Books: Love and Life

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Love and Life

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"She did not say that!"

"Oh yes, she did, miss, I'll take my oath of it, for I was in the
coach with Master Wayland on my knee, when she was telling a lady
how hard it was they could have no use of Bowstead, because of Sir
Jovian's brother being there, who had got the black melancholics,
and could not be removed. The lady says how good she was to suffer
it, and she answers, that there was no being harsh with poor Sir
Jovian's brother, though he had a strange spleen at her and her son,
and always grew worse when they did but go near the house; but that
some measures must be taken when her son came of age or was married."

"But he came at last!"

"He said he wanted to see for himself, and thought he could at least
find out from the servants whether his uncle was in the state they
reported. And there he found his three little sisters, and that you
was their tutoress, and they couldn't say enough about you, nor the
poor gentleman neither. 'I didn't see her, nurse,' says he, 'but
there's a bit of her own sweet fingers' work.' And sure enough, I
knew it, for it was a knot of the very ribbon you had in your hair
the day I came to talk to your sister about the journey."

"That was what Amy told me she gave him."

"Nothing loth would he be to take it, miss! Though says he, 'Don't
you let my mother know I have tracked her, nurse,' says he. 'It is
plain enough why she gives out that I am not to go near my uncle,
and if she guessed where I had been, she would have some of her
fancies.' 'Now your Honour, my dear,' says I, 'you'll excuse your
old nurse, but her sister put her in my charge, and though I bless
Heaven that you are no young rake, yet you will be bringing trouble
untold on her and hers if you go down there a courting of her
unbeknownst.' 'No danger of that, nurse,' says he; 'why there's
a she-dragon down there (meaning Mrs. Aylward) that was ready to
drive me out of my own house when I did but speak of waiting to
see her.'"

"No, I am glad he will not come again. Yet it makes his uncle happy
to see him. I will keep out of the way if he does."

"Right too, miss. A young lady never loses by discretion."

"Oh, do not speak in--in that way," said Aurelia, blushing at the
implication. "Besides, he is going home with my Lady to dear
Carminster."

"No, no, he remains with his regiment in town, unless he rides down
later when he can have his leave of absence, and my Lady is at the
Bath. He will not if he can help it, for he is dead set against
the young lady they want to marry him to, and she is to be there.
What! you have not heard? It is my Lady Arabella, sister to that
there Colonel as is more about our house than I could wish. She is
not by the same mother as him and my Lord Aresfield. Her father
married a great heiress for his second wife, whose father had made a
great fortune by victualling the army in the war time. Not that this
Dowager Countess, as they call her, is a bit like the real quality,
so that it is a marvel how my Lady can put up with her; only money-
bags will make anything go down, more's the pity, and my Lady is
pressed, you see, with her losses at play. It was about this match
that Sir Amyas was sent down to Battlefield, the Countess's place
in Monmouthshire, when he came to Carminster last summer, and his
body servant, Mr. Grey, that has been about him from a child, told
me all about it. This Lady Belle, as they call her, is only about
fourteen, and such a spoilt little vixen, that they say nobody has
been able to teach her so much as to read, for her mother, the
Dowager, never would have her crossed in anything, and now she has
got too headstrong for any of 'em. Mr. Grey said dressing for
supper, they heard the most horrid screams, and thought some one
must be killed at least. Sir Amyas was for running out, but at the
door they met a wench who only said, 'Bless you! that's nought. It's
only my young lady in her tantrums!' So in the servants' hall, Grey
heard it was all because her mamma wouldn't let her put on two suits
of pearls and di'monds both together. She lies on her back, and
rolls and kicks till she gets her own way; and by what the servants
say, the Dowager heerself ain't much better to her servants. Her
woman had got a black eye she had given her with her fan. She has
never had no breeding, you see, and there are uglier stories about
her than I like to tell you, Miss Aureely; and as to the young lady,
Sir Amyas saw her with his own eyes slap the lackey's face for
bringing her brown sugar instead of white. She is a little dwarfish
thing that puts her finger in her mouth and sulks when she is not
flying out into a rage; but Colonel Mar is going to have her up to
a boarding-school to mend her manners, and he and my lady are as
much bent on marrying his Honour to her as if she was a perfect
angel."

"They never can!"

"Well, miss, they do most things they have a mind to; and they mean
to do this before my Lady's husband comes home."

"But Mr. Belamour is his nephew's guardian."

"That's what my Lady is come down here for. Either she will get his
consent out of him, or she will make the poor gentleman out to be
_non compos_, and do without him."

