Produced by David Widger from page images generously provided by the Internet Archive MIRK ABBEY. By James Payne The Author Of âLost Sir Massingberd;â âThe Clyffards Of Clyffe;â &c., &c. In Three Volumes. Vol. II. London: 1866. CHAPTER I. MISTRESS AND MAID. |MARY,â said Lady Lisgard gravely, when her attendant had closed the door behind her, âI want to have a little serious talk with you to-night.â âAs you please, my Lady,â returned Mistress Forest, in a tone which the other, did not fail to mark: it was a very respectful tone--a more humble one even than she was ordinarily wont to use--but there was a certain deliberation and set resolve about it too, which expressed as decidedly, as though she had used the words: âI am ready to listen, madam; but I know very well what you are going to ask me, and I have made up my mind already to answer 'No.'â âMary,â continued my Lady earnestly, but not without a tremor in her kind soft voice, âcome and sit here on the sofa beside me, and let us not be mistress and maid tonight, but only friends.â âYes, madam;â and Mary's voice trembled too, for this unlooked-for arrangement would place her, she knew, at a disadvantage in the argument which was certainly at hand. âWe have known one another many, many years, Mary--more than half our lives--and I don't think we have had a single quarrel yet.â âNot one, ma'am, not one,â assented the waiting-maid; already, after the manner of her susceptible kind, beginning to cry. âI can remember you when quite a child, Mary; not fifteen years old; as willing and kind-hearted a girl as the sun ever shone upon; and when I had not a friend in the world, nor even so much as a coin that I could call my own, and when I was weak and sick at heart, having lost all that was dear to me, I remember who it was that tended and caressed me as though I was her own sister.â âDon't ye, don't ye, my Lady; hush, hush!â cried the weeping Mary. âIt was only natural that I should take to a sweet innocent creature cast at our very door by the raging sea. I often dream of that storm o' nights, madam, even now; of the thunder, and the lightning, and the rain; and of the flashes that were not lightning, but signals for help--that, alas! we could not give--from the poor doomed ship. And how father and the other fishermen, and many of the visitors themselves--and among them poor Sir Robert--all crowded down to the Cove, for they could not get nearer to the shore because of the waves; and I was with them, sheltering myself in the brushwood as well as I could, and peering through the branches to see the great white waves lit up for an instant, and then the darkness shutting all things out except the roaring of the storm. I mind it just as though it were but yesterday; and ah! my Lady, shall I ever forget when that one great wave dashed up into the very Cove itself, wetting us all to the skin, and knocking down young Jack West, whom it almost carried back with it in its return, and then the Great Black Spar, which it did carry back, with something white a-clinging to it; when my father cried out: 'O my God, a woman!' and all our hearts seemed stricken with a sudden shoot of pain. Lord! how I cried, for my part, to think that a poor creature should he tossing in that dreadful foam; and when I heard good Sir Robert's voice, clear and loud as a bugle: 'One hundred pounds to the man who brings her ashore, dead or alive!' I do believe I could have run out and kissed him. Ah, my Lady, what a noble gentleman he was; for though he could not have known how dear you were to be to him--you might have been an old woman, for all he could see--how he worked and strove to save you; not by his money alone, for no mÃ¨re gain would have tempted men to do what was done that night, but by risking life and limb. They made a double chain, holding one another's hands, for there was no time to spare for ropes, and went down almost among the breakers, where you were: my father and Sir Robert were the two first men, God bless them!â Here Mistress Forest paused, interrupted by incipient hysterics, and my Lady herself cried like a child, but not in agony; her tears were tribute to the memory of a gallant deed. âI mind my father had a black shoulder--a place you could not cover with both your hands--all along of the spar being driven up against him, but they carried it up with you upon it safe into the Cove, and then there was a great cry for us women to come down and help. Ah, how beautiful you looked, my Lady, though we thought you dead, white, and cold, and wet, with your long black hair dripping like sea-weed, and your tender limbs all bruised and bleeding. It must have been a kind band as tied you to the plank, for between your dainty waist and the rough rope there was bound a sailor's jacket.â My Lady moaned, and held her bands up as though she would say, âForbear!â but Mistress Forest could not be stayed. âThere was little enough clothes upon you, poor Lady, just a bodice and a petticoat, but round your neck there was hung a charm or two, and perhaps that had some hand in saying you from drowning.