The Project Gutenberg eBook ofMiss Devereux, spinsterThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Miss Devereux, spinsterAuthor: Agnes GiberneRelease date: February 12, 2024 [eBook #72933]Language: EnglishOriginal publication: London: James Clarke & Co, 1893*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS DEVEREUX, SPINSTER ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Miss Devereux, spinsterAuthor: Agnes GiberneRelease date: February 12, 2024 [eBook #72933]Language: EnglishOriginal publication: London: James Clarke & Co, 1893
Title: Miss Devereux, spinster
Author: Agnes Giberne
Author: Agnes Giberne
Release date: February 12, 2024 [eBook #72933]
Language: English
Original publication: London: James Clarke & Co, 1893
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS DEVEREUX, SPINSTER ***
Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
BY
AGNES GIBERNE
AUTHOR OF "SUN, MOON AND STARS," "SWEETBRIAR," ETC.
"Take thou no thought for aught save right and truth,Life holds for finer souls no equal prize."L. MORRIS
NEW EDITION
LONDON
JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14 FLEET STREET
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS
BOOK I.
IN CHILDHOOD'S HOUR.
CHAPTER
I. A MIDDLE-AGED YOUNG LADY
II. TAKING SHAPE
III. "DEAR AUNT"
IV. SEVERELY SMITTEN
V. QUITE TOO UTTERLY
VI. AN APPEAL AND ITS RESULTS
VII. PREPOSTEROUS
BOOK II.
AFTER SEVEN YEARS.
I. MRS. KENNEDY'S NOTIONS
II. MUD AND BRAMBLES
III. HUSBAND AND WIFE
IV. A STRIFE FOR THE MASTERY
V. IN THE GORGE AGAIN
VI. FRICTION
VII. AN UNWILLING WITNESS
VIII. ON THE MARSHES
IX. BROUGHT HOME
X. THE AFTER SMART
XI. NEW GROUND
XII. THE WIGGINSES AND MAIDENHAIR
BOOK III.
ACTION AND REACTION.
I. A ROUGH DIAMOND
II. OLD FATHER THAMES
III. AMATEUR CRITICISM
IV. THE PROCESS OF FORMATION
V. PROTECTOR AND PROTECTED
VI. "NOT IN MY SET"
VII. THE SOCIAL BOARD
VIII. DARK-EYED EMMIE
IX. COMPLEXITIES OF LIFE
X. CONFIDENTIAL WITH THE DOCTOR
XI. ON THE ROCKS
XII. TAKING COUNSEL
XIII. BOULEVERSEMENT
BOOK IV.
THE UPSHOT OF IT ALL.
I. DUTTON GOSSIP
II. THE "SPANISH GIPSY"
III. IF IT WERE TRUE
IV. ROUGH WINDS
V. SUCCEEDING CALM
MISS DEVEREUX, SPINSTER
BOOK I.
IN CHILDHOOD'S HOUR.
"A silent creature, thoughtful, grave, sincere."JEAN INGELOW.
A MIDDLE-AGED YOUNG LADY.
"Sensibility, how charming!"BURNS.
"IF only I had some one to tell me what to do!" sighed Miss Devereux, an anxious pucker wrinkling her forehead.
It was the first time in Sybella Devereux' life that she had ever had to stand alone.
The morning-room which she occupied was better fitted for summer than winter uses. Indian matting covered the floor; Indian drapery clothed the walls; light cane chairs of foreign make were scattered among tables no less fragile. This being June, a fringe of Gloire de Dijon roses peered in at the open French window. Had it been December, the morning-room would have been forsaken.
Sybella Devereux had taken one of the slight chairs, beside one of the flimsy tables. A writing-case was open, and two or three letters were outspread.
Few would have guessed her at first sight to be within a few months of forty. She had lived the sheltered life of many English daughters in easy circumstances—a life of moderate occupation, of small trouble or responsibility. Sybella had taken life as she found it. She was not a woman to carve out a career for herself in the face of circumstances. She counted herself delicate, and liked to be comfortable. If any latent force of character had existed in her originally, circumstances had tended to smother rather than to draw it out.
From babyhood she had been thought of, guarded, cared for, directed, never left to decide for herself. As an arm or leg will wither if tied up and not used, so the power of mental decision had withered in her from lack of exercise.
Years had trickled past in monotonous ease, and her girlhood had lingered long after the lawful stage, "dying hard." It was ample time for Sybella to be settling down into old maidhood; at least according to all laws of fiction. She did not, however, yet count herself to be an old maid.
There were no lines of grey in her hair; and if the cheeks were rather thin, rumpling into suspicious ridges when she smiled, that was only because she had always been "so delicate, you know!" She wore slight mourning for a sister-in-law, the wife of her only brother, who was expected home shortly from India; otherwise she would not have hesitated to sport a white dress with blue ribbons, as suited to the season.
That which marked Sybella as apart from the young ladyhood of the day was not so much any definite look of middle-age; it was rather a certain sentimentality, a self-conscious bashfulness, belonging entirely to a past generation. Girls of sixteen and eighteen growing up around Sybella were twenty times as practical, as independent, as much at their ease, as was she.
Sybella's father, Sir John Devereux, a kind-hearted and placid old gentleman, who, like his daughter, took life much as he found it, had died two years earlier. He left his small property of Ripley Brow, with the Baronetcy, to his son Theodore, a successful Indian civilian, stipulating only that his widowed sister, Mrs. Willoughby, for thirty-five years his companion and stay, should live there during the rest of her life. Theodore offered no objections to this proviso. Until the loss of his own wife broke him down, and destroyed the charm of India, he much preferred to stay there, leaving Ripley Brow to the management of his aunt and sister.
