SUNDRY ARRIVALS.
We have had many fine days in this history, but never a finer one
gladdened Deerham than the last that has to be recorded, ere its scene
in these pages shall close. It was one of those rarely lovely days that
now and then do come to us in autumn. The air was clear, the sky bright,
the sun hot as in summer, the grass green almost as in spring. It was
evidently a day of rejoicing. Deerham, since the afternoon, seemed to be
taking holiday, and as the sun began to get lower in the heavens, groups
in their best attire were wending their way towards Verner's Pride.
_There_ was the centre of attraction. A _fete_--or whatever you might
please to call it, where a great deal of feasting is going on--was about
to be held on no mean scale. Innumerable tables, some large, some small,
were set out in different parts of the grounds, their white cloths
intimating that they were to be laden with good cheer. Tynn and his
satellites bustled about, and believed they had never had such a day of
work before.
A day of pleasure also, unexampled in their lives; for their master,
Lionel Verner, was about to bring home his bride.
Everybody was flocking to the spot; old and young, gentle and simple.
The Elmsleys and the half-starved Hooks; the Hautleys and those
ill-doing Dawsons; the Misses West and their pupils; Lady Verner and the
Frosts; Mr. Bitterworth in a hand-chair, his gouty foot swathed up in
linen; Mrs. Duff, who had shut up her shop to come; Dan, in some new
clothes; Mr. Peckaby and lady; Chuff the blacksmith, with rather a
rolling gait; and Master Cheese and Jan. In short, all Deerham and its
neighbourhood had turned out.
This was to be Master Cheese's last appearance on any scene--so far as
Deerham was concerned. The following day he would quit Jan for good; and
that gentleman's new assistant, a qualified practitioner, had arrived,
and was present. Somewhat different arrangements from what had been
originally contemplated were about to be entered on, as regarded Jan.
The Misses West had found their school prosper so well during the
half-year it had been established that they were desirious of taking
the house entirely on their own hands. They commanded the good will and
respect of Deerham, if their father did not. Possibly it was because he
did not, and that their position was sympathised with and commiserated,
that their scheme of doing something to place themselves independent of
him, obtained so large a share of patronage. They wished to take the
whole house on their own hands. Easy Jan acquiesced; Lionel thought it
the best thing in all ways; and Jan began to look out for another home.
But Jan seemed to waver in the fixing upon one. First, he had thought of
lodgings; next he went to see a small, pretty new house that had just
been built close to the Misses West. "It is too small for you, Mr. Jan,"
had observed Miss Deborah.
"It will hold me and my assistant, and the boy, and a cook, and the
surgery," answered Jan. "And that's all I want."
Neither the lodgings, however, nor the small house had been taken; and
now it was rumoured than Jan's plans were changed again. The report ran
that the surgery was to remain where it was, and that the assistant, a
gentleman of rather mature age, would remain with it; occupying Jan's
bedroom (which had been renovated after the explosion of Master Cheese),
and taking his meals with the Misses West: Jan meanwhile being about
that tasty mansion called Belvedere House, which was situated midway
between his old residence and Deerham Court. Deerham's curiosity was
uncommonly excited on the point. What, in the name of improbability,
could plain Jan Verner want with a fine place like that? He'd have to
keep five or six servants, if he went there. The most feasible surmise
that could be arrived at was, that Jan was about to establish a
mad-house--as Deerham was in the habit of phrasing a receptacle for
insane patients--of the private, genteel order. Deerham felt _very_
curious; and Jan, being a person whom they felt at ease to question
without ceremony, was besieged upon the subject. Jan's answer (all they
could get from him this time) was--that he _was_ thinking of taking
Belvedere House, but had no intention yet of setting up a mad-house. And
affairs were in this stage at the present time.
