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HOW IT ALL CAME ROUND
BY
MRS. L. T. MEADE
AUTHOR OF "GIRLS OF THE TRUE BLUE," "WILD KITTY,"
"A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE," ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
[Illustration: MRS. L. T. MEADE.]
CHAPTER I.
THE RICH CHARLOTTE.
The room had three occupants, two were men, the third a woman. The men
were middle-aged and gray-haired, the woman on the contrary was in the
prime of youth; she was finely made, and well proportioned. Her face was
perhaps rather too pale, but the eyes and brow were noble, and the
sensitive mouth showed indications of heart as well as intellect.
The girl, or rather young woman, for she was past five and twenty, sat
by the fire, a book on her knee. The two men had drawn chairs close to a
table. The elder of these men bore such an unmistakable likeness to the
girl, that even the most casual observer must have guessed the
relationship which existed between them. He was a handsome man,
handsomer even than his daughter, but the same individualities marked
both faces. While, however, in the woman all was a profound serenity and
calm, the man had some anxious lines round the mouth, and some
expression, now coming, now going, in the fine gray eyes, which
betokened a long-felt anxiety.
The other and younger man was shrewd-looking and commonplace; but a very
close observer of human nature might have said, "He may be commonplace,
but do not feel too certain; he simply possesses one of those faces
which express nothing, from which not the cleverest detective in
Scotland Yard could extract any secret."
He was a man with plenty to say, and much humor, and at the moment this
story opens he was laughing merrily and in a heart-whole way, and his
older and graver companion listened with evident enjoyment.
The room in which the three sat bore evidence of wealth. It was a
library, and handsome books lay on the tables, and rare old folios could
have been found by those who cared to look within the carefully locked
bookcases. Some manuscripts were scattered about, and by the girl's
side, on a small table, lay several carefully revised proofs, and even
now she was bending earnestly over a book of reference.
"Well, Jasper," said the elder man, when the younger paused for an
instant in his eager flow of words, "we have talked long enough about
that fine land you have just come from, for even Australian adventures
can keep--I am interested in something nearer home. What do you say to
Charlotte there? She was but a baby when you saw her last."
"She was five years old," replied Jasper. "A saucy little imp, bless
you! just the kind that would be sure to grow into a fine woman. But to
tell the truth I don't much care to look at her, for she makes me feel
uncommonly old and shaky."
"You gave me twenty years to grow into a woman, uncle," answered the
pleasant voice of Charlotte Harman. "I could not choose but make good
use of the time."
"So you have, lass--so you have; I have been growing old and you have
been growing beautiful; such is life; but never mind, your turn will
come."
"But not for a long, long time, Lottie my pet," interrupted the father.
"You need not mind your uncle Jasper. These little speeches were always
his way. And I'll tell you something else, Jasper; that girl of mine has
a head worth owning on her shoulders, a head she knows how to use. You
will not believe me when I say that she writes in this magazine and
this, and she is getting a book ready for the press; ay, and there's
another thing. Shall I tell it, Charlotte?"
"Yes, father; it is no secret," replied Charlotte.
"It is this, brother Jasper; you have come home in time for a wedding.
My girl is going to leave me. I shall miss her, for she is womanly in
the best sense of the word, and she is my only one; but there is a
comfort--the man she is to marry is worthy of her."
"And there is another comfort, father," said Charlotte; "that though I
hope to be married, yet I never mean to leave you. You know that well, I
have often told you so," and here this grave young girl came over and
kissed her father's forehead.
He smiled back at her, all the care leaving his eyes as he did so. Uncle
Jasper had sprung impatiently to his feet.
"As to the lass being married," he said, "that's nothing; all women
marry, or if they don't they ought to. But what was that you said, John,
about writing, writing in a printed book? You were joking surely, man?"
"No, I was not," answered the father. "Go and show your uncle Jasper
that last article of yours, Charlotte."
"Oh, heaven preserve us! no," said uncle Jasper, backing a pace or two.
"I'm willing with all my heart to believe it, if you swear it, but not
the article. Don't for heaven's sake, confront me with the article."
"There's nothing uncommon in my writing for magazines, Uncle Jasper; a
great many girls do write now. I have three friends myself who----"
Uncle Jasper's red face had grown positively pathetic in its agitation.
"What a place England must have become!" he interrupted with a groan.
"Well, lass, I'll believe you, but I have one request to make. Tell me
what you like about your wedding; go into all the raptures you care for
over your wedding dress, and even over the lucky individual for whom you
will wear it; tell me twenty times a day that he's perfection, that you
and you alone have found the eighth wonder of the world, but for the
love of heaven leave out about the books! The other will be hard to
bear, but I'll endeavor to swallow it--but the books, oh! heaven
preserve us--leave out about the printed books. Don't mention the
unlucky magazines for which you write. Don't breathe to me the thoughts
with which you fill them. Oh, if there's an awful creature under the sun
'tis a blue-stocking, and to think I should have come back from England
to find such a horror in the person of my own niece!"