The Pillars of the House; Or, Under Wode, Under Rode, Vol. 1 (of 2)

by Charlotte M. Yonge

  CHAPTER XIX.

  THE HOUSE WITHOUT PILLARS.

  'And who save she could soothe the boy, Or turn his tears to tears of joy?' _Samuel Rogers._

  Lance's train was at six o'clock, and that by which the sisters wereto return to Bexley so little later, that they would await it at thestation, so the household was betimes more or less afoot. There wasa frenzied scramble of maids and young ladies in hasty toilette; yetbreakfast was only forthcoming by personal exertion on the part of theCaptain, who made the coffee, boiled the eggs, and sent his brotherforaging into the kitchen. Then a message came that mother must seethe sweet girl to bid her good-bye; and Wilmet was dragged up to findthe paddy good-natured face in bed, in an immense frilled nightcap,whence two horn-like curl-papers protruded. She was kissed, cried over,and told she was the dearest girl, and Jack the best boy, in the fourkingdoms; and while her head was turning round between dizziness at allthat this cordiality implied, and a governess's confusion whether thesewere the four kingdoms of Ireland, or England, Ireland, Scotland, andWales, a demand followed for the darling boy; but when she had gravelytold the Captain that his mother wanted him, the result was to send himdown laughing. 'No, no, I'm not the only darling boy in the world! 'Tisyou, Lance. You know the way.'

  Between finding her in bed, and being powerfully embraced, Lance'ssense of decorum brought him down with his blanched cheeks so rosy red,that the family were choking with suppressed mirth when the omnibuscalled for the luggage, and the party set forth to walk to the station,Lance in a grass hat, enfolded by the Captain's hands in an amplepuggery, and provided with a natty blue umbrella, presented by theLibrarian, 'as a shield against the far-darting Apollo.'

  'If this had been in my day,' he said, 'some wit would have produceda neat epigram on Phoebus playing his old tricks out of jealousy ofWill's verses; but dainty feats of scholarship are gone out of date.Well, Patroclus, when we have you back again, I think we shall none ofus mourn over the effects of your generous action.'

  Wilmet was near enough to hear, and colour. She had imagined the lastnight's conversation unknown to all; but Underwood reticence was soincapable of guessing at Harewood communicativeness, that it neverentered her brain to suspect the topic of conversation between thethree juniors as they walked up the drowsy street.

  Thanks to the difficulties of getting under weigh from the Harewoodhouse, there was barely time for John and Lance to take their places,while Mr. Harewood got their tickets, and they were whirled off,leaving the others to promenade the platform, just then a completesolitude.

  Mr. Harewood, with the attention of the old school, backed by somethingwarmer, gave Wilmet his arm. He and his son John never seemed to belongto so ramshackle a household as the rest, and he was so gentle andfatherly, that when Wilmet found him aware of all, it was a relief totell her objections without being answered by a lover. After all, shecould only repeat that leaving home was so impossible for her, that, asshe murmured, 'He had better not get to like me any more, it would besuch a pity for him.'

  'That,' said Mr. Harewood, with his air of old-fashioned gallantry,'depends on the esteem in which wealth or merit is held.'

  'And station,' said Wilmet, in an undertone.

  'For that, my dear, one would be a fool not to honour you and yourbrother; besides, it may make you more at ease to hear that my fatherwas an apparitor, and I went to Oxford as a servitor, so that in birthyou have the advantage of us. Of course, I do not mean that every onedoes not in the abstract prefer prosperous matches; but John has a fairindependent competence, and can afford to do as he pleases; and, for mypart, I should be very sorry if this were not what he pleased.'

  'You are so very kind, but surely if--even if--it must be such longwaiting, and you would not like that for him.'

  'Let us arrive at the _if_ before we settle about the waiting,' saidMr. Harewood. 'In truth, I have long looked on John as so much the mostsensible person in my house, that all I feel called on to do is to hopefor his success. I know both you and he will be wise enough not to beeither selfish or unselfish in the wrong place.'

  Wilmet did not quite understand, but she carried away the convictionthat she need have no scruple as to the parents' cordial approbation;and she had had her cure from yesterday's sense of want of individualaffection. As to the future? Of course it swelled her heart to thinkof such love and generous kindness; but she tried to believe that shewas as much touched by the goodness of the father as by that of theson, and she would be on her guard against herself unless she saw somereasonable hope that home would ever dispense with her. Dear Wilmet;would she not at any other time have thought it an outrage to think ofsuch a possibility? At any rate, she thought, nobody but Felix needever know.

  Little guessed she, as Robina sat opposite, kept silent by the presenceof two stout old females, that the child was revolving the questionwhether she might tell Cherry. She knew that Wilmet would not likeher affairs to be discussed without her own permission; but it seemedunfair that when all the Harewoods were open-mouthed, her own sistershould know nothing. After all, much would depend on the chances of a_tete-a-tete_.

  At the station stood Clement: 'That's right! I thought you would comeby this train. What a comfort! How is Lance?'

  'Almost well. How are you getting on?'

  'You will soon see for yourself,' in an ominous tone.

  Just then she was accosted by Mr. Ryder, who was waiting for his owntrain; and after courteous and anxious inquiries, said, 'I was thinkingof writing to your eldest brother, but perhaps a word from you would doas well.'

  'About Bernard?'

  'Why, yes, I don't quite see my way about him. He is a sharp littlefellow, and very well taught; in fact, he can afford to do nothing butwaste time. Somehow, a boy will now and then seem to come into schoolwith the wrong foot foremost.'

  'Has he fallen in with idle boys?'

