country parson's family was altogether too much for him. My lord
would not budge an inch, and I could not well go without him; but you
ought to be ashamed of yourself. It looks as if his family held
aloof, and really I am delighted that the dear boy has taken a wife
and settled down. And it will be such an advantage to get the Chase
inhabited again. I trust the little rustic maid will not be
altogether too ingenuous and rustic. I mean to make great friends
with her, and regularly initiate her into the mysteries of
fashionable life."
"Well, it will be a very good thing if you do take her in hand; you
will do it better than Maud, and I must not attempt much, or I shall
get the character of the interfering mother-in-law directly. Yes, I
hope it will turn out happily for both; but I could wish he had taken
a fancy to someone of whom his family knew more."
"Oh, do you think so? Now, I quite like the idea of the new element
about to be introduced. Give me novelty above all things! And is it
really true that Desmond is going into the business? That seems to
me the most wonderful thing of all. Our bright, careless Desmond to
turn into a City merchant! You should have seen how Algy and I
laughed when we heard the news. Algy gives him a month before he
throws the whole concern overboard."
The mother smiled, and made one of her little indescribable gestures,
of which Beatrice's seemed the exaggerated copy; but Maud took up the
cudgels, and replied with grave directness--
"I do not see why you should laugh. I think it is a very sensible
thing to do. A man is always better for an occupation; and perhaps
in time there will be a family to provide for, and it would be much
better not to let the business slip out of his hands altogether."
"Sensible! why of course it is sensible; it is the appalling
sensibility of the arrangement that is the joke of it. It seems to
me that the little bride must have an eye to the main chance, in
making such a stipulation, in which case I have hopes of her. She
will be better than a fortune to him, if she can only induce him to
stick to the collar, and interest himself in the mercantile house. I
know what idle men are like"; and she made a little expressive
gesture with her daintily-gloved hands.
Maud said nothing, but let her sister rattle away as she would. It
was always rather entertaining to hear Beatrice talk, and it did her
mother good to be amused. Of course, if they would persist in
misunderstanding Desmond, and making jokes about him, it was not her
fault. She was the only one in the family who really appreciated him.
"I sent her the loveliest wedding present--really when the time came
I took great credit to myself for making up my mind to part with it
at all. Algy did grumble at the bill; but one couldn't be stingy to
the bride of the only son of the house. It was the sweetest necklace
of pearls you ever saw in your life. If she has a complexion she
will be enchanted with them. She wrote me a very pretty letter of
thanks, but I don't think she had the least idea of the value of
them. I think she will turn out a dear little girl. I quite love
her already. I wish I could see her now. I offered to superintend
the making of the wedding dress at my own woman's; but no, the child
had the exquisite innocence to prefer her own dressmaker. I fear my
lady will find that she must have another wedding dress made, to face
the county in, but she can find all that out for herself in time. I
do not think we shall find her lacking in a species of sound
common-sense."
"I sent her a dressing-bag," said Mrs. St. Claire, who was looking
roused and interested, "and Maud some silver, I don't exactly
remember what. Of course she will find more gifts of mine at the
Chase when she gets there. Have you seen the place since it was done
up for them, Beatrice? Really you ought to go; it looks charming.
Desmond has been mighty particular in his orders, I can tell you. He
has spent a lot of money over it, you may be sure."
"And quite right too. He has plenty, and he ought to keep up his
position in the place. He cannot have spent his income these past
years, and he is right in making his home comfortable before settling
down. Seen it? No, how could I have seen it? I have not been in
these parts for an age. Happy thought! we will drive over there this
afternoon, Maud, whilst mother has her nap. I told Algy not to
expect me back to lunch. We will certainly go home _viâ_ the Chase."
So after the midday meal Mrs. Vanborough's carriage was ordered, and
the two sisters set off for a visit to their old home.
The Chase, though within thirty miles of the great metropolis, was
still to all intents and purposes a country house. It lay in the
midst of lovely scenery, not far from the valley of the Thames, was
surrounded by wooded hills and running water, and formed altogether a
charming retreat, despite the fact that mansions and villas showed a
disposition to crop up in the vicinity, and people began to
prognosticate that in the course of time the place might be much
spoilt by over-building. But for the present, at least, that danger
was not imminent, and in no case could the house itself suffer very
much, for it was surrounded by its own small but well-wooded park,
some fifty acres in extent, and nothing could be seen from the
windows of the living-rooms but the gardens and grass-land and fine
timber belonging to it.
The Chase was a thorough-going, old-fashioned house, such as are
growing more and more scarce every year, with gable ends, twisted
chimneys, and great cross-way beams let into the brickwork at
intervals.
