CHRISTMAS.
While all these agitations were going on, it came to be Christmas, with
the usual stir and commotion always produced in a large family and
connections, by that often troublesome festival. The amount of reality
in the rejoicings may be very doubtful, but yet there must be a family
gathering, and the different branches of the race must seem to take
kindly to it whatever may be their private sentiments. Dickens did
wisely in finding his types of Christmas felicity among people to whom
an accidental turkey is a benediction from heaven, and the mystery of
the pudding has not lost its freshness. In such a family as the Vernons,
the turkey and the pudding are unsatisfactory symbols--a return to the
rude elements of plenty which were employed by a more primitive age; and
though it certainly was an excitement for the Miss Vernon-Ridgways, and
Mr. Mildmay Vernon and Mrs. John, to be invited to dinner, it was by no
means invariable that their feast improved the harmony of these much
separated divisions of the family. It was a very big dinner, and there
was no absolute breach of the peace. Catherine sat at the head of the
table in a dress which, though very handsome, was by no means one of her
best, and without the diamonds in which she appeared on very great
occasions. This was kindly intended, in order that she might not make
too evident the contrast between her own toilette and that of some of
her visitors; but the kindness of the intention was not appreciated.
"We are not considered worth dressing for," Miss Matilda said, in her
sister's ear, after they had respectively kissed their relative, and,
with effusion, wished her a merry Christmas.
"She thinks it better taste to be as shabby as we are," said the other,
which indeed was very true, though no offence was meant.
As for Mrs. John, though she was quite willing to enjoy herself, her
mind was kept in a state of nervous anxiety about Hester, who was in the
defiant mood with which she always met her cousin. It had been her
mother's desire to dress her plainly in one of the simple dresses made
up on the foundation of the "silk slip," which by this time had been
worn out as a ball-dress. These economies were very necessary, and
indeed it ought to be said that the ball-dresses could not have been
kept up as they were, but for the sacrifice of Mrs. John's Indian shawl,
which, after Hester and the pearls, was the thing in the world which the
poor lady held most dear.
Hester had not resisted the substitution of the simpler dress for those
carefully preserved clouds of tarlatan which were sacred to the Dancing
Teas. But she stood firm to the pearls, and insisted on wearing them.
"Unless you will put them on yourself, mamma," she said.
"I wear them, Hester! Oh, no! They have been in their box all these
years, and I have never put them on, you know. I kept them for you. But
don't you think, dear, that just for a family dinner--no one is expected
to be fine at a family dinner----"
"Don't you want Catherine Vernon to see them, mother? If it is so, tell
me at once."
"Don't I want Catherine Vernon--to see them?" cried Mrs. John, stupefied
with astonishment. "I wonder," she added, regretfully, "what there is
between you that makes you lose your good sense, Hester--for you are
very sensible in most things, and far cleverer than I ever was--the
moment Catherine Vernon's name is mentioned? I cannot think what it can
be."
"Oh, mother! You are too good--if that is what not being clever means.
When I think how you have been allowed to stand in the corner of that
room, and nobody taking any notice of you."
"My dear," said Mrs. John, mildly, "I did not require to go unless I
liked."
"And now this dinner--a sort of Christmas dole for her relations--like
the flannel petticoats to the poor women."
"We do not require to go unless we like," said Mrs. John; "but if you
will reflect a little, Hester, that is not how a lady should talk."
It was seldom that the mild little woman said so much. When Hester came
up to Catherine, following her mother's little figure, clothed in a
black silk gown which had seen a great deal of service, she read, with
an excitement that made her glow, that Catherine's first glance was upon
the pearls.
"You are quite fine," she said as she went through the Christmas
formula, and dropped a formal kiss upon Hester's reluctant cheek; "you
have put on your lovely pearls to do us honour."
"She is fond of the pearls," said Mrs. John, who was very watchful to
prevent any collision; "they were her grandmother's, and her
great-grandmother's, Catherine. It is not only for their value that one
is fond of things like these."
"Their value is sometimes the worst thing about them," said Catherine,
feeling that there was a sternness of virtue in what she said which
justified her dislike. But Mrs. John stood her ground.
"I don't think so," she said simply. "I like them to be worth a great
deal, for they are all she will have."
