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 KING'S COPE. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 ^ MR. WARRENNE," " MARGARET CAPEL.' 
 
 IX THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BEXTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1849. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by S. and J. Bentlet & Hekrt Flet, 
 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane. 
 

 ^ 
 
 
 '<s KING'S COPE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Leon. And so in that blest word together lieth 
 My strength and my repose. So, hand in hand, 
 Storms pass aside us, and clouds settle not 
 Upon our heads. We may bear all 
 So we may be together. Nothing come 
 Between our hearts, kind Heaven I 
 
 Anon 
 
 ] 
 
 Those few tourists who have contented 
 themselves with exploring their own country, 
 '~J~ instead of hurrying ahroad during their leisure 
 \1 moments, may possibly recollect, in a secluded 
 part of the county of Lancashire, a large brick 
 mansion belonging to the ancient family of the 
 Scawens, which stands in a richly wooded 
 park. 
 
 ^ VOL. I. B 
 
2 king's cope. 
 
 The village and manor of King's Cope, which, 
 as well as the extensive grounds surrounding 
 the mansion, have been for centuries the pro- 
 perty of this family, present so many exquisite 
 points of scenery, that it is a matter of regret 
 that the house, built in the reign of James 
 the Second, should not better correspond with 
 the beauty of its situation. But at that era, 
 domestic architecture was more convenient 
 than picturesque ; and the square proportions 
 and numerous white-framed windows of the 
 present edifice, but ill-replace, to an artist's 
 eye, the gable ends and latticed casements 
 of an earlier style. 
 
 Near the house, broad avenues of chestnuts, 
 and glassy sheets of water, artificially supplied, 
 give to that part of the pleasure-grounds an 
 aspect more in unison with the building ; but 
 farther on the trees grow more wildly, the 
 grass is tufted with fern, and a shallow brook 
 winds its way among the stern old oaks and 
 bushy hawthorns at its own lazy and fantastic 
 
king's cope. ^ 
 
 will. Here and there a hawthorn older than 
 its fellows has been undermined by the stream 
 and fallen forward, so as to form a rustic 
 bridge from one side of the brook to the 
 other. 
 
 This has been the most attractive spot in 
 the park to the children of the family ever 
 since the Knights Hospitallers ceded the 
 manor of King's Cope to Sir Bigod Scawen, 
 in the reign of Edward the First, down to 
 the sultry August morning in the time of 
 King William the Fourth, when my story 
 begins. 
 
 Just where the water glides beneath the 
 mossy trunks, and ripples against the boughs 
 which dip into the stream, — where the bank 
 is trellised with slender roots, and studded 
 with tufts of forget-me-not, and other marshy 
 plants, — where yellow water-lilies float capri- 
 ciously into the very middle of the brook, and 
 shoals of the smaller fish dart backwards and 
 forwards among their glossy leaves, — on one 
 
 B 2 
 
4 king's cope. 
 
 of those moss-grown trunks a boy about 
 twelve years old was seated. He had a 
 fishing-rod in one hand, and a book in the 
 other, which engrossed so much of his atten- 
 tion that his neglected line floated slowly 
 down the gentle current, and entangled itself 
 among the long stalks of the water-lilies. 
 
 A little girl, some two years younger than 
 the boy, was kneeling on the root of the tree 
 just where it projected from the bank, and 
 making herself a nosegay of forget-me-nots. 
 
 Even in the cool nook which the children 
 had selected, with the water gliding beneath 
 their feet, and the thick branches meeting 
 overhead, the heat was oppressive. 
 
 " Hugh ! your line !"" exclaimed the little 
 girl, suddenly raising her large hazel eyes 
 from her flowers. 
 
 The boy read on. 
 
 " Oh, Hugh ! such a beautiful dace I you 
 might have caught him if you had been 
 looking !"" she cried, after another pause. 
 
KING S COPE. O 
 
 The book appeared to be a stronger attrac- 
 tion than the fish, and the boy never Hfted 
 his eyes from the page. 
 
 The Httle girl pushed back her dark-brown 
 curls, laid her flowers on the bank beside her 
 straw-bonnet, and clasping her small white 
 hands together on her knees, fixed her bril- 
 liant eyes in silence on her brother. 
 
 She was singularly beautiful ; her head and 
 neck statuesque in their outhne, and adorned 
 by a profusion of the richest coloured hair, 
 clustering like .tendrils round her broad fore- 
 head and slender throat ; and, in the depth 
 of her large eyes, set like jewels beneath her 
 square brows, and her raised nostril and 
 tremulous upper-lip, an observer might detect 
 the germs of an impetuous and aifectionate 
 character. 
 
 There was a strong family likeness between 
 the brother and the sister ; but his hair was 
 lighter than hers, and his eyes darker, and 
 his eyebrows as black as ink : though now 
 
6 KINGS COPE. 
 
 drawn together in the earnestness with which 
 he was reading, yet in repose their lines 
 described a calmer and firmer tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 At last, with a long-drawn sigh, he lifted 
 np his head. 
 
 " Oh ! to live so — to die so ! " he ex- 
 claimed, in that deep-felt tone of enthusiasm 
 that makes the voice vibrate with its truth. 
 
 " If I had your horrid sea-book in my 
 hands I would tear it in pieces ! " exclaimed 
 the little girl, the colour rising into her face. 
 
 " Would you, little Anne ? Take it, then,'' 
 said the boy good-humouredly, throwing the 
 book on the bank beside her. 
 
 It was Southey's " Life of Nelson." 
 
 " I can't bear it. I know you will end 
 by going to sea," said Anne, impatiently. 
 
 " I hope I shall begin by going to sea. I 
 shall end, you know, by coming to live with 
 you at Datchley," said Hugh, stooping to 
 disengage his line from the water-lilies. 
 
KING S COPE. 7 
 
 " Ah ! that will be nice ! *" said Anne, 
 smiling at her brother. 
 
 *' It is hotter than ever, to-day, — too hot 
 even to fish," said Hugh, unjointing his fishing- 
 rod. 
 
 " You have only a dace, and two shabby 
 little perch," said Anne, looking into the 
 wicker-basket. 
 
 "Better luck next time, little Anne," said 
 Hugh, coming to the bank, and sitting down 
 by her side. 
 
 "What can Henry want here, I wonder.'^" 
 said Anne, drawing her brows together, and 
 turning her head into profile with that sudden 
 gesture of inquiry which gives so much spirit 
 and intelligence to the features. 
 
 Henry, the eldest brother, was now seen 
 coming towards them through the brushwood ; 
 a self-sufiicient, unpleasant boy, resembling 
 very closely a large proportion of young peo- 
 ple, in whom it would require a microscopic 
 eye to distinguish any amount of good or 
 
8' king's cope. 
 
 generous feeling. Selfish, false, calculating, 
 and inferior, he was formed to be liked and 
 well spoken of by the many, who delight 
 above all things to recognise their own image 
 in each other, and who are impatient beyond 
 measure of plain-dealing and truth. 
 
 "So, you two, skulking together as usual," 
 he remarked, as he flung himself down on 
 the grass. 
 
 *'As usual,'' said Anne, with an indifferent 
 oflance over her shoulder at her eldest bro- 
 ther. 
 
 " Would not the fellows at Eton laugh at 
 you, if they could see you always trotting 
 about with your sister ! " said Henry, con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 " Let them laugh," replied Hugh ; " it is 
 all the same to me. Besides, I shall soon 
 be out of their way." 
 
 This indifference to public opinion, which 
 had already rather distinguished Hugh among 
 his companions, was perfectly incomprehensible 
 
KINGS COPE. 9 
 
 to Henry, who was invariably guided in all 
 his actions by what '' the fellows '' said and 
 thought. He stared at his brother without 
 making any answer. 
 
 ' Anne"'s look changed to a glance of de- 
 fiance : Henry was treading on dangerous 
 ground when he attempted to interfere be- 
 tween herself and Hugh. 
 
 " What do you think Ritson says ? "" asked 
 Henry, breaking the lazy silence which had 
 lasted for some time. 
 
 "CanH think," said Hugh. 
 
 " He says he is quite sure my father is 
 going to marry again." 
 
 " Good heaven ! " exclaimed Hugh. 
 
 " It 's false ! " cried Anne, her eyes gleam- 
 ing, and her whole face dyed one indignant 
 scarlet : " it 's false ! " 
 
 " What do you think of that ? " asked 
 Henry, with a laugh. 
 
 He was such a good-tempered boy, — he 
 
 generally laughed; only his laugh was a little 
 
 B 5 
 
10 king's cope. 
 
 too like a sneer to please very fastidious 
 people. 
 
 " Are you joking, Hal ? " asked Hugh, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Not I, faith," replied Henry ; " not a 
 bit of it. Ritson has had orders to put my 
 mother's flower-garden in order, and to get 
 on with that stone -screen which is to divide 
 it from the park, and to look out for a pair 
 of ponies for the little phaeton my mother 
 used to drive.'' 
 
 " Oh ! Hugh, poor mamma — only last De- 
 cember — and — and — Hugh — " faltered Anne, 
 melting into tears. 
 
 "And this is August: what more would 
 you have "^ " said Henry, carelessly. 
 
 " Never mind, Anne, — it may not be true," 
 whispered Hugh, looking very pale, however; 
 " we won't believe it as long as we can help 
 ourselves." 
 
 "After all, it doesn't much matter to you 
 and me," said Henry, catching idly at the 
 
king's cope. 11 
 
 branches over his head : " this place is en- 
 tailed on me, and you uiust have Datchley ; 
 so there 's only Miss Anne to be consulted, 
 and she, it seems, begs to decline the ho- 
 nour. I agree with her : as far as she is 
 concerned, it is rather a bore to have a step- 
 mother," 
 
 *' Hugh ! oh, Hugh ! " sobbed Anne, cling- 
 ing round her brother's neck. 
 
 " Don't cry, little Anne," said Hugh, sooth- 
 ingly ; "if the worst comes, it will be but 
 for a time *. w^hen I come home from sea, 
 and settle with you at Datchley, it won't 
 much matter then who is mistress here." 
 
 " But it is so lonof to wait," murmured 
 Anne. 
 
 " Yes, a long time : but we have both 
 much to do. You will have to study, while 
 I shall be serving my country, I hope ; and 
 then we shall feel that we have earned the 
 right to sit down and enjoy ourselves." 
 
 " Well, you two beat anything I ever saw : 
 
12 ^ king's cope. 
 
 there are no more like you, I am sure,'' 
 said Henry, looking down on his brother with 
 the superiority that a boy of fourteen natu- 
 rally feels over one of twelve. 
 
 " He can feel nothing ! " exclaimed Anne, 
 indignantly. 
 
 " Pardon me ! " exclaimed Henry, " 1 could 
 feel a great many things ; but on this occa- 
 sion I simply feel that my father has a per- 
 fect right to please himself." 
 
 " How a right ? " cried Anne ; " was mamma 
 less to him than to us that he should forget 
 her before we do ?" 
 
 " Apparently," replied Henry, stretching 
 himself more comfortably on the grass. 
 
 ., " I shall hate her ! " exclaimed Anne, with 
 another burst of tears. 
 
 " You will do very wisely," said Henry, 
 who seemed rather to enjoy the child's vehe- 
 mence ; " only if you cry from this time till 
 Christmas you won't alter the fact." 
 
 Anne's tears still continued to fall on her 
 
king's cope. 13 
 
 clusters of forget-me-nots ; Hugh, kneeling 
 beside her was trying in his blunt way to 
 comfort her. Henry found this stupid work. 
 After yawning once or twice he rose to go 
 away ; but with his usual sensitive consider- 
 ation he seemed to think that Anne had 
 better be left alone. 
 
 " I say, Hugh, come and have a game at 
 billiards,'** he said. 
 
 " Not now, Hal,"" replied Hugh, glancing 
 at Anne as a reason for his refusal. 
 
 Henry looked at them both as they sat 
 together on the grass, and then shrugging 
 his shoulders with a contemptuous expression 
 he turned away to seek amusement else- 
 where. 
 
 It was a rough night in December : the 
 wind roared among the leafless trees, and 
 rocked their huge limbs backwards and for- 
 wards with a hoarse groaning sound. Some- 
 times there was a lull in the storm, and the 
 
14 king's cope. 
 
 raindrops might be distinctly heard falling 
 from the eaves, while the gusts became gra- 
 dually fainter, as if retreating slowly towards 
 the horizon ; and then the wind burst forth 
 again with renewed fury, lifting up the rain 
 like a curtain, and dashing it headlong against 
 the windows, and sweeping with a noise like 
 the distant ocean through the wood that 
 skirted the house. 
 
 These dreary sounds seemed only to en- 
 hance the warmth and luxury of the scene 
 within, where the blazing wood-fire cast a 
 fitful reflection on the carved furniture and 
 thick damask curtains, and shed a broad glow 
 over the gorgeous Persian rug. On one side 
 of the hearth, Henry Scawen was lounging 
 idly in a deep arm-chair, drawn to the angle 
 of the chimney ; while Hugh and Anne were 
 seated on the rug at the opposite corner, 
 Hugh leaning against an ottoman, and Anne 
 resting her head on her brother's shoulder. 
 
 The boys had come home for the Christ- 
 
king's cope. 15 
 
 mas holidays, Hugh a Uttle better, and Henry 
 a little worse than he went ; for people whe- 
 ther young or old, seldom stand altogether 
 still in their moral career ; and therefore it 
 is not much amiss that they should try 
 to go forward, when their only alternative 
 is that they must go backward. 
 
 Anne, poor child, had very nearly fulfilled 
 her brother's ironical prediction, and spent all 
 her leisure time in crying, from Midsummer 
 to Christmas. 
 
 Therefore she was not quite so blooming 
 as when she was gathering flowers at the 
 brook : she had grown thin and pallid, and 
 her large eyes were circled with a violet 
 shade, as you often see in people who have 
 a good deal to cry about. Her grief at the 
 loss of her mother had been like most chil- 
 dren''s sorrow, brief and stormy ; but her me- 
 mory was tenacious, and the idea of her 
 mother being supplanted, was more shocking 
 even than her loss. Therefore she suifered 
 
16 king's cope. 
 
 under a sense of injury the keenest that could 
 be inflicted upon a human creature — she suf- 
 fered in her first and most sacred affections 
 — child as she was, the wound matured her 
 heart : while all the friends of the family con- 
 gratulated Mr. Scawen on his judicious con- 
 duct in marrying at once, and not wait- 
 ing till his daughter was old enough to feel 
 the difference between the old and the new 
 mother. 
 
 The wind still shook the trees without, 
 and the rain splashed against the windows. 
 
 " What a bore every thing is ! "* said Henry, 
 extending himself in his easy-chair. 
 
 " 1 always fancy it cold when the wind 
 blows,**' said Anne, shivering. 
 
 " Cold ! if that were all ! " exclaimed Kenry, 
 contemptuously. 
 
 "What's the matter, Hal?" asked Hugh- 
 
 "The matter?" returned Henry; "every 
 thing is the matter. This place, I do believe, 
 is the dullest under heaven. I am sick of 
 
king's cope. 17 
 
 my life ! Besides, I want my dinner. I 
 should like to know how long it will be 
 before my father arrives with his bride ? " 
 
 A sob from Anne broke the silence. 
 
 "^ Yes, I advise you to cry, Mademoiselle,'"* 
 said Henry, ironically ; " I can't imagine a 
 more judicious welcome for your new mamma.'"* 
 
 " Don't teaze her, Hal," said Hugh, reso- 
 lutely. 
 
 " Young ladies soon develope now a-days," 
 continued Henry, wholly disregarding his 
 brother's admonition. "Anne, it seems, is to 
 be a sentimental character ; I am sorry for 
 it ; I had rather, my dear, that you had 
 turned out a dasher." 
 
 Anne was too painfully engrossed with an- 
 other subject to mind her brother's taunts ; 
 she scarcely heard them. 
 
 " Hugh," she whispered, " I '11 never call 
 Mrs. Scawen, mamma, never while I live." 
 
 " Nor I ! " said Hugh, decidedly. 
 
 " I hate December," said Anne, raising her 
 
18 king's cope. 
 
 head, and looking vaguely at the heavy damask 
 curtains, slightly swayed by the wind ; "it 
 always seems to me as if something dreadful 
 happens in this month." 
 
 " It is the black month of our family," said 
 Hugh, gravely. 
 
 For there was a worn-out superstition which 
 everybody had discarded but these two chil- 
 dren, that the month of December was ad- 
 verse to the Scawen family, as that of No- 
 vember was said to be towards tlie House 
 of Ker Ellio, in Bretagne, in one of Eugene 
 Sue's romances ; and certainly it could not be 
 disputed that of all the domestic afflictions 
 which had occurred since the time of Bigod 
 Scawen, by far the greater number had fallen 
 in the month of December. 
 
 It had also been said in old times (though 
 of course, people had long ceased to believe 
 it) that a kind of phantom was heard (not 
 seen), before any death that might occur in 
 the month of December, but which was silent 
 
king's cope. 19 
 
 whatever might happen during any other 
 month. 
 
 This strange visitant bore some resemblance 
 to the frightful Balayeuse in the palace of the 
 King of Prussia, only that in this instance 
 there was a sound as of a person dragging 
 after them a heavy burden, which every now 
 and then they seemed to attempt to lift up, 
 and let fall with a heavy sound ; Anne had 
 heard this the night before her mother's 
 death, passing through the long gallery, and 
 down the great staircase, the burden falling 
 heavily from stair to stair. And her mother 
 hearing it also, had called the nurse to her 
 bedside and said, 
 
 " Nurse, go to my little Anne, the Burden 
 is going through the house, and if she wakes 
 and hears it, she will be frightened." 
 
 And Anne remembered that she was sitting 
 up in her little bed, with her hair rising, and 
 the drops on her brow, and her eyes dis- 
 tended with terror, when the nurse came in 
 
20 king's cope. 
 
 and soothed her, and sat with her till she 
 went to sleep again. And as the next morn- 
 ing she was told that her mother was dead, 
 it is not surprising that she placed some 
 faith in the legend of the Burden, for so the 
 phantom was called. 
 
 '' I was born in Decemher,'" said Hugh, 
 thoughtfully, after a long silence on both 
 sides. 
 
 Anne said nothing, but her arm tightened 
 round her brother's neck. No Scawen, if he 
 could help it, should be born in Decem- 
 ber. 
 
 " Well, I was born in June, that 's all I 
 know about it,'' said Henry, " and so much 
 the better for me if your stupid tales are 
 true. However, my father was not born in 
 the black month, so I need not expect to 
 come into my property sooner than other 
 people. When I do, wont I lead a jolly 
 life ! " 
 
 This affectionate speech, which glanced at 
 
king's cope. 21 
 
 his father'^s dissolution as the probable date 
 of his beginning to enjoy himself, discon- 
 certed Anne. 
 
 '' He is a wicked boy,"" she whispered to 
 Hugh, " and I am glad you will have Datchley 
 when you are of age, without waiting for 
 anybody to die." 
 
 " He need not talk of being born in an un- 
 lucky month, with the prospect of Datchley," 
 said Henry, discontentedly. " I can't think 
 what my grandfather Lascelles was about." 
 
 " He even grudges you Datchley," ^aid 
 Anne, her beautiful lip curling with scorn. 
 
 " That 's hardly to be wondered at, when 
 he grudges my father King's Cope," replied 
 Hughj with a smile. 
 
 Anne hazarded another scornful glance at 
 Henry, over her brother's shoulder. 
 
 '' T think I shall take to chewing opium," 
 remarked Henry, after a pause ; " that might 
 make one's life more bearable. Hugh, ring 
 for some more wood, and somebody look for 
 
22 king's cope. 
 
 my handkerchief. It is on that table, child ; 
 I left it by the book I was reading." 
 
 Hugh rang for the wood, and Anne brought 
 her brother his handkerchief. 
 
 " Why, good heaven ! child, you are in 
 mourning ! " exclaimed Henry, observing for 
 the first time that his sister wore a grey cache- 
 mere frock, braided with black. 
 
 " I was to go out of mourning on Christmas- 
 day,'' said Anne, in a trembling voice ; "it 
 was on Christmas-eve that — mamma" — she 
 stopped. 
 
 " A singular compliment, on my word, to 
 receive the new Mrs. Scawen in a mourning 
 dress. Just like my father ! I wonder he 
 did not have the house hung with black. He 
 might, I do think, have attended a little 
 more to the decencies of life on such an oc- 
 casion. But it is not my affair — don t think 
 / care how you dress !" 
 
 Anne knew him too well to think any such 
 thing ; she went back to Hugh, and rested 
 
king's cope. ,^3 
 
 her head on his shoulder as he stood by the 
 fire. 
 
