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 V.I

 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 GEORGIAN! LADY CHATTERTON. 
 
 author of 
 "life and its realities," 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 YOL I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGn STrJ:ET. 
 
 1858. 
 
 The right of Translation is reserved.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Printed by A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street.
 
 V.I 
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF ANGER. 
 
 " Once upon a time/' said a dear quaint 
 old governess who told the tale, and her 
 stories used to make me so happy at the 
 time, and left such pleasant impressions on 
 my mind, that I am going to write one, as 
 nearly as 1 can remember, in her own words. 
 
 Once upon a time, there was an ancient 
 country house that stood on the highest part 
 of a large deer park, and from the south 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 gallery windows you could look over a vast 
 extent of wooded country. On very fine 
 clear days you could see the blue sea beyond, 
 and sometimes even a few white ships glis- 
 tening like pearls in the sunshine, or pencil- 
 led along the horizon against the glowing 
 sky of evening. 
 
 Just below the windows of this long gal- 
 lery, there was a broad gravel walk, bordered 
 with flowers, and then a terraced garden that 
 sloped down as far as the river. And at the 
 western corner of the lowest terrace, there 
 was an old fashioned summer-house with a 
 pinnacled roof, like a miniature of the beauti- 
 ful clock -tower that surmounted the centre of 
 the old house. 
 
 I used to delight in watching the sunsets 
 from the western oriel of that gallery, and in 
 tracing afterwards the course of the little 
 river towards the piece of water, or rather 
 lake, that ornamented the lower parts of the 
 park, and then seek for it again emerging
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 3 
 
 from the thick woods beyond, like a golden 
 thread glistening here and there, till it was 
 lost in the distance. 
 
 That hour was generally my only leisure 
 time, before the candles were lighted ; so I 
 often lingered, enjoying the changing colours 
 and reflections in the lake, till I fancied that 
 the dark yew trees, and gigantic oaks which 
 skirted its banks bent over it lovingly, and 
 tossed their branches with exulting mirth in 
 the evening breeze. 
 
 Then I would turn round and look along 
 the dimly-lighted gallery, and start with a 
 sort of half pleased and half frightened shud- 
 der at the figures in armour, that were ranged 
 in carved oak niches at the further end. For 
 the evening sky would tinge their helmets 
 and the points of their lances with a blood 
 red gleam, while the figures in the faded 
 tapestry assumed a spectral appearance, and 
 seemed to move with slow and stealthy steps 
 in their shadowy recesses, and the old family 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 portraits looked down and smiled or frowned 
 upon mean, grim majesty. 
 
 I am not, however, going to tell my own 
 impressions, but to relate what occurred at 
 that old Manor Hall long before I saw the 
 place. 
 
 It was a fine summer evening in the year 
 18 — , when the lady of the Hall was sit- 
 ting in the old summer-house. Her majestic 
 figure, high forehead, and handsome, yet 
 somewhat too strongly marked features, 
 might have furnished a good model for Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds. Another lady, who from 
 the resemblance, appeared to be a younger 
 sister, was sitting near, and a beautiful baby 
 was sleeping in a cradle at their feet. An- 
 other child of about two years old was 
 playing or rather running to and fro. He 
 had a mimic sword in his hand, and occa- 
 sionally brandished it with noisy vehemence 
 and a menacing air, in the nurse's face, who 
 sat on the ground rocking the baby's cradle.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 5 
 
 It was one of those calm evenings when in 
 such a beautiful scene, it would seem almost 
 impossible to be either unhappy or wicked, 
 for discontent and anger are so out of har- 
 mony with the beauty of nature and the 
 repose of the hour. 
 
 The deer were lying in picturesque groups 
 under the trees, or moved lazily with majestic 
 and graceful steps among the tall fern. The 
 stream bubbled playfully over the white 
 pebbles in harmonious accompaninent to 
 the buzzing of insects and song of birds, 
 and all nature seemed to breathe pleasant 
 notes of thanksgiving and praise — to vibrate 
 in the common chord of joy. 
 
 Yet none of the human beings assembled 
 in that summer-house appeared to enjoy the 
 hour. Even the sleeping baby had that ex- 
 pression of tired wilfulness on his face, 
 sometimes seen in over-fed, or over-indulged 
 infants, as if he had cried himself to sleep in 
 anger. At last he was suddenly awakened
 
 b THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 by a violent blow of the mimic sword against 
 his cradle, and he began to scream and 
 stretch out his arms with wrathful ve- 
 hemence. 
 
 " Put that sword down instantly ! don't 
 you see it frightens baby ? Put it down, 
 you naughty boy ; don't you hear me ?" 
 exclaimed the lady of the Hall, as she raised 
 her voice to a pitch that was certainly not in 
 harmony with the scene around, while her 
 strongly-marked eyebrows were knit together, 
 and her large eyes flashed with a fiery gleam 
 that seemed to terrify the object of her 
 anger. 
 
 He winced in a sort of shrinking manner, 
 as if accustomed to sharp words, or perhaps, 
 even blows ; and walked with an air of re- 
 signation and dignity towards the httle 
 stream. Then he lay down on the ground, 
 and plucked the wild flowers which grew on 
 the bank, and threw them with a languid yet 
 graceful movement into the water, and
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 7 
 
 watched them as they floated gently down 
 towards the lake. 
 
 " How sullen that boy is ; and how dread- 
 ful to think that he must inherit all this 
 splendid property," said the younger lady. 
 
 " I often think what a pity it is your darl- 
 ing baby is not the heir : indeed, I wonder 
 that papa allowed you to marry when all was 
 entailed upon the eldest son." 
 
 " Don*t talk of it," exclaimed the elder 
 lady with a pettish expression. " You know 
 I am very fond of little Henry when he is 
 good, and I am sure I was miserable when 
 his elder brother died in that dreadful way." 
 
 " What's the matter, nurse ? you startle 
 me when you let things fall in that awkward 
 manner," continued the lady, as she bent her 
 searching glance hastily upon the woman who 
 had dropped the baby's bells and coral. 
 
 " Arrah ! then, my lady ! how can I help 
 it when you talk of the blessed child (bad 
 luck to it), and when the master said it was
 
 8 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 all along of me giving him the wrong me- 
 dicine ; and sure didn't I do it to the best of 
 my judgment? and how was I to know 
 that it would put the poor innocent to sleep, 
 and that he'd never wake again in this world ? 
 By the powers ! I was struck all of a heap 
 when I shook him and shook him, and he 
 never moved or said a word good or bad." 
 
 " Rest be to his soul !" she added after a 
 pause, as she devoutly crossed herself, and 
 then folded her hands over her knees with 
 that indolent gesture which characterises the 
 lower orders of Irish, particularly those of the 
 south-west. She had the air of a favourite 
 dependant. Her dress was showy and of 
 costly material, but tawdry and ill-fitting, yet 
 she was not deficient in a sort of wild grace- 
 fulness often seen in the peasantry of Ireland, 
 particularly those of the western coast, and 
 whose large piercing black eyes and passion- 
 ate lips seem to tell of a southern and per- 
 haps Spanish origin.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. \) 
 
 " Come here, Henry," said the handsome 
 lady of the Hall in a kinder tone, " come, 
 and we will all walk down and see papa 
 fish in the lake. No, I will carry • baby," 
 she added, as the nurse was preparing to 
 take the child out of its cradle. 
 
 « Well, I shall go home," said the younger 
 sister, " for I must finish my letter for the 
 post." 
 
 " Ah, I know whom you are writing to," 
 said the other. " Go down to the lake, 
 nurse, and wait for us near Toads' hole," she 
 added, as she saw the woman was listening 
 to what was spoken. ** Yes, I know to 
 whom you are writing, but I am not sure 
 that I quite approve," she added, as soon as 
 the nurse was out of sight, while an arch 
 smile lighted up her countenance, which was 
 more strikingly handsome than lovely. 
 
 She had that dazzling red-white com- 
 plexion, the well formed but somewhat too 
 prominent nose, and eyes rather too near
 
 10 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 together, which characterise some of the 
 ancient races of well-born Irish. There 
 was a decision in her movements, and at 
 times a harshness in her air, that justified 
 what the common people sometimes said, 
 that she was an " awesome lady." 
 
 " You do not approve of him ?" inquired 
 the younger lady. 
 
 " No," said the elder after a few moments' 
 consideration ; " the more I think of that 
 projected match the less I approve, for I 
 become ever day more convinced that one 
 should never marry a widower. I can never 
 help thinking that my husband loved his 
 fair Helena better than me." 
 
 " Yet nothing can equal his admiration 
 for yourself; he cannot bear you to be one 
 moment out of his sight." 
 
 " Yet I found him only yesterday gazing 
 on his first wife's portrait with sorrowful 
 eyes ; and then I know he is fonder of her 
 child Henry, that sullen, sulky little monkey,"
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 11 
 
 she said, pointing to the boy, *' than he is of 
 mine; and the child hates me, I know he 
 does," added the lady, as she turned her 
 frowning face towards the boy. 
 
 " That's only because you frighten him 
 with those terrific eyes of yours ; you don't 
 know how very angry you sometimes look. 
 
 " Well, I must run home, or I shall be 
 late for the post, so adieu," continued the 
 young girl with an air of determination, 
 which warned her elder sister that she would 
 follow her own wishes without regarding the 
 sage advice she had been giving. 
 
 Then the lady of the Hall looked at the boy 
 who remained still in the same listless attitude, 
 twisting the long blades of grass in his little 
 fingers with a languid air, that perhaps awa- 
 kened his step-mother's attention or pity. 
 
 " Come here, Henry ; come here, dear ; 
 don't be afraid of me, child, I am not angry 
 with you now. Indeed I am not," she 
 added, as she approached him with her own
 
 12 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 baby in her arms, and took his hand. 
 " Come with me and don't be frightened ; 
 there, kiss baby, and make it up." 
 
 The boy could scarcely speak yet, but he 
 made a gesture of dislike and turned away. 
 
 " Kiss baby directly then," she continued, 
 as she held it down near him with a gesture 
 of determination. 
 
 But the boy seemed still less inclined than 
 before, and shrank away with a half annoyed 
 and half frightened look. 
 
 " You shall kiss baby, though, naughty 
 child," she again repeated with flashing eyes 
 and dilated nostrils, as she followed him 
 quickly. " Here Mary — nurse — take Henry 
 home ; I'll have nothing more to say to that 
 wicked child." 
 
 " Mary," she reiterated in a louder tone, 
 when she perceived that the nurse had quite 
 disappeared. " Henry, come back then," she 
 added in a sharp voice, which had the effect 
 of making him run still more quickly down
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 13 
 
 towards the lake. " How tiresome the child 
 is, and how stupid of me not to have made 
 nurse remain 1" she exclaimed, as she fol- 
 lowed in breathless haste down the hill, and 
 succeeded in catching the boy just before 
 he reached the water. *' I have told you 
 never to go near the lake," she added in 
 a still more menacing tone, while her face 
 was flushed with anger and the exertion 
 of running, and she looked very fierce. 
 "Don't go near it, I say, you naughty 
 child ; I know you understand me, though 
 you won't speak or learn to say mamma. 
 Say it now directly — mamma," she added, 
 as she shook the boy's arm. 
 
 " Papa ! " exclaimed the child with a 
 triumphant distinctness. " Papa," he repeated 
 several times with an air of increasing de- 
 fiance. 
 
 "Say, mamma, directly, or I'll box your 
 ears !" she exclaimed, lifting up her hand 
 with a menacins: look.
 
 14 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " No, no ; papa, pa'," replied the boy, 
 while the tears started to his eyes, and 
 he continued to repeat his father's name in 
 piteous and beseeching accents, as if appeal- 
 ing to him for assistance or consolation. 
 
 They had now reached the edge of a 
 steep rocky bank, that bounded the lake on 
 that side, and they stood some twenty 
 feet above a deep pool or bay called Toads' 
 Hole. But the lady was so blinded by 
 anger that she seemed to forget the danger 
 of the spot. Exasperated past all endur- 
 ance by the child's continuing to call upon 
 his father's name, she struck him a violent 
 blow on the ear. 
 
 " Papa," repeated the child in a tone 
 of despair, and avoided the second blow 
 she was about to inflict by springing over 
 the edge of the bank. He struck against 
 a rock near the water's edge, and his little 
 arm was entangled in the roots of a shrub. 
 
 He might be saved if any one could reach
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 15 
 
 the spot, or if he could hold the roots 
 firmly with his little hand. But either 
 stunned by the fall, or insensible of the 
 danger, his wounded arm slipped gradually 
 from the roots, and with a sobbing moan 
 he sank into the pool. 
 
 The lady had watched in breathless 
 horror from above. And now she heard 
 the splash and saw the dark water close 
 over his form ; then his little bleeding arm 
 was raised for a moment, as if to make 
 another touching appeal for help. Again 
 it disappeared, and only a small round eddy, 
 and then a wide spreading circle showed 
 the spot where he had sunk. 
 
 For an instant her eyes followed the 
 eddying circles as if spell bound or stupified. 
 Then suddenly starting, she called in frantic 
 tones : 
 
 ** Mary, Mary, help ! the boy is drowned !" 
 and rushed madly up the sloping park 
 towards the house.
 
 16 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE ACCIDENT. 
 
 "Will your honour be plazed to tell 
 me the way to the doctor's? me child is 
 sick of the fay ver, and we're got wet through 
 and through this blessed night, bad luck 
 to it," said a tired and agitated looking 
 woman, who had been toiling up the steep 
 High Street of Dodcaster. She seemed 
 quite out of breath, and was carrying a 
 heavy child who appeared to be fast asleep, 
 and the repose of its beautiful and innocent 
 countenance, formed a strange contrast to
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. [J 
 
 the frightened and perhaps somewhat guilty 
 look that gleamed in the woman's large 
 dark eyes. Yet her features had not a 
 bad expression, and the gentleman to whom 
 she spoke, said in a kind and compassionate 
 tone: 
 
 **Dr. Jeffrey lives close by in the next 
 street. Here, I will show you the house; 
 but why did you bring your sick child 
 out such a rainy night as this ?" 
 
 "I couldn't help it, your honour. The 
 Mistress was afeerd of the infection, and 
 I was obliged to go off in a jiffy. The 
 Lord grant the poor child may not catch 
 his death ; God bless the darlin'," she added, 
 as she wrapped her cloak round him, and 
 brought the hood more over her bonnet, 
 so as fully to conceal her ow^n face. 
 
 "This is Dr. Jeffrey's house," said the 
 
 gentleman as they arrived near a large red 
 
 brick building, with an old fashioned porch 
 
 before the door. "Do not disturb your 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
 "^P
 
 18 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 child," he added, when they entered the 
 porch. He raised the ponderous knocker, 
 and gave only a gentle tap, but the sound 
 echoed through the narrow street, and woke 
 the baby, who began to cry violently. 
 
 The door was soon opened by a servant, 
 who bowed respectfully to the gentleman, 
 and said that his master was not at home. 
 
 " He was sent for half an hour ago," added 
 the servant; "there came an express from 
 Squire Fitzpatrick at Heronscliffe Park." 
 
 " Mr. Fitzpatrick ! what can have hap- 
 pened to him?" inquired the gentleman. 
 " When I parted from him two hours ago, 
 he was in perfect health." 
 
 "He was thrown from his horse on the 
 Devil's Dyke, and his valet, as rode off 
 here like lightening, says they was afeared 
 it was 'cussion on the brain." 
 
 "Is Mr. Smith at home?" 
 
 "No, Sir; he's gone off too, 'cause they 
 feared a hopperation would have to be
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 19 
 
 performed, as both his legs was broken 
 they found.'* 
 
 During this conversation, the child con- 
 tinued to cry violently, and the servant, 
 whose thoughts were apparently less en- 
 grossed by the misfortune which happened 
 to Squire Fitzpatrick than the gentleman's, 
 looked with enquiring and experienced eyes 
 on it and the woman. 
 
 And now as the lamps which burnt in the 
 hall shone upon the group, the servant ex- 
 claimed : " Bless my soul, what's the matter 
 with that there child, Sir ? it's a crying as if 
 its Hmbs was broke too ; and it's got a wound 
 on its shoulder and arm," he added, as he 
 lifted the shawl that covered the child's 
 figure, and discovered a deep cut from which 
 the blood was flowing. " Its poor little arm 
 must be broken, I am afraid," continued 
 the servant, as he gently touched the 
 swollen hmb ; " what has happened to your 
 child?" 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ^' Why did you tell me it was ill of a 
 fever ?" enquired the gentleman, whose at- 
 tention was now again drawn towards the 
 pair; and he eyed the woman with a sus- 
 picious glance. " If I were sure there was 
 no fear of infection, I would take you to Dr. 
 Jeffrey, as I must drive off to Heronscliffe 
 instantly ; and either he or Mr. Smith could 
 see to the poor child. But I could not venture 
 if it had any fever, on account of the 
 children there." 
 
 " Oh, there's no fear, in life, yer honour ; 
 only I thought yer honour would think I had 
 been drinking if I telled the truth, and that 
 I let the poor innocent fall and broke its arm. 
 Besides, I thought people would tell me 
 quicker, too, what I wanted to know, if they 
 was afreed of the fever," added the woman 
 with a look of confusion, that showed both to 
 the gentleman and servant there was some 
 mystery she wished to conceal. 
 
 However, as the child was evidently
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. . 21 
 
 suffering extremely, they would not waste 
 any time in making more inquiries. 
 
 "Let the woman sit here till I return," 
 said the gentleman, whose name was Roland. 
 " I'll bring the gig here in less than five 
 minutes and take them to Heronscliffe." 
 
 The servant then made the woman sit 
 down in the hall, and brought her some 
 refreshment, and a bandage to tie round the 
 child's arm ; for his master had taught him 
 to treat with kindness all the poor people 
 who came to consult him. 
 
 "Thank yer honour, kindly," said the 
 woman, " and may ye never live to want the 
 bit or the sup ; and may the blessing of the 
 Holy Virgin keep ye from all harm for yer 
 kindness to the poor widdy and fatherless 
 orphant." 
 
 And she continued to talk on, and moan 
 in the strain of a poor beggar, and either 
 could not, or pretended not to hear the 
 questions asked by the servant, who was a
 
 22 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 good deal puzzled at her being in the state 
 of starvation and poverty she described, 
 when her dress was evidently made of some 
 costly material, although drenched and spat- 
 tered over with mud. However, she ate and 
 drank voraciously, and did not seem much 
 disturbed at the poor child's piteous moans, 
 or its refusal to take any food. 
 
 In less than five minutes, Mr. Roland 
 drove up to the door, and the woman and 
 child were placed by his side in the gig, and 
 then he started off at a quick pace along the 
 narrow and dimly-lighted streets. 
 
 "What part of Ireland do you come 
 from ?" he enquired, as soon as they reached 
 a country road where the noise was less 
 deafening than in the old paved streets of 
 Dodcaster. *' Where do you come from ? 
 what was the name of the place in Ireland 
 where you lived ?" he added, as she seemed 
 not to hear his first inquiry. 
 
 " Where did I come from, yer honour ?
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 23 
 
 Oh ! then, sure 'twas Clonakilty when I left 
 it a blessed month agone." 
 
 " And is that your own child ?" 
 " Arrah ! then, whose else would it be, 
 may I make bould to ax yer honour ? and I 
 toihng and striving to keep it and meself, 
 a hard matter I had too. Is it for the likes 
 o' me that must work my fingers to the bone 
 to keep body and soul togither? Is it for 
 the likes o' me to toil and strive to feed other 
 people's childer, and sure isn't the blessed 
 infant called by my name ? By the same 
 token that he was christened Paddy O'Shaugh- 
 nessy, and his godmother was no less than 
 Miss Ellen Macnamara her own self; she as 
 giv'd me christian taaching in the school, 
 hke an angel, as she is now in the blessed 
 heavens : and that learned me ail manner o' 
 hard things, as used to spUt me brain in two 
 to think on ; and by the powers didn't she 
 ax me one day when we was a readin' o' the 
 Holy Gospel, just as if it was nothing at all ;
 
 24 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 says she what's the maning o' the word 
 * abased ;' and says I, sure then, Miss Ellen, 
 isn't a cow a bastf ? And wid' that, she and 
 the other quality and ladies as were foment 
 her began laughin' ready to split their waists 
 in two." 
 
 " I wonder you left your own country, 
 what was your motive in coming to Eng- 
 land ?" 
 
 "What was me motive, yer honour, sure 
 what's that ? I never heard tell of that 
 same." 
 
 " I mean why did you come ? I wonder 
 why you left Ireland." 
 
 " Sure you would not then, if yer honour 
 seed the state we was in wi'' the pestilence 
 and the famine, and not a skreed o' clothes 
 to our backs, and the bitter six weeks when 
 there was not a later to be had, and me 
 childer were all dying round me, and me not 
 able to give them christian burial. Ah 1 
 may you have a happy death and a favour-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 25 
 
 able judgment, and long life after it's all 
 over for yer kindness to the fatherless or- 
 phant." 
 
 And she continued to talk on in a strain 
 which gave him the impression that she 
 rather exaggerated her Irish accent, and in 
 spite of her vehement assertions that the 
 child was her own, he felt there was some 
 mystery about it which she wished to con- 
 ceal. 
 
 But Mr. Roland was too anxious about 
 the fate of his old friend Squire Fitzpatrick 
 to investigate the matter at present, so they 
 remained silent during the rest of the drive. 
 
 It was getting very dark too, and as they 
 drove through a long avenue which led to 
 Heronscliffe Hall, Mr. Roland had some 
 difficulty in keeping on th- road, and he 
 was obliged to proceed very slowly. 
 
 At last some lights were seen gleaming 
 through the trees, and soon afterwards a 
 long white colonnade became dimly visible,
 
 26 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 and the carriage drove up to the front 
 entrance of a magnificent mansion. 
 
 The door was open, and disclosed a bril- 
 liantly lighted hall, and a venerable servant 
 hobbled down the broad flight of steps, and 
 laid hold of the horse's reins. 
 
 " I made sure you would have come, Sir," 
 said the old servant. " I know'd you'd 
 come as soon as you'd heard of the mis- 
 fortune ; so when Suky said she heard the 
 wheels at t'other end of the avenue, says I, 
 ' that's Mr. Roland.' " 
 
 " Here, John, take the gig round to the 
 stable," he said to one of the livery servants, 
 who had come to the door on hearing the 
 approach of a vehicle. 
 
 " And it's not afore you're wanted, Mr. 
 Roland ; indeed I'm afraid it's pretty near all 
 over with the poor master; but, bless me, 
 who have you here ?" 
 
 *' A poor woman whose child is much 
 hurt, and I hope that the Doctor or Mr.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 27 
 
 Smith will be able to see at once what's the 
 matter with it," said Mr. Roland. 
 
 "The Doctor has enough to do with the 
 master, and so has Mr. Smith, too. Here, 
 Richard, d'ye take that female into Mrs. 
 Croft's room," added the old butler, with a 
 somewhat contemptuous glance at the drip- 
 ping woman and her child.
 
 28 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SEARCH. 
 
 "How does Mrs. Norman bear this sad 
 blow ?" inquired Mr. Roland, as he and the 
 old butler traversed the hall, and ascended a 
 broad staircase. 
 
 " The poor angel 1 she was struck all of 
 a heap for some moments, but she never give 
 in or fainted like those foolish maids, that 
 always loses their senses just when they're 
 the most wanted." 
 
 After traversing a long gallery in silence 
 and with cautious tread, they came to Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick's room and softly opened the
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 29 
 
 door. The Squire was a handsome man, and 
 though above sixty years old, had that very 
 morning followed the hounds with all the 
 enjoyment and vigour of youth — the mer- 
 riest, heartiest of the large party assembled 
 at Foxley Hunt, and the richest and most 
 deservedly popular man in the whole 
 county. 
 
 And now he lay almost insensible. His 
 pale face looking more ghastly from the con- 
 trast of the red velvet curtains and black oak 
 carvings of the magnificent bed. Dr. Jeffrey 
 was holding one of his hands, and with a 
 sorrowful and anxious countenance, feeling 
 the scarcely perceptible beating of the 
 pulse. 
 
 A lady was kneeling at the further side of 
 the bed with the Squire's other hand clasped 
 in both her own ; and her head, with its 
 profusion of golden hair, was bent over it as 
 she occasionally pressed it to her lips. 
 
 Now and then the Squire's features moved
 
 30 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 convulsively, and his fingers twitched as if 
 in search of something. 
 
 " He cannot speak," whispered the Doctor 
 to Mr. Roland, as soon as he became aware 
 of his presence, *' yet I see that he is not 
 insensible, and is anxious to say something.'' 
 
 " Here is Mr. Roland come to see you," 
 continued the Doctor in a louder tone. 
 
 The Squire opened his eyes at the name, 
 and looked anxiously towards his friend, and 
 seemed to make eager yet vain endeavours to 
 speak. Then he looked towards the farther 
 end of the long room, and pointed with his 
 finger. 
 
 " His eyes have been fixed on that 
 secretaire in yonder corner, several times since 
 he was brought into the room," said the 
 Doctor. 
 
 " Perhaps that is where his will is kept," 
 said Mr. Roland, and continued in a low 
 whisper, " I beheve that if he were to die 
 without one, all his property would go to a
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 31 
 
 very distant relation ; and then his adopted 
 daughter and her children would be penni- 
 less." 
 
 " I verily believe he hears what you say," 
 said Dr. Jeffrey ; " perhaps it is the key of 
 the secretaire he wants." 
 
 A gleam of satisfaction seemed for a 
 moment to light up the dying man's eyes. 
 
 " Does no one know where the key can be 
 found ?" inquired Mr. Roland, as he touched 
 the shoulders of the lady who knelt at the 
 bed-side. 
 
 She started up, and throwing back the 
 long fair curls which had almost concealed 
 her face, exclaimed with a quivering lip, 
 " How selfish of me not to have thought, 
 not to have endeavoured to help," and hastily 
 traversing the room, she took out a large 
 bunch of keys from a table-drawer. 
 
 Several were tried in the secretaire, and 
 the Squire watched their fruitless attempts 
 with visible anxiety. At last they found the
 
 32 THe REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 right key, and a smile hovered for an instant 
 on his pale lips. 
 
 They opened the drawers and took out 
 several bundles of papers. 
 
 " It is not among these ; if it exists at all ; 
 see, he is not satisfied," exclaimed Mr. 
 Roland. " Can it be that he wishes to draw 
 up a will ?" 
 
 " Perhaps so," said the Doctor, who at 
 that moment observed a change in the 
 invalid, and ran quickly to the bed. 
 
 "Then send for Mr. Garrard, send at 
 once," said Mr. Roland to the old butler 
 who had remained in the room. 
 
 " Too late, I fear," whispered the Doctor 
 with a solemn look and sorrowful tone, 
 as he watched the painful breathing of the 
 dying man. 
 
 The Squire's eyes w^ere closed, but sud- 
 denly they opened wide, and he started 
 forward, then sank back, drew one long 
 struggling breath, and was at rest.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. - 33 
 
 "It is all over," said Dr. Jeffrey, as he 
 laid his hand on the Squire's heart, and 
 then gently closed his eyes. 
 
 The lady sank down on the body, and 
 imprinted a kiss on his forehead. She did 
 not weep then, but stood up and gazed 
 with solemn and wondering awe, at the 
 now peaceful countenance of her departed 
 friend and uncle. 
 
 A fair-haired child of little more than a 
 year old, had toddled unperceived into the 
 room, and startled at the sorrowful coun- 
 tenances that surrounded the bed, without 
 comprehending the cause of their grief, set 
 up a loud cry. 
 
 The sound had apparently the effect of 
 impressing the poor lady with a sudden sense 
 of her irreparable loss. She burst into 
 tears, and a number of the servants who 
 had been waiting outside the door, with 
 eager curiosity to learn the probable chances 
 of their beloved master's recovery, now that 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 they became aware of the sad end, burst 
 forth into violent tears and lamentations. 
 
 "Take Mrs. Norman to her room," said 
 Dr. Jeffrey with a look of authority, to a 
 stately old woman who had nursed the Squire 
 in his infancy, and now acted as head-nurse 
 to the two little children of his adopted 
 daughter, Mrs. Norman. "Make her lie 
 down, and I will come and see her pre- 
 sently." 
 
 As Mr. Fitzpatrick had no nearer relations 
 than Mrs. Norman, and as none of his 
 friends, except some acquaintances who were 
 at the hunt, had yet heard of the accident, 
 Dr. Jeffrey and Mr. Roland felt themselves 
 called upon to give orders, and take the 
 necessary steps to apprize his friends of the 
 event. They immediately sent for Mr. 
 Griffiths, the attorney, who had sometimes 
 been employed by Mr. Fitzpatrick, and as 
 soon as he arrived they recommenced their 
 search for his will.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 35 
 
 Mr. Griffiths was not aware that he had 
 made one, but the other two felt sure that 
 such a religious and conscientious person 
 as Mr. Fitzpatrick, must have taken that 
 necessary precaution to prevent his enormous 
 property from going to his only male relative. 
 For this man, the heir-at-law, Mr. Reginald 
 Fitzpatrick of Kilmachedor Castle in Ireland, 
 was known to be a worthless person, a 
 spendthrift and a gambler, and moreover 
 had quarrelled with the late squire of Herons- 
 cliife Park many years ago. 
 
 Whereas Mrs. Norman was the niece of 
 his late wife; and on the death of her 
 husband, Captain Norman, the Squire had 
 taken her to his home and heart, and told 
 many of his intimate friends, of his intention 
 to make her and her children his heirs. 
 
 " Perhaps his London solicitor may have 
 a copy of the will, or know where it can 
 be found," said Dr. Jeffrey, after they had 
 in vain searched for the document. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " I do not think it likely," said the 
 consequential Mr. Griffiths, "for Mr. Fitz- 
 patrick very seldom went to London ; and I 
 cannot but think he would have employed 
 me, as he often expressed his approbation 
 of the manner in which I performed his 
 behests." 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey shook his head with an in- 
 credulous and somewhat supercilious glance 
 at the attorney, who was one of his patients, 
 and had incurred his disapprobation, and even 
 contempt, from not having adhered to the 
 strict regimen of diet the Doctor had judged 
 necessary for his cure. 
 
 "This is a bad business indeed," said 
 Mr. Roland, " what a fatal change it will 
 be for poor Mrs. Norman, accustomed as 
 she has been to every luxury and comfort. 
 And to think of all this splendid house 
 and estate, and his Irish property, also, going 
 to that worthless man.*' 
 
 They lifted up their hands in dismay.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 37 
 
 but resolved, as a last resource, to send off 
 an express to Mr. Snodgrass of Lincoln's 
 Inn, whom they imagined to have been 
 the Squire's man of business.
 
