All well at Bence's; and all well at home.
It was pleasant to her, returning from her work on summer evenings, to
see the white gates and long wall speed towards her: as if coming once
again out of the land of dreams into the realm of facts, because she
called them to her. She had wished for them, and they were hers. While
her car glided from the gates to the porch, she enjoyed the full sight
of the things that, seen in glimpses, soothed her eyes so many years
ago--the comfortable eaves and latticed windows, the dark masses of
foliage casting restful shadows on the sun-lit lawns, the steps and
brickwork of the terraced garden giving value and form to the gay
exuberance of the summer flowers.
"Are the ladies in?"
When the footman said that the ladies were out, she gave a little sigh.
It was only a moment's disappointment. By the time that the butler had
come forward and was telling her where the ladies had gone, the faint
sense of emptiness and disillusionment had vanished. Really she liked
the ladies to be out and about as much as possible. There was a big
motor-car to take them far from home, and there were horses and
carriages to take them on quiet little journeys; for, pleasant as home
might be, they must not be allowed to feel themselves prisoners in it.
All this side of her life belonged to them: they ruled the world that
lay outside her work.
When the footman told her that the ladies were to be found somewhere
beneath the eaves or within the walls of the garden, she sprang out of
the car as lightly as a girl.
"I think Miss Jane is in the music room, ma'am."
Her face lit up; she smiled contentedly, and hurried through the porch
to search for Miss Jane.
The house was bigger in fact than it had been in the dream. She had
tacked on a new wing at each end of it; and her architect had so
cleverly preserved the external style that no one outside the building
could guess which was the old part and which the new. Inside, you might
guess by the size of the rooms. In one wing there was a large
dining-room, and in the other wing there was Miss Jane's school-room,
play-room, or music-room.
This was an unexpectedly noble hall, containing an organ, a minstrel
gallery, and a raised stage for dramatic entertainment; here the young
lady had obtained much instruction and amusement; here she learned to
sing and dance, to fence and do Swedish exercises, to know the kings of
England and to spin tops, to talk French and to play badminton.
Her grandmother, bustling to it, sometimes heard and always loved to
hear the music of organ or piano; sometimes all she heard was a young
voice talking or laughing--but that was the music that she loved best.
"Granny dear!"
"Mother dear!"
The double welcome was her daily reward, the handsome payment that made
her think the long day's toil so light.
A certain pomp was maintained in their manner of living: meals were
served with adequate ceremony; butler and footmen instead of
parlourmaids waited at table; the family wore rich dresses of an
evening;--but all this was to please Enid. Everything that Enid once had
seemed to care for must be provided now--the stateliness of liveried
men, the grandeur of formal dinner-parties, the small or big
extravagances that come with complete immunity from any thought of cost.
And on the little girl's account, too. It was essential that Enid
should be able to bring up her child in the midst of fitting, proper,
even fashionable surroundings.
Enid took all these benefits placidly and naturally: very much as of
old, when she had been an unmarried girl receiving benefits from the
same source in St. Saviour's Court. Indeed she had insensibly dropped
back into her old way. Except for the one great permanent change that
sprang from a dual cause--her deepened affection for her mother and her
idolizing devotion to her daughter,--she was strikingly similar to the
graceful long-nosed Miss Thompson who went with a smile to meet her fate
at Mr. Young's riding-school.
She looked scarcely a day older. She was neither thinner nor fatter; her
face, after being pinched by misfortune, had exactly filled out again to
the elegant oval of careless youth. The bad time with all its hard
lessons was almost obliterated by present ease and comfort: certainly it
did not seem to have left indelible marks. She could speak of it--did
often speak of it--without wincing, and in the even, unemotional tone
that she habitually used.
Only when Jane was ill, she altogether burst through the smooth outer
surface of calm propriety, and showed that, if they could be reached,
there were some really strong feelings underneath. When Jane was ill, no
matter how slightly, Mrs. Kenion became almost demented.
To some juvenile ailments the most jealously guarded child must submit
sooner or later. Jane has a sore throat and a cold in the head; Jane
slept badly last night; and, oh--merciful powers,--Jane exhibits red
spots on her little white chest.
Dr. Eldridge says--now, don't be frightened by a word;--Dr. Eldridge
says he believes that, well, ah, yes--it is measles. But there is
nothing in that to distress or alarm; rather one might say it is a very
good thing. One cannot reasonably hope that Miss Jane will escape
measles all her life; and one may be glad that she has this propitious
chance to do her measling under practically ideal conditions.
Yet, late in the afternoon, when wise Eldridge has gone, here is Enid
with fear-distended eyes and grief-stricken face, white, shaking,
absolutely frantic, as she clings to her mother's arm.
"Mother, don't let her die. Oh, don't let her die."
"She shall not die."
In these emergencies Mrs. Marsden-Thompson is solid as her clock-tower.
"But Dr. Eldridge mayn't be right--perhaps it's something a thousand
times worse than measles.... Oh, oh. What _can_ we do? It may be some
virulent fever--and when she drops off to sleep, she may never wake."
