A WALK BY STARLIGHT
A harvest-home used to be a great _fete_ in farmhouses; chiefly so, as
you are aware, for its servants and labourers. It is so in some houses
still. A rustic, homely gathering; with plenty of good fare in a plain
way, and where the masters and mistresses and their guests enjoy
themselves as freely as their dependants.
Trevlyn Farm was lighted up to-night. The best kitchen, where you have
seen Nora sitting sometimes, and never used for kitchen purposes, was
set out with a long table. Cold beef and ham, substantial and savoury
meat pies, fruit pies, cakes, cheese, ale and cider, were being placed
on it. Benches lined the walls, and the rustic labourers were coming
sheepishly in. Some of them had the privilege of bringing their wives,
who came in a great deal less sheepishly than the men.
Nanny was in full attire, a new green stuff gown and white apron; Molly
from the parsonage was flaunting in a round cap, patronised by the
fashionable servants in Barmester, with red streamers; Ann Canham had a
new Scotch plaid kerchief, white and purple, crossed on her shoulders;
and Jim Sanders's mother, being rather poorly off for smart caps, wore a
bonnet. These four were to do the waiting; and Nora was casting over
them all the superintending eye of a mistress. George Ryle liked to make
his harvest-homes liberal and comfortable, and Mrs. Ryle seconded it
with the open-handed nature of the Trevlyns.
What Mrs. Ryle would have done but for Nora Dickson it was impossible to
say. She really took little more management in the house than a visitor
would take. Her will, it is true, was law: she gave orders, but left
their execution to others. Though she had married Thomas Ryle, of
Trevlyn Farm, she never forgot that she was the daughter of Trevlyn
Hold.
She sat in the small room opening from the supper-room--small in
comparison with the drawing-room, but still comfortable. On harvest-home
night, Mrs. Ryle's visitors were received in that ordinary room and sat
there, forming as it were part of the supper-room company, for the door
was kept wide, and the great people went in and out, mixing with the
small. George Ryle and Mr. Freeman would be more in the supper-room than
in the other; they were two who liked to see the hard-working people
happy now and then.
Mrs. Ryle had taken up her place in the sitting-room; her rich black
silk gown and real lace cap contrasting with the more showy attire of
Mrs. Apperley, who sat next her. Mrs. Apperley was in a stiff brocade,
yellow satin stripes flanking wavy lines of flowers. It had been her
gala robe for years and years, and looked new yet. Mrs. Apperley's two
daughters, in cherry-coloured ribbons and cherry-coloured nets, were as
gay as she was; they were whispering to Caroline Ryle, a graceful girl
in dark-blue silk, with the blue eyes and the fair hair of her deceased
father. Farmer Apperley, in top-boots, was holding an argument on the
state of the country with a young man of middle height and dark hair,
who sat carelessly on the arm of the old-fashioned sofa. It was Trevlyn
Ryle. George had set his back against the wall, and was laughingly
quizzing the Miss Apperleys, of which they were blushingly conscious.
Were you to believe Nora, there was scarcely a young lady within the
circuit of a couple of leagues but was privately setting her cap at
handsome George.
A bustle in the outer room, and Nanny appeared with an announcement:
"Parson and Mrs. Freeman." I am not responsible for the style of the
introduction: you may hear it for yourselves if you choose to visit some
of our rural districts.
Parson and Mrs. Freeman came in without ceremony; the parson with his
hat and walking stick, Mrs. Freeman in a green calico hood and an old
cloak. George, with laughing gallantry, helped her to take them off, and
handed them to Nanny, and Mrs. Freeman went up to the pier-glass and
settled the white bows in her cap to greater effect.
"But I thought you were to have brought your friend," said Mrs. Ryle.
"He will come in presently," replied the parson. "A letter arrived by
this evening's post, and he wished to answer it."
Farmer Apperley turned from his debate with Trevlyn. "D'ye mean that
droll-looking man who walks about with a red umbrella and a beard,
parson?"
"The same," said Mr. Freeman, settling his double chin more comfortably
in his white cravat. "He has been staying with us for a week past."
"Ay. Some foreign folk, isn't he, named Daw? There's all sorts of tales
abroad in the neighbourhood as to what he is doing down here. I don't
know whether they be correct."
"I don't know much about it myself either," said Mr. Freeman. "I am glad
to entertain him as an old friend, but as for any private affairs or
views of his, I don't meddle with them."
"Best plan," nodded the farmer. And the subject, thus indistinctly
hinted at, was allowed to drop, owing probably to the presence of Mrs.
Ryle.
"The Chattaways are coming here to-night," suddenly exclaimed Caroline
Ryle. She spoke only to Mary Apperley, but there was a pause in the
general conversation just then, and Mr. Apperley took it up.
