Books: The Pillars of the House, V1

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> The Pillars of the House, V1

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'Nothing is settled till the Bishop comes home,' Captain Harewood
answered.

'What time is it?' then asked Lance.

'Half-past eight.'

'It seems always half dark, said the boy, dreamily, 'and yet there's
no curfew.'

'They have been so kind as not to ring the bells,' said Wilmet.

'Not ring the bells!' repeated Lance, in a feeble voice of amazement.

'No, nor play the organ,' said Wilmet; 'you have had to be so quiet,
you know.'

'No organ! and for me!' repeated Lance, impressed almost as if the
'unchanging sun his daily course' had 'refused to run;' but it rather
frightened him, for he added, 'Am I very ill, then?'

'Not now, I hope,' said Wilmet, tenderly, and possessing herself of
his wrist; 'you are so much better to-night.'

He looked wistfully into her face. 'What's the matter with me?' he
said. 'What does make my head go on in this dreadful way?'

'Dear Lance! It was that running in the hot sun.'

'Oh!' (a sort of sigh of discovery) 'I hope he had the verses.'

'Yes, indeed you gave them.'

'Then he must be first,' said Lance; and then, as his thankful nurses
were preparing to give him some nourishment, he spoke again. 'Mettie,
please come here;' and as she bent over him, 'is this being very
ill?--like dying, I mean.'

'Not now, dearest,' said Wilmet, kissing him. 'You must be through
with the worst, thank God.'

He asked no more, for his voice was low and faint, the pain and
dizziness still considerable; and the being fed without raising
himself occupied him till the doctor came for his evening visit, and
confirmed the sister's comfort in his improvement. She sat gazing as
he fell asleep again, till Captain Harewood reminded her that her
letter to Ewmouth must be sent before the mail closed. She turned to
the window, where still lay her anxiously-worded bulletin, not yet
closed; but as she took the pen, the blinding tears fell thick and
soft as the summer rain outside.

'This will be a happy ending,' said John Harewood, as he saw her
silently striving to clear her sight.

'Would you be so very kind as to write it for me?' she answered,
pointing to the paper, with a lovely smile through her tears. 'He
will believe it all the more.'

And as he took the pen, she retreated in quiet swiftness to her
little room; but came back as he finished the few freshly hopeful
lines; then going to the door with him, looked up with the same sweet
tremulous smile. 'Thank you! What thankfulness it is! What a merciful
rain this is! If you knew the relief it is to send this report to
Felix! You cannot guess what this dear little fellow is to him.'

'I think I can, a little,' said John Harewood, with his heart in his
voice; and Wilmet smiled again, her stately but usually rather severe
beauty wonderfully softened and sweetened by emotion.

The improvement continued when Clement arrived on the Sunday morning;
and though fevered, confused, and beset by odd fancies, especially
about the silence of the Cathedral, Lance knew his brother, smiled at
him, and returned his greeting. Clement had a more cheerful task than
usual in what seemed to be his day's work--answering inquiries at the
door, and taking in presents of fruit. All the Chapter and half the
town seemed to call, or send, at least once a day; and little boys
used to hang about the court, too shy to come to the door, but
waiting to collect tidings from the attendants, and mutually using
strong measures upon one another when either was betrayed into noise.

Clement called his sister aside to ask whether she could spare him,
since she had the help of the matron and the Harewoods. 'I should be
very glad to stay,' he averred, 'but somebody is really wanted at
home.'

Wilmet had not been so much accustomed to consider Clement in the
light of 'somebody,' as greatly to care whether he went or stayed,
and only said, 'I can get on very well. No one is of so much use as
Captain Harewood.'

'Just so,' said Clement; 'and I think I am doing more good at home.
Imagine my finding all the windows open in that pouring rain, and
Cherry sitting shivering.'

'Very foolish of Cherry,' said Wilmet.

'Poor Cherry! she could not help herself, and was only thankful when
I had the courage to shut them in Alda's face. Then they don't know
what to do with Theodore.'

