LIBRARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS
 
 -/-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES: 
 
 A YORKSHIRE STORY. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. ELLIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND, 
 &c., &o. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1868. 
 
 The right of Translation is reterved.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 I'UINTED BY MACDONALIi XND TUGWELL, BLKNHBIM HOUSK, 
 
 BI^NH£IM STRKKT, OXFORD STREET.
 
 U3 
 £i 
 
 ^ V.I 
 
 N> ££ 5*?^ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TF, gentle reader, you have never seen that 
 fertile and favoured portion of England 
 known by the comprehensive name of the 
 Vale of Pickering, I cannot do better than re- 
 I commend you to make it the scene of your 
 > next midsummer excursion. 
 i From the pretty poetical name of vale, you 
 vj may very reasonably suppose that the desig- 
 nation belongs, in this instance, as in so 
 J-many others, to a circumscribed valley en- 
 ^closed between hills. Instead of which the 
 Vale of Pickering, as one looks over it from 
 <^ certain points of elevated ground, extends 
 nearly as far as the eye can reach, and in- 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 eludes within its range botli towns and 
 villages, with wide-spreading property in rich 
 lands and corn-fields, meadows, woods, and 
 waters, and everything essential to wliat is 
 generally understood by the perfection of 
 peaceful and rural, yet highly-cultivated 
 scenery. 
 
 A visit to the Vale of Pickering would also 
 ensure to the curious traveller an opportunity 
 of becoming acquainted with many celebrated 
 places, rich in historical interest ; such as 
 mansions of the great, castles of legendary 
 fame, ruined monasteries, and many other 
 objects of attraction, with the old city of York 
 on one hand, once the metropolis of the north ; 
 and all that high range of hill and cliff fenc- 
 ing off the bold waves of the German Ocean 
 on the east, where Scarborough, in its rocky 
 ramparts, sits like a Queen upon her throne. 
 
 In the district of which T speak, the visitor
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 3 
 
 would have found, at no very distant period 
 of time, a race of people almost as unlike the 
 inhabitants of great cities, as if they breathed 
 the air of another hemisphere. Not merely 
 the field labourer and his family, but a class 
 of men occupying positions of mucli greater 
 ease and independence — men who seem in 
 reality to be the natural lords of this extensive 
 territory ; and who, from time immemorial, 
 have cultivated their own lands, or those 
 which they and their forefathers have rented 
 of some of the titled lords — the real aristo- 
 cracy of the district. 
 
 From this class the characters and circum- 
 stances of the present story are taken ; and if 
 any of my readers should, like myself, have 
 grown a little weary of London life, even in 
 fiction — weary of that close and jostling inter- 
 course where thousands meet thousands, with- 
 out interest or attraction, they will, perhaps, 
 
 b2
 
 4 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 not think it altogether mis-spent time to look 
 jivvay from the stir and tumult of great cities, for a 
 little while — away into the green pastures, and 
 yellow corn-fields of old England ; into scenes 
 where the leafy dells are chequered over with 
 the sunlight gleaming through ; where the 
 merry streams make pastime over the grey 
 stones ; and where the village children play ; 
 where the ploughman whistles as he leisurely 
 turns up the rich brown furrow ; and where 
 the lads and lasses wander home by moonlight 
 from the hospitable homes in which cousin- 
 ship and clanship embrace an endless inter- 
 change of neighbourly offices and kindly 
 feeling. 
 
 But in order to present the picture in genuine 
 colours, it will be necessary to go back some 
 years to the time when few, if any, of the 
 simple inhabitants of this district had beheld 
 the spectacle of a locomotive ; long before the
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 5 
 
 rapid transit of the railway-carriage had shot 
 the unconscious traveller through that lovely 
 part of England, lying between York and 
 Scarborough, without allowing time to observe 
 anything worthy of being admired. We must 
 go back to the time when the farmers of 
 Pickering Vale, and sometimes their wives 
 and daughters too, were accustomed to ride on 
 horseback to the weekly market, a distance 
 not unfrequently of ten or a dozen miles — the 
 one to dispose of his oats or wheat, to sell a . 
 horse or buy a cow ; the other to lay in her 
 stock of groceries, perhaps for three months to 
 come, to gossip with a friend, to take a hur- 
 ried dinner with a relative, and a peep at the 
 fashions before returning home. 
 
 I speak of times and scenes in which men 
 and women, too, would talk by the hour about 
 their horses and nothing else, discussing their 
 various merits with a boastful relish incompre-
 
 b NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 lieiisible to those \vho only ride in Rotten 
 Row ; tind when, on the road to and from 
 market, groups of equestrians would p^ather by 
 the way, and paces would be tried, and bets 
 would be ventured ; while not unfrequently 
 there would sidle off from the rest a young 
 couple not altogether so absorbed in the good 
 points of their horses as to be forgetful of 
 those of each other. To hear these people 
 talking — even these on the side of the road 
 upon the green turf — one would be disposed 
 to conclude that horses were the legitimate 
 occupants of the country — men, only inferior 
 animals. Nor would that idea have been 
 necessarily dispelled by a closer inspection of 
 the company, for finer animals for real ser- 
 vice could nowhere be found than the horses 
 of that part of Yorkshire. 
 
 We must, however, turn from the public 
 road into one of the homes of the same class
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 7 
 
 of people ; and we will first pay a visit to 
 Applegarth, the residence of Mr. Gray, or 
 James Gray, Esquire, as the few letters he 
 received were usually addressed. Applegarth 
 is suggestive of fruit, and a finer orchard than 
 that which flanked the western side of the 
 house was not to be found through all the 
 neighbourhood, where orchards in perfection 
 abound. 
 
 The house itself was a plain brick structure, 
 long and low, covering a large space of ground, 
 yet divided in its interior arrangements into 
 so many narrow passages and small apart- 
 ments, that room was scarcely left for ordinary 
 accommodation. But still, if not very con- 
 venient, the place, both within and without, 
 had an indescribable aspect of comfort, a warm 
 cosy look in winter, while in summer it was a 
 perfect bower of roses and other wreathing 
 plants which clambered and clung up to the
 
 8 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 very roof. The windows were thus shrouded 
 with a leafy garniture which darkened the 
 rooms within. Even up to the chambers there 
 were pear-trees of richest fruitage, the tempta- 
 tion of childhood, and the pride of riper 
 years. 
 
 The garden, it must be confessed, was not 
 laid out with much taste. There were so 
 many times of the year when more important 
 work had to be done, that, like most farmers' 
 gardens, it had to be satisfied with chance 
 cultivation, and such is never conducive to 
 any great display of flowers. A moss rose by 
 the door, a laurustinus on the grass plot, 
 and a laburnum hanging over the gate, were 
 the most noticeable objects in the front garden. 
 But a little way beyond the house, where the 
 ground sloped down to a broad shallow 
 stream, there was a very choice spot, where a 
 mossy kind of summer-house afforded charm-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 9 
 
 ing accommodation to the young for a pri- 
 vate chat, and to the old for a summer after- 
 noon's doze. Here there was a little more 
 pretence to cultivation, though evidently no- 
 thing more than woman's work, for it was 
 only in strips and patches, with little consist- 
 ency of design, or force of effect. Perhaps 
 the greatest charm of the place consisted in a 
 rustic bridge over the stream, with drooping 
 ash trees on either side, and a little pathway 
 leading from the bridge up the opposite hill — 
 up through first a copse, and then a meadow, 
 until it reached a sort of mansion on the 
 brow ; and by tracing this path and entering 
 the mansion you might make a call upon Mr. 
 and Mrs. Bell of Whinfield— Whinfield Hall, 
 some people called the place. The command- 
 ing position of the house gave it the character 
 of a hall, but when you approached nearer it 
 was but a plain square brick building, by no
 
 10 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 iiitans so pretty or attractive as its neighbour, 
 Applegarth, below. 
 
 The two families by whom these dwellings 
 were occupied, were precisely of the same 
 rank in society — both farmers, and very 
 nearly related. Mr. Gray, a widower, with 
 one son and a daughter, was own brother to 
 Mrs. Bell, the mother of a large family. 
 Hence they lived on terms of the greatest 
 intimacy, seldom passing a day without meet- 
 ing in the garden, or the fields, or to take a 
 meal together, as the fancy of the moment 
 might be. 
 
 Bessy Bell and Alice Gray were the tw^o 
 daughters of these families — the wild roses of 
 this pleasant rural country. Like the flowers 
 of their native lanes and hedgerows, they 
 grew and rambled much at their own free 
 will. One, rich in bloom and beauty, caught 
 the admiring eyes of all ; the other, somewhat
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 11 
 
 paler, and of a less obtrusive loveliness, was 
 sometimes passed by unnoticed beside the 
 . glowing charms of her handsome cousin. Yet 
 both were favourites in their way, and ob- 
 tained by universal consent the appellation of 
 " bonny lasses," which, in Yorkshire phraseo- 
 logy, implies no mean compliment. 
 
 Besides the natural tie of relationship, there 
 existed between these two girls an intimacy 
 closer than is often found between sisters. 
 It was wonderful how often they had occasion 
 to meet, and how much they had to say to 
 each other when they did meet. And yet 
 they were as different in their characters, ap- 
 pearance, and ways of acting, as two " bonny 
 lasses" well could be. They were both ^^bonny," 
 but the ^' pawky e'e " of the old ballad be- 
 longed exclusively to the more blooming of 
 the two. 
 
 In age there was little more than six
 
 12 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 months difference between them, and of this 
 Bessy had the advantage, if such it coukl be 
 called. They had been sent to the same 
 boarding-school at a little country town, and 
 they had returned home together with much 
 the same results, except for a slight difference 
 in the line of their accomplishments. If 
 Bessie could sing and play in a style which 
 her neighbours, and especially her young 
 men neighbours, thought charming, Alice 
 could paint a rose or a tulip so as not to be 
 mistaken for any other flower, and that is 
 saying a good deal. Her attainments were 
 chiefly of the quiet, unobtrusive kind ; while 
 Bessy would strike her mother's old instru- 
 ment with a force of execution which rendered 
 the piano-tuner an ever welcome guest. 
 Alice was a capital horsewoman. Indeed, 
 what girl was not in that county, and in those 
 times ? But Bessy's riding was something to
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 13 
 
 astonish the looker-on. She had a chesnut 
 pony, or rather a small cob, which she called 
 '' Pepper '' — a queer little fellow, with cropped 
 ears and tail, that went like the wind, and 
 could beat any horse in the county at a trot- 
 On this pony Bessy not unfrequently made 
 her appearance in the hunting-field ; and 
 while yet a child, and riding with her father, 
 everyone thought it was a pretty sight to see 
 her clear the fences as she sat just like a part 
 of her horse, and a very pretty part too. 
 
 Perhaps there were some who thought the 
 sight no less pretty after Bessy had left school, 
 and came home a fine, full-grown creature, 
 riding with a jaunty kind of hat, and a pro- 
 fusion of rich brown hair floating on the wind 
 in natural curls, her cheek flushed, her eyes 
 flashing, and her white teeth gleaming, as her 
 merry laughter echoed through the sharp clear 
 autumn air. There were some — no doubt the
 
 14 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 well-mounted, wlio could keep up with her — 
 who thought she could not do better than 
 follow the hounds, so long as she could ride 
 so well, and look so handsome ; but there 
 were others, not so well mounted themselves, 
 who said it was a scandal and a shame for a 
 girl to throw her life away in that mad style. 
 Besides which, all girls, they said, and pretty 
 girls especially, were better at home mending 
 their stockings, and not mixing themselves 
 with the sort of fellows to be found in the 
 hunting-field. 
 
 It is more than probable it might appear 
 strange to many, even those who admired 
 Bessy most, that her father did not take 
 better care of her, or rather keep her more at 
 home. It is true, she never rode with the 
 hounds without him, and so far he might be 
 said to be taking some care of his daughter. 
 But Mr. Bell was a hearty, jovial, good-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 15 
 
 natured man, who allowed his children to do 
 very much as they liked — and beyond this, it 
 was secretly the pride of his heart to see how 
 Bessy could ride. He liked to watch her 
 fearless ways, and hear her merry laugh. The 
 little horse, too, he liked to see how that 
 could go, and he liked to bet upon it, and to 
 boast of how much money he had been offered 
 for it, and had refused. 
 
 The hunting, and the " goings on," as 
 people designated much of Bessy's conduct, 
 had long been a trouble to her cousin Alice. 
 They were utterly revolting to her tastes, if 
 not in themselves absolutely wrong, and often 
 did they form the subject of earnest remon- 
 strance when Alice sat alone with her cousin 
 in the little moss-house beside the brook. 
 
 Alice Gray was a motherless girl, and per- 
 haps from that circumstance had early learned 
 the necessity of greater caution in her own
 
 16 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 life and conduct. But she had besides ti 
 natural shrinking from bold companionship, 
 and coarse remark, however flattering its im- 
 port. Thus she was at times not only vexed, 
 but absolutely disgusted with her cousin, and 
 would lecture her in that strong language 
 which a north-country girl knows how to use, 
 without any breach of affection. Sometimes 
 Bessy replied with sharpness, for her temper 
 was capricious, and then a half-playful quarrel 
 would ensue ; but much more frequently she 
 would turn upon Alice one of those arch, be-, 
 witching looks, with which she was apt to 
 beguile those whom she loved too well to be 
 angry with. It was thus she beguiled her 
 own father, and many others, but especially 
 her cousin Robert, a fine manly fellow, about 
 three years older than herself, who had been 
 alternately loving her and quarrelling with her 
 ever since they played as children together.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 17 
 
 Robert, in the secret of his heart, leaned a 
 little to his sister's opinion, especially about 
 the hunting. But then he had a horse of his 
 own, quite as swift as Pepper ; he himself was 
 passionately fond of hunting, and he always 
 contrived to keep so close to his handsome 
 cousin, that no other man, except her father, 
 could possibly usurp his place, or even ap- 
 proach her very near. Thus he argued with 
 his sister that Bessy was well guarded, at 
 any rate — but he allowed that it would be a • 
 very different affair if she were not. 
 
 At the time of which we are speaking, how- 
 ever, Robert Gray had almost ceased to be a 
 competent judge respecting his cousin Bessy. 
 He was '* bewitched," as Alice said. There 
 was no reason left in him, and she might as 
 well talk to the wind ; so she gave him up 
 entirely. She tried to give Bessy up too; 
 but one fine autumn morning, when she saw 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the beautiful apparition come flyin^r down the 
 hill side, just for one word with her, on some 
 especial ])usiness, before mounting little Pepper, 
 Alice took heart again, and was just beginning 
 with the old remonstrance, when Bessy, who 
 had run in breathless and impatient haste, en- 
 cumbered with her habit, burst upon her with 
 the amazing announcement that ^^ Sir James 
 Huntley would be in the field that day, with 
 such a troop of grand people — the ladies all 
 in carriages on the moor side ; and that young 
 officer, Captain Gordon, would be there.'' 
 
 Alice coloured with vexation. What could 
 she say ? What possible argument of hers 
 could have the weight of a feather against 
 such an array of attraction ? Indeed, what- 
 ever she might have said, Bessy had no time 
 to listen, to say nothing of inclination ; but, 
 seizing the arm of her cousin, she entreated 
 her to come up with her just to the edge of
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 19 
 
 the hill ; and then, if she would station herself 
 on a certain point, or rather if she could climb 
 a stone wall a little higher up, Bessy assured 
 her, with triumph and confidence, that she 
 would be able to see all the company on the 
 side of the opposite hill — horses, carriages, 
 and all ! 
 
 This was certainly a temptation to Alice, 
 for what harm could there be in looking ; so 
 she suffered herself to be dragged along, until 
 the haste Bessy was in became so pressing, 
 that she fairly ran off, and calling to Robert, 
 who was holding her pony, to have patience 
 for just one minute longer, she sprang lightly 
 into the saddle, and both galloped on to the 
 ground where the company was collected. 
 
 On reaching the little eminence which her 
 cousin had pointed out, Alice found that she 
 could enjoy a favourable, though somewhat 
 distant view of the whole scene, which looked 
 
 c2
 
 20 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 enchanting in the splendour of a cloudless sun. 
 Alice also was fond of horses, and had been 
 brought up from her cradle to feel all that 
 interest in field sports which it is almost im- 
 possible to avoid feeling when they constitute 
 the ruling passion with those amongst whom 
 we live. Her father, though never so keen a 
 sportsman as his brother-in-law, Mr. Bell, was 
 amongst the spectators on this occasion, and 
 Alice watched him and many of their friends 
 with lively interest. But chiefly her eye fol- 
 lowed her brother Eobert, who was to her the 
 prince of horsemen, the gallant knight, the 
 model of all manly beauty and honour. It 
 was a glorious sight, Alice thought ; and so 
 far as fine animals can make a glorious spec- 
 tacle, she was right. 
 
 At length they vanished from her view, and 
 after gazing awhile upon the rich autumnal 
 scenery which stretched around, and musing
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 21 
 
 as she gazed, Alice returned to her favourite 
 summer-house, to muse there. She was rather 
 addicted to musing, as people with those 
 thoughtful, dreamy, dark grey eyes always 
 are, when not forced into action. Life was so 
 mysterious to her just now — there was so much 
 to dream about, so many tangled threads 
 which she tried in vain to unravel, so many 
 pictures which she tried to see in a clear light, 
 and could not. Indeed, she was as yet quite 
 undeveloped in her own character. Hidden 
 almost from herself, and quite hidden as to her 
 real nature and capabilities from all other 
 people. Some characters resembling hers 
 remain hidden until the time when the grave 
 closes over them, to hide them for ever from 
 worldly eyes. But are they not known here- 
 after ? Do they not open out, and develope 
 in another state of existence, becoming wholly 
 there what they were here only in part ?
 
 22 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 We have wandered a long way from the 
 hunting-field, and Alice had sat a long time 
 musing — almost an hour since the last view . 
 she had of the brilliant cavalcade. She was 
 beginning to think of returning to the house, 
 when her ear caught the sound of a distant 
 horse advancing, as it seemed to her, at tre- 
 mendous speed. She was right, the sound 
 came nearer. A horseman da'shed through 
 the drooping ash-trees, and was about to ford 
 the brook, when his eye caught hers. It 
 was Kobert Gray, in breathless haste, who now 
 reined up his horse, and called to her from the 
 opposite side. 
 
 " Alice ! for goodness sake," said he, " come 
 out — come nearer. I want to speak to you 
 this moment ! There has been a terrible ac- 
 cident ! You must fly ! They are bringing 
 him down to our house, and 1 want you to 
 get everything ready."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 23 
 
 ^^ Who ? — who ?" exclaimed Alice. " You 
 don't tell me who it is ?" 
 
 " Make haste, I tell you ! They'll be over 
 the hill directly." 
 
 " But is it my father ? Eobert, who is it ? 
 Oh ! can it be poor Bessy ?" 
 
 " Nonsense ! It's only that Captain Gor- 
 don. But he's terribly smashed, and I want 
 him brought here." 
 
 ** But why here, Robert? We don't know 
 him — not one of us." 
 
 " What has that to do with it ? The man 
 may be dying. Go in as fast as you can. 
 Get the spare bedroom ready, and all sorts of 
 things — brandy, lint, everything you can 
 think of. Old Molly will help you — only be 
 quick. I must be off now. Don't fail us, 
 Alice, in anything — there's a good creature." 
 
 "But, Eobert " 
 
 " What else T'
 
 24 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " Why don't they take him up to Uncle 
 Bell's ?" 
 
 *' They wanted to take him tliere. Bessy 
 and I had quite a quarrel about it, but I 
 carried my point." 
 
 *' It would have been far better. Aunt 
 Bell, you know, would have looked after 
 him. I am quite sure it would have been 
 better." 
 
 ^^ No such thing. I wouldn't have had him 
 taken there on any account." 
 
 '' Why not ?" 
 
 *^ I can't stay to tell you now. I am sure 
 you will do better for him than they would." 
 
 "I? — I do better?" said Alice, as she 
 hastened into the house. ** I never nursed 
 anybody in my life, except old Molly, and I 
 vexed her every day. W^hat ever shall I 
 do?" 
 
 Alice was still saying " What ever shall I
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 25 
 
 do ?" when she looked from the window of 
 the chamber she was preparing, and saw a 
 mournful-looking company winding slowly 
 along the road. They were carrying what 
 appeared to be a heavy burden, very care- 
 fully. It was laid upon some hurdles, which 
 a number of men supported on their shoulders, 
 and over it was thrown a horse sheet, which 
 made the burden and the bearers look alto- 
 gether like a funeral possession. 
 
 Robert Gray was the chief actor in the 
 great business which had now to be trans- 
 acted. Strong and yet gentle, quick yet 
 sure, he could manage both the lifting and the 
 ordering better than anyone else ; and every- 
 one gave way to him, as is always the case 
 where difficult work has to be done under the 
 direction of the right person in the right 
 place. Nor did Alice — whose natural gifts 
 were of the helpful kind, like her brother's —
 
 26 ^^ORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 stand aloof, as some girls would have done. 
 With silent promptness she placed herself at 
 once at any post of duty where she could" 
 be of use, neither shrinking; nor shuddering, 
 though she had never looked upon any spec- 
 tacle so much like death before. 
 
 Sir James Huntley, who was nearly related 
 to the wounded man, had made part of the 
 procession until it reached the door, when, on 
 meeting Mr. Gray, he almost overwhelmed 
 him with expressions of gratitude for allowing 
 the young man to be accommodated beneath 
 his roof ; after which he rode hastily away, as 
 he said, for the purpose of obtaining his own 
 family physician from York. 
 
 The accident from which Captain Gordon 
 suffered had taken place within little more 
 than half a mile from Applegarth, the hounds 
 having made a circuit, and come back again 
 nearly to the point from whence they started.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 27 
 
 The young man had not been mounted to his 
 liking that day, and losing his temper once or 
 twice, had communicated something of his 
 irritability to the animal which he rode. 
 Thus the horse and the rider were not always 
 of the same mind, so that when a difficult 
 fence came in their way, some said a sudden 
 check of the bridle, some a touch of the spur, 
 and others a stroke on the flank, sent the 
 animal across where it was scarcely possible 
 to find a footing on the opposite bank ; and 
 thus, without any anyone being very clear as 
 to how the catastrophe happened, a terrible 
 fall ensued, by which the horse was injured 
 for life, and the rider taken up for dead. 
 
 It was soon happily discovered, however, 
 that Captain Gordon was not dead. Mr. 
 Bell and his daughter had been immediately 
 on the spot, the father begging, the daughter 
 insisting, that the wounded man should be
 
 28 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 taken to their house. Nothiiif;- would have 
 appeared more likely, for Whinfield was at 
 least a hundred yards nearer than Apple- 
 garth. But Robert Gray stepped in, and, 
 with the authority of one who has a right to 
 command, ordered the preparations necessary 
 to be made, and finally led the way to his 
 father's house. In vain did Bessy remonstrate 
 with all the ardour of her impulsive nature. 
 Robert would have it so, as already said, and 
 he carried Ins point.
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 117E have said that Alice Gray was early 
 left without a mother, Mrs. Gray hav- 
 ing died a few months after her birth. She 
 was a mere child when the management of 
 her father's house was at first committed to 
 her, and but for a most substantial help in 
 old Molly, might have found the anxieties of 
 her position a little out of proportion to its 
 pleasures. 
 
 Rightly to understand old Molly, and her 
 place in her master's household, requires more 
 knowledge of the habits and modes of living 
 in that district than could be easily conveyed 
 by words. Secretly there existed strong sus-
 
 30 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 picions amongst the neiglibours that Molly 
 ruled the whole family. And yet she was 
 but a servant, with no external evidence of a 
 commanding nature, either in face or person. 
 A comely, comfortable, decent woman, with a 
 shrewd expression of countenance, was all 
 that could be said of her at best. Her dress 
 was in the ancient style, suffering no change 
 from the lapse of time, or the fickleness of 
 fashion. A brown stuff gown had been her 
 outer covering for so many years, that it 
 seemed rather a portion of herself than a 
 dress; while the thick white cap, confined 
 over the top of the head by a broad black 
 ribbon, constituted another article in the 
 general effect of Molly's appearance, without 
 which she would scarcely have been known. 
 
 From the fact of admitting no change in 
 the style of her own dress, Molly assumed the 
 right to be very severe upon all who adopted
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 31 
 
 new-fangled notions, and followed the fashions 
 of the day. More than once her indignation 
 had been excited when the gift of one of her 
 old caps to the kitchen-maid had been rejected 
 with contempt ; while the now traditional 
 apron of blue check with high bib was recom- 
 mended to every fresh comer as urgently as 
 some good people now recommend their ho- 
 moeopathic drops, and their infinitesimal pills. 
 What would have been her consternation had 
 a new servant arrived in crinoline ! Lan- 
 guage is inadequate to do justice to such an 
 event. 
 
 Nor was it in the kitchen alone that Molly 
 assumed to be the judge of right and wrong. 
 Throughout the whole establishment, persons, 
 manners, characters, and conduct, came under 
 her lash, and but for an attachment to her mas- 
 ter and his family, as faithful as it was rich 
 in fruits of practical kindness, the dominion
 
 32 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 of Molly would have become something border- 
 ing upon intolerable. Even with all this de- 
 votion, her attachment was often most incon- 
 venient, for such persons are sure to be eager 
 partisans, and can hate as well as they can 
 love. 
 
 And Molly did hate with a vengeance — at 
 least so it seemed to those who heard her talk. 
 She hated all upstarts — all people without 
 name or character, all intruders — and especi- 
 ally those who forced themselves unwarrant- 
 ably upon her master's attention or kindness. 
 To the old established friends of the family 
 she was hospitable to excess. Nothing was 
 too good for them — and Molly's cookery was 
 something to boast of, for besides the choice 
 viands which crowded the tables of the well- 
 to-do farmers generally, Molly possessed here- 
 ditary secrets of culinary art, which were the 
 envy of the whole neighbourhood, and an early
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 33 
 
 tea or a supper at Applegarth was a thing to 
 be remembered, especially the next morning. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that 
 Molly was in a position to rule a host of sub- 
 ordinates, or even to say ^^ bring me this," or 
 " take that away," to any of those inferior 
 agencies which in higher families attend upon 
 that important personage the cook. She could 
 only boast of one " kitchen gell," or ^' lass," 
 as the lower servants were generally called, by 
 no means with any intentional disrespect. There 
 was, to be sure, a lad ; and a luckless lad he 
 was — a sort of scapegoat attached to the pre- 
 mises, who bore about with him much of the 
 blame which would otherwise have stuck to 
 the "kitchen-gell;" but the lad being esteemed 
 by Molly, both from her own experience, and 
 from all traditional evidence, as only one re- 
 moved from a rogue, and not so much as one 
 from an idiot, she held very little intercourse 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 NOUTHERN ROSES. 
 
 with tills individual beyond making him 
 a medium between herself and the pump. 
 
 It may readily be supposed that to concili- 
 ate Molly, to keep her in good humour, but, 
 above all, to win her over to the side of any 
 project which had to be carried out, was no 
 small part of the business of Mr. Gray's family. 
 Alice was not always fortunate in this respect, 
 from the simple fact that she had a trick of 
 falling into reveries — *' letting her wits go 
 wool-gathering," as Molly used to say, a 
 thing she " could niver abide." To her master 
 she was for the most part submissive, at least 
 it was an article of her creed to be so ; and if 
 she failed here, it was by accident, or because 
 of the burden of conscious mental superiority, 
 which weighed her down at the moment, and 
 caused her to stumble in her duty. But to 
 Robert — *^ our young master Robert," as he 
 was called by the servants — Molly was almost
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 35 
 
 servile, for she loved him with that excessive 
 and partial devotion, which, had it been in 
 her power, would have provided for his palate 
 the choicest delicacies of the four quarters of 
 the globe, to say nothing of a carpet of gold, 
 and that scarcely good enough for him to walk 
 upon. 
 
 It so happened that Molly, just at the time 
 when Master Robert came to tell of the acci- 
 dent to Captain Gordon, was busy with her 
 dairy, making up butter, a process from which 
 nothing in the hitherto known experience of 
 man had been found great enough to attract 
 her attention. Had it been possible for any 
 one to call her away at such a time, it would 
 have been Robert. But he had been obliged 
 to ride away again without seeing her, and 
 consequently it devolved upon Alice to make 
 the alarming announcement that the best bed- 
 
 D 2
 
 36 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 room must be got ready in a moment of time 
 — and for whom ? Yes, there was the diffi- 
 culty, for the Huntleys were new comers into 
 the neighbourhood — not a county family at 
 all, only purchasers of an estate once owned 
 by an old family which had died out. 
 
 " Why couldn't such people take care of 
 their own rubbish ?" was the only response 
 which Alice had been able to elicit ; while 
 Molly went splashing on with her work, throw- 
 ing more water about than there was the 
 least occasion for, and slapping her butter 
 with an emphasis not altogether unsuggestive 
 of the dealings of an angry mother with her 
 rebellious child. 
 
 Alice, who had scarcely expected anything 
 better, was compelled to apply her own hands 
 to the work, taking the precaution to secure 
 the assistance of the stout kitchen girl, to 
 whom Molly called more than once, insisting
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 37 
 
 that she should look after *' them potatoes in 
 the oven, and that dumplin' for the men's 
 dinner." But Alice, having made sure of her 
 prize, turned a deaf ear, and encouraging the 
 girl to do the same, they worked on with 
 great energy, and had accomplished wonders 
 when the mournful procession reached the 
 door, as already described. 
 
 Alice was right in saying she had never 
 nursed any one but Molly, and had failed in 
 her efforts to please her, whatever she could 
 do. Patience and submission were not fore- 
 most in the large array of Molly's virtues, and 
 forced inactivity, which allowed other people 
 to take their own way in her especial depart- 
 ment, without consulting her, was perhaps 
 the greatest punishment she could have been 
 compelled to endure. Hence Alice, under this 
 signal failure, had taken up the notion that 
 the fault lay in her own natural disqualifica-
 
 38 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 tion for the duties of a nurse, when the very 
 opposite of this was really the case. 
 
 In the present instance there was no time 
 for hesitation — no room for doubt. Her duty 
 lay clear before her. A young man, ap- 
 parently dead, with the stains of blood upon 
 his face and person, was being carried upstairs 
 by her brother, and others in attendance, and 
 was then silently and carefully laid upon the 
 bed which she had just prepared. Many 
 things were wanted in a moment — water, 
 linen, pillows — more than Alice could supply 
 with one pair of hands ; while the young girl 
 stood outside the door of the chamber, willing 
 to obey all orders, but trembling and sobbing 
 at the sight of that apparently dead man, so 
 as scarcely to be able to execute any. 
 
 " He is not dead," said Alice, in a hurried 
 whisper to the girl ; ** but he will be if we 
 don't bestir ourselves. Run with this jug for
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 39 
 
 water, and be back in no time. It is our 
 business to save him.'^ 
 
 '* It is our business to save him " — " my 
 business." 
 
 Every true-hearted woman understands the 
 meaning which these words embody, and Alice 
 felt that meaning to her inmost soul. The sacred 
 duty — and to save life is a sacred duty — had 
 been forced upon her. She had not sought 
 it — she would have escaped from it if she 
 could. But it was sacred, nevertheless. Cir- 
 cumstances, not of her own choosing, had put 
 her in the position of chief nurse to a perfect 
 stranger. Who, and what that stranger was, 
 she never asked, and scarcely thought. So 
 nearly was the spark of life extinct, so total 
 his unconsciousness — so pale, and rigid, and 
 motionless was the form before her, that 
 there scarcely would have appeared any want 
 of appropriateness in speaking of that form
 
 40 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 as zV, and saying, as people will say, within an 
 liour of the last breathings of one who was all 
 the world to us, and with whom we cannot, 
 in a moment, lose its beloved, and beautiful, 
 and human identity — '^ It looks very lovely," 
 or, perhaps, the reverse ! 
 
