What matter, whether through delight,
Or led through vale of tears,
Or seen at once, or hid from sight,
The glorious way appears?
If step by step the path we see,
That leads, my Saviour, up to Thee!
“I could not help it,” said Dr. May; “that little witch--”
“Meta Rivers? Oh! what, papa?”
“It seems that Wednesday is her birthday, and nothing will serve her but
to eat her dinner in the old Roman camp.”
“And are we to go? Oh, which of us?”
“Every one of anything like rational years. Blanche is especially
invited.”
There were transports till it was recollected that on Thursday morning
school would recommence, and that on Friday Harry must join his ship.
However, the Roman camp had long been an object of their desires, and
Margaret was glad that the last day should have a brilliancy, so she
would not hear of any one remaining to keep her company, talked of the
profit she should gain by a leisure day, and took ardent interest in
every one’s preparations and expectations, in Ethel’s researches
into county histories and classical dictionaries, Flora’s sketching
intentions, Norman’s promises of campanula glomerata, and a secret
whispered into her ear by Mary and Harry.
“Meta’s weather,” as they said, when the August sun rose fresh and
joyous; and great was the unnecessary bustle, and happy confusion from
six o’clock till eleven, when Dr. May, who was going to visit patients
some way farther on the same road, carried off Harry and Mary, to set
them down at the place.
The rest were called for by Mr. Rivers’s carriage and brake. Mrs.
Charles Wilmot and her little girl were the only additions to the party,
and Meta, putting Blanche into the carriage to keep company with her
contemporary, went herself in the brake. What a brilliant little fairy
she was, in her pink summer robes, fluttering like a butterfly, and
with the same apparent felicity in basking in joy, all gaiety, glee,
and light-heartedness in making others happy. On they went, through
honeysuckled lanes, catching glimpses of sunny fields of corn falling
before the reaper, and happy knots of harvest folks dining beneath the
shelter of their sheaves, with the sturdy old green umbrella sheltering
them from the sun.
Snatches of song, peals of laughter, merry nonsense, passed from one to
the other; Norman, roused into blitheness, found wit, the young ladies
found laughter, and Richard’s eyes and mouth looked very pretty, as they
smiled their quiet diversion.
At last, his face drawn all into one silent laugh, he directed the eyes
of the rest to a high green mound, rising immediately before them, where
stood two little figures, one with a spy-glass, intently gazing the
opposite way.
At the same time came the halt, and Norman, bounding out, sprang lightly
and nimbly up the side of the mound, and, while the spy-glass was yet
pointed full at Wales, had hold of a pair of stout legs, and with the
words, “Keep a good lockout!” had tumbled Mr. May headforemost down the
grassy slope, with Mary rolling after.
Harry’s first outcry was for his precious glass--his second was, not
at his fall, but that they should have come from the east, when, by the
compass, Stoneborough was north-north-west. And then the boys took to
tumbling over one another, while Meta frolicked joyously, with Nipen
after her, up and down the mounds, chased by Mary and Blanche, who were
wild with glee.
By-and-by she joined Ethel, and Norman was summoned to help them to
trace out the old lines of encampment, ditch, rampart, and gates--happy
work on those slopes of fresh turf, embroidered with every minute
blossom of the moor--thyme, birdsfoot, eyebright, and dwarf purple
thistle, buzzed and hummed over by busy, black-tailed, yellow-banded
dumbledores, the breezy wind blowing softly in their faces, and the
expanse of country--wooded hill, verdant pasture, amber harvest-field,
winding river, smoke-canopied town, and brown moor, melting grayly away
to the mountain heads.
Now in sun, now in shade, the bright young antiquaries surveyed the old
banks, and talked wisely of vallum and fossa, of legion and cohort, of
Agricola and Suetonius, and discussed the delightful probability, that
this might have been raised in the war with Caractacus, whence, argued
Ethel, since Caractacus was certainly Arviragus, it must have been the
very spot where Imogen met Posthumus again. Was not yonder the very
high-road to Milford Haven, and thus must not “fair Fidele’s grassy
tomb” be in the immediate neighbourhood?
Then followed the suggestion that the mound in the middle was a good
deal like an ancient tomb, where, as Blanche interposed with some of the
lore lately caught from Ethel’s studies, “they used to bury their tears
in wheelbarrows,” while Norman observed it was the more probable, as
fair Fidele never was buried at all.
The idea of a search enchanted the young ladies. “It was the right sort
of vehicle, evidently,” said Norman, looking at Harry, who had been
particularly earnest in recommending that it should be explored; and
Meta declared that if they could but find the least trace, her
papa would be delighted to go regularly to work, and reveal all the
treasures.
