Ida sat in the library on the morning of the funeral. A pelting rain
beat upon the windows, over which the blinds had been drawn; the great
silence which reigned in the chamber above, in which the dead master of
Heron lay, brooded over the whole house, and seemed in no part of it
more intense than in this great, book-lined room, in which Godfrey
Heron had spent so much of his life.
Ida lay back in the great arm-chair in which he had sat, her small
brown hands lying limply in her lap, her eyes fixed absently upon the
open book which lay on the table as he had left it. The pallor of her
face, increased by her sorrow, was accentuated by the black dress,
almost as plainly made as that which the red-eyed Jessie wore in her
kitchen. Though nearly a week had elapsed since her father had died in
her young arms, and notwithstanding her capacity for self-reliance, Ida
had not yet recovered from the stupor of the shock.
She was scarcely thinking as she lay back in his chair and looked at
the table over which he had bent for so many monotonous years; she
scarcely realised that he had passed out of her life, and that she was
alone in the world; and she was only vaguely conscious that her sorrow
had, so to speak, a double edge; that she had lost not only her father,
but the man to whom she had given her heart, the man who should have
been standing beside her now, shielding her with his strong arms,
comforting her with words of pity and love. The double blow had fallen
so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that the pain of it had been dulled and
blunted. The capacity of human nature for suffering is, after all not
unlimited. God says to physical pain and mental anguish, "Thus far and
no farther;" and this limitation saved Ida from utter collapse.
Then, again, she was not free to indulge in idle grief, in the luxury
of woe; the great house had still to be run, she had to bury her
beloved dead, the mourning which seems such a hopeless mockery when the
heart is racked with misery, had to be seen to; and she did it, and
went through it all, with outward calm, sustained by that Heron spirit
which may be described as the religion of her class--_noblesse oblige_.
Jessie had wept loudly through the house ever since the death, and
could weep as loudly now; but if Ida shed any tears she wept in the
silence and darkness of her own room, and no one heard her utter a
moan. "To suffer in silence and be strong" was the badge of all her
tribe, and she wore it with quiet stoicism.
Godfrey Heron's death had happened so suddenly that the news of it
scarcely got beyond the radius of the estate before the following
morning, and Stafford had gone to London in ignorance of this second
blow with which Fate had followed up the one he had dealt Ida: and when
the neighbours--the Vaynes, the Bannerdales, and the Avorys--came
quickly and readily enough to offer their sympathy and help, they could
do nothing. The girl solitary and lonely in her grief as she had been
solitary and lonely through her life, would see no one but the doctor
and Mr. Wordley, and the people who had once been warm and intimate
friends of the family left reluctantly and sully, to talk over the
melancholy circumstance, and to wonder what would become of the
daughter of the eccentric man who had lived the life of a recluse. Mr.
Wordley would have liked to have persuaded her to see some of the women
who had hastened to comfort her; but he knew that any attempt at
persuasion would have been in vain, that he would not have been able to
break down the barrier of reserve which the girl had instinctively and
reservedly erected between her suffering soul and the world. His heart
ached for her, and he did all that a man could do to lighten the burden
of her trouble; but there was very little that he could do beyond
superintending the necessary arrangements for the funeral.
His first thought was of the relatives; but, somewhat to his own
dismay, he found that the only one whom he could trace was a certain
cousin, a more than middle-aged man who, though he bore the name of
Heron, was quite unknown to Ida, and, so far as Mr. Wordley was aware,
had not crossed the threshold of the Hall for many years. He was a
certain John Heron, a retired barrister, who had gone in for religion,
not in the form of either of the Established Churches, but of that of
one of the least known sects, the members of which called themselves
some kind of brothers, were supposed to be very strict observers of the
Scriptural law, and were considered by those who did not belong to them
both narrow-minded and uncharitable.
Mr. John Heron was a prominent member of this little sect, and was
famous in its small circles for his extreme sanctity and his eloquence
as a lay preacher. Mr. Wordley, with much misgiving, had invited this,
the only relative he could find, to the funeral, and Ida was now
awaiting this gentleman's arrival.
The stealthy footsteps which belong to those who minister to the dead
passed up and down the great house, Jason was setting out the simple
"funeral baked meats" which are considered appropriate to the occasion,
and Mr. Wordley paced up and down the hall with his hands behind his
back, listening to the undertaker's men upstairs, and glancing through
the window in expectation of the carriage which had been sent for Mr.
John Heron. Presently he saw it rounding a bend of the drive, and went
into the library to prepare Ida.
She raised her head but not her eyes as he entered, and looked at him
with that dull apathy which denotes the benumbed heart, the mind
crushed under its heavy weight of sorrow.
"I came in to tell you, my dear, that Mr. John Heron is coming," he
said. "The carriage is just turning the bend of the drive." "I will
come," she said, rising and supporting herself by the heavy, carved arm
of the great chair.