  'So I fear. I placed him in a form high for his age, but where the lagshave got hold of him, and make him think idleness the _thing_. So Igather. I conclude he is not to remain here?'

  'Do you mean that you wish him to be taken away?' asked Wilmet, inconsternation.

  'No, no; don't understand it in that sense,' said Mr. Ryder, anxiously.'I only meant that he is doing no good here, and that possibly achange, or the stimulus of preparing for an examination, might rousehim. Good-bye.'

  And there Mr. Ryder had to rush off to secure his seat.

  'Oh! good morning, Miss Underwood!' This was from Mr. Mowbray Smith,a few steps beyond the station. 'I am glad to see you back. So yourpatient is gone to join your eldest brother? But we shall have you hereon Sunday? Then there's the less occasion to name it; but some noticeshould be taken of the behaviour yesterday evening.'

  'It was very sad,' interposed Clement; 'but when once set off by thechristening, they could not stop themselves.'

  'Scarcely a valid excuse,' said Mr. Smith, severely, as he made hisparting bow. 'You know this was not all.'

  Clement shrugged his shoulders, exclaiming, 'So he made that into apersonality! You must know there was an unusually squalling baby,whose godmother went on giving its name as Huggeny; and there was afive minutes' exchange of "What?" on Mr. Smith's side, and Huggenyon hers, till a whisper came all along--forwarded from the mother, Isuppose--"Same as they does their 'air;" and then Mr. Smith looked moremystified than ever; some one suggested, "Same as the Empress of theFrench."'

  'Something might be excused on such provocation,' owned Wilmet,laughing.

  'If that had been all,' said Clement; 'but Angel and Bernard choose togo and sit by themselves, and I could see, from Felix's place in thechoir, that they were tittering long after. I shook my head, but Naresmust needs make up an odious imitation; and Bernard not only touchesAngel to make her look, but grins impudently at me. I found myselfgrowing burning hot with shame, and whenever they looked at me theirheads went down and their shoulders worked.'

  'Naughty children,' said Wilmet, but with more than usu
al lenience tothe combined effects of Huggeny and of Clement's severe countenancein producing one of those paroxysms of giggle that seem invincible inproportion to their unbecomingness. The door was reached and instantlyopened, Stella springing into her arms in ecstasy. 'Sister's come!--OSister, Sister, Sister, don't ever go away any more.'

  There was a great deal of confused kissing and embracing as she madeher way upstairs. 'But oh, my Tedo, what has happened?' for she behelda fine sample of Bill Harewood's violet eye.

  'It was Bernard's stick went into his eye when we were playing athockey,' said Stella. 'He did cry terribly, but Sister Constance putsuch nice stuff--'

  'Sister Constance! oh, thank you! but hockey in the garden?'

  'I thought it rather a remarkable proceeding,' quietly observed theSister.

  'I must hear more about it,' said Wilmet. 'My poor dear little man,can't he let Sister go for one instant?--Cherry dear, how are you?'

  'All right now you are come. But dear little Lance, how is he looking?'

  'Not much worse than you do, my Cherry,' said Wilmet, as she saw thatthe wizened old fairy look was come back. 'You have been worse than Iknew.'

  'Oh, I am all right now; and I have had such a treat of SisterConstance.'

  'I want to take her back with me,' said the Sister. 'Dr. Lee would liketo have her under his eye; and if you can spare her, I would writeto-day, and she could go with me to-morrow.'

  'It is very kind; it might be better for her.'

  'Of course,' interrupted Alda, 'it is good for any one to be away fromthis horrid smell of baked earth, and all these riotous children.'

  'Ah!' said Wilmet; 'didn't I see the shade of the lamp in thelanding-place broken? How was that?'

  'Oh! the children, of course,' said Alda.

  But neither child spoke; and Wilmet perceived that only the twins werein the room, both hanging upon her, while she swallowed her hurriedsecond breakfast.

  'No one will tell,' said Clement. 'It was done the day I went over toMinsterham. I did all I could to find out.'

  'Yes; and made them more obstinate than before,' said Alda.

  Another catastrophe here suddenly struck Wilmet, namely, a long andvery badly-mended rent in Stella's spotted pink frock, which, to saythe truth, did not look as if it were Monday morning.

  'Yes,' said Stella, 'I did try to mend it as well as I could, Sister,but there wasn't another work-a-day frock clean.'

  'Your mending!' exclaimed Wilmet; 'but how did you tear it?'

  'When I tumbled into the brambles, and was lost.'

  'Lost, my dear? What does she mean?'

  'It is quite true,' said Cherry. 'Angela and Bernard took her outfishing to Ball's hatch on Saturday, and lost her, only luckily we didnot know anything about it till she was safe at home again, dear littledarling!'

  'But, Stella, how was it?' cried the horrified Wilmet, clasping her thecloser.

  'I could not bear to see the poor worms,' said Stella. 'Bear would cutthem up to stick on his hook, so I got away out of sight of them, andgathered the dear little wild roses and honeysuckles; and when I wantedto find them again I couldn't, and nobody heard me when I called, and arobin looked at me, and I thought he wanted to bury me, and I ran away,and a great bush caught hold of me and scratched my legs, and tore outa great piece of the rim of my hat; and just then a good lady cameby, and helped me up and to look for them, but we could not see themanywhere; so she took me to her house--such a dear little house allover roses--and she mended my hat, and I mended my frock, and she gaveme some tea and plum-cake, and two dear little ponies came to the door,and a carriage, and she brought me home.'

  'Who was she?'

  'Miss Crabbe; she is new to the place,' said Cherry. 'Mr. Froggatt saidshe had only been once in the shop before. Tell Sister how you told herabout yourself, Stella.'

