"HOME, SWEET HOME."
Mrs. Romaine and Oliver Trent attributed Lesley's desire to see
Macclesfield Buildings to a young girl's curiosity, and, perhaps, to a
desire for Oliver's company. They had no conception of the new fancies
and feelings, aims and interests, which were developing in her soul.
Only so much of these were visible as to lead Oliver to say to his
sister before they sallied forth that afternoon--
"I fancy she is getting up an enthusiasm for her father. Won't that be
awkward for you?"
Mrs. Romaine was silent for a moment. Then she answered, with perfect
quietness--
"I think it will be more awkward for Lady Alice. It may be rather
convenient for us."
And Oliver noticed that for the rest of the afternoon she took every
opportunity of indirectly and directly praising Mr. Brooke, his works
and ways. But he could not see that Lesley looked pleased--perhaps Mrs.
Romaine's words had rather an artificial ring.
Somehow, it seemed to Lesley as if she hated the expedition on which she
came. Was it not a little too like spying upon her father's work? He had
never invited her to Macclesfield Buildings. And he would never know the
spirit in which she came: it would seem to him as though she had been
brought in Mrs. Romaine's train, perhaps against her will, to laugh, to
stare, to criticize. She would rather have crept in humbly, and tried to
understand, by herself, what he was trying to do. What would he think of
her when he saw her there that afternoon?
She was morbidly afraid of him and of his opinion. Caspar Brooke would
have been as much hurt as astonished if he knew in what ogre-like light
she regarded him.
Ethel joined them before they started for Macclesfield Buildings, and as
rain was beginning to fall, Oliver insisted that they should take a
cab. It was for his own sake, as Rosalind reminded him, rather than for
theirs. He had a profound dislike of dirty streets, dirty people,
unpleasant sights and sounds. And there were plenty of these to be
encountered in the North London district to which they were bound that
afternoon.
The three Londoners--for such they virtually were--could hardly refrain
from laughing when they saw Lesley's horrified face as the cab drove up
to the block of buildings in which the club was situated. "But this is a
prison--a workhouse--a lunatic asylum!" she exclaimed. "People do not
live here--do they--in this dreary place?"
Ah, me, and a dreary place it was! Three lofty blocks of building, all
of the same drab hue, with iron-railed balconies outside the narrow
windows, and a great court-yard in which a number of children romped and
howled and shrieked in play: it was perhaps the most depressingly ugly
bit of architecture that Lesley had ever seen. In vain her friends told
her of the superior sanitary arrangements, the ventilation, the
drainage, the pure water "laid on;" all she could do was to clasp her
hand, and say, with positive tears in her bright eyes, "But _why_ could
it not all have been made more beautiful?" And indeed it is hard to say
why not.
"Now we are going down into a coal hole," said Oliver, as he helped the
ladies to alight. "At least it was once a coal hole. Yes, it was. These
four rooms were used as storehouses for coals and vegetables until your
father rented them: you will see what they look like now."
"Lesley is horrified," said Ethel, with a little laugh. "Not at the
coal-hole," Lesley answered, trying also to be merry, "but at the
ugliness of it all. Don't you think this kind of ugliness almost
wicked?"
"Oliver thinks all ugliness wicked," said Mrs. Romaine, maliciously.
"Then _we_ ought to be very good," said Ethel. But Oliver did not
answer: he was looking at Lesley, whose face had grown pale.
"Are you tired?--are you ill?" he asked her, in the gentlest undertones.
They were still picking their way over the muddy stones of the
court-yards, and rough children ran up to them now and then, and
clamored for a penny. "Is the sight of this place too much for you?"
"Oh, no," said Lesley, with a sudden, inexplicable flush of color: "It
is not that--it is ugly, of course; but I do not mind it at all."
Oliver glanced round suspiciously, as if to discover why she had
blushed. All that he could see was the tall figure of Maurice Kenyon,
who was standing in a doorway talking to somebody on the stairs. Even if
Lesley had seen him, she surely would not blush for that! What chance
had Kenyon had of becoming acquainted with her? Oliver forgot that other
sisters besides his own might send their brothers on messages.