It was by no means a very grand house, as such things go in these
days, for many of the rooms were low, some of the ceilings were
intersected by heavy rafters, and the oak panelling, of which there
was much in the house, was worm-eaten, and the carving a good deal
defaced.
But for all that it was a home-like and comfortable place,
deliriously quaint, and not really gloomy, although some people might
be disposed to call it so.
It was the kind of house that seemed to want young life about
it--children's footsteps pattering up and down the passages,
children's voices babbling in the still old rooms. It was a house
that would be a paradise for children, and seemed to cry out for
their presence. It had been built two or three centuries back, by a
remote ancestor of the St. Claires, but had passed out of their hands
for many generations, and known a variety of different owners.
The father of Desmond and his sisters had started in life with the
resolve to buy back the old place, and with very tolerable hopes of
success. His father was then partner in a thriving mercantile house,
with the prospect of soon becoming the head. In time this
consummation was achieved. The business throve under the careful
management of an honest and hard-headed man of business.
The son found himself a rich man whilst still comparatively young,
and as he was an only child he had things all in his own hands.
The Chase was bought and restored, it was entailed in due course upon
the eldest son and his eldest son, and the proprietor quitted this
life when the call came with the feeling that he had at least lived
to fulfil the dream of his childhood.
Into this fair inheritance young Desmond had stepped, and was about
to take up his abode in the home of his childhood. As the sisters
stepped across the threshold Beatrice looked round with her curious
eyes, for it was many years since she had seen her old home, and she
was eager to note what changes time had wrought in the place. The
people who had rented it after their father's death had not been in
the society affected by Beatrice after her marriage, and the tenancy
had only recently expired.
"Ah, the dear old hall--that delightful square staircase--how I
remember it all again! Well, really, Desmond has a very pretty taste
if this decoration and furniture is his choice. That stained glass
is just what was wanted to give the dim religious light one expects
in such a place as this, and these skins and quaint old armour and
other accessories are delightfully in keeping with the old furniture
I remember so well. Were you his aide-de-camp, Maud? Really, it is
quite charming. I hope the little girl will have education to
appreciate it, and not hanker after apple-green hangings and magenta
table-covers. Not but what gay colours are rather coming to the
front once again. Well, every fashion has its day, and we are so
constituted that we all rave over the newest thing out, no matter how
intrinsically hideous it may be. Oh, not you, Maud; you go on in the
even tenor of your way, quite superior to all the fluctuations of
fashion. Gracious goodness, who are these? Surely people cannot
think that the bridal couple have already arrived? Who on earth can
be calling now?"
"Pray don't agitate yourself, Beatrice; it's only some of the
Ritchies coming to see the house now that it's ready. I told them
they might. You know they will be Odeyne's nearest neighbours, so
naturally they take great interest in it all; and they were our
playfellows, too, you know."
"Know--I should think I did know! My dear, it is a fact they never
allow us to forget. Well, they are excellent good folks, and will
doubtless suit Odeyne down to the ground. But I think if they are
coming round too, I will postpone the pleasure of a thorough tour
till another day. You will not mind walking back if I take the
carriage home? I really think I must be getting back to Algy now."
Maud smiled, not without a touch of satire.
"Oh, by all means satisfy your wifely instincts. The walk is
nothing. Don't let me stand in Algernon's way. Well, Cissy, so you
have found your way up, have you? Everybody seems to choose the
wedding-day to visit the house, you see."
The girl thus addressed--a maiden with a demure little face and a
pair of merry, saucy-looking eyes, generally hidden beneath very long
black lashes--came towards the sisters with outstretched hand. She
was followed by a pair of brothers, both tall and well-grown, but
without any great share of external finish of manner. The trio were
the children of the doctor of the place, and the sons, who had both
elected to follow their father's profession, had been mainly brought
up at home, only leaving Harlington for the necessary hospital work
prior to examination. Cuthbert was by this time his father's junior
partner, whilst Tom was still studying and not yet qualified. Both
young men had the reputation of being very clever; but talent without
grace and finish of manner had no attractions for Mrs. Vanborough,
and she openly avowed that the Ritchies bored her to the verge of
distraction.
But there was nothing of this to be detected in the greeting which
she bestowed on the young girl and her two brothers. Beatrice was
far too much the accomplished woman of the world to be betrayed into
the least _gaucherie_ or want of manner. She listened to Cissy's
outspoken raptures with the pleasantest possible of smiles.
"It is perfectly lovely. I never saw anything more delicious. How
your little boy will like playing here, Beatrice! It is such a
perfect house for children. How well I remember the romps we had all
together here long ago!"