â My Lady looked quickly up; how strange it seemed that the comment passed by Mary Forest upon the locket (and the bundle of letters in their little waterproof case) should have been so exactly what Derrick had pointed out it would be. The coincidence reminded her of the task that lay before her, and of the danger of delaying it. âYes, Mary, I indeed owe my life to you and yours, and I am not forgetful of the debt. Your welfare is, and ever will be only second in importance to that of my own children, and it is concerning it that I now wish to speak with you. Your futureâ---- âYou owe me nothing, my dear Lady, that you have not paid again and again, I am sure,â interrupted the waiting-maid hurriedly. âWhen you rose to that high station, for which it seems to everybody you were born, your hand was always held out to me; through good report and evil report, you have ever stood my friend: it will be a great wrench of my heart, dearest mistress, when I leave your service--as I shall have to do, I fear, very soon.â âMary!â âYes, my Lady. You see I'm not a young girl now; and it is not everybody who has so good a chance as I have now of--of--settling in life. Service is not inheritance, you know, my Lady, although I am well aware I should never want for nothingâ---- âWhether I live or die, Mary,â broke in her mistress eagerly, âI have taken care of that, good friend; and if I should die tomorrow---- But you shall see my will itself, for it lies here.â She laid her hand upon the desk before her, but Mary checked her with a determined âNo, my Lady; no. I was never greedy--with all my faults, you will grant that much, I know--and if I had been like Mrs Welsh, and others of this household I could name--but that I never was a mischief-maker--I might long since have put myself beyond all need of legacies, and you never would have missed it. But Mr Derrick is himself a person of property; a very rich man indeed for one in my condition of life--not that I need be a burden upon any man, thank Heaven, for I have money saved out of my wages--and very handsome they always were--and that great present of good Sir Robert's still untouched: the most generous of gentlemen he was. I am sure, my Lady, nobody felt for you as I did when Sir Robert died; and you have often said how terrible it was to lose a husband; thereforeâ--here for a moment her excessive volubility flagged for the first time; she paused, and reddened, then added, with the air of a mathematician stating an indisputable corollary--âtherefore, you must allow, dear mistress, that to _find_ one--particularly when one comes to my time of life--is not unpleasant, nor a chance to be lightly thrown aside.â âThat depends entirely upon the sort of husband he may be, Mary,â observed my Lady gravely. âReally, dear madam, with all respect, I think I am the best judge of that,â rejoined the waiting-maid tartly; âalthough, indeed, I never thought to say such words to you. Sir Richard may have his likes and dislikes, but I am not his slave; nor yet his servant, for the matter of that. While Master Walter, who, saving your presence, everybody knows to be worth a hundred of him, likes Ralph very much.â A pang shot across my Lady's face, and left it crimson, as though she had received a blow; but the waiting-maid little knew what had brought the colour there, although she felt that she had pained her mistress deeply. âGod forgive me,â cried she penitently, âif my foolish tongue has hurt your feelings, my Lady! I did not mean to say aught against Sir Richard, I am sure. I scarcely knew what I said, for when those are dear to us--as Ralph has grown to be with me, and I don't deny it--are misjudged and wronged, why, then, we are apt to say bitter things. This talk was none of my seeking, my Lady; and although Ralph thinks that you are to blame because of his being forbidden the Hall, and all the rest of it, I have always told him you have never said a word to set me against him; and oh, I am sorry you are doing it now, because what is done cannot be undone, andâ---- âGreat Heaven! you are not married to this man?â cried my Lady, rising from her seat with agitation. âO no, my Lady--certainly not, my Lady,â rejoined the waiting-maid with a certain demure dignity. âThere has been nothing underhand between us in the matter at all, except, that is, so far as meeting Mr Derrick at the back gateâ---- âDid you go out to meet him _to-night?_â inquired Lady Lisgard sharply, and keeping her eyes fixed steadily upon her attendant's face. âNo, madam, I did not.â âShe is speaking truth,â murmured my Lady to herself. âWho, then, could it be whom I saw upon the churchyard path just now?â âAlthough,â continued Mrs Forest quietly, âI don't deny that I have often met him after dusk, no other time being permitted to us; but to-day he has gone to town.â âAnd you are to write to him thither to give him your final decision as to whether you will become his wife or not.â âHow on earth do you know that, my Lady?â inquired the waiting-maid with a curiosity even beyond her indignation. âI _do_ know it, dear old friend,â answered Lady Lisgard tenderly, âand it is because of that knowledge that I have sent for you to-night, to strive to persuade you to write 'No,' while there is yet time.â It was very seldom--not once in a year, perhaps--that Mary Forest was ever out of temper with my Lady; but then such a supreme occasion as the present had never occurred before. Underneath their mÃ¨re superficial relation of mistress and servant, they were more like elder and younger sister; but then even sisters quarrel when the one wants the other--generally under some pretence of mÃ¨re prudence, not to be listened to by a woman of spirit--to give up the man of her choice. The ample countenance of Mistress Forest expressed something more than Decision in the negative; there was an unpleasant smile upon her pale lips, which seemed to say: âIf you knew what I know, you would know that you are wasting your breath.