 38 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CHANGE. 
 
 In the meantime, the Irishwoman and 
 her child, had been taken, by the butler's 
 orders, into the housekeeper's room, where 
 in the confusion and anxiety of the 
 moment, she had not been much attended 
 to. Indeed, nobody had taken any notice 
 of her except the scullery maid, Judy, who, 
 having only been hired the preceding week, 
 and come from a distance, was not so weU 
 acquainted with the popular Squire's merits, 
 and therefore did not feel so much anxiety 
 about his fate.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 39 
 
 Her wonder and curiosity was so strongly 
 excited by the appearance of the "gipsy 
 female," as she called her, and the beautiful 
 wounded child, that she remained in the 
 room and assailed her with a volley of 
 questions. The Irishwoman regarded her 
 with supreme contempt, and pretended not 
 to hear or understand ; but moaned and 
 rocked herself and the child to and fro, as 
 if she were suffering great pain. 
 
 The child cried violently, also, so that Judy's 
 interrogations were almost drowned in the 
 clamour of real and feigned lamentations. 
 
 Mr. Roland had almost forgotten the Irish 
 woman in his anxiety about his friend, and 
 the subsequent search for the will; but at 
 last when they had despatched the express 
 for Mr. Snodgrass, and he was preparing 
 to return home, he remembered her. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey had gone into Mrs. Norman's 
 room to see how she bore this sad misfortune. 
 He found her more composed and resigned
 
 40 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 than he expected, and his admiration for 
 her character and capacities was increased 
 by the heroic manner in which she bore 
 this severe trial, and the presence of mind 
 she had evinced during the painful scene. 
 
 " That's a woman in a thousand," said 
 he to Mr. Roland, whom he met at the 
 door as he left Mrs. Norman's room, *' I 
 verily believe she will make her way, and 
 be able to educate her children, even if she 
 be disappointed of this princely fortune." 
 
 " Can she have much real feeling, do you 
 think ?" whispered Mr. Roland, who did not 
 share in the Doctor's enthusiastic admiration 
 for self-denying or strong-minded characters 
 in general. " However, I must now claim 
 your attention for a poor Irishwoman and 
 her child," he added, " whom I brought 
 here in my gig." 
 
 " Brought here, did you ? well, some im- 
 postor, I suppose, like the woman after whom 
 you sent me a wild goose chase in the snow
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 41 
 
 Storm — the poor creature who was going to 
 be confined on Compton Down, as you were 
 told by a little ragged girl. Ha ! Ha ! I 
 have not yet recovered the cold I caught that 
 bitter night, in my fruitless search all over the 
 downs for your ragged girl and her mother." 
 
 " Well, but this woman's child is evidently 
 suffering tortures from some broken limb or 
 wounds, and — " 
 
 " We shall see," said the Doctor with an 
 incredulous smile, as they proceeded to the 
 housekeeper's room. 
 
 " How did this accident happen, my good 
 woman ?" inquired the Doctor in a kind tone, 
 on their entrance, for his compassion was 
 always excited by the sight of real suffering, 
 and he immediately saw that the child was 
 in great pain. 
 
 " Twas I as let the blessed innocent fall, 
 yer honour, more's the blame, and the stones 
 struck against his arm." 
 
 " This is more than a blow : the shoulder
 
 42 THE REIGNING BEAUTY- 
 
 is dislocated, the hand strained. I trust no 
 bones are broken," he added, after feeling 
 the child's arms and examining his body. 
 " But he must have fallen into the water ?" 
 
 "Twas the storm, yer honour, and the 
 rain that come powdering down on our heads 
 like the biggest cascade at Killarney, enough 
 to drown any mortals, let alone a poor in- 
 nocent babby. Oh, thin, I hope yer honour 
 won't turn us out in the rain to-night," con- 
 tinued the woman, when she saw the Doctor 
 looked incredulous, and eyed her with suspi- 
 cion. " If ye have children of yer own, 
 may be you'll know what's a mother's feel- 
 ings. Don't turn us out, and may the bles- 
 sing of the Vargin and all the Saints be upon 
 you and your house." 
 
 " This is not my house," said the Doctor 
 in a rough voice, for he did not believe 
 a word the woman said ; but he sent for his 
 assistant, Mr. Smith, to bring the instruments 
 and ligaments, and they set the poor child's
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 43 
 
 shoulder. By this time, he felt convinced 
 that the child was in a ver}^ precarious state, 
 and would probably die if it were moved, so 
 he laid it in a bed, and induced the house- 
 keeper, with some difficulty, to allow the 
 woman and her child to remain there till the 
 morning, when he promised to return and see 
 whether it would be safe to move the child. 
 
 " How do we know but the gipsy woman 
 may be a thief?" said the dignified house- 
 keeper, after they had all left the attic where 
 the child had been put to bed. 
 
 "Very probably she is, and I think she 
 has stolen that child," said Dr. Jeffrey, " but 
 still we must not kill the poor boy ; and if 
 you lock her into the room she can't run 
 away with anything." 
 
 By this time, Mrs. Norman had been in- 
 formed, by her maid, of the strange woman 
 and her baby's arrival, and she considered it 
 right to go and visit the poor sick child 
 before she went to bed.
 
 44 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 She met the Doctor on the stairs, as he 
 was about to return home for the night. 
 
 " Quite right, madam, to go and see the 
 child ; it's the very thing 1 should have re- 
 commended ; nothing like occupation and in- 
 teresting oneself about others to cure sor- 
 row. The boy may have some weak broth 
 or gruel, if thirsty, but nothing else till I 
 come.'* 
 
 Mrs. Norman found the woman already 
 fast asleep, but the child was moaning 
 piteously, and tossing about in evident pain. 
 
 " My poor darling," said Mrs. Norman in 
 a kind voice, and she endeavoured to sooth 
 and comfort the child by those gentle endear- 
 ments that none but a mother knows how to 
 employ. 
 
 The boy looked at her with wondering and 
 grateful eyes, and soothed by her tenderness 
 soon fell asleep. 
 
 She remained for a few minutes afterwards, 
 and admired his beautiful face and the black
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 45 
 
 curling hair that clustered round his broad 
 forehead, and the long eyelashes that lay on 
 his fair pale cheeks. 
 
 " That cannot possibly be a common 
 person's child," she thought, " much less a 
 gipsy's, with that fair and delicate com- 
 plexion." 
 
 Then she looked with some curiosity at 
 the woman, and fancied she had something 
 of the air of a gispy, although her skin was 
 not very dark either, but her hands were 
 brown ; and although her dress was of bro- 
 caded silk, Mrs. Norman thought she was 
 certainly not a lady. 
 
 She softly left the room, and determined 
 to return early in the morning to see how 
 the child was. She then went and prayed 
 near the cribs of her own two sleeping 
 infants, and shed tears, of real though not 
 violent grief, for the loss of her kind friend, 
 and almost father, of whose care and af- 
 fection she had been so suddenly deprived.
 
 46 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 She lay down on her bed, but could not 
 sleep : she could only think of him. As 
 yet she did not feel that uncertainty about 
 her future which troubled the good Doctor and 
 Mr. Roland, for she was completely occupied 
 in thinking of the good her uncle always had 
 done ; and her mind was either too well regu- 
 lated, or too innately unselfish to think of her- 
 self, or of the inheritance or loss of all that 
 property. If the idea had occurred to her, 
 she would not have allowed her mind to dwell 
 on such a subject at that moment. Even to 
 harbour fears on her children's account, she 
 would have deemed a mistrust of the good- 
 ness of God. 
 
 Besides, she had scarcely heeded the 
 distress there had been about not finding 
 the will, except with reference to the wishes 
 of the dying man. Although she had heard 
 of the worthless heir-at-law, she had not 
 comprehended the necessity there was for a 
 will; she had had no experience in, or know-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 47 
 
 ledge of that sort of business, although her 
 pleasure in the study and acquirement of 
 other and more graceful branches of li- 
 terature was very great. 
 
 After the storm of the preceding night, a 
 fair sun-rise the next morning shone upon 
 the beautiful woods of HeronsclifFe, as Mrs. 
 Norman proceeded to visit the room where 
 the mortal remains of her dear uncle lay. 
 She had never been in the presence of death, 
 for her husband had expired in India, far 
 away from her; and as she walked through 
 the long corridors a feeling of desolation came 
 over her, and a sensation of awe and some 
 degree of fear made her pause, for a moment, 
 when she reached the door of his room, 
 before she could summon up courage enough 
 to enter. 
 
 '* But how foolish this is," she thought ; 
 " why should I, whom he loved so much, 
 be afraid to approach, when those hired 
 nurses, who were almost strangers, have pro-
 
 48 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 bably been passing the entire night in the 
 room. 
 
 " Let nne remain here alone for a few 
 minutes," she said to the women, who with 
 respectful curtseys and solemn faces quietly 
 left the room. 
 
 The Squire's countenance was even more 
 peaceful and happy-looking than it had ap- 
 peared when, on the preceding evening, Mrs. 
 Norman had seen it just after his decease. 
 All her fears vanished, and even as she im- 
 printed a kiss on his cold forehead, and held 
 in her's the hand that lay in graceful repose 
 at his side, a conviction of his eternal bliss, 
 and the joyful rest into which his pure spirit 
 had entered, became more real to her mind. 
 
 He was gone from that lifeless clay, yet it 
 bore the impress of his mind as she had seen 
 him in his last and happiest moments, and 
 she felt deep gratitude for the additional 
 proof this seemed to furnish her of the soul's 
 immortality. He had evidently been happy
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 49 
 
 to go at the last moment, to leave all the 
 joys of a truly prosperous life : therefore he 
 must have had a foretaste, or at all events 
 an unfailing belief in the greater joy into 
 which he was entering. 
 
 She knelt down and prayed fervently to be 
 enabled to imitate his example, and to fulfil 
 all the wishes he had often expressed about 
 her children's education, and that she might 
 live so as to be as well prepared, should such 
 an awfully sudden summons await her, and 
 that her end might be like his. 
 
 She remained nearly half an hour ; and the 
 two nurses, who had been afraid that such a 
 delicate looking lady would be "taken with 
 the trembles," as they called it, came back, 
 accompanied by the housekeeper, to see 
 whether she had fainted. 
 
 The sound of the opening door awakened 
 her attention, and then she suddenly re- 
 membered the poor child she had intended to 
 visit early that morning. So she softly with- 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 drew, and ascended the old carved oak 
 staircase that led up into the more ancient 
 part of the house. 
 
 She found the child asleep, but the 
 mother was not there, and she concluded 
 that she had gone down for some medicine 
 or refreshment. She was now struck by the 
 melancholy expression on the child's face : — 
 the touching sort of resignation and sad- 
 ness of his beautiful lips, which appeared 
 to her more the habitual expression, than 
 that produced by present pain. It was such 
 a look as she had never seen on the faces of 
 her own sleeping children, and she felt sure 
 the boy must have been ill-used by his 
 mother or nurse.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SHE IS SAVED. 
 
 When Dr. Jeffrey returned home from 
 Heronscliffe the preceding evening, he found 
 his wife very ill. They had lately lost their 
 only child, a boy of three years old ; and as 
 they had been married many years before its 
 birth, and Mrs. Jeffrey was now almost in 
 her fiftieth year, there seemed little prospect 
 of another. 
 
 So the parents were almost broken-hearted 
 at the child's death, and Mrs. Jeffrey, who 
 had been a most active and bustling woman, 
 had now sunk into a languid state of indif- 
 
 E 2 
 
 tlWARY
 
 52 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ference, and appeared to have lost all 
 interest in life. 
 
 She was a fat, good-humoured and rather 
 vulgar looking woman, some ten years older 
 than her Imsband; but he was extremely 
 fond of her, and there was a kindliness in 
 her smile, a heartiness in her loud voice, 
 and even a charm in the sunny expression of 
 her small blue eyes, that made one forget to 
 criticise the size of her waist or roughness of 
 her broad Scotch accent. 
 
 But now, her usually ruddy cheeks were 
 pale and her eyes so dull that they scarcely 
 lighted up with any pleasure at the sound of 
 her husband's footsteps on the stair ; although 
 it was long past his usual hour for returning 
 home, and she had sat up waiting for him 
 till one of her candles had burnt out, and the 
 other was just expiring in its socket. 
 
 " I was in hopes you would be glad to see 
 me, old woman," said the Doctor, as he 
 took her cold hand and pressed it to his lips,
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 53 
 
 with an air of affectionate gallantry worthy of 
 "le grand monarque." "I was afraid you 
 would have been uneasy at my remaining out 
 so long, and that you would be anxious to 
 know how poor Mr. Fitzpatrick was. Did 
 not you hear he was almost killed out 
 hunting ?" 
 
 " Yes, and he wasn't expected to recover ; 
 and I s'pose he hasn't," she said in a tone of 
 listless indifference. 
 
 " And poor beautiful Mrs. Norman, did you 
 not feel anxious to know how she bears this 
 dreadful blow?" 
 
 " She's got her bairns, her two lovely 
 bairns," said Mrs. Jeffrey with quivering 
 lips, as she pointed to an empty crib that 
 stood near her. 
 
 The poor Doctor was on the point of re- 
 minding: her that she still had a devoted 
 husband, but he checked the words, and 
 looking into a large Bible that lay open 
 on the table close by, said, " I am glad to
 
 54 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 find that you have been attempting to read, 
 and you have chosen a good chapter too, the 
 55th. of Isaiah ; but, dear Polly, you can 
 scarcely see, much less feel, the meaning 
 now of those comforting words, * Ye shall 
 go out with joy, and be led forth with peace : 
 the mountains and the hills shall break forth 
 before you into singing and all the trees of 
 the field shall clap their hands.' And you 
 think there is no sorrow equal to yours, and 
 perhaps you are right. My poor Polly, there 
 is no greater sorrow in the world, except 
 what is caused by remorse, than the loss of a 
 child. And you feel of no use besides ; but I 
 want you to remember that poor Mrs Norman, 
 that fair, delicate creature who was always so 
 kind to us, who loved and mourned with 
 you over our darhng Ernest, remember that 
 she has now lost one who was more than a 
 father to her, and that, perhaps, she will now 
 be thrown on the wide cold world without 
 money or friends, that her children will be
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 55 
 
 starving, penniless, that she and they will 
 want almost the necessaries of existence, she 
 who never had an unkind word in her life.'* 
 
 " Ah ! but she's got her bairns ; she's got 
 baith her bairns, and it'll be a pleasure for 
 her to work for them, even if she has to 
 earn her own bread." 
 
 " But how is she to earn it ? if she w^ere 
 to lose her bairns, would you go and try to 
 comfort her ?" 
 
 " Ay, that I would." 
 
 " Well, then, I'm sure you'll not refuse to 
 help her nurse a poor sick child who has 
 been evidently ill-treated, and now lies at the 
 point of death. He was taken there this 
 evening by a strange sort of woman; a 
 beautiful, delicate looking boy with dark 
 eyes and hair like our Ernest's, and he has 
 such a melancholy expression that I am sure 
 he has been habitually neglected or disliked. 
 I am certain that the gispy-looking woman, 
 who says she is his mother, does not care a
 
 56 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 straw for him, only she does not want him 
 quite to die. I believe, though if he were to 
 die, she would not much care, and the poor 
 child certainly will, unless Mrs. Norman 
 should take compassion, or have time to 
 attend to it. Ah ! if you had seen with 
 what touching and patient resignation the 
 child bore a necessary but most painful ope- 
 ration, how his little fingers clung lovingly 
 to mine, although I was inflicting such tor- 
 ture, and how gratefully he looked up in my 
 face, and tried to say " papa," you would 
 have taken it to your heart at once." 
 
 As the Doctor proceeded, he saw the dull 
 and almost vacant looking grey eyes of his 
 wife gradually assume an expression of life, 
 and as he continued his narrative, her whole 
 countenance seemed to awake from the slum- 
 ber of selfish despair. 
 
 Her face was still very sad, but the 
 Doctor's practised eye could discern that 
 look of pity and interest for another, causing
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 57 
 
 a momentary self-forgetfulness, which made 
 him inwardly exclaim, 
 
 " She is saved !" 
 
 In a few moments she raised her eyes to 
 his face, and it was the first time since their 
 misfortune, that she had looked at him with 
 an apparent consciousness of his exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Perhaps she w^as struck with the change 
 that sorrow had made in his appearance, 
 his usually broad and full cheeks being now 
 thin and worn, for she took his hand and 
 pressed it to her lips. He continued to tell 
 of the child's sufferings, and his surmises 
 and fears that Mrs. Norman, who alone 
 could have the faculty or learning requisite to 
 influence sueh a deeply sensitive child, 
 would be unable from want of means to take 
 charge of it herself. 
 
 At last Mrs. Jeffrey rose up from her 
 chair, and exclaimed clasping her hands, " I 
 will go instantly ; take me to the child."
 
 58 THE REIGNING BEA.UTY. 
 
 " No, no/' said the Doctor, as he felt her 
 burning hand : " no, you must have some 
 sleep first, and I must have some supper. 
 Suppose you were to go and make me some 
 little delicacy as you used when we Uved in 
 that little house at Edinburgh, and some 
 mulled wine, which your dear old father said 
 no one could make so well as his favourite 
 Polly." 
 
 "I will, indeed," she said, moving with 
 an alacrity she had not evinced since the 
 death of her child, and lighting another 
 candle she left the room. The Doctor let 
 her go, although he had plenty of servants, 
 and he did not want any supper either, but he 
 hoped that she would prepare some delicacy 
 for him with her own hands as she had been 
 obliged to do formerly, before his successful 
 practice had given them unexpected af- 
 fluence. For he knew that her misery from 
 the loss of her child was fatally increased by 
 having no positive or obligatory employment.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 59 
 
 Her mind was not cultivated, and their 
 riches had deprived her of the peculiar sphere 
 of usefulness in which she had formerly 
 shone. 
 
 Even hefore their child's death, he was 
 aware that she was often painfully impressed 
 by the conviction that his altered position 
 had rendered her comparatively useless, and 
 that she felt her presence was often a gene 
 among the superior and highly intellectual 
 society in which he now hved. For his 
 natural aptitude for learning had enabled 
 him to acquire a great deal of general know- 
 ledge, and he had wisely cultivated also the 
 art of being agreeable in conversation. 
 
 So Doctor Jeffrey was much sought after 
 in society as well as by his patients. His 
 extreme skill in his profession was so great, 
 that many persons came from London, and 
 distant parts of England and Scotland to 
 consult him. 
 
 He might long ago have made what the
 
 60 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 world calls a good match. But Polly Clan- 
 ronald had been the object of his boyish 
 attachment when she was a blooming and 
 almost handsome girl of twenty-six ; one of 
 the nine daughters of a rich farmer near 
 Perth, and he was a poor apothecary's boy. 
 He went to Edinburgh, and returned to the 
 scenes of his youth at five and twenty, with 
 very good prospect of ultimately making way 
 in his profession. He was still attached to 
 Polly Clanronald, and though he found her 
 no longer good looking, and less his equal in 
 acquirements and education ; although his 
 boyish enthusiasm was somewhat cooled by 
 her faded charms, or rather I should say, by 
 her, alas ! too reddened cheeks and too fully 
 developed form, yet he loved her still for 
 her good qualities. Having his way to 
 make in the world, and his younger sisters 
 to support, he thought he could not do 
 better than make her his wife. And an 
 excellent wife she made.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 61 
 
 Fortunately for Mrs. Jeffrey's cure that 
 night, all the servants had gone to bed. The 
 Doctor had dismissed them immediately on 
 his return home, for he was not the least 
 inclined to eat ; and since she left the room, 
 the comparatively resigned, indeed almost 
 cheerful look he wore in her presence was 
 gone, and he bent down his head on his 
 hands in an attitude of deep despondency. 
 For he felt the child's loss quite as much as 
 his wife did, only his habits of active use- 
 fulness, and the large-minded benevolence 
 with which he was wont to exercise his pro- 
 fession, often unconsciously took him out of 
 him.self, and gave him a temporary and 
 healthful respite from the depressing effects of 
 sorrow. 
 
 Yet even now he did not remain long 
 in that desponding attitude, for he began to 
 hope that his wife would revive. He had 
 been glad, by pretending to wish for some 
 food, to give her the occupation of preparing
 
 62 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 it in order to remind her of what she did long 
 before the birth of that child, whose short life 
 of three years seemed now to comprise the 
 entire of her own. 
 
 And he was right. The smell of the nut- 
 meg, the mixing of various ingredients, the 
 care she took in making the toast, brought 
 a healthful glow of animation into her 
 countenance. 
 
 When she returned with the tempting 
 looking tray, the sight of her renovated 
 spirits reacted on his own, and enabled him 
 first to taste, and then to eat with some 
 degree of appetite, the delicacy she had pre- 
 pared. All this reminded her so vividly of 
 the happy past of long ago, that she uncon- 
 sciously sat down near, and tasted the food 
 he put before her. 
 
 So the husband and wife were able to feel 
 thankful for the blessing of each other, and 
 all that was still left to them. They both 
 slept better that night ; and Mrs. Jeffrey awoke
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 63 
 
 without the racking headache, which on pre- 
 ceding days had almost incapacitated her 
 from moving across the room ; and she got 
 up, eager to dress quickly, and start on their 
 expedition.
 
 64 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ADOPTION. 
 
 When the Doctor and his wife reached 
 HeronscHffe Park, they found the old butler 
 and housekeeper, in great consternation at 
 the disappearance of the strange woman, who 
 had brought the child there the preceding 
 evening. For when Mrs. Norman came 
 down from the attic after visiting the child, 
 and inquired for its mother, she was not to 
 be found. 
 
 " I told you to lock her in," said the 
 Doctor in a tone of rebuke. 
 
 " I did then, indeed ; only Mrs. Norman, 
 God bless her, went up last night after Suky
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 65 
 
 had locked the door, and ; not knowing, 
 poor dear lamb, as there was any fear a 
 mother would go away like that and desert 
 her sick child ; she never noticed it was locked. 
 And Mary supposes the gipsy woman went 
 down the brown staircase at twelve o'clock last 
 night, for she heard a creaking of the steps, 
 only being afeard of the ghosts, the foolish 
 girl never looked out, but drew the bed 
 clothes over her head, and went to sleep." 
 
 *' But why have you not sent all round to 
 inquire ?" 
 
 " I have sent Jem into the village, and to 
 the common, where there have been a camp 
 of gipsies the last week, as I thought, may be, 
 they came from it ; but the whole camp was 
 gone off, and Beermall, at the public bouse, 
 says they sailed for America in a ship that 
 went this morning." 
 
 They went up then to the child's room. 
 The little boy was awake, and moaning so 
 piteously that Mrs. Jeffrey's compassion was 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Strongly excited, and she tried to soothe and 
 comfort it, by all the endearing caresses she 
 had been wont to lavish on her own son. 
 
 She was so absorbed in this employment, 
 that she was scarcely aware of anything that 
 passed around. She did not even notice Mrs. 
 Norman, who came up to hear the Doctor's 
 opinion of the poor child's health. Nor was 
 she aware of the anxiety evinced by everyone, 
 (except Mrs. Norman), for the arrival of the 
 London soUcitor, or comprehend the import- 
 ance of ascertaining to whom the splendid 
 house and property now belonged. 
 
 Mrs. Jeffrey's whole soul was centered in 
 the beautiful suffering child, who had awak- 
 ened all the maternal tenderness, which her 
 husband feared had been buried in her son's 
 grave. And it was only when she heard 
 them talk of the flight of the child's mother, 
 who, she understood from her husband, 
 had ill treated the child, that her attention 
 was arrested. When she heard that the
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 67 
 
 messengers had returned and brought no 
 tidings of the woman, except that a person 
 answering her description, had been seen 
 to embark in the ship with some gipsies 
 at Spearmouth, just before the vessel sailed ; 
 then Mrs. Jeffrey felt relieved and became 
 convinced that she could not part with the 
 child. 
 
 "We must take the bairn home with 
 us," she whispered to her husband with 
 beseeching looks, " we cannot part from 
 him." 
 
 The Doctor was almost as anxious as 
 his wife to keep the child; but at the 
 same time, he felt bound to learn the fate 
 of its reputed mother, and, also, to ascertain 
 whether she might not have stolen the boy, 
 for some mysterious reason, from its parents. 
 
 He examined its clothes, but found no 
 mark or any clue whatever, that could 
 lead to a discovery. Its linen was ex- 
 tremely fine, and the entire dress seemed 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 to indicate that its parents were affluent, 
 yet a part of its little under garment was 
 torn, and the Doctor suspected purposely, 
 in order to remove the name or initial which 
 had probably been marked on that part. 
 
 " Yes," said the Doctor in answer to her 
 imploring looks, " we will keep the child, 
 at all events until its real parents can be 
 found." 
 
 " Well, I'm a' most glad now we're going 
 to live at Nordington," said Mrs. Jeffrey, 
 as soon as they were left alone in the 
 room. 
 
 " Because you think there will be less 
 probability of the child's being claimed, than 
 if we lived at Dodcaster, is it not ?" said 
 he, with a smile that reminded her of past 
 days, before their child was taken ill. 
 
 "Well, God is good, indeed, for I never 
 expected to feel glad again," said Mrs. Jeffrey, 
 " and now methinks Providence has given us 
 another bairn. I'm sure it'll be ours, the
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 69 
 
 poor innocent was too good for them as 
 had it ; it's not used to be petted and spoken 
 kindly to, I see plainly, and so it was taken 
 from them and given to us." 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey had been solicited by several 
 gentlemen, friends, to remove to a new and 
 celebrated watering-place, to supply the place 
 of an eminent physician who had lately 
 died, as they considered it a pity that such 
 talent and skill, as he possessed, should not 
 have a larger scope, and meet with more 
 remuneration than in Dodcaster. 
 
 The late Dr. Johnson was said to have 
 made from four to six thousand a year by 
 his practice at Nordington, and they expected 
 that Dr. Jeffrey would be equally successful. 
 But he was so strongly attached to the 
 families of his patients and friends in Dod- 
 caster and its neighbourhood, that he had 
 decided not to quit it. 
 
 The death of his child, however, altered 
 his views, as he considered that a complete
 
 70 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 change of scene would be better for his 
 wife ; and in the event of her ever recover- 
 ing her health and spirits, that among the 
 different classes of persons who visited a 
 watering-place, she might find some society 
 more congenial to her than she had at an 
 old-fashioned country town, where the grades 
 of high and low were more strongly marked. 
 
 It had been arranged that they were to 
 start for Nordington the next week, and the 
 Doctor was resolved that in case no will should 
 be found, and that Mrs. Norman and her 
 children were thus deprived of their ex- 
 pected inheritance, they should accompany 
 him. 
 
 That evening, Mr. Snodgrass arrived, and 
 informed them that he well remembered 
 having drawn up a will for the late Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick, in which he bequeathed the 
 whole of his large property to Mrs. Norman. 
 It was made the preceding year, accord- 
 ing to instructions given in a letter, and
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 71 
 
 had been forwarded to Mr. Fitzpatrick by 
 post. He had acknowledged the receipt of 
 it, and expressed his approbation of the 
 manner in which it was drawn up. But 
 whether he had ever signed it, or what 
 he had done with it since, Mr. Snodgrass 
 could not tell. 
 
 Search w^as again made in every part of 
 the house, but without success; and the 
 heir-at-law, Mr. Fitzpatrick of Kilmachedor, 
 had already arrived at the hotel at Dod- 
 caster, and was, of course, impatient to 
 take possession of his splendid inheritance. 
 
 He brought several boisterous and rol- 
 locking Irish companions with him, and 
 several vulgar looking ladies, one of whom 
 was called Mrs. Fitzpatrick, although it was 
 well known that his wife died several years 
 ago, when giving birth to her first child. 
 
 This little boy, about ten years old, also 
 accompanied the party, and his wild freaks 
 and mischievous practical jokes were alter-
 
 72 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 nately applauded or punished, according to 
 the humour in which his father, and often 
 drunken friends, happened to be at the 
 moment; and the wild youth caused great 
 annoyance to the innkeeper, and the visitors 
 at the Black Lion Hotel at Dodcaster. 
 
 It may be imagined that the sight of 
 this disreputable party, increased the anger 
 felt by the whole neighbourhood, at the 
 prospect of the beautiful and deservedly 
 popular Mrs. Norman losing her inheri- 
 tance.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 73 
 
 CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 VICISSITUDE. 
 
 After the funeral, the friends of the 
 late Squire, Mr. Fitzpatrick, felt that it was 
 impossible longer to keep out the lawful heir, 
 who threatened with drunken violence to 
 break down the gates, if he were denied 
 access to Heronscliffe Park. 
 
 But all the neighbours were prompt, 
 and most of them sincere in their offers 
 of assistance to the fair outcast, and Mrs. 
 Norman might have chosen almost any house 
 for her temporary, or perhaps permanent, 
 abode. Yet she firmly, although with tears
 
 74 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 of gratitude in her eyes, declined to receive 
 any assistance, nor would she even accom- 
 pany Dr. Jeffrey and his wife to Nordington. 
 
 She assured them that her late husband's 
 pension would suffice, and that, if at any 
 future time she could not contrive to educate 
 her children, or should be in distress, she 
 would call upon them for help. So she 
 started by the coach for Exeter, accompanied 
 by her children only, and their nurse. 
 
 Her late husband had a sister who lived 
 near that town, and was married to a res- 
 pectable, though not very rich, country pro- 
 prietor, Mr. O'Hara. 
 
 Mrs. Norman did not mean, however, 
 to be a burden to this, her nearest and 
 almost only relative, but she fancied she 
 might live cheaper in that neighbourhood, 
 without causing annoyance to her friends 
 and acquaintances by the sight of her poverty. 
 She did not know the value of money, 
 and had very little experience. But she
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 75 
 
 knew that the one hundred a year, all 
 that was legally hers, would not go far to 
 educate her boy and girl, though she re- 
 solved, if possible, to increase that sum, 
 if she could find any employment that 
 would not entail a separation from her 
 children. 
 
 Her sister-in-law, Mrs. O'Hara, was a 
 very peculiar woman. Educated by a bigoted 
 father, in the extreme precepts of the low 
 church school, strong-minded in some res- 
 pects, and very proud of her unflinching 
 faith, she was yet often apt to be guided 
 by caprice ; occasionally forming sudden and 
 warm friendships, and exerting her whole 
 energies to benefit the objects of her attach- 
 ment. But her feelings would cool down 
 as soon as she had accomplished her end, 
 or sometimes even before, if she found great 
 difficulty in assisting them. 
 
