The Model And Her Copies
There is sure another Flood toward, that so many couples are
coming to the Ark.--As You Like It
"Ah! it is a pitiable case!"
"What case, boys?"
"Yours, mother, with such an influx of daughters-in-law."
"I suspect the daughters-in-law think themselves more to be pitied."
"As too many suns in one sphere."
"As daughters-in-law at all."
"There's a ready cure for that. Eh, Charlie?"
"The sight of the mother-in-law."
"Safe up on the shelf? Ha, you flattering boys!"
"Well, each of the three bridegrooms has severally told us that his
bride was a strong likeness of the mother, so she will have the
advantage of three mirrors!"
"Ay, and each married solely for her benefit. I wonder which is the
truest!"
"Come, Baby Charles, don't _you_ take to being cynical and
satirical," said the mother. "It would be more to the purpose to
consider of the bringing them home. Let me see, Raymond and his
Cecil will be at Holford's Gate at 5.30. They must have the
carriage in full state. I suppose Brewer knows."
"Trust the ringers for scenting it out."
"Julius and Rosamond by the down train at Willansborough, at 4.50.
One of you must drive old Snapdragon in the van for them. They will
not mind when they understand; but there's that poor wife of
Miles's, I wish she could have come a few days earlier. Her friend,
Mrs. Johnson, is to drop her by the express at Backsworth, at 3.30."
"Inconvenient woman!"
"I imagine that she cannot help it; Mrs. Johnson is going far north,
and was very good in staying with her at Southampton till she could
move. Poor little thing! alone in a strange country! I'll tell you
what! One of you must run down by train, meet her, and either bring
her home in a fly, or wait to be picked up by Raymond's train. Take
her Miles's letter."
The two young men glanced at one another in dismay, and the elder
said, "Wouldn't nurse do better?"
"No, no, Frank," said the younger, catching a distressed look on
their mother's face, "I'll look up Miles's little African. I've
rather a curiosity that way. Only don't let them start the bells
under the impression that we are a pair of the victims. If so, I
shall bolt."
"Julius must be the nearest bolting," said Frank. "How he
accomplished it passes my comprehension. I shall not believe in it
till I see him. There, then, I'll give orders. Barouche for the
squire, van for the rector, and the rattling fly for the sailor's
wife. So wags the course of human life," chanted Frank Charnock, as
he strolled out of the room.
"Thanks, Charlie," whispered his mother. "I am grieved for that
poor young thing. I wish I could go myself. And, Charlie, would
you cast an eye round, and see how things look in their rooms? You
have always been my daughter."
"Ah! my vocation is gone! Three in one day! I wonder which is the
best of the lot. I bet upon Miles's Cape Gooseberry.--Tired, mother
darling? Shall I send in nurse? I must be off, if I am to catch
the 12.30 train."
He bent to kiss the face, which was too delicately shaped and tinted
to look old enough to be in expectation of three daughters-in-law.
No, prostrate as she was upon pillows, Mrs. Charnock Poynsett did
not look as if she had attained fifty years. She was lady of
Compton Poynsett in her own right; and had been so early married and
widowed, as to have been the most efficient parental influence her
five sons had ever known; and their beautiful young mother had been
the object of their adoration from the nursery upwards, so that she
laughed at people who talked of the trouble and anxiety of rearing
sons.
They had all taken their cue from their senior, who had always been
more to his mother than all the world besides. For several years,
he being as old of his age as she was young, Mr. and Mrs. Charnock
Poynsett, with scarcely eighteen years between their ages, had often
been taken by strangers for husband and wife rather than son and
mother. And though she knew she ought to wish for his marriage, she
could not but be secretly relieved that there were no symptoms of
any such went impending.
At last, during the first spring after Raymond Charnock Poynsett,
Esquire, had been elected member for the little borough of
Willansborough, his mother, while riding with her two youngest boys,
met with an accident so severe, that in two years she had never
quitted the morning-room, whither she had at first been carried.
She was daily lifted to a couch, but she could endure no further
motion, though her general health had become good, and her
cheerfulness made her room pleasant to her sons when the rest of the
house was very dreary to them.
Raymond, always the home son, would never have absented himself but
for his parliamentary duties, and vibrated between London and home,
until, when his mother had settled into a condition that seemed
likely to be permanent, and his two youngest brothers were at home,
reading each for his examination, the one for a Government
clerkship, the other for the army, he yielded to the general
recommendation, and set out for a journey on the Continent.
A few weeks later came the electrifying news of his engagement to
his second cousin, Cecil Charnock. It was precisely the most
obvious and suitable of connections. She was the only child of the
head of the family of which his father had been a cadet, and there
were complications of inheritance thus happily disposed of. Mrs.