â She sat with her plump hands folded before her, like a naughty boy that has been put in the corner, but who does not care--nay, more, who knows that he has got a cracker to put presently under his master's chair, the results of which will make full amends for the inconvenience he at present experiences. âI will say nothing more, Mary, of the mutual esteem and affection between us two, and of the pain that an eternal parting--such as your marriage with this Mr Derrick would most undoubtedly entail--needs must cost us both. I presume that you have weighed that matter in your mind, and found it--however weighty--insufficient to alter your determination?â Mary nodded, sharply enough, but it was doubtful if she could have spoken. Already her features had lost their rigidity, as though melted by my Lady's touching tones. âYou have known this person--that is to say, you have met him some dozen times--during a period of less than four months; yet such is his influence over you, that you are prepared to sacrifice for him a friend of thirty years' standing, a comfortable home, and a position in which you are respected by all who know you. If I was speaking to a young girl, Mary, I should not advance these arguments; but you are a--a wise and sensible woman, and yet not of such a mature age that you need despair of finding a suitable partner for the rest of your life.â Mistress Forest heaved a little sigh of relief, and her cheeks began to tone down to something like their natural crimson; they _had_ been purple with the apprehension of what my Lady might have said upon the subject of age. âNow, what is it,â pursued my Lady, âwhich has produced this confidence in an almost entire stranger? Do you know anything of his former life, which may be a guarantee to you for the stability of your future? Have you ever met a single individual who is acquainted with it in any way? For all you know, this man may have been aâ---- âMy Lady!â For a moment, the relative position of Mentor and pupil were exchanged; there was a quiet power about the waiting-maid's rebuke, for which an archbishop would have given more than his blessing, if he could only have incorporated it into a âcharge.â âYou are right, Mary,â said my Lady frankly; âlet us only speak of what is within our own knowledge. Does this man's own conduct, then, give any promise of lasting happiness to the woman who may become his wife? Is he sober?â âI believe he is fond of a glass, my Lady, as most men are who have no home, or people to look after them. If he had a wife, he would never go to the public-house at all, perhaps--he tells me so himself.â My Lady smiled faintly. âIs he industrious and provident, Mary?â âHe has earned his money hardly enough, my Lady, and it seems only natural that he should now spend a little in enjoying himself.â âBut not fling his money to left and right--I use your own words, dear Mary--and treat every chance-companion he comes across to liquor. Do you suppose that at his age he is likely to change habits of this sort?â âI am not aware, my Lady, that his age is anything against him,â replied the waiting-maid coldly. âHe is not so like to run through his money as if he were younger, and particularly when he has got some one to provide for beside himself. And indeed, so far as money goes, he has thousands of pounds; and if all goes well with him--and something has occurred to-day about which he has sent me a line by hand, dear fellow, by which it has been made almost certain that things _will_ go well--he will be a very rich man indeed after a week or two. There is some great race on Epsom Downsâ---- âO Mary, how can you talk so cheerfully of money acquired in that way. If it is won to-day, it is lost to-morrow; and even if it were not so, do you know that it is gained from those who can ill afford to lose it, and who, having lost it, often turn to wicked ways?â âI don't know about that, my Lady, I'm sure,â responded the waiting-maid demurely; âI leave all these things to my betters. But, I suppose, if racing was a crime, Mr Chifney would not be let to have the Abbey Barn--Sir Richard being so very particular--and Master Walter would not for ever be up at the stables. Why, he and Mr Derrick are both together, hand and glove, in this very business--something about a French racer, it is; although, when you and I were at Dijon, my Lady, we never heard of there being such a thing in all France, did we?--so my poor Ralph cannot be so very wicked after all. And please, ma'am, it is no use saying anything more about it, for I have written him that letter already which he was to find in London, and put it in the post.â âAnd did you answer 'Yes,' or 'No,' Mary?â âI answered 'Yes,' my Lady--that I would marry him--and begging your pardon, madam, but I mean to stand to it.â CHAPTER II. CONFESSION. |THERE is one serious disadvantage--which mistresses should do well to remember--at which waiting-maids are always placed in disputations with their domestic superiors; they cannot (except they are prepared for instant dismissal) either quit the room, and hang the door after them, or leave it open, and run down stairs âsaying thingsâ at the top of their voices. Both these modes of procedure, so natural to the female when âput out,â are denied to them, for the same reason that when on board ship they can't take champagne for sea-sickness as their employers do; they cannot afford the indulgence. Now, although Mary Forest was not debarred by mÃ¨re pecuniary considerations from flinging herself out of her mistress's room when she cried, âAnd I mean to stand to it,â there were other reasons which prevented her from suiting to her words that very appropriate and natural action. In all her blinding passion (and she was really very angry), she never quite lost sight of the respect she owed her mistress. Her devotion to her was such, that even while she listened to her most unpalatable arguments against the man she had accepted for her husband, her heart smote her with a sense of ingratitude towards the long-tried friend, who, after all, she knew, was anxious for her happiness rather than for her own mÃ¨re comfort; and when she seemed most obstinate, she had often been nearest to throwing herself upon her mistress's neck, and exclaiming: âYou are quite right, my Lady; and I believe I have been an old fool all along.