What Mrs. Marsden-Thompson can do to allay Enid's anxiety, she does do,
and at once. She telephones to London, to the most famous physician of
the period.
"There, my darling," she says presently; "now keep calm. Sir John is
coming--by the evening express."
"Mother dear, how can I thank you enough?"
"My own Enid, there's nothing to thank me for. It will relieve all our
minds to have the very highest opinion.... And Sir John will spend the
night here--that will be nice for you, to know that he is remaining on
the spot."
Then in due course the illustrious Sir John arrives, and confirms the
diagnosis of Dr. Eldridge. It _is_ measles--and a very mild case of it.
Jane grew up strong and hearty, none the worse for childish ailments,
and uninjured by the idolatry of her two nearest female relatives. As
Yates said, it was a miracle that Jane didn't get absolutely spoilt by
so much fussing care and loving worship. But Yates stoutly declared that
the young lady was not spoilt up to now; and attributed her escape from
spoiling to the fortunate circumstance that she took after her
grandmother.
Outwardly she was like her mother, but perhaps inwardly she did somewhat
resemble her granny. At fourteen she was certainly more enthusiastic,
vivacious, and expansive than Enid had been at that age. And, unlike the
young Enid, she could not readily take the impress of other people's
minds and manners. Governesses said she was _very_ clever, but too much
disposed to rely on conclusions reached by trains of thought set in
motion by herself and running on lines of her own construction.
Governesses would not say she was obstinate--oh, no, far from it--but
perhaps guilty now and then of a certain intellectual arrogance that was
unbecoming in one so young.
Fourteen--fifteen--past her sixteenth birthday! Jane is really growing
up; and nearer and nearer draws the time when mother and grandmother
will be confronted with the awful problem of finding her a suitable
husband--a _good_ husband, if such a thing exists on the broad surface
of the earth. It is appalling to think about; but it cannot be blinked
or evaded. The fiery chain of life must have its new link of flame: Jane
must carry the torch, and give it safely to the small hands that are
waiting somewhere in immeasurable darkness to grasp it and bear it still
onward.
Once when Enid lightly hinted at this terrifying matter, Jane caught the
hint that was not intended for her ears, and replied very shrewdly.
"It strikes me, mummy, that most likely you'll be married before I
shall."
Mrs. Kenion laughed and flushed, and seemed rather gratified by this
compliment; but she promised never to introduce Jane to a stepfather.
No, she will never marry again--has no faintest inclination for further
experiments of that sort. Once bit, twice shy. She will act on the
adage; although, when she speaks so blandly of the bad ungrateful dog
that bit her, one might almost suppose that she had forgotten nearly all
the pain of the bite.
"Mother dear, isn't it wonderful? He is riding again;" and Enid looks up
from the morning newspaper, sips her breakfast coffee, and speaks with
calm admiration. She always reads the sporting news, and never misses an
entry of Charlie's name in minor steeplechase meetings.
Here it is:--Mrs. Charles Kenion's Dreadnought; Trainer, private;
Jockey, Mr. Kenion.
"And Charles is over forty-five. Really, I do think it's wonderful,"
says Enid calmly and admiringly. "But he shouldn't go on riding races.
She oughtn't to let him. It can only end"--and Enid says this with
unruffled calm--"in his breaking his neck."
But it seems that Charlie's neck is charmed: that it cannot be broken
over the sticks, or--sinister thought!--that it is being preserved for
another and more formal method of dislocation.
Nearer than the necessity of discovering a worthy mate for Jane, there
looms the smaller necessity of presenting her at Court, giving her a
London season, and so forth. As to the presentation, a very obliging
offer has been tendered by the great lady of the county--wife of that
local potentate who lives in the sheltered magnificence behind the
awe-inspiring iron gates. Her ladyship has voluntarily suggested that
she should take Miss Kenion, when properly feathered and betrained, into
the effulgent presence of her sovereign.
Naturally, since those tremendous iron gates have opened to Mrs.
Marsden-Thompson, no lesser entrances are closed against her. Success,
if it is big enough, condones most offences; and the prejudiced
objection to retail trade, under which Enid once suffered, has been
generously waived. What she used artlessly to call county people make
much of her and her daughter.
They are bidden to the very best houses; they may consort on equal terms
with the highest quality; there is no one so fine that he or she will
resent an invitation to dinner.
"Oh yes, Mrs. Marsden-Thompson is an old dear. And her daughter is quite
charming. I don't know what to make of the girl--but of course you know,
she is going to be an immense heiress."
Mrs. Marsden-Thompson, presiding at a banquet to the county, perhaps was
pleased to think that this, too, she had at last been able to give her
Enid. Really tip-top society--social concert-pitch, if compared with the
flat tinkling that Enid used to hear at Colonel Salter's.
Gold plate on the table; liveried home-retainers, with soberly-clad aids
from Bence's refreshment departments; a white waistcoat or silver
buttons behind every chair; and, seated on the chairs, a most select and
notable company of guests, gracious smiling ladies and grandiosely
urbane lords; pink and white faces of candid young girls and sun-burnt
faces of gallant young soldiers; shimmer of pearls, glitter of diamonds,
flash of bright eyes, and a polite murmur of well-bred voices--surely
this is all that Enid could possibly desire.
