The party of travellers whose progress had hitherto been like that of a
party of pleasure, who had been interested in everything they saw, and
hailed every new place with delight, as if that had been the haven of
all their hopes, travelled home from Cologne in a very different spirit.
For one thing, it could not be concealed that Mrs. Kingsward was ill,
which was a thing that she herself and the whole family stoutly, one
standing by another, had hitherto been able to deny. She had not gone
far, not an hour’s journey, when she had to abandon her seat by the
window--where it had always been her delight to “see the country,” and
point out every village to her children--and lie down upon the temporary
couch which Moulsey prepared for her with shawls and cushions along one
side of the carriage. She cried out against herself as “self-indulgent”
and “lazy,” but she did not resist this arrangement. It effectually took
any pleasure that there might have been out of the journey: for Bee, as
may be supposed, though she was not melancholy, and would not admit,
even to Betty, in the closest confidence, that she was at all afraid of
the ultimate issue, was certainly self-absorbed, and glad not to be
called upon to notice the scenery, but allowed to subside into a corner
with her own thoughts. Charlie was in the opposite corner, exceedingly
glum, and not conversible. Bee would not speak to him or look at him,
and even Betty, that little thing, had said, “Oh, Charlie, how could you
be so nasty to Aubrey?” for her sole salutation that morning. He was not
sure even that his mother, though he had stood on her side and backed
her up, was pleased with him for it. She talked to him, it is true,
occasionally, and made him do little things for her, but rather in the
way in which a mother singles out the pariah of the family, the one who
is boycotted for some domestic offence, to show him that all are not
against him, than in the tone which is used to a champion and defender.
So it was not wonderful that Charlie was glum; but to see him in one
corner, biting or trying to bite the few hairs that he called his
moustache, with his brows bent down to his chin, and his chin sunk in
the collar of his coat--and Bee in another, very different--indeed, her
face glorified with dreams, and her eyes full of latent light, ready to
flash out at any moment--was not cheerful for the others.
Mrs. Kingsward looked at them from one to another, and at little Betty
between busied in a little book, with that baffled feeling which arises
in the mind of a delicate woman when the strong individualities and
wills of her children become first developed before her, after that time
of their youth when all were guided by her decision, and mamma’s leave
was asked for everything. How fierce, how self-willed, how determined in
his opposition Charlie looked like his father, not to be moved by
anything! And Bee, how possessed by those young hopes of her own, which
the mother knew would be of no avail against the fiat gone forth against
her! Mrs. Kingsward knew her husband better than her children did. She
knew that having taken up his position he would not give in. And Bee,
with all that light of resistance in her eyes--Bee as little willing to
give in as he! The invalid trembled when she thought of the clash of
arms that would resound over her head--of the struggle which would rend
her cheerful house in two. She did not at all realise that the cheerful
days of that house were numbered--that soon it would be reduced into its
elements, as a somewhat clamorous, restless, too energetic brood of
children, with a father very self-willed, who hitherto had known nothing
of them but as happy and obedient creatures, whose individual
determinations concerned games and lessons, and who, so far as the
conduct of life was affected, were of no particular account. Mrs.
Kingsward was not yet aware that this was the dolorous prospect before
her household; she only thought, “How am I to manage them all?” and felt
her heart fail before Charlie’s ill humour and _parti pris_, and before
the bright defiance in Bee’s eyes. Poor Aubrey, whom she had learned to
look upon as one of her own, half a son, and half a brother--poor
Aubrey, who had gone so wrong, and yet had so many excuses for him, a
victim rather than a seducer--what was happening to Aubrey this fine
September morning? It made her heart sick in her bosom as she thought of
all these newly-raised conflicting powers, and she so little able to
cope with them. If she did not get strong soon, what would all these
children do? Charlie would go back to college, and would be out of it.
He had so strong a will, and was so determined to get on, that little
harm would happen to him--and besides, he was entirely in accord with
his father, which was a great matter. But Bee--Bee! It seemed to Mrs.
Kingsward that it was on the cards that Bee might take matters into her
own hands, and run away with her lover, if her father would not yield.
What else was there for these young creatures? Mrs. Kingsward knew that
she herself would have done so in the circumstances had _her_ lover
insisted; and she knew that he would no more have consented to such a
sentence--never, never!--than he had done to anything he disliked all
his life. And Bee was like him, though she had never hitherto been
anything but an obedient child. Mrs. Kingsward could not help picturing
to herself, as she lay there, the elopement--Bee’s room found empty in
the morning, the note left on the table, the so easy, so certain
explanation, which already she felt herself to be reading. And then her
husband’s wrath, his unalterable verdict on the criminal “never to enter
this house again!” Poor mother! She foresaw, as we all do, tortures for
herself, which she was never to be called upon to bear.