  'She asked my name,' said the child, 'and she said it was a very funnyone, and she could not understand it; and then she wanted to know whoselittle girl I was, and I said, "Brother Felix's;" and then she said,"Have you no papa or mamma?" So I told her I hadn't a papa or mamma,but a father and mother up in heaven; and she said, "I should thinkso, poor little dear, if there is no one to take more care of you."I really did think she wanted to take me and keep me for an adoptedchild, so I told her that I had lots of dear good brothers and sistersthat wanted me very much indeed, and I must go home to H. Froggatt andF. C. Underwood, High Street, Bexley.'

  'I fancy,' said Cherry, 'that she thought Mr. Froggatt was Stella'sgrandfather, for she made him quite a speech about the neglect of thechild--"such a nice-mannered little girl," she said; but she would notcome in, nor let Alda be called.'

  'Nor should I have gone down if Mr. Froggatt had thought proper to callme,' said Alda. 'Imagine me in his office!'

  'I can't imagine not going anywhere to thank the person that broughthome my little Star,' said Wilmet, holding her arm close round thechild, and kissing her repeatedly. 'But what became of the other two?'

  'I went out after them,' said Clement, 'and found them rushing wildlyabout after her, afraid to come home. To do them justice, I believethey were almost out of their minds, thinking she must have tumbledinto the river.'

  'Oh, indeed,' said Alda. 'That's your account of it.'

  'Yes,' said Cherry eagerly, 'all that pretending not to care, and thatit was a trick of Stella's, was nothing but reaction. And then, youknow, Clem, you _did_ improve the occasion.'

  'There!' exclaimed Alda,' you see how it is, Wilmet; nothing butvindication of those two intolerable children! Now, just come, Wilmet,and see if they are to be backed up in this.'

  But as Wilmet, perfectly bewildered, and feeling no hope ofcomprehension among so many, followed Alda from the room and up thestairs, Stella came plunging after, with a cry, 'Alda, Alda, don't hurtthem!' just as from a housemaid's closet half way up, Alda was bringingto light a basin containing a dozen tadpoles twirling their shadowytails.

  'Now, Wilmet,' she solemnly said, 'do you approve of all those horridbrutes swimming in my bath?'

  'They aren't in the well, I hope,' said Wilmet.

  'How can you be so absurd, Wilmet? That's the way those children showedtheir sorrow that Clement talks about. I'll never believe but he helpedthem.'

  'To weep them?' said a voice above; and Angela's face was seen lookingout of her bush of hair over the balusters of the top storey. 'They_are_ just like black heraldic tears.'

  'You don't mean that they put them in?' asked Wilmet.

  'What else should I mean?'

  'And didn't she squall?' shouted Bernard; and then came a duet--

  'Dame, dame, what makes your ducks to squall, Duck to squall, duck to squall, duck to squall? Meeting o' pollywogs! Meeting wi' pollywogs!'

  'Hush, children, this is shocking,' said Wilmet, in the low impressivevoice by which she could always still a tumult. 'How could you takeadvantage of my absence to do this?'

  'Because Alda deserved it,' cried Angela, bouncing downstairs. 'There,Alda! I said I should tell of you if you told of us.'

  'Angela, that is not the way to speak to your elder sister.'

  'She isn't like an elder sister!' exclaimed Angel. 'Stella would beashamed to do like her, eating up the strawberries Mr. Froggatt broughtfor poor Cherry when she was ill.'

  'I'm sure you had your share!' retorted Alda.

  'You _would_ have them in for dessert, and you helped us; only SisterConstance and Clem left all theirs for Cherry, and then you went byyourself and ate them all up.'

  The very fact of shouting out such a charge showed a state ofinsubordination such as might make Wilmet's hair stand on end, and shesimply disbelieved so childish an accusation against her own equal inage. 'You should not say such things, Angela,' she answered, in her lowtone of reproof; 'there must be a mistake.'

  'I am afraid it is quite true,' said Clement's quiet voice, as he stoodarrested on his way by the block upon the landing-place.

  'The children make such an uproar,' said the
exasperated Alda. 'I'msure I thought Geraldine's had been taken long before, and in thisparching weather fruit is quite a necessity to me.'

  Wilmet was too much aghast at the admission to speak. It was a strangetangle: Clement standing straight and still on the landing-place;Wilmet, with Theodore humming to himself, as innocent of the fray asthe tadpoles that Stella was cherishing in the cupboard door-way; Alda,flushed and angry; and on the upper flight, Angela and Bernard dancingand roaming in vehement excitement between anger and alarm. 'Well thatLance was not in this hubbub!' thought deafened and amazed Wilmet.

  'What has this to do with the tadpoles?' she asked, in an endeavour tocomprehend.

  'We said she should be served out,' sung Bernard, 'with apolly--polly--polly-wog bath.'

  'But, Bernard, hush!--Angel! don't you see it was no business of yoursif Alda did forget?'

  She was unprepared for the outbreak this brought on her. 'You, too,Wilmet! Every one backs up those children in their behaviour to me!Lady Herbert Somerville, and Clement, and all! If only Ferdinand sawit!'

  'Just step up, Wilmet,' said Clement gently, 'and see whether thechildren are in league with me.'

  He followed Wilmet up to the door of the barrack, an attic that heshared with Lance and Bernard, and showed the long beam that crossed itpasted with a series of little figures cut out in paper, representinga procession in elaborate vestments; and at the end a long-backedindividual kneeling before the chair of a confessor, who bore a painfulresemblance to the Vicar of St. Matthew's.

  'We only wanted to make Tina feel at home,' giggled Angela.

  'It would be no matter,' pursued Clement, 'if it were merely quizzingmyself. I am used to that; but this is trenching on sacred ground.'