Richard seemed a little afraid of the responsibility of treasure-trove,
but he was overruled by a chorus of eager voices, and dispossessed of
the trowel, which he had brought to dig up some down-gentians for the
garden. While Norman set to work as pioneer, some skipped about in wild
ecstasy, and Ethel knelt down to peer into the hole.
Very soon there was a discovery--an eager outcry--some pottery! Roman
vessels--a red thing that might have been a lamp, another that might
have been a lachrymatory.
“Well,” said Ethel, “you know, Norman, I always told you that the
children’s pots and pans in the clay ditch were very like Roman
pottery.”
“Posthumus’s patty pan!” said Norman, holding it up. “No doubt this was
the bottle filled with the old queen’s tears when Cloten was killed.”
“You see it is very small,” added Harry; “she could not squeeze out
many.”
“Come now, I do believe you are laughing at it!” said Meta, taking the
derided vessels into her hands. “Now, they really are genuine, and very
curious things, are not they, Flora?”
Flora and Ethel admired and speculated till there was a fresh, and still
more exciting discovery--a coin, actually a medal, with the head of
an emperor upon it--not a doubt of his high nose being Roman. Meta was
certain that she knew one exactly like him among her father’s gems.
Ethel was resolved that he should be Claudius, and began decyphering the
defaced inscription THVRVS. She tried Claudius’s whole torrent of names,
and, at last, made it into a contraction of Tiberius, which highly
satisfied her.
Then Meta, in her turn, read D.V.X., which, as Ethel said, was all she
could wish--of course it was dux et imperator, and Harry muttered into
Norman’s ear, “ducks and geese!” and then heaved a sigh, as he thought
of the dux no longer. “V.V.,” continued Meta; “what can that mean?”
“Five, five, of course,” said Flora.
“No, no! I have it, Venus Victrix” said Ethel, “the ancestral Venus! Ha!
don’t you see? there she is on the other side, crowning Claudius.”
“Then there is an E.”
“Something about Aeneas,” suggested Norman gravely. But Ethel was sure
that could not be, because there was no diphthong; and a fresh theory
was just being started, when Blanche’s head was thrust in to know what
made them all so busy.
“Why, Ethel, what are you doing with Harry’s old medal of the Duke of
Wellington?”
Poor Meta and Ethel, what a downfall! Meta was sure that Norman had
known it the whole time, and he owned to having guessed it from Harry’s
importunity for the search. Harry and Mary had certainly made good
use of their time, and great was the mirth over the trap so cleverly
set--the more when it was disclosed that Dr. May had been a full
participator in the scheme, had suggested the addition of the pottery,
had helped Harry to some liquid to efface part of the inscription, and
had even come up with them to plant the snare in the most plausible
corner for researches.
Meta, enchanted with the joke, flew off to try to take in her governess
and Mrs. Wilmot, whom she found completing their leisurely promenade,
and considering where they should spread the dinner.
The sight of those great baskets of good fare was appetising, and the
company soon collected on the shady turf, where Richard made himself
extremely useful, and the feast was spread without any worse mishap than
Nipen’s running away with half a chicken, of which he was robbed, as Tom
reported, by a surly-looking dog that watched in the outskirts of the
camp, and caused Tom to return nearly as fast as the poor little white
marauder.
Meta “very immorally,” as Norman told her, comforted Nipen with a large
share of her sandwiches. Harry armed himself with a stick and Mary with
a stone, and marched off to the attack, but saw no signs of the enemy,
and had begun to believe him a figment of Tom’s imagination, when Mary
spied him under a bush, lying at the feet of a boy, with whom he was
sharing the spoil.
Harry called out rather roughly, “Hallo! what are you doing there?”
The boy jumped up, the dog growled, Mary shrank behind her brother,
and begged him not to be cross to the poor boy, but to come away. Harry
repeated his question.
“Please, sir, Toby brought it to me.”
“What, is Toby your dog?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you so hungry as to eat dog’s meat?”
“I have not had nothing before to-day, sir.”
“Why, where do you live? hereabouts?”
“Oh, no, sir; I lived with grandmother up in Cheshire, but she is dead
now, and father is just come home from sea, and he wrote down I was to
be sent to him at Portsmouth, to go to sea with him.”
“How do you live? do you beg your way?”
“No, sir; father sent up a pound in a letter, only Nanny Brooks said I
owed some to her for my victuals, and I have not much of it left, and
bread comes dear, so when Toby brought me this bit of meat I was glad of
it, sir, but I would not have taken it--”
The boy was desired to wait while the brother and sister, in breathless
excitement, rushed back with their story.
