"I think a little light will dawn on Elderthwaite one day, thanks to
Virginia."
Alvar did not make any answer, and Cheriton was not at all sorry to see
how much the meeting had disturbed him.
He never alluded to it again, but whether from any feelings connected
with it or from the worries of his new position, he was less
even-tempered than usual.
There was much to try him. So many matters pressed on him, and he was
so very much at fault as to the way of dealing with them. Mr Lester
had kept a considerable portion of his property in his own hands; he had
also been a most active magistrate, sat upon innumerable county
committees, and had united in his own person the chief lay offices of
the parish. In all these capacities he had done a considerable amount
of useful work, and though no one expected Alvar to take up the whole of
it, he ought to have endeavoured to make himself master of the more
necessary parts.
But the real defect of Alvar's nature--the intense pride, that made the
sense of being at a disadvantage hateful to him--worked at first in a
wrong direction. The great effort of bending himself to learn to do
badly what those around him could do well, was beyond one who had never
felt the need of repentance, never acknowledged an error in himself; nor
did the sense of duty to his neighbour, that counteracted this tendency
in others of his name, appeal to the conscience of one who inherited the
selfish instincts of the Spanish grandee. After the very first he grew
impatient of the tasks that were so new to him, and yet resentful of any
comment on his behaviour. He resented the standard to which he would
not conform, all the more because an unspeakable soreness connected it
with Virginia's rejection of him.
Perhaps this was more hopeful than his former good-humoured
indifference, but it was with exceeding pain that Cheriton, before
Easter came, began to perceive that though Alvar would let him please
himself in any special instance, his hopes of exerting any general
influence were vain, and that Alvar would resent the attempt even from
him.
"_Did_ you expect to make the leopard change his spots by the force of
your will, Cherry?" said Mr Ellesmere to him, when some instance had
brought this prominently forward. "You cannot do it, my boy, and excuse
me for saying that I think you should not try."
"I only wanted to help the leopard to accommodate his coat to our
climate," said Cherry, with rather a difficult smile.
"He must do that himself when stress of weather shows him the need. If
he had married, such an influence as your mother's might have come into
his life; but, my dear boy, _even_ that could not have sufficed, unless
it had appealed to something higher."
"I know," said Cherry slowly. "I know what you mean about it. No man
ought to stand dictation as to his duty, and we all lay down the law to
each other. But I cannot break myself of feeling that matters here are
my own concern."
"I think that is a habit of mind common to a great many people
hereabouts," said Mr Ellesmere kindly; "and, after all, what I said was
only meant as a warning."
"Much needed! But I believe Alvar will find things out in time; and we
none of its make half enough allowance for him."
Jack came home for a few days at Easter, and there was a final
discussion and arrangement of plans, which resulted after all in a
general flitting. Alvar declared that Oakby was too dull without his
brother, and that he should himself go to London for some time. No one
could exactly find fault with this scheme, and if he had exerted himself
hitherto to get his new duties in train, they would have welcomed it, as
his resolute avoidance of the Seytons produced social difficulties, and
Jack thought Cheriton's London life so much of an experiment as to be
glad that he should not have to carry it out entirely alone. But they
both knew that without any difference that would strike outsiders, there
was just the essential change from good to bad management, from care to
neglect, in every matter with which the master of Oakby was concerned.
Nettie was to go to a London boarding-school for a year. This was the
express desire of Mrs Lester, who thought this amount of "finishing"
essential. Lady Cheriton was choosing the school, and the brothers of
course consented, though Cheriton felt that it was like caging a wild
bird, and Alvar remarked with much truth,--
"My sister is a woman; it is foolish to send her to school."
Nettie wept torrents of tears over Rolla, Buffer, her pony, nay, every
living creature about the place; but she did not resist, it was part of
the plan of life to which she was accustomed.
If Mrs Lester herself had not insisted on sending Nettie away, the
others would have made no proposal which involved a separation; but to
the surprise of them all, she proposed spending the ensuing three months
at Whitby. Lady Milford would be there, and it had always been an
occasional resort of Mrs Lester's, and with her old favourite maid, she
declared that she should be perfectly comfortable there; and if she was
dull, she would ask Virginia Seyton to stay with her.
One other member of the family remained to be disposed of, and while
Cheriton and Jack were consulting with each other what they could say to
their uncle with regard to Bob, he took the matter into his own hands,
and as he walked across the park with Cheriton to view some drainage
operations which had been begun by their father, and which Alvar was
very glad to let them superintend, he remarked suddenly,--
"Cherry, I wish you would let me go to Canada, or New Zealand, or some
such place, and take land. It is the only thing I'm fit for."
Cheriton was taken by surprise, though the idea had crossed his own
mind.
"Do you really wish it?" he said.
"Yes," said Bob. "I'm not going to try my hand in life at things other
fellows can beat me at."
"I'm afraid that rule would limit the efforts of most of us!"
"Well," said Bob, "I hate feeling like a fool; and besides, I don't see
the good of Latin and Greek. But I mean to do some thing that's some
use in the world. I approve of colonising."
"Really, Bob," said Cherry, "I don't think you were ever expected to go
in for more Latin and Greek than would prevent you from feeling like a
fool. There's a great deal in what you say; but have you thought of a
farm in England or Scotland?"
"Yes; but I think that is generally a fine name for doing nothing. Now,
I shall have some capital, and I'm big and strong, and can make my way.
Cherry, don't you think I should have been allowed to go?"
"Yes, Bob, I think you would; but you are too young to start off at once
on your own resources."
"Well, I could go to the agricultural college for a year, and there are
men out there who take fellows and give them a start. You can talk it
over with Uncle Cheriton, and if you agree, I don't care for the
others."
"Does Nettie know about it?"
"Yes," said Bob; "she wouldn't speak to me for a week, she was so sorry.
But she came round, and says she shall come out and join me. Of course
she won't--she'll get married."
They had reached a little bridge which crossed a stream, on either side
of which lay the swampy piece of ground which they had come to inspect.
Looking forward, was the wide panorama of heathery hills, known to them
with life-long knowledge; looking back, the wide, white house, in its
group of fir-trees, with the park stretching away towards the lake. All
the woods were tinted with light spring green, and the air was full of
the song of numberless birds, and with that cawing of the rooks, which
Cheriton had once said at Seville was to him like the sound of the waves
to a person born by the sea.
"Of course," said Bob, "if one went a hundred thousand miles, one would
never forget this old place."
"No," said Cheriton; "nor, I sometimes fancy, if one went a longer
journey still!"
"But I hate it as it is now, and I shall come back when you're Lord
Chancellor, and Jack, Head Master of Eton."
"Well, Bob," said Cherry, "wherever we may any of us go, or whatever we
may be, I think we cannot be really parted, while we remember the old
place, and all that belongs to it."