'Poor Tedo--that's the worst of it!'

'You see he is used to a man's hand and voice. He is very good with
me, but Sibby has had dreadful work with him every night till I came
home. And, Wilmet, couldn't you send a message who is to be mistress
while you are away?'

'Alda, of course.'

'Alda doesn't seem to understand, and she will not let Cherry tell
her.'

'Cherry always does bother Alda. I can't help it, Clem, they must rub
on somehow and if you can make Theodore happy, the rest does not so
much signify.'

Not signify! Clement did not know whether he was standing on his head
or his heels, and never guessed that not only was she too much
absorbed in the present thoroughly to realise the absent, but that
she would not venture to send orders based on his report, which in
her secret soul she qualified by his love of importance and
interference. However, he went away, and was not seen again all the
ensuing week--the early part of which was very trying, for the fever
recurred regularly about noon and midnight, and always brought
rambling, which since that conversation with Wilmet, had taken the
turn of talking about being buried in a surplice, and of continually
recurring to the 134th Psalm, which, it was now remembered, Lance had
shortly before taken part in, over the grave of an old lay-vicar,
who, boy and man, had served the Cathedral for nearly sixty years.
Often, too, the poor little fellow seemed struggling with some sense
of demerit--whether positive disgrace, or suspicion, or the general
Christian feeling of unworthiness, Wilmet and John Harewood could
never make out; and they did not choose to speak of these wanderings
either to Will or to Mr. Beccles. In the intervals of consciousness,
the thought of danger and death seemed to be lost in the weakness of
exhaustion, and the dread of whatever brought back the pain, from
which there was no respite except in cool air and perfect quiet. The
least movement intensified it, and brought on the sickness that
showed the brain to be still affected; and still worse was any
endeavour to attend to the shortest and simplest devotions, when Mr.
Harewood attempted them. Yet all the time there was amendment; the
fever was every day less severe, the intervals longer, the sleep
calmer, the doctor more securely hopeful; and by the end of a week
from the time of the accident, recovery was beginning sensibly to set
in.

Clement, meanwhile, did not appear; nor was he seen till the ensuing
Monday, when he stood on the threshold of the open door at the
Bailey, bewildered at the emptiness of the bed where he had last seen
his brother--till a weak voice said, 'Here, Clem,' and he saw on
another of the little old beds a small figure, in a loose soft white
silk Indian robe de chambre, the face shrunken into nothing but
overhanging brow and purple haloed eyes, though the eyes themselves
were smiling welcome in all their native blueness and clearness, and
two thin white hands were held out.

'Out of bed, Lance! That is getting on!'

'Yes. They thought I should be cooler, and sleep better for it.'

'And are you all alone?' said Clement, hanging over him.

'The maids are about somewhere. Wilmet is gone to the Cathedral,
while Jack got me up.'

'Then you must be a great deal better.'

'Oh yes; I haven't had any of that horrid fever since Friday.'

'And the pain?'

'Better, if I lie quite still and it is not hot, but I couldn't stand
a bit when I tried. I hardly know how Jack carried me here.'

'You are little and light enough,' said Clement; 'but I'll help to
carry you back. I am sorry not to have been here more, Lance, but I
was so much wanted at home.'

'Thank you, I didn't want any one. Jack is such a fellow; and Wilmet--
-somehow, Clem, I never seem to have cared enough about W. W.'

'Nor I, till I saw what home is like without her,' murmured Clement.

'And isn't she beautiful, too?' added Lance; 'it is quite nice to lie
and look at her at work. Don't you think her much better looking than
Alda?'

'If handsome is that handsome does,' said Clement. 'You wouldn't like
me to stay with you instead of Mettie, old chap?'

The helplessly alarmed look of illness came into Lance's eyes. 'Oh
no, no; I couldn't spare Wilmet yet. She doesn't want to go?'