Mrs. Wilmot was at first inclined to fear that the naval part of it had
been inspired by Harry’s uniform, but the examination of Jem Jennings
put it beyond a doubt that he spoke nothing but the truth; and the
choicest delight of the feast was the establishing him and Toby behind
the barrow, and feeding them with such viands as they had probably never
seen before.
The boy could not read writing, but he had his father’s letter in his
pocket, and Mary capered at the delightful coincidence, on finding that
Jem Jennings was actually a quarter-master on board the Alcestis. It
gave a sort of property in the boy, and she almost grudged Meta the
having been first to say that she would pay for the rest of his journey,
instead of doing it by subscription.
However, Mary had a consolation, she would offer to take charge of Toby,
who, as Harry observed, would otherwise have been drowned--he could not
be taken on board. To be sure, he was a particularly ugly animal, rough,
grisly, short-legged, long-backed, and with an apology for a tail--but
he had a redeeming pair of eyes, and he and Jem lived on terms of such
close friendship, that he would have been miserable in leaving him to
the mercy of Nanny Brooks.
So, after their meal, Jem and Toby were bidden to wait for Dr. May’s
coming, and fell asleep together on the green bank, while the rest
either sketched, or wandered, or botanised. Flora acted the grown-up
lady with Mrs. Wilmot, and Meta found herself sitting by Ethel, asking
her a great many questions about Margaret, and her home, and what it
could be like to be one of such a numerous family. Flora had always
turned aside from personal matters, as uninteresting to her companion,
and, in spite of Meta’s admiration, and the mutual wish to be intimate,
confidence did not spring up spontaneously, as it had done with the
doctor, and, in that single hour, with Margaret. Blunt as Ethel was, her
heartiness of manner gave a sense of real progress in friendship. Their
Confirmation vows seemed to make a link, and Meta’s unfeigned enthusiasm
for the doctor was the sure road to Ethel’s heart. She was soon telling
how glad Margaret was that he had been drawn into taking pleasure in
to-day’s scheme, since, not only were his spirits tried by the approach
of Harry’s departure, but he had, within the last few days, been made
very sad by reading and answering Aunt Flora’s first letter on the news
of last October’s misfortune.
“My aunt in New Zealand,” explained Ethel.
“Have you an aunt in New Zealand?” cried Meta. “I never heard of her!”
“Did not you? Oh! she does write such charming long letters!”
“Is she Dr. May’s sister?”
“No; he was an only child. She is dear mamma’s sister. I don’t remember
her, for she went out when I was a baby, but Richard and Margaret were
so fond of her. They say she used to play with them, and tell them
stories, and sing Scotch songs to them. Margaret says the first sorrow
of her life was Aunt Flora’s going away.”
“Did she live with them?”
“Yes; after grandpapa died, she came to live with them, but then Mr.
Arnott came about. I ought not to speak evil of him, for he is my
godfather, but we do wish he had not carried off Aunt Flora! That letter
of hers showed me what a comfort it would be to papa to have her here.”
“Perhaps she will come.”
“No; Uncle Arnott has too much to do. It was a pretty story altogether.
He was an officer at Edinburgh, and fell in love with Aunt Flora, but my
grandfather Mackenzie thought him too poor to marry her, and it was all
broken off, and they tried to think no more of it. But grandpapa died,
and she came to live here, and somehow Mr. Arnott turned up again,
quartered at Whitford, and papa talked over my Uncle Mackenzie, and
helped them--and Mr. Arnott thought the best way would be to go out to
the colonies. They went when New Zealand was very new, and a very funny
life they had! Once they had their house burned in Heki’s rebellion--and
Aunt Flora saw a Maori walking about in her best Sunday bonnet; but,
in general, everything has gone on very well, and he has a great farm,
besides an office under government.”
“Oh, so he went out as a settler! I was in hopes it was as a
missionary.”
“I fancy Aunt Flora has done a good deal that may be called missionary
work,” said Ethel, “teaching the Maori women and girls. They call her
mother, and she has quite a doctor’s shop for them, and tries hard to
teach them to take proper care of their poor little children when
they are ill; and she cuts out clothes for the whole pah, that is, the
village.”
“And are they Christians?”
“Oh! to be sure they are now! They meet in the pah for prayers every
morning and evening--they used to have a hoe struck against a bit of
metal for a signal, and when papa heard of it, he gave them a bell, and
they were so delighted. Now there comes a clergyman every fourth Sunday,
and, on the others, Uncle Arnott reads part of the service to the
English near, and the Maori teacher to his people.”
Meta asked ravenously for more details, and when she had pretty well
exhausted Ethel’s stock, she said, “How nice it must be! Ethel, did you
ever read the ‘Faithful Little Girl?’”
