THE NEW GOVERNESS.
It was a cold wet day, in the beginning of November, when Annie Brunel
got out of the Hampstead 'bus, and found herself in the muddy highway of
Haverstock Hill: a wet and cheerless day, with a damp and cutting wind,
and a perpetual drizzling rain, that made the black stems of the
leafless trees glisten and drip; a day to make the people who passed
each other in the street, vainly muffled-up against the wet and the keen
cold, hate each other with a vague and gratuitous hatred. There was
scarcely a traveller on foot who did not regard all others in similar
plight as somehow responsible for the contrariety of the elements.
"What a pity you should have come to-day!" cried Mrs. John Hubbard, as
she came into the hall to receive her visitor. "I would rather you had
broken a dozen appointments. I hope you are not wet. I hope you are
not cold. Come into the drawing-room at once; there is a nice warm fire
to bring the blood to your fingers again."
During this speech Annie Brunel had time to examine her future mistress.
She was not obviously mad. Indeed, the coal-black hair, the rosy
cheeks, the small and pretty mouth, the neat figure and small hands,
were the natural ornaments of a person who seemed mentally far too
colourless and contented ever to be troubled by intellectual
derangement. Yet the new governess was as much puzzled by her reception
as by the letter she had received.
"There now, take this easy-chair--let me draw it in for you--and we
shall have a chat over the matter. I have hitherto only had a morning
governess, you know; the poor girl took unwell some time ago, and she
has not been here for some days now."
At this precise moment, Miss Betham was upstairs, packing her music and
preparing for final departure. But to the good-natured and mentally limp
Mrs. Hubbard, lying came as easily as telling the truth. She would not
have told a lie to secure a particular end; but in the course of
conversation she did not seem to recognise the necessity of being exact
in her statements. She lied broadly and often; but she lied
harmlessly--at least she meant to do no harm by her lying.
"I won't ask you any questions, Miss Brunel--not one. You have your own
reasons for leaving the stage; and I'm not going to quarrel with what
enables me to have your assistance (if we can make arrangements, that
is), which I don't doubt for a moment."
"I am quite inexperienced, as I told you in my letter----"
"Oh, that does not signify," said the other, affably.
Annie Brunel looked up with a glance of astonishment, which any woman
not a fool would have noticed.
"And if you think that I know enough to attempt to get into the way of
teaching, I shall leave all the other arrangements to you. I am not
anxious about the salary you may be inclined to give me; because, after
all, it is only a trial. And if you think I am worth to you, in the
meantime, so much per week as will keep me in food and pay my
lodgings----"
"Your lodgings! I could not think of submitting you to the misery of
lodgings so long as I have a comfortable room to offer you."
Mrs. Hubbard did not look like a practical joker; but her reception of
the new governess looked uncommonly like a practical joke.
"You are very kind," said Annie, the wide eyes being a little wider than
usual; "but I thought it was as a day-governess----"
"To be sure, we have always had a day-governess. But in _your_ case I
should prefer a resident governess, especially if you are about to leave
your home and take lodgings."
"I meant to take lodgings somewhere near you, if I had the good fortune
to please you."
"In this neighbourhood you couldn't get lodgings; and if you go down to
Camden Town, or over to Kentish Town--oh, my dear, I couldn't think of
it. My husband is very particular about everybody connected with us
being treated fairly--like one of ourselves, you understand; and as soon
as he heard of your being inclined to answer the advertisement, he
said--
"'I hope Miss Brunel will find a comfortable home here.'"
This was another lie--indeed, what little intellect the poor woman had
chiefly took the form of invention.
"I am not anxious to go into lodgings," said Annie Brunel, with a smile,
"as I had a good deal of experience of them at one time."
"Shall we consider it settled, then?"
"But you do not know whether I am fit for the duties you require."
"What an objection! I know you are."
"Then, as to terms----"
"We shan't quarrel about terms. Come and stay with us as soon as you
can, and we'll make everything comfortable and agreeable for you, and
we'll settle about terms afterwards. Then, you know, we shall have
private theatricals to amuse you."
In certain stories, and in not a few dramas, Annie Brunel had seen a
perfect stranger suddenly determine to play the part of a special
Providence towards the heroine; but she was lost in astonishment to meet
that incomprehensible friend in real life. Here she was, however; and
when it is manna that the clouds rain, there is little reason in putting
up an umbrella.
Mrs. Hubbard rang the bell, and sent a servant for the children. They
came trooping down to the drawing-room, pushing each other, and looking
very shy and a trifle sulky.
"This is the lady who will help you with your lessons now, my dears,
since Miss Betham has gone."
"Miss Betham hasn't gone--she is upstairs yet," said Master Alexander,
"and she has just told Kate to fetch her her sherry."
"Ah, come to look after some music she has left behind, perhaps," said
Mrs. Hubbard, with a significant nod to Annie.
"You will find the children very obedient," she continued, "and nothing
shall be wanting to add to your comfort. May we conclude the bargain to
be settled?"
"Certainly, so far as I am concerned," said the girl.
These were the agreeable tidings which awaited Mr. John Hubbard when he
returned home that night.
"She is such a charming person," said his wife; "I don't wonder at your
brother being fond of her."
"He is fond of her money," said John Hubbard, gloomily, "and fancies
himself sure of it now."
"It would be very wicked to take advantage of the girl's innocence in
any way," said Mrs. Hubbard, a proposition to which her husband
assented.
"But if we can touch her _gratitude_, my dear," said he, "there is no
saying, as I told you before, what might happen."