Hester, thus talked over, stood drawing back, in all her flush of
youthful indignation, kept down by the necessities of the occasion. She
gave a glance round at the little audience which was enjoying the
encounter, the Miss Vernon-Ridgways in the foreground. She caught their
keen inquisitive stare, and the mantling of delight upon their faces as
they witnessed the little passage of arms; and Mr. Vernon Mildmay
craning over their shoulders with his sharp face projected to see what
it was, and Mrs. Reginald's countenance half sympathetic,
half-preoccupied (for to-day for the first time her eldest boy had
accompanied her, and she was very anxious lest he should do or say
anything that might injure him with Catherine). But the one thing Hester
did not catch was Edward's eyes, which surely, if he had cared for her,
ought now to have been raised in kindness. He was outside of the circle,
his head turned away, taking no notice. When Mrs. John fell back to give
way to Ellen Merridew, who came up rustling and jingling with all her
bracelets, Edward still kept apart. He was talking to Harry, to
Algernon, to everybody except the two who, Hester felt, wanted the
succour of a chivalrous sympathy. But Mrs. John had no feeling of this
kind. She felt that she had held her own. She looked with a mild pride
upon the group of her neighbours all so eagerly watching for mischief.
It was natural, when you think of it, that she should treat the
ill-nature of the Miss Vernon-Ridgways with gentle disdain. Poor things!
they had neither a daughter nor a necklace of pearls. And as she had not
been at the _Thés dansantes_, nor seen Edward in any aspect but that he
had always borne at the Grange, she felt no anxiety as to his present
behaviour. Harry's was the eye which she sought. She beamed with smiles
when he came and stood beside her. Harry was always faithful, whoever
might be careless. She looked at him and at Hester with a little sigh;
but who could tell what might happen with patience and time?
There was, however, one moment during the evening in which Edward had
the opportunity of setting himself right. It was while the departures
were going on, while the ladies were being shawled and cloaked.
Catherine had not come down stairs, and in the darkness of the further
corner of the hall, under cover of the chatter of Ellen and Emma Ashton,
the young man ventured upon a hurried whisper--
"Do you despise me or detest me most?" he said in Hester's ear. She
started--what with the sudden proximity, what with the unexpected
character of the question.
"I wonder?" she answered coldly. He took the opportunity of wrapping her
cloak round her to grasp both her hands in a sudden, almost fierce
grasp.
"You could do nothing less: but I cannot be different here. Suspicion
produces treachery, don't you know?" he said, with his face close to her
ear. "I cannot be true here. No, don't say anything. I ought, but I
cannot. It is in the air. All of us, every one except you, we are making
believe and finding each other out, yet going on all the same. But it is
only for a time," Edward cried, grasping her hands once more till the
pressure was painful, "only for a time!"
Next moment he was standing at the door, impassible, saying good-night
to every one, paying no more heed to Hester than if she had been, as
indeed she was, the least important of all the Christmas visitors.
Ellen, as a married woman and a social power, commanded his attention,
and to Emma, as the stranger among so many who knew each other, he was
very polite. But Hester got from him the coolest good-night. The very
servants who stood about, felt a passing wonder that the prettiest
person in the company should meet with such scant observation, but
explained it by saying to each other that "Mr. Edward, he was the one as
kep' hold of the main chance."
And Hester went home, angry, yet somewhat soothed. It did not make her
less indignant, less wrathful; but it gave an excuse which at least had
to be taken into consideration. Before she got home, indeed, she taught
herself to lay that offence too to the score of Catherine. She went home
packed into the fly with her mother and Emma and the Miss
Vernon-Ridgways, all together. Mr. Mildmay Vernon was mounted on the
box, and the old white horse had the six people, besides his driver, to
drag behind him. He took a great deal of time over the short bit of
road, thinking probably that it was as well to take his time over one
fare as to put it in the power of his oppressors to send him out with
another, or perhaps compel him to kick his heels at the railway station
waiting for the last train. The ladies were packed very close inside,
but not too close to talk. The sisters immediately plunged into that
"criticism of life" which could scarcely be called poetry, in their
hands.
"What a blessing it is," said one, "that we can't be called upon to eat
another Christmas dinner with Catherine for another year."