Or, rather, of his aunt. Sybella was the managed, not the manager. The loss of her father made little difference in this respect. She was still hedged round with care. She could still go on with her mild circle of occupations—her attentions to pet plants, her scraps of useless fancy work, her chit-chat calls upon neighbours, her epistolary gushes to bosom friends. The circle of occupations included also futile attempts at painting, fitful readings and copyings of poetry, dilettante dippings into social questions beyond her depth, and through all an unswerving devotion to her own health.
The controlling spirit of the household had ever been that of the stately and fascinating old lady, whose forceful nature was in marked contrast with the indeterminate outlines of Sybella's character. Mrs. Willoughby, far from accepting life as she found it, expected everything to bend to her will. Circumstances, in the shape of yielding parents, an indulgent husband, a devoted and easy brother, a submissive niece, ample means, and hosts of admiring friends, had fostered to excess a naturally wilful tendency. At the age of seventy-eight, Mrs. Willoughby could brook no contradiction. Yet she knew how to make herself ineffably charming.
Sybella was always "the child" to Mrs. Willoughby. Nothing had ever been left in her hands. She had never so much as dreamt of assuming her rightful position in her father's house. Mrs. Willoughby had managed everything. At thirty-nine, Sybella knew as much about housekeeping as an infant. She had never chosen a dress for herself unadvised. She had never written a cheque. She had never glanced into household accounts.
Now, without warning, the vigorous old lady, to whom illness was a thing unknown, had been smitten down by paralysis. The reins of government slid from her firm grasp into the helpless hands of Sybella.
She looked most helpless, seated beside the rickety table of wickerwork. Knowing nothing of real illness, though much used to cosseting of small ailments in her own person, the state of Mrs. Willoughby weighed upon her less than the immediate need for decision upon a hundred minor matters. In a few weeks, no doubt, her aunt would be up and about again. Dr. Ingram had not exactly said so, it is true; but Sybella hardly thought of any other possibility. The pressing question was—how the world could run its course meantime, without Mrs. Willoughby to direct it?
"If only I had some one to tell me what to do!" sighed Sybella. "Just now especially—such an awkward time! A month later it would not have been so bad. Dear Theodore will be at home, and men always know about everything. Till he comes, I really have nobody to turn to. And so many things ought to be arranged."
She drew another plaintive breath, looked towards the bookcase, and felt tempted to solace herself with Mrs. Heman's "Songs of the Affections."
"I suppose I ought not. These letters have to be answered; and I don't in the least know what to say. If there were some one whom I could consult. I am so at a loss where to turn. Mr. Kennedy—I am sure he would do anything in his power. But then he is not exactly businesslike. Dear aunt always says that he is not. Only last week she was so vexed because he forgot to acknowledge that subscription. And yet he is such a good man; and he does preach such beautiful comforting sermons! Still I am afraid he might not know what to advise about the lawyer's letter, and that is what I need most. Besides, dear aunt never quite likes Mrs. Kennedy. I am sure she would be vexed if any of our private affairs came before her. And Mr. Kennedy is so forgetful, poor dear man! He might repeat things to his wife—men so often do. That is the worst of being married."
Sybella twiddled her ivory pen-handle in an aimless way, as she reviewed the situation.
"Then there is Mr. Trevelyan. If only he were a different sort of man! It would seem so natural to turn to him—living in his Parish. Quite impossible, of course—dear aunt disapproving of his views as she does. And if there is one man I do dislike more than any other, it is Mr. Trevelyan! That manner is so unbearable. Of course, not going to his Church, one could not very well ask his help, even if dear aunt would approve. We have kept well aloof from the Trevelyans till now—happily. Besides, even if there were no other objections, he is a widower."
A blush mantled in Miss Devereux' cheeks.
"One has to be careful, especially in a place like Dulveriford. Everything is so talked about. People might say—but, of course, Mr. Trevelyan is out of the question . . . Then there is Dr. Ingram. He will come in presently, and I might get his advice—perhaps—but I am not sure. He is such a new acquaintance—and then he is so shy! If only our dear old Dr. Symonds were here, he would do anything in the world for me. Dr. Ingram is different. They say he is much cleverer than Dr. Symonds; but I can't quite make him out. One does not feel at one's ease with him, somehow. I should think he could be sarcastic. Besides, he is a widower too. So, of course, I have to be careful. It is extraordinary, the number of widowers in this neighbourhood—and rather tiresome! I do think clergymen and doctors ought not to be unmarried, for the sake of other people. It makes things so uncomfortable."
Sybella, leant her cheek pensively on her hand. She was given to attitudinising in a mild fashion. A tap, twice repeated, was unheard; and the door opened.
"If you please, Miss—"
"Pearce! Yes; do you want anything?"
"General Villiers desires to see you, Miss."
Sybella started up in a flutter.
"General Villiers! Not from India! My brother's friend! Impossible! It must be somebody else. General Villiers would never have left Sir Theodore to come by an earlier mail; unless, indeed, they have come together. Sir Theodore there too? No! But you are sure it is General Villiers, of Dutton Park?"
Pearce signified that there could be no mistake. He was an old retainer. General Villiers was well known to him, not only as Sir Theodore's intimate friend, but as the present owner of Dutton Park, a neighbouring property. The estate had been left to General Villiers some two years earlier by an aged relative, and he had not yet been home to inspect it. He was expected to arrive three weeks later, with Sir Theodore and little Cyril.
"I don't understand. It is so strange," Sybella went on excitedly. "If my dear aunt—" and there was an unhappy recollection that she must act for herself. "Perhaps I had better see him in here," she said uncertainly.
"Yes, Miss!" and Pearce vanished.
A soldierly man entered, tall, upright as a dart, and slender still, despite his more than fifty-five summers. He had bronzed handsome features, and his hair was variegated with gray. Close behind walked a small boy, white-faced and pretty.
Miss Devereux had not seen the General for fifteen years. She came forward in a hesitating manner, to be met by a courtly bow and warm hand-clasp.
"I am grieved to hear of Mrs. Willoughby's illness. Pardon my intrusion at such a time. Unhappily there is reason," the General said in a deep, moved voice.