 Her husband accused her of loving people 
 in proportion as she felt able to serve
 
 76 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 them, or that she considered they were 
 really in want of her, which was all very 
 well, he said, if she did not let them drop 
 altogether afterwards. 
 
 At first she entered most zealously into 
 Mrs. Norman's schemes, at least she talked 
 with her most eloquently, but her views 
 were too visionary and impracticable to suit 
 the poor widow's matter of fact, and as 
 Mrs. O'Hara considered, rather common- 
 place turn of mind. 
 
 After due consideration, Mrs. Norman 
 thought her best plan would be to keep 
 a day-school. She had received a good, 
 though not brilliant education, and she 
 had acquired considerable knowledge by dili- 
 gent perseverance, without the aid of much 
 natural talent or genius. She felt competent 
 to instruct in French and English, and 
 also to superintend music and drawing. 
 
 Mrs. O'Hara made enquiries, although 
 it was a plan she did not fully approve
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 77 
 
 of, as she considered her sister-in-law's 
 religious opinions not quite orthodox, and 
 that she would not advance her pupils " in 
 the growth of grace," so she had endea- 
 voured to pursuade her to teach only music 
 or drawing, or in fact to become an artist. 
 
 "To paint pictures and take likenesses, 
 that would be just the thing," she often 
 said, *' there was that poor young man, 
 the French emigre, Adolphe de St. Leon ; 
 I saw he would make his fortune by paint- 
 ing, and I went to London on purpose to 
 recommend him to the poet Mr. Rayers, 
 and he is now making from three to four 
 hundred a year by his art. If you were 
 to study under him now for six or eight 
 hours a day — " 
 
 " I really have very little talent for draw- 
 ing," interrupted poor Mrs. Norman, who 
 shrank from the idea of a London life, and 
 being shut up all day with the smell of 
 oil paints. However, she soon began to
 
 78 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 despair of doing anything in that neigh- 
 bourhood, for besides Mrs. O'Hara's pre- 
 judices, she saw that she was not in other 
 ways much able to help her, not being 
 on very good terms with many of her 
 neighbours, and, therefore, not considered 
 by them to be competent to recommend 
 an instructress for their children. 
 
 " I am afraid you must go to London 
 after all," said Mr. O'Hara, who had heard 
 of his wife's schemes, " that is if you are 
 really determined to do something to increase 
 your income ; but you had better first make 
 inquiry, and there must be many of your 
 former neighbours who have connections." 
 
 Mr. O'Hara remembered that the artist, 
 St. Leon, had now a very large acquaintance, 
 and he wrote to beg that he would enquire 
 among them, for any persons who wanted 
 an instructress for their children ; and he 
 detailed Mrs. Norman's history. 
 
 This was the origin of my acquaintance with
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 79 
 
 her and that of my brother, Adolphe De St. 
 Leon. He was at that time one of the most 
 promising artists of the day, and had lately 
 taken a house at Brompton, where there was 
 a good room which he could convert into 
 a studio. 
 
 It stood in a little garden of its own, 
 and being much larger than he required, 
 he hoped to be repaid some of the rent 
 by letting two or three rooms as lodgings, 
 if he could find an eligible tenant. 
 
 I, the old governess who am narrating 
 this now in spectacles and grey hair, was 
 then twelve years old, and remember the 
 day when Mr. O'Hara's letter came, and 
 hearing my brother and his pretty young 
 wife talking about it.
 
 80 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ARTIST. 
 
 Adolphe de St. Leon was my half- 
 brother, and, as some of my pupils in after- 
 life observed, it seemed very hard he should 
 have such a beautiful name, while mine was 
 Nelly Muggins. 
 
 My mother was the widow of the last 
 Count de St. Leon, who was guillotined 
 during the Revolution; and she sought re- 
 fuge in England with her only son Adolphe, 
 a boy of about four years old. She was 
 extremely poor, but contrived for a time to 
 live by teaching the harp and singing.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 81 
 
 But her health, never very strong, became 
 worse from the fogs of London, and want of 
 good nourishment ; and the anxiety she felt 
 about her httle boy aggravated the malady. 
 
 She was obliged to give up teaching, and 
 soon afterwards w^as confined to her room. 
 She could not bear to receive assistance from 
 the persons she had taught, as in those days 
 people of all ranks were very kind, often 
 beyond their means, to the poor emigres, 
 and she therefore sought to conceal her 
 distress as much as possible. 
 
 Madame de St. Leon had received much 
 attention from Miss Muggins, the sister of 
 a wealthy hatter in the City, and after my 
 mother was unwell, this elderly lady often 
 came to read French with her, and helped 
 her to teach little Adolphe. At last she 
 prevailed on her, when she felt better, to 
 go and live with her in her own home, 
 where Miss Muggins resided with her 
 brother. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 For the child's sake my mother consented, 
 having no prospect for him but starvation. 
 She had very deHcate health for some 
 months, during which time Miss Muggins 
 nursed her like a sister, and the brother, 
 Josiah Muggins, used to come and read to 
 them in the evenings, and won my poor 
 mother's gratitude, especially by his kindness 
 to her little child Adolphe. 
 
 He must have been a most kind-hearted 
 man, for the number of emigres he contrived 
 to assist was wonderful. 
 
 Two years afterwards my mother and he 
 married, and she had great delight in assist- 
 ing the emigrants who came in their way, 
 many of whom were her old friends and 
 acquaintances. 
 
 She died at my birth, and soon afterwards 
 my father failed. In his despondency for 
 her death, he ceased to take care of his 
 concerns, and thus accelerated embarrass- 
 ments which his over generosity had begun.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 83 
 
 The misfortune preyed upon his mind, and 
 he soon afterwards died. I have a dim re- 
 collection of my aunt, his old sister, and of 
 her kindness to me. But she died when 
 I was about five years old ; and so I was 
 left to the sole guardianship of my half- 
 brother, a wild, clever boy of sixteen. 
 
 My father had no relatives. He had risen 
 by his own industry, having been originally 
 an orphan boy in the workhouse at York. 
 So we had no one to help us, and lived for 
 several years in the utmost distress. I will 
 pass over that miserable time, when my 
 brother would almost starve himself to give 
 me food ; and I used to pretend to have 
 eaten while he was out, in order to make 
 him taste the little loaf he sometimes brought 
 home in the evening, and it often almost 
 broke my childish heart to see him look so 
 thin and exhausted. 
 
 Soon his talent for drawing developed 
 itself, and he occasionally got something for 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 his pencil sketches, and for short pieces of 
 poetry he sometimes was able to publish in 
 magazines. 
 
 At eighteen, he became acquainted with a 
 fair young girl, who was afterwards the 
 favourite model in most of his pictures. She 
 was day-scholar at a school where Adolphe 
 had succeeded in becoming teacher of drawing 
 and design. 
 
 It was a poor school, only for trades- 
 people's children, and Louise, as he called 
 her, was almost as poor as ourselves. 
 
 At first, he only admired her at a distance, 
 and never ventured to speak. But at last 
 a fortunate chance made me acquainted with 
 her, and then she and her elder sister used 
 to come and sit with us of an evening, and 
 bring their work. 
 
 Their kind bright faces, and cheerful 
 voices, form some of the pleasantest visions 
 and sounds of my childhood. But it would 
 fill volumes to write of those times. So I
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 85 
 
 will pass over them, till my brother made 
 enough money to send me to the school as 
 a day-boarder. 
 
 By that time Louise was one of the 
 teachers, and from her I received most of 
 my early instruction. 
 
 One day, some of my brother's perfor- 
 mances in a shop-window, for sale, attracted 
 the notice of a Mr. O'Hara, who pointed 
 them out to his wife, and on inquiring at 
 the shop and learning my brother's history, 
 this kind and zealous lady took Adolphe 
 under her protection, and recommended him 
 as a portrait-painter to all her friends and 
 acquaintances. 
 
 This was a great assistance, and my 
 brother, by his talent and industry, soon 
 made a little income, sufficient to enable 
 him to marry Louise, and set up as an 
 artist. 
 
 After this long digression, 1 must go back 
 to that morning when Mr. O'Hara's letter
 
 86 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 arrived. Louise, after reading it, suggested 
 that Mrs. Norman might obtain the office 
 of teacher in a girl's school, the next house 
 to ours, where a daily instructress was re- 
 quired for French and music. 
 
 She had conceived so much interest for 
 the fate of the poor lady who had met with 
 such a strange reverse, and evinced such 
 wonderful independence, that she entered 
 zealously into Mr. O'Hara's plan for assist- 
 ing her, and further suggested that Mrs. 
 Norman should occupy their spare rooms 
 until a suitable tenant could be found. 
 
 " And where are the poor lady and her 
 children to go then ?" inquired my sensible 
 brother in a slightly foreign accent, while 
 he elevated his dark eyebrows, and made an 
 inquiring gesture with his small, well-formed 
 hand, that reminded me of the portrait of 
 the old Marquis de St. Leon, his celebrated 
 ancestor, of Henri Quatre's days. " Where 
 will you have them go then, ma chere
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 87 
 
 Louise? for we cannot let them pay, you 
 know. If they come they must be our 
 friends, and, ma foi, let them, for I see it 
 will give you pleasure ; and it is evident 
 that poor Mrs. Norman will not ruin us 
 if she can help it, or she would not so 
 nobly have rejected all the offers of assistance 
 she has received." 
 
 So it was arranged that they were to be 
 invited, and soon afterwards, one fine spring 
 evening, they were expected to arrive.
 
 88 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL, 
 
 It was a great event in our little house- 
 hold, and I well remember the delight I 
 felt at being allowed to assist in arranging 
 Mrs. Norman's room. The bouquet of 
 sweet flowers my brother had contrived to 
 pick from our tiny garden, and arranged 
 with artistic skill, I was allowed to place, 
 with glad triumph, on her dressing-table. 
 
 That little low bed-chamber, with its 
 clean white dimity furniture, and the com- 
 fortable arm-chair, and the adjoining sitting- 
 room or nursery, (that looked on a few green
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 89 
 
 trees, and the high walls of some neigh- 
 bouring gardens), the whole was, in my 
 eyes, a complete paradise. For my early 
 childhood had been passed in a noisy, dark 
 street in the heart of the City, and during 
 my brother's subsequent poverty, we had 
 sometimes been obliged to live in a cellar. 
 
 I had often passed months and months 
 without seeing a tree or flower, and my 
 fondness for the country, for every blade of 
 green turf, and for the song of birds, was 
 all the greater. When my brother, after 
 having, for the last three years, attained 
 comparative affluence, w^as able to give up 
 
 his lodgings in Street, and take this 
 
 old cottage at Brompton, my happiness was 
 at first complete. 
 
 I fancied Mrs. Norman must be enchanted 
 with her apartment at the back of the house, 
 where the sparrows chirped so cheerfully in 
 the boughs near, and the notes of a gold-
 
 90 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 finch, and I inaagined even nightingales, 
 might occasionally be heard. 
 
 But Louise shook her wise little head, 
 with its fair clustering curls, at my en- 
 thusiasm, for she remembered having once 
 seen Heronscliffe Park from the road, as she 
 v^^as travelling to Dodcaster ; and she described 
 its palatian appearance, and told of the splen- 
 did trees, sunny glades, broad terraces and 
 river, till I almost cried at thinking the 
 poor lady should have been deprived of such 
 a residence. 
 
 " Ah ! you would admire that," said my 
 observant brother. " My dear little sister 
 has a terrible taste for grandeur, poor child ! 
 She has much of our old French enthusiasm 
 and love of luxury in her, w^hen, alas ! it 
 would be far better if she had more of her 
 good, honest father's money-making qualities. 
 What shall we do with her, chere Louise ?" 
 
 " She will do very well, never fear ; she
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 91 
 
 already knows more than most girls of her 
 age." 
 
 " Ah ! it is not the knowledge she will 
 want," said my brother, with a shrug of 
 his shoulders. " She is clever enough ; too 
 clever, perhaps," he added, with a melan- 
 choly smile in his large dark eyes. " But 
 she has a wild imagination ; such a strong 
 will, and strong passions ; she will have too 
 much trouble with herself." 
 
 " Well, in the meantime, she does not 
 give us much trouble now," said Louise; 
 " and you know, dear Adolphe, you are 
 sometimes prone to look on the gloomy side 
 of things ; you anticipate evils, and have 
 often told me not to let you despond ; 
 besides, it is a pity to talk of Little Nelly 
 before her," she continued, as she saw the 
 look of sadness and thought my brother's 
 observations had awakened, and which was 
 pourtrayed on my sallow face. *' She thinks
 
 92 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 deeply enough already, and I want to make 
 her grow fat and thoughtless." 
 
 "I am sure I am thoughtless enough," 
 said I, laughing, " for I am always getting 
 into scrapes, and never think of the right 
 thing at the right time. There ! is not that 
 a carriage at the door?" and I ran to the 
 front staircase windows, and clamhered up 
 into the high old-fashioned seat for about the 
 twentieth time within the last hour. 
 
 I was right now, for one of those lumber- 
 ing hackney-coaches of the olden time had 
 stopped opposite the door. Its jingling steps 
 were let down, and I saw a lady in black 
 get out, holding a young child in her 
 arms. 
 
 A pretty fair-haired boy toddled down 
 after her. My brother and Louise had gone 
 down stairs, and I saw the latter take the 
 lady's hand, and my brother took off his hat, 
 and bowed with the same stately poHteness as
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 93 
 
 when the Duchess of D and other great 
 
 ladies came to his studio. I had been 
 longing all day for Mrs. Norman's arrival, 
 but now I was seized with one of my shy 
 fits, and dreaded having to appear before 
 her, and felt much frightened at the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 So, under the plea of seeing that all was 
 right in her room, and that the fire was 
 good, I went back into her apartment, and 
 lingered in admiration of it for a few 
 minutes. Besides, in spite of all my anxiety 
 for the arrival of the strange lady who was 
 to inhabit these pretty rooms, I never 
 forgot that she was a friend of Mrs. 
 O'Hara's, and I had never yet liked the 
 persons she recommended to my brother. 
 Besides, I disliked herself extremely, I am 
 ashamed to say, in spite of all her real 
 kindness. For Mrs. O'Hara was very plain 
 and ungraceful, and I heard her several times 
 say sharp things about people, and she had
 
 94 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 sometimes found fault with my brother's 
 pictures in a way that I resented extremely. 
 I was, therefore, at times rather prepared to 
 dislike Mrs. Norman, although her melan- 
 choly fate had excited deep interest in my 
 heart. But now I tried to remember her 
 misfortunes, and to think and hope she 
 would be very happy in these rooms. 
 
 " She must and will," I thought, as I 
 took courage, and ran to see whether I could 
 help in bringing up any of her luggage. 
 
 Mrs. Norman was paying the coachman, 
 and I had time to look at her fair, pretty 
 face, and soft blue eyes, before my brother 
 mentioned me to her. 
 
 "This is my little sister Nelly — Nelly 
 Muggins," said he, as he waved his hand 
 when he saw she perceived me. 
 
 Mrs. Norman took my hand, and a kind 
 smile lighted up her countenance. The 
 younger child, the little girl she had carried 
 in her arms out of the coach, was now
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 95 
 
 standing on the ground clinging to her side, 
 and trying to hide its little shy face from 
 the strangers in the folds of her dress. 
 
 The boy was carrying a large parcel with 
 a grave air of importance which rather 
 amused me, and I felt less frightened at 
 both the children than I had expected. 
 
 " I am afraid you are very tired with 
 your long journey," said Louise, as she led 
 them up-stairs, " and would rather be quite 
 alone in your apartment, and dine in your 
 own sitting-room ?" 
 
 " I do not want any dinner, thank you," 
 said Mrs. Norman, " as we dined on the road ; 
 only some tea whenever you have yours." 
 
 Adolphe had not been able to persuade 
 Mrs. Norman to come as our guests, even 
 for the first week or so. She insisted upon 
 paying her share of the housekeeping, and 
 her share of the rent also, when she should 
 receive her salary from the Principal of the 
 school.
 
 96 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 She appeared to be charmed with her 
 apartments, and the next morning she and 
 Louise called on the schoolmistress, Miss 
 Burton, and arranged with her when Mrs. 
 Norman's labours should begin. 
 
 In a few days, she was regularly established 
 as teacher of French and music. She 
 seemed to enjoy this active life. Mrs. Nor- 
 man said that it suited her better than the 
 ease and grandeur of Heronscliffe, that 
 except for the loss of Mr. Fitzpatrick, and 
 anxiety for her children's future, she was 
 happier now than she had been before. And 
 certainly her life w^as here a most useful one. 
 Her presence, her refined appearance and man- 
 ners, introduced a far better tone and feeling 
 into Miss Burton's school. She was of im- 
 mense use to Louise and my brother, to say 
 nothing of my little ugly and ungrateful self. 
 
 Mrs. Norman was one of those rare cha- 
 racters that seem to have no self. She 
 always did, thought, and even felt the right
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 97 
 
 thing. My adrairation for her was great ; 
 but strange to say. she inspired less pas- 
 sionate attachment than I have Ml in the 
 course of nay Hfe for less perfect mortals. 
 
 Her little boy, Charles, gave her a good 
 deal of trouble sometimes, but she managed 
 him with wonderful tact. She never lost her 
 own temper, or for a moment appeared to 
 forget that she was correcting him in kind- 
 ness : that she had his welfare in view, and 
 was not indulging her own angry or impatient 
 feelings. 
 
 He could not fail to see that she was 
 always sorry for hi in whtra he did wrong, in- 
 stead of resenting the inconvenience or an- 
 noyance caused to herself by his misdemea- 
 nours. So that I could even then perceive 
 that his natui'ally proud, irascible, and self- 
 willed temperament was daily changing into 
 a kindly and genial spirit, that he was be- 
 coming generous and what is called good- 
 natured. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 But the child had great taste for gran- 
 deur, whether inherited or caused by the re- 
 collection of the princely home at Heronscliffe 
 Park. Her poor boy was in that respect like 
 his father, who was a disappointed man ; 
 but the latter had taken to heart his poverty 
 and disappointment, and Mrs. Norman re- 
 solved to try and guard her children from 
 doing the same. 
 
 She had scarcely any trouble with little 
 Margaret; indeed, on the whole, both the 
 children, my brother said, were models of 
 perfection. She often talked to us of the 
 beautiful little stranger babe, that Mrs. 
 Jeffrey had so kindly taken care of, and 
 the story made such an impression on us 
 that we all longed to see the child. 
 
 I loved to make her tell me of Heronscliffe, 
 describe all the rooms and furniture, the 
 park and gardens, and the wild youth who 
 would now possess them, and for whom 
 1 conceived a sort of detestation. She would
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 99 
 
 never tell me anything before her children, 
 lest it should occasion pride or discontent 
 in their minds. 
 
 The next year or so, I often look back 
 upon as the happiest of my life. Louise 
 had been confined, but had lost her child ; 
 Mrs. Norman had nursed her through the 
 trial like a sister, and tried to comfort her 
 and my brother for their loss, by the wise 
 suggestion that it was much better to become 
 a little richer before they had any children. 
 
 But when she was to be confined again, 
 every one felt much anxiety about her, es- 
 pecially my brother; arid in his endeavour to 
 procure, by the exercise of his art, every 
 possible comfort for her, we thought that 
 he used to work too hard, and try his 
 strength and eye-sight, not allowing himself 
 time for air and exercise. 
 
 There was an expression in my brother's 
 eyes that sometimes made me almost tremble. 
 It was so fervent, all seeing and penetrating, 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 SO full of entity, and life, or rather, I might 
 say, life-giving. For it often revived my 
 drooping courage, and awakened the hope of 
 happiness in my miserable spirit. 
 
 I never saw any eyes like ray brother's, 
 except those of one, whose fatal attraction, 
 many years afterwards, influenced my existence 
 in this world, and perhaps in the next. 
 
 My brother's eyes were full of wisdom 
 too, like his words. Though he did not 
 speak much, whatever he said was so deep 
 in its pithy meaning, I used to call him 
 a " a good-natured La Rochefoucault." 
 
 Then he would sometimes take everything 
 to heart, even people's vulgarity, and all the 
 little follies and small vices which furnish 
 only amusement to most persons. He 
 felt melancholy at everything that made 
 him disUke a person. "Vulgarity and pre- 
 tention makes people far from God," he 
 would say. 
 
 Littlenesses and meannesses, ugliness of
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 101 
 
 form or ungratefulness of gesture, were no 
 laughing matters to him. He could not 
 bear caricature, his taste for the beauty 
 and harmony in nature was so great, that 
 everything antagonistic to it, depressed him.
 
 102 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE FAREWELL, 
 
 It was evening, and we young ones were 
 going to bed. Louise, nay sister-in-law, kissed 
 me more tenderly than ever that night, bade 
 me be a good child and give Adolphe as little 
 trouble as possible, and " take care of him 
 and of my child," she added, " if — if — " 
 but tears started to her eyes and she turned 
 away. What could she fear ? 
 
 I could not speak for the choking in my 
 throat, and I lingered at the door after she 
 had closed it with an ardent desire to see 
 her again. But I knew Adolphe dreaded
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 103 
 
 lest she should be agitated, so I went slowly 
 and with a heavy heart up to my own 
 room. 
 
 As Louise's confinement was now hourly 
 expected, the children were moved into the 
 remotest part of the house, in order to 
 keep her room more quiet; and as Mrs. 
 Norman determined to devote herself en- 
 tirely to nurse Louise, she gave them in 
 charge to me. I was very proud of the 
 responsibility, and we inhabited a little un- 
 furnished attic at the top of the house. 
 We all enjoyed the fun of the move ; they 
 the playthings, T the little high window, 
 and the clambering up on the sill, from 
 whence I could see the top of Chelsea 
 Hospital. 
 
 The children were very good at first, but 
 they then would get up to look out, 
 following my fatal example. Margaret very 
 nearly fell down from the window-sill, and 
 I was in terror lest their screams should
 
 104 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 reach the invalid's chamber. At last, how- 
 ever, I contrived to pacify them. 
 
 In the morning, we heard of the birth 
 of a little girl. I was longing to see her, 
 but I knew we must not stir. At last, 
 finding they forgot to bring our breakfast, 
 and as the children were crying with hunger, 
 I resolved to go down and take them with 
 me, lest they should get into mischief. On 
 the staircase landing I met my brother, 
 going into his wife's room. He looked 
 so unlike himself, that it made my heart 
 sink, or rather, it seemed to take away all 
 my faculties, for I never saw such a look 
 of anxious misery. 
 
 He was followed by the doctor who also 
 looked flushed and agitated, but they passed 
 me so quickly, and the glimpse I caught 
 of Adolphe's face was so momentary, that 
 it seemed more like some dreadful vision 
 or spectral delusion than his real self. 
 
 " Hush ! don't speak," said I to the
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 105 
 
 children, who seemed also to have been 
 frightened by the sight of my brother; and 
 I saw by their wondering faces, they were 
 o:oinp: to ask the cause or make some 
 remark. " Come down, we mustn't stay 
 here," I whispered, as I drew them down 
 towards the kitchen, fearful lest the sound 
 of their steps on the stairs might disturb 
 the invalid. 
 
 "What has happened, Jane?" I inquired 
 of the cook, or rather, maid-of-all-work, 
 for we had no other maid but the nurse 
 who attended upon Mrs. Norman and her 
 children. 
 
 '' Missus isn't so well, she was took 
 with faintings like, and master runned off 
 for the doctor hisself like mad." 
 
 '' Give the children something to eat, 
 and take care of them till I come down," 
 said I, for it was impossible to resist the 
 longing I felt to know what had happened. 
 So I crept softly up-stairs again, and stood
 
 106 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 at the door of the room. I would not 
 venture to open it, for I had been told 
 I must not go in, but 1 heard sounds 
 that increased my dread and dismay. 
 
 A low moan of agony — that was not Louise, 
 it sounded like my brother's voice. Then 
 a faint cry which I thought must be the 
 baby. 
 
 All was silent again, till I heard heavy 
 footsteps crossing the room, and the door 
 opened more roughly than appeared to me 
 consistent with the quiet which had been 
 so strenuously insisted on. 
 
 The doctor came out and closed it after 
 him. He looked flushed and rather angry, 
 I thought. I never much liked his face, 
 and now it filled me with a sort of vague 
 horror. I ventured in a timid voice to 
 ask him how Louise was. 
 
 " It is all over ; couldn't be helped ; poor 
 young woman, 1 am very sorry," said he, 
 shrugging his shoulders, "but I hope Mr.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 107 
 
 St. Leon will bear it like a man, for at 
 present — " 
 
 I heard no more, though I believe he 
 went on talking; but the stairs and ceiling 
 were all going round, and I saw nothing 
 but my brother's face as it had passed me 
 half an hour before. 
 
 Then I remember nothing more, till 
 I found myself in bed in a dark room at 
 night. 
 
 I had great difficulty in recalling to mind 
 what had occurred, for I was only conscious 
 of a violent pain in my head, which seemed 
 to stupify all my thoughts. I had fallen 
 down stairs I afterwards heard, and my 
 head received a severe blow against the 
 stone floor at the bottom, besides being 
 bruised all over. 
 
 I tried to get up from the bed, but sank 
 down on it again, and Mrs. Norman came 
 into the room at that moment with a candle. 
 
 On seeing her sad face, I suddenly re-
 
 108 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 membered all that had occurred, that my 
 brother had lost his Louise, the being he 
 had loved for years with all the ardour of 
 his passionate nature, for whose sake he 
 had toiled and striven to gain a competence 
 ever since his boyhood. 
 
 It was for him I suffered, and it was 
 the consciousness of what his misery w^ould 
 be, that had so provokingly deprived me 
 of my senses, just at the moment when 
 I could have been of some use. 1 had 
 fainted, weak, foolish creature that 1 was, 
 but as there is nothing I have such a 
 dislike to as fainting young ladies, I tried 
 to put it upon my miserable health. 
 
 " I had no idea you were so fond of 
 poor dear Louise," said Mrs. Norman, after 
 she had examined the bruise on my head, 
 and inquired how I felt. 
 
 I did not wonder at her surprise, for 
 strange to say, Louise had never excited 
 in me much more strong affection than
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 109 
 
 Mrs. Norman herself inspired. I knew 
 very few people in the world, and at that 
 time no one had called forth my full and 
 fatally deep capacity for loving, except my 
 brother. And now I might, perhaps, be 
 of use to him and his baby, so I tried 
 hard not to feel, and I would not cry or 
 allow myself to think of his unhappiness. 
 
 " Don't try to get up," said Mrs. Norman, 
 when she saw me endeavouring to rise ; " it 
 is impossible ; here, take this, and then 
 perhaps by the morning you will be better." 
 
 I had more faith in her remedies, than in 
 the doctor's. " If you think I shall be able 
 to be of some use to-morrow, I will take 
 it," I said. 
 
 " I am sure you will, dear, and now try to 
 sleep ;" she said, when she saw that I made 
 a great effort to repress my sobs, and to 
 become composed. I knew there was opium 
 in the mixture, so I drank it immediately, 
 and laid my head on the pillow with a strong
 
 110 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 determination to think of nothing, but to 
 fall asleep ; for I had a dim consciousness 
 that my suffering life might be of some use 
 to my brother. 
 
 When I awoke, the cold grey light of 
 dawn was seen through the lattice ; and was 
 it fancy ? or Avas there a dull heavy sound 
 that seemed as if it were knocking against 
 my heart ? I could scarcely stand at first, 
 but I contrived to dress quickly, and went 
 down stairs. 
 
 But 1 must pass over that sad time, for 
 the suffering was greater than often falls to 
 the lot of mortals even in this world of 
 trial. 
 
 I strove hard to be of use, and Mrs. Nor- 
 man sometimes said I was, and thanked me 
 for all I did. But for the next two months, 
 I was given up to the *' fear of death/' not 
 for myself; but I had not then learnt to look 
 on death as the passage to eternity. I could 
 not then feel it as going home to rest. J
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. Ill 
 
 shrank from the idea with horror. At times, 
 Icould only understand it as annihilation ; at 
 others, I fancied there would be a miserably 
 renewed consciousness among mouldering 
 bones, an awakening to hfe, or rather to 
 decay, in the dismal coffin. 
 
 As for happiness afterwards, that seemed 
 to me impossible. 1 had so seldom felt what 
 it was, before I was twelve years old ; and 
 afterwards only at very rare intervals. How 
 could I then believe in an eternity of bliss, in 
 never ending happiness ? 
 
 I seemed to have been born with a natural 
 spirit of disbelief, and the misery of my early 
 childhood, had probably still more tended to 
 increase the fatal scepticism. All my 
 brother's efforts to make me believe had 
 been long in vain ; although he had a firm 
 and steadfast faith in Christianity, or he 
 would never have survived Louise. I saw 
 this, and that it was only the blissful con- 
 viction that she was happy which made him
 
 1 1 2 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 live on. Still, he was almost broken-hearted, 
 for I believe there never was such deep love 
 as existed between those two. 
 
 But I could not feel that she was happy ; 
 yet I believed in ghosts, and often imagined I 
 saw her shadowy form passing along the 
 wall, as I lay awake at night, or beheld her 
 sad face as I had seen it the night before 
 she died, peeping with melancholy wistfulness 
 through the chinks of the bed curtains ; and 
 as I turned away in horror, I imagined she 
 put out her cold hand and touched me. 
 Then I could not help shrieking with terror, 
 and sometimes disturbed my brother and 
 Mrs. Norman. The latter most kindly made 
 me sleep in her room, and even allowed little 
 Margaret to be in the same bed. 
 
 Still when I went up and down stairs after 
 dark, 1 always fancied footsteps were follow- 
 ing mine ; and I felt a cold breath on my 
 shoulders, and was obliged to shut my eyes, 
 but I still saw that sad face. In fact I used to
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 113 
 
 be given up to the fear of death. Soon, 
 
 however, I was aroused from this dismal 
 
 state, by a far more fatal and real appre- 
 hension. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 114 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MISFORTUNE. 
 
 My brother had scarcely been able to 
 paint at all since Louise's death, and when 
 at last he endeavoured to exert his powers to 
 their former extent, people were struck with 
 an alteration in the colouring and finish of his 
 pictures. In listening to the complaints of 
 others, I often saw Mrs. Norman shake her 
 head ominously. What could she fear? 
 Perhaps he did not attend sufficiently. Had 
 he lost courage, and ceased to care ? Yet 
 no, for now and then he would look so 
 anxiously at his little child Beaujolais and at
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 115 
 
 me ; and used to say with a desponding look 
 that he felt his eyes weak, and often express 
 his horror lest some day I should be forced to 
 become a governess. 
 
