PREPARING TO START.
The question of a move was finally settled; Myst Court was to be the
future residence of its new owner, who lost no time in making
arrangements for effecting in it such repairs as were absolutely
necessary to make it a tolerably comfortable dwelling. More than this
Mr. Trevor did not at present attempt; his expenses, he knew, would be
heavy. His newly-inherited property would yield no immediate supply;
improvements must be gradually made. The life of a landed proprietor was
one altogether new to Mr. Trevor, who had passed thirty years of his
life in a government office, never being more than a few weeks at a time
absent from London. Being a sensible man, he was aware that experience
on a hitherto untried path is often dearly bought. He expected to make
some mistakes, but resolved to act with such prudence that even mistakes
should not involve him in serious difficulties.
The six weeks which elapsed before the departure of the family from
Summer Villa were full of business and arrangements. Mr. Trevor, having
to wind up his office-work, and settle the affairs of his late aunt,
was, except in the evenings, very little at home. Emmie, who acted as
her father's housekeeper, found a hundred small matters to arrange
before making a move which must bring so complete a change. Her brothers
attended a private tutor in London, and usually went and returned by the
same trains as their father; so that, but for the company of her uncle,
Emmie would have spent much of her time alone. But the captain was a
cheerful companion and a most efficient helper to his young niece. He
made up her accounts, he paid her bills, he helped her to decide which
articles of furniture must be taken to the new home, which left to be
sold or given away. The slow-paced John was astonished at the energy
with which the naval officer would mount a ladder, and with his own
hands take down family pictures and swathe them in the matting which was
to secure their safe transit to Wiltshire.
"Sure the captain does the work of three. One would think he'd been
'prenticed to a carpenter by the way he handles the tools; and he runs
up a ladder like a cat," observed John to another member of the
household.
Captain Arrows felt strong sympathy for his niece. He saw, perhaps more
clearly than did any one else, how painful to her was the change which
was coming over her life. Her uncle respected Emmie's unselfish efforts
to hide from her father her reluctance to leave Summer Villa and all its
pleasant surroundings. Arrows noticed the shade of sadness on Emmie's
fair face when she received, as she frequently did, congratulations on
her father's accession to property. The acute observer could not fail to
see that the acquisition of Myst Court was no source of pride or
pleasure to Emmie.
Miss Trevor was perpetually reminded of her approaching departure from
the home in which her life had been so much like a summer holiday. Many
visits of leave-taking had to be paid, and few could be paid without
more or less of pain. Emmie had numerous friends, and to some she could
not bid farewell without a sharp pang of regret. Even inanimate things,
dear from association, were resigned with sadness. Emmie sighed to take
leave of her garden, and spent much time in procuring cuttings from her
favourite plants, her geraniums, her fuchsias, her myrtles. With what
pleasant memories were those flowers connected in the affectionate mind
of Emmie! Summer Villa and her friends seemed dearer than ever when she
was about to leave them behind.
Next to the captain, Emmie found her best helper in Susan. Active,
thoughtful, the neatest of packers, the most intelligent of maids, Susan
was indeed "a treasure" to her young mistress.
"You seem to like the change," said the cook to Susan, who was humming
cheerfully to herself as she knelt beside a hamper which she was packing
with china.
Susan did not pause to look up from her work as she answered, "I never
ask myself whether I like it or not; my business is to make ready for
it, and that is enough for me."
"How dismal a house looks when everything in it is being pulled down and
upset!" remarked the cook, standing with her back to the wall, and
watching Susan as she imbedded quaint old china tea-pot and cream-jug in
white cotton wool as carefully as she might have laid a baby in a
cradle. "The hall all lumbered with luggage; the whole place smelling of
matting; things awanted just when they've been packed up, corded, and
labelled; the walls looking without their pictures as faces would do
without eyes,--there is something horrid uncomfortable about a house as
has been long lived in when it's agoing to be left for good. I'm half
sorry that I agreed to stay on the extra fortnight; only it was such a
convenience to the family. I don't know what they'd have done had Ann
and I taken ourselves off before the move was fairly over."
Susan went quietly on with her occupation, while Mrs. Mullins went on
with her talking.
"P'r'aps master did wisely to keep on Mrs. Myers' servants, for he'd
hardly have got London folk to stay in his dismal country house, even on
double wages. We'll have you at the Soho registry before three months
are over."
"Time will show," said Susan.
"Them people down at Myst Court are accustomed to the kind of life they
lead there," continued the loquacious Mrs. Mullins, "and that's the
reason they don't mind it. Frogs like their ditch because they've never
known anything better; and I suppose that folk in a haunted house get
used to ghosts, as eels are used to skinning."
"Or learn not to be frightened at shadows," said Susan.
"I'm not frightened; don't you fancy that shadows keep me from going to
Myst Court," cried the cook. "But I could never stand a place where the
butcher--as John says--comes but twice a week in the winter; no cook
could abide that."
"It seems that Mrs. Myers' cook did," observed Susan.
"She's no cook!" exclaimed Mrs. Mullins, with an emphatic snort of
disdain: "she's had nothing to keep her hand in, and don't know a
_vol-au-vent_ from a _soufflet_! Why, Mrs. Myers never saw company,
never asked a friend to a meal! John says that for five days out of the
seven the old lady dined on mutton-broth, and the other two on
barley-gruel! John told me that he could hardly touch the dinners which
Hannah prepared; he is used to have things so very different," added
Mrs. Mullins with professional pride.
"If Hannah's cooking satisfied master and his son, John might have been
satisfied too," observed Susan.
"Oh, Mr. Trevor is never partic'lar about his food; and as for Master
Bruce, John says that he was so much taken up about arrangements, and
alterations, and improvements, that he would not have noticed if the
stew had been made of old shoes. But Master Vibert, he's not so easily
pleased; he likes his dainty bits, his sauces, and his sweeties; there
is some satisfaction in dishing up a dinner for him! He'll soon find out
that this Hannah knows just as much of cooking as I do of cow-milking,
and there will be a worrit in the house." Mrs. Mullins folded her hands
complacently at the thought of how much her own valuable services would
be regretted, and then inquired, in an altered tone, "Is the captain
going to Myst Court with the rest of the party?"
"No; I am sorry to say that the captain leaves this to-morrow," said
Susan. "He is before long to start on another cruise, and as he has much
business to do in the docks, he needs to stop for awhile in London. The
carriage which takes the captain away is to drop Miss Emmie at the house
of her friend, Miss Alice, to whom she wishes to say good-bye. My poor
dear young lady! every day brings its good-bye to her now. It will be
well when Friday comes, and the move to Myst Court is fairly over."
"I'd never go into a new house on a Friday; it's unlucky," observed Mrs.
Mullins, as she turned away and went off to the kitchen.