'No; I have said nothing to her; but Cherry is not well, and
everything is at sixes and sevens; but there, never mind,' as the
tears started into the sick boy's eyes, 'we'll manage; I should not
have said anything about it.'

'Please don't,' said Lance. 'If she ought to go, let her, and don't
tell me. I can't help it, Clem; I'm afraid to think if it ought to
be, or I should make my head rage, and I should begin to talk
nonsense again, and that s worst of all.'

'Do you know when you are talking nonsense?' said Clement, surprised,
and eager to lead off from the subject he felt he ought not to have
broached.

'Oh, yes, I know that it is not the right thing, and the right thing
won't come; and the worst of it is,' lowering his already feeble
voice, 'saving one's prayers is hardest of all; I can't remember what
I know best. I couldn't so much as go through the Magnificat if you
were to shoot me.'

'But holloa! They don't generally come out of the Cathedral this way,
do they?'

'Who?'

'The Bishop! Ay, and the Dean! Speaking to Wilmet. I believe they are
coming here. Lie still, Lance.'

'I must,' he acquiesced, after half raising himself and falling back.
'Oh, can it be about the prize? Some of that stuff on my forehead,
please, Clem.'

Wilmet came in first, ascertained that all was ready, put an
arranging touch to Lance's pillows, and ushered in the two
dignitaries, who shook his languid hand, and asked after him kindly.

'You have put the Chapter into great difficulties by disabling
yourself and Harewood,' said the Bishop. 'What! did you not know that
the poor fellow entirely broke down?' as the eager eyes inquired.

'Nobody would tell me anything about it,' said Lance.

'It could not be helped,' continued the Bishop, 'but the examiners
said they felt it a great cruelty when they saw how utterly astray
distress rendered him. However, his papers and yours were both so
good--his verses especially, and your arithmetic--that it was
impossible to reject them, so the decision was put off till my return
on Saturday.'

'We think,' said the Dean, who was very old, very gentle, and very
slow of speech--'we think, my little fellow, that though there is no
doubt that Shapcote did best in the examination, and ought to have
the exhibition, yet under the peculiar circumstances, you and
Harewood can be retained as choir scholars for another year, so as to
try again. You don't look sixteen, I'm sure, and we should be sorry
to lose your voice.'

'I'm only just turned sixteen,' said Lance, 'only on the 14th of
June. Thank you, sir;--thank you, my Lord;' and his face beamed joy,
though his words faltered.

'Moreover,' proceeded the Bishop, 'I have the greatest pleasure in
giving the good-conduct prize where, so far as I am able to judge, it
has been well deserved.'

A perilous flush of joy overspread the pale face; he started up on
his elbows, and his eyes danced rapture, as some one at the door
handed in the beautiful red morocco quarto of the Cathedral music;
and the Bishop, with a fatherly hand making him lie down again, laid
the book beside him, as he gasped out something like thanks.

'We are quite convinced that you have deserved it,' repeated the
Dean, again shaking hands with him, and then taking leave; but the
Bishop remained, talking kindly to Clement about Cambridge, and
inquiring for Felix; while Wilmet helped Lance's feeble fingers to
turn the thick creamy pages on which he durst not fix his eyes.

Presently the Bishop sat down again, and said, 'I have acted on my
own judgment in giving you this, my boy. I have seen enough of our
choir these six years to know that what caused so much displeasure
was certainly not to be laid to your charge.'

Lance made an uneasy movement, became alarmingly red, and said in a
choked voice, 'I don't know but what it might, my Lord.'

'You mean that you knew of this custom of getting out at night
through the Cathedral!'

'Yes, my Lord; I found out the way.'

There was a silence.

Then the Bishop said, 'After this, I can only leave it to your own
conscience whether you ought to keep this book; but I think you would
do wisely to let me know, remembering that I have no authority in the
school.'

Lance brightened, and he answered, 'My Lord, I did get out once, but
only once, and I don't think I did wrong. It was a long time ago--in
the autumn.'

