In the search for a new abode Mrs. Lee was in much difficulty, for itwas needful to be near St. Kenelm's, and the only vacant houses withinher means were not desirable for the reception of a feeble convalescent;moreover, Mr. Gudgeon grumbled and inquired, and was only withheld bywarnings enhanced by the police from carrying the whole charivari of theSalvation Army along Ivinghoe Terrace on Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps it was this, perhaps it was the fact of having discussed thesituation with the two Miss Mohuns, that made Mr. White say to Alexis,'There are two rooms ready for your sister, as soon as Dagger says shecan be moved safely. The person who nurses her had better come with her,and you may as well come back to your old quarters.'
Alexis could hardly believe his ears, but Mr. White waved off allthanks. The Mohun sisters were delighted and triumphant, and Jane camedown to talk it over with her elder sister, auguring great things fromthat man who loved to deal in surprises.
'That is true,' said Sir Jasper.
'What does that mean, Jasper?' said his wife. 'It sounds significant.'
'I certainly should not be amazed if he did further surprise us all. Hasit never struck you how that noontide turn of Adeline's corresponds withhis walk home from the reading-room?'
Lady Merrifield looked rather startled, but Jane only laughed, and said,'My dear Jasper, if you only knew Ada as well as I do! Yes, I have seenfar too many of those little affairs to be taken in by them. Poor Ada! Iknow exactly how she looks, but she is only flattered, like a pussy-catwaggling the end of its tail--it means nothing, and never comes toanything. The thing that is likely and hopeful is, that he may adoptthose young people as nephews and nieces.'
'Might it not spoil them?' said Lady Merrifield.
'Oh! I did not mean that. They might work with him still. However, thereis no use in settling about that. The only thing to be expected of himis the unexpected!'
'And the thing to be done,' added her sister, 'is to see how and whenthat poor girl can be got up to Cliff House.'
To the general surprise, Dr. Dagger wished the transit to take placewithout loss of time. A certain look of resigned consternation crossedKalliope's face on being informed of her destiny, but she justifiedMrs. Halfpenny's commendation of her as the maist douce and conformablepatient in the world, for she had not energy enough even to pleadagainst anything so formidable, and she had not yet been told thatIvinghoe Terrace was her home no longer.
The next day she was wrapped in cloaks and carried downstairs betweenher brother and Mrs. Halfpenny, laid on a mattress in the Merrifieldwaggonette, which went up the hill at a foot's pace, and by the samehands, with her old friend the caretaker's wife going before, was takenupstairs to a beautiful large room, with a window looking out on vernalsky and sea. She was too much exhausted on her arrival to know anythingbut the repose on the fresh comfortable bed, whose whiteness was almostrivalled by her cheek, and Mrs. Halfpenny ordered off Alexis, who waswatching her in great anxiety. However, when he came back after hisafternoon's work, it was to find that she had eaten and slept, and nowlay, with her eyes open, in quiet interested admiration of a spaciousand pleasant bedroom, such as to be a great novelty to one whose lifehad been spent in cheap lodging houses. The rooms had been furnishedtwenty years before as a surprise intended for the wife who neverreturned to occupy them, and though there was nothing extraordinary inthem, there was much to content the eyes accustomed to something verylike squalidness, for had not Kalliope's lot always been the leastdesirable chamber in the family quarters?
At any rate, from that moment she began to recover, ate with appetite,slept and woke to be interested, and to enjoy Theodore's letter ofdescription of St. Wulstan's, and even to ask questions. Alexis wasready to dance for joy when she first began really to talk to him; andcould not forbear imparting his gladness to the Miss Mohuns that veryevening, as well as to Mr. White, and running down after dinner withthe good news to Maura, Mrs. Lee, and Lady Merrifield. Dinners with Mr.White had, on his first sojourn in that house, been a great penance,though there were no supercilious servants, for all the waiting wasby the familiar housekeeper, Mrs. Osborne, who had merely added anunderling to her establishment on her master's return; but Alexis thenhad been utterly miserable, feeling guilty and ashamed, as one onlyendured on sufferance out of compassion, because his brother cast himout, and fresh from the sight of his mother's dying bed; a terribleexperience altogether, which had entirely burnt out and effaced hisfoolish fit of romantic calf-love, and rendered him much more of aman. Now, though not a month had passed, he seemed to be on a differentfooting. He was doing his work steadily, and the hope of his sister'srecovery had brightened him. Mr. White had begun to talk to him, to askhim questions about the doings of the day, and to tell him in returnsome of his own experiences in Italy, and in the earlier days of thetown. Maura came up to see her sister every day, and tranquillised hermind when the move was explained, and anxiety as to the transport of alltheir worldly goods began to set in. Mrs. Lee had found a house whereshe could place two bedrooms and a sitting-room at the disposal of theWhites if things were to continue as before, and no hint had been givenof any change, or of what was to happen when the three months' noticegiven to Kalliope and Alexis should have expired.