"Yes; oh, pray take a chair." Miss Devereux glanced round in search of a support not too ethereal for six feet two of human length. The General relieved her anxiety by depositing himself with care upon a fragile construction of cane. Fortunately he was not stout.
"If my dear aunt were here, she would—" Miss Devereux began, and paused. "Yes, she is ill. I hope and trust she will soon be better. Dr. Ingram seems to think—"
Another break. Sybella's lack of decision often showed itself in unfinished sentences. Her words ran ahead of her ideas, and had to be pulled up.
"Not Dr. Symonds?"
"No. Dr. Symonds retired lately. He has left Dulveriford. Everybody was so sorry to lose him. Dr. Ingram is a very clever man. They say he is too clever for the country, and he only came on account of his wife's health; and, poor thing, she died soon after. But we don't know him well yet. And perhaps—"
Ideas failing anew, her eyes fell upon the boy, standing shyly close to the General's knee.
"Is that a nephew of yours?"
"I have no nephews. He has been in my charge." The General spoke solemnly, an underground rumble echoing in his deep-toned voice. There is always something impressive in a voice of that description; and it is particularly well adapted for the carrying of bad news.
"I see. How kind! But you bring me news of my brother? Dearest Theodore!" she ejaculated, clasping her hands. Sybella could not help an occasional air of sentimentality. It was natural to her; or, if acquired, it had become second nature.
"Yes—"
"He is—I suppose we are to expect him by the date he named. How unfortunate that you had to come first!"
No reply.
"I am so looking forward to his arrival. More than words can express! Dear Theodore!" sighed Miss Devereux. "Ten long years since I saw him last! Will he be much changed?"
The General muttered something incoherent under his moustache.
Miss Devereux unclasped her hands, and clasped them anew.
"If only dear Theodore could have resolved to come home a year or two earlier! I never could think why he would not. Keeping that poor little Cyril out all this time—it really has been reckless. Nearly ten years old! Enough to ruin the child's constitution."
"Particularly healthy station," murmured General Villiers.
"Yes, but the native surroundings—I have always heard that the evil was so great—"
"It has been guarded against."
The boy pressed closer to the General's knee, his tiny hand stealing into the veteran's brown fingers.
"They would do all they could, of course. But since poor Olave's death, how could Theodore have time?—A busy civilian, you know. I am afraid it has been a mistake. And dear Evelyn all these years at school, never seeing her parents or brother! Ten years' separation! It cannot be right! Yes, she spent her holidays here—at first, always. She has had a great many invitations of late from schoolfellows, which she seemed to prefer. My dear aunt has been pained, but Evelyn asked her father's consent. I have not seen the dear girl now for eighteen months. Last summer, she went abroad with friends, and last Christmas she had German measles, so my dear aunt was afraid of the infection for me."
This had no ludicrous sound for Sybella's ears. Though close upon forty, she was so used still to being cared for as if she were a maiden in her teens, so used to have her health counted a prime consideration, that the statement came as a matter of course.
If the General had been less sad, he might have found it hard to restrain a smile.
"It will be all right now, however—now that our dear Theodore is coming home, I shall be so glad to have his advice and help. My dear aunt has always seen to everything, and I am so inexperienced."
"Could I help you?" asked the General. He had something to say which he did not know how to say. With the moral cowardice of many a physically brave man, he was willing to put off the evil moment.
"Would you not mind?" Sybella hesitated, recollecting that here was another widower. But he had come to her; she would not have to go to him; and he was an old family friend.
"Would you really not mind? There is a letter from my brother's lawyer which I cannot understand. Something about investments. He uses such odd phrases. And a cheque has come, which I sent to the Bank, and they would not change it. They said it was not endorsed. Pearce says that means writing one's name at the back. I have had to do it before, but I never can remember if I ought to write across or lengthways, and at which end."
General Villiers solved this knotty point, and glanced at the lawyer's letter.
"Nothing of importance," he said. "I will explain it by-and-by. I must not delay longer—speaking. I have brought you sad news."
Sybella looked inquiring. General Villiers drew the child forward.
"Can you see no likeness?"
The boy turned his face towards her—a fragile colourless face, with violet eyes so dark as to be almost black, and a mass of brown hair curling thickly over the little head.
"Sweet child!" murmured Sybella. Then, with a start, "Yes, I do see! Surely! He is like poor Olave—strangely like. Hers was such uncommon beauty. Dear little boy. He must be a nephew—but Olave had no brothers or sisters. You don't mean—it can't be that he—"
"Cyril, kiss your aunt."
Cyril crossed the short space between, and flung his arms around Miss Devereux with a short sob, as if his heart were full.
"My dear boy! You sweet child!" exclaimed Sybella, embracing him with effusion. "Then this is our precious Cyril, and Theodore has come home. Why has he stayed behind? Is he not well? Tired with travelling? Cyril, my pet, don't cry. Oh, pray don't. Is he hungry? What can I get for him? Some seed-cake? Dear little boy! Why, Cyril, who would ever guess you to be more than seven years old? Such a tiny mite!"
The child pressed his face into her shoulder, and General Villiers spoke slowly—
"Your brother was breaking down fast. The doctors said our only hope was to get him away at once. It made no difference to me, for I was waiting to come with him. He would not let me telegraph word of our changed plans, for his wish was to surprise you."
"And—" Sybella said.
"For a day or two on board, he seemed to rally, but it did not last."
"And—" repeated Sybella.
The General bent his head.
"This is now Sir Cyril Devereux!" he said.
TAKING SHAPE.
"Follow light and do the right—for man can half control his doom—Till you find the deathless angel, seated in the vacant tomb."TENNYSON.
JEAN TREVELYAN stood at the gate of the Rectory kitchen-garden, gazing down the lane.