  'Bless me, your old white beam!' exclaimed Angela, with an affectedstart.

  'It is exceedingly improper and irreverent,' said Wilmet. 'I am ashamedthat such a thing should have been done in this house.'

  'Really,' said Alda, 'it seems to me very droll and clever, with noharm in it at all; only people like Clement never can take a joke.'

  'You can't mean to justify such a one as this,' said Wilmet; but, toher still greater astonishment, Alda broke out,

  'There! You are turning against me! You are taking Clement's part,though you didn't care what they did to me--not if it had been snakesand adders!'

  This, decidedly in Mrs. Thomas Underwood's style, elicited a peal oflaughter from the two naughty children, and the corners of Clement'smouth relaxed, bringing Alda to a gush of tears. 'You never used to belike this to me, Wilmet.'

  'I never saw you like this, dear Alda,' said Wilmet, low and gently,but in decided repression. 'Come into our room, and let me try tounderstand.'

  So began a morning of mutual complaints, as if everybody were againsteverybody, agreeing in nothing but in appealing to the elder sister.First, there was Alda's story. Never had there been such a miserabletime--with Geraldine interfering, fussy, fretful, fault-finding;Clement intolerable in primness and conceit, only making the childrenworse when he pretended to keep them in order, and making such afuss about Geraldine, when nothing ailed her but change of weather;incurring the expense of the Dearport doctor, and bringing down theSister upon them; so awkward to have her in the drawing-room in thatdress, but Sisters always thrust themselves into families. She hopedshe had shown my Lady that she was not to be overawed by a title--suchaffectation, not using it! No consideration for her; the servantsregularly spoilt, both of them; Martha a vulgar insolent creature, andSibby disgustingly familiar and slovenly, no good at all, not evento keep Theodore out of the way. At which Theodore, knowing no morethan his own name and Alda's displeasure, set up a dismal howl; and asWilmet chose to coax and fondle him into silence instead of scoldingand turning him out, Alda went off in a huff, muttering about asylumsand proper places; and Wilmet descended to the kitchen, the little weakhand clasped tight into hers.

  A sore sight awaited her below; the bills of this month for luxuriesof sinful extravagance in her economical eyes! Chicken and asparagus,ducks and peas, even in the height of their season, were enormitiesto such housekeeping as hers, and had raised the sum total to fourtimes the amount that her foreboding soul had dreaded. It exceeded herpresent supplies, and was a grave addition to the expenses of the twoillnesses, that were serious enough already.

  Martha was eloquent, not to say defiant, in self-defence. 'You see,Miss Underwood, if I'd been let alone, or Miss Cherry had been theone to take my orders from, which we could have made it out to yoursatisfaction; but with Miss Halder, which expects everything to bejust like what it was in the fammerly up in London, which it stands toreason as it can't; which she hasn't got no more notion than a baby ofprices, nor seasons, nor nothink; which is very determined, too, whichwon't suffer a word from nobody; which if you hadn't been coming home,Miss Underwood, I'd have given warning, which have always given yousatisfaction.'

  Wilmet's satisfaction was not increased when she encountered Sibby.'Ah, my darling Missie dear, ye're the jewel that's been longed for!The whole house has been mad entirely, and lost widout you; thechildren rampaging and playing pranks, and Miss Cherry dwining andpining to a skeleton, so that but for Master Clem and that holy woman,the Sisther, 'tis scarce alive ye'd have found her. Miss Alda, she'sthe very wonder of the worruld for jealousy and unfeelingness. I up andtold her at last there was well-nigh as much differ between you andshe, as between Stella and this blessed lamb that she spites; for ifyou have not carried off all the wit and understanding, sure 'tis youthat has got all the heart, and the head, and the hands.'

  'And the partial old nursey, Sibby! You see I had no time nor thoughtbut for poor Lance, and Alda was so new to it.'

  'Ah, Missie dear, you were always the one to vindicate her, but 'tisno use! Newness! 'Twasn't newness that makes her turn the back of herhand to this darling innocent, till he cries if he's left a moment withher.--Ay, my precious, what would have become of you and me but forMasther Clem?--I tell you, Miss Wilmet, I never thought that long boythe aquil of his brothers till I saw him in time of need. Yer fatherhimself--Heaven be his bed!--couldn't have been tenderer with Theodorenor Miss Cherry, by night or by day, an' never a cross word when he wasbothered past his life with Miss Alda's ugliness an' the children'sboldness.'

  'Oh, those children! What is come to them, Sibby?'

  'Only funning and merriment, Missie dear. They'd never have had to befaulted if Miss Alda had let Miss Cherry deal with them; but she couldneither rule them herself, nor bear to see them ruled; and though shewas like a mad cow if they played their pranks on her, she backs themup if Miss Cherry, or Master Clem, or even the Sisther, do but say aword to them, so 'tis no wonder if the poor dears have been a bit offtheir heads, but they'll be as quiet as doves now ye're back again. Oh,Missie dear, my own child, but it's you that are the light of my eyes,looking the blooming beauty that you are.'

  The foster-mother's genuine compliment could not lighten the load thathad grown every moment heavier, and more compunctious for the deaf earshe had turned to Clement. Wilmet said a word or two of apology tohim when she met him on the stairs, loaded with books to study in thegarden.

  'Never mind,' he magnanimously answered, 'it is all right now you arecome, and it was impossible before. Only, please do say something warmto Sister Constance, for Alda is barely civil to her.'

  'I am very sorry; I did not think Alda had that sort of prejudice,'said Wilmet, whose instinct of defence of Alda had wonderfullydiminished.