'Last autumn! Was it not then that there was a report of a chorister
in his shirt sleeves being seen at the Green Man at eleven o'clock at
night?'

'That was I, my Lord.'

Clement was ready to start forward, under the impression that Lance
was talking his 'nonsense;' but the Bishop said, 'You were named, but
nobody believed it for a moment.'

'One of our little fellows was very ill, my Lord,' said Lance,
excitement restoring something of his natural briskness. 'We thought
he was going to have the cholera, and I went to get something for
him. The chemists' shops were shut, so I went in there.'

'May I ask the question,' said the Bishop, rather as if taking a
liberty, 'why did you not call up Mr. Stokes?'

'We couldn't, my Lord, for it was all Mr. Shapcote's swans' eggs. He
caught them--three of our least fellows, I mean--jumping at the
branches that hung over the river wall, and he blackguar--abused them
so that they got into a rage and vowed he shouldn't have a plum left
on the tree. We seniors knew nothing about it; but they got over the
wall at dark, and one ate eighty-five and the other eighty-one; but,
little Dick--one of them, I mean--could only get down nineteen, and
brought the rest in his pockets. It was the first time such a thing
had happened, and it put me in a proper rage. The little one was the
one I found out first; and I thought he was sulky, so I licked him
till he howled, so that I was afraid I'd done him some dreadful harm,
like a regular brute; and when I found it was his inside instead of
his outside, I was so glad, I could have done anything for him. But
we couldn't call Stokes, or the poor little chap would have suffered
for it three times over.'

'That would have been hard measure! And did your remedy succeed?'

'Yes; I think a good deal was fright. He went to sleep on the brandy,
and was all right next day.'

'And the gentlemen with 'the eighty-five and eighty-one suffered no
inconvenience, of course!' said his Lordship, much amused. 'May I
hear how you got out?'

'With Mr. Harewood's key,' said Lance. 'He used to keep it on a nail
inside the study door, which opens into the passage leading into this
court, and is never locked.'

'That is the key of the Cathedral library.'

'Yes, my lord; it unlocks the outer door, and the door into the north
transept.'

'And after that--'

'You can shoot the bolt on the inside of the little side-door at the
west front, and climb over the railing.'

'Boys are animals not to be kept in, that is certain! So you were
pioneer! But you had nothing to do with those cards?'

'No, my Lord. But I ought not to have told how I got out, for there
were some who would do it afterwards. However, those cards were none
of ours.'

'Whose were they!'

'Walter Shapcote's, my Lord. He is gone now, so it does not signify.'

'That nephew Mr. Shapcote had in his office?'

'Yes, my Lord; he had got the command of poor Gus, because he had
lent him money for some debt that Gus was afraid to let his father
know of, and made him get the key, and let him out and in.'

'You all knew of this?'

'Yes, my Lord; but poor Gus was sure that his father would be so
dreadful, that we durst not let out a word. Mr. Shapcote makes every
soul afraid of him.'

'The young man is gone?'

'Yes, my Lord, to London.'

'And there is no danger of the like with Gus?'

'Oh no, my Lord. He's too like a sheep! and now his debt is paid--
after the last concert--he's sure not to get into the same scrape
again.'

'Thank you very sincerely,' said the Bishop. 'It is a great relief to
me to know all this; and it is safe with me. I am only afraid I have
made you talk more than is good for you.'

'And may I keep this, my Lord?' he wistfully asked.

'Indeed you may, my dear boy. If you have transgressed the letter of
discipline, you have kept the spirit of charity. I am glad to keep
you, as well as your voice. But I have tired you out.'

And laying a hand of blessing on his brow, the Bishop took leave,
Wilmet going to the door with him, to answer his fears that the
interview had been too much for her patient, with assurances that the
relief and gratification must do good in the end.