 One day when he had looked more than 
 usually sad, I made some excuse to go into 
 his studio, for a terrible fear had seized me 
 at breakfast that morning. I had seen him 
 put the sugar at the side of his cup. His eyes 
 were often full of tears, so at first I tried to 
 think that was the reason ; but no tears were 
 visible that morning. 
 
 When I entered, I found him leaning his 
 
 head upon his hand in a desponding attitude. 
 
 His palette had fallen on its face. There was 
 
 a red mark on his forehead. As my steps 
 
 approached trembling, he raised his head, 
 
 and said, " Who is that ? Nelly my child, I 
 
 can't see you." 
 
 * * # # 
 
 Mrs. Norman had long been anxious that 
 my brother should consult her old friend Dr. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 JefFery, and now she at last prevailed on him 
 to do so. Adolphe was sure it would be 
 useless, but, nevertheless, to satisfy us all he 
 consented. 
 
 So it was determined that nay brother and 
 I should go to Nordington. The little baby, 
 w^ho had been christened Beaujolais after my 
 mother, was to remain under the care of 
 Mrs. Norman at home, till we could ascer- 
 tain my brother's fate. If there should be 
 no prospect of his eyes being saved, he must 
 of course give up the house at Brompton, 
 and sell all the furniture and pictures, and 
 live upon the small sum that might be pro- 
 duced by the auction and the insurance on 
 his life. My brother spoke of it all to me, 
 and entered into the details with a calmness 
 which, to any one less acquainted with his 
 peculiar character, might have appeared to 
 be indifference. 
 
 " And you will be obliged to become a 
 governess, after all," he said, as we travelled
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 117 
 
 along in the coach to Nordington. He spoke 
 with a smile that I saw he endeavoured to make 
 cheerful, as he patted my head ; " and you 
 will be obliged to support me and my child." 
 
 " Oh ! no, do not say so, you will get 
 quite well," I said, for I knew he had striven 
 against the fear or rather conviction for 
 months past. 
 
 " Ah ! but it is so ;" said Adolphe, " do 
 you not see how much less miserable and 
 anxious I have become, since I have brought 
 myself to acknowledge the fact. I have tried 
 to bow down to the will of God, to accept 
 the trial, and learn to believe the more in 
 His goodness, and to cast my care upon Him. 
 1 can already imagine that suffering from 
 remorse would be much greater. God has 
 already given me the consoling conviction, 
 that I could not help anything that has 
 occurred. I may have been imprudent to 
 marry until 1 could secure a permanent in- 
 come, yet 1 cannot now regret even that. But
 
 1 1 8 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 enough of this ; tell me about the view, 
 describe the scenery as we pass. And you 
 must not cry ; for I hear the tears in your 
 voice, though I can't see them in your eyes." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "I suppose remorse is 
 worse, yet — " 
 
 " Ah ! my poor child ! I know you have 
 seldom any gladness, that your heart is con- 
 stitutionally heavy, that you have a heart- 
 sickness and oppression. I can feel for and 
 with you, for I have had it sometimes ; but we 
 must learn how to combat that overwhelming 
 misery, aggravated certainly by real misfor- 
 tune, but existing quite independently of 
 any. It is like an undercurrent of bitterness, 
 that taints all our feelings and thoughts ; 
 as if the bottom of the well were poisoned. 
 This is called morbid, and is often laughed 
 at, and sneered at, by the healthy in mind 
 and body. For * I'homme heureux se croit 
 toujours plus sage que celui qui souifre.* 
 And people call such suffering fanciful. Yet
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 119 
 
 I know it is, alas ! too real, and that the 
 spectres conjured up by the diseased imagi- 
 nation, are often more vivid than the faces 
 of the living. But like all other disease it 
 is capable of cure, and your earnest and 
 constant endeavour should be to combat 
 against it. And now, remember that you 
 will see the little stranger child we have so 
 often talked about with Mrs. Norman, and 
 the good Doctor Jeffrey, and his nice, fat, 
 kind wife ; and they are exactly the sort of 
 people, from Mrs. Norman's description, 
 that we want to show us what to do." 
 
 So my poor bUnd brother actually talked 
 me into good spirits, and I was soon able 
 to describe to him the sundry old castles, 
 wooded glades, and wild moors we passed on 
 our journey.
 
 120 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE KIND DOCTOR. 
 
 We arrived at Nordington late the same 
 evening, and according to the arrangement 
 Mrs. Norman had thoughtfully made, we 
 proceeded at once to Dr. Jeffrey's house. 
 It was a venerable-looking, red-brick mansion, 
 with a large garden at the back, situated in 
 the old part of the town, and a long way 
 from the hotel where the coach stopped. 
 So we drove there in a fly, but it was 
 too dark that night to see anything but 
 some lights twinkling through the casement
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 121 
 
 windows, and I felt disappointed at finding 
 that it seemed to be in a narrow street. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey had not yet returned home, 
 but his wife greeted us with great kindness, 
 and showed us into two pretty little rooms 
 she had prepared for us, which looked, she 
 said, into the garden, and had an extensive 
 view beyond it. 
 
 " And you'll like the smell of the flowers, 
 too, from the garden," she said, as she 
 pointed to a vase of fresh roses, while 
 the colour in her cheeks was deepened, 
 as I thought, from having alluded to the 
 view from the window which my poor 
 brother could not see. 
 
 A gentle tap at the door was heard, 
 or rather a fumbling at the handle, and as 
 it slowly opened, a beautiful child's face 
 appeared. His dark eyes beamed with fim, 
 as he archly looked in, while his figure 
 was concealed by the door, which he had 
 only opened sufficiently to admit his head.
 
 122 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " Fm not coming in, naamma, so don't be 
 angry ; T only wanted to wish you good 
 night again ; and to see Mr. St. Leon," he 
 added, after a pause, as he looked at my 
 brother with grave and wondering eyes. 
 
 " Well, come in this once ; but you must 
 remember not to come into this room 
 again." 
 
 " Why mayn't 1 ?" he rejoined, as he 
 approached and took my brother's hand and 
 kissed it. 
 
 " I shall be very glad to have you," said 
 my brother, as he stooped down with a 
 pleased smile to kiss the child's broad fore- 
 head. 
 
 '* I am sure that he is a good boy," 
 Adolphe said, while the light fell strongly 
 on the child's little face and neck, and 
 glanced in his dark clustering curls. " And 
 you will be good friends with my poor little 
 sister, Nelly ?" 
 
 But little Ernest was not equally pleased
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 123 
 
 with the sight of my yellow face, and he 
 turned away with a look of disgust. 
 
 "You will like her though she is not 
 pretty," said my brother, who either saw 
 or imagined that the petted child did not 
 approve of my ugly face. " I know you 
 will, for she is very good and very clever ; 
 and she is both ill and very unhappy," he 
 said, turning towards Mrs. Jeffrey. " She 
 requires your husband's kind skill quite as 
 much as I do; I daresay he can minister 
 to a mind diseased?" 
 
 '* I have no doubt he will do you both 
 good, for it's seldom, indeed, that his skill 
 fails," she said with a sigh, at the recollection 
 of her lost child. " And there is the Mar- 
 chioness of S going away quite re- 
 covered." 
 
 As she led us back into the drawing- 
 room, she told us several amusing anecdotes 
 of her husband, and of the astonishment of 
 some people at his brusquerie. The said
 
 124 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Marchioness, a very great lady, and by way 
 of being young, had called at his house 
 one morning to consult him. From the 
 roughness of his manners she concluded he 
 had not heard her name, and inquired of him 
 with a haughty air, 
 
 " ^ Sir, do you know who I am ?' 
 " ' Yes,' he replied, purposely in his most 
 contemptuous tone. ' You are an old woman 
 with a pain in your stomach.' 
 
 " But you riiust not mind his roughness ; 
 he is so good," she said, addressing me; 
 " for I see you are very sensitive. There, 
 go to bed now, Ernest," she said to the 
 child, and added, turning to Adolphe, in an 
 apologetic tone. *' It's long past his bed time, 
 only I knew the bairn was just in a state 
 of flutter, and would not sleep till he knew 
 the gentlefolks were come. Don't teaze 
 Mr. St. Leon ; that's enough, you'll smother 
 him with kisses ; and now just shake hands 
 with Miss Muggins."
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 125 
 
 The boy looked at me with searching 
 eyes for a moment, and then turning his 
 pretty shoulders round with a sort of dis- 
 approving shrug, muttered, with pouting 
 lips, something about " don't like." 
 
 Ernest Clanronald was nearly a year older 
 than Charles Norman, and he looked still 
 older than that, for he was very tall for his 
 age, and strongly built. But hew^as evidently 
 much less well trained and educated. Con- 
 sequently, he was younger in mind, and had 
 a wilful archness and ever-varying expression, 
 changing suddenly from beaming happiness 
 to black ill-humour and anger that interested, 
 and, I am afraid, even charmed me far 
 more. And I forgave the beautiful child for 
 his rudeness to myself, rejoicing in the strong 
 fancy he had taken to my brother. 
 
 " I am afraid mv husband will be late," 
 said Mrs. Jeffrey, after the buy had gone, 
 *' so we must have our supper without him ; 
 besides, he'll scold me for not making ye
 
 126 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 have it," she added, as she hastily rang the 
 bell, and bustled out of the room with an 
 air of self-reproach. 
 
 I thought she seemed really anxious about 
 my brother, and I liked her ; and even her 
 broad Scotch accent did not offend my ears. 
 There was something in the tone of her voice 
 that made me happy, and something in her 
 smile, that to me felt hke warm sunshine, 
 and inspired me with a new feeling of 
 something akin to hope. 
 
 Yet she was certainly plainer than Mrs. 
 O'Hara, who I fancied I disliked because 
 she was ugly ; and this new idea, that charm 
 does not entirely depend upon external fea- 
 ture, which occurred to me for the first time, 
 also tended to raise my spirits ; for, conscious 
 of my own ugliness, I had often fancied I 
 never could be loved, as I loved Adolphe. 
 
 We sat down to supper, but now that 
 it was near the eventful moment when the 
 opinion of the Doctor should decide my
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 127 
 
 brother's fate, I could not touch a morsel, 
 and I saw Mrs. Jeffrey looked at me with 
 much interest. 
 
 " Here, my child," she said to me, " drink 
 some of this soup, for you must eat ; it is 
 good nourishment." 
 
 I saw that my brother was able to enjoy 
 the entremets ; that even his fastidious and 
 naturally delicate taste was gratified, and I 
 saw that he was thankful to be able to 
 relish the excellent viands prepared by Mrs. 
 Jeffrey's good cook. People have often laughed 
 at me since when I have expressed such 
 delight at my brother's taste for good eating. 
 He enjoyed it not as a gourmand, but in the 
 same way as he used to do a beautiful view, 
 or the perfume of flowers. He was thankful 
 for it, as for all other good. 
 
 " That's right, have a little bit more of 
 this fricandeau. I'm a pretty good doctor 
 by this time," said Mrs. Jeffrey, with a cheery 
 smile to me ; " and I know what your bro-
 
 128 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ther wants is, rest from anxiety, and to eat 
 plenty of good food. Half people's com- 
 plaints arise from eating too much, or too 
 little, or disregarding the instincts of nature. 
 More disorders arise from swallowing our 
 food without tasting it, than people imagine. 
 Jeffrey made a bloated countess one day 
 send her entrees to a poor lady. She re- 
 quired fasting, but in moderation. You both 
 require plenty of food." 
 
 Before we had quite finished, Doctor 
 Jeffrey came in ; but then I felt quite sick 
 with anxiety, for I could see how he looked 
 at my brother with his small, piercing blue 
 eyes. His broad face was rather severe and 
 grave, yet good-humoured withal, and his 
 large firm mouth had a kindly expression. 
 He felt my brother's pulse, listened atten- 
 tively as he spoke to him, looked closely 
 at his face, passed his hand over his head, 
 and said in a sort of oracular way : 
 
 " You'll probably live long, Mr. St. Leon,
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 129 
 
 and be very happy yet, in spite of every 
 misfortune. You will be able to prize the 
 blessings that remain, and to believe in 
 God's good providence." He then shook 
 hands with him cordially, and sat down to 
 his supper. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey did not seem to have looked 
 at me yet, and I was, therefore, a good deal 
 surprised when he suddenly turned his eyes 
 full upon me, and said in a tone of com- 
 mand : 
 
 "Young lady, eat some of that jelly. 
 Why do you not make her eat, Polly ? 
 You ought to have seen that her sallow face 
 and quivering pale lips require some of our 
 best condiments. The girl is half- starved, 
 and has an overworked mind. But we 
 shall soon put her to rights," he added, 
 laying his hand on my brother's ; " and she 
 is worth the trouble, too," he said, with a 
 sort of jovial shrug of his shoulders, as if he 
 were determined to cast all care and sorrow 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 from him, and to enjoy his supper. He 
 then talked of various things, and amused 
 my brother extremely by some anecdotes of 
 his patients. 
 
 It was the first time I had seen Adolphe 
 laugh since Louise's death, and the sight 
 inspired me with hope and confidence in the 
 skill of the man who could call forth that 
 genial smile.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 131 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 CERTAINTY. 
 
 As we went into the drawing-room after 
 supper, a loud cry was heard from the 
 room over head. 
 
 ** There is that young scrapegrace getting 
 into mischief again, why he ought to have 
 been asleep hours ago, Polly," said Dr. 
 Jeffrey, turning to his wife with a severe look. 
 
 " It is really not my fault ; I sent the 
 bairn to bed at eight, but he would come 
 down, just to see the strangers." 
 
 "Ah, well, I suppose you did the best 
 you could," he said, with a laugh, " I 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 never can quite make up my mind on 
 the subject of education, Mr. St. Leon," 
 he continued, " I have seen so much harm 
 done by too much overtraining and teaching, 
 that I and Polly are almost afraid to curb 
 and to check. But I may be wrong, I 
 should be glad to have your opinion and 
 experience," said the Doctor, looking at my 
 brother with an air of admiring deference, 
 that made me feel proud and happy. 
 
 *' Mrs. Norman seems to manage her 
 children extremely well," said Adolphe, 
 *' one could not do better than follow her 
 principles, I suppose, whatever they are." 
 
 ** I doubt whether she could manage our 
 child, and then we have the disadvantage 
 to combat against, of the bairn not being 
 our own. I feel convinced he is high born, 
 and we are plodding and matter of fact 
 people, I and my dear goodie," he con- 
 tinued with a jovial smile, patting his 
 wife's back ; "are we not, eh, Polly ? — like
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 133 
 
 an old duck and drake with a pheasant's 
 egg. We are afraid of doing anything lest we 
 should mar a fine nature, so we let the child 
 run wild, and get the better of us too often 1" 
 
 All this time, I knew nothing of Dr. 
 Jeffrey's opinion of my brother's eyes. I 
 saw that he had been observing Adolphe's 
 manner of looking at things, although he 
 had not regularly inspected them. Then 
 his attention was arrested probably by my 
 sad and anxious face, for he suddenly said : 
 
 "Well, it's of no use; I see the girl's 
 mind can't be diverted; she has much yet 
 to learn from you, Mr. St. Leon ; before 
 she attains the philosophy requisite to keep 
 straight such an organization as* her's in 
 this world of trial. You have a great work 
 before you ; to educate that passionate sister 
 of yours, A great and noble work," he 
 added, as he passed his hand over my head. 
 " I see it plainly, this is very wisely ordained. 
 If you were to continue your profession of
 
 134 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 artist, you could not devote sufficient time to 
 watch her. And don't be cast down, she 
 will do very well as governess or anything, 
 with your help ; and improve many and 
 many a young heart. I know Mrs. Norman 
 told me that your sister's being a governess is 
 what you dread most, and though you need 
 not, yet it is best to face the greatest evil 
 we apprehend. Now for the eyes, as I 
 perceive neither of you will sleep unless 
 you know my opinion," and approaching 
 the candle to Adolphe's face, he held his 
 eyes open with his fingers, and looked into 
 them. "If you had consulted me six 
 months ago, it might have been of some 
 use, and now I trust the evil may be 
 ameliorated. But as for recovery, that is 
 I fear, a hopeless case." 
 
 In spite of all the Doctor had said to 
 prepare us for the worst, it was impossible 
 not to feel the blow. My brother clasped 
 his hands together with that look of resigna-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 135 
 
 tion, which always touched me more than 
 when he evinced violent sorrow. The room 
 began to swim round, and remembering the 
 fatal moment when I fainted at Louise's 
 death, and my subsequent helplessness from 
 the effects of the fall, I made a violent 
 effort to retain my senses. 
 
 " Sit down here, my child," said the 
 Doctor, taking my hand, and pressing it 
 with a kind look as he placed me in a 
 chair, "and remember that you will be 
 your brother's best cure, I mean the cure 
 for his mind and heart, his occupation 
 and comfort. Now we must all go to bed, 
 for I have not many hours to spare. I 
 will send you each a little draught to 
 take, and to-morrow morning you shall 
 both drive over to the cathedral service at 
 
 with Polly and little Ernest, and hear 
 
 the splendid choir. You have not cultivated 
 your taste for music much, I think," con- 
 tinued the Doctor, as he looked at my
 
 136 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 brother's eye-brows, "nor has your sister 
 either." 
 
 " We have no genius for it, I am afraid," 
 said Adolphe. 
 
 " Perhaps not, but it may become a source 
 of great enjoyment and possibly of profit." 
 
 When I was left alone in the comfortable 
 little room that night, and tried to say my 
 prayers, I experienced a new" feeling of grati- 
 tude : — the worst was passed. I thought it was 
 not so bad, at least I did not feel so unhappy 
 or apprehensive as I expected. I had often 
 prayed for the recovery of my brother's 
 sight, not in resignation, but with a wricked 
 feeling as of a threat towards God, that 
 I would not believe in Religion unless he 
 granted my petition. 
 
 Yet now, I found more reason, indeed, to 
 believe, ihan I had ever yet done, that 
 my brother's hope and faith, and the resigna- 
 tion he evinced in this hour of bitter trial, 
 must have a true foundation.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 137 
 
 So I tried hard to say the prayers taught 
 me by my brother, and with a calmer feeling 
 of rest and trust than I had ever experienced 
 before, I laid my aching head upon the 
 pillow. 
 
 The Doctor's draught made me sleep 
 well, and when I awoke the next morning, 
 I felt that I had turned over a new leaf 
 in the book of my life.
 
 138 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RESIGNATION. 
 
 The career of my brother as an artist 
 was at an end. Dr. Jeffrey felt sure that 
 even under the most favourable circum- 
 stances, he could not recover sight sufficient 
 to enable him to proceed with any prospect 
 of success. It was therefore necessary to 
 take immediate steps for the sale of his 
 house and pictures, and to determine what 
 he should do. Dr. Jeffrey made arrange- 
 ments, that this should be done in the 
 most profitable manner, and was able to
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 139 
 
 secure a good attendance at the auction, 
 by means of his numerous friends and ac- 
 quaintances. 
 
 He also endeav^oured to prevail upon 
 Adolphe and me to remain under his roof 
 for some time. He tried to persuade him 
 that his presence was absolutely necessary, 
 in order to keep the wild young Ernest in 
 order, for he acquired much greater influence 
 over the wayward child than anyone else. 
 But Dr. Jeffrey soon saw that it was im- 
 possible, and then he was determined to 
 find some employment for my brother, that 
 would keep him in Nordington or its 
 immediate neighbourhood, for I heard him 
 tell his wife that Adolphe was far too 
 valuable a person, and that he should never 
 lose sight of him as long as he lived. I 
 was very glad to hear this, for the thought 
 of Dr. Jeffrey and his kind wife gave me 
 a feeling of protection and peace. It had 
 also been his earnest wish to have Mrs.
 
 140 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Norman and her children under his eye. 
 So he soon contrived to find employment 
 for both. 
 
 Adolphe was to teach French and assist 
 in hearing boys read, and instruct them 
 as far as his considerable acquirements and 
 general knowledge would permit, at a well 
 conducted school in the town. Dr. Jeffrey 
 very cleverly contrived to suggest several 
 ways of doing this, which rendered my 
 poor brother's blindness less objectionable 
 for the purposes of tuition, than we had 
 thought possible. 
 
 My brother's pictures and drawings were 
 sold in London, and produced a larger 
 sum than we had expected, for besides 
 their intrinsic merit, the persons who were 
 acquainted with him felt much interest in 
 his sad misfortune. 
 
 And there were only three or four of 
 his productions unfinished, besides numerous 
 masterly designs of historical subjects, which
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 141 
 
 gave promise of greater perfection than he 
 had yet had time or practice to obtain. 
 
 Then on the other hand he had several 
 debts, some for the furniture at our Bromp- 
 ton house not having been paid for. Louise's 
 illness and death, had swallowed up all the 
 ready money he possessed, as well as incapaci- 
 tated my poor brother from earning any 
 more. And he never had been very pro- 
 vident, or rather, he could never quite 
 understand the value of money. There 
 was that trustfulness in his nature which 
 always hopes. And most fortunately, even 
 now, in his deprivation of sight, it did 
 not desert him. Yet he was free from 
 extravagance, and he took a precaution 
 (which, perhaps, few young healthy men of 
 twenty-two would have thought of) he had 
 insured his life, when he married, for a 
 thousand pounds, so that in the event of 
 his death, Beaujolais would be, in some
 
 142 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 degree, provided for. Consequently, Dr. 
 Jeffrey and many others declared that my 
 brother had been very prudent, and it was, 
 perhaps, only to my extremely apprehensive 
 mind, that he appeared at all the reverse. 
 
 In less than two months after our arrival 
 at Nordlngton, we were established in a 
 tiny house just built, next door to another 
 which Mrs. Norman had taken. The two 
 cottages were situated in a little garden at 
 the entrance of the town, and although at 
 first I did not like their appearance, or 
 the bare cold look of the empty rooms 
 and white-w^ashed walls, and the young and 
 only lately planted gardens, yet by degrees 
 I grew more reconciled to them. For Mrs. 
 Norman contrived to give an air of comfort, 
 if not of beauty, to the homeliest and most 
 unpromising furniture; and then a few 
 spring flowers and useful vegetables sprang 
 up in the provokingly tidy garden, which
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 143 
 
 before, had been so stony, and cold, and 
 dreary, that it looked as if not even a 
 weed could grow there ! 
 
 Mrs. Norman had, by the kind Doctor's 
 assistance, found some pupils to whom she 
 taught music and drawing, and who fortu- 
 nately came to her house, which enabled 
 her to devote much of her time to her 
 own children. She had most kindly ex- 
 pressed a wish to be near us, that she 
 might assist me in managing little Beaujolais. 
 
 She had taken the baby under her charge 
 since the death of Louise, and the little 
 fanciful beauty was so attached to her, 
 that she seemed never to be happy with 
 any one else, except her fother, who of 
 course, could not do much for the helpless 
 child. 
 
 Mrs. Jeffrey had, in vain, tried to win 
 the wayward creature's affections, as she 
 thought poor Mrs. Norman had plenty of 
 occupation besides. But it was of no use.
 
 144 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 She was also very anxious that the little 
 Normans and baby Beaujolais, should be 
 as much with her adopted son Ernest, as 
 possible, as she was in hopes that from 
 the superior training they had received, they 
 would be most advantageous companions 
 for him. 
 
 But Mrs. Norman soon perceived, that 
 the wild young Ernest did her children 
 more harm, than he derived benefit from 
 their good example, so that she did not 
 much encourage the intimacy. Still they often 
 met, and we were soon amused at seeing 
 the violent love which sprang up between 
 little Margaret and Ernest, and by degrees 
 the child obtained a wonderful influence 
 over him. He was two or three years her 
 senior, and from his vivacious manner and 
 precocious intelligence, he looked older still. 
 His fiery eyes and dark complexion, and 
 muscular frame, formed a striking contrast 
 to her fair skin, soft blue eyes, and somewhat
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 145 
 
 delicately formed figure. Yet when little 
 Margaret raised her tiny finger with a 
 solemn air of command, or shook her fair 
 auburn locks disapprovingly, we saw that 
 it produced more effect on the imp<^Auous 
 boy than the Doctor's reproving words and 
 gestures, or even Mrs. Jeffrey's most earnest 
 entreaties. So whenever he was utterly un- 
 manageable, little Margaret Norman was sent 
 for, and his fits of passion or wilfulness were 
 sure to be cured. 
 
 The influence, moreover, that she was 
 soon conscious of possessing over the tall 
 clever boy, seemed to have the effect of 
 arousing her somewhat sluggish energies; 
 and from being rather a stupid and timid 
 child, she became bright and intelligent. 
 Ernest called her of course his little wife; 
 and we all remarked that if ever two persons 
 were expressly formed by nature to suit each 
 other, it was the unknown boy and Margaret 
 Norman. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 "I suppose the course of their love will 
 not run smooth," said the Doctor one day to 
 my brother, " although one cannot now see 
 why it should not. The boy will be as well 
 provided for as possible, after I have satisfied 
 the cravings of a host of nephews and 
 nieces." 
 
 " Ah, the being provided for, is nothing ; 
 Louise and I had scarcely anything to begin 
 upon." 
 
 " That was indeed true love ; and your 
 history is the only one I ever met with, that 
 shakes my belief in the wise old proverb. 
 For I always fancy that this world would be 
 too happy, there would be but little trial if 
 each of us met with his real kindred soul. 
 But I believe the two don't generally live in the 
 same century. Eh, what do you think of it, 
 Miss Nelly ? I see your large eyes are full of 
 thought and deep speculation on the subject ; 
 but you need not blush and look so confused, 
 there is nothing to be ashamed of."
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 147 
 
 " Ah !" said my brother with a sigh, " I 
 am afraid she will never find her semblable, 
 and I agree with you that it is most rare. I did ; 
 but then my happiness was so short, at least 
 on earth. Yet now I Hve with her. I am 
 nearer to her now, than when I saw her 
 plainly : — before I lost my sight. It was then 
 as if I drew her down to me, and now I 
 feel that she draws me up to heaven." 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE REIGNING BEAUTT 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ADOPTED CHILD. 
 
 Soon after we were settled in our new 
 residence, Mr. Roland came to Nordington. 
 He was the gentleman who had originally 
 been the means of saving Ernest's life, as I 
 described in the second chapter. He came 
 there, as he said, for the benefit of his health ; 
 but we soon discovered that he was chiefly 
 actuated by affection for the child, as well as 
 a sort of grudging admiration for Dr. Jeffrey. 
 Yet he sometimes bitterly complained, that 
 the Doctor had appropriated the boy in spite 
 of his own obvious claim. He was always
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 149 
 
 saying that Ernest would have done much 
 better, if he had the management of him. 
 Yet Mrs. Jeffrey declared that Mr. Roland 
 would not have tolerated the child's presence 
 a single day in his scrupulously neat ba- 
 chelor house. Besides, he had a number of 
 poor relations who depended upon him : 
 several penniless nephews to educate and 
 provide for ; therefore, Mrs. Jeffrey always 
 said it would have been very hard upon them 
 as they were real gentlefolks, if he had taken 
 a strange child and set him before them all. 
 
 " It's very well for the Doctor and me 
 who have made our fortunes, and our rela- 
 tions are just among the poor people with no 
 pretensions to gentility ; it's very well for us 
 to do what we please, they have no right to 
 find fault, as long as we don't let them starve 
 or sink any lower than nature just made 
 them. But Mr. Roland and his relations 
 are born gentlemen and ladies, and for all 
 that, so is Ernest, too, I'll lay my life ; and
 
 150 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 he shall have a gentleman's education, 
 come what may, and be able, I trust in God, 
 always to live as well as any nobleman," she 
 said, as she looked round with admiring 
 pride on the spacious and well-furnished apart- 
 ment. " And thankful we ought to be that 
 we've got such a son to inherit all these grand 
 things, for I often think they are far too 
 good for the likes of us." 
 
 Mr. Roland^s chief grievance at that time, 
 however, seemed to be the wild freaks of 
 young Master Fitzpatrick, the only son of 
 the Irish gentleman who had so unex- 
 pectedly succeeded to HeronsclifFe Park. 
 
 Mr. Roland had been prepared beforehand 
 to find fault with everything that family did, 
 and his only consolation now seemed to be 
 whenever Ernest got into a scrape, that it 
 was nothing in comparison to the heinous 
 faults committed by young Reginald Fitz- 
 patrick. That unfortunate boy was held up 
 to us all, as the personification of every vice.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 151 
 
 But I was often much puzzled to devine 
 what these crimes were. Mr. Roland never 
 gave us any details, only lifted up his hands 
 and eyes in horror when he mentioned the 
 name. 
 
 My brother's misery at hearing of the 
 mismanagement of young Fitzpatrick was 
 very great. He took a great interest in 
 Heronscliffe, from having heard Mrs. Norman 
 so often talk of the place. He had also a 
 good deal of the old French noblesse vene- 
 ration for ancient families j and this had in 
 some degree reconciled him to its belonging 
 to a person of the same name, and heir-at- 
 law to the late Mr. Fitzpatrick. But he was 
 all the more anxious, that the young heir to 
 such a fine property should turn out well, and 
 I saw that it pained him to hear of his mis- 
 demeanours. 
 
 In fact, since the loss of sight he was still 
 more sensitive, and I saw that his horror of 
 crime, his regret at the want of goodness, at
 
 152 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 hearing of the first beginnings of error, 
 became greater every day. 
 
 " Can nothing be done ? has no one any 
 influence over that boy ? the sole inheritor 
 of such a large property ?" he would some- 
 times ask in an anxious tone. Then we 
 heard that Mr. Fitzpatrick's extensive estates 
 in Ireland were the worst managed of any 
 in that unfortunate country, and during one 
 season of great distress, the peasantry were 
 in the utmost state of de&titution. 
 
 " Ah, to think that the lives of thousands 
 should depend upon one profligate man. 
 Oh ! what will be his suffering ! what 
 agonies he will endure in the next world 1" 
 said my brother. 
 
 I always endeavoured to change the sub- 
 ject, for I remarked that nothing made him 
 really unhappy but the knowledge of crime, 
 or the conviction that all other trials could be 
 borne, except remorse and the punishment of 
 guilt.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A TEASY CHARACTER. 
 
 I HAD heard much of Mr. Roland's kind- 
 ness, and was therefore considerably dis- 
 appointed at finding that he was a very teasy 
 character. He was always finding little 
 faults, and contrived to put those with whom 
 he spoke, out of conceit with themselves or 
 their lot in life. 
 
