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 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/stiffneckedgener01walf
 
 STIFF-NECKED GENERATION 
 
 BY 
 
 L. B. WALFOED 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'TROfBLESOME DAUGHTERS,' 'MR SMITH: A PART 
 
 OF HIS LIFE,' 'PAULINE,' 'COUSINS,' 'THE BABY'S 
 
 GRAKDMOTHER,' ETC. 
 
 IX THEEE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T^^ILLIAM BLACKAVOOD AXD SOXS 
 
 EDINBURGH AXD LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIX 
 
 All Pdghts reserreA
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 'BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE'
 
 ^^3 
 
 v.i 
 CONTENTS OF THE FIEST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. ROSAMUND, 
 
 II. A BORN DESPOT, 
 
 III. LORD HARTLAND's WILL, 
 
 IV. LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY 
 V. NO ADVANCE MADE, 
 
 ^ VI. ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST, . 
 
 VII. TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE, 
 J > 
 
 VIII. IT WAS HIS BOAST THAT HE WAS 
 
 ^ MAN, .... 
 
 * ^ IX. THE FIRST MEETING, . 
 
 ^ X. UNSKILFUL TACTICS, 
 
 ^ XL " IN YOUR PLACE I SHOULD NOT 
 
 "Hv, SUMED," 
 
 ^ XII. GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT, . 
 
 XIII. " IS HE A FIT HUSBAND FOR YOUR 
 
 THEODORE ? " . 
 
 ^ 
 
 >^ 
 
 XIV. HARTLAND S RESOLUTION, 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 
 14 
 
 . 
 
 37 
 
 . 
 
 52 
 
 
 72 
 
 
 89 
 
 
 111 
 
 S A ladies' 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 . 
 
 162 
 
 
 179 
 
 HAVE PRE- 
 
 
 
 198 
 
 . 
 
 232 
 
 . DAUGHTER, 
 
 
 
 252 
 
 
 266 
 
 1
 
 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 ROSAMUND. 
 
 " Is there in the Avorld so inconsistent a creature ? Is she not 
 capricious, teasing, tyrannical, obstinate, perverse, absurd ? Ay, a 
 wilderness of faults and follies ; her looks are scorn, and her very 
 smiles — ah me ! I wish I hadn't mentioned her smiles." — Shehidax. 
 
 EosAMUND was just eighteen, and no one 
 could have done more justice to that charm- 
 iDor ao^e. 
 
 o o 
 
 It was not only that her eye was the bright- 
 est and her step the lightest in the world ; it 
 was that the dark eye could flash, and the 
 little foot could stamp, and that, — but the 
 whole may be summed up in one brief word : 
 Rosamund, while retaining many an enchant- 
 
 VOL. I. . A
 
 2 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ing trait that was all her own, had, somehow 
 or other, contrived to borrow here and there 
 an imposing quality from a terribly imposing 
 mother. 
 
 Of this more anon : for the present, suffice 
 it to say that my heroine was young, warm, 
 and still sprouting upwards as fast as a spring- 
 ing sapling. To the end of her finger-tips 
 she was glowing with vigorous life. Of a 
 morning she awoke like a giant refreshed, 
 armed at all points for whatever the day 
 might bring forth. 
 
 If well met and kindly treated by fortune, 
 there she was ; if not — why, there also ; very 
 much, indeed, there, heedless of consequences, 
 and defiant of the future. 
 
 Evils troubled her much, but not long. 
 Afflictions in the shape of restraint and rule 
 were grievous, but not despicable ; and action 
 in any form was a source of pure untempered 
 delight. 
 
 In person Kosamund was straight, supple, 
 and rather over the average height ; her throat
 
 ROSAMUND. 6 
 
 and shoulders were round and white, and her 
 arms very beautiful, long, and taperiug; but 
 she swung them as she walked, causing 
 thereby a thunderbolt to fall when, on one 
 occasion, the newly emancipated young lady 
 of King's Common, — the Miss Liscard whose 
 name was supposed to be in everybody's 
 mouth, and whom Lady Caroline, in her 
 sombre heart, believed to be creating Cjuite 
 a county sensation, — w^as beheld by the same 
 astonished parent, steaming along through 
 the home park, all unconscious of ill, at the 
 rate of five miles an hour, the aforemen- 
 tioned long arms swinging like the fans of a 
 windmill. 
 
 A year ago such a thing might have been 
 endured, — but now ! 
 
 Rosamund was, in short, "out," — and in 
 that little word was summed up an infinity 
 of meaning. She was no longer the source of 
 perpetual excitement and stimulus to what 
 w^as not precisely the acquirement of know^- 
 ledge in the schoolroom ; she was beyond the
 
 4 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 reach of the overcharged and unsympathetic 
 governess (for which it may be presumed that 
 functionary daily thanked her stars) ; and she 
 was promoted to having her name printed on 
 her mother's visiting-cards. If a tuck had 
 still to be let down in one of her frocks, the 
 tell-tale was ironed out with infinite pains, as 
 though almost an insult had been offered to 
 the young mademoiselle, who was now " quite 
 grown up," having passed beyond a mysterious 
 Rubicon in the eyes of the household. If her 
 hair fell loose and lay tumbling in the well- 
 known and formerly unappreciated masses on 
 her shoulder, she was respectfully informed of 
 her misfortune. If her hat and gloves were 
 found on the floor, in passage or landing, they 
 were restored to her room, and reappeared as 
 by magic in wardrobe and drawer. Nothing 
 she could now do was wrong in this respect. 
 With a single exception, no one restrained 
 her, no one held her in check, — no one, in 
 fact, considered her as the same Rosamund 
 they had known hitherto.
 
 ROSAMUND. 5 
 
 One person only tendered no allegiance ; 
 but even Lady Caroline paused and regarded 
 her daughter with attention. 
 
 Now Eosamund had never been handsome 
 as a child. As a troublesome school - girl, 
 often disordered by the agitations of her little 
 world, careless of pleasing, and a sloven in 
 her dress, it had been doubtful whether she 
 ever would possess any looks at all. But on a 
 sudden the scene had changed. Her com- 
 plexion had freshened, her headaches had 
 disappeared, and she had begun to take pride 
 in her beautiful hair. It had dawned upon 
 her with a sensation altogether novel that 
 she had a nose, a mouth, a chin. She saw 
 that her hands were pretty, but sun-burned ; 
 she liked to put a ribbon round her soft 
 throat. 
 
 Everything about the child was new and 
 wonderful at this time. With the great event 
 of her emancipation, the world and she had 
 met afresh, and shaken hands upon it. True, 
 her own joyous spirits, warmth of blood, and
 
 6 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 excellent powers of recovery after suppression, 
 wrath, and wailing, had always borne her 
 aloiio' on the hio^h tide of life with a certain 
 zest and force which had made the days fly 
 by fast enough, even when filled with a 
 tumultuous mingling of joy and woe, — but 
 still the difl'erence between past and present 
 remained. 
 
 Kosamund had now become a personage, 
 while before, her individuality had been merged 
 in that of numbers ; and perhaps in this lay 
 the key to the whole. 
 
 To explain how such a thing could ever 
 have been, in the case of one so emphatically 
 unlike those about her, so distinctly and 
 absolutely herself and no one else, it must 
 be explained that there was another and a yet 
 stronger, and, by reason of place and years, a 
 still more dominant nature in the family ; and 
 that nothing had ever been further from Lady 
 Caroline Liscard's intentions than that any 
 one belonging to her should be recognised as 
 havino' a mind or a conscience, still less a
 
 ROSAMUND. 7 
 
 whim or a fancy, wliich did not coincide with 
 her own. 
 
 If Mr Liscard did not thus go for absolutely 
 nothing, he was well down in the rating, and 
 was content to be so. Of him all that need at 
 present be said was, that he was a man whom 
 nature had intended to lead an easy-going, 
 peaceable life, in which case he would have 
 been known as an amiable parent, a quiet 
 neighbour, and a very respectable member of 
 society ; but he was plagued by dyspepsia and 
 Lady Caroline, and had grown peevish in con- 
 sequence. He loved his books, was something 
 of a scholar, and still more of a pedant. To 
 be in communication with literary men now 
 and again, to buy rather so-so editions of 
 valuable works, and unpack the boxes they 
 came in himself, to arrange and rearrange 
 his long row^s of shelves, to consult with his 
 carpenter over little alterations and conven- 
 iences, and to have everything luxurious, calm, 
 and reposeful in his well-warmed, commodious 
 library, filled up the measure of his desires.
 
 8 A STIFF-NEGKED GENERATION. 
 
 His wife had brought him a large fortune, 
 but he had no wish to have a hand in the 
 disposal of it. It suited her to rule, and it 
 suited him to be — if not ruled, at least let 
 alone, untroubled and unconsulted. Lady 
 Caroline was the very woman for such a hus- 
 band in many ways, and a shade more con- 
 sideration, or even a grain more tact, might 
 have given her the place in his heart which 
 she held in his opinion ; but, as it was, he 
 occasionally turned upon her ladyship when 
 she least expected it. 
 
 He had, however, no mind that any one else 
 should do so. His languid eye would open 
 wide though his tongue would be mute when 
 any living being ventured to take the field 
 with his hardy dame ; and buried in his cor- 
 respondence, his reputation, and his digestion, 
 he was as far removed from the rest of the 
 family, even from the very front ranks of his 
 offspring, as was his imperious spouse, occupied 
 by her determined sway over a chattering 
 neighbourhood, a refractory parish, and two
 
 ROSAMUND. •© 
 
 households — that of her maiden sister, Lady 
 Julia Verelst, being quite as much under her 
 thumb as her own. 
 
 Neither parent had ever deigned to evince 
 the slightest perception up to the present time 
 that any one or other of that unknown herd, 
 yclept the children, had an individuality of 
 any sort. They had been there, consequently 
 they had had to be provided for — to be fed, 
 clothed, and taus^ht : and the orirls had been 
 placed under a governess, and the boys sent to 
 school; and at Christmas-time had come the 
 orthodox tree, with its accompanying dry and 
 solemn party, and in the summer there had 
 been the boys' cricket-matches and the harvest 
 festival ; sea - air also after whooping - cough 
 and measles, and extended holidays when these 
 had been recommended by the family doctor. 
 
 But it had all been done in the piece, as it 
 were. Where one had gone, all had gone ; 
 what had been found beneficial in one case 
 had been unhesitatingly applied to another ; 
 no exceptions had been made ; and the sever-
 
 10 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ance of any single unit from the entire body 
 was the last thino- to be thouo^ht of. To sum 
 up in a word, nothing would have surprised 
 Mr Liscard and Lady Caroline more than to 
 have been told that no two girls and boys of 
 the same age may be reckoned on as having 
 precisely similar feelings and fancies, and to 
 have been made to recognise the amazing fact 
 that among twelve children may be found 
 twelve different minds, consciences, tempers, 
 tongues, and stomachs. 
 
 " My dear Rosamund, you must be talking 
 nonsense." 
 
 " Mamma, it is quite true. The very things 
 Dolly loves, Catharine detests ; and the lessons 
 Dolly cries her eyes out over, Catharine does 
 not mind in the least." 
 
 " That is merely because there is two years' 
 difference between them. When Dolly is as 
 old as Catharine, of course she will do as 
 Catharine does." 
 
 " But mamma " 
 
 " My dear child, who should know best, you
 
 EOSAMUND. 1 1 
 
 or I ? I have given you my opinion of the 
 matter, because you are now old enough to 
 understand, — but there is an end of it. It is 
 my wish that Dolly is advanced to Catharine's 
 standard, directly she attains Catharine's age." 
 
 In her new-born licence Kosamund had been 
 pleading that this might not be ; but she had 
 yet to learn that, great as had been her ad- 
 vance even in her mother's estimation, Lady 
 Caroline still meant to hold her own as she 
 had ever done. 
 
 Every one else, however, as we have said, 
 gave in upon the spot. Even Netley, the 
 magnificent Netley, the very tartest of Tartars 
 in the shape of a head - gardener — even he 
 culled his choicest blossoms for the fair bosom 
 of the debutante ; while Ossory, known as 
 Mrs Ossory — Mrs Ossory in black satin and 
 spectacles, whom even Lady Caroline treated 
 punctiliously, and whom her master had never 
 presumed to address in his life — even she sent 
 a message in the form of a humble request to 
 see her young lady robed for her first ball.
 
 12 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Request ! and that from Ossory, who had so 
 many a time and oft ejected almost by force 
 the whole pack of ravening intruders, with 
 Rosamund at their head, when now and again 
 the store-room, with its spicy shelves and 
 odorous repositories, had been subjected to a 
 schoolroom invasion ! And blossoms from 
 Netley, who, with scarce less ceremony, had 
 bidden them begone from his premises, what 
 time the peaches were ripe on the wall and 
 the grapes thick in the houses ! It was almost 
 too much. It struck the recipient with a sense 
 of bewilderment that was akin to awe. 
 
 It touched and subdued her, when perhaps 
 all aglow and throbbing from joyous open-air 
 exercise, to meet by chance her whilom despot 
 and preceptress, and to note how cold and 
 thin felt the poor little cross-looking woman's 
 hand. A hitherto unknown compassion and 
 forbearance crept into her heart. The ancient 
 feud died out of it. 
 
 Rosamund had never had, it must be owned, 
 affinity with learning. Hot rooms had been
 
 ROSAMUND. 13 
 
 her bane, the eternal noise of the piano had 
 worn and fretted her nerves, and sitting still 
 hour after hour had been almost a livinof 
 death. 
 
 Confounding these aversions with what she 
 had naturally supposed to be their end and 
 object, the unpromising pupil had straightway 
 avowed an open enmity with all that her un- 
 lucky teacher had held to be of first-rate value 
 and importance, and there could be but one 
 result of such a collision of ideas. Rosamund 
 had been in endless hot water, and had, if the 
 truth were told, scarcely cared whether she 
 were in or out. It had at least been an out- 
 let for her exuberant energy and ready tongue ; 
 and — must we confess it ? — in finding every- 
 thing to her mind, and nearly every one 
 ready to fall down and worship her star rising 
 upon a new world, my heroine, in the absence 
 of every opposing force and wholesome fric- 
 tion, was presently in a state to look about for 
 something against which to whet her teeth. 
 
 She was not to look long.
 
 14 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 
 
 The power which you have o'er us, lies 
 Not in your race, but in your eyes. " 
 
 —Waller. 
 
 Lady Caroline had an only sister, who, al- 
 though in point of mere age ten years older 
 than herself, was in everything else as many, 
 or as many again, her junior. 
 
 Julia — she was as universally " Julia " as 
 the other was " Lady " Caroline — Julia was 
 unmarried, and still lived at the old family 
 seat, within a few miles of the home to which 
 the youngest daughter had betaken herself on 
 her marriage with Mr Liscard. 
 
 The bride could not have endured, ill- 
 natured folks alleged, to have gone farther
 
 A BOEN DESPOT. 15 
 
 away from the stately if somewhat faded and 
 dim glories of Hartland Abbey ; could not 
 have borne to have felt herself a strano-er 
 where she had so long ruled, and where 
 her sway had indeed been recognised as 
 second only to that of the iron old peer 
 himself. 
 
 Some sentiments of the kind, put indeed 
 into another form, had certainly been gathered 
 by Lady Caroline's future husband ; and as he 
 was by no means a rich man, and could not 
 unaided have afforded to purchase the spacious 
 adjoining domain of King's Common, then in 
 the market, her ladyship with commendable 
 promptitude, and an eye to the sweets of her 
 position as lady of the manor, had volunteered 
 to become herself the owner of the place. 
 
 The investment had been considered a good 
 one ; but wdiether the handsome dauo^hter of 
 the proud Lord Hartland would ever have 
 been by him permitted to throw herself away 
 on a man who could not even be his own land- 
 lord, may be a very open question, had not the
 
 16 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 young lady herself been rather too much of a 
 good thing at the Abbey. 
 
 The old lord had had no objection, it is true, 
 to having those about him kept in order be- 
 neath the autocratic government of a resolute 
 and determined viceroy ; but when it had ap- 
 peared that he also was to go Lady Caroline's 
 way and none other, and that her way, as 
 often as not, proved to be exactly opposed to 
 his own, there had ensued stormy weather. 
 
 Poor Julia, a gentle creature, as soft and 
 harmless as a puff-ball, would often be going 
 between one and the other half the day ere 
 she could effect terms ; and as she never of 
 herself disobeyed Caroline's mandates, never 
 ventured a reproof, and never was provoked 
 into a sharp word, it was understood on all 
 hands that the sisters were devoted to each 
 other — so much so, indeed, that when the pur- 
 chase of King's Common had been effected, all 
 difficulties and obstacles removed, and the 
 lease signed, Lady Caroline had had all the 
 conviction of bestowing a delightful assurance,
 
 A BORN DESPOT. If 
 
 when she could then and there promise that, 
 whatever happened, whatever happened — (a 
 widow's, cap rose in vision before the eyes of 
 each, created by the emphasis) — she would 
 still be wdth her dear Julia ; still be at her 
 side, as she had ever been. 
 
 If Julia did occasionally wish that, short of 
 the widow's cap, some call or claim might 
 arise, which for a brief period should release 
 her from the constant and unremitting super- 
 vision thus frankly promised, she took herself 
 to task for the sigh. 
 
 Poor Caroline always meant to be kind to 
 her, was always glad to see her, and gave 
 many and touching proofs that she was thought 
 about wdien absent. If poor Caroline did not 
 infrequently do the very things in the very 
 ^vays that she, Julia, most disliked, she ought 
 not to let herself think too much of it. If 
 those trifling off'ences, those little annoyances, 
 did seem to come oftener and oftener as time 
 went on, she fancied it must be she who was 
 growing, with years, more tiresome and fool- 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 IS A STIFF-XECKED GENERATION. 
 
 isli, in that she took them more to heart than 
 she had been wont to do. She certainly had 
 begun to feel, in spite of herself, that there 
 was no actual need for her sister's every-other- 
 day's visit to the Abbey ; and that if she did 
 not of her own free will choose to give an 
 account of all she had done and seen since last 
 the two met, it needed not to have been wrung 
 out of her. 
 
 She was helpless in Caroline's hands. 
 
 It had long been understood that what Caro- 
 line meant to know, she w^ould know ; and 
 that what she willed, she would do ; but even 
 after years of submission, the pressure of the 
 time-worn yoke would still occasionally be felt 
 — nay, as we have said, increasingly so. 
 
 On the other hand, Caroline loved her. 
 That, in itself, ought to have been sufficient 
 atonement for all — or so she told herself. 
 Caroline loved her. Theoretically, of course, 
 Caroline loved her husband and children ; as a 
 fact, she loved Julia only — and of this fact 
 Julia herself was dimly and sorrowfully aware.
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 19 
 
 She could not but have wished it otherwise, 
 as the conviction slowly grew in depth and 
 certainty in her own mind ; and perhaps, had 
 her nature been deeper and more reflective, she 
 might have been more troubled. But as it 
 was, Caroline was Caroline, and the position 
 had to be accepted and made the best of. 
 
 She, at least, should not be the one to com- 
 plain. For her, as she gratefully realised, that 
 cold heart had a warm spot ; for her, that un- 
 sparing tongue a gentle accent ; and for her, 
 and her alone, was found excuse and apology 
 in the eye of one who never, in any other 
 delinquent, overlooked a blunder, understood 
 an inconsistency, nor forgave an offence. 
 
 Julia had indeed been the guardian angel of 
 Lady Caroline's infantile years ; the two mother- 
 less little ones had been all in all to each other 
 then ; and if in honesty it may be suggested 
 that the unselfish and possibly not over-wise 
 affection bestowed on the younger by the most 
 amiable of elder sisters had helped to make 
 of the spoilt child the woman she afterwards
 
 20 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 became, on the other hand it was often specu- 
 lated as to what Lady Caroline might have 
 been, had there been no Julia — and, as a rule, 
 people preferred to have her as she was, and 
 know the worst. 
 
 She was at least, they reflected, vulnerable 
 on this one point. She, who simply tolerated 
 those nearest and (presumably) dearest to her 
 — and not always that — was afiectionate, al- 
 most tender, in her manner towards Lady 
 Julia. Her eye would soften involuntarily 
 as her sister's step was heard ; a caress be- 
 stowed upon their aunt would be regarded 
 with complacency, even if volunteered unsea- 
 sonably by a boy or girl of her own ; and well 
 did all about her know on what grounds to 
 sue for an exemption from or a relaxation of 
 her rules. 
 
 For herself, Lady Caroline never broke a 
 rule. The sisters were unlike each other in 
 this, as in everything else. Lady Caroline 
 had stated hours for everything ; Julia did 
 not know what method meant. Lady Caro-
 
 A BORX DESPOT. 21 
 
 line carried a note-book ; Julia forgot or re- 
 membered as luck helped her. Lady Caroline 
 never indulged in surreptitious summer fires 
 on chilly evenings, never ate between meals, 
 never picked a ripe plum off the bough as she 
 walked in her garden, never sat up a little 
 later than usual at night, nor rose a little later 
 than usual in a morning, never bought a thing 
 she did not want, — never, in a word, did those 
 things she ought not to have done (in her own 
 opinion) ; and accordingly, her confession of 
 the same, on a Sunday morning in church, 
 must have referred to other matters, with 
 which her everyday life was in no wise 
 connected. 
 
 In appearance she was tall and spare, with 
 a handsome nose, eyes set very close together, 
 and a forehead from which a frown was 
 seldom absent. Severely dressed, and with 
 movements that corresponded with her slow 
 and frigid mental powers, she fancied her- 
 self elegant, and would not have moved more 
 quickly nor actively for the world.
 
 22 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Julia, on the contrary, was short, plump, 
 brisk, undignified, loveable. Her little step 
 was frequently a trot, and not infrequently 
 a stumble — for from being somewhat short- 
 sighted, and not very sure of foot, and from 
 a sociable little way she had of turning her- 
 self about from one to the other, and bobbing 
 up and down in her chair as anything caught 
 her attention, running forward to meet a new- 
 comer, and wheeling about to find her bag, 
 which was for ever being lost, and invariably 
 contained something good — Julia often came 
 to grief. That, the good creature did not 
 mind in the least. The bag would be opened, 
 and the sweets brought out — behind Caroline's 
 back, if possible ; if not, with a deprecating 
 '' Eeally good ones, sister, from our own 
 grocer, so you cannot object ; they cannot do 
 the dear children any harm, I am sure ; " and, 
 wonderful to relate, the gift would be per- 
 mitted, subject only to a faint protest. 
 
 Then Julia, who loved nothing better than 
 to potter round from one door to another in
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 23 
 
 the little county town, in the direction of 
 which she drove three or four times a-week, 
 and who would shop as long as she had a 
 sixpence in her pocket, would produce further 
 purchases for inspection, and, itching as it 
 was to curl, her sister's disdainful nose would 
 keep free from the temptation. Her idea was 
 that, by not showing contempt, she maintained ■ 
 the dignity of their aunt in the eyes of her 
 children. 
 
 Little she knew ! They did not care two- 
 pence for the little spinster's dignity, and they 
 adored herself. 
 
 The girls would tell her their grievances, 
 their escapades, and the misdemeanours of 
 each other ; the boys confide their early 
 efforts with cigars, and the results attendant. 
 No mortal man had ever been bold enough to 
 ask permission to smoke even so much as a 
 cigarette, and that in the open air, in the 
 presence of the unapproachable Lady Caro- 
 line. No dusty and footsore pedestrian had 
 ever been known to beg a lift in her carriage.
 
 24 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 whereas the sight of Julia's greys would be 
 hailed as affording certain deliverance by the 
 humblest of her acquaintance. 
 
 In a word, young and old, rich and poor 
 alike, had goodwill toward the elder, and but 
 a dubious respect at the outside for the 
 younger ; while by the youthful members of 
 the family with whom this story has most to 
 do, the aunt would be fondled, caressed, sought 
 out and confided in, while the mother was 
 only known to be feared and evaded. That 
 she was a mother at all would have almost 
 seemed to be a mistake on the part of 
 Providence. 
 
 With children her imperious nature had 
 nothing in common. They troubled her — if 
 she would have let herself be troubled by 
 them. They had to be thought about, and 
 considered, and arranged for — and her time 
 was already fully occupied. The hours spent 
 at her desk had but the briefest and baldest 
 occasional reference to them, and they were 
 seldom made acquainted with any event in
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 25 
 
 which they had to take part, until the time 
 for action arrived. 
 
 Alone, she walked and drove. If business 
 took her to London, as sometimes happened, 
 — for even a masterful steward had met his 
 match in her as a mistress, and she looked 
 closely into her investments, and kept an eye 
 on everything in which she held shares, be- 
 sides making inquiries roundly before she 
 ever signed a lease, — whenever these im- 
 portant affairs required her presence in town, 
 she troubled no one for company. 
 
 Her maid and footman would be in attend- 
 ance, and orders would have been given for the 
 carriage to suit a specified train, and the coach- 
 man would have it in black and white what 
 train he was to meet on the following day (for 
 she rarely remained away beyond a night) , and 
 that would be all that the household, including 
 husband and children, knew of the matter. 
 
 " I shall have to go to town to-morrow," 
 Lady Caroline would remark of an evening, 
 after the latter had gone to bed.
 
 26 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Have you sent word to the stables 1 " 
 would be Mr Liscard's reply. And indeed he 
 only desired to know, because, if not, it meant 
 his stretching out his hand to ring the bell. 
 
 As for offering his own escort, or inquiring 
 into the cause for the journey, neither idea 
 would occur to him. He might, and occasion- 
 ally did, volunteer a trifling commission — one 
 not attended with difiiculty nor trouble ; and 
 it would be punctually attended to if all went 
 well otherwise. If not, he knew better than 
 to ask about it. 
 
 One specimen of the lady of the manor 
 within her own precincts, and we have done 
 with her; in future she shall speak and act 
 for herself. 
 
 " All alone, Caroline 1 " Some one peeped 
 in at the door, and a well-known voice made 
 the above inquiry. 
 
 Lady Caroline turned round. " You, Julia ? 
 Come in. Yes, we shall be alone. I always 
 am, as you know, at this hour." 
 
 The sisters embraced.
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 27 
 
 "I thouglit that perhaps, now that Eosa- 
 miind is grown up, she would be your com- 
 panion in the mornings," began Eosamund's 
 kind aunt, whose delight it was to have any 
 one of the girls, but especially the above- 
 named favourite niece, to " companion " her at 
 the Abbey. 
 
 " I prefer being alone when I am busy," 
 replied Lady Caroline, calmly. " There is no 
 need for Rosamund to be here." 
 
 '' Can she not help you at all, my dear ? 
 Such a pile of letters, — such dreadful-looking 
 documents," and Julia glanced apprehensively 
 at the laden writing-table. " I have always 
 so longed for a nice little secretary, — but, to 
 be sure, you are so much cleverer than I ; 
 you always could manage your own corre- 
 spondence." 
 
 "Yes, my dear, always." Lady Caroline 
 looked also at the heavy pile, but with com- 
 placent satisfaction, and no sign of distaste. 
 
 " Still it would be nice — such a dear, bright 
 girl," hinted the aunt, who had her own little
 
 28 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ideas too, and had been ruminating over the 
 matter in private ; "it would be nice, would 
 it not '? " she said, and paused. 
 
 " What would be nice ? " 
 
 " To have some one by, my dear, to talk to, 
 and — and consult with ; and discuss what has 
 to be done, you know ; invitations, you know, 
 and — and arrangements." 
 
 If it had been any one but Julia who spoke ! 
 As it was, Lady Caroline looked at her sister, 
 and faintly smiled. She consult and discuss ! 
 She saw herself doing it, and wondered what 
 would be expected of her next '? 
 
 "Well, well, you understand your own 
 affairs, of course, my dear," hastily amended 
 the docile elder — for, to tell the truth, that 
 smile was sufficient answer for her or for 
 any one. " I perceive you do not mean to 
 make a companion of Eosamund." 
 
 " My dear Julia, let us understand each 
 other. I certainly intend to make every 
 difference — every recognised difference — be- 
 tween a daughter introduced into society and
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 29 
 
 those still in the school -room. Eosamund, 
 as you know, is quite taken away from her 
 governess ; she has all her meals with us ; 
 she has had a complete wardrobe of new 
 things to wear ; and she sits up till ten o'clock 
 in the evening. I really do not see what 
 more could be done for her. She has only 
 not been presented at Court, because of our 
 recent mourning, and my severe cold in the 
 spring, — we thought it as well to put that off 
 to another year, as you remember ; but apart 
 from that, she has had everything that others 
 have on such occasions. I have stretched a 
 point to take her to every piece of gaiety that 
 has come in our way. Besides which, she 
 will have a season in town next year, unless — 
 unless anything happens in the meantime." 
 
 Lady Julia nodded. She understood. Yes, 
 to be sure ; unless anything happened. Caro- 
 line and she knew to what that proviso referred. 
 
 " Eosamund really does very well,'' con- 
 tinued Lady Caroline, with what was quite a 
 comfortable, cosy, chatty tone for her. " Come
 
 30 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 out of the sun, Julia. I am not very busy 
 this morning. I can go on with my writing 
 presently. What I was going to say was, I 
 consider that Eosamund is quite up to the 
 mark as compared with other girls of her age. 
 She is fond of amusement, as I suppose they 
 all are, and she has had plenty of it, one 
 way and another." 
 
 Julia made an involuntary movement. Had 
 not Eosamund, the very day before, been 
 wailing into her ear complaints of the diffi- 
 culty with which Lady Caroline was induced 
 to look favourably upon any festive note of 
 preparation, and of the tortures of anxiety to 
 be gone through ere her opinion of any pro- 
 posed merrymaking was announced ? 
 
 "We have several dinner-parties for this 
 month," proceeded the speaker, entirely un- 
 conscious, "and to all of these Eosamund 
 accompanies us. The houses are full of shoot- 
 ing-parties ; and it really seems as if it rained 
 invitations," unfolding with an easy air a note 
 by her side.
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 31 
 
 " From Holmwood," said Lady Julia ; " and 
 are you asked to the Waterfields' also ? " 
 
 *' Oh, yes," replied her sister ; " and to the 
 rectory to meet the Bishop, and to the 
 Bishop's to lunch after the Church festival. 
 Indeed there seems no end to it," proceeded 
 the speaker, who detested society, but was 
 still fain to have it thought that she and hers 
 were in popular request. "There is that ball, 
 too " 
 
 " Oh, a ball ! '' Julia's eye brightened. 
 Here was something at least for that poor 
 child ; for, good woman as she was, it must 
 be owned that her very soul within her had 
 revolted before the picture of Kosamand's 
 episcopal dissipations. Bishops were nice 
 enough — for her and Caroline ; quite the 
 right sort of playmates for them, — and, to own 
 the truth, she would have liked very well to 
 have taken her niece's place at the bachelor- 
 Bishop's comfortable board on the proposed 
 occasion, — but she had not been asked, and 
 could hardly offer. Still she did feel that a
 
 32 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 baby in long clothes would be scarcely more 
 out of place among all the grave elders to be 
 met at the palace, than her chatterbox of a 
 Eosamund. But a ball — come, that was many 
 degrees better ; and she demanded, almost with 
 Eosamund's own eagerness, "What ball is 
 that, Caroline?" 
 
 "I hardly know whether to go or not," 
 replied Lady Caroline ; *' here is the card. I 
 have not yet said anything about it, and 
 luckily no one was at home when it arrived. 
 Two soldiers in full uniform brought it ; you 
 have no idea how smart they looked." 
 
 " Eeally ! " cried Julia, entering into the 
 spirit of the thing. 
 
 ** Oh yes ; I could not imagine what it was 
 I saw moving under the trees. I could not 
 think what two soldiers could be coming up 
 to our front door for," continued the narrator, 
 with the unction of one to whom the sight 
 had been quite an event, as indeed it had — 
 King's Common being the dullest of dull 
 country houses, with nothing but a huge un-
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 33 
 
 interesting park on the one side, and woods 
 and dull dripping avenues on the other ; and 
 had it not been for a private reason, with 
 which our reader has at present nothing to 
 do, the item of news would have been brought 
 forward sooner. As it was, after a moment's 
 pause. Lady Caroline returned to Kosamund. 
 
 " She has style, my dear, and that is every- 
 thing. She is not more than ordinarily pretty 
 — at least / do not think so. Some people 
 do, I believe ; but I own I am glad that a 
 dauo'hter of mine should not look common- 
 place. Tliat Eosamund will never do. She 
 attracts notice at once. She can talk and 
 laugh brightly ; and I am told she can be 
 very amusing," averred Lady Caroline, seeing 
 nothing at all peculiar in so having to be 
 ''told"; "and what is also a good thing," 
 she continued dispassionately, " Rosamund 
 can look well in anything she chooses to 
 wear. Not that / should ever permit a child 
 of mine to be badly dressed," proceeded the 
 speaker, who had never been known to allow 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 34 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 that anytlnDg in any way pertaining to or 
 emanating from herself was not faultless ; 
 ''my children are all suitably clad." ("Al- 
 though the colours of their poor frocks do 
 set my teeth on edge," commented her audi- 
 tor, with rueful recollection.) " But Eosa- 
 mund is now her own mistress in that re- 
 spect," continued Lady Caroline, " and — but 
 I have no need to tell you the use she makes 
 of her liberty. You know her of old. A 
 frock ruined in a week — that was her way. 
 Even now, nothing pleases her more than to 
 smuggle on the worst and shabbiest of her 
 old clothes, and make off out of sight when- 
 ever a carriage drives up ; though I have told 
 her constantly that she ought to be fit to be 
 seen at all times. I had been quite annoyed 
 about it, until — well, until after what Ford 
 said. You remember what Ford said '? " 
 Now Lady Julia knew what Ford had said 
 off by heart, but it never wearied her to 
 hear it afresh, and she was only too glad 
 that the compliment should be engraven
 
 A BORN DESPOT. 35 
 
 on Caroline's memory, as it was on her 
 own. 
 
 " Yes. What was it exactly ? " she now 
 murmured in an encourao^ing accent. 
 
 " I thought I had told you. There she 
 w^as, flying in from the garden, with a fright- 
 ful, frayed, worn-out shawl over her shoulders ; 
 and an old cap, or hat, I forget which it was, 
 of some of her brothers, which she had torn ofl" 
 the stand, this make-shift thing battered down 
 over her ears ; and her hair all wild, curling 
 and streaming in the wind, and such a colour, 
 — well, she really did look wonderfully pretty," 
 owned Lady Caroline, nature for a moment 
 asserting itself; " and as for Ford, you should 
 have heard him. ' Good heavens ! ' he ex- 
 claimed — under his breath, you know — ' Good 
 heavens ! what a perfect Hebe ! ' and he never 
 took his eyes ofi" her during the whole re- 
 mainder of his stay. He told me afterwards 
 he was ' fairly dazzled ' — those were his very 
 words. An artist, you know : one must for- 
 give the exaggeration."
 