"Dear Catherine!" said the other, "she always means so well. It is our
own fault if we don't carry out her intentions."
"Indeed," said Mrs. John, "she gave us a very nice dinner, and
everything was very comfortable."
"Dear Mrs. John! you are always so charitable," said Miss Matilda, "as
we all ought to be, I am sure. Did you ever see anything so insufferable
as that little Ellen--like a picture out of a fashion-book--giving
herself as many airs as if she were at the head of society? I never
heard she had any society, except the vulgar young people on the
Thursdays. I wonder she doesn't ask her shop people."
"Oh, hush, hush!" cried Mrs. John, alarmed.
"Perhaps she does ask the shop people," said Miss Matilda, "it would be
wise of her, for I should not think they'd ever see the colour of their
money. The old Merridews can never keep up all that extravagance, and
Algy is nothing more than a clerk in his father's office. It is dreadful
to see a young man dragged on to destruction like that."
"Oh, I hope it is not so bad!" cried Mrs. John. "I am sure if I thought
so, I should never let----"
"It is the talk of the town," said Miss Matilda. "A thing must be very
bad before it comes to us, who never hear any gossip."
"Oh, everybody knows," said Miss Martha.
It was happy that Hester's mind was so fully occupied, and that the
conversation passed harmlessly over her head. When they reached the
Vernonry, Mr. Mildmay Vernon got down from the box where he had been
seated wrapped up from head to foot, but which he protested against with
a continuous volley of short coughs as he helped the ladies out one
after another. He thought in his heart that if one of these strong young
women had been put up on the box, who had no rheumatism, it would have
been more appropriate.
"I hope you have enjoyed your evening, including your dinner," he said.
"I have made up my mind to rheumatism to-morrow; but what does that
matter in comparison with such a delightful entertainment?"
"It was very nice," said Mrs. John, dubious as to his meaning, as she
always was.
"Nice!" he said, with a grimace, "a sort of little heaven on earth!"
"It is wicked to be so satirical," said one sister, with a laugh; and
"Dear Catherine! I am sure she meant everything that was kind," said the
other.
And then there was a little flutter of good-nights, the respective doors
opening, and lights flashing out into the dark.
This entertainment was followed very shortly after by the larger
gathering which Catherine had announced her intention of giving some
time before, and to which all Redborough was convoked besides the
immediate family. The period between these two parties was the climax of
Hester's hostility to Catherine Vernon. She had never been so actively
indignant, so angry, nor so impotent against her old and wealthy cousin
as in these wintry days. Catherine was a kind of impersonation of
injustice and unkindness to Hester. She felt not only that she herself
was oppressed and injured, but that the persecution of which she was the
object was of a kind which was most petty and miserable, degrading to
the author of it as well as to its victim. The attempt at interference
with her movements was not only a kind of meddling most irritating to a
high-spirited girl, but it was also the kind of assault which her very
pride prevented her from resisting openly. Hester felt that she would
have lowered her own pride, and wounded her own self-respect, had she
uttered a word of reply or taken any notice of the small and petty
attack upon her. The incident of the pearls, though so trifling, excited
her almost as much as the other and more important grievance she had
against Catherine. That Edward should be so cowed by this woman that he
had to conceal his real sentiments, to offend the girl whom he loved, to
compromise his own honour and dignity all because of Catherine's watch
upon him, and the subjection in which it held him, was such a miserable
thought to Hester, that it was all she could do to restrain herself at
all. It is terrible to be compelled to endure one who has harmed those
who are dear to you; but to enter her house and preserve a show of peace
and good-feeling, though you are aware she is causing the
self-debasement of those you love, that is the hardest of all. What
should it matter to Edward that Catherine's eye was upon him? An
honourable and fine spirit would not have been influenced by any such
oppression. It made Hester's heart sick to think that he did this
consciously, deceived his benefactress, and pretended to obey her when
in his heart he loathed his bondage; and to think that she herself
should be called upon to sustain this humiliation filled her with shame
and rage. But though her heart was bitter against Edward, there was yet
a softening in it, an involuntary indulgence, which made her glad to
elude the question so far as he was concerned, and to fix upon
Catherine, who was the cause of it, with all her force of indignation.