â It was more with the desire of putting a stop to this most unpleasant dispute, than because her determination was absolutely adamantine and inflexible, that she once more reiterated: âYes, my Lady, I mean to stand to it,â and fixed her eyes doggedly upon the floor, as though she would not even encounter another questioning glance. âMary,â said her mistress solemnly, and after a long silence, âI am grieved beyond all power of words to tell at what you have just said; but the mischief may not yet be quite past mending. I have seen this--Mr Derrick--this very night, and therefore he will not receive your letter till, at earliest, to-morrow evening.â âNo, nor then neither, my Lady, so far as that goes, for I was late for the London post; I put the letter in the box for the very reason that I might not be persuaded to change my mind byâ---- âThen it has not yet left the village postoffice,â interrupted my Lady, hastily snatching up her bonnet from the table on which she had wearily put it down upon entering the room: âthere is time to stop it yet.â âNo, my Lady; I heard the postman's horn half an hour ago; and if it were otherwise, nothing would induce me to alter what I have already written--nothing--nothing!â repeated Mistress Forest, emphasising her last two words by beating with her foot upon the carpet. âAlas, dear friend, you know not what you say,â replied my Lady very gravely. âGive me your hand, Mary; nay, do not withdraw it coldly, for you will have need of comfort and support, almost as much, alas, as I----_Mary, Mary, this man is married already!_â The waiting-maid started from her seat with a shrill scream. âI don't believe it, I won't believe it; it is false. How dare you tell a lie to me, Lady Lisgard, only to gain your ends?â âHush, hush, Mary; did you ever know me to tell a lie, my friend? It is true as that yonder moon is rising, that this man has a wife alive. Do not weep so passionately.â âThe perjured villain; the false, bad man; the wicked, wicked wretch!â cried the waiting-maid, her eyes flashing through their tears. âNay, above all, do not blame _him_, Mary, for he knows it not himself; he does not, indeed.â âWhat? Not know whether he's married or not!â sobbed the unhappy bride-elect. âI don't believe that, at all events, even if I believe you. He has married so many, he doesn't know rightly who is his wife; that is what you mean, I see. Sailors are all alike. O dear, dear, dear, when Mrs Welsh comes to know of it! And the monster will have got my letter by to-morrow night, to shew about! How nearly have I been committing bi--bi--bigamy!â âCalm yourself, dear Mary, calm yourself. Your trouble is nothing to what I suffer, and must continue to endure for my life long.â âAh, my Lady, I daresay it is very bad to be a widow; but it's much worse to die an old----leastways, at forty-fi--or forty-four, rather--to lose---- O dear! what an honest man he looked, and such a beard and eyes! I will never trust to appearances again. I daresay, it is very wrong, my Lady, but I fee--fee--feel as though I could tear Mrs Derrick's eyes out; I do, indeed.â Here the bottle of smelling-salts, which upon a certain occasion we saw used by Mary Forest for the recovery of her mistress, had to change hands. The unfortunate waiting-maid was taken with a very genuine fit of hysterics, and not of the quiet sort either; and if her senses left her, it could not certainly be said that she also lost the use of her limbs. At last, exhausted in body, but also more reasonable as to her mind, she whispered: âMistress, dearest, tell me all you know.â Then my Lady knew that the time was come for her first self-humiliation. Throughout the narrative that followed, they were sitting upon the sofa together, hand in hand, but each had her face averted from the other, and only now and then, by a convulsive grasp of the fingers, did Mary shew her sympathy with her unhappy mistress. At first, she was too full of her own trouble to interrupt by words, but soon the astounding revelation from my Lady's lips overwhelmed every faculty of speech within her, and she sat like a child who listens to a horrid story in the darkening twilight. âWe have known one another more than half our lives, Mary, said I, a while ago, and yet there has been a secret between us all that time. I have never kept anything else from you, but this was not mine alone to tell; it was Sir Robert's also. When he asked me to become his wife at Coveton, and you thought me so mad for first refusing him, and afterwards for demanding such a long delay, I had a reason for it, which he knew, but which you have never guessed. I was then the three-weeks' bride of another man.--You may well start, Mary, but that is the dreadful truth. The man, Ralph Gavestone, whom I mourned so deeply, as being drowned with my dear parents, and all the rest of the ship's company, in that great storm--which I would to Heaven had whelmed me in its waves--was not my half-brother, as Sir Robert persuaded me to give out, but my husband.