"Oh, nurse, he is the wisest, cleverest gentleman I ever saw, except
my papa."

"Do you say do, miss? But you are young, you see. A gentleman to
shut himself up in the dark like that must needs be astray in his
wits."

"That is because of his eyes, and his wound. Nobody could talk to
him and doubt his reason."

"Well, missie, I hope you are in the right; but what my Lady's
interest is, that she is apt to carry out, one way or t'other!
Bless me, if that be not Master Archer screaming. I thought he
was fast off to sleep. There never was a child for hating the
dark. Yes, yes, I'm coming, my dearie! Lack a daisy, if his
mamma heard!"

CHAPTER XVI. AUGURIES.

Venus, thy eternal sway
All the race of man obey.
EURIPIDES (Anstice).

Aurelia sat up late to finish her despatches to the beloved ones at
home, and pack the little works she had been able to do for each,
though my Lady's embroidery took up most of her sedentary hours.
Mrs. Dove undertook the care of the guinea's worth of presents
to the little sisters from Sir Amyas, which the prudent nurse advised
her to withhold till after Master Archer was gone, as he would certainly
break everything to pieces. He was up betimes, careering about the
garden with all his sisters after him, imperiously ordering them about,
but nevertheless bewitching them all, so that Amoretta was in ecstasies
at her own preferment, scarcely realising that it would divide her from
the others; while Letty made sure that she should soon follow, and
Fidelia gravely said, "I shall always know you are loving me still,
Amy, as Nurse Rolfe does."

Lady Belamour breakfasted in her own room at about ten o'clock. Her
woman, Mrs. Loveday, a small trim active person, with the worn and
sharpened remains of considerable prettiness of the miniature brunette
style, was sent to summon Miss Delavie to her apartment and inspect the
embroidery she had been desired to execute for my Lady. Three or four
bouquets had been finished, and the maid went into such raptures over
them as somewhat to disgust their worker, who knew that they were not
half so well done as they would have been under Betty's direction.
However, Mrs. Loveday bore the frame to her Ladyship's room, following
Aurelia, who was there received with the same stately caressing manner
as before.

"Good morning, child. Your roses bloom well in the forenoon! Pity they
should be wasted in darkness. Not but that you are duly appreciated
there. Ah! I can deepen them by what our unhappy recluse said of you.
I shall make glad hearts at Carminster by his good opinion, and who
knows what preferment may come of it--eh? What is that, Loveday?"

"It is work your Ladyship wished me to execute," said Aurelia.

"Handsome--yes; but is that all? I thought the notable Mistress Betty
brought you up after her own sort?"

"I am sorry, madam, but I could not do it quickly at first without my
sister's advice, and I have not very much time between my care of the
children and preparing repetitions for Mr. Belamour."

"Ha! ha! I understand. There are greater attractions! Go on, child.
Mayhap it may be your own wedding gown you are working at, if you
finish it in time! Heavens! what great wondering eyes the child has!
All in good time, my dear. I must talk to your father."

It was so much the custom to talk to young maidens about their marriage
that this did not greatly startle Aurelia, and Lady Belamour continued:
"There, child, you have done your duty well by those little plagues of
mine, and it is Mr. Wayland's desire to make you a recompense. You may
need it in any change of circumstances."

So saying, she placed in Aurelia's hand five guineas, the largest sum
that the girl had ever owned; and as visions arose of Christmas gifts
to be bestowed, the thanks were so warm, the curtsey so expressively
graceful, the smile so bright, the soft eyes so sparkling, that the
great lady was touched at the sight of such simple-hearted joy, and
said, "There, there, child, that will do. I could envy one whom a
little makes so happy. Now you will be able to make yourself fine
when my son brings home his bride; or--who knows?--you may be a
bride yourself first!"

That sounds, thought Aurelia, as if Mr. Belamour had made her relinquish
the plan of that cruel marriage, for I am sure I have not yet seen the
man I am to marry.

And with a lighter heart the young tutoress stood between Fay and Letty
on the steps to see the departure, her cheeks still feeling Amoret's
last fond kisses, and a swelling in her throat bringing tears to her
eyes at the thought how soon that carriage would be at Carminster.
Yet there were sweet chains in the little hands that held her gown,
and in the thought of the lonely old man who depended on her for
enlivenment.