From Hester's point of view there was indeed little to be said for this
woman, who, to so many in the place, was the very impersonation of
active benevolence and goodness--a tyrant who seized upon the very soul
of the young man whom she favoured most, and whose prying and vigilant
observation forced him to deception, and made him true to himself only
when he was out of her sight--a woman, who while she gave with one hand
closed a grasp of iron upon the people obliged to her with the other,
and would prescribe their very dress if she could. Oh, how true it must
be after all, the picture of the tyrannical, narrow despot, exacting,
remorseless, descending to the lowest details, which a woman, when
endued with irresponsible power, was understood to make! Hester had
rebelled as a girl does against every such injurious picture of women;
but it occurred to her now that it must all be true. No doubt it was
unsafe to trust such a creature with any kind of authority. She would
not be content with less than absolute sway. She would let no charity
nor ruth, nor the hearts of others, nor their wishes, stand in her way.
She would crush a young life with no more compunction than a savage.
Thus Hester took refuge from questions more trying--from the aspect of
Edward which within these last few days had become more and more
important to her. Her whole being seemed to be flowing towards him with
a current which she felt herself unable to restrain. She did not any
longer ask herself questions about his love. She tried not to ask any
questions about him at all. In her secret consciousness there was a
distrust of him, and disapproval and fear, which had never been breathed
into any ear--scarcely even into her own. Indeed, Hester was her own
only confidant. All the things which occupied her were uncommunicable.
She had grown a woman, everything that happened was now more important
to her than in earlier days. And now there had come a crisis in her
fate, and it was not she who held the key of the problem, nor her lover,
nor any legitimate authority--but Catherine! Catherine controlled her
future and all its issues through him. Catherine could have stopped all
further development for both, she could have checked their love
ruthlessly, and made an end of their happiness. The girl began to feel
that there was something in the presence of this woman, in her
influence, in her very name, that was insupportable. That impulse of
flight which always presents itself to the impatient spirit came upon
her strongly. Why should not she and her mother shake themselves free
from the imbroglio--go away anywhere, it did not matter where, and get
peace, at least, and a life free of agitations and complications? Away
from the Vernons she would be free to work as she pleased, and so make
up for the aid that Catherine gave--away from them there would be no
more question of love and hate, love afraid to declare itself, hate
veiled beneath the aspect of benevolence.
Hester had very little to do at home. She had not even books to read.
She had unbounded time to think; even her visits to her old friends, the
captain and his wife, had grown less frequent since Emma came, for
Emma's monologues were not amusing to Hester's excited mind, and the
captain and Mrs. Morgan had both yielded to their granddaughter's
irrepressible talent of speech. Hester was more at home in consequence,
more alone, less subject to wholesome distractions and interruptions.
She would think and think the whole evening through. The _Thés
dansantes_ began to fill her with a sort of sickening, of weariness, and
disgust. She felt as if she too, like Emma, had gone to get her "chance"
there, and was, like Emma, hung up in degrading suspense until he should
speak. The rage with her position, the scorn of herself with which this
filled her, is indescribable. She would burst forth into wild laughter
after one of Emma's calculations, often repeated, about Reginald
Merridew; then hide her face in her hands to conceal the burning
blush--the bitter consciousness that her own circumstances were not much
different. The self-ridicule was more painful still than the
self-disgust. She shed no tears over the question, but the laughter was
a great deal more bitter than any tears.
Mrs. John was as unconscious of this struggle as if it had gone on in
Kamschatka and not under her own eye, in her own parlour, and the
bedroom that opened into hers. She was not one of the women who divine.
She understood what was told her, and not always that--never anything
more than was told her. She thought her child was not looking well, but
then, she had a cold; and there is nothing more oppressive than a cold.
The first thing that really startled her was Hester's determination not
to go to Mrs. Merridew's party on the first Thursday that occurred after
Christmas, which was to be a particularly brilliant one. This struck her
mother with consternation.
"Do you think your cold is so bad as that? I would not wish you to do
anything imprudent, but I have often heard girls say that a ball was the
very best thing for a cold. If you were to nurse up this evening, and
have your breakfast in bed, I can't help thinking you would feel quite
yourself to-morrow, my darling," Mrs. John said.