“Yes; it was one of Margaret’s old Sunday books. I often recollected it
before I was allowed to begin Cocksmoor.”
“I’m afraid I am very like Lucilla!” said Meta.
“What? In wishing to be a boy, that you might be a missionary?” said
Ethel. “Not in being quite so cross at home?” she added, laughing.
“I am not cross, because I have no opportunity,” said Meta.
“No opportunity. Oh, Meta, if people wish to be cross, it is easy enough
to find grounds for it. There is always the moon to cry for.”
“Really and truly,” said Meta thoughtfully, “I never do meet with any
reasonable trial of temper, and I am often afraid it cannot be right or
safe to live so entirely at ease, and without contradictions.”
“Well, but,” said Ethel, “it is the state of life in which you are
placed.”
“Yes; but are we meant never to have vexations?”
“I thought you had them,” said Ethel. “Margaret told me about your maid.
That would have worried some people, and made them horridly cross.”
“Oh, no rational person,” cried Meta. “It was so nice to think of her
being with the poor mother, and I was quite interested in managing for
myself; besides, you know, it was just a proof how one learns to be
selfish, that it had never occurred to me that I ought to spare her.”
“And your school children--you were in some trouble about them?”
“Oh, that is pleasure.”
“I thought you had a class you did not like?”
“I like them now--they are such steady plodding girls, so much in
earnest, and one, that has been neglected, is so pleased and touched by
kindness. I would not give them up for anything now--they are just fit
for my capacity.”
“Do you mean that nothing ever goes wrong with you, or that you do not
mind anything--which?”
“Nothing goes wrong enough with me to give me a handsome excuse for
minding it.”
“Then it must be all your good temper.”
“I don’t think so,” said Meta; “it is that nothing is ever disagreeable
to me.”
“Stay,” said Ethel, “if the ill-temper was in you, you would only be the
crosser for being indulged--at least, so books say. And I am sure myself
that it is not whether things are disagreeable or not, but whether one’s
will is with them, that signifies.”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“Why--I have seen the boys do for play, and done myself, what would have
been a horrid hardship if one had been made to do it. I never liked any
lessons as well as those I did without being obliged, and always, when
there is a thing I hate very much in itself, I can get up an interest in
it, by resolving that I will do it well, or fast, or something--if I can
stick my will to it, it is like a lever, and it is done. Now, I think it
must be the same with you, only your will is more easily set at it than
mine.”
“What makes me uncomfortable is, that I feel as if I never followed
anything but my will.”
Ethel screwed up her face, as if the eyes of her mind were pursuing some
thought almost beyond her. “If our will and our duty run the same,” she
said, “that can’t be wrong. The better people are, the more they ‘love
what He commands,’ you know. In heaven they have no will but His.”
“Oh! but Ethel,” cried Meta, distressed, “that is putting it too high.
Won’t you understand what I mean? We have learned so much lately about
self-denial, and crossing one’s own inclinations, and enduring hardness.
And here I live with two dear kind people, who only try to keep every
little annoyance from my path. I can’t wish for a thing without getting
it--I am waited on all day long, and I feel like one of the women that
are at ease--one of the careless daughters.”
“I think still papa would say it was your happy contented temper that
made you find no vexation.”
“But that sort of temper is not goodness. I was born with it; I never
did mind anything, not even being punished, they say, unless I knew papa
was grieved, which always did make me unhappy enough. I laughed, and
went to play most saucily, whatever they did to me. If I had striven for
the temper, it would be worth having, but it is my nature. And Ethel,”
she added, in a low voice, as the tears came into her eyes, “don’t you
remember last Sunday? I felt myself so vain and petted a thing! as if I
had no share in the Cup of suffering, and did not deserve to call myself
a member--it seemed ungrateful.”
Ethel felt ashamed, as she heard of warmer feelings than her own had
been, expressed in that lowered trembling voice, and she sought for the
answer that would only come to her mind in sense, not at first in words.
“Discipline,” said she, “would not that show the willingness to have the
part? Taking the right times for refusing oneself some pleasant thing.”
“Would not that be only making up something for oneself?” said Meta.
“No, the Church orders it. It is in the Prayer-book,” said Ethel. “I
mean one can do little secret things--not read storybooks on those days,
or keep some tiresome sort of work for them. It is very trumpery, but it
keeps the remembrance, and it is not so much as if one did not heed.”
“I’ll think,” said Meta, sighing. “If only I felt myself at work, not
to please myself, but to be of use. Ha!” she cried, springing up, “I do
believe I see Dr. May coming!”
“Let us run and meet him,” said Ethel.