But it was not the society that the hostess really cared about. The
dinner-parties that she enjoyed were far different from this. She gave
this sort of feast to please Enid; but at certain seasons--at Christmas
especially--she gave a feast to please herself.
Then the old friends came. The two motor-cars and the large landau went
to fetch some of the guests. Few of them were carriage-folk. Mr. and
Mrs. Archibald Bence had their own brougham of course; Mr. and Mrs.
Prentice used one of Young's flies; but most of the others were very
glad to accept a lift out and home. By special request they all came
early, and in morning-dress.
"We dine at seven," wrote the hostess in her invitations; "but please
come early, so that we can have a chat before dinner. And as it is to be
just a friendly unceremonious gathering, do you mind wearing morning
dress?"
Did they mind? What a thoughtless question, when she might have known
that some of them had nothing but morning dress! Mr. Mears, in spite of
his rise in the world, rigidly adhered to the frock coat, as the garment
most suitable to his years and his figure. Cousin Thompson--the
ex-grocer of Haggart's Cross--considered swallow-tails and white chokers
to be fanciful nonsense: he would not make a merry-andrew of himself to
please anybody. Neither of the two Miss Prices had ever possessed a
low-cut bodice--old Mrs. Price would probably have whipped her for her
immodesty if she had ever been caught in one.
Then buttoned coats and no spreading shirt fronts, high-necked blouses
and no bare shoulders; but in other respects full pomp for this humbler
banquet: home-servants and Bence-servants; the electric light blazing on
the splendid epergnes, the exquisite Bohemian glass, and the piled fruit
in the Wedgewood china; the long table stretched to its last leaf; more
than thirty people eating, drinking, talking, laughing, shining with
satisfaction--and Mrs. Marsden-Thompson at the head of the sumptuous
board, shedding quick glances, kind smiles, friendly nods, making the
wine taste better and the lamps glow brighter, gladdening and cheering
every man and woman there.
"Cousin Jenny!" It is our farmer cousin shouting from the end of the
table. "You're so far off that I shall have to whistle to you. You
haven't forgotten my whistle?"
"No, that I haven't, cousin Gordon."
And radiant cousin Gordon turns to tell Miss Jane the story of the
Welshman, the Irishman, and the Scotsman who met on London Bridge; and
Miss Jane is good enough to be amused.
"Lord, how often I've told that story to your grandmother! I'll tell it
her again when we get back into the music-room. 'Tis a favourite of
hers."
Jane and Enid are both very sweet on these occasions, loyally assisting
the hostess, and winning the hearts of the humblest guests. There is
perhaps a just perceptible effort in Enid's pretty manner; but with Jane
it is all entirely natural.
"Mr. Prentice," says Jane impudently, "you mayn't know it, but you are
going to sing us a comic song after dinner."
Mr. Prentice is delighted yet coy.
"No, no--certainly not."
"Oh yes, you will. Won't he, Mrs. Prentice?"
"I'm sure he will, if you wish it, Miss Jane."
Mr. Archibald Bence, looking rather wizened and wan, is just off to the
South of France for the remainder of the winter; and Mr. Fentiman,
talking across the table, urges him to see the falls of the Rhine on his
return journey.
"When I was touring in Switzerland last autumn," says Fentiman
sententiously, "I gave one whole day to Schaffhausen, and it amply
repaid me for the time and trouble."
Wherever the hostess turns her kind eyes, she can see someone looking at
her gratefully and affectionately. There is our grumbling cousin who
once was a poor little grocer. She has done so much for him that he has
almost entirely ceased to grumble. There is noisy, would-be-facetious
cousin Gordon, once a little struggling tenant, now a landlord
successfully farming his own land. There is corpulent Greig, on the
retired list, but jovial and contented, with his pride unwounded,
revelling in high-paid tranquillity. There are the cackling, stupid
Miss Prices and their greedy old mother. They have looked at workhouse
doors and shivered apprehensively; but now they chide the maid when she
fails to make up the drawing-room fire, and bully the butcher if he
sends them a scraggy joint for Sunday. There is faithful Mears in his
newest frock-coat, close beside her, as of right, very close to her
heart. And there, behind her chair, is faithful Yates--in rustling black
silk, with kerchief of real point lace. She does not of course appear
when the county dines with us; but to-night Yates stands an honorary
major-domo at the Christmas dinner--because she exactly understands the
spirit of the feast, and knows how her mistress wishes things to be
done.
"And now," says Mr. Prentice, "I'm not going to break the rule. No
speeches. But just one toast.... Our hostess!"
The faces of the guests all turn towards her; and the lamp-light,
flashing here and there, shows her gleams of gold. The golden shower
that falls so freely has left some drops on each of them. Her small
gifts are visible--the rings on their fingers, the brooches at their
necks; but the lamp-light cannot reach her greater gifts--the soft beds,
the warm fires, the money in their banks, the comfort in their breasts.