"It is not my cold," said Hester; and then she reflected that it was a
pity to throw aside so excellent a plea. "At least it is not altogether
my cold."
"Oh, I know how oppressed one feels, just good for nothing; but, my
love, you would feel sorry after. It is a pity to give in. You shall
have a foot-bath to-night with some mustard in it, and a hot drink. And
you must not get up till mid-day. You'll feel a great deal better after
that."
"I don't want to go--I am tired of them," Hester said, her impatience
getting the better of her, "once a week is a great deal too often. I am
sick of the very name of dancing."
"My love!" cried her mother in consternation. Then she came behind her
and gave her a soft little kiss. "I think I shall give you quinine, for
I am sure you're low," she said, "and you must be bright and well, and
looking your best for Catherine's great party, which is next week."
"I don't----" cried Hester, then stopped short, for she had not the
heart to give her mother a double wound by declaring she would not go to
Catherine's party. One such blow was enough at a time.
The astonishment with which her non-appearance at Mrs. Merridew's was
regarded by all the connection was unbounded. The discovery that Hester
_was not going_, filled the Miss Ridgways with excitement. What could be
the cause?
"I suppose there has been a quarrel," the sisters said. "Ellen is a
little minx; but still she is a true Vernon, and won't stand any such
airs as that girl gives herself. Her mother and she are insupportable,
with their pearls and their pretences."
"Roman pearls," said Mr. Mildmay Vernon, "and Brummagem pretences."
So they discussed the question. When Hester went in next day to Captain
Morgan's, not without a little curiosity to hear from Emma what had been
said of her absence: "I am glad you have recovered," Mrs. Morgan said,
kissing her, and looking into her face with an air of reproach and a
shake of the head.
"It is not like you to give in for a cold," the old captain added; but
fortunately for Hester all explanation on her part, and all remonstrance
on theirs, was cut short by the persevering deliberate voice which now
was the principal circumstance in the old people's house.
"I assure you Ellen was very much astonished, Hester. She looked at me
as if she could not believe her eyes. And they all looked at me as if it
was my fault. How could it be my fault? I didn't give you your cold. I
think there were more people than usual. We had Sir Roger de Coverley,
you know, because it was Christmas. I danced it with young Mr. Norris,
who has just come into his fortune, you know. He is very nice. He asked
me for four dances, but I only gave him three. Don't you think I was
right, grandmamma? That is the worst of Ellen's parties, that there are
no old chaperons with experience, that could advise you on a point like
that. Two waltzes and then the Sir Roger, which is a sort of extra you
know, and doesn't count. I don't think there could be anything wrong in
that."
"You should not give in, Hester," said the old captain. "That is not
like you. What is a cold at your age! You should always stand to your
colours, and hold your----"
"Oh, I said to everybody, Hester had such a bad cold," said Emma. "I
said that her nose was red and that it quite affected her voice. So it
does. You don't notice it so much when she flames up like that. I wonder
how you can blush in that way, Hester. It is the difference of
complexion, I suppose. I always keep the same. It is nice in some ways,
for however hot it is you can be sure you are not a figure; but in other
respects I should like to change colour like that. It makes you look
interesting. People think you are so sensitive, and that sort of thing,
when it's only just complexion. Harry Vernon was more grumphy than ever
because you were not there, always standing about beside Ellen and
looking after her, which, considering she's married, is a great deal
more than any brother ought to take upon him. I am sure if Roland did, I
should not know what to think. But then Ellen is an only sister, which
makes a great difference, and I am the youngest. Reginald Merridew was
in such a way! I was engaged for almost every dance before he came. I
quite enjoyed it. I filled up my card as soon as I could, just to give
him a lesson. Men should be kept in their proper places. I never thought
you showed half a spirit letting Edward Vernon carry you off just as he
pleased."
"My dear," said old Mrs. Morgan, making an endeavour to strike in, we
have not seen half so much of you lately as we like to do. My old man
misses you on his walk. Do go and take a walk with him, as your cold is
better."