Lionel and his bride were expected momentarily, and the company of all
grades formed themselves into groups as they awaited them. They had
been married in London some ten days ago, where Sir Henry Tempest had
remained, after quitting Deerham with Lucy. The twelvemonth had been
allowed to go by consequent to the death of Sibylla. Lionel liked that
all things should be done decorously and in order. Sir Henry was now on
a visit to Sir Edmund Hautley and Decima: he was looking out for a
suitable residence in the neighbourhood, where he meant to settle. This
gathering at Verner's Pride to welcome Lionel, had been a thought of Sir
Henry's and old Mr. Bitterworth's. "Why not give the poor an afternoon's
holiday for once?" cried Sir Henry. "I will repay them the wages they
must lose in taking it." And so--here was the gathering, and Tynn had
carried out his orders for the supply of plenty to eat and drink.
They formed in groups, listening for the return of the carriage, which
had gone in state to the railway station to receive them. All, save
Master Cheese. He walked about somewhat disconsolately, thinking the
proceedings rather slow. In his wandering he came upon Tynn, placing
good things upon one of the tables, which was laid in an alcove.
"When's the feasting going to begin?" asked he.
"Not until Mr. Verner shall have come," replied Tynn. "The people will
be wanting to cheer him; and they can't do that well, if they are busy
round the tables, eating."
"Who's the feast intended for?" resumed Master Cheese.
"It's chiefly intended for those who don't get feasts at home," returned
Tynn. "But anybody can partake of it that pleases."
"I should like just a snack," said Master Cheese. "I had such a short
dinner to-day. Now that all those girls are stuck down at the
dining-table, Miss Deb sometimes forgets to ask one a third time to
meat," he added in a grumbling tone. "And there was nothing but a
rubbishing rice pudding after it to-day! So I'd like to take a little,
Tynn. I feel quite empty."
"You can take as much as you choose," said Tynn, who had known Master
Cheese's appetite before to-day. "Begin at once, if you like, without
waiting for the others. Some of the tables are spread."
"I think I will," said Master Cheese, looking lovingly at a pie on the
table over which they were standing. "What's inside this pie, Tynn?"
Tynn bent his head to look closely. "I think that's partridge," said he.
"There are plenty of other sorts: and there's a vast quantity of cold
meats; beef and ham, and that. Sir Henry Tempest said I was not to stint
'em."
"I like partridge pie," said Master Cheese, as he seated himself before
it, his mouth watering. "I have not tasted one this season. Do you
happen to have a drop of bottled ale, Tynn?"
"I'll fetch a bottle," answered Tynn. "Is there anything else you'd
like, sir?"
"What else is there?" asked Master Cheese. "Anything in the sweets
line?"
"There's about a hundred baked plum puddings. My wife has got some
custards, too, in her larder. The custards are not intended for out
here, but you can have one."
Master Cheese wiped his damp face; he had gone all over into a glow of
delight. "Bring a pudding and a custard or two, Tynn," said he. "There's
nothing in the world half so nice as a plate of plum pudding swimming in
custard."
Tynn was in the act of supplying his wants, when a movement and a noise
in the distance came floating on the air. Tynn dashed the dish of
custards on to the table, and ran like the rest. Everybody ran--except
Master Cheese.
It was turning slowly into the grounds--the blue and silver carriage of
the Verners, its four horses prancing under their studded harness.
Lionel and his wife of a few days descended from it, when they found
themselves in the midst of this unexpected crowd. They had cause, those
serfs, to shout out a welcome to their lord; for never again would they
live in a degrading position, if he could help it. The various
improvements for their welfare, which he had so persistently and
hopefully planned, were not only begun, but nearly ended.
Sir Henry clasped Lucy's sweet face to his own bronzed one, pushing back
her white bonnet to take his kiss from it. Then followed Lady Verner,
then Decima, then Mary Elmsley. Lucy shook herself free, and laughed.
"I don't like so many kisses all at once," said she.
Lionel was everywhere. Shaking hands with old Mr. Bitterworth, with the
Misses West, with Sir Edmund Hautley, with Lord Garle, with the Countess
of Elmsley, with all that came in his way. Next he looked round upon a
poorer class; and the first hand taken in his was Robin Frost's. By and
by he encountered Jan.