 " There 's the carriage !" cried Henry, start- 
 ing up. " Thank heaven, I shall get some- 
 thing to eat at last ! Simmons, dinner directly! 
 I am sure Mrs. Scawen will be impatient for 
 it after her journey." 
 
 This witticism was unrelished by Hugh and 
 Anne. They had dined at two, and jNIiss 
 Elder was then waiting tea for them in the 
 study, and, besides, dinner was not then upper- 
 most in their thoughts. They shrank closer 
 together. Hugh, pale and firm, as if resolved 
 to suppress all outward feeling, Anne shiver- 
 ing, white, with swimming eyes, and the dark 
 tendrils of her hair all ruflied and displaced 
 by leaning her head against the collar of 
 Hugh's coat. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Scawen entered. 
 
 Anne saw, as through a mist, a tall thin 
 woman, with a great row of teeth. She trem- 
 bled from head to foot. 
 
24^ king's cope. 
 
 Henry stepped carelessly forward. 
 
 " My eldest boy," said Mr. Scawen, indi- 
 cating liim with all the pride that a father 
 would naturally experience in the possession 
 of so valuable a son. 
 
 " I 'm delighted to make his acquaintance ;" 
 said the lady, taking his hand. " And these 
 two, Mr. Scawen ?'"* 
 
 " This is Hugh ; the fellow has set his 
 heart upon going to sea ; he means to be an 
 admiral, hke his great uncle. And this is 
 Anne. Come and kiss your new mamma/"* 
 
 This delightful ceremony was instantly put 
 in execution. Anne shuddering from head to 
 foot, and Hugh looking nervously on, as if 
 he feared that his turn would come next. 
 
 But Mrs. Scawen was a very proper per- 
 son. She had no idea of kissing boys ; she 
 merely shook hands with him, and then un- 
 fastening her heavy velvet cloak, sat down 
 in the late Mrs. Scawen's pretty tapestried 
 arm-chair. 
 
king's cope. 25 
 
 This outrage very nearly destroyed the 
 very small share of composure that Anne 
 had left. Hugh watched her quivering 
 lips with the conviction that she could 
 not hold out long, and the hope that by 
 good fortune dinner might be announced 
 and the room cleared, before she gave way 
 altogether. 
 
 The butler was just in time. Hardly had 
 the last fold of Mrs. Scawen's satin gown 
 disappeared through the door, before Anne 
 threw herself on the ground, beside her mother's 
 chair, embracing it passionately with a burst 
 of sobs and tears. 
 
 "Oh, Hugh! oh, Hugh!" she exclaimed, 
 throwing herself helplessly into her brother's 
 arms as he knelt beside her ; " I did not think 
 it would be so horrible — I dreaded it, but it 
 is worse than I expected ; to see her choose 
 out my own mamma's chair; one would say 
 she did it on purpose ! " 
 
 " She 's a wretch ! " said Hugh, with energy ; 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
26 king's cope. 
 
 " she shall never come to Datchley when we 
 live there." 
 
 " No, never ! '' said Anne. 
 
 The name of Datchley always brought a 
 smile to her face. She dried her tears. 
 
 " How happy we shall be there !" she 
 said. 
 
 " Yes," said Hugh, smoothing his sister's 
 tangled hair ; '* we shall always be together 
 then ; and we agree so well, don't we, 
 Anne ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! we never quarrel," said Anne. 
 
 " All our troubles will be over then ; we 
 shall have had them young — some people 
 do," said Hugh, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Hugh." 
 
 "" A beautiful place, and money enough, 
 and no one to disturb us, nothing to make 
 us unhappy ; we will have a little boat-house, 
 and a boat on the river, and the finest riding- 
 horses that I can buy, and a nice little carriage 
 with a pair of ponies for you, and a flower- 
 
king's cope. 27 
 
 garden — plenty of beautiful flowers all the year 
 round ; and books for winter evenings, and 
 music. You must make haste, Anne, and 
 learn to sing, I love music so much." 
 
 '' That I will, Hugh;' 
 
 " I look forward to that as the object of 
 my life,'' said Hugh earnestly ; "I go to 
 sea that I may deserve it." 
 
 Anne sighed. 
 
 " A slothful person, who had done nothing 
 for his country, would have no right to sit 
 down in such a paradise," said Hugh. 
 
 And however grown-up people might laugh 
 at a boy who really thought he was offering 
 a service to his country in becoming a mid- 
 shipman on board a man-of-war, he was per- 
 fectly serious in this idea. 
 
 " I often think of that verse, Hugh," said 
 
 Anne ; ' And so Thou bringest them unto the 
 
 Haven where they would be.' Datchley is 
 
 our haven." 
 
 " So it is, Anne," said Hugh, smiling. 
 
 c 2 
 
^8 king's cope. 
 
 " I say, Hugh, just see if my eyes look 
 red ? " said Anne. 
 
 Hugh looked down into the splendid hazel 
 eyes that were raised to his. 
 
 " Just a little at the corners,'"' he said, 
 beginning to rub them with his handkerchief. 
 
 " Oh ! but it wont rub off, Hugh," said 
 Anne laughing, and putting her arm round 
 his neck. '' Come, Miss Elder will be waiting 
 tea for us." 
 
king's cope. 29 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Leo : Do, try thy worst : — put absence in the scale 
 And memory and love shall weigh it down ! 
 Thou canst not count the pulses of this heart, 
 And dar'st not check them. They are all for him. 
 And I am strong in love as thou in hate ; 
 And mine the triumph, silent though it be ! 
 
 Anon. 
 
 Mr. Scawen was of a cliaracter sufficiently 
 common in England, being sullen and morose 
 in his temper, with little or no tenderness 
 of feeling, a very strong opinion of his own 
 merits, and a perpetual sense of injury that 
 other people did not subscribe to the views 
 he entertained of his good qualities. 
 
 He was moral in his habits, he sometimes did 
 good ; he always went to church ; he was very 
 ready to take offence, and he despised women. 
 
30 king's cope. 
 
 Of the regard he had entertained for the 
 first Mrs. Scawen he had just given proof, 
 by supplying her place in his home, and (we 
 will suppose) in his heart. And as she had 
 been very lovely, very gentle, very conscientious 
 — an affectionate mother, and a most sub- 
 missive wife, he showed at once a contented 
 mind, and a sensible disposition in his choice 
 of a substitute. 
 
 As he was a man of large fortune, no sooner 
 was his first wife dead, than his friends pressed 
 their daughters upon his acceptance after the 
 manner of the English, who certainly attach 
 a price to the blessings of matrimony beyond 
 what is to be met with in any other country ; 
 but even before he had consumed the proper 
 quantity of crape and black-edged paper, he 
 thought fit to select for himself a lady of a cer- 
 tain age, the widow of a Scottish gentleman of 
 good family. The Mrs. Morton, who was so 
 fortunate as to become the second Mrs. Scawen, 
 was one of those terrible creatures called 
 
king's cope. 31 
 
 fine women. She had large white teeth that 
 looked as if they could grind you to powder; 
 — hard bright eyes, without the relief of eye- 
 lashes ; very white thin shoulders ; a cruel 
 voice, and a bony hand. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen had a fiery temper, but a 
 cowardly disposition ; she soon found that 
 in point of ill-humour Mr. Scawen had de- 
 cidedly the advantage of her ; so that after 
 a little wrangling, she thought it more pru- 
 dent to subside into an apparently submissive 
 wife ; but as ill-temper, like smoke, is very 
 persevering in finding an outlet, and is very 
 careful to vent itself upon those who are 
 perfectly unable to defend themselves, Mrs. 
 Scawen did very wisely to transfer her attacks 
 from her husband, who could retaliate, to 
 those members of his family who could not. 
 
 When she first came to King's Cope, 
 she hated all his three children. To the 
 sons this dislike was of little importance ; 
 they kept as much as possible out of her 
 
S2 king's cope. 
 
 way ; and when she tried to make mis- 
 chief between them and their father, which 
 she very often did, — they tokl their own 
 story boldly enough, and Mr. Scawen went 
 into a passion with the whole party, and there 
 was an end. But it may easily be imagined 
 that towards the little girl, Mrs. Scawen 
 had the power and the will to put in prac- 
 tice a hundred means of aggravation, which 
 would have been powerless against the 
 boys. 
 
 In fact she disliked Anne more heartily 
 than either of her brothers. Henry, the eldest, 
 would, as a matter of course, succeed to his 
 father's estates ; Hugh was amply provided 
 for by his grandfather's property in Bucking- 
 hamshire. These things could not be altered, 
 she knew ; but every penny that might be 
 laying by for Anne's fortune, she looked upon 
 as subtracted from her lawful gains ; and 
 though she was left in profound ignorance of 
 its amount, yet she fed her wrath by think- 
 
king's cope. 83 
 
 ing that if Anne did not exist, it might be 
 added to her stipulated jointure. 
 
 In the middle ages such a stepmother 
 would have poisoned the girl at once, and 
 she would have done more boldly, and perhaps 
 more kindly, than by thus nursing evil feel- 
 ings against her for years together. 
 
 But when Mrs. Sea wen found that Henry 
 seldom took any notice of Anne except to pull 
 her hair, or to frighten her by asking how 
 her teeth were growing, she felt her heart a 
 little softened towards him. A double portion 
 of her dislike, therefore, fell upon Hugh, who 
 was ardently attached to his sister, and not 
 ashamed of showing it, even in the face of his 
 formidable stepmother. Consequently, her first 
 care on being installed at King's Cope, was 
 to separate Anne as much as possible from 
 her brother. She was not to ride with Hugh 
 any more ; she was not to row in the boat, 
 or to wander about the park with him. Mrs. 
 Scawen " wondered how Miss Elder could ever 
 
 c 5 
 
34 king's cope. 
 
 have permitted such a thing. At eleven years 
 of age, a girl was much too old to be romping 
 about with great boys. It was no wonder 
 that Miss Sea wen's hair was always rumpled, 
 and that three of her frocks had been torn, 
 when she was suffered to roam about from 
 morning till night with a rude Eton boy like 
 Hugh." 
 
 It was in vain Anne proved (rendered des- 
 perate by the occasion, and surmounting her 
 fear of Mrs. Scawen's fierce eyes and large 
 teeth), that she had only one frock torn, and 
 that was by Henry, who caught roughly at it 
 as she was coming down stairs ; that she never 
 went out with Hugh except during her play- 
 hours ; that Miss Elder was almost always 
 in sight, and that her own mamma had allowed 
 and encouraged them to be together. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen merely replied with much bit- 
 terness : " but I, who am not your mamma, 
 do not mean to allow it any more.*" 
 
 They were already not at their first differ- 
 
king's cope. 35 
 
 ence, and her reply contained an allusion to a 
 stormy subject. Anne had steadily refused, 
 (as she said she would), to call Mrs. Scawen 
 mamma. 
 
 Several very angry scenes had been the con- 
 sequence between Mr. Scawen and his daughter, 
 which ended in violent fits of hysterical weep- 
 ing on the child's part, and a storm of pas- 
 sionate invectives on his. Miss Elder had 
 vainly endeavoured to shake her pupiPs reso- 
 lution. Her arguments were of no effect. 
 
 " Mrs. Scawen was not her mamma : she had 
 a mother in heaven. When her own mamma 
 died, Miss Elder had said that she was ' not 
 lost, but gone before.' It would be disowning 
 her to givjB her name to any other person. 
 Her father had done so, — it was possible that 
 he might have a right to act as he had done : 
 but she (and Hugh) meant never to forget 
 or to replace her. She would submit to be 
 guided by the reason of those older than her- 
 self where she wanted a guide : but those who 
 
Sa king's cope. 
 
 wished to break the link which still united 
 her to her lost mother, would find their labour 
 thrown away."" 
 
 Passion sometimes lends to children words 
 and arguments beyond their years. Miss 
 Elder gave up the point : so did Mr. Scawen. 
 Mrs. Scawen had never seemed to insist upon 
 it, but she found a hundred means of revenging 
 the slight put upon her. 
 
 She was quite aware that she could not 
 inflict a deeper wound upon Anne than in 
 separating her from her brother Hugh. Not 
 only was his society inexpressibly dear to her, 
 but all her little enjoyments were dependent 
 upon him. He weeded her garden, he planted 
 her flowers, he bought her fancy r-^bbits, and 
 it was with the savings of his pocket-money 
 that her little book-shelves were stored with 
 children's works. During his holidays she 
 never had a wish ungratified, and when he 
 went to school, it was one long anticipation 
 until their next joyous meeting. But now 
 
king's cope. 37 
 
 her play-hours hung so heavily that she would 
 rather have gone on with her lessons, and 
 Miss Elder was grieved to see how drooping 
 and listless she became. Even the servants 
 began to remark that Miss Anne had done 
 nothing but mope since her new mamma was 
 brought home. She had begun the troubles 
 of life pretty early. Hers were no fictitious 
 sorrows. And people who underrate the suf- 
 ferings that children can undergo, must either 
 have short memories or dull imaginations. 
 
 As Hugh no longer dined in the study, 
 the one short happy hour which Anne spent 
 in his company, was when they met in the 
 drawing-room after tea. 
 
 Although Mrs. Scawen's presence was a 
 drawback, yet over the chess-board they con- 
 trived to discuss their future plans, and be- 
 wail their present restraint. 
 
 " ril tell you what, Anne," said Hugh, 
 pausing with his hand on a bishop ; " I have 
 altered my mind, you shall have a chestnut 
 
38 king's cope. 
 
 at Datchley. Lady Orringtoii rides such a 
 beautiful chestnut." 
 
 *' Oh ! Hugh, I like a grey best — do you 
 mean to take my queen ? " 
 
 " No, ril let you keep the queen ; but you 
 have not seen Lady Orrington's chestnut ; 
 next time she calls if she is on horseback, 
 go to the staircase window and take a good 
 look at it, because you shall have which you 
 like." 
 
 " Oh ! thank you, Hugh ; and about the 
 sea-gulls on the lawn .'''" 
 
 " We will build little roost-houses for them 
 to live in, close to the water." 
 
 " And we will always feed them ourselves, 
 Hugh, for that will make them tame." 
 
 " I say, little Anne, do you know why I 
 hate blue satin ? " 
 
 " I think, Hugh, it is because certain Pea- 
 cocks are fond of wearing it." 
 
 " You shall never have a blue gown when 
 we live at Datchley." 
 
king's cope. 39 
 
 Anne laughed. 
 
 " I say, Anne, what a scraggy neck she 
 has ! " 
 
 " And her mouth, Hugh, like a crocodile." 
 
 " Or a hyena, when she grins. Don't you 
 hate to see her play the harp ? " 
 
 " I had rather she played, because then 
 we can talk." 
 
 " True, little Anne." 
 
 " Hugh, what has become of all my 
 pawns ?" 
 
 " I have taken them ; there, you may 
 have one back." 
 
 " I had rather have a knight." 
 
 " Don't you wish you may get it, little 
 Anne ? " 
 
 Anne tried to reach the knight, Hugh 
 snatched it off the board, — between them, 
 two or three pieces fell down. 
 
 " What is that noise ?" exclaimed Mr. 
 Scawen looking up from his book. 
 
 *' You may well ask, Mr. Scawen ! " said 
 
40 king's cope. 
 
 his wife rising from her harp. "It is Anne 
 romping with her brother. It would be ad- 
 visable, I think, for the future, that she should 
 be forbidden to play at chess with him. I 
 am sure I have done all I can to restrain 
 her outrageous spirits. They were fighting, 
 I believe. I am often bewildered to know 
 how to make Miss Scawen behave like a 
 young lady ! " 
 
 " You will play at chess no more ! " said 
 Mr. Scawen ; " you hear ! never let me see 
 you on any occasion play at chess again ! '^ 
 
 All this time, Henry, who had been 
 lounging near her harp, and politely thank- 
 ing her for pieces of which he had not heard 
 a note, was fast growing into favour. 
 
 " It is a comfort, Mr. Scawen, to see your 
 eldest son becoming all you could wish ! '" 
 she remarked as the young people left the 
 room. 
 
 But Mr. Scawen, who loved Hugh the best 
 of his children, made no reply ; — a common 
 
king's cope. 41 
 
 habit of his when he did not agree with the 
 speaker. 
 
 In default of the chess-board, Hugh be- 
 thought himself of establishing a corres- 
 pondence with his sister. Their letters were 
 short and simple enough, and generally ran 
 in this manner : — 
 
 " Little Anne, 
 
 " T saw you had a mind to cry last night, 
 but I am glad you did not, for the Peacock 
 would have been pleased. Never mind ! 
 We will have a chess-board at Datchley, 
 though we shall then be able to talk to 
 each other without all this bother. Send me 
 down an answer with your dinner things. 
 Susan will give it to Hassel. What a voice 
 the Peacock has ! Should not you like to 
 wring her neck ? 
 
 " Your aflfectionate Hugh." 
 To which Anne replied, 
 
42 king's cope. 
 
 " Dear Hugh, 
 
 " If you will write to me every day, I 
 shall not mind ; and I shall always have 
 your notes to keep when you are gone back 
 to school. The Peacock came into the study 
 this morning, and scolded me because I did 
 not remember about the Edict of Nantes. 
 Oh ! how happy we shall be together at 
 Datchley ! 
 
 " Your affectionate Anne." 
 
 Miss Elder offered no opposition to this 
 interchange of letters. She saw that Mrs. 
 Scawen was doing all that could be done to 
 ruin a fine disposition in her step-daughter, 
 and she felt it clearly her duty to undo, as 
 much as possible, her evil work. 
 
 But the experience of every day shows us 
 how much more easy it is to do harm than 
 to do good. Anne was of an age to feel, 
 and of a character to resent deeply. She 
 knew herself to be an object of direct perse- 
 
king's cope. 48 
 
 cution to her step-mother. She had too much 
 intelligence to be persuaded into thinking all 
 this harshness was intended for her good, or 
 that it arose from any deep interest in her 
 welfare. 
 
 Miss Elder's only course was to keep silence 
 upon all Mrs. Scawen's proceedings, and by 
 the mildness of her o\vn treatment to coun- 
 teract the perpetual irritation of that lady's 
 system. Happy it was for Anne that she 
 possessed so judicious a friend as Miss Elder. 
 That her temper was not wholly ruined, and 
 her character embittered by the sufferings of 
 her oppressed and harassed childhood, might 
 be attributed solely to the calm and watch- 
 ful solicitude of her governess. 
 
 Miss Elder was then about three and thirty ; 
 she was remarkably elegant in her person, and 
 refined in her mind and feelings. Of a very 
 calm and gentle temperament, she was sin- 
 gularly fitted to cope with the difiicult posi- 
 tion in which she was placed. Bom, Hke 
 
44 king's cope. 
 
 many a governess, to a better station, and 
 reduced by a series of misfortunes that might 
 make a romance of her life, she endured her 
 past and present trials with uncomplaining 
 dignity. No provocation, and her provoca- 
 tions were very numerous, either to herself 
 or her pupil, ever induced her to make Mrs. 
 Sea wen a topic of conversation between them ; 
 her name was never alluded to in any way. 
 She simply endeavoured to quiet her pupiFs 
 mind after a skirmish with her step-mother, 
 by directing it to a subject as different as 
 possible from the one that had just been under 
 discussion ; and so by amusing or employing 
 her thoughts, to draw them from what was 
 at once painful and injurious. Therefore 
 Anne loved Miss Elder better than anybody 
 except Hugh, but she never opened her mind 
 to her, because there was a feeling of restraint 
 in their relative positions, which is never 
 wholly overcome, unless the governess allows 
 herself to be reduced to a mere cypher. 
 
king's cope. 45 
 
 In this way time passed without interrup- 
 
 tioD, until Hugh went to sea. His father, 
 
 unwilling to part with him, had suggested 
 
 his loitering away a few years in the army ; 
 
 but to his romantic imagination, the wearing 
 
 a spangled coat in a garrison town would be 
 
 but a poor substitute for the honours and 
 
 perils of a naval life. So he went, — leaving 
 
 nothing to console Anne's heavy heart, but 
 
 a whole score of the holiday notes that had 
 
 passed between them, and a bracelet, made 
 
 after his own idea, with a gold cross, heart, 
 
 and anchor, depending from a thick golden 
 
 chain. Years after, bracelets of this pattern 
 
 might be seen in every jeweller's shop in 
 
 Paris, but at that period Anne had it all to 
 
 herself. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen contented herself by forbid- 
 ding Anne to wear it ; and she laid it up 
 among her other treasures, to be worn, when 
 she should go to live with Hugh at Datchley. 
 
46 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Orl. And why not the swift foot of Time 1 had not 
 tliat been as proper ? 
 
 Ros. By no means, sir : Time travels in divers paces 
 with divers persons. — As you Like It. 
 