  'The chief prejudice came of my sending for her,' said Clement.

  'Besides, Sister Constance spoke out very sharply about thestrawberries; and when we had a couple of chickens, and Alda scoldedme for helping her to a leg instead of a wing, Sister Constance said,"Oh, I supposed you had them on Geraldine's account;" and she gives thechildren leave to do anything Sister Constance objects to. These thingsare hardly their fault. But, I say, Mettie, now you are come, and itis all right, do you think I might go to St. Matthew's? The Vicar andMr. Sterling
are alone, while the other curates are holiday-making, andthey say I could really be of some use to them, and they would give mesome help with this reading for my examination. Somers is there too,and I have not seen him since Christmas.'

  'Indeed,' said Wilmet, 'no one has deserved a holiday more than you,Clement! You have done your best.'

  This--almost the first home praise or thanks that had fallen to hislot--elicited that real grace of humility for which poor self-consciousClement really strove. 'I have tried, Mettie,' he said, with tears inhis eyes; 'but it was not as if it had been one of the others. Theremust be something very wrong about me, to make me so disagreeable.'

  'You have gained two hearts,' said Wilmet, 'Sibby's and this littlefellow's.'

  For Theodore had attached himself limpet fashion to Clement, who withdifficulty piled his books so as to leave a hand free for him.

  'He had better come with me,' said Wilmet; 'your reading must have beendreadfully interrupted.'

  'It has, rather,' said Clement, whose examination was in alarmingproximity; 'but I don't mind him, I can work to his tunes as well asFelix can; and all is right now you are come.'

  That was the burthen of every one's song. It came next from Cherry,whom she found in her own room; 'There was so much bustle in thesitting-room,' she said.

  'My dear, you have gone through a great deal!'

  '"There's nae luck about the house when our gude man's awa',"' saidCherry. 'Clem played and whistled that so often, that Alda begged neverto hear it again; but unluckily Tedo had caught it, and I don't thinkshe quite believes he doesn't hum it on purpose! But now, how deliciousit is to have got at least our gude woman! And, oh dear! Wilmet, I begyour pardon; but you do look so lovely, I can't help telling you so! oris it the pleasure of seeing you?'

  'My poor Cherry! I did not think half enough about you.'

  'That would have done no good. Most of this rose out of my owncrossness and horridness. If I could only be anxious without beingpeevish!'

  'Now, Cherry, don't waste time in telling me it was your own fault; Iknow all about that! I really want to understand how it has all beenwith Alda and Clement. I am afraid Alda has not been behaving nicely.'

  To hear Wilmet allow Alda to be other than impeccable so amazed Cherry,that she could scarcely answer. 'O Mettie, I never knew what you andFelix must be. I have so often thought of a house divided againstitself, one against two, and two against three. We have been all _towrongs_, and Clem and I have said we would not be a party; and yet wecould not help it, for we always had to stand up together! Then Angeland Bear were against every one, and Alda set them against Clem, andfancied he did against her, which was not true. I should have mindednothing if Alda had not been so angry at Clement's sending for SisterConstance. You did give him leave, though?'

  'Yes, and I should have done so much more decidedly if I had known.'

  At that moment Sister Constance knocked at the door, with her work inher hand, and Wilmet inferred that this was the refuge from Alda andthe drawing-room. To Cherry's surprise, Wilmet, instead of ignoringeverything unsatisfactory, began at once, 'Please come in, SisterConstance; I wanted to thank you, and tell you how sorry and ashamed Iam! I am afraid you have not been treated as--'

  'Don't say any more, my dear,' as the tears were in her eyes; 'don'tthink about it.'

  'I ought to think!' said Wilmet. 'I have been trying to understandthings ever since I came home; but everybody except Cherry and Clemblames everybody, and they only blame themselves! I can't understandthe rights of anything!'

  'My dear,' said Sister Constance, 'I think it would be impossible togo into the details of all that has happened. Shall I tell you how itseemed to me?'

  'Pray do!'

  'I thought that the authority of an elder reared in so different aschool necessarily was producing a few collisions. There was someignorance, and a good deal of dislike of interference, and the youngerones would not have been human not to take advantage of it; but itis over now you are come home, and I strongly recommend an act ofoblivion.'

  'Oh! I don't want to punish the poor children,' said Wilmet.

  'Oblivion, I said, not only amnesty;' and as she did not see perfectcomprehension in Wilmet's face, she added, 'I mean, not only thatthe children should be forgiven, but that their elders should not gohunting for causes, and thinking how this or that could have beenprevented.'

  'I suppose not,' said Wilmet. 'It is all plain enough;' and the sighthat followed quite amazed Cherry, who smiled up in her face, saying,'Plain enough that we can't do without you.'

  'No,' said Wilmet, kissing Cherry's uplifted face ere leaving the room;but it was with such an effort at a responding smile, that Cherryexclaimed, 'Oh dear! how dreadfully we have vexed her!' And SisterConstance thought the more.

  Yet again Wilmet had to hear another testimony to the anarchy in herabsence. Those formidable bills had obliged her to apply to Alda for anadvance of the sum she had offered for Lance's journey; and this, aftersome petulance and faltering, elicited that some old forgotten Londonbills had come down and swamped this Midsummer quarter's allowance, sothat the promise must stand over till--till Michaelmas; or it mightbe that Ferdinand's matters were arranged, and then what would sucha paltry sum be? Wilmet turned away in shame and disgust at havingtrusted for a moment to such offers. She could only do what she hadnever done before--apply to Mr. Froggatt for an advance on Felix'saccount: and she detained him after dinner for the purpose.