"Oh, don't send her away when I just want to talk over everything," said
Emma. "You never think what young people like. I am sure you are very
kind and nice, grandmamma, I always say so. Whatever any one may think,
I always maintain that you have been very nice and kind to me: and kept
me such a time--when I dare say you are tired of me. But you don't
remember what young people like. Of course Hester wants to hear who was
there, and how every one was looking, and who danced with who, and all
that. There are always a hundred things that we have to say to each
other. Come up with me to my room, Hester, and then we sha'n't bore
grandmamma and grandpapa. I have such a lot to tell you. Ellen had such
a lovely new dress, old gold and black. It sounds much too old for her,
but it wasn't a bit. It was quite a change among all the whites and
pinks. I just went in my grenadine. I don't pretend to cope with the
rich girls, you know. If the men want to dance with rich dresses they
must just leave me alone. I am always straightforward. I say, 'Don't ask
me unless you are sure you don't mind.' But I suppose they like my
dancing or something, for I always have my card full. Sir Roger de
Coverley was really fun. We were all dancing, it seemed about a mile
going down the middle. It is such a pity you weren't there. Edward
Vernon danced it with--I really forget who he danced it with--one of the
Miss Bradleys or Mary Wargrave, or one of that set. Are you really going
out with grandpapa? That is awfully self-denying of you, to please the
old gentleman. And it is so cold. Grandmamma, I do think you shouldn't
let her go."
"She can hear your report another time--indeed she has heard a great
deal of it already," said old Mrs. Morgan. "You don't lose any time,
Emma. But, Hester, if you are afraid----"
"Oh, I shouldn't go on any account," cried Emma, "with a bad cold. But
then I have such dreadful colds when I do have them. I am obliged to go
to bed. I never get my nose red like Hester's, nor lose my voice--but I
get such a cough. I am so thankful I have not had one here. It gives
everybody so much trouble when you get ill on a visit, and you lose all
the good of the visit, and might just as well be at home. There is
grandpapa calling. I should just let him call if it was me. Well,
Hester, if you will go, I can't help it. Come in again if you are not
afraid of the evening air, and you shall hear all the rest; or if you'll
have me at tea time, perhaps that will be best. I'll go to you----"
The old captain sighed as he went out. Emma was, as it were, left
speaking, standing on the step of the door addressing Hester, as she
followed her old friend out into the dusky afternoon of one of those
black days that conclude the year. Very black days they were on this
occasion, not so cold as December often is, without snow or any of the
harsher signs of winter, but also without sun or any of the exhilarating
sharpness of the frost. Everything was dry, but dark, the skies leaden,
the very Common showing less green. The captain went on before with a
woollen comforter wrapped in many folds about his throat, and woollen
mittens on the hands which grasped his stick with so much energy. He
struck it against the ground as if he had been striking some one as he
hurried away.
"I think that girl will be the death of us," he said: then repented of
his sharp utterance. "I told you I thought you were a spiritual
grandchild, Hester. What the child of our child whom we lost, who never
had a child, would have been. And you have spoiled us for the other
thing--the grandchild of common life."
"It is a long time since we have been out together," said Hester, as the
old man put his other hand in its large mitten within her slender arm.
"And you have been in the meantime getting into some of the muddles," he
said. "It was kind of my old wife to hand you over to me, Hester. We all
think our own experience the best. She would like to have had you to
herself, to find out all about it, and give you the help of her old
lights; but instead of that she was self-denying, and handed you over to
me. And now let me hear what it is, and see if the old ship's lantern
will do you any good."
"Am I in any muddles?" said Hester. "I don't know--perhaps there is
nothing to tell. It is so hard to divide one thing from another."
"So it is; but when it is divided it is easier to manage," said the old
captain. He paused a little to give her time to speak: but as she did
not do so he resumed on an indifferent subject, that the girl's
confidence might not be forced. "I am always glad when the old year is
over. You will say I am an old fool for that, as my days are so few. But
the first of January is a great deal gayer than the first of December,
though they may be exactly like each other. When you can say there will
be spring this year----"
"Captain Morgan," said Hester, who had been taking advantage of the
pause without paying any attention to what he said, "Catherine Vernon is
angry because I wear my mother's pearls. How should that be?"
"You must be mistaken, my dear," said the old captain promptly. "She has
her faults, but Catherine is never paltry, Hester. That cannot be."
"Either you are very much mistaken about her, or I am much mistaken
about her," Hester said.
The old man looked at her with a smile on his face.