They did so, and he called out his wishes of many happy returns of
blithe days to the little birthday queen, then added, “You both look
grave, though--have they deserted you?”
“No, papa, we have been having a talk,” said Ethel. “May I tell him,
Meta? I want to know what he says.”
Meta had not bargained for this, but she was very much in earnest, and
there was nothing formidable in Dr. May, so she assented.
“Meta is longing to be at work--she thinks she is of no use,” said
Ethel; “she says she never does anything but please herself.”
“Pleasing oneself is not the same as trying to please oneself,” said Dr.
May kindly.
“And she thinks it cannot be safe or right,” added Ethel, “to live that
happy bright life, as if people without care or trouble could not be
living as Christians are meant to live. Is that it, Meta?”
“Yes, I think it is,” said Meta. “I seem to be only put here to be made
much of!”
“What did David say, Meta?” returned Dr. May.
“My Shepherd is the living Lord,
Nothing therefore I need;
In pastures fair, near pleasant streams,
He setteth me to feed.”
“Then you think,” said Meta, much touched, “that I ought to look on this
as ‘the pastures fair,’ and be thankful. I hope I was not unthankful.”
“Oh, no,” said Ethel. “It was the wish to bear hardness, and be a good
soldier, was it not?”
“Ah! my dear,” he said, “the rugged path and dark valley will come in
His own fit time. Depend upon it, the good Shepherd is giving you what
is best for you in the green meadow, and if you lay hold on His rod
and staff in your sunny days--” He stopped short, and turned to his
daughter. “Ethel, they sang that psalm the first Sunday I brought your
mamma home!”
Meta was much affected, and began to put together what the father and
daughter had said. Perhaps the little modes of secret discipline,
of which Ethel had spoken, might be the true means of clasping the
staff--perhaps she had been impatient, and wanting in humility in
craving for the strife, when her armour was scarce put on.
Dr. May spoke once again. “Don’t let any one long for external trial.
The offering of a free heart is the thing. To offer praise is the great
object of all creatures in heaven and earth. If the happier we are, the
more we praise, then all is well.”
But the serious discussion was suddenly broken off.
Others had seen Dr. May’s approach, and Harry and Mary rushed down
in dismay at their story having, as they thought, been forestalled.
However, they had it all to themselves, and the doctor took up the
subject as keenly as could have been hoped, but the poor boy being still
fast asleep, after, probably, much fatigue, he would not then waken him
to examine him, but came and sat down in the semicircle, formed by a
terraced bank of soft turf, where Mrs. Larpent, Mrs. Wilmot, Richard,
and Flora, had for some time taken up their abode. Meta brought him
the choice little basket of fruit which she had saved for him, and all
delighted in having him there, evidently enjoying the rest and sport
very much, as he reposed on the fragrant slope, eating grapes, and
making inquiries as to the antiquities lately discovered.
Norman gave an exceedingly droll account of the great Roman Emperor,
Tiberius V.V., and Meta correcting it, there was a regular gay skirmish
of words, which entertained every one extremely--above all, Meta’s
indignation when the charge was brought home to her of having declared
the “old Duke” exactly like in turns to Domitian and Tiberius--his
features quite forbidding.
This lasted till the younger ones, who had been playing and rioting till
they were tired, came up, and throwing themselves down on the grass,
Blanche petitioned for something that every one could play at.
Meta proposed what she called the story play. One was to be sent out of
earshot, and the rest to agree upon a word, which was then to be guessed
by each telling a story, and introducing the word into it, not too
prominently. Meta volunteered to guess, and Harry whispered to Mary it
would be no go, but, in the meantime, the word was found, and Blanche
eagerly recalled Meta, and sat in the utmost expectation and delight.
Meta turned first to Richard, but he coloured distressfully, and begged
that Flora might tell his story for him--he should only spoil the game.
Flora, with a little tinge of graceful reluctance, obeyed. “No woman had
been to the summit of Mont Blanc,” she said, “till one young girl, named
Marie, resolved to have this glory. The guides told her it was madness,
but she persevered. She took the staff, and everything requisite,
and, following a party, began the ascent. She bravely supported every
fatigue, climbed each precipice, was undaunted by the giddy heights she
attained, bravely crossed the fields of snow, supported the bitter cold,
and finally, though suffering severely, arrived at the topmost peak,
looked forth where woman had never looked before, felt her heart swell
at the attainment of her utmost ambition, and the name of Marie was
inscribed as that of the woman who alone has had the glory of standing
on the summit of the Giant of the Alps.”
It was prettily enunciated, and had a pleasing effect. Meta stood
conning the words--woman--giant--mountain--glory--and begged for another
tale.