She was an only child, about nine years old, of tall and slim make, with a straight back and a well-balanced head. The face was oval, but too thin for prettiness; indeed, nobody called Jean pretty. She had a pale complexion, light hair cut short like a boy's, and odd greenish-brown eyes, in sunshine yellowish like a topaz, and capable of expression to any degree. Jean wore a loose brown holland frock, and held in one hand a brown hat, round the crown of which a brown ribbon was tied. Simplicity could not further go.
"Oswald!" she cried.
No answer came.
Jean waited patiently for some seconds, a hungry look in her eyes. Then she called again:
"Oswald! Os-wald! I'm here!"
A figure emerged from the gooseberry bushes, where it had been stooping out of sight.
"What are you making that noise for, Jean?"
"I want Oswald, aunt Marie."
"Well, you must have patience. He will come in good time."
The tone was not unkind; it was only indifferent. Mrs. or Madame Collier was not a person to enter into a child's desires.
Jean had no mother. She could barely remember her mother. Mrs. Collier, the widowed sister of Mr. Trevelyan, had lived there almost as far back as Jean's memory could reach, keeping house for her brother, precisely as old Mrs. Willoughby had lived with old Sir John Devereux, keeping house for him since Sybella's infancy. Sybella's complaints of many widowers in the neighbourhood was not without foundation.
Mrs. Collier's real name was Maria. Having married a Frenchman—in virtue of which she was still known as Madame Collier—and having spent her married life abroad, she preferred to be called 'Marie.' She was perhaps some five years older than Sybella, with the air of twenty years' seniority. She was angular in make, with high cheek-bones, marked feature, iron-grey hair, and permanent sunburn. Moreover, she wore caps indoors and old fashioned bonnets out of doors. She could occasionally appear en grande tenue; yet her usual attire was a very embodiment of plainness. At this moment, she had on a rusty black alpaca, frayed at the edges; a big crochet shawl, secured in front by a skewer-like pin; and an enormous garden hat of untrimmed straw, reminiscence of foreign life.
Marie Collier had been tossed early upon her own feet, and forced to stand alone, if she would stand at all. This was bracing, to begin with! Probably she could never, under any conditions, have been turned into a helpless young (?) lady of thirty-nine, unable to endorse a cheque, but no doubt a somewhat different creature might under differing influences have emerged from the chrysalis stage of existence.
The Trevelyan nature was one which needed softening, since it stiffened easily; and softening influences had not in her case been abundant. Both her early life and her married life had been to a great extent hardening.
In some measure the same conditions surrounded the little Jean. There were barriers of repression, of non-comprehension, of outward coldness, fencing her in. But Jean was an Ingram as well as a Trevelyan. She had inherited from the two families a jumble of opposite characteristics. There was all the Trevelyan pride, with any amount of Ingram tenderness. There was the Trevelyan reserve, with the Ingram craving for sympathy. There was the Trevelyan hauteur, with the Ingram shyness. There was the Trevelyan disdain, with the Ingram susceptibility. There was all the force of the Trevelyan will, and with that there were odd touches of the Ingram readiness to yield.
Here was the rough ore of the nature, out of which the future character had to be formed. The main question was—which of the opposing elements would be fostered, which would be crushed or starved out of existence? A child of nine has begun to take shape, but the materials are soft, and malleable by a touch.
Jean did not call again, after her aunt's rebuke. She stood and watched with craving eyes, into which a look of loneliness had crept. Jean was always lonely when not with her brother Oswald. She loved Oswald with an absorbing devotion.
He had rushed away, "promising faithfully" to return in five minutes for a game of bowls. The five minutes were long past, and he had not come. Lesson-time was drawing near. In forty minutes Madame Collier, with inexorable punctuality, would summon Jean to the dingy schoolroom, where she daily spent five hours of misery. These were the first days of Oswald's midsummer holidays—old style, meaning real midsummer;—but Jean, learning at home, was not supposed to need holidays.
"Marie!" another voice called: a man's voice now.
"Yes," Madame Collier answered. She straightened herself a second time, and looked towards the house, flushed with stooping.
A gentleman came down the path with vigorous strides. He was of medium height and muscular in build, having strongly marked features. Permanent indentations stamped the brow, and the wide mouth closed habitually into a straight line; while the manner was prompt and resolute. His dress was severely clerical; the coat long.
"Marie, I want a word with you." He did not observe the motionless figure of his little daughter, and Jean was wrapped up in her patient watch. "Bad news from The Brow."
Dulveriford commonly spoke of Sybella's home as "The Brow" rather than by its full name of "Ripley Brow." The curtailment saved trouble.
Madame Collier forgot Jean, or she would have sent the child out of hearing. It was a principle with that excellent lady that children should never hear aught beyond what directly concerns themselves.
"Bad news!" she repeated, grasping with both hands her basket of gooseberries. "Mrs. Willoughby worse?"
"Not materially. I suppose it to be merely a question of weeks with her; but I do not know that she is worse to-day than yesterday. The news is from abroad. Sir Theodore is dead!"
"You don't say so! Dear me!" Madame Collier adjusted the big white skewer in her shawl, thereby showing that her feelings were not deeply stirred. "Dear, how unfortunate! But I never liked the accounts of his state."
"General Villiers arrived yesterday, bringing the boy."
"Well—!" in a tone of consent to what could not be helped. "I suppose the General will be the children's guardian."
"No. That is the strange part of the matter—General Villiers is one of the trustees. Miss Devereux is sole guardian—"
Madame Collier's eyes grew round. She set her gooseberry basket down and held up two hands, as if speech failed her.
"Sole guardian to both children. I believe her brother expressed a wish, when dying, that she would appeal to General Villiers for advice."
"She will need advice from somebody! Of all incompetent women—! Well—! I should as soon have expected—!"
"Sir Theodore has always been fond of his sister. He used to say there was plenty of natural capacity, if only it had opportunity to develop."
"Too late now! When a woman is going on for fifty, she can't be remade."
"Miss Devereux is a good way off from fifty."