By the Easter holidays Mrs. Halfpenny began to get rather restless as tothe overlooking of the boys' wardrobes; and, indeed, she thought so wellof her patient's progress as to suggest to Mr. White that the lassiewould do very well if she had her sister to be with her in the holidays,and she herself would come up every day to help at the getting up,for Kalliope was now able to be dressed and to lie on a couch in thedressing-room, where she could look out over the bay, and she had evenasked for some knitting.
'And really, Miss Gillian, you could not do her much harm if you came upto see her,' said the despot. 'So you may come this very afternoon, ifye'll be douce, and not fash her with any of your cantrips.'
Gillian did not feel at all in a mood for cantrips as she slowlywalked up the broad staircase, and was ushered into thedressing-room, cheerful with bright fire and April sunshine, and with alarge comfortable sofa covered with a bright rug, where Kalliope couldenjoy both window and fire without glare. The beauty of her face so muchdepended on form and expression that her illness had not lessened it.Gillian had scarcely seen her since the autumn, and the first feelingwas what an air of rest and peace had succeeded the worn, harassed lookthen almost perpetual. There was a calmness now that far better suitedthe noble forehead, dark pencilled eyebrows, and classical features intheir clear paleness; and with a sort of reverence Gillian bent overher, to kiss her and give her a bunch of violets. Then, when the thankshad passed, Gillian relieved her own shyness by exclaiming withadmiration at a beautiful water-coloured copy of an early Italianfresco, combining the Nativity and Adoration of the Magi, that hung overthe mantelpiece.
'Is it not exquisite?' returned Kalliope. 'I do so much enjoy makingout each head and dwelling on them! Look at that old shepherd's simplewonder and reverence, and the little child with the lamb, and thecontrast with the Wise Man from the East, whose eyes look as if he sawso much by faith.'
'Can you see it from there?' asked Gillian, who had got up to look atthese and further details dwelt on by Kalliope.
'Yes. Not at first; but they come out on me by degrees. It is such apleasure, and so kind of Mr. White to have put it there. He had it hungthere, Mrs. Halfpenny told me, instead of his own picture just before Icame in here.'
'Well, he is not a bad-looking man, but it is no harm to him or hisportrait to say that this is better to look at!'
'It quite does me good! And see,' pointing to a photograph of the Archof Titus hung on the screen that shielded her from the door, 'he sendsin a fresh one by Alexis every other day.
'How very nice! He really seems to be a dear old man. Don't you thinkso?'
'I am sure he is wonderfully kind, but I have only seen him that oncewhen he came with Sir Jasper, and then I knew nothing but that when SirJasper was come things must go
right.'
'Of course; but has he never been to see you now that you are up anddressed?'
'No, he lavishes anything on me that I can possibly want, but I haveonly seen him once--never here.'
'It is like Beauty and the Beast!'
'Oh no, no; don't say that!'
'Well, George Stebbing really taught Fergus to call him a beast, andyou--Kally--I won't tease you with saying what you are.'
'I wish I wasn't, it would be all so much easier.'
'Never mind! I do believe the Stebbings are going away! Does Maura neversee him?'
'She has met him on the stairs and in the garden, but she has her mealshere. I trust by the time her Easter holidays are over I may be fitto go back with her. But I do hope I may be able to copy a bit of thatpicture first, though, any way, I can never forget it.'
'To go on as before?' exclaimed Gillian, with an interrogative sigh ofwonder.
'If that notice of dismissal can be revoked,' said Kalliope.
But would you like it--must you?'
'I _should_ like to go back to my girls,' said Kalliope; 'and thingscome into my head, now I am doing nothing, that I want to work out, if Imight. So, you see, it is not at all a pity that I _must_.'
And why is it must?' said Gillian wistfully. 'You have to get wellfirst.'
Yes, I know that; but, you see, there are Maura and Petros. They mustnot be thrown on Alexis, poor dear fellow! And if he could only be setfree, he might go on with what he once hoped for, though he thinks it ishis duty to give all that entirely up now and work obediently on. But Iknow the longing will revive, and if I only could improve myself, and beworth more, it might still be possible.'
'Only you must not begin too soon and work yourself to death.'