 Toii£h. Mistress, you must come away to your father. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Although time passed heavily with Anne, 
 yet it brought in its train a consolation of 
 which nothing could deprive her. Very slowly, 
 but surely, her birthdays came and went. 
 She was twelve, she was thirteen, she was 
 fourteen. On the 1st of January she would 
 be fifteen, and when Hugh was twenty-one, 
 which would be when she was nineteen years 
 old, he would take possession of Datchley, and 
 she would be freed from the intolerable re- 
 
king's cope. 47 
 
 straint of her present mode of life. All the 
 delights that a poet might ascribe to Paradise, 
 she firmly believed to be centred in Datchley. 
 Neither Hugh nor herself had ever seen the 
 place ; but, in talking it over, they drew on 
 their imaginations until they made it a per- 
 fect garden of Eden. But not one word of 
 these day-dreams did she ever breathe to 
 Miss Elder, farther than to ask her leave to 
 begin a set of chairs for Datchley, which she 
 imagined would be ready about the time Hugh 
 came of age. Miss Elder, who had unlimited 
 control over all supplies either of books or work, 
 readily complied ; and Anne, having obtained 
 a pattern of the scutcheons of Scawen and 
 Lascelles, set about her labour of love. It 
 was never brought into the drawing-room, for 
 fear Mrs. Scawen should forbid it altogether. 
 Anne's work-frame stood in the shadiest corner 
 of the study, carefully covered with handker- 
 chiefs, when she thought there was any chance 
 of a visit from her step-mother ; and her 
 
48 king's cope. 
 
 happiest hours (except those moments of breath- 
 less and almost painful delight, when she 
 received a letter from Hugh) were spent in work- 
 ing these interminable crests and scutcheons, 
 while Miss Elder read aloud. 
 
 One morning while she was absorbed in 
 putting the finishing stitches to a scallop-shell, 
 derived from the Lascelles side of the house, 
 Miss Elder suddenly paused in her reading, 
 and remarked, that she thought she heard 
 Mr. Scawen's voice. In fact, that gentleman 
 might be plainly heard from the foot of the 
 stairs, summoning his daughter to his pre- 
 sence. 
 
 Anne rose with a beating heart, and hurried 
 down, wondering what grave offence Mrs. 
 Scawen had laid to her charge, and only 
 hoping that it involved nothing which would 
 endanger her favourite chair-covers. 
 
 As soon as she joined her father, he beck- 
 oned her into his study ; and there, leaning 
 on the mantel-piece, he surveyed her in silence 
 
king's cope. 49 
 
 for some moments ; while she, frightened cand 
 embarrassed by his gaze, felt the colour gra- 
 dually mounting into her face. 
 
 " What ""s the matter ? what have you done ? 
 what are you colouring for ? " asked her father, 
 sharply. 
 
 " I do not know, sir," faltered Anne, the 
 offending colour spreading over her forehead. 
 
 " You don''t know — that 's an evasion ; you 
 have been doing something you are ashamed 
 of," retorted Mr. Scawen. 
 
 Anne did not venture to contradict this 
 assertion ; she thought of the chair-covers, and 
 trembled in silence. 
 
 " I sent for you to tell you that the son 
 of my friend, General Clavering, has just 
 arrived," said Mr. Scawen ; " perhaps you 
 knew it before." 
 
 " No, sir," faltered Anne ; who was per- 
 fectly guiltless of knowing that General Cla- 
 vering had a son in existence, although she 
 remembered, some two or three years back, 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
50 king's cope. 
 
 a little, dry, abrupt-looking old man, with 
 very polite manners, who ingratiated himself 
 wonderfully with her stepmother; and who 
 went into ecstasies about Anne'*s eyes and 
 complexion, until he saw it was unpleasant 
 to his hearer, when he transferred all the 
 remainder of his admiration to the sole account 
 of Mrs. Scawen. 
 
 " There 's nothing on earth I abhor like 
 gossiping with servants, and obtaining from 
 them information of what is going on in the 
 house ! " exclaimed Mr. Scawen. 
 
 "Indeed, sir, I have heard nothing from 
 the servants," said Anne, with earnestness. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Clavering is to spend some 
 weeks with us,"' continued Mr. Scawen ; "I 
 desire that he may not find his stay here 
 wearisome : it is my wish that you should 
 show him every attention in your power.'"* 
 
 " If Hugh were but here ! "" said Anne, 
 timidly. 
 
 " As Hugh happens to be just now at Val- 
 
king's cope. 51 
 
 paraiso,'' said Mr. Scawen ; '* I do not see the 
 point of your observation. It is of no use your 
 exclaiming after Hugh, it will not bring him 
 back, that I am aware of. Your business is 
 to endeavour to amuse Mr. Clavering, and to 
 supply the place of your absent brothers." 
 
 Anne felt that all her German and Italian 
 lessons would be nothing to the task of amusing 
 an unknown Mr. Clavering ; but, summoning 
 all her courage, she ventured to say to her 
 father, — 
 
 " Is he a boy, if you please, sir ?" 
 
 " I consider that to be a highly improper 
 question," said Mr. Scawen, knitting his brows 
 into an awful frown. " Mr. Clavering is my 
 guest, and his age is of no manner of im- 
 portance. Let me hear no more idle remarks. 
 I don't know what you call a boy. I suppose 
 that Mr. Clavering may be two years older 
 than yourself. Follow me ! " 
 
 Thus abjured, she obeyed in silence, and 
 Mr. Scawen preceded her into the drawing- 
 
 D 2 
 
 U. ^r ILL Ua 
 
52 king's cope. 
 
 room, where her step-mother was seated on 
 one side of the fire, and on the other, sat a 
 boy about seventeen years old, very small and 
 slight in his person, with light brown hair, 
 hard grey eyes, and a straight obstinate-looking 
 face. 
 
 Mr. Scawen, with great ceremony, took 
 Anne's hand, led her forward, and said to 
 the boy, 
 
 '' Mr. Clavering, allow me to present to you 
 my daughter. Miss Scawen.'' 
 
 The boy rose and bowed, and then resumed 
 his seat quietly without speaking a word. 
 Anne, equally silent, went to sit by the 
 table. 
 
 '• This is the son of my distinguished friend, 
 General Clavering, "" resumed Mr. Scawen, 
 moving his hand towards the young gentleman, 
 who sat immovable, bearing a strong resem- 
 blance to a large wooden doll. 
 
 Anne bowed again, and glancing towards 
 the young gentleman, thought he was going 
 
king's cope. oS 
 
 to burst out laughing; but he suddenly reco- 
 vered his gravity, and looked more rigid than 
 before. 
 
 Mr. Scawen then rose, mentioned that he 
 was obliged to meet a tenant, trusted that 
 Mr. Clavering might be amused until dinner- 
 time, and then left the room. 
 
 Master Clavering received this speech very 
 politely, replied in a few appropriate words, 
 and then relapsed into the stillest silence. 
 Anne received a sharp intimation from Mrs. 
 Scawen that she had better take up her work, 
 which she did very willingly. Mrs. Scawen 
 was dihgently plying her needle at a very 
 ugly and unwieldy pair of slippers. Master 
 Clavering's hard grey eyes, wandered from 
 Anne to Mrs. Scawen, and thence to every 
 article of furniture in the room. 
 
 At last, Mrs. Scawen, looking at Anne, 
 said, 
 
 " Mr. Clavering remains with us during the 
 Christmas holidays." 
 
54 king's cope. 
 
 " My governor is going to Vienna," added 
 Master Clavering, in a very pleasant, courteous 
 tone. 
 
 Anne was quite puzzled : it so happened 
 that Hugh never applied this disgusting sobri- 
 quet to his father, — she knew nothing of what 
 Henry said or did. She thought Master Cla- 
 vering meant that his father was going as 
 governor to Vienna; and she imagined he 
 must have made a mistake in the last word. 
 Perhaps he meant Bombay or Canada. 
 
 " To Vienna V she asked, timidly. 
 
 The young gentleman nodded affirmatively ; 
 and then resting his elbow on the scroll of 
 the sofa and his chin on his hand, he fixed 
 his eyes firmly on Anne's very beautiful face. 
 
 A long silence. — Mrs. Scawen stitching di- 
 ligently at her slipper, Anne making great 
 progress in the embroidered corner of her 
 cambric handkerchief. 
 
 " I say, is your name Anne ?" asked Master 
 Clavering, at last. 
 
king's cope. 55 
 
 " Yes," replied Anne ; " what is your Chris- 
 tian name?*" 
 
 To her great surprise Master Clavering's sin- 
 gular countenance became suddenly clouded. 
 
 '' Never mind !" he retorted, sullenly. 
 
 " I don't want to know particularly," said 
 Anne. " I am sorry I asked, if you don't 
 wish to tell.'' 
 
 " Well, then, — Wymond, — there ! " ex- 
 claimed Master Clavering, with a praiseworthy 
 effort. 
 
 " Oh ! that is a very pretty name ! " said 
 Anne. 
 
 " Such humbug ! " muttered the young gen- 
 tleman. " Why didn't he call me Jack ? " 
 
 "But of whom are you speaking?" asked 
 Anne. 
 
 " Of my governor," replied the boy. 
 
 " Did you mean the Governor of Vienna ? " 
 said Anne, now quite confused. 
 
 " Well, you are a stupid ! " exclaimed 
 Master Clavering. 
 
56 king's cope. 
 
 " You are a rude boy ! *" retorted Anne, 
 whose spirit was up in a moment. 
 
 Master Clavering turned away and looked 
 out of the window, humming a low, mono- 
 tonous tune. Fortunately for Anne, Mrs. 
 Scawen was so busy counting threads in her 
 ugly slippers, that she did not notice this 
 little altercation. 
 
 *' Can you sing, Master Clavering ? " asked 
 Anne, archly, after a pause, during which he 
 had gone on with a dreary buzz, meant to 
 represent the air of an old ballad — the only 
 tune he knew. 
 
 " Yes, I can, when I like," he replied. 
 
 *' I hope you will sing to me, then," she said. 
 
 *' Ca depend^'''' he said. 
 
 " What ? you speak French ? " exclaimed 
 Anne. 
 
 " I should think I could ! " replied Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " What school did you go to ? " asked 
 Anne. 
 
king's cope. 57 
 
 *' Westminster ; but I have left. I am 
 going into the — the Hussars in the spring. 
 " Did you Hke school ? "" 
 " No." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because there was no place where I could 
 go and play alone." 
 
 " But it is so pleasant to have play-fellows," 
 said Anne. 
 
 " I don't want play-fellows — I had rather 
 be alone," he replied. 
 
 " But what games do you play at alone ? " 
 " I play with tops. I have eighteen hum- 
 ming-tops, all of different sizes, and I make 
 handles for them — I have a turning-lathe at 
 home. Besides, I play with gunpowder." 
 
 " Ah ! that is very dangerous, " said 
 Anne. 
 
 " I don't care," returned Master Clavering, 
 sullenly : " but I '11 play with 3/0M," he added, 
 clearing up hastily. 
 
 "What shall we play at.''" asked Anne. 
 
 d5 
 
58 king's cope. 
 
 " Billiards," said Master Clavering : " if 
 you don''t know how, I will teach you/"* 
 
 " I fear Anne will be a sad player at first, 
 Mr. Clavering," said Mrs. Scawen, rising ; 
 " but I believe the bilhard- table is pretty 
 good. It is growing rather dark for billiards, 
 is not it ? They light the lamps there after 
 dinner." 
 
 " It is too dark to begin this afternoon," 
 said Master Clavering, rising and crossing the 
 room to open the door for Mrs. Scawen ; 
 '' but I hope to have the pleasure of show- 
 ing Miss Scawen the game to-morrow." 
 
 By this time Mrs. Scawen had retired ; and 
 Master Clavering, coming back to the fire- 
 place, turned suddenly to Anne, and said, 
 " I say, can you give us a plate of salt ? " 
 Anne looked up in his face with the 
 utmost astonishment. 
 
 "How you do stare with your great eyes ! " 
 said the boy, not growing sulky, for a wonder. 
 
 " But — salt. Master Clavering ? " said Anne, 
 greatly perplexed. 
 
king's cope. 59 
 
 " Salt !" replied that young gentleman, dis- 
 tinctly. 
 
 " Oh ! certainly," returned Anne, ringing 
 the bell. 
 
 "A plate of salt for Mr. Clavering," she 
 said, when the butler appeared at the 
 door. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am : about what sized plate will 
 Mr. Clavering require ? " asked the butler, 
 with great solemnity. 
 
 '' Oh ! have the goodness to send my man 
 here," said Master Clavering. 
 
 The butler withdrew, and Master Claver- 
 ing's man made his appearance. A middle- 
 aged, decent-looking man he was, and he had 
 need have been; for he had the entire charge 
 of Master Clavering, who was as helpless as 
 an infant. 
 
 " A plate of salt. Power, if you please," 
 said that young gentleman. 
 
 He always spoke courteously to his inferiors, 
 unless they put him out of temper. 
 
60 king's cope. 
 
 Power withdrew in his turn, and presently 
 entered with a soup-plate full of salt. 
 
 " There, Mr. Clave ring,'' said he firmly ; 
 " you may make that last ; for it is all you 
 will get, and so I tell you ! " 
 
 " Is it ? you stupid ! " cried Master Claver- 
 ing, much exasperated ; " you give it here ; 
 and go and unpack my tops ready for me 
 when I come up stairs ! " 
 
 " You have got about twenty minutes, Mr. 
 Clavering, before the dressing-bell, and so I 
 tell you ;" remarked Power, as he was leaving 
 the room. 
 
 " Have I ? I shall stay as long as I 
 choose !" he retorted. Then setting one foot 
 on the fender, and the plate on his knee, 
 he kept throwing small handfuls of salt into 
 the fire, and watching the blue flame that 
 started up as he did so. 
 
 Anne sat contemplating his singular wooden 
 face, fitfully illuminated by the ghastly light, 
 and wondering whether he was not an idiot. 
 
king's cope. 61 
 
 A boy of his age playing ^vith humming tops, 
 and burning salt, struck her as something like 
 insanity, and yet the way in which he replied 
 to her father and Mrs. Scawen, seemed as 
 if he possessed the ordinary amount of un- 
 derstanding. In fact, had he been a poor 
 man's son, he would have been at once set 
 down as " a natural." But as General Claver- 
 ing was likely to succeed to the earldom of 
 D , it was agreed among the young gen- 
 tleman's friends to speak of him as only 
 eccentric. 
 
 No words could depict the fondness of 
 General Clavering for his son. He was his 
 only child — his only object in life. He had 
 parted from him with the greatest reluctance 
 — but his health was precarious, the climate 
 of Vienna in winter was said to be too 
 severe for him, and the general accepted with 
 eagerness Mr. Scawen's offer to take charge 
 of him during his absence. He could not 
 defer his own journey, for he was summoned 
 
62 king's cope. 
 
 ou particular business by the very Lord D— , 
 whom he intended one day to replace. He 
 viewed his son's eccentricities with uneasi- 
 ness, but without attaching to them the exact 
 meaning that other people did. In fact, Master 
 Clavering's character was sufficiently complex 
 to puzzle a much greater philosopher than 
 his father. He expressed himself correctly 
 whenever he made the effort, and went through 
 all the usages of society like a gentleman. 
 He read every thing that he could get hold 
 of upon politics, and seemed to understand 
 what he read. He played chess admirably, 
 and possessed a hard shrewdness that would 
 prevent his being much pillaged in the world. 
 But his manner gave way, if the term may 
 be used, the moment that he felt at all 
 familiar with a person, and he showed every 
 shade of temper that passed through his mind 
 as plainly as a child of five years old. He 
 was very nervous and fidgetty, and almost 
 wore out his servant, who was, however, at- 
 
king's cope. 63 
 
 tached to him, and who had been in the 
 general's service a great many years. He was 
 very domestic, as his father called it ; that 
 is, he was averse to going to parties, and 
 preferred sitting by the fireside carving toys 
 with a penknife out of a bit of wood, and 
 chanting his single old ballad. He was not 
 very fond of women's society, but he endured 
 them better than young men or boys, of whose 
 company he had a perfect horror, probably 
 because they had not led him a very easy 
 life when he was at school. However, he 
 took a decided fancy to Anne ; sometimes 
 appearing to consider her as a school-fellow, 
 and sometimes recollecting that she was a 
 girl, and staring at her large eyes with a 
 kind of hard admiration. But at this stage 
 of their acquaintance, both sat perfectly silent 
 — the salt began to wax low, and the dress- 
 ing-bell rang. 
 
 Anne rose to go ; upon which he looked 
 up and said, — 
 
64 king's cope. 
 
 " Oh ! you stay, there 's a good fellow ! " 
 
 This siDgular address had the effect of 
 making Anne resume her seat. 
 
 "Now then, Mr. Clavering !"" said Power, 
 putting his head in at the door. 
 
 " Well, what ""s the matter?" returned 
 Master Clavering, keeping his eyes fixed on 
 the fire. 
 
 " Time to dress, sir; the bell rang five 
 minutes ago. 
 
 " No hurry," said Master Clavering, throw- 
 ing another pinch of salt into the fire. 
 
 " Come, sir!" urged Power. 
 
 " I tell you there 's time enough ! " said 
 the young gentleman, doggedly. 
 
 " Come, Mr. Clavering," said Power, per- 
 suasively ; " you always take such a time to 
 dress." 
 
 " I shall come when I like !" returned 
 Master Clavering, looking still more obsti- 
 nate. 
 
 " If you don't come directly, I won't dress 
 
king's cope. 65 
 
 you, Mr. Clavering, and so I tell you ! " re- 
 plied Power, now driven to the last ex- 
 tremity. 
 
 At this declaration of war. Master Claver- 
 ing rose sulkily, gave the soup-plate into 
 the hands of his servant, and walked out of 
 the room. 
 
 Anne saw no more of him until she made 
 her appearance in the drawing-room with Miss 
 Elder, just before tea. He was then sitting 
 near Mrs. Scawen, surveying with the most 
 intense appearance of interest the progress of 
 her slipper. He came directly to Anne, 
 pushed a chair towards her, and said with 
 a very threatening aspect — 
 
 " Where have you been, all this time?" 
 
 " I have been in the study — I am not 
 out yet. I dine early,'' said Anne. 
 
 " Oh I I shall dine with you, to-morrow," 
 said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Papa will not let you," said Anne. 
 
 Master Clavering did not seem quite able to 
 
66 king's cope. 
 
 comprehend this, for with the exception of 
 Power, and a little lively opposition some- 
 times from the boys at Westminster, he had 
 done pretty much as he liked, all his life. 
 Presently he said, as if a sudden thought had 
 struck him, — 
 
 '* Let 's have a game of chess together. 
 
 " I may not," said Anne ; '^ Mrs. Scawen 
 does not like me to play chess. When Hugh 
 was at home " — 
 
 " Who is Hugh ? " interrupted Master Cla- 
 vering. 
 
 " My brother — he 's in the navy. His 
 ship is now on the South America station." 
 
 " What ship .''" asked Master Clavering. 
 
 '' The Amaranth," said Anne. 
 
 " Captain Lascelles, aint it ? " inquired 
 Master Clavering. 
 
 This choice piece of English was responded 
 to in the affirmative by Anne. 
 
 " Oh ! I know him," replied Master Clavering. 
 
 *' Know him ! — Hugh's captain !" exclaimed 
 
king's cope. 67 
 
 Anne, with such a flash of her dark hazel 
 eyes, that Master Clavering actually started. 
 " Tell me all about him!" 
 
 This request made the young gentleman look 
 very pensive, but after a little hesitation he 
 began — 
 
 " Why one day my governor brought home 
 a man to dinner, and told me his name was 
 Lascelles." 
 
 Anne, thinking she was going to hear some- 
 thing, was all attention. 
 
 " Well,'' she said. 
 
 " That 's all," replied her companion. 
 
 " Oh ! but — was he pleasant ? " she asked. 
 
 " Of course," said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Can't you tell me some more ? " asked 
 Anne. 
 
 " After dinner we all went to the opera — " 
 
 « Yes— well— " 
 
 " Oh ! then we had some supper." 
 
 " Yes— but— " 
 
 " Oh ! then it was too late to go any 
 
68 king's cope. 
 
 where else — we went to bed, and so did he, 
 I dare say." 
 
 Anne, who saw that she could not expect 
 a sketch of Captain Lascelles, sighed and was 
 silent. 
 
 " I "11 tell you what the ballet was," added 
 Master Clavering, after a pause. 
 
 Anne did not care to hear about the ballet. 
 ' La Giselle ;' " but I think you are prettier 
 than Cerito." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Anne. 
 
 "Did you ever see Cerito.'^" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Well, then, how can you judge ? " 
 Mr. Clavering, perhaps you might like to 
 try a game of chess with Miss Sea wen ? " 
 said Mr. Scawen. 
 