As for Betty, it was the most tiresome journey in all her little
experiences. A long journey was generally fun to Betty. The scuffle of
getting away, of seeing that all the little packets were right, of
abusing Moulsey for hiding away the luncheon basket under the rugs and
the books in some locked bag, the trouble of securing a compartment,
arranging umbrellas and other things in the vacant seats to make believe
that every place was full, the watch at every station to prevent the
intrusion of strangers, the running from one side to another to see the
pretty village or old castle, or the funny people at the country
stations and the queer names--the luncheon in the middle of the day,
which was as good as a pic-nic--all these things much diverted Betty,
who loved the rapid movement through the air, and to feel the wind on
her face; but none of these delights were to be had to-day. She was in
one of the middle places, between Charlie, so glum and in a temper, and
Bee, lost in her own thoughts and without a word to say, and opposite to
mamma, who was so much more serious than usual, giving little Betty a
smile from time to time, but not able to speak loud enough to be heard
through the din of the train. She tried to read her book but it was not
a very interesting book, and it was short too, and evidently would not
last out half the journey. Betty was the only member of the party who
had a free mind. The commotion of the romance between Bee and Aubrey had
been pure amusement to her. It would be a bore if it did not end in a
speedy marriage, with all the excitement of the presents, the
trousseau, the dresses (especially the bridesmaids’ dresses), the
wedding day itself, the increased dignity of Betty as Miss Kingsward,
the pleasure of talking of “my married sister,” the pleasure of visiting
Bee, in her own house, and sharing all her grandeur as a county lady. To
miss all this would be a real trial, but Betty had confidence in the
fitness of things, and felt it was impossible that she should miss all
this. And she was at ease in her little mind, and the present dreariness
of this unamusing, unattractive journey hung all the more heavy upon her
consciousness now.
They arrived next day, having slept at Brussels to break the journey for
Mrs. Kingsward, and the Colonel met them, as in duty bound, at Victoria.
He gave Charlie his hand, and allowed Bee and Betty to kiss him, but his
whole attention, as was natural, was for his wife.
“You look dreadfully tired,” he said, with that half-tone of offence in
which a man shows his disappointment at the aspect of an invalid. “You
must have been worried on the journey to look so tired.”
“Oh, no, I have not been at all worried on the journey--they have all
been so good, sparing me every fatigue; but it is a tiresome long way,
Edward, you know.”
“Yes, of course, I know: but I never saw you look so tired before.” He
cast a reproachful look round upon the young people, who were all ready
to stand on the defensive. “You must have bothered your mother to
death,” he said. “I am sorry I did not come out for her myself--undoing
all the effect of her cure.”
“Oh, you will see, I shall be all right when I get home,” Mrs. Kingsward
said, cheerfully. “As for the children, Edward, they have all been as
good as gold.”
“You had better see to the luggage and bring your sisters home in a cab.
I can’t let mamma hang about here,” said the Colonel, in his peremptory
way. “Moulsey will come with us. I suppose you three have brains enough
to manage by yourselves?”
Thus insulting his grown-up children, among whom a flame of indignation
lighted up, partially burning away their difficulties between
themselves, Colonel Kingsward half carried his wife to the carriage. “I
thought at first I should have waited at Kingswarden till you came back.
I am glad I changed my mind and came back to Harley Street,” he said.
“Oh, is it to Harley Street we are going?” said Mrs. Kingsward, faintly.
“I had rather hoped for the country, Edward.”
“You don’t look much like another twenty miles of a journey,” said her
husband.
“Well, perhaps not. I own I shall be glad to be quiet,” the poor lady
said. What he wished had always turned out after a moment to be just
what his wife wished for all the years of their union. She even meekly
accepted the fact that the children--the nursery children, as they were
called--the little ones, who were no trouble but only a refreshment and
delight, would have been too much for her that first night. Secretly,
she had been looking forward to the touch and sight of her placid
smiling baby as the one thing that would do her good--and all those
large wet kisses of Johnny and Tommy and Lucy and little Margaret, and
the burst of delighted voices at the sight of mamma. “Yes, I believe it
would have been too much for me,” she said, with a look aside at
Moulsey, who, as on many a previous occasion, would dearly have loved to
box her master’s ears. “And I _do_ believe it would have been too much
for me,” Mrs. Kingsward added, when that confidential attendant put her
to bed.
“Perhaps it would, ma’am,” Moulsey said. “They would have made a noise,
bless them--and baby will not go to anyone when he sees me--and
altogether I shall be more fit for them, Moulsey, after a good night’s
rest----”
“If you get that, you poor dear,” said Moulsey, under her breath. But
her mistress did not hear that remark any more than many others which
Moulsey made in her own mind, always addressed to that mistress whom she
loved. “If he said dying would be good for you, you would say you were
sure of it, and that was what you wanted most,” the maid said within
herself.