'Hardly after such a rest,' said Kalliope. 'It is not work I mind, butworry'--and then a sadder look crossed her for a moment, and she added,'I am so thankful.'
'Thankful?' echoed Gillian.
'Yes, indeed! For Sir Jasper's coming and saving us at that dreadfulmoment, and my being able to keep up as long as dear mamma wanted me,and then Mrs. Halfpenny being spared by dear Lady Merrifield to give mesuch wonderful care and kindness, and little Theodore being so happilyplaced, and this rest--such a strange quiet rest as I never knew before.Oh! it is all so thankworthy'--and the great tears came to dim her eyes.'It seems sent to help me to take strength and courage for the future."He hath helped me hitherto."'
'And you are better?'
'Yes, much better. Quite comfortable as long as I am quite still.'
'And content to be still?'
'Yes, I'm very lazy.'
It was a tired voice, and Gillian feared her half-hour was nearly over,but she could not help saying--
'Do you know, I think it will be all nicer now. Mr. White is doing somuch, and Mr. Stebbing hates it so, that Mrs. Stebbing says he is goingto dissolve the partnership and go away.'
'Then it would all be easier. It seems too good to be true.'
'And that man Mr. White. He must do something for you! He ought.'
'Oh no! He has done a great deal already, and has not been well used.Don't talk of that.'
'I believe he is awfully rich. You know he is building an Institute forthe workmen, and a whole row of model cottages.'
'Yes, Alexis told me. What a difference it will make! I hope he willbuild a room where the girls can dine and rest and read, or have apiano; it would be so good for them.'
'You had better talk to him about it.'
'I never see him, and I should not dare.'
'I'll tell my aunts. He always does what Aunt Ada tells him. Is thatreally all you wish?'
'Oh! I don't wish for anything much--I don't seem able to care now dearmamma is where they cease from troubling, and I have Alec again.'
'Well, I can't help having great hopes. I can't see why that man shouldnot make a daughter of you! Then you would travel and see mountains andpictures and everything. Oh, should you not like that?'
'Like? Oh, one does not think about liking things impossible! And forthe rest, it is nonsense. I should not like to be dependent, and I oughtnot.'
'You don't think what is to come next?'
'No, it would be taking thought for the morrow, would it not? I don'twant to, while I can't do anything, it would only make me fret, and Iam glad I am too stupid still to begin vexing myself over it. I supposeenergy and power of considering will come when my heart does not flutterso. In the meantime, I only want to keep quiet, and I hope that's notall laziness, but some trust in Him who has helped me all this time.'
'Miss Gillian, you've clavered as long as is good for Miss White, andhere are the whole clanjamfrie waiting in the road for you. Now bedouce, my bairn, and mind you are not in the woods at home, and don'tlet the laddies play their tricks with Miss Primrose.'
'I must go,' said Gillian, hastily kissing Kalliope. 'The others weregoing to call for me. When Lady Phyllis was riding with her father shespied a wonderful field of daffodils and a valley full of moss at aplace called Clipston, two miles off, and we are all going to get somefor the decorations. I'll send you some. Good-bye.'
The clanjamfrie, as Mrs. Halfpenny called it, mustered strong, andGillian's heart leapt at the resumption of the tumultuous family life,as she beheld the collection of girls, boys, dogs, and donkeys awaitingher in the approach; and, in spite of the two governesses' presence,her mind misgave her as to the likelihood of regard to the hint that hermother had given that she hoped the elder ones would try to be soberin their ways, and not quite forget what week it was. It was in theirfavour that Jasper, now in his last term at school, was much more of aman and less of a boy than hitherto, and was likely to be on the sideof discretion, so that he might keep in order that always difficultelement, Wilfred, whose two years of preparatory school as yet made himonly more ingenious in the arts of teasing, and more determined to showhis superiority to petticoat government. He had driven Fergus nearlydistracted by threatening to use all his mineralogical specimens to makeducks and drakes, and actually confusing them together, so that Fergusrepented of having exhibited them, and rejoiced that Aunt Jane had letthem continue in her lumber-room till they could find a permanent home.
Wilfred had a shot for Mrs. Halfpenny, when she came down with Gillianand looked for Primrose to secure that there were no interstices betweenthe silk handkerchief and fur collar.
'Ha, ha, old Small Change, don't you wish you may get it?'--as Primroseproved to be outside the drive on one of the donkeys. 'You've gotnothing to do but gnaw your fists at us like old Giant Pope.'
'For shame, Wilfred!' said Jasper. 'My mother did Primrose's throat,nurse, so she is all right.'