 " There ! " exclaimed Master Clavering, 
 turning to Anne ; " it would give me the 
 greatest pleasure," said he, beginning to ar- 
 range the table which Mr. Scawen drew 
 towards him. 
 
king's cope. 69 
 
 Anne's heart swelled : she, who had been 
 forbidden to play chess with Hugh, to play 
 for the amusement of the first stranger that 
 came to the house ! — All her wrongs seemed 
 to rise before her. — The passion that shook 
 her breast, made even the hand tremble with 
 which she was arranging the pieces. 
 
 " Come, I '11 let you begin," said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " Don't ask me ! I can't play ! It 
 makes me miserable ! " said Anne, shuddering 
 as she looked on the board. 
 
 " Well, if it makes you miserable, it won't 
 do," said Master Clavering, slowly taking off 
 the pieces, and putting them into the drawer ; 
 we will think of something else. Suppose I 
 teach you ecarte.'^'' 
 
70 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ma. I '11 be hanged first, 
 
 But you must have your way. 
 
 Al. And so will you too, 
 
 Or break down hedges for it. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 " There 's a knock at our door ! " ex- 
 claimed Anne, as Miss Elder was about to 
 pour out the tea the next morning. 
 
 Miss Elder looked surprised, for their door 
 was very seldom molested. She desired the 
 person to come in ; and Mr. Clavering made 
 his appearance, bowed easily, and drawing a 
 chair to the table, said to Miss Elder, in his 
 most courteous tone, " I hope you will allow 
 me to join your party ; I like breakfasting 
 early.'' 
 
king's cope. 71 
 
 " With pleasure," said Miss Elder ; '* I 
 will ring and let Mrs. Scawen know that she 
 need not expect you in the breakfast-room.*' 
 
 This was a very necessary move on Miss 
 Elder's part, to prove to Mrs. Scawen that 
 she had not cajoled Master Clavering into the 
 study ; but it did not seem exactly to meet 
 that gentleman's views, for he sprang up sud- 
 denly, and interposing between Miss Elder's 
 hand and the bell, said angrily — 
 
 "What, you would, would your*' 
 
 " Sit down, Master Clavering," said Anne, 
 laughing : *' we don't mean to turn you out ; 
 but Mrs. Scawen won't know what has be- 
 come of you if we don't send her word." 
 
 Miss Elder, who had begun to look a little 
 frightened, was relieved by seeing him take 
 the chair Anne pointed out ; and dehvered 
 her message without interruption. 
 
 " But you will like something more than 
 we can offer you here," said Miss Elder. 
 
 " Nothing, whatever," said Master Claver- 
 
72 king's cope. 
 
 ing ; " I never take any thing for breakfast 
 but dry toast/' 
 
 '' And we have some honey ! '' said Anne, 
 lifting off the top of a Wedge wood bee- 
 hive. 
 
 " Don't make yourself sick, then," said 
 Master Clavering, directing a wooden glance 
 towards the honey-comb. 
 
 "Is not he odd?" exclaimed Anne. 
 
 " My dear ! " said Miss Elder, mildly. 
 
 "He's only a boy," said Anne; "I was 
 afraid he was a man when papa called me 
 down yesterday." 
 
 " I shall be eighteen the first of January," 
 said Master Clavering, colouring with anger ; 
 " and the governor is promised ray com- 
 mission in the spring." 
 
 " Why, my birthday is on the first of 
 January," exclaimed Anne ; " Miss Elder, I 
 don't think I shall let him have the same 
 dav that I have. You shall have the second, 
 Master Clavering." 
 
king's cope. 73 
 
 " Yes, see if you can hinder it ! " retorted 
 Master Clavering, now very red. 
 
 **He's getting into a passion!" said Anne. 
 
 " See if I ever tell ' you any thing about 
 Lascelles ! " cried Master Clavering. 
 
 " You cannot — that is the best of it," said 
 Anne laughingly ; "do you know Miss Elder, 
 he has not the least idea how to describe 
 a person. Now, I could describe Henry or 
 Hugh exactly, if I tried. Couldn't you^ 
 
 " But, my dear Anne, this is not quite well 
 bred, to laugh at your guest" — remonstrated 
 Miss Elder. 
 
 " I will not,'' said Anne ; " if he will leave 
 off looking so sulky." 
 
 There appeared to be a slight struggle in 
 Master Clavering's mind as to whether he 
 would comply with this request, but after a 
 short pause he cleared up suddenly, and said 
 to Anne, — 
 
 " How old will you be on the first of 
 January "^ " 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
74 KINGS COPE. 
 
 " Fifteen," said Anne. 
 
 " Ah ! then you will do very well," re- 
 marked Master Claverino-. 
 
 Anne was at a loss to interpret this speech ! 
 Miss Elder smiled a little ; and Master Claver- 
 ing, seeing that breakfast was over, said to 
 her pleasantly — 
 
 "Shall I ring?" 
 
 " Now, Master Clavering, I am going to 
 my lessons,'' said Anne, "bringing a heap 
 of books to the table. 
 
 " No ! " he returned, clearing them out of 
 the way with his elbow ; " I '11 tell you 
 what we '11 do — we will go and play at peg- 
 top." 
 
 " Not just now, Mr. Clavering," said Miss 
 Elder, in great perplexity. 
 
 " Yes, we will," retorted Master Clavering, 
 " Mr. Scawen said yesterday that his daugh- 
 ter should — that his daughter might, — Oh ! 
 some humbug that meant, — she was to play 
 with me." 
 
king's cope. 75 
 
 Mr. Scawen had said the same thing to 
 Miss Elder, too, and she did not know how 
 to decide — he had not stated how far she 
 was to go, and really when Anne had not 
 been allowed to run in the park with her 
 own brother, it seemed odd to suffer her to 
 play at pegtop with a stranger. 
 
 Master Clavering terminated his argument 
 by drawing a good sized pegtop from his 
 pocket, together with a string tied to a but- 
 ton ; and began to wind it carefully up. 
 
 '' Now you mind what I tell you," said 
 Master Clavering, standing with a threatening 
 aspect before Anne's chair, " you hold the top 
 so — and the string so — and throw it in this 
 way, or you won't make it spin ! " 
 
 As he spoke he launched the top into the 
 middle of the room. It spun about feebly on 
 the thick carpet, and then fell sleepily down. 
 
 " This won't do, you know," exclaimed 
 Master Clavering, looking vindictive ; *' let us 
 
 come down into the wood-yard ! " 
 
 E 2 
 
76 king's cope. 
 
 Auiie had never set foot in the oflGlces during 
 her life. She hesitated ; but there seemed to 
 be no appeal from the authority of Master Cla- 
 vering. Miss Elder wrapped a shawl round 
 her — for it was a cold November morning, 
 — and she followed her new play-fellow. 
 
 Master Clavering had noticed from his 
 window that the wood-yard was paved with 
 flagstones, and therefore very fit for his present 
 purpose. It was very large ; but there was a 
 dirty-looking boy sifting cinders at one end, and 
 two men stacking billets of wood at the other ; 
 the servants crossing to the offices from door 
 to door ; a sound of quarrelling from a pantry- 
 window, — of singing, from the laundry, — and 
 of scuffling generally diffused through the 
 neighbourhood, that rather annoyed Anne. 
 She felt out of her place. 
 
 " I won't play here I '^ said she, decidedly. 
 
 " You will not ? " exclaimed Master Claver- 
 ing, angrily. 
 
 " No. I will play where I like, and at 
 
king's cope. 77 
 
 what I please ; and you need not clench your 
 hand, for if you do not obey me in every- 
 thing, I will never speak to you again. Hugh 
 did everything I liked. If boys are to be 
 masters, things are very different from what 
 they used to be, and I had rather die at 
 once than submit to it.*" 
 
 " I suppose you want to be master your- 
 self?" said Master Clavering, half laughing. 
 
 " I do, I tell you fairly. Now, if you 
 agree to it, come on the terrace, and play 
 there" 
 
 " Well, shake hands upon it," said Master 
 Clavering : — which she did. 
 
 It was not very amusing playing at peg- 
 top. Anne could not succeed in making it 
 spin, and Master Clavering grew very angry ; 
 but she became so indignant at any show of 
 displeasure on his part, that he found it his 
 interest to try and command his temper, — an 
 exercise that possessed for him at present all 
 the charm of novelty. 
 
78 king's cope. 
 
 Suddenly Master Clavering, who was in the 
 act of winding up his top for the fiftieth time, 
 flung it down, and exclaimed, — 
 
 " Run, run ! here comes Power, — this way ; 
 make haste ; come along ! " 
 
 Anne did not know why the sight of Power 
 should make them run away ; but she followed 
 as fast as she could to the bottom of the 
 terrace, down the steps into the flower-garden, 
 across another terrace, down a grassy slope, 
 headlong to the fish-ponds. There, crouching 
 down behind the trunk of an old quince-trecj 
 Master Clavering remarked, — 
 
 " What a bore that the leaves are all off" 
 the trees ! I should not wonder if he saw 
 me. Which way is he coming ? " 
 
 " He has gone back to the house,'' said 
 Anne. 
 
 ''Oh! that 's all right." 
 
 "Why.?" 
 
 " Because he came after me to remind me 
 to write to my governor." 
 
king's cope. 79 
 
 " But, if you ought to write, let us go back 
 to the house at once." 
 
 " I dare say. Let him write himself. We 
 will take a walk in the park until dinner. 
 You know that I dine with you," 
 
 " Do you really ^ " 
 
 " Didn't you hear me say so ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but I did not know whether papa 
 had given you leave." 
 
 *' Do you suppose I wait for leave to do 
 what I wish ?''"' 
 
 " I know that you ought to do so," repHed 
 Anne. 
 
 Master Clavering looked at her with a very 
 rigid countenance, and replied, — 
 
 " If my governor was to talk about leave 
 to me, I would cut him." 
 
 " And then, who would give you food and 
 clothes, you silly boy ? " exclaimed Anne, 
 laughing. " Why, nobody ; you would starve, 
 or you would go to the workhouse, and then 
 you would have to pick hemp, or whatever 
 
80 king's cope. 
 
 they call that woolly stuff, and wear the 
 pauper dress besides ; and then, how hand- 
 some you would look ! "" 
 
 '* Don't ! '' cried Master Clavering, choking 
 with rage. 
 
 " So that you would very soon be glad to 
 come back again to the governor of Vienna," 
 said Anne, laughing still more. 
 
 "Don't !" shouted Master Clavering, clench- 
 ing his hands, and perfectly crimson with 
 anger. 
 
 ''Do you speak to me in that tone?" cried 
 Anne, drawing herself up. " T will not suffer 
 it. You shall not get out of temper. Hugh 
 let me laugh at him ; and, if you clench your 
 hand again, take care, for I will have you 
 thrown into the fish-pond." 
 
 " Well, I won't," said Master Clavering, 
 sullenly. " Only I wish you would not al- 
 ways be talking of Hugh. Who is Hugh ? 
 I suppose you think him a mighty fine 
 fellow?" 
 
king's cope. 81 
 
 '^ Yes, I do,'' said Anne, — " the finest 
 fellow in the world ; and I shall always talk 
 of him, for I think of him all day and every- 
 day ; and when we go to live at Datchley I 
 shall not let you come to see us." 
 
 "Datchley!" echoed Master Clavering, in 
 a contemptuous tone, — " and when are you 
 going to live there ? " 
 
 " When Hugh comes of age." 
 
 " Oh ! you will be married before that time.'"' 
 
 " Do you dare to say so ? I shall never 
 marry. Hugh and I always mean to live 
 together." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Master Clavering, with his 
 most wooden expression of countenance, " time 
 will show !" 
 
 " I know how it is," exclaimed Anne, who 
 was excessively aggravated that anybody for 
 a moment should combat her chosen project. 
 " You are envious of Hugh." 
 
 " What should I envy him for?" he asked, 
 sullenly. 
 
 E 5 
 
S2 king's cope. 
 
 " Because he is a sailor, and has fought 
 for his country, which is more than you have 
 done ; though he is a year younger than 
 you are. He has several times heen en- 
 gaged with pirates, and Captain Lascelles 
 mentioned him in the dispatches, besides 
 writing to papa to compliment him on Hugh's 
 conduct." 
 
 " Very fine," said Master Clavering. 
 
 "I see you are ready to cry," retorted 
 Anne, " when you think you have never drawn 
 your sword, and never will, if you mean to 
 go poking into the army, while Hugh was 
 the first to board a Spanish vessel, and shot 
 down the captain of the pirates the moment 
 he put his foot on the deck. What do you 
 think of that ? Is not that better than going 
 maundering about the country, pretending to 
 be a soldier ? Hugh would not be a soldier, 
 for papa asked him." 
 
 " I am sure I would not be a sailor ! " 
 exclaimed Master Clavering. 
 
king's cope. 83 
 
 " No ; you would be afraid. The first time 
 the wand blew you would ask them to put 
 you on shore again, and Hugh would call you 
 a lubber." 
 
 "If he did, I would pretty soon call him 
 out," retorted Master Clavering ; "so he had 
 better mind what he was about." 
 
 " Then Hugh would shoot you, as he did 
 the pirate captain," said Anne. 
 
 " What do girls know about shooting ? " 
 said blaster Clavering. 
 
 " I used to shoot with a bow and arrow," 
 returned Anne. 
 
 " That has nothing to do with fighting a 
 duel," said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Don't contradict me ! " cried Anne. " You 
 said I was to be master, and if you don't 
 keep to it, you shall walk by yourself." 
 
 After a little grumbling, Master Clavering 
 subsided into the tune of the old ballad, which 
 was a tacit agreement on his part, that he 
 withdrew his opposition for the present. 
 
84 king's cope. 
 
 In a little while he stopped, and put his 
 hand to his heart. 
 
 *' T have a pain here," he said. 
 
 '' Oh ! I am sorry for that, let us go in," 
 said Anne. 
 
 " Well, if we go to your study, I will," 
 he replied. '' I don't want to go into the 
 drawing-room." 
 
 " Oh ! stop a minute ; I can't go on," he 
 said presently ; "it is intolerable ; — that brute 
 Power ! I should not have run but for him.'' 
 
 *' Let me call somebody," said Anne, fright- 
 ened to see him turn white, then almost 
 blue. 
 
 " No, it is going, it is better," replied 
 Master Clavering ; '^ let us come in, I shall 
 have it boring me all day though ; and all 
 owing to that fool ! " 
 
 " I wish I could do anything for you," said 
 Anne. 
 
 " Oh ! you are a good fellow," said Master 
 Clavering, '*■ but you cannot ; it will kill me 
 
king's cope. 85 
 
 some day, this will, you know (pointing to 
 his heart). I say, we will play at billiards 
 after dinner." 
 
 " Do you never do any lessons ? '"* asked 
 Anne. 
 
 " I ? pas si bete ! I have not left school 
 to do lessons ! " 
 
 " How did you learn French ?" asked Anne. 
 
 *^' I have been to Paris two or three times 
 with my governor : you should see Power in 
 Paris — he hates the French so, you can't 
 think." 
 
 " Here we are, Miss Elder," said Anne. 
 " Master Clavering has been ill, so I have 
 brought him back again." 
 
 " I hope it is nothing of any consequence,'' 
 said Miss Elder, smiling. 
 
 " Not at all," repHed Master Clavering. 
 " Why, I do believe there 's my fellow knock- 
 ing at the door." 
 
 " I beg your pardon. Ma'am," .said Power, 
 looking in, *' I am sorry to disturb you, but 
 
86 king's cope. 
 
 perhaps you will allow me to come in for 
 a moment, as I have to speak with Mr. 
 Clavering." 
 
 " Pray do," said Miss Elder. 
 
 Master Clavering fixed his eyes resolutely 
 on the table before him. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Clavering,'' said Power, pro- 
 ducing a pen and a sheet of paper, " you will 
 be so good as to write a letter to the general ; 
 and if you make haste, perhaps it will be in 
 time for to-day's post." 
 
 " Where 's the ink ? " said Master Claver- 
 ing, sulkily. 
 
 There was an inkstand on the table, and 
 Power drew it just in front of his master, and 
 then waited the result. 
 
 " You may write it yourself," said Master 
 Clavering, after contemplating the paper with 
 intense dislike. " I am sure you know what 
 to say ! " 
 
 " No, Mr. Clavering," returned Power, " the 
 general desired to have a few lines from your 
 
king's cope. 87 
 
 hand, to tell him how you were ; and you 
 will be so good as to say that you arrived 
 safely last night — that you were rather feverish 
 in the evening, but that to-day you are quite 
 well." 
 
 " I am not ! " cried Master Clavering, re- 
 jecting the pen that Power offered to him, *' I 
 have a pain in my chest, entirely owing to 
 you — running after me." 
 
 " You ran away from me, Mr. Clavering," 
 said Power, forcing the pen into his master's 
 hand ; " you had better put that in your 
 letter." 
 
 Master Clavering drew the paper towards 
 him, and began, not to write, but to draw 
 absurd figures all over it, such as little chil- 
 dren draw, with large heads, and hands, like 
 a bundle of matches. 
 
 " Well, sir, we must have another sheet," 
 said Power, drawing one from the portfolio he 
 carried, as soon as Master Clavering had 
 quite spoiled the one before him. 
 
88 king's cope. 
 
 " Is 'nt he provoking ? " said Anne, in a low 
 voice to Miss Elder. 
 
 " Hush, my dear ! " she replied. 
 
 " What 's that you say ? " asked Master 
 Clavering, looking up. 
 
 " I said you were a tiresome boy," return- 
 ed Anne. 
 
 " I can 't write, I have such a pain in my 
 chest,'' said Master Clavering. 
 
 " You always have, sir, when you don't 
 want to do anything," remarked Power. 
 
 " Oh ! Master Clavering ! " said Anne. 
 
 " He is a great idiot ! " exclaimed Master 
 Clavering ; *' it 's false ; I wish he had half the 
 pain I have. And now I won't write at all." 
 
 And resting his head on the table, he began 
 to sooth himself with the tune of his old 
 ballad. 
 
 *' Would any one think, ladies," said Power, 
 looking round him with a persecuted air, " that 
 Mr. Clavering is going on for eighteen years 
 old ! " 
 
king's cope. 89 
 
 " I can't believe it," said Anne. 
 
 *' I tell you what, Power,'' said Master Cla- 
 vering, after a pause, that biggest humming- 
 top of mine is cracked. 
 
 " Very likely, sir," said Power. 
 
 "As it wont hum, I must have another ; 
 do you drive over to P — , and buy me one 
 like it, it must be quite as large ; and if you 
 can get me one larger, bring that too." 
 
 " If you will write your letter, sir, I '11 see 
 about it," said Power. 
 
 *' Who cracked it," said Mr. Clavering, 
 dipping his pen, " we wont inquire ; I rather 
 think it was you ; but if you won't pack them 
 in tow, we must expect them sometimes to 
 split when they are jolted together." 
 
 " One trunk, ladies, is crammed quite full 
 of those tops," remarked Power, with a look 
 of resignation. " It 'was lost at the Manches- 
 ter station, and I did hope we had heard the 
 last of it ; but it seems they are very honest 
 on the railways, and it turned up again." 
 
90 king's cope. 
 
 After relating this with a sigh of regret at 
 the moral rectitude of the railway people, 
 Power walked gravely to the mantel-piece and 
 lit a taper for sealing. 
 
 Master Clavering at the same time completed 
 his epistle, which was pretty legible, and not 
 remarkable for anything, except that every 
 line began with a capital letter, as if it was 
 blank verse, a habit which he always persisted 
 in, and even defended, by some strange per- 
 version of ideas. 
 
king's cope. 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Kath. I see a woman may be made a fool 
 If she has not a spirit to resist. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 It took some time for Anne to convince 
 Master Clavering exactly of the line of con- 
 duct she meant him to pursue. 
 
 It was so new for him to yield his own 
 wishes to other people, — it was so strange 
 not to speak loud when he was angry, — it 
 was so troublesome to clear up his counte- 
 nance when he was sullen, — that he was for 
 several days in a state of complete bewilder- 
 ment, and only obeyed his new companion 
 because it was easier to do so than to think 
 over the subject and decide on a system of 
 rebeUion. 
 
92 king's cope. 
 
 For Anne, sitting quiet and reserved in 
 the drawing-room, hardly raising her large, 
 timid eyes, was a very different person from 
 Anne in the study, ruling over Master Cla- 
 vering. 
 
 But in spite of their occasional differences, 
 he became so attached to her society, that 
 he spent all his time in her school-room, 
 taking his meals with her and Miss Elder, 
 and appearing with them in the drawing-room 
 only of an evening. He offered no opposi- 
 tion to Anne's reading and working in the 
 morning; and while she was pursuing her 
 studies, he would sit by the fire with a pen- 
 knife and a strip of wood, out of which he 
 carved some absurd toy or other. 
 