 36 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " I cannot even see it," said Julia, smiling. 
 
 -Julia ?" 
 
 '' Well, Caroline ? " 
 
 Lady Caroline's tone bad changed, and she 
 had drawn nearer to her sister. 
 
 "Do you — have you — I hardly know how 
 to put it, and it is so long since we have 
 talked on the subject, but — have you any 
 sort of idea of what — what Hartland thinks 
 of her ^ " 
 
 Julia shook her head. She had none.
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTEE HI. 
 
 LOED HARTLAND S WILL. 
 
 " Wealth oft sours in keeping." 
 
 — QUARLES. 
 
 Who was Hartland ? Hartlancl was the man 
 of the place. There usually is in a country 
 neighbourhood some one person or other who 
 overshadows and exalts it, with whom its 
 choicest associations are connected, and whose 
 sayings and doings are the most grateful food 
 to its palate. 
 
 In the present instance, Lord Hartland was 
 just such a person — the chosen representative 
 of the affections and interests of the parish of 
 Inkerton-on-the-wold. 
 
 He was not, however, strictly speaking, a 
 son of the soil. That soil, indeed, his feet
 
 38 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 had never trod, his eyes had never beheld his 
 own grey walls, and his ears had never been 
 assailed by what should have been his native 
 dialect, until within two years of the time at 
 which our story commences. 
 
 It will thus be seen that it is not of the 
 grim old progenitor of the two ladies already 
 introduced in these pages that we at present 
 speak. 
 
 Two years previous to the date we have 
 now reached, the aged peer had indeed been 
 the Lord Hartland, and the only Lord Hart- 
 land, so far as he or any one else had been 
 aAvare — while the one who subsequently be- 
 came so had been a mere Dick Verelst in a 
 marching regiment, the younger son of a 
 younger son, who, although knowD to be pos- 
 sible heir to a title and estate for want of a 
 better, had been getting no sort of good of the 
 prospect. 
 
 Mr Verelst, senior, had not been a kinsman 
 with whom the old peer had had a feeling, a 
 taste, a virtue, or a vice in common ; and the
 
 LORD HARTLAXDS WILL. 39 
 
 sense of personal animosity borne him, in con- 
 sequence of his being next in succession, had 
 been such that he had never chosen to set 
 eyes upon the young man, an only son, and 
 indeed only child. It had seemed to him in- 
 expressibly hard that he should have to leave 
 all or nearly all he possessed of British soil 
 to these interlopers, these cousins who were 
 doubtless reckoning on every acre of it, and 
 impatiently awaitiug the time when it should 
 be theirs ; and accordingly, to will away from 
 them all the money he could, to rob their 
 accession of its sweetness as much as was pos- 
 sible, and to line the earl's coronet with thorns, 
 in the shape of future troubles and annoyances, 
 had been the old gentleman's not very credit- 
 able aim when arrano^ino- his affairs, and con- 
 fronting the fact, that help for it there was 
 none — this twopenny-halfpenny Verelst, this 
 banking fellow in Calcutta, with his oaf of a 
 son comino[ after him, must at his own demise 
 succeed to the honours of his ancient house. 
 To make these honours as empty as the law
 
 40 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 gave him power to do, had been, as we have 
 said, his object. 
 
 Then the banking fellow had died, and there 
 had been a pause of consideration. 
 
 Should the youngster be sent for, educated, 
 and adopted ? 
 
 " But, my dear father, he is twenty-five 
 years old," had remonstrated Lady Julia, 
 timidly. 
 
 " Twenty-five years old — and what, pray, is 
 twenty-five years old ? " The fierce old man 
 had turned upon her. " You will think little 
 enough of twenty-five when you come to be 
 eighty-five, I can tell you. Twenty-five is a 
 boy. I tell you the future Lord Hartland is 
 a boy. He knows nothing ; he has seen noth- 
 ing ; he has learnt nothing. If I am to have 
 him here, he must be taught. The young cub 
 must be licked into shape. I won't have a 
 ploughboy about the place. Twenty -five ? 
 What's twenty -five ? Damme, he shall go to 
 Eton ! " 
 
 Clearly the old man had been failing even
 
 LORD HARTLANd's WILL. 41 
 
 as he spoke. He had harked back to the idea 
 with many a wild and strange suggestion, and 
 had ended by sending a peremptory summons 
 to the young Verelst to return to England 
 forthwith. The same mail had brought the 
 news of the writer's death. 
 
 It will thus be seen to whom it was that 
 Lady Caroline referred at the close of the 
 conversation narrated in the last chapter. 
 The " Hartland " she meant w^as the young 
 soldier who had met with so sudden a change 
 in his fortunes, and who, on learning that he 
 had come into possession of a title and estate, 
 but without the means of maintaining either 
 suitably, had merely designed stopping long 
 enouo^h in England to arrang;e his affairs, and 
 then returning to India to rejoin his regiment, 
 and pursue his profession as before. 
 
 But a counter-project had been in store for 
 him. 
 
 "It is simply out of the question the poor 
 dear boy's being allowed to starve." Lady 
 Julia had trotted over to King's Common, big
 
 42 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 witli a mighty purpose, as soon as the con- 
 tents of their father's will had left it in no 
 sort of doubt that he had successfully accom- 
 plished that amiable design. 
 
 " It is certainly a pity," her sister had con- 
 ceded, for whose credit it would have been 
 undoubtedly preferable that the reigning head 
 of the house, whoever he might be, should 
 have had a decent coat on his back. *' I had 
 no idea that my father would have done any- 
 thing so foolish," she had further added, with 
 asperity. 
 
 " Poor dear papa ! I am sure that if he 
 had only been permitted to live," the milder 
 daughter had sighed, "he would have made 
 another will. If he had only lived to see and 
 welcome this nice young man." 
 Lady Caroline had smiled. 
 " Well, my dear, I am sure he is nice," the 
 little spinster had valiantly protested. ''He 
 writes as if he were — (which he had not, for his 
 letters were the worst part of him) — " and we 
 have at any rate no reason for supposing he is
 
 LOED HAKTLAXD's WILL. 43 
 
 not. But however, Caroline," the speaker had 
 hastened on, " that is not what I came here 
 about to-day. Hartland must be provided for." 
 
 *^ I think so, — yes." 
 
 '' One of your dear girls," in the lowest of 
 whispers. 
 
 *' One of my girls, Julia V^ 
 
 But Lady Caroline had not been startled, 
 nor offended, nor outraged by the suggestion. 
 The same thing had, in fact, already occurred 
 to herself ; and with Julia — Julia, before 
 whom she kept up no state, intrenched her- 
 self within no bulwarks — she had scarcely 
 made even any feint of miscomprehension. 
 She had had a pretty shrewd guess of w^hat 
 Julia would be at, as soon as the contents 
 of the will had been made known, and ac- 
 cordingly — " One of my girls, Julia ? " was 
 all that had been said, interrogatively and 
 suggestively. 
 
 Then with many a babbling digression, and 
 many a twist and turn, but with good sound 
 sense at the bottom of the speaker's honest
 
 44 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 simple-minded sclieme, the whole had come 
 out. She could not, by law, herself provide for 
 Hartland, either by leaving him all or part of 
 her ample fortune. It had principally come to 
 her, as to Caroline, through their mother, and 
 to their mother's family it must in some form 
 return, as both knew ; but all or any of her 
 sister's children could inherit from their aunt. 
 
 " In order to be quite certain about it, I put 
 it twice to Mr Steward, sister, and that in the 
 very plainest language. I inquired of him 
 whether I were at perfect liberty to leave my 
 fortune to any one of your dear girls, to the 
 exclusion of the others. It seemed rather 
 cruel to exclude the others," (parenthetically), 
 " but then I did not name any one ; and so as 
 it may be any one, so it may be any others 
 who would be excluded. That being so, I 
 think it could hardly be called unfair — could 
 it, Caroline 1 " 
 
 Caroline had smiled, for it had been Julia 
 speaking. 
 
 " Well, my dear," with revived animation.
 
 LORD HARTLAND's WILL. 45 
 
 " he said there was no hindrance of any kind. 
 I might select any member of your family, son 
 or daughter — (but I did not want a son, as I 
 told him — I said it was one of my dear nieces 
 whom I wished to select). However, he said 
 it was all one ; I might make my choice, and 
 as soon as I had chosen, he could have a will 
 made out. But now, my dear Caroline, comes 
 the difficulty. How can I make my choice, 
 when Hartland has not yet made his choice 1 
 Oh, my dear, I beg your pardon. I am too 
 gross ; but pray forgive me, — I forgot myself 
 in my anxiety. Pray, my dear Caroline, 
 understand that it is only your good, our 
 good, the good of the family, I have at heart. 
 I am carried away by it. Of course it is not 
 
 for Hartland to choose " 
 
 " And of course he may decline doing any- 
 thing of the kind." Lady Caroline had not 
 cared two straws for the outspokenness, and 
 had only been ruminating with bent brow on 
 the feasibility of the scheme. Her pride was 
 not for Julia.
 
 46 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " We may be quite open with each other," she 
 had declared presently. "You may say to me 
 what you please, Julia ; but you will, you must, 
 be discreet towards him. Whatever happens, 
 it will be absolutely necessary " — with upraised 
 finger — " to be discreet with Hartland." 
 
 " I must say something to him, you know." 
 
 " Impossible ! Not a syllable." 
 
 " But, my dear, did you not see his last 
 letter ? He only proposes stopping a few 
 weeks, and then," tearfully, " shutting up the 
 Abbey, sending away the servants, and going 
 back to India." 
 
 " Turning you out of it V 
 
 " He does not know of my existence. He- 
 would not do such a thing for the world, if 
 he did. But I do not want to live there all 
 alone," poor Julia had dolefully declared. " I 
 want him to live with me. We should get on 
 together excellently, I know; and it would 
 make things smooth all round." 
 
 " But why need anything be said as to the 
 future ?"
 
 47 
 
 "It is not likely" — Julia had been un- 
 usually sagacious — " that any young man 
 Tvould throw up his profession, to be depen- 
 dent on an elderly relative, unless there were 
 some sort of settlement." 
 
 " You are right/' Lady Caroline had inter- 
 rupted, brusquely. " Still, it is awkward." 
 
 " For you it might be, but for me it need 
 not at all. I put it to him as purely my own 
 idea ; I tell him that I have an arrangement — 
 a family arrangement — in my mind, which I 
 should like him to think over, and let me 
 presently have his opinion of. Then I talk of 
 your — of our dear girls — praise them " 
 
 " I should leave that alone." 
 
 " You would not even tell him they are nice 
 and pretty." 
 
 " I should let him find it out for himself 
 Besides, they are at present altogether too 
 young. Rosamund is barely sixteen, and I 
 cannot have any nonsense about her. There 
 must be no Dhilanderins: after them and their 
 governess, mind."
 
 48 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " But he may just see them 1 " 
 
 " Oh yes, he may see them," — even Lady 
 Caroline had laughed. " They are not exactly 
 enclosed in a nunnery, my dear, that you 
 should look so despairing. He may see them, 
 and talk to them — occasionally. He will not 
 care for it often ; they have none of them any- 
 thing to say " 
 
 "Dear ! I find them so delightfuL" 
 
 " Ah, they are fond of you," with softened 
 tone ; " you draw out what is in them, I sup- 
 pose ; it is not every one w^ho can. But to 
 return to Hartland : you should lay the matter 
 in a purely business-like manner before him. 
 Tell him what you can do, and what you 
 would be disposed to do, and let him judge for 
 himself. It is no matter of sentiment " 
 
 " Oh, my dear Caroline ! " 
 
 " In the meantime," Lady Caroline had pro- 
 saically continued, ^'the new Lord Hartland 
 will be short of money. It is really disgrace- 
 ful — I am extremely annoyed about it ; but I 
 understand "
 
 LOKD HAKTLAND's WILL. 49 
 
 "Oh, that will be all right,"— Julia had 
 recovered her early spirits and ardour, — " that 
 I can do — I mean I can make him comfortable 
 at once. While I live, I make Hartland a 
 handsome allowance, and also keep up the 
 Abbey entirely at my own expense. As long 
 as he continues single, I preside there — as I 
 have always done, you know — keep house for 
 him, and receive his friends. Then when he 
 marries Rosamund — or any one of my dear 
 nieces — in order to enable him to do so, I step 
 forward and settle all I have upon her, after 
 my death. She would then simply join our 
 party ; I am easy to get on with, I really 
 think ; and I would be in no one's way. 
 There is room for all. Oh, my dear, I do 
 hope, I do hope it will come to pass." 
 
 "You are very good, Julia." Lady Caro- 
 line's voice had been rather low, and almost 
 soft, — as soft as it was capable of being. 
 *' You are very good and kind," she had con- 
 tinued after a pause, *' and the young people 
 ought to be grateful to you. There is, of 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 course, one person yet to be be consid- 
 ered " 
 
 "Your husband^ Certainly." 
 
 "No; Hartland. What if his affections 
 are already engaged ? " 
 
 Then Julia's face had fallen. 
 
 '' I hardly think they can be," she had mur- 
 mured ; "he is only twenty-five." 
 
 "Twenty-five is a most susceptible age." 
 
 " Our father talked as if he were a school- 
 boy." 
 
 "Talking would not make him one. His 
 having had nothing to marry upon is the 
 more probable hindrance." 
 
 "And in his photograph he looks not in the 
 least like an engaged man. There is nothing 
 at all pre-occupied about the expression. He 
 has such a nice, open face, so handsome, and 
 — and, oh, I am sure he is not a person to 
 conceal anything." 
 
 " There would be no concealment in the 
 matter. No one has ever asked for his con- 
 fidence."
 
 LORD HARTLAND's WILL. 51 
 
 *' Very true. But still — somehow, my dear, 
 I feel that what I say is true. He is free, — I 
 am sure he is free, — I have a presentiment 
 that he is free, and that he will marry my 
 own dear little Kosamund." 
 
 Th^re was no more to be said. 
 
 UBRARV
 
 52 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 
 
 " Despatch thy purposed good : quick, courteous deeds 
 Cause thanks. Slow favour men unthankful breeds." 
 
 —Tr. from AusoNius. 
 
 The acute reader will at this point instantly 
 divine either that Hartland had not been free, 
 or that he had proved to be in all respects 
 different from what Lady Julia's fond and out- 
 rageous fancy had painted him. 
 
 Nothing of the kind. 
 
 Hartland had been destined merely to mod- 
 erate, not to belie, her anticipations. 
 
 He was not a schoolboy, but he was a very 
 young man for his age. He was not hand- 
 some, but he had a plain, dark face, by no 
 means devoid of attraction. He had not
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 53 
 
 fallen lieadlong into her scheme for his hap- 
 piness, but neither had he flatly refused to 
 discuss it. 
 
 He had listened, and once she had caught 
 him smiling. 
 
 He had looked at her with a pair of curious 
 eyes, when she had become excited and dem- 
 onstrative, and the look had once made her 
 stop short and colour up, when, in seeking to 
 be practical, she had found herself growing 
 rather too explicit. 
 
 But he had not made himself disagreeable, 
 nor her uncomfortable, as he might have done ; 
 he had not thrust obstacles and contingencies 
 forward ; he had not even worn a forbidding 
 expression ; and she had had it all out, even 
 to the rates and taxes, without his having 
 offered any sort of hindrance. 
 
 In truth, the idea thus presented to him 
 had not been without its own charm for the 
 young man. He was, as we have said, in 
 many respects young, almost boyish, for his 
 age. His predilections — the things he cared
 
 54 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 most for, and was most interested in — were 
 rather those of a lad of eighteen than of one 
 who had early seen something of the world, 
 and gained a measure of experience. Delight- 
 ing and excelling in the great games of Old 
 England, equally, or almost equally good at 
 cricket and football, his never having been at 
 a public school was felt by him as a thing to 
 be regretted all his life; and had such a notion 
 been feasible, he would cheerfully, even in his 
 twenty-sixth year, have gone to Eton, Win- 
 chester, or Harrow, as old Lord Hartland had 
 proposed. 
 
 His delio[ht was in the talk of bio: lads fresh 
 from these time-honoured haunts. He liked 
 to hear of all that went on there, and was 
 never weary of hearkening, never impatient 
 of the importance attached to the rules, and 
 oddities, and idiosyncrasies of each. 
 
 Of his own prowess in feats of running, 
 jumping, and riding he was reasonably proud. 
 Nature had bestowed on him a form so beauti- 
 fully proportioned, that he could not be un-
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 55 
 
 graceful, do what he wouki, and in every 
 athletic exercise, with one exception, he ex- 
 celled. That exception was swimming, and, 
 oddly enough, this simple art he had never 
 been at the pains to acquire. 
 
 But he could hunt, and Lady Julia had 
 spoken of hunting : he could shoot, and she 
 had evidently expected him to shoot : he 
 loved fields and woods, grassy meadow^s and 
 green hedgerows ; and it was the month of 
 June, and all Nature had laid itself out, as it 
 were, in seductions for him. It seemed as 
 if, until he had actually set foot on English 
 soil, he had never fully realised all he would 
 have to abandon, did he return at once, as he 
 had meant to do, to India ; and yet his heart 
 had been sore enough before. 
 
 Then, however, he had only drawn pictures 
 from memory and hearsay — now he saw. 
 
 London had been teeming with life and 
 revelry as he had passed through, and he had 
 been obliged to stop a day there in order to 
 see his lawyer, who had been out of town on
 
 56 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 his arrival. He had seen the sunlit Kow at 
 noon on a glorious morning, and had noted 
 the brilliancy, the sparkle of the scene — the 
 gloss on the horses' coats — the idle luxury of 
 the loungers — the white dresses of the girls — 
 the pretty children — and proud young fathers 
 and mothers. He had been bewildered and 
 confused subsequently by the uproar in the 
 more crowded streets, and had experienced 
 that sense of forlornness and utter loneliness 
 common to all who have no ties nor links to 
 hang on to in the great city ; and then he had 
 betaken himself to Lord's, and had seen such 
 cricket as he had never seen before in his life. 
 
 That had settled the question. If he could 
 — could by any means, any reductions or cur- 
 tailments — contrive to remain in England, 
 live at Hartland Abbey, have a team of his 
 own, challenge other teams, go up and down 
 the country, — he had seen the whole thing 
 before him, as he had mused and watched in 
 silence. 
 
 It might not have been a very exalted castle
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 57 
 
 in the air ; it had been at least a wholesome, 
 pure, and innocent one. If it had not evinced 
 much sense of the responsibilities of a land- 
 owner, nor of the cares and duties of an Eng- 
 glish country gentleman, recollect that of these 
 Hartland had at that time known nothing, 
 and not having intended to take up that 
 position^ had not supposed he was ever to 
 know anything. 
 
 He had been, as we have said, a big boy 
 at that period of his life, needing training, 
 time, and development, to show what he would 
 with years become. Meantime it may just 
 be added that he had, at least, had noth- 
 ing to unlearn. Vice had never had any 
 attractions. 
 
 At Lord's, for a wonder. Lord Hartland had 
 presently been hailed by voices he knew. Two 
 young men with whom he had once been 
 quartered, had seen him, and had hurried 
 across the ground to offer congratulations and 
 make inquiries. It had appeared they knew 
 the Abbey, — knew at least that its coverts
 
 58 A STIFF-XECKED GENERATION. 
 
 were in good repute, and that there were two 
 packs of hounds in the neighbourhood. 
 
 They had been more than friendly — we had 
 almost said in consequence ; but that might 
 have been doing two respectable youths in- 
 justice. They had always liked Dick Verelst, 
 as most people did ; and they had been only a 
 little more glad to see him, and a little more 
 anxious that he should dine with them at their 
 club that evening, now that he was a jolly 
 young fellow just come in for a title, than if 
 he had been dear old Dick the cricketer, run 
 over in order to see the first big match of the 
 season. Hartland had been unable to say 
 as much, or respond as cordially as he would 
 otherwise have done, from the awkwardness 
 of his position ; and the frankness of former 
 times had somehow been absent. It had been 
 taken for granted, assumed as a matter of 
 course, from his rejoinders, that he was going 
 to settle down in England, and lead a merry, 
 hearty, homely English life. This had been 
 as it should be. His friends were of the right
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 59 
 
 sort — men who, like himself, were unsnared 
 by the follies and vices of fashionable dissipa- 
 tion ; and he would have liked then and there 
 to have made them free of the Abbey, with all 
 its cono^enial surroundino^s. 
 
 But he had been necessarily hampered by 
 uncertainty and doubt, and had had to let the 
 two honest fellows depart, feeling that he had 
 been ungracious, and that they would only 
 too probably consider that he was already put- 
 ting on airs, and preparing to cold-shoulder 
 those whom he had known and associated with 
 in early days. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the ground had 
 been already prepared for Lady Julia's seed. 
 
 No wonder that she had been heard with 
 mute attention, when she had had something 
 of such importance to communicate : no won- 
 der he had remained silent till she had done. 
 " So I am to marry Eosamund," at length he 
 had said ; but whether to marry Rosamund or 
 not was his intention, no mortal could have 
 told.
 
 60 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Oh, my dear Hartland, not yet. I only 
 thought it might be as well to mention it ; but, 
 indeed, you must do nothing rashly. The idea 
 is quite, quite, quite my own. My dear niece 
 is barely sixteen, and in short frocks. It will 
 be fully two years before her mother would 
 hear of such a thing ; for my sister is very 
 particular, and the girls are never brought for- 
 ward in any way ; they are kept strictly to 
 the schoolroom at present. You will see them 
 walking with their governess, or riding on 
 their ponies ; and you will notice what nice, 
 bright, charming young creatures they are, — 
 but you will not speak to them " 
 
 '' Not speak to them ? " 
 
 " Not unless it is just to say ' How d'ye 
 do '? ' or so. Their mother would not like it. 
 She has the greatest objection to their being 
 taken notice of in any way. Between you and 
 me, I do not quite altogether see it in the 
 same light my sister does. It does seem a 
 little hard that one is never able to get at the 
 dear girls without Miss Penrose — good creature
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A RExMEDY. 61 
 
 as Miss Penrose is " (Lady Julia detested her, 
 but thought herself most uncharitable for 
 doing so) — " it would be so nice sometimes to 
 have them to one's self," she had owned ; " but 
 it is of no use. Their uncle, George Liscard, 
 a nice young lieutenant in the navy, got into 
 sad hot water the last time he was at King's 
 Common, for romping with the girls on the 
 
 sly." 
 
 *' Eh '? " Hartland had roused himself, and 
 his lips had parted into an interested smile. 
 ^'Did he?" 
 
 " Rosamund is perhaps a little, just a little 
 bit of a romp," the candid Julia had proceeded. 
 "She will grow out of it; and there is no 
 harm in the dear child as she is — only high 
 spirits. For my part, I love high spirits in 
 the young ; and sometimes I almost wish my 
 dear sister could have more sympathy with 
 them ; but, however, all I mean to say is, that 
 I must warn you not to frolic with your 
 cousins." 
 
 "It is rather a queer way of warning me,"
 
 62 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 — and there had been still the same lurkinof 
 smile, — '* telling me that I am to marry one 
 of them." 
 
 '' Oh, my dear Hartland, you are so down- 
 right. I begin to fear I ought not to have men- 
 tioned such a thing ; but really I was at a loss 
 to know what to do, and I thought it might make 
 your mind easy about the future, if you knew 
 the whole plan I had in my head. There need 
 be no reserve between us as to money matters, 
 that is one thing decided. It is a hard case 
 that you should have come home as head of 
 the family, with all the attendant obligations 
 and requirements, and so much to keep up and 
 support, and — and nothing to support it on." 
 
 Upon this Lord Hartland had bent his head. 
 She had stated the case precisely as it stood. 
 He had been grave enough then. 
 
 " But see, I am wealthy ; I have abundance, 
 more than abundance, for us both," Lady Julia 
 had cried next, rising from her chair in her 
 anxiety to be clear and emphatic. *' In- 
 dependently of what my dear father left me.
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 63 
 
 which should have gone to you'' — in paren- 
 thesis — " quite apart from that, Caroline and 
 I each inherited a large fortune from our 
 mother, who was an only child and the 
 daughter of a very rich man. My father 
 knew this, and, knowing it, I cannot but say 
 that I do not feel he acted quite rightly, not 
 quite as I am sure he would have done had 
 he lived longer ; but, my dear Hartland," — 
 for the speaker had been eager to be off such 
 slippery, uncomfortable, and altogether dan- 
 gerous ground, — " my dear Hartland, make 
 allowances. He was, I grieve to say, blinded 
 by prejudice. I have no doubt your father 
 was an excellent man ; but you see, mine did 
 not know him, and no doubt did him injus- 
 tice. It is difficult to be just to one's next 
 heir, is it not ? We need not talk about it. 
 My dear nephew — let me call you my nephew, 
 if you do not mind — it will simplify matters, 
 and people will quite understand and accept 
 the position, — my dear Hartland, let me make 
 what amends lie in my power ; let me continue
 
 64 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 to live in your house, preside over your estab- 
 lishment, entertain your friends, share my 
 fortune with you now, and bequeath it to 
 you hereafter. And I only ask one thing," 
 the excellent creature had wound up in con- 
 clusion, with the tear running down her cheek; 
 " give me a place in your heart, and let me be 
 your ' Aunt Julia.' " 
 
 If such a conclusion had been bathos, at 
 least Hartland had not found it so. He had 
 been greatly touched. 
 
 During all the long journey home, when 
 returning from India to take up his new posi- 
 tion and enter into his barren kingdom, bitter 
 thoughts and angry resolutions had filled his 
 heart. He had been almost immediately in- 
 formed — informed ere he had started — that 
 nothing but an income altogether insufiicient 
 went with the title, and that he would find 
 himself short of funds at the very outset of his 
 new career; and there had in consequence 
 been merely a brief interval in which he had 
 dreamed of being a Lord Hartland such as the
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 65 
 
 Lord Hartlands who bad o'one before him had 
 been. 
 
 The cup had barely been sipped ere it had 
 been rudely dashed from his hand ; and he 
 had, as we have said, seen that there was but 
 little for him in the future that the past had 
 not possessed. In one way he would be even 
 worse oflf, since more would undoubtedly be 
 expected of Lord Hartland than had ever been 
 exacted of Dick Verelst, and he would find 
 himself in a false position at every turn in his 
 new career. 
 
 No wonder, then, that his wrath bad been 
 kindled and had burned hot for a time, and 
 that it had been freshly lit, and had sent forth 
 sparks and flames anew on his arrival at the 
 Abbey. He had done his best to hold himself 
 in check, and no outward manifestations, either 
 of suffering or indignation, had escaped to 
 tarnish the favourable impression one and all 
 had received. Nothing but profound pity and 
 universal goodwill had been felt all round ; 
 and although the keener-sighted had instinc- 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 tively divined that beneath the calm exterior 
 all was not so smooth as had appeared, they 
 had liked Hartland not the less, but rather the 
 more, in that he had shown he could smart 
 but would not show his wound. 
 
 The blood had more than once flashed to his 
 face, and his eye had striven to betray him 
 now and again, it is true, when irresistibly 
 impelled to it by some new and sudden cir- 
 cumstance or suggestion ; but in the main his 
 demeanour had been proudly impassive, and 
 Lady Julia, in her distress and impatience, 
 had scarcely known how to bear the delay 
 which had had to elapse ere she had been able 
 to get him to herself and unburden her bosom 
 of its load. 
 
 She had done it at last, and had heard him 
 breathe quicker and quicker, as the scheme 
 had been unfolded. The hand by his side 
 had opened and closed involuntarily with 
 hasty nervous movements. He had stood the 
 whole time, sometimes in one attitude, some- 
 times in another, always with the air of a man
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A EEMEDY. 67 
 
 who hardly knows where he is or what he is 
 doing. She had seen he was lost in a con- 
 fusion of strange and new emotions. And 
 such indeed had been the case. 
 
 Here had he, in his own mind, been at 
 bitter enmity with all his newly found kin- 
 dred ; in especial railing secretly at those two 
 greedy, covetous women, who were now to 
 fatten at his expense, and who would doubt- 
 less assume towards him patronising, hypo- 
 critical airs of sympathy ; while in reality it 
 was they who were driving him forth from the 
 home of his ancestors, and standinsf between 
 him and his just inheritance. 
 
 What though he had been only a poor 
 second cousin or so ? Two generations back 
 his branch had sprouted straight and true 
 from this lordly stem ; and those great lords 
 and ladies, those ruffled dames and knights 
 in armour, had belonged to him, and be- 
 queathed to him their noble blood as truly 
 as if he had been the late peer s first-born son, 
 born and bred within those walls.
 
 68 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 He had been, and he was being, most cruelly 
 wronged ; and though he had told himself that 
 his lips should be sealed by decency and that 
 reserve which was the only safeguard of his 
 self-respect under an ordeal so odious, yet he 
 had in secret wished good Julia anywhere but 
 where she was, and almost anything but what 
 she was. 
 
 For he had seen — as who could help seeing ? 
 — that she was artless, and it had not been 
 easy to accuse her. Probably she was a 
 simpleton, and did not know what she was 
 doing. In that case he would try to be 
 charitable ; and if let alone, and not com- 
 passionated nor provoked, would put her out 
 of his thoughts. She might live on at the 
 Abbey if she chose. He supposed she would 
 pay him rent, and the rent would be swallowed 
 up in the yearly outlay. He would let her 
 and the steward manage between them, and 
 get to loggerheads about it if they chose. He 
 would cut the whole concern. 
 
 One sight of Hartland Abbey, with its
 
 LADY JULIA FIXDS A REMEDY. 69 
 
 lodges, its avenues, its deer-park, shrubberies, 
 gardens, stables, out-buildings, terraces, and 
 doorways, with its halls, staircases, galleries, 
 and suites of rooms, had dispelled all hopes 
 of accomplishing the design formed of living 
 there on a modest and retrenched scale. No, 
 — the impossibility of this had been obvious 
 at a glance ; and ere he had crossed the 
 threshold, he had seen his future anew melt 
 into thin air. Then had come the meetinsf 
 with Lady Julia, and renewal of all hostile 
 feelings ; and then, just when these had been 
 at their heioht, and some little sio^n had 
 escaped, some bubble had rippled to the 
 surface, telling for a second of the convul- 
 sion underneath, and giving the poor spinster, 
 who had been on the tiptoe of excitement and 
 impatience, the opening she wanted, out it 
 had all come ; and it had been shown that 
 the two whom he had regarded as the most 
 unjust and avaricious of their kind, had had 
 nothing but the warmest of feelings towards 
 him, and had been occupied by projects for
 
 70 A STIFF-XECKED GENERATION. 
 
 his benefit, surpassing anything of which he 
 could ever had dreamed. Shame had tied his 
 tongue forthwith. 
 
 How he had wronged this good creature — 
 both these good creatures — (for in every senti- 
 ment and expression, Lady Julia had natu- 
 rally associated with herself her sister, and it 
 had been '' Caroline and I " throughout) ; how 
 he had misjudged and misinterpreted them ! 
 
 The flood of new light let in upon his 
 thoughts had been wellnigh overpowering. 
 Impossibility had become possible ; what he 
 had told himself could never be, had actually 
 come to pass. Hartland Abbey was to be his 
 own, and his own on the easiest and pleas- 
 antest terms : it had been almost incredible, 
 almost too much. It had been a positive re- 
 lief to talk about the unknown Eosamund, 
 and by trifling a moment with her name, 
 and that dim, far-away suggestion regarding 
 it, gain a foothold whereupon to steady him- 
 self. He had even been the better for having 
 interchanged smiles with his friendly monitor.
 
 LADY JULIA FINDS A REMEDY. 71 
 
 and having been told he was not to romp with 
 his cousins. 
 
 But still his head had gone whirling round ; 
 and all she, this ministering angel, had asked 
 of him in return, had been that he should call 
 her his "Aunt Julia"! 
 
 He had taken her hand. He might have 
 kissed it, but he had not thought of doiug so. 
 He had only taken it and held it for a mo- 
 ment, while his voice, in spite of every effort, 
 had trembled a little, and all he had said was, 
 *^ Thank you, Aunt Julia ; " but she had been 
 certain — yes, quite certain — that he had 
 stopped thus short because he had been un- 
 able to bring out another word. 
 
 And she had been risht.
 
 72 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 
 
 " For what is love ? It is a doll dressed up 
 For idleness to cosset, nurse, and dandle ; 
 A thing of soft misnomers." 
 
 — Keats, 
 
 So far from being upset by this new change 
 in his fortunes, Hartland had thereafter hardly 
 known how to demean himself humbly enough 
 in the sudden revulsion of his feelings. 
 
 He had on the spot, as was natural, sur- 
 rendered every spark of lingering animosity 
 towards the generous woman who had stepped 
 forward to redress all his wrongs with her own 
 hand ; nay, he had gone further : in his in- 
 most soul he had cast himself at her feet and 
 implored forgiveness.
 
 NO ADVAXCE MADE. 73 
 
 She had bound him to her then and there 
 in a lifelong bond of gratitude and affection, 
 and he could not show sufficiently his readi- 
 ness to do and be all she could wish thence- 
 forth. 
 
 In response to her nobility he had longed 
 to evince his own. He could not hope to 
 win, but he would at least compete with her 
 in the race who should be the most considerate 
 and the most unselfish in the life now begun ; 
 and such desires on his part had for a con- 
 siderable length of time shown themselves in 
 his scarcely liking to give an order, change a 
 custom, or play the master of the house in 
 any way. Then Lady Julia had protested. 
 " My dear boy, you are really too good, too 
 kind ; you make too much of the old aunt,'' 
 she had cried. " I cannot have you putting 
 me first in everything, and never thinking of 
 yourself at all." 
 
 " You think you ought to have the mono- 
 poly for that. Aunt Julia 1 " 
 
 She had not understood, and he had not
 
 74 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 explained. The idea had dropped out by 
 accident. 
 