Beatrice gave the least little look of amusement at her sister out of
the corner of her eyes, as she answered with admirable cordiality--
"Ah, perhaps he will; I had not thought of that. He is scarcely of
an age to discriminate much as to his surroundings."
"Oh, I don't know. I think children are much more discriminating
than people think, and notice much more too. I know we all did----"
But Beatrice was already on the way to her carriage, making gracious
little farewell gestures as she moved.
To hear Cissy Ritchie's raptures or theories upon children was a
little too much. She felt she must escape at all costs.
If there was one thing that bored her more than another it was to be
expected to give an account of the perfections of her handsome,
sturdy, year-old son. In her own way she was fond and proud of him,
but to get up any kind of enthusiasm about him was a thing she had
declined from the first.
Possibly her absence was a relief to the rest. Mrs. Vanborough, with
her rustling silk, her elegance, and her vivid personality, had a way
of being a trifle overpowering; perhaps this was what she desired in
certain circumstances.
At any rate, after she was gone Cissy grew more confidential and
eager, whilst "the boys," as it was the fashion to call the doctor's
two tall sons, seemed to come out of their shell of reserve, and
looked, in consequence, less awkward and shy.
"I can't think how you could keep away, Maud. I should have been
dying of curiosity to see her."
"Ah, that is a complaint of which you die daily," interpolated Tom in
his dry way; "Maud knows better."
"Are you not in a dreadful hurry to see her? I don't know how I
should ever endure to let one of the boys marry a girl I had never
seen. Tom, why do you laugh? You might do such a thing, you know.
You are a dreadful boy for keeping a secret. Nobody can find out if
you don't mean them to."
"Well, I am glad to hear that at any rate. I will take a leaf out of
Desmond's book one of these days, and bring you home a stranger for a
sister. I should like to see the meeting."
"It would not be interesting," said Cuthbert. "Cissy would run into
her arms and swear an eternal sisterhood on the spot. Cissy has the
good old-fashioned family feeling finely developed. A relation is a
relation, to be swallowed whole without the least reservation. That
is the advantage of having Scotch blood in our veins. We can take to
anyone who bears our name."
Whilst the boys rattled on in the half-nonsensical, half-speculative
way characteristic more or less of the whole family, Cissy stole a
furtive glance at Maud, as if to see how she was feeling on the
subject--whether she was prepared to take the new sister in this
unquestioning fashion. Perhaps Cissy's quick sympathies gave her a
greater insight into Maud's nature than most people possessed, and
enabled her to guess that the marriage of her brother was not a
source of unmixed pleasure to her. Truth to tell, Maud was not a
little disappointed at the turn matters had taken. She had never
fancied that Desmond would settle down to matrimony in his early
manhood, and she had indulged bright dreams of what life would be
like at the Chase, with Desmond the master and she his housekeeper
and companion.
The girl had a love of power, as well as a passionate attachment to
her old home; and the news that her brother was engaged to a
stranger, of whom they knew nothing, brought with it a sense of
disappointment none the less keen because borne in utter silence.
And Cissy guessed at the existence of some such feeling, though she
was far too shrewd and tactful to betray any such knowledge, and so,
as they made the tour of the house together, Maud found something
soothing in her presence, and was glad to let her talk and indulge
pleasant little fancies about the coming bride, and the pleasure it
would be to both her and Desmond to have a sister so near at hand.
Somehow, with Cissy at her side, Maud felt that it would not be hard
to love that new sister, and give her the welcome that would seal
their friendship at once; but when she was left alone in the shadowy
house, with the ghosts of departed fancies lingering all around, and
the sunny influence of a truly warm heart removed, then the old
soreness, akin to jealousy, came creeping back, and with it a
miserable feeling of antagonism towards the woman who had come
between her brother and herself.
"I shall never care for her, I know I never shall, and that will make
it all the worse, because Desmond will be angry--he will never
understand. Besides, why should he? He never loved me as I loved
him. He would say that we were very good friends, and nothing more.
It is always the way with women, I suppose--some women, at any
rate--to give their all, and get nothing, or almost nothing, in
return. Well, I suppose I can bear it as well as anyone else; but
oh, Desmond, do not ask too much--do not expect me to love your wife
for your sake."
But though Maud was thus open with herself she might not quite have
liked to hear the remark made by Tom Ritchie as the brothers and
sisters turned homewards again.
"It strikes me," said that astute young man, "that however much in
love Mrs. Desmond St. Claire may be with her husband, and however
happy they are, and will be, together, that she will have rather a
rough time of it with Desmond's relations."