'Bad form,' observed Lord Ivinghoe, shaking his head.
'I'm not going to Eton,' replied Wilfred audaciously.
'I should hope not!'--in a tone of ineffable contempt, not for Wilfred'sperson, but his manners, and therewith his Lordship exclaimed, 'Who'sthat?' as Maura came flying down with Gillian's forgotten basket.
'Oh, that's Maura White!' said Valetta.
'I say, isn't she going with us?'
'Oh no, she has to look after her sister!'
'Don't you think we might take her, Gill?' said Fly. 'She never gets anyfun.'
'I don't think she ought to leave Kalliope to-day, Fly, for nurse isgoing down to Il Lido; and besides, Aunt Jane said we must not take_all_ Rockquay with us.'
'No, they would not let us ask Kitty and Clement Varley, said Fergusdisconsolately.
'I am sure she is five times as pretty as your Kitty!' returnedIvinghoe. 'She is a regular stunner.' Whereby it may be perceived thata year at Eton had considerably modified his Lordship's correctness ofspeech, if not of demeanour. Be it further observed that, in spite ofthe escort of the governesses, the young people were as free as if thoseladies had been absent, for, as Jasper observed, the donkeys neutralisedthem. Miss Elbury, being a bad walker, rode one, and Miss Vincent feltbound to keep close to Primrose upon the other; and as neither animalcou
ld be prevailed on to moderate its pace, they kept far ahead of allexcept Valetta, who was mounted on the pony intended for Lady Phyllis,but disdained by her until she should be tired. Lord Ivinghoe'sadmiration of Maura was received contemptuously by Wilfred, who washalf a year younger than his cousin, and being already, in his ownestimation, a Wykehamist, had endless rivalries with him.
'She! She's nothing but a cad! Her sister is a shop-girl, and herbrother is a quarryman.'
'She does not look like it,' observed Ivinghoe, while Mysie and Fly,with one voice, exclaimed that her father was an officer in the RoyalWardours.
'A private first,' said Wilfred, with boyhood's reiteration. 'Cads andquarrymen all of them--the whole boiling, old White and all, though hehas got such a stuck-up house!'
'Nonsense, Will,' said Fly. 'Why, Mr. White has dined with us.'
'A patent of nobility, said Jasper, smiling.
'I don't care,' said Wilfred; 'if other people choose to chum with oldstonemasons and convicts, I don't.'
'Wilfred, that is too bad,' said Gillian. 'It is very wrong to talk inthat way.'
'Oh!' said the audacious Wilfred, 'we all know who is Gill's Jack!'
'Shut up, Will!' cried Fergus, flying at him. 'I told you not to--'
But Wilfred bounded up a steep bank, and from that place of vantage wenton--
'Didn't she teach him Greek, and wasn't he spoony; and didn't she sendback his valentine, so that--'
Fergus was scrambling up the bank after him, enraged at the betrayal ofhis confidence, and shouting inarticulately, while poor Gillian movedon, overwhelmed with confusion, and Fly uttered the cutting words,'Perfectly disgusting!'
'Ay, so it was!' cried the unabashed Wilfred, keeping on at the top ofthe bank, and shaking the bushes at every pause. 'So he broke down therocks, and ran away with the tin, and enlisted, and went to prison. Sucha sweet young man for Gill!'
Poor Gillian! was her punishment never to end? That scrape of hers,hitherto so tenderly and delicately hinted at, and which she would havegiven worlds to have kept from her brothers, now shouted all over thecountry! Sympathy, however, she had, if that would do her any good.Mysie and Fly came on each side of Ivinghoe, assuring him, in low eagervoices, of the utter nonsense of the charge, and explaining ardently;and Jasper, with one bound, laid hold of the tormentor, dragged himdown, and, holding his stick over him, said--
'Now, Wilfred, if you don't hold your tongue, and not behave like abrute, I shall send you straight home.'
'It's quite true,' growled Wilfred. 'Ask her.'
'What does that signify? I'm ashamed of you! I've a great mind to thrashyou this instant. If you speak another word of that sort, I shall. Nowthen, there are the governesses trying to stop to see what's the row.I shall give you up to Miss Vincent, if you choose to behave so like aspiteful girl.'
A sixth-form youth was far too great a man to be withstood by one whowas not yet a public schoolboy at all; and Wilfred actually obeyed,while Jasper added to Fergus--
'How could you be such a little ass as to go and tell him all that rot?'
'It was true,' grumbled Fergus.
'The more reason not to go cackling about it like an old hen, or a girl!Your own sister! I'm ashamed of you both. Mind, I shall thrash you ifyou mention it again.'