 *' But really you are too accommodating," 
 she had persisted. " Why, because / have 
 been accustomed to old-fashioned ways, need 
 you be condemned to them ? You cannot 
 like to dine at six o'clock ; then why do it ? 
 For myself, really I should prefer — yes, in- 
 deed, quite prefer — keeping up with the 
 fashions of the day ; and I am not so very 
 old yet, you know," smiling. '' I love young 
 folks, and suiting myself to them. My poor 
 dear father kept to his early dinner-hour be- 
 cause it was the one at which he had dined in 
 his youth, and he disliked changes of every 
 kind. But that need not bind us. Fix your 
 own hours, I must really beg of you. Hart- 
 land." And she had felt genuinely elated, and 
 almost rakish, when he had owned with reluct- 
 ance that the hour at which he had usually 
 sat down to mess had been half-past seven : he 
 had not added that by some, even that hour 
 was growing to be considered out of date.
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. *75J 
 
 That decided, another point had arisen. 
 " The stables, my dear Hartland, — I am 
 convinced you know more about horses than 
 I do." 
 
 " Yes, Aunt Julia," gravely. 
 
 "Why do you not rearrange them, then, 
 my dearV (His very finger-tips had been 
 itching to do so.) 
 
 " Do you think they want rearranging, 
 ma'am ? I thought perhaps Hubbard might 
 not care for interference." 
 
 " Interference from you 1 From his master '? " 
 
 " Oh, if you put it in that light, Aunt Julia," 
 joyfully; "but are you sure you mean what 
 you say ? Have I your authority for doing 
 what I think fit, and — and '? " 
 
 " My dear nephew," — she had been almost 
 pettish, — " will you never understand 1 I have 
 no authority, I will have none any longer, 
 about such matters as ought to fall under a 
 master's eye. You will see that I am com- 
 fortable, and that things go on properly, I 
 know. But you are the head of this estab-
 
 76 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 lishment, to you the servants must look for 
 orders, on you their staying or going depends ; 
 and it is not you who must come to me for 
 authority, but / who will go to you, if there 
 is any matter of importance or difficulty to 
 be adjusted. Pray, pray, my dear Hartland, 
 let us have no misunderstanding on this point, 
 either now or in the future." 
 
 And she had again struck the right chord in 
 his heart, and he had loved her still more than 
 he had done before. 
 
 Of course it had been a risk, but even Lady 
 Caroline had never for a moment cast a doubt 
 upon the success of Julia s handiwork. 
 
 Had she been unbiassed, perhaps matters 
 had not been so smooth ; but with the know- 
 ledge of all that Julia had plotted and planned, 
 and the understanding that it had at least not 
 been set aside by the .person most chiefly con- 
 cerned, she would have been a fool indeed if 
 she had found anything to grumble at. 
 
 To her Hartland had been only one degree 
 less grateful than to her sister.
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 77 
 
 Lady Julia's protestations had, as ^^'e have 
 seen, included her married sister, the only 
 other representative of the family, at every 
 turn ; and these had seemed to show that both 
 were of one mind in the warmth of their repu- 
 diation of the family ill-feeling towards him. 
 He had been kindly met at King's Common, — 
 what Lady Caroline would have called affec- 
 tionately met, indeed ; and although he had 
 been somewhat startled by the difference be- 
 tween the sisters in aspect, manner, voice, and 
 shake of the hand, he had still persisted in lik- 
 ing where he could not love, and had almost 
 made Lady Caroline endurable by the force of 
 his resolution to find her so. 
 
 What he had thought of his cousins, both 
 aunts had often endeavoured to discover. 
 
 Once it would be on Julia's part. *' We are 
 never dull, are we, Hartland, with such a 
 houseful close by '? What should we do with- 
 out all those King's Commoners, as I call 
 them ? We should not be half so merry." 
 There had just been a tea-party at the Abbey,
 
 78 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 and the whole crew, and even Miss Penrose, 
 had been in famous spirits, and had tumbled 
 up and down, and in and out, all over the 
 place, and had finally disappeared amidst 
 shouting, and laughing, and waving of hand- 
 kerchiefs. " I was glad you should have a 
 chance of talking to the girls for once," the 
 astute matchmaker had continued. " Miss 
 Penrose has such a way of placing herself in 
 front of them, and answering for everybody 
 all round, that really, unless she is disposed 
 of, one has no hope of hearing another voice." 
 " That was why you carried her off? " 
 " Certainly," said Lady Julia, laughing. 
 " I am not so particularly partial to Miss 
 Penrose's company, that I should have run 
 away from you all to closet myself with her 
 otherwise ; and I must own it was tantalising 
 to hear Rosamund's merry laugh ring out just 
 as we were leaving the room ; but I knew you 
 would all enjoy yourselves the better if there 
 were no old fogies about. Old fogies are apt 
 to be marplots."
 
 NO ADYAXCE MADE. 79 
 
 " You do not call yourself an old fogy ? " 
 
 "Indeed I do. What am I then T'— (for 
 the pleasure of hearing him disclaim). 
 
 " About as much of one as you are of a 
 marplot." 
 
 " Really such compliments ! " cried the good 
 soul, who had never been so happy in her life. 
 '' What a courtier you are, Hartland ! I do 
 not wonder at my sister Caroline. You have 
 made a conquest even of her. As for Rosa- 
 mund" — she paused, hoping he would look 
 or say something unusual, — something to give 
 her the ghost of a clue to his sentiments in 
 that quarter. 
 
 But this was just what Hartland was not 
 going to do. On every other point he could 
 be, and had been, frankly communicative, and 
 it came naturally to him to say the little, kind, 
 civil things, and to give the little pieces of in- 
 formation as to what had happened during the 
 day, and to bestow the '* good-night " kiss of 
 a young relation which Lady Julia had insti- 
 tuted, and which seemed to establish the foot-
 
 80 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ing upon which the two were : all of these 
 trifling pleasantries drew them closer to each 
 other, and made the harmony between them 
 more complete ; but no advance had been made 
 with regard to the matrimonial part of the 
 plan, and two years had passed when our story 
 opens, and the two elder ladies were exactly 
 where they had been when it had first been 
 broached, as regarded their knowledge of Lord 
 Hartland's feelings or wishes on the subject. 
 
 Our readers, however, may be permitted a 
 gleam of information. 
 
 Hartland, during the two past years, al- 
 though he had not troubled himself very seri- 
 ously with the consideration, had recollected 
 and occasionally meditated upon the oppor- 
 tunity presented him for ultimately securing 
 the fortune, of which he had now only the 
 interest, and that during Lady Julia's life- 
 time. He had also kept his eyes open. 
 
 Here were seven young damsels, daughters 
 of one house, any one of whom he was at 
 liberty to sue, and with any one of whom
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 81 
 
 would come, slap - bang, the all - important 
 dowry. Out of a choice of seven, surely one 
 might be found with whom he could fancy 
 himself a little bit in love, and who would be 
 able to get up a little bit of response. 
 
 No one of them was amiss to look at. They 
 were all bound to be well-educated, well-man- 
 nered, and well-principled. He need not be 
 afraid of lurking quicksands in that guarded 
 and sheltered household. He must find out 
 an easy-going one, who was not likely to say 
 " No " ; and when that was done, he would 
 have broken the back of the venture, and the 
 rest would follow of itself. As to being in 
 love, he had had enough of that. Half-a- 
 dozen years before, when yet in his teens, he 
 had been violently, blindly, and, as a mat- 
 ter of course, effervescently infatuated with a 
 charmer many years his senior. The colonel 
 of his regiment had warned his father, and 
 the affair had been stopped with a high hand ; 
 but the ungrateful subaltern had not seen it 
 in the lis^ht he should have done. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 8!^ A STIFF-NECKED GEXERATIOX. 
 
 Instead of blessing, morning, noon, and 
 night, the two who had saved him from a 
 lifelono^ reo;ret — for the woman was worthless 
 and heartless — he had closed his eyes and 
 ears ; and whenever he had subsequently 
 thought about marriage in the abstract (for 
 no successor had ever, strange to say, taken 
 her place in his affections), it had been to 
 consider, with a certain sentimental luxury 
 of supposed woe, that he had once loved, 
 and that with him there would never come 
 a second time. 
 
 Accordingly, Lady Julia had found the 
 ground fallow, as we have said ; and the only 
 little cloud which by -and -by arose on the 
 horizon of her heaven of blue, was the sus- 
 picion that, although time was passing, fallow 
 the ground still remained as regarded any 
 attachment being formed. 
 
 It is true that of the cousins, Eosamund 
 was, if anything, Hartland's favourite, and 
 this in spite of her being exactly the opposite 
 of the one for whom, in reviewing his position
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 83 
 
 at the outset, he had considered he should 
 look out. 
 
 No one, by the wildest stretch of the 
 imagination, could call the eldest Miss Lis- 
 card easy-going. Her likings and dislikings, 
 her affinities and aversions, were magnified by 
 a nature vehement and impetuous into matters 
 of life and death, when opposed or disagreed 
 with. She could not let a thing pass, could 
 not refrain her tong^ue even when a hundred 
 warnings betokened the wisdom of silence. 
 She did not, it is to be feared, even esteem 
 strict justice as much as she herself supposed, 
 if only she could have her fling at the back- 
 biter or the tell-tale. 
 
 All of this Hartland knew, — knew, perhaps, 
 better than any one else ; and yet he liked 
 Kosamund better than Dolly, and better a 
 thousand times than Catharine. 
 
 At first, indeed, he had thought the little, 
 round-faced, chubby Dorothea, four years 
 younger than Rosamund, and with a brother 
 between her and Catharine, would have suited
 
 84 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 him admirably ; and her youth had been all 
 in her favour. Four years more time before 
 he need trouble his head about the matter 
 was by no means to be despised ; and Dolly 
 was a most engaging poppet of the Aunt Julia 
 type, which aunt she was supposed to resemble 
 in disposition as well as in appearance. He 
 had passed over Catharine at once : her blue 
 eyes, and orderly, flaxen ringlets, and nice, 
 obliging manners, had had no charm for him 
 (perhaps owing to an occasional and enlighten- 
 ing look of scorn on Rosamund's face) ; and 
 he had faithfully attached himself to Dolly, in 
 a fraternal fashion, for some time. 
 
 But, in spite of himself, Rosamund had 
 interested him : she had crept into his thoughts 
 when he was alone ; he had found himself 
 recalling a gesture or a glance after he had 
 parted from her, and assuming a certain tone 
 towards her when the two were alone, which 
 had dropped off of its own accord upon the 
 approach of others. This had just begun at 
 the time our story opens, when, as we have
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 80 
 
 said, the young lady had attained her eigh- 
 teenth year (two years, it will be remembered, 
 subsequent to the period of Hartland's arrival 
 at the Abbey) ; and Hartland had himself 
 wakened up with a start to the fact that the 
 time for action, if action w^ere to be taken at 
 all, had come. It had also dawned upon him 
 to wonder whether or no Rosamund had her 
 own suspicions. That she had been informed, 
 or even hinted to, was not to be thought of for 
 an instant. He knew his aunts better than to 
 suppose them capable of indelicacy ; but had 
 she divined by instinct anything '? 
 
 Of course Rosamund had. 
 
 At first the discovery had filled her with 
 unreasoning girlish rage, and her bosom had 
 swelled with a sense of passionate rebellion 
 to what, with all the grandiloquism of youth, 
 she had internally stigmatised as an act of 
 tyranny. 
 
 But Hartland's indifi'erence and taste for the 
 society of her little sister had given the elder 
 time to think ; and as her vision had cleared.
 
 86 A STIFF-XECKED GENERATIOX. 
 
 she had thought she saw the whole thing. 
 He no more meant to fall in love with her 
 than she did with him ; and she might spare 
 her gibes, and sarcasms, and contemptuous 
 looks, for he did not know what they meant. 
 
 Thus she had dropped them, and then Hart- 
 land had begun to take notice of her. 
 
 But by this time Eosamund, disarmed, had 
 corrected her first impression, and had even 
 begun to associate her cousin with herself in 
 her sense of ill-usage. How absurd the whole 
 idea was ! Hartland must be as much pro- 
 voked as she if he saw it. She hoped to good- 
 ness he did not see it ; she should never be 
 able to look him in the face if she once found 
 that he had an inkling of what was going on. 
 
 " And Hartland is well enough if he is let 
 alone," she owned to herself; *'' but what I 
 cannot stand is the fuss made about him, and 
 the way Aunt Julia and mamma sit down and 
 cackle over him ; and when he comes into a 
 room, the business there is to get near him ; 
 and the attention they pay to every word he
 
 NO ADVANCE MADE. 87 
 
 speaks, and quote his opinions afterwards — it 
 is enouo-h to turn one ag^ainst the man, and 
 make one hate him on the spot, that's what it 
 is, if mamma did but know it. And then it 
 is always ' your cousin Hartland ' here, and 
 ' your cousin Hartland ' there ; and I must do 
 this because my * cousin ' wishes it, or not do 
 it if he does not wish it. My ' cousin ' for- 
 sooth ! My third or thirtieth cousin ; — and I 
 know, of course I know, what is the meaning 
 of it all. As if we are going to marry each 
 other just because mamma and Aunt Julia 
 have agreed upon it ! I could laugh to see 
 them putting their heads together, and taking 
 it for granted that we are going to be good 
 little children, and do as we are bid. Put 
 handy-pan dy in handy -pandy, and trot away 
 off to the Abbey, and live happily there ever 
 after ! 
 
 "And they look so pleased and important 
 if we do but say a few words to each other 
 now and then ; and mamma makes way for 
 him to pass on to me, and tries to get up some
 
 S8 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 flimsy excuse which would not take in a har- 
 vest-mouse ; and I always find his place next 
 mine at dinner, when he dines with us ; and I 
 may do what I like, and laugh, and talk, and 
 run on as much as ever I choose, when he is 
 by — every one is so benign, and in such 
 good-humour. Oh ! I know, I know. It is 
 very good fan as long as nobody else suspects, 
 and I mean to enjoy it all I can — up to a cer- 
 tain point, my lord, up to a certain point. 
 Thus far thou shalt go, Hartland, and no 
 further. As you are, I like you ; farther than 
 that, I like you not. No advance, if yoa 
 please. We shall remain excellent friends 
 just so long as we keep our present positions, 
 but one false step will send us as wide apart 
 as the poles. Oh, my good mother and aunt, 
 look out, look out ! — we shall cheat you both 
 yet.
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 
 
 ■ Art she had none, yet wanted none, 
 For Nature did that want supply : 
 So rich in treasures of her own, 
 She might our boasted stores defy," 
 
 — Dryden. 
 
 We have now a bird's-eye view of the general 
 position of our dramatis personce. 
 
 Lord Hartland is to marry Rosamund, Aunt 
 Julia is to dower the bride, the two are to live 
 at Hartland Abbey, and Lady Caroline is thus 
 to be free to bring out her next daughter. 
 
 All this is very nicely arranged, and it only 
 remains for the wheels to turn, and the 
 machinery to be set in motion. 
 
 As we have seen, however, one spoke was 
 already there, and there were indications of
 
 90 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 another, whicli did not escape the two pairs of 
 eyes on the watch. 
 
 Lord Hartland showed no disposition to 
 encroach beyond the barrier-line drawn by his 
 fair cousin in the last chapter : it might even 
 have seemed to an ill-natured spectator that 
 he was, if anything, still less disposed to quit 
 his present foothold than the young lady was 
 to have him do so. If he were a single degree 
 more friendly vvith her than usual one day, he 
 swung back like a pendulum till he was a full 
 pace behind what he had been the next : if a 
 momentary notice had been taken of Kosa- 
 mund, perhaps unavoidably evoked by circum- 
 stances, she was sure to be annoyingly swamped 
 in a general survey or observation immediately 
 thereafter ; and if he had been caught bestow- 
 ing so much as a glance of admiration, he 
 turned away his eyes as if from beholding 
 vanity. 
 
 The poor man was frightened — that was the 
 truth. 
 
 He had no particular turn for matrimony ;
 
 ROSAMUXD AS A CONTRAST. 91 
 
 and the remembrance of an unliappy child- 
 hood, rendered so by ill-mated parents, to- 
 gether with some more recent experiences of 
 a like nature, had made him shy of taking the 
 plunge on his own account. Not being in 
 love, he preferred to defer the evil day. 
 
 Things were very pleasant as they were, he 
 thought : he had all he wished, and far more 
 than he had ever hoped for, in his new life ; 
 the Abbey was a home that might have satis- 
 fied any man ; Lady Julia was the kindest, 
 cheerfulest, pleasantest of old maids to live 
 with that could have been imagined ; his 
 shooting - parties were the merriest, and his 
 cricket-team the strongest, in the county ; he 
 got on well with his people, his farmers, ten- 
 ants, and labourers; he had not the ill-word 
 of any one, high or low, so far as he knew; 
 he lived at peace with his neighbours ; and his 
 parson was his most particular friend. Could 
 any change be for the better ? 
 
 As for Eosamund, he liked Eosamund — 
 well enough. It was not her but it — the
 
 92 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 whole tliinor — he shirked and dreaded. If he 
 had been let alone — if there had been no 
 delighted looks, and fond inquiries, and thinly 
 veiled anxiety at the Abbey, no stately un- 
 bending and grim approval at King's Common 
 — he would have got on excellently w^ith the 
 unmanageable, inflammable wild young thing 
 who was metaphorically kicking up her heels 
 all over in the place, in the joy of her new- 
 born freedom. Hartland, who was of a sober 
 sort, had a lurking sympathy with such choice 
 spirits, and the two would have been fast 
 friends, if no more, he told himself, if this 
 foolish idea of a marriao-e had never been 
 started, — but as it was, the idea was like an 
 iron hand holding him back from any sort of 
 easy companionship. 
 
 Of this he himself was aware, but he was 
 ignorant that he might have gone a very great 
 deal further in the same direction, and still 
 not have outshot the truth. 
 
 The truth, then — the real, the actual truth, 
 — and let anxious guardians and match-makers
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 93 
 
 read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it, — was 
 this, that had it been possible for every sort 
 of recollection of Lady Julia's project to have 
 been blotted out of Hartland's memory ; had 
 he of himself and by himself found out the 
 beauties and the blemishes and all the secret 
 springs of that bewitching and bewildering 
 ejffervescence which now, as it were, danced 
 before his eyes in a Rosamund unapproachable 
 and unattainable ; had they met alone, un- 
 noticed and unheeded, and each unprepared 
 for the other, — his heart had been hers long, 
 long before he knew. 
 
 As it was, the very fact that he was being 
 watched and approved of and presided over, 
 had the natural effect ; and it said something 
 for both Hartland and Rosamund that all this 
 did not render each odious in the other's eyes. 
 
 "But we really must come to some sort of 
 an understanding before long." 
 
 Lady Caroline was alone with her sister, of 
 course, when such a remark could be made. 
 " It was all very well as long as the girls were
 
 94 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 in the schoolroom, Julia ; but now that Kosa- 
 mund has been out for three months and been 
 seen everywhere, there is nothing to wait for. 
 If there is to be anything between her and 
 Hartland, it must be now, or never." 
 
 "My dear Caroline, I really — you see there 
 is no particular hurry." 
 
 "Now that is you, Julia, all the world 
 over. No hurry ! And Catharine only a year 
 younger, and Dolly close behind her. To 
 talk of there being no hurry, by which I 
 presume you mean that the affair may hang 
 on and on indefinitely, is absurd. Either it 
 must be now, or not at all." 
 
 Ladv Julia was silent. 
 
 " Does Hartland mean anything, or does he 
 not ? " 
 
 " My dear ." Lady Julia paused. 
 
 '' It was not my idea, but yours," pursued 
 Lady Caroline, who was in a humour to brow- 
 beat any one that day ; " you originated the 
 whole ; you broached it to Hartland ; you un- 
 dertook it in your plan for his living with you ;
 
 ROSAMUND AS A COXTRAST. 95 
 
 and joii assured me tliat be was inclined to 
 agree. If Hartland draws back now " 
 
 " He bas never said a word about drawing; 
 back," replied Lady Julia, witb more spirit 
 than could have been expected ; " and I must 
 own that I think you are over-hasty altogether. 
 Give Hartland time." 
 
 " Oh, time ! I wish you could understand," 
 cried Lady Caroline impatiently, and had Julia 
 known, there was more reason for her impa- 
 tience than appeared. " I cannot make you 
 see with my eyes, — I never could," proceeded 
 the speaker, stating a fact for wdiich the Abbey 
 folks had daily cause to bless their good luck ; 
 " but, however, it is of no use talking," she 
 added, and indeed she had been on the brink 
 of an indiscretion. " I have my own reasons, 
 
 — ahem why, you yourself, Julia, have 
 
 often pitied poor Beatrice Waterfield, who in- 
 troduces a new daughter year by year, till she 
 has now a perfect train behind her wherever 
 she goes. Upon my word," exclaimed Lady 
 Caroline, with an energy that yet showed a
 
 96 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION". 
 
 returning self-satisfaction and good-humour — 
 " upon my word, I never think of Beatrice 
 and her seven daughters behind her, without 
 a shudder." 
 
 " Seven, dear ? Only six, I think," corrected 
 Julia, gently. 
 
 " Seven," pronounced her sister, in a voice 
 that might have spoken their doom. " You 
 foro^et the schoolo^irl, Diana " 
 
 "Oh, I beg your pardon, I thought you 
 spoke of the girls who were out " 
 
 " And in another year Diana will also be 
 out. And there she will be to be taken 
 about also, and to be presented, and every- 
 thing ! " 
 
 " Oh, we will hope for the best," said Lady 
 Julia, pleasantly ; '^ and I knoAV, for my part, 
 I cannot but admire the unselfishness and sweet 
 temper with which Beatrice makes the best of 
 those poor unattractive girls — dear me ! I hope 
 I am not uncharitable — I did not -mean ' un- 
 attractive ' ; I daresay they are quite attractive 
 to some people — quiet, gentle, good girls ; but
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 97 
 
 somehow, when one looks at them beside Eosa- 
 mund ! " 
 
 " Yes, beside Kosamund," assented Lady 
 Caroline, now entirely restored to complacency 
 by so timely a suggestion — " beside Eosamund 
 they lose all the colour they possess. I am 
 not a blindly partial parent, as you know, 
 Julia ; but I cannot help seeing — no one can 
 help seeing — that when she is present, all 
 animation as she usually is, those others seem 
 absolute dulness itself. And, moreover, it is 
 not only the Waterfield girls, it is every one. 
 Now, is it not?" 
 
 *' Certainly " — Lady Julia was to the full as 
 amiably prejudiced — " certainly ; you are right 
 in that," she said. " Still, one does see very 
 ordinary girls very well married." 
 
 " Not where there are six of them," cried 
 Lady Caroline, almost eagerly ; *' at least, not 
 when all six are everywhere present. What 
 is the use of Beatrice's going up to town season 
 after season, taking an expensive house in an 
 expensive part, giving balls and parties, and 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 98 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 toiling and straining to get her daughters 
 asked to the best houses in return 1 When 
 the men come to see them, what do they find ? 
 Not one but six Miss Waterfields, all pleasing, 
 and agreeable, and well-mannered, and well- 
 dressed, and ready to talk, and to smile, and 
 to play on the piano — good heavens ! the piano 
 is never silent in that drawing-room — and what 
 is the consequence ? No man wants to marry 
 six girls ; and as for singling out any one from 
 the rest, and expecting to find any single thing 
 in her that he did not find in all the others, he 
 might as well try to fix his afi'ections upon a 
 blade of grass out of a meadow. I do not say 
 they are not amiable girls, and well-bred " 
 
 " Sweet, gentle," murmured Lady Julia. 
 
 " ' Unattractive,' Julia." 
 
 " Did I say ' unattractive ' ? But I only 
 said they were so to me. To other 
 people " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, my dear ! If yo^t cannot find 
 attractions in them, no one can," said Lady 
 Caroline, with a shade of contempt in her more
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 99 
 
 kindly tone. " No, no ; there is no need to be 
 so nice tetween ourselves. We can see plainly 
 enough how the land lies. But still, as I was 
 about to say, when you interrupted me, some- 
 thing might be done if Beatrice would only 
 realise the fact that these girls, by crowding so 
 together, stand in each other's light. If they 
 could be sent out by twos and twos — for it 
 would be too much to suppose that they should 
 do anything singly, — but if they could be 
 broken up into small detachments, they would 
 at least obtain some sort of individual notice. 
 They would not be handicapped by the sha- 
 dows of the others in the background. If any 
 one did happen to take a fancy to, say, Elean- 
 our, he would not observe precisely the same 
 qualities in Violet, Amy — and indeed running 
 through all the seven. He might — mind, I do 
 not say he would — but he might imagine that 
 a dull, stupid, excellent sort of girl, such as one 
 of the Waterfields, would make a better wife 
 than a prettier or cleverer one.'' 
 
 " Are you not a little severe, Caroline ? " It
 
 100 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 was the nearest approach to a remonstrance 
 Lady Julia ever made. 
 
 *' Severe ? Not at all ; " Lady Caroline 
 promptly quashed the idea. " I have not a 
 word to say against the Waterfields/' she con- 
 tinued. '' They are almost the only acquaint- 
 ance we have, with whom we can comfortably 
 associate. We have known them all our lives ; 
 and, all things considered, I should be sorry to 
 lose them out of the neighbourhood. Beatrice 
 is invariably friendly, and anxious we should 
 go there, and that the young people should 
 meet ; and I have made no sort of objection to 
 Eosamund's being frequently at the Grange, 
 now that she has less to do at home. She is 
 there at this moment " 
 
 But she was nothing of the kind ; she en- 
 tered even as the last words were spoken, and 
 with her the young ladies who had also been 
 the theme of the above discourse. 
 
 " Mamma, I have brought over some hungry 
 people for luncheon," said Eosamund, making 
 her way to embrace her aunt, while Lady
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 101 
 
 iroline advanced with lier usual air of for- 
 mal civility to greet the new-comers. " I found 
 them, and I brought them, and they are going 
 to stop the afternoon if you press them very 
 hard," she added merrily ; " and Aunt Julia 
 will just please to do the same, and Hartland 
 is here too," — and with the name of Hartland 
 the boldness of the proposal was explained. 
 
 " How do you do, Eleanour — Amy — Violet '?" 
 said Lady Caroline, kissing steadily through 
 the trio. " Rosamund was fortunate in find- 
 ing you at home, and able to come over this 
 beautiful day. We must make the most of 
 all the summer that remains." 
 
 " Yes. It is wonderfully hot for September," 
 observed Miss Waterfield, seating herself. '' Are 
 we not interrupting you, Lady Caroline ? " 
 
 " Not at all, my dear ; my morning s work 
 is over." 
 
 (*' My bringing Hartland provided for that, 
 my lady mother," quoth Miss Rosamund to 
 her saucy self. " * Waterfields, minus Hart- 
 land, to the right about, and whistle for your
 
 102 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 luncheon/ would have been the order of the 
 day if I had not made arrangements, my 
 dears ; so you need not look so open-eyed at 
 her ladyship's affability.") 
 
 '• And so you can stop a little and keep 
 Rosamund company," proceeded the hostess. 
 '' She is rather left to herself nowadays, not 
 being one of a nice merry party like you, all 
 so nearly of an age. You can hardly know 
 what it is to be dull. You are quite inde- 
 pendent of other society. You must have so 
 many resources among yourselves." 
 
 All the time she was looking at them, and 
 Lady Julia knew what was in her heart. 
 
 There the three sat, so quiet, so composed, 
 so motionless, so absolutely irreproachable in 
 dress and faultless in demeanour, so exactly 
 all that they ought to be in voice, air, and 
 attitude, yet so hopelessly on a level, so fatally 
 equal in every excellence, that a row of clipped 
 poplars could not have been more uniform. 
 
 In the midst stood Rosamund, her face half 
 hidden behind the large hat wath which she
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 103 
 
 fanned her glowing cheeks, her brilliant eyes 
 roving round the group alight with mischief, 
 a laugh hidden about the corners of her 
 mouth. " And her hair all abroad as usual," 
 internally commented Lady Caroline, — but 
 she looked at Julia in triumph. 
 
 If Hartland would only come in now ! Come 
 in and see this radiant young creature, and 
 contrast her with those correct girls, sitting 
 so properly still and ladylike in their chairs, — 
 surely some sentiment, some emotion, must 
 for very shame be kindled in his breast. He 
 could not be so insensate as not to feel, so dull 
 as not to see, the difference. She tapped the 
 floor with her foot, impatiently. Where was 
 he '? What was he doino^ ? What hindered 
 him from entering 1 Somehow, with Julia 
 sitting by, she did not wish to inquire, pre- 
 ferred not to seem too curious, — but to be 
 tongue-tied was a rare experience with her, 
 and she hardly knew how to put up 
 with it. 
 
 Had Hartland come over of himself ? Had
 
 104 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Eosamund been to the Abbey to fetch her 
 aunt, and, finding her absent, fetched her 
 cousin instead ? Or, had he been merely 
 met with by the way ? 
 
 Simple things enough to learn ; but, follow- 
 ing as this did hard upon the sisters' confer- 
 ence, the inquiries stuck in the interrogator's 
 throat. 
 
 She looked at her daughter ; but Rosamund, 
 securely audacious as was her wont when 
 Hartland was near, was, shocking to relate, 
 swinging on one leg with an unflinching eye 
 direct upon herself — an eye, moreover, which 
 plainly said, " Find out if you can. But there 
 is nothing to be learned from me" 
 
 Now that very morning Eosamund had had 
 a lono' walk alone with Hartland, and althouo-h 
 not a word had passed between them which 
 all the world might not have heard, each had 
 been fully aware of all that would have been 
 prophesied and hoped for, had the incident 
 come to light ; and it had been quite under- 
 stood between them, though the understanding
 
 HOSAMUXD AS A COXTEAST. 105 
 
 had been a tacit one, that neither was, in 
 schoolboy phrase, to peach. 
 
 They had come across each other by acci- 
 dent on her first going out, and, nobody being 
 by to interfere, instead of a mere interchange 
 of morning greetings, the two had readily 
 joined company, and he had turned back to 
 make his way hers. He had had his morning 
 on his hands, not intending to shoot that day ; 
 and she had started for the Waterfields', to 
 whose house she was allowed to walk without 
 an escort, the way lying entirely through the 
 Abbey grounds and their own. She had only 
 to cross the hisjhroad, from one little white 
 gate to another. 
 
 Althouo^h no escort was needed, Hartland 
 had nevertheless proflfered his company; and 
 the September sky being bright overhead, 
 while the dewy air had that keen exhilarat- 
 ing nip dear to the young and healthy, the 
 two had stepped gaily forward, and — not 
 without a sense of the humour of it — had 
 extended and amplified their walk, until it
 
 106 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 had grown to quite respectable dimensions. 
 With no one else would Miss Liscard have 
 dared for a moment to rove so far and remain 
 so long ; and as the little minx knew this per- 
 fectly, and as Hartland had more than a suspi- 
 cion of the same, each had been vastly amused 
 in their inw^ard souls, reflecting on the capital 
 that would have been made of the escapade 
 by the sagacious elders, had it by any chance 
 come to their ears. 
 
 It had been very good fun to both ; and in 
 their secret and their unspoken sympathy over 
 it, the accomplices had been nearer to love- 
 making than they had ever been before ; but 
 in the fact that no love-making had been 
 made, while appearances had been all the 
 other way, lay the very kernel of the jest. 
 
 A spark of seriousness would have spoilt all. 
 
 It w^as this which lent to Rosamund's brow 
 the archness which puzzled Lady Caroline. 
 
 The mischief-loving creature was laughing 
 iu her sleeve to think what a dance after 
 Will-o'-the-wisp the poor lady would have
 
 ROSAMUND AS A COXTRAST. 107 
 
 been led, had a hint been dropped of what 
 had been going on. Dearly would Rosamund 
 have liked that hint to bestow. Delicious it 
 would have been to have slipped out casually 
 some such passing remark as " How fast those 
 young pheasants of Hartland's grow ! We went 
 round to take a peep at them before going to 
 
 the Grange, " or, " Hartland will have his 
 
 hands full if he cuts down all the trees he is 
 marking. We marked an immense number 
 in the hour and a half we were at it just 
 
 now, " and to have watched the effect 
 
 produced. 
 
 The effect of such an observation properly 
 handled, would have been fine indeed. It 
 would have caused Lady Caroline hastily to 
 introduce another topic, and to say the most 
 agreeable things in the blandest tones in order 
 to conceal her pleasure ; while the less sophis- 
 ticated Julia would have started in her chair, 
 and openly looked significance, the while con- 
 sidering she was doing all that discretion could 
 possibly demand, if she did not with clasped
 
 108 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 hands ejaculate " Thank Heaven ! " upon the 
 spot. 
 
 And after all, what had the predestined 
 lovers done ? 
 
 Tramped cheerily along, talking, laughing, 
 telling each other stories, and every now and 
 then breaking out into snatches of song, which 
 had startled the wood-pigeons and the rabbits. 
 
 They had taken to the woods, and had 
 rustled through the red paths among the 
 dropping beech-leaves, climbed mossy knolls 
 wet beneath and dripping overhead, slipped 
 down muddy banks, and skirted deeply rutted 
 cart-tracks. Often they had had to walk one 
 behind the other, between sopping grass- 
 fields, and Hartland had gone first, that the 
 smaller feet which followed might find terra 
 Jirma in his foot-prints ; but he had only 
 ofi'ered his hand when help was really necessary, 
 and even when she had had to jump some 
 ditches, and had cleared them bravely, he had 
 seen her go over with as much philosophy as 
 if she had been his sister.
 
 ROSAMUND AS A CONTRAST. 109 
 
 They had been silent when they had not 
 cared to speak, without the silence having 
 had any kind of oppression about it ; and the 
 occasional services he had rendered had been 
 paid without gallantry, and accepted without 
 coquetry. All had been free, comfortable 
 unrestraint. 
 
 Once he had had to disentangle from her 
 skirts a trailing branch of bramble. 
 
 The branch had clung obstinately, sticking 
 fast to a new place as soon as loosened from 
 the old, and he had bidden her stand still, 
 and had put down his stick, and had anathe- 
 matised the pertinacious *' follower" so heartily, 
 that even she had felt a momentary confusion, 
 knowing what she knew. She had wondered 
 at his unconcern, but the next instant their 
 eyes had met and flashed revelations, and she 
 had seen him turn aside his head to lauofh, 
 while she had turned hers to blush. Not a 
 syllable had been spoken. 
 
 It had been the only awkward moment, — 
 and yet it had been the gem of the walk.
 
 110 A STIFF-NECKED GENEHATION. 
 
 " Confound this 'follower/ I can't get liim 
 off!" had been Hartland's very natural excla- 
 mation, as he had torn and twisted, afraid of 
 doing damage to the thin summer fabric his 
 cousin was still wearing. " He sticks to 
 you like a leech ; but stand still for a mo- 
 ment, Eosamund, and I'll be even with him 
 yet " and then he had held up the luck- 
 less "follower" as the huntsman holds the 
 brush, in triumph, and the next moment they 
 had both laughed in each other s faces. 
 
