Beechcroft at Rockstone

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Beechcroft at Rockstone

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'There's no better nurse in the world, dear old Halfpenny,' said Lady
Merrifield, with tears in her eyes. 'I do feel most thankful to you
for proposing it. Never mind about Primrose, only you must have your
meals and a good rest here, and not knock yourself up.'

Mrs. Halfpenny smiled grimly at the notion of her being sooner
knocked up than a steam-engine. Dr. Dagger entirely confirmed her
opinion that poor Kalliope was likely to have a serious illness, low
nervous fever, and failing action of the heart, no doubt from the
severe strain that she had undergone, more or less, for many months,
and latterly fearfully enhanced by her mother's illness, and the
shock and suspense about Alexis, all borne under the necessity of
external composure and calmness, so that even Mrs. Lee had never
entirely understood how much it cost her. The doctor did not
apprehend extreme danger to one young and healthy, but he thought
much would depend on good nursing, and on absolute protection from
any sort of excitement, so that such care as Mrs. Halfpenny's was
invaluable, since she was well known to be a dove to a patient, but a
dragon to all outsiders.

Every one around grieved at having done so little to lighten these
burthens, and having even increased them, her brother Alexis above
all; but on the other hand, he was the only person who was of any use
to her, or was suffered to approach her, since his touch and voice
calmed the recurring distress, lest he were still in prison and
danger.

Alexis went back dutifully on the Monday morning to his post at the
works. The young man was much changed by his fortnight's
experiences, or rather he had been cured of a temporary fit of
distraction, and returned to his better self. How many discussions
his friends held about him cannot be recorded, but after a
conversation with Mr. Flight, with whom he was really more unreserved
than any other being except Kalliope, this was the understanding at
which Miss Mohun and Lady Merrifield arrived as to his nature and
character.

Refined, studious, and sensitive, thoroughly religious-minded, and of
a high tone of thought, his aspirations had been blighted by his
father's death, his brother's selfishness, and his mother's
favouritism. In a brave spirit of self-abnegation, he had turned to
the uncongenial employment set before him for the sake of his family,
and which was rendered specially trying by the dislike of his fellows
to 'the gentleman cove,' and the jealousy of the Stebbings. Alike
for his religious and his refined habits he had suffered patiently,
as Mr. Flight had always known more or less, and now bore testimony.
The curate, who had opened to him the first door of hope and comfort,
had in these weeks begun to see that the apparent fitfulness of his
kindness had been unsettling.

Then came the brief dream of felicity excited by Gillian and the
darkness of its extinction, just as Frank Stebbing's failure and the
near approach of Mr. White had made the malice of his immediate
superiors render his situation more intolerable than ever. There was
the added sting of self-reproach for his presumption towards Gillian,
and the neglect caused by his fit of low spirits. Such a sensitive
being, in early youth, wearied and goaded on all sides, might
probably have persevered through the darkness till daylight came; but
the catastrophe, the dismissal, and the perception that he could only
defend himself at the expense of his idol's little brother, all
exaggerated by youthful imagination, were too much for his balance of
judgment, and he fled without giving himself time to realise how much
worse he made it for those he left behind him.

Of course he perceived it all now, and the more bitterly from his
sister's wanderings, but the morbid exaggeration was gone. The
actual taste of a recruit's life had shown him that there were worse
things than employment at the quarries with his home awaiting him,
and his cell had been a place of thought and recovery of his senses.
He had never seriously expected conviction, and Sir Jasper's visit
had given him a spring of hopeful resignation, in which thoughts
stirred of doing his duty, and winning his way after his father's
example, and taking the trials of his military life as the just cross
of his wrong-doing in entering it.

His liberation and Mr. White's kindness had not altered this frame.
He was too unhappy to feel his residence in the great house anything
but a restraint; he could not help believing that he had hastened his
mother's death, and could only bow his head meekly under his
brother's reproaches, alike for that and for his folly and imprudence
and the disgrace he had brought on the family.

'And now you'll, be currying favour and cutting out every one else,'
had been a sting which added fresh force to Alexis's desire to escape
from his kinsman's house to sleep at home as soon as his brother had
gone; and Richard had seen enough of Sir Jasper and of Mr. White to
be anxious to return to his office at Leeds as soon as possible, and
to regulate his affairs beyond their reach.