"Who's coming? The Chattaways! Which of the Chattaways?" he said in some
surprise, knowing they had never been in the habit of paying evening
visits to Trevlyn Farm.
"All the girls, and Maude. I don't know whether Rupert will come; and I
don't think Cris was asked."
"Eh, but that's a new move," cried Farmer Apperley, his long intimacy
with the Farm justifying the freedom. "Did you invite them?"
"In point of fact, they invited themselves," interposed Mrs. Ryle,
before George, to whom the question had been addressed, could speak. "At
least, Octave did so: and then George, I believe, asked the rest of the
girls."
"They won't come," said Farmer Apperley.
"Not come!" interrupted Nora, sharply, who kept going in and out between
the two rooms. "That's all you know about it, Mr. Apperley. Octave
Chattaway is sure to be here to-night----"
"Nora!"
The interruption came from George. Was he afraid of what she might say
impulsively? Or did he see, coming in at the outer door, Octave herself,
as though to refute the opinion of Mr. Apperley?
But only Amelia was with her. A tall girl with a large mouth and very
light hair, always on the giggle. "Where are the rest?" impulsively
asked George, his accent too unguarded to conceal its disappointment.
Octave detected it. She had thrown off her cloak and stood in attire
scarcely suited to the occasion--a pale blue evening dress of damask, a
silver necklace, silver bracelets, and a wreath of silver flowers in her
hair. "What 'rest'?" asked Octave.
"Your sisters and Maude. They promised to come."
Octave tossed her head good-humouredly. "_Do_ you think we could inflict
the whole string on Mrs. Ryle? Two of us are sufficient to represent the
family."
"Inflict! On a harvest-home night!" called out Trevlyn. "You know,
Octave, the more the merrier on these occasions."
"Why, I really believe that's Treve!" exclaimed Octave. "When did you
arrive?"
"This morning. You have grown thinner, Octave."
"It is nothing to you if I have," retorted Octave, offended at the
remark. The point was a sore one; Octave being unpleasantly conscious
that she was thin to plainness. "_You_ have grown plump enough, at any
rate."
"To be sure," said Treve. "I'm always jolly. It was too bad of you,
Octave, not to bring the rest."
"So it was," said Amelia. "They had dressed for it, and at the last
moment Octave made them stay at home."
But George was not going to take this quietly. Saying nothing, he left
the room and made the best of his way to Trevlyn Hold. The rooms seemed
deserted. At length he found Maude in the schoolroom, correcting
exercises, and shedding a few quiet tears. After they had dressed for
the visit, Octavia had placed her veto upon it, and Emily and Edith had
retired to bed in vexation. Miss Diana was spending the evening out with
Mrs. Chattaway, and Octave had had it all her own way.
"I have come for you, Maude," said George.
Maude's heart beat with anticipation. "I don't know whether I may dare
to go," she said, glancing shyly at him.
"Has anyone except Octave forbidden you?"
"Only Octave."
Lying on a chair, George saw a bonnet and a cloak which he recognised as
Maude's. In point of fact, she had thrown them off when forbidden the
visit by Miss Chattaway. His only answer was to fold the cloak around
her. And she put on the bonnet, and went out with him, shocked at her
own temerity, but unable to resist the temptation.
"You are trembling," he cried, drawing her closer to him as he bent his
head.
"I am afraid of Octave. I know she will be so angry. What if she should
meet me with angry words?"
"Then--Maude--you will give me leave to answer her?"
"Yes. Oh yes."
"It will involve more than you think," said George, laughing at her
eager tones. "I must tell her, if necessary, that I have a right to
defend you."
Maude stopped in her surprise, and half drew her arm from his as she
looked up at him in the starlight. His pointed tone stirred all the
pulses of her heart.
"You cannot have mistaken me, Maude, this long time past," he quietly
said. "If I have not spoken to you more openly; if I do not yet speak
out to the world, it is that I see at present little prospect before us.
I would prefer not to speak to others until that is more assured."
Maude, in spite of the intense happiness which was rising within her,
felt half sick with fear. What of the powers at Trevlyn Hold?
"Yes, there might be opposition," said George, divining her thoughts,
"and the result--great unpleasantness altogether. I am independent
enough to defy them, but you are not, Maude. For that reason I will not
speak if I can help it. I hope Octave will not provoke me to excess."
Maude started as a thought flashed over her, and she looked up at
George, a terrified expression in her face. "You _must not_ speak,
George; you must not, for my sake. Were Octave only to suspect this,
she----"
"Might treat you to a bowl of poison--after the stage fashion of the
good old days," he laughed. "Maude, do you think I have been blind? I
understand."
"You will be silent, then?"
"Yes," he answered, after a pause. "For the present."