 Alice Gray was so busy, so necessarily oc- 
 cupied all that day and night, that she did 
 not even ask her brother any questions about 
 Captain Gordon, as a person. He was still a 
 breathing substance, and all her anxiety and 
 care was exercised, and every effort strained, 
 to keep the spark of life burning. No matter 
 for the lamp. It was the llame which she 
 had to attend to ; and that sometimes fell so 
 low as to make her doubt whether total ex- 
 tinction had not taken place. But no. The 
 pulse fluttered again, and now and then there 
 was some faint evidence of a consciousness of 
 pain.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 41 
 
 A surgeon from the nearest village had been 
 immediately called in. But he found the case so 
 complicated and alarming, that hearing of 
 other medical men being expected in the 
 course of the afternoon, he only ventured to 
 prescribe the simplest restoratives, all which 
 Alice had endeavoured to administer, but in 
 vain. 
 
 There had, of course, been mention of a 
 nurse — a professional and experienced nurse ; 
 but such things were not so easily obtained in 
 those days, when there were no telegraph- 
 wires to convey the intelligence of what was 
 wanted, from place to place. Country people 
 did their own nursing in these primitive times, 
 and were, for the most part, proud to do it. 
 Thus, although Lady Huntley, on whose side 
 the natural relationship with Captain Gordon 
 subsisted, did really bethink herself of provid- 
 ing a nurse — the only thing, she said, which
 
 42 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 she could do for her poor nephew-^the thing 
 was not so easily done as said, especially by 
 one who, like Lady Huntley, spent the greater 
 portion of her time floundering in a sea of 
 difficulties. She might, to be sure, send her 
 maid — indeed, she did think of sending Louise. 
 But Louise thought diffi^rently. She had no 
 fancy for a residence in an old farm-house, 
 w^ith a sick man upon her hands. So she fell 
 ill — indeed, she had been ill for the past 
 month, only did not like to say anything to 
 her ladyship, and there the matter ended. 
 It is just possible Louise might have heard 
 some talk amongst the servants about old 
 Molly, the dragon of Applegarth ; and if so, 
 the plan she adopted was not impolitic, what- 
 ever might be said for its sincerity. 
 
 So it was not a matter of choice, but of 
 actual necessity, which brought Alice Gray 
 into the position of nurse, and sole nurse,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 43 
 
 except that her brother Robert took the chief 
 part of the night work, after that first awful 
 night, when nobody slept ; for the doctors had 
 not arrived until about dusk, and then there 
 was a long examination, and then the setting 
 of broken bones, the bathing of bruises, with 
 bandages, and splicings, and endless processes 
 of torture, all which the patient bore without 
 resistance, simply from want of power to resist. 
 Eobert was often seriously apprehensive that 
 life had escaped them during the operations. 
 But the doctors spoke encouragingly, notwith- 
 standing. They saw no reason why the young 
 man should die — certainly not from any frac- 
 ture or dislocation. What they feared most 
 was from the brain ; and for this reason, they 
 insisted- upon perfect quiet — no new faces in 
 the room, no talking amongst the attendants, 
 and as few of them as possible. 
 
 Robert suggested that an experienced nurse 
 would be necessary.
 
 44 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 *^ Yes," said the doctors, they would send 
 u nurse from York. In the course of the fol- 
 lowing day she might be expected. And then, 
 *' Just tliis young person and yourself — a 
 strict prohibition must be laid upon all others." 
 The gentlemen then retired for consultation, 
 fixed their time for meeting again^ partook of 
 a hospitable repast, and returned with their 
 post-horses to York. 
 
 As soon as they were gone, Robert went up 
 to join his sister in the silent room. 
 
 '* I have brought you into a sad mess," said 
 he, passing his arm affectionately over her 
 shoulder. ^' I am afraid I did not think 
 sufficiently about you in what I did. Y^ou 
 will never be able to hold out, Alice, until the 
 nurse comes." 
 
 '' Oh ! never mind me," said Alice, looking 
 up cheerfully. " You know you said it was 
 better here than at uncle Bell's ; and, indeed,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 45 
 
 it would have been sad for poor aunt to have 
 had all this trouble." 
 
 " Then it naust be sad for you," said 
 Robert. 
 
 *' No — not at all," Alice replied. *' I begin 
 to think I shall do very well. Indeed, I am 
 getting almost to like my work. Already you 
 see I have managed a good many things 
 rather nicely. Don^t you think I have ?" 
 
 ^' Oh ! beautifully ! — wonderfully I" ex- 
 claimed Robert. '^ It is of yourself I am 
 thinking, and how inconsiderate I have been." 
 
 " Say no more- about that," replied Alice ; 
 '^ there is no time for talking about such 
 things now, and very little for thinking ; so 
 don't waste either time or thought on me. 
 But I do wish you would go and coax old 
 Molly. With her all contrary, there is no 
 getting on." 
 
 ^' What does she say ?" asked Robert.
 
 46 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " Why, of course," replied his sister — " but, 
 hush ! lie may hear more than we think. 
 rU tell you another time. You had better go 
 yourself, and hear it all. You know you can 
 do more with her than anyone else can ; and 
 if she will only do what has to be done in the 
 kitchen, I shall be satisfied, for I cannot be 
 both there and here." 
 
 Robert went as his sister had requested, 
 and had to encounter no inconsiderable storm. 
 But he was accustomed to his old friend's 
 rather forcible mode of expression, and he 
 knew she would come round after the pent-up 
 rage had found vent. He knew also that, to 
 use a common expression, '^ her bark was 
 worse than her bite," and that all the time 
 she was going on about ^^ stuck-up people,'' 
 meaning the Huntley s, and their ^^impidence " 
 in sending their poor relations to be *^ nursed 
 by better folk," and protesting that she was
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 47 
 
 not going to have her master's business and 
 property go to " rack and ruin for the sake 
 of that beggar hid," she was as sorry as could 
 be on account of Alice, and would have done 
 anything in the world to help her, short of 
 coming down from that immeasurable height 
 above the Huntleys which she had assumed. 
 
 **' But you will help my sister a little bit 
 sometimes, won't you, Molly ? You see she is 
 so young, and not so strong as some girls 
 are," said Robert in his most insinuating man- 
 ner. 
 
 '* Not so strong !" exclaimed Molly, with a 
 fresh outburst of indignation. " I should 
 think not indeed! I see plainly what's to come 
 of her if these doings is to last. There's that 
 Bess ! — up on the hill there — she's strong 
 enough to nurse twenty men, and bold enough 
 too. If this fellow. was to be thrust upon us, 
 what for didn't they take him there, I wonder,
 
 48 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and let Bessy try her hand on him; I warrant 
 she'd have finished him in no time. And no 
 loss neither." 
 
 This was not a very pleasant turn which 
 the conversation had taken, so far as Robert 
 was concerned ; and glad to lay hold of any- 
 thing that might serve as an emollient, he 
 began to talk to Molly about her butter, to 
 ask how much she had had that week, with 
 various comments upon a certain spotted cow 
 — all which proved safe and convenient topics 
 for the time. But still Robert wanted some 
 assurance of assistance for his sister ; so again 
 he ventured to suggest to his old friend that 
 even she herself would not see a man die for 
 want of nursing, be he who he might ; and 
 that Captain Gordon had himself really no- 
 thing to do with the matter whatever. Why, 
 the whole county would cry shame if they 
 neglected him.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 49 
 
 This was touching Molly on a very sensitive 
 point — the honour of her master's family. 
 There might be something in that. It was 
 better to give than to receive. If other 
 people were mean, it was no reason why they 
 should be so. All these thoughts were producing 
 their effect on Molly's feelings. Her pride 
 was becoming engaged on the right side ; and 
 when Robert saw that, he felt that his work 
 was done. The result was a glass of jelly 
 clear as crystal sent up into the sick room that 
 very night ; and in the kitchen, an accumula- 
 tion of shining saucepans, and other vessels 
 about the fire, with delicate scent of lemon 
 peel, and divers flavourings, with stirrings and 
 strainings, and ever and anon a skilful shake 
 round of some savoury liquid in the pan, be- 
 fore pouring out for use. This was all that 
 Alice wanted. It was in fact much more than 
 the necessities of the case required, for the 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 prftient was far enoup^h yet from entertaining 
 any relish for Molly's good things. 
 
 *' But he will live ? — you think he will 
 live ?" Alice soon began to ask of the doctors, 
 with as much anxiety as if the unknown, un- 
 conscious being before her had been one of 
 her own most valued friends. Such, and so 
 rapid, is that strange growth of interest in a 
 woman's heart for that which she watches over, 
 and serves ; but especially for that which her 
 services restore to life and health. Strange 
 also are those quickly recognised habits of a 
 sick room, the little round of small services 
 duly performed, so that expectation may never 
 wait, nor disappointment, nor even surprise, 
 ensue. And what importance comes to be 
 attached to these little routine services, both 
 by nurse and patient. What little prattlings 
 may be heard from the female voice, scarcely 
 more dignified than those of the nursery, as
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 5 1 
 
 the agile form moves silently about to fetch 
 and carry, alter or exchange, with a patient 
 and untiring willingness beyond all that could 
 previously have been anticipated of human en- 
 durance. 
 
 It was so with Alice before many days had 
 passed. She had learned to understand the 
 slightest indication of wish or purpose — the 
 slightest evidence of satisfaction, or of weari- 
 ness or pain. There were already little sig- 
 nals established, before the power of speech 
 had returned, and a mute intelligence which 
 none but the nurse could comprehend. 
 
 The professional attendant at length ar- 
 rived — "a competent and experienced nurse," 
 the doctors said ; but in the study of this 
 mute intelligence she was far behind Alice, 
 and it soon became evident that the patient 
 himself was sensible of the fact — that he had 
 his preference, and that his first nurse was the 
 
 E 2
 
 52 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 favourite. Alice was not sure at that time 
 that he had ever opened his eyes sufficiently 
 to behold her ; but he seemed to know her 
 touch, and had a strange sense of her presence 
 in the room, and of her absence when not 
 there. 
 
 And who was he all the time ? — or what 
 might be the nature of that being whom 
 Alice's skill and care seemed almost to have 
 created anew, and so far to have made her 
 own. To his young nurse he had at first 
 been simply human — a fellow-being ; but she 
 was now beginning to mark his features, to 
 trace every line of what she thought must 
 have been a rare beauty before it was so 
 marred, and to interest herself in interpreting 
 every change of expression which the counten- 
 ance might assume. The forehead was so 
 blemished, and the hair so tangled, that all her 
 care was required, with many a tender touch,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 53 
 
 such as a mother would have given, to smoothe 
 and settle it to her satisfaction, for still 
 the blood streaks were not all removed. And 
 that white hand too, how often it was bathed, 
 and moistened with choice perfumes, and also 
 how often was it laid in hers ! — that pulse 
 which Alice had learned by heart in all its 
 varied beatings, with their alternation of 
 awakened hope and fear — that voice that 
 would not or could not speak to others, but 
 to her was ever soft and low — were not all 
 these things tending to one point ? — to the 
 realization on her part of that little wo- 
 manly and true English expression — " my 
 own'*? 
 
 And yet how those little words would have 
 fled away, and how Alice would have started 
 back into a far-oif stranger, had that form 
 arisen in its manly strength as absolutely 
 Captain Gordon, especially if arrayed in regi-
 
 54 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 mentals, and standing in military boots. 
 Alice had never seen her patient so, though 
 Bessy had ; and of such an apparition she had 
 not yet begun to dream, least of all to think 
 how she would herself be affected by it. She 
 only watched and waited, going through all 
 her little routine of daily duties without much 
 wandering of thought, either into the past or 
 the future, which, for a dreamer like her, was 
 rather extraordinary. The reason was that a 
 new thing had come upon her, and, for the 
 first time in her life, she was entirely absorbed 
 in the present. 
 
 Bessy, her cousin, thought the devotedness 
 of Alice nothing less than absurd, and so per- 
 haps it was. But it was perfectly innocent, 
 for had the patient been her father's shepherd, 
 or the veriest old crone in all the country- 
 side, Alice would have done the same, had the 
 sufferer been so committed to her care — at
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 55 
 
 least she would have done the same up to a 
 certain point. 
 
 It could not be expected that Bessy, always 
 fond of excitement, could allow so great an 
 event to transpire without interference on her 
 part ; and not an hour had elapsed after the 
 accident before she ran down to Applegarth, 
 and entered her uncle's parlour with the 
 fullest expectation of being admitted to the 
 sick chamber, to take part, according to her 
 fancy, in all that was being transacted there. 
 But Mr. Gray, who did not feel equal to any ' 
 duty beyond that of keeping guard in the 
 room below, so as to prevent disturbance or 
 intrusion, proved so faithful to his office, that 
 he insisted on his niece remaining where she 
 was, and even laid strong hands upon her to 
 enforce his commands. As Alice could not at 
 that moment be spared to see her cousin, 
 Bessy was compelled to return without her
 
 56 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 enterprise being accomplished, and she did so 
 in no very amiable mood. Her determination 
 to see the sick man was, however, in no way 
 affected by this failure, and on the following 
 day she tried again, but with the same 
 result. 
 
 Kobert at length undertook to remonstrate 
 with her, and he enforced his arguments by 
 telling her there was nothing really to see. 
 
 "Yes, there is," said Bessy, sharply; "for 
 a finer man than Captain Gordon I never in 
 my life beheld." 
 
 " But he is not fine now," said Robert. 
 " His forehead is all strapped over with plaster. 
 He has one tooth out, and a handkerchief tied 
 over his chin." 
 
 Bessy laughed in spite of herself at the 
 idea of a hero under such a disguise ; but still 
 she persisted, until Robert, concluding that 
 the best way to produce peace was to let the
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 57 
 
 wilful creature see for herself, consented at 
 last to lead her silently into the room, on con- 
 dition that she should neither speak nor move 
 in such a manner as to create the least dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 So Bessy went upstairs, trying to step care- 
 fully, but rustling and bustling so as to create 
 a most unaccountable amount of confusion 
 notwithstanding. She had never seen any 
 one dead — scarcely ever any one ill. With 
 all her courage, Bessy was constitutionally 
 hysterical, liable to break down suddenly, and 
 the sight of blood made her faint, so that 
 Robert was risking a good deal when he made 
 this venture ; for the doctors, little regarding 
 appearance, had strapped and swathed their 
 patient so as to make him look very much like 
 a corpse. Robert went up into the sick-room, 
 however, with his cousin leaning on his arm, 
 and leaning with a hand that soon began to
 
 r>b NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 tremble and quiver so that he had to grasp it 
 firmly within his own. Bessy was a large 
 person, too, at least she had the effect of 
 being large, and managed to throw over a 
 small table with her skirts before reaching the 
 side of the bed. 
 
 One look was sufficient — a faint shriek, a 
 few sobs, and Bessy, but for the supporting 
 arms of her cousin, would have fallen fainting 
 on the floor. Quickly and silently Robert 
 carried her down into the room below, and 
 not daring to call Molly, whose opinion of 
 "Bessy in her tantrums" was of a very 
 equivocal nature, there was nothing for it but 
 to use such restoratives as were within his 
 reach ; and he was soon rewarded by seeing 
 the colour come back into that soft, full cheek, 
 which was, to him, without exception, the 
 most beautiful cheek in the whole world. 
 
 Nor was this estimate founded merely upon
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 59 
 
 partial fancy. The charm which Robert, and 
 not he alone, had found so bewitching, con- 
 sisted chiefly in the rounding and tinting of a 
 most exquisite surface, and, especially as re- 
 gards the cheek in question, in the softening 
 down of rich warm colour to the pearly white- 
 ness of a throat and ear like purest marble. 
 Such complexions, though generally supposed 
 to indicate the perfection of health, do not 
 always indicate its continuance. Robert alone 
 had never associated any idea of this kind 
 with his cousin's beauty. To his watchful eye 
 she was not always the robust and hardy 
 amazon which some persons thought her ; and 
 hence in some degree, perhaps, arose that 
 tenderness on his part which enabled him to 
 bear with her hysterical and other strange 
 affections, and which made him never lose 
 sight of her in any moment of peril, but rather 
 watch and care for her as a parent would
 
 60 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Avatch and care for a beloved but wayward 
 child. 
 
 There had been, up to this time, no avowed 
 attachment between Robert and his cousin ; 
 but they had grown together into a union so 
 close that it could be interpreted into nothing 
 less than love — so close, indeed, that if either 
 had shown symptoms of alienation, such infi- 
 delity would have been resented by the other 
 as warmly as if an engagement of marriage 
 had actually existed between them. On 
 Robert's side this was all very well — he was 
 not likely to prove false. But could the same 
 be predicted of Bessy ? We shall see.
 
 61 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 rpHE habits of the two families already de- 
 scribed had been formed upon that pros- 
 perous agricultural period, when high war 
 prices for their produce induced so many far- 
 mers to launch forth into an extravagance of 
 expenditure scarcely to be credited in the pre- 
 sent day. Not that either the Bells or the 
 Grays made any very stylish exhibition in their 
 domestic arrangements. Their servants were 
 few, and their tables, though plentiful, were 
 sufficiently plain ; but the masters of both 
 houses still laboured under a kind of secret 
 delusion which led them to believe implicitly 
 in rising prices, and in consequent prosperity,
 
 G2 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 such as would in the future fully justify their 
 present outlay. In what this outlay con- 
 sisted it would be difficult to specify. But 
 where people are ignorant or careless about 
 accounts — where they are much given to 
 horse dealing, or to the purchase of high-priced 
 cattle — where there is necessarily a vast 
 annual outlay, irrespective of returns, and 
 where all goes on founded upon an erroneous 
 belief in a future that will never come, there is 
 year after year an accelerated diminution in 
 the monied means, from which the comfortable 
 dreamer may possibly awake to find himself a 
 ruined man. 
 
 As the characters of the two men, Mr. 
 Bell and Mr. Gray, were widely different, so 
 the delusion under which they laboured pro- 
 duced very different results. Thomas Bell, or 
 Tom, as he was generally called, had a consti- 
 tutional tendency to jollification, good living.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 63 
 
 open-handedness, carelessness about the future. 
 He liked to have people happy and merry 
 around him. His large family caused him no 
 uneasiness. They would scramble through 
 life in some way, he thought, and while young 
 and healthy, well-fed, stout, and agile in all 
 boyish and girlish exercises — " why, bless 
 their hearts,'^ he would often say, 'Hhey 
 would do well enough. He had no fear about 
 them. Were they not hearty at their meals ? 
 Did they not sleep well, and ride well ? 
 What could the poor anxious mother want 
 more : 
 
 If dim visions of rising prices kept up this 
 state of things at Whinfield, the same visions 
 wrought with deeper effect at Applegarth. 
 Mr. Gray had few natural tendencies like 
 those of his hearty jovial brother-in-law. He 
 was a man of secret, silent ambition, of 
 untold schemes and purposes which few
 
 G4 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 people could fathom, and whose real character 
 few people knew. Perhaps, least of all, his 
 own children ; because, while they beheld him 
 as he was before the world, they had also 
 glimpses of something which the world never 
 saw — an anxious, irritable tendency, like that 
 of one who is harassed by constant gnawing 
 care. 
 
 Perhaps the character of Mr. Gray could 
 only be read aright by understanding the 
 effect of his peculiar religious profession, as it 
 operated in that part of the world, upon him- 
 self and upon the society by which he was 
 surrounded. He was, according to the old- 
 fashioned nomenclature, a methodist, in the 
 strictest meaning of that word — a preacher at 
 times, and on especial occasions, amongst the 
 small farmers and peasantry in his immediate 
 neighbourhood. He was a man of great per- 
 sonal gravity and weight. Perhaps it was
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. Q5 
 
 from the very fact of this constitutional 
 gravity that he was also accepted as wise — 
 wise both for this world and the next ; for 
 while the doubting, the hopeful, or the peni- 
 tent came to him for spiritual direction, he 
 was no less consulted by the man who had a 
 little money to deposit, the youth just enter- 
 ing into business, the widow with her small 
 residue of means to invest, the tenant who 
 had difficulties with his landlord ; or any 
 one in the same line of business with himself, 
 who might have an important bargain on his 
 hands. No matter what the point at issue 
 was, the opinion of Mr. Gray was considered 
 available for all. Hence he had become, in 
 the natural course of things, and it might be 
 without any preconceived desire on his own 
 part, one of the most inlluential men in the 
 whole district. 
 
 It was natural, too, that with this disposi- 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 tion to take the opinion of Mr. Gray, there 
 should fall into his hands little sums of money 
 to take care of for his poorer friends, with 
 sometimes larger sums to invest for others, 
 when a favourable opening should occur ; for 
 it is strange what very babes in money matters 
 a large proportion of agricultural people are, 
 infinitely more perplexed what to do with it, 
 when, by chance, a sum of money falls into 
 their hands, than they ever are about what 
 to do without it. Here and there a man of 
 sagacity, in money matters, starts up amongst 
 them, and such Mr. Gray was universally sup- 
 posed to be. 
 
 To a certain extent there would have been 
 no harm in this, for James Gray was naturally 
 shrewd, and had perhaps thought more, and 
 learned more than any of his neighbours on 
 the subjects chiefly brought before him 
 for advice or assistance. But there was a
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 67 
 
 deep underlying temptation connected with 
 this influence, which has often proved too 
 much for principles, at least as sound as those 
 of Mr. Gray. More than half the influence 
 he exercised was of a professedly religious na- 
 ture. Methodism was so much the prevailing 
 religion of the district in which he lived, that 
 it was no stigma of disgrace to any man of his 
 class to be a methodist — rather the contrary. 
 And of all kinds of adulation freely offered to 
 a spiritual instructor and guide, there has sel- 
 dom been any to exceed in flattering subservi- 
 ency that which, in the old times, and in 
 remote, rural districts, was laid at the feet of 
 an influential local preacher of the Wesleyan 
 denomination. No real manliness or merit in 
 the man himself could stem this tide of adu- 
 lation. The people would pour it upon him. 
 They would coil themselves about him. Men, 
 women, and children — they would lick his 
 
 F 2
 
 68 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 feet. Worse than all, they would believe him 
 infallible. 
 
 Mr. Gray, perhaps, in the outset, more 
 good than bad, and always a sincere believer 
 in the doctrines which he preached, was in a 
 manner forced into this position — a position 
 which might have been harmless enough, had 
 he not also entertained another sincere belief — 
 sincere as a belief, but wholly fallacious as to 
 the foundation on which it was based. This 
 was his belief in coming high prices, in protec- 
 tion to the English farmer against foreign pro- 
 duce, and in an amount of future prosperity 
 which should even surpass that of the times 
 now gone by. 
 
 That tissue of confusion, connecting to- 
 gether things temporal and spiritual, which 
 filled the mind and prompted the many 
 secret purposes of James Gray, would be 
 difficult to unravel, and impossible to define.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 69 
 
 One thing rose out clear from the general en- 
 tanglement — he loved influence for its own 
 sake — he delighted in exercising a silent but 
 undisputed power over others — his favourite 
 food was religious adulation. He earnestly 
 endeavoured to do his best for his fellow- 
 creatures. He wished all men well, and he 
 prayed that he might be guided aright in his 
 efforts to serve them ; but of all whom he 
 sought to serve, there was, perhaps unconsci- 
 ously to himself, an abiding supremacy given 
 to the interests of James Gray. 
 
 Not that he hoarded money — Mr. Gray 
 was no miser ; but he \o\^di property. Apple- 
 garth was his own, had descended to him in 
 an unbroken line through many generations. 
 He had lately purchased a small estate in the 
 neighbourhood of York, and he was now in 
 treaty for another nearer home. It was 
 wonderful what weight these purchases gave
 
 70 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 him in the eyes of his neiglibours, adding 
 something even to the value of his advice in 
 spiritual matters; touching his lips with elo- 
 quence when he held forth in the village meet- 
 ing-house, and deepening the responses which 
 testified to the force of his prayers. 
 
 The whole family and household of Mr. 
 Gray were of the same religious persuasion 
 with himself, but after a somewhat different 
 fashion. His sister, Mrs. Bell, brought up in 
 the same habits from childhood, might be 
 considered as more entirely one with him 
 in this respect. And yet, though outwardly 
 like her brother, she was as much his superior 
 in the pure simplicity of her religious faith, as 
 she was apparently his inferior in her in- 
 fluence over others, and in her standing before 
 the world. 
 
 Mrs. Bell was a weaker character than her 
 brother — weak in her physical frame, and too
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 71 
 
 often powerless for good ; the more so that she 
 had, not unfrequently, setting in against her 
 notions of right, not only the general turbu- 
 lence of her overwhelming family, but also 
 that rich and sparkling tide of present enjoy- 
 ment, which her husband liked so much to 
 see full and running over. What could she 
 do among her rosy romping boys and girls, all 
 pleading for indulgence ? Happily for Mrs. 
 Bell it might with truth be said of her that 
 she did what she could. 
 
 Bessy, as may readily be supposed, had 
 grown entirely out of her mother's influence. 
 A kiss when pleased, and a tear or two when 
 seriously found fault with, was about all the 
 close intercourse now maintained between 
 Bessy and her mother. When in the best of 
 humours, her wild spirits were quite too much 
 for Mrs. Bell ; and when in her opposite 
 tempers, though others might laugh, the poor
 
 72 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 mother was both shocked and frightened ; for 
 the during girl would make her anger manifest 
 by looks and expressions, perhaps as much in 
 excess of her actual feelings, as they were be- 
 yond the rules of polished society. Bessy, 
 however, was not naturally coarse. The 
 reader must not suppose that. She was only 
 impetuous, voluble, demonstrative in a style 
 peculiar to herself, and perhaps also in some 
 degree belonging to the time and place in 
 which she lived. 
 
 If Mrs. Bell looked in vain for sympathy 
 from her daughter — and she was a woman 
 who needed sympathy — I am ashamed to say 
 that she also looked in vain for help. In a 
 large family much depends upon the oldest 
 child, and, if a daughter, much domestic use- 
 fulness is generally expected at her hands. 
 Bessy thought it hard that it should be so, 
 but so every one told her it was ; and some-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 73 
 
 times, just to ease her conscience, she would 
 turn to, and work, as people say, like a horse, 
 sweeping away all before her, upsetting the 
 whole establishment, and rendering her poor 
 mother utterly powerless and incapable. It 
 was like a hurricane in the house when Bessy 
 took a useful fit. Even the little children ran 
 away and hid themselves, until the storm 
 should have passed by. This was no help. 
 Indeed it was so much the opposite of help, 
 that Mrs. Bell grew, in time, rather to prefer 
 that her daughter should absent herself en- 
 tirely when anything important had to be 
 done. So by degrees the two became more 
 and more separated. Bessy went her own 
 way, and the quiet mother remained at home 
 pursuing hers. 
 
 But if Mrs. Bell was thus baffled, and even 
 set at naught by her oldest child, she was not 
 without consolation in others, and especially
 
 74 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 in her son Willy, who came next in age to 
 this wayward girl. " Simple Willy " his sister 
 called him, for the lad seemed almost to have 
 taken her woman's nature, and to have given 
 her his own. Yet in learning, in feeling, and 
 in that nameless power which enters deeply 
 into the nature of things, William Bell was 
 far superior to his sister. Still, he was simple, 
 according to one sense of that word, for he 
 had his mother's singleness of heart, her truth- 
 ful and believing nature, and her deep religious 
 feeling ; hence he was everything to her that 
 a child could be to such a parent, and perhaps 
 he occupied more of her motherly affection 
 and solicitude because of a natural delicacy of 
 constitution, from which, in her anxious mo- 
 ments, she was apt to anticipate symptoms of 
 a malady already fatal to many of her hus- 
 band's family. The paleness and delicacy of 
 his complexion seemed to her to indicate con-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 75 
 
 sumption, and hence she watched over him 
 with a tenderness and solicitude which some- 
 times subjected him to a double share of his 
 sister's ridicule. 
 
 '^ I wish I could make a man of you, 
 Willy,'' she would sometimes say ; and then 
 she would run her fingers up his flaxen hair, 
 and ruffle it, and slap him on the back with a 
 violence that made him cough ; and then the 
 mother would rush to the rescue, and Bessy, 
 for the thousandth time, would give him up. 
 She would have liked a brother bristling all 
 over with black hair, taller and stouter than 
 herself, sunburnt like a gipsy, and fierce as a 
 bandit chief ; and she had only this slim youth 
 to ride with her, tender, and 
 
 " Sicklied o'er with the pale hue of thought !" 
 
 No wonder that she loved her cousin Robert 
 for his manliness — nay, sometimes almost
 
 76 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 reverenced him for a certain stern resolute- 
 ness, that refused to yield on some occasions 
 even to her blandishments and persuasions ; for 
 Kobert could be stern as well as strong — he 
 had it in his nature to be so. Well knit to- 
 gether in his manly frame, he looked a very 
 tower of strength — of strength to resist an 
 enemy, as well as to protect a friend ; just the 
 kind of man that a woman would fly to in 
 trouble, but would be afraid of if she had 
 done wrong. Not always demonstrative, 
 Kobert still possessed a well-spring of tender- 
 ness in his nature, ever gushing out warmly 
 and freely towards those whom he most loved. 
 Bessy, who had enjoyed the fullest share of 
 this, and who had been accustomed to it more 
 or less from her childhood, trusted perhaps too 
 much to her cousin's want of power to with- 
 hold or restrain it — too much to its being 
 always ready at her need. Let no woman
 
 NORTHERN ROSES, 77 
 
 who enjoys proprietorship in such a spring, 
 ever test its depth or its durability too much. 
 The experiment is always ill-judged, if not 
 dangerous ; and there is such a thing, even 
 here, as 
 
 " Dropping buckets into empty wells, 
 And growing old in drawing nothing up." 
 
 Much as Bessy Bell might be disposed to 
 look down upon her brother, he was, as al- 
 ready said, her superior in all mental qualifi- 
 cations, and in the attainments he had already 
 made, more, perhaps, during hours of private 
 thought and study, than at the public school 
 to which he had been sent. The danger was 
 that the boy would take to a fanciful kind of 
 reading, instead of steadily pursuing know- 
 ledge for its own sake. He was just now at 
 the romantic and imaginative age. No good 
 library being within his reach, what little 
 money he could spare was spent in books ;
 
 78 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and, to her dismay, Mrs. Bell had lately dis- 
 covered in her son's bedroom, high up in a 
 sort of attic, which she had fitted up for him 
 at his especial request, certain volumes of 
 poetry ; and on accidentally opening some of 
 these, she had discovered also certain symp- 
 toms of the tender passion, described in lan- 
 guage wholly foreign to her eye or ear. 
 
 Lest the reader should think ill of the un- 
 offending youth even in his selection of books, 
 it may as well be stated that these suspicious- 
 looking volumes contained nothing worse than 
 the poetry of Scott and Byron, the latter just 
 beginning to be talked about. But it is 
 strange, and really curious, how some of the 
 best people in the world, and most excellent 
 in their Avifely and husbandly characters — 
 most tender, too— seem absolutely to abhor the 
 name of love^ and all that belongs to it, in a 
 book, and especially in a book of fiction. A
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 79 
 
 fictitious battle would not horrify them at all, 
 
 with murder and bloodshed ad infinitum ; but 
 
 fictitious love, how shocking ! The book is 
 
 snatched away, locked up, or destroyed. 
 
 It was not exactly so with Mrs. Bell. She 
 
 knew better, or felt better, than to take such 
 
 a liberty with the actual property of a grown- 
 
 « 
 up son ; but she talked to him very gravely, 
 
 and warned him very earnestly against the 
 
 danger of such books. And, in conclusion, he 
 
 asked her to sit down on the one chair in his 
 
 attic chamber, while, seating himself on a low 
 
 stool at her feet, he read to her some choice 
 
 passages from his favourite poets. And the 
 
 mother listened with folded hands, and sighed ; 
 
 after which she rose and kissed the forehead 
 
 of her son, and said no more to him on the 
 
 subject ever after that. 
 