"Well, Jan, old fellow!" said he, his affection shining out in his
earnest, dark-blue eyes, "I am glad to be with you again. Is Cheese
here?"
"He came," replied Jan. "But where he has disappeared to, I can't tell."
"Please, sir, I see'd him just now in an alcove," interposed Dan Duff,
addressing Lionel.
"And how are you, Dan?" asked Lionel, with his kindly smile. "Saw Mr.
Cheese in an alcove, did you?"
"It was that there one," responded Dan, extending his finger in the
direction of a spot not far distant. "He was tucking in at a pie. I
see'd him, please sir."
"I must go to him," said Lionel, winding his arm within Jan's, and
proceeding in the direction of the alcove. Master Cheese, his hands full
of cold pudding and his mouth covered with custard, started up when
surprised at his feast.
"It's only a little bit I'm tasting," said he apologetically, "against
it's time to begin. I hope you have come back well, sir."
"Taste away, Cheese," replied Lionel, with a laugh, as he cast his eyes
on some remaining fragments. "Partridge pie! do you like it?"
"Like it!" returned Master Cheese, the tears coming into his eyes with
eagerness, "I wish I could be where I should have nothing else for a
whole week."
"The first week's holiday you get at Bartholomew's, you must come and
pay Verner's Pride a visit, and we will keep you supplied. Mrs. Verner
will be glad to see you."
Master Cheese gave a great gasp. The words seemed too good to be real.
"Do you mean it, sir?" he asked.
"Of course I mean it," replied Lionel. "I owe you a debt, you know. But
for your having blown yourself and the room up, I might not now be in
possession of Verner's Pride. You come and spend a week with us when you
can."
"That's glorious, and I'm much obliged to you, sir," said Master Cheese,
in an ecstasy. "I think I'll have just another custard on the strength
of it."
Jan was imperturbable--he had seen too much of Master Cheese for any
display to affect him--but Lionel laughed heartily as they left the
gentleman and the alcove. How well he looked--Lionel! The indented line
of pain had gone from his brow: he was as a man at rest within.
"Jan, I feel truly glad at the news sent to us a day or two ago!" he
exclaimed, pressing his brother's arm. "I always feared you would not
marry. I never thought you would marry one so desirable as Mary
Elmsley."
"I don't think I'd have had anybody else," answered Jan. "I like her;
always did like her; and if she has taken a fancy to me, and doesn't
mind putting up with a husband that's called out at all hours, why--it's
all right."
"You will not give up your profession, Jan?"
"Give up my profession?" echoed Jan, in surprise, staring with all his
eyes at Lionel. "What should I do that for?"
"When Mary shall be Lady Mary Verner, she may be for wishing it."
"No, she won't," answered Jan. "She knows her wishing it would be of no
use. She marries my profession as much as she marries me. It is all
settled. Lord Elmsley makes it a point that I take my degree, and I
don't mind doing that to please him. I shall be a hard-working doctor
always, and Mary knows it."
"Have you taken Belvedere House?"
"I intend to take it. Mary likes it, and I can afford it, with her
income joined to mine. If she is a lady, she's not a fine one," added
Jan, "and I shall be just as quiet and comfortable as I have been in the
old place. She says she'll see to the housekeeping and to my shirts,
and--"
Jan stopped. They had come up with Lady Verner, and Mary Elmsley. Lionel
spoke laughingly.
"So Jan is appreciated at last!"
Lady Verner lifted her hands with a deprecatory movement. "It took me
three whole days before I would believe it," she gravely said. "Even
now, there are times when I think Mary must be playing with him."
Lady Mary shook her head with a blush and a smile. Lionel took her on
his arm, and walked away with her.
"You cannot think how happy it has made me and Lucy. We never thought
Jan was, or could be, appreciated."
"He was by me. He is worth--shall I tell it you, Lionel?--more than all
the rest of Deerham put together. Yourself included."