It must not, however, be supposed from this that Colonel Kingsward was
not a good husband. He had always been like a lover, though a somewhat
peremptory one, to his wife. And without him her young, gay,
pleasure-loving ways, her love of life and amusement might have made her
a much less successful personage, and not the example of every virtue
that she was. Had Mrs. Kingsward had the upper hand, the family would
have been a very different family, and its career probably a very
broken, tumultuous, happy-go-lucky career. It was that strong hand which
had controlled and guided her, which had been, as people say, the making
of Mrs. Kingsward; and though she feared his severity in the present
crisis, she yet felt the most unspeakable relief from the baffled,
helpless condition in which she had looked at her children, feeling
herself all unable to cope with them in the presence of papa.
“I wonder if he thinks we are cabbages,” was Bee’s indignant exclamation
as he turned his back upon them.
“Apparently,” said Charlie, coming a little out of his sullenness. “Look
here, you girls, get into this omnibus--happily we’ve got an
omnibus--with the little things, while I go to the Custom House to get
the luggage through.”
“Betty, you get in,” said Bee. “I will go with you, Charlie, for I have
got mamma’s keys.”
“Can’t you give them to me?” Charlie cast a gloomy look about, thinking
that Leigh might perhaps be somewhere awaiting a word, a thought which
now for the first time traversed Bee’s mind, too.
“Then, Betty, you had better go with him, for he doesn’t know half the
boxes,” she said.
“Oh, you can come yourself if you like,” said Charlie, feeling in that
case that this was the safest arrangement after all.
“No, Betty had better go. Betty, you know Moulsey’s box and that new
basket that mamma brought me before we left the Baths.”
“Come along yourself, quick, Bee.”
“No, I shall stop in the omnibus.”
“When you have made up your minds,” cried Betty, who had slipped out of
the vehicle at the first word. Betty thought it would be more fun to go
through the Custom House than to wait all the time cooped up here.
And Bee had her reward; for Aubrey was there, waiting at a distance
till the matter was settled. “I should have risked everything and come,
even if the penalty had been a quarrel with Charlie,” Aubrey said, “but
I must not quarrel with anyone if I can help it. We shall have hard work
enough without that.”
“You have seen papa?”
“Yes, I have seen him: but I have not done myself much good, I fear,”
said Aubrey, shaking his head. “Bee, you won’t give me up whatever they
may say?”
“Give you up? Never, Aubrey, till you give me up!”
“Then all is safe, my darling. However things look now they can’t hold
out for ever. Lies must be found out, and then--in time--you will be
able to act for yourself.”
“Do you think papa will stand to it like that, Aubrey?”
Aubrey shook his head. He did not make any reply.
“Tell me. Is it a lie?” she said.
He bent down his head upon her hand, kissing it.
“Not all,” he said, in an almost inaudible voice. “ I said that--at
Cologne----”
“I did not understand,” said Bee. “No; it does not matter to me,
Aubrey--not so very much; but if you promised----”
“I never promised--never! My only thought was to escape----”
“Then I can’t think what you have done wrong. Aubrey, is she tall, with
dark hair, and beautiful dark eyes, and a way of looking at you as if
she would look you through and through?”
“Bee!” he said, gripping her fast, as if someone had been about to decoy
her away.
“And a mouth,” said Bee, “that is very pretty, but looks as if it were
cut out of steel? Then, I have seen her. She sat down by me one day in
the wood, when I was doing that sketch, and gave me such clever hints,
telling me how to finish it, till she made me hate it, don’t you know.
Is she horribly clever, and a good artist? and like that----”
“Bee! What did that woman say to you?”
“Nothing very much. Asked me about the people at the hotel, and if there
were any Leighs--not you, she pretended, but the Leighs of Hurst-leigh,
whom she knew. I thought it very strange at the time why she should ask
about the Leighs without knowing anything--and then I forgot all about
it. But to-day it came back to my mind, and I have been thinking of
nothing else. Aubrey--she is older than you are?”
“Yes,” he said.
“And she made you promise to marry her?” said Bee, half unconscious yet
half conscious of that wile of the cross-examiner, coming back to the
point suddenly.
“Never, Bee, never for one moment in my misery! That I should have to
make such a confession to you!--but there was no promise nor thought of
a promise. I desired nothing--nothing but to escape from her. You don’t
doubt my word, Bee?”
“No; I don’t doubt anything you say. But I think she is a dreadful woman
to get anybody in her power, Aubrey. My little drawing was for you. It
was the place we first met, and she told me how to do it and make it
look so much better. I am not very clever at it, you know; and then I
hated the very sight of it, and tore it in two. I don’t know why.”
“I understand why. Bee, you will be faithful to me, whatever you are
told?”
“Till I die, Aubrey.”
“And never, never believe that for a moment my heart will change from
you.”
“Not till I hear it from yourself,” she said, with a woeful smile. The
despair in him communicated itself to her, who had not been despairing
at all.
“Which will never be--and when you are your own mistress, my
darling----”
“Oh, we shan’t have to wait for that!” she cried, with a burst of her
native energy. “Dear Aubrey, they are coming back; you must go away.”
“Till we meet again, darling?”
“Till we meet again!”