 Many and many a time in years to come 
 that little scene was to rise before Kosamund's 
 eyes, yet half a day afterwards she thought 
 she had forgotten it.
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 
 
 " Give not thy tongue too great liberty, lest it take thee a prisoner. 
 A word unspoken is like the sword in the scabbard, thine ; if vented, 
 thy sword is in another's hand." — Quarles. 
 
 All of this, however, and the very fact of the 
 walk itself, it was felt to be so expedient to 
 keep in the dark, that, on nearing the Water- 
 fields', Hartland had made his dog the excuse 
 for going no farther, and had engaged to meet 
 the return party at a certain landmark. 
 
 He was to be depended upon for silence as 
 regarded an earlier meeting ; and the intimacy 
 between the families was known to be such, 
 that, on the approach of the four young ladies, 
 his " So you have succeeded in your errand, 
 Rosamund \ " showing; that he had known
 
 112 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 what that errand had been, had excited no 
 surprise, since it had been felt that she might 
 at any time have told him she was hoping 
 to take home with her some of her friends from 
 the Grange, to spend the afternoon. 
 
 As it appeared that his presence also was 
 desired at Kiag's Common, he had joined the 
 party ; and favoured as she thus was by For- 
 tune on all sides, surely nothing more was 
 needed to have brought back sunshine into 
 the fair face of the youthful diplomatist 1 
 Nevertheless, there was another and a tenderer 
 cause ; some one, who is very soon to appear 
 in these pages, was half expected by two 
 people in that stately drawing-room within 
 the hour, and the expectation lay at the root 
 of half the joyous spirits of the one, and the 
 querulous impatience and only partially al- 
 layed ill-humour of the other. Lady Caro- 
 line had not allowed herself to confide even 
 to Julia all that was in her mind that day ; 
 she had not dared to say why it was so 
 imperative that Hartland should promptly
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 113 
 
 begin his wooing ; and only Hartland's actual 
 presence — or vicinity, for he had gone round 
 to the kennels to fasten up his dog — had 
 calmed her ruffled brow, as she saw the Miss 
 Waterfields walk in. 
 
 In an instant she had divined that they 
 were there because another guest, and an 
 unwelcome one, was on the horizon. 
 
 Then Rosamund had pronounced her magic 
 word, and hope had revived : it might have 
 been for Hartland — why should it not have 
 been for Hartland ? — that the party had been 
 collected. 
 
 Hartland was come, actually come, — and no 
 one had even hinted that any one else was 
 coming. She would put away the idea, and 
 make the Waterfield girls understand that she 
 was glad to see them, and bid Julia take off 
 her shawl, and send w^ord to the servants to 
 lay extra places for luncheon. 
 
 All was done with the best of good-breeding, 
 and the company, generally, understood that 
 they were to be tolerated. 
 
 VOL. L H
 
 114 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Accordingly, Eleanour Waterfield, who was 
 a shade less in awe of Lady Caroline than her 
 sisters, ventured to lead the conversation, 
 which was apt to lag in that august presence. 
 " I think everybody was out and about to- 
 day," she observed : " we met, first, the rector 
 and Mrs Allen, then Mary Allen and Kose 
 Crossley, then a great cart-load of Johnson- 
 Wigrams, and last of all, Mr Bartlett's groom. 
 I am not sure whether the meeting the groom 
 was not the most exciting encounter of any, 
 for he had a very unmanageable horse, and 
 backed up a side-lane, and then came galloping 
 past so frantically that we thought the horse 
 had bolted, and all fled up the bank, — I assure 
 you it was quite an adventure. Lady Caroline." 
 
 " Runaway horses are extremely dangerous," 
 replied Lady Caroline — but she was not so 
 sententious as she could have wished. She 
 could hardly even listen to Eleanour's prattle 
 at the moment. 
 
 This, however, was not for Miss Waterfield 
 to take note of, and she continued pleasantly.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 115 
 
 "It is not often that we are so lively. We 
 quite congratulated ourselves on having taken 
 to the road, instead of coming through the 
 woods. The woods would have been too 
 wet, Rosamund said ; and really it is not very 
 much longer coming round by the road. How 
 long did it take you to walk over to us, Rosa- 
 mund *? " 
 
 Unlucky question ! It had not occurred to 
 Rosamund that there might be an investiga- 
 tion into times and seasons, and the smile died 
 out of her face. Still she kept a bold front. 
 " I have no idea," she said, and prudently 
 neither extended nor qualified her statement. 
 
 Lady Caroline Liscard was, however, the 
 last person to have taken note that her daugh- 
 ter had been absent since breakfast-time, and 
 had not returned till nearly one, having in the 
 interim accomplished a walk of three miles, 
 all told. 
 
 Rosamund had started early, in order, if 
 the truth were told, to be out of her mother's 
 way : she had not cared about an earlv re-
 
 116 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 turn ; and that being so, Hartland's proposi- 
 tion of a longer ramble, and even tlie still 
 longer one into which it had thereafter grown, 
 had been all to the good. It had enabled her 
 to pass agreeably a considerable portion of 
 time that had lain with a somewhat weary- 
 aspect in front of her that morning, and had 
 also been a frolic in its way, as we have seen, 
 — she was now all agog for what was next 
 to happen, and devoutly trusted no further 
 questions would be put. It would certainly 
 have had a peculiar aspect, to say the least 
 of it, if it had come to light that she had 
 been wandering about for a couple of hours 
 in woods which she had afterwards pro- 
 nounced to be too wet for her friends to pass 
 through ! It might have been suspected that 
 she had had her own reasons for wishing to 
 return by the road. The road was the only 
 place where people were ever met going to 
 and from the town of Longminster, four 
 miles off.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 117 
 
 " It seemed as if every turn of the road 
 brouo'lit some one into view," continued Elean- 
 our Waterfield, who was always considered to 
 know what to say, and how to keep rippling 
 on in the proper drawing-room strain. " The 
 Aliens were going by train somewhere, but 
 return to-night, and Mr Allen says the harvest 
 festival is to be this day fortnight. I suppose 
 we shall send the same kinds of fruit and 
 vegetable as usual. Have you any very large 
 marrows, Lady Caroline ? " 
 
 " I am afraid I hardly know, Eleanour."' 
 
 Marrows ! And so much on her mind ! She 
 could have thrown every marrow in the garden 
 at the speaker s head ; and yet she could not 
 but commend in her heart the composure 
 which enabled her young visitor to speak and 
 act as though receiving the best of attention, 
 when it was but too palpable that she had 
 but half one of a distracted hostess's ears, and 
 the same measure of her vacant eves. 
 
 The rest was for Hartland's approaching
 
 118 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 step. He had made a halt in the ante-room, 
 and had been seen and heard through the open 
 doorway. 
 
 In he came with a broken dog-chain in his 
 hand. ''Did you ever see such workman- 
 ship ? " he cried, after due salutations. " How 
 could any one suppose such a thing would 
 hold together ? But I am awfully sorry, Lady 
 Caroline ; I never dreamed of its giving way ; 
 and I will send it up to the maker to-morrow, 
 and tell him to send down another." 
 
 " Pray do not trouble about it, Hartland." 
 
 "Oh, I am bound to make it good, you 
 know." 
 
 " I have no doubt it is an old one and worn 
 out," began Lady Caroline, who to any other 
 delinquent would have looked black as night. 
 "The coachman can be told to get another, 
 and a better. Meantime, what have you done 
 with Lion ? 1 hope he is in good hands." 
 
 "The brute ! I sent him home. I believe 
 it was his fault the chain broke, — he gave 
 such a spring after me ; but still, a good piece
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 119 
 
 of metal ought to be able to staod a tug or 
 two ; " and apparently full of his grievance, 
 he retired to the window recess and looked 
 gloomily out. 
 
 ''I am afraid we are only a party of ladies, 
 my dear Hartland." Lady Caroline turned 
 her head round, and Lady Julia spun her 
 whole stout little person about likewise, both 
 ladies wishing to face the favourite. 
 
 *'Are you?" said he., unconsciously. 
 
 " Mr Liscard will be in presently, but 
 hardly, I fear, to luncheon." 
 
 " Oh ! ' 
 
 " Did you expect to find me here ? " It was 
 now Julia's turn. " Did you know where I 
 was 1 " 
 
 *'We met the carriao^e returninor." 
 
 " So you came after me ? " jocosely. 
 
 "I met Eosamund, and came with her." 
 
 The pause that ensued made itself felt by 
 all but the speaker ; he had something else on 
 hand. A full-fed, lethargic wasp was slowly 
 crawling up the window-pane, tempting Provi-
 
 120 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 dence in the shape of Hartland, whose hand 
 stole gently towards it. He was a humane 
 man, but wasps are everybody's game, and 
 in the hand there was an open penknife. 
 
 It moved too quickly, and gave the alarm ; 
 the wasp buzzed and flew. 
 
 Being gorged, however, and out of condi- 
 tion, a short flight sufficed, and that, being 
 taken in a circle round the adversary's head, 
 and close to his ears, had a stimulating effect. 
 He remained stock-still till the insect had 
 again settled ; and then, swift as lightning, 
 stabbed it through the heart — it being pre- 
 sumed that the heart was in its right place. 
 All was over in the space of a few seconds, 
 and the prey impaled on the point of the 
 knife. 
 
 "Well, I call that cruel," said a voice close 
 
 by. 
 
 '' Oh no. Miss AYater field ; a wasp is a wasp ; 
 if you don't kill Inm he will — sting, if not kill 
 you. At least that's the theory." He was 
 bound to make some defence.
 
 TWO TOXGUES LET LOOSE. 121 
 
 " Have you many at the xlbbey '? " 
 " Swarms/' replied Hartland, picking off the 
 one he had disposed of. "I say, here is an- 
 other, come to see after the hast. Come as 
 chief mourner, — now, look, and you will see 
 how I do it. Ho ! Missed him ! And, by 
 Jove, he's vicious ! Look out ! " and he pulled 
 the young lady hastily aside, — " he will sting 
 if he has a chance now ; he is furious, the 
 villain. Just wait a minute, my boy ; I'll — 
 settle your account — for you " — intently watch- 
 ing. '' Quiet now, Miss Waterfield, don't you 
 stir : there — he has calmed down now ; no, he 
 is off again, the suspicious rascal ; he smells 
 the blood of the slain. Now, quietly, quietly. 
 Plague upon him ! he is twice the trouble the 
 other was. But I shan't be done — make up 
 your mind to that, my friend ; so if it lies 
 
 between us " and down came the knife, 
 
 and the deed was done. 
 
 Even Violet Waterfield had been keen on 
 the quarry. " You are clever," she now 
 cried, and examined the defunct wasp with
 
 122 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 more interest than she could have supposed 
 possible. 
 
 ''It is of no use cutting them in two, you 
 know," said Hartland, and he proceeded to 
 explain. 
 
 " AVhat are those two whispering about over 
 there ? " exclaimed Lady Caroline, who had 
 twice addressed herself to Lord Hartland, and 
 twice been obliged to end her sentence as 
 though it had been meant for the general 
 circle, which is not a pleasant thing to have 
 to do. 
 
 No one now replied. 
 
 " Rosamund," said her mother, looking 
 round. Alas ! she wished she had let Hart- 
 land alone, and kept her wits for another 
 encounter. It was too late now ; a note she 
 had foolishly left lying on the table when 
 interrupted by her first visitor, and which she 
 most particularly desired not to have had seen, 
 was in her daughter's hands, and it was but 
 too evident that Rosamund had neither heard 
 nor seen anything else since it came there.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 123 
 
 «' Provoking ! " muttered Lady Caroline to 
 herself, and her brow once more clouded over. 
 "If I could only have consulted Hartland 
 first ; but now, it will have to be spoken 
 about before them all, and of course Eosamund 
 will get her way." (Aloud.) " What did you 
 say, my dear ? " for she was being in her turn 
 addressed. 
 
 " When did this come, mamma 1 " 
 
 *' What 1 What have you got there 1 " and 
 Lady Caroline put up her eyeglass. 
 
 " This," said Rosamund, holding up the 
 note, which it was easier to do than to name 
 the writer. 
 
 "Oh, that from the barracks," said Lady 
 Caroline, and the glass dropped with a jerk. 
 " I forget when. Some time this morning." 
 
 " Have you answered it "? " 
 
 •'* Not yet. Your aunt came in." 
 
 " What shall you say ? " Rosamund was 
 growing bolder every day about this time, 
 and astonished even herself by her presump- 
 tion and its success. In the present instance
 
 124 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 this was the more remarkable, in that she was 
 much more moved by inward anxiety about 
 the fate which she well knew hung in the 
 balance as regarded the note and its contents, 
 than appeared. A close observer would have 
 suspected that she cared, but the closest would 
 hardly have gathered how much she cared 
 about the reply to her question. 
 
 " Oh, I do not know, I am sure, my dear," 
 was, however, all the satisfaction Lady Caroline 
 deigned to bestow. ^' It will require consider- 
 ation. I wish to ask your cousin what he 
 thinks. These regimental luncheons are so 
 very — but still people do go to them, and 
 this time there is some sort of reason for it. 
 We are invited to lunch with the officers 
 at the barracks, Julia, on the day of the 
 flower-show, at which their band will play. 
 I suppose they mean it politely, and it is a 
 printed card, so, I presume, we should meet 
 everybody there ; but really I have not thought 
 about it," which was hardly the truth, invita- 
 tions being, as before hinted, by no means as
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 125 
 
 thick as blackberries at King's Common, where 
 it was known that only the stiffest and grand- 
 est of galas met with any favour from the lady 
 of the manor, and where, in consequence, no 
 summons to a little, cosy, informal impromptu 
 ever found its way. Accordingly, the large 
 and somewhat florid card, enclosed in a note 
 from the major in command, would have been 
 quite to her ladyship's mind, had it not been 
 for the note itself. That was the fly in her 
 ointment, and it was that which Eosamund 
 now held fast. 
 
 " What does your mother mean to do, 
 Eleanour "? " pursued Lady Caroline, who saw 
 at a glance that Julia would be no help, and, 
 indeed, had not meant to tell her of the 
 dilemma, had circumstances not obliged her 
 to do so. 
 
 " About Major Gilbert's luncheon-party ? " 
 said Eleanour. '• I think we shall go — some 
 of us." 
 
 ''Why do you call it 'Major Gilbert's' 
 party ? " corrected Lady Caroline, quickly.
 
 126 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " The card says, ' Major Gilbert and the offi- 
 cers ' of the regiment. I do not suppose that 
 Major Gilbert has anything more to do with 
 it than any of the rest. Major Gilbert is the 
 least presentable of the set, and yet he is the 
 one who always seems to put himself forward." 
 
 " Perhaps he may be put forward — a differ- 
 ent thing, Lady Caroline. You see, being in 
 command at present, he can hardly help tak- 
 ing the lead," observed Miss Waterfield, good- 
 naturedly. 
 
 " You must be mistaken, my dear. Majors 
 do not take command. There must be a 
 colonel to do that." 
 
 " There is no colonel at present there." 
 
 "There must be a colonel somewhere.'' It 
 almost seemed as if a wrangle were imminent, 
 each knowing about as much or as little 
 as the other of military matters ; but Lady 
 Caroline waived the question. She might be 
 defeated, and she was not sufficiently sure of 
 her ground to care to risk it ; besides, she had 
 something else to say.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 127 
 
 "You may be right, Eleanour, in so far that 
 at present the colonel may be on leave ; but if 
 that be the case, I must say it surprises me 
 that his subordinate officer should have so 
 much time on his hands. It seems to me as 
 if this Major Gilbert never has anything to 
 keep him away from amusements ; no duties at 
 home, no calls on his time, nothing, in short, 
 to hinder him from idling away whole days 
 in pleasure." 
 
 " YouDg men must have their recreations," 
 murmured the kind-hearted Julia ; "I am 
 sure you cannot wish them to be always at 
 work, Caroline. It makes me quite wretched 
 to hear from Hartland of the dreadful marches 
 they had to make in India, and the hours they 
 had to be drilling in that terrible climate, 
 and " 
 
 " I doubt if they do any drilling at all at 
 Longminster," interrupted her sister. " And 
 as for marching, the only marches Major 
 Gilbert ever takes are over here, or to some 
 other house where he may idle away his time.
 
 128 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 and fancy himself in request. I am sure I — 
 we have shown him plainly enough that there 
 is no occasion for his coming so often. We 
 never intended to make this place a barrack 
 playground ; but he is the sort of person on 
 whom every kind of hint is thrown away. 
 One cannot exactly be rude." 
 
 No one raised an eye. Lady Caroline was 
 doing herself injustice ; she not only could be, 
 but was, the rudest woman in the world when 
 she chose. Moreover, she was now showing 
 herself to be also the most unwise, since, how- 
 ever much it cost her, she should have re- 
 frained from speaking ill of one for whom she 
 entertained so strong a personal animus, in 
 the presence of others, by some of whom 
 at least, this was not shared. Even by 
 those who did not particularly care for the 
 Gilbert in question, Lady Caroline, who 
 had more than once partaken of his hospi- 
 tality, accepted his arm, and been glad to 
 avail herself of his services, was heard with 
 displeasure.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 129 
 
 But liavinor now o^ot the bit between lier 
 teeth, there was no stopping her. 
 
 " There are some people who never know 
 when to come and when to go/' she proceeded. 
 " If I ask Major Gilbert to luncheon, I do not 
 mean that he is to remain till dinner-time. If 
 he comes over to call, he means to be invited 
 to tea, and is sure to suggest a game of some 
 kind or other afterwards. All this would be 
 very well, of course, if he were a friend — if he 
 were on intimate terms with our family ; but 
 when we all dislike him " 
 
 " Oh, my dear Caroline — I must really — I 
 cannot agree to that. We do not dislike him 
 at the Abbey." 
 
 " You do not dislike him, Julia ? " Lady 
 Caroline's tone was rising. 
 
 " I — no — really, I cannot say I do." 
 
 " Well, I must say you astonish me, my 
 dear. It was only last week that you agreed 
 with me perfectly about this very ^lajor 
 Gilbert, and I told you how much I 
 wished he would let us alone ; and now you 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 130 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 change about, and just because others are 
 here " 
 
 " My dear ! " 
 
 " Well, my dear, do, pray, say for once 
 
 what you do think. That speaking no evil of 
 anybody is all very well in theory ; but for my 
 part, I consider that it leads people into gross 
 untruths. I know you object to Major Gilbert 
 every bit as much as I do, deny it how you 
 may." 
 
 *' My dear r' Julia was still unable for 
 more than a slight increase of emphasis. 
 
 " You told me yourself you could not call 
 him a gentleman," pursued Lady Caroline, 
 hunting her down. 
 
 " But still " 
 
 " Oh, if you allow a man is not a gentle- 
 man, you may say what you like for him." 
 
 *' He may be a very " 
 
 " Worthy person," concluded Lady Caroline, 
 with a sneer. *' So he may ; we will hope he 
 is. All I know is, that his manners are atro- 
 cious ; that there is in them a mixture of ease
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 131 
 
 and awkwardness which is hardly to be borne ; 
 and that I have never seen any good qualities 
 to counterbalance the outward deficiencies. 
 He looks perfectly miserable on entering a 
 room ; directly he is treated with bare civility 
 he grows familiar ; and by the time he leaves 
 one wonders what he will do next." 
 
 Lady Julia looked vexed, but did not speak. 
 
 " Hartland, am I not speaking the truth ? 
 You, I know, will agree with me ? " resumed 
 the speaker, who could hardly help perceiving 
 that no one else did, or that, at all events, no- 
 body approved of so public a declaration of the 
 sentiment. " Hartland ? " appealed Lady Caro- 
 line ; and she turned her chair again towards 
 him, for it had insensibly slid round, as in the 
 warmth of the discussion she had declaimed 
 for the benefit of those on the other side. 
 
 ** Yes," said Hartland. 
 
 " Do you not agree with what I have been 
 saying 1 " 
 
 He was obliged to own that he did not 
 know what she had been saying.
 
 132 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 This was worse than dissent ; she grew 
 alarmed. " Do come a little nearer then ; I 
 cannot shout across the room." 
 
 " But it is so hot where you are." 
 
 " Hot ? Why, it is September." 
 
 " It is hot all the same/' said Hartland, " and 
 I can hear you perfectly, Lady Caroline. It 
 was only because I was not attending to what 
 you said that I missed knowing what it was." 
 He had disposed of the question, and was free 
 to engage in combat with another wasp. 
 
 ^' As obstinate as any of us ! " muttered Lady 
 Caroline to herself — "a Yerelst all over! 
 Even in a trifle like this ! " and she liked him 
 all the better for it. 
 
 If it had been the luckless Gilbert who had 
 thus dared to brave her ! Bat then Gilbert 
 had not been born a Verelst ; and moreover. 
 Lord Hartland in himself was precisely the 
 one man whom Lady Caroline could have fan- 
 cied, could have loved, had she been young, 
 and free, and — thwarted. The last only w^ould 
 have been needed to have made her idolise
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 133 
 
 him ; and even now, — even as she was, — wife, 
 mother, middle-aged woman, and county lady, 
 — she cared that he should notice her, attend 
 to her, lean over her chair, and tell her, as he 
 alone presumed to do, that her gown or bon- 
 net was becoming. She desired that he should 
 become her son-in-law, but it may be ques- 
 tioned whether she would have liked seeing 
 him altogether Eosamund's. 
 
 Just now everything seemed against her. 
 There was Hartland laughing like a boy, and 
 holding — yes, indeed, clutching with both 
 hands — Violet Waterfield's black velvet hat ; 
 dashing it too, regardless of consequences, up 
 and down the window-pane ! And there was 
 Violet — the almost pretty Violet, the best- 
 looking of the Waterfielcls, at any rate — stand- 
 ing by his side and looking on with a placid 
 smile and participating interest ! Something 
 amusing, not sentimental, was going on, no 
 doubt ; but even amusing nonsense may be 
 dangerous when it is not shared by all the 
 party. Why was not Rosamund in the jest ?
 
 134 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Rosamund had neither spoken nor moved for 
 a long time. 
 
 At Hartland's plain-spoken rejoinder she 
 did, however, rouse herself. '' Can you not 
 see how much of his attention Hartland is be- 
 stowing on you, mamma ? " she said bitterly ; 
 '' but, of course, you take it for granted that 
 he shares your sentiments, and to-morrow we 
 shall all be told whose they are, and what is 
 Hartland's opinion. My cousin is very good 
 to be so i^espectfully silent when you speak ; 
 but he might remember that he is taking away 
 the character of a man " 
 
 " He ? Hartland I " 
 
 " You are, and as Hartland does not stop 
 you, it is to be supposed he agrees." 
 
 " / take away any one's character ! " said 
 Lady Caroline, colouring up. 
 
 "And say the most cruel, false things " 
 
 " False ! " 
 
 " You speak of Major Gilbert as if he were 
 some low man." 
 
 " So he may be."
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 135 
 
 " You know that he is not." 
 
 '* I do not, indeed. I know nothing about 
 him." 
 
 '' You know that he is the major of his 
 regiment." 
 
 " Exactly, and that is all.'' 
 
 "You have set yourself against him ever 
 since he came into the neighbourhood." 
 
 " Certainly I have disliked him from the 
 first." 
 
 "Why? For what 1 You have had no 
 reason. He has never given you any. Neither 
 he nor any of his brother officers have ever 
 shown us anything but kindness " 
 
 '' Kindness ! Absurd ! " 
 
 " Civility you would call it, I suppose. 
 And what civility have we ever shown them 
 in return ? " 
 
 "They come over often " began Lady 
 
 Caroline. 
 
 "Come over! Yes, 'come over.' That is 
 just what they do. They ask us to the best 
 they have to give, and we go to it : we go
 
 136 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 to their ball and anything else, and make use 
 of them in any way we can ; but we only 
 let them come here to a wretched garden- 
 party " 
 
 *' Oh, now, Eosamund," protested her aunt, 
 who felt she could take part with Caroline 
 now ; " now, my dear, you really are in the 
 wrong. Hartland has them to dine and shoot 
 constantly, and " 
 
 "Yes, you, Aunt Julia; and Hartland, I 
 suppose," conceded Rosamund ; " but I am 
 speaking of ourselves. We have never done 
 anything for anybody — we never do." 
 
 " What have you then in this special in- 
 stance to complain of ? " said Lady Caroline, 
 quailing a little, as she had begun to do of 
 late when Rosamund's blood was up. " If 
 we have not kept open house for the neigh- 
 bourhood, as it appears you think we ought 
 to have done, what have Major Gilbert and 
 his brother officers more than others against 
 
 usr' 
 
 But Rosamund was now past logic.
 
 TWO TONGUES LET LOOSE. 13V 
 
 " I say it is a shame — a wicked, wicked 
 shame," she cried, " the moment people's 
 backs are turned, to scorn them and run them 
 down, and make out that we are better than 
 they, and that they are not fit company for us. 
 I say it is not fair to meet, and talk, and 
 smile, and shake hands, and pretend that all 
 is pleasant and nice, and the moment they 
 are out of sight, fall upon them, and stir 
 each other up to say the unkindest, untruest 
 things " 
 
 " Of whom are you speaking, Eosa- 
 
 mund ? '' 
 
 " Of you, mamma." In Kosamund's burn- 
 ing fiery eyes there was no sign of flinching. 
 " Of you, and Aunt Julia, and Hartland," she 
 went on. "Do you think I care if you are 
 angry ? I don't. / am angry ; / am ashamed. 
 If no one else feels how horribly, how heart- 
 lessly, how shamefully we have all been be- 
 having towards these — these — poor — friends 
 of ours, / do. They have only been among 
 us a short time, and they are very soon going
 
 138 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 away, and I do not suppose we shall ever see 
 any of them again. They are nothing to me. 
 It is not that I care — that I mind — that I — 
 why do you look at me like that ? It is only 
 that I hate injustice, and meanness, and hypo- 
 crisy, and especially towards those who have 
 
 been so — been so kind to us, " and all at 
 
 once, to the unutterable consternation of the 
 whole circle, the passionate lips parted in a 
 loud sob, and the sentence remained unfinished. 
 If a bomb-shell had exploded in their midst, 
 it could not have been more appalling to all 
 present.
 
 139 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 IT WAS HIS BOAST THAT HE WAS 
 A ladies' max. 
 
 What reason can there be assigned 
 
 For this perverseness of the mind ? 
 
 Brutes find out where their talents lie ; 
 
 A bear will not attempt to fly ; 
 
 A foundered horse will not debate 
 
 Before he tries a five-barred gate ; 
 
 A dog by instinct turns aside 
 
 Who sees the ditch too deep and wide : — 
 
 But man we find the only creature 
 
 Who, led by folly, combats Nature ; 
 
 Who, when she loudly cries ' Forbear, 
 
 With obstinacy fixes there ; 
 
 And where his genius least inclines, 
 
 Absurdly bends his w^hole designs." 
 
 —Swift. 
 
 Some sort of explanation of the foregoing- 
 scene must now be offered the reader. 
 
 The Major Gilbert who had been for the 
 nonce the apple of discord had, as may have 
 been gathered, only recently come to the
 
 140 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 neighbourhood, and taken the command at 
 the garrison stationed in. the old - fashioned 
 county town of Longminster. He was a 
 man of five-and-thirty, with a fine tall figure, 
 a handsome set of features, a square, deter- 
 mined brow, closely clipped hair, and a fierce 
 moustache. Further, he was an excellent 
 soldier, respectable in his private life, and 
 though not drawing too tight a bow, con- 
 sidered a good man for youngsters to be under 
 — one who would keep a brisk look-out as to 
 what went on, and not stand nonsense. As, 
 however, the major was neither unsympa- 
 thetic nor injudicious, he was popular enough 
 — indeed rather a favourite than otherwise in 
 the mess-room ; while once outside barracks, 
 there was generally felt to be no better com- 
 rade going. 
 
 Among women, of the class he belonged to, 
 he was equally lucky ; the sort of girls whom 
 he was wont to meet, the friends of his sisters 
 and his cousins at home, the not over-refined 
 denizens of garrison towns abroad, found him
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAN. 141 
 
 quite to their taste ; and it was indeed tlie 
 boast of Lis secret soul that he was a ladies' 
 man. 
 
 But he had never known really good society. 
 He came of wealthy folks, but neither parent 
 had risen, nor had cared to rise, above a some- 
 what humble origin ; and he himself was the 
 show member of the family. By his own 
 people he was considered smart, and knowing, 
 and decidedly genteel. When he visited from 
 time to time the paternal dwelling, sat down 
 at the paternal board, and slept beneath the 
 paternal roof, everything had to be at its best. 
 Poor old Mr Gilbert would be forced willy-nilly 
 to put on a better coat for dinner, and to see 
 if he could not find a chair fit to sit in in the 
 large un-used drawing-room afterwards. The 
 meals would be better, more plentiful ; the 
 extra silver would be put out, and the girls 
 themselves would remind the housemaid that 
 their brother liked to have hot water brought 
 to his room three or four times a-day. Still, 
 as Frederick was an amiably disposed sybarite,
 
 142 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 no one felt this piece of luxury to be exacting 
 on his part ; rather it may be questioned 
 whether he would not have gone down a peg 
 in the general esteem had he not, in his own 
 phrase, made the household pull itself together. 
 
 On cold nights he wanted a fire in his bed- 
 room ; on the light mornings in summer he 
 must have his windows darkened with double 
 blinds ; and all the year round he had his 
 great round bath filled to the brim, and put 
 out in the midst of a circle of bath-blankets, 
 towels, rubbing-brushes, and what not, on a 
 certain spot in his room on the evening of his 
 arrival. Before he went to bed at night, if 
 everything about that bath were not in readi- 
 ness for the morning's plunge, it mattered not 
 how late it were, peal would go the major's 
 bell. 
 
 By his two sisters, Emily and Henrietta, or 
 Em and Etta, as he was wont to style them, 
 Frederick was much beloved. He represented 
 in their eyes all that was gayest and pleas- 
 antest in their lives. He petted them, and
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAX. 143 
 
 made them presents. He was applied to, to 
 procure them indulgences and exemptions. 
 Their parents having married late in life, had 
 grown too old to care for jaunts and merry- 
 making before these younger ones of the 
 family had grown up ; and having from a 
 series of domestic bereavements got finally 
 into the habit of going nowhere, would not, 
 save for Frederick's intervention, have seen 
 the necessity for any one else's going any- 
 where either. Frederick stood between this 
 doom and his little sisters, of whom he was 
 fond after a Grand Mogul fashion, and whose 
 devotion to him and belief in him were all 
 that the vainest heart could have required. 
 He was many years their senior, the three 
 being all that were left of a fairly numerous 
 family; but it was their glory that, instead of 
 holding aloof from their society, as some 
 brothers would have done, Frederick liked 
 nothing better than to have one hanging on 
 each arm, or seated on either side, and, with his 
 cigar in his mouth, to narrate, discourse, and
 
 144 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ring the changes on every sort of experience, 
 of which the principally recurring features 
 would be, ^'I did, I said, I thought." This 
 much must, however, be said for him : as his 
 own trumpeter, he was indubitably without 
 a rival ; but he had, on the other hand, fits 
 of humility and self- depreciation which almost 
 puzzled his auditors. 
 
 They thought he must be mistaken when 
 now and again he was fain to own having 
 made a blunder or received a rebufi"; or when 
 he would, as he did, occasionally say straight 
 out, " I am not up to that," or, '' I have no 
 notion what ought to be done in such a 
 case." 
 
 Em would raise her eyes to read in his if he 
 were serious in making such an admission, and 
 Etta would almost be angry with him for it ; 
 but although he would be gratified by their 
 blind fidelity, he would stick to his point. 
 No, he was not infallible ; he knew a thing 
 or two, but not everything ; there were people 
 who had seen lots more of the world and of
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAN. 145 
 
 life than he had. There ^Yere places in which 
 he was not quite at home, and occasions which, 
 in plain terms, bothered him. However — and 
 then the good little sisters were given to un- 
 derstand that, in spite of all, he was still a 
 long way superior to them, and well ahead of 
 any one they knew ; and that in coming home 
 amoDg his own people, and putting up with 
 all their oddities and ignorances, he was con- 
 descending and forbearing. 
 
 He needed not to have insinuated it. No 
 supposition to the contrary had ever arisen in 
 the minds of the pair; and on reaching the 
 recognised age of young-ladyhood, the height 
 of the ambition either possessed was to obtain 
 his approval and merit still more of his 
 confidence. 
 
 Happily for the two, an audience was as 
 necessary to Gilbert as a hero to them — so 
 there was no fear of a cessation of the long 
 talks in the greenhouse, or the garden. One 
 of these had, just at the time we have now 
 arrived at, elicited a tremendous secret. The 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 absentee had run home on business, and what 
 should the business turn out to be ? 
 
 After guessing three times, according to 
 precedent, the last guess had hit the mark 
 as nearly as possible. No, he would not say- 
 he was going to be married ; but he had come 
 home in order to ask the governor what he 
 would do for him in the event of his desiring 
 to take to himself a wife. 
 
 The governor, on learning who the wife in 
 question was, had professed himself satisfied, 
 and had agreed to do the thing handsomely. 
 All had been so much to his mind that he had 
 thought he must let Em and Etta into the 
 secret, before he went back to propose. 
 
 The two clapped their hands over the de- 
 lightful naws. He was in love at last ? And 
 really? Not just — he knew what. Oh, he 
 knew well enough what they meant. He had 
 always laughed so before, when they had asked 
 him if anything were to come of this and that 
 flirtation, and had said that the one he had 
 flirted with was all very well for a time, but
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAX. 147 
 
 that he could not stand too much of her — or 
 something of the kind. But then he had never 
 come home before, and asked papa, and spoken 
 about money, and — oh, they could hardly be- 
 lieve it, it was such fun ! 
 
 Frederick pulled his long moustache with 
 complacency. He loved to be the object of 
 such a commotion. If they would only 
 be quiet, he promised to tell them every- 
 thing;. 
 
 " Be quiet, do, then, Em," cried Etta, who 
 was by far the more excited of the two. 
 " We shall never hear anything if we don't 
 let Frederick speak. Now, Frederick, do 
 speak — do go on — do tell us all a;bout her — 
 and about it — and how it beo;an — and where 
 you met — and what you felt at the first. 
 Now, do begin at the very beginning " 
 
 " If I am ever to beoin at all 1 Lord I what 
 
 o 
 
 a tongue you have, Etta ! '' 
 
 " And then she tells me to be quiet," quoth 
 the aggrieved Emily. 
 