Alexis knew that he had avoided a duty in not working out his three
months' term, and likewise that his earnings were necessary to the
family all the more for his sister being laid aside. He knew that he
hardly deserved to resume his post, and he merely asked permission so
to do, and it was granted at once, but curtly and coldly.

Mr. Flight had asked if he had not found the going among the other
clerks very trying.

'I had other things to think of,' said Alexis sadly, then recalling
himself. 'Yes; Jones did sneer a little, but the others stopped
that. They knew I was down, you see.'

'And you mean to go on?'

'If I may. That, and for my sister to get better, is all I can dare
to hope. My madness and selfishness have shown me unworthy of all
that I once dreamt of.'

In that resolution it was assuredly best to leave him, only giving
him such encouragement and sympathy as might prevent that more
dangerous reaction of giving up all better things; and Sir Jasper
impressed on Mr. Flight, the only friend who could have aided him in
fulfilling his former aspirations, that Mr. White had in a manner
purchased the youth by buying his discharge, and that interference
would not only be inexpedient, but unjust. The young clergyman
chafed a little over not being allowed to atone for his neglect; but
Sir Jasper was not a person to be easily gainsayed. Nor could there
be any doubt that Mr. White was a good man, though in general so much
inclined to reserve his hand that his actions were apt to take people
by surprise at last, as they had never guessed his intentions, and he
had a way of sucking people's brains without in the least letting
them know what use he meant to make of their information. The
measures he was taking for the temporal, intellectual, and spiritual
welfare of the people at the works would hardly have been known
except for the murmurs of Mrs. Stebbing, although, without their
knowing what he was about with them, Mr. Stebbing himself, Mr.
Hablot, Miss Mohun, to say nothing of Alexis, the foremen and the men
and their wives, had given him the groundwork of his reforms.
Meantime, he came daily to inquire for Kalliope, and lavished on her
all that could be an alleviation, greatly offending Mrs. Halfpenny by
continually proffering the services of a hospital nurse.

'A silly tawpie that would be mair trouble than half a dozen sick,'
as she chose to declare.

She was a born autocrat, and ruled as absolutely in No. l as in her
nursery, ordering off the three young ones to their schools, in spite
of Maura's remonstrances and appeals to Lady Merrifield, who agreed
with nurse that the girl was much better away and occupied than where
she could be of very little use.

Indeed, Mrs. Halfpenny banished every one from the room except Mrs.
Lee and Alexis, whom she would allow to take her place, while she
stalked to Il Lido for her meals, and the duties she would not drop.
As to rest, she always, in times of sickness, seemed to be made of
cast iron, and if she ever slept at all, it was in a chair, while
Alexis sat by his sister in the evening.

The fever never ran very high, but constant vigilance was wanted from
the extreme exhaustion and faintness. There was no violent delirium,
but more of delusion and distress; nor was it easy to tell when she
was conscious or otherwise, for she hardly spoke, and as yet the
doctor forbade any attempt to rouse her more than was absolutely
needful. They were only to give nourishment, watch her, and be
patient.

A few months ago Gillian would have fussed herself into a frantic
state of anxiety and self-reproach, but her parents, when her mother
had once heard as much outpouring as she thought expedient, would not
permit what Sir Jasper called 'perpetual harping.'

'You have to do your duties all the same, and not worry your mother
and all the family with your feelings,' he said. She thought it very
unkind, and went away crying.

'Nobody could hinder her from thinking about Kalliope,' she said to
herself, and think she did at her prayers, and when the bulletins
came in, but the embargo on discussion prevented her from being so
absolutely engrossed, as in weaker hands she might have been, and
there was a great deal going on to claim her attention. For one
thing, the results of the Cambridge Examination showed that while
Emma Norton and a few others had passed triumphantly, she had failed,
and conscience carried her back to last autumn's disinclination to do
just what Aunt Jane especially recommended.

She cried bitterly over the failure, for she had a feeling that
success there would redeem her somewhat in her parents' eyes; but
here again she experienced the healing kindness of her father. He
would not say that he should not have been much pleased by her
success, but he said failure that taught her to do her best without
perverseness was really a benefit; and as arithmetic and mathematics
had been her weakest points, he would work at them with her and Mysie
for an hour every morning.

