ENQUIRIES.
HERBERT MILNER kept to his resolution of making enquiries on his own
account, if those made by Mr. Capon did not prove satisfactory.
A week after he returned to school, he received a letter from his
mother, telling him that Mr. Capon had not only written, but sent a
messenger to enquire about the girl named Elsie Winn. But he found that
they had moved away from the neighbourhood, and no one seemed to know
where they had gone, or cared to talk about them.
"Let this satisfy you now, my dear boy," wrote his mother in
conclusion. "We have done what we could to find your aunt, and failed.
We have done our duty, and we can do no more."
But Herbert was by no means satisfied that no more could be learned
of his missing relatives; and so, after he had read this letter, he
decided to write himself to the schoolmistress. And his letter caused
no small surprise to the lady who knew Elsie and her mother so well. It
was handed to her just as she was leaving school with a friend one day;
and she sat down at once to know who had written to her in such a round
schoolboy hand.
"Dear Madam,—I think I have a cousin, and her name would very likely
be Elsie Winn; but I have never seen her, and we don't know where to find
her. You used to have a girl in your school of that name, and she took
a scholarship. That is how we heard about her; but I should like to
know some more, for I have neither brother nor sister; but I hope Elsie
Winn is my cousin, fox I think she did a plucky thing to give up that
scholarship to help her mother. I think her mother and my mother are
sisters, and we want to find her."
The lady smiled as she read the letter, and handed it to her friend.
"This is from a boy, I have no doubt; but it is rather strange that as
soon as Mrs. Winn has moved away from the neighbourhood, there should
be these enquiries about her. There was a man here, you know, a day or
two ago, asking if I knew where the Winns lived."
"Poor things! I am sorry for them, for I quite believed that man came
about some little debt they may have owed. I wonder how much it was,
for I know it will be a dreadful worry to Elsie, and her mother too. If
I could only find out, I would pay it and send them the receipt, and
then they would not be bothered about it again."
"Oh, but this has nothing to do with it," said her friend, quickly. "I
am sure it was a boy that wrote this; and he would not be likely to
tell this story about a cousin if it was not true."
"Well, I don't know where they have gone to live, and I won't know if
I can help it; and then I can tell people truly enough that 'I don't
know.' I am sure of this, that if Mrs. Winn has got into debt, it has
been through Tom having the scarlet fever, and that she could not help
it; and as for helping people to find her, to worry her about it, I
will not, whoever they may be!"
Elsie's governess spoke very firmly, and looked at her friend as she
did so, as if mutely asking if she was going to betray this unfortunate
family.
"I don't think this is about a debt," said the lady, when she had read
Herbert's letter through a second time. "I think this is a genuine
schoolboy letter. But still I should like to find out a little about
the writer before I answer it, and I can do so, I think; for I have a
cousin living at Firdale, and he shall find out who lives at the Old
Manor House. It sounds all right, the 'Old Manor House,' but still
there is no telling. I can soon learn where Mrs. Winn has gone, if we
should think it wise to tell this boy where she may be found."
"Don't tell me the address, please," said the other, "for I want to
be able to say, 'I don't know,' if we have any more visitors like the
last, for I did not like his manner at all."
A day or two later a letter came to Miss Russell, saying that the Old
Manor House, Firdale, was a very select gentleman's boarding-school;
which so far relieved the teacher's fears, that it was agreed that Miss
Russell should write and tell Herbert where a letter would find Mrs.
Winn. It also added the information that it was feared she might be in
straightened circumstances, as her son had caught scarlet fever a few
months after his father's death, and that had compelled them to remove
to another neighbourhood; and she enclosed the address which she had
received from an intimate friend of Mrs. Winn's.
"There, I should think that would do," said Miss Russell, as she read
over what she had written. "You see I have told him I am writing for
you, as you don't know her address."
"No, it will be better altogether for me not to know it," said Elsie's
former governess. "People are less likely to come to you for it, and
I am sadly afraid the poor things will go down hill very fast through
that boy catching the fever."