 " Never mind that. Let Frederick speak.
 
 148 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 How old is she, Frederick ? And what is she 
 like ? And is she pretty ? " 
 
 " Go on — go on." 
 
 " Only one thing more. Is she dark, or 
 fair '? And is she like either of us 'i " 
 
 He looked at her, and then at his other 
 sister, and another countenance rose before 
 his eyes. He shook his head. 
 
 *' Oh, of course, you will say she is ever so 
 much nicer," cried Etta, gaily. " And so I 
 daresay she is, if we could only hear about 
 her. But you are so mysterious " 
 
 At last they had it all. He was in love, 
 really, and truly, and marryingly in love this 
 time. He had never been so before in his life, 
 but he was done for at last. As for his little 
 girl, she was very young, younger than either 
 of them 
 
 " But we are only twenty and twenty-one," 
 protested Etta. 
 
 All the same she was younger ; she was 
 only eighteen 
 
 " And you are five-and-thirty 1 "
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAN. 149 
 
 But this was not a lucky remark, and she 
 was somewhat sharply informed that a man 
 may be as much older than his bride as he 
 chooses ; and moreover, that it was an error on 
 the right side ; and furthermore, that women 
 aged sooner than men, — with more of the kind. 
 
 Etta listened with impatience. Of course, 
 of course ; she did not care twopence about 
 the age, for her part ; she wanted to hear 
 about the oirl about Kosamund : what a 
 pretty name it was, and so uncommon ! and 
 was Eosamund herself pretty also ? 
 
 Very pretty indeed. More than pretty, 
 beautiful. The sort of face — and here the 
 speaker paused ; even he hardly liked to say 
 to his sisters, " The sort of face you never see, 
 and hardly know enough to admire if you did.'' 
 He had dimly felt that he himself was but just 
 able to appreciate the difference between the 
 proud lip and noble brow of Kosamund Lis- 
 card, and the ordinary red and white pretti- 
 ness of the damsels he was in the habit of 
 taking^ for his standard.
 
 150 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Pretty, and young," quoth Emily, sum- 
 ming up ; " well, Frederick, what else ? Is she 
 well dressed and stylish-looking ? " 
 
 Frederick put out his chin. '' My dear 
 girl ! Stylish-looking I She is an earl's 
 OTanddauo^hter ! " 
 
 " Oh — h ! " The joint exclamation and the 
 expressions of the two awestricken listeners 
 were a sight to see. That they had dared to 
 ask if an earl's granddaughter were stylish- 
 looking ! 
 
 " I don't know if you would call her well 
 dressed," proceeded their brother, trying not 
 to seem too much aware of the crushing im- 
 pression he had produced. '^ She looks tip-top 
 in whatever she puts on. It's generally white 
 of an evening, I think. It's not the thing for 
 girls to dress very much, you know." 
 
 "No," assented Etta, humbly ; ''I — I sup- 
 pose, then, that" — (for the life of her she 
 could not call the earl's granddaughter " Rosa- 
 mund") — ''I suppose that she — she does not 
 dress much \ "
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAX. 151 
 
 " Well, all the better," cried Emily, recover- 
 ing ; " and I don't suppose she can be very 
 hiorh and mio;litv, and oive herself airs, if she 
 means to marry one of us — at least," — and 
 she paused, for it occurred to her that Fred- 
 erick, being so very fine and spruce, and such 
 a orreat man altoo-ether, might have uncon- 
 sciously given an erroneous idea of the family 
 to the ''earl's o;randdaug^hter," in which case 
 there was no saying what Rosamund might 
 turn out to be. 
 
 Frederick, however, was reassuring. '' No, 
 she doesn't give herself airs," he said, with a 
 slight stress upon the "she" — "and I should 
 think you would all get on capitally together. 
 But if you take my advice, you'll steer clear 
 of some one else, who tries to boss the whole 
 party — and that's the mother. She's the most 
 infernally proud woman, that Lady Caroline." 
 
 " Lady Caroline ! " almost whispered Emily. 
 She had never known a " Lady " Anybody in 
 her life. 
 
 *' Is she — is she ? " suo-o-ested Henrietta,
 
 152 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 and paused, scarcely knowing in what direc- 
 tion to inquire. 
 
 " Oh, shes a monkey-puzzler if you like," 
 replied her brother, readily. '' There is not an 
 inch of her you can approach without a prick. 
 She is a caution, and no mistake. I can tell 
 you sometimes when I go up those stone stairs, 
 and follow the men across the hall, and hear 
 them bellow out "Major Gilbert" in front of 
 me into that huge drawing-room wdiere she 
 sits, always at the far end, always making a 
 fellow have to walk the whole length before 
 he gets up to her, I would almost sooner face 
 a Bengal tigress, alone and unarmed. Look, 
 this is how she does it," and he put them off 
 him, for they were leaning on either shoulder, 
 that he might rise and show the scene properly. 
 "You come in from over there, Emily, and I 
 am Lady Caroline here, — see, this is her daven- 
 port, — I believe she lives at that davenport, I 
 never enter the room but she is sitting in front 
 of it, writing ; and her long blue back, for she 
 has the ugliest blue gown you ever saw, and is
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES MAX. 153 
 
 never out of it — lier lono^ back bendino- for- 
 ward, seems as if it would take an hour to 
 straighten. But isn't it like a poker when 
 she does get up ! Now, Em, — look, this is 
 her exactly," — and poor Lady Caroline was 
 travestied to admiration, at the very moment, 
 as luck would have it, when her ladyship was, 
 with equal acrimony, though with a less ap- 
 preciative audience, dilatiDg upon the major 
 himself. 
 
 Whether their respective ears tiugled, his- 
 tory sayeth not, but Gilbert had undoubtedly 
 the best of it in point of sport. Shouts of 
 laughter greeted his performance, and he had 
 to 0^0 throuo-h it ao^ain and ao-ain ere he was 
 allowed even to improve and dilate. 
 
 " She has taken an especial dislike to your 
 humble servant," he owned candidly. " I am 
 sure I don't know what I have done to get in- 
 to her black books, but there is no mistaking 
 the fact that I am there. It may be that she 
 imagines me to be some poor devil without a 
 sixpence, — and that would not suit her book for
 
 154 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 the fair Rosamund. As soon as she finds that 
 I can make a rattling good settlement — and 
 the governor is a regular trump to come down 
 so handsomely, I can tell you, girls — I expect 
 old Blue-gown will be glad enough to have 
 me ; for they have a large family to provide 
 for, and a lot of them are boys. Perhaps I 
 may be allowed to shake her whole hand for 
 once. So far, she has only vouchsafed me a 
 couple of fingers perfectly cold with conde- 
 scension ; and when she takes my arm, Lord ! 
 I'd as soon have a daddy-long-legs tickle it ! " 
 
 The sisters laughed heartily. 
 
 " It's not that I mind," proceeded Gilbert, 
 in great good-humour ; " I don't care two skips 
 of a grasshopper for all her highty-tighty airs, 
 — though I do think it is despicable to snub a 
 fellow just because he is supposed to be poor ; 
 but it's vexatious, because it prevents my hav- 
 ing a good time of it with Rosamund ; and to 
 tell the truth, though I am on the brink of my 
 offer, I have not had half the opportunities I 
 ought to have had for — well, you know what."
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAX. 155 
 
 " Of course," said Emily, sagaciously. " You 
 want to find out whether she cares for you, 
 and carry on, and all that. You are such a 
 flirt too, Frederick, I should have thought you 
 would have made your opportunities." 
 
 " Well, yes, so I have — in a way. But you 
 see, Kosamund is not a flirting girl. You have 
 to mind your P's and Q's a little with these 
 kind of people ; and though I think, indeed I 
 know, she likes me " 
 
 '•' Likes you ! I thought you said she would 
 accept you to-morrow^ ! " 
 
 '' Well — hum — accept — did I say that ? I 
 said I meant to try, and my belief is that I 
 shan't try in vain. But you must understand, 
 my dear girls, that you have to be uncommon- 
 ly careful with girls like Eosamund. They 
 are taught never to show what they feel." 
 
 '' Are they 1 Dreadful ! " 
 
 "And though she is the nicest, merriest, 
 liveliest little creature in the world, she is not 
 one you get to know all in a moment. I 
 have had to draw my toes in more than once
 
 156 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 wlien I thought we were fast friends ; but if 
 any one else treats me badly, you should see 
 how prettily she tries to make amends. It is 
 that more than anything which shows me she 
 really does care. The other day — let me see 
 — what was it that was said ? Oh, I know. 
 Lady Caroline was talking away to her par- 
 ticular friend Mrs Waterfield — the Waterfields 
 ain't bad ; but there's a little hair on their legs ; 
 they are not up to the Liscards. Well, says 
 my lady with her venomous smile, ' Oh, my 
 de-a/i Mrs Waterfield' — that's the way she 
 speaks — ' my de-a/i Mrs Waterfield,' — no, I 
 believe it was *my de-aA Beatrice,' for they 
 are by way of being very thick. ' My de-aA 
 Beatrice, I am so delighted to hear that we 
 are to have your nephew's regiment quartered 
 here directly. It is good news. They tell 
 me the order is given, and that there will be 
 a change directly.' Not so fast, my lady, 
 thinks I ; the order may be given, and the 
 regiment may go, but I have not heard of it, — 
 and anyway, you don't get rid of me so easily.
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAN. 157 
 
 Well, you know, when she said it, even the 
 Waterfields, who keep in with her at all 
 hazards, looked disgusted ; and as for Eosa- 
 mund, all I know is, I wished Lady Caroline 
 would say something nasty every day of my 
 life. You should have seen how my girl 
 coloured up, and what a blaze her eyes were 
 in!" 
 
 ''And yet you don't feel sure about 
 her ? " 
 
 But it was evident he was as sure as he 
 cared to be. He had the sense not to desire 
 more absolute certainty, and the pluck to be 
 willing to run the risk. 
 
 " There's Hartland, of course," he said. 
 " He's the game Lady Caroline flies aty as any 
 one can see. He is the earl, the head of the 
 family, a lucky young beggar who came in 
 for the title through a series of deaths. But 
 he is not thinking of marrying ; and when he 
 does, he will go in for an heiress — he must 
 marry money, for he has only what the 
 spinster sister, Lady Julia, allows him ; and
 
 158 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 people say she can't make him her heir, even 
 if she wished." 
 
 " I wonder what Agnes Chandler will say," 
 observed Emily, who had been ruminating on 
 matters more within her range. 
 
 " Oh, Agnes Chandler I Agnes Chandler 
 was all very well, but they were a scrubby 
 lot. A fellow has to think of his family. I 
 liked Agnes uncommonly, and we were tre- 
 mendous friends, — and, by Jove, what a 
 dancer she was, and what spins we used to 
 have on that old floor ! But you must look 
 for something a cut above Agnes when you 
 talk of a wife. Poor Agnes ! she was very 
 fond of me too." 
 
 ''And so was poor Amelia," nodded Etta. 
 
 "Well, Amelia; no — no — I drew the line 
 there. I never really went in for Amelia. 
 She would fancy I did ; and of course, if that 
 is the case, you cannot be unkind ; and I had 
 to accept her presents, and she expected some 
 sort of attentions in return ; and somehow old 
 Smith had a rare good cellar, and you met
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAN. 150 
 
 every one there, and there was no getting out 
 of it: there was no eluding the Smiths. The 
 route came just in time ; I daresay she has 
 had a dozen since we left." 
 
 *' And if you had not found your Eosa- 
 mund, you would have had a dozen also." 
 
 "Very possibly. That shows what one gets 
 by waiting. Now there are Wilson and Davis 
 of ours, they are such noodles ; directly we 
 arrive in quarters, they prospect around, and 
 fix upon the first passable girl they come 
 across, and there they are at once, booked. 
 They can't cry ofi", even if they want to after- 
 wards ; because when the better girls appear 
 on the scene, they feel so confoundedly fool- 
 ish. But Webster and I, we are the wily 
 ones. We lie low for a week or so, and look 
 about us. Then we oret invited to the o;ood 
 houses, and are free to make our choice. I 
 have never had a flirtation with any but a 
 nice girl yet." 
 
 "Which is saying a good deal, Master 
 Fred."
 
 160 A STIFF-Is^ECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " All owing to discrimination, my little 
 dears. All owing to your sapient brother's 
 keeping a cool head on his shoulders, and put- 
 ting a proper value on his proper person. And 
 he is a bit of a favourite too, I can tell you ; 
 oh, I know how to creep up the sleeve with 
 the fair sex, trust me. I sing 'em a song ; I 
 tickle their fancies with *Youll remember 
 me,' and that sort of thing. That's the way 
 of it. Get to sentiment, and they're done 
 for." 
 
 '' Has Eosamund heard you sing '? " 
 " Only once. And never once in her own 
 house. Old Blue-gown knows better than to 
 ask me. I had my music in my coat-pocket 
 the last day I was over there, and Webster 
 was over with me, and it turned out beastly 
 wet, so I thought I had a rare chance, as 
 they set Webster down to play the organ, — 
 he plays it uncommonly well, the little chap 
 does, — so I thought here was an opening; 
 and after a bit, I gave 'em a hint ; I sug- 
 gested, couldn't we have a glee, or a catch.
 
 BOASTS THAT HE WAS A LADIES' MAX. 161 
 
 or something ? My word ! you don't see me 
 doing that again. She would hardly deign 
 me an answer at all : and the oro;an and 
 everything else w^as stopped right away, and 
 wet or fine, Webster and I had to tramp it. 
 No ; to tell you the real truth, girls, it gives 
 me a regular shiver down to the heels of my 
 boots, whenever I do but think of that Lady 
 Caroline." 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 162 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 
 
 " Yes, I'm in love, I feel it now. 
 And Celia has undone me ; 
 And yet I swear I can't tell how 
 The pleasing pain stole on me." 
 
 — Whitehead. 
 
 In consonance with the tactics which he had 
 been so good as to expound for his sisters' 
 benefit in the last chapter, Major Gilbert had 
 kept somewhat aloof from the society of the 
 town, directly he had found he might obtain 
 that of the county, on taking command at 
 Longminster. 
 
 His position had entitled him to the civili- 
 ties of the neighbouring magnates, and he had 
 fully realised that his last promotion had 
 opened doors for him hitherto closed — or par-
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 163 
 
 tially so, and had not been slow to avail him- 
 self of his new opportunities. 
 
 He had met Kosamund, and had been con- 
 vinced anew of the soundness of his policy. 
 
 No Ao-nes nor Amelia was there now to 
 hold him back ; no unfortunate trammels 
 bound him. 
 
 Let us take a retrospective glance at the 
 first meeting. 
 
 Mrs Waterfield had invited Major Gilbert 
 over to the Grange on a lovely June day, and 
 had also bidden other guests, and intended to 
 have an out-of-door afternoon party. But 
 when the Thursday came, the weather was so 
 inauspicious that only Gilbert himself ap- 
 peared, on the chance of its clearing, and 
 by-and-by Eosamund Liscard drove her pony- 
 cart over to present Lady Caroline's excuses. 
 Eosamund was made to stay, — the Grange 
 being, as we have already said, the only 
 other house beside the Abbey for which 
 she had this permission, and Lady Caroline 
 little dreaming that a blow could be dealt
 
 164 A stiff-:necked generation. 
 
 to her through such an apparently innocent 
 medium. 
 
 Eosamund thought Major Gilbert a fine- 
 looking man, and an agreeable addition to 
 the party. She was attached to the Miss 
 Waterfields, and was fain not to find them 
 poor company, — well knowing that if they 
 had been a shade more hilarious or vivacious, 
 they would have been withheld from her 
 grasp, as other tempting morsels had been. 
 She had yearned after this one and that, 
 conscenial damsels with whom she would fain 
 have held sweet converse, not finding a respon- 
 sive spirit in her next sister, the prim Cath- 
 erine ; but Lady Caroline had put a prompt 
 veto upon every new intimacy, permitting 
 only the old and well - worn Waterfields, — 
 and with them accordingly her daughters 
 had to be content. But it must not there- 
 fore be inferred that, left to herself, Eosa- 
 mund did not secretly cherish much the same 
 opinion of the septet that her mother did. 
 
 They were wholesome — like rice -pudding.
 
 THE FIRST MEETIXG. 165 
 
 You could take a little of tliem day after day 
 without their palling too flagrantly on the 
 palate, — at the same time, you could never 
 take very much at a time. They were, in 
 short, good wear-and-tear neighbours, to be 
 depended on for sturdy principles and old- 
 established prejudices, and certain not to de- 
 velop any new or startling vagaries. 
 
 But imagine what a godsend was Gilbert 
 in such a house ! 
 
 Thus met, wdien he was naturally on his 
 best behaviour, he now^ merely appeared to 
 be a frank, soldierly man, handsome, well 
 dressed, and very ready to be pleased with 
 everything. In their terror at seeing the 
 unknown visitor turn up on a hopelessly wet 
 afternoon, and their relief at finding him not 
 only willing to be entertained but eager to 
 entertain in return, he had been first the 
 object of solicitude, and then of grateful sur- 
 prise and admiration. One after another had 
 been drawn into the circle round him, and 
 Eosamund coming in, found quite a lively
 
 166 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 party in the drawing-room, Avliicli, but for 
 resolute cheerfulness, must have looked as 
 forlorn as a summer room, whose fireplace is 
 blocked up by flowers, usually does when the 
 rain-pools cover the lawn, and the skies are 
 still pouring forth in floods at intervals. 
 
 No one, however, looked depressed on this 
 occasion, and it was easy to see that to the 
 one man of the party all the life and vivacity 
 of it was due. 
 
 Gilbert was in his element. Nothing suited 
 him better than such a position ; and he had 
 already said many pretty things of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and given every sort of intimation 
 of his good-humour, when Kosamund — Eosa- 
 mund looking her loveliest, with moist, clear 
 eyes, and a damask - rose bloom upon her 
 cheek, fresh from the outer air — brought a 
 new atmosphere into the circle. In an instant 
 all was changed for Gilbert, and he had fallen, 
 metaphorically, at her feet ; but he did not 
 allow himself to show that it was so. 
 
 He stood up, of course, and w^hen his turn
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 167 
 
 came made liis bow, and was a little more 
 officious than he need have been in wheeling 
 forward another chair ; but still he remem- 
 bered to beg Eleanour's pardon for so nearly 
 brushing her with his elbow, and stooped to 
 pick up Mrs Water field's ball of grey worsted, 
 which was rolling away under the ottoman. 
 He remembered that he had a " gallery," that he 
 was under inspection, and that he had heard 
 the Grange spoken of as an excellent stepping- 
 stone towards admission in the neighbourhood. 
 Accordingly he did not, as he longed to do, 
 at once turn his back upon the seven Miss 
 Waterfields (for Diana was also present, it 
 being a half-holiday) ; he did not let it be 
 apparent that all interest in their pale faint- 
 coloured faces had left him at the first vision 
 of the brilliant new-comer ; he only stood 
 aside, pulling his long moustache, and mark- 
 ing the contrast with keen, observant eyes, 
 until it was again time for him to speak ; and 
 he did not rush to take possession of the 
 vacant seat by Rosamund's side presently,
 
 168 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 but stepped backwards and forwards, handing 
 tea, sugar, and cakes, till all were supplied, — 
 even then, volunteering to pour fresh water 
 into the teapot, albeit the coveted chair still 
 remained empty. Such self - restraint said 
 something for the bold soldier, and he owed 
 himself some measure of reward for it. 
 
 But he was cautious even in taking the 
 reward * a renewal of talk and jest led to 
 anecdotes and sleight-of-hand tricks, of which 
 he was a master ; and these last were per- 
 formed wdth such an effort at impartiality as 
 led to Rosamund's being only addressed twice 
 as often as was her turn, and shown the secret 
 of the best performance, to the exclusion of all 
 the rest, though Diana had already more than 
 half found it out. 
 
 For the further gratification of a musical 
 community, as evidenced by the books piled 
 up in the corner, Gilbert next proposed 
 music ; and on this occasion nobody snuffed 
 out the proposition, as was subsequently the 
 case at King's Common. On the contrary,
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 169 
 
 the idea was caught at in a house where, as 
 Lady Caroline said, the piano never ceased, 
 and where an additional voice, and that a bass 
 one, was a delightful acquisition. 
 
 All seven sisters eagerly gathered round the 
 music-stool, all turning over different things, 
 in vain endeavours to make their knowledge 
 agree ; and Eosamund, who had but an indif- 
 ferent ear, and had never been at the pains to 
 improve it, now regretted for the first time 
 the success of many stratagems for shortening 
 the hour of practice, which, under Miss Pen- 
 rose, had been the daily torment of her life. 
 
 Since her escape from schoolroom rule, she 
 had never touched a note, and, left to herself, 
 would seldom have cared to hear one. But then, 
 the music in request at King's Common was not 
 inspiring, and there was in reality no chance 
 for any one not of strictly classical proclivities, 
 knowing how much or how little he or she was 
 capable of appreciating simpler melody. 
 
 Was my heroine now to be left out in the 
 cold, in consequence ?
 
 170 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Nothing of the kind. She could not sing 
 — ah ! but she could be sung to. 
 
 And so it came to pass that whatever and 
 whenever Major Gilbert sang, it was to her 
 he turned for commands, for sympathy, and 
 for applause. She might shift her place, but 
 if she did, he also shifted his. She might get 
 behind one, or another ; in a few minutes he 
 had so placed himself that she w^as again 
 within range. She might move forward, take 
 the arm of a sister, talk in her ear, be in- 
 terested, engrossed, — it was all the same ; she 
 knew that he paused expectantly till she had 
 done, and that she w^ould either be addressed 
 anew over the heads of the others, or find him 
 at her elbow, in another minute. 
 
 He might read the words of a part-song 
 over Amy's shoulder, or share the book with 
 Violet, but Eosamund felt, by that intuition 
 which never fails, that she and she alone was 
 his real audience. 
 
 Then he had sung by himself. 
 
 His voice was deep and rich, not particularly
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. I7l 
 
 expressive, but easy, and, after a certain 
 fashion, agreeable to listen to. He could 
 warble a love-ditty with effect, dropping his 
 voice till it was almost tender at the pathetic 
 passages ; while in a rattling sea-song he 
 could bang about the accompaniment famously, 
 and puff out his chest like a topsail in a gale 
 of wind. 
 
 He did not stick fast to the music-stool, 
 moreover. He turned about upon it once or 
 twice, it is true, and struck a chord here 
 and there, and inquired if they knew this 
 thing and that ; but after a very reason- 
 able time he insisted, with creditable pertin- 
 acity, upon some one else's taking his place, 
 and listened respectfully to his successor 
 throughout the full length of six pages. 
 
 Altogether the whole thing was well done. 
 Had she had a son at home, Mrs Waterfield 
 would have asked him to stop and dine. She 
 did not even find him noisy on this occasion ; 
 and happily for him, he was held so com- 
 pletely in check by a variety of feelings
 
 172 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 throughout the visit, that he did not once 
 relapse into vulgar jocularity or familiar 
 facetiousness. 
 
 "He was really most obliging and enter- 
 taining." It was the lady of the house who 
 spoke, but she expressed the sentiments of 
 all. "He could not have been more good- 
 natured ; and it must have been a dis- 
 appointment wben the day turned out so 
 miserably bad. I wish we had not had to let 
 him go back in the rain, but I could not well 
 help it. Another time, when some of the boys 
 are at home, or wheu we have some other 
 gentlemen with us, we must have him again. 
 I must hear that charming sailor's song once 
 more," for it had been a blessed change from 
 the eternal sonatas and themes of which even 
 her maternal ear was occasionally sick. 
 
 " Perhaps he may have something of a 
 barrack-room manner," proceeded Mrs Water- 
 field, not knowing that to tbe barrack-room 
 was due the only thin gloss of good-breeding 
 Gilbert was capable of taking on. " He may
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 173 
 
 laugh a little too loud, and talk a little too 
 loud, and be a little too easy " (how could she 
 guess that the bold soldier was even at the 
 moment pondering how it was that he had 
 not managed to get on faster in his intimacy, 
 and. inclined to feel he might have pushed 
 ahead a little more with herself ?), '' but I am 
 sure he meant no harm," continued the 
 speaker ; " and I can quite fancy that to 
 a man away from his home, the sight of a 
 family party like ours must have been tanta- 
 lising. He seemed quite one of ourselves 
 before he left." 
 
 '' And he talked so nicely about his sisters," 
 added Eleanour. 
 
 Everybody had something good to say of 
 him ; and though Kosamund said less than the 
 rest, it was only because she thought the more. 
 
 She felt proud, gratified, demure. She, too, 
 had liked the deep sea-song, and had not 
 objected to the tremble in the love-sick 
 warble. She now experienced a sensation 
 hitherto unknown when hearing Gilbert's
 
 174 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 name in every mouth ; and there was all the 
 charm of novelty in secretly hugging to 
 herself the conviction that while he was the 
 hero of the hour, and all were eager to recall 
 what he had said and done, she, and she 
 alone, had been the object of his attention. 
 
 Could any one's vanity have been insen- 
 sible to such a whisper ? — More especially the 
 vanity of eighteen, and eighteen hitherto kept 
 within the closest watch and ward ? A sudden 
 and dangerous exhilaration made Eosamund's 
 blood dance in her veins as she recounted the 
 history of the afternoon, in so far as it could 
 be recounted, to her mother. When Lady 
 Caroline, on the Waterfields' authority, there- 
 upon admitted the new-comer to her solemn 
 reunions, the daughter of the house was in a 
 flutter of expectation, and met him with shy 
 but evident pleasure. In the interval between 
 their first and second meeting he had been 
 continually in her thoughts, and she had 
 been even more so in his ; so that when he 
 made his appearance at King's Common, and
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. l75 
 
 that before the Waterfield party had arrived, 
 it seemed to the only person present who had 
 met him before that she was his friend, and 
 he under her care ; moreover, that it was only 
 natural he should take possession of her on 
 the instant, as he lost no time in doing. 
 
 For he had no notion of being backward 
 any more, after he had once been invited to 
 King's Common. That, he took to mean, 
 that he had won his point, and made all the 
 running required. 
 
 The alacrity with which he drew near to 
 Rosamund's side, and his tenacious hold of 
 that position subsequently, fairly took Lady 
 Caroline's breath away. " He actually rushed 
 at her," she declared, afterwards ; " walked 
 her off from among all the other people, en- 
 grossed her whole attention — which she was 
 foolish enough to permit him to do ; but she 
 is so young, she does not yet know how to 
 manage, — and I do assure you, Julia, that the 
 man never left her, never spoke to any one 
 else, never let her alone for an instant through-
 
 176 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 out the whole afternoon afterwards. I ex- 
 plained to Eosamund her mistake in allowing 
 it, as soon as I could do so, and desired her to 
 be careful : but the next thing was the ball. 
 We went to the ball, as you know ; and of 
 course I could understand that, as the princi- 
 pal host on that occasion, Major Gilbert should 
 dance first with my daughter. It was her 
 right, and I had no fault to find : no one else 
 was there who could have taken the pas. 
 But, my dear, the way he hung about her 
 throughout the evening, made her order the 
 music, have extra waltzes, so as to enable 
 them to linger in the supper-room, the air 
 with which he shawled her up for the carriage, 
 and took her out himself, and stood there in 
 the cold night-draughts — oh, my dear Julia, 
 the whole thing was unmistakable ! I w^as 
 at my wdts'-end ; and I could do nothing, — it 
 was their own entertainment, and they had the 
 right to order things as they chose ; and though, 
 of course, people must have remarked upon 
 it, I could not then and there go up to Major
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 177 
 
 Gilbert and say, ' I will not permit my daugh- 
 ter to be made so conspicuous/ — I had to let 
 things take their course," — the truth — the 
 plain unvarnished truth — being, that on the 
 occasion referred to, Lady Caroline herself 
 had been by no means above experiencing 
 gratification at beholding her fair young- 
 daughter the belle of the ball. 
 
 So long, indeed, as she had been persuaded 
 that all the devotion and admiration was con- 
 fined to his side, she had endured Gilbert ; 
 but of late there had been felt a creeping 
 sensation of alarm, which could not even be 
 confided to Julia, and which had found its 
 easiest vent in an ever-increasing dislike and 
 intolerance of his name. This, in her folly, 
 she had been unable to keep to herself, and 
 had thus increased the very evil she dreaded. 
 
 Every generous feeling Kosamund possessed 
 was soon aroused on behalf of one who, sus- 
 pecting nothing, was being daily scorned and 
 sneered at, to whom the lowest motives for 
 every action were invariably imputed, and 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 178 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 whose simplest civility was misconstrued. 
 Had her mother but permitted the little 
 flutter about the handsome soldier to die out 
 of itself, there is no saying how eoon this 
 might have happened ; but instead, she had 
 actually fanned the flame she dreaded, and we 
 know the result. 
 
 For the moment she was overmastered in 
 spite of herself For her — a woman who had 
 never brooked opposition in her life — it was 
 absolutely terrible to be thus openly defied. 
 And she had not had even a chance of enter- 
 ing the lists ere all was over. Those tears, 
 those dreadful tears ! 
 
 She could almost have wept herself; and 
 then, to make matters still worse, and complete 
 the whole, the passionate girl, unable to com- 
 mand herself, and overcome by her victory 
 still more than she would have been by a 
 defeat, rushed like a coward from the room. 
 
 " She has such a warm heart ! " explained 
 Lady Caroline, with a withering smile. " We 
 all know Eosamund."
 
 179 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 
 
 Ne'er with your children act the tyrant's part ; 
 'Tis yours to guide, not violate the heart." 
 
 —Thomson. 
 
 The amiable Waterfields were only second to 
 Lady Caroline herself in their perturbation 
 and distress at Rosamund's indiscretion. Gil- 
 bert had been introduced to the Liscards by 
 them, and it had been on their recommenda- 
 tion — their somewhat over- warm recommen- 
 dation, as they were fain to call it after- 
 wards — that he had been admitted within 
 the sacred precincts of King's Common. 
 
 We know how happily had. been timed his 
 first appearance at the Grange, but it is due 
 to the ladies then assembled to state that,
 
 180 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 with the exception of the youthful and in- 
 experienced Eosamund, the impression then 
 made had speedily been lessened by after -ac- 
 quaintance. Very soon had each and all made 
 up her mind that slight were his claims to 
 anything beyond a passing notice ; for, not 
 having been blinded by themselves being ob- 
 jects of his bold attentions, and further, having 
 had some experience of the world whereof 
 poor Eosamund had seen literally nothing, 
 the sisters had ended by being disgusted, not 
 only with the pert jocularity and forward 
 pretensions of the roistering soldier, but with 
 themselves for having given him a moment's 
 encouragement. 
 
 *' It shows one cannot be too careful," had 
 been Mrs Waterfield's conclusion ; and she 
 and Lady Caroline had shaken their heads 
 very comfortably over the subject, so long as 
 Lady Caroline, looking upon Gilbert as the 
 sole offender, had been able to ease herself of 
 a grievance that, in truth, gave her no real 
 uneasiness.
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 181 
 
 Assuming, vulgar upstart as this man was, 
 he was still at the head of the neighbouring 
 military quarter; and his running after her 
 dauo^hter in season and out of season, thou2[h 
 it was a piece of unbounded presumption, and 
 could not be loudly enough denounced, was 
 something to be secretly rather proud of than 
 otherwise. She triumphantly informed Julia 
 of Eosamund's conquest. 
 
 " As for Beatrice Waterfield's girls, my 
 dear, he passed them over without giving 
 them a second glance. It was at their house, 
 you know, he met Kosamund ; and no doubt 
 any one of them would have been happy 
 enough to have been distinguished by him. 
 Oh, I mean no harm ; Beatrice's daughters 
 are all well behaved, — but, at any rate, he 
 had been asked there, and there he met 
 Kosamund. I do not altogether blame him 
 — that is to say, I should not have blamed 
 him, if he had not made her so conspicuous. 
 It is tiresome for her to be marked out in the 
 way Major Gilbert does it. She, poor child,
 
 182 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 is quite unconscious" — (which was all Lady 
 Caroline knew ahout it) — "and my hope is 
 that when he finds he makes no way with 
 her, and receives no encouragement from me, 
 he will give over coming to the house." 
 
 To make assurance doubly sure, she had 
 soon after this begun the line of conduct 
 which had roused to opposition the self-willed 
 young lady. She had omitted no opportunity 
 of throwing out innuendoes^ and conveying 
 insinuations; and, worst mistake of all, had 
 ceased not on any and every possible oppor- 
 tunity to draw comparisons between Gilbert 
 and the favoured Hartland. 
 
 With her, Hartland could do no wrong, 
 Gilbert no right. 
 
 Now when this is the case with an undis- 
 ciplined and uncontrolled nature, prone to 
 force its own opinions, aversions, and predi- 
 lections upon all around, it may well be seen 
 that nothing can be more injurious to the end 
 in view than such unskilful tactics. 
 
 The partial light in which the young peer
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 183 
 
 was viewed by his elderly relation served 
 indeed to make the servants doubly obsequi- 
 ous and obliging, and Mr Liscard easy about 
 inviting Hartland to stop dinner whenever he 
 found him on the premises of an afternoon ; 
 but it did him harm rather than good with 
 the member of the family whom it was most 
 desirable to conciliate. Rosamund's sense of 
 justice was revolted : she could not endure to 
 hear Hartland praised for what would have 
 been not only a faux pas, but a positive 
 social crime in any other person : Hartland 
 would come over in the twilight, ask to stop 
 on, and excuse himself for sitting down to 
 table in his shooting-clothes, because he had 
 let the time slip by till it was too late to go 
 back and change — and Lady Caroline would 
 only find it friendly and relationly of him to 
 do so. But woe betide any other youth who 
 had ventured on such a liberty ! What would 
 have been thought of the Liscard boys, for 
 instance, nearer by far in point of blood than 
 this new-oomer, if th^y had treated their aunt
 
 184 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 in SO casual a fashion ? No one was more 
 nice about the trifling proprieties, and less 
 likely to overlook what she would have 
 termed a slovenly disregard for them, than 
 Lady Caroline. The poor young Liscards 
 shook in their shoes every time they entered 
 her august presence : the poor lads could 
 hardly be induced to go to the house; and 
 as for offering themselves for any mortal 
 thing, and purposely letting the time pass 
 till it was inconvenient to make ready for 
 it, they would as soon have thought of in- 
 truding en deshabille into the presence of 
 their soverei2:n. 
 