It was somewhat formidable, but the girls soon found that what their
father demanded was application, and that inattention displeased him
much more than stupidity. His smile, though rare, was one of the
sweetest things in the world, and his approbation was delightful, and
gave a stimulus to the entire day's doings. Mysie was more than ever
in dread of being handed over to the Rotherwoods, though her love for
poor Fly and pity for her solitude were so strong. She would have
been much relieved if she had known what had passed; when the offer
was seriously made, Lord Rotherwood insisted that his wife should do
it.

'Then they will believe in it,' he said.

'I do not know why you should say that,' she returned, always
dutifully blinding herself to that which all their intimates knew
perfectly well. However, perhaps from having a station and dignity
of her own, together with great simplicity, Lady Merrifield had from
her first arrival got on so well with her hostess as not quite to
enter into Jane's sarcastic descriptions of her efforts at
cordiality; and it was with real warmth that Lady Rotherwood begged
for Mysie as a permanent companion and adopted sister to Phyllis, who
was to be taken back to London after Easter, and in the meantime
spent every possible moment with her cousins.

Tears at the unkindness to lonely Fly came into Lady Merrifield's
eyes as she said---

'I cannot do it, Victoria; I do not think I ought to give away my
child, even if I could.'

'It is not only our feelings,' added Sir Jasper, 'but it is our duty
to bring up our own child in her natural station; and though we know
she would learn nothing but good in your family, I cannot think it
well that a girl should acquire habits, and be used to society ways
and of life beyond those which she can expect to continue.'

They both cried out at this, Lord Rotherwood with a halting
declaration of perfect equality, which his lady seconded, with a
dexterous reference to connections.

'We will not put it on rank then,' said Sir Jasper, 'but on wealth.
With you, Maria must become accustomed to much that she could not
continue, and had better not become natural to her. I know there are
great advantages to manners and general cultivation in being with
you, and we shall be most thankful to let her pay long visits, and be
as much with Phyllis as is consistent with feeling her home with us,
but I cannot think it right to do more.'

'But with introductions,' pleaded Lady Rotherwood, 'she might marry
well. With her family and connections, she would be a match for any
one.'

'I hope so,' said Sir Jasper; 'but at the same time it would not be
well for her to look on such a marriage as the means of continuing
the habits that would have become second nature.'

'Poor Mysie,' exclaimed Lord Rotherwood, bursting out laughing at the
idea, and at Lady Merrifield's look as she murmured, 'My Mysie!'

'You misunderstand me,' said the Marchioness composedly. 'I was as
far as possible from proposing marriage as a speculation for her.'

'I know you were,' said Sir Jasper. 'I know you would deal by Maria
as by your own daughter, and I am very grateful to you, Lady
Rotherwood, but I can only come back to my old decision, that as
Providence did not place her in your rank of life, she had better not
become so accustomed to it as to render her own distasteful to her.'

'Exactly what I expected,' said Lord Rotherwood.

'Yes,' returned his wife, with an effort of generosity; 'and I
believe you are right, Jasper, though I am sorry for my little
solitary girl, and I never saw a friend so perfectly suitable for her
as your Mysie.'

'They may be friends still,' said Lord Rotherwood, 'and we will be
grateful to you whenever you can spare her to us.'

'Perhaps,' added Sir Jasper, 'all the more helpful friends for seeing
different phases of life.'

'And, said his wife, with one of her warm impulses, 'I do thank you,
Victoria, for so loving my Mysie.'

'As if any one could help it, after last winter,' said that lady, and
an impromptu kiss passed between the two mothers, much to the
astonishment of the Marquis, who had never seen his lady so moved
towards any one.

The Merrifields were somewhat on the world, for Sir Jasper, on going
to Silverfold and corresponding with the trustees of the landlord,
had found that the place could not be put in a state either of repair
or sanitation, such as he approved, without more expense than either
he or the trustees thought advisable, and he decided on giving it up,
and remaining at Il Lido till he could find something more suitable.

The children, who had been there during the special homemaking age,
bewailed the decision, and were likely always to look back on
Silverfold as a sort of Paradise; but the elder ones had been used to
changes from infancy, and had never settled down, and their mother
said that place was little to her as long as she had her Jasper by
her side, and as to the abstract idea of home as a locality, that
would always be to her under the tulip-tree and by the pond at the
Old Court at Beechcroft, just as her abstract idea of church was in
the old family pew, with the carved oak panels, before the
restoration, in which she had been the most eager of all.