Poor Fergus felt the accusation of cackling unjust, since he had onlytold Wilfred in confidence, and that had been betrayed, but he had gothis lesson on family honour, and he subsided into his wonted look-outfor curious stones, while Gillian was overtaken by Jasper--whetherwillingly or not, she hardly knew--but his first word was, 'Littlebeast!'
'You didn't hurt him, I hope,' said Gill, accepting the invitation totake his arm.
'Oh no! I only threatened to make him walk with the governesses and thedonkeys.'
'Asses and savants to the centre,' said Gillian; 'like the orders to theFrench army in Egypt.'
'But what's all this about? You wanted me to look after you! Is it thatAlexis?'
'Oh, Japs! Mamma knows all about it and papa. It was only that he wasridiculous because I was so silly as to think I could help him with hisGreek.'
'You! With his Greek! I pity him!'
'Yes. I found he soon knew too much for me,' said Gillian meekly; 'but,indeed, Japs, it wasn't very bad! He only sent me a valentine, and AuntJane says I need not have been so angry.'
'A cat may look at a king,' said Jasper loftily. 'It is a horrid badthing for a girl to be left to herself without a brother worth having.'
So Gillian got off pretty easily, and after all the walk was not greatlyspoilt. They coalesced again with the other three, who were tolerablydiscreet, and found the debate on the White gentility had been resumed.Ivinghoe was philosophically declaring 'that in these days one must takeup with everybody, so it did not matter if one was a little more of acad than another; he himself was fag at Eton to a fellow whose fatherwas an oilman, and who wasn't half a bad lot.'
'An oilman, Ivy,' said his sister; 'I thought he imported petroleum.'
'Well, it's all the same. I believe he began as an oilman.'
'We shall have Fergus reporting that he's a petroleuse,' put in Jasper.
'No, a petroleuse is a woman.'
'I like Mr. White,' said Fly; 'but, Gillian, you don't think it is truethat he is going to marry your Aunt Jane?'
There was a great groan, and Japs observed--
'Some one told us Rockquay was a hotbed of gossip, and we seem to havegot it strong.'
'Where did this choice specimen come from, Fly!' demanded Ivinghoe, inhis manner most like his mother.
Fly nodded her head towards her governess in the advanced guard.
'She had a cousin to tea with her, and they thought I didn't know whomthey meant, and they said that he was always up at Rockstone.'
'Well, he is; and Aunt Jane always stands up for him,' said Gillian;'but that was because he is so good to the workpeople, and Aunt Ada tookhim for some grand political friend of Cousin Rotherwood's.'
'Aunt Jane!' said Jasper. 'Why, she is the very essence and epitome ofold maids.'
'Yes,' said Gillian. 'If it came to that, she would quite as soon marrythe postman.'
'That's lucky' said Ivinghoe. 'One can swallow a good deal, but notquite one's own connections.'
'In fact,' said Jasper, 'you had rather be an oilman's fag than aquarryman's--what is it?--first cousin once removed in law?'
'It is much more likely,' said Gillian, as they laughed over this, 'thatKalliope and Maura will be his adopted daughters, only he never comesnear them.'
Wherewith there was a halt. Miss Elbury insisted that Phyllis shouldride, the banks began to show promise of flowers, and, in the search forviolets, dangerous topics were forgotten, and Wilfred was forgiven. Theyreached the spot marked by Fly, a field with a border of sloping brokenground and brushwood, which certainly fulfilled all their desires,steeply descending to a stream full of rocks, the ground white with woodanemones, long evergreen trails of periwinkles and blue flowers between,primroses clustering under the roots of the trees, daffodils gilding thegrass above, and the banks verdant with exquisite feather-moss. Such aspringtide wood was joy to all, especially as the first cuckoo of theseason came to add to their delights and set them counting for theaugury of happy years, which proved so many that Mysie said they wouldnot know what to do with them.
'I should,' said Ivinghoe. 'I should like to live to be a great oldstatesman, as Lord Palmerston did, and have it all my own way. Wouldn'tI bring things round again!'
'Perhaps they would have gone too far,' suggested Jasper, 'and then youwould have to gnaw your hand like Giant Pope, as Wilfred says.'
'Catch me, while I could do something better.'
'If one only lived long enough,' speculated Fergus, 'one might find outwhat everything was made of, and how to do everything.'
'I wonder if the people did before the Flood, when they lived eight ornine hundred years,' said Fly.
'Perhaps that is the reason there is nothing
new under the sun,'suggested Valetta, as many a child has before suggested.
'But then,' said Mysie, they got wicked.'