"O, I know!" with a shrug of her angular shoulders. "Juvenile bonnets and ribbons can't throw dust in my eyes! You men are so easily taken in."
Madame Collier's glance fell on Jean, with a twinge of vexation at having said so much, and of consequent displeasure at Jean's presence.
"What are you doing there, Jean? Wasting your time!"
"I'm waiting for Oswald."
"Where is Oswald?" demanded Mr. Trevelyan.
"I don't know, father."
"Then why wait?" Mr. Trevelyan's manner was not stern; it was only repressed and repressing. His eyes surveyed her gravely. He might be a most affectionate father—anybody may be anything below the surface!—but the affection was not allowed to appear.
"He said he would come for a game of bowls—presently." Jean carefully abstained from saying "in five minutes," for that would have meant blame to Oswald.
"Go and find him. Don't dawdle about doing nothing."
Jean made an effort at resistance. "I don't know where he is."
"Go and see."
Jean obeyed with a heavy heart. Whichever way she went, Oswald was as likely as not to have taken the opposite road; and while she was absent, he would return to the gate. The one chance of seeing him was to wait there, and that chance was denied her. It was a small disappointment, yet a very real trouble to Jean.
Mr. Trevelyan's word was law, however. Nobody ever thought of evading it; and Jean dared not explain her trouble, for fear of an inquiry into the strict terms of their arrangement.
"I do wonder where Oswald can be," she said sorrowfully.
Jean was too honest, as well as too obedient, to linger about within view of the gate while out of her father's sight. After walking down the lane, however, she climbed a grass bank, whence she could obtain a glimpse of the spot where her hopes were centred. No signs of Oswald!
The most likely place would be down by the river. Devotion to water, indigenous in the English boy, was a marked characteristic of Oswald.
Jean made her way thither by the shortest route, which meant at the last a steep descent. Somewhat higher up, the stream flowed between rocky and overhanging strata, but here the banks were wide apart, leaving space for the water to spread itself out, rippling in a shallow flow over a floor of golden sand.
Evenly placed lay the stepping-stones, square and large, reaching to the other side. Except in occasional flood-times, an easy mode of crossing was provided thereby. Jean thought so little of running over, that she would have done it in the dark, if required, without a moment's hesitation.
A glimpse of the narrowing banks above could be obtained from the stepping-stone level. This Ripley Gorge, locally known as "The V-Gorge," was counted worth seeing by many who were conversant with Swiss scenery. One arm of the V began not far from the stepping-stones; and near the point of the V was the heaved-up rock promontory—like a coast-headland, only no sea washed its base—popularly called "The Brow."
The small Devereux property, bounded on one side by this precipice, had from it and The Gorge combined the title of "Ripley Brow;" and village colloquialism had rendered "Up at the Brow" no less descriptive of the house than of the actual promontory.
Jean raced down the slippery grass at a reckless pace, which yet was not reckless, since she was sure-footed as a goat. To follow the zigzag would have been in her eyes a dire waste of time.
Nearing the bottom, she found to her supreme delight an open penknife lying on the ground—Oswald's! Then he had come this way, and she would find him. Jean's heart leaped as she secured the knife. In that moment she heard a plaintive utterance—
"Oh! O please! Please!—O please! O come!"
Not Oswald's voice! Jean dashed downward faster still. Child as she was, she already had the instinct of helping others, more or less the gift of all purer natures.
"O please! O come!" wailed the frightened tones.
Jean reached the level belt beside the river, where a ghost of a path might be found amid coarse grass and weeds. A rough but easy descent led thence to the stepping-stones. On one of the stones, near the middle of the stream, sat a small boy, lifting up a thin and high-pitched voice of dire tribulation.
"Why, what's the matter?" cried Jean.
The sobbing lessened, but the boy did not move. Jean cleared the lower bank at a run, and tripped over the stones till she reached him.
"What's the matter?" she repeated.
"I can't get on. I'm afraid," moaned the depressed little mortal.
"There's nothing to hurt. If you fell in, you couldn't hurt. Afraid! You—a boy!" said Jean, with infinite disdain.
She had been trained to look with contempt upon cowardice, especially a boy's cowardice. Oswald never showed fear; and Oswald was her hero.
But the tender and pitying side of her nature asserted itself, when she looked at the little fellow's white cheeks; not pale only, but dead-white, as with abject terror; and at the small shaking hands.
"Come!" she said gently. "I'll take care of you. I won't let you slip. Stand up, and hold me tight. I'll take you across."
She put a protecting arm round him, and guided his steps with a mother-like care, droll yet pretty in one so young. Jean had all the instincts of womanhood, though her recollections of a mother's love were dim.
"There!" she said, as they reached the bank on the Rectory side.
His face having been turned that way, Jean had taken it for granted that he wished to cross.
"Now you are all right. You see how easy the stones are, so you won't be frightened again. Boys never ought to be afraid. Oswald isn't!" proudly, with a gleam in her greenish-brown eyes. "But you are such a mite! Where do you want to go?"
"I want to go home," came plaintively in answer.
Jean stood looking at him. He was a lovely little boy, but Jean had hardly reached an age appreciative of mere beauty. The sweet wistful eyes and delicate outlines were lost upon her. Jean's notion of a boy was of something reckless, dashing, untidy, headlong, noisy—of Oswald, in fact. This dainty small creature, with lace collar and spotless hands, by no means answered to the description.
"Where is your home?"
"Over there."
"Where? What—'The Brow!' Why, what's your name?"
"I'm Cyril John Devereux."
A pause of astonishment.
"And I'm Jean Trevelyan. But you're not—Cyril!" said Jean. "Aunt Marie said Cyril was ten years old."
"I'm ten next August."
"Ten! Stand up—straight."
Cyril obeyed.
Jean placed herself beside him, shoulder to shoulder.
"I'm ever so much the tallest—and only nine last month."
"Ah, but I shall grow," said Cyril confidently. "I'm going to be a man."