 Willy's attic was wide and low, with no 
 
 other inhabited room on the same floor, so
 
 80 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 that no one need go near him in his moments 
 of retirement, and they were many. He liked 
 this strange solitariness, as it seemed to him — 
 he liked to feel removed beyond, perhaps 
 above, the hum and stir of the noisy household 
 below. He thought it made him less irritable 
 with the children when they teased him, and 
 more willing to be sent about by his father 
 to the fields and stables, that he had his little 
 sanctum to fly to on his return. Here he 
 enjoyed alike the free and uninterrupted pos- 
 session of his books, his papers, and his 
 thoughts — for Willy wrote as well as read. 
 And though his mother, when she went up to 
 adjust his wardrobe, never ventured to read a 
 word of all the scribbled sheets that lay about, 
 she could not help drawing her own conclu- 
 sions from the fact that there were columns, 
 as it were, upon these sheets, of long lines 
 and short, with intervals between every four
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 81 
 
 or six or eight ; and hence she supposed that 
 her son wrote verses, but whether copied or 
 original verses it was quite beyond her even 
 to surmise. 
 
 Poor Willy ! He was in rather a dan- 
 gerous state just then, had his path been 
 crossed by anything but sheep and bullocks, 
 or had objects fallen in his way more attrac- 
 tive than the country lasses who chatted with 
 his mother about their cheesecakes and pre- 
 serves. At present there seemed nothing 
 else to be met with, and the mother at least 
 was not quite sure but that feelings of a 
 widely different nature were at work in the 
 mind of her son. 
 
 a Yie must make a parson of the lad," Mr. 
 Bell had said one day carelessly to his wife, 
 adding, " I see nothing else that he is fit 
 for ;" and she, fond, brooding woman that she 
 was, had treasured the words up in her heart, 
 
 VOL. 1. G
 
 82 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and nursed them there into something very 
 different from what her husband had in- 
 tended. To he a preacher — a missionary, 
 this was what the mother dreamed of for her 
 son. She felt that it would be a high privi- 
 lege to dedicate one child to her Heavenly 
 Father's service. Surely this would be the 
 one. 
 
 But the family group is not yet complete as 
 regards the two households. There was a link 
 between them in the aged mother, Mrs. Gray, 
 who was looked up to with equal reverence by 
 her son and daughter, and indeed by almost all 
 with whom she was connected by social or re- 
 lative ties. Old Margaret Gray, always a 
 woman of influence, had possessed consider- 
 able attractions in her prime. She still re- 
 tained the look and manner of one who has 
 known what it is to be loved as well as re- 
 spected. Even in the most aged of her sex.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 83 
 
 this, the legitimate portion of woman- 
 hood, leaves its traces. Especially are we 
 seldom left in doubt as to whether a woman 
 has been loved or not. Even the amount and 
 the kind of love inspired in youth will often 
 be discoverable amongst wrinkles and grey 
 hairs. 
 
 Mrs. Gray was tall, and had become some- 
 what gaunt in person at the time of which we 
 write. A certain stoop about the shoulders, 
 and a habit of leaning on a stick when she 
 walked, did not in any way take off from the 
 dignity of her appearance. The grandchildren 
 thought the stick a very alarming appendage, 
 for she would sometimes raise and point it, 
 especially at any culprit, in a manner calculated 
 to quell the most audacious spirit. While 
 they were very young this movement was one 
 of unspeakable terror, but there came a stage 
 of understanding when they learned a very 
 
 g2
 
 84 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 pleasant secret about this stick — it was, that, 
 though often raised, it never struck. In fact, 
 it could not strike, for the rheumatic weakness, 
 which made it necessary as a support, effectu- 
 ally prevented its being otherwise applied in 
 any forcible manner. The children all learned, 
 too, that the grandmother, who looked so stern, 
 was really one of their best friends ; and that, 
 in any actual distress or trouble, she was the 
 friend to whom it was wisest as well as safest 
 to go — for under the protection of Margaret 
 Gray what enemy would dare to assail 
 them? 
 
 One of the most striking phases of the do- 
 mestic condition here described, was that of a 
 sort of open house being kept by all tolerably 
 well-to-do families for any stray branches to 
 take root in, and grow very much after their 
 own fancy. Hence, in speaking of families and 
 households, many members had generally to be
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 85 
 
 included — such as uncles, aunts, cousins, and 
 other relatives, who, by some means, had 
 found a settlement, and often a very comfort- 
 able one, too, under a roof not legitimately 
 their own. The easy terms on which such 
 settlements were eflPected, was but a part of 
 the general carelessness with which household 
 expenditure was conducted. It seemed but a 
 little thing to any one to have one or more in 
 addition to the party sitting down to meals. 
 Aunt Ann could always sleep somewhere, and 
 she would help with the children ; Cousin 
 Jane would be handy when harvest came, or 
 Uncle William would gather in the fruit. 
 There was room and welcome for all, and no 
 lack of occupation for those who chose to 
 make themselves useful. When the question 
 was one of money — real hard cash to be 
 handed out — the case was widely different, 
 money being much less plentiful than the bes.t
 
 86 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 of food, and the kindest of welcomes with it ; 
 and the question of money was now becoming 
 more difficult every year. 
 
 Margaret Gray had no difficulties here. 
 She was well provided for. Her independent 
 spirit would have been sorely galled had it 
 been otherwise. Perhaps there lurked in 
 her honest heart a certain pride, too, that she 
 paid more than enough to whatever household 
 she might dignify with her presence. At 
 first, on the death of Mr. Gray^s wife, she had 
 lived at Applegarth, as it would seem most 
 reasonable that she should ; but as babies in- 
 creased in number, her daughter at Wh infield, 
 always a " poor thing," according to her de- 
 scription, appeared so much in need of assist- 
 ance, that she finally settled herself there, and 
 thus had come to be an important portion of 
 that establishment ? 
 
 The will of Margaret Gray was very much
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 87 
 
 like law wherever she might be. That " the 
 old woman ruled them all/^ was often said, 
 and by no means disrespectfully. It would 
 have been well, in some respects, if her will 
 had ruled ; but while at Whinfield the chil- 
 dren managed to escape so as to 'follow their 
 own devices. At Applegarth the will of the 
 master had so long been a sealed book, or, 
 if open, entirely unintelligible to his mother, 
 that by degrees, fond as she was of ruling, she 
 had ceased altogether to interfere with his 
 business matters, and, so far as he was con- 
 cerned, almost with his domestic matters too. 
 With the stalwart frame of a grand north- 
 country woman, with the habits of a bygone 
 century, and with a broad Yorkshire dialect, 
 old Margaret Gray was generally to be seen 
 seated in a high-backed arm-chair, appropri- 
 ated entirely to her use, and standing always 
 in its own place in the sitting-room at
 
 88 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Whinfield. Here she would knit, and read, 
 looking frequently over her spectacks with 
 that s(\arching glance which every one knew 
 could take in whatever might be going on, 
 from the oldest to the youngest in the family. 
 Notwithstanding her great age, she was like 
 a kind of omnipresence among them — some 
 said a second conscience. No one thought of 
 calling her a spy, she was so truthful, so out- 
 spoken, so really kind and noble-hearted. In 
 this manner the venerable mother watched over 
 two generations. It was no fault of hers if 
 all were not as strong in principle, and as 
 sternly upright, as herself.
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 'PHE time came at length when Alice Gray 
 was compelled to understand that she 
 had nursed into a kind of second life a verit- 
 able man — no longer a mere being, still less a 
 thing of purely spiritual existence, but a mili- 
 tary man, a young man, and naturally a very 
 handsome man. 
 
 Had Captain Gordon rushed back into 
 conscious existence with a full sense of all 
 that had been done for him, or had he poured 
 forth in eloquent and touching language the 
 gratitude he really owed to his benefactress, 
 she would at once have been startled and 
 estranged. Still more so, had he evinced to- 
 wards herself any feelings at all equivalent in
 
 90 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 return for those which had been expended in 
 kindness upon him. 
 
 But let no one anticipate, either for them- 
 selves or others, that the rising from a sick 
 bed shall be one of dignity, scarcely even of 
 common humanity. Abject, degraded, selfish, 
 and irritable, for the most part, are con- 
 valescents, when previously unaccustomed to 
 illness, and when longing to do and to be 
 something more than is possible in their con- 
 dition. Besides, how should a patient know, 
 any more than a babe of a month old, what 
 has been done or suffered for them by others, 
 while they lay insensible, perhaps the victim 
 of hideous dreams, and horrible transforma- 
 tions of all present objects into things alike 
 monstrous and malignant ? 
 
 Captain Gordon knew nothing, and thought 
 nothing about what had taken place during 
 his illness, when a dim consciousness of his
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 91 
 
 position, or rather of what had brought him 
 there, first dawned upon him. He had some 
 recollection, and that only after many efforts 
 to recall the past, of what had been the im- 
 mediate cause of his broken limbs and bruises. 
 The picture of a hunting-field, and the sensa- 
 tion of a tremendous leap, and then a crash, 
 were all the definite ideas he could for some 
 time lay hold of. These were wholly foreign 
 to the gentle being who watched beside him, 
 and he had just sense enough to feel that they 
 were so. But how came he to be thrown ? 
 That was the mortifying question which he 
 wanted to solve, and none of his female at- 
 tendants were likely to help him much here. 
 Where was he now ? That Alice did her best 
 to explain ; and then her patient recollected 
 Robert Gray, because he had observed his 
 horse on that eventful day, and he had some 
 notion that Eobert was near him when he rode
 
 92 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 at the fence. He must see Robert — he ivould 
 see him. The patient was growing wilful, 
 and, to his shame be it spoken, unamiable. 
 All this had no effect upon Alice's interest in 
 him. It only frightened her lest the irritation 
 should again bring on that terrible affection 
 of the brain under which he had so long been 
 labouring. She was neither alienated nor de- 
 terred from any of her kind attentions by his 
 present mode of conduct. It had no reference 
 to herself. Indeed he did not appear to care 
 more for her now than for the nurse. He was 
 wholly gone off into hunting matters — horses, 
 fences, those who were in the field at the time 
 of his accident, and he must see Robert Gray. 
 As the only means of keeping the patient 
 tolerably quiet, Robert Avas sent for. He 
 listened to all sorts of abrupt questions, asked 
 not very courteously ; and after awhile came 
 downstairs, pronouncing Captain Gordon the
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 93 
 
 most ungrateful and unmannerly fellow he had 
 ever seen. 
 
 Alice felt a strange creeping pain all over 
 her when her brother said this ; while Molly, 
 highly delighted, chimed in with, 
 
 " I guessed as much. How should folks 
 like them larn manners ? There's nowt to 
 teach 'em, seeing they spring frae nowt." 
 
 A distant grumble about why this '^ fellah " 
 should ever have been brought into her 
 master's house, died away in the recesses of 
 the pantry, as Molly disappeared amongst her 
 butter and eggs. Alice then ventured upon 
 some gentle pleading on behalf of the invalid, 
 declaring that nobody could have been better 
 to nurse than he was. 
 
 <^ Very likely," said Robert; ^' when he could 
 not help himself. But has he ever acknow- 
 ledged what he owes to you ? Has he even 
 so much as thanked you, Alice ?"
 
 94 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " He could not thank me," replied Alice, 
 ^' when he neither knew who nor what I 
 was." 
 
 '* He might have asked," observed Robert. 
 *' But it seems to me that he thinks more of 
 the wretched figure he made in the hunting- 
 field, than he does about you, or anything you 
 have done for him." 
 
 ** He is not yet quite himself," said Alice. 
 ** He actually understands nothing but the 
 one fact of his accident. Other things will 
 come to him after awhile. We must have 
 patience, as well as pity. I ought not to have 
 sent for you. It was against my better 
 judgment ; only I thought perhaps it might 
 quiet him. I wish now I had never asked 
 you to go to him." 
 
 *^ Why so, Alice?" 
 
 *^ It has vexed you, and set you against 
 him."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 95 
 
 " And of what consequence is that ? What 
 is Captain Gordon to me, or to you either ?" 
 
 " Oh ! nothing as Captain Gordon, certainly. 
 But he is a good deal to me as a person almost 
 raised from the dead." 
 
 " Yes ; and therefore you ought to be a 
 good deal to him. I shall never like the 
 man — I feel that I never shall." 
 
 ** Robert," said Alice, laying her hand upon 
 her brother's arm, " this is not like you. 
 What has liking or disliking to do with the 
 matter ? Did you not of your own will bring 
 up to your father's house an almost dying 
 man, to be nursed and cared for, when he him- 
 self had no choice or knowledge of what you 
 were doing ? It is unhandsome, ungenerous 
 of you to be the first to turn against him, now 
 that he is so weak, and has not yet recovered 
 bis senses." 
 
 " You are right, Alice," said her brother,
 
 96 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 relentiiif^. <^ It is ungenerous to speak as I 
 have done of a guest under my father's roof, 
 and especially of one whom I brought there 
 myself." 
 
 '^Then you won't speak to anyone else 
 about him as you have done to me ?" said 
 Alice, very earnestly. 
 
 ^' No, no," replied her brother ; " you may 
 trust me for that." 
 
 " Not to Bessy ?" 
 
 '' I don't know about Bessy. You see, we 
 have a standing quarrel about Captain Gor- 
 don. Bessy maintains that he is everything 
 a man ought to be, and more — a perfect hero. 
 I only wish she could have seen and heard 
 him as I have done to-day. I declare, I begin 
 to think with Molly, that he has been a linen- 
 draper before they got him into the army. 
 Did ever man own such a pair of hands ?" 
 
 '^ Well, let that pass," said Alice. *' I won-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 97 
 
 der what your hands would be, after a month 
 of brain fever ?,'' 
 
 As the bell, which summoned her upstairs, 
 rang violently at that moment, Alice was ob- 
 liged to leave the matter to her brother's 
 right feeling, not a little comforted by the 
 idea that if Bessy had taken up arms to de- 
 fend her patient, she would not be very likely 
 to spread any report to his disadvantage. 
 
 Had Alice Gray been asked why she was so 
 anxious that everyone should think and speak 
 well of Captain Gordon, she might not have 
 found any reasonble explanation ready at 
 her command. Certainly nothing very pre- 
 possessing in his character had developed it- 
 self during the course of her nursing ; and 
 now, even less than ever, did his conduct 
 supply food for tenderness, or even sympathy. 
 Hard, selfish, worldly, would have been the 
 opinion formed of her patient by any one who 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 bad seen him then, and only then. But Alice 
 knew better than to judge him by so harsh 
 a rule. Her womanly instinct, most alive 
 where pain and weakness demanded their 
 aid, supplied her with a soft covering for all 
 his faults ; while, in common justice, her 
 judgment of the man's real character was sus- 
 pended until he should be entirely himself 
 again. In the meantime she went on watch- 
 ing and caring for his now increasing wants ; 
 and caring and watching perhaps the more at- 
 tentively, that others said he was selfish, and 
 thoughtless about what trouble he gave. No 
 one grudged their trouble while he was totally 
 helpless. A few kind words of acknowledg- 
 ment would have prevented their grudging it 
 now. Was it his habit ? — or what could be 
 the reason that he still went on thinking of 
 nobody but himself, and appeared to be only 
 vexed and humiliated by his present condi-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 99 
 
 tion ? Whatever it might be, this strange 
 behaviour had the effect of keeping Alice near 
 him. She did not like that anyone else 
 should hear his expressions of impatience. 
 Like a mother with a spoiled and wayward 
 child, she would not trust him with strangers, 
 but shrouded him and his ungracious ways as 
 well as she could from all observation less 
 lenient than her own. 
 
 The patient was neither doing justice to 
 himself, nor to his position. It was really, as 
 Alice steadily maintained, in great measure 
 owing to the nature of his illness, and to his 
 partial recovery of consciousness, that he 
 seemed so forgetful of all subjects but one. 
 A healthier state of mind came gradually on, 
 and then he became more patient himself, and 
 more thoughtful of others. Next came a new 
 kind of scrupulousness about giving trouble 
 to Alice. He would ask the nurse to help 
 
 H 2
 
 100 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 him in preference to her. Alice was dis- 
 tressed at this. What could she do ? What, 
 indeed, but shed a few tears in secret, and 
 keep her sorrow to herself. Had she not 
 first nursed him into life, and then defended 
 him? — taken his part against all injurious 
 comments — borne, even to anguish, all un- 
 kind assaults of which he was the intended 
 victim ? Was she to be cast off now ? 
 
 During the patient's long delirium, Alice 
 had been called by him all sorts of strange 
 names. She had stood unmoved, as only 
 women can stand, under his unmitigated 
 abuse ; and she had also borne, what was, 
 perhaps, a little more difficult to bear, a wild, 
 fitful, and most inappropriate kind of tender- 
 ness. But now she was an object neither of 
 love nor hate — simply ** Miss Gray ;" a kind 
 of far-off person, the touch of whose hands he 
 no longer recognised, though they had been
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 101 
 
 about him, doing many tender offices by night 
 and day for weeks. He never knew, happily 
 for Alice, what she had really done for him. 
 It was all buried in her heart. Well if she 
 also could have forgotten it ! 
 
 One day, when Alice thought her patient 
 buried in a deep sleep, with his head pillowed 
 on the sofa, on which he now most frequently 
 reposed, she drew silently close to him, and 
 gazed intently on his face. It was a very 
 handsome face, blanched, and refined by long . 
 illness, almost like a Grecian god carved in mar- 
 ble — to her, almost as cold. The thick dark 
 hair, which had been closely cut, was now just 
 beginning to curl again. Some tinge of na- 
 tural colour had come into the lips ; but the 
 rest of the face was still so white and clear, 
 that the blue veins about the temples might 
 be traced like rivers on a map. And Alice 
 gazed as intently as if it had really been a
 
 102 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 map she was examining, for some especial pur- 
 pose. What did she see in that long gaze ? 
 Instinctively, and as a part of her long habit 
 of carefulness, she raised the pillow where it 
 seemed too much depressed ; but so gently, 
 that a sound sleeper could not have felt the 
 movement. In an instant the deep large eyes 
 opened full upon her, and a smile crossed the 
 pale features. It was that peculiar faint, 
 slow smile which comes after long suffering, 
 and sometimes looks more sweet than any ex- 
 pression of healthy active joy. 
 
 " Alice ?" said a kind low voice — " I believe 
 I ought to say Miss Gray." And then 
 her hand was grasped by those long white 
 fingers, which yet had scarcely strength to 
 give the pressure of common cordiality. 
 " Alice ! what a brute you must be thinking 
 me ! Why, yours is the very face that has 
 been bending over me so often, and I believe
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 103 
 
 I have actually called you names. But, indeed, 
 you did appear to me at times quite mon- 
 strous. Your hair seemed to grow into snakes 
 and scorpions, and your eyes shot out like 
 flames." 
 
 "Hush! We won't talk about that now,'' 
 said Alice, fearing some accession of fever. 
 " You see I am only your nurse, and all we 
 have to do now is to be very still." 
 
 " But I must have talked most inconceiv- 
 able nonsense," said the patient. 
 
 " Nurses and doctors forget all that," ob- 
 served Alice. 
 
 " I don't believe you will ever forget it, 
 though." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "You don't look as if you would forget." 
 
 " I can be silent — I can keep things to my- 
 self, and never tell ; and surely that is the 
 next best thing to forgetting."
 
 104 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 There might have seemed to be a meaning 
 in these words rather deeper than the patient 
 was at present able to comprehend, for he fell 
 silently back on his pillow, still holding Alice's 
 hand. Nay, he used his other hand as if to 
 hold it more surely, and then, in a dreamy 
 sort of way, kept stroking it as one would 
 stroke a dove, or a pet animal of any gentle kind. 
 
 Alice did not take her hand away. It was 
 growing difficult — almost impossible for her to 
 distinguish exactly where the nurse ended, 
 and where the young woman began ; or, in 
 other words, where the patient became the 
 man. A few moments ago, this strange un- 
 known being was but a nursling — now he 
 might be a hero — Alice did not dare to say, 
 even in thought — or a lover. Indeed, there 
 had been nothing hitherto in act, word, or 
 look, to indicate the least tendency that way 
 — nothing to startle her into the idea. All
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 105 
 
 had been too much like the very opposite of 
 this, except — and this to Alice was a great ex- 
 ception — that her services had been more 
 welcome than those of any other person, that 
 her hand had been always recognised as the 
 most gentle, and her skill the most successful 
 in producing temporary relief. 
 
 Once more that hand was recognised, 
 though in a different manner ; and it called 
 deep blushes into her cheeks to feel that it 
 was so. As already said, she did not snatch 
 her hand away — she could not feel displeased. 
 Besides which, all abrupt or unnecessary op- 
 position was to be avoided. Gentleness, 
 peace, and quietness were the restoratives now 
 more insisted upon. Very gentle was that 
 touch, and gentle the manner in which her 
 name was repeated. 
 
 ** Alice," the patient said again, " how long 
 have I been here ?"
 
 106 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " Five weeks.'' 
 
 " Five weeks ! Is it possible ! And you 
 have watched over me all this time like a sis- 
 ter ! — like an angel !" 
 
 " The time never seemed long to me," Alice 
 replied ; ** except one night when they said 
 that if you lived until the morning you might 
 
 recover." 
 
 " You never thought the time long ? What 
 are you made of ?" 
 
 " I am only like other people. The nurse 
 never complained. At least, I never heard 
 her." 
 
 " The nurse was paid." 
 
 " And I am paid now. I was paid, indeed, 
 as soon as you took a turn for the better." 
 
 " And yet I know I have been most abomi- 
 nably cross and brutish to you. But, indeed, 
 you did look hideous, to my fancy, sometimes. 
 Being delirious must be like dreaming, when,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 107 
 
 people say, things are reversed. How could 
 I ever see you hideous, of all people in the 
 world !" 
 
 Had Alice possessed the least touch of co- 
 quettishness in her nature, she would here 
 ^have fished out a little compliment by saying, 
 " You see, I am not very beautiful now ;" but 
 her soul revolted from talking about herself 
 personally. She must have known that she 
 was quite attractive enough to have set any 
 woman's mind at ease. It seemed just now 
 as if she had become to the patient almost 
 more than beautiful, for he fixed upon her 
 face the full gaze of his large, heavy eyes, 
 until she was obliged to turn away for very 
 bashf ulness. And so her hand was withdrawn, 
 and she went to a distant part of the room, to 
 busy herself about some new medicine which 
 had just arrived. 
 
 From this time Alice grew painfully be-
 
 108 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 wildered about what to do with her charge. 
 Sometimes she thought of consulting her 
 brother, and then her womanly instinct came 
 to her aid, and she kept the matter to herself, 
 thinking — what was very true — that if she 
 could not find out how it was best to act, her 
 brother could not tell her. The simple thing 
 was to act out her own individual convictions, 
 to do right at the precise moment for acting, 
 and to see with a discriminating eye what it 
 was best to do, so as never to be surprised 
 into a dilemma. 
 
 And this is just the battle that women have 
 to fight, and must fight. It may be early in 
 life, it may be late, it may be for years and 
 years. And yet they are called weak ! The 
 battle is the more hard, because it is so often 
 against circumstance and habit, against affec- 
 tion and inclination, against all that the heart 
 yearns for, and all that imagination has pre-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 109 
 
 viouslj painted in its pictures of happiness. 
 
 If Alice had not so much as this to fight 
 against, she had a great deal ; and the battle 
 was all the more difficult to her because of 
 the tender pity, and the familiar ministrations 
 of kindness to which her life had recently been 
 devoted. The pity was still intense — the 
 kindly ministrations were still necessary. 
 Besides which, a silvery mist had now come 
 floating before her eyes, so that she was in 
 imminent danger of not seeing exactly the 
 right and wrong of little things. The veil 
 must be torn away. She must see for her- 
 self, and act for herself, and she must do 
 right. 
 
 This was an absolute necessity with Alice, 
 let the consequences be what they might — let 
 the sacrifice or the sufiering be ever so great. 
 There could be no peace for her without the 
 approval of her conscience. If the battle was
 
 110 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 too strong, she knew of one Helper, one 
 Friend, unchangeable — omnipotent. To Him 
 she must go, and on her knees night after 
 night, and oftener than the night, this young 
 inexperienced girl, with all her fond yearning 
 affections, cast herself upon the care of her 
 Heavenly Father, and rose up strengthened 
 to pursue her way. 
 
 Up to this period of her simple experience, 
 Alice Gray had found no more than the ordin- 
 ary difficulty in pursuing that way — her way 
 of right and truth. She had found even less 
 difficulty than many, because she had set out 
 on this way while very young. She had seldom, 
 if ever, adventured with devious steps upon a 
 tortuous way, and so lost herself without 
 knowing when or how. Her course was open, 
 broad, and clear. But the chief peculiarity of 
 it was, that wherever it appeared to lead so 
 near the pitfall, or the precipice of wrong, as
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. Ill 
 
 to become dangerous, she stepped quite out 
 on the safe side, taking rather a sweep to the 
 right, than running any risk of falling. 
 
 This had been her peculiarity hitherto — in 
 childhood, at school, wherever she had been. 
 People called it caution, and so in one sense 
 it was ; but it was caution about right and 
 wrong, which is, in the long run, a very dif- 
 ferent matter from caution about worldly 
 interests, or mere self-preservation. At school 
 Alice had often been laughed at for this habit 
 of hers. She was called timid, wary, and even 
 selfish by those who did not understand her 
 — especially by her cousin Bessy, who, up to 
 this time, had never been able to see the 
 beauty of caution under any form. The very 
 opposite extreme of caution had more beauty 
 in Bessy's eyes, and her own way was shaped 
 accordingly. 
 
 Even Bessy might be said to act on priu-
 
 112 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ciple, though unconsciously to herself. Openly 
 and avowedly she hated all mention of prin- 
 ciple, and dismissed the idea from her mind as 
 something dry and stupid, fit only to be 
 preached about. Yet she had all the while 
 one principle of action, and it was this — wher- 
 ever the way to her looked dangerous, or 
 bordering upon wrong, she took just a little 
 sweep of the road on the opposite side from 
 that which Alice took ; so that while their 
 course in life looked very much the same, 
 leading through the same circumstances, and 
 hitherto along somewhat parallel lines, the 
 one had so often stepped a little to the right, 
 and the other a little to the left, that their 
 meeting in central space was beginning to be 
 less and less frequent. 
 
 As to anything like moral culpability, 
 neither of the cousins had, up to this time, 
 fallen under any condemnation. Both were
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 113 
 
 great favourites among their friends and 
 neighbours — Bessy for a certain kind of free- 
 heartedness and liberality, both of act and 
 thought ; and Alice for good sense, good feel- 
 ing, and most substantial helping powers. 
 Amongst their acquaintance of the other sex 
 Bessy was considered a charming '^girl to flirt 
 with," but Alice was the girl to marry, and as 
 she was regarded in the neighbourhood as a 
 sort of heiress, the only daughter of a sub- 
 stantial and even wealthy man, her favour 
 was much sought by a wide circle of admirers, 
 who were all just now particularly indignant 
 that so much of her time and attention should 
 be devoted to that stranger fellow, the Cap- 
 tain — a man whom nobody knew nor wanted 
 to know, and who was considered particularly 
 lucky in being so snugly sheltered and cared 
 for at Applegarth. 
 
 It was a great offence to the neighbourhood 
 VOL. I. I
 
 1 14 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 til at nobody knew who this Captain was. 
 He was Lady Huntley's nephew ; but who 
 was Lady Huntley? The Huntleys alto- 
 gether were regarded as interlopers — upstarts 
 — nobodies. Nay, Avorse, they were manu- 
 facturers in the West Riding — in reality, had 
 made their fortune by reels and bobbins and 
 spinning-jennies ; and as for their title, which 
 nobody could forgive, it was nothing but an 
 empty compliment bestowed on Sir James, be- 
 cause he went up to London and saw the King 
 on some manufacturing business,altogether con- 
 temptible in their eyes. What made the matter 
 worse, these people lived in France sometimes, 
 and ate frogs, and drank poor wines. They 
 ^' couldn't abide such folks, and their ways." 
 
 At this very time Sir James and Lady 
 Huntley had gone off on one of their Conti- 
 nental tours, or were supposed to have done 
 so. They had provided a nurse for their
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. . 115 
 
 nephew, had engaged a physician of high re- 
 pute to attend the case, and had left orders at 
 home that game should be sent to Applegarth, 
 with grapes from their hothouses. What 
 could they have done 'more? To the family 
 at Applegarth this was quite enough ; they 
 would have been satisfied with less. 
 
 Time, and good nursing, with the most in- 
 viting food supplied on every indication of 
 the least tendency to eat, were now doing 
 more for the invalid than any medicine, and 
 he was growing rapidly out of his helpless 
 condition ; so much so, that the nurse was 
 sent away, as no longer necessary, though 
 Alice still continued her watchful care. It is 
 true she was at times a little puzzled what to 
 do with her patient ; but she did not, for that 
 reason, allow any of his wants to be less 
 thoughtfully supplied, nor his comforts to be 
 in any way neglected. 
 
 i2
 
 116 . NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 And now, instead of the silence of the sick 
 room, or the rarablings of delirium, there 
 were long talkings by the fire, when Alice 
 brought her work to sit beside her patient, 
 or after she had read aloud to him until both 
 were weary. And when his pillow was ar- 
 ranged on the couch, where he reclined half 
 dreaming, or sometimes, too weak to talk, he 
 would watch the glimmer of the firelight on 
 the walls or ceiling, while Alice sat mute and 
 motionless, fearing lest any movement of her 
 chair, or rustle of her dress, should break the 
 slumberous stillness.
 
 117 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TT is, I think, a great mistake to suppose 
 that we must be always talking in order 
 to cultivate intimacy, or maintain affection. 
 Those friends whom we feel that we can be 
 silent with are not always the least dear ; and 
 to think together, feel together, receive the 
 same impressions from external things, so as 
 inwardly to follow out the same train of asso- 
 ciation, is by no means the least agreeable 
 phase of social intercourse. 
 
 Hitherto so widely separated in all their 
 habits of life, it would seem scarcely possible 
 that Alice and her patient should, either in 
 speech or in silence, follow out to any great 
 extent the same train of thoughts. What
 
 118 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 could tliey have in common ? Yet such is 
 the transformation effected by a long course 
 of sickness, and nursing, that even the most 
 ordinary attendant will sometimes become the 
 recipient of looks more earnest, words more 
 emphatic, and communications more really 
 interesting for the time being, than are easily 
 met with even in what is called intellectual 
 society. It is so pleasant to be the sole sove- 
 reign of that little court which surrounds an 
 invalid; all the laws of the sick chamber point 
 so unmistakably to the supreme comfort and 
 welfare of that one occupant ; every one who 
 approaches his person does so with so much 
 of the air and manner of profound interest, 
 that the patient must be more than human not 
 to imbibe, in this atmosphere of adulation, 
 some sense of being himself the centre of the 
 universe, as well as the point of attraction to 
 all surrounding things.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 119 
 
 And then we complain of the invalid being 
 selfish. But Alice never complained. No ; 
 though her work was doubled in consequence 
 of the nurse having left, and though her diffi- 
 culties were much increased in many ways — 
 chieily by Captain Gordon becoming so much 
 better, that his fittest place would seem to be 
 mixing with the family in the old parlour, 
 where they usually took their meals, as well 
 as sat together during the evenings. 
 