 1 never saw a person so utterly devoid of 
 the faculty of smoothing his friends down the 
 right way. It was very fortunate I thought, 
 that I had not met him till I had grown in 
 some degree reconciled to my brother's blind-
 
 154 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ness, and was able to look upon my probable 
 position in this world with tolerable resigna- 
 tion. 
 
 And years afterwards I did not so much 
 mind it, when I became able to take the daily 
 trial Mr. Roland's peculiarities gave me, as a 
 bitter pill required, perhaps, by my mental 
 digestion during a period of comparative 
 prosperity. 
 
 We found that his actions were almost 
 invariably kind, yet he often contrived to put 
 so much bitterness in his words and man- 
 ner, and made such sharp animadversions on 
 those whom he wished to assist, that he 
 generally wounded their feelings. > 
 
 My brother often said, " May God pre- 
 serve us from Mr. Roland's help !" 
 
 Yet, strange to say, he seldom found fault 
 with people's real failings, and therefore 
 they ought not to have felt his animad- 
 versions so much. 
 
 However, I could not help being extremely
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 155 
 
 annoyed, when he sneered at the precautions 
 I was obliged to take not to catch cold, and 
 at my inability to w^alk any long distances in 
 the hot sun, and other infirmities or incapaci- 
 ties which my habitual bad health entailed. 
 
 Mr. Roland's " nippings " as we called 
 them, depressed me sadly at the moment, yet 
 after the crying fit they gave me w^as over, 
 I experienced sometimes an advantageous 
 reaction ; for then I saw more clearly the 
 injustice of his blame, and the conviction 
 was awakened in me that after all I was not 
 so bad. It was not fair of him, to endeavour 
 thus to crush still more, a desponding and 
 suffering creature : — That perhaps I was 
 loved by God ! — Even with all my hardness 
 of belief, I felt that I must be under the 
 protection of a Being who did not wish me 
 to suffer in that useless and acute manner. 
 
 I saw that sometimes my brother also 
 felt this, when he heard the fault-finding 
 tone of voice in which Mr. Roland often
 
 156 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 spoke, and it aroused a feeling of self-con- 
 fidence and even pride, which to those who 
 have naturally a low opinion of themselves, 
 is at times very useful. Thus, I have some- 
 times seen there is a sort of balance kept 
 up in this world ; and to those who trust in 
 God, compensations are given to counteract 
 every kind of depressing circumstance. 
 
 Sometimes, I thought that Mr. Roland 
 systematically laboured to extinguish his 
 perceptions of whatever was really beautiful 
 and good; as if he cultivated a taste for 
 frivolity and caricature, and endeavoured 
 to take delight in laughing at, and condemn- 
 ing his fellow creatures. 
 
 The sight of vulgarity and meanness 
 seemed to elate him, as much as it pained 
 and distressed my brother, but Adolphe 
 sometimes suspected this was because the 
 "grapes were sour." He fancied that poor 
 Mr. Roland had loved some beautiful and 
 high-minded woman, who did not return
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 157 
 
 his affection, and therefore he tried to 
 disbelieve in real worth. That he endea- 
 voured to distract his mind by cultivating 
 general society, rather than intimate friend- 
 ships, and that he suffered from that kind 
 of sensitive pride, v^'hich shrinks from the 
 scrutiny of a close and daily contact with his 
 fellow creatures. 
 
 For certainly our intimate friends generally 
 make our faults known to us, even if they 
 do not tell us of them in words, whereas 
 the smooth usages of civility, guard us from 
 such truthful rubs, in our acquaintances, and 
 those we only meet in society.
 
 158 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE PATTERN WOMAN. 
 
 During the next few years, my great 
 consolation, and the object of my almost 
 exclusive adoration, was the little Beaujolais. 
 The precocious intelligence, and the French, 
 or rather southern style of her beauty, 
 accorded much more with my heau-ideal 
 of perfection, than the colder, yet perhaps, 
 more perfectly formed features of Margaret 
 Norman and her brother Charles. 
 
 Beaujolais' winning ways, the violent tran- 
 sitions of her spirits, the joyous smile that
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 159 
 
 was sure to break on her sunny face, before 
 the tears were dried on her pale cheeks ; 
 all these evidences of deep quick feeling 
 excited my interest, and caused me to 
 spare her the slightest suffering. 
 
 I could not remember my mother, but 
 from Adolphe's description, Beaujolais must 
 have been her counterpart ; and I am afraid 
 that the sort of adoration she inspired, made 
 me rather intolerant, and induced me to look 
 with some degree of contempt on the dear 
 kind Mrs. Norman, and her beautiful, but 
 almost too well regulated children. 
 
 I ought to have been well and happy, 
 for Dr. Jeffrey exerted his utmost skill, 
 and devoted much of his precious time to 
 attend on Adolphe and my unworthy self. 
 But I remained an " inveterate and obstinate 
 invalid," as dear healthy Mrs. Jeffrey called 
 me. 
 
 That worthy lady could not help despising 
 (unconsciously perhaps) most people who
 
 160 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 could not be entirely cured by her husband, 
 and was apt to imagine it was their own 
 fault. 
 
 I saw this, and as mine was one of those 
 tiresome constitutions, and uncomfortable dis- 
 positions in which the malady is too deeply 
 rooted and subtil to be easily seen, I knew 
 that I was often considered a malade 
 imaginaire. 
 
 Yet, in fact, my weakness and suffering 
 was anything but imaginary, and my de- 
 pression at feeling so useless, in comparison 
 to Mrs. Norman and her healthy children, 
 was very great. She was, in fact, exactly 
 fitted to her position, and always contrived 
 to be of use to every one who came near 
 her. 
 
 In those days, Mrs. Norman seemed to my 
 hopeless eyes the most pattern woman they 
 ever beheld. So invariably good humoured, 
 untiredly kind, so " active and willing," as 
 the maids' recommendations express, that
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 161 
 
 her regularity in good works, almost drove 
 me to despair. 
 
 Then her children were trained in a man- 
 ner, as surely no human beings had ever 
 been before. How could I, who had been 
 alternately petted, spoiled, scolded and 
 neglected as a child, ever hope to attain 
 such perfection. 
 
 Margaret's frock was never tumbled or 
 soiled. She never got into any scrapes, or 
 had any troubles, yet was always ready to 
 play in a lady-like manner. But she could 
 never be persuaded to cUmb trees, or jump 
 on the pony without saddle or bridle as I did ; 
 or even run races unless on smooth turf, or 
 even ground. 
 
 Sometimes, I would riot and gambol with 
 a sort of superhuman strength and agility, 
 sometimes mope all day with a book on ray 
 knees, feeling too ill and weak to say a word, 
 and as if overgrown with sensitive plants. 
 
 In those dark years I loved no one really but 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 my brother, and little Beaujolais and Ernest 
 Clanronald. And is this ill-regulated and 
 stupidly impulsive creature to become a 
 governess, to presume to think that she can 
 educate others ? I sometimes asked my 
 brother, with a bitter and self-scornful 
 smile. 
 
 " Well," said Adolphe, shrugging his 
 shoulders with a sort of half despair, which 
 was, however, counteracted by a bright and 
 hopeful smile, "Well, yes, because the de- 
 fects in your own education and character 
 may tend to shew you what to avoid, and 
 how to remedy these defects in others." 
 
 Now I knew that he could not endure the 
 idea of my becoming a governess at all, yet 
 he sometimes humoured the fancy as he 
 called it, in order to induce me to exert 
 more energy to improve, and to give me 
 more interest in life.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE SURPRISE. 
 
 We all remarked during Mr. Roland's 
 second visit to Nordington, that he was very 
 attentive to Mrs. Norman. But we also 
 perceived, by her firm yet courteous manner 
 of checking his advances, that he would be 
 unsuccessful if he wished to prevail upon her 
 to become his wife. 
 
 I was more sure than any one else, because 
 I had my own surmises and imaginings : — 
 that if any one could excite a warmer glow in 
 her apparently cold nature, it would be my 
 poor blind brother. 
 
 u 2
 
 164 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 But he did not know this, nor I believe 
 did any one see it, but my dreamy, and 
 somewhat romantic self; and I had suf- 
 ficient tact to keep my own counsel, lest 
 the knowledge, or even supposition of it, 
 should mar the easy and pleasant terms of 
 intimacy between the two cottages. 
 
 But I saw that Mr. Roland's admira- 
 tion for the still beautiful widow increased 
 every time he returned to Nordington, 
 and that the sight of her continued ob- 
 duracy, increased also his ill humour and 
 irritability. 
 
 I believe he saw that T rather enjoyed the 
 rebuffs he received, for he inflicted a double 
 portion of his venom upon me, each time 
 that Mrs. Norman seemed blind to his ador- 
 ing looks, or indifferent to his well turned 
 compliments. 
 
 She soon became aware of this, and very 
 kindly took my part, and stoutly maintained 
 that I was right, whenever Mr. Roland
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 165 
 
 found fault with anything I did, or omitted 
 to do. 
 
 When I was between fifteen and sixteen, 
 one of Mr. Roland's nephews accompanied him 
 to Nordington. We had heard that young 
 Jack Roland was wild and unprincipled, 
 and had always given his uncle a great deal 
 of trouble. So we were prepared not to like 
 him, but the oracular Dr. Jeffrey maintained 
 that he was improving, and would turn out 
 at last a very estimable character. 
 
 He was generally considered handsome, 
 but I did not admire his looks, and my 
 brother did not like the tone of his voice, 
 which confirmed my unfavourable impres- 
 sions. 
 
 But strange to say, Jack Roland seemed 
 to take a fancy to my plain yellow face. I 
 seldom spoke, so it could not have been my 
 agreeability that captivated him; and my 
 brother and I were still more surprised at
 
 166 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 perceiving that Mr. Roland took every oppor- 
 tunity of placing his nephew in my way. 
 
 He projected pic-nics, and parties to visit 
 the old castles and ruins in the neighbour- 
 hood, although previously he had never ap- 
 peared fully aware of my existence, unless at 
 the moment of finding fault with my doings. 
 
 He continued, however, to nip me as 
 sharply as ever, but he contrived also to make 
 me often join in the conversation, and drew 
 my little talents into play. 
 
 I had always enjoyed our visits to the old 
 abbey, and ruined castles, and loved to roam 
 about with my brother, and see him feel the 
 charm of the scenes, as I described each mi- 
 nute particular. Then he would lie down on 
 the mossy turf, and listen to the hum of in- 
 sects, and the song of birds, and inhale the 
 fresh woodland scents, and feel the grass and 
 the bark of the trees with his hands, while 
 his whole countenance had an expression of
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 167 
 
 enjoyment, or rather of gratitude, more beam- 
 ing and hopeful than I ever saw on any other 
 face. 
 
 My happiness was a good deal disturbed 
 by Mr. Jack, who would follow us in our 
 rambles and scrambles, under the plea of 
 assisting my brother, or carrying little Beau- 
 jolais, who sometimes now accompanied the 
 other children in their pleasure parties. But 
 I reproached myself for being disturbed by 
 his kindness, for I certainly ought to have 
 felt grateful for the affection he evinced. 
 
 And at times it did give me pleasure to 
 feel that I was loved, and my self-esteem, or 
 rather, perhaps, my want of it was flattered, 
 that Mr. Roland should consider me good 
 enough for his nephew. 
 
 Jack Roland was destined for the church, 
 as there was a good family living in his 
 uncle's gift, and I knew it was a great object 
 that he should become steady, and fit for the 
 calling. But how I, who could so seldom
 
 168 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 succeed in regulating my own feelings, or ful- 
 filling my sometimes good intentions, should 
 be able to influence him in any advantageous 
 manner, passed my comprehension. My bro- 
 ther was almost equally perplexed, nor did he 
 at all approve of Mr. Jack's predilection. 
 
 " I am certain, Nelly, you could never love 
 him sufficiently," he often said, " although 
 you may be gratified by his strong affection. 
 I suppose there is something piquante in your 
 nez retrousse, and your dark southern eyes; 
 but your figure is very gauche, as yet, and I 
 don't think you can possibly be at all graceful 
 now — though, perhaps, some day, if your 
 health becomes stronger, you may acquire 
 more harmonious movements. Your step 
 now is abrupt and uncertain ; but very few 
 persons, not even Mrs. Norman, have really 
 a graceful walk. I think little Beaujolais will 
 have ; and, indeed, our other two children bid 
 fair to have charming tournures. Even the 
 wild Ernest, if he passes through the ordeal
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 169 
 
 of the world without being utterly spoilt, will 
 be a very graceful man." 
 
 Adolphe had acquired a wonderful faculty 
 of judging from the sound produced by dif- 
 ferent kinds of movement. I observed that 
 his opinion proved to be generally as correct, 
 as it had been when he was able to read 
 their countenances. Even Dr. Jeffrey, who 
 piqued himself justly on his quick and unerr- 
 ing knowledge of character, bowed down to 
 my brother's superior discernment. 
 
 Yet, for a long time, the Doctor advocated 
 the cause of young Jack Roland, and declared 
 we should suit each other exactly ; but after a 
 long conversation with my brother one day, he 
 altered his views upon the subject, and acknow- 
 ledged that Adolphe was right, and that I had 
 better carry out my own original plan of 
 becoming a governess. 
 
 When Mr. Roland was informed of the 
 decision, he was extremely angry, and found 
 great fault with my brother for thus allowing
 
 170 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 me, as he said, to disgrace the ancient family 
 of St. Leon, when I could become indepen- 
 dent if I were to marry his nephew. 
 
 But Adolphe had too much real indepen- 
 dence and true spirit of ancient chivalric 
 nobility, not to see that it was far more 
 honorable for me to live by my own labour, 
 than to be indebted for support and a good 
 position in the world, to a man whom I did 
 not entirely love. 
 
 I could not imagine why Mr. Roland was 
 so anxious that his nephew should make, 
 what appeared to be, such a mesalliance. If 
 it were really, as my brother surmised, be- 
 cause he thought I might have sufficient 
 influence to redeem or prevent his getting 
 into any more scrapes, it ought to make me 
 very proud. But I felt sure this could not be 
 the cause ; besides Mr. Jack Roland did not 
 really know me. 
 
 He imagined himself in love with a beau 
 ideal, a something that was, perhaps, what I
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. IJl 
 
 wished to be, but was, in fact, quite different, 
 as well as superior, to my erring, struggling, 
 and suffering self. 
 
 But Mr. Roland had now been so much 
 tormented by his nephews, that he clung 
 to any new plan, and wished, perhaps, to 
 gain the assistance of Adolphe to influence 
 them. 
 
 He complained that Dr. Jeffrey did not 
 attend to him so much as formerly ; but the 
 fact was, about that time, several of his 
 relations came from Scotland, and used 
 to be very exacting and dissatisfied with 
 what the good Doctor had done for them. 
 They were extremely jealous of his af- 
 fection for the unknown boy, who had, 
 as they declared, usurped all the attention 
 which, they thought, should have been be- 
 stowed on them. 
 
 The Doctor had, in an unguarded moment, 
 urged them to visit Nordington, thinking it 
 would be pleasant for his wife who was still
 
 172 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 often lonely, and could not amalgamate with 
 many people. They presumed upon it, and 
 before a fortnight of their visit was out, both 
 Dr. Jeffrey and his wife heartily repented of 
 their good-nature.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 173 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CHOICE OF A SCHOOL. 
 
 Ernest Clanronald was now about eleven 
 years old, and the Doctor determined to send 
 him to Eton. Mr. Roland strongly advised 
 Winchester, or some school less exclusively 
 frequented by gentlemen's sons, and in this 
 opinion he was strenuously supported by the 
 Doctor's relations; but all this opposition, 
 determined the Doctor, perhaps, all the more 
 to have his own way and persevere in his ori- 
 ginal intention. 
 
 Even my brother could not move him from
 
 174 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 it, who viewed the matter more from Mr. 
 Roland's point of view, and thought it a pity 
 the boy should be placed in a position of 
 temptation, and made to form his earliest 
 friendships, among companions whom he 
 would in after life find far above him in rank 
 and wealth. For it was the Doctor's ex- 
 pressed intention, also, that Ernest should 
 make his own way in the world : be brought 
 up without any expectations, and educated for 
 some lucrative profession ; so that he might 
 be perfectly independent of any fortune he 
 might be able to leave him. And the Doctor 
 and Mrs. Jeffrey were so convinced that Er- 
 nest was well-born, that they determined, so 
 far as lay in their power, he should associate, 
 from his earliest years, with those of the 
 highest classes. 
 
 It was a sad day for us all, when we saw 
 him depart with his guardian for Eton. Little 
 Margaret evinced more sorrow than I thought 
 it possible she could experience ; for I some-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 175 
 
 times feared that, like her mother, she would 
 never feel very deeply. Yet, why fear ! I 
 said to myself; surely, she would be much 
 more happy ! There was a joyous healthiness 
 about her, that made me doubt whether she 
 could feel the same degree of sorrow at any- 
 thing, that I did. There was such a contrast 
 between us; her never-varying health and 
 spirits were so different from my ups and 
 downs ! For the enchantment of occasion- 
 ally feeling well, put me in such ecstacies of 
 delight, that I sometimes thought I never 
 should be unhappy if I had constantly good 
 health ; and was, at such moments, in a state 
 of vibration, as Adolphe, used to call it, like 
 an instrument struck all over. 
 
 Now, however, there could be no mistake 
 about poor little Margaret's power of feeling 
 deeply. For several days after the departure 
 of Ernest, she was inconsolable, and we feared 
 at first, that her loss of appetite and elasticity 
 would make her ill.
 
 176 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey offered, at the same time, to 
 send Charles Norman to Eton, also, with Er- 
 nest ; but his mother firmly, though gratefully, 
 refused, and Adolphe applauded the wisdom 
 of her decision. He should, early in the next 
 year, go to Winchester, and, she hoped, 
 through the interest of some friends, who had 
 long been exerting themselves about it, to get 
 him on the foundation. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Jeffrey felt the absence of her 
 boy so dreadfully, at first, that she begged 
 Mrs. Norman to allow the httle Margaret to 
 stay with her for a short time, which she ac- 
 cordingly did. 
 
 When the time came for Charles to go to 
 Winchester, I dreaded that our sensitive 
 Beaujolais would feel the separation even 
 more than Margaret had when Ernest went. 
 
 And we were right. Every night, for a 
 month afterwards, her pillow was wet with 
 tears. But, at last, the two little girls tried 
 to find consolation in one another. Margaret
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 177 
 
 and Beaujolais were a complete contrast in 
 everything — yet agreed perfectly ; for the 
 qualities of the one supplied the deficiencies of 
 the other. Their companionship would have 
 been still more perfect, however, but for the 
 difference of age. Margaret was more than 
 three years older, which, in early childhood, 
 makes a great disparity. 
 
 About this time, Mrs. Norman received a 
 letter from a distant cousin of her late uncle's, 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick, which threw our little circle 
 into a great state of excitement and conster- 
 nation. This gentleman and his wife, who 
 lived near Limerick, asked Mrs. Norman and 
 her little daughter to take up their abode with 
 them, and offered her any amount of salary 
 she would be pleased to accept, if she would 
 instruct their young girls, as a governess 
 would. 
 
 They wished to give their children the 
 advantage of obtaining the English accent in 
 speaking, by having the little Margaret as a 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 playmate, and Mrs. Norman as an instruc- 
 tress. They offered, besides, a home for 
 Charles, during his holidays, and the same 
 masters for Margaret, when she grew older, 
 that would be deemed advisable for their own 
 children. 
 
 It was evident, from the tone of the letter, 
 that Mrs. Norman's Irish connections con- 
 sidered she would, in acceding to their re- 
 quest, confer an obligation upon them, rather 
 than receive a benefit herself, and, therefore, 
 the proposal was the more gratifying. For in 
 those days, it was very difficult to persuade 
 very good English governesses to go to Ire- 
 land; and, besides, it was obvious that no 
 governess could combine so many advan- 
 tages as the charming Mrs. Norman did, 
 being a connection of their own, a lady born, 
 and one who had been accustomed to the 
 most refined English society. 
 
 It seemed to be a plan of all others made 
 for b oth parties ; and, although the Doctor
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 179 
 
 grumbled and growled, and my brother 
 sighed, we all were forced to advise her to 
 accept it. 
 
 I suspected that Mrs. Norman had, for 
 some little time, been contemplating a 
 change; for she felt she was no longer of 
 much use to Beaujolais, and she did not 
 earn sufficient at Nordington to supply the 
 increasing demands produced by the neces- 
 sity of educating her children. 
 
 And so, at last, the answer was written ; 
 Mrs. Norman accepted her cousin's offer. 
 When she sealed up the letter, and looked 
 after it, as it was taken to the post, I was 
 startled by seeing such an expression of 
 misery on her face, as I had not thought it 
 possible she could experience ! 
 
 Why was this? Surely a brighter prospect 
 was opening before her than any that had 
 hitherto rewarded her heroic efforts; and 
 again the suspicion crossed my mind, could 
 she care for my brother ? And, after that, I 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 fancied that she tried to conceal the sorrow 
 she felt at leaving us all, as if it were some- 
 thing to be ashamed of. Still I dis- 
 missed this suspicion from my mind. I 
 thought it impossible such an equable na- 
 ture could feel for him what a wife ought, 
 or even the passionate adoration, I, as his 
 sister, felt. They were so opposite ! 
 
 Perhaps a little jealousy actuated me at 
 this time; but at any rate I bitterly re- 
 proached myself afterwards, when I, too, 
 loved ; for having at that time, as it were, 
 steeled myself to her sufferings, or rather, 
 perhaps triumphed in them, as an additional 
 homage to my poor blind brother. 
 
 Certainly her last look when she went 
 away, and would not trust herself to speak, 
 haunted me for months and years afterwards. 
 But I repressed the conviction then, I would 
 not hsten to the "still small voice," and 
 discovered years afterwards, when more ad- 
 vanced in self culture, that I had always
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 181 
 
 rather hardened my heart against Mrs. 
 Norman. 
 
 The carriage was waiting at the door; 
 Mrs. Norman and the sobbing Margaret 
 had wished me good bye, and the young 
 widow held my brother's hand, but had not 
 spoken. 
 
 Adolphe said as he pressed her hand 
 to his lips, " Will not you wish me good 
 bye !" 
 
 " Good bye and God bless you !" she 
 murmured in a choking voice and with 
 quivering lips, as her face became deadly 
 pale, and then she hastily withdrew her 
 hand and turned away, while I saw that 
 she trembled all over, and could scarcely 
 reach the carriage. 
 
 I perceived that for a moment Adolphe 
 looked surprised, and somewhat perplexed, 
 that a faint colour mounted to his pale 
 cheeks; then a sigh and slight shrug of
 
 182 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 the shoulders which could only be seen 
 by me, as if he had for a moment harboured 
 a startling idea, but then dismissed it as 
 impossible, from his mind.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 183 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THEY WILL RETURN NO MORE. 
 
 Mrs. Norman was gone, and the gentle 
 loving Margaret; and her son, Charles, 
 would return no naore from school to pass 
 the holidays, which he contrived to make 
 a succession of fete days to those whom 
 he loved. The valiant and kindly boy ! — 'who 
 often protected little Beaujolais from the 
 overbearing exuberance of Clanronald*s mis- 
 chievous fun and high spirits: — helped her 
 to learn her lessons — carried her home when 
 her wild energy had induced her to roam
 
 184 THE REIGNING BEA.UTY. 
 
 SO far in the woods with the other children, 
 that she sometimes sank down suddenly 
 quite powerless, and could not move a step 
 further. They might perhaps never meet 
 again — these loving children — the two young 
 pairs who seemed to be formed for each 
 other's happiness. 
 
 I watched at the window of our little 
 parlour, holding my brother's hand, till the 
 carriage was quite out of sight, and Adolphe 
 listened even longer ; for his sharpened ear 
 could always distinguish and identify sounds 
 long after we had ceased to hear them. 
 
 I missed them very much, but my time 
 was a good deal engrossed at that period 
 in preparations and studies for my future 
 life, so that I did not feel their departure 
 so much as my brother did. In fact, I 
 was so selfishly engrossed by these extra 
 studies, that I did not mark how sad and 
 disappointed he looked, when among the 
 sound of steps passing along the causeway
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 185 
 
 at the bottom of our little garden, he some- 
 times said, 
 
 " That is Hke Margaret's step," or when 
 a knock at our door resembled the gentle 
 tap Mrs. Norman used to giv^e. 
 
 All this I saw, and was not impressed 
 with it at the time. But years afterw^ards, 
 when my feelings were more fully awakened, 
 when I learnt fatally and deeply to love, 
 then I remembered all these indications of 
 deep affection in Mrs. Norman, and, perhaps, 
 even in my brother, which I had disregarded 
 at the time; and in after years, I bitterly 
 reproached myself for the wailful blindness 
 which prevented my comprehending, how 
 utterly lonely my poor brother must have 
 felt at that time. 
 
 I also was going to leave him, and no 
 one would remain to cheer his solitary hours 
 but little Beaujolais. Dr. Jeffrey and his 
 kind wife spared no pains to persuade him 
 to pass some time at their house, and Mrs.
 
 186 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 O'Hara expended her utmost eloquence to 
 make him consent to accompany her home 
 to Cornwall. Her arguments to prove 
 that his presence was indispensable to her 
 husband, and that the companionship of 
 Beaujolais was quite requisite to the well 
 being of her children, were most ingenious. 
 But nothing could prevail upon him to 
 forego his independance, or give up the 
 tuition of the boys at Nordington school. 
 
 Before long, however, circumstances neces- 
 sitated a change. Adolphe's health became 
 very delicate, and Dr. Jeffrey said that 
 sea air was indispensable to recruit his 
 strength. He recommended Wyverton, a 
 small rising village on the south coast of 
 Devonshire, sheltered from the east and 
 north, and much cheaper to live in than 
 Nordington or any other part of Warwick- 
 shire, where prices were already affected 
 by the summer visitants from London. 
 
 And as Adolphe could not afford to live
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 187 
 
 without some employment, he obtained for him 
 the office of a tutor to several boys in that 
 neighbourhood, who were to come every 
 day to Adolphe's house, and therefore save 
 him from the daily walk in all weathers to 
 which he had been exposed at Nordington. 
 
 Wyverton was rather a favourite place 
 of the Doctor's, he was constantly sending 
 his patients there, and consequently he 
 assured Adolphe that he could answer for 
 his having a very good succession of pupils. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey accompanied us there himself, 
 introduced us immediately to several of his 
 friends, and selected a little cottage for us to 
 live in. 
 
 It was a lovely place, and the first sight of 
 the azure sea, the woods sloping down to the 
 water, so rarely seen but in Devonshire, the 
 blue headlands beyond and the little wlute 
 villas nestling in sheltered nooks, all inspired 
 me with delight and hope. 
 
 Our little cottage, too, was an improve-
 
 188 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ment both in size and beauty upon that at 
 Nordington. It was covered with woodbine 
 and jessamine, and to my great delight, I 
 discovered a little myrtle tree in the tiny 
 garden that surrounded the house. 
 
 The change of air did my brother and 
 Beaujolais a great deal of good, and Adolphe 
 was soon able to undertake the tuition of 
 some pupils.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. 
 
 Ernest Clanronald often wrote to his 
 guardian and also to little Margaret, and we 
 could see by his letters, which Dr. Jeffrey 
 used to send to my brother, that he was not 
 leading a very happy hfe. 
 
 Clanronald was too original, or rather had 
 lived, and been brought up with too pecuhar 
 people to fare well at a public school. He 
 looked at everything from a different point of 
 view, probably a more just one ; for the gene- 
 rality of mankind are prejudiced, and see
 
 190 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 things with the eyes of fashion and tradi- 
 tion. 
 
 But this originality is very inconvenient, 
 when, as was the case with Ernest, one 
 does not possess sufficient firmness or suffi- 
 cient habits of self-denial and self-control to 
 brave ridicule and maintain one's own 
 opinions, when convinced they are right. 
 Everything with him entailed an argument, 
 and as many of the other boys were more 
 clever in talking, and wordwise, he was 
 generally worsted. 
 
 At school, too, the poor boy was made 
 aware for the first time of the disgrace 
 attached to his unknown name, and his 
 having no father. The depression of spirits 
 produced in consequence by the sneers of his 
 giddy companions, made poor Ernest prefer 
 moping about in solitude rather than joining 
 their games and sports. 
 
 He was, therefore, soon called sulky and mo- 
 rose, and although his standard of good was
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 191 
 
 much higher than that of other hoys, his impe- 
 tuous temper led him into continual scrapes. 
 
 The second year or two, however, he was 
 happier. Schoolboys are hut mankind in 
 miniature : and by degrees they gave a tardy 
 justice to the little orphan boy they had at 
 first despised. His frank and generous dis- 
 position, muscular strength and handsome 
 face gradually won for him a deserved popu- 
 larity; and one much older boy, Algernon 
 Staunton, became his greatest friend, and 
 retaliated, with that biting sarcasm for 
 which he was so famous in after life, the 
 awkward insults levelled at Clanronald by 
 the gauche red-haired young Earl of Water- 
 ton and others. 
 
 This Algernon Staunton had been nearly 
 expelled in the great Fitzpatrick rebellion 
 some two years before, when one half of the 
 school mutinied and barred out their tutors. 
 
 The ringleader, Reginald Fitzpatrick, was 
 of course expelled, but though he was held
 
 192 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 up as the synonyme for misconduct by all 
 the masters, his memory was affectionately 
 preserved, Clanronald told us, in the secret 
 heart of all the boys, who said there were no 
 more jolly days now, that Fitzpatrick had 
 gone. 
 
 After Clanronald had succeeded in esta- 
 blishing a fair footing at school, a new boy, 
 Lord Severn arrived. Clanronald was won- 
 derfully taken by him, and protected him 
 from much of the hard fagging that awaited 
 new boys in those days. 
 
 But he did not succeed in winning either 
 Lord Severn's gratitude or affection. The lat- 
 ter was a proud sullen boy, over-indulged by a 
 doating mother, and he rather resented Clan- 
 ronald's kindness, and was jealous of his 
 good looks and popularity. So he joined 
 Lord Hillsdon and Lord Waterton in carry- 
 ing out ingenious practical jokes upon Clan- 
 ronald, upsetting water upon his clothes 
 when he was asleep j deluging his bed with
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 193 
 
 cans of water in the middle of the nij^ht, 
 and other pleasant trials of temper. 
 