  He was as kind as possible, assuring her that he should have been hurtif she had not come to him. And then, in his blandest way, he thoughtit right to hint that 'Young people were sometimes a little unguarded.'She was prepared for the story of the loss of Stella, but she was notprepared to hear of a gossipping intercourse over the newly arrivedPunches, &c., carried on in the early morning with Redstone, not onlyby Bernard but Angela. She was but eleven years old, so it was no worsethan the taste of childish underhand coquetry and giggling; there wasno fear of its continuance after Felix's return, and, indeed, good oldMr. Froggatt had kept guard by coming in two hours earlier ever sincethe discovery; but the propensity dismayed Wilmet more than all thathad yet happened, and on this head she thought it right to reproveAngela seriously.

  'Dear me, Wilmet, you are always telling us not to think ourselvesabove our station. Mr. Redstone is just as fit to speak to as Felix wasbefore he was a partner.'

  'Should you like Felix to have found you gossipping in thereading-room?'

  'Well,' said audacious Angela, 'half the fun in things is the chance ofbeing caught.'

  'My dear, you don't know what you are saying,' replied Wilmetdejectedly, as if exhausted beyond the power of working out herreproof! and Angela had to fight hard against any softening, tellingBernard that W. W. was a tremendous old maid, who had no notion of alark.

  Robina, who stood in the peculiar position of neither accusing norbeing accused, would not add her voice to the chorus of welcome, anddid not wonder that every hour wore off something from the radianceof the beautiful bloom brought from the Bailey. Indeed, the unusualgravity and reserve of the younger sister struck Cherry's observanteyes, and made her think at first that she had been much pained byhaving to part with Lance in his weak half-recovered state; but when attea-time the whole history of the illness was inquired into in detailby the assembled family, the downcast eyes and cheeks with which Robinencountered every mention of Captain Harewood's good offices led to theinference that she had in her excitement forgotten the bounds where thebrook and river meet, and was in an anguish of shame; Wilmet meantimelooking flushed with the fag of her vexatious day, and speakingplentifully of this same Captain, proving to herself all the while thatshe was doing so with ordinary gratitude and composure.

  Robina was quartered upon Geraldine in the holiday crowding of thehouse; and somewhere about four o'clock on the summer morning, Cherry,wakening as usual, and reaching for her book, heard a voice from thecorner asking if she wanted anything. 'No, thank you, Bobbie. Go tosleep again.'


  'I can't; I've been thinking about it all night. I think he's comingto-day.'

  'Who?'

  'Captain Harewood. He promised to come and tell us how Lance and Felixare.'

  'I am very glad; but Wilmet never said so.'

  'No, but--O Cherry, I wish we could contrive some nice quiet place, butnothing is ever quiet in this house.'

  'No,' said Geraldine, who was but too well aware of the fact, 'though Ican't imagine that any Harewood can be distressed on that score.'

  'Oh, but--' said Robina, to whom the communication began to feel somomentous, that she could not help toying round it before comingto the point--'I know; at least, I am sure he will want to see herparticularly.'

  'You Robin, what have you got into your head?' said Cherry, trying tomisunderstand, but feeling a foreboding throb of consternation.

  'It is not my head. Willie told me.' And as she detected a sigh ofrelief, 'And it is no nonsense of his either. He did it on Sundayevening by the river-side.'

  'He did it?' repeated Geraldine, willing to take a moment's refuge inthe confusion of antecedents, though too well aware what must be coming.

  'You know what I mean. He--Jack--John--Captain Harewood, had it outwith her when we were all walking together.'

  'My dear, impossible!'

  'I mean, we were out of hearing, but we saw them at it, and walked upand down till Lance got tired out, and Willie and I stayed to make itproper.'

  Geraldine relieved herself by a little laugh, and said, in a superiortone of elderly wisdom, 'But, my dear, there might be a walk evenwithout what you call doing it.'

  'Yes,' reiterated Robina; 'but I know, for the Captain shut himself upwith Mr. Harewood when we came in, and Bill heard his father tellinghis mother about it at night through the wall.'

  'For shame, Robin!'

  'Oh! he told them long ago that he could hear, and they don't care;besides, Mrs. Harewood told him _himself_ when he went in to wish hergood morning, and she kissed me and Lance too about it, and said theyhadn't their equals. And poor Mettie thinks no one knows of it buttheir two selves, and maybe Mr. Harewood!'

  'But, Robin, I don't know how to understand it. I think she would havetold Alda, at least.'

  'Perhaps she has to-night,' said Robina; 'but, you see, she didn'taccept him.'

  'Oh! then it doesn't signify.'

  'Not out and out, I mean; and it is only because of us. At least, weare sure she likes him.'

  'We! You and Willie!'

  'And Lance. He saw it all the time he was getting well. Besides, theCaptain told his father that she wouldn't listen to him, and would havehindered his going to Felix if Lance had been fit to travel alone.'

  'Then it is not an engagement now?'

  'No, she won't let it be.'

  'And he is coming to-day?'

  'Yes, after he has seen Felix. O Cherry! he is so nice, kind andbright, like all the Harewoods, and not ridiculous; and Lance does likehim so!'

  'Does Wilmet?'

  'We are almost sure. As Lance says, she has never looked so bright, orso sweet, or so pretty. Do you think it is love, Cherry?'

  'We shall see,' said Cherry. 'If she tells us nothing, we can judge;and if--if--'

  Her voice died away into contemplation; and after waiting in vain formore, Robina somewhat resentfully decided that 'she had fallen asleepin her very face.'