The lady said "that boy" as though she would like to shake him, for
everybody knew it was through Tom's disobedience that his mother had
lost her business, and been obliged to go away.
"But if this is really a cousin who writes, there may be better times
in, store for the poor woman," said Miss Russell. However, her friend
could not feel quite sure that they had not done more harm than good by
replying to the schoolboy's letter.
Meanwhile Herbert Milner was delighted at the result of his application
to the school, when, after waiting for a week, he received Miss
Russell's letter. He did not know how dubious the ladies had been about
writing to him; but he felt sure, from the wording of the letter, that
this Mrs. Winn, whoever she might be, greatly needed help just now. And
his mother, herself a widow, was well provided for, and therefore would
be able to help and sympathise with Mrs. Winn. And if it should prove
to be her long lost sister, how glad she would be to help her, and the
brave girl who had given up the scholarship a year before.
This was how Herbert reasoned, as he sat down and wrote a rather
incoherent letter to his mother, telling her he had written to the
schoolmistress, and asked for Elsie Winn's address, and how they had
sent it to him, though Capon's man could not find out anything about
the people.
Now it must be confessed that Mrs. Milner was not too well pleased when
she received her son's letter, vaunting his cleverness over "Capon's
man." She was not without natural affection, and she often wished in a
vague way for the little sister she had not seen for so long; but she
was also a fashionable lady, and she was afraid now that she might feel
ashamed to own the relationship with Elsie among the people she was now
constantly meeting.
She wanted to do her duty, as she told herself, and Herbert too. But
having done "all that people could expect of her—" having sent Capon's
man in search of her lost sister—she thought she might settle down and
make herself comfortable about the matter. But she did not feel really
and truly sorry that the enquiries had failed, as Herbert did, but she
was rather relieved, especially when Mrs. Stone called upon her, and
talked about her new carriage, and diamonds, and the court that was
paid to her husband by noblemen and other great people.
She was, as Herbert said, decidedly vulgar; but then she was also
enormously rich, and Mrs. Milner shivered at the thought of letting
Mrs. Stone know that she had poor relations; so poor, that their
children went to a board school!
The lawyer's report was therefore a relief, rather than a
disappointment to her, when she read that a messenger had been sent
to the school named in her letter, and had ascertained that children
bearing the name of Winn used to attend the school, but that they had
now removed to another neighbourhood, and left no address behind them.
"It is possible these people went away in debt," added the lawyer.
Mrs. Milner was an honourable woman, and proud, too, and that her
sister should be spoken of as having left a neighbourhood because she
would not pay her debts, was very painful to her feelings; and she sat
down at once and wrote a short note, saying that from the information
he had gained, she felt sure this Mrs. Winn was not her sister, and
that it was not necessary to pursue the enquiry any further. She had
done her duty, and should let the matter drop for the future.
This was how she had written to Mr. Capon, and then shortly afterwards
came Herbert's letter, saying he had been making independent enquiry,
and had found his aunt's address, and begged her to go and see her, and
not send Capon's man again.
But it happened that Mrs. Milner had a bad cold just then; and so
she made the most of this, and told Herbert that it would be quite
impossible for her to travel so far, until there was a change in the
weather; and as they were now in the autumn season of the year, this
meant a postponement for some months at least.
She did not let Herbert know how angry she really felt at his having
written to the school about these people. He was her only son, and had
always had a good deal of his own way in most things that concerned
his own comfort and pleasure; and if this matter had been for his
own benefit to find out his lost aunt, she could have understood and
excused it. But this anxiety to find out a person who might prove to be
a source of embarrassment and vexation to them, if ever she was found,
she could not understand; and she was annoyed that he should be so
persistent in a matter which he must know by this time was not pleasing
to her.
Still, as far as she could, she kept these thoughts and feelings out
of the letter she wrote to him, merely saying she could not take such
a journey in her present state of health, and while the weather was so
cold and unsettled. She said once more that she had done all that could
be required of her, to try and find her sister, and if anything more
was to be done, it must wait until she is in better health, and could
take up the enquiry personally.
