"Mais, il faut bien le reconnaitre, tout est relatif en ce monde, et
les choses nous affectent toujours dans la mesure de l'education que
nous avons recue et du milieu social ou nous avons ete eleves."
Enault.
Mrs Western's views of life differed considerably from those of her
husband--she had quite another stand-point. She was not ambitious,
nothing in her experience had ever tended to make her so, and though by
nature she was far less "easy-going" than the Rector, yet her thoughts
concerning the future of her children were not by any means so harassing
and dissatisfied as his. Had she seen anything to worry about, she
_would_ have worried about it, but she did not see that there was. Her
boys and girls were infinitely better off, better cared for, better
educated than she had been, and happier far than she ever remembered
herself before her marriage, and she saw no reason why, if they turned
out good and sensible, as they mostly promised to do, they should not
all get on fairly well in life, without feeling that their start in the
great race had been weighted with undue disadvantages.
Yet the Rector's wife was not a _peculiarly_ reasonable woman;
circumstances mainly had made her appear so, or rather, perhaps, had
never called forth the latent _unreasonableness_ which we are told, by
authority we dare not question, is a part of every feminine character.
When she married Mr Western, she was only a governess in a family where
she was not unkindly treated, but where no special thought was bestowed
upon her. She was not discontented, however; for the kindness she
received she was sincerely grateful, and considered herself, on the
whole, a fortunate girl. She was not remarkably pretty, but pleasing
and gentle, and with a certain sedateness of air and manner not without
a charm of its own. People spoke of her, when they did speak of her,
which was not often, as "a very sensible girl;" in point of fact, she
was more than sensible; she had both intellect and originality, neither
of which was ever fully developed--in one sense, indeed, hardly
developed at all. For her youth had been a depressing one; from her
earliest years she had been familiar with poverty and privation, and she
only was not altogether crushed by them because personally she had had
experience of nothing else.
Her father had been one of the several younger sons of a rich and
well-born man. But neither the riches nor the good birth had helped him
on in life. He quarrelled with his parents by refusing to enter the
profession designed for him; he made bad worse by a hasty and imprudent
marriage; he hopelessly widened the breach by choosing to resent on his
own people his young wife's speedy death, and declining to accept any
help in the bringing up of his motherless little daughter. And then his
old parents died, and the brothers and sisters, married and scattered,
and absorbed in their individual interests, learned to forget, or to
remember but with a sore reproach worse than forgetting, this
hot-headed, ungrateful "Basil," who had not condoned by success in his
self-sought career the follies of his youth. And before many more years
had passed, poor Basil Brooke died himself, nursed, and comforted, and
sorrowed for by but one little solitary being, his thirteen-years-old
Margaret, for whom at the last he had managed to scrape, together a tiny
sum that left her not absolutely destitute, but was enough to pay for
her schooling till, at eighteen, she went out into the world on her own
small account as one of the vast army of half-educated girls who call
themselves governesses.
But if Margaret Brooke's pupils obtained no very great amount of
so-called "book-learning" from their young teacher, at least they
learned no harm, and indirectly no small amount of good. For she
herself was good--good, and true, and healthy-minded, perfectly free
from self-consciousness, or morbid repining after what had not fallen to
her lot. Once in her governess life she came across some members of her
dead father's family. Being really gentlefolks, though self-absorbed
and narrow-minded, it did not occur to them to ignore their poor
relations. They even went out of their way to show her some little
kindness, which the girl accepted pleasantly and without bitterness;
for, young as she was at the time of her father's death, she had yet
been able to discern that the family estrangement had been mainly, if
not altogether, of his own causing. So the rich Brookes spoke
favourably of poor Margaret, and though it was taken for granted among
them that the fact of her existence was a mistake, she was, on the
whole, regarded with approval as doing her part towards making the best
of an unfortunate business. And when, two or three years later,
Margaret, to her own inexpressible astonishment, found herself actually
fallen in love with by the most charming and unexceptionable of young
curates, a curate too with every prospect of before long becoming a
rector, and when this prospect was ere long fulfilled, and Margaret, in
consequence, became Mrs Western, her Brooke cousins approved of her
still more highly, to the extent even of sending her a tea-pot,
cream-jug, and sugar-basin of the best electro-plate as a wedding
present.