"No, no" he said. "Sit down and wait here." He did not want her to hear
the stealthy tread of the undertaker's men, to meet the coffin which
they were going to bring downstairs and place in the hall. "I will
bring him in here. Is there anything you would like me to say to him,
my dear?" he asked, and spoke with a certain hesitancy; for as yet he
had not spoken of her future, feeling that her grief was too recent,
too sacred, to permit of the obtrusion of material and worldly matters.
"To say to him?" she repeated, in a low, dull voice, as if she did not
understand.
"Yes," he said. "I did not know whether you had formed any plan,
whether"--he hesitated again, "you had thought of going--of paying a
visit--to these relations of yours. He lives in the north of London,
and has a wife and son and daughter, as you know."
Ida passed her hand across her brow, trying to remember.
"Ah, yes," she said at last, "I remember you told me about them. I
never heard of them before--until now. Why should I go to them? Do they
want me? Have they asked me?"
Mr. Wordley coughed discreetly. They certainly had not asked her, but
he felt quite assured that an individual whose reputation for sanctity
stood so high could not be so deficient in charity as to refuse a home
to his orphan cousin.
"They have not sent you any definite invitation yet, but they will be
sure to want you to go and stay with them, for a time, at any rate; and
I think you ought to go."
"I do not think I should like it," said Ida, but indifferently, as if
the question were of no moment. "I would rather stay here"
Mr. Wordley polished his glasses very intently.
"I am afraid you'd find it very lonely at the Hall, my dear," he said.
"In fact, I don't think you could remain here by yourself," he added,
evading the direct gaze of the great, sad eyes.
"I should feel lonely anywhere," she said. "More lonely with people I
don't know, probably, than I should feel here, with Jessie and
Jason--and--and the dogs."
"Well, well, we can't discuss the question now, and will endeavour to
act for the best, my dear," said the old man, still intent upon his
glasses. "I hear the carriage. I will bring Mr. John in." He returned
in a minute or two, accompanied by a tall and gaunt individual, who, in
his black clothes and white necktie, looked a cross between a superior
undertaker and a Methodist preacher. His features were strongly marked,
and the expression of his countenance was both severe and melancholy,
and, judging by his expression and his voice, which was harsh and
lachrymose, his particular form of religion did not appear to afford
him either amusement or consolation.
"This is your cousin, Mr. John Heron," said poor Mr. Wordley, who was
evidently suffering from the effects of his few minutes' conversation
with that gentleman.
Mr. John Heron surveyed the slight figure and white face with its sad,
star-like eyes--surveyed it with a grim kind of severity, which was
probably intended for sympathy, and extending a cold, damp hand, which
resembled an extremely bony shoulder of mutton, said, in a rasping,
melancholy voice:
"How do you do, Ida? I trust you are bearing your burden as becomes a
Christian. We are born to sorrow. The train was three-quarters of an
hour late."
"I am sorry," said Ida in her low voice, leaving him to judge whether
she expressed regret for our birthright of misery or the lateness of
the train. "Will you have some lunch--some wine?" she asked, a dull,
vague wonder rising in her mind that this grim, middle-class man should
be of kith and kin with her dead father.
"Thank you; no. I had an abernethy biscuit at the station." He drew
back from, and waved away, the tray of wine which Jason at this moment
brought in. "I never touch wine. I, and all mine, are total abstainers.
Those who fly to the wine-cup in moments of tribulation and grief rely
on a broken reed which shall pierce their hand. I trust you do not
drink, Cousin Ida?"
"No--yes; sometimes; not much," she replied, vaguely, and regarding him
with a dull wonder; for she had never seen this kind of man before.
Mr. Wordley poured out a glass of wine, and, in silent indignation,
handed it to her; and, unconscious of the heavy scowl with which Mr.
John Heron regarded her, she put her lips to it.
"A glass of wine is not a bad thing at any time," said the old lawyer;
"especially when one is weakened and prostrated by trouble. Try and
drink a little more, my dear."
"It is a matter of opinion, of conviction, of principle," said Mr. John
Heron, grimly, as if he were in the pulpit. "We must be guided by the
light of our consciences; we must not yield to the seductive in
fineness of creature comfort. We are told that strong drink is
raging--" This was rather more than Mr. Wordley could stand, and, very
red in the face, he invited Mr. John Heron to go up to the room which
had been prepared for him.
When that gentleman had stalked out, the old lawyer looked at Ida with
a mixture of dismay and commiseration.
"Not a--er--particularly cheerful and genial person, my dear; but no
doubt Mr. John Heron is extremely conscientious and--er--good-hearted."
"I daresay," assented Ida, apathetically. "It does not matter. It was
very kind of him to come so far to--to the funeral," she added. "He
might have stayed away, for I don't think my father knew him, and I
never heard of him. Is it not time yet?" she asked, in a low voice.
As she spoke, Jessie came in and took her upstairs to her room to put
on the thick black cloak, the bonnet with its long crape veil, in which
Ida was to follow her father to the grave; for in spite of Mr.