 This mixing with the family was what 
 Alice most dreaded. Indeed, she had learned 
 to dread many things, hitherto most familiar. 
 She dreaded her brother Eobert's impatience, 
 and his outspoken disapproval of some of the 
 habits and tastes of the stranger. She dreaded 
 the long prayers which her father was in the 
 habit of pouring forth ; she dreaded the com- 
 ing in of social neighbours, of cattle-dealers 
 with their homely talk ; but especially of their
 
 120 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 numerous acquaintance of the Methodist con- 
 nection, many of whom would think it right 
 to improve the opportunity now that the in- 
 valid was partially restored from an almost 
 dying condition. 
 
 Beyond these, Alice had one other dread. 
 It was the dashing in of her cousin Bessy, 
 with all her liveliness, and sparkling beauty, 
 coming, as she would have called it, " to stir 
 the poor half-dead man up a bit, and give 
 him a taste of life." In this dread Alice had 
 been living some time, wondering exceedingly 
 that her cousin did not come. Bessy had 
 reasons of her own, to be explained hereafter, 
 and so the peaceful dwelling at Applegarth 
 was uninvaded ; and Alice, with her woman's 
 tact, made many little ingenious contrivances, 
 by which much that she dreaded was either 
 softened down, or altogether avoided. 
 
 In summer weather this would have been
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 121 
 
 easy enough. But the dark evenings were 
 nearly at their longest now, and in farm- 
 houses, like Applegarth, it was not the custom 
 to occupy more sitting-rooms than one. How- 
 ever plentiful the fare, an extra fire was never 
 thought of, so that the long dull time after an 
 early tea was a thing not to be endured by 
 Captain Gordon, and Alice assured him it was 
 absolutely necessary to his recovery that he 
 should spend the evenings in his own room, up- 
 stairs, where every invention within the range 
 of possibility was brought to minister to his 
 comfort and convenience. 
 
 Sometimes, when Alice was alone, and sure 
 of being so, the invalid was invited to take 
 tea with her in the oak-panelled parlour. 
 Then, indeed, she had a treat, for a feeling of 
 hospitality exercised towards a privileged 
 guest added zest to her simple entertain- 
 ment.
 
 122 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Still, with all her nice contrivances, and in 
 spite of the best she could do, Alice could not 
 but perceive that her patient was far from be- 
 ing at ease, or happy. The more his thoughts 
 wandered to external things, but especially 
 to his own circumstances, the more he seemed 
 to be perplexed, and sometimes annoyed. He 
 now frequently wrote letters, and was anxious 
 about letters coming. Once a week to send 
 to the nearest town for letters, was enough for 
 people in their primitive state, with the ex- 
 ception always of market-days, when the Grays 
 and Bells received both letters and parcels 
 back in their butter-baskets ; and of these 
 enough to make them rich in interest until 
 another week. But this was miserable work 
 to Captain Gordon ; and he sometimes almost 
 insisted upon messages being sent for, so 
 anxious had he become for answers to some 
 of the many letters he sent out.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 123 
 
 *' Alice/^ said he, one day, rather hastily, 
 and looking more annoyed than usual, " I 
 think you had better send me off in one of 
 your father's carts to the nearest workhouse.'' 
 
 "What can you mean?" said Alice, with 
 gj-eat astonishment. 
 
 ** I mean that never was any poor miserable 
 fellow brought to such a pass as I am I" 
 
 " How so r 
 
 " In the first place, my uncle and aunt, as 
 you know, have gone off to the World's End, 
 leaving me to my fate, as if I belonged to no- 
 body. In the next, I have written to a friend 
 in London, and he is just about to be married 
 — has been fitting up a house, and all that 
 sort of thing. I have written to another in 
 Scotland, and he is deep in a law-suit about 
 an old estate. And so on with half a dozen 
 others !" 
 
 " But how does that affect you ?"
 
 124 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 *^ Why, it affects me very closely and touch- 
 ingly — it affects my purse, and that to the 
 amount of fifty pounds, or more. I only 
 asked these fellows for the loan of fifty until 
 my aunt returns from the Continent, and they 
 one and all declare they have not got it — ngt 
 half that sum in hand. Nay, I have even 
 come down to ask for ten. Where is your 
 brother, Alice ? I daresay he would lend me 
 ten pounds." 
 
 "1 daresay he would,'' Alice answered; and 
 then she fell into a sort of reverie, but her 
 face was crimson, and in order to conceal it 
 she rose and began to look about for her work. 
 An idea was struggling in her mind which 
 cost her a good deal to battle against, as she 
 more than half believed that she ought. Hid 
 in a secret drawer upstairs she had herself ten 
 pounds. This she could easily lend in her 
 brother's name, and Robert need never know
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 125 
 
 that their guest had any necessity to borrow. 
 How, on the other hand, she asked herself, 
 could she possibly expose this necessity to one 
 who already looked upon the borrower with 
 suspicious and censorious eyes? How dared 
 she go and tell her brother that Captain 
 Gordon wanted money ? — that he was actually 
 in circumstances to require the loan of ten 
 pounds ? Alice felt for a moment as if she 
 would rather die than do that. No, she 
 would lend the money herself, but apparently 
 from her brother. There was a certain kind 
 of womanly delight in resolving to do this — 
 a jealousy about the honour of the man whom 
 she had nursed into life — which increased the 
 value of her own little hoarded sum a hundred- 
 fold. 
 
 Quick as lightning these thoughts and feel- 
 ings followed one another, while Alice was 
 looking for her work. But they were so ex-
 
 126 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 citing that still her face was all aglow, and 
 her eyes were flashing with unusual brightness 
 when she turned again to speak to Captain 
 Gordon. 
 
 " Nothing can be easier," she said, " than 
 to borrow ten pounds. I can manage that 
 for you without your being at the trouble of 
 speaking to Kobert yourself." 
 
 Ah ! Alice Gray, this is rather an artful 
 speech of yours. Are you learning to deceive ? 
 With a ready excuse for leaving the room, she 
 hastened upstairs. The private drawer was 
 soon opened, the money taken out. '^ All my 
 own,'' said the womanly voice in her heart ; 
 "just a little matter between him and me. 
 What has any one in the world to do with it 
 besides ourselves ? It will be something to 
 share with him ; and although he will never 
 know from where it comes, I shall know, and 
 we shall really be sharing it all the same.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 127 
 
 Besides, how miicli more suitable it is that he 
 should be indebted to me than to any one 
 
 else, seeing that I " What ? Love him 
 
 so much more ? Was that what you were 
 thinking, Alice ? Is it that which dyes your 
 face with blushes deeper than before ? 
 
 Alice was always rather slow in her de- 
 cisions, always thoughtful — some people called 
 her calculating. Instead of rushing down like 
 a heroine of romance, and throwing both purse 
 and money at the feet of her hero, she quietly 
 replaced the money in the drawer, locked it, 
 and began to think. 
 
 If Alice had a woman's voice ever speaking 
 in her heart, and saying strange things some- 
 times, she had also another voice — the voice 
 of conscience, which on some occasions spoke 
 so differently, yet so decidedly, that the poor 
 heart was almost torn in pieces. And so it 
 was just now, for the voice of conscience was
 
 128 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 saying to her rather sharply, ^^ Don't you see, 
 Alice, that if you lend your own money as if 
 it was from your brother, you will have to tell 
 lies, one upon another, who can tell how deep? 
 Besides, what business have you to enter into 
 money transactions with this man? You know 
 it is not seemly. You will be ashamed when 
 you have done it. You will entangle yourself 
 in endless complications — evasions — pretences, 
 and so you will become false — false to yourself, 
 and false to me who have so long been your 
 faithful adviser.'^ 
 
 After a long reverie Alice rose up a 
 stronger woman, and walked straight in search 
 of her brother. Nothing, she said to herself, 
 should make her flinch from serving Captain 
 Gordon, but she would serve him honestly and 
 uprightly. So she met her brother, and a 
 somewhat stormy interview ensued — for Kobert 
 was warm-tempered, and could be very iudig-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 129 
 
 nant ; and already it must be understood 
 that the wounded man was no favourite with 
 him. 
 
 Kobert was not of a mean or ungenerous 
 disposition, and he would have despised him- 
 self for any want of hospitality ; but the idea 
 of Captain Gordon wanting to borrow money 
 was revolting to him, and he spoke of it in 
 strong terms to his sister, as well as with a 
 look and manner which made those hard 
 words doubly hard to bear. Altogether Alice 
 felt, during their short interview, very much 
 like a person enduring torture on the rack ; 
 but she braved it out, and neither wept at 
 what her brother said, nor offered any show 
 of resentment. She simply and steadily main- 
 tained her ground, and carried her point so 
 far as that her brother consented to lend the 
 money, only he had not got it by him just 
 then. 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " If that is all," said Alice, "I have just 
 that sum of my own laid by.'' 
 
 "You!" exclaimed Kobert. "No; you 
 shall never lend that man money. You have 
 done enough for him already, and a little too 
 much, in my opinion." 
 
 Blushes hot as fire rushed into Alice's 
 cheeks, and then she turned pale and shivered. 
 But still her purpose was unshaken! It was 
 dreadful to her to be blamed or thought ill of 
 by her brother, and yet, on the other hand, 
 she was determined to borrow the money for 
 Captain Gordon. 
 
 " I did not mean," she said, " that I would 
 lend the money — only to you, and you to Cap- 
 tain Gordon. Of course he would never know 
 from whom it came." 
 
 Robert was never long angry with his 
 sister. Seeing the clearness of her intentions, 
 and fearing he had wounded her, he put his
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 131 
 
 arm round her waist, and drew her closer to 
 his side ; and then, stooping down until his 
 lips touched her cheek, he said in a low kind 
 voice, 
 
 "Alice, my darling lassie, don't let any- 
 stranger man come between you and me." 
 
 Alice had borne the anger bravely, but how 
 was she to' bear this ? Her eyes filled fast 
 with tears, but she looked up into her bro- 
 ther's face, and said, 
 
 " Robert, you should help me to do right. 
 You should not be angry with me for doing 
 wrong until you know that I have done 
 wrong. Who have I but you, Eobert ?" 
 
 Alice could say no more. She leaned her 
 head against her brother s shoulder and sobbed 
 aloud. 
 
 "Come, child," said her brother, "this 
 won't do. Go and fetch your money. I will 
 enclose it under cover with my own address to 
 
 k2
 
 ] 32 • NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Captain Gordon, and then he will know that it 
 is from me." 
 
 Alice flew upstairs to her drawer. Both 
 heart and step were light enough now. All 
 the pleasure would lawfully be hers of furnish- 
 ing from her own store this little accommoda- 
 tion, while her delicacy would be spared, and 
 Captain Gordon would be served. • 
 
 The time was now come when the invalid 
 began to feel that he must really leave the 
 hospitable roof under which he had been so 
 long and so kindly cared for. He was still 
 scarcely able to walk from room to room with- 
 out support ; but a strong feeling was grow- 
 ing upon him that he must go. Pleasant 
 as it had now become to him to stay — pleasant, 
 because in his great weakness the simple 
 routine of that quiet life was all that he was 
 able to enjoy, and pleasant because he was so 
 tenderly and skilfully nursed ; still he felt that
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 1 33 
 
 the limits of propriety could not be extended 
 much further ; and therefore again and again 
 he repeated to himself, " I must go." Alice 
 said it was impossible in his present condition ; 
 and perhaps it was pleasant to hear her say 
 this. However that might be, he made no 
 decided preparation, nor had he fixed in 
 his own mind to what place he should re- 
 move. 
 
 That Captain Gordon was becoming rest- 
 less and uneasy in his position, while he still 
 talked of going, but did not go, was very evi- 
 dent to Alice, and she thought she understood 
 the cause. There were, however, some other 
 symptoms beginning to show themselves, 
 which she did not and could not understand. 
 As is not unfrequently the case just before a 
 long separation, Captain Gordon became more 
 communicative to herself, more confiding, and 
 evidently more pleased to have her near him.
 
 134 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 His eye followed her when she went out of 
 the room, and his whole countenance bright- 
 ened when she brought her work, or a book, 
 and came to sit beside him. He found out 
 that she had beautiful hair, and he noticed 
 the slightest alteration in her style of dress. 
 What could this sharpened observation mean ? 
 Alice often laughed at the minuteness of his 
 remarks, but she took good care never to put 
 on a second time anything which he had spoken 
 of with disapproval. 
 
 One stormy winter's evening, when Mr. 
 Gray and his son were absent, and likely to be 
 late before returning home, Alice had invited 
 her guest really to be her guest, as she said — 
 to come down and drink tea with her in the 
 old oak parlour. This parlour, with the red 
 curtains let down, and a fire of blazing logs, 
 was Alice's glory ; and if ever woman could 
 set out a tea to make a man forget late dinners
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 135 
 
 and wine, that woman was Alice Gray, with 
 Molly in the background. 
 
 Perhaps on this particular evening, Captain 
 Gordon never saw exactly what was on the 
 table, but he must have seen the blazing fire, 
 and the red glow that lighted up the old oak 
 furniture ; and especially around Alice herself 
 he must have seen a light which threw about 
 her an aspect almost like that which some of 
 the old painters have given to their Madon- 
 nas. The wind was howling round the house, 
 and slashing rain came now and then against 
 the window panes. But what did those two 
 care? Alice said her father and brother 
 would have a miserable ride ; only the storm 
 might abate before. they started on their re- 
 turn, for she knew they would be late. She 
 hoped it would ; and then she sat down in the 
 bright glow, after the invalid had sunk into 
 his cozy chair, and they both gazed into the
 
 136 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 wood fire, as it seemed, with nothing in the 
 world to say to one another, yet possibly 
 counting these golden moments as a miser 
 would count his most precious store. 
 
 At last Captain Gordon spoke, in a musing, 
 dreamy kind of way, like one who thinks 
 aloud. 
 
 " Alice," he said, *' what a fool 1 have 
 been all my life — I see it now — I see, as I 
 never did before, how much wiser and better 
 I might have been." 
 
 ** You are still young," said Alice, en- 
 couragingly. " The first step towards being 
 wiser, is to see our folly." 
 
 " Will you help me, Alice ?" said Captain 
 Gordon, at the same time- holding out his thin, 
 white hand for hers. 
 
 She placed her hand in his, as a sort of 
 pledge that she would help him if she could, 
 having no idea at the moment that his words
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 137 
 
 referred to anything but an improvement in 
 his moral conduct, or perhaps a more settled 
 way of life. 
 
 " You will help me, Alice ?" he continued. 
 
 ** I would if I could,'' she replied. " I am 
 afraid there is not much help in me ; and yet 
 the weak may sometimes help the weak." 
 
 *' Why, Alice, you are to me the very per- 
 sonification of help. But for you I must have 
 died ; you have helped me to live, and now 
 you must help me to live to more purpose than 
 before I was ill." 
 
 Every kind feeling in Alice's heart was 
 awakened 'by this appeal. This, as it seemed 
 to her, was exactly what she had been so ear- 
 nestly wishing and praying for — a sense of the 
 true value of life, and a desire to live up to 
 that sense for the time to come. 
 
 Captain Gordon still held the hand he had 
 taken — that hand which had conferred so
 
 138 NORXnERN ROSES. 
 
 many benefits on him, and Alice felt no scruple 
 in allowing it to remain in his. Together 
 they sat, still gazing into the fire, while the 
 storm still raged without. Perhaps Alice had 
 never felt happier in her whole life, than in 
 that calm, and to her most solemn moment. 
 How she would have stood by that man like his 
 guardian angel through sickness and sorrow, 
 through storm and danger — through honour, 
 yes, and through dishonour too ! Alice was 
 brave enough and faithful enough even for 
 that. She was one of whose affection it might 
 truly be said — 
 
 " Love bears it out even to the edge of doom." 
 
 Perhaps the man himself saw some dim 
 vision of this kind dawn upon him. So 
 far as his own desires and wishes might be 
 said to tend the right way, most certainly he 
 did ; for the idea of being a wiser or a better
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 139 
 
 man without Alice to help him, was one which 
 had not found entrance to his mind. Yet 
 how far was he desiring anything better in the 
 future ? — that was the point to be ascertained. 
 Still he went on, like one half dreaming — still 
 holding that gentle hand in his — still gazing 
 into the fire. There was nothing to startle 
 the modest girl by his side into the slightest 
 apprehension that any other than the most 
 serious thoughts were in his mind, more es- 
 pecially when he went back to his early life, 
 and told her how he had been left motherless 
 in childhood, unloved, uncared for, the mere 
 sport of fortune, as he said — floating like a 
 stray leaf upon the stream of life. 
 
 " How could I be otherwise ? " he went on 
 to say. "I had no one to warn or counsel me. 
 But the worst of all was, I had no one to love 
 me. Amongst all the women I have ever met 
 with, I have never found any one like you,
 
 140 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Alice ; and now I must lose you for ever, un- 
 less — '' he looked into her face with a search- 
 ing eager glance, and then went on — ** un- 
 less you will consent to be ray wife." 
 
 Alice started as if a flash of lightning had 
 passed before her face. Did she forget to 
 snatch away her hand ? Somehow it remain- 
 ed as it was, only more closely pressed. 
 
 " Alice," he went on, " I am in earnest — I 
 never was more serious in my life — perhaps 
 never half so much so. Speak to me — tell me 
 if you could be happy as my wife. Have you 
 no words ? Why, child, you are weeping ! 
 What does this mean ? I would not distress 
 you for the whole world. I entreat you to 
 speak to me, Alice — I cannot bear these silent 
 tears." 
 
 Alice endeavoured to command herself, and 
 at last she said — 
 
 " You must forgive me that I am so foolish,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 141 
 
 but jou have so taken me by surprise, I never 
 thought — I never had the least idea that you 
 could think of me in this way." 
 
 *' Why not ? You were always doing me 
 kind services — always beside me, like a minis- 
 tering angel. You bore with all my irritable 
 tempers, and, what was more, you never 
 seemed to weary of me. I thought of you 
 then, because of the debt of gratitude I owed 
 you. I think of you now, because a miserable, 
 dark, empty future lies before me, upon which 
 I feel that I cannot — dare not enter without 
 you.'' 
 
 " Ah ! you may imagine that you feel so 
 now. Nay, I cannot doubt your words—you 
 may feel so because you have lately been so 
 weak and ill, that you absolutely could not 
 do without me ; but I should be ungenerous, 
 indeed, to take advantage of that weakness, 
 so as to understand your words as you seem.
 
 142 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 to wish that I should. It is not fit that you 
 should speak to me in this way — still less fit 
 that I should listen.^' 
 
 " What can you mean, Alice ? How can 
 there be anything unfit in this — that I love 
 you, and ask you to be my wife ?" 
 
 " In the first place, it is not fit because of 
 your position in life." 
 
 " How so ? I am only a penniless soldier. 
 In that respect I am but a poor match for the 
 daughter of Mr. Gray." 
 
 " I did not mean as regards money. I hope 
 my father has plenty for himself, and his 
 children too. But our bringing up — our way 
 of life — our relations and aquaintances — the 
 things we are used to do — everything is differ- 
 ent, and everything is unsuitable. You know 
 I am only a plain old-fashioned farmer's daugh- 
 ter — a simple Methodist girl, who has never 
 seen the world, nor anything."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 143 
 
 " And for that reason I love you all the 
 better. I am tired of the world — its people 
 and its ways.'^ 
 
 " Yes, now while you are ill and weak. 
 But you will soon go back to your former life 
 again. You will soon be enjoying yourself 
 amongst your former acquaintances and 
 friends. You will soon return to the gay 
 world ; it is there you would be ashamed of 
 me — utterly ashamed ; and so your love would 
 die out, and then what would become of me?" 
 
 " Would you care for my love, Alice ? Say 
 you would, and I shall be satisfied.'^ 
 
 " No ; I will not say that, unless I am pre- 
 pared to say more." 
 
 " You cold, hard-hearted little calculating 
 wretch ! I don't believe you have a spark 
 of feeling in your nature. What did you 
 bring me back to life for, if you won't keep 
 me alive ?"
 
 144 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " It was my duty to do tbat.'^ 
 
 " Yes, duty — always duty — that hateful 
 word that kills all enjoyment." 
 
 ** No, not all. I was very happy when I 
 was nursing you." 
 
 " Then say you feel that you could be 
 happy as my wife." 
 
 ** If it was my duty to be your wife, I know 
 I should be happy." 
 
 *^ It is your duty, then — I am quite sure 
 about that." 
 
 Alice shook her head, and looked straight 
 before her — looked steadily into the fire. 
 She now took away her hand. That strange 
 firmness, so very strange in one so young and 
 gentle, which had already characterised many 
 of the actions of her life, was stealing over her 
 again. She now saw clearly what she ought 
 to do, and she resolved to do it. 
 
 But resolving and doing are not always to
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 145 
 
 be accomplished at one and the same mo- 
 ment. Alice had risen from her seat, and 
 was about to leave the room ; but she could 
 not leave it so. There was something in that 
 separation which she now knew must inevit- 
 ably take place, that could not be got over at 
 once. So, turning back again, she walked 
 towards the fire, and stood one moment close 
 beside the chair in which her patient was 
 seated. Again she held out her hand ; but it 
 was taken less eagerly than before, for he had 
 been wounded by her manner, even more 
 than her words, and had begun to think 
 seriously that she must be really as destitute 
 of feeling as he had called her in jest. 
 
 '* I have come back," said Alice in a voice 
 she scarcely could command, ^' to ask you not 
 to think hardly of me, or of anything I have 
 said. You must not do that. I did not 
 mean to be unkind. You know I am a 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 motherless girl. I have my own way to 
 choose, my own steps to direct, and I must 
 be careful about what I do. I am so simple, 
 and so little acquainted with tlie world, that 
 I scarcely know how to make you understand 
 what I mean. Perhaps I can act out my feel- 
 ings better than I can express them ; and I 
 think I was faithful to you when you were ill, 
 was I not ? Yes, you know I was, though 
 you do not know all, nor half. But what 
 you now ask of me is not a matter of mere 
 choice — not a matter of mere liking — it is an 
 impossibility. Your whole nature and cir- 
 cumstances would have to change before it 
 could be possible. Let us think no more of 
 it, then, but still — let us part friends." 
 
 " And why not more than friends ? I can- 
 not see the impossibility of which you speak. 
 Oh ! Alice, if you have a spark of kindness
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 147 
 
 for me — a touch of pity in your nature, you 
 will not leave me so !" 
 
 " Still I must leave you — there is no help 
 for it." 
 
 '^ Leave me, then, only for awhile, but tell 
 me that I may come back again — come and 
 claim you as my own ?" 
 
 " You will never wish to do that after you 
 have gone quite away." 
 
 '^If you could look into my heart you 
 would see what injustice you are doing me. 
 I am not more sure of my own existence than 
 that I shall never change in this." 
 
 '' We shall see." 
 
 Alice did not wish to say so much as might 
 seem to be implied by this reply, but some- 
 how the words escaped her lips, and she could 
 not get them back again. All she could do 
 was to set her face against any engagement — 
 against any communication being carried on 
 
 l2
 
 148 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 more than would be justified by casual and 
 ordinary acquaintance ; and she still main- 
 tained a silence which no entreaties could 
 break, when pressed to acknowledge a degree 
 of attachment, or even preference, beyond 
 this. Into such weakness Alice was not to be 
 betrayed. Here she was firm as a rock, and 
 hence the apparent coldness of her nature — 
 not that she could not feel as well as others, 
 but that she could hide her feelings better. 
 
 ^* Good night," said Alice, feeling that all 
 was at an end — '^good night. I must go 
 and prepare for my father and brother." 
 
 ^' And I must prepare to leave your house 
 to-morrow," said Captain Gordon. 
 
 Alice would not say, " stay longer," for she 
 knew and felt that he had better go. But 
 she did not turn away quite so hastily as she 
 would have done had he not expressed this 
 intention. Her only weakness was in linger-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 149 
 
 ing. Her feet seemed chained to the ground, 
 and her eyes fixed as by a kind of fascination 
 upon that pale and beautiful face, on which 
 she had so often gazed — if not quite so fondly, 
 yet certainly with almost the same interest, 
 as that of a mother gazing on her child. The 
 face was so familiar, too, in all its lineaments, 
 it seemed absolutely her own. She had 
 watched it so intently by night and by day, 
 in the dim lamplight, and when the faint 
 glimmering of the fire made ghostly appari- 
 tions in the silent chamber, she could scarcely 
 feel it otherwise than her own ; and as she 
 lingered for the last time so near, and felt 
 that time to be the last, she narrowly escaped 
 laying her hand softly on the white forehead, 
 or drawing her fingers through those close 
 raven curls, as though it was her right to do 
 so, and a right of which nothing could deprive 
 her.
 
 150 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Captain Gordon knew notliing of the ten- 
 derness which hung, as it were, suspended 
 over him. He was thinking of the hardness 
 of her heart, of the coldness of her nature, 
 and of the resoluteness of her will. He did 
 not even look up when again and for the last 
 time Alice said " good night," or he would 
 have seen that tears were in her eyes, and 
 that her lip was quivering with an emotion 
 which threatened every moment to betray the 
 inward struggle of her soul. 
 
 So the two parted with apparent coldness. 
 ^^ It was better that it should be so/' Alice 
 said to herself. And yet, when she had 
 gained her own room, she covered her face 
 with both her hands, and leaning with her 
 arms upon the table, she sobbed like some 
 broken-hearted creature, utterly forlorn, and 
 destitute of hope. 
 
 In the dim dawn of a December morning,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 151 
 
 the morning after this interview, there was 
 heard in the old hall of Applegarth the sound 
 of preparation for departure. Not unwillingly 
 Eobert Gray had lent his aid to " speed the 
 parting guest," although nothing could have 
 induced him to betray the least want of hospi- 
 tality towards one whom he had himself been 
 the means of bringing in a state of un- 
 consciousness into his father's house, nor was 
 the father less particular than his son on 
 points of this kind. The proudest baron in ^ 
 the county could not have been more solicitous 
 than were these two men to maintain to the 
 utmost what they considered the honour of 
 their house, when either receiving or parting 
 with a guest. Alice knew their habits well, 
 and on this point she had no fears. Her 
 brother left her little to do, and her fingers 
 trembled so that she could scarcely have tied 
 a cord, had it been necessary.
 
 152 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ** Why, bairn," said Molly, as she looked in 
 the white face, *^ yer teeth are chatterin' in 
 yer head. You'll catch yer death o' covvld, 
 with all them doors open at once.'' 
 
 And Molly slapped and banged about ac- 
 cordingly, shutting every door she could lay 
 her hands upon, not improbably knowing all 
 the while that there is such a thing as an in- 
 ward cold, which makes the teeth chatter and 
 the hands tremble more than any cold without. 
 But Molly was, in this instance, true to her 
 sex, and betrayed nothing more than a sense 
 of the sharp winds and terrible draughts which 
 made her, as she said, " goose-skin all over !" 
 
 Molly even condescended to wrap the in- 
 valid herself close up around his chin with 
 the thickest comforter she could find, making 
 her hands much more helpful than they would 
 have been had the guest been coming instead 
 of going. Kobert had offered the use of the
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 153 
 
 old family chaise to take him to the place 
 which he desired to reach in time to catch the 
 London coach, and Robert drove the chaise 
 himself, determined that no kind attentions 
 should be wanting towards the most com- 
 fortable arrangements that could be made. 
 
 The inn to which Robert proposed to drive 
 was well known to him and his father. The 
 landlady was an old acquaintance, and they 
 both assured their guest that no woman in the 
 world was more to be trusted for attention to 
 his wants. Beyond that they offered no sur- 
 mise, asked no questions, and evinced no 
 curiosity. Once delivered safely out of their 
 hands, and disposed of according to his own 
 wish, Captain Gordon might go where he liked 
 for them ; but so far as concerned them indi- 
 vidually, their hands must be clean. 
 
 So it was all over, and the guest was gone. 
 The candles, now flaring in their sockets, were
 
 154 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 put out, tumbled carpets were made smooth, 
 chairs were restored to their places, and Molly, 
 in a cheerful kind of bustle, spoke largely of 
 the vast cleaning they should have upon their 
 hands.
 
 155 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 npHE close intimacy existing between Bessy 
 Bell and her cousin Robert Gray was 
 characterised by nothing more strongly than 
 their frequent quarrels. Perhaps it was this 
 which constituted its chief interest to Bessy ; 
 for though Robert was warm-tempered, and 
 sometimes almost imperious, she had the plea- 
 sure of always bringing him back again to 
 herself, or of seeing him come back of his own 
 accord, as if he could not live without her. 
 That anything could really alienate him from 
 her, she had no more fear than that the sun 
 would cease to shine. The idea of vexing 
 him once too often caused her no alarm — and, 
 indeed, there had been no reason, up to this
 
 156 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 time, why it sliould ; for, notwithstanding the 
 one weakness of his heart, there was a kind 
 of manly masterfulness ahout Eobert Gray, 
 which had often been the cause of Bessy, with 
 all her waywardness, yielding to his opinions, 
 or 4iis wishes, almost unconsciously to herself. 
 It is more than probable he would have had 
 no hold upon her at all but for this. There 
 was a secret consciousness ever lurking in 
 Bessy's heart that when the time should come 
 for her to be Kobert's wife, she would find 
 that she had her master ; and this made it all 
 the more delightful to tease and irritate him 
 while she had the power to do so, and dared. 
 "A grand quarrel," as Robert told his 
 sister, had been caused by Captain Gordon's 
 disaster, and chiefly by his having been taken 
 to Applegarth to be nursed. The consequence 
 was a rather spirited flirtation on Bessy's 
 part with a young Wesleyan preacher lately
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 157 
 
 come into the neighbourhood, and hospitably 
 entertained, as all the preachers were, at her 
 father's house. Indeed Bessy had a trick of 
 taking to religion in her huffs, and becoming 
 very pious when she was very cross; and when 
 resolutely forbid to join with her cousin Alice 
 in nursing the handsome Captain, she went to 
 chapel very diligently, the more so that it was 
 Robert's custom to go to church. He was 
 not very strict in doing so, nor yet in any 
 manner opposed to the religious habits of his 
 family. It was simply his custom, and yet 
 he often joined the religious meetings which 
 his relatives so zealously attended on other 
 days of the week. 
 
 The parish church which Robert was in the 
 habit of attending was situated on the out- 
 skirts of the little village of Norton, about a 
 mile from his father's house. The village was 
 a picturesque old-fashioned place, in which
 
 158 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 there were a few good houses, chiefly with 
 white gables, and some of them with pretty 
 well-filled gardens, surrounded by closely- 
 clipped hedges. Besides these, there were a 
 number of tidy cottages, and at a little dis- 
 tance the one great house, occupied by the 
 Huntleys when at home. 
 
 It happened about this time, when turning 
 leisurely away from the church door one Sun- 
 day, that Robert Gray observed a slight 
 female figure in deep mourning passing silently 
 along the path from the church unattended, 
 and apparently ignorant of the nearest way 
 across the fields to the village ; for, after hesi- 
 tating a moment, the figure moved back again 
 to a little gate which opened upon the foot- 
 path, and here again paused as if in doubt. 
 
 '^ This," said Eobert, opening the gate, *' is 
 the nearest way to the village, if that is what 
 you are seeking.''
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 159 
 
 " Thank you/^ said the lady, with a slight 
 curtsey, and passed through. 
 
 Robert looked after her. Who could she 
 be ? So slight, so delicate-looking, so evi- 
 dently a stranger. In their isolated and rural 
 way of living, the inhabitants of Norton, 
 Whinfield, and Applegarth, felt as if they had 
 a right to know who everybody was, and to 
 inquire especially about any new-comer. So 
 Robert asked a neighbour who was walking 
 home from church, if he knew who this young 
 — person, he was going to say, but his lips re- 
 fused to utter the word, and he asked who the 
 young lady was. 
 
 " Oh ! I can tell you about that," said 
 the man, apparently much pleased to be the 
 medium of so important a communication. 
 ^^ You know that small house beside the beck 
 — that house with the bow-window looking 
 into the garden ?"
 