But all that was now nearly a quarter of a century ago--the generation
of Brookes who had seen Margaret in her youth, who had some of them been
contemporaries of her father, had mostly died out--they were not a
long-lived race--and the old relationship had grown to seem more of a
legend than a fact. A legend, however, which, little as the young
Westerns knew of the far-off cousins who now represented their mother's
people, was not likely to be allowed by them to sink into oblivion.
They were too well-bred and right-minded to be ashamed of their mother's
position when their father wooed and won her, but, nevertheless, half
unconsciously to themselves, perhaps, the knowledge of this fact made it
all the more agreeable to be able to say to each other, with dignity and
satisfaction, "Though mamma was poor when she was a girl, her family was
quite as good, if not, indeed, better than papa's."
And "papa" himself was the first always, on the rare occasions when such
subjects came under discussion, to remind his girls and boys of the
fact, but Mrs Western herself thought little about it. She lived in
the present, even her lookings forward to the future were but a sort of
transference of her own life and experience to others. She hoped that
her daughters, if they married at all, would marry as happily as she had
done, and beyond this she was not ambitious for them, and
conscientiously tried to check Lilias's good-tempered murmurings at the
monotony of their life by platitudes, in which she herself so entirely
believed that they sometimes carried with them a certain weight.
Mrs Western was less interested than the rest of the Rectory party in
the mysterious strangers who had so disturbed the Hathercourt devotions
this Sunday morning. She did not like strangers; she had a vague fear
of them--not from shyness, but from a sort of apprehensiveness which her
early life, probably, had caused to become chronic with her. When
Lilias snubbed little Frances's inquiry as to whether these ladies and
gentlemen would come to church again next Sunday, in her heart the
mother hoped the elder sister's "no, of course not," would be justified
by the event, and, secretly, she chafed at the talk that went on round
the table, talk in which even Mr Western was interested, as she could
see.
"You remember Romary, Margaret?" he said, across the table, "that
splendid place near Withenden?"
"Yes, I remember it," replied Mrs Western, "but I don't like splendid
places," she added, with a little smile.
"Nor splendid people?" said Lilias, half mischievously. "Isn't mother
funny--odd I mean, in some ways--difficult to understand?" she said
afterwards to Mary, "she seems so afraid of our ever going the least out
of the jog-trot, stupid way."
"She is over-anxious, perhaps," said Mary.
"No, I don't think it is that exactly," said Lilias. "I think papa is
the more anxious of the two. I sometimes wish mamma were a little more,
not anxious exactly--I don't know what to call it--a _little_ more
worldly, perhaps." Mary laughed.
"You would have liked her to invite those fine people to luncheon last
Sunday, and then, perhaps, they would have taken a fancy to us, and
invited us to go to see them?" she said, inquiringly.
"Nonsense, Mary! Do leave off talking about those people. I am tired
to death hearing about them," replied Lilias, impatiently. "Invite them
to luncheon--to roast mutton and rice pudding, and a dozen children
round the table!--Mary, I wish you wouldn't say such silly things."
"You are difficult to please, Lilias. Only the other day you told me,
if I would be silly sometimes I should be almost perfect," said Mary,
dryly.
And then Lilias kissed her, and called herself "cross," and there was
peace again. But somehow, after this, the subject of the strangers was
scarcely alluded to.
And "next Sunday" came and went, and if Mary descried some little
attempt at extra self-adornment on Lilias's part, she was wise enough
not to take notice of it; and if Mr Western preached his new sermon in
the morning instead of the afternoon, I question if any one discovered
the fact. For, with these possible exceptions, the day was not a marked
one in any way, and with a little sigh, and a smile too at her own
folly, Lilias decided, as she fell asleep, that as yet there was little
prospect of a turning-point in her life being at hand.
The week that followed this uneventful Sunday was a date to be
remembered, and that had been tremulously anticipated by one heart, at
least, among those of the Rectory party. It was to see the eldest son
started on his career in life, and calm enough though she kept herself
to outward appearance, to the mother this parting was a painful crisis.