“Mine shall not be so stupid as Flora’s,” said Harry. “We have an old
sailor on board the Alcestis--a giant he might be for his voice--but he
sailed once in the Glory of the West, and there they had a monkey that
was picked up in Africa, and one day this old fellow found his queer
messmate, as he called him, spying through a glass, just like the
captain. The captain had a glorious collection of old coins, and the
like, dug up in some of the old Greek colonies, and whenever Master
Monkey saw him overhauling them, he would get out a brass button, or
a card or two, and turn ‘em over, and chatter at them, and glory over
them, quite knowing,” said Harry, imitating the gesture, “and I dare say
he saw V.V., and Tiberius Caesar, as well as the best of them.”
“Thank you, Mr. Harry,” said Meta. “I think we are at no loss for
monkeys here. But I have not the word yet. Who comes next? Ethel--”
“I shall blunder, I forewarn you,” said Ethel, “but this is mine: There
was a young king who had an old tutor, whom he despised because he was
so strict, so he got rid of him, and took to idle sport. One day, when
he was out hunting in a forest, a white hind came and ran before him,
till she guided him to a castle, and there he found a lady all dressed
in white, with a beamy crown on head, and so nobly beautiful that he
fell in love with her at once, and was only sorry to see another prince
who was come to her palace too. She told them her name was Gloria,
and that she had had many suitors, but the choice did not depend on
herself--she could only be won by him who deserved her, and for three
years they were to be on their probation, trying for her. So she
dismissed them, only burning to gain her, and telling them to come back
in three years’ time. But they had not gone far before they saw another
palace, much finer, all glittering with gold and silver, and their Lady
Gloria came out to meet them, not in her white dress, but in one all
gay and bright with fine colours, and her crown they now saw was of
diamonds. She told them they had only seen her everyday dress and house,
this was her best; and she showed them about the castle, and all the
pictures of her former lovers. There was Alexander, who had been nearer
retaining her than any one, only the fever prevented it; there
was Pyrrhus, always seeking her, but slain by a tile; Julius
Caesar--Tamerlane--all the rest, and she hoped that one of these two
would really prove worthy and gain her, by going in the same path as
these great people.
“So our prince went home; his head full of being like Alexander and all
the rest of them, and he sent for his good old tutor to reckon up his
armies, and see whom he could conquer in order to win her. But the old
tutor told him he was under a mistake; the second lady he had seen was a
treacherous cousin of Gloria, who drew away her suitors by her deceits,
and whose real name was Vana Gloria. If he wished to earn the true
Gloria, he must set to work to do his subjects good, and to be virtuous.
And he did; he taught them, and he did justice to them, and he bore it
patiently and kindly when they did not understand. But by-and-by the
other king, who had no good tutor to help him, had got his armies
together, and conquered ever so many people, and drawn off their men to
be soldiers; and now he attacked the good prince, and was so strong that
he gained the victory, though both prince and subjects fought manfully
with heart and hand; but the battle was lost, and the faithful prince
wounded and made prisoner, but bearing it most patiently, till he was
dragged behind the other’s triumphal car with all the rest, when the
three years were up, to be presented to Vana Gloria. And so he was
carried into the forest, bleeding and wounded, and his enemy drove the
car over his body, and stretched out his arms to Vana Gloria, and found
her a vain, ugly wretch, who grew frightful as soon as he grasped her.
But the good dying prince saw the beautiful beamy face of his lady--love
bending over him. ‘Oh!’ he said, ‘vision of my life, hast thou come to
lighten my dying eyes? Never--never, even in my best days, did I deem
that I could be worthy of thee; the more I strove, the more I knew that
Gloria is for none below--for me less than all.’
“And then the lady came and lifted him up, and she said, ‘Gloria is
given to all who do and suffer truly in a good cause, for faithfulness
is glory, and that is thine.’”
Ethel’s language had become more flowing as she grew more eager in the
tale, and they all listened with suspended interest. Norman asked
where she got the story. “Out of an old French book, the ‘Magazin des
enfans,’” was the answer.
“But why did you alter the end?” said Flora, “why kill the poor man? He
used to be prosperous, why not?”
“Because I thought,” said Ethel, “that glory could not properly belong
to any one here, and if he was once conscious of it, it would be all
spoiled. Well, Meta, do you guess?”
“Oh! the word! I had forgotten all about it. I think I know what it must
be, but I should so like another story. May I not have one?” said Meta
coaxingly. “Mary, it is you.”
Mary fell back on her papa, and begged him to take hers. Papa told the
best stories of all, she said, and Meta looked beseeching.