 The weather set in about this time very 
 wet and dull, as it often does in December. 
 Anne, who was chilly and susceptible to 
 gloomy skies, was not quite in her usual 
 spirits ; but Master Clavering seemed to feel 
 himself very much injured. He sat closer 
 
KING S COPE. 93 
 
 than ever to the fire, and never took his 
 eyes oft* the piece of wood, which he was 
 shaving into some distant resemblance to an 
 ape, and which in time was to show its 
 dexterity by throwing itself head-foremost 
 over a little horizontal pole. But one gloomy 
 morning, when the leaden sky seemed scarcely 
 higher than the house-top, and the sullen rain 
 fell cold and steadily, and everything felt 
 damp in spite of the blazing fires, Master 
 Clavering came in to breakfast, looking more 
 dull and cross than usual, with his pocket- 
 handkerchief full of the scraps of wood and 
 pack-thread with which he amused himself. 
 As he was like a great many other people, 
 a huge demander of sympathy, however little 
 of that commodity he might be in the habit 
 of bestowing upon his neighbours, his feelings 
 were very much disturbed by the sight of 
 Anne standing by the window with a letter 
 in her hand, her whole countenance radiant 
 with joy. It was from Hugh. With trem- 
 
94 king's cope. 
 
 bling hands and sparkling eyes, she was 
 devouring every line. It was too much to 
 expect that she should see Master Clavering, 
 though he stood sulkily at a little distance, 
 watching her and expecting to be spoken to. 
 When the door opened, she thought it was 
 the servant bringing in the rolls, and went 
 on eagerly with her reading. At last she 
 came to the signature, kissed it, folded up 
 the letter, and put it in the pocket of her 
 apron. 
 
 '' Hugh sends his love to you, Miss Elder," 
 she said, moving to the table, — *' Oh ! here 
 is Master Clavering ; good morning to you ! " 
 
 " Hugh is always very kind in remembering 
 me,'' said Miss Elder. 
 
 '' And how are you. Master Clavering ? I 
 suppose you have a pain in your chest, as 
 this is your day for writing to Vienna." 
 
 " I suppose I have," said Master Clavering, 
 who had acknowledged her first address by 
 a very sullen bend of his wooden head ; " and 
 
king's cope. 95 
 
 if this weather gave you such a pain in the 
 chest as it does me, we should see how much 
 you would write." 
 
 " The weather ? " said Anne, looking up 
 with a sunny smile, " Oh, yes ; it 's raining 
 fast." 
 
 " It pleases you, apparently," said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " Everything pleases me to - day, " said 
 Anne. 
 
 Master Clavering pushed away his plate, 
 and went to sit by the cliimney-corner, where 
 he consoled himself by working hard at his 
 toy and chanting his old ballad. 
 
 " Good gracious. Miss Elder, listen to him ! " 
 cried Anne ; " there are some words to his 
 song ! Pray go on^ !M aster Clavering." 
 
 Master Clavering, who was moaning in the 
 most dismal manner possible a legend begin- 
 ning, 
 
 " St. Thomas is dead and laid in his grave, 
 Heigh lio ! laid in his grave ! " 
 
96 king's cope. 
 
 stopped directly, and casting a sullen glance 
 towards the table, muttered, — 
 
 '* Never mind what comes next ! I 'm not 
 going to sing any more while this kind of 
 weather lasts. It is enough to make a man 
 hang himself.'"* 
 
 " I am very sorry if you are really in 
 pain," said Anne, seeing him hold his hand 
 to his heart : " you shall have your own way 
 till you are better." 
 
 " Well, I like you to be sorry for me," 
 said Master Clavering. " My governor does 
 bore me so when anything is the matter with 
 me : he rings the bell, and sends off for the 
 doctor, and fidgets about, walking up and 
 down the room. Oh ! it would drive you 
 mad to see my governor walk up and down 
 the room, backwards and forwards, till my 
 head spins round. And I don''t see what there 
 is in me to make such a bother about. It is 
 only because he has no other children, and he 
 is always thinking of that stupid old earldom." 
 
king's cope. 97 
 
 *' You ungrateful creature ! " cried Anne ; 
 " you don't deserve to have any father at all 
 — I never heard of such a wicked boy." 
 
 This rebuff naturally sent Master Clavering 
 back to his history of St. Thomas, which he 
 chanted as if he were presiding at that saint's 
 funeral. 
 
 Anne was sitting in the window-seat, work- 
 ing hard at one of her chair-covers. 
 
 Presently Master Clavering came shyly up 
 to her, and fidgetted about without speaking. 
 
 '' Do you wish to sit here ? '' asked Anne, 
 moving her basket of wool from the seat. 
 
 He nodded, and placed himself beside her. 
 
 *' Go on singing," said Anne, " I work so 
 fast to that tune ; I take a stitch to every 
 note, and thread my needle to that little groan 
 at the end." 
 
 "What are you making r" asked Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " A chair," said Anne ; " I shall want some 
 more scarlet Jvound presently." 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
98 king's cope. 
 
 " Is it for yourself ! " 
 
 " No, for Hugh ; I ani working him a set 
 for the drawing-room at Datchley ; six com- 
 mon chairs, two arm-chairs, and two prie-dieu 
 chairs. That is a great undertaking, is it not ?'' 
 
 Master Clavering's only reply was to kick 
 down the basket of German wool. 
 
 " Well, if you like the trouble of picking 
 up all those skeins, it is very well," said Anne, 
 glancing coolly over the top of her frame ; 
 " nobody else will do it.'"* 
 
 " I am sure / wont," said Master Clavering, 
 sulkily. 
 
 " Then this is the very last hour you ever 
 spend in the study," returned Anne ; " I have 
 only to ring for your servant, and tell him 
 you are troublesome, and you know he will 
 take you down stairs." 
 
 " Don't ! " cried Master Clavering, pee- 
 vishly. 
 
 " Very well ; I give you half a minute," 
 said Anne, pointing to the scattered wool. 
 
king's cope. 99 
 
 Upon which, Master Clavering dropped sul- 
 lenly down on the floor, and began to collect 
 the skeins slowly together. 
 
 " And now I 've done it, I suppose you 
 mean to be friends," said Master Clavering, 
 rising from his knees. 
 
 " Yes ; if you promise never to do so again," 
 replied Anne. 
 
 " Then don't you speak of that fellow 
 Hugh," urged Master Clavering. 
 
 " Not speak of Hugh ! " exclaimed Anne. 
 "Miss Elder, do listen to him.'* He wants 
 me not to talk of Hugh ! Why his old straw 
 hat, which hangs up in the hall, is better than 
 all the people in the world, and you among 
 the number." 
 
 Miss Elder could not help smiling, as she 
 recalled the lines in Cymbehne, — 
 
 " His meanest garment 
 That ever hath but dipt his body, is dearer, 
 In my esteem, than all the hairs upon thee, 
 Were they all made such men ! " 
 
 This passage, however, did not occur to 
 
 F 2 
 
100 king's cope. 
 
 Master Clavering, who, after keeping a sullen 
 silence for some time, exclaimed, 
 
 " Only let him come in my way, that's 
 all ! " 
 
 " Take care you don't come in his way," 
 retorted Anne. " I would not advise you to 
 offend him. Hugh is very quiet, but if you 
 
 provoke him, p-r-r-r ." 
 
 What particular threat she meant to convey 
 in the singular noise with which she concluded, 
 is not known. Master Clavering became still 
 more sulky, and sat contemplating Anne's 
 o-orgeous carpet- work with a revengeful ex- 
 pression. 
 
 " I know what you mean by looking in 
 that manner at my chair,'^ said Anne, " you 
 would like to destroy it ; but if you do, I 
 w ill have you put into prison ; and I will 
 work something ten times more beautiful for 
 Hugh as soon as you are gone." 
 
 " Will you ? " retorted Master Clavering. 
 " Depend upon it ! " said Anne. 
 
king's cope. 101 
 
 This was a very serious quarrel. Anne said 
 no more, but sat working very diligently, and 
 thinking of Hugh. Master Clavering was too 
 sulky even to go on carving his ape ; he re- 
 mained leaning in the other corner of the 
 window-seat. At last he said, 
 
 " Come, I did not intend to quarrel when 
 I came to sit by you, it was all your doing, 
 I had something quite different to say.'"* 
 " Say it, then," replied Anne. 
 " Do you make it up ? '' he asked. 
 " Yes ; oh, dear me ! it is so fatiguing 
 making up ; yes, yes ! " said Anne, impa- 
 tiently. 
 
 *' Well, then, will you write to my governor, 
 instead of me, this once ? I do so hate 
 writing." 
 
 " No wonder you look so shy,"' said Anne, 
 " considering that you have hands of your 
 own : although they are little ugly, crooked 
 ones, they were given you to write with ; and 
 I promise you that if I undertook vour letter, 
 
102 king's cope. 
 
 1 should just tell the governor of Vienna what 
 a perverse tiresome boy you are." 
 
 " I don't care what you tell him, so long 
 as you write the letter instead of me," replied 
 Master Clavering. 
 
 " Can't you understand that your father 
 would hke better to see your hand-writing than 
 mine ? " said Anne. 
 
 " Who cares what he likes ? " muttered 
 Master Clavering. 
 
 " Now, once for all, you shall not speak 
 in that manner of your father ! " exclaimed 
 Anne ; " he is a thousand times too good for 
 you ! " 
 
 This reproof might possibly have brought 
 on another quarrel, but that a message came 
 at that moment from Mrs. Scawen, begging 
 to speak to Miss Elder. 
 
 " I hope," said Anne, looking frightened ; 
 " I hope it is nothing about me ! " 
 
 " What if it were ? " inquired Master Claver- 
 ing. 
 
king's cope. 103 
 
 " I do so hate to be scolded," said Anne. 
 
 " What have you been doing, then ? **"* he 
 asked. 
 
 " Nothing ; but Mrs. Scawen often scolds 
 me for nothing," replied Anne, despondingly. 
 
 " What a woman she is," remarked Master 
 Clavering ; " my governor told me she was a 
 fine woman. I pity him if that is his taste. 
 Why, her teeth are like an elephant's." 
 
 " An elephant has no teeth," said Anne. 
 
 "Has not he?" replied Master Clavering. 
 " Now I am going to ring for my humming- 
 tops." 
 
 The bell was rung, and Power brought in 
 two or three tops. 
 
 '* Well, that may do for the present," said 
 Master Clavering. " Where is the string of 
 the largest one ? — I do believe you take the 
 strings of my tops when you want to tie up 
 anything." 
 
 " No, sir, I don't," said Power, quietly; 
 " and when you have done spinning your tops, 
 
104 king's cope. 
 
 you will have the goodness to get your 
 letter forward to go by to-morrow's post. 
 You cannot send a letter with three lines 
 in it, all the way to Vienna, you know." 
 
 Master Clavering made no answer. He was 
 leaning down with his ear against the floor, 
 to listen to the humming of his large top. 
 Power cast a desponding look at him, and 
 left the room. 
 
 '^ Well, Miss Elder," said Anne, eagerly, 
 as her governess returned, " I hope there is 
 nothing against me." 
 
 ** No, on the contrary, my dear, I think 
 you will be very much pleased with my 
 tidings." 
 
 " What ! is Hugh coming home ? " ex- 
 claimed Anne, clasping her hands. 
 
 " Not quite that," said Miss Elder, smiling ; 
 " but Mr. and Mrs. Scawen have been invited 
 to pass the Christmas holidays with Mrs. Mor- 
 ton, Mrs. Scawen^'s sister-in-law ; and as they 
 wish to pay another visit farther north, they 
 
king's cope. 105 
 
 intend leaving you and Mr. Clavering with 
 Mrs. Morton while they go on to Lord K — 's.'" 
 
 Anne drew a long hreath. The idea of 
 finding herself, for the first time, beyond the 
 limits of King''s Cope ; the freedom of being 
 removed from the envious eyes of Mrs. Sea wen, 
 even for a few days, almost deprived her of 
 words. To have found herself suddenly in- 
 vested with a pair of wings^ would hardly 
 have given her a more boundless sense of 
 freedom. 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Elder ! " was all she could 
 say. 
 
 " I hope you will enjoy yourself very much,'**' 
 said Miss Elder, kindly. '' Mrs. Morton writes 
 that her house will be full of young people." 
 
 " How deliofhtful ! " exclaimed Anne. 
 *' Fancy, Miss Elder, — perhaps dancing, or 
 tableaux, or riding parties ; good gracious ! 
 Where does Mrs. Morton live ? — what day do 
 we set out ? — have you ever seen her ? — is 
 she at all like (with a sudden sinking of her 
 
 Y 5 
 
106 king's cope. 
 
 voice and countenance), — at all like Mrs. 
 Scawen ? " 
 
 '' Where shall I begin ? " said Miss Elder, 
 laughing. " With Mrs. Morton ? She lives at 
 Parkindale, about forty miles on this side of 
 Edinburgh ; and though I have not seen her, 
 I should hardly suppose her to be like Mrs. 
 Scawen, since they are not related in the 
 slightest degree, although they married two 
 brothers." 
 
 " And when do we go ? " pursued Anne, 
 eagerly. 
 
 "Mr. Scawen thought of setting out on 
 Thursday week,'' replied Miss Elder. 
 
 " Ten days to wait ! *' said Anne ; " never 
 mind ; the time will come ; it mtist pass, you 
 know. Miss Elder, though it does seem long ; 
 does it not, Master Clavering ? " 
 
 " O, yes, I dare say ! " exclaimed Master 
 Clavering, who had hitherto preserved a dog- 
 ged silence ; " catch me going off to Scotland ! 
 Mrs. Morton may be hanged, and her house 
 
king's cope. ' 107 
 
 full of company. I like better to stay here. 
 I never was in Scotland ; they are a set of 
 brutes, I dare say." 
 
 Anne, who had started back with a look of 
 defiance at the beginning of this address, 
 could now hardly keep her countenance. 
 
 " You ignorant creature, do you know 
 where Scotland is,'' she cried ; "I dare sav 
 you think it is in the South Seas ! but you 
 will go, whether you like it or not, for papa 
 will not leave you behind." 
 
 " See if I do ! " retorted Master Clavering ; 
 " I had rather be turned into a kennel of 
 hounds, than a house full of young people. I 
 know what they are, thank you." 
 
 " He is sh}' ! " exclaimed Anne. " But if 
 you are very good," she added, turning to 
 Master Clavering with a mocking air of pa- 
 tronage, " I will take care of you." 
 
 " No, I am not shy," he replied ; " but I 
 won't go. I don't want a parcel of young 
 fellows to be turning your head with their 
 
108 king's cope. 
 
 nonsense and flirting. It is quite enough to 
 be bothered with hearing about Hugh all day 
 long, and having him set up as a paragon 
 that nobody can imitate." 
 
 Anne threw a look of contempt over her 
 shoulder at Master Clavering, and then turn- 
 ing to Miss Elder with a puzzled expression, 
 said, — 
 
 " I always wonder what that means, flirt- 
 
 " It is not very easily defined," said her 
 governess ; " I think it means trying to at- 
 tract." 
 
 " And is that wrong ? " asked Anne. 
 
 " It is reversing the order of things, my 
 dear," said Miss Elder, a little puzzled at 
 having to discuss a subject better not ap- 
 proached with very young girls; ''women 
 should wait to be won, and not seek to 
 win." 
 
 "And now you know all about flirting, 
 which I hope you will remember," said Master 
 
king's cope. 109 
 
 Clavering, with a very obstinate look; " you 
 will just make up your mind to stay at home 
 with me. I hate the Scotch, they are a set 
 of thieves." 
 
 " He is afraid they will steal his humming- 
 tops ! ''' cried Anne, with a merry peal of 
 laughter. " Oh ! Miss Elder did you ever 
 see such a boy ! But if you don't take care 
 Master Clavering, / will steal them, and give 
 them to Sophy to light the fire!'*' 
 
 Master Clavering grasped his large top in 
 both hands, and sat looking stubbornly at 
 Anne. She went back to her work-frame, say- 
 ing as she sorted the wools — 
 
 " If you utter one syllable down stairs 
 against our going to Parkindale, you will find 
 it the worst day's work you ever did ! Such 
 a bonfire as I will have of your tops down 
 in the wood-yard, has not been seen for many 
 a good fifth of November." 
 
 There was a long silence. The rain streamed 
 down the window-frames — the leafless trees 
 
no king's cope. 
 
 rocked and moaned with the wind — every- 
 thing looked very dreary out of doors, and just 
 then people did not seem very cordial within. 
 
 Master Clavering still holding fast his large 
 top, amused himself by singing his old ballad. 
 Anne, looking ironical, beat time to it with 
 her foot. This was provoking enough, but 
 when in the intervals of her work she 
 drew from her apron-pocket Hugh's precious 
 letter, and refreshed herself by reading a few 
 lines, his displeasure was manifested by a low 
 grumbling noise, which exceedingly amused 
 his companion. He remained obstinately in 
 this frame of mind until the tea-things came 
 in, and then he made a slight concession by 
 laying his top on the sofa, and drawing his 
 chair close to Anne's place at the table. 
 
 She took no notice of him, but turning to 
 Miss Elder, began to discuss the important 
 subject of her toilet ; the dresses she had, 
 and the dresses she ought to have, to appear 
 properly at Parkindale. 
 
king's cope. Ill 
 
 This topic exasperated Master Clavering still 
 more, because it confirmed him in the idea 
 that Anne would attract attention at Mrs. Mor- 
 ton's, and would have less time at her dis- 
 posal to devote to him. And his extreme 
 jealousy was not the least remarkable feature 
 of his singular intimacy with her. But after 
 a time, finding that he was quite left out of 
 the conversation, he thought fit to recall him- 
 self to her recollection by saying angrily, — 
 
 " I want some more sugar." 
 
 "Did you speak?" said Anne, looking 
 round. 
 
 Master Clavering did not dare to repeat 
 the same form of words — he amended it by 
 saying, in a more subdued tone, — 
 
 " My tea is not sweet." 
 
 Anne placed the sugar-basin directly before 
 him. 
 
 " Take it — I am sure you want sweeten- 
 ing," she said, archly. 
 
 His wooden face began to unbend a little ; 
 
11^ king's cope. 
 
 and to her great surprise, while she and Mis8 
 Elder were collecting their work previous to 
 going into the drawing-room, he exclaimed, 
 suddenly, — 
 
 " Well, I suppose, you must have your way 
 about Scotland," 
 
 " Of course," said Anne. 
 
 " Grand bien te fasse ! but I '11 go," said 
 he ; " so now, I suppose, you will let me carry 
 your basket." 
 
 Anne, who, with all her apparent indiffer- 
 ence, had been really uneasy lest his opposi- 
 tion should alter her father's plans, offered him 
 her basket with a smile, and even consented 
 to shake hands at the foot of the stairs — a 
 ceremony with which he invariably concluded 
 their skirmishes. 
 
king's cope. 1 13 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ros. Well, this is the forest of Arden. 
 
 Touch. Ay, now am I in Arden : the more fool I : 
 when I was at home I was in a better place ; but travellers 
 must be content. 
 
 As You Like It. 
 
 Had it been possible for any circum- 
 stances quite to spoil the pleasure Anne had 
 promised herself in her journey, the crooked 
 tempers of her travelling companions would 
 have effectually rendered her miserable. But it 
 was the first time she had ever been ten miles 
 from Scawen Park, and at fifteen the spirits 
 are not so easily depressed as when they 
 have been exhausted by the varied shocks 
 that years are pretty sure to bring in their 
 train. 
 
114 king's cope. 
 
 Mr. Scawen was always cross upon a jour- 
 ney. Whenever there was any room to scold 
 he was irritable : at other times merely sulky. 
 Mrs. Scawen, not daring to retort upon him, 
 naturally snapt at every thing that Anne said 
 or looked ; and Master Clavering not being 
 altogether comfortable, kept up a low moan, 
 through which Anne could detect the in- 
 flexions of his favourite tune. 
 
 But every turn in the road, every variation 
 of the scenery, caused Anne's countenance to 
 beam rvith delight ; and when at length the 
 blue undulations of the Scottish hills became 
 visible, she could not restrain the exclama- 
 tion of *' Scotland ! " which fell from her 
 parted lips without her knowledge. 
 
 " Yes — Scotland," said Mrs. Scawen, bit- 
 terly ; " since we set out with the intention 
 of going thither, I see nothing surprising in 
 the fact." 
 
 " What is she saying ? " asked Mr. 
 Scawen. 
 
king's cope. 115 
 
 She seems to have discovered by this time 
 that we were going to Scotland," replied Mrs. 
 Scawen, who had the merit of seldom repeat- 
 ing a thing exactly as she heard it. 
 
 " What nonsense ! " exclaimed Mr. Scawen, 
 impatiently ; " she would do wisely to hold 
 her tongue, unless she can find something 
 to say better worth hearing." 
 