Wordley's remonstrances, she had remained firm in her resolve to go to
the church-yard.
Presently the procession started. Only a few carriages followed the
hearse which bore Godfrey Heron to his last resting-place; but when the
vehicles cradled beyond the boundary of the grounds, across which the
dead man had not set foot for thirty years, the cavalcade was swelled
by a number of tenants, labourers, and dalesmen who had come to pay
their last respects to Heron of Herondale; and marching in threes,
which appears to be the regulation number for a funeral, they made a
long and winding tail to the crawling coaches, quite filled the little
church, and stood, a black-garbed crowd, in the pelting rain round the
oblong hole which would suffice for the last bed of this one of the
last of the lords of the dale.
But though all were present to show respect to the deceased squire, the
attention of every man and woman was fixed upon the slight, girlish
figure standing by the side of the grave, her head bent, her great
mournful eye fixed upon the coffin, her hands clenched tightly as they
held together the thick mourning cloak. She looked so young, so almost
child-like in the desolation of her solitude, that many of the women
cried silently, and the rough men set their lips hard and looked
sternly and grimly at the ground.
The old clergyman who had christened her and every Sunday had cast
glances of interest and affection at her as she sat in the great "loose
box" of a pew, found it very difficult to read the solemn service
without breaking down, and his old thin voice quavered as he spoke the
words of hope and consolation which the storm of wind and rain caught
up and swept across the narrow church-yard and down the dale of which
the Herons had been so long masters.
Mr. John Heron stood grim and gaunt opposite Ida, as if he were a
figure carved out of wood, and showed no sign of animation until the
end of the service, when he looked round with a sudden eagerness, and
opened his large square lips as if he were going to "improve the
occasion" by an address; but Mr. Wordley, who suspected him of such
intention, nipped it in the bud by saying:
"Will you give your arm to Miss Ida, Mr. Heron? I want to get her back
to the Hall as soon as possible."
Ida was led to the carriage, passing through a lane of sympathisers
amongst whom were representatives of all the great dale families; and
all bent their heads with a respectful pity and sympathy as the young
girl made her way down the narrow path. About half a dozen persons had
been asked to go to the Hall for the funeral lunch, at which Mr. John
Heron, as representative of the family, presided. It was a melancholy
meal; for most of those present were thinking of the orphan girl in her
room above. They spoke in lowered voices of the dead man and of the
great family from which he had sprung, and recalled stories of the
wealth and lavishness of past Herons; and when the meal was over, there
suddenly fell a silence, and all eyes were turned upon Mr. Wordley; for
the moment had arrived for the reading and expounding of the will.
Mr. Wordley rose, coughed, and wiped his eye-glasses, and looked round
gravely.
"As the legal adviser of my late client, Mr. Godfrey Heron, I have to
inform you, gentlemen, that there is no will. My client died
intestate."
The listeners exchanged glances, and looked grave and concerned.
"No will?" said Lord Bannerdale, anxiously; then his kindly face
cleared. "But of course everything goes to his daughter; the estate is
not entailed?"
Mr. Wordley inclined his head.
"The estate is not entailed, as you observed, Lord Bannerdale; and my
client, Miss Ida Heron, inherits everything."
They drew a breath of relief, and nodded assentingly; and presently
they made a general movement of departure. Lord Bannerdale lingered
behind the others. "I won't ask the poor child to see me, Mr. Wordley,"
he said. "Will you therefore be good enough to give her Lady
Bannerdale's love, and to tell her that, as Lady Bannerdale has written
to her, we shall be more than pleased if she will come to us at the
Court. She is to consider it her home for just as long as she should
please; and we shall feel it a pleasure and an honour to have her
amongst us as one of our own. Of course she cannot remain alone here,
in this great place."
The old lawyer bowed.
"I will give her your kind message, for which I thank you on her
behalf, Lord Bannerdale. I do not know what she will do, or where she
will go; at present she is not in a condition to discuss any plans for
her future, though to-day she expressed a desire to remain at the
Hall." He paused for a moment before he added: "I do not know whether
she can do so."
"My cousin is young, and a mere child, and she must follow the advice
of her elders and her guardian. The future of even the sparrow is in
higher hands than ours, and we know not what a day may bring forth,"
said Mr. John Heron, grimly, and with an uplifting of his heavy brows.
"Quite so," said Lord Bannerdale, who had taken a great dislike for the
sanctimonious speaker, and who could scarcely repress a shudder as he
shook Mr. John Heron's cold and clammy hand.
When they had all gone, Mr. Wordley said:
"We had better go into the library and talk matters over. I will send
for Miss Ida. It seems cruel to disturb her at such a moment, but there
is no help for it."
"You speak as if you had bad tidings, Mr. Wordley, to give us," said
John Heron.
"I am afraid I have," responded the old lawyer, shaking his grey head
sadly.