 Sometimes Eosamund longed to shake Hart- 
 land on his throne. She would have rejoiced 
 to behold him topple over, and mark what 
 would follow ; but it was an event she could 
 not but own was little likely to happen with 
 one so unconscious and unassuming. 
 
 In amends possibly for his earlier uncharit- 
 able feelings towards the two ladies, he had, as 
 we know, yielded at once to Lady Julia a very
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 185 
 
 real aflfection, and to Lady Caroline a more 
 dubious goodwill, but he had not the slightest 
 desire to find himself upon the pedestal to 
 which they had simultaneously exalted him ; 
 and it intensified Rosamund's sense of Gilbert's 
 wrongs more than anything else could have 
 done, that while the one did not hold up so 
 much as his little finger to maintain himself in 
 his high position, all the efforts put forth by 
 the latter to procure Lady Caroline's bare 
 toleration, only served to plunge him deeper 
 and deeper in the 'slough of her ill-will. 
 
 Matters stood thus when all eyes were 
 opened by Rosamund's burst of tears. 
 
 All eyes were opened, including Rosamund's 
 own. She had been altogether unaware of 
 having felt so much : vexatious wounded feel- 
 ing, and a smouldering sense of injustice on 
 his behalf, had all been working secretly for 
 the absent and oppressed during some weeks 
 past ; but had it not been for this new attack 
 upon him called forth by his very harmless 
 and respectful offer of hospitality, it is probable
 
 186 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 that all might have gone on as before, for some 
 time longer at any rate. 
 
 The principal point now in Lady Caroline's 
 mind was, what did Hartland say to it ? She 
 could control her daughter, and extinguish 
 Gilbert; but if Hartland were to look on 
 Eosamund's folly in a serious light, who could 
 estimate the damage it would do her 1 
 
 As it happened, Hartland himself gave his 
 cousin the benefit of his opinion within a few 
 days ; but it is difficult to tell whether Lady 
 Caroline would have been more relieved or 
 mortified had she played eavesdropper on 
 the occasion. 
 
 The two met in the shrubbery, and there 
 was no escape for either, when, between the 
 giant laurel hedges, hard, close-clipped, and 
 unyielding, they found themselves face to face. 
 He had been at the farm, she had just come 
 down from the house, and both were bound 
 for the lower garden ; yet, perhaps, they would 
 sooner have given up their several errands there, 
 rather than have had to do them in company.
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 187 
 
 There was, however, no help for it. 
 
 " I was desired to reraind Netley about the 
 geranium-cuttings," said Hartland, explaining 
 his presence. '' Are you coming to the gar- 
 den ? " 
 
 She had her basket and scissors on her arm, 
 and could not deny it. The morning was 
 lovely, and she was going to cut some late 
 roses for the drawing-room. They walked on 
 together, and he opened a gate for her ; then, 
 with a sudden resolution to get over an awk- 
 wardness, took the bull by the horns as soon 
 as he had again fastened the latch. " I think 
 you are right to stand up for the absent, Eosa- 
 mund. There is no need to be ashamed of 
 — of — having been a little bit excited, you 
 know, the other day. I daresay they have 
 been telling you it is bad form, and all that, 
 — but never you mind. There was no harm 
 in it at all." 
 
 " It was all true what I said," murmured she. 
 
 '' I daresay it was, and it was very plucky 
 of you to say it."
 
 188 A STIFF-NECKED aENERATION. 
 
 " Mamma is so augry with me." 
 
 '•' Is she ? " 
 
 "Oh, Hartlancl, you do not know ; you have 
 no idea. Mamma is so fond of you, that 
 your only being by, makes her gentler and 
 kinder, at least less unkind to those she hates," 
 cried the young girl, suddenly overflowing 
 with her wrongs again. " I could not help it 
 the other day. I really could not, though it was 
 so silly of me, and though, of course, it was 
 not Major Gilbert I cared about, not one hit.'' 
 
 " Of course not." 
 
 " It was the whole thing. And it has gone 
 on so long, almost ever since he came here. 
 If mamma does not take to any one at the 
 outset, she sees nothing good, or kind, or plea- 
 sant in them. You cannot think how dread- 
 ful it is to have a — a friend come in to the 
 room all unsuspecting, and thinking you will 
 be glad to see him ; and perhaps he has taken 
 a great deal of trouble, and worked hard to be 
 able to get away, and does not mean to make 
 a mere call, but to stay a little, — and then he
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 189 
 
 is never asked to stay, and hardly allowed to 
 sit down ! It is — it does — I cannot bear it 
 sometimes. But it is not Major Gilbert I am 
 thinking of; at least, there are — others too," 
 she added anxiously, and stole a glance at 
 her companion. 
 
 *' Oh, of course ; you don't like to do any one 
 a shabby turn," replied Hartland, with cheer- 
 ful unconsciousness ; '' and I have no doubt 
 Lady Caroline has not thought it out as you 
 have — that's all. She finds afternoon visitors 
 a bore." 
 
 ** But is it not very wrong, and very UDJust, 
 to pronounce upon — upon people of whom you 
 know nothing, just because they like afternoon 
 visiting 1 " 
 
 Hartland laughed. He did not wish to give 
 an opinion. 
 
 " I know I ought not to speak so of mam- 
 ma," sighed Eosamund ; '' but — — ." 
 
 She stopped. 
 
 ''Wei], no. I suppose not. I think I 
 shouldn't, if I were you."
 
 190 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 '' I often try not to do it ; but ." 
 
 Another sigh. 
 
 *' Try again ; there's no harm in trying." 
 
 '' But ." 
 
 " Well ? " 
 
 " I never succeed." 
 
 She was burning to pour forth afresh, to in- 
 flame the passionless young man with fuel from 
 her own fire, to get him on her side in the 
 struggle ; but insensibly she was herself feel- 
 ing the influence of his moderation. 
 
 " I know you like mamma," she said, slowly. 
 
 " Certainly I do." 
 
 And who could have helped laughing ? For 
 in Eosamund's tone there was an unmistak- 
 able suggestion of " Strange as it may seem." 
 Lady Caroline being her mother, she loved her 
 mother, of course ; but that any one who had 
 not to love, should be able to like, was curious. 
 
 Her companion, however, laughed good- 
 humouredly, not as if there were anything 
 very particular to laugh at ; and she had no 
 fears of having amused him too much. " Cer-
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 191 
 
 tainly I do," he said, with promptitude, and a 
 happy ignorance that there were not a dozen 
 people in the world who could have said as 
 much. " But, look here, Rosamund ; here's a 
 piece of profound wisdom for you, profit or not 
 by it as you think fit : even if I did not like 
 Lady Caroline, supposing I had to live with 
 her, I should he at pains to live peaceably with 
 her ; and if I were her son, or her daughter " 
 
 " You would not have spoken to her as I 
 did the other day 1 " 
 
 That was it. She had hit the mark. No 
 one could have done the fraternal part better ; 
 and who would have dreamed that within 
 his breast a traitor voice was saying loudly, 
 " Yet I could almost love you for it, Rosa- 
 mund? Rosamund, Rosamund, had I been 
 the defended absent one, I could quite have 
 loved you for those very rebel words ! " 
 
 " We are not to go to the luncheon-party," 
 announced she, presently. 
 
 " That's a matter of course." 
 
 " I don't know how mamma wrote, or what
 
 192 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 excuse she gave ; but he, Major Gilbert, has 
 not been here since." 
 
 "His absence has nothing to do with 
 any offence taken, however," said Hartland. 
 " I can relieve your mind about that. I 
 hear he is gone off for two or three days ; 
 and he was away when that invitation was 
 sent." 
 
 " Was he ? I did wonder that he did not 
 bring it himself. It was only sent by two 
 of the men, you know. I thought something 
 must have kept him back that day." 
 
 ** Oh yes ; he had gone on leave for a day 
 or two," said Hartland, smiling to himself at 
 her innocent revelation. '' I could have told 
 you that at the time, if I had known you 
 expected him." 
 
 " Oh— hardly ' expected.' " 
 
 *'You thought he would have looked in for 
 a game of lawn-tennis ? " (For the new game 
 — yclept lawn-tennis — familiar now to all, 
 was just beginning to take infantile hold in 
 England at that time.)
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 193 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 ''He had left the night before. I sent that 
 morning to ask him to shoot, and my letter 
 was returned." 
 
 ('' If I had only known that," thought she, 
 bitterly, "I might have been saved all this. 
 It was thinking every moment that he might 
 walk in, and find mamma denouncing him, 
 and all of us listening round, that made me 
 give way. Why, oh why was I so foolish ? 
 Now we might have been going to this de- 
 lightful party like everybody else — for I saw 
 mamma was not at all set against it when 
 she first began — if I had but held my tongue ! 
 And it is not only losing that — it is what he 
 will think, and how he will mind, and how 
 he will feel about it, that I care for. He will 
 never know how I fought for him ; he will 
 only get mamma's stony cold rejection. It 
 is hard." And though she did not say it 
 even to herself, what she really meant was — 
 *' It is hard that while my tears put me to 
 shame before all the rest, the only person 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 wlio might have profited by them was not 
 
 by.") 
 
 " Don't you take all this to heart," continued 
 Hartland, recurring to the main point after a 
 further pause. " I mean about your mother's 
 objection to Gilbert ; it does him no harm, you 
 know," switching off a thistle-head which ob- 
 truded across his path — for involuntarily they 
 had wandered on and on, till they had reached 
 a wild and overgrown region somewhere at the 
 back of the potting-sheds and cucumber and 
 melon frames. 
 
 " Do you call it no harm to be slandered 
 and maligned behind your back, and before 
 those Waterfield girls too ? " 
 
 " They know Gilbert for themselves. Your 
 mother's opinion cannot affect them." 
 
 "Why, of course it can," exclaimed Kosa- 
 mund, who, brought up under the shadow of 
 Lady Caroline, could not but feel surprised 
 to think that any one should not be oppressed 
 by its weight. "Mamma's good word is 
 thought so much of that every one is anxious
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 195 
 
 to get it ; and the Waterfields go by mamma 
 in everything. 1 know they were pleased 
 with Major Gilbert at the first, but lately I 
 have seen them growing stiffer and stifFer to 
 him ; and now, after what mamma said on 
 Wednesday, they will have gone home and 
 told every one there that he is " 
 
 '' What ? " 
 
 "A^ulgar," said Eosamund, in a low, sad 
 tone ; " and it will have been mamma's doing. 
 She showed she thouoiit him so herself," — 
 drawins^ a breath, as thouo^h the shameful 
 aspersion might have been supposed to have 
 been beyond even Lady Caroline. 
 
 Hartland looked straight in front of him, 
 meriting further confidence. 
 
 **Aunt Julia would never have found it 
 out — I mean imagined it," proceeded Eosa- 
 mund, with unconscious truth. " As long as 
 ever she possibly can, Aunt Julia thinks 
 mamma must be right; and it is only when 
 mamma is too — severe, that the poor little 
 auntie sits by with a disapproving face on.
 
 196 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 That was the worst of all on Wednesday ; she 
 said one or two kind things, but she had not 
 on her disapproving face." 
 
 " That meant a great deal." 
 
 " It meant that, on the whole, she was on 
 mamma's side. She always thinks mamma 
 goes too far ; but I could tell she was with 
 mamma — at least more with her than with 
 me — and that was, oh yes, a great deal for 
 Aunt Julia." 
 
 " She is generally benevolence itself." 
 
 "Yes, indeed." 
 
 "You never hear her speak evil of any 
 one." 
 
 "No," 
 
 "And I believe she makes them better by 
 the mere thinking wxll of them," continued 
 Hartland. " I never see my friends to greater 
 advantage than when they 'pal up' to Aunt 
 Julia. You know what to ' pal up ' is, don't 
 you, Eosamund ? I think you and I ' pal up ' 
 
 very well when^ " he stopped short ; he 
 
 could not well say '' when we are let alone."
 
 UNSKILFUL TACTICS. 197 
 
 But Rosamund heard nothing; she was 
 pondering on how to bring him back to 
 Gilbert. Aunt Julia was all very well ; but 
 it must be confessed that as a topic the new 
 one was insipid, inferior in flavour to the old, 
 and, eager as she was to return to the latter, 
 she was yet maidenly enough to resist doing 
 so too openly. Over her vehement partisan- 
 ship, she would still throw the semblance of a 
 purely general sentiment. 
 
 Bashfulness, delicacy, or indifference — some 
 sentiment or other must have held Hartland 
 back at the same time, for he also let Aunt 
 Julia drop, and hesitated before reverting to 
 the subject which had previously occupied 
 both their thoughts. 
 
 Conversation was thus at a momentary stand- 
 still, when, on a sudden, a loud " Halloo ! " 
 rang through the fragrant air, causing both to 
 turn their heads and halt on the instant. 
 
 It must be reserved for another chapter to 
 tell whom they saw advancing swiftly through 
 the young plantations.
 
 198 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 IN YOUR PLACE I SHOULD NOT HAVE 
 PRESUMED." 
 
 '' I would not have you invade each place, 
 Nor thrust yourself on all societies, 
 Till men's affections, or your own desert, 
 Should worthily invite you to your rank." 
 
 —Ben Jonson. 
 
 Of course it was Gilbert. 
 
 " Talk of the /' said Hartlancl, with a 
 
 glance of guilt at his companion ; and leaving 
 her to apply the quotation or not as she chose, 
 he stepped forward, shook his stick in welcome, 
 and hallooed a response. 
 
 Neither he nor Eosamund looked at all dis- 
 turbed. Of the three, Gilbert was the only 
 one who showed himself in any way put out 
 or uneasy. He did not know whether he
 
 199 
 
 were not interrupting ; lie would have liked to 
 be sure that the cousins did not feel caught, in 
 spite of their coolness ; and satisfied as he had 
 hitherto been on the point, like a true soldier 
 he was always ready to allow that he might 
 be taken in the flank. Lord Hartland, although 
 he had never yet shown himself a rival, might, 
 for all that, be stealing a march in the dark. 
 He shot a scrutinising glance, and twisted his 
 moustache as he approached the pair. 
 
 " I thought it very likely that I should meet 
 some one," he observed, shaking hands ; '' my 
 only hope was that it might be some one who 
 would not have me up for trespassing; it 
 would have been rather appalling to have been 
 set upon by all your gardeners, and bundled 
 over the hedge ; " and he tried to laugh easily. 
 "The fact is, I came up the side p>ath, by 
 which you were once good enough to show me 
 out," — to Eosamund. 
 
 She coloured, and Hartland understood. It 
 was a pleasant memory, and both liked to 
 recall it.
 
 200 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ('' But being shown out is a different thing 
 from showing one's self in," commented the 
 third person, internally. '' I should not have 
 presumed, had I been in your place, Major 
 Gilbert.") 
 
 No one, however, asked for his opinion. 
 Frank approval only beamed from Eosamund's 
 sparkling eyes ; and if the idea that her lover 
 had been presumptuous did cross her mind, it 
 was only to thank her good fortune that she 
 and no one else had stumbled across him in 
 the act. 
 
 " I had no very clear idea of my where- 
 abouts," continued Gilbert ; " but I made sure, 
 from the smoke rising, that I was near the 
 vineries, and supposed there would be an 
 entrance not far off. It cuts off a long round, 
 coming through the woods. I walked over. 
 I did not bring the trap, as I was in hopes 
 Lady Caroline might ask me to stop luncheon, 
 and we could have our ver}^ last match at 
 lawn-tennis for this season, afterwards. Do 
 you think she will? Shall I have to beg
 
 *'l SHOULD XOT HAVE PRESUMED." 201 
 
 it very humbly? Ill say anything, you 
 know.'' 
 
 "Yes. Oh, I am sure," murmured Eosa- 
 mund, with a troubled look that went to her 
 cousin's heart in sj^ite of his diversion at the 
 ludicrous dilemma thus opened. '* I think — I 
 am sure — that is " 
 
 (''That is, if you would go round by the 
 front door, and keep quiet about this side path, 
 and meeting us, and lawn-tennis, and every- 
 thing you ought not to mention," was what 
 she wanted to say, — but how make this under- 
 stood ?) 
 
 " I am sure mamma is — at home," continued 
 the speaker, hurriedly ; " and though we have 
 taken in our nets, as the weather has been so 
 bad lately, they can be put up again in half a 
 minute. I will tell the men on our way back." 
 
 " Just the day for a game, isn't it ? " said 
 Gilbert, looking round. " What a lot of glass 
 you have here ! It must require a tidy lot of 
 men to keep it all in working order. A fine 
 show of grapes too," peering in, as he passed a
 
 202 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 house. ''The door is locked, I'll wager," 
 trying the handle. "That's always the way. 
 They never let you touch one on the vine. 
 At my father's I always make 'em bring the 
 key " 
 
 " We have forgotten the roses, Hartland," 
 said Eosamund, suddenly stopping short. 
 
 '' And the geranium-cuttings," added he. 
 
 " Roses '? Geranium- cuttings ? " interrogated 
 Gilbert. 
 
 " I came down on purpose to gather some 
 of the late roses for mamma, and Hartland 
 had commands for geranium-cuttings for Aunt 
 Julia," said Rosamund, laughing ; " and here 
 we have never once thought of either, and it 
 is too late to go now. We are bad messengers, 
 Hartland." 
 
 '' You had forgotten all about them '? " 
 demanded the new-comer, as though struck 
 by the idea. "Were you going for them, by 
 any chance, when you met me ? " 
 
 That, he thought, might reasonably account 
 for forgetfulness on her part, if not on Hart-
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 203 
 
 land's. But to his dismay, it did not appear 
 that his appearance on the scene had had any- 
 thing to do with it. 
 
 " We — where were we going, Hartland ? " 
 said Kosamund. 
 
 Hartland knew as little as she. He looked 
 at her, looked about him, and confessed his 
 blank ignorance. 
 
 '' Lord ! " ejaculated Gilbert with an angry 
 laugh, for he did not like this. "I never 
 heard such a joke in my life. Not know 
 where you were going ! Lord ! It is as well 
 that neither of you is in her Majesty's ser- 
 vice, that's all I have to say. Come then. 
 Miss Kosamund, let me help you to get the 
 roses " 
 
 " Oh no, it is too late." 
 
 " Too late ? Not at all. It is only " 
 
 " Luncheon-time, by my internal clock," 
 said Hartland, divining her feelings. '*So I 
 am off, whoever else stays. Geranium-cut- 
 tings must bide their time. Good-bye, Eosa- 
 mund."
 
 204 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 (" Off, is he," thought Gilbert. " I did him 
 wrong then. But if so, why in the name of 
 wonder did he look so plaguey odd 1 Be 
 hanged if I didn't think for more than a min- 
 ute that there was something between them ! ") 
 
 He could not, however, think it longer. 
 
 " Oh, don't go, Hartland, pray, pra?/ don't 
 go," cried Eosamund, so frankly, so implor- 
 ingly, nay, so despairingly, that no girl could 
 so have spoken to a possible lover. "You 
 must come in with us, — with me — indeed, 
 indeed you must/' she continued, catching 
 hold of his arm ; then with a sudden recollec- 
 tion, *' I must tell you, Major Gilbert, that 
 mamma and I had a little difference this 
 morning, — lately, — and — and, if Hartland 
 would come back with me, he is such a favour- 
 ite with mamma " 
 
 " Lord ! yes, we all know that," cried Gilbert, 
 sticking out his chin, as was his wont when 
 more than ordinarily self-assertive. '* We can 
 all see that with half an eye." 
 
 " Please do, Hartland ; please do come,"
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 205 
 
 whispered the fair petitioner, still holding him 
 fast, as though fearing that at any moment he 
 would slip from her grasp. " You know," in 
 a lower aside ; " you know how it will be if 
 you do not." 
 
 " Oh, I'll come if you like, Eosamund. I 
 say, do you not think I had better take Major 
 Gilbert round by the stable-yard, and show 
 him your pony's foot ? He will judge whether 
 we are treating it properly. If you go in by 
 the terrace we will follow directly, and per- 
 haps — ahem ! — perhaps you had better just 
 tell your mother — she might like to know 
 that I am bringing Major Gilbert in to 
 luncheon." 
 
 Bringing Gilbert ! If it were not the truth 
 to a hair's-breadth, it was at least a kindly 
 intentioned and adroit adaptation of it to the 
 necessity of the moment — and well did the 
 giver of the message comprehend all that it 
 would accomplish. With Lady Caroline such 
 a mantle of protection would cover even Gil- 
 bert's sins.
 
 206 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Further protection and relief was also in 
 store. In the drawing-room sat Amy and 
 Violet Waterfield, who had come to invite 
 her to the Grange, but who, instead, had been 
 themselves detained by Lady Caroline, who 
 by some means or other had known Hartland 
 was about, and suspected he had fallen in 
 with his cousin. " Even yet she may be 
 saved if we can but keep her from ever meet- 
 ing that odious man again," she had thought 
 in allusion to Gilbert, and had pressed the 
 Waterfield girls to stay. In her heart, more- 
 over, she knew that she was afraid of her 
 daughter, afraid of irritating her further, un- 
 willing to stir the smouldering embers. There 
 had been something of an explanation between 
 the two stubborn, self-willed women behind 
 the scenes, and Eosamund had been sufficiently 
 humbled to profess a vague regret for having 
 "forgotten herself" in public, while Lady 
 Caroline had gone so far as to allow that she 
 mio-ht also have said a little more than she 
 had intended on the other hand, — and each
 
 "l SHOULD NOT HAVE PEESUMED." 207 
 
 had carefully kept aloof from the subject 
 thereafter. The company of others was in 
 consequence rather welcome than otherwise 
 even to the unsociable mistress of the mansion, 
 and she was talking with a fair show of amia- 
 bility to her young visitors, when her daughter 
 entered with Hartland's message, followed al- 
 most immediately by Hartland himself Gil- 
 bert was behind him. 
 
 Lady Caroline's feelings may be imagined ; 
 we may therefore turn to those of the love- 
 sick major. 
 
 He was in luck, he thought ; he had not to 
 encounter that frigid back in the blue gown all 
 by himself. The gown was there, it is true, 
 but other gowns were there also ; and after 
 quitting Lady Caroline's cold fingers, he coukl 
 grasp nimbly two other hands, which, if they 
 did not respond to his pressure, at least did 
 not feel like dead fish in his own. 
 
 To say that the Waterfields did not recog- 
 nise the value of their position at the moment 
 would be to do them injustice ; they were
 
 208 A STIFF-NECKED GENEHATION. 
 
 neither clever nor brilliant, nor by any means 
 humorous young ladies, but they did see the 
 fun of this. Gilbert, as he looked gratefully 
 into one gentle and seemingly unconscious 
 face after the other, thinking, "Ay, ay, you 
 are the right sort of tip for me, with your 
 stupid good-nature ; you will neither see any- 
 thing nor tell it again," would have dropped 
 down in amazement had he beheld what was 
 in their breasts. " No, no ; they are no 
 count," he decided, " and they will serve to 
 amuse the other fellow by-and-by ; so once we 
 are out of the way of old Bluegown" — and 
 even in old Bluegown's presence the handsome 
 soldier looked jubilantly round. 
 
 " Everybody is about this jolly fine morn- 
 ing," he observed; ''the road is full of car- 
 riages and gigs. I met lots of people tooling 
 about." 
 
 The same observation, differently expressed, 
 had gone the round, it may be remembered, 
 on the previous Wednesday, and if anything 
 had been wanting to recall the meeting of
 
 that day, it would have been this openiDg 
 remark. 
 
 *' It was too fine not to tempt ns out," 
 replied Violet Waterfield, as no one else 
 spoke. " Lady Caroline, you are never idle ; 
 you never put by your work for a morning 
 ramble." 
 
 ** Correspondence accumulates so rapidly, 
 that I have been at my desk ever since 
 breakfast, Violet, because I had to leave it 
 yesterday." 
 
 " You were in town yesterday 1 " 
 
 " I ran up for the day, yes." 
 
 (" Dash it ! if I had only known I " reflected 
 Gilbert.) 
 
 " We saw you at the station," said Miss 
 Waterfield ; ^' and knowing you as we do, 
 we ought to have recollected you would be 
 especially busy to-day in consequence. But 
 you see, even if we had left you in peace, here 
 would have been Lord Hartland." 
 
 "Failing me, Major Gilbert," said Hartland ; 
 and the general smile a little faded. 
 
 VOL. T.
 
 210 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " I am always happy to see my friends," 
 affirmed Lady Caroline, with ever so slight an 
 emphasis on the last word ; " but now that I 
 have a grown-up daughter, she must help to 
 entertain them, and — there is the gong ! — now, 
 Violet, now, Amy ; Hartland, I want to speak 
 to you about the new farm-buildings ; " and 
 she fell back to keep pace with him, but swept 
 past Gilbert, who officiously whirled a basket- 
 chair out of her path, as though he had been 
 the footman. She had never once addressed 
 him since his entrance. 
 
 Luncheon at Kincy's Common was some- 
 thing of a function. 
 
 Lady Caroline liked solemnity, state, and 
 silver covers ; Mr Liscard liked, for dyspeptic 
 reasons, to make the meal his early dinner. 
 Both were fairly early risers and brain-workers 
 after their own fashion, consequently both had 
 good appetites, and made the most of them. 
 
 " You can always count on a rattling good 
 lunch there," Gilbert had informed his sisters, 
 he having more than once made good his
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 211 
 
 resolve to stay for it. " AVhether any one is 
 expected or not, it is always the same — lots of 
 good things." 
 
 Up and down the table there would be a 
 variety of nice little hot dishes, curry, cutlets, 
 pork griskins, lamb's fry, and the like ; savoury 
 but hideously indigestible viands, as every one 
 but Mr Liscard allowed, and as he better than 
 any one else knew. Still, he would have them, 
 liked them, ate them, and suffered for them ; 
 and nothing annoyed him more than to be 
 begged to confine himself to the plain joint. 
 
 The plain joint w^ould be there, one at each 
 end of the table, presently to disappear to the 
 servants' hall ; and there would further be a 
 goodly array of roast and boiled cold meats, 
 raised pies, and stout cut-and-come-again game 
 jellies on the sideboard. 
 
 No little silver mugs nor high perch chairs 
 were visible, however. No round, rosy faces, 
 surmounting clean pinafores, beamed expect- 
 antly up and down the board. The children 
 in their distant schoolroom were invisible and
 
 212 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 inaudible, and never had the luckless Gilbert 
 more regretted their absence than on the 
 present occasion. 
 
 He was fond of children — the more the 
 merrier, and the noisier the better. Had 
 the little troop, known to be not far off, now 
 filed in, he would have fitted them into their 
 seats, tied on their feeders, cut up their por- 
 tions, and with jest and chaff have got through 
 the meal hilariously. Every minute he would 
 have found something fresh to say, something 
 funny, wherewith to elicit the shy chuckle or 
 saucy rejoinder — added to which, a series of 
 pleasing feats connected with oranges, forks, 
 and table-napkins, would have made him the 
 centre for every young one's eye, and the mo- 
 mentary idol of their imagination. 
 
 But here, as usual, he was balked by Lady 
 Caroline's austere rules. A man can hardly 
 attitudinise with an orange, and catch it on 
 a lively fork, for the benefit of grown-up 
 people, sitting solemnly round, conversing in 
 serious, ceremonious tones — people content to
 
 213 
 
 be dull, and without either desire to be or 
 intention of being otherwise ; and although 
 the ill-starred major did finally create a diver- 
 sion which suspended for a full minute the 
 murmuring of undertones and the noiseless 
 circling round of the servants, it was by an 
 involuntary and a not altogether successful 
 performance. 
 
 His neighbour asked for water, — asked a 
 footman, not him, — but seeing a bottle near, 
 and anxious to be attentive, he stretched 
 forward to reach it, and upset his claret- 
 glass. A claret -glass just filled contains a 
 fair amount of wine, and Gilbert's plate was 
 the receptacle for nearly two -thirds of the 
 ruby liquid. 
 
 Tablecloth and napkin had their share, how- 
 ever, and his own coat-sleeve did not escape. 
 The mess was a complete one. 
 
 Had Hartland done it, had any one else 
 at table done it, nobody, not even Lady Caro- 
 line, would have cared two straws ; it was 
 hard that such a thing should have happened
 
 214 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 to the only person present whom it could 
 render uncomfortable. 
 
 For the moment Gilbert's courage failed 
 him ; he looked piteously round, and for the 
 first time in his life had neither apology nor 
 laugh at command. 
 
 It took but a few minutes ere plate and 
 glass had been removed, clean damask spread 
 over the soiled, sleeve wiped, and the misde- 
 meanant, rather red in the face, started upon 
 a fresh supply of roast mutton ; but in that 
 brief interval he had almost lost all appetite. 
 
 The time had seemed long, and no one had 
 done anything to shorten it. 
 
 Rosamund was far from him, and while 
 writhinoj beneath the rioid unconsciousness 
 of a hostess whose marble visage absolutely 
 ignored the accident, its effects, and the sub- 
 sequent restoration to order, he had not met a 
 single eye of sympathy. 
 
 Had he not been so very hungry he could 
 not have allowed another plate to be set before 
 him. But he had only just begun, and the
 
 215 
 
 mutton was excellent. He could not decline 
 it, nor the late peas, and tomatoes, and succu- 
 lent French beans, of all which he had before 
 laid in an untasted supply, and to which it did 
 seem cruel that he should have again to help 
 himself beneath Lady Caroline's very nose. 
 The result was that he ate more inelegantly 
 than ever in his haste to catch up with the 
 rest of the party, and fright lest he should 
 at any moment find himself plying knife and 
 fork alone. 
 
 The hurry was needless. Hartland sent for 
 some more cold beef. 
 
 "Are you going to do great things at the 
 flower-show, Lady Caroline ? " he inquired, at 
 the same time. 
 
 " I am afraid not, Hartland. Netley tells 
 me he has nothing worth showing this year." 
 
 " Nothing worth showing ! " exclaimed Gil- 
 bert, thinking he saw an opportunity. '^ In 
 your beautiful garden ! Well, if he has no- 
 thing worth showing, he has plenty worth 
 looking at, that's all I can say."
 
 216 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " The flowers for competition are not tlie 
 same as those ordinarily put out in the gar- 
 den," observed Lady Caroline coldly, — but 
 still it was something to have won so much. 
 Her garden was a weak point. 
 
 " No one hereabouts can compete with you, 
 I suppose '? " 
 
 '' Oh dear, yes." Not that she thought for 
 a moment any one could, but the rejoinder 
 could contain an inflection of " Much you 
 know about it" which could not be let 
 pass. 
 
 " The gardeners nowadays are such awful 
 swells," proceeded Gilbert, turning for relief 
 to Amy Waterfield. " A gardener is like a 
 doctor — or a painter — he'll grow his one 
 thing, his speciality, and he'll do nothing 
 
 else. Have you ever noticed " and then 
 
 just as he fancied he was going to lean back 
 in his chair and be a little mildly entertaining, 
 and show that he was quite at home and at 
 his ease, he found himself upon his feet, every 
 one else the same, and the ladies about to
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 217 
 
 leave the room. The meal was over^ but 
 he could hardly be said to have shone 
 at it. 
 
 Now, however, things must inevitably 
 brighten. 
 
 Mr Liscard, who liked his cigarette after 
 luncheon, w^as approachable, if nothing else ; 
 and though he invariably talked over Gilbert's 
 head and assumed his acquaintance with the 
 most recondite authors, of whose very exist- 
 ence the unfortunate soldier had hitherto been 
 ignorant, yet it was something to be talked to 
 at all. 
 
 "If I could only come up now to the 
 scratch," thought he, as Hartland rose to go 
 home and get himself into flannels for the 
 proposed lawn-tennis, "if I could just get 
 it out now;" but on the whole he decided 
 to wait. 
 
 " Curious that idea of Kant about his diges- 
 tion," began the scholar, crossing his knees 
 placidly and opening the conversation with 
 as familiar an intonation as if he had said
 
 218 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Bobby or Jack ; rather more so, indeed, since 
 the internal organs of the latter couple were 
 not interesting to him as a parent. 
 
 " Indeed ? " (" Who the plague was Kant ? " 
 demanded Gilbert of himself. " I know the 
 name of course, but — well, all I can do is 
 to lie low, and wait for a lead.") "And so 
 he had a queer digestion, did you say ? " he 
 continued, interrogatively. 
 
 " Or he thought he had, and took all sorts 
 of fancies into his head to remedy it. Never 
 read his life ? " 
 
 " N — no, no ; I can't say I have. I — we 
 military men don't have much time for read- 
 ing, you see. I'm afraid books are not much 
 in our line." 
 
 " True. You leave them to us," replied Mr 
 Liscard, feeling complimented, in a vague deli- 
 cate fashion, by the apologetic air with which 
 the avowal was made. "And between our- 
 selves, Kant is deep, certainly deep. His 
 ' Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic 
 of Morals,' for instanx^e."
 
 ''I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 219 
 
 '' His luhcctf" ejaculated Gilbert, both eyes 
 opening. 
 
 *' His ' Theory of Ethics,' likewise/' pro- 
 ceeded Mr Liscard, as though unconscious of 
 the effect produced, — " both are undeniably 
 tough. Fine, but profound. It does not do 
 to touch them on the surface. I have him all 
 in there," with a wave of his hand towards 
 the library, " and I look forward to studying 
 him thoroughly in my first leisure time ; but 
 at present I must confess," with a glance to- 
 wards his companion, for he wondered how 
 much of the confession Gilbert would com- 
 prehend, — " I must own I have contented my- 
 self with the memoir. The memoir is exceed- 
 ingly interesting : especially in the account 
 it gives of the quaint old fellow's habits and 
 mode of life. He only ate one meal a- day, 
 you know." 
 
 " Really ? But surely that was — was " 
 
 (now what was it ? cogitated the speaker, in- 
 ternally. "What am I to say it was? A 
 good or a bad notion ? Sensible, or the re-
 
 220 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 verse 1 If the old gentleman would only look 
 a little less like a sphinx, and give me some 
 sort of idea of what he wants me to say, I 
 should say it like a shot. But when all he 
 does is to look at me like that — however, here 
 goes.") " That was a strange thing to do, 
 certainly," he observed, with wise reticence. 
 
 " He made the most of it, however," re- 
 joined the other, well satisfied to be so excel- 
 lently listened to, and not sorry in his heart 
 to perceive that little as he really knew, and 
 poorly as he would have shone had he been 
 among sages, he could fearlessly prattle in his 
 present company. '^ We are told that he 
 often sat over this solitary meal for three or 
 four hours " 
 
 " Bless my soul ! " 
 
 " He did indeed, during which his conversa- 
 tion is said to have been most brilliant. I 
 own, however, that this I, for one, can hardly 
 reconcile with his other whim concerning the 
 digestion " 
 
 " Oh, ah ! — yes — the digestion. What
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 221 
 
 was it about the digestion ? You were just 
 going to tell me." 
 
