Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
[Illustration: A MAN SPRANG OUT AND SEIZED HER BRIDLE.]
ON THE EDGE OF
A MOOR [Illustration]
BY AMY LE FEUVRE
AUTHOR OF "PROBABLE SONS,"
"HEATHER'S MISTRESS," "DWELL DEEP,"
"ODD," "THE CARVED CUPBOARD," ETC.
FOURTH EDITION
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET AND
65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD
STORIES BY
AMY LE FEUVRE
———————
HEATHER'S MISTRESS. 3s. 6d.
ODD MADE EVEN. 3s. 6d.
ON THE EDGE OF A MOOR. 3s. 6d.
THE CARVED CUPBOARD. 2s. 6d.
DWELL DEEP; or, Hilda Thorn's
Life Story. 2s.
JILL'S RED BAG. 2s.
LEGEND LED. 2s.
A LITTLE MAID. 2s.
ODD. 2s.
PUZZLING PAIR. 2s.
BULBS AND BLOSSOMS. 1s. 6d.
HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER. 1s. 6d.
BUNNY'S FRIENDS. 1s.
ERIC'S GOOD NEWS. 1s.
PROBABLE SONS. 1s.
TEDDY'S BUTTON. 1s.
A THOUGHTLESS SEVEN. 1s.
———————
_LONDON_
_THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY_
_4 BOUVERIE STREET_
_"Cast thy bread upon the waters,_
_for thou shall find it after many days."_
THE land was still, the skies were grey with weeping.
Into the soft brown earth the seed she cast.
"Oh, soon," she cried, "will come the time of reaping,
The golden time, when clouds and tears are past."
Then came a whisper through the autumn haze—
"Yea, thou shalt find it after many days."
Hour after hour she marks the fitful gleaming
Of sunlight shining through the cloudy rift;
Hour after hour she lingers, idly dreaming
To see the rain fall, and the dead leaves drift.
"Oh, for some small green signs of life!" she prays.
"Have I not watched and waited many days?"
At early morning, chilled and sad, she hearkens
To stormy winds that through the poplars blow.
Far over hill and plain the heaven darkens—
Her field is covered with a shroud of snow.
"Ah, Lord," she sighs, "are these Thy loving ways?"
He answers, "Spake I not of many days?"
The snowdrop blooms: the purple violet glistens
On beds of moss, that take the sparkling showers.
Half cheered, half doubting yet, she strays and listens
To finches singing to the shy young flowers.
A little longer still His love delays
The promised blessing—"after many days."
"Oh, happy world," she cries, "the sun is shining!
Above the soil I see the springing green!
I could not trust His word without repining;
I could not wait in peace for things unseen.
Forgive me, Lord! My soul is full of praise.
My doubting heart prolonged Thy 'many days.'"
SARAH DOUDNEY.
CONTENTS
[Illustration]
CHAP.
I. A FAMILY COUNCIL
II. FIRST ACQUAINTANCES
III. A QUESTION OF PEAT
IV. VISITORS
V. A GIFT
VI. A FRIEND IN NEED
VII. ROBIN AND POLL
VIII. AN OPEN DOOR
IX. SICK NEIGHBOURS
X. MISS MONTAGUE
XI. A MISADVENTURE
XII. FIRST-FRUITS
XIII. A WARNING
XIV. AN AUDACIOUS THEFT
XV. A STRAIGHT TALK
XVI. TOM EVANS'S END
XVII. TWO LITTLE STRANGERS
XVIII. MRS. HUTTON
XIX. HOWARD'S ARRIVAL
XX. A FOILED SCHEME
XXI. A CHANGED LIFE
XXII. FELLOW LABOURERS
ON THE EDGE OF A MOOR
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
A FAMILY COUNCIL
"IT is only let to him for ten years."
"Ten years! It's a perfect age. Don't talk of it!"
"Years slip by fast enough as one gets older."
"I don't suppose we shall meet again like this at the end of it."
"No; I expect most of you boys will be married."
"And what about yourself, Tabby?"
"Oh, I shall have developed into a strong-minded spinster."
A general laugh followed this statement, and seven pairs of eyes rested
critically, or otherwise, on the figure of the girl in their centre.
Reclining in an old oaken chair, her face just raised enough to show
her white, softly-moulded throat, her hands idly clasped round her
knees, Rhoda Carlton met her brothers' gaze with calm equanimity.
At first glance, she might not strike one as a beauty, though there
was something in the poise of her head, and in the upright bearing
of her tall, slender figure that demanded attention from all who met
her. Dark rippling hair surrounded a broad white brow, but a pair of
soft brown eyes did not alter the natural severity of her classical
features in repose, and it was not until she spoke or smiled, and the
sudden sunshine softened and irradiated her whole countenance, that one
realized how beautiful she was.