 Master Clavering's sense of justice revolted 
 at this dialogue, and looking fixedly at Anne's 
 troubled countenance, he said, in a low voice — 
 
 " Never mind, we are in Scotland ; and 
 when we were at home,'' unconsciously quot- 
 ing Touchstone's ejaculation, ' we were in a 
 better place.' " 
 
 " Oh ! look at the hills. Master Clavering ! " 
 exclaimed Anne, eagerly, " are they not beau- 
 tiful ? How often in reading ' The Black 
 Dwarf,' I have longed to cross the Border ! 
 I never believed that I should. Did you ever 
 read 'The Black Dwarf?'" 
 
 " Not I," he replied ; " what is it about r ' 
 
lt\6 king's cope. 
 
 Anne, glad of a listener to whom she could 
 speak on the subject of her thoughts, began 
 to give him an outline of the story, which 
 was not finished when they stopped to dine. 
 It was decreed that they should not go any 
 farther that day, and after dinner Mr. Scawen 
 being supposed asleep, and Mrs. Scawen at 
 the table reading, Master Clavering prevailed 
 upon Anne to draw her chair to the fire and 
 go on with the story. 
 
 " You left off where Hobbie's greyhound 
 kills Elshender*'s goat,"*^ he said, resting his 
 chin on his hand, and fixing his hard eyes 
 as usual upon her face ; " I want to know 
 what the 'Dwarf' did." 
 
 Anne took up her narrative, and went 
 on in a low tone, repeating scene after scene 
 nearly in the words of the original. 
 
 " I like that," said Master Clavering, ap- 
 provingly, when she described Isabers visit 
 to the hut of the solitary — " she was a bold 
 woman." 
 
king's cope. 117 
 
 " No — not bold — that means something dis- 
 agreeable," said Anne. 
 
 " You would have been afraid, I suppose,'*'' 
 said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Not if it were to serve any one I loved 
 — Hugh, for instance,'" replied Anne. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen laid down her book. Mr. 
 Scawen sat upright in his chair. They both 
 waited, prepared to find fault ; roused like 
 mastiffs by the very sound of the word 
 love, which had certainly no place in their 
 vocabulary. 
 
 Master Clavering, after overcoming a slight 
 fit of indignation at the name of Hugh, 
 pursued his inquiries. 
 
 " Do you mean to say that if thei/ were 
 going to marry you to a fellow you hated, 
 you would dare to go alone at night to the 
 Black Dwarf like Isabel ? "" Master Clavering 
 made this speech more aggravating by nod- 
 ding his head in the direction of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Scawen at the word thei/. 
 
118 king's cope. 
 
 ** That I would, if I hoped he could save 
 me,'*' exclaimed Anne ; " any thing rather than 
 marry a man I could not love ! *" 
 
 " How long is this conversation likely to 
 continue, Mrs. Scawen ? " said Mr. Scawen, 
 looking angrily across the table at his 
 wife. 
 
 " Upon my word," continued he, " when 
 girls of that age talk of loving and hating, 
 and marrying too, I really think there should 
 be some means found to put a stop to it." 
 
 " Pray when did you read ' The Black 
 Dwarf?'" asked Mrs. Scawen, sharply. 
 
 " When I had the influenza in the spring, 
 ma'am," said Anne, humbly ; " Miss Elder 
 lent it to me." 
 
 " I don't believe, Miss Elder did any thing 
 so improper — not that I have much opinion 
 of Miss Elder," said Mrs. Scawen. 
 
 Anne coloured in silence beneath this con- 
 tradictory statement. 
 
 "I think very highly of Miss Elder!" re- 
 
king's cope. 119 
 
 torted Mr. Scawen, " she could not suppose 
 that the book would fill the girFs head with 
 all that nonsense — love, indeed !" 
 
 " Dear me, Mr. Scawen," exclaimed his 
 wife, " whatever you may think of Miss El- 
 der, you may see by the child's colouring 
 that she is not telling the truth." 
 
 " Are you not ? "" asked Mr. Scawen, 
 fiercely. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I always do," replied Anne, in 
 a very low tone, but with a calm decision 
 that indicated some slight resemblance to her 
 father's character. 
 
 " I wish I could say any thing in favour 
 of Anne's disposition ! " said Mrs. Scawen, 
 shifting her point of attack ; " but I have 
 always observed that she is very forward 
 in her manners. " 
 
 " I will take care that she reads no more 
 novels," said Mr. Scawen. 
 
 " I dare say you may spare yourself the 
 trouble, Mr. Scawen," said his gentle wife, 
 
120 king's cope. 
 
 " most likely she has read every novel you 
 have in the house, already." 
 
 *' Well, why don't you answer ?" said Mr. 
 Scawen, finding that Anne remained silent 
 under this attack. 
 
 " Perverseness," remarked Mrs. Scawen. 
 
 "Let her speak, will you?" cried Mr. 
 Scawen. 
 
 " I have read no novel except ' The Black 
 Dwarf,' unless Scott's poems may be con- 
 sidered as such," replied Anne. 
 
 "No impertinence, if you please !" returned 
 Mrs. Scawen. " You know well the diflference 
 between poems and novels." 
 
 Except that her bosom heaved rapidly, and 
 the colour on her cheek deepened to a bright 
 scarlet, Anne gave no particular sign of being 
 worried by the persevering attacks of her step- 
 mother ; but Master Clavering's patience was 
 quickly exhausted, and as soon as he had 
 any chance of making himself heard, he rather 
 surprised the company by giving utterance to 
 
king's cope. 121 
 
 his feelings on the subject. "What do you 
 bully her for?" he said, looking alternately at 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sea wen. " What has she done ? 
 Why should she not read 'The Black Dwarf?' 
 and why should she not say, if she means it, 
 that she won't marry a man she does not 
 love ? I '11 engage she '11 be as good as her 
 word ; and so I advise you to let her alone 
 when the time comes." 
 
 Anne was breathless with terror at this bold 
 address ; but, to her great astonishment, Mr. 
 Sea wen took it very good-humouredly, merely 
 saying,— 
 
 *' Upon my word, Mr. Clavering, you are 
 quite eloquent in behalf of your play-fellow." 
 
 " Yes, I am," returned Mr. Clavering. 
 " How could she have told me about • The 
 Black Dwarf,' if she had not read it ? And 
 dull enough I should have been if I had not 
 had that story to amuse me. If you hate love, 
 I hate Scotland, — and so we are even." 
 
 " I am very glad you have been amused," 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
122 king's cope. 
 
 replied Mr. Scawen. " Anne is quite ready to 
 resume her history if it interests you." 
 
 But Anne was not quite ready. It is easy 
 to agitate some people ; hut it is not quite 
 so easy to still their nerves when shaken. Her 
 voice faltered ; she tried in vain to rememher 
 the next scene, and her spirits were not en- 
 livened hy a short soliloquy of her step- 
 mother''s, in which she passed a censure upon 
 young ladies in general, for conceit, affectation, 
 stupidity, and sentiment. 
 
 But Master Clavering had constituted him- 
 self Anne''s champion, and he was not to be 
 daunted. 
 
 " We will have the rest of it to-morrow," 
 he said ; "it will keep well enough. Now 
 don't you go to pour out the coffee. I'll do 
 that. You are tired, and bothered. You will 
 be better for some tea. Let me bring it to you." 
 " Don't quite turn her head, Mr. Clavering," 
 said Mrs. Scawen, stung with jealousy at seeing 
 him waiting upon Anne. 
 
king's cope. 123 
 
 " Let the young people alone, if you please," 
 exclaimed Mr. Sea wen ; '* they are doing very 
 well together.*" 
 
 *' Dear me, Mr. Scawen ! " retorted his 
 wife. 
 
 " I say,'' whispered Master Clavering, as he 
 poured some cream into Anne's coffee-cup, 
 '' I should like to see my governor behave in 
 that way to me. I would soon show him 
 who was master." 
 
 The next day, as it was growing dark, they 
 arrived at Parkindale. Anne could just dis- 
 tinguish the wild outHne of the neighbouring 
 hills, some of them planted with firs, and the 
 glancing of a rapid stream, over which the 
 carriage crossed before they came to the 
 house. 
 
 It was a handsome red brick mansion, not 
 different from what Anne had been used to 
 see in England, — not veri/ different, she was 
 forced to allow (as she followed Mr. and Mrs. 
 Scawen up the hall steps), from her own 
 
 6 2 
 
124 king's cope, 
 
 home. It was very different, though, when 
 she saw beneath the bright hall lamp, the 
 handsome, joyous Mrs. Morton advancing with 
 outstretched hands to welcome the party ; so 
 cordially that even Mr. Scawen relaxed into 
 a smile, and Mrs. Scawen, with that false 
 manner Anne knew so well, admitted that she 
 " was truly rejoiced at last to make the 
 acquaintance of her sister-in-law." 
 
 Mrs. Morton was tall, and as fat as it was 
 possible to be without losing either grace or 
 activity. Her features were short and pretty, 
 and her complexion almost dazzling, from its 
 strong contrasts of white and red. Ill-disposed 
 people thought she painted ; but Nature''8 
 own sweet and cunning hand laid on the 
 beautiful blush that lighted up her laughter- 
 loving eyes, and gave additional lustre to her 
 sparkling teeth. Her hands were especially 
 delicate ; — white, polished, and semi-transpa- 
 rent, like china; and the profusion of jewels 
 that she wore, both in rings and bracelets, 
 
king's cope. 125 
 
 seemed to surround them with many-coloured 
 rays wherever she moved. 
 
 As Mr. Scawen turned to point out Master 
 Clavering, with all the importance that was 
 
 due to the possible Earl of D , Mrs. 
 
 Morton, with her clear ringing laugh, stepped 
 past him, and said gaily, — 
 
 '' Ladies first, if you please, Mr. Scawen. 
 This is your daughter. I give you joy. T 
 have sons only ; but, if I had a girl, I should 
 like one not absolutely ugly." 
 
 And her sweet, arch smile, and the warm 
 pressure of her pearly fingers as she took 
 Anne's hand in both hers, seemed to speak 
 a sort of pleased admiration, that was ex- 
 tremely flattering to a young girl. And then 
 she turned her joyous eyes upon Master Claver- 
 ing, and apologized so prettily for having 
 delayed to welcome him to Parkindale, that 
 that young gentleman left off staring at the 
 little blond cap, with its Christmas wreath of 
 holly, that shaded her bright brown hair, and 
 
126 king's cope. 
 
 replied, with perfect truth and brevity, " Never 
 mind." 
 
 Indeed the impression made by Mrs. Morton 
 upon this important member of the society was 
 very favourable ; for, as he followed upstairs 
 with Anne, Mrs. Morton gaily leading the 
 way to show the party to their rooms, he 
 whispered, " Look at her cap." 
 
 " Oh, isn't she pretty ?" exclaimed Anne. 
 
 " Yes ; and her hands are good," rephed 
 Master Clavering. 
 
 " You are glad you came now," said Anne. 
 
 " We shall see," he returned, with prudent 
 hesitation. 
 
 "Oh, don't you like the hall?" she said, 
 pausing at the top of the stairs to' look down 
 upon the walls hung with curious weapons 
 and armour. 
 
 Master Clavering looked undecided ; but, 
 seeing that the party had come to a halt, he 
 made haste to say, — 
 
 " I '11 tell you what I like, — J'Our blue 
 
king's cope. 127 
 
 dress with the white wreaths worked on it, — 
 so mind and put that on for dinner." 
 
 Mrs. Sea wen, who overheard this speech, 
 took care that Anne obeyed it, not from a 
 wish of giving pleasure to any one, for she 
 was totally exempt from that weakness, but 
 because her step-daughter, not quite liking 
 the tone of command in which Master Cla- 
 vering's desire was expressed, had begged 
 her maid to lay her out a dress of another 
 colour. 
 
 The house was full of young people, as 
 Mrs. Morton had said. They were all cou- 
 sins in some degree of relationship, and most 
 of them older than Anne. She felt verv 
 much frightened as she entered the crowded 
 draTving-room : she could not cling to the side 
 of her father and Mrs. Scawen for protection, 
 as some timid girls are able to do, and she 
 really felt some comfort in the presence of 
 Master Clavering, who, though silent and 
 reserved, was as completely unembarrassed 
 
128 king's cope. 
 
 amoDg a crowd of strangers as if he had 
 been in the study alone with her and Miss 
 Elder. 
 
 Mrs. Morton, who was standing with her 
 arm round her eldest boy, introduced her two 
 sons to the English strangers, and then pre- 
 sented the Miss Andersons, with their bro- 
 ther, as first cousins of the Mortons : her 
 more distant relations, she said, smiling, she 
 would leave to become acquainted as they 
 could; for she did not mean to weary Mr. 
 and Mrs. Scawen, by naming to them all the 
 Morton Morays and Douglas Mortons who 
 chanced to be spending their holidays at 
 Parkindale. 
 
 Master Clavering placed a chair for Anne, 
 and stood leaning on the back of it, very 
 much like an accepted suitor ; and they both 
 amused themselves by silently observing the 
 company before them. 
 
 The two Mortons were rather handsome 
 boys of sixteen and seventeen, who firmly be- 
 
KING S COPE. 129 
 
 lieved themselves to be men. and were high- 
 spirited, good-natured, ignorant creatures, like 
 many others boys of that age. The Anderson 
 girls were fine, healthy-looking, rural beauties, 
 about the same age as their cousins : they 
 were being finished at Edinburgh, and seemed 
 divided between a very cordial inclination to 
 enjoy their holidays, and a fear of infring- 
 ing the many rules of elegance laid down 
 for their conduct in their academy. Their 
 brother, Sholto, was a red-haired, freckled, 
 shambling specimen of a Scot, such as one 
 sometimes sees represented on the stage, 
 and believes to be a caricature. He was 
 rather older than the other juveniles, and was 
 studying law at Aberdeen. 
 
 When dinner was announced. Master Cla- 
 vering oflfered Anne his arm as a matter of 
 course, just as Frank Morton (the eldest) ad- 
 vanced towards her with the same intention. 
 He looked towards his mother for help, and 
 
 Mrs. Morton, turning with a laugh to Mr. 
 
 G 5 
 
130 king's cope. 
 
 Scawen, said something about " monopoli- 
 sing ; " but he replied in a very low tone 
 and an impressive manner that surprised 
 Anne, and she nodded, and said merrily, — 
 
 " Oh, then, I 'm sure I won't interfere ! 
 Frank, see what good care you can take of 
 Agnes Moray.'' 
 
 Agnes Moray had been the beauty of the 
 party till Anne came ; but she was dethroned 
 by universal consent that very evening. The 
 other girls were glad to see her empire di- 
 A^ided ; for though good-natured, she was con- 
 ceited, and she ordered about all the little 
 would-be men in an unpopular manner. Anne, 
 who sat quite still and ordered nobody, was 
 a rival they were more willing to admit. In- 
 deed, she found herself growing quite intimate 
 with Jane Anderson and Ella Morton, and 
 had told them all the things she had learned, 
 and had heard a great deal about their win- 
 ter dresses in return. Before tea was an- 
 nounced, Mrs. Morton had asked her to sing, 
 
king's cope. 131 
 
 and she had given them a German ballad, 
 in that rich, contralto voice so thrilling and so 
 seldom heard : and the Andersons were asto- 
 nished to find that she could work in Berlin- 
 wool ; and the Douglas Mortons were de- 
 lighted to hear that she could waltz and 
 galop (the dances then in fashion) ; and she 
 was become extremely popular with the la- 
 dies, when Mr. Scawen and the young gen- 
 tlemen joined their circle. 
 
 Mrs. Morton expressed a laughing hope to 
 her cousin Sholto that the boys had been very 
 good, which meant that they had not drunk 
 too much, and he answered for the excellence 
 of their conduct ; at which piece of intelli- 
 gence she could not help pressing her cheek 
 against her darling Frank's curling hair, as if 
 to express her approbation that he had not 
 behaved like a pig. 
 
 Master Clavering, who had taken a chair 
 by the side of Anne as usual, looked hard 
 at the mother and son as they stood together 
 
132 king's cope. 
 
 arm-in-arm, and delivered the following ora- 
 cular sentence : — 
 
 '' He will plague her heart out one day, 
 take my word for it ! " 
 
 " Oh ! I hope not. What makes you think 
 so ? " asked Anne. 
 
 " Because she 's so fond of him," returned 
 Master Clavering. 
 
 " Not more fond than your father is of 
 you,'' argued Anne. 
 
 " Well, and I shall plague him when I 
 die,'"* said Master Clavering. 
 
 " But you won't die," persisted Anne. 
 " We shall see," replied Master Clavering. 
 " Do you dance. Master Clavering ? " asked 
 Mrs. Morton. 
 
 He shook his head in reply. 
 " Then," said Frank Morton, pressing ea- 
 gerly forward to Anne, " I hope you will 
 dance with me." 
 
 " If you please," said Anne, rising. " You 
 won't mind," she added, turning to Master 
 
king's cope. 133 
 
 Clavcring, who looked very doleful at beiog 
 left alone. 
 
 "• Oh ! go and dance ; only come back to 
 me afterwards," he said. 
 
 This was not easy. Waltz followed waltz, 
 and quadrilles followed quadrilles. Every one 
 was eager to dance with Anne. It was not 
 until she was fairly tired out, and could plead 
 fatigue as an excuse for sitting down, that 
 she recollected Master Clavering ; and even 
 then she was so hemmed in by youthful ad- 
 mirers, offering her lemonade, and wafers, and 
 chrysanthemums, and moss-rosebuds, that she 
 could not immediately fulfil her promise, 
 
 And when she did extricate herself, and 
 made her way to him as he sat disconsolately 
 leaning his head against the corner of the 
 marble chimney-piece, with the feminine tact 
 that some women acquire early, and others 
 not at all, she said, — 
 
 '' I wish you danced, Master Clavering."" 
 
 " Do you ? " he said, brightening up ; " so I 
 
134 king's cope. 
 
 would, only it would make me look like a 
 fool." 
 
 " But it must be dull for you, sitting here 
 alone." 
 
 " Dull ? " said Master Clavering, " I should 
 think so ; I have no tops, no wood, no — nothing 
 in fact ; and I want to make a windmill." 
 
 " Oh, you can make it when we go home 
 again," said Anne. 
 
 " Home ? when will that be ? I had as soon 
 stop in Newgate as here," said Master Claver- 
 ing, glancing over the merry groups scattered 
 through the long room, with a look of extreme 
 dislike. 
 
 " And Mrs. Morton," pleaded Anne. 
 
 *' Ah ! she is a fine woman ; but I don't 
 mean to make love to Aer," said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 Anne laughed so merrily at this candid 
 announcement of Master Clavering's that she 
 attracted the attention of her father, who im- 
 mediately summoned Mrs. Scawen, and advised 
 
king's cope. 135 
 
 her to take Anne up stairs to bed, which she 
 did, worrying her, as a dog worries a hare, 
 the whole time her maid was undressing her, 
 with every species of attack and insinuation, 
 until happily she grew too sleepy to proceed, 
 and retired to her own room. 
 
136 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 And by the chimney as they stood, 
 They freely talked, as they thought good. 
 
 GOWER. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen among her other accomplish- 
 ments possessed the art of exasperating to a 
 very remarkable degree. She seemed to know- 
 intuitively what would most provoke the per- 
 son who was the object of her kind attentions. 
 This quick perception of the readiest way to 
 tread on people's feelings, is the gift of nature, 
 and can never be acquired in perfection by 
 less favoured individuals. She knew how to 
 check-mate all Anne's pleasures during the 
 week she remained at Parkindale, with a pre- 
 cision that could hardly be sufficiently admired. 
 It happened fortunately for her plans that 
 
king's cope. 137 
 
 Anne had caught a sHght cold during her 
 journey. She had often been so ill at King's 
 Cope that Miss Elder had been seriously 
 alarmed, without awakening the least care or 
 attention on the part of her step-mother ; but 
 now that this cold might be made a pretext, 
 Mrs. Scawen's maternal anxiety was unbound- 
 ed. Anne was forbidden to walk in the morn- 
 ing, or to dance in the evening — she was not 
 to come down to breakfast — she was sent up- 
 stairs early to bed. She was obliged to sit by 
 the fireside, with Master Clavering as her sole 
 companion, while the other young people were 
 out skaiting, and exploring the country. She 
 heard them talking of a waterfall in the midst 
 of the woods, and a ruined abbey on the other 
 side of the hill, and she saw Agnes Moray 
 waltzing with Frank Morton, and galoping 
 with the two Elliotts, while she sat languidly 
 embroidering in a corner. 
 