"A man!" Jean looked him all over again, disdainful and compassionate. "What a pity you weren't made a girl!"
"Father liked me best to be a boy," asserted Cyril.
Jean suddenly remembered his father's death, and as suddenly she recalled the game of bowls.
"Oh, I can't wait. I'm forgetting," she cried. "I must find Oswald."
"Aunt Sybella said there was a boy called Oswald."
"He's my brother!" proudly again.
"Is he nice? Is he like you?" The violet eyes were fixed upon Jean with unspeakable admiration.
"Nice! There never was such a boy as Oswald in all the world—never!" declared the little sister, her soul shining in her face. "No, he isn't like me. Oh, of course not! I'm ugly; and he is—Oh, you don't know Oswald yet! Wait till you do! He is—he is—just Oswald!" cried Jean rapturously, as if the name implied everything.
"You're not ugly."
"Yes, I am. Everybody says so. It doesn't matter. I've got Oswald."
"Shall I like him?"
"I shouldn't like you, if you didn't."
Cyril looked thoughtful.
Jean was longing to be off; but a sense of this little fellow's helplessness restrained her.
"Where do you mean to go?" she asked.
"I don't know the way back."
"Why, over the stones, of course—as you came."
"Oh, I can't. I couldn't go across again—it frightened me."
"But you're a boy. You ought not to be frightened. Oswald never is."
Cyril glanced at the river and shivered, tears filling his eyes. "I can't," he said.
A whoop rang out, and Jean's contemplative face changed to one of delight.
"Oswald!" passed her lips, as a boy came rushing along the grass-grown path beside the river.
A genuine boy this time—strong and vigorous, hot and muddy, round-faced and rosy, nearly twice the size of the little baronet, though only two years or so his senior. His complexion was sunburnt, his hands were soiled, the cap was slipping off his tumbled hair, the trousers were torn at his knees.
"Hallo, Jean! Did you think I was lost? I say—what shrimp have you fished up there?"
Jean sprang to meet her brother.
"It's Cyril Devereux," she whispered energetically. "He's come home, and his father is dead, and he's afraid of the stepping-stones."
"Whew!" Oswald contented himself with this brief commentary. "Well, come along; just time for a game of bowls."
Jean was nearly torn in half, between the pulling of her own desires on the one hand, and the pulling of duty on the other hand. Her whole soul was bent upon the promised game with the brother whom her little heart worshipped. But this poor small baronet, with his dread of the river, how could he ever find his way home?
It was one of those everyday occasions, when the child's decision one way or the other, does much towards the formation of that child's character. Either the bent towards right, the devotion to duty—the Pflichttreue—is strengthened, and the passion of self-pleasing is weakened; or vice versa.
Jean was sorely tempted; but her home training from babyhood had aimed to teach her one thing—always to do the Right, irrespective of cost to self. Such early training is an untold power for after-good. Every time the will conquers, it gains strength; every time it is overcome, it loses strength. Mere habit, one way or the other, has the compelling force of iron bands in later life. These bands were already in process of formation; and Jean did not hesitate long.
"I can't," she said; "he doesn't know the way round by the bridge. I must show him."
"Rubbish! A boy not able to find his way!"
"He isn't like most boys. He is so—funny!" Jean said, lowering her voice. "So little!"
"Little goose! Time he should learn to be like other boys."
Jean was silent.
"Well, you needn't ask me to come back for a game with you another day! That's all."
Jean's heart was ready to break under his displeasure, yet she stood to her duty.
"I'll make haste," she tried to say.
"Make haste to lessons, you mean! Stuff! Well—will you come?"
"I can't," she murmured.
"Then you're an ass! I shan't play with you again."
Oswald dashed off in a huff, and Jean's eyes were full.
She turned to the other child:
"Come," she said huskily, "we've got to make haste."
"Was that boy cross with you?" demanded Cyril, as they set off. He clenched his tiny hand, and the blue eyes sparkled. "If anybody is cross with you, I'd like—I'd like to fight him."
"No, you wouldn't! He is my brother. You are never to fight Oswald."
"But I will, if he is cross to you."
"It doesn't matter. He is only sorry I can't play. And so am I," added Jean, her chest heaving. "You must learn to get over those stones, you know. Boys never ought to be cowards."
Cyril looked up gravely.
"No, I won't," he said. "Father wouldn't like me to be a coward. I'll try to get over the stones all alone—some day."
"DEAR AUNT."
"Though man a thinking being is defined,Few use the grand prerogative of mind;How few think justly of the thinking few!How many never think, who think they do!Opinion, therefore—such our mental dearth—Depends on mere locality or birth."JANE TAYLOR.
"EVELYN!"
"Yes, aunt."
"Where are you going?"
"Into the garden."
"My dear, you have thin shoes on."
"Thick enough for August."
"No, indeed. The dew was quite heavy last night. And I heard you cough yesterday."
"Cough! I don't know what it is to take cold."
Sybella's brow puckered. "Really, Evelyn, that is childish. Everybody takes cold sometimes."
"I don't."
"My dear, I cannot let you risk it. I really cannot. And, besides—"
"Yes?" Evelyn stood, careless and graceful, outside the French window of the morning-room. She was a marvellously fair young creature; but the fringed black-blue eyes, like those of her little brother in shape and colour, wore a combative expression, as they met the anxious orbs of Sybella.
"My dear, I wished—I thought I had made you understand—I should like you to give up an hour or two every morning—two hours it ought to be—to some useful occupation. Dear aunt always insisted on that with me, when I was long past your age."
Miss Devereux sighed, and her voice grew plaintive. She, like Evelyn, wore heavy mourning, not alone for Sir Theodore, but also for old Mrs. Willoughby, who had passed away within a week of General Villiers' arrival, having never so much as heard of her nephew's death.
Two months had elapsed since then. Sybella stood alone in the world, so far as her accustomed props were concerned, but with a fresh and absorbing interest in life. She had the children to care for. Sir Theodore had appointed her sole guardian of Evelyn and Cyril Devereux.