  No more was said till dressing-time, when there were a few speculationswhether Alda knew; and Cherry could not help auguring that somethinghad opened Wilmet's eyes to her twin's possible deficiencies. SisterConstance came, and seeing her patient's paleness, accused the sistersof untimely bedroom colloquies; and as they pleaded guilty, Robin wasstruck by the air of fixed resolution on Cherry's thin white face.

  There was no sign of any confidence having been made to Alda. Wilmetplunged into her long-deferred holiday task of inspecting the familylinen; and when she came back with a deep basket, an announcement thatevery one must mend and adapt, and portions of darning and piecingfor Geraldine and Robina, they began to feel as if the morning'sconversation was a dream.

  But just as dinner was near its close, there were steps on the stairs;the drawing-room door was opened and shut, and Sibby, unnecessarilycoming through the folding leaves, announced over the head of Clement,'Captain Harewood.'

  'Come to tell about Lance!' cried Angela, leaping up, and followedby Bernard, Alda, and even Mr. Froggatt; indeed, in the existingconnection of chairs, tables, and doors, a clearance of that side ofthe table was needful before any one else could stir. Wilmet movedafter them, and Clement was heard exclaiming, 'You are pinning me down,Bobbie!'

  'I know! Oh, shut the door! There are more than enough there already.'

  'True,' said Sister Constance, signing to Clement to obey. 'I meant togo to my room, but Cherry wants to hear of her brothers.'

  'No, she doesn't!' cried Robina. 'At least-- Oh! will nobody get theothers out, and leave them to themselves!'

  'Why, Bobbie, what nonsense is this?' said Clement. 'One would thinkyou took them for Ferdinand and Alda.'

  'It is all the same!--Stella, you run out to the garden--by that door,you child!' And then it all came out to the two fresh auditors, wholistened with conviction. 'And now,' concluded Robina, 'there is nota place where he can so much as speak to her! What shall we do to getthem away?'

  'You do not know yet that she wishes it,' said Sister Constance, whohad been a wife before she was a Sister, and saw that it was matronlytact and tenderness that the crisis needed; 'but I'll tell you what youcan safely and naturally do. Go in and fetch Cherry's folding chair,and call the children to carry her appurtenances down to the garden.That will make a break, and Wilmet can take advantage of it if she seesfit.'

  'Alda is worse than ten children,' said Clement; 'she has an inordinateappetite for captains in the absence of her own.'

  'It can't be helped. Better do too little than too much.'

  And finding Robina shy and giggling, and Clement shy and irresolute,Sister Constance herself made the diversion by opening the door, whenWilmet's nervous look and manner was confirmation strong. 'Lady HerbertSomerville--Captain Harewood,' was Alda's formal introduction in herbad taste; while the Sister, after shaking hands, bade Bernard takeGeraldine's chair to the lawn.

  'Oh, are we to go out?' said Alda. 'A good move. Of all things I detestin summer, a town house is the worst. I'll just fetch a hat, I wantto show my pet view.--Our brothers are always fighting about theirchurches, Captain Harewood.'

  The thing was done; Mr. Froggatt was already gone, and as Alda'strappings were never quickly adjusted, it needed very littlecontrivance to leave a not unwilling pair on one side of the doors, andcut off the rest. Robina, too much excited to stand still, flew aboutthe stairs till Alda appeared in a tiny hat fluttering with velvettails.

  'Are they gone out?'

  'Yes;' for quite enough to constitute a 'they' were gone; and when Aldareached them, they sedulously set themselves to detain her, and therebybetrayed the reason.

  'Nonsense! How absurd! That horrid little fright of a red-haired man!No doubt poor dear Wilmet only wants me to go and put an end to it.'

  Strictly speaking, this was self-assertion. She had not the assuranceto intrude, and she contented herself with keeping Cherry on thornsby threatening to go in, and declaring that the whole must be untrue,since Wilmet had not told her.

  Time went on very slowly; and at last Wilmet, about four o'clock, wasseen advancing, with Theodore in one hand and her great basket ofmending in the other. And before Alda had time to rise from her chair,Robina darted across the grass, with flaming cheeks and low, hurried,frightened confession--'Wilmet, please, it is honest to tell you;Willie Harewood knows, and told me, and I couldn't help it; I told themto keep away.'

  'It always happens so,' said Wilmet, less discomposed than Robinaexpected, though she had evidently been shedding tears. 'Not that thereis anything to tell.'

  'Nothing!' cried Robina, looking blank.

  '
Of course not. He came to bring me a note from Felix. I hope no oneknows but those three.'

  'And Sister Constance.'

  'Then take care no one does.'

  'But, O Wilmet, please! You have not put an end to it all?'

  'No,' said Wilmet. 'They will not let me, though I think it would havebeen wiser. I do not know how it is to be, except that it is utterlyimpossible for the present.'

  With this much from the fountain-head, Robina was forced to contentherself; and she had tact enough not to join the trio under the tree,but to betake herself to Clement, who had gone off with his books.

  'So,' said Alda lightly, 'you have cheated us of another view of yourconquest, Mettie.'

  'He wanted to catch the 3.45 train,' said Wilmet gravely.

  'You must have been very unmerciful to despatch him so soon. I thoughtyou must want me to come to your rescue, but those romantic childrenwouldn't let me.'

  'Thank you,' said Wilmet.

  'My dear! You don't mean that you are smitten? Well! I can't flatteryou as to his beauty. And yet, after all, situated as you are, it isa catch--that is, if he has anything but his pay; but of course hehasn't.'

  'Yes,' said Wilmet abstractedly, 'his father told me he had--what didhe call it?--"a fair independent competence of his own." Oh! they areso kind!'

  'Then, O Wilmet, is it really so?' asked Geraldine, with eager eyes,clasped hands, and quivering frame, infinitely fuller of visibleemotion than either of the handsome twins.