Her "boy Basil" was leaving her forever, for "boy" she could not expect
him to return. He was going up to town for a few months in the first
place, having been lucky enough to obtain a junior clerkship in a great
mercantile firm, with a prospect--the few months over--of being
transferred to the branch house abroad, where his chances of success,
said the authorities, "if he behaved himself," were pretty certain in
the long run, though not, in the mean time, bewilderingly brilliant. He
was a good sort of a boy in his way, and family affection among the
Westerns was fairly and steadily developed; but nevertheless, with the
exception of his mother, none of the household lost a night's rest on
account of his approaching departure, and Lilias openly avowed her
conviction that Basil was greatly to be envied, and that it would be far
pleasanter for him to pay home visits now and then, when he knew
something of the world, and could make himself entertaining, than to
have a great hulking hobbledehoy always hanging about, and getting into
mischief. Mary, too, agreed that "it was a very good thing for Basil,"
and nobody cried when he said good-bye except poor Francie, whose seven
years were innocent of philosophy or common sense, and who only realised
that her big brother was going "far, far away."
But still, when he was fairly gone, there fell over them all a certain
depression--a sort of blank and flatness, which every one was conscious
of, though no one would own it to another. It was a dull afternoon,
too, threatening to rain, if not actually doing so, and, to suit Basil's
convenience, they had had dinner at half-past twelve, a whole hour
earlier than usual, so that by four o'clock Lilias declared she felt
ready to go to bed.
"You are suffering from suppressed excitement, after all, I suspect,"
said Mary, looking up from Alexa's German translation, which she was
correcting. "There is a sort of excitement in thinking poor Basil is
really started, though we are glad of it."
"I am not excited; I wish I were," said Lilias, listlessly. "I am only
idle and stupid!"
"Get something to do then," replied Mary. "There, I have finished the
school-room affairs for to-day. I wonder if mamma has anything she
would like us to do--I can't ask her; she is up in her own room, and I
don't like to disturb her yet. It is too dull to go out. Supposing we
practice that duet, Lilias?"
"Supposing in the first place we make this room tidy," said Lilias,
looking round her reflectively. "Supposing now, Mary--just _supposing_
any one were to come to call, what would they think of this room?"
"They wouldn't think ill of the poor room," answered Mary, laughing, and
setting to work energetically as she spoke to "tidy up;" "they would
probably reserve their thoughts for the careless people who lived in it.
There now, that looks better; let us poke up the fire a little, and
draw the sofa near it for poor mother when she comes down, and I'll tell
you what--I've got a thought, Lilias. Supposing we make the children
have tea by themselves in the dining-room for once, and we have it in
here for mother on a little table?"
"Yes, do," said Lilias, heartily; "it would be quite a treat for her."
"And I know the children will be good," said Mary; "they understand that
mother is dull about Basil's going. We are to have a light supper at
eight, you know, as papa will be back by then, so we can have tea
earlier than usual."
"If there is any meal I dislike more than an early dinner," said Lilias,
as she stood on the hearth-rug surveying the room, which, thanks to her
own and her sister's efforts, now looked neat and comfortable, "it is `a
light supper.' The room doesn't look so bad now, Mary; somebody may
come to call if he or she likes."
It was really a pretty room; it was prettily shaped, and the look-out
upon the old church through a long, rather narrow window at one end,
evidently purposely designed, was striking and picturesque. Pretty and
graceful, too, was the wide, low bow-window at the other end with a
cushioned seat running all round, and in summer a pleasant view of the
best kept bit of the Rectory garden. Even now in late autumn there was
a bright, fresh look about the room, notwithstanding the extreme
simplicity of the furniture and its unmistakable evidences of age; and
when Mary had stirred up the fire into a brisk little blaze, and with
her own hands arranged the tea-things on a small table beside the sofa,
she felt very fairly satisfied with the aspect of the whole.
"Won't mamma be pleased, Lilias, when she comes down?" she exclaimed.