 160 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 '' Yes," Robert said he did. 
 
 " Ay, ay, it stands pleasantly enough, 
 does that house. I shouldn't mind living in 
 it myself, only they say it's damp, and my 
 rheumatiz won't stand damp no way." 
 
 " Is the house taken, then ?" said Robert, 
 thinking his informant was getting a little 
 wide of the mark. 
 
 " Why, yes, it is taken at last. It's taken 
 by one Major Ingle wood." 
 
 " Oh ! Inglewood," said Robert, beginning 
 to understand something about the matter. 
 
 " A queerish old chap that Major is, they 
 tell me," said the man — ^' a rampagenous old 
 fellow. Swears ! — bless you, like thunder !" 
 
 "But he was not at Church, was he?" asked 
 Robert. 
 
 " Church ? No," said the man with the 
 utmost contempt in his manner, " you'll not 
 catch him at church, if all they tell me be true."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 161 
 
 " I have heard of him/' said Eobert ; " but 
 what about his family ?" 
 
 " I don't hear that he has any family to 
 speak of," said the man, '^ only one daughter, 
 poor thing ! She lost her brothers and sisters 
 when she was nobbut a babby, her mother 
 next, and her last brother a year since, mebby. 
 You see she's in mournin' still, and I 
 fancy there's few people has more right to 
 mourn than she has. It's awful, Misther 
 Robert, how some folks is misled. I doot 
 yon poor thing's had only a badish bringing 
 up." 
 
 " I should say quite the contrary," observed 
 Robert. " She looks to me as if her bringing 
 up had been something out of the common 
 way — better than most people born here, at 
 any rate." 
 
 *^ In a worldly point of view," said the man, 
 " I don't dispute but it may. I was speakin' 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1C)2 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 of better things ; so I'll wish you good day, 
 Misther Robert." 
 
 The whole appearance, manner, and voice 
 of this stranger had made a deep impression 
 upon Robert Gray, chiefly as being so different 
 from those of the persons with whom he was 
 accustomed to associate. " A town-bred girl, 
 no doubt,'* he said to himself, as his eye still 
 followed the slight figure gliding along the 
 distant path. An impulse came over him to 
 hasten on, and open the further gate for her, 
 but he checked himself, and the vision disap- 
 peared. 
 
 On the following Sunday Robert looked 
 very earnestly for the same figure in black ; 
 and there it was, seated in a long, unoccu- 
 pied pew belonging to the bow-windowed 
 house in the village of Norton. The face, he 
 thought, was even paler than before; and such 
 a hidden little face, so shrouded under a mass
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 163 
 
 of dark glossy hair, that little else than the 
 small features of the lower part of the face 
 could be seen. These were almost sharp in 
 their closely-cut outline ; and the lower por- 
 tion of the face was remarkably short — short, 
 but by no means retreating, for the finely- 
 formed chin came out with the beautiful 
 Grecian curve ; and this, and the exquisitely- 
 formed mouth, were the features most striking 
 in that tender, shrouded face ; for the eyes, 
 both large and very dark, seemed, as already 
 said, to be almost lost under the thick folds 
 of clustering hair ; and the nose was not re- 
 markable, except for its fineness and delicacy. 
 *' Poor thing !'' said many a rough farmer 
 that day ; and *^ poor thing !" said many a 
 farmer's wife, when they had looked into that 
 little white face, and saw the slight figure 
 glide past them, as if it belonged to nobody. 
 They meant no disrespect — far otherwise, for 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 many a kind heart yearned to take the stranger 
 home, and give her the best of their house- 
 hold comforts, the warmest of their beds, and 
 the richest of their food. ^* Poor thing !" had 
 with them a very different meaning from that 
 which in the southern parts of this country 
 would attach to it. Many a pitiful Yorkshire 
 heart in those old times could find no kinder 
 expression when its deepest fountains were 
 opened ; and many a sufierer was well satisfied 
 to hear, instead of the language of exaggerated 
 sympathy, the simple words, "poor thing !" 
 
 Robert Gray could himself almost have 
 said *' Poor thing !" when he saw her again, 
 and opened the little gate upon the foot-path 
 to let her light figure pass through ; only this 
 time the pale face flushed, and a smile played 
 about the mouth, as Miss Inglewood looked 
 up to him and said, 
 
 *^ Can you tell me whether those cows are
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 165 
 
 quiet ? I am ashamed to say so, but I really 
 am such a coward !" 
 
 " Perfectly quiet," Robert replied. '' But, 
 perhaps, as I am going the same way, you 
 will not object to my protection." 
 
 " Oh ! thank you," replied the lady — 
 "only through this one field — I shall be close 
 to home then ; and I daresay there is no real 
 . danger." 
 
 Robert said but little during their short 
 walk, he took care not to be obtrusive, and 
 when they had passed through the field where 
 the cows were grazing, he just raised his hat 
 from his handsome head, and said, " Good 
 morning," in a manner calculated to do away 
 with all fear that this casual intercourse might 
 possibly be presumed upon. Miss Inglewood 
 returned the slight movement with the same 
 distant coldness, only thanking him politely 
 for his protection.
 
 IGG NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 It SO happened, while llobert Gray was 
 walking along the footpath with the 
 stranger, that the meeting in the Methodist 
 Chapel was breaking up ; and it so happened, 
 also, that Bessy Bell walked out in full view 
 of her cousin with his new acquaintance. 
 
 Bessy had previously ascertained every- 
 thing possible to be found out about the In- 
 glewoods, and she had set herself, in the most 
 unaccountable manner, to dislike and run 
 down that " town-bred little puny thing," as 
 she called the major's daughter. She, for 
 her part, did not dislike the old gentleman, 
 she said. If every one else thought ill of 
 him, that was quite a sufficient reason why 
 Bessy should fight his battles against the 
 world. He was the cleverest and most inter- 
 esting man in the whole parish, she declared ; 
 and perhaps she was right in that. 
 
 The fact was that, being always in search
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 167 
 
 of some fresh material to give zest to her 
 life, Bessy had made a very early call upon 
 the new-comers, and she and the old gentle- 
 man had become great friends at once. It 
 was not so with the daughter. Indeed, no- 
 where on the face of the habitable globe could 
 two human beings have been found less re- 
 sembling each other in their tastes and dispo- 
 sitions, than Bessy Bell and Kate Inglewood. 
 In their whole aspect, both of face and figure, 
 they were as unlike as two good-looking 
 women could be. Bessy, with her healthy 
 frame and large rounded limbs, might have 
 sat for the picture of an amazon, and a very 
 charming one too. For, though she always 
 seemed to fill a very wide space, so that small 
 people were almost lost beside her, there was 
 nothing bordering upon masculine in her ap- 
 pearance, only a sort of rich full glow about 
 her, rather countryfied than coarse. And
 
 168 NOIITUERN ROSES. 
 
 then she was always so conspicuous. No- 
 thing could hide her, and she did not wish to 
 be hid — quite the reverse. You saw her fine, 
 hearty, beaming face directly that she entered 
 a room ; and often before she entered, her 
 merry voice and ringing laugh might be 
 heard, at the same time startling the demure, 
 and awakening agreeable anticipations in 
 those who were waiting for a little fun. 
 
 How could Bessy Bell, under any circum- 
 stances, have cared for such a girl as Kate 
 Inglewood, who always, in her own house, sat 
 on a low seat, and, if possible, in some 
 obscure corner by the fire, who preferred 
 listening to others rather than talking herself, 
 and who looked out from her deep, dark, 
 shrouded eyes as if she observed and under- 
 stood everything, while her fine but closely- 
 shut mouth looked as if the rack could not 
 wring a secret from her ?
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 169 
 
 '' I hate those hidden, mysterious people, 
 that peep out of dark corners, and see every- 
 thing," Bessy Bell had said, after her first call 
 on the Inglewoods ; and if she hated the 
 major's daughter then, what did she do when 
 her wandering eyes beheld the small dark 
 figure walking by the side of Kobert Gray on 
 the footpath leading from the church ? 
 
 Bessy was little addicted to artifice. She 
 seldom waited to form a plan, and now, in the 
 great heat of her indignation, she went out of 
 her own direct way home, and confronted her 
 cousin just after he had parted from the inno- 
 cent and unconscious ofiender. 
 
 ^^ So that is what you go to church for, is 
 it ?" said Bessy, in a towering passion. 
 
 " Where is your friend Mr. Clapperton ?" 
 said Robert very coolly. " I thought you 
 always waited for the preacher, and took him 
 home with you."
 
 170 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 And so they went on. Not very philoso- 
 phically, it may readily be supposed, and 
 therefore we decline to repeat the exact words 
 of their quarrel. One fact, however, is worthy 
 of notice. This quarrel differed from all 
 former ones so far, that a faint idea on this 
 occasion dawned for the first time in her 
 whole life upon Bessy's mind, that she might 
 ultimately lose her lover. 
 
 Never, up to this time, had the possibility 
 of such a catastrophe presented itself to 
 Bessy's mind ; and now, but especially after 
 she reached her own home, the terrible appari- 
 tion of a future without Robert, opened before 
 her under an aspect which she could not bear. 
 
 " Anything but that," she said to herself 
 again and again, and she said this with pas- 
 sionate bursts of tears, which she had rushed 
 info her own room to hide. 
 
 Of course the most natural and necessary
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 171 
 
 thing was to see Eobert. In short, she must 
 see him, and make up this difference, as she 
 could. She must see him now, so she sent 
 her brother William to tell — no, to ask him 
 to meet her that afternoon in the copse leading 
 down to the brook. 
 
 Robert, who knew what the message meant, 
 was willing enough to be at the place of meet- 
 ing at the appointed time. It was no unusual 
 thing with him to spend his Sunday after- 
 noons in strolling with his cousin through the 
 quiet fields and lanes. He had always the 
 farmer's plea of looking after his cattle, and 
 Bessy had a plea quite as urgent with her, 
 that she found it impossible to sit moping in 
 the house at home. On summer days she 
 would run down the hill to sit, perhaps, with 
 Alice in the little mossy hut beside the brook. 
 But in the winter she was obliged to walk for 
 warmth, and Alice could not accompany her
 
 172 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 because her household duties kept her on the 
 spot, in order that others might take their 
 turn in attending church or chapel. 
 
 Those good works of Sunday teaching, and 
 visiting amongst the poor and the ignorant, 
 which, in the present day, occupy so many of 
 the middle and higher classes of society, had 
 scarcely come into operation in rural districts 
 like that of which we write. Few of the farm 
 labourers were so poor as not to be able to 
 afford a little schooling for their children, and 
 the kindness of the class above them was more 
 frequently manifested in a little social chat, 
 in presents sent in times of sickness, or in 
 sharing plentiful ingatherings of fruit, honey, 
 or other stores, than in acts of direct charity, 
 which might have implied a little more 
 difference of rank than the labouring people 
 would have liked to acknowledge, or to be 
 reminded of.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 173 
 
 They wanted no charity — not they. Indeed, 
 they were in the habit of making little pre- 
 sents themselves, the labourer to his master, or 
 rather the labourer's wife to both master and 
 mistress, when she had anything particularly 
 relishing on the way. But especially to the 
 children of her master's family, there came 
 many a homely cheesecake, when Betty or Pat- 
 ty happened to be making, or sweet summer 
 apples, when the good man was gathering. 
 
 These, and innumerable acts of a similar 
 nature, sufficiently testified to a feeling on the 
 part of the better order of labouring people, 
 which it would, perhaps, be well for our 
 country, if we could find some means of keep- 
 ing up. 
 
 I do not mean it was a good thing that 
 there was no Sunday school within reach for 
 Bessy Bell to attend, although I am not quite 
 sure that any school would have been much
 
 174 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the better for her attendance — I simply state a 
 fact, and assign this fact as one reason why 
 the cousins were a little at large on that 
 Sunday afternoon. 
 
 Although in the depth of winter, it was a 
 glorious day. The sunshine seemed to enter 
 the very hearts of the two cousin^ even before 
 they met, and Bessy was all sunshine herself. 
 With her first smile, but specially with the 
 first pressure of her hand upon his arm, Ro- 
 bert understood the mood she was in, and 
 Cleopatra herself could not have won him from 
 his love, when Bessy leant upon him as she 
 did now. No ; there was the power of old 
 association added to an inexpressible charm 
 about the girl, and which always had been 
 about her, to Robert's fancy, which made his 
 love immovable — firm as a rock, and she did 
 well to lean upon it. 
 
 A long, long stroll over empty fields, all
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 175 
 
 bare of summer growth, did not tire the cou- 
 sins that day, although they came at last to 
 rest in the little moss house beside the brook. 
 The day was then closing and all was very still, 
 except the rippling water at their feet, which 
 kept on its bubbling way over the loose stones 
 and straggling roots of overhanging trees. 
 Before daylight had departed, the moon rose 
 over the hill which bounded the view beyond 
 the brook ; and then Kobert said he would go 
 home with his cousin, and accompany her to 
 their chapel after tea. 
 
 They were not at all a romantic pair of 
 lovers, as may easily be supposed ; and yet 
 they were both, but especially Bessy, suscept^ 
 ible to all influences from without, so that the 
 moonbeams glistening on the water, and play- 
 ing on her path, had a certain kind of charm 
 for her, although she could not babble about 
 moonlight, nor put it into verse.
 
 176 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 On this occasion, more perhaps than ever 
 in her life before, Bessy felt both compelled 
 and disposed to be serious ; for she had given 
 her cousin a solemn pledge that she would be 
 his wife, and she had confessed without scruple 
 or reserve, that he was more to her than any 
 other being in the whole world. 
 
 Always subject to emotions, Bessie had 
 cried hysterically after making this confession, 
 and Eobert, there is no doubt, had kissed off 
 the tears from her cheek, and poured forth a 
 volume of kind words, while in reality feeling 
 as if he loved her better than in his whole 
 life before. 
 
 That was saying a good deal. At all events 
 he could not leave her now. He himself was 
 seriously minded, though less enthusiastic in 
 his religion than some of his relatives ; yet to 
 him there was something agreeably appropriate, 
 if not even sacred, in closing such a day with
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 177 
 
 solemn worship. The place was of little im- 
 portance to his mind, so that the occasion was 
 holy ; and therefore it was that he went with 
 his cousin to the chapel where her family- 
 attended. 
 
 Whatever Bessy might be in other respects, 
 she was not light on religious occasions — not 
 openly so, at least. She had been too strictly 
 brought up for that. But beyond this strict- 
 ness of habit, she had within herself a certain 
 religious tendency, if we may use the expres- 
 sion; so that occasionally, cropping up amongst 
 her other emotions, there would now and then 
 appear a layer of something like devotion. It 
 was so now. In her very best of moods she 
 went with her cousin, and joined in the de- 
 votional services of the eveningwith an earnest- 
 ness of feeling which seemed for the time to 
 change her whole being, and transform her, as 
 Robert thought, into an angel. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Beauty is never so beautiful as when ani- 
 mated by good and holy thoughts. When 
 Kobert looked into his cousin's face that even- 
 ing, her whole soul seemed beaming from her 
 eyes. Her cheek was deeply flushed with the 
 emotions of the day, her lips were parted in 
 the utterance of reverent praise, and once or 
 twice he saw that gentle tears were gliding 
 down her face and falling on the hymn-book, 
 which their two hands joined in holding. 
 
 Hers were not tears of sorrow, or, if they 
 were, it was a holy sorrow, Robert thought. 
 No. The whole expression of her countenance 
 was one of happiness and contentment. And 
 was not Robert a happy man as he walked 
 home in the clear moonlight that night, build- 
 ing up the beautiful castle, of which the foun- 
 dation was so firmly laid — planning for his 
 future life — his home and hers — lighting in 
 imagination their evening fire — covering their
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 179 
 
 table with plenty — surrounding it perhaps 
 with olive branches, and seating in the privi- 
 leged chair of perfect peace the one supreme 
 object of his inalienable affection ? 
 
 Ah! there are times when men, and women, 
 too, are rich indeed — rich in an abundance 
 which nothing can deprive them of — often 
 richer upon what is literally called nothing, 
 than when the world is envying them the in- 
 crease of their oil and wine. 
 
 n2
 
 180 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HTHE whole of his future life appeared now 
 fco be opening before Robert Gray with 
 a clearness and certainty which roused into 
 action all that was practical and manly in his 
 nature. He was no dreamy sentimentalist. 
 The successful issue of his long and faithful 
 attachment made him very happy, but he did 
 not sit down and write verses upon it. On 
 the contrary, he gathered himself up in all his 
 strength to begin farming and housekeeping 
 on his own account — to be the master of his 
 own afiairs — in short, to be a man, and, in the' 
 best sense of the word, a gentleman. 
 
 Robert Gray was now quite old enough to 
 undertake the management of his own affairs, and
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 181 
 
 was considered in the neighbourhood an excel- 
 lent farmer — or rather, as the old people said, 
 bid fair to be so. Indeed, he not only appeared 
 to be, but actually felt himself a much more 
 experienced man than he really was. Full of 
 this well-grounded confidence in himself, and 
 very earnest about the future — very anxious 
 also to be securing something that would give 
 an aspect of reality to his marriage engage- 
 ment, Robert fixed his hopes upon a farm 
 which his father had recently purchased. It 
 was called the " Poplar Farm," or more fre- 
 quently the " Poplars." Annoyed as he had 
 been at the time of the purchase that his father 
 should persist in his old habit of accumulating 
 property, when ready money was every year 
 becoming more scarce, he now began to please 
 himself with the idea that in this instance, at 
 least, the imprudence of his father might issue 
 in his own good.
 
 182 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Without the slightest doubt about the rea- 
 sonableness of his claims, Eobert lost no time 
 in laying the matter before his father. 
 Hitherto he had devoted both his time and 
 attention to his father's interests. He had 
 worked like a servant on his father's farm, 
 and almost with a servant's wages. Up to 
 this time he had nothing in the shape of pro- 
 perty that he could really call his own, nor 
 had he until very lately murmured at his lot. 
 As the only son of a father reputed to be com- 
 paratively rich, he could have no apprehen- 
 sions about the far-off future. But the case 
 was altered now, and the present urgently de- 
 manded that something more should be done 
 on his behalf. 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that with all his 
 prudent and even far-seeing tendencies, Eobert 
 had of late been sometimes not only perplexed 
 but irritated about the total disappearance of
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 183 
 
 ready money from his father's establishment. 
 It was not respectable, in his opinion, to let 
 bills run on unpaid ; and what right, he 
 often asked within his own mind, had any one 
 to make large purchases, when the means of 
 discharging small debts were so difficult to lay 
 their hands upon. 
 
 We have already said that Mr. Gray was a 
 man not easily understood — ^perhaps a man 
 who did not understand himself. Under one 
 phase of his character he appeared benevolent, 
 easily entreated, and was sometimes almost 
 ostentatious in his acts of kindness ; under an- 
 other phase he was silent, reserved, and utterly 
 impracticable where money was concerned. 
 Of late these characteristics had been in the 
 ascendant, and especially towards those who 
 had the nearest claim upon his personal dis- 
 bursements. In his own family he neither 
 gave more than was absolutely necessary, nor
 
 184 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 assigned any reason for not being able to give 
 more. 
 
 Perhaps his children would have been more 
 easily satisfied had not these growing habits of 
 reserve been accompanied by symptoms of 
 anxious irritability, which they were wholly 
 unable to account for. Equally unable to 
 soothe or palliate this anxiety themselves, they 
 hoped, not unreasonably, that religion would 
 secretly produce in their father's mind, or, 
 perhaps, was producing there that peace and 
 satisfaction of which, however, they saw no 
 visible sign. 
 
 Never had Mr. Gray appeared so solicitous 
 as now that every outward observance of 
 religion should be strictly kept up. Even his 
 very face grew longer when the subject of 
 religion was under discussion ; and Alice, 
 whose perceptions were rather quicker than 
 her brother's, could not help detecting certain
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 185 
 
 tones of voice, and modes of expression, re- 
 cently introduced into her father's conversa- 
 tion with comparative strangers, for which he 
 seemed to have no use when alone with his 
 own family. 
 
 Nothing could have pained Alice more than 
 this, in the parent whom it was her constant 
 and undeviating aim both to reverence and 
 love. It became to her a secret, and a very 
 humiliating secret, which she scrupulously con- 
 cealed, along with some others, within her 
 own breast. Hitherto it had been her daily 
 dread that Robert, who had less patience than 
 herself, should detect this habit in their father, 
 and speak of it to her, as he would have done, 
 in no measured terms. But he was too much 
 occupied with his own affairs, and now both 
 brother and sister began to please themselves 
 with the idea of preparing for a new settlement 
 at the Poplars.
 
 186 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Yes, Alice pleased herself, and looked as 
 pleased as if no cloud had recently cast its 
 shadow over her own path. That was a matter 
 entirely confined to herself. That which a 
 wise woman does not intend to tell, she will 
 always be wise enough not to betray. So 
 Alice went about with very little appearance 
 of having been in any way affected by her long 
 season of nursing. If she was a little paler, 
 nothing could be more natural than that she 
 should be so ; and if she made a few extraor- 
 dinary mistakes, forgetting sometimes what it 
 seemed impossible that a person of sane mind 
 should forget, she managed pretty successfully 
 to laugh it off, while Molly excused her by 
 saying that wiser heads than hers had been 
 muddled " wi long tendin' i' sick rooms, an' 
 talkin' to nowt but badly fowk." 
 
 And, perhaps, after all, Alice was not quite 
 unhappy — certainly not broken-hearted ; nor.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 187 
 
 had all been revealed, would that young heart 
 have been found entirely destitute of hope. 
 The young are apt to judge of others by 
 themselves; and in sharing, even secretly, 
 with another, that which is, for the time being, 
 the strongest and most earnest of all emotions, 
 it seems impossible for them to believe that 
 those with whom they share should not guard 
 and keep their mutual treasure as jealously as 
 they do themselves. 
 
 What could be more easy — more likely, 
 than for Captain Gordon to come back — to 
 come back an altered man, with proposals at 
 once more reasonable, and more to be depend- 
 ed upon, than those which might seem only 
 to have arisen out of the weakness of suffer- 
 ing, out of gratitude for kind services, or out 
 of long familiarity, under circumstances of un- 
 avoidable intimacy ? 
 
 Impossible, as Alice felt it herself, to change,
 
 188 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 she scarcely imagined such a thing possible 
 on the part of him in whom her interests now 
 centred. And thus in fact it was, that she went 
 about her ordinary concerns with so little show 
 of anxiety or depression. Besides which, all 
 who understand the female heart know this — 
 that at first — nay, even for a long time, it is 
 enough for any true-hearted woman to know 
 that she is beloved. Eich in this conscious- 
 ness, she lives upon it as her daily food, and 
 asks no more. Holding fast this certainty, 
 there is not, for a while, such a thing as 
 separation to her. Space seems nothing, nor 
 time, so long as this one treasure remains 
 entirely hers. She lives in it as the landscape 
 lives and glows in the beams of the setting 
 sun. Instead of dying out, its beauty rises 
 and glows afresh, assuming every moment 
 tints of more intense loveliness — deeper crim- 
 son, and richer gold. But it dies at length —
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 189 
 
 it must die. The moment is only delayed. 
 The sun is sinking all the while — lower and 
 lower. At last he goes down, and then the 
 cold leaden hue comes on — then dimness — 
 and then night ! Perhaps only one night — 
 only a few hours of darkness, and then, look- 
 ing to the eastern hills — behold ! — another 
 glory ! — a more enduring beauty — the reality 
 of a long healthy, vigorous day. 
 
 Whatever the cause might be, Alice so 
 managed that no annoying personal remarks 
 were brought upon herself. She was conse- 
 quently able to do any amount of walking, 
 and talking with her brother, while the all im- 
 portant subject of his settlement occupied 
 their thoughts. 
 
 *' I cannot imagine," said Robert one day, 
 as the brother and sister sat together by the 
 parlour fire, ^' what is the meaning of that 
 lawyer being here so much. And, what ia
 
 190 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 more," he continued, " ray father seems to 
 care for nobody but him — takes no other per- 
 son's advice — consults nobody else — in short, 
 lets the man lead him by the nose." 
 
 " And a very odious man he is," said Alice, 
 *^ according to my way of thinking ; I wonder 
 what my father can see to like in him." 
 
 " Do you know," said Robert, " I begin to 
 think the man takes liberties in our house." 
 
 " I am sure he does, " said Alice — ^^ in- 
 sufferable liberties. He orders what he likes 
 for dinner. And what most vexes me, he 
 will persist in believing that I have cooked it — 
 cooked it especially for him !" 
 
 " What does Molly say ?" 
 
 " She looks as black as thunder whenever 
 I speak of him ; and then she mumbles such 
 strange things to herself, that I am half afraid 
 to mention his name." 
 
 ^ I suppose he is a good man ?"
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 191 
 
 " He is one of our connection. My father 
 says that is the reason why he prefers him to 
 Mr. Thornton.'' 
 
 " I know I should choose Thornton. If ever 
 there was an honest lawyer I believe he is 
 one ; and I don't see why there should not be 
 honest lawyers, as well as doctors or anything 
 else." 
 
 " Do you think, Robert, this Mr. Spink, the 
 lawyer, lends my father money ?" 
 
 " Whatever made you think of such a thing, 
 Alice ? I should hope not." 
 
 " I'm afraid he does." 
 
 " What reason have you ?" 
 
 " Only a woman's reason — nothing that 
 would have any weight with you. Indeed, I 
 think it amounts to no more than an impres- 
 sion, and yet I cannot get rid of it." 
 
 ^^Then you think the Poplar Farm was 
 bought with borrowed money?"
 
 192 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 '^ Fm afraid it was.'' 
 
 "That's a bad look-out, Alice." 
 
 " I don't want to dishearten you, Robert, 
 dear ; but I do wish this affair of yours was 
 well settled. What did my father say when 
 you spoke to him ?" 
 
 " Just nothing at all — said young people 
 should be prudent — should wait, and so forth. 
 He said nothing definite, and, as I fancied, left 
 the matter to be discussed at some future 
 time." 
 
 ** I do wish it was settled." 
 
 " Come with me, Alice, and let us go to my 
 father now." 
 
 " But why should I go, Robert ?" 
 
 " Because I always feel as if there was help 
 in you. And somehow, though I could meet 
 a mad bull, or a wild beast, I suppose as well 
 as another man could, there is something in 
 going to my father on a business of this kind
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 193 
 
 which makes a very fool of me ; so come with 
 me, Alice, if you love me. You know I am 
 hot-tempered and impatient, and so I speak 
 out when I think a thing is wrong. In fact, 
 I am afraid of myself, not of my father ; so 
 come with me, there's a good lassie." 
 
 " I'll go if you wish it so very much. But 
 really I don't see what good I can do." 
 
 So the brother and sister went together 
 straight into a little back room which their 
 father kept exclusively for himself, and used 
 for his papers and account books. There was 
 nothing which Mr. Gray more disliked than 
 being intruded upon in this room. People 
 might call him out, but to walk right in 
 was a surprising piece of audacity ; and he 
 started as if almost frightened when his son 
 and daughter did this unbidden. He was sur- 
 rounded by papers, which appeared to be 
 spread about in rather a confused condition, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and he hastily pushed the table from him when 
 his children approached, as if he did not wish 
 their attention to be attracted to what he was 
 about. 
 
 Thus assaulted on his own ground, Mr. 
 Gray Avas not singular in feeling that a cer- 
 tain amount of personal liberty had been 
 taken with him ; and the mood in which he 
 prepared himself to listen to his children 
 was consequently not the most amiable. 
 In fact, he felt lowered before them — taken 
 at a disadvantage — annoyed, vexed, and he 
 could not for a moment get his dignity upon 
 him again, as he wished. He could not call 
 up a single applicable text of Scripture, nor do 
 anything in his usual way. What did they 
 want? 
 
 Alibe spoke first, and perhaps it was well that 
 she did so, for there was something in her voice 
 and manner well calculated to turn away
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 195 
 
 wrath. Kobert was abrupt — direct to the 
 point. He " detested all round-about ways," 
 he used to say, and " sleek puttings on ;" and 
 it is quite possible that as Mr. Gray had a 
 good deal of this himself, Robert's manner 
 might sometimes offend him, even more than 
 what he had to say. 
 
 Unprepared with an answer, Mr. Gray al- 
 lowed his daughter to go on at considerable 
 length, until, womanlike, she had made quite 
 a pretty little romance about Robert and his 
 long attachment to his cousin, when suddenly 
 her father interrupted her by saying, 
 
 "And what does Thomas Bell propose 
 giving his daughter towards her settlement ?" 
 
 " Oh ! Uncle Tom !" said Robert. 
 
 *' Poor Uncle Thomas !" Alice chimed in. 
 
 They were both thinking of his large family, 
 and the well-known absence of economy at 
 Whinfield, which often reduced the establish- 
 
 2
 
 196 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ment there to the very verge of discomfort, 
 while, at other times, the display upon the 
 table looked like anything but scanty means. 
 
 *^ Surely that girl ought to be expecting 
 something," said Mr. Gray, ** by the way she 
 goes on." 
 
 "I have been thinking," said Robert, "that 
 perhaps grandmother would do something for 
 her." 
 
 Mr. Gray started so evidently that he had 
 to apply to his papers and rustle them about 
 in order to conceal a strange embarrassment, 
 which his daughter's quick eye had not failed 
 to observe. 
 
 "I don't think," said Mr. Gray, "that 
 you need look to your grandmother for 
 help." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Robert. 
 
 " For one reason — because there are so 
 many of you. If she should help the first
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 197 
 
 couple who choose to marry, all the rest will 
 expect the same/' 
 
 " Then, in plain words," said Robert, " I 
 come to ask you what you can do yourself, 
 and what you wdll do. I should not wish to 
 press the matter so as to inconvenience you, 
 but '' 
 
 " It does inconvenience me very much. I 
 thought I gave you to understand that be- 
 fore." 
 
 " I scarcely see how it can." 
 
 " You ? No, I daresay you don't see how 
 it can, but I do." 
 
 Eobert's face was beginning to flush, and 
 his eyes to flash with that bright passionate 
 look which they sometimes wore, and which 
 always struck Alice as having something dan- 
 gerous about it. Again she interfered with 
 her calm gentle manner. Her father cooled 
 down again, and Robert was again silent.
 
 198 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 This time Alice drew from lier father some- 
 thing more like reason — more like an open 
 and candid discussion of the subject, as if she 
 and her brother had really some right on 
 their side. Perhaps he felt that he had been 
 assuming false ground, and that with his son, 
 at all events, he 'should make no progress in 
 that way." 
 
 " I should be sorry,'' he said, "" to seem 
 
 hard in this matter, but still- " 
 
 And he hesitated in evident perplexity. 
 ^^ I don't think anything would seem 
 hard," said Kobert, '* if fully explained. 
 Perhaps if you will state openly and clearly 
 how the case really stands, it will all look 
 differently to us ; and then, if I see the 
 necessity for any great sacrifice on my part 
 I shall surely be man enough to make it." 
 
 " Christian enough to make it, I should 
 have thought you would say."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 199 
 
 '^ Well, Christian, then. But for my part, I 
 feel more now safe and more honest when I call 
 myself a man. That, however, is little to the 
 purpose. I want to know, father, what you 
 can and will do for me towards my establish- 
 ment in life ? Of course, if you had nothing, 
 I should be satisfied with nothinp;, feeling in 
 that case that I must depend entirely upon 
 myself. But being, as I am, an only son, 
 and never having troubled you for much 
 before, I think I have justice on my side in 
 looking to you for something to begin life 
 with now." 
 
 '*• Perhaps you will tell me about the 
 measure of your requirements." 
 
 " That would be neither easy nor pleasant 
 for me to do. You must, however, be aware 
 that I shall want a farm, and you know your- 
 self that no good farming can be carried 
 on without a tolerable capital to begin with.
 