Poynsett had not seen her since her earliest childhood; but she was
known to have been educated with elaborate care, and had been taken
to the Continent as the completion of her education, and there
Raymond had met her, and sped so rapidly with his wooing, that he
had been married at Venice just four weeks previously.
Somewhat less recent was the wedding of the second son Commander
Miles Charnock. (The younger sons bore their patronymic alone.)
His ship had been stationed at the Cape and there, on a hunting
expedition up the country, he had been detained by a severe illness
at a settler's house; and this had resulted in his marrying the
eldest daughter, Anne Fraser. She had spent some months at Simon's
Bay while his ship was there, and when he found himself under orders
for the eastern coast of Africa, she would fain have awaited him at
Glen Fraser; but he preferred sending her home to fulfil the mission
of daughterhood to his own mother.
The passage had been long and unfavourable, and the consequences to
her had been so serious that when she landed she could not travel
until after a few days' rest.
The marriage of the third son had been a much greater surprise.
Compton Poynsett was not a family living; but the patron, hearing of
Julius Charnock as a hard-working curate in a distant seaport, wrote
to offer it to him; and the same letter to Mrs. Poynsett to offer it
to him; and the same letter to Mrs Poynsett which conveyed this
gratifying intelligence, also informed her of his having proposed to
the daughter of the commanding officer of the regiment stationed at
the town where lay his present charge. Her father enjoyed the
barren honours of the Earldom of Rathforlane, an unimprovable estate
in a remote corner of Ireland, burthened with successive families of
numerous daughters, so that he was forced to continue in the
service, and the marriage had been hastened by the embarkation of
the regiment for India only two days later. The Rectory had,
however, been found in such a state of dilapidation, that demolition
was the only cure; and thus the Reverend Julius and Lady Rosamond
Charnock were to begin their married life in the family home.
The two youngest sons, Francis and Charles, stood on the other side
of a gap made by the loss of two infants, and were only twenty-one
and nineteen. Frank had passed through Oxford with credit, and had
been promised a Government office; while Charles was intended for
the army; and both had been reading with a tutor who lived at
Willansborough, and was continually employed in cramming, being
reported of as the best 'coach' in the country. Charlie, however,
had passed a week previously, and was to repair to Sandhurst in
another fortnight.
At half-past four there was a light tap at Mrs. Poynsett's door, and
Charlie announced, "Here's the first, mother!" as he brought in a
gray-cloaked figure; and Mrs. Poynsett took a trembling hand, and
bestowed a kiss on a cheek which had languor and exhaustion in the
very touch.
"She was tired to death, mother," said Charlie, "so we did not wait
for the train."
"Quite right!" and as the newcomer sank into the chair he offered--
"My dear, you are sadly knocked up! You were hardly fit to come."
"Thank you, I am quite well," answered the fagged timid voice.
"Hark!" as the crash of a peal of bells came up. "Dear child, you
will like to rest before any fresh introductions. You shall go to
your room and have some tea there."
"Thank you."
"Charlie, call Susan.--She is my boys' old nurse, now mine. Only
tell me you have good accounts from my boy Miles."
"Oh yes;" and the hand tightly clasped the closely-written letter
for which the mother's eyes felt hungry. "He sent you his love, and
he will write to you next time. He was so busy, his first
lieutenant was down in fever."
"Where was he?"
"Off Zanzibar--otherwise the crew was healthy--the 12th of August,"
she answered, squeezing out the sentences as if constrained by the
mother's anxious gaze.
"And he was quite well when you parted with him?"
"Quite."
"Ah! you nursed my boy, and we must nurse you for him."
"Thank you, I am quite well." But she bit her lip, and spoke
constrainedly, as if too shy and reserved to give way to the rush of
emotion; but the coldness pained Mrs. Poynsett, whose expansiveness
was easily checked; and a brief silence was followed by Charlie's
return to report that he could not find nurse, and thought she was
out with the other servants, watching for the arrival; in another
moment, the approaching cheers caused him to rush out; and after
many more noises, showing the excitement of the multitude and the
advance of the bridal pair, during which Mrs. Poynsett lay with
deepening colour and clasped hands, her nostrils dilating with
anxiety and suppressed eagerness, there entered a tall, dark,
sunburnt man bringing on his arm a little, trim, upright, girlish
figure; and bending down, he exclaimed, "There, mother, I've brought
her--here's your daughter!"