'And then after the Flood it had all to be begun over again,' saidIvinghoe. 'Let me see, Methuselah lived about as long as from Williamthe Conqueror till now. I think he might have got to steam andelectricity.'
'And dynamite,' said Gillian. 'Oh, I don't wonder they had to be sweptaway, if they were clever and wicked both!'
'And I suppose they were,' said Jasper. 'At least the giants, and thatthey handed on some of their ability through Ham, to the Egyptians, andall those queer primeval coons, whose works we are digging up.'
'From the Conquest till now,' repeated Gillian. 'I'm glad we don't liveso long now. It tires one to think of it.'
'But we shall,' said Fly.
'Yes,' said Mysie, 'but then we shall be rid of this nasty old self thatis always getting wrong.'
'That little lady's nasty old self does so as little as any one's,'Jasper could not help remarking to his sister; and Fly, pouncing on thefirst purple orchis spike amid its black-spotted leaves, cried--
'At any rate, these dear things go on the same, without any tiresomeinventing.'
'Except God's just at first,' whispered Mysie.
'And the gardeners do invent new ones,' said Valetta.
'Invent! No; they only fuss them and spoil them, and make ridiculousnames for them,' said Fly. These darling creatures are ever so muchbetter. Look at Primrose there.'
'Yes,' said Gillian, as she saw her little sister in quiet ecstasy overthe sparkling bells of the daffodils; 'one would not like to live eighthundred years away from that experience.'
'But mamma cares just as much still as Primrose does,' said Mysie. 'Wemust get some for her own self as well as for the church.'
'Mine are all for mamma,' proclaimed Primrose; and just then there wasa shout that a bird's nest had been found--a ring-ousel's nest on thebanks. Fly and her brother shared a collection of birds' eggs, and wereso excited about robbing the ousels of a single egg, that Gillian hopedthat Fergus would not catch the infection and abandon minerals foreggs, which would be ever so much worse--only a degree better thanbutterflies, towards which Wilfred showed a certain proclivity.
'I shall be thirteen before next holidays,' he observed, after making avain dash with his hat at a sulphur butterfly, looking like a primroseflying away.
'Mamma won't allow any "killing collection" before thirteen years old,'explained Mysie.
'She says,' explained Gillian, 'by that time one ought to be old enoughto discriminate between the lawfulness of killing the creatures for thesake of studying their beauty and learning them, and the mere wantonamusement of hunting them down under the excuse of collecting.'
'I say,' exclaimed Valetta, who had been exploring above, 'here is sucha funny old house.'
There was a rush in that direction, and at the other end of the widehome-field was perceived a picturesque gray stone house, with largemullioned windows, a dilapidated low stone wall, with what had once beena handsome gateway, overgrown with ivy, and within big double daffodilsand white narcissus growing wild.
'It's like the halls of Ivor,' said Mysie, awestruck by the loneliness;'no dog, nor horse, nor cow, not even a goose,'
'And what a place to sketch!' cried Miss Vincent. 'Oh, Gillian, we mustcome here another day.'
'Oh, may we gather the flowers?' exclaimed the insatiable Primrose.
'Those poetic narcissuses would be delicious for the choir screen,'added Gillian.
'Poetic narcissus--poetic grandmother,' said Wilfred. 'It's old butterand eggs.'
'I say!' cried Mysie. 'Look, Ivy--I know that pair of fightinglions--ain't these some of your arms over the door?'
'By which you mean a quartering of our shield,' said Ivinghoe.'Of course it is the Clipp bearing. Or, two lions azure, regardantcombatant, their tails couped.'
'Two blue Kilkenny cats, who have begun with each other's tails,'commented Jasper.
'Ivinghoe glared a little, but respected the sixth form, and Gillianadded--
'They clipped them! Then did this place belong to our ancestors?'
'Poetic grandmother, really!' said Mysie.
'Great grandmother,' corrected Ivinghoe. 'To be sure. It was from theClipps that we got all this Rockstone estate!'
'And I suppose this was their house? What a shame to have deserted it!'
'Oh, it has been a farmhouse,' said Fly. 'I heard something about farmsthat wouldn't let.'
'Then is it yours?' cried Valetta, 'and may we gather the flowers?'
'And mayn't we explore?' asked Mysie. 'Oh, what fun!'
'Holloa!' exclaimed Wilfred, transfixed, as if he had seen the ghostsof all the Clipps. For just as Valetta and Mysie threw themselves on thebig bunches of hepatica and the white narcissus, a roar, worthy of theclip-tailed lions, proceeded from the window, and the demand, 'Who ispicking my roses?'