"I have made the tea; it's all ready. Will you go up-stairs and ask her
to come down, or shall I?"
"You deserve to go; it was your idea," Lilias was beginning, when an
unexpected sound made her suddenly stop short "Mary," she exclaimed,
"that's the front door bell! What a bother--just as we have got all so
comfortable for mamma! It must be old Miss Bury--nobody else would come
to call on such a day; it seems like a judgment upon me for joking about
visitors."
"We can't help it," said Mary. "I only hope Ann will hear the bell and
answer it quickly. She is sometimes so slow, and Miss Bury doesn't like
to be kept waiting."
"There she is," exclaimed Lilias, as the sound of feet crossing the hall
was heard. "Who can it be, Mary? It doesn't seem like Miss Bury's
voice."
"Some one for papa, perhaps," replied Mary; but almost as she spoke the
door was thrown open, and Ann, muttering something too indistinct to be
understood, ushered a gentleman into the quickly gathering darkness of
the room.
He came in quietly, evidently not expecting to find any one in the room,
for in fact he believed himself to be entering Mr Western's study,
there to await the result of Ann's inquiries as to the hour at which her
master was expected home. Nevertheless, in one respect he had the
advantage of the two girls, for the hall whence he emerged was even
darker than the drawing-room, whereas the sisters, standing together on
the hearth-rug in the full light of the newly-stirred fire, were by him
at once and easily recognised.
"I am afraid I am disturbing you--I must really apologise," he began,
his face, had they been able to see it, lighting up with pleasure as he
spoke. "I only asked for Mr Western, and I am sorry--" he hesitated.
"Papa is out," said Mary, though quite in the dark physically and
mentally as to whom she was addressing; "but if it is anything we can
tell him--" she turned to her sister, surprised at her silence, but her
appeal was disregarded--"if it is anything we can tell him--or--or would
you like to see mamma? Won't you sit down, and I will get a light?" she
went on, without giving him time to answer.
"Thank you," said the gentleman, coming forward a little; "but I am
really ashamed--" he was repeating, with increased hesitation, when Mary
again interrupted him.
"It is Captain Beverley," she exclaimed. "I had not the least idea who
you were, for I did not recognise your voice. Lilias," she continued,
turning to her sister, this time so pointedly that Miss Western was
obliged to come to her assistance, "you generally recognise voices more
quickly than I do--did you not know that it was Captain Beverley?"
"You give me credit for greater acuteness than I possess, Mary," said
Lilias calmly, bowing with dignified ease to the intruder; "it is not
easy to recognise a voice one has not heard more than once or twice.
But if you will come nearer the fire, Captain Beverley, we shall feel
less mystified; and, Mary, do ring for lights."
The calmness, and the dignity, and the ease were all lost upon the young
man, and Lilias, had she been able to read his thoughts, would have been
saved a good deal of constraint. He was only thinking how very pretty,
how beautiful she was--this tall, fair, lily-like girl, as she stood in
the firelight, her face and bright hair thrown into strong relief by the
dusk of the rest of the room; and had she allowed herself simply at once
to acknowledge her recognition, he would have been conscious of nothing
but honest gratification. As it was, he really did feel awkward and
uncomfortable; it seemed to him he had intruded without proper
justification, and somehow this disagreeable sensation was increased by
all he saw about him. It was not in the least what he had expected; the
pretty, graceful-looking room, whose deficiencies the friendly gloom
concealed, and whose best points were shown to advantage by the
flickering, dancing light, the little tea-table so neatly set out, and
the two girls themselves--the one with the bearing of a princess, and
the other with a sort of straightforward unconsciousness worth all the
"manners" ever taught or talked about--it was not in the least what he
had expected, and he felt that he had been guilty of gross presumption
in thus making his way into Mrs Western's drawing-room. Once he had
seen Lilias before, and admired her more than he had ever admired any
one in his life, and when he had suddenly decided that, for the local
information he was in quest of, there was no one to whom he could so
fitly apply as to the Rector of Hathercourt, he had been conscious in
the very bottom of his heart that, if he went over to see Mr Western,
there would be a chance of seeing his daughter too. But he had not
fancied he would see her in this sort of way--so he felt all his former
ideas confused and unsettled.