The day was long, for Amoret was missed; and the two children were
unusually fretful and quarrelsome without her, disputing over the
new toys which Brother Amyas's guinea had furnished in demoralising
profusion. It was strange too see the difference made by the loss
of the child who would give up anything rather than meet a look of
vexation, and would coax the others into immediate good humour.
There was reaction, too, after the excitement, for which the
inexperienced Aurelia did not allow. At the twentieth bickering
as to which doll should ride on the spotted hobby-horse, the face
of Letty's painted wooden baby received a scar, and Fay's lost a
leg, whereupon Aurelia's endurance entirely gave way, and she
pronounced them both naughty children, and sent them to bed before
supper.

Then her heart smote her for unkindness, and she sat in the firelight
listless and sad, though she hardly knew why, longing to go up and
pet and comfort her charges, but withheld by the remembrance of
Betty's assurances that leniency, in a like case, would be the ruin
of Eugene.

At last Jumbo came to summon her, and hastily recalling a cheerful air,
she entered the room with "Good evening, sir; you see I am still here
to trouble you."

"I continue to profit by my gentle friend's banishment. Tell me, was
my Lady in a gracious mood?"

"O sir, how beautiful she is, and how kind! I know now why my father
was so devoted to her, and no one can ever gainsay her!"

"The enchantress knows how to cast her spells. She was then friendly?"

"She gave me five guineas!" said Aurelia exultingly. "She said Mr.
Wayland wished to recompense me."

"Did he so? If it came from him I should have expected a more liberal
sum."

"But, oh!" in a tone of infinite surprise and content, "this is more
than I ever thought of. Indeed I never dreamt of her giving me
anything. Sir, may I write to your bookseller, Mr. Tonson, and
order a book of Mr. James Thomson's _Seasons_ to give to my sister
Harriet, who is delighted with the extracts I have copied for her?"

"Will not that consume a large proportion of the five guineas, my
generous friend?"

"I have enough left. There is a new gown which I never have worn,
which will serve for the new clothes my Lady spoke of to receive
her son's bride."

"She entered on that subject then?"

"Only for a moment as she took leave. Oh, sir, is it possible that
she can know all about this young lady?"

"What have you heard of her?"

"Sir, they say she is a dreadful little vixen."

"Who say? Is she known at Carminster?"

"No, sir," said Aurelia, disconcerted. "It was from Nurse Dove that
I heard what Sir Amyas's man said when he came back from Battlefield.
I know my sister would chide me for listening to servants."

"Nevertheless I should be glad to hear. Was the servant old Grey?
Then he is to be depended on. What did he say?"

Aurelia needed little persuasion to tell all that she had heard from
Mrs. Dove, and he answered, "Thank you, my child, it tallies precisely
with what the poor boy himself told me."

"Then he has told his mother? Will she not believe him?"

"It does not suit her to do so, and it is easy to say the girl will
be altered by going to a good school. In fact, there are many reasons
more powerful with her than the virtue and happiness of her son," he
added bitterly. "There's the connection, forsooth. As if Lady
Aresfield were fit to bring up an honest man's wife; and there's the
fortune to fill up the void she has made in the Delavie estates."

"Can no one hinder it, sir? Cannot you?"

"As a last resource the poor youth came hither to see whether the
guardian whose wardship has hitherto been a dead letter, were indeed
so utterly obdurate and helpless as had been represented."

"And you have the power?"

"So far as his father's will and the injunctions of his final letter
to me can give it, I have full power. My consent is necessary to his
marriage while still a minor, and I have told my Lady I will never
give it to his wedding a Mar."

"I was sure of it; and it is not true that they will be able to do
without it?

"Without it! Have you heard any more? You pause. I see--she wishes
to declare me of unsound mind. Is that what you mean?"

"So Nurse Dove said, sir," faltered Aurelia; "but it seemed too wicked,
too monstrous, to be possible."

"I understand," he said. "I thought there was an implied threat in
my sweet sister-in-law's soft voice when she spoke of my determined
misanthropy. Well, I think we can guard against that expedient. After
all, it is only till my nephew comes of age, or till his stepfather
returns, that we must keep the enchantress at bay. Then the poor lad
will be safe, providing always that she and her Colonel have not made
a rake of him by that time. Alas, what a wretch am I not to be able
to do more for him! Child, you have seen him?"

"I danced with him, sir, but I was too much terrified to look in his
face. And I saw his cocked hat over the thorn hedge."

"Fancy free," muttered Mr. Belamour. "Fair exile for a cocked hat
and diamond shoe-buckles! You would not recognise him again, nor
his voice?"

"No, sir. He scarcely spoke, and I was attending to my steps."

