"Mr Ellesmere! I saw your name in the visitors' book. So you are
taking a holiday in Switzerland?"
"Mr Stanforth! Very glad to meet you. You will put us up to all we
ought to see and admire. Are you alone?"
"Yes; you know I have lost my travelling companion. My next girl is
still in the schoolroom, and I think will never be so adventurous as
Gipsy."
"You have good accounts, I hope, of Mrs Jack, as we irreverently call
her."
"Excellent; she adores the boys, and the boys adore her; her letters are
very educational and aesthetic. She has picked up more `art' as a
schoolmaster's wife than ever she learnt as an artist's daughter, and
could, doubtless, set me right on tones and colours."
"Cherry told me that Jack had taken to the new culture."
"Yes, he was much amused at the development produced by
house-furnishing. But double firsts have a right to vagaries. But tell
me something of the Oakby world. It is a very long time since I have
been there, and one does not see much of people at a wedding, though I
thought Cheriton looking very well."
"Yes, he is fairly well, _very_ useful, and, I think, quite content.
Alvar has settled into his position, and fills it well. He is indignant
if he is supposed to be ignorant of anything English; and his sweet
graceful wife guides him as much as `Fanny' did his father thirty years
ago. His one trouble is that little Gerald is as dark as all his
Spanish ancestors, and even Frances is like the Seytons, but that he can
forgive."
"Does she promise to rival her aunt? What a beautiful creature Miss
Lester is!"
"Splendid! and still Miss Lester, which is rather a trouble to her
grandmother. Whether she will ever be Lady Milford--or whether--Any
way, Nettie can keep her own counsel."
"And now, tell me about Elderthwaite. Has Cheriton justified his
experiment?"
"Yes, I think I may say that he has. He has done a great deal. No one
else could have done so much good, and certainly no one would have done
so little harm."
"And the old parson is resigned to improvements?"
"Yes, but there have been fewer external changes than you would expect,
or than Cherry would wish if he were his own master, or even if he could
depend on himself. But of course his health has weighted him heavily,
and he cannot promise perfect regularity in services or arrangements."
"I wonder he can manage at all."
"Well, I think on the whole his health _has_ improved, and he is well
enough off to contrive things--has a horse and waggonette for bad
weather; and his house is near the church, and he has built on a great
room to it, and fitted it up with books and games, and he makes a sort
of club of it for the boys and young men. His sitting-room opens into
it, and he has classes and talks, and gets them to come and see him one
by one. If he cannot do one thing he does another. And they have
evening services in the summer, and early ones when it is possible. I
think the sort of resolute way in which Cheriton has recognised the need
of special care of himself, if he is to be useful, and carries it out,
is one of the most remarkable things about him. Many young men might
have killed themselves with hard work, and many would forget the danger
when well and in good spirits, but he has recognised the limitations set
to him, and bows to them."
"Yes, and he does not offend his vicar."
"Rarely, he has never failed to recognise his right to respect--never
allowed the Wilsons, who are ardent and enthusiastic, to force anything
on him. And there's a great change. I don't mean that the old fellow
is cut after any modern pattern yet; but he is considerably more
decorous, and sometimes there's a sort of humility about him in
admitting his shortcomings that is very touching. Cherry is the very
light of his eyes."
"And how does Cherry hit it off with the modern element?"
"Well, there I think his position has been a great advantage to him;
they are a little afraid of him. But he gets on admirably with them,
and you know they have improved the church immensely this last year, and
what is more to the point, perhaps, it is filled with good
congregations."
"Is Cheriton a fine preacher?"
"Well, his people like him. I have rarely heard him; he is very
difficult to get. Yes, I like his sermons; but he has not much voice,
you see, and his manner is very quiet. He has not the sort of vehement
eloquence you might have expected. I made some comment once to him, and
he looked at me, and said, `I daren't get eager and tire myself.' I saw
then how little strength he had to work with."
"Poor fellow! But this life--does it satisfy him? Is he happy in it?"
"He is just as merry and full of fun as ever. He has a wonderful
capacity for taking an interest in every one and everything; and though
Alvar does not depend on him in the old exclusive way, he is most tender
and careful of him, and Cherry delights in the children. I _think_
Jack's marriage _was_ rather a wrench; those two do cling together so
closely, and Jack was a great deal with him; but still there are grand
plans for the holidays, and he is very fond of your daughter."
"I don't think that marriage will loosen the tie."
"No; and he is much too unselfish really to regret it. Then all his
village boys bring him pets; he says everything makes a link from a
horse to a hedgehog. And my curates and the Ashrigg ones run after him,
and think it a privilege to take a service for him; and he has done one
rather feather-pated fellow, I know, a world of good."
"That I can believe."
"Yes; for, after all, Mr Stanforth, it is not his being a Lester of
Oakby, nor a man of means, nor his wonderful tact, nor even his great
charm of manner in itself that counterbalances his weak health and
frequent absences, or makes a life spent among rather uncongenial
elements sufficient to him. It is that he has the root of the matter in
him as very few have. What he does and says may be less in quantity,
but it is infinitely above in quality the ordinary work of his
profession. He looks deep and he looks high, and men feel it. He has
come through much tribulation, and--well, Mr Stanforth, the dragon
slayers have their reward."
"Yes, one must touch a high note in thinking of him."
"So high, that one fears `to mar by earthly praise,' one who I verily
believe is as true a saint, as full of love and zeal.--Well, being so,
as I truly think, he has what some holy souls have lacked, the gift of a
gracious manner and a most sympathetic nature; and if a few more years
and a little more experience could be granted to him, I believe he will
have a great spiritual influence, if not wide, deep. Any way he will
leave in one place the memory of a pure and holy life, and will lead
others to follow the Master he loves so well."
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The End.