â âYou had no wedding-ring, my Lady, when you came ashore,â murmured the waiting-maid half incredulously. âThat is true, Mary. I know not how it was, but perhaps the cold and wet of that dreadful night made my fingers shrink--you remember how wan and thin I looked--and the ring must have dropped off; I never saw it after I reached land. But I was none the less a widow--as I thought; and although friendless, save for you, Mary--homeless and penniless, I thought I could never take another husband to my arms, although the raging sea had worked that rough divorce between us. At first, I replied: 'No, Sir Robert, never;' you will bear me witness that I did. Then, when he pressed me still, I bargained for three years. I thought that he would tire of waiting for me, and get some fitter mate in the meantime; I did, as Heaven is my judge. I was true to my poor Ralph--he had saved me upon that spar at the risk, and, as I then believed, at the sacrifice of his own life--as long as I--nay, I was true to him in a sense for ever. Sir Robert was well aware of that. I do not need justification from man or woman; God himself absolved me, I think, so far. But that was an evil day, Mary, when I married. I was no more Sir Robert's wife than you were, Mary. Think of that. And he was not my husband. And our children, of whom he was so proud, are baseborn--bastards. Sir Richard--is it not terrible? do you not wonder that I live and am not mad?--he is not Sir Richard. And my dear, dear Walter, he is baseborn too. And Letty--for whom her eldest brother thinks nobody too high--she, too, is no Lisgard. If I had waited seven years instead of three, this would not have been so. There are law-books in the library which have told me so much; but I have no adviser--none; no friend--yes, you, Mary, I know--but not one who can help me. Is not this something worse than death itself which has fallen upon me!â âAnd this man Derrick--he was Gavestone?â whispered Mary Forest in a hoarse grating voice. âYes; did I not tell you so? I only found it out last Christmas Eve. I knew his voice, and I knew the carol that he sang. For one thing only do I thank Heaven--I who had reason, as I thought, to be thankful for so many things--that Sir Robert is not alive. His sleep in yonder churchyard is disturbed by no such ghastly dream. Ah, happy dead!â âMistress, beloved mistress,â cried the waiting-maid, in an agony of remorse--âforgive me that I have been thinking of myself these many weeks, while you have been so burdened and tormented. Henceforth, I am yours only. As I hope to get to heaven when I die, I will be true to you whatever happens. Let us think what that may be.â âNay, let us _not_ think,â exclaimed her mistress with a shudder, âor I shall lose my wits. 'Would you have me picture what this house would be should _he_ come hither and claim me for his wife? Richard and he beneath the self-same roof, and he the master! Would Walter--though he herds with him, you say--brook this man as his equal? Would he not loathe him rather, and how soon, ah me! unlearn the love he owes to me--his wretched mother! I cannot hear to think of it, I tell you. Let us act; let us be doing something--something! How my brain whirls! Think for me, Mary--pray for me, for Heaven is deaf, alas, to my poor prayers!â But even while she spoke, the gracious tears began to fill the furrows in her cheeks, which until now had been dry throughout her talk; and having told her friend, the weight about her heart was lifted off a little, and the tightness round her brow was loosened by the blessed hand of sympathy. âI must write to him at once,â said Mary thoughtfully. âHow fortunate that he did not leave Mirk until to-night. The two letters will now reach him at the same time. He cannot write in answer to the one which--which I wrote first--without having read the other; that will be something saved.â My Lady shook her head. âThere is but little hope in that, I fear; for he himself has this night told me--yes, I saw him face to face, Mary, only I was thickly veiled, thank Heaven--he told me frankly (thinking I did not wish to lose my waiting-maid) that he should lay it to my charge if your reply was 'No,' and should not take it as the answer of your heart. How much more, if he gets a refusal coming so quickly upon the very heels of this acceptance, will he decline to believe it comes from your own self. More likely, it would cause him, reckless as he is, to do something rash and vengeful--perhaps to return hither on the instant, and---- O Mary, Mary, I would give five thousand pounds this day, if that would stop his coming to Mirk again!â âWould that _not_ stop him, mistress?â asked the waiting-maid with earnest gravity. âFive thousand pounds is a fortune, is it not?â âIt would not stop _him_, Mary,â rejoined my Lady sadly. âRalph Gavestone, even in his youth-time, never valued money a fillip when weighed against a whim; and now his will is more a law to him than ever. I have never known Resolve so fixed as I read it in his eyes this night. And if he guessed the truth, Mary--oh, if he did but dream that I, his lawful wife, for whom he had gladly laid his own life down, whose memory he has kept fresh and green when all else has withered, whose loss has been his ruin, was playing him false!--he said himself, that on his reckless soul 'twas like as not there might be murder some day--and, Mary, I do believe him.