Turning from her to the young men around her, no stranger would have
doubted their relationship for an instant. Seven of the finest-looking
men in the county, they were called, and if length of limb and breadth
of shoulder as well as determined regular features were to be taken
into consideration, then no doubt the average Englishman would be at a
disadvantage.
Howard, the eldest, stood against the chimney-piece, his dark brows
knitted, and he alone of the little group seemed ill at ease.
Edgar's whole bearing, as he leant back in an easy-chair, smoking a
cigar, proclaimed him to be a soldier; whilst lying on the hearth-rug
in front, there was no mistaking the sailor in the family, his tattooed
wrist and sturdy figure standing out in bold relief against the blazing
fire. In the background were three others, one of them a dreamy-looking
curate, and lastly, the youngest of all, a youth in shooting jacket
and knickerbockers, was lying full length on a low couch, looking
the picture of health and content. They were all grouped round the
smoking-room fire—the cosiest corner in Verners Manor.
But if we leave them there together and venture into the servants'
hall, a voluble old housekeeper, discoursing to Captain Carlton's
soldier servant, may supply us with all necessary information about
them.
"Do you want to know what this family gathering is for, Mr. Nicholls?
Then no one can tell you better than myself, which have nursed the
eight from their infancy, and never saw finer babies anywhere. It's
been a long time coming. Since the old master broke down and told Mr.
Howard the strain of keeping the old place together was too much for
him, and Mr. Howard finding out that cunning rascal of a Lock, which
was the agent and which was thieving and ruining the whole property,
why I knewed it would come to this!
"But Mr. Howard, he's a wonderful gentleman for business, and he gets
the reins in his hands, and he cuts down the timber, and he pulls the
place together, and I believe it would have been well to this day, if
it hadn't been for them 'lections. He must stand for his county, he
says, and so all the neighbourhood said; and the money was got in hand,
and he flung it out right and left; and then, when all's said and done,
a little bow-legged, bald-headed ironmonger comes in at the top of the
poll, and Mr. Howard finds he has wasted his goods for nothing.
"Then his lawyer persuades him to let the whole place to a cousin of
his who's a man of money, and says if he's allowed to have it ten
years, he'll bring it back to the old style again. And that's where we
stand now, Mr. Nicholls! And what Miss Rhoda will do, and where she'll
go, is past my knowledge! But she's a wonderful young lady; I believe
she has excited her brother to this degrading business. And he is going
up to London, and is actually going into a house of business for a
time, till he can get his affairs in better order—he the heir, and the
head of the family, Mr. Nicholls!
"We've been proud of them up to now. Captain Carlton is a credit to
us, and Mr. Robert, he's following on in the Navy, though it do take
a long time for an officer to get his title there! Then there's Mr.
Herbert, he's an elegant preacher, and has been highly complimented on
his sermons by the bishop himself, though what he must needs take a
curacy in the East of London for, I can't imagine! Mr. Walter, he had
high honours at the Oxford University, and has a lot of letters after
his name; he is one of the head masters at the Eton school for young
gentlemen, and will doubtless take full charge before long. Mr. Edmund
wears a wig and gown, and is as elegant and persuasive in his speaking
before the judges, I believe, as Mr. Herbert is in his pulpit. And
as for Mr. Rodney, he's a fine young country gentlemen, who can hunt
the hounds, or land a salmon, or get the biggest bag of game that you
ever see a gentleman bring in. And he is off to Australia to do some
farming, he says.
"But there! Mr. Howard, he quite spoils all with these plans of his!
And it's just a good-bye all round to-night, for most of them go their
different ways to-morrow, and it's chiefly to settle what becomes of
Miss Rhoda they're here. She's a fine young lady, and could have been
married over and over, but no one seems to touch her heart, she's that
indifferent to them all; whether it's a titled gentleman, or a poor
curate, it's all the same, and I always feel sorry for them when she
gives them the cold shoulder! She's not so fond of gaiety as she ought
to be at her age, and she's as strong a will as any of her brothers. I
don't know what will become of her!"
If the old housekeeper could have been a listener to the conversation
in the smoking-room at that moment, she would have been truly horrified
at her young lady's plans.
"The question is," Rhoda was saying, as she looked round upon her
brothers with an amused twinkle in her eye, "what is to be done with
me? My private income is . . . £130 a year. It has just been enough to
keep me in clothes, but when a house and food has to come out of it as
well, it is rather a puzzle."
There was silence, which Howard broke at last by saying,—
"I have told you before that if you will put up with London lodgings, I
will make arrangements for both of us."
"And that offer I have declined with many thanks, for you will be far
more comfortable making your home with Uncle Harvey, as he suggests."
"Come to me," proposed Herbert; "you will have a vast scope for your
energy in the work in our East End parish."