“My story will not be as long as Ethel’s,” said the doctor, yielding
with a half-reluctant smile. “My story is of a humming-bird, a little
creature that loved its master with all its strength, and longed to do
somewhat for him. It was not satisfied with its lot, because it seemed
merely a vain and profitless creature. The nightingale sang praise, and
the woods sounded with the glory of its strains; the fowl was valued
for its flesh, the ostrich for its plume, but what could the little
humming-bird do, save rejoice in the glory of the flood of sunbeams, and
disport itself over the flowers, and glance in the sunny light, as its
bright breastplate flashed from rich purple to dazzling flame-colour,
and its wings supported it, fluttering so fast that the eye could hardly
trace them, as it darted its slender beak into the deep-belled blossoms.
So the little bird grieved, and could not rest, for thinking that it was
useless in this world, that it sought merely its own gratification, and
could do nothing that could conduce to the glory of its master. But
one night a voice spoke to the little bird, ‘Why hast thou been placed
here,’ it said, ‘but at the will of thy master? Was it not that he might
delight himself in thy radiant plumage, and see thy joy in the sunshine?
His gifts are thy buoyant wing, thy beauteous colours, the love of all
around, the sweetness of the honey-drop in the flowers, the shade of the
palm leaf. Esteem them, then, as his; value thine own bliss, while it
lasts, as the token of his care and love; and while thy heart praises
him for them, and thy wings quiver and dance to the tune of that praise,
then, indeed, thy gladness conduces to no vain-glory of thine own, in
beauty, or in graceful flight, but thou art a creature serving--as best
thou canst to his glory.’”
“I know the word,” half whispered Meta, not without a trembling of the
lip. “I know why you told the story, Dr. May, but one is not as good as
the humming-birds.”
The elder ladies had begun to look at watches, and talk of time to go
home; and Jem Jemmings having been seen rearing himself up from behind
the barrow, the doctor proceeded to investigate his case, was perfectly
satisfied of the boy’s truth, and as ready as the young ones to befriend
him. A letter should be written at once, desiring his father to look out
for him on Friday, when he should go by the same train as Harry, who
was delighted at the notion of protecting him so far, and begged to be
allowed to drive him home to Stoneborough in the gig.
Consent was given; and Richard being added to give weight and
discretion, the gig set out at once--the doctor, much to Meta’s delight,
took his place in the brake. Blanche, who, in the morning, had been
inclined to despise it as something akin to a cart, now finding it a
popular conveyance, was urgent to return in it; and Flora was made over
to the carriage, not at all unwillingly, for, though it separated her
from Meta, it made a senior of her.
Norman’s fate conveyed him to the exalted seat beside the driver of the
brake, where he could only now and then catch the sounds of mirth from
below. He had enjoyed the day exceedingly, with that sort of abandon
more than ordinarily delicious to grave or saddened temperaments, when
roused or drawn out for a time. Meta’s winning grace and sweetness had
a peculiar charm for him, and, perhaps, his having been originally
introduced to her as ill, and in sorrow, had given her manner towards
him a sort of kindness which was very gratifying.
And now he felt as if he was going back to a very dusky dusty world; the
last and blithest day of his holidays was past, and he must return to
the misapprehensions and injustice that had blighted his school career,
be kept beneath boys with half his ability, and without generous
feeling, and find all his attainments useless in restoring his
position. Dr. Hoxton’s dull scholarship would chill all pleasure in
his studies--there would be no companionship among the boys--even his
supporters, Ernescliffe and Larkins, were gone, and Harry would leave
him still under a cloud.
Norman felt it more as disgrace than he had done since the first, and
wished he had consented to quit the school when it had been offered--be
made a man, instead of suffering these doubly irksome provocations,
which rose before him in renewed force. “And what would that little
humming-bird think of me if she knew me disgraced?” thought he. “But it
is of no use to think of it. I must go through with it, and as I always
am getting vain-glorious, I had better have no opportunity. I did not
declare I renounced vain pomp and glory last week, to begin coveting
them now again.”
So Norman repressed the sigh as he looked at the school buildings, which
never could give him the pleasures of memory they afforded to others.
The brake had set out before the carriage, so that Meta had to come in
and wait for her governess. Before the vehicle had disgorged half its
contents, Harry had rushed out to meet them. “Come in, come in, Norman!
Only hear. Margaret shall tell you herself! Hurrah!”
Is Mr. Ernescliffe come? crossed Ethel’s mind, but Margaret was alone,
flushed, and holding out her hands. “Norman! where is he? Dear Norman,
here is good news! Papa, Dr. Hoxton has been here, and he knows all
about it--and oh! Norman, he is very sorry for the injustice, and you
are dux again!”