 200 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 I have been thinking of the Poplars." 
 
 " Yes, we have been thinking of the Pop- 
 lars," added Alice. 
 
 *^ The Poplars is not — mine, I was about 
 to say, but that would be a mistake. I mean 
 the Poplars is not — in short, I am not quite 
 at liberty to do what I like with the Poplars 
 at present." 
 
 " I don't think I should be a bad tenant," 
 Robert ventured to say, *^ if any friend of 
 yours has bought the Poplar Farm for 
 you." 
 
 " I must tell you, then, that a friend has 
 bought it for me — has accommodated me 
 with the means of buying it, and that friend 
 has a tenant in his eye." 
 
 "Father," said Robert, "I don't think 
 that is quite fair — not quite right and just to 
 
 me." 
 
 " Perhaps there is something else,"
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 201 
 
 suggested Alice. " Could you not make a 
 separate farm of Home Fields ? The 
 cottages stand very pleasantly, and two of 
 them might be made into a dwelling- 
 house/' 
 
 " Why, yes,'' said Robert ; ^^ if I can get 
 nothing better, I might do with Home Fields ; 
 and as that farm belongs to grandmother, it 
 is only letting me rent it instead of you." 
 
 " I don't think that plan would do at all," 
 said Mr. Gray, rather hastily. 
 
 ** I think grandmother would like Robert 
 for a tenant," Alice ventured to observe. 
 
 " And, by-the-by," said Robert, *^ the lease 
 is out next Lady-Day. I will speak to 
 grandmother myself — only I do wish, father, 
 you would back me out in this a little. I 
 don't like to act in such a matter without 
 your entire approbation and consent." 
 
 *^ No, and you cannot act in it, either,
 
 202 NORTIIEKN ROSES. 
 
 because I am the tenant in possession — I 
 have given no notice to quit, and received 
 none/' 
 
 Altogether, the interview was becoming 
 painful, and disagreeable in the extreme. 
 Robert was fast losing patience, Alice begin- 
 ning to despair, and Mr. Gray apparently as 
 determined as ever neither to agree, nor 
 disagree, nor yet to assign any reason why he 
 would not do either. Silently Robert began 
 to see his way — to form his own plan — to fix 
 his own resolution, and when once fixed, it 
 was not easily shaken. Wearied out with 
 heartless and fruitless discussion, he started 
 at length from his seat, and was about to 
 hasten from the room, but, as if suddenly 
 recollecting that he owed something in respect 
 to his father, he paused for one moment, and 
 looking back, said, firmly and quietly, 
 
 ^' I will endeavour to do my best, father^ —
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 203 
 
 I want nothing but what is reasonable, right, 
 and fair. You must remember that you were 
 once young yourself, and that you wanted a 
 home for a wife and family, as I do now. 
 Trust me, I will never injure you ; but, as a 
 man, I must look out for a settlement, and 
 if you can't help me, why, I must help 
 myself." 
 
 Mr. Gray was evidently disturbed — nay, 
 he seemed alarmed at this conclusion of the 
 matter, and, rising hastily, he went to the, 
 door, and called his son back again. 
 
 " Eobert," he said, very earnestly, " I 
 would not have you mention this matter to 
 your grandmother." 
 
 " Why not ?" said Kobert. 
 
 " For many reasons," replied his father. 
 " In the first place, she fails — she fails a good 
 deal, poor mother does." 
 
 ** I don't see that she fails a bit," Robert
 
 204 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 replied. '^ I am sure she was sharp enough 
 with me the last time I talked to her." 
 
 Robert remembered, not without cause, 
 some not very flattering comments which his 
 grandmother had made upon his choice of a 
 wife. 
 
 '^ And yet/' continued his father, *^ poor 
 mother does fail." He said this with a sigh, 
 and with that peculiar tone of voice which he 
 always assumed when he wanted to be either 
 tender or good. " Poor mother does fail ! 
 I don't think we shall have her long, and I 
 should be glad for her last days to be spent 
 in quiet. There is enough for us all to do 
 without perplexing ourselves about these 
 mere trifles, which perish in the using." 
 
 Robert looked up so suddenly, and fixed 
 so searching a glance upon his father's face, 
 that Alice grew quite alarmed, lest he should 
 make' some application of his father's words
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 205 
 
 to his father^s ways. He looked as if the 
 very words of just reproach were trembling 
 on his lips. But that habitual respect for 
 parents, in which they had all been brought 
 up, restrained him, and he went away 
 without any indication of what course he 
 intended to pursue. 
 
 Alice knew not what to do. Feeling that 
 it might be construed into an act of defiance 
 if she went with her brother, she lingered 
 behind, looking earnestly at her father, who 
 appeared buried in deep thought. There is 
 nothing which rivets the feet, and arrests 
 every movement, like a dead silence. Hav- 
 ing once fallen into that silence, we feel as if 
 we must remain so for ever. It was both 
 rude and foolish for Alice to stand still 
 gazing at her father — yet how was she to get 
 out of the room ? — what was she to say if she 
 remained ? •
 
 206 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Mr. Gray did nothing to relieve her from 
 this dilemma. He was leaning with his arras 
 upon the table, and his head bent down. At 
 length he started, looked up suddenly, and 
 speaking more hastily than his wont, asked 
 Alice at what time her grandmother retired 
 to rest. 
 
 " At nine," Alice answered. 
 . Her father looked at his watch. It was 
 past that time. He drew his hand thought- 
 fully across his forehead, and then leaned 
 back in his chair, with the air of one who has 
 given a matter up. 
 
 " Good night, father,^' said Alice, stealing 
 up to her father's side with her accustomed 
 kiss before separating for the night. 
 
 He received the kiss with apparently but 
 little consciousness of what was being done to 
 him, uttered a cold good niglit, and the inter- 
 viev^was closed.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 207 
 
 " Incomprehensible !^' said Alice, with a 
 deep sigh, as she set down her candle on the 
 table in her bed-room. '^ If he would only 
 let us understand him. It is so difficult to 
 love him as we ought with this strange mist 
 about him, which conceals his motives, aims, 
 and feelings from our view. Why, we are 
 actually becoming strangers, while living in 
 the same house together ! The worst is, he 
 never appears to me happy now. I never 
 see him smile as I remember that he did 
 when I was a little girl upon his knee. All 
 the joy seems to be gone out of his life. Why 
 should a good man be so ?" 
 
 Alice was venturing upon dangerous ground. 
 In this questioning spirit she remained a long 
 time loitering in her room, without the slight- 
 est tendency to rest or sleep. The interview 
 with her father had produced nothing but per- 
 plexity and disturbance of mind. Thought
 
 208 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 after thought came crowding upon her like 
 the waves of a troubled sea, all confused, 
 mysterious, and without fixed or definite 
 form. One of her long musing fits was the 
 consequence, and then she suddenly recollect- 
 ed that her brother was not in his room. 
 Where could he be ? At Whinfield, of course ; 
 but why so much later than usual. Scarcely 
 had these thoughts crossed her mind, when 
 she heard his step on the stairs, and presently 
 a very animated tapping at her own door. 
 
 *' Come in," said Alice ; and the bright face 
 of her brother looked in, all glowing with joy 
 and hope. 
 
 ''It's all settled,'' said Robert. ''That 
 granny of ours is a rare old girl !" He did 
 not say a brick — that piece of elegance had not 
 come into use in the days of Robert and Alice 
 Gray ; so he went on calling his grandmother 
 a dear old soul, and pouring forth a perfect
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 209 
 
 torrent of exclamations, all indicative of the 
 utmost cleverness and success, without one 
 word of clear or rational explanation. 
 
 " I think everybody has gone crazy," said 
 Alice. *^ I don't understand one better than 
 another. Be kind enough to remember that 
 you are talking to me in an unknown tongue, 
 and that I have not the remotest idea what all 
 this is about." 
 
 " Sit down," said Kobert, "and Til tell you. 
 He then explained a most satisfactory interview 
 which he had had with his grandmother — how 
 he lost no time, but flew up to Whinfield, 
 heard the old lady had already gone up to bed, 
 burst into her room, found her seated in her 
 easy chair supping a wine posset, and in high 
 good humour; laid the whole matter before her 
 — love, marriage, farm, everything; rous?d her 
 indignation on his behalf, and finally obtained 
 her promise that when the present lease of 
 
 VOL. I. • p
 
 210 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 Home Fields had expired, he should be her 
 tenant. 
 
 There was nothing like getting old Mar- 
 garet Gray into a fit of indignation against 
 wrong, or folly ; but especially wrong. What 
 that woman would do to ^' right " any one who 
 might happen to be a favourite with her was 
 something heroic. " The fear of man," she 
 said, ** had never been much before her eyes, 
 nor the fear of woman either." Besides 
 which, hadn't she a clear right to do what she 
 liked with her own ? So she gave her promise 
 freely, supped her posset, and went to bed 
 with a clear conscience. 
 
 The brother and sister sat long into the 
 night talking earnestly together in undertones, 
 lest their father should be awake, and hear 
 them.* That happy woman's faculty of throw- 
 ing all interest into another person's affairs, 
 and asking none for her own, served Alice in
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 211 
 
 this instance as in so many of her life. It was 
 no self-denial on her part to listen to all her 
 brother had to tell of what lay nearest to his 
 heart, and to give no sign of what lay nearest 
 to her own ; it was only her natural woman's 
 work that she was doing, and she did it faith- 
 fully and well. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A T a very early hour on the following morn- 
 ing, Mr. Gray made his appearance at 
 Whinfield, requesting to see his mother. It 
 was impossible, the old lady said, to admit him 
 at that time. He must come again after she 
 had breakfasted, and was ready to receive 
 company. In vain her son persisted, Mar- 
 garet Gray had a stronger will than any of 
 her children, and he was obliged to go without 
 seeing her. After breakfast he tried again, 
 and this time was admitted to her bedroom, 
 where his mother received him with an air of 
 dignified condescension, for she had been a 
 good deal put out by his ill-timed persistency, 
 and she wanted him to know it.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 213 
 
 What took place during this interview was 
 never made the subject of conversation by 
 either of the parties most concerned. That it 
 was long, everybody knew ; and that it was 
 not very pleasant, everybody in the house 
 inferred, because the sound of Margaret Gray's 
 imperative stick thumping and stumping on the 
 chamber floor, was heard at intervals as far as 
 that sound could reach, and that was some- 
 times very far. It was her habit when irritat- 
 ed, even when only positive, but especially 
 when pressed beyond her patience, to strike 
 her stick on the floor, much after the fashion 
 of people who applaud at public meetings, 
 and who can sometimes do this with great 
 energy, while their faces look as rigid and 
 grim as if they had no concern in the matter 
 whatever. 
 
 But Margaret Gray had a deep concern in 
 the matter which her son brought before her
 
 214 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 that morning, and she felt it ; for his object 
 was to borrow money of her to a considerable 
 extent. He wanted her, in fact, to sell her 
 little farm called Home Fields, and to place 
 the proceeds in his hands, to be invested in 
 some peculiarly advantageous manner just 
 then open to him. He had, he assured her, 
 a purchaser at hand, who would pay down 
 ready money for the land. And then he 
 dwelt long upon the harass of landed property 
 to a female at her time of life, and upon his 
 own wish to serve her in this matter — per- 
 haps the last act of filial duty he might ever 
 be permitted to perform. To all which the 
 old lady gave ungracious, and rather sneering 
 replies, assuring her son at last that she had 
 her own way of getting rid of the harass, inas- 
 much as §he was intending that very day to 
 give him notice to quit her farm, and to suit 
 herself with another tenant."
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 215 
 
 This was a blow for which Mr. Gray was 
 scarcely prepared, coming as it did with a 
 promptness and decision which almost took 
 away his breath. But he was meek and 
 patient — at least he thought himself so — very 
 meek, and held himself prepared professionally 
 for whatever blow might fall, saying often in 
 a low soft voice — '^ none of these things move 
 me." He did not intend to show that he was 
 moved on the present occasion, but he had 
 touched his mother on a tender point. He 
 had talked to her about her declining years, 
 and the anticipated close of her life. And 
 why so many people who came to her should 
 do that, she used to say, she never could tell, 
 seeing that she must know it herself, if any- 
 body did. It was not, she said, as if she went 
 flying about like Bess, or stuck artificial 
 flowers upon her head. A poor crippled 
 rheumatic body like her, was not very likely
 
 21G NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 to need reminding of her latter end, nor likely 
 to forget whereabouts in life she was — not 
 she. But she had her own notions about 
 things, and one of these was, that people wer« 
 going at as fast a rate in youth and middle 
 age as when they neared the end, and some- 
 times faster too. 
 
 Therefore, when Mr. Gray, in a solemn 
 manner, suggested the fact to his mother's 
 consideration, he put her upon her mettle ; 
 and they had what was believed throughout the 
 house to be a grand quarrel, for "grandmother's 
 stick thumped terribly," the children said. 
 
 If Mr. Gray was meek, he was pertinacious, 
 and as none of these things moved him, he 
 was the better able to go on and on, twisting 
 and teasing out a purpose until he generally 
 managed to succeed at last. He managed this, 
 however, with everybody better than with his 
 mother ; and on the present occasion it was
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 217 
 
 observed that he came down stairs with rather 
 a crest-fallen expression on his countenance ; 
 and as he passed out of the front door he was 
 heard to give utterance, or rather breath, to 
 deeper sighs than usual. 
 
 Itwasthe habit of Mr. Gray to sigh profoundly 
 as if in a kind of resigned regret at the course 
 pursued by people and things in general. He was 
 evidently baffled now — quite baffled, and he 
 went home to sigh there, especially as he passed 
 through the house into his own little private 
 room, from whence he did not emerge until a 
 late hour of the day. 
 
 It might have been expected that Mar- 
 garet Gray, after such an interview, would 
 have appeared exhausted, if not absolutely 
 overcome. She was nothing of the kind — not 
 she. So far from this, she sent oiF without 
 delay to request the attendance of her legal 
 adviser, Mr. Thornton, and was engaged with
 
 218 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 him for many hours in close and earnest con- 
 sultation. The result was a notice for her 
 son to quit the farm of Home Fields at the 
 next term, with various arrangements about 
 money and other matters affecting her grand- 
 children in general, and Robert Gray in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 Eobert was next sent for, and duly made 
 acquainted with what he had to expect from 
 his grandmother, and the terms upon which he 
 was bound down in entering upon his grand- 
 mother's farm. She had no objection what- 
 ever to speak with her own lips of her age or 
 her death. It was the ready way some other 
 people had of speaking on those subjects which 
 always vexed her. Robert was therefore 
 made acquainted on this occasion with the 
 responsible position which his aged relative 
 wished him to fill after her death as one of 
 her executors, and the only relation on whom
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 219 
 
 she desired that this duty should devolve. 
 
 After this long interview, there appeared to 
 be great satisfaction of mind on the part of 
 Margaret Gray. She was tired out, she said, 
 and wanted to rest; but all who saw her on the 
 evening of that day, thought her more patient 
 and quiet than usual; and Robert, at all events, 
 had cause to feel satisfied with the nature 
 of the business which had been transacted. 
 
 James Gray was a man who had been so 
 long living under a peculiar kind of mental^ 
 delusion, that the true nature of the man — his 
 real character simply as a man, could not have 
 been fairly judged of at this period of his life. 
 He was not the dark villain of a sensational 
 story — far otherwise. He was a man betrayed 
 by his own delusions into acting a part from 
 which he himself would have revolted could 
 the mist have been suddenly removed from his 
 eyes, and his own motives and actions set be-
 
 220 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 fore him in their true aspect. He was in fact 
 one of that class of people — not very rare — 
 who accept the devotional part of religion, and 
 disregard or reject the moral. Hence the 
 stern self-examination of a right-minded Chris- 
 tian had never been the religious work of his 
 life — only to worship. As if any right and 
 true and acceptable worship could exist with- 
 out the strictest rectitude of intention. Thus 
 it was that many hard things and some wrong 
 things had crept into the habits of thjs man's 
 life, without being accompanied by those 
 grosser and more malignant traits of character, 
 which constitute the villain of fictitious story. 
 To James Gray it would have been almost im- 
 possible to be malignant, or even spiteful for 
 the sake of spite. He only wanted certain 
 ends carrying out — ends at first quite justifi- 
 able, and such as are pursued by the generality 
 of good men, but ends which are apt to grow
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 221 
 
 more and more dear according to the intensity 
 of purpose with which they are pursued — ends 
 which are apt to get entangled, especially when 
 not altogether successful ; and so lead, as they 
 were now leading Mr. Gray, into an endless 
 labyrinth of scheme and subterfuge, of re- 
 source and evasion, until truth was mixing 
 itself up with falsehood, kindness with cruelty, 
 right with wrong. 
 
 Mr. Gray was neither malicious nor revenge- 
 ful. Even when baffled he did not turn round 
 to wound while retreating. On the present 
 occasion, though secretly becoming pressed on 
 every hand beyond what human patience 
 could well endure, he only retired within him- 
 self, and brooded over new schemes, possible 
 and impossible to him under his present cir- 
 cumstances. He had no disposition to avenge 
 himself, nor to embitter the life of any one. 
 In fact the past scarcely troubled him af all,
 
 222 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 simply because the future troubled him so 
 much. Hence he felt no anger against any 
 one in particular, and consequently was not 
 found difficult to deal with when his mother 
 proposed that the cottages on her farm should 
 be commenced with immediately, in order to 
 their being transformed into a decent dwelling- 
 house for Eobert and Bessy, when they should 
 enter upon their married life. The cottages 
 were of no sort of importance to Mr. Gray. 
 To refuse them would have been an act of 
 simple ill-nature — and of that he was not cap- 
 able. 
 
 These cottages consisted of a small block 
 of tenements of very humble description, 
 requiring no trifling amount of ingenuity to 
 convert them into anything like a tolerably 
 convenient or comfortable habitation. They 
 were, however, pleasantly situated on the side 
 of a 'hazel copse, with lofty and venerable
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 223 
 
 trees for a background, and a sloping grass 
 field in front, at the bottom of which ran the 
 same brook which skirted the garden at Apple- 
 garth ; only here it was more hemmed in by 
 high banks, and more interrupted by the 
 roots of massive trees, and other impediments 
 to its course, and consequently the stream at 
 some seasons of the year was more rapid and 
 tumultuous. 
 
 The sound of this constantly flowing water, 
 sometimes rippling, sometimes rushing, was 
 always soothing and pleasant. It could be 
 heard distinctly at the cottages, and Robert 
 would stand upon the spot listening, and some- 
 times forgetting for a moment the ground plan 
 of operations duly concocted with his grand- 
 mother, which he held in his hand, while 
 musing upon the happy summer evenings — 
 nay, upon the happy mornings and noons 
 also, of his future life. That all would be
 
 224 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 according to any romantic or poetical view of 
 things, he did not believe ; but that his life 
 would be happy in a way to satisfy him, he 
 never for one moment doubted. He knew the 
 whims and fancies of his cousin so well, he 
 often said to himself — so well, that he could 
 have nothing to find out, and nothing to fear. 
 Another man might be afraid — nay, he even 
 granted that another man might not find him- 
 self perfectly happy with Bessy for his wife. 
 But he should. At all events, he was going 
 to make the experiment. 
 
 It was a little disappointing to Robert that 
 when the plan of the cottages was first pro- 
 posed to his betrothed, she did not take to it 
 at all, but turned up her pretty nose, and 
 pouted her rosy lip, and said they might as 
 well take up at once with her father's new 
 pigstye. It would save expense, and for any- 
 thing she could see would be every bit as com-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 225 
 
 fortable. And not only was her disgust made 
 manifest on the first mention of this plan, but 
 she would not afterwards try, as she ought to 
 have done, to make the best of it. Indeed, to 
 tell the truth of Bessy, it must be confessed 
 that she was a very perverse young lady, 
 sometimes utterly failing her friends where 
 they expected the most from her, and some- 
 times coming out quite good, and rather great, 
 where nothing of the kind was either antici- 
 pated or required. 
 
 Robert Gray, however, possessed a large 
 share of that manly instinct by which many 
 besides himself have been supported under 
 similar circumstances — a very consoling kind 
 of instinct, which told him many pleasant 
 things about himself, and about men in gene- 
 ral, as regards their power to make women 
 happy, when once constituted the lords of 
 their destiny. Not that Robert had any 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 foolish conceit of himself individually — far 
 from it. Neither did he reason much about 
 how his wife in particular was to be made 
 happy. With such perplexing thoughts, his 
 earnest and single mind was seldom troubled. 
 He was far too busy with immediate and 
 practical matters, requiring his utmost atten- 
 tion, to entertain for a moment any vague 
 notions, or disturbing doubts, as to the 
 different ways of making people happy or 
 miserable. And thus he went cheerfully on, 
 planning, building, farming, and managing to 
 . the very best of his ability, with little to dis- 
 turb him beyond the smallness of the re- 
 sources at his command. He would have 
 gladly built a grand hall for the woman he 
 loved, if he could, and he would have 
 delighted in nothing so much as making her 
 the mistress of the most comfortable home in 
 all the county. Beyond this his imagination
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 227 
 
 never wandered. He knew exactly what 
 would be appropriate for his wife, and what 
 would not. He never thought of Bessy as a 
 fairy queen ; she was too real and substantial 
 for that, and he wanted the comforts of her 
 home to be real and substantial too. 
 
 But if Bessy held aloof, and sneered at the 
 cottages, everyone else took to them in the 
 most earnest and affectionate manner. 
 
 As the days lengthened, and mild spring 
 weather allowed even old Margaret Gray to 
 visit the spot, it might often be seen with 
 different members of both families standing or 
 peering about, taking views from various 
 positions to ascertain how it would look 
 when all was complete, scrambling amongst 
 the bricks and mortar, asking all manner of 
 questions of the workmen employed, and 
 even giving directions spontaneously, and 
 with such endless variety of conception and 
 
 q2
 
 228 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 design, as to threaten the utmost perplexity 
 of result. The house seemed to be every- 
 body's — the undertaking to belong to all. 
 Such is the effect of that far-reaching 
 sociability which once bound together in 
 familiar clanship the simple families inhabit- 
 ing the rural districts of our northern 
 counties. 
 
 If the exterior arrangements of the future 
 home of the young couple were examined, 
 superintended, and discussed, much in the 
 way of public property, the interior was still 
 more so, but especially the provisional 
 department — all, in short, considered as 
 belonging to what was familiarly called 
 "keeping a good house." Had the future 
 bride been too much addicted to romantic 
 or poetical delusions, these preparations 
 would have been sufficient to effect her cure. 
 They were all for the body — food, clothing,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 229 
 
 and other appliances for household comfort, 
 such as the able and willing hands employed 
 in those times were accustomed to furnish by 
 their own labour. Indeed, the honour of a 
 bride, and the opinion entertained as to the 
 respectability of her home and her bringing 
 up, depended so much upon her outfit, that 
 no family with the least regard for its own 
 credit would allow one of its members to be 
 shabbily sent out to her husband's home ; 
 and as travelling was slow and difficult, and 
 helping hands were easily obtained — but 
 more especially as ready money habitually 
 ran short — there were many substantial 
 persons in the rural districts who never 
 dreamed of making costly town purchases, 
 even when a marriage was in preparation. 
 The better order of farmers would perhaps 
 allow their daughters a certain sum to be laid 
 out at York, or any other large town within
 
 230 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 convenient distance, and the disposal of this 
 sum was an event in a life-time — something 
 to be calculated upon for many months before- 
 hand, and remembered to the last stage of 
 existence. 
 
 Bessy had not come to this grand event 
 yet. It was one well suited to her taste, only 
 that she would be sure to have spent the sum 
 so many times over in idea, that the real hard 
 cash, when obtained possession of at last, 
 would scarcely hold out so as to cover one 
 hundredth part of her expenses. 
 
 ^' Oh ! for a pocket full of money !'^ How 
 many exclamations of this kind might have 
 been heard in the plentiful country homes of 
 those days, where the tables were heaped 
 with profusion enough to make a Cockney 
 wonder. The fact was, they thought nothing 
 of eating and drinking anything — everything 
 attainable amongst themselves, without having
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 231 
 
 to be paid for in ready money, or, as such 
 things appeared to them, needing to be paid 
 for at all. Thus they baked, and brewed, 
 pickled, potted, and preserved to their heart's 
 content, and covered the tables with good 
 things in families where a new silk dress was 
 an article of almost impossible attainment. 
 
 And now the pickling, potting, and pre- 
 serving began ; indeed, all preparations, in 
 fact, which admitted of lapse of time be- 
 fore the period of consumption. Nor were 
 these preparations by any means confined only 
 to Whinfield and Applegarth. Eelations 
 scattered about the country, and even further 
 off than that, contributed. There was a 
 grandmother on the side of the Bells, and she, 
 good woman, began to spin. Far down in a 
 remote dale, amongst the Wolds, her wheel 
 was humming almost all through the day, and 
 when her time-worn hands relaxed in this
 
 232 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 pleasant industry, her one servant, having 
 finished her household work long before the 
 setting of the sun, sat down to the wheel and 
 spun her evening portion. Then the village 
 weaver was engaged, that important personage 
 who, in those days, was looked to for the pro- 
 duction of the finest and most even web, and 
 whose work was discussed at country tea- 
 drinkings, or while the homely party strolled 
 out afterwards along the narrow walks of the 
 little kitchen-garden, or out into the shaw, 
 where the fine sheets were bleaching slowly 
 but sweetly in the sun and air, without the 
 intervention of any known chemical agency, 
 or any other machinery than the faithful 
 hands, which turned and sprinked according 
 to the established rule of bygone genera- 
 tions. 
 
 The last which the writer of this simple 
 story can remember of one of this extinct race
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 233 
 
 of village weavers was a little old and feeble 
 man, bent nearly double by long stooping at 
 his loom. He lived where the long roll of 
 the waves of the German Ocean must have 
 made mournful murmurs through his empty 
 house. He and his poor old wife had held 
 on by this expiring trade as long as there 
 was a mouthful of bread to be obtained by it, 
 and, it is to be feared, a little longer. For 
 one morning the neighbours, having become 
 anxious because no one was seen moving 
 about the small tenement, made it their busi- 
 ness to inquire within, and found that the old 
 couple, in consequence of having no fire, and 
 nothing to eat, had concluded to remain in 
 bed all day. They had made the discovery, 
 they said, that while in a lying position they 
 felt the hunger less. 
 
 In the village of Norton, about a mile from 
 Whinfield, there lived a famous weaver. He
 
 234 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 was a man of vast importance to the house- 
 wives of the neighbourhood, and one who had 
 no need, at present, to lie in bed in order to 
 allay the pangs of hunger. To him the pro- 
 duce of that ceaseless spinning-wheel was sent 
 from the quiet valley amongst the Wolds. 
 And then the bleaching process was carried 
 on at Whinfield, under the superintendence 
 of Margaret Gray, whose rheumatism did not 
 allow her to spin. And, besides this, there 
 was a shrewd guess on the part of those 
 who knew her best, that general superinten- 
 dence suited the disposition of the old lady 
 better than individual work. So the orchard 
 and paddock at the back of Whinfield Hall 
 became first grey, and then white, with the 
 outspread sheets and table-linen which were 
 to constitute an important part of the bridal 
 outfit. 
 
 Applegarth was more especially the seat of
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 235 
 
 operations for the table. Molly was un- 
 rivalled in this department ; and to prepare 
 for her young master — her favourite from his 
 early childhood — was an occupation in which 
 she was not likely to stint or slacken. The 
 appetite of a Titan, with a Titanic bride, could 
 never have consumed one hundredth part of 
 the provisions which Molly employed herself 
 in making ready. From the very earliest an- 
 nouncement of the matrimonial project being 
 a settled and accredited thing, she had begun 
 to make ready. If nothing else could be 
 found at that season of the year to undertake^ 
 there was the lard to be melted down on the 
 killing of the winter's pigs. And then the 
 hens — how they were watched and listened to 
 when they began their very first attempts at 
 spring cackling, in order that every e^g might 
 be seized, so as to be put down with its 
 fellows, and preserved in the most approved
 
 236 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 fashion of making old things serve instead of 
 new. Molly was supreme in this department, 
 as well as in many others ; and if any person 
 had ventured to suggest to her that many new 
 eggs would be laid before Eobert could pos- 
 sibly be married, while the old ones would be 
 growing musty and bad, they would have re- 
 ceived a peculiar kind of snubbing, which 
 Molly was quite as clever at as she was at 
 preserving eggs. 
 
 So the process went on to her heart's con- 
 tent. The family found it best, as a whole, 
 to let Molly alone ; only that Alice, out of 
 her slender housekeeping purse, really could 
 not supply funds enough for the number of 
 jars, and other receptacles which Molly's pre- 
 parations seemed likely to require. For the 
 tug of war had not come yet. This was only 
 the light skirmishing before its commence- 
 ment. There was the preserving and pickling
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 237 
 
 — all the garden stuff and orchard produce to 
 take into account. 
 
 " Because, you see/' Molly would often 
 say, " they'll ev nowt up yondther. Mebby a 
 berry three or two." 
 
 And then would follow that contemptuous 
 conclusion, half sneer, half snort, with which 
 she generally closed the matter after her own 
 fashion. 
 
 Nor was the junior class of relatives per- 
 mitted to remain in idleness. Few, perhaps, 
 desired it, for the event, even beyond the 
 usual joy of such events, appeared in this 
 instance to be marked by universal good-will. 
 It is true, the little hands at Whinfield were 
 more busy than effective ; yet they all had 
 something placed in them to do. Many a dry 
 seam, and monotonous hem, which Bessy grew 
 tired of herself, was handed over to her little 
 sisters, who, soon losing the first excitement
 
 238 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 of the enterprise, relapsed into their accus- 
 tomed desultory ways, and threw tlie plain 
 sewing about, until Bessy stirred them all up 
 again, sometimes by a fit of wrath, at others 
 by absolute bribery and corruption, such as 
 the promise of a raid into mother's store-room, 
 an attack upon her honey-pot ; or to the boys 
 a ride round the paddock on Pepper. 
 
 Like many others similarly circumstanced, 
 Bessy became a general favourite throughout 
 the household, so soon as there dawned a 
 prospect of her leaving it. She had always 
 been a favourite with the children by fits and 
 starts, and just now they were pleased for 
 awhile with the idea of helping her to be 
 married. It was, to be sure, rather an odd 
 kind of help which they rendered. A notion 
 of white beads prevailed amongst the girls, 
 and these were stuck upon various materials, 
 after devices both curious and rare. One
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 239 
 
 little girl, more practical in her efforts, went 
 so far as to commence a large white nursery 
 pincushion ; while the smaller boys, taught, 
 as boys were in those days, to knit and be 
 good, employed their fingers upon a vast 
 amount of dingy gartering. 
 
 In the midst of these operations, grand- 
 mother came down upon them, insisting upon 
 dusters, tea-cloths, and other household 
 articles, instead of the bead frippery ; and a 
 quantity of coarse linen was procured, at 
 which different members of the family cut in- 
 discriminately, and worked after their own 
 fancy. Everybody must do something. Grand- 
 mother insisted upon that. The maids in the 
 kitchen had each her allotted task ; and even 
 Peter the cowman knitted a pair of coarse 
 worsted stockings, as his contribution to the 
 bridal outfit. . 
 
 Alice wondered all this while how it was
 
 240 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ■with her cousin — whether in her pleasantly- 
 opening prospects Bessy was quite as happy 
 as she would have been herself. Perhaps the 
 want of novelty in having known Robert 
 from childhood, and having been, as long as 
 she could remember, accustomed to his kind 
 attentions, might take off something of that 
 interest generally attaching to a betrothal — 
 at least, so far as Bessy was concerned. But 
 Alice thought within herself there were all 
 the deeper feelings still the same, and these 
 to her were all, or so nearly all, that, under 
 similar circumstances, she could never have 
 known the want of others. 
 