 But what was, perhaps, more keenly annoy- 
 ing to a girl of Anne's age, Mrs. Sea wen lost 
 
138 king's cope. 
 
 no opportunity of making her appear ridi- 
 culous, of telling some story, or quoting some 
 remark against her step-daughter, with the 
 most good-humoured laughing air in the world, 
 that made her look like a child or a simpleton. 
 
 Anne certainly did not feel very Christian 
 towards her step-mother at these times. In 
 fact the strong mutual distaste with which 
 they had begun their acquaintance, had deep- 
 ened with years into something very energetic. 
 It would have required the disposition of an 
 angel, — and Anne was not quite that, — to have 
 felt anything like regret on the morning that 
 Mr. and Mrs. Scawen set out for Lord K — 's 
 seat in Perthshire. The sigh of relief which 
 she drew as she watched them oif from the 
 hall steps, was rather differently interpreted 
 by the bright Mrs. Morton, who drew her 
 caressingly to her side as she said, — 
 
 " We will take very good care of you, my 
 dear, till your papa and mamma come back 
 again." 
 
king's cope. 189 
 
 " Mrs. Scawen is not my mamma, said 
 Anne, in a low tone, as she looked up into 
 Mrs. Morton's cordial face. 
 
 " No, that Heaven knows she 's not," 
 added Master Clavering, who was standing 
 near. 
 
 Mrs. Morton cast a rapid look upon both, 
 and understood at once the state of the case. 
 She did not pursue the subject, but still 
 pressing Anne to her side, she said, in her 
 endearing manner, — 
 
 " Well, pretty creature, what are they 
 going to do with you to-day ? 
 
 " I don't know," said Anne, colouring bash- 
 fully ; "but I should like, if you please, if it 
 did not disturb any one, to practice for an 
 hour after breakfast.'' 
 
 " Why, what a little blushing piece of pro- 
 priety it is ! " said Mrs. Morton, gaily ; '' to 
 think of practising in the holidays. To be 
 sure you may, my dear; you shall have the 
 little piano in my sitting-room up stairs, and 
 
140 king's cope. 
 
 then you will be out of the way of all these 
 idle people." 
 
 Anne thanked Mrs. ^lorton warmly, and 
 hastened to fetch her music. 
 
 "You won''t mind my working while you 
 play,"" said Mrs. Morton ; " it will amuse me, 
 and we shall become better acquainted."" 
 
 " I shall like to be with you very much,'' 
 said Anne, smiling. 
 
 " And so you are very fond of music," 
 said Mrs. Morton, as they went up stairs 
 together, 
 
 '* I like it very much ; but Hugh is so 
 anxious that I should play well," said Anne, 
 colouring, 
 
 " Ah I ha ! pretty creature ; so Mr. Claver- 
 ing's name is Hugh ! " said Mrs. Morton, laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 Anne stopped short with a look of amaze- 
 ment ; then joining in the laugh, she said, — 
 
 " Oh ! no ! not Mr. Clavering ; my brother 
 Hugh." 
 
king's cope. 141 
 
 " Upon my word, Mr. Clavering will be 
 jealous of your brother Hugh." 
 
 " Oh ! he is," replied Anne, simply; " he 
 likes no one to be spoken or thought of but 
 himself." 
 
 '' Mr. Clavering, my dear," said Mrs. Mor- 
 ton, opening a pretty cottage piano that stood 
 between the windows in her boudoir, and 
 running her pearly fingers down the keys, — 
 " Mr. Clavering resembles in that particular 
 every young gentleman with whom I have 
 the pleasure of being acquainted." 
 
 "Oh, not Hugh! except Hugh!" said 
 Anne, eagerly. " Hugh has no jealousy — no 
 littleness." 
 
 " Come," said Mrs. Morton, drawing her 
 chair close to the piano, " let me hear all 
 about this wonderful Hugh." 
 
 Anne desired nothing better. It was sel- 
 dom, indeed, that she could find a listener 
 to this engrossing topic — her father and Mrs. 
 Scawen were out of the question — Henry, 
 
142 king's cope. 
 
 when at home, seldom addressed a word to 
 her ; Hugh's name always put Master Clavering 
 out of temper ; and Miss Elder was too calm, 
 in her expressions to satisfy Anne"'s enthusiasm 
 with regard to her beloved brother. She told 
 Mrs. Morton all her plans of happiness at 
 Datchley; all that Hugh meant to do for 
 her — all that he had been to her in her troubles 
 — how Mrs. Scawen had done her best to 
 separate them ; but how the time was coming, 
 though still far off, when they should go to 
 live together, and never be parted any more. 
 
 " See," she said, taking a folded paper from 
 her dress, " what long letters he sends to 
 me ; he is never too busy to write. I always 
 keep his last letter about me — I sleep with 
 it under my pillow, and when another comes 
 I lock it up with the rest in my little casket 
 of treasures." 
 
 Mrs. Morton's bright eyes were dimmed for 
 a moment as she listened to Anne's eager 
 prognostics ; for though her own path had 
 
king's cope. 143 
 
 been hitherto tolerably free from clouds, yet 
 she had seen enough of the world to know 
 that our dearest hopes are those most rarely 
 fultilled. 
 
 " Well, I hope your fairy tale may all come 
 true," said she, archly; " but I don't see how 
 you will make it agree with your other 
 prospects." 
 
 " What prospects ?" asked Anne. 
 
 " Your papa's intentions with regard to 
 Mr. Clavering." 
 
 Anne looked so exceedingly puzzled, that 
 Mrs. Morton could not help laughing. 
 
 " Why you can't be quite blind to his 
 views," she said, " and still less to the young 
 gentleman's r I am sure he makes no secret 
 of them." 
 
 Anne looked up at her, all breathless and 
 flushed with surprise. 
 
 " Oh ! it 's impossible ! " she cried ; " papa 
 could never think," — 
 
 She stopped, with an uneasy frightened feel- 
 
144 king's cope. 
 
 ing. She remembered how very much they 
 had been thrown together. 
 
 " Papa is a very imprudent man, then I"" 
 said Mrs. Morton, laughing, and turning to 
 the music stand. " What exercises do you 
 use ? Czerny, ISIoscheles, Chopin. You mean 
 to be an accompHshed player.*" 
 
 " When I can do all these;" said Anne, 
 dashing off an intricate prelu^- with an ease 
 and firmnuss of finger that surprised Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
 Every morning after breakfast Mrs. Morton 
 vanished with Anne into her boudoir, saying 
 to the group below — 
 
 " Now we two industrious ones are going 
 to hide till luncheon, and nobody is to think 
 of disturbing our meditations.'" 
 
 " Oh ! but I say," exclaimed Master Claver- 
 ing, the first time he heard this dismal an- 
 nouncement, " What am I to do all that 
 time.'* Why may not T come too.^" 
 
 " My dear Mr. Clavering,*" said Mrs. Mor- 
 
king's cope. 145 
 
 ton, with that Avinning smile which disarmed 
 everybody, " read, write, walk, ride, consider 
 my house at your disposal, with this single 
 little exception; but I assure you our studies 
 are too serious to admit of any interruption.""' 
 
 " What is she learning, then r" asked Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " Sanscrit ! " said the pretty widow, shutting 
 the door upon the word, and leaving on his 
 mind a vague impression of a laughing dimpled 
 fece, and a little pearly row of teeth turned 
 mockingly towards him as she disappeared 
 through the entrance. 
 
 And then Mrs. Morton would sit making 
 some beautiful little fabric in crochet, and lis- 
 tening to Anne's delightful voice, which pos- 
 sessed a melancholy charm seldom* found in 
 the singing of young people, because happily 
 they have seldom experienced as much sorrow, 
 — that great instructor both in art and poetry ; 
 and Mrs. Morton sang charmingly herself, and 
 found some Italian duets to practise with 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
146 king's cope. 
 
 Anne ; and when they were tired of music, 
 Mrs. Morton would throw open the glass doors 
 of her own particular bookcase, and take down 
 from the shelves, glittering with gold, and gor- 
 geous in crimson and purple (for she was a 
 coxcomb about her books), one of Scott's 
 novels, which, with his poetry, formed a pro- 
 minent part of her collection. 
 
 " From my heart I wish I had never read 
 a line of his books,'*'' she said, as she looked 
 out " Waverley '" for her young friend. " You 
 are more fortunate — you have all the pleasure 
 before you. Ah ! I was a girl when I read this ; 
 how I sobbed as I read the death of Fergus ! 
 how my heart beat for poor Rose Bradwardine ! 
 Young people don't care for these things now — 
 it is the fashion to laugh at everything. Well, 
 they are spared many a heart-ache ; but you 
 Anne, you will never bring yourself to regard 
 life and its struggles as ' the dream of a dream ;' 
 you are a reality — you are worthy to read Scott, 
 and pray cry over him as much as you like.'" 
 
king's cope. 147 
 
 Anne thankfully accepted the permission, 
 and availed herself of it in its fullest extent. 
 
 The only person who had free admission 
 at all times into Mrs. Morton's boudoir was 
 her darling Frank ; he would every now and 
 then burst in with a couple of great dogs at 
 his heels, to listen to Anne's singing, and in- 
 terrupt her reading, and teaze his mother, and 
 tumble her work about, and eat her lozenges 
 and jujubes by handfuls, like a great over- 
 grown boy as he was. 
 
 Anne thought it odd that James Morton 
 never came in with his brother ; for Mrs. 
 Morton seemed very fond of him, and always 
 spoke to him very kindly, and called him 
 " her good James ;"" for he was more orderly 
 and less noisy than his brother ; he never 
 got into scrapes, and was considerate to other 
 people. 
 
 Perhaps, with all his careless spirits, he 
 felt in his heart that Frank was his mother's 
 idol, and was too proud to contend for an 
 
 H 2 
 
lis KINCx'S COPE. 
 
 equal share of her affection. There are a 
 good many little dramas going on around us, 
 if people would but keep their eyes open. 
 Anne was learning this every day. 
 
 At first she could not make out why Agnes 
 Moray would never leave her alone ; but was 
 always saying little snappish"411-natured things 
 either to her or at her, in which she generally 
 managed to include her-cousin Frank. At last 
 she began to perceive that Agnes fancied herself 
 in love with Frank Morton, who was about 
 the same age as herself, and who had appeared 
 in some measure to return the sentiment until 
 that unlucky evening when Anne first came 
 in his way. Anne was rather amused at this 
 — she thought it such a very funny manner 
 of showing an attachment — it was so different 
 from the way Rose behaved to Flora M'lvor. 
 
 All this while she did not take much notice 
 of ^Master Claverinof ; her object was to keep out 
 of his way, ever since the hint Mrs. Morton had 
 let fall ; sometimes, when he looked more than 
 
king's cope. 149 
 
 usually lonely and dismal, her conscience re- 
 proached her a little for her neglect ; but she 
 thought he might perhaps misinterpret her pity, 
 and so she still avoided him. The only person 
 in the house with whom he ever associated 
 was James Morton. Sometimes they would 
 go out riding to2"ether, and after breakfast 
 they read the papers in company, and exchanged 
 their opinions upon the conduct of Ministers, 
 and the condition of Europe 
 
150 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mar. How many ways then hath love of gaining access? 
 Prithee chafe not ! 
 
 Guar. jNIore ways than welcomes ! Tut ! tell not me ! 
 He will come in at the ear as readily as the eye — a fair 
 report will do as much as a fair favour. — His highways 
 are many and free enough ; — but for his byeways — ill 
 befall a poor guardian, who would fain watch and ward 
 
 them all ! 
 
 Anon. 
 
 " I don't know, I am sure, whether I am 
 doing right ; I suppose papa and mamma have 
 no objection ; all young people read Scott," 
 said Mrs. Morton, taking down another set 
 of books for Anne. 
 
 " Miss Elder gave me ' The Black Dwarf,'" 
 was her only reply ; for I am sorry to say 
 that it never entered into her head to pay 
 the least attention to anything Mrs. Scawen 
 
king's cope. lol 
 
 might desire. She knew that every admonition 
 from that quarter was the result of hatred 
 and ill-temper combined ; and though she was 
 very nearly right, it was rather a dangerous 
 idea for a young girl to entertain. 
 
 " I cannot see the merit of withholding 
 works of fiction from young people,"*' pursued 
 Mrs. Morton, " they are the only persons who 
 really enjoy them. The enchantment is over 
 when you advance into middle life. The fairy 
 gilding crumbles off the walls, and there 's 
 nothing left but the bricks and mortar. You 
 see the machinery — you anticipate the end ; 
 there 's no pleasant suspense left. Read all 
 the novels you can now, my dear Anne, and 
 when you are my age, console yourself with 
 history and ethics — with the stern realities of 
 life." 
 
 Anne willingly resigned herself to this pleasing 
 duty, and was deep in the mysteries of Guy 
 Mannering, when Frank Morton, as usual, burst 
 into the room. 
 
152 king's cope. 
 
 " Oh ! I thought — I hoped — Miss Scawen 
 was singing," he said. 
 
 " So she was, half an hour ago," replied 
 Mrs. Morton, laughing ; " dear Anne will you 
 have the charity — it is really a shame to ask 
 you, but my Frank, like myself, is so fond 
 of good singing — do give him that very sweet 
 Httle German air, and then send him about 
 his business." 
 
 Anne good-naturedly rose, and went to the 
 piano ; but the German air was followed by a 
 French air, and an English air, and a Scotch 
 air, and then by that brilliant galope which 
 Frank Morton was never tired of hearing ; 
 so that, when it was time to go to luncheon, 
 Anne had not made any farther acquaintance 
 with "Vanbeest Brown." 
 
 For Mrs. Morton, who would have been 
 shocked to disturb a person from an absorbing- 
 occupation, to please any one else, thought 
 it quite natural that Anne should leave Guy 
 Mannering to sing to her Frank ; like many 
 
king's cope. 153 
 
 other mothers, whose sense seems to desert them 
 when their own children come in question, though 
 nothing can exceed the beauty of their theories 
 as applied to the circle of their acquaintance. 
 
 " I have enjoyed myself so much ! I never 
 had such a treat in the course of my life ! " 
 exclaimed Frank, as they entered the dining- 
 room. 
 
 Ah ! we shall not let you disturb us again," 
 said Mrs. Morton ; "we shall bolt the door 
 to-morrow.'"* 
 
 Frank knew how much this threat was 
 worth ; he laughed as he drew back Anne's 
 chair. 
 
 " Is no one but Frank to have the pleasure 
 of hearing you?" asked Mr. Anderson, "we 
 are all very much disposed to envy him. I 
 have not been so fortunate since the first 
 evening you came." 
 
 '* And Miss Scawen's voice is — oh ! beau- 
 tiful ! " said little Ellis Morton, the youngest 
 of the cousins. 
 
 H 5 
 
154 king's cope. 
 
 " I did not know before that my singing 
 was worth hearing," said Anne, simply ; *' I 
 shall always be very glad to sing to any one ; 
 but we dance of an evening, which is much 
 better," 
 
 " Nothing can be better than to hear you 
 sing ' Auld Robin Gray ! "* exclaimed Frank ; 
 " I cannot think how you manage to make 
 it so touching." 
 
 " Why, I feel it — I have a brother at sea," 
 replied Anne, colouring with emotion, as she 
 generally did, when she alluded to Hugh. 
 
 Agnes Moray s face was very cloudy during 
 this conversation. She had heard Anne's per- 
 fections discussed again and again by the young 
 people ; her beauty, her unaffected good-nature, 
 her graceful dancing, and her extraordinary 
 voice. 
 
 Boys are more observant, and a great deal 
 more fastidious than men. They admire good 
 temper, — they abhor affectation, — they worship 
 beauty, — they set great store by accomplish- 
 
king's cope. 155 
 
 ment : whereas men are contented with a fine 
 bold girl with plenty of money. 
 
 The Anderson girls good-naturedly echoed 
 her praises, and beheved in them ; but they 
 were wormwood to Agnes Moray, who thought 
 herself infinitely Anne's superior. 
 
 Now Mrs. Morton had promised the young 
 people a ball on Twelfth Night, — a regular 
 dance, with musicians and ices, like grown-up 
 people, — and she had asked all the young 
 neighbourhood ; and every body in the house 
 had invited Anne to dance, so that she was 
 really quite perplexed by the number of her 
 invitations, and nobody had engaged Agnes 
 Moray, who danced (she thought) with so 
 much more style. And, to make matters 
 worse, nobody seemed to notice that Agnes 
 was out of temper, though she refused every- 
 thing on the table, and sat discontentedly 
 playing with her fork. Mrs. Morton merely 
 thought she was not hungry, and, looking up 
 from her plate, remarked that Agnes was not 
 
156 king's cope. 
 
 eating, and reminded Mr. Clavering to take 
 care of his neighbour ; which he never did, 
 though she made love to him constantly, in 
 the hope of piquing Frank into being jealous. 
 
 " Talking of the ball," said Frank. " I 
 wish you would invite a fellow I know — 
 young Hardwicke.'' 
 
 " With all my heart," repHed Mrs. Morton, 
 — " not that I ever heard his name before." 
 
 " He was at Eton with me," said Frank. 
 "^ He is in the — th Dragoons, and is quar- 
 tered at M . I met him out shooting 
 
 the other day." 
 
 " Oh, the man who is come to take care 
 of the hay-stacks," said Mrs. Morton, care- 
 lessly ; " send him a note, by all means." 
 
 For that winter incendiarism was very com- 
 mon all over the country, and a detachment 
 of troops had been sent to a village a few 
 miles off, to assist in putting out the fires, 
 and apprehending the incendiaries. 
 
 " There was a fire last night out near 
 
king's cope. 157 
 
 M ," said Ellis Morton ; " you know, 
 
 Mr. Clavering, just as we were coming home 
 to dinner." 
 
 " Ah ! that made you late," said Mrs. 
 Morton, turning archly to Master Clavering. 
 " You went to see the fire." 
 
 "Yes," said he; "James, and I, and the 
 young one there." 
 
 " I hope you helped amazingly to put it 
 out," said Mrs. Morton, drawing a dish of 
 pastry towards her. 
 
 " Clavering did wonders," said James. " Ellis 
 and I played a very secondary part." 
 
 " Pray tell us Mr. Clavering's adventures ! " 
 exclaimed Agnes, who lost no opportunity of 
 trying to make an impression on that sus- 
 ceptible young gentleman. 
 
 " You hold your tongue !" exclaimed Master 
 Clavering, looking angrily at James. 
 
 "Oh, let me tell!" cried little Ellis, not 
 waiting, however, for permission. " You know, 
 when we saw something red, like a great 
 
158 king's cope. 
 
 bright wave, rising and sinking behind the 
 hedges, James said it was a fire, and we cut 
 across the fields, and there was a farm-house, 
 and all the stacks in a blaze, and soldiers 
 and people running about, and water-engines." 
 
 " Very clear," said Mrs. Morton, laughing. 
 
 " And there was this Mr. Hardwicke,'' con- 
 tinued Ellis, now very much out of breath, 
 *'_ standing, and directing the people ; and 
 when James asked if we could be of any use, 
 he said he was much obliged, but that he 
 had too many persons already — they ran over 
 each other. He was in uniform, was not he, 
 James ? "" 
 
 "A very important item in putting out a 
 fire," said Mrs. Morton. " Anne, my dear, 
 I hope you are all ears, something is coming 
 out about your preux chevalier.'''* 
 
 " Well," continued Ellis, " we stood still, 
 and looked on. How the wind blew, and how 
 it did blaze. James said we would just stop 
 and see the roof fall in, when one of the 
 
king's cope. 159 
 
 women began to scream, and said she had 
 left her yomigest child upstairs, — she had been 
 so busy carrying out the others." 
 
 " But this is rather common, isn't it," 
 whispered Mrs. Morton to Anne, — "saving a 
 child, eh?'' 
 
 " Well, this Mr. Hardwicke — he seemed 
 very cool about it, didn't he, James r — he told 
 the woman to count her brats and see that 
 one was missing ; and then he ran into the 
 house, and upstairs ; and the stairs cracked, 
 like the bridge over the mill in the ' Som- 
 nambula ;' and then he came to the window 
 in a moment, holding a child, — it really was 
 a baby, you know, Aunt Morton, and scream- 
 ing till it was black in the face, — and asked 
 somebody to catch it ; and then Clavering ran 
 forward, and held out his hat." 
 
 Here all the young people burst out laugh- 
 ing. Master Clavering, who had managed to 
 get to the window during this recital, and 
 was looking doggedly into the garden, turned 
 
160 king's cope. 
 
 round, and cast a sullen glance at Anne, who 
 was leaning back in her chair, with her hands 
 clasped over her face, shaking with suppressed 
 laughter more than any one at table, — she 
 pictured him to herself so comj^letely. 
 
 '*Go on, Ellis," said Mrs. Morton, "it is 
 so thrilling." 
 