Primrose in terror threw herself on Gillian with a little scream.Wilfred crept behind the walls, but after the general start there wasan equally universal laugh, for between the stout mullions of the orielwindow Lord Rotherwood's face was seen, and Sir Jasper's behind him.
Great was the jubilation, and there was a rush to the tall door, upthe dilapidated steps, where curls of fern were peeping out; but thegentlemen called out that only the back-door could be opened, and theintention of a 'real grand exploration' was cut short by Miss Elbury'sdeclaring that she was bound not to let Phyllis stay out till sixo'clock.
Fly, in her usual good-humoured way, suppressed her sighs and begged theothers to explore without her, but the general vote declared this to beout of the question. Fly had too short a time to remain with her cousinsto be forsaken even for the charms of 'the halls of Ivor,' or the rivalBeast's Castle, as Gillian called it, which, after all, would not runaway.
'But it might be let,' said Mysie.
'Yes, I've got a tenant in agitation,' said Lord Rotherwoodmischievously. 'Never mind, I dare say he won't inquire what you havedone with his butter and eggs.'
So with a parting salute to the ancestral halls, the cavalry was set inorder, big panniers full of moss and flowers disposed on the donkeys,Fly placed on her pony, and every maiden taking her basket of flowers,Jasper and Ivinghoe alone being amiable, or perhaps trustworthy enoughto assist in carrying. Fly's pony demurred to the extra burthen, soJasper took hers; and when Gillian declared herself too fond of herflowers to part with them, Ivinghoe astonished Miss Vincent, on whomsome stones of Fergus's, as well as her own share of flowers, had beenbestowed, by taking one handle of her most cumbrous basket.
Sir Jasper and Lord Rotherwood rode together through the happy youngtroop on the homeward way. Perhaps Ivinghoe was conscious of a specialnod of approval from his father.
On passing Rock House, the youthful public was rather amused at hispausing, and saying--
'Aren't you going to leave some flowers there?'
'Oh yes!' said Gillian. 'I have a basket on purpose.'
'And I have some for Maura,' said Valetta.
Valetta's was an untidy bunch; Gillian's a dainty basket, where whiteviolets reposed on moss within a circle of larger blossoms.
'That's something like!' quoth Ivinghoe.
He lingered with them as if he wanted to see that vision again, but onlythe caretaker appeared, and promised to take the flowers upstairs.
Maura afterwards told how they were enjoyed, and they knew of Kalliope'scalm restfulness in Holy Week thoughts and Paschal Joys.
It was on Easter Tuesday that Mr. White first sent a message asking tosee his guest, now of nearly three weeks.
He came in very quietly and gently--perhaps the sight of the room hehad prepared for his young wife was in itself a shock to him, and he hadlived so long without womankind that he had all a lonely man's awe of aninvalid. He took with a certain respect the hand that Kalliope held out,as she said, with a faint flush in her cheeks--
'I am glad to thank you, sir. You have been
very good to me.'
'I am glad to see you better,' he said, with a little embarrassment.
'I ought to be, in this beautiful air, and with these lovely things tolook at,' and she pointed to the reigning photograph on the stand--thefacade of St. Mark's.
'You should see it as I did.' And he began to describe it to her,she putting in a question or two here and there, which showed herappreciation.
'You know something about it already,' he said.
'Yes; when I was quite a little girl one of the officers in the RoyalWardours brought some photographs to Malta, and told me about them.'
'But,' he said, recalling himself, that is not my object now. Yourbrother says he does not feel competent to decide without you.' And helaid before her two or three prospectuses of grammar schools. 'It istime to apply,' he added, 'if that little fellow--Peter, you call him,don't you?--is to begin next term.'
'Petros! Oh, sir, this is kindness!'
'I desired that the children's education should be attended to,' saidMr. White. 'I did not intend their being sent to an ordinary Nationalschool.'
'Indeed,' said Kalliope; 'I do not think much time has been lost, forthey have learnt a good deal there; but I am particularly glad thatPetros should go to a superior school just now that he has been leftalone, for he is more lively and sociable than Theodore, and it might beless easy for him to keep from bad companions.'
The pros and cons of the several schools were discussed, andHurstpierpoint finally fixed on.
'Never mind about his outfit,' added Mr. White. 'I'll give that fellowdown in Bellevue an order to rig him out. He is a sharp little sturdyfellow, who will make his way in the world.'