 And Bessy really was improved ; everyone 
 thought her so — sobered and softenpd. She 
 appeared more serious, too, and became more 
 companionable. She herself seemed more in 
 want of companionship in a quiet way, and 
 less dependent upon momentary excitement.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 241 
 
 Hence she more frequently sought occasion 
 for a private chat with Alice — either strolling 
 in the fields, or resting in the little moss house 
 beside the brook, where the two cousins 
 would sit together during many an hour, 
 muffled closely in their shawls, and vainly en- 
 deavouring to persuade themselves they were 
 not cold. Long days, however, were fast 
 stealing on, and spring came very pleasantly 
 that year ; not with hard, searching, north- 
 east winds, but with genial showers and 
 gentle gales, making the grass green almost 
 before its time, and the trees throw out the 
 first rounding of their purple buds earlier 
 than any of the old shepherds or ploughmen 
 remembered to have seen them before. 
 
 It was a sight worth seeing in that little 
 dell, when the plump white lambs began to 
 skip from bank to hillock, and to chase one 
 another around the roots of the trees ; where 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the bluebells lifted up their heads in the 
 shady places, and the starry primroses twinkled 
 out on the banks below the hedges. It was 
 altogether a time for pleasant thoughts, and 
 bright anticipations, and cheerful dreams of 
 future happiness. 
 
 All sweet and genial influences seemed to 
 be gathering around the two cousins that 
 spring — outwardly so, at least, for Alice kept 
 her own sorrow, if, indeed, it was a sorrow 
 — closely locked within her own heart. If it 
 was a sorrow, it was a very gentle one, be- 
 cause she had faith — faith that, wherever 
 love was worth calling love, it was impossible 
 that it should die ; and if hers was not worth 
 calling love, why, she would tear it from her 
 heart — that was all ; nothing could* be easier, 
 Alice thought, if utterly unworthy to be cher- 
 ished there. Yes ; she had faith and patience, 
 too. She could wait and be silent.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 243 
 
 Beyond this, Alice could so abstract her 
 thoughts from her own concerns, as to throw 
 a large amount of warm and womanly interest 
 into those of her cousin, so that Bessy neither 
 perceived nor suspected that Alice had any 
 peculiar interests of her own on which to 
 employ her thoughts. It was not Bessy's 
 habit to trouble herself much about the con- 
 cerns of other people, unless they happened 
 to be forced upon her attention in some novel 
 or exciting form ; and of all times in her ex- 
 perience, she was least likely to do so now 
 that she had so many things to think about 
 of her own. 
 
 " Stiiy Bessy said to her cousin one day, 
 after she had sat an unusual length of time, 
 with her eyes fixed upon the gliding stream — 
 " still, I would rather have gone farther from 
 home, and have begun a newer kind of 
 life." 
 
 r2
 
 244 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " Oh ! Bessy," exclaimed her cousin, " I 
 wonder at you ! It seems to me so nice to 
 keep the old friends, and to live in the old 
 place — almost the old home !" 
 
 *^ Yes, nice,' said Bessy rather scornfully ; 
 ** I daresay it is nice, as you call it ; but I 
 sometimes like things better nasty than nice 
 — eternally nice !" 
 
 It must be observed that Bessy's use of the 
 word nasty had a meaning confined almost 
 exclusively to the North, and bearing no 
 relation whatever to the ordinary use of the 
 word in the South. With Bessy it meant 
 perverse, vexatious, cross-going, and difficult 
 — perhaps a little bad. Anything nice was 
 too prim, well set, and well-accredited for 
 Bessy ; so she went on after awhile in the 
 same strain, for she had fallen back into one 
 of her discontented moods. 
 
 " ril tell you what it is, Alice, Fm not cut
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 245 
 
 out for smooth sailing ; and the long and the 
 short of the matter is, Robert is too good for 
 me." 
 
 " I cannot understand you. How can one's 
 husband be too good, if only he is manly as 
 well ? — and Robert is no saint, if that is what 
 you m^an.'^ 
 
 " No, he is worse than that. I could 
 manage a saint ; but Robert is so upright — 
 so right in every way, that I quite hate my- 
 self beside him." 
 
 ^^ To me it would be the very perfection of 
 life that my husband should be right, what- 
 ever I might be myself. I should enjoy all 
 the glory and all the happiness of never losing 
 confidence in him. It must be a grand thing, 
 Bessy, to feel proud of one's husband because 
 he is manly and right." 
 
 " What ! and to feel ashamed of one- 
 self ?"
 
 246 NORTHERN ROSES. | 
 
 " I don't think I should mind that so much '' 
 
 if I was in the way of growing b'etter, as I ; 
 should be with such a husband.'' 
 
 ^^ You and I are very different, Alice. You ! 
 
 want something to admire and approve ; I I 
 
 want something to be vexed with, and then ; 
 
 I 
 
 to forgive. Yes, and I believe I should be a ■ 
 
 better woman too, if " ■■ 
 
 ^^ If what?" : 
 
 " I dare not tell you what, but certainly if 
 
 things were a little different. In the first i 
 
 place, I don't like a dull flat — I hate it. I'm \ 
 
 tired to death, too, of all this fuss ; why, they 
 
 are spinning and bleaching as if I was going j 
 
 to be that wise woman in the Bible, with her ' 
 
 children and people rising up to call her 
 
 blessed. I've a shrewd guess nobody will j 
 
 ever call me blessed, let them plant me where , 
 
 they will." i
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 247 
 
 ''Nonsense, Bessy ; don't talk in that way. 
 It's quite wicked/' 
 
 " It is wicked, I know that very well ; 
 somehow I want to be wicked. Heigh-ho ! I 
 wonder what I was made for. Perhaps I 
 shall die, Alice." 
 
 " Now you are talking foolishly, indeed, 
 Bessy. You, of all people in the world, going 
 to die ! What could make that notion come 
 into your head ?" 
 
 " I don't know. I could not explain it if 
 I were to try for a week. Do you think it 
 is what people call a presentiment of what is 
 coming ?" 
 
 "Nay, you are growing romantic now, 
 Bessy. What has come over you ? " 
 
 "Is it romantic to feel in this way ? If 
 so, I certainly am romantic ; for do you 
 know, Alice, I have no real belief that I
 
 248 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ever shall be Eobert's wife after all, nor live 
 in that little ugly house, nor eat those pre- 
 serves, nor sleep in that fine linen, nor be 
 anything that they all think I shall be. I go 
 along with them when they are talking, and 
 especially with Kobert, he is so pleased with 
 his prospects, dear old fellow. And some- 
 times I am pleased too, and think I will make 
 him, oh, such a good wife ! And then at 
 other times there comes a great wall between 
 me and all these things, and I lose sight of 
 what they are talking about, as if it belonged 
 to some other person, not to me at all." 
 
 The two cousins remained silent after this, 
 but Alice looked aside at the beautiful cheek 
 so near her own, now so fresh and lovely in 
 its bloom, and she detected, almost for the 
 first time, a certain whiteness bordering on 
 the lips, with a blue transparent hue here and 
 there, which she had never seen so clearly
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 249 
 
 before. Thinking the place was too cold for 
 her cousin, she drew her hand within her 
 own, and rising from her seat, said quietly, 
 ** Let us go home."
 
 250 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A FTER a little curiosity attendant upon 
 the first settlement of Major Inglewood 
 and his daughter in the quiet old-fashioned 
 village of Norton, it was found that there 
 were few points of assitnilation between them 
 and the people by whom they were surround- 
 ed. Essentially a man of the world, an early 
 pupil in what is now, happily for the present 
 age, an antiquated school, the old gentleman 
 had no sympathy and little toleration for the 
 simple folk who attended Methodist meetings, 
 and occupied themselves almost exclusively with 
 thehomely details of rural life; and he could not 
 at all times disguise his contempt for what he 
 considered their absurdities, or worse. He
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 251 
 
 could meet them with civility in their fields, 
 where he often jogged about on an old pony, 
 and where he would frequently discuss with 
 them the merits of diiferent crops and modes 
 of cultivation. He could meet and chat with 
 them here, and give no offence. So far from 
 that, they would often speak of him. after 
 such interviews as ^^ a sensible old fellow, if 
 he would only talk reasonably and like a 
 God-fearing man." But he so often lost his 
 patience, even on such indifferent topics, so. 
 often threw out allusions to other points on 
 which his views were strange to them, that 
 the country people generally rather shunned 
 than sought his company, regarding him 
 under the mildest aspect as not one of them- 
 selves. 
 
 Amongst the few families of respectability 
 who had called on the Inglewoods, there were 
 scarcely any who seemed anxious to keep up
 
 252 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the acquaintance. Alice and her brother 
 were amongst these. Both were repelled by 
 the old gentleman, yet both were attracted to- 
 wards the daughter by a kind of pitying inte- 
 rest, which it would have been difficult to ex- 
 plain. By degrees, however, Robert, now 
 deeply absorbed in his own more urgent 
 affairs, gave up these visits, though Alice still 
 continued hers occasionally, rather as a matter 
 of duty, and at times a very irksome duty to 
 herself. 
 
 It was generally with some faint hope of 
 finding Miss Inglewood alone that Alice made 
 these calls, but hitherto she had failed in 
 making much progress towards intimacy with 
 that retiring silent girl, whose dark eyes she 
 might have seen did sometimes brighten un- 
 deniably when she spoke to her kindly. 
 "Poor little frightened thing!" Alice used to 
 say to herself sometimes when thinking of
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 253 
 
 Kate Inglewood. And then she would feel 
 suddenly checked in her compassionate expres- 
 sions by the consciousness of a certain dignity 
 and refinement in this hidden character, 
 which made her almost fear while she pitied 
 her. 
 
 Kate Inglewood was one of those persons, 
 not easily understood, who can, on certain oc- 
 casions, say a few expressive or confidential 
 words which bind us to them more closely 
 than years of mere ordinary intercourse. She 
 had once spoken in this way to Alice when 
 parting at the garden gate. She had looked 
 into her face too with those large eyes swim- 
 ming in tears, though she tried to conceal them, 
 and turned her face away from the western 
 sky, which shone full upon the two girls as 
 they lingered at the gate ; and then, as if 
 fearing she had gone too far, she turned 
 round and opened the gate for Alice, letting
 
 254 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 her out with the simplest and coldest good 
 night. 
 
 But Alice had seen the tears. She had de- 
 tected the quivering of the voice — she had 
 seen in that moment, and felt in her inmost 
 heart that the poor solitary girl wanted a 
 friend, and that she herself might in some 
 sense be the friend she wanted. 
 
 The next time Alice called after this there 
 was no trace of the same emotion on the 
 small pale face. Kate had retired within her- 
 self. Her father was present, and it was the 
 rule of the house that he should be all in all. 
 Even with the most trifling of young lady 
 visitors, he must still be all in all. Indeed, 
 with such he appeared most in his element ; 
 especially if they were pretty, or in any way 
 captivating. In their society he would put 
 away all his sternness, and much of 
 his satire, acting the gallant old beau very
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 255 
 
 mucli to his own satisfaction, and some- 
 times, as it seemed, to theirs. At such 
 times he might ahuost have been mis- 
 taken for the young gallant ; but for his 
 withered hands, his spectacles, and gouty 
 foot, the last rendering it necessary for him 
 always to use a stick to lean upon indoors, 
 and for outdoor exercise the old white pony 
 upon which he was generally seen. 
 
 Although it was the habit of Major Ingle- 
 wood to be most agreeably entertained by the 
 society of young ladies, Alice Grey was a 
 striking exception to this rule, and she was 
 not sorry that it should be so. She had little 
 taste for the playful badinage in which he was 
 so great an adept ; and more than all, in plain 
 words — she did not like him. She did not 
 go about, as some did, retailing his profane 
 speeches, and laughing as if it were quite a 
 funny thing for an old gentleman to be wick-
 
 256 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ed. She simply said, when asked, that she 
 knew very little of him, and what she did 
 know she did not like. His daughter she 
 never failed to speak of Avith interest, and 
 even tenderness. But these expressions seldom 
 produced an echo, for Kate was considered 
 proud, reserved, town-bred — a hundred things 
 not approved of in the social code of Picker- 
 ing Vale. 
 
 It happened one day, when Alice called as 
 usual, hoping to find Miss Inglewood alone, 
 and again being disappointed, that, having 
 exhausted every common-place topic she could 
 think of with the old gentleman, who showed 
 strong symptoms of preferring his newspaper, 
 that just as she was considering how to effect 
 her retreat without abruptness, her cousin 
 Bessy came thundering at the door, and sud- 
 denly entered the room, with her cheeks 
 flushed, her eyes bright and flashing, and her
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 257 
 
 hair thrown into picturesque disorder, which, in 
 hair that curls naturally, may look well, but 
 in no other. 
 
 Never was transformation more complete 
 than that which this splendid apparition effect- 
 ed in the studious reader of his daily paper. 
 A bland intelligence instantly suffused itself 
 all over his expressive face — for it was ex- 
 pressive in the extreme, and might once have 
 been handsome. Bessy appeared equally de- 
 lighted — Alice wondered why. It was the first 
 meeting of the cousins after they had sat 
 together that cold afternoon in the moss-house, 
 when Bessy had so affectingly foretold her 
 own early death ; and still more unaccountable 
 was her appearance now, when Alice recol- 
 lected howk wearily and discontentedly she had 
 talked, as if tired of everybody and every- 
 thing. And here was the same girl, with her 
 best bloom on this morning, as if all the world 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 2o8 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 had suddenly become changed. Whatever 
 subject was discussed, she took it up with a 
 vigour and animation peculiarly her own — 
 talking, in her wild random way, like one who 
 had never entertained a serious thought in all 
 her life ; while at the old gentleman's some- 
 what questionable jokes, she laughed her 
 musical laugh, and showed her large pearly 
 teeth, and rosy dimples, until the jokes became 
 frequently interspersed with personal allusions 
 and compliments, which made Alice's cheeks 
 flush with indignation, while her thoughts 
 wandered off to her brother Robert, and a little 
 to his horsewhip. 
 
 It was evident these two had often met 
 before, and on extremely familiar terms. It 
 was evident, too, that the badinage carried 
 on between them was anything but agreeable 
 to the daughter, who never joined in a single 
 jest, but remained silent in a distant part of
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 259 
 
 the room, as if wholly abstracted from what 
 was going on, and desiring to be so, only that 
 she now and then looked intently at Alice, 
 and, catching her eye, bent down again over 
 the work she was holding in her hand. 
 
 At last Bessy declared she must go, and 
 Alice, who had Avaited for her, rose at the 
 same time. Turning to say good morning to 
 Major Ingle wood, she saw that he was rising 
 too, and that her cousin had drawn near his 
 chair to assist him, as if it was an accustomed 
 thing with her to do so. Placing his hand 
 within her arm, and leaning rather heavily 
 upon that instead of his stick, he walked, or, 
 rather, hobbled with her down the steps at 
 the front door, and along the garden walk, 
 saying pretty nothings, at which Bessy still 
 laughed, and looked pleased. 
 
 The couple proceeded so slowly that Alice 
 and Kate had a few words at the gate, in the 
 
 s2
 
 2 GO NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 midst of ^vliicli Alice observed that her 
 companion stopped suddenly, and listened to 
 what her father was saying. He was asking 
 Bessy to come and dine with him on a certain 
 day, to which he added — 
 
 *^ And bring that young brother of yours 
 with you. I like the lad. He has something 
 in him, and with a few more glasses of my old 
 port, I'm mistaken if we shall not find some- 
 thing more." 
 
 '^ I'm sure he will be delighted to come," 
 was the ready reply from Bessy. 
 
 By this time they had nearly reached the 
 gate, when, snatching the last moment, Kate 
 looked up to Alice, and said hastily, with a 
 troubled face, 
 
 ^' Don't let that boy come here." 
 
 It was such a troubled face, and such a 
 pleading voice with which the poor girl 
 spoke, that Alice could not forget it. When
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 261 
 
 she tried to sleep, this unexplained appeal 
 still haunted her. She dared not speak a 
 word to her brother on the subject, fearing 
 she might be betrayed into telling more than 
 was prudent about the interview altogether, 
 with no phase of which was she satisfied, and 
 she felt that her brother would be less so. 
 She had expressed some words of disapproba- 
 tion to her cousin as they walked home 
 together after the call, and Bessie had 
 retorted in that ungracious manner which ^ 
 indicated one of her accustomed moods, under 
 the influence of which she was wholly imprac- 
 ticable ; so Alice had nothing for it but to 
 bide her time. 
 
 If the general preparations for her future 
 had begun early to pall upon the fancy of the 
 affianced bride in consequence of her humour 
 always craving variety or excitement, there 
 was one phase of these preparations which
 
 262 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 had the rare good fortune to please her still. 
 It was the gardqn attaching to Home Fields 
 House, as the new residence was to be called. 
 Suddenly, without any previously known 
 horticultural tendencies, Bessy took to her 
 garden — yes, her garden — it was to be 
 entirely hers. Her father had promised her, 
 now while work in the fields was not very 
 urgent, that she might have one of his best 
 labourers* to do her bidding through the 
 greater portion of every day, and a very 
 capricious bidding it was. Poor old Peter 
 was the man, and he positively declared that 
 he never planted a tree under her direction 
 but he took it up again a dozen times ; and as 
 for seeds, they would grow, he said, ^' all 
 over alike, for he'd scattered," he thought, 
 " a'most ivery sort, and in ivery spot, at one 
 time or another.'' 
 
 Even in the filling up of this garden,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 263 
 
 friends and neighbours contributed. One 
 sent a laurel, another a rose-tree, and so on, 
 until it really did look something like a 
 garden at last ; and Bessy declared it beau- 
 tiful. It was one day, while busily engaged 
 in this occupation, in which she was by no 
 means satisfied with directing, but rolled, and 
 thumped, and dug, and stamped, herself, that 
 Bessy threw down her spade, suddenly ex- 
 claiming, 
 
 *' What a sight my hands will be ! I am 
 to dine at Major Ingle wood's to-day, and I 
 declare my fingers look like so many carrots." 
 
 Without waiting to tell Peter what he 
 must do in her absence, Bessy flew off home, 
 and calling to her brother Willy, in his attic, 
 that they had only half an hour for dressing, 
 she applied herself to her own toilette with 
 every appearance of satisfaction, except for 
 her hands, which were shockingly spread out,
 
 264 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and discoloured with the labour of that and 
 many previous days. 
 
 But Willy needed no notice to prepare. 
 He had been at his toilette, more or less, 
 nearly all the morning. The event was one 
 of a life-time to him. Somehow, the romantic 
 fancy of the boy had been caught by the 
 Inglewoods from the first; and the dis- 
 tinguished compliment of being asked to dine 
 with a gentleman like the Major, had kept him 
 awake nearly the whole night, after his sister 
 had told him of the flattering remarks upon 
 himself with which the invitation was accom- 
 panied. Then that allusion to the old port, 
 too, was so manly, so gentlemanly. Poor 
 Willy ! he was far enough from being ad- 
 dicted to port in his daily life ; and perhaps 
 for that reason the proposal appeared to him 
 the more dignified and complimentary. Yes, 
 he was going to dine and to drink old port
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 265 
 
 with a gentleman — a man of the world ; and, 
 what was still more to him, a literary man. 
 He felt taller, wiser, more manly, and conse- 
 quently better pleased with himself than ever 
 in his whole life before. 
 
 Neither Mr. and Mrs. Bell, nor even old 
 Margaret Gray, thought much about this in- 
 vitation. They considered Bessy's visit as 
 paid entirely to Miss Inglewood, and probably 
 thought it rather a nice thing that Willy 
 should be with his sister to bring her home. 
 The younger members of the farmer's families 
 were accustomed to pay frequent visits, on 
 their own account, in a social, hearty way, 
 without much reference to their elders — half 
 the pleasure of such visits often consisting in 
 long rides through country lanes, either on 
 horseback, strangely accoutred for the even- 
 ing, or in rickety carriages of antique structure, 
 provocative of much laughter and amusement,
 
 266 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 especially when tlie night was dark in return- 
 ing, and the roads intolerably bad. 
 
 Thus, a dinner and quiet evening at Major 
 Inglewood's, in the near and often-frequented 
 village of Norton, appeared quite a regular 
 and orthodox affair ; for it must be under- 
 stood that the j^^ous families were so situated 
 as not to be very nice in questioning where 
 they should visit, and where they should not. 
 Even the most strict, in their own religious 
 views, would often pay visits to those who 
 were very different ; partly, no doubt, from 
 this peculiarity in their religious condition 
 generally, that it was for the most part here 
 and there, one or two in separate families who 
 had embraced those strict views, rather than 
 any mass of the community ; and until they 
 did embrace religion as a personal matter, 
 and obtain, as they considered it, liberation 
 from the bondage of sin, those upon whom
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 267 
 
 the change had not yet been wrought might 
 go pretty much at large, following out their 
 own inclinations, except in extreme cases, 
 without causing their parents much uneasi- 
 ness. Conditions of better or worse in such 
 cases were scarcely admitted. All were bad, 
 and equally so, whatever their conduct might 
 be, until converted ; and then it was taken 
 for granted, perhaps a little too readily, that 
 all were good. 
 
 Hence there was no further objection to asso- 
 ciating with the Inglewoods than such as might 
 arise from personal feelings, especially as none 
 of the parents knew much about the Major's 
 style of conversation with young people. He 
 had remarkable tact in suiting his conversation 
 to his company, aYid knew exactly how far it 
 was safe to go. Besides, which there were 
 few amongst those primitive and simple 
 people who would really have understood the
 
 268 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 drift of half Major Inglewood's expressions, 
 even had they heard them, couched, as his 
 meaning often was, under a satire which could 
 assume all modes of expression, from the sly 
 inuendo and sardonic sneer to the utmost 
 virulence of contempt. The power which he 
 liked so well to feel that he was exercising 
 over others did not consist in argument. It 
 would seem rather that he found nobody worth 
 arguing with — nothing forcible enough to op- 
 pose. No one could accuse him of ever 
 making an attack upon them ; but there were 
 those who seldom left his presence without 
 feeling that their favourite theories were over- 
 thrown, and sometimes their familiar practices 
 made to look hateful or absurd. It was a 
 crushing ordeal to pass through for those who 
 devoutly believed in good — who profoundly 
 hated evil. Not that they found either good 
 or evil specified as such, but all the simple and
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 269 
 
 cherished attributes of good to which they 
 might have been accustomed from childhood 
 would suddenly be transformed, as by the 
 wand of a wizard, into emblems of folly, 
 if not even into something worse than 
 these. 
 
 And now a tender-spirited, inexperienced 
 youth, who, from infancy, had been taught to 
 pray beside his mother's knee, was going; and 
 well pleased to go, with his half-formed notions, 
 his romantic theories, his poetical but still 
 pure aspirations after good, to submit himself 
 to this ordeal. How is it that with such cha- 
 racters we so generally find allied an excess of 
 vanity — or rather call it love of approbation, 
 which they neither understand themselves nor 
 know how to hide from others ? 
 
 Major Inglewood was vain — intensely vain, 
 or he would never have drawn young people 
 about him as he did, nor spent his time in
 
 270 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 talking to them, while they sat with rapt at- 
 tention listening, as they fancied, to an oracle. 
 But while he had this weakness in his own 
 heart, his piercing eye detected the least symp- 
 tom of it in others ; and then he could catch 
 its finest threads, and draw them out, gradu- 
 ally — surely, and sometimes spitefully, to the 
 infinite torture of his victim, when it suited 
 his morbid humour to give pain. 
 
 But besides this power. Major Inglewood 
 had another, and a much more dangerous 
 mode of influence. He could awaken in young 
 and inexperienced minds the warmest interest 
 and tenderest sympathy for himself. He could 
 now and then, though very rarely, enchant 
 his hearers with sudden outbursts of enthu- 
 siasm, as if he would have been — what could 
 he not have been, but for adverse circum- 
 stances? or with sudden thrills of tender- 
 ness, as if he had felt — what had he not
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 271 
 
 felt? And then he would as suddenly fall 
 back into the despair of one with whom life is 
 a burden, belief a lie, and hope a mere dream 
 of the past. 
 
 The old epicurean liked to behold the 
 emotion which he was still able to awaken. 
 He liked to see the bright tears glistening in 
 soft young eyes — his tears ! To him this was 
 a luxury, and perhaps the only luxury that 
 was left to him. Beyond this, he liked, some- 
 times, as the mood might be upon him, to 
 feel that he could make shipwreck of other 
 men's systems and beliefs ; and when he could 
 do no more, he even liked to sweep away, as 
 with one playful stroke of his master-hand, a 
 whole heartful of simple likings and dislik- 
 ings, household or family prejudices, narrow 
 views derived from obscure parentage, and 
 childish scruples, however dear, or long 
 cherished, or interwoven with the social ties
 
 272 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 j 
 
 of old acquaintance, or close and intimate j 
 affection. He liked to sweep all these away, j 
 as a child grown tired of play might sweep | 
 away the faded petals of its scattered flowers, j 
 And, when swept away, what then ? He had I 
 no substitute to offer. From the desolate j 
 wilderness of his own wasted life he had ] 
 neither seed to sow, nor wholesome root to : 
 plant instead. A lonely man in the midst of I 
 a mighty ruin — for his natural gifts had been ! 
 great and good — he sat mocking, beckoning ' 
 with his withered hand to those who were ! 
 going cheerily along their way, to come and ; 
 sit with him, and be as miserable as he was j 
 himself. How was the young visionary to \ 
 withstand this allurement ? Would the pro- ■ 
 mised aid of the port wine sustain him ? i 
 
 But in accepting the Major's invitation, '■ 
 there was another attraction, very powerful ' 
 with this young man, of which he did not |
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 273 
 
 allow himself to speak. A feeling was grow- 
 ing upon him in relation to Kate Inglewood, 
 which was too deep for words. Indeed, words 
 seemed to have little to do with it, for he had 
 scarcely even ventured to speak to her, and, 
 what is still more remarkable, had seldom 
 heard her speak. And yet he knew exactly 
 how she looked, and moved, and dressed, and 
 wore her hair. He knew her sweet profile, 
 as many a crude sketch amongst his papers 
 could testify — for the youth had naturally a • 
 turn for the graphic, as well as poetic art. 
 He knew the tone of her voice, though he had 
 heard it so seldom, even the rustle of her 
 dress when she came into the room ; and, above 
 all, he knew how the light died away when 
 she went out. Upon this rock, also, or rather 
 upon these quicksands, Willy was about to 
 cast himself, and he was rushing to his fate 
 well pleased. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 With regard to the lady herself, a youth 
 could scarcely be in safer hands. But was it 
 herself which had taken possession of the boy's 
 unoccupied fancy ? Was it not rather some 
 ideal object of enchantment, and, conse- 
 quently, might it not be very difficult for Kate 
 herself to break or counteract the charm ? 
 The love of an idea is scarcely to be shaken 
 off by a reality, however determined the 
 object may be, and Kate was exactly the girl 
 to awaken this kind of love. Her character 
 was so hidden, her whole life so unexplained. 
 It was so easy to invest her with attributes 
 the possession of which no one could dispute, 
 no fact disprove. Poor Kate ! she soon saw 
 from her low seat in the corner by the fire- 
 place, how strangely the boy was affected by 
 her presence ; and, had her face been atten- 
 tively watched, it is possible that a smile 
 might now and then have been detected play-
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 275 
 
 ing over her delicate features. The emotion, 
 which she knew by her womanly instincts she 
 awakened, was scarcely forcible enough to 
 make her blush, but it just caused a playful 
 expression to flit about her face ; and 
 especially on the day when Willy went with 
 his sister to dine at Norton Cottage, they 
 both thought Kate Inglewood looked more 
 cheerful than usual — more " beautiful," the 
 young man said, but that was a point on 
 which his sister never could be brought to 
 agree with him. 
 
 It was not in Bessy's nature, even indepen- 
 dently of other circumstances, to see beauty 
 in a small pale face, shrouded, and even dar- 
 kened by thick masses of raven hair, which, 
 as Kate habitually bent her head downwards, 
 most intent upon either book or work, had a 
 tendency to fall forward, so as to throw her 
 eyes and forehead almost entirely into sha- 
 
 t2
 
 276 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 dow. Nor was this defect redeemed in 
 Bessy's opinion by the extreme sweetness 
 and delicacy of the small mouth and chin. 
 She was quite sure, she said, that people who 
 looked in that way had somethinp^ to conceal 
 — most likely to be ashamed of. And she 
 tossed her own hair back as she said this, and 
 threw up her nose in the air, revealing, by 
 this not unfrequent action of hers, a fine bold 
 white forehead, and as clear a brow as ever 
 woman wore. 
 
 " Something to conceal indeed !" Her 
 rosy lip curled with an expression of ineflfable 
 scorn at the bare idea. Take care, Bessy; 
 you may have something to conceal yourself 
 some time, and those will be dark days to 
 you, if they ever come. 
 
 Seldom had Major Ingle wood been more 
 agreeable than he chose to make himself on 
 this occasion. Any other man of his ability
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 277 
 
 and standing might have considered it scarcely 
 worth while to lay himself out at that rate, 
 merely for a country boy and girl. But, 
 simple and untutored in the ways of the 
 world as both the brother and the sister were, 
 they could give out incense, and that was 
 enough. They could listen and wonder. 
 They could feel profoundly interested, and 
 one of them could look bewitching all the 
 time. Was not that enough ? 
 
 Well, it beguiled the old gentleman of a 
 few hours of his weary life. It made him feel 
 himself a little younger when he looked into 
 young eyes, which brightened under his gaze 
 — younger, certainly, than when he looked 
 into his glass upstairs on cold grey mornings 
 before he was made up for the day. And 
 now, on this especial occasion, he was feeling 
 interesting, as well as rather young. He 
 might well be agreeable !
 
 278 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 For awhile the conversation was such as 
 suited all parties-*-such as no one could have 
 objected to, for Major Inglewood had tra- 
 velled in his youth, and had always been a 
 close observer of men and things, so that 
 when he chose to speak of the world, as seen 
 merely by a looker-on, he often made himself 
 a most agreeable companion. It was when 
 he threw in personal feeling, or strong 
 opinion, that his conversation assumed a more 
 questionable character. And now, by de- 
 grees, he fell into the old style, for it was 
 always his favourite ; and Willy flinched, and 
 swallowed down the old port to give him 
 strength to bear, without opposition or re- 
 monstrance, the ridicule which the old gentle- 
 man cast upon many of the notions in which 
 he had been trained from childhood. 
 
 Bessy had a different way of treating this 
 style of entertainment. She flew into a kind
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 279 
 
 of passion, defended her friends and her 
 opinions in the most exaggerated manner ; 
 then perhaps told, with her own lips, some 
 ridiculous anecdote, or some strange pecu- 
 liarity connected with the Methodist life in 
 the midst of which she moved ; and then would 
 follow a hearty laugh, and a grand triumph 
 on the part of the host, in which Bessy was 
 seldom slow to join. Only on one point was 
 Bessy to a certain extent true. At times the 
 arch-enemy would attack the simple quaint- 
 ness of married life in rural districts like 
 theirs, casting over it some pitiful attempt at 
 ridicule. This was dangerous ground, and 
 once he ventured a little too far, for he 
 touched upon Robert Gray himself ; when in- 
 stantly there flashed upon him such a pair 
 of eyes, that he was fain to stop then and 
 there, for he saw at once there was more 
 goodness and truth in the handsome girl be-
 
 280 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 side hiai than he had given her credit for. 
 From that time the name of her affianced hus- 
 band never passed his lips, unless in the 
 ordinary way of speaking of his farm, or other 
 business matters. 
 