 " Considering it undesirable for the brain 
 and stomach to be working at the same time, 
 he always preferred to walk alone after din- 
 ner, for fear of being tempted to talk. He 
 went so far as to consider it a bad thing even 
 to open his mouth," continued Mr Liscard, 
 solemnly. 
 
 " Good gracious ! " 
 
 '■' This, however, it seems, was only in later 
 life." 
 
 "Well, I should hope so." 
 
 ''And it is in curious contradiction of 
 another German philosopher's ideas on the 
 same subject." 
 
 "Is it, indeed r' 
 
 " The one but upon my word, I forget 
 
 who it was, — dear me, how stupid I am ! 
 Why, I know his name as well as my own, 
 and yet it has escaped me at this moment," 
 — bending his brows in cogitation. " Now, 
 what can his name be ? "
 
 222 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Perhaps if you would recall the — the 
 anecdote," hinted Gilbert. 
 
 " Yes ; well, I can do that. And you may 
 be able to help me to recollect — though how 
 I ever came to forget — however, this is the 
 story. One of these thinking men — these 
 whimsical students, full of fancies — took it 
 into his sage head that cold air — the colder 
 the better — was a famous tonic for the inside. 
 It may be — I don't pretend to know ; but one 
 thing I am very sure of, I don't intend to 
 chance it, at least in his way. His way was 
 this. Directly he had swallowed his food, 
 instead of sitting quiet, smoking, and chatting, 
 as we are doing now, he would dart out-of- 
 doors, and race up and down like a steam- 
 engine — against the wind — if there were any 
 — mouth wide open, gulping it down w^hole- 
 sale, as if he were filling an air-cushion. Pe- 
 culiar, that, eh 1 " 
 
 *' Very," assented Gilbert, — and the sudden 
 speculation as to what would be Lady Caro- 
 line's sensations should he appear in front of
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 223 
 
 her ladyship's windows, running open-mouthed 
 against the wind, with a view to swallowing 
 cold air, caused him to laugh in spite of him- 
 self. 
 
 Mr Liscard, who never laughed, was never- 
 theless content to have been amusing. 
 
 " Cicero used to lie down flat upon his 
 stomach," continued he, after a few puffs. 
 
 '' And the fellow who devoured oysters and 
 figs by the ton, I should like to know what 
 remedy he adopted ? " said Gilbert. " Worth 
 knowing, that. To be able to lay in such a 
 cargo every day without damaging the con- 
 cern must be fine." 
 
 " Of whom are you thinking, I wonder '? " 
 
 "Of an emperor — a Eoman emperor — but 
 be hanged if I know which. I am not up in 
 them, I own. But this fellow was a notorious 
 glutton " 
 
 " The epithet would apply — ahem ! — 
 
 pretty generally," and Mr Liscard smiled ap- 
 provingly, for the conversation was quite to 
 his mind, and he did not find his companion
 
 224 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 more ignorant than many others. " I suspect 
 you mean Tertullus. If anything, he exceeded 
 the others in the proportions of his appetite. 
 Yes, it certainly is amazing what an amount 
 can be consumed by a single individual, given 
 time and appetite. Time is the chief thing. 
 That is the principal reason why the French 
 have such a much greater capacity for taking 
 in supplies at once, and also for digesting 
 them afterwards, than we have ; they sit a 
 long time at table, and allow a reasonable 
 period to elapse between each course. Here 
 we hurry and scramble. I teil Lady Caroline 
 every day I wish the servants would not 
 sweep my plate out of sight the moment I 
 have finished, and have something else at my 
 elbow before I know that it is gone. Servants 
 are all alike, you may do what you wdll. 
 Literally, I have sometimes to hold on to my 
 plate while I am talking, or else it will have 
 vanished before I have done saying what I 
 have to say ! " 
 
 " Hard lines, indeed."
 
 "I SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 225 
 
 " Aud afterwards one should sit peacefully 
 awhile ; not bolt off as Lord Hartland has 
 done, directly the food is down." 
 
 "You like to sit still for a bitV' said 
 Gilbert, concealing the chagrin he dared not 
 show, for he was himself now eager to be oflf, 
 and not having eaten nor drunk enough to re- 
 quire inactivity such as his host advocated, 
 thought the worthy gentleman might very 
 well have now made a move. 
 
 At all events he might have permitted him 
 
 to do so. 
 
 But a companion was just what suited Mr 
 
 Liscard at this hour. 
 
 " I do not consider reading can be good," 
 proceeded he ponderously, ** unless the book 
 be the very lightest of novels, and of those I, 
 personally, am not fond. Solid reading is 
 certainly to be avoided. Sleep, they tell me, 
 is not to be recommended ; and exertion of 
 any kind, it goes without saying, must be 
 injurious. In fact, all medical men, I believe, 
 are agreed in considering easy conversation as 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 226 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 the desideratum. Easy conversation/' lifting 
 his glass to his lips, " without any exciting 
 ingredients." 
 
 "Such as a proposal," reflected Gilbert. 
 " Well, another time will do for me, old gentle- 
 man ; and if easy conversjbion means another 
 bumper of this very respectable liquor," and 
 he helped himself with an air of satisfac- 
 tion not unpleasing to a host in the proper 
 humour for it. 
 
 " What tortures poor Carlyle endured ! " It 
 appeared that the topic was not exhausted, as 
 one of the pair had half hoped it might have 
 been. 
 
 " I suppose so. His health was — was very 
 bad, I suppose." He could certainly cope 
 better with Carlyle than with Kant, but 
 would have to be prudent even with the 
 sage of Chelsea. 
 
 " Chronic dyspepsia. Foolish habits ; no 
 exercise ; and probably a wretched cook." 
 
 "People are such fools about exercise," 
 observed Gilbert, who at last knew some-
 
 *'l SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 227 
 
 thino: of wliat he was talkinoj about. " I 
 am sure I don't understand how they get 
 on at all without it. I could never do 
 without my three or four hours a - day of 
 walkino^, or ridins:, or fencino; — it don't 
 matter what : keep the muscles going, say 
 I ; and when I have had my five miles' row 
 up-stream, and a tub and a change after it, 
 I am fit for anything.'' 
 
 '' So I should imagine. You are young and 
 strong. When you are my age you won't 
 want to row five miles either up or down 
 stream ; but I can still walk my four or five 
 along the road, and that is something, when 
 formed into a regular habit. The regularity 
 is the great thing. Many people will saunter 
 about the doors for six days in the week, and 
 take a great burst on the seventh, just as if 
 that would do them any sort of good. It is 
 taking every day a little, and a little, and a 
 little ; but I need not speak to you — you are 
 an active man and know what I mean." 
 
 "Well, yes, that's just what I am, Mr
 
 228 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Liscard." Health was Gilbert's hobby as 
 well as his host's, and he piqued himself on 
 the sturdiness with which he flourished the 
 dumb-bells every morning. "No, indeed, I 
 keep 'em all pretty brisk down at the bar- 
 racks, I can tell you. Most of us go in for 
 something. I encourage games and competi- 
 tions and gymnastics, you know ; they do a 
 lot of good if they only keep the youngsters 
 out of mischief. We are getting up a cricket- 
 match with the townsfolk next week. I don't 
 go in for cricket as much as I did ; a man has 
 no business with cricket at five -and -thirty, 
 but, hang it all ! I can handle the willow yet 
 when I'm wanted. I tell them they have 
 always me to fall back upon ; and somehow 
 or other it invariably seems they do have to 
 fall back on me. We have an excellent fives 
 court too ; and some of us are racket men. 
 Kackets is about as good a game as any going, 
 to my mind. But after all, lawn-tennis is my 
 game now ; there is an open-air cheery feeling 
 about it, on a fine bright summer day, that is
 
 'l SHOULD NOT HAVE PRESUMED." 229 
 
 equalled by nothing but the ring of the ice 
 on a frosty December afternoon, when you 
 have your skates on for the first skate of 
 the season." 
 
 To all of this Mr Liscard listened with a 
 certain appreciation. It was impossible not to 
 be in a measure carried away by the over- 
 flowing vitality of the speaker, to note the 
 clear eye and ruddy cheek, the broad chest 
 and straight back, and to feel that these 
 offered themselves, as it w^ere, as samples of 
 the sentiments above expressed. 
 
 No fault could be found with the samples. 
 Gilbert was an excellent specimen of his code ; 
 and of the code itself he nodded his approval. 
 
 Personally he did not find the glib soldier 
 jar upon his sensibilities, and he knew enough 
 of the world to perceive that, gentleman or 
 not, the man was probably a better man, more 
 respectable, more to be respected, than the 
 majority of those who came to his house. 
 
 He had already heard Major Gilbert spoken 
 of as a first-rate military man, likely to rise in
 
 230 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 the service ; and also as a sensible fellow, 
 under whom a subaltern did well to be 
 placed ; he really did not see why he should be 
 so persistently pooh-poohed by Lady Caroline. 
 
 He had been informed by her ladyship of 
 what she termed the absurd pretensions of an 
 impossible suitor ; but, left to himself, he 
 should not in honesty have seen, nor did he 
 now see, the impossible part of the position. 
 
 He had twelve children. Twelve children 
 might grow to be twelve burdens. It was 
 Avorth while Id quiring into whom and what 
 this Major Gilbert was. 
 
 If it should turn out that he could maintain 
 a wife suitably (and there was no reason to 
 suppose he could not), what was there to pre- 
 vent the match ? 
 
 Eosamund was for it, he supposed. If she 
 had not been, the impatience and fretfulness 
 of his wife over the subject was unaccountable, 
 since he knew Lady Caroline well enough to 
 be tolerably sure she would not have bestirred
 
 K 
 
 I SHOQLD KOT HAVE PKESUMED." 231 
 
 herself to worry about a lover whose rejection 
 was resolved upon. 
 
 So then his dauQ-hter fancied Gilbert 1 He 
 would think the matter over. 
 
 Our readers will remember that, subject to 
 conjugal sway as the submissive husband 
 ordinarily was, there were occasions when he 
 could prove as unmanageable as anybody, 
 and the present seemed to offer as favour- 
 able an opportunity for being so as he could 
 ever hope to have. 
 
 Even alone and single-handed he had now 
 and again settled her ladyship in a way that 
 had told for some time afterwards ; so that 
 at this juncture, with an ally, dauntless and 
 determined as Lady Caroline herself, was he 
 likely to quail ? 
 
 Not he. Eosamund needed not to have 
 feared for him.
 
 232 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 
 
 '' The fire i' the flint 
 Shows not till it be struck. " 
 
 — Timon of Athens. 
 
 Gilbert on the lawn-tennis ground was per- 
 haps rather worse than Gilbert anywhere else. 
 It was, as he said, his great game. It was, 
 moreover, his chiefest opportunity ; for al- 
 though sea-soDgs, with a rattling bass accom- 
 paniment, and round dances to the strains of 
 his own band, were neither of them to be de- 
 spised as occasions for showing to advantage, 
 they were as nothing compared to the smooth 
 grass on which he could dart and swoop, twist 
 and screw, shout directions to his partner, 
 chaff his opponents, cringe with eagle eye be-
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 233 
 
 fore the swift-coming ball, and send it back 
 with the smash which won the stroke. 
 
 Even when not actively engaged, the dis- 
 cussing, arranging, marching to and fro in his 
 pretty striped cap and jacket, measuring the 
 net, and tightening or loosening it as re- 
 quired — anything and everything connected 
 with the sport was delightful to him — and his 
 mere walk across the court was an offence to 
 any one not prejudiced in his favour. 
 
 Eosamund, however, was resolved to see 
 nothinsf amiss. She had, at what cost to 
 herself she alone knew, stood to her guns in 
 defence of a maligned and injured man, and 
 that he was what she had affirmed him to be, 
 had now become with her a dogma. 
 
 Why should he not be merry, talk, jest, and 
 banter ? Why should he not back his side to 
 win, and crow loudly over the victory she also 
 shared ? Why should those ridiculous prudes 
 of Waterfields be so clearly, palpably, chil- 
 lingly unresponsive, and even Hartland seem 
 quieter than usual ?
 
 234 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Provoked and irritated on every side, she 
 affected spirits she hardly felt ; and there was 
 now and then a sting in her gay rallying of 
 the others, which all but Gilbert understood 
 only too well. Already she was ranging her- 
 self to do battle by his side. 
 
 Towards him she was inexpressibly, anxious- 
 ly kind ; his wishes were anticipated, and his 
 wants provided for, almost ere he knew them 
 himself; he was looked to for counsel, for 
 applause, or for sympathy — and handed his 
 balls when it was his turn for serving. 
 
 Their adversaries, Lord Hartland and Amy, 
 were no match for them ; Eosamund could 
 give points to any one of the Waterfield girls, 
 and Hartland had never taken particular pains 
 to be a player : ere he had returned to England 
 the game had taken hold, and he had felt him- 
 self behind the rest of the world at it. Almost 
 from the first, therefore, the victory in every 
 set was a foregone conclusion, and every one 
 knew why a change of partners was not re- 
 sorted to.
 
 GILBERT IX A NEW LIGHT. 235 
 
 " Vote ought to be over there of course," said 
 Gilbert, aside to Eosamund, '' and I wonder 
 your cousin does not propose it; but as he 
 is content, I for one shall make no such susf- 
 gestion." 
 
 " You think we are too strong for them ? " 
 
 "To be sure we are. You can see it for 
 yourself. If I ever miss a stroke, you are 
 safe to pound it over from behind, — I cannot 
 help laughing when I see it fly over my head ; 
 we seem as if we must carry all before us, you 
 and I." 
 
 She felt what he meant, and to a look and 
 tone so full of significance there could be no 
 answer. 
 
 Play was resumed. 
 
 Then Lady Caroline came out on the lawn. 
 For a time she had left the young people with- 
 out supervision, aware that there could not be 
 many openings for sentiment in a vigorous 
 four-handed match at lawn-tennis ; but now 
 it occurred to her to see what was going 
 on.
 
 236 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Who arranged the partners 1 " forthwith 
 was demanded of Violet Waterfield, who was 
 sitting out. 
 
 *' I think they took shape of themselves, 
 Lady Caroline. Amy is better than I, so we 
 made her play against Kosamund." 
 
 This was not what was meant, as the speaker 
 very well knew, but it was an answer of some 
 kind ; it stopped the question trembling on 
 her august companion's lips, and made it im- 
 possible for her to pursue her inquiries, — since 
 the only one she wished to make was, why is 
 Lord Hartland playing with your sister, and 
 not with my daughter ? Had she known 
 anything of the game, it would have been 
 of course easy to demand why the two weaker 
 should be put in against the two stronger, — 
 but she was ignorant of everything about 
 lawn-tennis. 
 
 Games of all kinds were her abhorrence, and 
 it was only because, as she said, people would 
 play them, that she had at last given in and 
 had a ground made, to prevent King's Common
 
 GILBEET IX A NEW LIGHT. 237 
 
 being the only place left in England without 
 one. 
 
 Could she have had her will, the innovation 
 would never have found its way into her 
 solemn, funereal assemblies. She had always 
 had her annual garden-party; her great tent 
 on the lawn, wherein a band performed select 
 pieces, and her other great tent wherein were 
 stately refreshments and rather weak claret 
 and champagne cups ; and she had thought 
 that everything went oflf well, and that all 
 were pleased and honoured by her condescen- 
 sion, if she received now and again the con- 
 ventional murmur of " a delightful afternoon" 
 from a guest more habituated to falsehood than 
 the rest. 
 
 Her parties as a fact had been generally 
 detested, until Rosamund by perseverance and 
 resolution had effected something of a change. 
 
 They could not go on as they were doing, 
 the youthful revolutionist had declared. Their 
 stale old teas that had been getting ever staler 
 for the past half a century, would make them
 
 238 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION 
 
 the laughing - stock of the neighbourhood. 
 Hartland had wondered why they did not 
 have a variety. 
 
 She had found out the magic key, the 
 minx. Hartland's name, artfully introduced, 
 was almost sure to carry the day, once Lady 
 Caroline were wavering ; and to be told point- 
 black to her face that she was old-fashioned 
 and ridiculous, which it must be owned Rosa- 
 mund on one occasion actually did tell her, 
 was enough to make any one waver. 
 
 The fact was, Greek had met Greek, when 
 Lady Caroline Liscard brought out her eldest 
 daughter. Eosamund, capable of passionate 
 affections, of any amount of self-sacrifice, of 
 every generous and noble emotion, was not 
 to be ruled by an iron hand. Her spirit 
 simply rose beneath dictation ; and authority, 
 even lawful authority, when it carried neither 
 reason nor justice with it, could not fright her. 
 Had she loved her mother, loved, honoured, 
 and believed in her, a silken thread would 
 have been a chain to bind her in submission
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 239 
 
 absolute ; but alas ! she had learned, she knew 
 not how, to distrust, nay, more, to despise, — 
 and the result was, that when her blood was 
 up, no words were too sharp nor too cruel for 
 her ready tongue.^ 
 
 No wonder that Lady Caroline at times 
 astonished the gentle Julia by the alacrity 
 with which she adapted herself to a new sug- 
 gestion. She was fain not to have it seen by 
 the world that it had not emanated from her- 
 self in the first instance. 
 
 She now seated herself beneath the elms 
 gloomily. Her sky was fast clouding over, 
 and she had a presentiment of more evil yet 
 to come ; but nevertheless, even she little 
 dreamed that the storm was actually about 
 to burst, and that within the hour its rumble 
 would be heard approaching. 
 
 The sun was still high in the heavens, and 
 the players showing no signs of weariness nor 
 cessation, when, on a sudden, the game seemed 
 to come to a standstill, while all eyes were 
 turned in one direction.
 
 240 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Two or three small country boys could now 
 be seen running towards the lawn as swiftly 
 as their legs could carry them ; and it was 
 their shouting and gesticulations which had 
 caused the sudden suspension of flying balls. 
 
 They now came up nearly breathless, shout- 
 ing, screaming, and panting ; and as each 
 spoke, or tried to speak, he pointed behind 
 him, and vehemently endeavoured to make 
 himself understood. It was plain that an 
 accident, or dilemma, or something of the 
 kind, had taken place, for which assistance 
 was urgently demanded ; but it was some 
 minutes before the nature of the help re- 
 quired could be comprehended from the con- 
 fused statements and entreaties of the excited 
 and incoherent children. 
 
 " AVhat in the name of wonder do they 
 say?" cried Gilbert, turning to the others. 
 '' I can't make out a word " (the provincial 
 dialect being unfamiliar to him). " What do 
 they say 1 What is a ' dom ' ? " 
 
 "A dam — the mill-dam," replied Kosa-
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 241 
 
 muncl, her ear distinguishing just so much. 
 " What is it about the mill-dam, Georgie 1 " 
 quickly. " Has the water broken loose, as it 
 did in the spring ? '' 
 
 " No, miss ; it's not the water " 
 
 *' No, miss ; the dom's that deep " 
 
 '' It's Billy, miss " 
 
 All three were gasping and spluttering at 
 once. It was impossible to hear. 
 
 " Oh, what do you say ? You, Georgie, 
 speak. Is any one in ? Is that what you 
 mean ? Be quick," and she almost shook the 
 little boy to hurry him up. 
 
 " We went for to fish there, and his foot 
 slipped on the bank " 
 
 " He's holding on by the willow " 
 
 " It's him as is bottom o' your class in Sun- 
 day-school " 
 
 " There is a boy in," cried Eosamund. 
 " Now, boys, quick ! tell us where." 
 
 " Holding on by the willow, but he can't 
 more than get a catch of it " 
 
 '' The willow ? What willow ? " 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 242 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ** The big willow along of the white gate ; 
 but the water's terrible strong." 
 
 " Can he swim at all 1 " 
 
 '' No, miss," loudly, from the united party. 
 
 " Has no one," cried Eosamund shrilly, — 
 ** has no one gone yet ? Didn't I see you 
 tell those men by the way 1 " pointing to a 
 couple of gardeners not far off. " Oh ! they 
 are going. But why don't they fly ? They 
 will never be in time. They " 
 
 " Good God ! you may well say so ! The lad 
 will be drowned while we stand here talking," 
 said Gilbert, suddenly. '' Here," catching the 
 biggest of the messengers by the collar, " here, 
 you, show me the way — sharp — scud like the 
 wind now — that's it ! Hang the boy ! he's 
 done for already. What on earth — well, I 
 must go on alone. Hark ye ! is it through 
 that gate ? Yes. And to the right ? Yes. 
 And through the wood ? And I come to 
 what *? A bridge and a white gate. All 
 right. Come along after me, in case I miss 
 the way," loosing his hold, and shooting ahead
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 243 
 
 like a rocket. In a few moments he was lost 
 to view. 
 
 '' A mill-dam is an ugly place for a swim," 
 quoth Gilbert, now, to himself. " I wish I 
 could strip as I run ; but, any way, it's lucky 
 Vm in my flannels, and perhaps it is as well 
 not to be too soon. I have got to keep my 
 head now. If he has dropped off the willow 
 by this time, I am probably too late — if so, it 
 can't be helped, poor little chap ; but if he 
 drops off just as he sees me, there will be the 
 danger. He would grip me like a wild cat in 
 the water, unless I kept out of reach till he 
 had lost consciousness. That must be my 
 game. Otherwise it's 'good-bye' for us both, 
 for I could never keep both him and myself 
 up in a current like this, if he were tearing 
 me down. Ha ! there's the mill — ay, and the 
 bridge, and the gate — now for the willow," 
 rapidly verifying each successive landmark ; 
 " the willow — confound the willow ! where is 
 it ? Plague take it ! " casting a hawk's eye 
 up and down the stream. " Stop — yes — be- ^
 
 244 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 hind this beech," — he was up into it in a 
 second. '' Holloa, boy ! Hie, boy, hie ! Ho, 
 ho, ho 1 " But no shout came in answer. 
 
 " Gone, by Jove ! " muttered Gilbert, kick- 
 ing off his shoes. 
 
 " There's a pretty swirl in the water, but I 
 could manage it easy enough if I knew where 
 the poor beggar was," further considered he, 
 hastily letting himself down to the water's 
 edge ; " if I only knew how long he had been 
 in, and if he had been down more than once, 
 supposing he does come up. Hoy ! " — with a 
 sudden yell — " hoy ! there he is ! " and flashed 
 in himself just as the first among the other 
 runners emerged from the wood at the top of 
 the bank. They could not see the ghastly 
 face, with its terrified starting eyeballs, which 
 was turned full on Gilbert, as the agonised 
 shriek of the drowning boy rang through the 
 air; but they could perceive him leap from 
 the bough, and knew that hope was not 
 extinct. 
 
 " That was his first coming up," concluded
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 245 
 
 Gilbert, swiftly. '' He could not have screamed 
 like that the second time, and it is quite pos- 
 sible he may not even rise again. The cur- 
 rent's strono;er than I thouo;ht. I should like 
 — I should like to go for him next time, but 
 the risk's too great. It won't do to fool away 
 both our lives. Oh ! I see him — I see him ! 
 You idiots — asses — hold your infernal tongues, 
 can't you ? " for the poor wretch had enough 
 on his hands without being distracted by 
 volleys of advice and suggestion from the 
 bank. '' Oh ! do be quiet, can't you 1 " 
 groaned he, internally. 
 
 Every nerve was at the fullest tension, eye 
 and ear were on the strain, and he \vas hus- 
 banding his breath and his strength for the 
 life-and-death struggle to come, — and they 
 thought he did not know what he was 
 about ! 
 
 He raised one hand, and shook it, and the 
 dumb command was understood. The voices 
 died away, and a breathless, awe -stricken 
 silence ensued ; while a swallow, that had
 
 246 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 been scared away from the pool before, re- 
 turned, and skimmed hither and thither 
 athwart the swimmer's anxious vision. 
 
 He had, however, but a single minute of 
 such dread suspense. 
 
 In far shorter time than it takes to write, 
 the surface of the dark water was again broken 
 by the head and shoulder of the helpless boy, 
 and again a cry, but this time a feeble and 
 almost inaudible one, escaped. 
 
 " Now for it," said Gilbert, setting his teeth, 
 and striking ont for the spot — for hitherto he 
 had kept as far aloof up-stream as he dared, 
 and had, as the event proved, calculated ad- 
 mirably on the cast of the current in fixing 
 on the place w^here it would throw up its 
 victim for the second time. 
 
 He now made for the opposite bank, a little 
 lower down, and had scarce reached it ere a 
 formless mass, undistinguishable, yet unmis- 
 takably him — or it — he sought, slowly floated 
 to the surface, within a couple of yards of 
 him.
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 247 
 
 It was long ere Gilbert could recall without 
 a shudder the touch of a forked bough, which 
 struck him sharply at that moment, and, to 
 his excited imagination, seemed to seize and 
 grip him in its hold. 
 
 He had pursued a course of action requiring 
 an amount of resolution and self-restraint be- 
 yond the power of most men to put into force. 
 He had held himself in check as only a man 
 accustomed to emergencies and self-control 
 could have done ; and he had faced an awful 
 danger and an awful death with deliberate 
 and therefore double courage. 
 
 But the touch of that moss-grown branch 
 sent a stab to his heart, and his blood ran 
 cold for many a day afterwards when he 
 thought of it. 
 
 It needed but a moment, however, to reas- 
 sure his startled nerves. It was almost in- 
 stantly obvious that the unconscious object 
 by his side was powerless at last to compass 
 his own and his deliverer's destruction; and 
 the only fear now entertained by the bold
 
 248 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 swimmer was lest life itself might be extinct 
 ere remedial measures could be taken. 
 
 He seized the child by his clothing — a stout 
 shirt — got one arm well round his waist, and 
 with the other struck a few powerful strokes, 
 reached the bank, and was but dimly aware of 
 what next took place. 
 
 The strain was over — no more was required 
 of him. 
 
 A mouthful of brandy, however, sent down 
 by some one's forethought, and a dozen respir- 
 ations lying extended on the warm grass, and 
 the brave fellow sat up again, none the worse 
 for it all. 
 
 He had been in time, the rescued boy still 
 breathed, and under vigorous rubbing and 
 chafing was giving satisfactory symptoms of 
 returning animation. 
 
 '' But it was a near thing for the little chap, 
 my lord ; another five minutes, and no one 
 could ha' done nothing for him," observed one 
 of those who had been busiest, but who now 
 gave way to others, and finding himself by
 
 GILBERT m A NEW LIGHT. 249 
 
 Lord Hartlaud's side, respectfully anticipated 
 his sympathy. " Only one of a thousand 
 could ha' managed as well as that there gen- 
 tleman did. Golly ! I never see nothing, like 
 it. To wait and wait, and hold back, and 
 hang back — there's some of us didn't seem to 
 take in what he was up to ; but, to be sure, 
 we might ha' known he's a doomed man as 
 tries to save the drowning till so be as they're 
 past trying to save themselves." 
 
 Hartland assented by a mute movement. 
 
 ''The water's powerful strong just at this 
 bit," continued the speaker, " and them little 
 rascals, they knows that as well as any one. 
 Many's the time they've been warned off it, 
 they have. Says I myself to some of them 
 not a week ago, says I, * You'll w^ait till some 
 of you's drownded, that's what you'll do, afore 
 you'll leave off meddling with that 'ere dom.' 
 And drowiided that boy there, that son of 
 Barley's, would ha' been, sure as fate, but for 
 this gentleman. You see, my lord, none of us 
 can swim."
 
 250 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ^* Neither can I/' said Hartland, in a low- 
 voice. The confession was very bitter to him. 
 He could not have told why, but he felt de- 
 graded by it. 
 
 From the first moment w'hen intelligence 
 had been brought of the accident, he had 
 known that no assistance was to be had from 
 him, except such as he could hardly hope 
 could be of any use ; but on the chance he 
 had run for a rope, while Gilbert was hurry- 
 ing straight to the dam. He had only now 
 arrived, and even his rope had been too late 
 to haul the rescuer and the rescued out of the 
 W'ater. He had not been able to procure one 
 sooner. 
 
 With mingled feelings of envy and admira- 
 tion he now hung over the man who had so 
 unhesitatingly and deliberately risked his life 
 — and w^io had been able to do it. 
 
 ("He is a noble fellow. How^ paltry, how 
 unworthy in the light of this, seems all our 
 prejudice against any slight tricks of manner 
 or of speech ! How unutterably trivial his
 
 GILBERT IN A NEW LIGHT. 251 
 
 oflfences ! He hears of a poor yokel's child, as 
 insio^nificant a human beino^ as can well be im- 
 agined, in the jaws of death, and throws him- 
 self into the same jaws as readily as he would 
 pluck a daisy. What a head he must have 
 to have kept cool in that horrid place ! " glanc- 
 ing with a shiver at the dull, deadly current 
 in the hollow ; " one false move, one bit of 
 a bungle, would have lost all — and he knew 
 it. Well," after a pause, " well, if his heart 
 is equal to his head, Kosamund has not chosen 
 ill after all.") 
 
 Yet he said it with a sort of sisfh.
 
 252 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IS HE A FIT HUSBAND FOR YOUR 
 DAUGHTER, THEODORE?'' 
 
 " When a lover offers, madam, to take a daughter without a portion, 
 one should inquii'e no further: everything is contained in that one 
 article ; and ' Avithout a portion ' supplies the want of youth, beauty, 
 family, wisdom, honour, and honesty."— 'Z'^-lmre,' tr. hy Fielding. 
 
 Gilbert was now tlie hero of the hour. 
 
 The place he had so often coveted, and had 
 striven by foolish and ill-advised efforts to 
 obtain, was now unanimously and spontane- 
 ously accorded him, and he awoke from a brief 
 trance to find himself the centre of an enthu- 
 siastic group, brimming over with that honest 
 homage which Englishmen of all classes pay 
 to courage, daring, and success. 
 
 Moreover, it was vastly appreciated by those
 
 *'IS HE A FIT husband'?" 253 
 
 rough worshippers, that not only had the gen- 
 tleman faced the ugly dam, and the still uglier 
 possibility of being dragged down into its 
 depths, but he had done it all for a poor bit 
 of a Billy Barley, Stephen Barley's eighth son, 
 who, bless him ! could ha' been spared better 
 than most, and who, for a lad as was always 
 in mischief, and never knowed himself whether 
 he were in or out, beat all the country round. 
 
 If anything had happened to the gentleman 
 a-getting out of Billy Barley, it would ha' 
 been a sore shame; and in their hearts they 
 added, Billy was not worth it. 
 
 As things were, however, and as no harm 
 had been done, they were immensely proud 
 and pleased that it had been thought by the 
 gentleman worth his while to put his own life 
 in jeopardy for that of the insignificant imp ; 
 and enough could not be made of him. 
 
 Barley himself was shoved and hustled 
 to the front. 
 
 " It ain't along o' me to have many words, 
 sir," said the poor man, exhibiting a variety
 
 254 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 of nervous movements ; " but there's all here 
 knows as there aren't but few as would ha' 
 done it. I — I don't exactly know what I 
 ought to say, sir." 
 
 " Why, you say it uncommonly well, then, 
 my good fellow," replied Gilbert, kindly. '' No- 
 body could do it better, I am sure. I am very 
 glad I was in time. How's the lad now 1 " 
 
 " A comin' to, sir." 
 
 '' That's right ! Oh, he'll come to, sharp 
 enough, once he has got some breath into 
 him again ; but, I say, just take a little care 
 of him for a day or two. He'll not be quite 
 himself, till he has got over his ducking." 
 
 " He'll not forget it, sir." 
 
 " I hope he won't. It is a very good lesson 
 for them all." 
 
 '' I mean he'll not forget your doing it, sir." 
 
 '' Oh ! that's it ? Glad to hear it. Now, 
 then, give me a hand up, will you ? I must 
 be moving, and see about some dry clothes." 
 
 The grateful fellow almost lifted him in 
 his arms.
 
 *'IS HE A FIT HUSBAND?" 255 
 
 "You can't walk yet, Gilbert/' said Lord 
 Hartland, softly. It was the first time he 
 had ever addressed him without the prefix. 
 
 " Oh yes, I'm all right. A little giddy. 
 Give me your arm for a moment. It will go 
 oflp directly." He passed his hand across his 
 eyes, shook himself, and declared it had 
 passed. 
 
 " We can get the dog-cart down in no time, 
 my lord," suggested one of the bystanders, 
 eager to do something. " If the gentleman 
 will take my coat, and sit in the sun, I'll be 
 down again in a few minutes." 
 
 '* Ay, do. Bring it sharp," answered Gil- 
 bert for himself. '' And, I say, we'll go up 
 to the bridge if you bring it there. There is 
 no need for any one to stop on here," he con- 
 tinued, looking round. " The boy's all right, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " He is talking now, my lord." 
 
 " Don't let him talk," said Gilbert, quickly. 
 " Keep him quiet. And, I say, carry him home 
 now as fast as you can, and put him to bed.
 
 256 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 between blankets. If you all keep round him 
 like that, you will have him in a fever to- 
 morrow. Here," to Barley, " you are his 
 father ; you take him home, and mind he's 
 kept there. Keep him warm, and keep him 
 quiet ; d'ye understand ? Mind it's done, 
 then." 
 
 His clear, quick tones, his brevity and con- 
 ciseness, and, above all, the evident expec- 
 tation of prompt and unquestioning obedience, 
 made him so completely another man from 
 the Gilbert Hartland had hitherto known, 
 the restless, ill-bred, and ill-at-ease Gilbert of 
 the drawing-room, that it seemed as if a film 
 had fallen from his companion's eyes. 
 
 He now beheld the commanding officer, 
 cool in danger, alert in following up a victory, 
 wary of possible evils even in the hour of 
 success, quick of eye and tongue, but thought- 
 ful and considerate for the same inferiors, 
 from whom his whole demeanour compelled 
 respect and subservience. 
 
 Hartland had, he now owned, disliked and
 
 *'IS HE A FIT HUSBAND?" 257 
 
 despised Rosamund's friend. Despise him lie 
 never could again, and he resolved at once 
 to begin to conquer the dislike. 
 
 Nothing but his own peculiar position in 
 the Liscard household had hitherto prevented 
 his openly showing the feelings with which he 
 had regarded the guest so often to be met 
 with there ; and although he had not approved 
 of Lady Caroline's tactics, and had been vexed 
 and revolted by the final explosion, he had de- 
 voutly wished his fair cousin had fired up 
 on behalf of any one else. 
 
 All this was past. Honour and justice 
 urged him to remain neutral no longer. 
 