He told her that the threat of the withholding of the prize had not
been made by his authority, and that he had much regretted it. Just
as the tidings of the sun-stroke and its cause had reached him, he
had been with Mr. Nixon, the former Precentor, who had spoken warmly
of Lance, saying that the whole tone of the boys had improved since
his coming, though he was too much of a pickle ever to get the
credit. Wilmet's pleasure was great; but before she could get back,
Lance was nervously calling for her. The excitement was still great,
his head was aching violently, and yet he could not leave off eager
talking, which, as feverishness came on, began to degenerate into
such rambling as terribly frightened Clement lest a relapse should be
coming on. He wanted to hurry off to the doctor at once; but Wilmet,
well knowing he would not be at home, repressed him, and quietly said
she had some draughts ready, and knew what to do. While she was out
of sight, preparing them, a great alarm came over the patient lest
she should have left him; and all the rest of those noonday hours
were spent in a continual restless desire to keep her in view, hold
her hand, and elicit her assurances that she was not going home, nor
going to leave him--no, not on any account. The very presence of his
brother seemed to increase the uneasiness; and in the deepest
humiliation and despair, Clement allowed himself to be invited away
by Captain Harewood to see the process of ice-making, and be so far
comforted that the Bishop's visit was probably far more likely to
have done the mischief than his own rash suggestion, and that there
was no reason to fear it would last many hours. In fact, Lance was
recovering favourably, and had had few drawbacks. 'So I tell
everybody,' said John Harewood, 'especially poor Bill, who is still
ready to break his heart every time Lance has a headache, and would
chatter him to death when he is better. And that's the way with them
all! There seems no one that can be tender and reasonable both at
once, except your sister.'

Clement did full justice to that tenderness, when, out of sight
himself, he had watched Wilmet's soothing firmness and patient
reassuring softness, at last calming the feverish agitation into a
sleep, which he was allowed to see for himself was gentle and
wholesome. Only then--towards four o'clock--could Captain Harewood
persuade her to let him keep guard, while she went to take the food
that had been long waiting for her, and over which she could hear
Clement's penitent explanation of his own unlucky proposal.

'I thought he seemed so well--able to get up and all; and they do
think me a good nurse at St. Matthew's. I nursed Fred Somers almost
entirely when he had the scarlet fever.' (Wilmet looked as if she
pitied St. Matthew's.) 'But of course I see now that it is out of the
question.'

'Entirely so,' said Wilmet, too kind to remind him of the
qualifications he had evinced.

'And you cannot guess when he can come home?'

'Not in the least. Even if he could be moved, think of the noisiness
of our house!'

Clement groaned. 'It was very wrong in me to speak to him before you,
Wilmet,' he said; 'but I should be thankful if you could tell me what
is to be done! Cherry was thoroughly chilled that evening of the
thunderstorm, and has been very poorly ever since.'

'She always feels changes of weather.'

'That's what Alda tells you. She won't believe there is anything the
matter; but poor Cherry has had rheumatic pain all over her, and her
bad ankle seems to have a bit of bone coming out. Sibby thinks so.
Now, ought she not to have her doctor?'

'Well! if--I wish I could be quite sure! It is such an unlucky thing
that she has that dislike to Mr. Rugg.'

'Wilmet! You are as bad as Alda!'

'Clement,' she answered gently, 'you do not know what it is to have
to reckon the expense. There is Felix's journey; and what this
illness may cost, I cannot guess; and now Cherry! It is not that I
grudge it; but I don't see what is to become of any of us if we spend
unnecessarily--or necessarily either, for that matter.'

'I thought her doctor didn't charge.'

'He did not when she was at St. Faith's, but at home it is a
different thing; but, of course, if it be really needful it cannot be
helped.'

'And you couldn't come home and see--even for one hour?'

'Not yet, most certainly.'

'I think I had better write to Sister Constance!'

'If you really do find it impossible to get on, and Cherry is more
than just ailing, and--and fractious' (the word came out at last); 'I
don't like always calling for help, it seems presuming on kindness,
and Robina will be helpful when she comes home; but no doubt Alda
does not know what to do,' she added, in a deliberating tone.