Down a flight of stone steps, through a low doorway, and into a dark
little corridor, was Lesley conducted. She noticed that Mrs. Romaine and
Ethel were quite accustomed to the place. "We have often been before,
you know," Ethel explained. "It's your father's hobby, you know; his
doll's house, or Noah's Ark, or whatever you like to call it--his pet
toy. I always call it his Noah's Ark myself. The animals walk in two by
two. The men may bring their wives on Sundays. Oh, by the bye, Lesley, I
hope you don't mind smoke. The men have their pipes, you know."
And then Lesley, dazzled and confounded by her surroundings, found
herself in a brilliantly lighted room of considerable size--really two
ordinary rooms thrown into one. Immediately the squalor and ugliness of
the outer world were thrown into the background. The walls of the room
were distempered--Indian red below, warm grey above; and on the grey
walls were hung fine photographs of well-known foreign buildings or of
celebrated paintings. In one part of the room stood a magnificent
billiard-table, now neatly covered with a cloth. A neat little piano was
placed at the other end of the room, near a large table covered with a
scarlet cloth, strewn with magazines, papers, and books, and decorated
with flowers. The chairs were of solid make, seated with red leather
ornamented with brass nails. In fact, the whole place was not only
comfortable, but cheery and pleasant to the eye. Lesley was told that
there was also a library, beside a kitchen and pantry, whence visitors
could get tea or coffee, "temperance drinks," and rolls or cakes.
A few women in their "Sunday best" were looking at the books and
periodicals, or gossiping together, but they were not so numerous as
the men--respectable working-men for the most part; some of them
smoking, some reading or talking, without their pipes. In one little
group Lesley recognized, with a start, that her father was the centre of
attraction. He was sitting, as the other men were, and he was talking:
the musical notes of his cultivated voice rose clearly above the hum of
rougher and huskier voices. Lesley gathered that some proposition had
been made which he was combating.
"No," he said, "I won't have it. Look here--did you open this club, or
did I?"
"You did, guv'nor," said one of the men.
"Then I'll have my say in the management. Some of you want the women
turned out, do you? It's the curse of modern life, the curse of English
and all other society, that you do want the women turned out, you men,
where-ever you go. And the reason is that women are better than you are.
They are purer, nobler, more conscientious than you, and therefore you
don't want them with you when you take your pleasures. Eh?"
There was a melodious geniality about the last monosyllable which made
the men smile in spite of themselves.
"'T'ain't that," said one of them, awkwardly. "It's because they're apt
to neglect their 'omes if they come out of an afternoon or an evening
like we do."
"Not they!" said Mr. Brooke. "To come out now and then is to make them
love their homes, man. They'll put more heart in to their work, if they
have a little rest and enjoyment now and then, as you do.
Besides--you've got hold of a wrong principle. The women are not your
slaves and servants; they ought not to be. They are your companions,
your helpers. The more they are in sympathy with you, the better they
will help you. Don't keep your wives out of the brighter moments of your
lives, else they will forget how to feel with you, and help you when
darker moments come!"
There was a pause; and then a man, with rather a sullen face--evidently
one of the malcontents--said, with a growl,
"Fine talk, gov'nor. It'll end in our wives leaving us, like they say
yours done."
There was an instant hiss and groan of disapproval. So marked, indeed,
that the man rose to shoulder his way to the door. Evidently he was not
a popular character.
"We'll pay him out, if you like, sir," said a youth; and some of the
older men half rose as if to execute the threat.
"Sit down: let him alone," said Mr. Brooke, sharply. "He's a poor fool,
and he knows it. Every man's a fool that does not reverence women. And
if women would try to be worthy of that reverence, the world would be
better than it is."
He rose as he spoke, with apparent carelessness, but those who knew him
best saw that the taunt had stung him. And as he moved, he caught
Lesley's eye. He had not known that she was to be there; and by
something in her expression--by her heightened color, perhaps, or her
startled eye--he saw at once that she had heard the man's rude speech
and his reply.
He stopped short, grasped at his beard as his manner was, especially
when he was perplexed or embarrassed; then crossed over towards her,
laid his hand on her arm, and spoke in a tone of unusual tenderness.
"_You_ here, my child?"