Norman really trembled so much that he could neither speak nor stand,
but sat down on the window-seat, while a confusion of tongues asked
more.
Dr. Hoxton and Mr. Larkins had come to call--heard no one was at home
but Miss May--had, nevertheless, come in--and Margaret had heard
that Mr. Larkins, who had before intended to remove his son from
Stoneborough, had, in the course of the holidays, made discoveries from
him, which he could not feel justified in concealing from Dr. Hoxton.
The whole of the transactions with Ballhatchet, and Norman’s part in
them, had been explained, as well as the true history of the affray in
Randall’s Alley--how Norman had dispersed the boys, how they had again
collected, and, with the full concurrence of Harvey Anderson, renewed
the mischief, how the Andersons had refused to bear witness in his
favour, and how Ballhatchet’s ill-will had kept back the evidence which
would have cleared him.
Little Larkins had told all, and his father had no scruple in repeating
it, and causing the investigation to be set on foot. Nay, he deemed that
Norman’s influence had saved his son, and came, as anxious to thank
him, as Dr. Hoxton, warm-hearted, though injudicious, was to repair his
injustice. They were much surprised and struck by finding that Dr. May
had been aware of the truth the whole time, and had patiently put up
with the injustice, and the loss of the scholarship--a loss which Dr.
Hoxton would have given anything to repair, so as to have sent up a
scholar likely to do him so much credit; but it was now too late, and he
had only been able to tell Margaret how dismayed he was at finding out
that the boy to whom all the good order in his school was owing had been
so ill-used. Kind Dr. May’s first feeling really seemed to be pity and
sympathy for his old friend, the head-master, in the shock of such a
discovery. Harry was vociferously telling his version of the story to
Ethel and Mary. Tom stood transfixed in attention. Meta, forgotten and
bewildered, was standing near Norman, whose colour rapidly varied,
and whose breath came short and quick as he listened. A quick half
interrogation passed Meta’s lips, heard by no one else.
“It is only that it is all right,” he answered, scarcely audibly; “they
have found out the truth.”
“What?--who?--you?” said Meta, as she heard words that implied the past
suspicion.
“Yes,” said Norman, “I was suspected, but never at home.”
“And is it over now?”
“Yes, yes,” he whispered huskily, “all is right, and Harry will not
leave me in disgrace.”
Meta did not speak, but she held out her hand in hearty congratulation;
Norman, scarce knowing what he did, grasped and wrung it so tight
that it was positive pain, as he turned away his head to the window to
struggle with those irrepressible tears. Meta’s colour flushed into her
cheek as she found it still held, almost unconsciously, perhaps, in his
agitation, and she heard Margaret’s words, that both gentlemen had said
Norman had acted nobly, and that every revelation made in the course of
their examination had only more fully established his admirable conduct.
“Oh, Norman, Norman, I am so glad!” cried Mary’s voice in the first
pause, and, Margaret asking where he was, he suddenly turned round,
recollected himself, and found it was not the back of the chair that he
had been squeezing, blushed intensely, but made no attempt at apology,
for indeed he could not speak--he only leaned down over Margaret, to
receive her heartfelt embrace; and, as he stood up again, his father
laid his hand on his shoulder, “My boy, I am glad;” but the words were
broken, and, as if neither could bear more, Norman hastily left the
room, Ethel rushing after him.
“Quite overcome!” said the doctor, “and no wonder. He felt it cruelly,
though he bore up gallantly. Well, July?”
“I’ll go down to school with him to-morrow, and see him dux again! I’ll
have three-times-three!” shouted Harry; “hip! hip! hurrah!” and Tom and
Mary joined in chorus.
“What is all this?” exclaimed Flora, opening the door, “--is every one
gone mad?”
Many were the voices that answered.
“Well, I am glad, and I hope the Andersons will make an apology. But
where is poor Meta? Quite forgotten?”
“Meta would not wonder if she knew all,” said the doctor, turning, with
a sweet smile that had in it something, nevertheless, of apology.
“Oh, I am so glad--so glad!” said Meta, her eyes full of tears, as she
came forward.
And there was no helping it; the first kiss between Margaret May
and Margaret Rivers was given in that overflowing sympathy of
congratulation.
The doctor gave her his arm to take her to the carriage, and, on the
way, his quick warm words filled up the sketch of Norman’s behaviour;
Meta’s eyes responded better than her tongue, but, to her good-bye, she
could not help adding, “Now I have seen true glory.”
His answer was much such a grip as her poor little fingers had already
received, but though they felt hot and crushed all the way home, the
sensation seemed to cause such throbs of joy, that she would not have
been without it.