'Then you authorise me?'

'I don't know what you mean by authorising.'

'Only that Alda will neither do anything herself, nor let any one
else do it.'

'Poor Alda! It is a hard time for her, and she is not used to it. I
am afraid she is out of her element among you all. Don't be vexed,
Clem; you all ought to make allowances for her.'

'I make allowances from morning to night,' said Clement. 'I wonder
how many Travis will have to make!'

Wilmet had finished her hasty meal, and wanted to get back to her
patient, so she only protested by a reproving look and shake of the
head; while Clement stood disconcerted, but less surprised than if he
had not been familiar with the part of the family Cassandra.

CHAPTER XVIII

BY THE RIVER

'And Lancelot look'd, and was perplext in mind;
And being weak in body, said no more.'
TENNYSON.

It was a lovely afternoon, and the sun shone outside the green
tracery of a hornbeam alley in the Deanery garden, leading from the
cloister to the river. Here lay Lancelot, on the long cushion of a
sofa, while Wilmet sat stitching at the last of the set of collars
that would always bring so many recollections. For this was a
Saturday afternoon, and on the Monday Lance was to go to Ewmouth to
join Felix, who was to have his holiday extended another month on
that account. Alda, who had had a quarter's allowance from her uncle,
had made this possible; and Wilmet was doubly gratified by its having
been her twin's gift and thought.

Wilmet would of course go home, and she found herself almost
regretting the close of a time that had of late been very pleasant.
She had not felt, as Geraldine would have done, the romance of living
in the old monastic buildings, in the calm shadow of the grand old
minster; yet something of the soothing of the great solemn quiet
rested upon the spirit that had--since six years old--never known
freedom from responsibility, and--since fifteen--had borne the
burthen of household economies and of school teaching. It was a
strange novelty to have meals provided without care of her own, no
shortcomings of servants to make up, no claimant for her attention
save a solitary patient, and that one with Lance's temper. Wilmet had
undergone a good deal from Alda's clashes with the rest, even Felix's
was only a temper well in hand, and alternate fretfulness and
penitence were regarded by her as part and parcel of Geraldine's
ailments; so that it was almost a surprise that her present
convalescent never visited his discomforts upon her, but was always
patient and good-humoured, smiling whenever he could, like his father
before him, as if, according to the pretty Spanish saying, the sun
had shone on his cradle at his birth. His unselfish nature had made
him a little uneasy when with cooler senses he remembered Clement's
hint, while love and instinct alike made him feel utterly unable to
dispense with his motherly sister, but when she had assured him that
nothing could make him leave him as yet, and when Sister Constance
was known to be at Bexley, he threw it from his mind, and was
perfectly happy and contented.

He could still exert no attention, could neither read nor be read to,
nor occupy himself in any way; but he was amused by talk around him,
and companionship was never lacking. Wilmet, whose forte had never
been conversation, found herself in a stream of small talk with
inquiring friends of all degrees in the hierarchy; but was most at
her ease when the female Harewoods were prattling good-humoured
inconsequent chatter. Willie lying on the grass murmuring with Lance,
or John lured into stories of Indian surveying adventures in the
cause of the Ordnance Map. And when she was carried off to have her
meals with the family, she had put herself so entirely at the mercy
of circumstances, that she never seemed scandalised by their crazy
unpunctuality, their wonderful free and easy ways, and customs of
putting things to every use but the right, did not censure Grace or
Lucy for dawdling and gossiping whole mornings away, and took it
naturally when their mother inquired after her eldest brother by the
alternate names of Festus and Frank, and when she mentioned Lance's
disaster as his coup d'etat. And here was the last of these pleasant
afternoons, full of still sweet sounds, midsummer hum above, the soft
ripple of the water close by, the cawing of the rooks in the Close--
all such peace, that her heart quailed as she looked forward to the
din of the High Street at Bexley, and she strangled a sigh half way
up her throat.