Thus a fortnight passed, and then the fever was decidedly wearing
off, but returning at night. Kalliope still lay weak, languid,
silent, fainting at any attempt to move her, not apparently able to
think enough to ask how time passed, or to be uneasy about anything,
simply accepting the cares given to her, and lying still. One
morning, however, Alexis arrived in great distress to speak to Sir
Jasper, not that his sister was worse, as he explained, but Richard
had been selling the house. The younger ones at home had never
troubled themselves as to whose property the three houses in Ivinghoe
Terrace were. Perhaps Kalliope knew, but she could not be asked; but
the fact was that Captain White had been so lost sight of, that he
had not known that this inheritance had fallen to him under the will
of his grandfather, who was imbecile at the time of his flight. On
his deathbed, the Captain had left the little he owned to his wife,
and she had died intestate, as Richard had ascertained before leaving
home, so that he, as eldest son, was heir to the ground. He had
written to Kalliope, a letter which Alexis had opened, informing her
that he had arranged to sell the houses to a Mr. Gudgeon, letting to
him their own till the completion of the legal business necessary,
and therefore desiring his brothers and sisters to move out with
their lodgers, if not by Lady Day itself, thus giving only a week's
spare notice, at latest by Old Lady Day.

'Is he not aware of your sister's state?'

'I do not imagine that he has read the letter that I wrote to him.
He was very much displeased with me, and somewhat disposed to be
angry at my sister's fainting, and to think that we were all trying
to work on his feelings. He used to be rather fond of Maura, so I
told her to write to him, but he has taken no notice, and he can have
no conception of Kalliope's condition, or he would not have addressed
his letter to her. I came to ask if you would kindly write to him
how impossible it is to move her.'

'You had better get a certificate from Dr. Dagger. Either I or Lady
Merrifield will meet him, and see to that. That will serve both to
stay him and the purchaser.'

'That is another misfortune. This Gudgeon is the chief officer, or
whatever they call it, of the Salvation Army. I knew they had been
looking out for a place for a barracks, and could not get one because
almost everything belongs to Lord Rotherwood or to Mr. White.'

Sir Jasper could only reply that he would see what could be done in
the matter, and that, at any rate, Kalliope should not be disturbed.

Accordingly Lady Merrifield repaired to Ivinghoe Terrace for the
doctor's visit, and obtained from him the requisite certificate that
the patient could not be removed at present. He gave it, saying,
however, to Lady Merrifield's surprise, that though he did not think
it would be possible to remove her in a week's time, yet after that
he fully believed that she would have more chance of recovering
favourably if she could be taken out of the small room and the warm
atmosphere beneath the cliffs---though of course all must depend on
her state at the time.

Meantime there was a council of the gentlemen about outbidding the
Salvation Army. Lord Rotherwood was spending already as much as he
could afford, in the days of agricultural depression, on the
improvements planned with Mr. White. That individual was too good a
man of business to fall, as he said, into the trap, and make a
present to that scamp Richard of more than the worth of the houses,
and only Mr. Flight was ready to go to any cost to keep off the
Salvation Army; but the answer was curt. Richard knew he had no
chance with Mr. White, and did not care to keep terms with him.

'Mr. Richard White begs to acknowledge the obliging offer of the Rev.
Augustine Flight, and regrets that arrangements have so far
progressed with Mr. Gudgeon that he cannot avail himself of it.'

Was this really regret or was the measure out of spite? Only the
widest charity could accept the former suggestion, and even Sir
Jasper Merrifield's brief and severe letter and Dr. Dagger's
certificate did not prevent a letter to Alexis, warning him not to
make their sister's illness a pretext for unreasonable delay.

What was to be done? Kalliope was still unfit to be consulted or
even informed, and she had been hitherto so entirely the real head
and manager of the family that Alexis did not like to make any
decision without her; and even the acceptance of the St. Wulstan's
choristership for Theodore had been put off for her to make it, look
to his outfit, and all that only the woman of the family could do for
them.