Lesley thrilled all over with the novel pleasure of what seemed to her
like commendation. But she could not answer suitably.
"Mrs. Romaine brought me," she said.
"Ah! Mrs. Romaine?"--in quite a different tone. "Very kind of Mrs.
Romaine. By the bye, Maurice"--to Mr. Kenyon, who had just appeared upon
the scene, and was looking with curiously anxious eyes at Lesley--"the
music ought to begin now. Is Trent ready? And will Ethel recite
something? That's all right--I suppose Miss Bellot will be here
presently."
And leaving Lesley without another glance, he went to the piano and
opened it. The audience settled itself in its place, and gave a little
sigh of expectation. Mr. Brooke's Sunday afternoon "recitals," from four
to five, always gave great satisfaction.
Oliver sang first, then Ethel recited something; then Mr. Brooke sang,
and then Oliver played--he was a very useful young man in his way--and
then there came a little pause.
"A certain Miss Bellot promised to come and sing, but she has not
appeared," Ethel explained to her friend. "Lesley, you can sing: I know
you can, for I saw a lot of songs in your portfolio the other day. Won't
you give them something?"
"Oh, no, I couldn't!"
"It's not a critical audience," said Oliver, on her other side. "You
might try. The people are growing impatient, and your father will be
disappointed if things do not go well----"
Lesley flushed deeply. A week ago she would have thought--What is it to
me if my father is disappointed? But she could not think so to-night.
"I have no music here. And I cannot sing properly when I play my own
accompaniments."
"Tell me something you know and let me see whether I can play it," said
Oliver.
She paused for a moment, then, with a smile in her eyes, she mentioned a
name which made him laugh and elevate his eyebrows. "Do you know
_that_?" she said.
"Rather! Is it not a trifle hackneyed? Ah, well, not for this audience,
perhaps. Yes, I will play." And then, just as Caspar Brooke, with a
slight gesture of annoyance, turned to explain to the people that a
singer whom he expected had not come, Oliver touched him on the arm.
"Miss Brooke is going to sing, please," he said. "Will you announce
her?"
Mr. Brooke stared hard for a moment, then bowed his head.
"My daughter will now sing to you," he said, curtly, and sat down again,
grasping his brown beard with one hand.
"_Can_ she sing?" Mrs. Romaine said in his ear, with an accent of veiled
surprise.
"I do not know in the least. I hope it will be English, at any rate.
These good people don't care for French and Italian things."
Mrs. Romaine saw that he looked undoubtedly nervous, and just then
Oliver began the prelude to Lesley's song. It was certainly English
enough. It was "Home, Sweet Home."
Every one looked up at the sound of the familiar air. "Hackneyed" as
Oliver had declared it to be, it is a song which every audience loves to
hear. And Lesley made a pretty picture for the eyes to rest upon while
she sang. She was dressed from top to toe in a delicate shade of grey,
which suited her fair skin admirably: the grey was relieved by some
broad white ribbons and a vest of soft white silk folds, according to
the prevailing fashion. A wide-brimmed grey hat, trimmed with drooping
grey ostrich feathers, also became her extremely well. Mrs. Romaine
noticed that Caspar Brooke looked at her hard for a minute or two, and
then sat with his eyes fixed on the ground, his right hand forming a
pillow for his left elbow, and his left hand engaged in stroking his big
brown beard. What she did not notice was, that Maurice Kenyon had
withdrawn himself to a post behind Mr. Brooke's chair, where he could
see and not be seen; and that his eyes were riveted upon the fair singer
with an expression which betokened more perplexity than admiration.
As Lesley's pure, sweet notes floated out upon the air, there was an
instant stir of approbation and interest among the listeners. If the
girl had been less intent upon her singing, the unmoved and unmoving
stare of these men and women might have made her a little nervous. It
was their way of showing attention. The men had even put down their
pipes. But Lesley did not see them. She had chosen her song at
haphazard, as one which these people were likely to understand; but its
painful appropriateness to her own case, perhaps to her mother's case as
well, only came home to her as she continued it.
"'Mid pleasures and palaces--though I may roam--
Be it never so humble, there's no place like home.