Two little gloved hands were put into hers, and a kiss exchanged,
while Raymond anxiously inquired for his mother's health; and she
broke in by saying, "And here is Anne--Miles's Anne, just arrived."
"Ah, I did not see you in the dark," said Raymond. "There, Cecil,
is a sister for you--you never had one."
Cecil was readier with greeting hand and cheek than was Anne, but at
the same moment the tea equipage was brought in, and Cecil, quite
naturally, and as a matter of course, began to preside over the low
table, while Raymond took his accustomed chair on the further side
of his mother's sofa, where he could lean over the arm and study her
countenance, while she fondled the hand that he had hung over the
back. He was describing the welcome at the station, and all through
the village--the triumphal arches and shouts.
"But how they _did_ miss you, mother," said Charlie. "Old Gurnet
wrung my hand in tears as he said, 'Yes, sir, 'tis very fine, but it
beats the heart out of it that madam bain't here to see.'"
"Good old Gurnet!" responded Raymond. "They are famously loyal.
The J. C. P. crowned all above all the Cs and Rs, I was happy to
see."
"J. was for Julius--not Julia," said the mother.
"No; J. H. C. and R. C. had a separate device of roses all to
themselves. Hark! is that a cheer beginning again? Had we not
better go into the drawing-room, mother? it will be so many for you
all together."
"Oh no, I must see you all."
The brothers hurried out with their welcome; and in another minute,
a plump soft cheek was pressed to the mother's, devouring kisses
were hailed on her, and a fuller sweeter tone than had yet been
heard answered the welcome.
"Thank you. So kind! Here's Julius! I'll not be in your way."
"Dearest mother, how is it with you?" as her son embraced her.
"Rose has been longing to be with you."
"And we've all come together! How delicious!" cried Rosamond,
enfolding Anne in her embrace; "I didn't know you were come!--See,
Julius!"
But as Julius turned, a startled look came over Anne's face; and she
turned so white, that Rosamond exclaimed, "My dear--what--she's
faint!" And while Cecil stood looking puzzled, Rosamond had her arm
round the trembling form, and disappeared with her, guided and
assisted by Nurse Susan.
"Isn't she--?" exclaimed Julius, in a voice of triumph that made all
smile.
"Full of sweet kindness," said Mrs. Poynsett; "but I have only seen
and heard her yet, my dear Julius. Susan will take her to her room--
my old one."
"Oh, thank you, mother," said Julius, "but I hardly like that; it
seems like your giving it up."
"On the contrary, it proves that I do not give it up, since I put in
temporary lodgers like you.--Now Cecil is housed as you preferred,
Raymond--in the wainscot-rooms."
"And where have you put that poor Mrs. Miles?" asked Raymond. "She
looks quite knocked up."
"Yes, she has been very ill on the voyage, and waited at Southampton
to gather strength for the journey.--I am so grateful to your good
Rose, Julius.--Why, where is the boy? Vanished in her wake, I
declare!"
"His venerable head is quite turned," said Frank. "I had to get
inside alone, and let them drive home outside together to avoid
separation."
Raymond repeated his question as to the quarters of Miles's wife.
"I had the old schoolroom and the bedroom adjoining newly fitted
up," answered Mrs. Poynsett. "Jenny Bowater was here yesterday, and
gave the finishing touches. She tells me the rooms look very nice.--
Cecil, my dear, you must excuse deficiencies; I shall look to you
in future."
"I hope to manage well," said Cecil. "Had I not better go up now?
Will you show me the way, Raymond?"
The mother and her two younger sons remained.
"Haven't I brought you home a splendid article?" was Frank's
exclamation. "Julius has got the best of it."
"I back my Cape Gooseberry," returned Charles. "She has eyes and
hair and skin that my Lady can't match, and is a fine figure of a
woman besides."
"Much you know of Rosamond's eyes!"
"Or you either, boxed up in the van."
"Any way, they have made roast meat of his Reverence's heart! The
other two take it much more easily."
"She's a mere chicken," said Charlie. "Who would have thought of
Raymond being caught by a callow nestling?"
"And so uncommonly cool," added Frank.
"It would take much to transform Raymond," interposed the mother.
"Now, boys, away with you; I must have a little quiet, to repair
myself for company after dinner."
Charlie settled her cushions with womanly skill, and followed his
brother. "Well, Frank, which is the White Cat? Ah, I thought so--
she's yet to come."
"Not one is fit to hold a candle to _her_. You saw that as plain as
I did, Charlie; Eleonora beats them all."
"Ah, you're not the youngest brother, remember. It was he who
brought her home at last. Come, you need not knock me down; I shall
never see any one to surpass the mother, and I'll have no one till I
do."