â White as the very moonbeams was my Lady's face, and the hand trembled which held the handkerchief she passed across her damp white brow. âNot for myself, good Mary, is this fear,â gasped she, âbut for my dear ones--do you hear them yonder? is it not sad to listen to such mirth?--for this unhappy man being wronged, becomes a madman straightway. Not disgrace alone may fall upon us here, not only shame--think of that, Mary; not _only_ shame upon Sir Richard and the rest! but even Crime may visit us. This house of dead Sir Robert--once the home of peace, and genial ease, and hospitality----But that shall never be; no, they shall never meet, my sons and he; I will die rather, and my corpse would part them wide enough.â âO mistress, talk not so; you freeze my very blood. What was it we were saying before you began to look like this?â âYou talked of bribing this Ralph Gavestone--for how could I offer him gold save _as_ a bribe! But if a bribe, what need was there to bribe him? Why should I wish him once more upon the other side of the world? Why pay him a younger brother's portion, to quit the courtship of my waiting-maid? No, Mary, this man is no mÃ¨re rogue, that he should take his money without question, and be off; he is suspicious, keen--and ah, if wronged, as implacable as Death itself.â âOne moment, my Lady!â cried Mistress Forest leaping to her feet. âI do believe I have a plan to get that letter back.â âAh, good Heaven! What is it, wise, kind heart?â âSee, madam,â and she began to reckon on her plump fingers, with her pleasant face aglow with mingled joy and astonishment at her own sagacity: âthe note was put in late for the London post from Dalwynch; it will therefore remain there, though it has left Mirk, all to-night, and not be forwarded till the morning mail. If we drive over to-morrow early--starting, say, at six o'clock--we shall be in plenty of time to stop its going further. In the meantime, I will write another letter in its place.â âYou have saved me--for this time--I do believe, dear Mary; yes, we can drive to Dalwynch--I will give orders for the carriage to be ready at six--and still be back at the Abbey by breakfast-time. If we are pressed for the reason, we can give the true one--to a certain point, if needs must be--you had a mind to alter what you have written to your suitor.â CHAPTER III. CONTRARY TO THE REGULATIONS OF HER MAJESTY'S POST-OFFICE. |SORELY did the fat coachman, who had no neck, inveigh against that caprice of his mistress which compelled his appearance at the front door upon the ensuing morning at an hour so altogether unexampled. If he had but heard that it was all upon the account of Mistress Forest, and the outlandish fellow who wore little gold rings in his ears, and that curly heard, so like the door-mat of the servants-hall, it is doubtful whether he would have obeyed such a premature behest at all; but as it was, he was sitting on the coach-box with the sleek nags before him, at the foot of the great steps which led down from the entrance-hall, at six o'clock to a minute. It was broad daylight of course, so bright that it made him wink again, as it flashed upon the glittering harness and the shining skins of the pampered beasts; but still it was not a time for a man of his years and girth to be hurried up and made to toil. âAs late as you please at night, my Lady, and nobody ever heard Joe Wiggins utter a murmur,â muttered he; âbut there's no constitushun as can stand such wear and tear as _this_.â However that might be with Mr Wiggins, Miss Rose Aynton seemed to make uncommonly light of early rising, for, much to the astonishment of her hostess, she was up and dressed and in the breakfast-room when that lady made her appearance at half-past five. âI happened to hear that you were going-out betimes, dear Lady Lisgard,â said she with her sweetest smile; âand getting up in these first summer mornings is _such_ a treat to a poor London-bred girl like me; so, without saying a word to dearest Letty, I thought I would just fill her place for once, and make your coffee for you.â âThank you, Rose,â returned my Lady a little stiffly, for she had not intended that anybody, and far less one who was not a member of her own family, should have been a witness to her departure. âI have unpleasant business on hand which takes me to Dalwynch before the morning train starts.â âIf you are going to London,â began Rose hesitatingly, as if intending to send something by my Lady's hands to her aunt, âif it was not too much troubleâ----âI am not going to London,â replied Lady Lisgard quietly. âI shall be back by the usual breakfast-hour, I have no doubt.â Here my Lady sipped her coffee with the air of a connoisseur, and perceiving Miss Aynton was about to ask more questions, requested a little sugar; then a fresh supply of--no, not hot milk--some cream. Would the carriage never come round, and release her from this importunate girl. âHow glad the people will be to see you about again once more, Lady Lisgard,â observed Miss Aynton cheerfully. âYou can't imagine how curious they have been to know why you have shut yourself up so long.â âI was not aware that my movements were any business of theirs, Rose,â returned my Lady with severity, ânor, indeed, of anybody's except myself.â âVery true,â answered Miss Aynton carelessly; âthat is what I always told them. Besides, it is not pleasant to run the chance of meeting a rude and perhaps half-drunken ruffian like this man Derrick, when one knows he has made up his mind to address one upon the first opportunity.â âIndeed!