 On this day the spell was not broken by 
 anything calculated directly to give pain, nor 
 were the guests at all on the watch for causes 
 of offence. They listened in perfect good 
 faith, and to listen well was all that w^as 
 required of them. Even this was almost too 
 much for the young man ; for while endea- 
 vouring to keep his attention alive to the 
 father's conversation, he was drinking in the 
 delirious joy of gazing at the daughter. 
 Whether it was this joy alone, or in some 
 degree the old port wine, might have been 
 difficult to determine, but certainly the young 
 man was in a condition bordering on insanity, 
 so that when it was proposed by his host that
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 281 
 
 he should join the ladies in the drawing-room, 
 lie would have found it impossible to say, had 
 he been asked, whether he was treading upon 
 rose leaves, or walking upon an ordinary 
 floor. And then there was music — real 
 music — not like his sister Bessy's thumping 
 on the old family piano, but soft melodies, har- 
 moniously played, and a few songs, sweetly 
 and skilfully sung, though in a voice unusual- 
 ly low. 
 
 Bessy thought the music poor, and she said 
 so as the brother and sister walked home. 
 
 " Poor r 
 
 '' Yes, poor. Why could she not sing 
 out ? If I had a piano like that now " 
 
 *^ If you had," Willy ventured to suggest, 
 *' do you think you could play like that ?'' 
 
 *^ I would play a great deal louder, at any 
 rate, and sing louder too. I declare that 
 low, creepy voice, makes one feel as if a
 
 282 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ghost was in the room. I was all in a shiver 
 before that last song was finished." 
 
 " It was rather sad/' said Willy. 
 
 And here the discussion closed ; for some- 
 how they were neither of them happy that 
 night. They had been amused and interest- 
 ed, but not made happy. Everything had 
 been done to make the time pass pleasantly. 
 The host had very prudently sent his young 
 guest to join the ladies, thinking, most 
 probably, that he had imbibed quite enough 
 of the old port, and, it may be, finding his 
 company alone not particularly entertaining. 
 Miss Inglewood had played and sung, and 
 shown illustrated books and paintings, 
 according to the accustomed routine of 
 entertaining company, and yet the guests 
 returned home with a secret sense of depres- 
 sion, dissatisfied with themselves, with every- 
 body, and with everything.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 283 
 
 The next morning they were still worse. 
 Bessy was intolerably cross, and Willy had a 
 beating headache, such as he had never 
 experienced in his life before. Was it manly 
 to have a headache after dining out, he 
 wondered ? If so, it was paying rather 
 dearly for the privilege. The worst was, that 
 neither the sister nor the brother could set 
 themselves to any kind of occupation. Work 
 was out of the question, and as to pleasure, 
 there was none — nothing worth calling by 
 that name. All pretence to pleasure looked 
 just then either foolish or false. Bessy 
 declared that her garden was perfectly 
 disgusting, and Willy could not find a single 
 book worth reading. What had befallen 
 them ? They had eaten of the bitter apples 
 of discontent. They had been touched by 
 the mocking finger of one who saw no good 
 in anything, and, unconsciously to them-
 
 284 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 selves, they were just so much the worse for 
 it that life seemed to have lost its value, and 
 even love its bloom. 
 
 Who will show us any good ? Surely no 
 words were ever more expressive than these 
 of that weariness of heart and soul, which is 
 the bitter punishment of all who, making 
 mockery their delight, have lost the power 
 honestly and truly to believe. True, the 
 honest believer may sometimes be mistaken. 
 He may call good evil, and evil good. But 
 so long as the power to believe remains, there 
 is hope. When that has thoroughly died out, 
 what is there left ?
 
 285 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A 8 some kinds of food, at first pleasant to 
 be eaten, but leaving a bitter taste be- 
 hind, induce the eater to go on and taste again, 
 so the visits of the sister and the brother to 
 their new friends at Norton were kept up with 
 a frequency which made many wonder, and 
 no one wondered more than Robert Gray. It 
 was very natural to a man in his circumstances 
 that he should not see, without some annoy- 
 ance, the setting in of a tide of interest in 
 which he had no share, and which appeared 
 to be carrying away the time and thoughts, 
 upon which he himself had an undoubted 
 claim; and perhaps he was, as Bessy declared, 
 perfectly ill-natured about the Inglewoods —
 
 286 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 not about Miss Inglewood individually — Ro- 
 bert always spared her — but why Bessy 
 should take pleasure in the company of that 
 old Robert had many names for the gen- 
 tleman, neither complimentary in their mean- 
 ing nor pleasant to repeat ; and perhaps Bessy 
 was a little flattered, as well as amused, to 
 find how vexed and spiteful she could make 
 him, as she said, by such a trifling matter. 
 
 It was not so small a matter, as Bessy 
 thought, to vex Robert Gray, and had he not 
 made up his mind to bear with her caprices 
 before marriage and cure them afterwards, 
 there might have been some serious quarrel 
 between them on this subject. Robert was 
 busy, too, and perplexed with plans and 
 people. Early and late he was working with 
 an energy which bafiled all his labourers to 
 keep jip with him. The comparatively limited 
 means afforded by his grandmother rendered
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 287 
 
 it necessary that every possible effort should 
 be made by himself. And then he was so 
 happy in his work, or rather he would have 
 been happy had Bessy joined him in it heart 
 and soul, as she ought to have done, or had 
 she even evinced a steady and faithful interest 
 in what he was doing. He did not ask much 
 of her — certainly not much help, but the en- 
 couragement which she was so capable of 
 giving, and which his heart pined for, was 
 often entirely withheld, from nothing but 
 caprice. 
 
 It is curious in the study of human life to 
 observe how little it would sometimes take to 
 make a person happy, and how carelessly or 
 wantonly that little is refused. A little time 
 bestowed in noticing what we are about — a 
 few expressions of approbation, even commend- 
 ation when deserved — a kind word when the 
 heart is lonely — a hope held out when it is
 
 ^ 288 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 sinking — even so small a thing as a thoughtful 
 enquiry, but especially a warm interest shown 
 by others in what we have done, or are doing 
 for them — have we not all picked up these 
 crumbs scattered sometimes along our path, 
 and esteemed ourselves rich while we did 
 so? 
 
 Robert Gray felt himself rich in almost 
 everything but this, though he was poor 
 enough, according to the world's estimate of 
 riches. Had he not his youth, his manly in- 
 dependence, his honest and, as he hoped, re- 
 munerative work, and had he not the hearty 
 will to do it? Above all, had he not his 
 early love, and the object of that love, now 
 all his own — his own to cherish and protect 
 and keep — his own to the end of life ? He 
 had trouble and vexation in little matters no 
 doubt, and many crosses arising out of his 
 means being so unequal to his wishes. But
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 289 
 
 what were these? Only the dust about 
 the traveller's feet, as he passes on with 
 elastic tread — on, and on, still nearing the 
 certain goal which is to be the fulfilment of 
 his brightest hopes. 
 
 Yes, the certain goal. To Kobert it was as 
 certain as that to-morrow's sun would rise, or 
 that summer would come again to ripen the 
 grain he was scattering, and to be succeeded by 
 autumn with its golden harvest. 
 
 The only real good which the Inglewoods 
 seemed to have done by coming into the 
 neighbourhood was, that a slowly ripening 
 friendship was springing up between the 
 daughter and Alice Gray. It is true, they met 
 but seldom, and still found it difficult to enjoy 
 any opportunity of speaking together alone. 
 But where there is an instinctive sympathy, 
 especially where there is an absolute yearning 
 of two kind hearts towards each other, it is 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 290 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 easy to convey intelligence of the fact, for 
 eyes can speak when lips are silent, and often 
 a single glance, exchanged when any sudden 
 emotion has been awakened, will say more 
 than words. 
 
 In this way Alice was always prepared for 
 further intercourse, especially during those 
 few minutes — now growing into many — when 
 Kate took leave of her at the garden gate. 
 It was a little rustic gate, opening out into a 
 sheltered lane, and was more frequently used 
 by the family than the front entrance from 
 the more public village street. A thick yew- 
 tree hedge hid this gate from the windows of 
 the cottage, and it might also be reached by 
 a circuitous but pleasant path, skirting the 
 banks of the river. There the two friends 
 often strolled awhile before separating, and 
 Kate always appeared to talk more freely and
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 291 
 
 more confidingly when quite beyond her 
 father's hearing. 
 
 Within the house Alice also felt less at ease. 
 Everything there seemed so entirely Major 
 Inglewood's — his fire, his table, his service and 
 attendance ; and in vain she struggled to 
 overcome her repugnance to him and his. 
 Lately she had once or twice been taken up- 
 stairs for a private chat with Kate in her own 
 bed-room ; and here Alice was rather painfully 
 struck with the simplicity, almost meanness 
 of this apartment, in comparison with those 
 occupied by the master of the house. It was, 
 indeed, the very perfection of neatness, and 
 no room constantly occupied by persons 
 agreeable in themselves can be otherwise than 
 pleasant and inviting. But upon the em- 
 bellishment of this chamber it was evident 
 that very little money had been spent. All 
 
 u2
 
 292 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the ornament, all the luxury of the establish- 
 ment, was for the master. 
 
 On one of these occasions, it was evident 
 to Alice that her companion struggled with 
 some more than usual emotion. So mu'ch so, 
 that conversation on indifferent subjects 
 flagged. At last Kate Inglewood rose, and 
 unlocking a small private drawer, took out a 
 miniature beautifully painted and set. 
 
 " Would you like to see mamma's like- 
 ness?" she said, handing it to Alice, who, 
 while gazing intently on the features, thought 
 it the most beautiful countenance she had 
 ever seen. But she could not at first express 
 her admiration. There was a kind of awe in 
 the manner of the poor motherless girl while 
 exposing what was evidently the greatest 
 treasure she possessed. Alice felt this, and 
 was silent. 
 
 " Mamma was very beautiful,'' Kate said,
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 293 
 
 at last. " At least, she was beautiful to me, 
 and I believe others thought so too. And 
 she was very good ! — oh ! so good !" 
 
 " She looks good !" said Alice, still gazing 
 on the picture. 
 
 "Yes, and everything seemed to go well 
 with us while she lived. My little brothers 
 and I were constantly with her. We knew 
 no one else. All was right then. Now all is 
 wrong — wrong and wretched too. Oh ! when 
 will it be over ! — when will it be over !" 
 
 And the poor girl burst into an agony of 
 tears, while Alice could but fold her to her 
 bosom, and kiss the pale cheek which nestled 
 close to her own. 
 
 " I am very foolish," said Kate, when the 
 first strong agony abated, " and very selfish ; 
 for why should I trouble you ? I am afraid I 
 am wicked, too, to feel so discontented as I 
 do sometimes. But everything is so dark,
 
 294 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and I am so lonely since I lost raamma/^ 
 
 " My poor child !" said Alice, stroking the 
 scattered hair, now wet with tears, " my poor 
 child !" and she spoke with a kind of motherly 
 tenderness, for she had often felt that Kate 
 was in some sort a child to her, though only 
 two years younger than herself — " my poor, 
 dear child, how I wish I could comfort you !" 
 
 " You do comfort me," said Kate. " I feel 
 a kind of protection while you are near 
 me. Do you know, I am sometimes quite 
 frightened !" 
 
 And she looked, while saying this, like some 
 startled hare, or timid bird. 
 
 " Afraid of what ?" gisked Alice. 
 
 " Afraid because everything seems so — 
 wicked, I had almost said. Afraid because I 
 don't see how God's blessing should be upon 
 a family like ours, now that mamma is gone." 
 
 " But you had her prayers while she lived ;
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 295 
 
 and we know that such prayers will not be 
 lost. Besides, who can tell but that she may 
 be watching over you still ?" 
 
 '^ Ah ! that is what I often think when I 
 sit silent in the twilight, and creep behind the 
 curtains while papa is sleeping. I think she 
 is looking in at me from the dark outside, and 
 this comforts me. Then at other times I grow 
 rebellious, as I have been just now, and 
 wonder why God took her and little Austin 
 up to Himself, and left me here alone to fight 
 my way, with nobody to care for, and nobody 
 to care for me.'' 
 
 " But, dear Kate, you have, like me, your 
 father to care for ; and there is always some 
 satisfaction in caring for others, even when 
 they don't seem to mind it much themselves." 
 
 " When they want to be cared for, I know 
 there is ; but papa likes anybody to wait upon 
 him better than me, and anybody can please
 
 296 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 him better, too. I know it is wrong to com- 
 plain. Mamma never complained. But then 
 she had Austin as well as me. I, you see, 
 have nobody. '^ 
 
 " Dear Kate, I cannot bear to hear you say 
 that. Let me be your friend. You may not 
 love me very much now, but I love you, and 
 I will be so faithful and true to you — you 
 don't know how true I can be." 
 
 " I believe you, Alice. When I look into 
 your eyes, I cannot help believing you. And 
 yet I am such a strange, cold creature, they 
 say — so frightened and so silent — I don't see 
 how you can love me." 
 
 *' Indeed, I can, and do." 
 
 " God bless you for saying so ! No poor 
 wretch ever hungered for bread, as I have 
 hungered for a little love." 
 
 " Will you understand me better, Kate, 
 and believe in me more, if I tell you that I
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 297 
 
 also know well what that hunger is ? '' 
 " You ? Why, everybody loves you/' 
 *' It does not mend the matter much, does 
 it, Kate, if, when you have lost something 
 very precious, everybody brings you some- 
 thing else, but nobody brings you that ? But 
 I am talking foolishly. Only this I do want 
 you to keep always in mind, that to be loved 
 and cared for is quite as necessary to me as it 
 can be to you. And I, also, as you know, 
 have no mother." 
 
 *^ No ; but you have that good, noble 
 brother of yours — a perfect tower of strength 
 in himself — a rock of safety to fly to. If I 
 had a brother, now — if Austin had lived ! — 
 still, he would never have been like your 
 brother. I think he was more like your 
 cousin William. And that reminds me that 
 something must be done to keep that young 
 man away from our house. He is too thought-
 
 298 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ful, too sensitive, too susceptible of impres- 
 sions, to come here as he does." 
 
 " I should think so myself, if he were not 
 so good. Good, I might almost say, from his 
 cradle, and deeply imbued with religious sen- 
 timents.'' 
 
 ^' Yes, sentiments, no doubt; but how are 
 sentiments to keep him right ? He came to 
 us, as it vseemed to me, an innocent, devout, 
 God-fearing youth. He was satisfied with 
 the ways and the worship of the people 
 amongst whom he had been brought up. I 
 question whether it had ever occurred to him 
 to doubt the grounds of their religious belief. 
 He first began to despise this humble kind of 
 worship, and now I am afraid he is beginning 
 to mock and sneer. Oh ! Alice, I would al- 
 most rather a person should do anything than 
 sneer ! It kills the whole life witliin. No- 
 thing seems to me so cruel as a mocking
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 299 
 
 spirit — nothing so merciless. I think it is 
 that which frightens me. Instead of angels 
 surrounding one, it seems to call up devils. 
 You have read the German story of ' Faust/ 
 have you not, Alice ?" 
 
 "'No; I never read any German story." 
 " Well, you see, papa used to go very 
 much to the German baths at one time. He 
 put us to live in a country-place at some 
 little distance, while he spent the time with 
 his gay friends. He had a great many friends 
 then — at least, people with whom he was 
 acquainted, and I think he must have lent 
 them money, or something of that kind, for 
 we became very poor ; mamma never told me 
 how, if, indeed, she knew herself. Here we 
 all learned German, mamma taking lessons 
 too, that she might the better go on with us 
 afterwards ; and here, amongst other things, 
 I read the German story I was speaking of,
 
 300 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 and never could get it out of my mind." 
 " Tell me about it, and why it haunted you 
 so." 
 
 ^' I think the reason was this, that I had 
 never before, in any work of imagination, 
 met with a mocking devil. Milton's Satan, 
 you know, is quite sublime. One cannot 
 hate him — scarcely fear him, he seems so far 
 away from human feeling, and suffers in such 
 a distant and grand way himself, so that we 
 both pity and admire him. But this mock- 
 ing devil of Goethe's comes quite close, and 
 mixes himself up in the daily life of the people 
 he means to ruin. He suffers nothing him- 
 self — not he. He laughs, and mocks, and 
 sneers, while he draws his fatal charm closer 
 and closer round his victim, and we know 
 and feel from the first that there is no mercy 
 in him — nothing to appeal to ; and that when 
 he has crushed, and tortured, and done his
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 301 
 
 worst, he will laugh still. Oh ! it terrifies 
 me to think of him ! Let us talk of some- 
 thing else !" 
 
 " And you really think poor William is in 
 danger ?" 
 
 *^ I am sure of it. Papa lends him books 
 which he devours. And, you know, he is so 
 studious and thoughtful by habit, that a kind 
 of reading which would do no harm to some 
 young men might be ruinous to him." 
 
 '* And yet I scarcely think William can be 
 anything but good. He is so gentle, and all 
 wickedness is so hateful to him." 
 
 " I am not speaking of vice. And yet he 
 may be very wretched, and in his own heart 
 may sin against God as much as if he led a 
 wicked life." 
 
 " You are right there ; but what can we 
 do?" 
 
 " Talk to him — persuade him — warn him."
 
 302 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " I have already done something in that 
 way, but with no effect. He thinks me 
 narrow-minded ; and that, having never in- 
 quired much into these deep things myself, I 
 am, consequently, not qualified to understand 
 either his studies, or the risk he runs in pur- 
 suing them." 
 
 *^ Is there no one else who would advise 
 him ? — your brother ?'^ 
 
 "My brother? No. To tell the honest 
 truth, my brother is too much annoyed about 
 Bessy coming here so often, to be a suitable 
 adviser in such a matter. He feels too 
 warmly, and speaks too strongly." 
 
 " Ah ! I thought he considered us heathens 
 — people not fit to associate with. He never 
 comes here now. And yet I once hoped that 
 his coming here might do some good. He 
 always seems to me to think so rightly, and 
 then he is so manly — so straightforward !''
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 303 
 
 *' We must give up that hope for the pre- 
 sent. It will be different with him, no doubt, 
 after he is married. And different, I trust, 
 with Bessy, too." 
 
 *^ No ; he won't care for us then, I am 
 quite sure. He will be too happy. You think 
 he will be happy, don't you ?" 
 
 "That is a strange question to ask me, 
 Kate. I can only say I hope he will be 
 happy. If not, he will be very, very miser- 
 able." 
 
 " She — that is to say. Miss Bell is rather 
 peculiar, is she not ?" 
 
 " Yery peculiar, I suppose, she must appear 
 to you. But having known her from child- 
 hood, her odd ways are less striking to 
 me." 
 
 " I suppose she is capable of loving very 
 much ?" 
 
 " I hope so."
 
 304 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " And really good, and kind ?" 
 
 '^ I hope so." 
 
 " Pray forgive me, Alice, I feel that I am 
 making too free. I have no right to ask such 
 questions. Only from what I have seen of 
 your brother, they do seem so very different ; 
 and if I were his sister I don't think I should 
 consider Miss Bell quite good enough for him. 
 But I am forgetting myself again. Do pray 
 forgive my freedom." 
 
 " You are not making too free, dear Kate. 
 You see there are some things we believe in 
 — we could scarcely live if we did not believe 
 in them, and yet we may scarcely be able to 
 answer for them clearly to another person. 
 There are many points in my cousin's charac- 
 ter which affect me in this way. I think I 
 would rather die than see her Robert's wife, if 
 she did not made him happy." 
 
 " God grant she may !"
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 305 
 
 " Amen. Let us speak again of poor Willy. 
 I have sometimes thought, Kate, that perhaps 
 your influence might save him. I feel sure 
 he would listen to you, if to no other human 
 being." 
 
 " Perhaps he would ; and if so, I ought to 
 try what I can do. Nobody knows the danger 
 better than I do. Only you see — well, I will 
 try.'^ 
 
 Kate Inglewood did not explain what she 
 meant by " only you see," and Alice did not 
 ask her meaning. She was thinking of her 
 cousin William, and failed to observe the 
 faintest possible blush which spread itself over 
 the cheeks of the gentle speaker, as she 
 checked herself after saying these words. 
 
 With these the friends parted. They had 
 
 talked until all tears were »dry — all painful 
 
 thought to some extent alleviated. There are 
 
 few sorrows happening to the young, which 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 kind words and affectionate assurances from 
 those whom they are disposed to love will not 
 alleviate ; and Alice Gray returned to her 
 home well satisfied that now the ice had been 
 thoroughly broken in this new friendship, and 
 if the depths which lay beneath were not yet 
 quite fathomable, there was every reason to 
 believe that they might be some time. 
 
 From the day of this interview, Kate Ingle- 
 wood set herself, as a matter of duty, to stand 
 between the youth who had first come to their 
 home in something like the innocence of a 
 trusting child, and her father's withering, 
 blighting influence. With this object in view, 
 she took more pains than she would otherwise 
 have thought of doing, to make herself agree- 
 able to the young man, often engaging his 
 attention while his sister was chatting with 
 her father. In the same way she studied his 
 tastes, and devised schemes for amusing him.
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 307 
 
 SO as to keep him, as much as possible, out of 
 harm — singing his favourite songs with her 
 soft low voice in the twilight hour, and even 
 leading him on to conversation about himself, 
 in order that she might, without impertinence, 
 throw in now and then some caution or reproof, 
 or that she might, even in her simple way, 
 suggest some argument calculated, as she 
 hoped, to have some little weight in the 
 opposite scale to his deep and dangerous 
 reading. 
 
 As the summer months passed on in this 
 way, William grew into a man. He had 
 been mentally a boy up to this time, and his 
 extreme delicacy of complexion, and refine- 
 ment of features, as well as his natural 
 sensitiveness, had prevented his obtaining 
 credit for that degree of manliness to which, 
 by his actual age, he was entitled. But all 
 things were different with him now, except 
 
 x2
 
 308 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 that he looked out from the same blue eyes 
 upon an altered world. The shock of a great 
 wave seemed to have passed over him, and he 
 felt as if standing in the midst of a great sea, 
 or, rather, tossed upon its uncertain waters, 
 without helm, or rudder, or chart, by which 
 to steer into any safe harbour. He had 
 learned to disbelieve. He had lost the 
 simple faith of his childhood — the trust of 
 his riper years. At present he was only 
 bewildered and amazed, like one awaking 
 from a foolish dream to a stern but yet 
 incomprehensible reality. He was one of 
 those to whom it is absolutely more difficult 
 to doubt, than to believe. No wonder he was 
 bewildered and amazed, especially when the 
 question presented itself — what to do now ? — 
 yes, and what to he ? Was there anything 
 really worth doing, or being ? Assuredly not, 
 if he had no faith. He looked into a mighty
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 309 
 
 void, and beheld — nothing. Yet all his 
 natural powers, and the great life within him, 
 spoke of exercise and occupation — of growth 
 and fulfilment — of a vast and mighty future, 
 and an eternity of endurance. Was it not a 
 greater miracle, and a far greater mockery of 
 common sense than any of the miracles 
 related in the Bible, that all these capabilities 
 should be given for the paltry efforts of a 
 short and imperfect existence, to be quenched 
 for ever in the grave ? — Mind, with its elastic 
 sublety and giant strength — faith, that can 
 remove mountains — hope, that can pierce 
 through the darkest night — and love, that is 
 strong as death. Well might the young 
 neophyte in scepticism look around him 
 bewildered and amazed. 
 
 It might have appeared a little curious to 
 the great philosophers, whose works the young 
 sceptic was so carefully studying, could they
 
 310 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 have heard the arguments brought forward in 
 opposition to their views by the simple girl 
 who had set herself to rescue a fellow-being, 
 if possible, from their dangerous influence. 
 Kate Inglewood had seldom so much as looked 
 into these volumes, which composed an im- 
 portant part of her father's library. The 
 Major had been resolute in searching out 
 such books, because he had at one period of 
 his life required them as a constant support 
 to his own credulity. Not now — the season 
 of weakness was past. His great object 
 seemed to be to make converts now. He 
 was miserable enough himself — why should 
 he let anyone else be happy, if he could 
 help it ? They might eat, and drink, and 
 welcome. He liked well enough to see 
 people jovial. He could even laugh with 
 them when he was in the mood, though he 
 liked much better to laugh at them. They
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. Ill 
 
 might be merry, especially while surrounding 
 his table ; but what right had they to enjoy 
 that quiet peace of mind, which he had lost 
 for ever ? 
 
 If Kate ever opened these volumes of her 
 father's, she soon laid them down again. 
 What she most wanted for herself was 
 building up, and these writers appeared to 
 her to be always pulling down. Besides 
 which, she did not understand them, and she 
 did not care to try. She, therefore, in her 
 endeavours to convince, left out all the most 
 accredited arguments of those who have 
 written against Christianity, and went to 
 work in quite a different way. 
 
 " It seems to me a very hard way that you 
 are choosing," she said to her attentive and 
 admiring companion one summer's evening, as 
 they sat together under the shadow of a 
 spreading beech tree in her father's garden.
 
 312 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 From the rural seat encircling the broad 
 stem of this tree, they could see at the dis- 
 tance of only a few yards the smooth slow 
 river gliding silently between its banks of 
 green. Major Inglewood was chatting with 
 Bessy in the parlour. It did not suit his 
 gout to sit out upon the grass. The evenings 
 were now grown long and light, and the air 
 balmy; the flowers in full bloom, and all 
 nature decked in her garb of beauty. At such 
 times, and in the midst of these sweet influ- 
 ences, it would have been a severe penance 
 to Kate Inglewood to sit anywhere but in the 
 garden. 
 
 '^ It seems to me a hard and cheerless way 
 of living,^^ she said, " without faith, without 
 hope. I cannot tell what you do with all 
 those feelings which appear to me especially 
 designed for worship. When that silent awe 
 comes over you which one feels sometimes in
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 313 
 
 the dead of night, or in a storm, or when 
 gazing at mountains, or the sea — that 
 awe which I interpret as a sense of the pre- 
 sence of God above and around us — what do 
 you do ?" 
 
 " I also feel that awe,'^ William replied, 
 *^ but I attribute it to physical causes/^ 
 
 " And you do not pray T^ 
 
 *'Not now/' 
 
 "I cannot imagine how you live with- 
 out prayer. It must be so desolate — so miser- 
 able.'' 
 
 *' It is desolate enough, and miserable 
 enough. No one can feel that more than I 
 do. Yet why should I pray to a Being (if 
 indeed there is such a Being), who must know 
 everything I could utter in my prayers with- 
 out words of mine ?" 
 
 " I suppose I must not speak of the Bible, 
 if you don't believe in that. Let us talk of
 
 314 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 ourselves, and of the wants — the absolute ne- 
 cessities of our common nature. I should 
 think less of this, perhaps, if I had not ob- 
 served in ray short experience, and thought 
 out in my poor way of thinking, some simple 
 facts, which I sometimes dwell upon with great 
 satisfaction. And God knows, I need such helps. 
 He knows, too, how much I need continued 
 incitement to lift up my heart to him with 
 gratitude and love. 
 
 " One of these pleasant thoughts to me 
 — I scarcely know how to describe it. How 
 I wish we could think into each other's minds 
 without words ! Well, suppose I take music 
 for an illustration. Music in one sense is a 
 science — a theory. And yet it consists of 
 things existing in the outer world — the world 
 of nature, which men gather up, and assort, 
 and make into a science. Music, therefore, 
 is a real thing. But it would not be a real
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 315 
 
 thing to us. It would absolutely have no ex- 
 istence, as it seems to me, if we were not 
 so constituted as to have a capability within 
 ourselves of understanding and appreciating it 
 — nay, beyond that, of loving and delighting 
 in it. I would go further still, and say that 
 the desire which we have for music — the abso- 
 lute craving for it which some natures experi- 
 ence, and that in all states of society, civilised 
 and barbarous — I say this is one evidence to 
 me, and a very strong one, that music is a 
 thing provided by Him who best knows what 
 is necessary to keep our minds in health, and 
 who has bountifully provided not only 
 for our sustenance, but also for our enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 '^ I would say the same of beauty. What 
 would be the value of all these lovely forms, 
 and glorious aspects of creation, if we had not 
 within ourselves a natural hunger and thirst
 
 316 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 for beauty ? Or, on the other hand, what 
 should we do with this hunger and thirst if all 
 beautiful things were shut out from us ? 
 But I am making long speeches — a thing I 
 am quite unaccustomed to, and perhaps I tire 
 you.'' 
 
 " No, you could never tire me." 
 " My arguments are not very deep, I dare- 
 say. But I must speak of deeper and more 
 important things. First, then, of love. Now, 
 it seems to me that, as sure as we are made 
 to love, and so constituted that we crave to 
 be loved, so surely there has been love pro- 
 vided for us. With the first opening of our 
 eyes love smiles upon us, and when we die it 
 is mostly the hand of love by which our eye- 
 lids are pressed down. Nor is this all. There 
 are unfathomable depths in love which no- 
 thing earthly ever yet could entirely fill — 
 depths beyond all human penetration, which
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 317 
 
 the love of God alone can satisfy. How- 
 should we endure existence if all this love were 
 destined to perish with our mortal lives ? Oh ! 
 no ; love cannot die. I never feel more cer- 
 tainly the eternal nature of the human soul, 
 than when I think of the imperishable nature 
 of love. Besides this, there is that tendency 
 to worship which is found amongst all people. 
 They must worship something. They look 
 above and beyond themselves, and are pene- 
 trated with the sense of a Power — a Presence 
 which they recognise, while yet unable to* 
 comprehend its nature. They see a will and 
 a purpose manifest in all creations, and their 
 reason is convinced. Yet this is not what 
 convinces me, so much as that wonderful awe 
 which I feel in a sense of the Divine presence, 
 and which I find it impossible to describe. 
 But surely you feel this too — surely you could 
 not, would not dare to live another day in
 
 318 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 the vast solitude that life would be without a 
 God? 
 
 ** Thus then, as regards myself, you see 
 that when I would dwell upon the nature, 
 the power, the depth, and the tendency of 
 love, I find its realization in the character and 
 ofiice of Christ Jesus, as the Saviour of man- 
 kind ; and when I would think about worship 
 — that ineffable communion of the human soul 
 with what is infinitely higher, purer, holier, 
 and mightier than itself — my thoughts are 
 lifted up to the great Creator and Father of 
 the universe, and I am content.'^ 
 
 " You are content ?'' 
 
 " Yes. My soul is filled — the craving of 
 my nature is satisfied." 
 
 "You are satisfied as a saint. Are you 
 content as a woman ?" 
 
 " Not always. That is a different matter, 
 and may depend on circumstances. But
 
 NORTHERN ROSES. 319 
 
 • 
 
 see, the sun is setting — the grass is wet 
 with dew. Let us leave this subject for 
 to-night ; but do not forget it. However 
 feebly and even foolishly I may have placed 
 it before you, believe me it is my fault, not 
 the fault of the subject itself. You will 
 think of it fairly and candidly, won't you ? 
 And do not cast off your faith lightly ; you 
 had almost better cast away your life. You 
 have lately been trying not to believe. I 
 shall never consider you quite fair and just 
 unless you now try to believe." 
 
 ^' For your sake do you ask it ? — say only 
 for your sake !" 
 
 ^^Well, for my sake, if you like — for any- 
 body's sake, only be honest and manly, and 
 deal fairly with the whole matter." 
 
 " I will, for your sake. But just tell me 
 one thing." 
 
 " What is it r
 
 320 NORTHERN ROSES. 
 
 " Would it make you happier if I should 
 become again a true believer — a sincere 
 Christian ?" 
 
 *' I should be happier to know that any- 
 body in the world had become a sincere 
 Christian. But let us leave this damp that 
 is rising from the river, and go into the 
 house." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BY MACDONALD AND TUGWEIi, BLENHEIM HOUSE.
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 j 0112 001588174 
 
 
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