It was an interest which brought weighty responsibilities in its train.
"The children—" there was the rub! If it had but been only "the child!" Miss Devereux' whole heart went out from the first towards the gentle boy, who was always ready to respond to her caresses, always eager to give love for love. Every day the fascination grew upon her. From early morning till late at night her one idea was "Cyril." She dressed him in the daintiest garments compatible with mourning; she cultivated each curl and wave of his brown hair; she revelled in her new charge.
Cyril might undoubtedly be considered old enough for school. All the world agreed on this point. But Sybella had a mortal aversion to schools, diligently instilled into her by Sir John Devereux and Mrs. Willoughby, through the best part of her forty years. What they had thought, she continued to think, and if she lacked decision on many points, she knew her own mind here.
She displayed a sudden resolution which took people by surprise. School for Cyril! That little delicate darling to be knocked about by a horde of great rough boys! It would be the death of him! For once Sybella was determined, asking no advice. She would go in for any amount of advice on matters unimportant, but in this case she declined counsel, having her aunt's strong opinion to serve as a guide.
General Villiers reasoned in vain; friends lifted their eyebrows in vain. Sybella would teach the precious boy herself for the present, till he had rallied from the weakening effects of the Indian climate; and then—well, then she would consider. A tutor, perhaps, or even a day-school. Time enough for that. Miss Devereux was beginning to be conscious of her own power, and to resent what looked like interference with a guardian's prerogatives.
There might be no difficulty as to the actual lessons. Sybella, though not mentally gifted, had had a good education; and Latin was easily to be procured. But there was the question of boyish games, of boyish companionship; not to speak of the perils of over-petting and spoiling.
Miss Devereux was afflicted with a mortal horror of cold, of damp, of east winds, of draughts, of wet feet, of unwholesome food, of over-exertion. She did her best to instil this compound horror into her young charge. She watched and discussed everything that found its way into the baronet's pretty mouth. She examined the weathercock each day, before allowing him to go out. She tenderly consulted his looks and symptoms.
Sir Cyril was a most responsive little boy. He had always been delicate, and he was used to anxious petting. There were no struggles between the two. Miss Devereux found him malleable as wax in her hands. His sweet grave sayings, his trained politeness, his un-childlike understanding of some things, combined with a more than childlike timidity, his love of Bible stories, his readiness to be taught, his affectionate clinging to herself—all these were in Sybella's eyes "beautiful." She could not praise him enough to friends.
"The child is heavenly," she said often, with a gush of enthusiasm which made some smile, while others were touched, and yet others hoped that the little baronet "wouldn't be a prig!"
So for the present all went if not wisely at least smoothly, as regarded Cyril. But as regarded Evelyn, matters were far different.
Miss Devereux had sent for her in haste, on receipt of the sad news brought by General Villiers, feeling sure that the poor dear girl must be heartbroken, unable to give thought to lessons.
Evelyn came, though not too willingly. She was not broken-hearted; and anybody less sentimental than Sybella would hardly have expected her to be so, for a father whom she had not seen during ten years. The loss was a loss, and Evelyn knew it; nevertheless she grudged missing the final examination before leaving school.
It had been a settled matter that she should quit school after this term, to join her father either in India or in England.
Now all was changed. Evelyn had to live at Ripley Brow, under the guardianship of an aunt whom she did not love.
For the maiden lady of forty, with her unpractical ways, her pseudo-poetical tastes, her tendency to overstrained sentiment, her generally old fashioned ideas, never had "got on well," as the saying is, with the brilliant yet sensible and practical niece. Miss Devereux was secretly proud of Evelyn, but scarcely fond of her.
Evelyn had learnt before eighteen what Sybella did not learn till after forty—to stand alone. She had not been hardened like Madame Collier, for everybody loved Evelyn, who came within reach of her magic wand; and love is softening. She was accustomed to the worship of her schoolfellows, to the devotion of governesses and friends. It was a matter of course in Evelyn's life that wherever she went, she should win affection. The one exception among all whom she knew—the one rift in her environment of adulation and love—was Sybella. Evelyn's wand had no power over Sybella; and Sybella was a perpetual irritation to Evelyn.
A stronger contrast could hardly have been found than between this aunt and niece. While Evelyn had not suffered hardening, she had been in a manner both braced and repressed by long years of school-life, with absence of home associations. Her training had been the precise reverse of Sybella's. She had developed under it rapidly; and few could believe her to be still not eighteen.
Sybella might have belonged to two generations earlier. Evelyn was a thoroughly modern girl; cool, self-possessed, independent, at her ease, afraid neither to speak nor to act, yet always entirely ladylike. Sybella was alarmed at her own shadow, frightened as to proprieties, seldom sure what she wished, rarely certain of her next step, and direfully in need of props.
Side by side with all this, however, Miss Devereux had distinct notions of subordination for young girls and of her own rights. She looked upon seventeen as scarcely past infancy, with need still for leading reins. "When I was seventeen—" settled the question. Evelyn, on the contrary, regarded herself as emancipated from all save a light authority, and well capable of judging in minor matters.
It was almost impossible that these two minds, brought together, should not suffer friction, each exciting the other.
Sybella had been brought up from infancy on a rigid and limited selection of doctrines, carefully expressed; and it had never so much as occurred to her that further truths might exist beyond the boundary of the said selection. Her ideas on religious subjects were petrified into a permanent shape; that shape which had been handed to her ready-made in childhood; and whatever did not fit into the said shape, like a pudding into a bowl, was at once rejected. The vigorous though narrow mind of the older lady had entirely formulated the niece's belief. What Sybella had received in early youth she had as a matter of course swallowed whole unhesitatingly; and she continued to hold the same unquestioningly.
Of reasons for accepting this or rejecting that, she cared little and knew less. Discussions terrified her, historical facts were "dangerous," and from "evidences," she fled in alarm. She believed what she believed because she believed it; and because she believed it anybody who did not believe it was in error.