Still it was very pleasant to find himself in the Rectory drawing-room;
the outside chill and dreariness made the cheerful indoors all the more
attractive, and, though feeling by no means sure that he had any
business to be where he was, he had not the strength of mind to tear
himself away, to get up from his low chair by the fire and the prospect
of a cup of tea, and, with a proper amount of apology for his intrusion,
to leave a message with the girls for their father and set off on his
solitary, uncomfortable walk back again to Hathercourt Edge. So he sat
still, and by thus doing, little though he knew it, passed the Rubicon.
Mary had disappeared, to return in a minute with a lighted lamp which
she placed on a little table, her way of obeying her sister's injunction
to "ring for lights." Then she stopped for a moment, hesitating, and
Captain Beverley half rose from his chair.
"Shall I tell mamma tea is ready, Lilias?" she said, "and that Captain
Beverley is here?"
"Yes, please do," replied her sister, graciously. "My mother is not
very well to-day," she continued, turning to the young man, and almost
for the first time directly addressing him, "at least, she has been
rather upset by my brother's going away, but I have no doubt she will
come down, if you would like to see her."
"Thank you," said Captain Beverley, growing uncomfortable again, and yet
feeling increasingly reluctant to take his departure. "I should be very
sorry to disturb Mrs Western, but if she is coming down in any case,"
he glanced at the tea-table, "perhaps--I should like to explain to her
what I wanted to see Mr Western about.--I should like you to understand
that I did not mean to come forcing my way here without a proper
reason," was the real thought in his mind, and somehow Lilias
instinctively half divined it, and her dignity abated a little.
"Mary, please go and ask mamma to come down, if she can," she said to
her sister, and Mary went off on her errand.
"I have been leading a very lonely life the last few days," said Captain
Beverley, when he found that Miss Western was in no hurry to start a
subject of conversation.
"Indeed," said Lilias.
"Yes," he continued, "very lonely and not particularly comfortable, as
you can fancy, when I tell you where my present quarters are. I am
living in the farm-house at Hathercourt Edge, with an old woman to `do
for me,' and she does `do for me' I can assure you," he added, with a
hearty, boyish laugh.
In spite of her grand resolutions, Lilias could not help laughing too.
"I know that old woman, I think," she said; "we often see her when we
pass that way. She was old John Birley's housekeeper, wasn't she?--at
least, she `did for him.' I do pity you, but I wonder you stay there."
"Needs must," replied Captain Beverley, "and there is good in
everything, they say. My uncomfortable life makes me appreciate
civilisation doubly when I return to it. You don't know what a treat it
is to find myself in this cheery room, and how much I shall enjoy--" he
stopped short.
"What?" said Lilias.
"A cup of good tea, if you will give it me, I was going to say, only it
suddenly struck me it was a very impertinent suggestion to be made by a
stranger who has no business to be in your drawing-room at all, Miss
Western. The fact of the matter is, I find it difficult to recollect I
am a stranger, for ever since I met you that evening two years ago, I
have remembered you so distinctly that I could fancy I have seen you
often since. It was your first ball, was it not?"
"No," said Lilias, "I had been at two before."
"Ah, well," he replied, "that's much the same thing,"--little
understanding that to poor Lilias a ball counted for a year, and that
therefore, having made her _debut_ at Brocklehurst at nineteen, she
already numbered twenty-one summers, or winters, when he first met her.
"It's much the same thing," he went on, without giving her time for the
explanation which her honesty was on the point of volunteering; "it has
always seemed like my first ball to me, for I had only returned from
India the week before, and I wasn't much in the way of balls there."
"Yes, I remember your speaking of India," said Lilias, "but I think you
said you were going back there again, did you not?"
"I did think so then," he replied, "but things have changed. I sold out
a few months ago, otherwise I should not be here now. And an unexpected
piece of good luck befell me just then. You may have heard of old John
Birley's strange will?"
Before Lilias could reply, the door opened, and Mrs Western and Mary
made their appearance.