This long letter was anything but pleasant reading for Herbert, who was
impatient to hear more about his only relatives,—especially his cousin
Elsie, whom he had began to idealise in a fashion that would greatly
have surprised that modest little maiden.
All sorts of conjectures and fears pressed upon his thoughts whenever
he had a minute to himself. Suppose they should move to some other
place, and he should lose trace of them again! Suppose his aunt should
fall ill, and be unable to work for her children! In short, he supposed
all sorts of contingencies, likely and unlikely, to befall Mrs. Winn,
before the winter was over, and his mother able to go in search of her.
When he wrote to his mother again, he suggested some of these as very
real dangers, that the money left by his father for her benefit might
easily avert. If they could only make sure that this Mrs. Winn, the
widow, and mother of the scholarship girl, was his aunt Elsie, then
some of the money at least might be sent on to her.
This letter really hurt his mother's feelings, for he said nothing
whatever about her bad cold, but the whole letter was about this
missing aunt, and what he deemed the necessity of finding her without
delay. And she wrote and told him he seemed to be forgetting his duty
to his mother, in his anxiety to befriend strangers, who might not
thank him for the trouble he had taken when they were found.
Herbert loved his mother dearly, and the thought that she was hurt
at his seeming want of feeling hurt him in turn. And he wrote, as
soon as he could, a very penitent letter, but could not help adding
a postscript, begging she would write, if she could not go, to the
address he had sent to her, for there was no telling what might happen
if they had to wait until the spring before any further enquiries were
made.
To this Mrs. Milner replied that she would not fail to do her duty; and
she would consider whether she would send to Mr. Capon again, if she
could not go herself.
This letter satisfied Herbert for the time; and just then he had to
give more attention to his lessons, and less thought to his unknown
aunt, for he had fallen into arrears with some of his exercises; and
if he was to take home a prize at Christmas, he would have to apply
himself with a good deal more energy to the work in hand, or his mother
would suffer another disappointment when the holidays arrived—and he
loved her too dearly to do this, if it could possibly be avoided.
So the boy turned to his books once more, and for a week or two no one
had reason to complain of his want of application. He won extra marks
for the care and neatness with which his exercises were written and
lessons prepared. But he was still hoping that each letter from his
mother would tell him that Mr. Capon had sent his messenger again in
search of Mrs. Winn. No such news, however, came.
He had given up mentioning the matter, as his mother had desired
him, and Mrs. Milner did the same, hoping by that means to make
Herbert forget all about it. For she saw in the future all sorts of
difficulties and complications, and she wanted time to settle how these
could be met and overcome, before she took any further step towards
seeking these poor relations.
This was what she told herself, and it satisfied her conscience for the
time being. But, not feeling sure that Herbert would feel satisfied,
she did not mention the matter to him at all. On the other hand, she
carefully abstained from all mention of his supposed aunt. She enlarged
a good deal upon her continued weakness from the cold, and the social
engagements that pressed upon, and took up so much of her time; and
also how busy she was, making garments for the poor old people in the
almhouses. With all these things to do, she could hardly find time to
write his letters (she told him); and this she thought ought to satisfy
him, that she had no time to take a long journey just now, or even to
worry about Mr. Capon sending a messenger.
She did not for one moment suppose that her sister was in any great
need. Of course she had got used to living in a mean little house, on
straitened means, when she married; and she did not suppose she was
much worse off now she was a widow. Mrs. Milner honestly thought this,
and that next spring would do just as well to make enquiries about her,
as to make a fuss just now.
So Herbert looked in vain for news of this aunt; and Mrs. Milner
went on making garments for strangers, never dreaming that she was
neglecting her duty while she did so—that her true duty was to search
for her sister, and befriend her. This was the duty that lay nearest to
her, and no kindness to strangers could atone for the neglect of this.