The niece was again in these matters a contrast to her aunt, unable to look upon things from Sybella's standpoint. She had early worked her way to a disdain of mere party oppositions on religious questions; and her young wide awake mind, eager with the spirit of the age to dive below the surface, and to know the why and wherefore of things, was perpetually fretted by Miss Devereux's illogical fears and unreasoning positiveness.
Troubles were fast springing up between them. The Devereux household always went to St. John's Church, Dutton—not to Dulveriford Church—always had done so, and as a matter of course, always would. The Devereux household was traditionally extremely "Low" in its views; and the successive Dulveriford clergy had long been more or less "High"; therefore like oil and water, they flowed apart, failing to mingle. Moreover, Mr. Trevelyan's predecessor had been personally obnoxious to Mrs. Willoughby; and Mr. Trevelyan, stepping into his place, had small chance of pleasing her. To be obnoxious to Mrs. Willoughby was to be obnoxious to the family. If easy-going old Sir John spoke a pleasant word now and then to his Rector, he did it sub rosa, concealing the delinquency from his sister. Sybella, indoctrinated from infancy with her aunt's notions, counted no condemnation too strong for the doings of "that man." Had not "dear aunt" always "strongly disapproved" of him?
But Evelyn counted St. John's architecturally ugly, and she found Mr. Kennedy prosy. His mild "comforting" sermons, which delighted the hearts of the middle-aged ladies and elderly gentlemen of the congregation, had only a soporific effect upon Evelyn. Her cultivated musical taste, repelled by the tuneless shouting of St. John's, was attracted by the well-trained choir of Dulveriford.
The next step was a warm liking on her part for Mr. Trevelyan, and a girlish readiness to submit herself to his teaching. How much of this preference sprang from a spirit of opposition, it would be hard to say. No doubt it was real of its kind.
Miss Devereux could not prevent the personal acquaintance. The two families had lived too long in close neighbourhood to be strangers; and, so far as his connections went, Mr. Trevelyan might be counted unexceptionable. Mrs. Willoughby had, however, always strenuously resisted the growth of acquaintanceship into friendship; and Sybella set herself to do the same. Thereby, at once, she enhanced the value of the friendship to Evelyn.
There were bones of contention enough between them, without this in addition. Whatever the one thought, the other did not think, on every conceivable subject, from questions of Church and State, down to the quilling of a frill.
Sybella's incessant quoting of Mrs. Willoughby provoked Evelyn. She did not see what it had to do with her occupations, or why she needed to follow certain rules, merely because Sybella had followed them at her age.
"I don't intend to pass my days uselessly," she answered.
"But some regular plan—Indeed, I assure you, it is really necessary for young girls. Dear aunt always said—"
Evelyn's involuntary movement was like that of a high-mettled horse, akin to a shake of the mane, with a backward step, as if in retreat.
"Wait a moment. Pray do not be so impatient, Evelyn. It is necessary that I should sometimes speak; and you ought not to be annoyed. It is—" plaintively, "only for your good."
"Well?" in a questioning tone.
"There is one thing I must mention. I am sorry, but it is my positive duty to—otherwise I would—If I am not misinformed, you went yesterday—I have reason to believe that you were at the Rectory—that you called there."
"Yes."
"It was not necessary—so soon. Only last week, and again yesterday! I thought had made this clear to you, but I seem to have failed. I must speak more plainly. I do not wish to complain, but, once for all, pray remember that I object to any intimacy in that direction. I have said this before, and it seems to have had no effect. You must please to recollect. An occasional call is all very well, but not oftener than is necessary."
"Why not?"
"We have never been intimate with the Trevelyans, and I do not intend to be. I could not allow it. Dear aunt very much disapproved of certain things—of Mr. Trevelyan's opinions, and—Pray listen to me, Evelyn. You need not look so impatient. He holds most erroneous views about—and at one time dear aunt found him most unpleasant—"
"Erroneous views about what?"
"I see no necessity for explaining more. You are a mere child still, and cannot enter into these questions. Only you must understand that I should not think of allowing any intimacy. It is out of the question—and I expect strict obedience in the future." Sybella was becoming agitated, and she twirled her hands nervously. "Dear aunt would have said the same, and I am sure, if she had ever thought—My dear, pray listen to me."
"I am listening. I cannot say that I understand. The Trevelyans seem to me the nicest people about here."
"That is all perversity, Evelyn. You do not really know anything of them. They are well-connected, but as for manner—! It is out of the question that anybody should think Mr. Trevelyan attractive. And as for Mme. Collier—!" Sybella's tone spoke the very quintessence of contempt.
"She is odd, but I like her. I like her immensely. She is so genuine. And Jean fascinates me. And Mr. Trevelyan is the best—the most really truly good man I ever came across. I could listen to his sermons for hours. Of course I have only heard him two or three times—I have not been to Dulveriford Church since you said I must not. But one very soon knows what does one good. I like even his queer dry manner. He is different from everybody else, and that is so refreshing."
"You are saying all this to vex me, of course," quavered Sybella, reddening. "Just because you know how I feel. Go to Dulveriford Church! I should think not indeed!—From Ripley Brow at all events! And I expect the same obedience as to the acquaintance. Just politeness and no more. When, all these years, we have kept so carefully aloof—"
"I don't think one ought to keep aloof from one's Rector. I don't think it is right."
"Really, Evelyn—! But it all comes from your training. I always have felt it a thousand pities that you went to that school. If your dear Papa would have taken our advice—"
"My father was the best judge."
Evelyn made another backward step, which landed her on the lawn—a happy occurrence. It diverted Miss Devereux's attention from the Trevelyans to her pet hobby—health.
"Child! The grass! And your thin shoes!"
Evelyn turned and fled. She could not trust herself to remain longer; but it was a pity that she ran straight across the lawn. The deed looked like defiance.