"I don't say anything against that. And which of us is most likely to be
right?" he asked. "I knew her before you were born."
"Oh, before I was born! Does that tell you anything about her conduct to
_me_? Once I was not, but now I am; and somebody quite distinct from
other people."
"Very distinct!" Captain Morgan said.
"Then what does she mean by it?" cried Hester. "She cannot endure the
sight of me. Oh, I know she is not paltry in one way. She does not care
about money, as some people do; but she is in another. Why should she
care about what I wear? Did you ever hear anything about my father?" the
girl said, raising her eyes suddenly, and looking him full in the face.
The old captain was so taken by surprise that he fell back a step and
almost dropped her arm in his dismay.
"About your father!"
"About him and Catherine Vernon--and how it was he went away? He had as
good a right to the bank as she had, had he not? I have not thought much
about it; but I should like to know," said Hester with more composure,
"how it was that she had it and not papa?"
"That was all before my time," said Captain Morgan, who had recovered
himself in the interval. "I did not come here, you know, till after. And
then it is not as if I had been a Vernon to understand all the
circumstances. I was not of the family, you know."
"That is true," said Hester thoughtfully, and she suffered herself to be
led into safer subjects without any serious attempt to return to a
question so unanswerable; while Captain Morgan on his side was too much
alarmed by the possibility of having to explain to her the steps which
had led to her father's expatriation to inquire any more into the
"muddles" which he had read in her countenance. And thus they made their
way home together without any mutual satisfaction. The captain was
obliged to own to his wife afterwards that he had given Hester no aid or
good advice.
"She asked me about her father: and was I going to be so brutal as to
tell the poor child what has always been concealed from her?"
"Concealments are never good," Mrs. Morgan said, shaking her head. "It
would be better for her to know." But the captain had an easy victory
when he said "Should you like to be the one to tell her?" with defiance
in his voice.
Thus the time went on for Catherine Vernon's great Christmas party, to
which all Redborough was asked. It was not till the day before that
Hester was bold enough to declare her intention not to go. "You must not
be angry, mamma. What should I go for? It is no pleasure. The moment I
am in Catherine Vernon's house I am all wrong. I feel like a beggar, a
poor relation, a dependent upon her charity; and she has no charity for
me. Don't make me go."
"Oh Hester, my darling," said Mrs. John. "It would never, never do to
stay away, when everybody is there! And you her relation, that ought to
wish to do her what honour you can."
"Why should I wish to do her honour? She has never been kind to us. She
has never treated you as she ought to have done. She has never behaved
to us as a relation should, or even as a gentlewoman should."
"Oh hush! Hester, hush!" said Mrs. John. "You don't know what you are
speaking of. If you knew all, you would know that Catherine has behaved
to us--better than we had any right to expect."
"Then let me know all, mother," said Hester, sitting upright, her eyes
shining, her whole face full of inquiry. "I have felt lately that there
must be something which was concealed from me. Let me know all."
Then Mrs. John faltered and explained. "There is nothing for you to
know. Dear, dear, you are so literal. You take everything one says to
you, Hester, as if one meant it. There are just things that one
says----When I said if you knew all, I meant--if you were to consider
properly, if you saw things in a just light----"
"I think you mean something more than that," Hester said.
"What should I mean more? We had no claims upon her. Your poor father
had got his share. He had not perhaps been very prudent with it, but I
never understand anything about business. He got his share, all that he
had any right to expect. Catherine might have said that, when we came
back so poor; but she did not. Hester, you have forgotten what she has
done for us. Oh, my dear, if you knew all! No, I don't mean that there
is anything to know--but just if you would think--Hester, you must not
insult Catherine in the sight of all Redborough by refusing to go to her
party. You must not, indeed you must not. If you do, you will break my
heart."
"What I do is of no importance to Catherine Vernon. Oh, mother, do not
make me go. It is more than I can bear."
"But you are of importance, and she would feel it deeply. Oh, Hester,
for my sake!" Mrs. John cried with tears in her eyes. She would not be
turned away from the subject or postpone it. Her daughter had never seen
her so deeply in earnest, so intent upon having her way, before. On
previous occasions it had been Hester that had won the day. But this
time the girl had to give way to the impassioned earnestness of her
mother, which in so mild a woman was strange to see.