  'I--don't know.'

  'My dear Wilmet,' cried Alda, excited, 'you can't surely have anythingbetter in view!'

  'No,' said Wilmet, even now keeping herself blind to the offensivenessof Alda's suggestion; 'but as it is utterly impossible for me to thinkof--leaving home, I did think it would have been wiser to put a stop toit while there wa--is time,' and the tears began to gather again.

  'And have you?

  'They won't let me.'

  'Who?'

  '_He_--and his father, and Felix,' said Wilmet, speaking steadily, butthe tears rolling down her cheeks.

  'Felix! Oh, what does he say?'

  'You may see;' and she held out a letter, which Alda and Cherry readtogether, while she rested her elbow on her knee, her brow on her hand,and let fall the tears, which with her were always soft, free, andhealthy outlets of emotion, not disabling, but rather relieving.

  Mrs. Pettigrew's Lodgings, North Beach, East Ewmouth, 20th July, 10 P.M.

  MY DEAREST WILMET,

  What I have heard to-day is a great satisfaction. I had hardly hoped that you could have been brought within the reach of any one so worthy of you. My only fear is that you are too scrupulous and self-sacrificing to contemplate fairly, and without prejudice, what is best for us all. You will imagine yourself blinded by inclination, and not attend to common sense. Harewood tells me he trusts you have no objection on personal grounds. (I hope this does not sound as if he were presuming; if so, it is my fault. Remember, I am more used to writing 'summaries for the week' than letters on delicate subjects.) But at any rate, my Mettie, I see there is much worth and weight in his affection, and that you could not manage to snub him as entirely as you wanted to do. (Didn't you?) Now, it seems to me, that if you two are really drawn to one another, both being such as you are, it is the call of a Voice that you have no right to reject or stifle. I do not mean by this that anything immediate need take place; but granting your preference, I think it would be wrong not to avow it, or to refuse, because you scruple to keep him waiting while you may be necessary at home. If you imagine that by such rejection you would be doing better for the children and me, I beg leave to tell you it is a generous blunder. Remember that, as things have turned out, I am quite as much the only dependence for the others as I was seven years ago. I felt this painfully in the spring, when I was doubtful what turn my health would take; and the comfort of knowing you would all have such a man to look to would be unspeakable--indeed, he has already lightened me of much care and anxiety. Do not take this as pressing you. Between this and the end of his leave, there will be time for consideration. Nothing need be done in haste, least of all the crushing your liking under the delusion of serving us. So do not forbid him the house; and unless your objection be on any other score, do not make up your mind till you have seen me. I should of course have been with you instead of writing, if it were not for Lance. Till I saw the dear little fellow, I had no notion how very ill he has been. The five hours' journey had quite knocked him up, and he was fit for nothing but his bed when he came; but he revived in the evening. I only hope I shall take as good care of him as the first-rate nurses he describes so enthusiastically. That month must have been worth years of common acquaintance. I wish I knew what more to say to show you how glad I am of this day's work, and to persuade you to see matters as I do.

  Ever your loving brother, F. C. UNDERWOOD.

  P.S.--Lance is quite himself this morning, and was up to watch us bathing before six o'clock.

  'Oh! what did Captain Harewood say of Felix?' was Cherry's cry, almostwith shame and pain at not having asked before.

  'You know, he had never seen him,' said Wilmet; 'but he said he didnot seem to him in the least unwell--and he watched carefully, as Ihad begged him. He said he struck him as naturally delicate-looking;but that those blue veins in his temples do not show, and he has nocough at all, nor any difficulty in swimming, or walking up a steepcliff. He made me laugh, for he said he hardly believed his eyes whenLance tumbled himself out of the train on something so little bigger orolder than himself. He says the way we all talk of "my eldest brother"made him expect something taller than Clement, and more imposing thanthe senior verger; but he understood it all when he saw him and Lancetogether. They have two very nice rooms; and Felix has put Lance intothe bedroom, which is luckily cool, and sleeps on a sofa bed in theparlour; and the landlady will do anything for them.'

  'But how is it to be?' broke in Alda crossly. 'You and Felix seem tobe encouraging him to come dangling here, when we all agreed thatFerdinand must keep away in Felix's absence, though matters are in sucha different state.'

  'So I told him, dear Alda,' gently said Wilmet; 'but he declared hewould bring his sisters, or poor Mrs. Harewood herself, if nothing elsewould satisfy me: and what could I do, after all their kindness?'

  'Umph!' muttered Alda; 'they are a queer set.'

  'Now, Alda,' said Wilmet earnestly, 'you must not talk without knowing.Till I went there, I never understood how much goodness and principlethere could be without my stiffness and particularity. I know I haveoften been very unnecessarily disagreeable and disapproving, and I hopeI am shaken out of it in time.'

  'Dear Mettie, no one is like you,' cried Cherry, with a littleeffusion, stretching out her hand, and laying it on her sister'sshoulder. 'Oh, if we had not all been so vile while you were away!'

  'It would not have made any difference, my dear! It would be impossibleto leave Felix without help. And think of Theodore!'

  Alda muttered something, that no one would hear, about asylums; andthe tell-tale tears coming again, Wilmet sprang up, and bending downto kiss Cherry, declared in her most authoritative voice that nothingshould be said to the younger children, nor to any one out of thehouse; then picked up the tea-cups, and carried them in.

  Excitements were, however, not yet over for the day. A telegram was putinto Alda's hands, containing the words--

  'A.T. is an unmitigated brute. I sail for N.Y. to-night. All will be right when I come back.'

  The mysterious hint restored Alda at once to all the privileges of thereigning heroine!