â said my Lady scornfully, âI assure you I was quite unaware of that dreadful menace.â She stole a glance over her cup, to see if there was anything to read in this strange girl's face; but there was nothing. As soon as she had finished her duties in connection with the coffeepot, she had taken a piece of fancy-work in her hands, in the execution of which she seemed entirely wrapped up. âO yes; of course it is most ridiculous, but that is what all the village has been saying for these five months, more or less; and now that you are going out for the first time, when he has but left the place overnight, they are sure to sayâ---- âHow do you know, Rose, that this man left Mirk last night?â inquired my Lady, setting down her cup, and looking at the young girl fixedly. Could it possibly have been _she_ whom she had beheld lurking about the churchyard wall, and perhaps listening to the conversation, in the course of which Derrick had announced his intention of going at that late hour to Dalwynch, so as to be in time for the first up-train upon the morrow? A faint flush stole over Miss Aynton's face, but by no means such a blush as is called âtell-tale:â it might easily enough have been caused by the mÃ¨re directness of the question. âYour son, Mr Walter, told me,â replied she simply--âhe is a great ally of this man's, you know.--Here is the carriage. I am afraid you will find it very dull, Lady Lisgard, taking this long drive all alone. If I thought that my companyâ---- âThank you, Rose,â replied my Lady hastily; âit is most kind of you to offer it; but the fact is, I am going to take Forest with me. This visit to Dalwynch is mainly upon her account indeed. If the chariot held more than two, perhaps I should take you at your word; but as it is----See, I have a book for my companion.--Come, Forest; we have no time to lose.â Mary had entered the room while she was speaking, and gave quite a start at seeing Miss Aynton at the breakfast-table. Her mistress was already cloaked, and had her bonnet on. âTo Dalwynch, my Lady?â said the footman, having put up the steps and closed the chariot-door. âYes; drive fast.â âWhich part of the town, my Lady?â for there were two roads to the post-town, the relative length of which from the Abbey depended upon what part of the place was to be visited. Miss Aynton was standing on the last flight of the stone steps, and could hear every word that was spoken. âTake the lower road,â replied my Lady very distinctly; and the well-hung chariot--pleasantest invention save the fair-weather Hansom, which the wit of coachmakers has yet sought out--rolled swiftly along the gravelled road. âThen they are not going to the railway station,â exclaimed Rose aloud. âNo, miss,â assented the butler, as he stood at the open hall-door, regarding nature as though it were a novelty to him at that hour. âI should say it must be the postoffice. Perhaps my Lady wishes to get the letters this morning earlier than the Mirk's man can bring them.â âVery likely, Roberts,â returned the young lady, a little disconcerted at her involuntary remark having been overheard. âLet us hope she will have good news. But I should scarcely have thought it was necessary to have gone herself.â âWell, I am not so sure, miss. Mrs Rudd, the post-mistress at Dalwynch, is a great stickler for forms and that, and she might have made some difficulty, particularly as she did not obtain her place through our influence.â â_Whose_ influence, Roberts?â âOurs, miss, to be sure. The Lisgard interest, you see, was given last election to the losing side. Although time was, I can well recollect, when poor Sir Robert had everything of that sort at his disposal that was vacant in these parts; but them yallers, they have gone and spoilt it all this time.â And with a sigh of regret for the golden age of patronage, and a shake of the head directed against the levelling opinions at present in the ascendant, Mr Roberts went off to his breakfast. No sooner had the wheels of the chariot began to move, than Lady Lisgard observed to her companion: âYou have the letter with you that I dictated last night, have you not?â âYes, my Lady; here it is, though not sealed down, in case you might have thought of anything to add.â âNo, Mary,â said her mistress, perusing it; âthere is nothing here that I can better by thought, although I spent all night in thinking over it. A refusal could scarce be made shorter or more decided than this; there is not a trace of vacillation to give the most sanguine suitor hope.â Then, as if some other idea was expressing itself almost in spite of herself, she added: âDo I not look deadly pale, Mary?â âVery white and worn, madam, as you well may.â âBut bad enough for people to observe who did not know the cause?â âFor some people, madam. _She_ saw it sharp enough, if you mean _her_, my Lady,â and the waiting-maid made a significant gesture in the direction of Miss Rose Aynton. âNothing escapes _her_, bless you--nothing; and the sooner she's out of the house, under present circumstances--and indeed under every circumstance, in my opinion--the better.â âYou never liked her from the first, Mary,â said her mistress in the tone of one who argues against her own conviction. âWe should not be uncharitable in our judgments of others, and particularly as respects young folks; we often set down as serious faults what in them is only thoughtlessness.â âMiss Aynton is none of that sort, my Lady; she always thinks before she speaks, and takes a good long look before she leaps; and for all she seems as though butter would not melt in her mouth, she's as full o' schemes as a cat at a dairy-door. If there's cream to be got in this world, she'll get it, my Lady, I'll go bail, let the butter-milk fall to whose share it will.