A charm from the heart seems to hallow it there,
Which, seek through the world, is not met with elsewhere."
If Lesley's voice faltered a little while singing words with which she
herself felt forced to disagree, and to which her mother had given the
lie by running away from the home Caspar Brooke had provided for her,
the hesitation and tremulousness were set down by the hearers as a very
pretty bit of artistic skill, which they were not at all slow to
appreciate. Mrs. Romaine put up her eye-glass and looked narrowly at the
girl during the last few notes.
"How well she sings!" she murmured in Mr. Brooke's ear. "Positively, as
if she felt it!"
Caspar Brooke gave a little start, left off handling his beard, and sat
up shrugging his shoulders. "A good deal of dramatic talent, I fancy,"
he observed. But he could say no more, for the people were clapping
their hands and stamping with their feet, in their eagerness for
another song; and he was obliged to be silent until the tumult abated.
"You must sing again?" said Oliver.
"Must I? Really? But--shall I sing what English people call a sacred
piece? A Sunday piece, you know? 'Angels ever bright and fair'--can you
play that?"
Oliver could play that. And Lesley sang it with great applause.
But, being a keenly observant young person, and also in a very sensitive
state, she noticed that her father held aloof and did not look quite
well pleased. And she, remembering her refusal to take singing lessons,
felt, naturally, a little guilty.
She had not time, however, to dwell upon her own feelings. The assembly
began to disperse, for Mr. Brooke did not let the hours of his "meeting"
encroach on church hours, and it was time to go. But almost every man,
and certainly every woman, insisted on shaking hands with Lesley, most
of them saying, with a friendly nod, that they hoped she'd come again.
"You're Mr. Brooke's daughter, ain't you, miss?" said a tall,
broad-shouldered fellow, with honest eyes and a pleasant smile, which
Lesley liked.
"Yes, I am."
"I hope you'll give us a bit of your singing another Sunday. 'Tis a
treat to hear you, it is."
"Yes, I shall be glad to come again," said Lesley.
"That's like your father's daughter," said the man, heartily. "Meaning
no disrespect to you, miss. But Mr. Brooke's the life and soul of this
place: he's splendid--just splendid; and we can't think too high of him.
So it's right and fitting that his daughter should take after him."
Lesley stood confused, but pleased. And then the man lowered his voice
and spoke confidentially.
"There was a bit of a breeze this afternoon, just after you came in, I
think; but you mustn't suppose that we have trouble o' that sort every
Sunday, or week-day either. It was just one low, blackguardly fellow
that got in and wanted to make a disturbance. But he won't do it again,
for we'll have a meeting, and turn him out to-morrow. I would just like
you to understand, miss, that a good few of us in this here club would
pretty nigh lay down our lives for Mr. Brooke if he wanted them--for
myself I wouldn't even say 'pretty nigh,' for I'd do it in a jiffy.
He's helped to save some of us from worse than death, miss, and that's
why."
"Come, Jim Gregson," said a cheery voice behind him, "you get along home
to your tea. Time for shutting up just now. Good-bye."
And Caspar Brooke held out his hand for the workman to shake. He had
only just come up, and could not therefore have heard what Gregson was
saying; but Lesley preferred to turn away without meeting his eye. For
in truth her own were full of tears.
She broke away from the little group, and went into the library, as if
she wanted to inspect the books. But in reality she wanted a moment's
silence and loneliness in which to get rid of the swelling in her
throat, the tears in her eyes. These were caused partly by excitement,
partly by an expression of feeling brought to her by the earnestness of
Gregson's words, partly by penitence. And it was before she had well got
rid of them that Maurice Kenyon put his head into the room and found her
there.
"We are going now, Miss Brooke," he said. "Will you come? I--I hope I'm
not disturbing you--I----"
"I am just coming," said Lesley, dashing the tears from her face. "I am
quite ready."
"There is no hurry. You can let them go on first, if you like," said
Maurice, partly closing the door. Then, in the short pause that
followed, he advanced a little way into the room.
"Miss Brooke," he said, "I hope you will not mind my speaking to you
again; but I want to say that I wish--most humbly and with all my
heart--to beg your pardon. Will you forgive me?"