 At last, one day Ernest caught Lord 
 Severn in the act of some misdemeanour, 
 either burning his Greek verses just before 
 the time for shewing them, or something of 
 the kind ; and when, in his wrath, Clanronald 
 called the young lord a sneak, and a coward, 
 the latter dared him to a pitched battle in 
 the play-ground. 
 
 Of course, Clanronald's supeiior agility 
 and practise soon gave him the advantage 
 over his thick-set young bull-dog of an 
 antagonist: but he forebore to take the 
 advantage, and moved with a sudden com- 
 passion let him off. The whole school 
 shouted bravo, and from that day forth Lords 
 Severn, Hillsdon, and Waterton, no longer 
 dared openly to torment such a popular 
 rival. 
 
 But all the more bitterly did they owe 
 him a secret grudge; and soon had an 
 VOL. I. o
 
 194 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 opportunity of carrying out their desire of 
 vengeance. It would interest the reader but 
 little to know the mad pranks of a set of 
 schoolboys, but in some assault of a grave 
 nature, perpetrated upon a neighbouring 
 farmer and his family, the amiable trio of 
 boys, above named, cleverly managed by 
 bribery and other means to throw the whole 
 blame on Clanronald, w^ho happened to be 
 passing by at the time, but was entirely inno- 
 cent of the transaction. 
 
 Algernon Staunton once more came for- 
 ward in his favour, as he had done for 
 Fitzpatrick some years before, and with as 
 little success. 
 
 The circumstantial evidence was so strong, 
 that poor Clanronald was expelled from the 
 school, and it was not until several years 
 afterwards that the truth came out, and the 
 too tardy blame laid upon the rightful male- 
 factors, Lords Hillsdon and Waterton. 
 
 This was a dreadful trial to poor Clan-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 195 
 
 ronald. Of course, neither the Doctor and 
 his wife, nor indeed any of his old friends 
 beHeved in the charges laid against him. 
 But the very fact of his being expelled in 
 disgrace, and held up as a warning to future 
 scholars of Eton, seemed quite to overwhelm 
 his sensitive nature and paralyze all his facul- 
 ties for the time. 
 
 At this turning point in his life, the gentle 
 influence of Margaret would have been of 
 incalculable advantage to him. But as it 
 was, he had no young congenial companions 
 to divert his mind. Even Charles Norman 
 was far away. Some of the Doctor's rela- 
 tions were at Nordington at this time, but 
 having so long associated with another class 
 of boys, the vulgarity of these people made 
 them insufl^erable to Ernest. 
 
 He had at school always preferred exer- 
 cise to study, and now the very sight of 
 Latin and Greek, connected as it was in his 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 mind with the greatest sorrow he had hither- 
 to experienced, was distasteful to him. 
 
 It was evident he could not study suffi- 
 ciently to enter any learned profession, and as 
 he himself seemed to wish to go into the 
 army, the Doctor determined to gratify him.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE GOVERNESS. 
 
 Our departure from Nordington was a 
 great event in our lives, and about two years 
 afterwards my brother gave his consent to 
 my undertaking the responsible avocation of 
 governess. I had long thought that I was 
 as competent as I ever should be for the 
 office, although I had considerable misgiv- 
 ings about my possessing any of the requisite 
 qualities, or due acquirements. 
 
 I was conscious of very little improvement 
 in temper and disposition ; I still suffered
 
 198 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 from the same gloomy feelings, almost 
 amounting to disbelief in any real happiness, 
 either here or in the next world. Of what 
 use then could I expect to be to any human 
 being ? For after all, the great object of every 
 one's life must be happiness either in this 
 world or the next : and the child must be 
 educated for it. 
 
 I made no secret of these misgivings to 
 my brother; but he combated them by the 
 assurance that I had considerable influence 
 over others when I chose to exert it, that I 
 was often able to attain a peaceful state of 
 mind, and had learned to bear my bodily suf- 
 ferings and mental despondency with con- 
 siderable resignation. 
 
 Then all my struggles for cheerfulness had 
 given me great insight into human nature ; I 
 had attained outward composure almost 
 amounting to cheerfulness. My brother 
 thought that as I had chosen the profession, 
 I had better enter upon it.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 199 
 
 Mrs. O'Hara and her husband came to 
 Wyverton for a month's sea-bathing about 
 this time, and we of course consulted her 
 about the plan, and asked if she knew of an 
 eligible situation. 
 
 She entered most zealously into my wishes, 
 and took a violent fancy to me, so that I felt 
 very grateful to her for the unmerited kind- 
 ness. She descanted upon the new duties 
 and responsibilities before me, with a sort of 
 wild eloquence, which yet was encouraging 
 and strengthening ; although, perhaps, I had 
 never before realized so fully the solemnity of 
 all endeavours to educate young minds for 
 heaven, and thus, perhaps, leave the impress 
 of one's deeds whether good or evil, to bear 
 their destined fruit centuries after we our- 
 selves have mouldered in the grave. 
 
 Certainly, I thought in spite of her un- 
 graceful and, to some, ungracious manners, 
 Mrs. O'Hara could please, and when she 
 chose, captivate. So attractive is earnest-
 
 200 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ness in any cause, even when misguided ; and 
 besides she had of late certainly improved, 
 and the severity of her low church views had 
 been rather modified. 
 
 In about another fortnight she came one 
 morning to tell me she had heard of a situa- 
 tion, which she fancied would suit me exactly, 
 from her cousin Sir Robert Twisden. This 
 gentleman had been commissioned by his 
 sister-in-law, a widow. Lady Severn, to se- 
 lect a governess for her two girls; and on 
 receiving a letter from Mrs. O'Hara des- 
 cribing her protegee^ Miss Muggins, he 
 wrote to enquire all particulars about me. 
 
 Lady Severn was by no means rich, Mrs. 
 O'Hara said, and, therefore, could not afford 
 to give a large salary; but she advised me to 
 accept the situation as a beginning, and that 
 I need not remain if I found it uncomfort- 
 able. 
 
 Lady Severn preferred having a young 
 governess, " who would not give herself airs.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 201 
 
 as the former ones had done," and yet she 
 would not have a pretty person : for fear, as 
 Mrs. O'Hara said with one of her contemp- 
 tuous laughs, " she should captivate the son 
 and heir ; a hopeful youth, my dear, who is 
 always getting into scrapes ; and you know 
 was the great enemy of young Ernest Clan- 
 ronald at Eton,*' she added, " and you would 
 be the one deserving pity, not he, if you 
 were to marry him." 
 
 1 saw that Mr. Roland, who came to 
 Wyverton while these negotiations were 
 pending, was very anxious that I should 
 commence my new life as soon as possible, 
 for he was perfectly sure that I should be 
 so miserable, that I should soon bitterly 
 repent my insensibility to his nephew. 
 
 There was a smile of anticipated triumph 
 on his thin lips, that made me determine all 
 the more resolutely never to acknowledge 
 myself unhappy, and to put up with any 
 inconveniences, or annoyances I should meet
 
 202 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 with, rather than allow him to suppose 1 
 regretted my decision. 
 
 Lady Severn's family consisted of one son, 
 besides the two young ladies who were to be 
 under my charge. They lived all the winter 
 and spring in London, and went sometimes 
 into the country during the summer. Lady 
 Severn was content to engage me upon the 
 recommendation and description of Mrs. 
 O'Hara and Sir Robert Twisden ; and so at 
 last it was finally arranged that I was to go 
 to her as soon as possible.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE PARTING. 
 
 When the day arrived for my departure to 
 Lady Severn's house in Grosvenor Street, I 
 seemed to awaken to the full horror of leav- 
 ing my brother. My bad healtli obliged me 
 to give such exclusive attention to whatever I 
 was doing, that I had not before thought 
 much of what the separation from him would 
 be. I had had my brother's wardrobe to put 
 in order, to make some dresses for myself, to 
 learn the Italian grammar while I was stitch- 
 ing at button-holes ! 
 
 Even the last evening I was obliged to be
 
 204 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 more busy than ever ; but when the fly came 
 to the door that was to take me to the sta- 
 tion, (railways were only then beginning to 
 terrify mankind, and this was my first expe- 
 dition on one), when I saw the tears in my 
 brother's sightless eyes at the sound, I be- 
 came almost paralysed. 
 
 " Little Nelly, my darling Nelly, must I 
 part with you, indeed ?" said he, in such a 
 voice that, for a moment, my resolution was 
 shaken. 
 
 " Dear Aunt Nelly, you must not go ! 
 indeed, you must not make papa miserable !" 
 sobbed Beaujolais. 
 
 I could not trust myself to speak, lest he 
 should know the agony I endured, but I did 
 not attempt to arrest my tears, or repress my 
 sobs, as he clasped me in his arms. 
 
 " I suppose I was right ; I suppose she 
 must go," he said, making a violent effort at 
 composure, as I tore myself away, and placed 
 Beaujolais in his arms.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 205 
 
 *' I can return if — if — " 
 
 " Yes ; if we find we cannot bear it, and 
 that you are uncomfortable," he said. " Pro- 
 mise me that." 
 
 " 1 do, indeed." 
 
 One more kiss on his forehead, which was 
 wet with Beaujolais' tears, and I quitted the 
 room. 
 
 Dr. Jeffrey and his wife were outside, they 
 would not intrude at our last parting, but I 
 entreated them to hasten into his room. 
 
 Mr. Roland accompanied me to the sta- 
 tion, and forbore to find any fault ; only 
 feared we should be too late for the train. 
 
 " If you think better of it, I find that my 
 
 nephew would still be willing to take you for 
 
 better, for worse," said he, with a gallant 
 
 bow, complacently stroking his chin. 
 * # # # 
 
 It was a foggy evening in January, when I 
 arrived in London, and all my horror at the 
 life I had chosen was re-awakened. It was
 
 206 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 not even dispelled by the comparative cheer- 
 fulness of Upper Grosvenor Street, as I drove 
 towards the end from whence the Park could 
 be seen. 
 
 Lady Severn's was not a large house, for 
 her jointure was small in proportion to the 
 bulk of the property, all entailed on her son. 
 Lord Severn. 
 
 Her ladyship was out, but I was shown 
 up into the school-room by the house-maid. 
 I scarcely noticed the insolent-looking butler 
 who had opened the door, and then, finding 
 it was only the expected governess, Miss 
 Muggins, summoned the house-maid to help 
 the cabman in with my packages. I saw 
 scarcely anything, till I found myself alone in 
 the schoolroom. 
 
 Then I anxiously looked around, and en- 
 deavoured to discover, by the books that lay 
 scattered on the table, the music on the piano, 
 and some unfinished drawings on the easel, 
 any indications of the taste and capacity of
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 207 
 
 my future pupils. I saw some of the last 
 French novels, which I had been taught to 
 consider no aids to study ! 
 
 The fire had gone out, and it was very 
 cold. I sat down having a dreadful headache, 
 and tried to warm my feet at the cheerless 
 grate, in the vain hope that some heat might 
 still remain in the blackened embers.
 
 208 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE UNPROMISING PUPIL. 
 
 I SAT for about five minutes in rather sor- 
 rowful expectation, when loud laughter in the 
 passage outside reached my ears, the door 
 suddenly opened, and a wild-looking, hand- 
 some girl was pushed rudely into the room. 
 
 Then a loud laugh was heard on the other 
 side, and the door shut again. 
 
 " I am afraid you must be cold, Miss Mug- 
 gins," said the young lady, who appeared to 
 be eleven years old, as she endeavoured to as- 
 sume a serious and civil look at the sight of 
 my sallow face.
 
 THE REIGNING BE.\UTY. 209 
 
 I imagined this young lady naust be Miss 
 Isabel Severn, the youngest of my two pupils, 
 and I found I was right. 
 
 " Sophy ought not to have let the fire 
 out," she added, as she rang the bell vio- 
 lently, " and I daresay you are hungry after 
 your journey. Tea will be here soon," she 
 continued, as I rose from my chair. 
 
 Isabel scanned me from head to foot with a 
 look, in which defiance, curiosity, and a slight 
 degree of pity, were strangely blended ; per- 
 haps the better expression continued to pre- 
 dominate more as she became aware of my 
 look of suffering, for I did not feel so much 
 repelled by her proud, and somewhat harsh 
 features, as I expected, and I involuntiirily 
 extended my hand. 
 
 She seemed surprised, but took it at once, 
 and said, in a kinder tone, 
 
 " I hope you are not very tired ; but I am 
 afraid you are." 
 
 " I have a bad headache," 1 replied, " and 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 I have felt much at parting with my brother 
 who is bhnd." 
 
 " What made him blind ? How dreadful 
 that must be !" said Isabel, with a look of 
 perplexed surprise, as if it had occurred to her 
 for the first time, that the deprivation of 
 sight must be a misfortune. 
 
 " And how can he amuse himself?" she 
 continued. 
 
 " He endeavours to amuse others, and he 
 teaches French, and he has a dear little girl, 
 called Beaujolais, who loves and comforts him." 
 
 " And is he sorry to part with you ?" 
 
 The commencement of this question had a 
 tone as much as to say, " How could any one 
 miss such an ugly and unprepossessing per- 
 son." Yet, almost ere the sentence was con- 
 cluded, she seemed to feel, as if with a sort of 
 surprise, that it might be possible. 
 
 " I was useful to him," I said, " but he 
 has not so many comforts as I could wish, 
 and so I determined to do something to help
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 211 
 
 him. Therefore, I am come here, and I 
 hope you will let me be useful to you." 
 
 "You are a very different person from 
 Miss McDougall, or Miss Levrier, our other 
 governesses. They were so cross and proud, 
 I hated them ; and, though Anastasia said it 
 would be impossible we could like any one 
 who had such a name as Muggins, and that 
 you must be vulgar ; still — it is very odd — 
 but I really do think I shall like you." 
 
 She uttered the last few words with a vi- 
 vacity that seemed unusual to her, and opened 
 her beautiful large eyes, as if surprised at her- 
 self. For, as I afterwards found, she usually 
 spoke in a slow and somewhat matter-of-fact 
 manner. 
 
 I caught myself thinking that she was not 
 clever; but I was sure her natural inclina- 
 tions were good, and I thought she would 
 become very beautiful. 
 
 The housemaid, Sophy, now came in, relit 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 the fire and brought the tea. Isabel said that 
 we should not wait for Anastasia, and added ! 
 
 " She is dressing to go to the opera with 
 mamnaa. She very often goes there. I have 
 never been yet, and am dying to go. Anas- 
 tasia will come here when she is dressed, and 
 then you wil] see her. She is a beauty, you 
 know, and has already made ever so many 
 conquests, as she calls it." 
 
 " But, surely, she has not been introduced 
 into the world yet ?" I asked, in some as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Oh, no ! she's only fifteen, but mamma 
 is so proud of her. And do you know, I 
 don't hke her so well as I used. She gets so 
 conceited, and thinks of nothing but making 
 these conquests. 1 know that Mr. Parley, 
 the clergyman at Severndale, was very un- 
 happy ; he was always wanting to be with 
 her, and, she says, he told her he hked her so 
 much better than his wife. Was it not very
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 213 
 
 dreadful?" she asked, in a tone of perplexed cu- 
 riosity, which gave me the impression that her 
 ideas of right and wrong were very confused. 
 '' You read French, I see." 
 " Yes," she replied, with a blush, " Miss 
 Levrier would not let us read any of these 
 books, yet they amuse me very much." 
 
 *' Does your mother approve of your read- 
 ing them ?" 
 
 " She does not know anything of it ; she 
 so seldom comes up here." 
 
 " Do you know German, too ? " I enquired. 
 " No ; but I should like to learn it, 
 though it must be very difficult. Still, I 
 wish to try, for cousin Christina Twisden 
 teazes me always, and says I am such a 
 dunce, I never shall learn anything," said 
 Isabel, with a look of pride. 
 
 " I hope I may be able to help you to 
 learn it more easily," I replied. " And have 
 you read many of the histories I see upon 
 the book-shelves ?"
 
 214 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " No, I have only read them with Miss 
 Levrier; I found them so melancholy, and 
 dull, too." 
 
 The more I looked at Miss Isabel, the 
 more handsome I thought her. She had a 
 quantity of dark hair, and her large earnest 
 eyes seemed to hide in their depths the slum- 
 bering fire of strong, though yet unawakened, 
 passion, feeling and thought. Still, the general 
 expression of her face was dull, and there was 
 a great deal of pride and petulance in the 
 movements of her well-formed mouth. 
 
 I found myself mentally contrasting her 
 face with that of the even-tempered and har- 
 monious Margaret ; and the comparison was 
 not advantageous to my uncertain and evi- 
 dently ill-tempered pupil. 
 
 Still, I hoped that, with care and training, 
 she might acquire a less proud and more 
 kindly expression ; and 1 began to feel that I 
 might love and be able to influence her.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE BEAUTY. 
 
 When the elder Miss Severn was ready, 
 she came into the school-room, and I was 
 completely dazzled by her beauty. She was 
 splendidly attired, and, though only fifteen, 
 appeared older, for her form was fully de- 
 veloped. 
 
 Isabel was quite eclipsed by the vision of 
 this beautiful creature. She had perfectly 
 formed features, and ever-changing expression, 
 that denoted all but goodness ; and yet she 
 was so lovely, that, for a time, one scarcely 
 missed it, or wished her otherwise !
 
 216 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 I was quite entranced ! 
 
 I saw she was pleased at the effect she pro- 
 duced, and extended her white hand with an 
 air of queenly condescension. I seemed to 
 enjoy her beauty too much to envy it, or to 
 be even unhappy at my own deficiency. I 
 felt afraid that she must influence me. For 
 how could I help loving a being so exquisitely 
 beautiful, whatever she might do ? 
 
 " I was sure you would admire her," said 
 Isabel, as she saw the delight expressed on 
 niy face ; and I was glad to see that she 
 evinced pleasure, and no jealousy. 
 
 " Mamma won't have time to come up," 
 said Anastasia, '* she is in a great hurry, and 
 she told me to tell you she would put off 
 seeing you until the morning. Aunt Twisden 
 is coming for us, and I also want to get in 
 time for the overture ; not that I care about 
 the music !" she added, and there was some- 
 thing in the winning archness of her splendid 
 eyes, that put me in mind of Ernest Clan-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 217 
 
 ronald. And this made me love her more, 
 and become more lenient to her many flmlts. 
 
 "How smart you have made yourself 1" 
 said Isabel, with rather an envious glance at 
 her sister's attire. " Why you've got on one 
 of mamma's petticoats, I am certain ; surely 
 she won't like that." 
 
 " Oh, she won't mind when she sees how 
 brilliant I look, particularly as Lord De Mor- 
 ville will probably come to our box." 
 
 *' Ah, you want to be a m>archioness, I see, 
 yet I'm sure I would not marry Lord De Mor- 
 ville even if he were a duke or a prince," 
 said Isabel with a proud toss of her head. 
 
 " Nor I either, never fear," said Anastasia, 
 *' but I intend that he should ask me, and I 
 mean to spurn him from my feet," she added 
 with kindling eyes, " for he is a fool, and he 
 was unkind to Severn." 
 
 '' So are you, too, very often," rejoined 
 Isabel. 
 
 " Yes, but he told cousin Christina that I
 
 218 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 was not half so pretty as he expected, not so 
 beautiful as she is, and so I am determined 
 he shall feel my charms." 
 
 During this conversation, which went on 
 in the same strain during tea time, I was 
 becoming every moment more alarmed at 
 the duty I had undertaken. 
 
 Here were two girls evidently allowed to 
 do just as they pleased, read the most per- 
 nicious books, indulge with impunity in 
 every vain and uncharitable feeling, yet I was 
 expected to educate them ! What was I to 
 do, and where begin ? 
 
 " You look quite frightened. Miss Mug- 
 gins, what's the matter ?" enquired Miss 
 Severn, after she had said something which 
 it made me blush to hear. " I am afraid you 
 have not lived at all in the great world, and 
 so you are shocked at what I said about 
 Lord Hillsdon." 
 
 " No, I have not," I answered gravely, 
 *' and I think your sister is too young to be
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 219 
 
 told of its wickedness, although if you are 
 thrown in the way of it, I suppose you can't 
 help hearing of such disgraceful actions. But 
 I shall be much obliged," I added in a per- 
 suasive tone, " if you will not talk in that 
 way before Miss Isabel." 
 
 Both the girls looked up in surprise, and I 
 saw it was difficult to make them compre- 
 hend what harm there could be in such 
 discourse. 
 
 '* There is the carriage, I hear it driving 
 up to the door," exclaimed Anastasia, " Aunt 
 Twisden has called for us. Good night, 
 Bella— good night, Miss Muggins," she 
 added, extending her hand with a gracious 
 and winning smile. 
 
 ''• Anastasia likes you, I see," said Isabel, 
 as soon as her sister had left the room. 
 " She actually likes you, yet it was only 
 this evening she declared she shoukl hate 
 vou, you have such a dreadful name, and 
 that horrible Mrs. O'Hara had recommended
 
 220 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 you; she said she was sure you must be 
 disagreeable." 
 
 " I am very glad she likes me/' I replied, 
 remembering my own former dislike to Mrs. 
 O'Hara. 
 
 "Yes, and I think I shall like you, too, 
 though I am sure I don't know why, for 
 you are very plain, much plainer than Mrs. 
 McDougall or Miss Levrier." 
 
 It was certainly a wonderful thing that 
 they did not dislike me, and I began to 
 hope that in time I might obtain a beneficial 
 influence over them. 
 
 I then went up to my little comfortless 
 attic and unpacked my things, and by Miss 
 Isabel's advice went to bed, as I was quite 
 overcome with the fatigue and excitement 
 I had gone through that day.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE SCRUTINY. 
 
 The next morning I received orders to 
 wait on Lady Severn. 
 
 She was an awful looking person on a 
 large scale, yet spare and bony, though 
 very handsome. But she had a wild look in 
 her splendid dark eyes which almost terrified 
 me. Her voice, too, was loud, and then 
 there was something repelling in her manner 
 that marred her beauty, I thought. 
 
 I saw, too, that I did not make such a 
 favourable impression upon her as I had 
 upon her daughters, for the stately bow
 
 222 THE REIGNTNG BEAUTY. 
 
 she vouchsafed me was scarcely civil, and 
 the rough questions she asked, showed a 
 considerable distrust of my capacities. 
 
 Lady Severn's sister. Lady Twisden, and 
 her daughter, whom my pupils had called 
 cousin Christina, were announced while I 
 was undergoing the inspection, and they 
 joined their scrutinizing looks, and almost 
 impertinent questions to those of my tor- 
 mentor-in-chief. 
 
 This somewhat roused my spirit, and I 
 answered with a look and tone of indepen- 
 dance, which I saw surprised my pupils; 
 made Lady Severn's proud lips curl with 
 contempt, and her dark eye-brows contract 
 with an angry frown. 
 
 Lady Twisden smiled and shrugged her 
 shoulders with a languid air, as if she 
 thought it too much trouble to be angry. 
 She resembled her sister, but had a softer, 
 and perhaps, more pleasing expression, and 
 it seemed to me that she affected a non-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 223 
 
 chalance and studious grace, that formed 
 a strong contrast to her sister, and perhaps, 
 even to her own natural manner. 
 
 But I did not like her better ; for 1 saw 
 plainly that whatever might be her faults, 
 Lady Severn was no hypocrite, whereas Lady 
 Twisden did not look very sincere. 
 
 As I left the room, I heard Lady Severn 
 say to her sister, " I think she'll do, and 
 she's plain enough, certainly," she added with 
 a laugh, in which they all joined. 
 
 It was a great relief to me when I heard 
 that her son, Lord Severn, was not in town, 
 for ]\Irs. O'Hara had told me of the fatal 
 influence he exercised over his mother and 
 sisters; and I knew from his conduct to 
 poor Clanrunald that he must be a very 
 worthless and unprincipled young man, 
 though only at that time sixteen years 
 of age. 
 
 The persons 1 met at Lady Severn's were 
 as different in every respect from those 1
 
 224 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 had known before, as the companions Clan- 
 ronald found at Eton, were from those of 
 his early childhood. At first, every one I 
 saw gave me the impression of being a 
 sort of mummy. They seemed to evince 
 so little feeling, and so seldom to allow 
 themselves to think. 
 
 Lady Severn herself had evidently thought 
 very little, and I found myself much sur- 
 prised one day, when I saw that her feelings 
 were deeply excited by something her hope- 
 ful son had done. But afterwards, I discovered 
 that under her apparently cold and conven- 
 tional exterior, there was much deep, but 
 I feared extremely ill-regulated feeling. 
 
 Her sister, Lady Twisden, seemed to live 
 still more under a mask, and was more 
 popular, I believe. But I often reproached 
 myself for feehng, or perhaps imagining, 
 that her expressions of affection for her 
 sister and nieces were insincere. 
 
 Lady Severn was a great person, no doubt.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 225 
 
 She was visited by innumerable grandees 
 of the highest rank, and was descended from 
 one of the oldest Irish families ; yet I could 
 never quite divest myself of the impression 
 that she was rather vulgar. 
 
 Although she never did or said any of 
 that sort of things, which I had heard 
 some persons say denoted vulgarity in poor 
 dear Mrs. Jeffrey, yet she did not give me 
 the impression of a really well-bred person ; 
 not half so lady-like as Mrs. Norman or 
 even my poor dear, low-born Louise. In 
 fact, I saw very few who at all came near 
 them, in my estimation. The one who did 
 the most was, strange to say, the Duchess 
 of Claretown. Strange, because the first 
 time I saw her Grace, I fancied that her little 
 stout figure, ruddy cheeks, and homely look, 
 might, if she had been plain Mrs. Smith, have 
 been reckoned a little vulgar, too. But she 
 seemed much more natural and really kind 
 hearted than most of those great people. 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 I saw the company who came there 
 very seldom, but I often heard the girls, 
 the Miss Severns and their cousin, talk of 
 them. Therefore before I saw any persons, 
 I knew, at all events, what my pupils thought 
 of them. 
 
 Sometimes I was wanted in the drawing- 
 room to play quadrilles and waltzes for the 
 young people to dance, and I also accom- 
 panied my pupils to the dancing academy, 
 where I saw many ladies of the highest 
 rank, who sometimes went there with their 
 daughters. 
 
 Lady Severn never went there since her 
 eldest daughter ceased to learn, for as yet 
 Isabel was not a beauty, therefore she took 
 little interest in her progress. 
 
 When I perceived the extraordinary in- 
 fluence Anastasia's loveliness exercised over 
 me, I, who have received what is called 
 a good education ; I could not be surprised 
 that persons, on the other hand, were re-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 22? 
 
 pelled by my ugliness. For, in spite of my 
 brother's assertions that I had Vair piquant 
 and that I was a jolie laide, I still felt 
 that I was very plain. Then An astasia had 
 such marvellously winning ways. She was 
 so fond of being loved and admired by 
 every one, that she, perhaps unconsciously, 
 conciliated all, and adapted herself to the 
 most opposite tastes. 
 
 The most dangerous person I ever saw, 
 or imagined could possibly exist, was the 
 accomplished arch coquette Anastasia Severn. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIl. 
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Lord Severn came home for a few days 
 before he went to College. He was very 
 handsome, and older looking than I ex- 
 pected; but his face bore marks of a way- 
 ward passionate temper, and the sensual 
 expression of his mouth was repelling in the 
 extreme. He had already a blase look, and 
 seemed to care little for anything, — as if 
 he were in continual want of some strong 
 excitement. 
 
 All this did not strike me then; for I 
 knew so little of the world, that I was only
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 229 
 
 puzzled ; but I have since discovered what 
 it was that I disUked. 
 
 I saw he was his mother's idol, that 
 everything she did or said, had reference to 
 him ; but she was lamentably misjudging in 
 her fondness. She seemed always to mi- 
 nister fatally to his diseased craving for ex- 
 citement, lest he should find his home dull ; 
 and thereby laid the seeds of vice, which she 
 sometimes afterwards endeavoured vainly to 
 check. She used to look at him occasionally 
 with a sort of w^ild and anxious fondness, which 
 interested me much ; and I often longed to hint 
 that her treatment of him was entirely wrong. 
 For I trembled at its probable results, and I 
 felt this intense love must, in time, be dis- 
 appointed. Certainly her standard was very 
 low, therefore he might do much that was 
 self-indulgent and wrong, without losing 
 ground in her estimation. So that, perhaps, 
 I felt more for her, than she did for herself. 
 Already she suffered from his extravagancies.
 
 230 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 and had great difficulty in obtaining ready 
 money to pay his debts. 
 
 " You are to come down into the drawing- 
 room this evening, Miss Muggins," said 
 Isabel, a few days after Lord Severn's 
 arrival, " you are actually to come down and 
 accompany Anastasia, although there is a 
 party.'' 
 
 I was not at all pleased at this intel- 
 ligence, although I knew it was a great 
 honour, and sort of personal compliment to 
 me, as my predecessors had never been 
 allowed to appear. 
 
 I suggested that my dress was not smart 
 enough. 
 
 " O, yes, your black silk will do very 
 well," said Miss Severn ; so I saw it was 
 impossible to avoid the infliction ; but J felt 
 much annoyed and frightened at an unex- 
 pected, though petty malheur, of which I 
 had never contemplated the possibility. 
 
 Still, I thought, it was very foolish to
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 231 
 
 apprehend, what as my brother would say 
 might turn out to be an amusement. So I 
 tried to view it with Adolphe's philosophical, 
 though sightless eyes ; dressed my hair as 
 well as I could, and made the best of my 
 appearance. 
 
 Lord Severn seemed to enjoy the music, 
 and he complimented me very good-naturedly 
 on my manner of accompanying his sisters.
 
 232 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SEVERNDALE. 
 
 In the summer, we were to go for a few 
 months to Severndale Hall, in — shire ; and 
 I looked forward with much hope to the 
 change. Besides my dislike to London, I 
 fancied that the girls would improve more in 
 the country, for then there would not be such 
 constant interruptions. I had also discovered 
 to my dismay, that they had no taste whatever 
 for the beauties of nature, and I fancied this 
 might be cultivated in a degree, if I could 
 point out the everchanging and exquisite
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 233 
 
 loveliness of the works of God, amid the 
 delights of country rambles. 
 
 I found Severndale Hall a very enchanting 
 residence, although the house was dilapidated 
 and the furniture very old; — though Lady 
 Severn was always complaining of its dis- 
 comfort and dulness. Wonderful as it ap- 
 peared to me, she certainly did not like the 
 place. I saw her countenance change as we 
 drove up, the day of our arrival, towards the 
 ancient mansion, and passed near a splendid 
 piece of water in the Park. 
 
 " How gloomy it always appears," she 
 said with a shudder ; " only that the country 
 is better for their health, I certainly would 
 not come." 
 