 To say nothing against Major Gilbert had 
 been all very well heretofore ; but now to 
 pass by his merit, and let it be supposed that 
 want of polish could still, outweigh sterling 
 worth, was not to be thought of. 
 
 Gilbert had shown himself to be a gallant, 
 intrepid fellow, inspired by a noble humanity 
 which it would be a crying shame not to 
 recognise and rate at its true value ; and what 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 ZbiS A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 did his callousness to the trifling proprieties 
 and convenances of society signify in com- 
 parison 1 
 
 The subject of these reflections should now 
 be viewed with another eye. 
 
 It seemed to him that Gilbert's voice, look, 
 manner, — all were changed. He spoke tersely 
 and unaffectedly : he looked happy — as who 
 would not have looked happy 1 — but neither 
 elated nor important. And, best of all, there 
 was, in the place of any affected jocularity or 
 indifference, a seriousness that became the 
 moment well. Nothing of this was lost upon 
 the other, who, betwixt compunction for the 
 past and plans for the future, scarce under- 
 stood his own perceptions, but whose expres- 
 sive silence and anxious solicitude for the com- 
 fort of his charge-T— for in that light he now 
 looked upon Gilbert — betrayed the workings 
 of his breast. He was undergoing a mental 
 revolution. 
 
 Not so, however. Lady Caroline. 
 
 Lady Caroline was more annoyed with Gil-
 
 "is he a fit husband?" 25 9 
 
 bert for having saved one life, than she would 
 have been if he had taken twenty. 
 
 Why should he have been the one 1 Why 
 could no one else have pulled the boy out 1 
 Not Hartland, of course ; — in her secret soul 
 she felt that little Billy did not necessitate 
 that, — but one of the gardeners, or labourers, 
 or anybody on whom she could have bestowed 
 a sovereign and a few icy words of commenda- 
 tion. It was absurd to suppose that the boy 
 need have been drowned but for Major Gil- 
 bert. As usual. Major Gilbert had put himself 
 forward, and exaggerated the danger, and 
 would make his own story of it afterwards. 
 
 "Among all our own people, do you mean 
 to tell me there was no one you could have 
 sent in after the child ? " she demanded of her 
 husband when all was over, and he was dis- 
 posed to be carried away, as Hartland had 
 been, in praise of the gallant deed. 
 
 ** You can hardly * send in ' a man to cer- 
 tain death, my dear," replied he, promptly 
 for him. " The time is gone by when you or
 
 260 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATION. 
 
 I could have said to a retainer, ' Minion, take 
 that pool at thy peril ; ' and Hodge knows it." 
 
 '^ Hodge!" 
 
 ''' Hodge in the abstract : Netley, Henry, 
 William, and all the rest of them. They 
 wisely considered their own precious car- 
 casses were quite as much to them as Billy 
 Barley's was to him ; and I expect even 
 Barley himself would merely have brushed 
 his sleeve across his eye if Gilbert had not 
 been there." 
 
 ^' Would he have seen his own son drowned 
 before his face without putting out his finger 
 to save him ? " 
 
 " Putting out his whole hand w^ould not 
 have saved him, unless the man could swim 
 — which he can't." 
 
 " They could have thrown a rope." 
 
 " Which would have been whirled out of 
 reach in an instant. Besides, how can you 
 suppose for a moment that a child in the 
 agony of drowning would ever look for a 
 rope ? "
 
 " IS HE A FIT HUSBAND V 261 
 
 " Well, never mind/' said Lady Caroline, 
 shortly. ''The boy is saved, and his parents 
 may be thankful some one was there, it mat- 
 ters not who, to save him. I should think 
 they will put a stop to any one's fishing 
 in the mill-stream after this. I have often 
 said how dangerous it was. But, Theodore," — 
 Mr Liscard's Christian name was Theodore — 
 " I do hope — I do beg, that you will do your 
 best to prevent any display of silly enthusiasm 
 on the part of the girls when they meet Major 
 Gilbert. Of course they will be ready to deify 
 him. He is the sort of person to enjoy that ; 
 and I am surprised he has had the good sense 
 to go off to his quarters, instead of staying on 
 here to he feted." 
 
 " Has he had anything hot to drink ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, Hartland has seen to that. Hart- 
 land has gone with him in the brougham to 
 see him home. Eeally Hartland has been like 
 a brother to that tiresome man " 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Mr Liscard, sharply. 
 
 Lady Caroline jumped in her chair. She
 
 262 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 was the last woman in the world to be "non- 
 sensed" at. 
 
 " My dear ! " she began. 
 
 ''My dear ! " retorted her husband. His 
 
 eyes were blue ; he was ready for the fray. 
 
 " Nonsense 1 " repeated Lady Caroline, with 
 a haughty frown ; but she was stopped again. 
 
 " I tell you it is nonsense, sheer, ridicu- 
 lous nonsense," — declared the doughty scholar, 
 showing her ladyship he could bristle as well 
 as she, — "the way in which you have set 
 yourself against this Major Gilbert from the 
 first moment you cast eyes upon him, for no 
 reason at all that I can see. For no reason 
 that is any reason, at all events. He does 
 not suit you ; he is not a ladies' man ; he is 
 not — ahem ! — eminently a gentleman. He is 
 too talkative and assertive, and engrosses too 
 much of the conversation in the general circle. 
 I suppose he would be called bumptious. But 
 that is one of the faults of the day. It is 
 absurd to blame a young man for being like 
 other young men."
 
 "IS HE A FIT HUSBAND?" 263 
 
 " Not like Hartland." 
 
 " Hartland ! What has Hartland to do with 
 it ? Why should he and Gilbert be compared? 
 Hartland tickles your fancy, so you must 
 needs shape every one's coat to his pattern. 
 Hartland is well enough ; but I must say, 
 Caroline, that if you want to make him re- 
 pugnant to me, you cannot adopt a better 
 course than by dinning his praises all day and 
 every day into my ears, as you do, — and I 
 suspect Kosamund feels the same." 
 
 It was now her turn for ^' Nonsense ! " 
 but the shot told. She wondered if it could 
 be, could possibly be, the truth ? She was as 
 nearly being silenced as she had ever been in 
 her life. 
 
 " Hartland, as I say, is very well," proceeded 
 Mr Liscard, who had his own reasons for pur- 
 suing his advantage. " But he is not any- 
 thing out of the way. He would have cut 
 but a sorry figure by the side of the mill- 
 stream to-day, if the despised Gilbert had not 
 been there."
 
 264 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ''It is a shame to say so. He would have 
 done it if he could." 
 
 '' Ay, but could he ? Not only swimming 
 powers, but pluck, nerve, brains, all were 
 needed, and all of those Gilbert had to give." 
 
 " What could Hartland have done that he 
 did not do '? " 
 
 ''You miss the point. I am not blaming 
 Hartland ; but Tvhat, as you rightly ask, could 
 he have done ? Nothing — stood by, and seen 
 a life lost!; Caroline, you are wrong; I tell 
 you you are wrong. You undervalue a man 
 of sense and valour and unblemished reputa- 
 tion, because he — pshaw ! — upsets his wine- 
 glass ! " 
 
 ''It is not that — it was not that. You 
 have no right to say it was that," pro- 
 tested she, almost in tears of indignation. 
 " All along I have felt the same about him — 
 all along I have told Eosamund how I felt. 
 I knew he would give me more trouble yet — 
 I knew he would. Oh, why did he ever come 
 to the place 1 Tiresome, odious man ! And
 
 "is he a fit husband?" 265 
 
 you, Theodore, to take his part ! I could not, 
 no, I could not have believed it. If, instead 
 of standing up for this — this forward, imper- 
 tinent, vulgar upstart, you would help me to 
 be rid of him, and back me up in my endeav- 
 ours to get him out of Eosamund's way, you 
 would be doing your part, and not leaving to 
 me all a parent's duty in the matter." 
 
 *' I am by no means disposed to leave to you 
 all a parent's duty in the matter." 
 
 '' No ? You loill do your duty by her '? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "You will take her away, since he cannot 
 be got to budge. You will separate them at 
 once — to-morrow '? " 
 
 " Ah ! But who said that was my duty ? " 
 
 " It is surely your duty to save your child 
 from an unequal marriage." 
 
 " It depends upon what you mean by 
 ' unequal.' " 
 
 " Is he a fit husband for your daughter, 
 Theodore ? " 
 
 " I think he is, Caroline."
 
 266 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 haetland's resolution. 
 
 " But when he learns that you have blest 
 Another with your heart, 
 He'll bid aspiring passion rest, 
 And act a brother's part." 
 
 — Sheridan. 
 
 Almost any other man who had done what 
 Gilbert had done, would have been in bed the 
 next day, groaning with aches and pains, cold, 
 or rheumatism, — but the hardy soldier^s con- 
 stitution was proof against them all. 
 
 Of temperate habits, he understood the use 
 of stimulants on occasion ; and on the evening 
 following his adventure in the mill-stream he 
 drank hot brandy -and- water until aware that 
 the fumes were mounting to his head, then 
 sank beneath the blankets ; and in the profuse 
 perspiration thus induced, and with all emo-
 
 hartland's resolution. 267 
 
 tions, recollections, and anticipations lulled 
 to rest, he slept long and soundly, and awoke 
 with only a slight headache — the result of the 
 brandy — to tell that he had ever had anything 
 to beware of. 
 
 One glorious, all-embracing yawn convinced 
 him of the fact. 
 
 " Not even stiff, by Jove ! " he exclaimed, 
 joyfully ; " well, good luck to Billy Barley ! 
 for, if I am not mistaken, this clinches my 
 matter. Her face was enough, my beautiful, 
 brave Rosamund ! How she looked at me ! 
 How plainly all could read what was passing 
 in her heart ! It was rough on a fellow to 
 have to run off at such a moment ; but if I 
 had not, who knows in what case I might 
 have been this morning ? No, no : discretion 
 was the tip last night for me ; but to-day, 
 ay, to-day ! " — and he rose on his elbow, and 
 rang the bell with a peal that told its own 
 story. No sick and sorry invalid was in the 
 apartment whence that summons emanated. 
 " Nevertheless, for once I'll try a lady's remedy,
 
 268 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 and breakfast in bed," quoth the major, stretch- 
 ing himself again ; " these September morn- 
 ings are chilly, and my pores have been finely 
 opened. I'll wait till the sun has warmed the 
 air a little. Let me see, we shall be into 
 October in a few days ; no wonder it's getting 
 to feel autumnal. Bring me up a good tray- 
 ful," to the servant ; " and as quick as you 
 can, like a good fellow, for I am as hungry as 
 a hunter." 
 
 His breakfast tasted good, uncommonly 
 good, that morning. Every mouthful had its 
 appropriate seasoning of pleasing reflection, 
 and with every draught from the coff'ee-cup 
 was inhaled some new and joyful consideration. 
 
 Now it was the grasp of Mr Liscard's hand, 
 — now Lady Caroline's reluctant congratula- 
 tions, — now, and best — far best of all — Eosa- 
 mund's glowing, expressive silence. Other 
 and graver thoughts were there, but can he 
 be blamed if, as time passed, these last as- 
 sumed the ascendancy ? His own life was at 
 its crisis.
 
 HARTLANDS RESOLUTION. 269 
 
 Even the new warmth of Lord Hartland's 
 tone and manner could add something to the 
 cup which was already brimming over, and 
 with that remembrance he felt that he had 
 now really nothing left to wish for. 
 
 The coflfee-cup had barely been set dow^n 
 empty ere Hartland's card was sent up. 
 
 '' Lord Hartland!" exclaimed Gilbert. ''Sent 
 to inquire, L suppose?" 
 
 " Here himself, sir ; but t was not to trouble 
 you, when he heard you were not up yet. But 
 I said I would just bring up the card, sir." 
 
 '' Why, of course. But," said Gilbert, cast- 
 ing a hasty glance round the small and some- 
 what bare apartment, ''I wish I had thought 
 of that. I can't see him here. But I shall 
 never get down in time. Besides, I — my head 
 is still rather muzzy. What in the name of 
 goodness am I to do ? " 
 
 The servant waited in silence. 
 
 " He must come up, I suppose,'' concluded 
 his master, at last : " here, pull the counter- 
 pane straight ; and open the wdndow ; and
 
 270 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 carry those breakfast things away ; and don't 
 leave the brandy - bottle, you fool," calling 
 after the retreating figure in a rising voice. 
 Then, sotto voce: "" Of all the mornings in the 
 world to take ! Never did such a thing in 
 my life before, as stoj) in bed for breakfast. 
 And everything so uncomfortable too ! " look- 
 ing disconsolately around, while awaiting the 
 approach of his visitor, — and to do the speaker 
 justice, his chagrin was not ill founded, for a 
 neater or trimmer apartment than his own 
 was not usually to be found. Chagrin and 
 discomfiture, and every vexing sensation fled, 
 however, at Hartland's entrance. The grip 
 of his hand, the gleam of his eye, even the 
 tone of his " Good morning," were signs un- 
 mistakable of the new^ terms on which the 
 two were now to be with each other. 
 
 *' Awfully kind of you. I am afraid — hasn't 
 he cleared a chair ? " said Gilbert, sitting up 
 and looking about. " I say ! I am ashamed. 
 The idiot never to see — well, perhaps that's 
 the best place," as his visitor sat down upon
 
 hartland's resolution. 271 
 
 the bed. '' I don't know when I have been so 
 unfit to be seen, — but the fact is, I just threw 
 down my clothes anywhere last night, and 
 rummaged about to get things to pile on the 
 bed, — and then I would not let my servant in 
 to put me straight, as I w^anted to go off to 
 sleep." 
 
 " None the w- orse, are you ? " said Hartland, 
 w^ho saw nothing amiss. 
 
 "Not a bit ; oh no. Only lazy, as you see. 
 Ton my word, I am ashamed to be caught 
 like this." 
 
 '' I did not expect to find you up." 
 
 '' Did you not ? I'm up, and down, and 
 breakfasted, and out-of-doors by this time as 
 a rule." 
 
 " I daresay ; but you don't go about saving 
 dro waning boys in mill-dams as a rule." 
 
 Gilbert laughed. " Is the little chap all 
 right ? " 
 
 '' His mother has got him in bed likewise. 
 I looked in at their cottage on my way here, 
 thinking you would be glad to know. Oh,
 
 272 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 he'll do well enough ; and it ought to be a 
 lesson to the whole of them — which it won't. 
 However, you have done your part. I say," 
 suddenly, " is it possible for a man of my age 
 to learn to swim ? " 
 
 " You can't swim ? " 
 
 '' I never learned." 
 
 " Of course, any one can learn," said Gilbert, 
 ''but very few seem to do so in after-life. 
 Odd, isn't it, that, as a rule, sailors can't 
 swim i 
 
 '' How did you learn 1 " 
 
 '' At Eton." 
 
 Eton had done so much for him, if it had 
 done no more. It had not been able to fulfil 
 its wonted boast ; no art, no association, no 
 discipline could turn Frederick Gilbert into a 
 gentleman, but he had gained some advantages 
 from his stay there. 
 
 *' Ah, I had not that chance," observed his 
 companion, quietly. 
 
 " Where were you ? " 
 
 " Nowhere."
 
 hartland's resolution. 273 
 
 " Not at any public school ? " 
 
 *' My father could not afibrd it." 
 
 " I forgot. Of course, you were born and 
 bred in India." 
 
 " Born, but not bred. I was sent to Eng- 
 land at ten years old, but it was not for 
 another two years that I was put to school, — 
 and then, only to a grammar-school." 
 
 'indeed?" 
 
 " Yes," said Hartland, looking him in the 
 face. " My education took place at an Eng- 
 lish grammar-school ; and at seventeen I left 
 that, entered the service, and sailed for India. 
 I know very little ; I have learned next to 
 nothing. They tell me that it is my own 
 fault ; it may be — tbe fact remains. There is 
 not a man of my age who could not put me to 
 shame in a hundred ways." And he got off 
 the bed, and walked to the window. In the 
 bitterness which prompted the confession, there 
 was another emotion which he was fain to hide, 
 an involuntary comparison between himself and 
 the man to whom he was speaking. Without 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 274 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 having possessed a single early advantage, cut 
 adrift from a cheerless home while still a strip- 
 ling, imprisoned within the narrowest range of 
 experience during the best part of his early- 
 youth, hampered by w^ant of money and influ- 
 ence, until money and influence were no longer 
 needed as means to an end, Hartland was 
 yet conscious that he in himself was not un- 
 worthy of the name he bore ; but no one knew, 
 no one would ever have dreamed of that 
 strange longing for an ideal past which ever 
 and anon rose up within his breast. If he 
 had had Gilbert's chances ! — And even as it 
 was I But no ; he chid himself for the thought. 
 The other was the superior ; w4iy should he 
 detract through envy ? 
 
 He stood at the window, looking out. 
 
 " It is a pretty stretch of country, isn't it ? " 
 said Gilbert, thankful to change the subject. 
 '* I don't know that I ever saw a prettier bit 
 of country." 
 
 'at is pretty." 
 
 " And such lots of nice people about. I
 
 hartland's resolution. 275 
 
 don't know that I ever was in a better neigh- 
 bourhood." 
 
 Hartland was silent. It was not for him to 
 praise the neighbourhood. 
 
 "Of course, it is nothing to you whether 
 people are disposed to be sociable or not," con- 
 tinued the speaker. " You are independent ; 
 you can go anywhere you like, choose your 
 own associates, and make your own circle ; in 
 short, you are Lord Hartland, and Lord Hart- 
 land will find open doors anywhere and every- 
 where. But for me it is different," — for it 
 was now his turn for modesty, — " I am tied 
 here, whether I will or not ; and, of course, it 
 is a great matter to find houses of the right 
 sort. Jolly and friendly, you know. I hate 
 
 your prim and starch houses " he stopped 
 
 short on the extreme edo^e of a blunder. 
 
 Hartland was still by the window with his 
 back turned ; but something, an almost imper- 
 ceptible movement, betrayed that he had heard 
 and understood. 
 
 (" If I am ever to get on ahead, now is my
 
 276 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 time," concluded Gilbert, swiftly ; ''1 must 
 and will have it out now.") " Lord Hart- 
 land," said he, aloud, "I wonder if I should 
 be trespassing too severely on your kindness 
 and our acquaintanceship" — (he would have 
 liked to say friendship, but refrained) — '' if I 
 ask you to listen to me for a few minutes, and 
 — and — and- — the fact is, that I have no one, 
 not a soul here, whom I can take into confi- 
 dence, not one at least who can give me a word 
 of advice, or encouragement, or — or anything. 
 They are very good fellows, but they don't 
 know the world ; at least, ahem ! not in the 
 way I mean," plucking nervously at the sheet, 
 and rumpling it between his fingers. " The 
 long and the short of the matter is, I am in 
 for it at last ; the old story, you know, — and 
 — and I suppose every man feels the same at 
 some time or other, and this is my time, d'ye 
 
 see 1 " he broke ofi* with so anxious and 
 
 wistful an attempt at a laugh, that there could 
 be no doubt as to what it conveyed. He was 
 too deeply in earnest for any real security.
 
 hartland's resolution. 277 
 
 Hartland bent his head. He would have 
 liked to nod, and thought he did nod cordially 
 and sympathetically ; but, as a matter of fact, 
 the slow and thoughtful downward incline of 
 the neck could not have been connected with 
 the term in the mind of any one. 
 
 " May I go on ? '' proceeded Gilbert, seeing 
 he was not repulsed. " Of course I have no 
 right to trouble you with my affairs " 
 
 "Oh, it is all right. No trouble." 
 
 "It is your cousin, Eosamund Liscard, you 
 know." 
 
 Yes, Hartland knew. He could not pretend 
 he did not know, and his monosyllabic response 
 betrayed neither surprise nor anything else. 
 
 ''Yes?" 
 
 *' I think that I may say she and I under- 
 stand each other," continued the lover, more 
 fluently now that the ice was broken. " We 
 have not known each other long ; we have not 
 been altoorether slow over it : but I have 
 shown my sentiments pretty openly, and Miss 
 Liscard "
 
 278 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 Has shown hers ? " 
 
 " No, no ; hardly that. Of course I did not 
 mean that. No, hang it ! I have no right to 
 say that. But without any harm, a girl may 
 — may — I hardly know how to put it, but I 
 assure you that I would not for the world be 
 supposed to hint that — in short, I only mean 
 that, so far, I have certainly not received any 
 discouragement. At least that is my own im- 
 pression ; but perhaps you would be so kind — 
 so very kind — as to tell me what you think ? 
 I may be — I hope to heaven I am not — but it 
 is quite possible that I may be altogether mis- 
 taken, and deceiving myself." 
 
 Could Em and Etta but have heard him ! 
 
 And yet Gilbert, in his present embarrass- 
 ment and timidity, was, truth to tell, an infin- 
 itely preferable person in the eyes of any one 
 unbiassed, to the confident and consequential 
 only son of the family, so dear to the family 
 heart. 
 
 His own people might bow before their idol ; 
 but he would hardly have found favour in
 
 hartland's resolution. 279 
 
 Lord Hartland's eyes, had it occurred to him 
 to shine, as he was wont to do, when revolving 
 in his own sphere. As it was, there was really 
 nothing at which umbrage could reasonably be 
 taken ; and accordingly, " I think you have a 
 very good chance," could be said with all the 
 sincerity and readiness the occasion seemed to 
 demand. 
 
 The major's eyes glistened. " You think 
 she likes me 1 " 
 
 " I am sure she likes you." 
 
 " But— ah— hem— eh ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ' buts,' " said Hartland, laughing. 
 
 "Your tone seemed to imply, did it not — 
 eh?" 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure. I fancied there 
 was somethinor more coming." 
 
 "There may have been," replied Hartland, 
 after a momentary hesitation. "To be frank, 
 there was. But it does not relate, or, at least, 
 not directly so, to my cousin. I had, I be- 
 lieve, a passing thought of some one else "
 
 280 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 ('' Old Bliiegown," assented Gilbert, in- 
 wardly. '' So had I — many passing thoughts ; 
 ugly ones too. I know what you mean very 
 well, young gentleman — a great deal better 
 than I like to know, in fact. And it was on 
 this very point I required your aid and re- 
 assurances. I thought I should gather from 
 you how the wind blows in that quarter ; and 
 so I have. Deuced cold, evidently. He does 
 not wish to say anything direct, but I can 
 see plainly enough that friend Hartland is 
 signalling me to look out for squalls.") 
 
 "Your best chance of success," said Hart- 
 land, rousing himself so suddenly that his 
 companion almost started, — " indeed, if I may 
 speak plainly, your only chance is to go 
 straight to Mr Liscard, and ask his permis- 
 sion to address his daughter, showing, at the 
 same time, as no doubt you are able to do, 
 that you can maintain her properly." 
 
 '* Exactly my own view" — Gilbert rose on 
 his elbow eagerly ; " as you say, I can do the 
 thing properly. Oh yes, my old dad will
 
 HARTLANDS EESOLUTION. 281 
 
 come down witli the sinews of war. He is 
 a rich man, and I am his eldest child and 
 only son. Oh, I am not afraid. He knows 
 what is up, for I have sounded him already ; 
 and of course the connection is all he could 
 desire. Otherwise I should never have pre- 
 sumed oh, you are not going ? " 
 
 " 1 must, I fear. Time flies." 
 
 " You think, then, that I may hope ? " 
 
 " Certainly.'^ 
 
 ''It is a plunge, you know," observed the 
 lover, anxious to be satisfied, but ready to 
 wish that the answers had been a shade less 
 laconic, "but after all " 
 
 *' After all, you are not the man to shirk a 
 plunge," rejoined Hartland, with another effort 
 at cordiality. '' Your feat of yesterday " 
 
 " Oh, that was nothing." 
 
 " Let us hope it was a good omen, and that 
 you will be crowned a second time with suc- 
 cess." He paused a moment, then held out 
 his hand. "With all my heart I wish it 
 you, Gilbert." He then left the room.
 
 282 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Good fellow, capital fellow," murmured 
 Gilbert, looking after him with renewed ani- 
 mation. " I will say that for Hartland, there 
 is no humbug about him. The sort of fellow 
 you need to know, though. Now and then, 
 even to-day when he was so awfully kind 
 and friendly, yet even to-day I could have 
 fancied I detected here and there a touch of 
 the hluegown manner, as if he had caught it 
 of that infernal woman, — oh, confound it 1 I 
 must really take care what I say. I must 
 teach my tongue to crop its adjectives if 
 Lady Caroline is going to be my mamma- 
 in-law. As for Hartland, it will be jolly 
 having such a swell for a cousin ; and he 
 and Kosamund are first-rate friends, I can 
 see that. We shall hit it oflP, all round, we 
 three. Then, who cares for the rest '? " 
 
 He bounded out of bed, rang the bell, and 
 fell to the operations of his toilet with new 
 life in his veins. " Now for action ; now for 
 victory ; now for the fairest prize in Christen- 
 dom," he cried, gaily ; ''in one word, now for
 
 hartland's resolution. 283 
 
 Eosamund. Would that I could fly to her on 
 the wings of love and the morning; but as 
 that cannot be, at any rate I will get through 
 every single thing that has to be done by 
 three o'clock, put all in order, and be off then 
 to strike while the iron's hot, — and if I am 
 not an engaged man by this time to-morrow, 
 I know whose fault it will not be." 
 
 So cogitating, with the promptitude and 
 despatch which characterised all his actions, 
 he proceeded vigorously, and was soon hear- 
 ing reports, examining papers, and giving 
 audiences, as though solely and exclusively 
 occupied by the business and routine of 
 military life. 
 
 Somewhere about the same hour, another 
 conversation, in effect somewhat similar to 
 that above narrated, and of fully as much 
 importance to our story, was being carried on 
 within a few miles of Longminster. 
 
 Eosamund had walked over early to the 
 Abbey — for what reason she herself best 
 knew — and had found her aunt alone.
 
 284 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 '^Nobody but me, my love," said Lady 
 Julia, briskly. " Hartland will be in presently, 
 for he has been gone some time. He started 
 directly after breakfast to ride over to Long- 
 minster ; he likes an early ride, you know, 
 and he and I are both early people " (she 
 had been the latest in the world, till Hart- 
 land's Indian habits had reformed her), "so 
 he thought he would go and inquire after 
 Major Gilbert this morning." 
 
 "Is he gone there 1 " said Eosamund, spark- 
 ling up. 
 
 "Yes. You will hear the report, if you 
 wait till he returns, — though I daresay your 
 mother will send also." It was characteristic 
 that she said " your mother," not " your 
 father"; that no one ever thought of any 
 other person than Lady Caroline doing any- 
 thing at King's Common. 
 
 "I don't know. Perhaps. But I think — 
 I daresay he will come to us," said Eosamund, 
 shyly. 
 
 " And oh, my dear, what a fuss you will
 
 hartland's resolution. 285 
 
 make about him if he does 1 — And so you 
 ought. The dear little boy also — not but 
 what he is the worst boy in the Sunday- 
 school ; but then this will be a lesson to 
 him. And to think of that good, kind, 
 wonderful Major Gilbert risking his far more 
 valuable life — well, perhaps I ought not to 
 say more valuable, only it really is, you 
 know. And just think what it would have 
 been if the one had been given for the other ! 
 Terrible, quite terrible. Oh, it was a splendid, 
 a daring act ! I feel quite proud, quite elated 
 by such a thing having been done at King's 
 Common. It was a mercy all of you were 
 there." 
 
 " Not that we did any good." 
 
 " I mean that your brave, noble Major Gil- 
 bert was. How I wish I had been with you ! 
 And yet it would have been too horrible. 
 None of you went to the pool ? " 
 
 " No. Mamma would not let us." 
 
 "But you saw him — you spoke to him 
 afterwards ? I could envy you to have had
 
 286 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION. 
 
 such a hero among you. I, too, must add 
 my word. You say he will come over to- 
 day 1" 
 
 " I don t know. I think so. Aunt Julia 1 " 
 
 "Well, my love?" 
 
 " Did Hartland — did he speak as if — was 
 he — what did he tell you about it all '? " 
 
 " Oh, my dear, you never heard anything 
 like it. I told him he was really eloquent. 
 Hartland, who is usually so composed — you 
 know him, Kosamund — Hartland is not an 
 enthusiastic person ; now, is he ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. Aunt Julia." 
 
 " Would you have believed he could be 
 carried away ? " 
 
 " Well, no — I don't know. I almost think 
 I could, if — if the occasion warranted it." 
 
 " You have never seen him so, I am sure ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " You are turning something over in your 
 mind, Rosamund. Ah, well, I daresay you 
 are right. Young people are sharper-sighted 
 than old ones, and I daresay you understand
 
 HARTLAND^S RESOLUTION. 287 
 
 Hartland ; but, however, / was surprised. It 
 did my heart good to listen.^' 
 
 " He — I suppose he thought it a fine thing 
 to do ? " 
 
 **He said he had never seen a finer. The 
 coolness, the judgment that Major Gilbert dis- 
 played were beyond everything. His calm 
 facing of a horrid death," proceeded Lady 
 Julia, with ineffable enjoyment, " was what 
 struck Hartland most : his knowledge that 
 if the boy saw him he would seize and drag 
 him down — my dear, you are changing colour, 
 I ought not to have said it ; but now that all 
 is happily over " 
 
 " Oh yes," said Eosamund, with a struggling 
 smile, " all is happily over — in that way. But 
 — but, dear auntie, don't you know that there 
 is still — that Major Gilbert " 
 
 "Why, dear me! yes, I remember 
 
 now, to be sure," cried Lady Julia, with a 
 sudden sense of enlightenment, — " I remember 
 of course, my dear child, to what you refer ; 
 but surely you are not troubling about that ?
 
 288 A STIFF-NECKED GENERATION". 
 
 There was a little scene, because your mamma 
 did not fancy your new acquaintance, and you 
 felt that she had been rather ungracious ; was 
 not that it ? Oh, but after this, there need be 
 no fear. The regiment is soon going away ; 
 and for the few times she need meet Major 
 Gilbert " 
 
 " Aunt Julia " 
 
 "Well, love?" 
 
 " Why should it be only a few times ? " 
 
 " There cannot be many more meetings. 
 The summer is over, and the winter gaieties 
 never begin much before Christmas. I under- 
 stand that Major Gilbert will be gone by that 
 time." 
 
 ''You think he will go without — a word ? " 
 
 " A word, my dear ? " 
 
 " That he— that we— that he and I ? " 
 
 " That he and you ? " murmured Lady 
 Julia, still in bewilderment ; but then sud- 
 denly she almost shrieked, as if a thunderbolt 
 had struck her, " That he and you ? " 
 
 Then Kosamund held up her head.
 
 HARTLAXDS EESOLUTIOX. 289 
 
 "Yes, aunt, you know now what I mean. 
 ^e— and— /." 
 
 For a moment there was not another word 
 spoken. The overwhehning revelation, the 
 heaving bosom of the defiant girl — for it was 
 again Eosamund, up in arms, who spoke — 
 were too much for the unfortunate recipient of 
 her confidence, and Lady Julia sank into a 
 chair, her eyes starting from her head. 
 
 " He — and — you," she repeated at last, *' I 
 — I, why, Eosamund, I am dreaming, I am 
 deaf, — surely I am deaf or dreaming," putting 
 her hand to her brow ; *' surely, surely, — oh, 
 dear me, dear me ! " — a pause ; then all at 
 once broke forth the torrent, " I cannot believe 
 it, I cannot believe it ! It would be too 
 dreadful. Oh, my dear, dear, dearest niece, 
 you cannot, oh, you must not mean that — not 
 that, anything but that, my own Eosamund ; 
 oh, you shall not be urged or pressed to marry 
 any one ; only, my darling, wait ; only wait, 
 and do not, do not think of this terrible, 
 foolish idea again." 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 290 A STIFF-XECKED GENERATION. 
 
 " Foolish idea ! " cried Rosamund, with a 
 flash. Every injudicious syllable was a rivet 
 in her resolution. 
 
 " My dear, I did not mean that. No, you 
 are not to be blamed. It is not foolish, it is 
 only natural ; you see him with this halo of 
 
 glory round his head " 
 
 " Nonsense," said Rosamund, angrily. " You 
 talk, aunt, as if I were a child." 
 
 *' But, my dear, my darling, what else are 
 you ? Who are you, to judge for yourself, 
 and to know what is best for you ? And 
 though Major Gilbert is brave and noble, still 
 — oh, dear, how to say it? Oh, my child, 
 think of your poor mother and all of us. 
 Could he ever become one of the family ? " 
 pleaded the poor lady, with grotesque pathos; 
 *' could we ever call him by his name ? Could 
 he come and go among ourselves, and take his 
 
 place ? " 
 
 '' Of course he could." 
 
 '* I am making you angry, my poor dear ; 
 and heaven knows that is the last thing I
 
 hartlaxd's resolution. 291 
 
 wish to do," wailed poor Lady Julia, clasping 
 her hands in an agony of perplexitj^ and de- 
 spair ; " I have no tact, no sense. To go and 
 
 take you up seriously, when after all " 
 
 with a happy thought, "after all, I daresay 
 you did not above half mean what you said, 
 Rosamund. I have been precipitate, as usual. 
 Carried away by my own silly fancies, have I 
 not ? Say that I have, love — come ; tell 
 Aunt Julia she is an old goosey, as she always 
 was, and we will forget it all. Come, dear 
 Rosamund," holding out a trembling hand. 
 " What ? ... Oh, take it, darling, take it ! 
 Rosamund . . . ? Tears . . . ? But, my 
 child, you know nothing, utterly, absolutely 
 nothing of this man ; you have only met him 
 at a few summer parties, you have danced 
 once or twice together at a ball ; oh, you do 
 not, you cannot care for him, not as you 
 would care for — well, well, you think you do. 
 You do not yourself see that this is not — that 
 this is only what we all feel for a brave, 
 gallant hero ; I am sure your mother and I,
 
 292 A STIFF-NECKED GENEEATIOX. 
 
 and every one of us, we all feel the same — an 
 immense admiration and gratitude, and — and 
 — everything else for Major Gilbert as Billy 
 Barley's deliverer, and an honoured guest, and 
 Hartland's friend, and — anything, yes, any- 
 thing but that. And you, dearest child, you 
 cannot think of him either in any other light ? 
 You cannot possibly imagine that you love 
 him ? " A pause. Then springing to her 
 feet, " Good heavens ! Kosamund, you would 
 not marry the man ? " 
 
 " But I would/' said Eosamund. 
 
 END OF THE FIEST VOLUME. 
 
 PRINTED BT WILLIAM BLACKWOOD A^•T> 80S3.
 
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