"I will indorse the assertion," answered Lionel. "I am glad you are
going to have him."
"I would have had him, had he asked me, years ago," candidly avowed Lady
Mary.
"I was inquiring of Jan, whether you would not wish him to give up his
profession. He was half offended with me for suggesting it."
"If Jan could ever be the one to lead an idle, useless life, I think
half my love for him would die out," was her warm answer. "It was Jan's
practical industry, his way of always doing the right in straightforward
simplicity, that I believe first won me to like him. This world was made
to work in; the next for rest--as I look upon it, Lionel. I shall be
prouder of being wife to the surgeon Jan Verner, than I should be had I
married a duke's eldest son."
"He is to take his degree, he says."
"I believe so: but he will practise generally all the same--just as he
does now. Not that I care that he should become Dr. Verner; it is papa."
"If he--Why, who can they be?"
Lionel Verner's interrupted sentence and question of surprise were
caused by the appearance of some singular-looking forms who were
stalking into the grounds. Poor, stooping, miserable, travel-soiled
objects, looking fit for nothing but the tramp-house. A murmer of
astonishment burst from all present when they were recognised. It was
Grind's lot. Grind and his family, who had gone off with the Mormons,
returning now in humility, like dogs with burnt tails.
"Why, Grind, can it be you?" exclaimed Lionel, gazing with pity at the
man's despairing aspect.
He, poor meek Grind, not less meek and civil than of yore, sat down upon
a bench and burst into tears. They gathered round him in crowds, while
he told his tale. How they had, after innumerable hardships on the road,
too long to recite then, after losing some of their party by death, two
of his children being amongst them--how they had at length reached the
Salt Lake city, so gloriously depicted by Brother Jarrum. And what did
they find? Instead of an abode of peace and plenty, of luxury, of
immunity from work, they found misery and discomfort. Things were
strange to them, and they were strange in turn. He'd describe it all
another time, he said; but it was quite enough to tell them what it was,
by saying that he resolved to come away if possible, and face again the
hardships of the way, though it was only to die in the old land, than
he'd stop in it. Brother Jarrum was a awful impostor, so to have led 'em
away!
"Wasn't there no saints?" breathlessly asked Susan Peckaby, who had
elbowed herself to the front.
"Saints!" echoed Grind. "Yes, they be saints! A iniketous, bad-doing,
sensitive lot. I'd starve on a crust here, sooner nor I'd stop among
'em. Villains!"
Poor Grind probably substituted the word "sensitive" for another, in his
narrow acquaintance with the English language. Susan Peckaby seemed to
resent this new view of things. She was habited in the very
plum-coloured gown which had been prepared for the start, the white
paint having been got out of it by some mysterious process, perhaps by
the turpentine suggested by Chuff. It looked tumbled and crinkled, the
beauty altogether gone out of it. Her husband, Peckaby, stood behind,
grinning.
"Villains, them saints was, was they?" said he.
"They was villains," emphatically answered Grind.
"And the saintesses?" continued Peckaby--"What of them?"
"The less said about 'em the better, them saintesses," responded Grind.
"We should give 'em another name over here, we should. I had to leave my
eldest girl behind me," he added, lifting his face in a pitying appeal
to Mr. Verner's. "She warn't but fifteen, and one of them men took her,
and she's his thirteenth wife."
"I say, Grind," put in the sharp voice of Mrs. Duff, "what's become of
Nancy, as lived up here?"
"She died on the road," he answered. "She married Brother Jarrum in New
York--"
"Married Brother Jarrum in New York!" interrupted Polly Dawson tartly.
"You are asleep, Grind. It was Mary Green as married him. Leastways,
news, that she did, come back to us here."
"He married 'em both," answered Grind. "The consekence of which was,
that the two took to quarrelling perpetual. It was nothing but snarling
and fighting everlasting. Nancy again Mary, and Mary again her. We
hadn't nothing else with 'em all the way to the Salt Lake city, and
Nancy, she got ill. Some said 'twas pining; some said 'twas a in'ard
complaint as took her; some said 'twas the hardships killed her--the
cold, and the fatigue, and the bad food, and the starvation. Anyhow,
Nancy died."