They had taken the way through the fields--it was the nearest way--and
George spoke of his affairs as he walked; more confidentially than he
had ever in his life entered upon them to any one. That he had been in a
manner sacrificed to the interests of Treve, there was no denying, and
though he did not allude to it in so many words, it was impossible to
ignore the fact entirely to Maude. One more term at Oxford, and Treve
was to enter officially upon his occupation of Trevlyn Farm. The lease
would be transferred to his name; he would be its sole master; and
George must look out for another home: but until then he was bound to
the farm--and bound most unprofitably. To the young, however, all things
wear a hopeful _couleur-de-rose_. What would some of us give for it in
after-life!
"By the spring I may be settled in a farm of my own, Maude. I have been
giving a longing eye to the Upland. Its lease will be out at Lady-day,
and Carteret leaves it. An unwise man in my opinion to leave a certain
competency here for uncertain riches in the New World. But that is his
business; not mine. I should like the Upland Farm."
Maude's breath was nearly taken away. It was the largest farm on the
Trevlyn estate. "You surely would not risk that, George! What an
undertaking!"
"Especially with Chattaway for a landlord, you would say. I shall take
it if I can get it. The worst is, I should have to borrow money, and
borrowed money weighs one down like an incubus. Witness what it did for
my father. But I daresay we should manage to get along."
Maude opened her lips, wishing to say something she did not quite well
know how to say. "I--I fear----" and there she stopped timidly.
"What do you fear, Maude?"
"I don't know how I should ever manage in a farm," she said, feeling
she ought to speak out her doubts, but blushing vividly under cover
of the dark night at having to do it. "I have been brought up
so--so--uselessly--as regards domestic duties."
"Maude, if I thought I should marry a wife only to make her work, I
should not marry at all. We will manage better than that. You have been
brought up a lady; and, in truth, I should not care for my wife to be
anything else. Mrs. Ryle has never done anything of the sort, you know,
thanks to good Nora. And there are more Noras in the world. Shall I tell
you a favourite scheme of mine, one that has been in my mind for some
time now?"
She turned--waiting to hear it.
"To give a home to Rupert. You and I. We could contrive to make him
happier than he is now."
Maude's heart leaped at the vision. "Oh, George! if it could only be!
How good you are! Rupert----"
"Hush, Maude!" For he had become conscious of the proximity of others
walking and talking like themselves. Two voices were contending with
each other; or, if not contending, speaking as if their opinions did not
precisely coincide. To George's intense astonishment he recognised one
of the voices as Mr. Chattaway's, and uttered a suppressed exclamation.
"It cannot be," Maude whispered. "He is miles and miles away. Even
allowing that he had returned, what should bring him here?--he would
have gone direct to the Hold."
But George was positive that it was Chattaway. The voices were advancing
down the path on the other side the hedge, and would probably come
through the gate, right in front of George and Maude. To meet Chattaway
was not particularly coveted by either of them, even at the most
convenient times, and just now it was not convenient at all. George drew
Maude under one of the great elm trees, which overshadowed the hedge on
this side.
"Just for a moment, Maude, until they have passed. I am certain it is
Chattaway!"
The gate swung open and someone came through it. Only one. Sure enough
it was Chattaway. He strode onwards, muttering to himself, a brown paper
parcel in his hand. But ere he had gone many steps, he halted, turned,
came creeping back and stood peering over the gate at the man who was
walking away. A little movement to the right, and Mr. Chattaway might
have seen George and Maude standing there.
But he did not. He was grinding his teeth and working his disengaged
hand, altogether too much occupied with the receding man, to pay
attention to what might be around himself. Finally, his display of anger
somewhat cooling down, he turned again and continued his way towards
Trevlyn Hold.
"Who can it be that he is so angry with?" whispered Maude.
"Hush!" cautioned George. "His ears are sharp."
Very still they remained until he was at a safe distance, and then they
went through the gate. Almost beyond their view a tall man was pacing
slowly along in the direction of Trevlyn Farm, whirling an umbrella
round and round in his hand.
"Just as I thought," was George's comment to himself.
"Who is it, George?"
"That stranger who is visiting at the parsonage."
"He seemed to be quarrelling with Mr. Chattaway."
"I don't know. Their voices were loud. I wonder if Rupert has found his
way to the Farm?"
"Octave forbade him to go."
"Were I Ru I should break through _her_ trammels at any rate, and show
myself a man," remarked George. "He may have done so to-night."
They turned in at the garden-gate, and reached the porch. All signs of
the stranger had disappeared, and sounds of merriment came from within.
George turned Maude's face to his. "You will not forget, Maude?"
"Forget what?" she shyly answered.
"That from this night we begin a new life. Henceforth we belong to each
other. Maude! you will not forget!" he feverishly continued.
"I shall not forget," she softly whispered.
And, possibly by way of reminder, Mr. George, under cover of the silent
porch, took his first lover's kiss from her lips.