Mr. Belamour laughed, and then asked Aurelia for the passage in the
_Iliad_ where Venus carries off Paris in a cloud. He thanked her
somewhat absently, and then said,

"Dr. Godfrey said something of coming hither before he goes to his
living in Dorsetshire. May I ask of you the favour of writing and
begging him to fix a day not far off, mentioning likewise that my
sister-in-law has been here."

To this invitation Dr. Godfrey replied that he would deviate from the
slow progress of his family coach, and ride to Bowstead, spending two
nights there the next week; and to Aurelia's greater amazement, she
was next requested to write a billet to the Mistresses Treforth in
Mr. Belamour's name, asking them to bestow their company on him for
the second evening of Dr. Godfrey's visit.

"You, my kind friend, will do the honours," he said, "and we will ask
Mrs. Aylward to provide the entertainment."

"They will be quite propitiated by being asked to meet Dr. Godfrey,"
said Aurelia. "Shall you admit them, sir?"

"Certainly. You do not seem to find them very engaging company, but
they can scarce be worse than I should find in such an asylum as my
charming sister-in-law seems to have in preparation for me."

"Oh! I wish I had said nothing about that. It is too shocking!"

"Forewarned, forearmed, as the proverb says. Do you not see, my
amiable friend, that we are providing a body of witnesses to the
sanity of the recluse, even though he may 'in dark Cimmerian desert
ever dwell'?"

The visit took place; Dr. Godfrey greeted Miss Delavie as an old
friend, and the next day pronounced Mr. Belamour to be so wonderfully
invigorated and animated, that he thought my Lady's malignant plan
was really likely to prove the best possible stimulus and cure.

Then the Canon gratified the two old ladies by a morning call, dined
with Aurelia and her pupils, who behaved very well, and with whom he
afterwards played for a whole hour so kindly that they placed him
second in esteem to their big and beautiful brother. Mrs. Phoebe
and Mrs. Delia came dressed in the faded splendours of the Louis XIV.
period, just at twilight, and were regaled with coffee and pound cake.
They were a good deal subdued, though as Aurelia listened to the
conversation, it was plain enough what Mr. Belamour meant when he
said that his cousin Delia was something of the coquette.

Still they asked with evident awe if it were true that their unfortunate
cousin really intended to admit them, and they evidently became more
and more nervous while waiting for Jumbo's summons. Dr. Godfrey gave
his arm to Mrs. Phoebe, and Mrs. Delia gripped hold of Aurelia's,
trembling all over, declaring she felt ready to swoon, and marvelling
how Miss Delavie could ever have ventured, all alone too!

After all, things had been made much less formidable than at Aurelia's
first introduction. The sitting-room was arranged as it was when Mr.
Greaves read prayers, with a very faint light from a shrouded lamp
behind the window curtain. To new comers it seemed pitchy darkness,
but to Aurelia and Dr. Godfrey it was a welcome change, allowing them
at least to perceive the forms of one another, and of the furniture.
From a blacker gulf, being the doorway to the inner room, came Mr.
Belamour's courteous voice of greeting to his kinswomen, who were led
up by their respective guides to take his hand; after which he begged
them to excuse the darkness, since the least light was painful to him
still. If they would be seated he would remain where he was, and
enjoy the society he was again beginning to be able to appreciate.
He was, in fact, sitting within his own room, with eyes covered from
even the feeble glimmer in the outer room.

It was some minutes before they recovered their self-possession, but
Dr. Godfrey and Mr. Belamour began the conversation, and they gradually
joined in. It was chiefly full of reminiscences of the lively days
when Dr. Godfrey had been a young Cantab visiting his two friends at
Bowstead, and Phoebe and Delia were the belles of the village. Aurelia
scarcely opened her lips, but she was astonished to find how different
the two sisters could be from the censorious, contemptuous beings they
had seemed to her. The conversation lasted till supper-time, and Mr.
Belamour, as they took their leave, made them promise to come and see
him again. Then they were conducted back to the supper-room, Mrs.
Phoebe mysteriously asking "Is he always like this?"

The experiment had been a great success, and Aurelia completed it by
asking Mrs. Phoebe to take the head of the supper-table.

CHAPTER XVII. THE VICTIM DEMANDED.

And if thou sparest now to do this thing,
I will destroy thee and thy land also.--MORRIS.

"Well, sir, have you seen my Lady?"