 I had never seen such a beautiful country 
 house before ; I delighted in roaming 
 through the long galleries and tapestried 
 rooms, and hearing stories from the old 
 housekeeper about the family portraits. It
 
 234 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 was quite a new life to me : for except the 
 cathedral at , I had never seen any- 
 thing that brought the past so delightfully 
 before me ; and took me out of the present 
 and away from my own suffering self and all 
 those for whom I felt anxious. 
 
 I fancied the house might be haunted, and 
 enjoyed, with a sort of shuddering dread, 
 wandering in the twilight through the old 
 state apartments that were never used, and 
 thinking of the housekeeper's words, " Some 
 terrible things has happened in this house." 
 
 I used sometimes to come upon her in my 
 rambles, dusting affectionately with the cor- 
 ner of her apron, the brocaded satin of some 
 beautiful old carved chair, and shaking her 
 head, as she talked of the former greatness of 
 the family, and lamenting the present state of 
 things. And she would tell of the late lord, 
 how handsome and noble he was, and how 
 loveable his first wife was, and how my lord
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 235 
 
 had never recovered the death of his second 
 little son, but pined away and followed him 
 soon after. 
 
 Then she w^ould grow mysterious, and 
 with many an ominous shake of the head, 
 declare " that luck was gone for ever with that 
 child from Severndale, and that the present 
 lady knew it, and was afeard of the haunted 
 rooms." But she would never tell me how 
 the child died, or what his death had to do 
 with Lady Severn. 
 
 It seemed to me a marvel how any one 
 could dislike such a place, or that a person 
 who appeared so strong in mind and body 
 as Lady Severn was, could be afraid of 
 ghosts. 
 
 But I soon found that she really was ; for 
 one evening, as I was roaming about the old 
 galleries at twilight, I met her coming out of 
 the library pale and trembling. 
 
 She took hold of my hand and said, *' Oh 
 save me, I have seen it again ; but don't tell
 
 236 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 them," she whispered, " pray don't, ah ! 
 there it is, look," and she pointed with a face 
 of horror towards a corner where there was a 
 figure in armour. 
 
 " That's where he used to play ; and I 
 heard his voice moaning, he was calling out 
 for help; there, don't you hear that plain- 
 tive tone ?" 
 
 " It is the wind sighing through the old 
 casements," said I trying to reassure her, 
 and as she seemed too much bewildered to 
 know where she was going, I drew her into 
 the drawing-room, where a bright fire was 
 burning. 
 
 " T sometimes see him here, too," she con- 
 tinued, " but don't tell" 
 
 " I certainly will not." 
 
 "It is very foolish of me I know," she 
 said. 
 
 And then I lighted the candle, and placed 
 her in a chair by the fire. 
 
 " You are a good creature, Miss Muggins,
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 23? 
 
 and I like you better, far better than any 
 other governess I ever saw; but never say 
 you saw that I was frightened." 
 
 I believe she had never confessed her fears 
 before to any one, and I could not help 
 feeling interested and flattered at this proof 
 of confidence.
 
 238 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 LEAVE ME ALONE. 
 
 " Leave me alone," said Miss Isabel 
 Severn, one day with a look of such stolid 
 despair, that I felt quite paralyzed and utterly 
 at a loss what course to pursue, for at first 
 she became daily more difficult to manage. 
 She would learn nothing, and shrank from 
 all my efforts to instruct her, even when we 
 were out walking, or in the liveliest and 
 apparently easiest manner I could devise. 
 
 "Leave me alone," she repeated with a 
 movement of her shoulders, as if to push me
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 239 
 
 out of the room ; and with a look of hatred 
 and tone almost of bitterness, she again and 
 again said, " Leave me alone." 
 
 I went up into my little attic and prayed, 
 or rather endeavoured to pray; for I felt 
 almost too full of misery and bitterness to 
 approach God. I thought it seemed an im- 
 possibility that I could be of any manner of 
 use in this family. I was disappointed in the 
 only one who seemed capable of amendment, 
 whose disposition I had hoped might be 
 moulded, and her heart enlarged. Yet to 
 accomplish this, it seemed necessary to find 
 fault from morning till night; for she was 
 accustomed to view everything from a totally 
 different point. Then I feared I was utterly 
 unfitted for the task. 
 
 Mrs. Norman could have managed her, 
 she was so calm, so unvaryingly sensible, she 
 never lost her temper for a moment, or 
 evinced the slightest impatience. I tried to 
 imitate, to speak like her, all to no purpose.
 
 240 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Sometimes in the unjust bitterness of my 
 heart, I was inclined to feel provoked with 
 Mrs. Norman for her unvarying goodness ; 
 and I argued myself into the belief that she 
 had no spontaneity, that she did all from a 
 sense of duty. 
 
 As if that diminished her merits ! 
 
 Yet, strange to say, we often feel disposed 
 to regard with less admiration, those whose 
 passionless natures are never betrayed into 
 any extreme, or guilty of any folly. 
 
 But in some degree this is justifiable; 
 because such characters have less trouble with 
 themselves, and lookers-on feel this, even if 
 they do not take the trouble to think. 
 
 In Mrs. Norman, the pattern woman, I 
 had been rather disappointed ; for, she had 
 not written to me since I went to live 
 with Lady Severn, and I fancied she ought 
 to have known that I should be particularly 
 in want of comfort and encouragement. I 
 ascertained afterwards this was not her fault :
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 241 
 
 but at the time all this passed through my 
 mind, as I was endeavouring to pray. Yet I 
 gradually became more composed, and felt 
 that the effort to raise my thoughts to Heaven 
 had done me good. I looked out into the 
 calm evening sky, and on the glorious sunset 
 that poured its rays aslant the trees in the park, 
 and tinged the distant waters of the lake with 
 a streak of gold. I was able to feel thankful 
 to the God who had created this fair world ; 
 and then. I prayed for Isabel ; — that I might 
 love her even if she hated me, for I fancied her 
 affections were strong, and that it was only 
 my own mismanagement that prevented her 
 from being good. 
 
 Perhaps if I acted differently, if — a gentle 
 tap at the door interrupted my meditations, 
 and Isabel entered, with a half sullen yet 
 half repentant expression on her face. 
 
 " I am glad you are come," I said, " for 
 now I can give you credit for a desire to 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 improve, and you must know that I only 
 wish to do you good." 
 
 *' I know it is very wrong of me, but I do 
 so hate learning — I hate thinking," she 
 replied. 
 
 *' Perhaps it is really bad for her," I 
 thought, and therefore determined thence- 
 forth to be more out of doors. So I went 
 with her every morning early in the park, 
 and read to her as she sat under the trees. 
 She was very slow, and experienced great 
 difficulty in fixing her attention at first. 
 Bat by degrees this plan seemed to answer, 
 she learnt a little, we had fewer crying scenes ; 
 and the greatest gain was, that she acquired a 
 more kindly habit of thought and feeling, 
 became daily more amiable, and gave me 
 credit for a wish to make her happy. 
 
 This was a great blessing, and had her 
 progress not been often interrupted by the 
 evil influence of Lady Severn, Anastasia
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 243 
 
 and her brother, we should have been very 
 happy. 
 
 At Severndale I most gladly gave myself 
 up to the influence of the old house, and 
 allowed my imagination to people it with 
 generations long past away. There is no- 
 thing more pleasant to those who suffer much 
 in body and mind, than to throw themselves 
 into the past, to live in idea with those who 
 had experienced different joys and sorrows 
 from their own. 
 
 I delighted in tracing time-worn footsteps 
 along the old pavement of the court-yard, 
 and fancying the stately dames and noble 
 cavaliers pourtrayed in the family pictures, 
 once more embodied and peopling the 
 tapestried rooms and carved staircases. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE PUPILS. 
 
 I FOUND, as I have before said, that my 
 youngest pupil Isabel, had great difficulty in 
 learning, even after she acquired a wish for 
 knowledge. Besides, she was slow in feeling 
 or taking an interest in things ; but when her 
 affections were once thoroughly excited, I 
 fancied that she would love deeply and de- 
 votedly. 
 
 Anastasia, on the other hand, was quick 
 and rather clever, but cared little for any 
 thing that did not tend to enhance her 
 powers of fascination.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 245 
 
 She tried to learn languages, because she 
 wished to be able to talk to foreigners ; and 
 singing, because some of her acquaintances 
 looked so pretty when they sang, that they 
 attracted still more admiration. But she 
 had not a good voice, and very little natural 
 taste for music, so that her endeavours to cul- 
 tivate this accomplishment had the effect of 
 making her very cross. I dreaded the music 
 lesson, therefore, although it gratified me to 
 see that she persevered in having it regu- 
 larly. One advantage of Isabel's comparative 
 stupidity, or rather her want of inquiringness 
 and curiosity, was that she was more satisfied 
 when any thing was really explained to her, 
 and she in time gradually acquired a simple 
 and steadfast faith in religion. On the other 
 hand, Anastasia's quickness, or rather restless 
 curiosity rendered the task more hopeless of 
 trying to remedy the radical defects of her 
 education. She was clever enough to combat
 
 246 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 and find fault with the evidences of revelation, 
 and to seize with avidity the infidel notions 
 that Lord Hillsdon and some other of her 
 brother's young friends sometimes threw out, 
 but she had not sufficient reasoning power 
 to see the truth beyond, — that great truth 
 which requires the highest order of mind to 
 see clearly and believe, or else the simple 
 childlike faith that takes the Word on trust, 
 and can believe without seeing. 
 
 Beaujolais required proof, at least she had 
 that wish to see and understand, which im- 
 pelled her to search the Scriptures with all 
 the energy of her earnest and inquiring mind. 
 And fortunately, Adolphe was at hand to 
 guide her researches, and by his judicious 
 explanations to remove all doubts. 
 
 But I had not the power of comprehension 
 and right-minded belief, which my brother 
 possessed; and, therefore, I should never have 
 been able to cope with Isabel, if she had
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 247 
 
 evinced Beaujolais' inquiring spirit. For there 
 was a sort of dogged determination about her, 
 that sometimes made her persevere in the 
 most toilsome manner on those rare occasions 
 when her interest was fully excited.
 
 248 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 HOME NEWS. 
 
 The letters I received from home after I 
 had lived about two years with Lady Severn, 
 shewed that Dr. Jeffrey was in a great di- 
 lemma what course to pursue with Ernest 
 Clanronald. His extravagance must be 
 checked, or no fortune, even were the Doctor 
 to bequeath to him the whole of his earnings, 
 would suffice to the boy, were he to acquire 
 the habit of spending more than his present 
 very liberal allowance. Yet how to tell him 
 so without hurting his feelings was the great 
 difficulty.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 249 
 
 My brother at last undertook to speak to 
 Ernest. He suggested that the best course 
 would be, to point out to him that the Doctor's 
 relations and those of his wife must have con- 
 siderable claims ; that they would naturally ex- 
 pect he should assist them, fully as much as 
 the adopted son, who had no legal right to 
 inherit any part of his fortune. This Adolphe 
 did with all the tact and kindness possible ; 
 but the high-spirited and sensitive youth was 
 deeply affected. He expressed a firm deter- 
 mination to become independant, and as they 
 had foreseen, could not bear the idea of costing 
 his guardian a farthing. He wished to be 
 placed in any situation, no matter how igno- 
 minious and laborious, that could make him 
 independant, and in time repay Dr. Jeffrey 
 some portion of the outlay. 
 
 •* Their love I can never repay," he added 
 with moistened eyes. 
 
 " But you will deeply wound their feelings 
 if you run into the contrary extreme, and
 
 250 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 refuse to benefit by your guardian's gene- 
 rosity," said Adolphe. 
 
 They all saw that it was a sad misfortune, 
 that he should be deprived of Margaret's 
 most salutary influence at this important 
 time. They at first thought of sending him 
 over to Limerick, but feared it might annoy 
 Mrs. Norman, and it would not be easy to 
 make her comprehend the sort of importance, 
 an intercourse with her daughter might be to 
 the wayward boy. So Ernest was sent to 
 study at Sandhurst, where he at first endea- 
 voured to apply himself to study ; and two 
 years afterwards. Dr. Jeffrey purchased a 
 commission for him in a cavalry regiment. 
 
 My brother in vain endeavoured to persuade 
 Dr. Jeffrey, that an infantry regiment being 
 less expensive and less fraught with tempta- 
 tions, would be better for the boy — the same 
 consideration which had induced him years 
 ago to advocate Winchester instead of Eton. 
 But however wisely Dr. Jeffrey might talk and
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 251 
 
 even think, he could not resist the indulgent 
 impulses of his feelings towards his pet ; and 
 as he considered Ernest of good birth, he 
 therefore thought that he was entitled to 
 the most honourable post. 
 
 " But the temptation to extravagance is so 
 much greater," argued Adolphe. 
 
 " He must learn to withstand it," chuckled 
 the Doctor. 
 
 "None but elder brothers or rich men 
 enter the regiment you have chosen for him," 
 persisted Alolphe, " it is not fair towards the 
 boy." 
 
 " You know he must inherit a good for- 
 tune ultimately from me, although it is, of 
 course, better that he should not expect it, 
 far better — so you may tell him that he must 
 not outrun his allowance," said the good 
 Doctor endeavouring to look severe. My 
 brother shrugged his shoulders, and his fears 
 were justified by the event. Th('. unstable 
 and impulsive youth found himself betrayed
 
 252 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 into spending nearly double his allowance the 
 first year, and wrote to Adolphe in great 
 distress wanting to sell out. Dr. Jeffrey, 
 however, would not hear of this, but paid 
 his debts upon promise of greater care for 
 the future. At this important epoch of 
 his Hfe, Clanronald had the misfortune 
 to lose his adoring mother, Mrs. Jeffrey. 
 The intelligence arrived just as he was 
 beginning to enjoy the gaieties of the town 
 where his regiment was quartered. He, of 
 course, immediately obeyed the summons sent 
 by his guardian to attend the funeral. But 
 the sudden transition from a gay hfe to the 
 house of mourning, where everything re- 
 minded him of his recent and unexpected 
 loss, oppressed him so fearfully, that the 
 Doctor urged him to return to his quarters 
 as soon as it was over. Here I think he was 
 again wrong, although the poor Doctor, 
 always actuated by the kindest and most 
 indulgent motives, did it to the best of his
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 253 
 
 judgment. For the result was, that the poor 
 youth saw only the outward and gloomy ex- 
 ternals of a death-bed and interment, without 
 having heard the extenuating circumstances 
 which almost always accompany the depar- 
 ture from this life of those, who like Mrs. 
 Jeffreys have loved and served their Maker ; — 
 without hearing anything of the last words, and 
 looks of a mother he truly and fondly loved, 
 and thus be enabled to derive comfort and 
 hope. For as yet the Doctor could scarcely 
 trust himself to speak of her. Had Clan- 
 ronald been present in her last illness, — could 
 he have looked on her peaceful face after life 
 had fled, the impression of his first loss by 
 death might have been very different. 
 
 As it was, he returned to his gay com- 
 panions, and of course endeavoured to drown 
 his grief and horror, by every species of 
 dissipation. He had no one at hand to warn 
 him, to make him ask whether the spirit of 
 the holv and beloved dead would approve of
 
 254 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 his actions. No one to guide his wayward 
 and high-spirited nature. Yet such a Hfe often 
 clashed against his better feehngs, and then 
 he would sit down and write a doleful letter 
 to Dr. Jeffrey. And the good Doctor 
 would become alarmed lest this evident 
 melancholy should prey upon his health, that 
 he added to the evil by recommending dis- 
 traction and change of scene.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE OLD FRIEND. 
 
 I \VAS some time afterwards destined to 
 see and hear more of Ernest Clanronald, in a 
 manner at once painful and surprising. 
 
 Anastasia Severn had now been out for 
 two seasons. She was of course extremely 
 admired, in fact her beauty excited quite a 
 furore. 
 
 Her picture was painted by the most emi- 
 nent artists, and surrounded by admiring 
 crowds at the Exhibition. Verses were writ- 
 ten in her praise, we saw, in the scrap books
 
 256 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 and annuals, and every one predicted that she 
 would make a splendid match. But — whe- 
 ther the " but" was her insatiable ambition, 
 her incorrigible coquetry or any other un- 
 toward circumstance I cannot tell ; — the 
 result of each successive season was, that she 
 left London still as the beautiful Miss Severn. 
 
 I did not hear much about her doings, for 
 I fortunately was generally able to succeed in 
 the difficult task I had undertaken, of not 
 allowing her to disturb Isabel's mind or 
 engross her time by a detail of her triumphs. 
 
 I was very grateful to her for fulfilhng my 
 wishes in this respect, and sedulously checked 
 any approach to gossip in the school-room. 
 
 Lady Severn had not often parties at 
 home, for Anastasia became so much the 
 fashion, that they had plenty of gaiety 
 without incurring any trouble or expense. 
 
 Every one was delighted that she should 
 honour their assemblies with her presence, 
 as Anastasia was sure to brino: all the most
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 257 
 
 fashionable men, and best partis to their 
 houses; and so people were glad to send 
 their carriages for her, and lend her horses 
 to ride. All this was very convenient, as 
 Lord Severn's continued extravagance be- 
 came very embarrassing to his mother. 
 
 Towards the end of Miss Severn's third 
 season they had a little party one evening, and 
 I was summoned to accompany the girls 
 in their music. 
 
 The room was already full when I went 
 down, and without looking round or re- 
 marking any one, I penetrated the crowd 
 and took my place at the piano. 
 
 " We must have the trio in Norma," 
 said Anastasia, '* for we have found a delight- 
 ful tenor, and by the bye, he says he 
 knows you. Miss Muggins — he started and 
 turned quite pale at the name, when 1 
 told Isabel to fetch you." 
 
 "Do you forget me, do you quite forget 
 your old friend, Ernest Clanronald?" said 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 a tall handsome man as he put out his 
 hand, with a hearty laugh at my look of 
 extreme surprise. 
 
 " Can it be ?" I thought, still perplexed, 
 as I looked at his large dark eyes, in order 
 to find a trace of the wild merry boy, I 
 had known so well many years ago. 
 
 There was the same kind expression in 
 his smile as ever. But I fancied he had 
 rather a blase look and reckless air, which 
 justified, I feared, the anxiety felt by my 
 brother on his account. And I began to appre- 
 hend, in spite of myself, that he was no longer 
 worthy of my beau ideal of perfection, 
 Margaret Norman. 
 
 But he did not look at me long. I soon 
 saw that his whole soul was absorbed in 
 admiration for Anastasia, and the idea that 
 she was preparing another victim to be 
 dragged at the wheels of her triumphal car, 
 made my heart sink. 
 
 I longed to warn him, to open his eyes,
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 259 
 
 but it was too late. I saw that she he- 
 stowed some of her most bewitching smiles 
 upon him, although occupied also with 
 others. 
 
 After the first warm greeting, I fancied 
 that he rather avoided me. I did not think 
 it was from finery, or that he was ashamed 
 of having been, as a child, on intimate 
 terms with a governess. But the sight of 
 me, I think, reminded him of bye-gone 
 times when he was innocent and happy 
 and of those who no longer exercised the 
 salutary influence over his better nature they 
 once possessed. 
 
 I longed to mention Margaret Norman's 
 name, and see whether he still retained 
 any portion of the enthusiastic affection she 
 once excited. Some eight or ten years had 
 passed since they met; the years most 
 important in a young mind and heart, when 
 the character is more liable to chancre than 
 during any other period of life. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 After this, I could not help allowing 
 Anastasia sometimes to tell me what she 
 had been doing at her parties, and whom 
 she had seen, for it was impossible not to 
 feel interest in the fate of my old playmate 
 —the child who had caused so many an- 
 xious hopes and fears to my dear friends.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 FOR EVER AND EVER. 
 
 " For ever and ever." How seldom we 
 think of these words, although most of us 
 repeat them every day. 
 
 Yet we think, and work, and toil on 
 through years and years for the future of 
 this fleeting world. 
 
 T did! but how little I worked for the 
 " ever and ever." 
 
 This chapter commences Hke a sermon, 
 yet alas ! it is to describe a time, and 
 persons, who, however much they required
 
 262 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 it, seldom listened to sermons. Sometimes 
 indeed, they sat or slept through them, but 
 never imbibed the good that may be found 
 even in the worst, and also in every daily '* wit- 
 ness" we see, that tells of a great Hereafter. 
 
 And now the most thoughtless, and per- 
 haps guilty of us all, is gone from us for 
 ever! T have just seen some lines in an 
 old blotting book, which brings one scene 
 most forcibly to my mind. 
 
 "You will repent of this for ever and 
 ever," I wrote down and shewed to Ana- 
 stasia Severn's one day, when 1 saw her de- 
 termination to recal the affection of a man 
 she confessedly despised. 
 
 I said nothing aloud, for her mother was 
 present, and as she was out of the school- 
 room, I had no longer control over her. 
 Yet she looked at the words, and seemed 
 for a moment, to think. 
 
 Perhaps she felt that she had power to 
 choose the bad or good, and that, therefore,
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 263 
 
 I was endeavouring to prove to her that we are 
 dignified beings with the full power to choose 
 between good and evil. That she often 
 deliberately chose evil, and yet sometimes 
 railed at the God who permits evil. For 
 Anastasia could talk very cleverly on such 
 subjects, and sometimes contrived most pro- 
 vokingly to puzzle poor Isabel, and disturb 
 her dawning faith in the truths of Christ- 
 ianity. 
 
 " Why should there be suffering ?" she 
 would often ask, " why should you, Miss 
 Muggins, be put into the world to have those 
 constant headaches and to look so ill ?'* 
 
 I endeavoured to prove to her that the 
 common principles of justice should teach us 
 the use of sufferings — and even sometimes 
 make us enjoy them, in the humble hope 
 that they may save us from the everlasting 
 punishment and misery our sins must 
 otherwise entail. 
 
 However, she would not listen, so I said
 
 264 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 no more; but another day when there 
 had been a terrible scene with poor Mr. 
 Sinclair, whom she refused in the most 
 triumphantly heartless manner, after having 
 tried to allure him in every way; I asked 
 whether she thought it wrong to tell an 
 untruth ? 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "Then why act one? why pretend to 
 like a person when the reverse is the case? 
 surely you must be sometimes forced to ask, 
 is there not a lie in my right hand ?"
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 FEARS. 
 
 I FOUND that Captain Clanronald, very 
 seldom called in Grosvenor Street in the 
 morning, for I suppose Lady Severn did 
 not encourage his attentions ; indeed, I knew 
 she wished to secure a person with as 
 much rank and fortune for her favourite 
 daughter as could be attained. 
 
 Lady Severn appeared annoyed, and out 
 of spirits, when we at last started for 
 Severndale Hall ; and soon afterwards I heard 
 from Dr. Jeffrey that Ernest Clanronald had 
 joined his regiment in Ireland, and then I 
 heard no more of him for some time.
 
 266 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Whether he had proposed and been refused, 
 or whether they were engaged, did not tran- 
 spire. Anastasia had occasional fits of low 
 spirits, and seemed to find Severndale Hall 
 more dull than ever. Lady Severn looked ill 
 and nervous, and was so full of superstitious 
 terrors, that she sometimes betrayed her fears 
 to other persons besides myself. 
 
 Isabel remarked several times her mother's 
 look of horror, in the dusk of evening, as 
 she met her in the long gallery. 
 
 One time, she took hold of Isabel's hand 
 and said in a low, mysterious voice, " Come 
 away ! Don't look in that corner, I've seen 
 him again." 
 
 Isabel was much frightened. As a child, I 
 saw she was inclined to be superstitious, but 
 I had taken great pains to counteract her 
 fears, and did not allow her to accompany me 
 in my wanderings over the old house. 
 
 I rather sought to believe in ghosts, and 
 had a strange enjoyment in conjuring up
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 267 
 
 fears and visions. For, as I said before, this 
 embodiment of the past took me out of the 
 present, and 1 tried by confirming my belief 
 in the spirit world, to strengthen my faith in 
 revelation and the certainty of a future state ; 
 but this was a sentiment peculiar to myself 
 (felt, I trust, by very few), therefore I endea- 
 voured to shelter Isabel from the terror 
 experienced by her strong-minded mother, 
 and even by many of the servants, whose fears 
 were at times very inconvenient. 
 
 That evening Isabel told me that her mo- 
 ther, trembling violently, had described the 
 figure of a young child, who had emerged 
 from behind the armour ; and Lady Severn's 
 great fear seemed to be, lest Isabel should see 
 it also. 
 
 The frightened girl could not help looking 
 back, in spite of her mother's order, just be- 
 fore they left the gallery, and then she fancied 
 that there really was a child standing near 
 the farthest window ; a little shadowy figure,
 
 268 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 with curling dark hair ; and it moved slowly 
 along, and without appearing to walk, seemed 
 coming nearer and nearer to them. 
 
 " That is an optical delusion/* I said. 
 
 " Oh ! but I'm sure I saw it just as 
 mamma described it," said Isabel, with a 
 shudder ; " and I heard a moan — I have often 
 heard that moan in the picture gallery; 
 and the child's face looked so sad. Mamma 
 fancied it was a real child ; but I am sure it 
 was a spirit, because it looked so thin and 
 shadowy, and I could see through it." 
 
 " I know it was one of the figures in the 
 tapestry," I said ; " I myself have often looked 
 at them till I could almost fancy they moved — 
 appeared to come out from the rest, and 
 glide along the wall." 
 
 I observed that Lady Severn always 
 avoided the gallery, if possible, and after that 
 evening never went there alone. 
 
 Her Ladyship was not imaginative, there- 
 fore I was more surprised at these constant
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 269 
 
 fears. Moreover, she had a great horror 
 of all family traditions, and one day when I 
 happened to mention the beautiful picture of 
 the late Lord Severn's first wife, her agitation 
 was extreme. 
 
 This portrait of Helena, Lady Severn and 
 her children, interested me more than any. It 
 was put up in what was called the Con- 
 demned Room, at Severndale, where I used 
 to revel with delight among pieces of old 
 tapestry, china, carved chairs and cabinets, 
 considered too old for use. The picture was 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was one of the love- 
 liest he had ever painted, and I never could 
 imagine why it was banished there. The 
 lady was represented sitting on a bank near 
 the lake in the park, with the old house in 
 the background ; a little baby was in her lap, 
 its tiny fingers playing with the tresses of her 
 rich dark hair, that had escaped from the 
 single blue ribbon which confined it round 
 her head. Another little child was sitting on
 
 270 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 the grass at her feet, holding up its finger 
 with a wondering delight, at its own little 
 face reflected in the water. The overhanging 
 branches of the trees threw a softened shadow 
 on the lady's white dress, and chequered with 
 golden rays the grassy mound where she was 
 seated. But her face was the most beautiful 
 part of the whole picture. She looked at the 
 infant on her knee with a melancholy and 
 thoughtful, yet exquisite tenderness ; and the 
 chastened serenity of her brow recalled to 
 one's mind the Holy Virgin mother. In a 
 word, the expression, the attitude and the 
 painting were so beautiful, that I often de- 
 prived myself of visiting the room, lest I 
 should forget the time and gaze too long.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 271 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE FETE. 
 
 We were to have a grand fete for Lord 
 Severn^s coming of age. There was to be a 
 boat-race on the lake, and the numerous 
 tenants on Lord Severn's property were to 
 dine in a great tent, near the ornamental 
 garden at the further side of the water. 
 
 There was to be dancing and games of all 
 kinds, for high and low, rich and poor, in the 
 morning; and a masquerade ball, banquet, 
 theatricals and festivities at night ; everything 
 was projected that could be done to make 
 people enjoy themselves.
 
 272 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 It is strange and provoking, that I never 
 could even anticipate much pleasure from 
 these kind of fetes, and the sight of a multi- 
 tude brought together for the avowed purpose 
 of rejoicing, has always the effect of depressing 
 my spirits. 
 
 Yet I was of some use during the prepa- 
 rations, and took a great deal of trouble off 
 Lady Severn's hands. 
 
 But when the day arrived, I seemed to 
 have nothing more to do ; so I left the " bril- 
 liant circle of the highest aristocracy," as the 
 papers described it, and wandered about in 
 the comparatively unfrequented parts of the 
 park. 1 looked from a distance on the gay 
 scene, and certainly it was a beautiful sight. 
 
 The lake was covered with boats, decorated 
 in the most fanciful and picturesque manner, 
 for Lord Severn was to take part in a boat- 
 race. He had been a first-rate oar at Eton ; 
 and many of his old school acquaintances were 
 come to try their skill.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 273 
 
 Little sailing vessels were, moreover, sta- 
 tioned near the centre of the lake, full of 
 spectators, and a brilliant sunshine illumined 
 the gay dresses of the ladies and the fanciful 
 costume of some of the gentlemen. 
 
 Salutes were occasionally fired, for what 
 purpose I could not quite ascertain ; but the 
 rolling of the smoke across the smooth blue 
 water, and the booming sound as it echoed 
 through the woods and valleys had a very 
 grand effect. 
 
 The bells of several churches were some- 
 times heard in the distance ringing, as the 
 people said, merrily ; but to me, they had the 
 sort of plaintive melancholy which belongs to 
 most distant sounds. 
 
 A group of some of the oldest and most 
 infirm of the poor people, came and sat under 
 an old oak near me. They had, probably, 
 come from the distant village, and were too 
 tired as yet to proceed further. I recognised 
 an old woman among them, whose cottage 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 we had sometimes visited ; she was nearly 
 ninety, was considered as a sort of oracle by 
 most of the cottagers near, and had re- 
 collection or knowledge of all the doings of 
 the Severn family for many generations 
 back. 
 
 "Where's the heir? I want to see his 
 lordship," she said, in a querulous tone. 
 " Why do you stop here ?" she inquired of 
 another woman, who though much younger 
 than herself, was more infirm. " Why 
 can't you go on, some of your boys '11 carry 
 you. Here, Jim, boy, give a help to Dame 
 Fowler," she said, calling to an old man, who 
 I believe was her son. "Now then, come 
 along and let's see the heir." 
 
 I could not help following this eager group, 
 for I wished to see the impression Lord 
 Severn would produce on them. So we all 
 approached a rocky knoll that overlooked the 
 water, and where, near a large tent, "the 
 quality " were placed.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 275 
 
 " His brother would have been comelier," 
 said the old woman as Lord Severn passed 
 near, and went down to embark in one of the 
 boats ; " a deal comelier, for he had his 
 father's eyes. Well I mind him the day afore 
 he was drowned, when that Irish witch brought 
 'im down to our cottage. Ay, this un's 
 not the rightful heir, and he'll never prosper," 
 muttered the old crone, and she nodded her 
 head, and twinkled her queer eyes that looked 
 at nothing in particular, but seemed to see 
 something beyond the objects that were before 
 her gaze. " He was lost by water, but still 
 he may be regained by fire." 
 