'Indeed, I trust so, now that his education is secured. It is anotherload off my mind,' said Kalliope, with a smile of exceeding sweetnessand gratitude, her hands clasped, and her eyes raised for a moment inhigher thankfulness,--a look that so enhanced her beauty that Mr. Whitegazed for a moment in wonder. The next moment, however, the dark eyesturned on him with a little anxiety, and she said--
'One thing more, sir. Perhaps you will be so kind as to relieve my mindagain. That notice of dismissal at the quarter's end. Was it not in somedegree from a mistake?'
'An utter mistake, my dear,' he said hastily. 'Never trouble your headabout it.'
'Then it does not hold?'
'Certainly not.'
'And I may go back to my office as soon as I am well enough?'
'Is that your wish?'
'Yes, sir. I love my work and my assistants, and I think I could dobetter if a little more scope could be allowed me.'
'Very well, we will see about that--you have to get well first of all.'
'I am so much better that I ought to go home. Mr. Lee is quite ready forme.'
Nonsense! You must be much stronger before Dagger would hear of yourgoing.'
After this Mr. White came to sit with Kalliope for a time in the courseof each day, bringing with him something that would interest her, andseeming gratified by her responsiveness, quiet as it was, for shewas still very feeble, and exertion caused a failure of breath andfluttering of heart that were so distressing that ten days more passedbefore she was brought downstairs and drawn out in the garden ina chair, where she could sit on the sheltered terrace enjoying thedelicious spring air and soft sea-breezes, sometimes alone, sometimeswith the company of one friend or another. Gillian and Aunt Jane had,with the full connivance of Mr. White, arranged a temporary entrancefrom one garden to the other for the convenience of attending toKalliope, and here one afternoon Miss Mohun was coming in when sheheard through the laurels two voices speaking to the girl. As she movedforward she saw they were the elder and younger Stebbings, and thatKalliope had risen to her feet, and was leaning on the back of herchair. While she was considering whether to advance Kalliope heard her,and called in a breathless voice, 'Miss Mohun! oh, Miss Mohun, come!'
'Miss Mohun! You will do us the justice--' began Mr. Stebbing, speakingmore to her indignant face and gesture than to any words.
'Miss White is not well,' she said. 'You had better leave her to me.'
And as they withdrew through the house, Kalliope sank back in her chairin one of those alarming attacks of deadly faintness that had beenaverted for many days past. Happily an electric bell was always athand, and the housekeeper knew what remedies to bring. Kalliope didnot attempt a word for many long minutes, though the colour came backgradually to her lips. Her first words were,
'Thank you! Oh, I did hope that persecution was over!'
'My poor child! Don't tell me unless you like! Only--it wasn't aboutyour work?'
'Oh no, the old story! But he brought his father--to say heconsented--and wished it--now.'
There was no letting her say any more at that time, but it was all plainenough. This had been one more attempt of the Stebbing family to recovertheir former power; Kalliope was assumed to be Mr. White's favouredniece; Frank could make capital of having loved her when poor andneglected, and his parents were ready to back his suit. The father andson had used their familiarity with the house to obtain admittance tothe garden without announcement or preparation, and had pressed thesiege, with a confidence that could only be inspired by their ownself-opinion. Kalliope had been kept up by her native dignity andresolution, and had at first gently, then firmly, declined thearguments, persuasions, promises, and final reproaches with which theybeset her--even threatening to disclose what they called encouragement,and assuring her that she need not reckon on Mr. White, for the generalvoice declared him likely to marry again, and then where would she be?'
'I don't know what would have become of me, if you had not come,' shesaid.
And when she had rested long enough, and crept into the house, andAlexis had come home to carry her upstairs, it was plain that she hadbeen seriously thrown back, and she was not able to leave her room fortwo or three days.
Mr. White was necessarily told what had been the cause of the mischief.He smiled grimly. 'Ay! ay! Master Frank thought he would come round theold man, did he? He will find himself out. Ha, ha! a girl like that inthe house is like a honey-pot near a wasps' nest, and the little sisterwill be as bad. Didn't I see the young lord, smart little prig as helooks, holding an umbrella over her with a smile on his face, as much asto say, "I know who is a pretty girl! No one to look after them either!"But maybe they will all find themselves mistaken,' and his grim smilerelaxed into a highly amiable one.
Miss Mohun was not at all uneasy as to the young lord. An Eton boy'sadmiration of a pretty face did not amount to much, even if Ivinghoehad not understood 'Noblesse oblige' too well to leave a young girlunsheltered. Besides, he and all the rest were going away the next day.But what did that final hint mean?
CHAPTER XXII. -- THE MAIDEN ALL FORLORN
Beechcroft at Rockstone Page 22