â âI confess that I can't quite understand her,â said my Lady musing. âI am sure, when she first came, she seemed simple and unobtrusive enough; while, on the other hand, in her manner towards me of lateâ---- âDownright impudence, I call it, my Lady, in such a chit as she.â âWell, I don't say that; but she is certainly not so respectful as she might be. I shall be sorry to send her back to London just as the summer is beginning, to live with her cross old aunt, whom she appears to dislike so; but I confess I think she has been here long enough.â âMuch too long, my Lady, much too long,â answered Mrs Forest gravely; âshe has set more people in the house by the ears than you wot of. While Anne Rees, who used to be Miss Letty's maid, one would think Miss Aynton was her mistress now, so entirely has she got her under her thumb. She has ferreted out some folly of Anne's--Heaven knows how she did it, or what it is; but the girl's her slave. From whom but her did she learn that you were starting at this hour? And, again, why was not Miss Letty told as well as Miss Rose? Do you suppose she would have let anybody else make coffee for her mamma, if she had been aware of your departure? No, no. Then Miss Aynton will take credit to herself for not permitting Miss Letty to be called, and fatigue herself by getting up so early. Nasty, sly young hussy! That's just her way; uncommon civil, kind, and attentive until she gets the upper hand, and finds you under her thumb; then you begin to know her. We've found her out in the servants-hall, although she makes a fool of old Roberts yet. She actually told him, that at the last dinner-party at the Abbey she thought him the most distinguished-looking person in the room; but only wait till she catches him some afternoon at the Madeira! then he'll be her obedient, humble servant, without having any more pretty speeches. That's a bad, bold girl, ma'am, let her be ten times a lady born.â Here Mistress Forest, indignantly tossing her head back, without making due allowance for her bonnet, came into sharp contact with the back of the chariot, and severely bit her tongue. My Lady was thereby enabled to interpose a remark. âBut why have you not told me a word of this before, Mary? I would never have permitted a guest of mine, and particularly a young lady to whom I stand in the relation of guardian while she is under my roof, first to ingratiate herself with my servants, and then to tyrannise over them in the way you describe. I never heard of anything more atrociously mean, and I think you have been wanting in your duty--let alone your personal regard for me, Mary--to have concealed the matter so long.â âBegging your pardon, my Lady, you have nobody to blame but yourself for that,â observed the waiting-maid with asperity. âThe only harsh words you ever spoke to me were about certain of Mrs Welsh's doings, of which I complained with reason, though I do not wish to refer to them now. What you said was this: 'Never abuse the affectionate relation in which we two stand, Mary, by causing me to side with you against your fellow-servants. I can deny you nothing, but do not vex me with talebearing. I hate all vulgar gossip, and despise those who bring it.' After a setting-down like that, it was not likely that I should give tongue about Miss Aynton's ways, nor let you know how she has made Anne Rees a spy upon us all. No, no; mind your own business, Mary Forest, says you; and I've minded it, my Lady, ever since.â âDo not be angry with me, friend,â returned Lady Lisgard sadly; âI daresay I was wrong; and even if not, I have no heart to argue with you now.â âAnd no wonder, poor dear,â assented the waiting-maid, greatly mollified. âI was a brute to bring it up against you just now in all this trouble; nor was it the right time, perhaps, to speak about Miss Aynton's goings on. Only you yourself said her manner was not quite what it used to be, and I was so afraid that she might be getting _you_, my Lady, under her thumb.â âHow could that possibly be, Mary? She surely cannot have the slightest suspicion ofâ-- âShe sniffs something, my Lady, or she would not have been making your coffee this morning. However, let her sniff, only be you very careful to lock your desk; and when you want to say anything to me about you know who, come out of earshot of the keyhole of your own door.--Ah, wouldn't she, though? But I know better. A thief? No, I didn't say a thief, although, for the matter of that, she has a mind to steal from you, or I am much mistaken, something you value most on earth--your son. There now, I've said it.â And the waiting-maid drew a very long breath, as though some oppressive weight was off her mind at last. She evidently expected her mistress to express astonishment, if not horror; and it was positively a disappointment to her when my Lady replied calmly: âI know all about that, Mary; but you are doing Miss Aynton wrong. She might have been my daughter-in-law if she liked, and yet, to my certain knowledge, she refused to be so.â âShe _refused?_â âMost certainly she did. My son made her an offer in my presence, and she rejected him.--But here we are at Dalwynch. Tell Wiggins to stop at the post-office. Thank Heaven, there is plenty of time to spare. How my heart does beat!â The waiting-maid pulled the check-string,
{'title': 'Mirk Abbey, Volume 2 (of 3) by James Payn', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}