THREE WARNINGS.
"You are right, Bruce; it is certainly desirable for you to go down to
Wiltshire to-day to make any needful arrangements, and prepare for our
arrival to-morrow," said Mr. Trevor to his son on the following morning,
when the family were at the breakfast-table. "New servants will need
verbal directions; and you will see to the unpacking of the furniture
which I have sent down from this place, and to the most suitable
disposal of it in the several rooms of Myst Court." The gentleman rolled
up his breakfast-napkin, and slipped it into its ring. "Your train
starts at 10.30," he added, as he rose from his seat.
"Is Vibert to go with me?" inquired Bruce, glancing at his brother, who
had, as usual, come down late, and was still engaged with his anchovies
and muffin.
"I do not think that Vibert would give you much help," observed Mr.
Trevor.
"No help at all," exclaimed Vibert quickly. "It may be just in Bruce's
line to order and direct, see that there are enough of pots and pans in
the kitchen, meat in the larder, and fires all over the house; but as
for me--"
"You think it enough to eat the food and enjoy the fire," observed the
captain drily.
"And I positively must go to Albert Hall to-night; the Nairns have asked
me to make one of their party, and I really could not disappoint them,"
continued Vibert. "It is quite necessary that I should have a little
amusement before going to bury myself in the wilds of Wiltshire. As
Moore the poet sings,--
'To-night at least, to-night be gay,
Whate'er to-morrow brings!'"
"That's fair enough," observed the indulgent father.
Bruce exchanged a glance with his uncle which conveyed the unuttered
thought of both: "It is scarcely fair that one brother should have all
the trouble and the other all the amusement." Vibert noticed the look,
and laughed.
"Duty first--pleasure afterwards--that's the motto taught to all good
little children!" he cried. "Bruce, you are the elder, and like to be
first, so you naturally pair off with duty, whilst I am modest enough
to be quite contented with pleasure."
Mr. Trevor smiled at the jest, though he shook his bald head in gentle
reproof. Then turning to his brother-in-law, he observed, "Edward, I
have an early engagement in London, and must be off to the station. I am
afraid that I shall not find you here on my return."
"I also start early," said the captain. "Emmie has ordered the
conveyance to be at the door at ten. I must therefore wish you good-bye
now, thanking you for my pleasant visit to Summer Villa, and hoping next
spring to find you all well and happy in your new home."
The brothers-in-law cordially shook hands and parted, Mr. Trevor going
off to the station, as usual, on foot.
"I say, Bruce," observed Vibert, "if you have the settling about the
rooms at Myst Court, mind that you give me a good one. I like plenty of
air and light, and a cheerful view. No poky little cabin for me, nor an
attic at the top of the house; long stairs are a terrible bore."
"I shall certainly give my first attention to the accommodation of my
father and sister," said Bruce; "they never think of themselves."
"A hit at me, I suppose," cried Vibert with unruffled good-humour. "Ah!
that reminds me of our conversation last evening. Captain, have you been
hunting up the ghosts in our haunted rooms?" asked the youth as he rose
from his place at the breakfast-table.
Arrows replied by drawing forth a memorandum-book from the pocket of his
surtout. He unclasped it, and took out from it three minute pieces of
paper, neatly folded up and addressed.
"I am going upstairs to look after my luggage," said the captain; "I
leave with you--"
"These three private and confidential communications!" cried Vibert,
playfully snatching the papers out of his uncle's hand. "Each one, I
see, is directed: here's yours, Emmie; yours, Bruce; and here is mine!"
Captain Arrows did not wait to watch the effect produced by his little
missives, but quitted the room to complete preparations for his
departure.
"I'm of a frank nature," said Vibert; "I don't care if all the world
hear my good uncle's opinion of me!" and, unfolding the scrap of paper
which he held, the youth read aloud as follows: "_Be on your guard
against the_ PRIDE _that repels advice, resents reproof, and refuses to
own a fault._ I don't recognize my likeness in this photo!" cried the
youth; "if the portrait had been intended for Bruce,"--Vibert turned
the paper and looked at the back--"sure enough, it _is_ directed to
Bruce; and the captain has hit him off to the life!"