"And what became of Mary?" rather more meekly inquired Mrs. Peckaby.
"She's Jarrum's wife still. He have got about six of 'em, he have. They
_be_ saints, they be!"
"They bain't as bad off as the saintesses," interrupted Mrs. Grind.
"They has their own way, the saints, and the saintesses don't. Regular
cowed down the saintesses be; they daredn't say as their right hand's
their own. That poor sick lady as went with us, Miss Kitty Baynton--and
none on us thought she'd live to get there, but she did, and one of the
saints chose her. She come to us just afore we got away, and she said
she wanted to write a letter to her mother to tell her how unhappy she
was, fit to die with it. But she knowed the letter could never be got to
her in England, cause letters ain't allowed to leave the city, and she
must stop in misery for her life, she said; for she couldn't never
undertake the journey back again; even if she could get clear away; it
would kill her. But she'd like her mother to know how them Mormons
deceived with their tales, and what sort of a place New Jerusalem was."
Grind turned again to Lionel.
"It is just blasphemy, sir, for them to say what they do; calling it the
holy city, and the New Jerusalem. Couldn't they be stopped at it, and
from deluding poor ignorant people here with their tales?"
"The only way of stopping it is for people to take their tales for what
they are worth," said Lionel.
Grind gave a groan. "People is credilous, sir, when they think they are
going to better theirselves. Sir," he added, with a yearning, pleading
look, "could I have a bit of work again upon the old estate, just to
keep us from starving? I shan't hanker after much now; to live here upon
the soil will be enough, after having been at that Salt Lake city. It's
a day's wonder, and 'ud take a day to tell, the way we stole away from
it, and how we at last got home."
"You shall have work, Grind, as much as you can do," quietly answered
Lionel. "Work, and a home, and, I hope, plenty. If you will go
there,"--pointing to the tables--"with your wife and children, you will
find something to eat and drink."
Grind clasped his hands together in an attitude of thankfulness, tears
streaming down his face. They had walked from Liverpool.
"What about the ducks, Grind?" called out one of the Dawsons. "Did you
get 'em in abundance?"
Grind turned his haggard face round.
"I never see a single duck the whole time I stopped there. If ducks was
there, we didn't see 'em."
"And what about the white donkeys, Grind?" added Peckaby. "Be _they_ in
plenty?"
Grind was ignorant of the white donkey story, and took the question
literally. "I never see none," he repeated. "There's nothing white there
but the great Salt Lake, which strikes the eyes with blindness--"
"Won't I treat you to a basting!"
The emphatic remark, coming from Mrs. Duff, caused a divertisement,
especially agreeable to Susan Peckaby. The unhappy Dan, by some
unexplainable cause, had torn the sleeve of his new jacket to ribbons.
He sheltered himself from wrath behind Chuff the blacksmith, and the
company began to pour in a stream towards the tables.
The sun had sunk in the west when Verner's Pride was left in quiet; the
gratified feasters, Master Cheese included, having wended their way
home. Lionel was with his wife at the window of her dressing-room, where
he had formerly stood with Sibylla. The rosy hue of the sky played upon
Lucy's face. Lionel watched it as he stood with his arm round her.
Lifting her eyes suddenly, she saw how grave his looked, as they were
bent upon her.
"What are you thinking of, Lionel?"
"Of you, my darling. Standing with you here in our own home, feeling
that you are mine at last; that nothing, save the hand of Death, can
part us, I can scarcely yet believe in my great happiness."
Lucy raised her hand, and drew his face down to hers. "I can," she
whispered. "It is very real."
"Ay, yes! it is real," he said, his tone one of almost painful
intensity. "God be thanked! But we waited. Lucy, _how_ we waited for
it!"
COLLINS' CLEAR-TYPE PRESS, LONDON AND GLASGOW.