 " Ah, that's it ; but what is the old song, 
 tell us, that 1 heard my grandmother often 
 sing ?" inquired another ancient dame. 
 
 Then the old crone repeated, in a sing-song 
 voice, the following words, while her head 
 rocked to and fro in time to the metre. 
 
 ** Whcu brothers fight, 
 Beware the night, 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 When waters roll. 
 And church-bells toll, 
 In Severn's dale. 
 For good or ail. 
 Beware, beware, 
 Tor Severn's heir 
 By waters dead. 
 Will Severn's head. 
 By fire find, 
 By love unbind." 
 
 "And what'll the meaning of it be?" 
 whispered her companion ; but as I approached 
 a step nearer to hear the reply, the crone per- 
 ceived my presence. 
 
 " Hush ! there's that yellow-faced body 
 that teaches the young lady," she whispered 
 in her gruff voice. 
 
 " Miss Isabel, ay." 
 
 I lost the succeeding sentence, but then the 
 words reached my ear, 
 
 "Yes, and a power a' good she's done, 
 too, for Miss Isabel used never to think on 
 us, and be so proud and cross-like ; and now 
 she come and nursed my Biddy's youngest
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 277 
 
 babby, for all the world just as her grand- 
 mother used to do. The old race is coming 
 out in her again." 
 
 Of course I was much pleased with this 
 tribute to the usefulness of the " yellow face," 
 but my attention was that moment aroused 
 by hearing shrieks in the distance, and seeing 
 a rush of persons towards the brink of the 
 lake. The boat-race had been going on, and 
 I saw in the direction from which the cries 
 came, that something must have happened 
 to somebody on the water. 
 
 I fancied that I heard Lady Severn's voice, 
 and knowing how nervously apprehensive she 
 always was about accidents on the water, I 
 ran round in breathless haste to ascertain the 
 cause of the alarm. 
 
 " It's his lordship's own boat," I heard 
 people say as I passed along. 
 
 " No it's not, it's Mr. Algernon Stanton 
 that was upset by his lordship, and he jumped 
 in to try and save him."
 
 278 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " Oh, he's safe enough, he can swim. 
 It'll do'm no 'arm. Only spoiling of his 
 satin vesket, and welvet breeches," said a 
 man in a rude voice, as I approached the 
 tent where I imagined Lady Severn was 
 placed. 
 
 But I found that it was Lord Severn's 
 boat that had been upset, and that it must 
 have struck him in some way, for although 
 he w^as an excellent swimmer, he appeared to 
 have sunk immediately. 
 
 Of course every effort was being made to 
 save the heir, and I arrived near Lady Severn 
 in time to witness her gaze of agony, as she 
 strained her eyes towards the spot where his 
 boat had upset. She stood at the extreme 
 edge of the water, and I was afraid she would 
 throw herself in, so Isabel and I, and several 
 others, tried to lead her away ; but she 
 waved her arms, and cried out in so wild a 
 manner that the company shrank back ia 
 dismay.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 279 
 
 "No, I can^t save him," she exclaimed, 
 " I know I can't," she added, in that mourn- 
 ful voice I had often heard. 
 
 " But see he is saved," I said, as I saw 
 that they had succeeded in bringing up Lord 
 Severn from the water. 
 
 " No, no, he's dead, I know it, and it's all 
 just, it's all right !" 
 
 By this time, most of the others had all 
 gone round to the other side where the acci- 
 dent had happened ; but Lady Severn did not 
 stir. Her eyes were fixed on the water and 
 she did not heed them. 
 
 Fortunately nobody attended to her at that 
 moment, and taking her hand I endeavoured 
 to soothe and re-assure her. Gradually she 
 seemed to come to herself, and then she 
 appeared to become doubly alive to the danger 
 of her son. 
 
 " Thank God he's safe, he is, indeed, dear 
 mamma," exclaimed Isabel, as she ran back 
 and clasped her arms round her mother's neck.
 
 280 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " He has only fainted. He will be quite well 
 soon." 
 
 " No, no, he never will be well, and it's all 
 my fault," said Lady Severn, still as if in a 
 trance. 
 
 " But there he is ! look at him !" said 
 Isabel, who was now more alarmed for her 
 mother than for anything else. 
 
 " Go, leave me alone, I will stay here, and 
 perhaps — perhaps the other may come back," 
 she muttered in a low tone. 
 
 " You had better take the guests all to the 
 house," I whispered to Isabel and Anastasia, 
 (the latter had only just come up), for I 
 wanted to draw attention away from Lady 
 Severn, well-knowing how miserable she would 
 be afterwards, if she should remember that she 
 had betrayed the almost insane state of her 
 mind to any of the bye-standers. 
 
 Lord Severn was carried home, and numbers 
 of people followed to learn his fate, so that soon 
 I was left almost alone with Lady Severn
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 281 
 
 She would not stir from the spot ; but at 
 last, while she was watching the eddies on 
 the lake, she suddenly rushed away and ran 
 up towards the house with such speed, that I 
 had great difficulty in following. 
 
 We entered at the back by a private door, 
 and I fortunately succeeded in getting her 
 into her own room. 
 
 I laid her on the bed, and gave her one of 
 the sedative draughts the doctor had pre- 
 scribed when she had this kind of nervous 
 attack, and I hoped that if she could sleep, 
 she might awake refreshed and be able to 
 join the party. 
 
 Then I went to inquire after Lord Severn. 
 He soon recovered sufficiently to visit his 
 mother in her room. Fortunately he came 
 in, just as she awoke from a short sleep, and 
 the knowledge of his safety, added to the 
 effect of the medicine, seemed to revive her 
 strength and compose her spirits. 
 
 But, of course, such an accident threw a
 
 282 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 damp on the day's rejoicings, even though 
 Lady Severn and her son appeared at the ball 
 and theatricals in the evening. I thought 
 people seemed afraid to enjoy themselves. 
 Yet the fireworks went off, and the mas- 
 querading and dancing went on, and the 
 young Lord's health was drank with cheers 
 and hurrahs, and many people got drunk I 
 suppose to their heart's content. 
 
 But the young Lord himself looked pale 
 and haggard, and Lady Severn, although I 
 saw that she endeavoured to appear composed 
 and even gay, was absent ; and said and did 
 several things which showed, that she had by 
 no means recovered from the shock she had 
 received. 
 
 At last the weary f^te came to an end, 
 and a few days afterwards we all returned to 
 London.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 283 
 
 CFI AFTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE HEROINES. 
 
 Isabel was becoming very fascinating ; 
 and I often loved to compare her in my mind 
 with my two other heroines, Margaret Nor- 
 man and dear little Beaujolais. 
 
 They were all three so very different, that 
 it seemed wonderful how they could all pos- 
 sess so much attraction. 
 
 There was something in the slow, steady 
 gaze of Isabel's lustrous yet solemn eyes, 
 which had a sort of rivetting charm that was 
 very original; and they seemed to kiss those
 
 284 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 they loved, and repel those whom she dis- 
 liked. There was a lazy movement when she 
 spoke, in her full lips, as if they dwelt with 
 luxurious pleasure upon the melodious into- 
 nation of her words ; and 1 fancied that 
 afterwards, the harmonious sound lingered 
 with a grateful echo around the dimples of 
 her beautiful cheeks. 
 
 She was almost as dark as Beaujolais, yet 
 nothing could be greater than the contrast be- 
 tween Isabel, and my fairy-like niece, with her 
 little espiegle, spirituelle face, and the bright 
 lights and shadows that flashed in her speaking 
 eyes. 
 
 Beaujolais was always mobile, and seemed 
 to be enjouee, even in her sorrow, or rather 
 her moods changed so quickly, that although 
 she felt deeply, and, therefore, often cried, she 
 seemed, at the same moment, almost to laugh 
 at her tears. 
 
 Isabel seldom smiled, and did not often 
 laugh, for she was rather matter-of-fact, had
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 285 
 
 but little turn for the ridiculous, and, as I 
 said before, was not easily excited. Therefore, 
 she was totally opposite to the quickly sensi- 
 tive Beaujolais, of whom her father justly 
 said, " Sa vie est une suite d'dmotions." 
 
 Yet different as these two were, Margaret 
 Norman was even more dissimilar to both. 
 Her severe style of beauty, the look of recti- 
 tude that shone in her large blue eyes, would, 
 I fancied, sometimes have rested with a sort of 
 pitying rebuke on the escapades of our giddy 
 little Beaujolais, and the prejudices and errors 
 of my yet untrained Isabel. In point of real un- 
 varying goodness, Margaret was certainly 
 superior to both, and also in regular beauty. 
 
 Margaret Norman always did, and said the 
 right thing, and was never for a moment 
 either ungraceful or untidy ; and her finely 
 developed figure and faultless features were, I 
 must confess, much more splendid than 
 Beaujolais' tiny form or her petite mine 
 chifonnee, as my brother sometimes called it.
 
 286 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 Yet how I loved that little sallow coun- 
 tenance of Beaujolais', and her dear large 
 forehead, that was too high and broad for 
 the lower part of the face, only because it 
 was so full of thought and delightfully original 
 imaginings. And the little delicate nose that 
 turned slightly upwards, because the kindly 
 mischievous fun and sunshiny temper it de- 
 noted, seemed to raise her above the annoying 
 rubs of every day existence, and helped her 
 to cheer others with the vivacity of her in- 
 nocent wit, through all the trials of life. 
 
 But I suppose these three girls, lovely as 
 they seemed to me, were surpassed by the 
 all accomplished coquette ! Anastasia Severn 
 had made such a study of attraction, that 
 besides her own splendid beauty, she could 
 at times assume the look and bearing of the 
 most opposite characters. And when it suited 
 her purpose, the guileless manner and win- 
 ning softness she assumed could scarcely be 
 surpassed, even to my practised eye, by
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 287 
 
 Margaret Norman's genuine candour and 
 spotless purity. And this was the being who 
 was endeavouring to captivate my hero, 
 Ernest Clanronald, and make him forget 
 the little wife, the beautiful Margaret, who as 
 a child had such wonderful power to influence 
 him for good.
 
 288 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIl. 
 
 THE WONDERFUL MAN. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Muggins ! such a thing has 
 happened ! IVe met the handsomest, the 
 most provoking man I ever saw !" exclaimed 
 Miss Severn, with an air of unusual ex- 
 citement. For she now seldom took the 
 trouble to be animated, or indeed to talk at 
 all in the school-room, unless to abuse her 
 friends. " I am quite out of breath with 
 surprise, and — and it's really too provoking. 
 I put on my very best looks and smiles, and 
 said such a number of amusing things, and
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 289 
 
 yet I could not produce the slightest impression 
 upon him, no more than if he had been 
 Helen's baby. I believe he is a baby." 
 
 " But I'll pay him off yet, that I will," she 
 added, with her most determined air, and as 
 I often fancied, somewhat vulgar manner and 
 tone. '* Don't look so grave, Miss Muggins, 
 he is enough to provoke a saint. He said 
 he didn't know anybody in London, and so I 
 told him some of Sidney Smith's best jokes, 
 and after looking very solemn, and almost 
 too absent or stupid even to understand 
 them, it came out that he had breakfasted 
 with Rogers, and met the great wit at his 
 house that very morning. Then he looked 
 very miserable, and said he did not like the 
 joke about Landseer and the dog. So I told 
 him then about the Infidel and the Pat^e, as 
 I took it into my head he must be of a 
 religious turn. All of a sudden, he n>ade 
 himself look like Sidney Smith, and said 
 something exactly in his tone of voice, but so 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 quick and fleeting, that I doubt whether any 
 
 one else saw or heard it but me. Besides all 
 
 this, he scarcely looked at me — I am sure he 
 
 did not even see the colour of my eyes — so 
 
 cold and indifferent, as if he had no heart ; and 
 
 yet I fancy that a latent fire seems to be 
 
 smouldering in his splendid eyes. But I never 
 
 saw such a variety of expression on the same 
 
 face before. At one moment there was such a 
 
 deep melancholy, that I fancied he had met 
 
 with some great disappointment, and had 
 
 been deeply humbled ; and the next instant 
 
 he appeared proud and haughty, and had 
 
 almost a diabolical sneer as if he were 
 
 hardened in vice; then he looked as if he 
 
 had committed some dire and unrepented 
 
 crime ; — the next moment innocent and good 
 
 as a child." 
 
 "But what caused all these opposite ex- 
 pressions?" inquired Isabel, with much cu- 
 riosity, " was it what you said ?" 
 
 " I can't tell, for he seemed scarcely to
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 291 
 
 heed what I said, and I never was so pro- 
 voked in all my life, so I daresay I said some 
 bitter things about somebody. For I was 
 determined he should remain near me ; and 
 I tried everything, but could not succeed in 
 producing the slightest expression of ad- 
 miration either for my beauty or wit. Ah ! 
 but I'll make him like me yet 1 And Til make 
 him love me more intensely than any of 
 them !" she added, after a pause, and clapped 
 her hands with delight at the anticipated 
 triumph. 
 
 I sighed, for I could not help feeling an 
 interest for the strange person she had 
 described, and deeply regretted that he should 
 be doomed to suffer the pain and disap- 
 pointment I had known her inflict on many. 
 
 " You have not told us who this wonderful 
 man is ?*' inquired Isabel. 
 
 "Ah, such a dehghtful name, too, and 
 has a claim upon a very old earldom if he 
 chose to take any trouble about it. But 
 
 u 2
 
 292 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 they say he would not have it, even if it 
 were offered. He is the Irishman we have 
 often heard of, Mr. Reginald Fitzpatrick." 
 
 ** Mr. Reginald Fitzpatrick !" I exclaimed 
 in great surprise, and to my dismay I 
 found I had been tolerating, almost admir- 
 ing him. Yet he was the person of all 
 others I was most prejudiced against, the 
 son of the man who had defrauded Charles 
 Norman of his rights, and of whom we had 
 heard so many strange stories. 
 
 "You know him I see, Miss Muggins; 
 you don't look so angry as you did just 
 now when I began to talk." 
 
 "I have never seen him," I said, "but 
 Mr. Roland used often to mention him to 
 us." 
 
 '^ Reginald Fitzpatrick ! yes, I like the 
 name," continued Anastasia. " Oh, if he 
 were but a marquis, or would claim that 
 old earldom, I think I would almost submit 
 to be chained to him for hfe. But I am not
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 293 
 
 in love with him, oh no ! I wonder whether 
 I ever shall be with any one." 
 
 " Pray remember, Miss Severn," said I, 
 with a grave and severe air, for I reproached 
 myself for having allowed her to talk so 
 much, *' that you should not interrupt your 
 sister's studies by such — " 
 
 " Such trivial discourse, yet you have often 
 told me that I ought not to marry unless 
 1 am in love, and how am I to know unless 
 I ponder over the matter; and I never can 
 think unless I talk. I wonder whether you 
 were ever in love, Miss Muggins," she con- 
 tinued after a short pause, ** and whether 
 you ever will be." 
 
 " I think you might rather wonder whether 
 any one could care for me," said I, with, 
 perhaps, a rather dejected look. 
 
 " Oh, I did not think you would expect 
 that ; but I did not know that was necessary. 
 At least, all the men who are in love with
 
 294 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 me, do not seem always to expect me to 
 care so much for them," she added, as she 
 danced round the room. " Well, I do long 
 to see him again, and do you know he has 
 promised to come to-morrow evening, though 
 they say he never goes to parties. Oh ! I 
 hope he will come, I should be miserable 
 if 1 thought I should never, never see him 
 again. Heigh ho, this is a w^eary world; 
 put dow^n that tiresome German, Isabel, and 
 sing that new duet with me. I want to get 
 it ready for to-morrow, and you will have to 
 accompany us. Miss Muggins, and then you 
 will actually have the pleasure of seeing the 
 wonderful Reginald. Now come, never mind 
 Schiller, you can finish that when I am out 
 driving. It does not do to be so methodical ; 
 come," and she laid her pretty hand on mine, 
 and led me to the piano with one of her 
 arch and winning smiles, that, fool as I was, 
 often disarmed me.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 295 
 
 The girls sang well, and I had rather a 
 good touch on the piano, and accompanied 
 them very fairly. 
 
 " I am sure he sings, from the melodious 
 tone of his voice," said Anastasia, after the 
 duet was over, " and I want to find a good 
 tenor to sing with us, to provoke that con- 
 ceited Captain Clanronald." 
 
 " Conceited ! I should have thought he 
 is anything but that," said Isabel, " and I 
 thought you liked him so well, too." 
 
 " I do sometimes, but he presumes upon 
 my toleration of him; he actually expected 
 me to dance twice with him last Monday 
 at Lady Fitzroy's !" 
 
 "Was he at the party last night? and 
 how did he like this wonderful Mr. Fitz- 
 patrick?" inquired Isabel. 
 
 "Luckily he was not there, or, perhaps, 
 I should not have had the heart to flirt so 
 with the beautiful Reginald, for Clanronald
 
 296 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 really is so miserable when I speak to any 
 one else, that it is quite sad." 
 
 I had lately begun to hope that the coquette 
 was at last touched, and I thought that if once 
 her heart were really awakened, it might excite 
 the better feelings which I still hoped might 
 slumber beneath that dense mass of vanity 
 and worldliness. And yet I feared that poor 
 Captain Clanronald's lot would be any- 
 thing but enviable ! besides, I did not think 
 her mother would consent. However, I 
 could not help hailing with pleasure any 
 indication of real feeling, and I now almost 
 thought, that for the poor Captain's sake, it 
 would be better if she could love this strange 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick.
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 297 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 
 THE AWAKENING. 
 
 Fool that I was, I could not help feel- 
 ing rather anxious to see this Mr. Reginald 
 Fitzpatrick, and I actually found myself 
 taking more than usual pains with my hair, 
 and putting on my high mushn dress in 
 the most hecoming manner that evening. 
 
 "And all this, because I am going to 
 see a person who is utterly unworthy, a 
 scrape-grace, as Mrs. O'Hara said, who was 
 expelled from Eton, and has done no good 
 since, I beheve. What can be the reason?"
 
 298 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 I thought, as I went down stairs, and took 
 my place in the back drawing-room, before 
 the company came up from dinner. 
 
 Isabel looked beautiful that night ; she had 
 become rather fatter lately, and that scared 
 and careworn look which spoilt her face when 
 I first came, some years back, was gradually 
 giving place to a soft and diffident melan- 
 choly. She was beginning to be awakened 
 to the realities of life, and learning to see 
 things from a different and a truer point 
 of view. But I had found the task of 
 eradicating most difficult, and sometimes had 
 nearly given up the situation, in despair of 
 ever being able to counteract her mother's 
 fatal influence. 
 
 Now that she was becoming prettier too. 
 Lady Severn's energy was more fatally alive 
 to instil wordly ambition into her mind, 
 which, as she had considered her rather plain 
 before, she had almost given up as hopeless. 
 
 I was sitting in the remotest corner of
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 299 
 
 the back drawing-room, near the door of a 
 little boudoir which was generally filled 
 with pretty fresh flowers ; and at that 
 time there was a delicious smell of car- 
 nations. 
 
 But these rooms in Grosvenor Street had 
 to me always a very gloomy appearance ; be- 
 sides I felt more than usually sad that evening, 
 and wondered more painfully than ever 
 whether I were ever destined to feel happy in 
 this world. 
 
 My fingers were busily employed on some 
 embroidery that Lady Severn wished me to 
 finish ; but my thoughts were so selfishly 
 absorbed, that I did not notice that Isabel 
 who was trying over some songs in the next 
 room, had ceased to play. 
 
 Suddenly I felt as if some one were look- 
 ing at me. 
 
 I turned round, and saw a pair of eyes that 
 seemed to look through and through me. I 
 felt the colour mount most provokingly to
 
 300 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 my face, and by an awkward movement I 
 pricked my finger with my needle. 
 
 I looked down at my work, and began to 
 stitch away with redoubled determination, 
 and did not venture to raise my eyes again ; 
 but I could not help seeing that the gen- 
 tleman whose gaze had caused such a strange 
 excitement, moved, or rather glided away, 
 and disappeared in the other room. 
 
 He was not tall, and I don't know whether 
 I thought he was handsome — I believed not, 
 and, therefore, surmised it was probably not 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick. 
 
 Presently Lady Twisden and some gen- 
 tlemen came into the room, and I saw 
 Captain Clanronald among them ; and soon 
 afterwards, Isabel came and asked me to 
 accompany Miss Severn and herself on the 
 piano. 
 
 J felt more than usually awkward and em- 
 barrassed as I walked through the rooms, for
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 301 
 
 I almost dreaded to see those scrutinizing 
 eyes again. 
 
 There he was ! the possessor of those 
 strange eyes ! standing near the piano, hut 
 fortunately he did not look at me. He did 
 not seem, indeed, to he looking at anything or 
 anybody, and now I fancied be had rather a 
 stupid countenance, but the features were 
 handsome. The nose was straight and Grecian, 
 he had a beautiful short upper hp, and a fine 
 broad forehead, which at that moment was 
 so expressionless that it was Hke a child's. 
 All this 1 saw while Isabel was putting the 
 music-book on the desk, and the girls were 
 placing themselves on each side of me. 
 
 "Do you like music?" I heard Miss 
 Twisden inquire, as she looked at the strange 
 gentleman. 
 
 He did not answer for a moment, and 
 then, as if with an effort to recal his thoughts 
 from a distant place, repUed, 
 
 " Sometimes."
 
 302 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 The tone was not particularly musical, yet it 
 was very different from any I had ever heard. 
 
 The song began, and we all performed our 
 very best. I was afraid to look up to see 
 what effect it produced on the only person I 
 could not help thinking of. 
 
 At last I did ! 
 
 He had disappeared ! 
 
 " That is beautiful, indeed," exclaimed 
 Captain Clanronald, and a dozen voices. But 
 Miss Severn was apparently disappointed that 
 the strange gentleman had not listened ; and 
 she immediately went into the other room, as 
 I imagined, to see if he were there. 
 
 "Do you want me to accompany any 
 more ?" I inquired of Isabel. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! you must not go away yet. 
 Miss Twisden wants to sing this duet with 
 me, and you must accompany us." 
 
 I obeyed, and we again performed pretty 
 well, but neither Anastasia nor the gentle- 
 man appeared ; and soon Captain Clanro-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 303 
 
 nald also went into the back drawing-room : 
 more duets were sung; still no Anastasia. 
 
 Captain Clanronald returned at the end of 
 a solo that Isabel sung, looking very me- 
 lancholy, so I concluded that the coquette was 
 exercising her fascinations on the stranger, 
 and T could not resist asking Isabel whether 
 it were Mr. Fitzpatrick. 
 
 " I suppose so, because she has not intro- 
 duced him. It must be some one she likes, 
 for she never presents me except to people 
 she wants to get rid of," said Isabel, with 
 a look half of fun, and half of unwonted 
 annoyance, that convinced me that she was 
 also struck by him. 
 
 At last. Miss Severn and the gentleman 
 we concluded to be Mr. Fitzpatrick returned, 
 and she begged me to accompany her in an 
 Irish melody. 
 
 ** Mr. Fitzpatrick says he only hkes na- 
 tional airs," said Anastasia : " I don't sing 
 them well, I know, but — "
 
 304 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 " Perhaps that lady can sing them well," 
 said Mr. Fitzpatrick, as he turned towards me. 
 
 Me ! the proscribed, the forgotten, Nelly 
 Muggins ! what could make him think that 
 I could sing at all ? 
 
 *' Oh, do you mean Miss Muggins? why 
 do you imagine she can sing ?" inquired 
 Anastasia, with a merry laugh, and some- 
 what of a provoked glance at me. 
 
 " Does she not sing ?" inquired Mr. Fitz- 
 patrick, as he again bent his searching eyes 
 on my face. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Isabel, " but—" 
 
 " Here now, accompany me in the * Last 
 Rose of Summer,' " said Miss Severn, as 
 she put up the book with an impatient and 
 almost menacing look. 
 
 But Mr. Fitzpatrick started away towards 
 the other end of the room, and I could see, 
 as I accompanied the song, that he was talk- 
 ing to somebody with apparent animation. 
 Miss Severn could scarcely conceal her an-
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 305 
 
 noyance, and shg^ sang it less well than 
 usual. ^ 
 
 " Now we will have ' Mira O Norma/ " 
 said Anastasia, "for that is Captain Clan- 
 ronald's favourite." 
 
 Ernest heard the words Miss Severn spoke, 
 and of course listened attentively to the song. 
 Then he went with her into the bou- 
 doir. 
 
 After they had gone there, Mr. Fitzpa- 
 trick approached the piano, and to my very 
 great surprise sat down near me, and look- 
 ing in my face, said, 
 
 *' Why would you not sing ?" 
 
 " They do not want me to perform, and 
 I am only here to accompany my pupils.*' 
 
 " I should like to hear you," said he, in 
 a voice that seemed wonderfully beautiful 
 and kind, but so low, that it could reach 
 no ears but mine. 
 
 I longed to say that nothing would give 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 ,^me greater pleasure than to sing if he 
 #, would possibly like to hear me, but I 
 only looked foolish and stupid : and before 
 I could frame any reply, Miss Severn ap- 
 proached, and addressing Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
 sapid, 
 
 " I know you like pictures, for Lord 
 Selby told me that you were the best judge 
 he ever met with." 
 
 " The best judge ?" inquired Mr. Fitz- 
 f)atrick with a sort of stupid, yet witty 
 look, and a solemn bow, as if he half 
 imagined she gave him the dignity of 
 a judge on the bench with gown and 
 wig. 
 
 " Yes, an excellent judge of pictures," 
 said Miss Severn, who did not readily enter 
 into other people's jokes, or like to have any- 
 thing she said misunderstood. 
 
 " I know you are," she continued, " and 
 we have got an order to see Lord
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 307 
 
 E — 's gallery, so I hope you will go 
 with us. We mean to be there at four 
 o'clock." 
 
 " To-morrow at four o'clock I will be 
 there," said Mr. Fitzpatrick, as with a grave, 
 yet T thought rather absent look he walked 
 away. 
 
 I fancied he scarcely knew what he had 
 said, yet just before he left the room, he 
 turned half round, and for a moment his 
 eyes rested upon me. He did not smile or 
 bow, but I felt again as if he fully under- 
 stood me, and I was perfectly satisfied 
 and happy. Yet he might have been 
 looking for Anastasia, who was concealed 
 behind a group of persons on the other 
 side of the piano, I thought, as I shrank 
 half- frightened from my most unwonted sa- 
 tisfaction. 
 
 Miss Severn did not think he was gone, 
 as he had not taken leave, and she went to 
 X 2
 
 308 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 look in the other room, but I felt that he 
 was ; and presently I saw her return with a 
 disappointed air. 
 
 When all the guests were gone, Isabel 
 said, " I did not see that Mr. Fitzpatrick 
 was so agreeable. I am quite disappointed 
 after your description : he never spoke to 
 anybody, or said anything clever.'* 
 
 " Oh yes, he did to me," said Anas- 
 tasia, " besides it was so wonderful his 
 coming here at all, when he never goes 
 to any parties; and he has actually pro- 
 mised to meet us at Lord E — 's gallery to- 
 morrow. 
 
 J' Anastasia is right, he is extremely agree- 
 able," said Lady Severn, who, of course, had* 
 her motives for patronizing so good a parti 
 as Mr. Fitzpatrick. She was also, probably, 
 glad to encourage any fancy that would check 
 the progress of poor Captain Clanronald's 
 intimacy, and unfortunately neither of her
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 309 
 
 two last admirers, Lord Luxmoor nor Lord 
 Fitzjames were at all attractive. Therefore 
 as soon as the coquette had enchained them, 
 she grew tired of their platitudes, and I 
 believe refused them both. 
 
 " Oh, if that strange man were but a 
 duke, I'd marry him to-morrow,'* said Anas- 
 tasia, in reply to Isabel's remark. 
 
 " Perhaps he would not marry you ; and 
 you would have been satisfied with his being 
 a marquis yesterday," said Isabel, "so I 
 suppose you don't like him so well. And 
 perhaps the next time you will want him 
 to be a prince, for I observe that the longer 
 you know people, the less you like them for 
 themselves, and the more you want them 
 to be great and rich." 
 
 *' Of course I do ; how can you expect 
 me to give up my hberty without gaining 
 some great advantage? and the less attrac- 
 tive a person is, the more splendid must be 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 310 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 his position and fortune to gild the bitter pill 
 of matrimony." 
 
 " May I go to see the pictures, too ?" 
 inquired Isabel, after a pause. 
 
 "Yes, I think so," said Miss Severn. 
 
 I remembered that Mr. Fitzpatrick had 
 not spoken to, nor even, I believe, looked 
 at Isabel. 
 
 "And Miss Muggins may go with us 
 too ?" inquired the good-natured girl. 
 
 "Certainly not," said Anastasia, who I 
 well knew had observed that he had 
 spoken to me. But the idea of the petted 
 and reigning beauty being jealous of me 
 was so absurd, that I could not help 
 smiling. 
 
 "You look so pleased. Miss Muggins/' 
 said Miss Severn, " I verily beheve that man 
 has some mesmeric power. I never saw you 
 appear so animated as when he asked you to 
 sing, and when he looked at you in the
 
 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 311 
 
 next room, it was as if new life were infused 
 into you." 
 
 How she must have watched him ! thought 
 
 I. 
 
 New life ! well, I certainly don't know 
 that T ever felt so happy before; but of 
 course, he never could care for me, really. 
 And, besides, he is a roue, a spendthrift as 
 we have always heard : the man I had disliked 
 to think of! How could it possibly make 
 me happy, because he happened to say a 
 few words to me. Why this strange satis- 
 faction and influence? and it was even ex- 
 erted on me before I saw him. Yet there 
 was nothing after all so wonderful in the 
 coquette's description, only I had been so 
 struck with the strange impression he seemed 
 to have made upon her. 
 
 Still he had amused and interested her. 
 Now he was certainly not amusing to anybody 
 that evening. And I had actually taken
 
 312 THE REIGNING BEAUTY. 
 
 more pains with my dress ! I, a plain matter- 
 of-fact woman, who was only put into the 
 world to caution and sermonize young beau- 
 ties. Why this was the very thing I often 
 laughed at them for doing, I thought, as I 
 undid my hair before the glass that night. 
 
 Shall I ever see him again ? 
 
 What a fool 1 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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