"Not a year older than when I saw her last," returned Major Delavie,
who had just dismounted from his trusty pony at his garden gate, and
accepted Betty's arm; "and what think you?" he added, pausing that
Corporal Palmer might hear his news. "She has been at Bowstead, and
brings fresh tidings of our Aura. The darling is as fair and sprightly
as a May morning, and beloved by all who come near her--bless her!"

Palmer echoed a fervent "Amen!" and Betty asked, "Is this my Lady's
report?"

"Suspicious Betty! You will soon be satisfied," said the Major in
high glee. "Did not Dove meet me at the front door, and Mrs. Dove
waylay me in the hall to tell me that the child looked blooming and
joyous, and in favour with all, gentle and simple? Come her, Eugene,
ay, and Harriet and Arden too. Let us hear what my little maid says
for herself. For look here!" and he held aloft Aurelia's packet, at
sight of which Eugene capered high, and all followed into the parlour.

Mr. Arden was constantly about the house. There was no doubt that he
would soon be preferred to a Chapter living in Buckinghamshire, and
he had thus been emboldened to speak out his wishes. It would have
been quite beneath the dignity of a young lady of Miss Harriet's
sensibility to have consented, and she was in the full swing of her
game at coyness and reluctance, daily vowing that nothing should
induce her to resign her liberty, and that she should be frightened
out of her life by Mr. Arden's experiments; while her father had
cordially received the minor Canon's proposals, and already treated
him as one of the family. Simpering had been such a fattening
process that Harriet was beginning to resume more of her good looks
than had ever been brought back by Maydew.

"Open the letter, Betty. Thanks, Arden," as the minor Canon began to
pull off his boots, "only take care of my knee. My Lady has brought
down her little boy, and one of Aurelia's pupils; I declare they are
a perfect pair of Loves. What are you fumbling at, Betty?"

"The seal, sir, it is a pity to break it," said Betty, producing her
scissors from one of her capacious pockets. "It is an antique, is it
not, Mr. Arden?"

"A very beautiful gem, a sleeping Cupid," he answered.

"How could the child have obtained it?" said Harriet.

"I can tell you," said the Major. "From old Belamour. My Lady was
laughing about it. The little puss has revived the embers of gallantry
in our poor recluse. Says she, 'He has actually presented her with a
ring, nay, a ring bearing Love himself.'"

Somehow the speech, even at second hand, jarred upon Betty, but her
father was delighted with my Lady's description of his favourite, and
the letters were full of contentment. When the two sisters, arrayed
in their stiffest silks, went up to pay their respects to my Lady
the next afternoon, their reception was equally warm. My Lady was
more caressing to her old acquaintance, Betty, than that discreet
personage quite liked, while she complimented and congratulated
Harriet on her lover, laughing at her bashful disclaimers in such a
charmingly teasing fashion as quite to win the damsel's heart, and
convince her that all censure of Lady Belamour was vile slander. The
children were sent for, and Amoret was called on to show how Cousin
Aurelia had taught her to dance, sing and recite. The tiny minuet
performed by her and Archer was an exceedingly pretty exhibition as
far as it went, but the boy had no patience to conclude, and jumped
off into an extemporary _pas seul_, which was still prettier, and as
Amoret was sole exhibitor of the repetition of Hay's "Hare and many
friends," he became turbulent after the first four lines, and put a
stop to the whole.

Then came in a tall, large, handsome, dashing-looking man, with the
air of a "_beau sabreur_," whom Lady Belamour presented to her cousins
as "Colonel Mar, my son's commandant, you know who has been kind enough
to take Carminster on his way, so as to escort me to the Bath. I am
such a sad coward about highwaymen. And we are to meet dear Lady
Aresfield there to talk over a little matter of business."

Colonel Mar made a magnificent bow, carelessly, not to say
impertinently, scanned the two ladies, and having evidently decided
they had neither beauty nor fashion to attract him, caught up little
Amy in his arms, and began to play a half teasing, half caressing
game with the children. Betty thought it high time to be gone, and
as she took leave, was requested to send up her little brother to
play with his cousins. This did not prove a success, for Eugene
constituted himself champion to Amoret, of whom Archer was very
jealous, though she was his devoted and submissive slave. Master
Delavie's rustic ways were in consequence pronounced to be too rude
and rough for the dainty little town-bred boy, the fine ladies' pet.

The Major dined at the Great House, but came home so much dismayed
and disgusted that he could hardly mention even to Betty what he had
seen and heard. He only groaned out at intervals, "This is what the
service is coming to! That fop to be that poor lad's commanding
officer! That rake to be always hovering about my cousin!"

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