Rhoda shook her head. "You are too High Church for me," she said; "we
should spend our time in arguments, the Bible 'versus' the Prayer Book
and the Holy Fathers. Now, don't look hurt. I appreciate your thought
for me, but it wouldn't answer, old boy!"
"I am afraid," put in Edgar with a slight drawl, "that even if I had
quarters to offer you, the cavalry barracks at Aldershot would not be
much to your taste."
"That they would not be," and a clear laugh rang out from the girl as
she turned to her brother Robert. "Well, Bob, are you going to offer me
a cabin in the 'Invincible'?"
"Walter is the most likely one to suit you," Bob replied, taking up a
fallen cinder from the rug and aiming it with true precision at that
individual's head; "he has awfully snug quarters at Eton, and wants
some one to keep down that old virago of a cook of his!"
"She won't have anything to say to me," responded Walter, drily.
"She has already planned a life for herself," said Edmund, "so I
shall not suggest her coming into chambers with me, even if it were
practicable. Now then, Tabby, out with it!"
"I shouldn't mind taking her out with me to the Bush," Rodney put in,
with a grandfatherly air; "she can fish and shoot fairly well, and it
would be awfully handy to have a person to mend one's socks and cook a
dinner, to say nothing of cleaning the house down!"
"That is really a liberal offer, Rodney. I am overpowered with
gratitude. Now will you all listen to me? Howard, do you remember that
tiny cottage on the moor that you and I went to a couple of years ago,
when you hired a piece of grouse-shooting? I intend to live there,
if possible. I have calculated it all, and think I shall really be
comfortable in it, if I can persuade old Hannah to come with me."
"Preposterous!" exclaimed Howard. "How on earth would you get through a
winter snowed up there? And the accommodation is awful. It is all very
well to live picnic fashion for a week or two in the height of summer,
but it is a mere workman's cottage. You must think of something better
than that."
"That is where I intend to live," she said determinedly, "and I shall
go over next week to see about it."
"And what will Mrs. Grundy say to a girl of your age, setting up house
for yourself like that, and what society would you have? Don't talk
such arrant nonsense, Tabby!"
And Edgar lost his drawl in his vexation at such an idea.
"That is just the point. There is no society there, therefore there is
no Mrs. Grundy. You all know how I dislike society; and truth to tell,
I am longing for real work. Now, boys, listen! This is no mere Quixotic
fancy of mine, it has been a desire for a long time past. That place is
benighted; the village down below has no resident clergyman, but one
who comes over on Sunday from another village three or four miles off.
I love the country, and I love the poor. And it is a grand opportunity
to live amongst them and try to make their lives happier and brighter.
I mean to do it. It will be ten years before there is a chance of our
returning here, and perhaps longer. By that time Howard may be ready to
bring a bride home here as mistress. You need not shake your head. I
have been mistress here for five years, and beyond it being our home,
and a place where we have had every comfort, I do not know that it
would break my heart to live elsewhere."
"Well, Tabby, I for one heartily approve of your plan," exclaimed
Rodney. "If you won't come out with me, it's the next best thing to it,
and I'll tell you what I'll do! I will see you settled in your cottage
before I go abroad. You will want a man to arrange things for you, and
I've nothing to do for the next month."
But the objections of four or five brothers are not so easily
overruled, and Rhoda's plan was a distasteful one to most of them.
If she had not had a very strong will, she would not have conquered.
But at the end of all the protestations made against it, she leant
back in her chair with quiet determination in her dark eyes, and said
slowly, with a placid smile, "I like to hear your different objections
and opinions, but I have not spoken without thought. I am not a mere
girl; I am under no one's control, and I have my income per annum to
do exactly as I like with. You may not fancy the idea at first, but
you will soon get accustomed to it, and next summer, if all is well,
I shall not be at all surprised if you Londoners will not be very
pleased to accept an invitation from me for a week or two of pure fresh
moor air. What I really want to do, is to ask you, Howard, to go over
the house with me to-morrow, and help me to pick out a few bits of
furniture that I may want. I believe all my mother's things are mine,
are they not?"
"Yes," assented Howard, a little gloomily. "Are you going to take the
grand piano and the harp from the drawing-room? You will have to get
the cottage wall taken down to admit the piano, but I suppose that will
be a trifle."
"No," Rhoda said quietly, "the cottage piano in the morning-room will
answer my purpose. Now we will change the subject. You are all looking
cross, and I am not going to have our last evening together spent in
gloom. Let us have some music."
"She ought to marry," observed Edmund, as his sister moved across to
the piano; "a single woman with opinions and a will of her own is sure
to come to grief sooner or later."
"A year of cottage life will teach her what all our objections fail to
do. Let her buy her experience."
Edgar spoke with assurance.
"We give you a year, Tabby," called out Bob, "and then we shall see you
creeping back thankfully to civilized society."
Rhoda laughed, but would not be drawn into further arguments on the
subject.