"You made the apparent blunder on purpose," said Bruce with
ill-suppressed anger, as he took the paper from Vibert, and then threw
it into the fire. Then, after tossing down on the table the unopened
note which had been handed to him first, Bruce Trevor turned on his
heel, and quitted the apartment.
"Stung and nettled! stung and nettled! does he not wince!" cried Vibert,
looking after his brother. "The captain has, sure enough, laid his
finger on the sensitive spot!"
"I am so much vexed at your having read that private paper aloud," said
Emmie; "it was never intended that we should know its contents."
"It told us nothing new," observed Vibert. "Bruce's pride is as plain as
the nose on his face; only, like the nose, it is too close to him--too
much a part of himself, for him to see it."
"Bruce is a noble, unselfish, generous fellow!" cried Emmie.
Vibert cared little to hear his brother's praises. "What is in your tiny
paper?" he asked, after he had glanced at his own. "Why, Emmie, you look
surprised at what our uncle has written. Tell me, just tell me what
lurking mischief the sharp-eyed Mentor has ferreted out in you. Some
concealed inclination to commit burglary or manslaughter?"
"I do not quite understand what my uncle means," said Emmie, gazing
thoughtfully upon the little missive which she had opened and read.
"I could explain it--I could make it clear--just let me see what the
oracle has written!" cried Vibert, with mirth and curiosity sparkling in
his handsome dark eyes. "I'll tell you in return, Emmie, what he has put
in my scrap of paper: _Beware of Selfishness._ Short but not sweet, and
rather unjust. I am thoughtless and gay, I care not who says that much;
but as for being selfish, it's a slander, an ungenerous slander!"
"Perhaps our uncle has again laid his finger on a sensitive spot,"
observed Emmie with a smile, but one so gentle that it could not offend.
"I want to know what the fault-finder lays to your charge, what solemn
admonition has called up the roses on those fair cheeks!" cried the
younger brother; and throwing one arm round Emmie, with his other hand
Vibert possessed himself of the paper of the scarcely resisting girl,
sharing her surprise as he glanced at the two words written upon it.
Those words were--_Conquer Mistrust._
"Mistrust of what or of whom?" said Vibert. "The oracle has propounded
a kind of enigma: as you are going to take a _tete-a-tete_ drive with
the captain, you will have an opportunity of getting an explanation of
your paper. As for mine, it goes after Bruce's--into the fire." Vibert
suited the action to the word.
About half-an-hour afterwards the conveyance which was to take Captain
Arrows from Summer Villa was driven up to the door. Emmie was ready, as
arranged, to accompany her uncle part of the way. John handed up his
luggage to be disposed of on the coach-box. Vibert came to the door to
see the guest depart and bid him farewell. "I'll show him," said the
youth to himself, "that I bear him no grudge for a warning that was not
very necessary, and certainly not very polite."
"Good-bye, captain," cried Vibert, as he shook hands with his uncle;
"come to Myst Court next spring, and you and I will make a raid on the
haunted chamber."
"Where is Bruce? I have not wished him good-bye," said the captain,
pausing when he was about to hand his niece into the carriage.
"Bruce!" called the clear voice of Emmie, as she ran back to the bottom
of the staircase to let her brother know that the guest was on the point
of departing.
"Bruce!" shouted Vibert with the full strength of his lungs.
There was no reply to either summons, and Emmie suggested that her
brother might have gone out, not remembering that the carriage had been
ordered so early. After a few minutes' delay, Arrows handed her into the
carriage, with the words, "You will bid Bruce good-bye for me."
"None so deaf as those who won't hear," muttered Vibert, when the
vehicle had rolled from the door. "Bruce heard us call, but he is in a
huff, and did not choose to appear. He _repels advice, resents reproof_,
and yet won't believe that he's proud! No more, perhaps, than I believe
that I'm selfish!"