And here they were at a loss for a roof over their heads, and nowhere
to bestow the battered old furniture, of which Richard magnanimously
renounced his sixth share; while she who had hitherto toiled,
thought, managed, and contrived for all the other four, without care
of their own, still lay on her bed, sensible indeed and no longer
feverish, but with the perilous failure of heart, renewed by any kind
of exertion or excitement, a sudden movement, or a startling sound in
the street; and Mrs. Halfpenny, guarding her as ferociously as ever,
and looking capable of murdering any one of her substitutes if they
durst hint a word of their perplexities. Happily she asked no
questions; she was content when allowed to be kissed by the others,
and to see they were well. Nature was enforcing repose, and so far
"her senses was all as in a dream bound up." Alexis remembered that
it had been somewhat thus at Leeds, when, after nursing all the rest,
she had succumbed to the epidemic; but then the mother had been able
to watch over her, and had been a more effective parent to the rest
than she had since become.

The first practical proposal was Mrs. Lee's. They thought of
reversing the present position, and taking a small house where their
present hosts might become their lodgers. Moreover, Miss Mohun
clenched the affair about Theodore, and overcame Alexis's scruples,
while Lady Merrifield, having once or twice looked in, and been
smiled at and thanked by Kalliope, undertook to prepare her for his
farewell.

Alexis and Maura both declared that she would instantly jump up, and
want to begin looking over his socks; but she got no further than---

'Dear boy! It is the sort of thing I always wished for him. People
are very good! But his things---'

'Oh yes, dearie, ye need not fash yourself. I've mended them as I
sat by you, and packed them all. Lie still. They are all right.'

There was an atmosphere of the Royal Wardours about Mrs. Halfpenny,
which was at once congenial and commanding; and Kalliope's mind at
once relinquished the burthen of socks, shirts, and even the elbows
of the outgrown jacket, nor did any of the family ever know how the
deficiencies had been supplied.

And when Theodore, well admonished, came softly and timidly for the
parting kiss, his face quivering all over with the effort at self-
control, she lay and smiled; but with a great crystal tear on each
dark eyelash, and her thin transparent fingers softly stroked his
cheeks, as the low weak voice said---

'Be a good boy, dear---speak truth. Praise God well. Write; I'll
write when I am better.'

It was the first time she had spoken of being better, and they told
Theodore to take comfort from it when all the other three walked him
up to the station.

CHAPTER XXI. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

In the search for a new abode Mrs. Lee was in much difficulty, for it
was needful to be near St. Kenelm's, and the only vacant houses
within her means were not desirable for the reception of a feeble
convalescent; moreover, Mr. Gudgeon grumbled and inquired, and was
only withheld by warnings enhanced by the police from carrying the
whole charivari of the Salvation Army along Ivinghoe Terrace on
Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps it was this, perhaps it was the fact of having discussed the
situation with the two Miss Mohuns, that made Mr. White say to
Alexis, 'There are two rooms ready for your sister, as soon as Dagger
says she can be moved safely. The person who nurses her had better
come with her, and you may as well come back to your old quarters.'

Alexis could hardly believe his ears, but Mr. White waved off all
thanks. The Mohun sisters were delighted and triumphant, and Jane
came down to talk it over with her elder sister, auguring great
things from that man who loved to deal in surprises.

'That is true,' said Sir Jasper.

'What does that mean, Jasper?' said his wife. 'It sounds
significant.'

'I certainly should not be amazed if he did further surprise us all.
Has it never struck you how that noontide turn of Adeline's
corresponds with his walk home from the reading-room?'

Lady Merrifield looked rather startled, but Jane only laughed, and
said, 'My dear Jasper, if you only knew Ada as well as I do! Yes, I
have seen far too many of those little affairs to be taken in by
them. Poor Ada! I know exactly how she looks, but she is only
flattered, like a pussy-cat waggling the end of its tail---it means
nothing, and never comes to anything. The thing that is likely and
hopeful is, that he may adopt those young people as nephews and
nieces.'

'Might it not spoil them?' said Lady Merrifield.

'Oh! I did not mean that. They might work with him still. However,
there is no use in settling about that. The only thing to be
expected of him is the unexpected!'

'And the thing to be done,' added her sister, 'is to see how and when
that poor girl can be got up to Cliff House.'

To the general surprise, Dr. Dagger wished the transit to take place
without loss of time. A certain look of resigned consternation
crossed Kalliope's face on being informed of her destiny, but she
justified Mrs. Halfpenny's commendation of her as the maist douce and
conformable patient in the world, for she had not energy enough even
to plead against anything so formidable, and she had not yet been
told that Ivinghoe Terrace was her home no longer.

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