 " Why, then," said the little boy, looking 
 round rather suspiciously, as not knowing 
 quite whether the laugh went against him or 
 Master Clavering, — " then Clavering snatched a 
 ladder from one of the farming-men, and set 
 it against the casement, and ran up, and took 
 the child through the window, and gave it to 
 the mother, and the woman cried, and hugged 
 him." 
 
 Here blaster Clavering shuddered, and made 
 a face expressive of great disgust. 
 
 " But then. Aunt Morton, what do you 
 think ?" said Ellis, opening his eyes very wide, 
 " the casement was a very narrow one — too 
 small for Mr. Hardwicke to get through, and 
 
king's cope. 161 
 
 he was obliged to come back by the stairs, 
 and they broke in the middle, and down he 
 went all among the rafters and things, and 
 how he scrambled out I don't know ; but he 
 was preciously singed and blackened, was not 
 he, James?" 
 
 " I believe you," said James. " I mean 
 to call and ask after him to-day." 
 
 "And we will go and look after the poor 
 woman who was burnt out last night," said 
 Mrs. Morton, who was very charitable. 
 
 " And I vote that we make a collection 
 for her," said Mary Anderson, who had been 
 used to that sort of thing at school. 
 
 "Oh, that v^iW be delightful!" said Anne, 
 taking out her little embroidered purse. 
 
 " And I think," said Mrs. Morton, taking 
 the inlaid rosewood box which had served for 
 the quete, and advancing towards Master Claver- 
 ing, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, 
 "from no hand would this relief be so valued 
 as from Mr. Clavering's, who had the pleasure 
 
162 king's cope. 
 
 of restoring the poor woman''s child to her 
 arms."" 
 
 " She be hanged ! '"* said Master Clavering, 
 waving aside the box with great energy, — he 
 had put a five-pound note into it, though, — 
 "I '11 not go near her. I Ve had enough 
 of her. She smelt of onions and peat-smoke.'' 
 
 " Mr. Clavering, I respect your scruples," 
 said Mrs. Morton, gaily, " here Frank, you 
 shall be grand almoner. And, perhaps, dear 
 Anne, as you always dressed sooner than any 
 of us, you would write a note for me to this 
 Mr. . Franlv will tell you his name." 
 
 " We have a proverb," said Frank, follow- 
 ing Anne to the writing-table : " ' Bonnie 
 bride soon buskit.' " 
 
 " Shall I write it, Aunt Morton ?" said Ag- 
 nes, wishing to interrupt Anne's tete-a-tete 
 ^vith Frank. 
 
 " No, my dear Agnes, you scribble so," re- 
 plied Mrs. Morton ; " run upstairs, and get 
 on your bonnet." 
 
king's cope. 168 
 
 ^' For you kuow, Agnes, you are not soon 
 buskit by any means," said little Ellis. 
 
 Agnes positively cried with passion as she 
 went to her room, and the party were all 
 waiting for her in the hall, because she was 
 obliged to stay and bathe her eyes before she 
 could appear before them. 
 
 " What singular creatures boys are,"" said 
 Mrs. Morton to Anne, as they walked toge- 
 ther ; '' fancy their keeping this fire to them- 
 selves all last night, and all this morning, 
 and then only telling it by chance. I am sure 
 I should have rushed in among you directly 
 I got home, and proclaimed my adventures 
 a haute voix ; shouldn't you ? But I 'm 
 distressed to find that after all, Mr. Clavering 
 was not quite so prominent in the affair as 
 the other man who ran upstairs ; though his 
 holding his hat was delightful. Do you know 
 he rather interests me, your Mr. Clavering 
 — he is so very odd, and then though not 
 at all handsome, he has that air which can 
 
164 king's cope. 
 
 neither be purchased nor taught — the calm 
 of high birth. I don't pity you so much, 
 Anne, as T thought I should."" 
 
 '' Oh ! dear, Mrs. Morton," said Anne ; 
 " you frighten me. I hope it is all your 
 fancy. I am sure he does not think of me 
 in that way — he calls me a good fellow when 
 he is pleased. And, besides, I hope I 'm 
 wrong, but I don't think he is quite right in 
 his head." 
 
 " And pray, my dear," said Mrs. Morton, 
 very quietly, '' who is quite right in his 
 head ? T wish I knew any body that was — 
 / am not — and I 'm sure none of my rela- 
 tions are. Our reasoning powers are among 
 the most imperfect we have ; but it 's only 
 when the pulse is wrong that the doctors call 
 us mad. Marry him, my dear Anne, if that 's 
 all ; and when you are older read Locke and 
 Dugald Stewart, to convince you that you 
 have done a wise thing. 
 
 Anne, with her heart beating very fast, 
 
king's cope. 165 
 
 protested that she never could marry Master 
 ClaveriDg, — besides she meant to live with 
 Hugh. 
 
 " And there 's my darling Frank,"" said 
 Mrs. Morton, still pursuing the train of her 
 thoughts — "he is determined to go into 
 the army. He might remain at home a re- 
 spectable and useful country gentleman — 
 he has the de quoi ; but no — he wishes to 
 see the world. Is not that madness If The 
 world ! If there is a phrase more utterly 
 without meaning than another, it is that. As 
 if one handful of people differed from 
 another handful — meet them where you may. 
 I can't imagine what a man expects to 
 see when he moves from one country town 
 to another. The good society must be 
 the same everywhere, and so must the 
 bad ; and, as for horse-jockeys and swind- 
 lers, Frank miffht become as famihar witli 
 them at Leith Races, as on the Downs of 
 Epsom." 
 
166 king's cope. 
 
 " Master Clavering is going into the army," 
 said Anne. 
 
 " I am sorry for it," replied Mrs. Morton, 
 " I have seen so many promising boys cor- 
 rupted into bad men in that school — boys who 
 were a comfort and a pride to their family, 
 turned into a dread and a curse, that I detest 
 the army. I tremble for Frank." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Anne, " if Mr. Frank 
 knew how much you disliked it, he would give 
 it up. 
 
 " My dear little Anne," said Mrs. Morton, 
 smiling ; " women give up their wishes for 
 those they love : men don't. You can't think 
 how generous and complying you will find 
 a man, when his wishes coincide with yours. 
 And you can't think what very little trifling 
 things he will refuse you, if it should chance 
 that his own feelings go the other way." 
 
 " Hugh would not," said Anne, decidedly. 
 
 '' I tell you what," said Mrs. Morton, " I 
 would go three hundred miles, and Datchley 
 
king's cope. 167 
 
 can't be much less, to see this surprising Hugh 
 of yours. Will you ask me ? " 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Morton ! with how much plea- 
 sure ! " cried Anne, colouring, as she always 
 did when moved. 
 
 " Miss Sea wen, look ! " said Frank Morton, 
 coming to her side ; "do you see that tower 
 
 on your left, — it is very near M , where 
 
 the fire was.'' 
 
 " Oh, yes ! it looks like the Tower of 
 Westburnflat in ' The Black Dwarf,' " said 
 Anne. 
 
 " I dare say it was inhabited by just such 
 another worthy," said Frank. " Every foot 
 of ground has its story in this country, you 
 know ; every rood of the turf has been trampled 
 under-foot by moss-troopers and border chiefs." 
 
 " Well, and so has England," said Master 
 Clavering, sullenly. 
 
 " Ay ! but our country remains just as 
 it was, at least, in this part," said Frank ; 
 " in England the footprints are worn out." 
 
168 king's cope. 
 
 " And a good thing, too,"" said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 '' Now, Frank," said James, " if you want 
 
 to go to M with us, you must cut across 
 
 those fields ; the way to the farm is straight 
 before you.**' 
 
 " I don't care if I go with you," said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " This is our road, then," said Mrs. Morton, 
 taking the box of contributions from Frank. 
 
 " Don't forget the note to Mr. Hardwicke !" 
 cried Agnes Moray, " it will be a comfort., I 
 am sure. Aunt Morton, to have some one at 
 your ball besides those rude boys ; and a 
 cavalry officer — delightful ! " 
 
 " Just the thing for you, my love," said 
 Mrs. Morton, a little drily. 
 
 " It is really hard upon you. Miss Scawen, 
 to finish your walk without either of your 
 beaux," said Agnes, turning quickly round to 
 fly this shaft at Anne ; but she was engaged 
 so eagerly in conversation with Mr. Anderson 
 
king's cope. 169 
 
 about the murder of Archbishop Sharpe, that 
 she had not heard the remark. 
 
 " It 's hardly worth repeating, my dear," 
 said Mrs. Morton, laughing ; " come and tell 
 me what you mean to wear at my ball." 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
170 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Though but a shadow, but a sliding, 
 
 Let me know some little joy : 
 
 We that suffer long annoy, 
 
 Are contented with a thought 
 
 Through an idle fancy wrought ; 
 Oh, let my joys have some abiding ! 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Perhaps this was the happiest period of 
 Anne's life since her father's marriage. She 
 was liked and caressed by everybody in the 
 house except Agnes Moray, and her ill-temper 
 was rather flattering than otherwise, as prov- 
 ing how much she dreaded her rival's attrac- 
 tions. Mrs. Morton had become extremely 
 fond of her, and indulged her to the top of 
 her bent ; the young Mortons vied with each 
 other in showing her kindness and attention, 
 
king's cope. 171 
 
 and little Ellis idolised her to that absurd 
 degree, that I verily believe he ^vould have 
 fought any one who had been bold enough 
 to contradict his assertions. 
 
 By degrees, Master Clavering admitted Ellis 
 to his intimacy : thinking, perhaps, that his 
 admiration for Anne was a proof of a superior 
 mind, or perhaps feeling that he was not a 
 rival to be much dreaded. To reward him 
 for his discernment he made him a ship out 
 of a walnut shell, and gave him a very small 
 pair of pistols which he happened to have wdth 
 him. Ellis was so proud of this gift that 
 he was always taking occasion to talk of 
 "my pistols;" as some upstarts brag of "my 
 carriage." He and James, and Master Claver- 
 ing used to pass hours in the paddock firing at 
 a mark, and frightening the maids who went 
 there to hang out the linen. 
 
 The eventful Twelfth Night had at last 
 arrived. Mrs. Morton's large drawing-room 
 was uncarpeted, and blazing with light. The 
 
 I 2 
 
172 king's cope. 
 
 young people were standing about in groups 
 waiting the arrival of the other guests. 
 
 The Anderson girls, with their round white 
 arms, and their straw-coloured hair smoothed 
 and twisted into shining coils, looked very 
 nice in their blue dresses. Agnes, rustling in 
 a pink silk dress very much flounced, was 
 playing with her bracelets, and trying to 
 make Master Clavering talk. He was seated, 
 as usual, by the fireside, leaning his head 
 against the mantel-piece, and looking particu- 
 larly miserable. He had been dreadfully sulky 
 all day. It had snowed, and there had been 
 no walking out, and he had seen very little 
 of Anne, for she had spent the whole morn- 
 ing reading in Mrs. Morton's boudoir ; and he 
 had been as tiresome in dressing as any per- 
 verse child of four years old. One pair of 
 white gloves he had torn to pieces, declaring 
 they were too small, and another he had 
 crumpled up and thrown into the fender be- 
 cause they were too large ; he had ruffled 
 
king's cope. 173 
 
 his hair as fast as It was arranged ; and it 
 was not until Power had made several feints 
 of leaving the room, and once had gone half 
 way down stairs, that he had allowed his 
 toilet to be finished. 
 
 Bat with all his oddity he was very highly 
 regarded by the young people. They all knew 
 
 that he would one day be the Earl of D . 
 
 Because he was iudiiferent they thought he 
 was fastidious, and the smallest atom of com- 
 mendation from his lips was treasured up and 
 remembered. Little Ellis stood gazing with 
 reverence upon his very plain dress, and Agnes 
 did hope that now she was so very smart 
 he would take a little notice of her, and 
 perhaps ask her to dance. 
 
 But after sitting immovable for a time 
 he looked up and said to her, " Where is 
 Anne?'' 
 
 " Upstairs dressing, I suppose," said Agnes, 
 scornfully ; " she means to dazzle us all 
 to-night." 
 
174 king's cope. 
 
 "She had need be dressing,*" said Jane 
 Anderson, warmly, " for up to the last minute 
 she was making these blue rosettes for Mary 
 and me ; " and she pointed to her gauze 
 flounces which were gathered up on one side 
 by knots of ribbon. 
 
 " And very pretty they look,*" said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 Agnes bit her lips and fluttered her fan. 
 
 " I am so glad this Mr. Hardwicke is 
 coming,"" said Ella, eagerly. 
 
 " Why ? " asked Master Clavering. 
 
 " Because he saved Mrs. M'Farlane's child,"" 
 said Ella. 
 
 " I hope he will ask me to dance," said Mary 
 Anderson, thoughtlessly. 
 
 Agnes cast a look at her which said dis- 
 tinctly as look could speak : " Ask you to 
 dance, indeed, when / am in the room ! " 
 
 " Is he handsome, James ? " asked Jane 
 Anderson. 
 
king's cope. 175 
 
 " Don't know," said James, '* what do you 
 say, Clavering ? " 
 
 " Oh ! — handsome — yes," returned Mastei 
 Clavering, sulkily; " but it don't matter, because 
 his regiment is going off to India: he said 
 he was expecting to be ordered away every 
 week." 
 
 " Oh ! then, Ella," exclaimed Mary, " you 
 had better make up to him, and go back to your 
 dear Calcutta." 
 
 Ella, who had been born in India, and was 
 always shivering piteously, turned up her large 
 black eyes, and sighed. 
 
 " Mind you introduce her, James," said 
 Mary, laughing giddily; "give her every 
 chance, poor thing ! " 
 
 " At last ! " said Master Clavering, rising and 
 going slowly towards the door, as Mrs. Morton 
 and Anne came in together, followed by Frank 
 Morton. 
 
 Mrs. Morton was full dressed in black velvet, 
 with jewelled combs and bracelets ; she gave 
 
176 king's cope. 
 
 Ann a little push forward, and said, with her 
 joyous dimple smile, to Master Clavering, — 
 
 " I hope you are very much obliged to me, 
 it is all my work. Nature has done nothing 
 for her, poor girl ! " 
 
 Master Clavering replied by gravely nodding 
 his head, and stood surveying Anne from head 
 to foot. 
 
 She was looking splendid ; her large startled 
 eyes of that peculiar hazel that looks dark 
 blue by lamplight : her cheeks and lips of 
 that transparent scarlet which is never seen 
 but in early youth ; her dark shining curls 
 adorned with a cluster of crimson and white 
 roses, placed low behind the ear by the taste- 
 ful hand of Mrs. Morton herself; her simple 
 white dress relieved by the brilliant bouquet 
 she carried in her hand, the gift of Frank 
 Morton. 
 
 " But I say. Miss Scawen, you will dance 
 with me first ?"" cried Ellis, bustling forward. 
 
 " No you won't, that's too good ! Miss 
 
king's cope. 177 
 
 Scawen dances with me ! " exclaimed Frank, 
 pushing him aside. 
 
 " Pm engaged to Miss Scawen, she promised 
 me this very day at luncheon ! " said Ellis, 
 growing very red. 
 
 " You be quiet, Ellis," retorted Frank. 
 " Miss Scawen was laughing at you : the first 
 quadrille, indeed ! pretty impudence ! "^ 
 
 " I promised you the first quadrille I was 
 disengaged," 'said Anne, laughing ; '' don't be 
 angry, please, Ellis ? " 
 
 " And that won't be all the evening, so 
 make yourself easy," said Frank, offering his 
 arm to Anne. 
 
 " And above all, don't fight, Ellis," said Mrs. 
 Morton : " when one thinks of your pistols, one 
 really trembles. 
 
 Ellis seemed more inclined to cry than fight ; 
 he cast a revengeful look on Frank, and went to 
 sit by Master Clavering on the sofa. 
 
 " How very beautiful she is ! Frank seems 
 quite struck," said a neighbour who had 
 
178 king's cope. 
 
 brought a whole carriage full of children, to 
 Mrs. Morton. 
 
 " She is beautiful ! She is to marry that 
 young gentleman who is leaning his head 
 against the chimney-piece. So my dear Mrs. 
 Clarke, you may tell John and Ramsey to 
 carry their ceillades elsewhere." 
 
 Anne now hastened, all flushed and sparkling, 
 to Mrs. Morton's side. She had enjoyed the 
 quadrille so much ; the music was so delightful, 
 so much nicer than the piano : she would be 
 so sorry when the evening was over, and yet 
 she longed for the fireworks after supper; 
 and (could Mrs. Morton believe it?) Frank 
 had told her as a great secret, he had deter- 
 mined that she should be queen ! 
 
 " You and I were young once, you know," 
 said Mrs. Morton, turning to Mrs, Clarke ; 
 "and I had a weakness for Twelfth Night 
 which has absolutely not quite left me 
 yet." 
 
 " Aunt Morton, is it not tiresome that 
 
king's cope. 179 
 
 this Mr. Hardwacke has not yet arrived ? '' 
 said Agnes Moray, flashing about a painted 
 French fan as she spoke. 
 
 " Yes, my dear," said Mrs. Morton, who 
 was arranging one of Anne's long spiral ring- 
 lets that had blown back and become en- 
 tangled among her damask roses. " All this 
 fuss about a boy from a barrack,'' she added 
 in a low voice to Anne : "I hope he won't smell 
 very strong of tobacco." 
 
 " I am sure I hope he does not mean to play 
 fine, and come in just before supper," said 
 Agnes, impatiently. 
 
 " No my dear, no fear of that, for here 
 he is ; " said Mrs Morton, rising and advanc- 
 ing a few steps to welcome her guest. 
 
 The music had ceased, the young dancers 
 were walking about, and the new arrival 
 made quite a sensation among the company. 
 
 He was a very young man (he would not 
 have liked to be called a boy), in the uni- 
 form of a dragoon, very slight in his per- 
 
ISO king's cope. 
 
 sou, with high features delicately cut, and a 
 complexion so unusually fair, that Mrs. Mor- 
 ton was at once relieved from her apprehen- 
 sion that he indulged in smoking ; that 
 practice with its accessaries, always produc- 
 ing on the countenance a pleasing variety 
 of spots and tints, the very opposite to what 
 she now beheld. 
 
 Mrs. Morton was very much under the 
 influence of personal appearance. She was 
 directly struck by the quiet air of self-posses- 
 sion with which he advanced up the room ; 
 and when, to accept her proffered band, he 
 ungloved, and displayed fingers that might 
 rival those of Charles the I, in the great 
 Vandyke ; the impression he made upon her 
 was completed. 
 
 " Really, Mr. Hardwicke, this is very good 
 of you to come to a juvenile party of this 
 kind," said she, cordially. 
 
 " It was very good of you to ask me," he 
 replied, frankly ; " I was so dull at my inn."'' 
 
king's cope. 181 
 
 This admission which showed he was not 
 yet aware of the resources to be found in 
 the society of the barmaids, delighted Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
 " But is it to you alone that we must look 
 for protection ?" asked Mrs. Morton ; " are you 
 all by yourself? I have such a monstrous 
 rick-yard here, that I like to know the ex- 
 tent of my resources.*" 
 
 " Captain Cozens is quartered with me at 
 
 M ," said Mr. Hardwicke, quietly ; " but 
 
 he is often absent." 
 
 So he was, indeed, and when he was not 
 absent in body, he was apt to be absent in 
 mind ; if to be very far gone in brandy-and- 
 water may be termed absence. 
 
 "But you dance, Mr. Hardwicke.'*" said 
 Mrs. Morton ; "look about you, there ""s not a 
 young lady in the room who will not be 
 delighted to dance with you, for since the 
 
 fire at M you must know that you are 
 
 quite a hero in their eyes." 
 
IS2 king's cope. 
 
 " Who, I ? I 'm very glad to hear it," said 
 Mr. Hardwicke, with as much composure as if 
 he had not been the person referred to. 
 "Perhaps you will allow me to have the plea- 
 sure of dancing with you ; " he added, turning 
 calmly to Anne, who stood close to Mrs. 
 Morton. To see Agnes Moray's face ! for she 
 had been talking, and laughing, and edging 
 nearer and nearer, in order to attract Mr. 
 Hardvvicke''s attention. And all in vain. 
 
 " Then let me present you," said Mrs. Mor- 
 ton. " Decidedly the beauty of the room ;"" 
 she added, in a low voice to Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 Now there were few things that Anne 
 would have liked better ; first, because they 
 bad all been talking and hoping so much 
 about him, and he was the oldest and most 
 important partner there ; and secondly, be- 
 cause the first moment she saw him she took 
 it into her head that he was like Hugh. Al- 
 though the resemblance existed only in her 
 fancy, and in his being quiet, and having 
 
king's cope. 183 
 
 eyebrows much darker than his hair. But 
 she was pledged to little Ellis, who came 
 edging up to remind her of her promise, and 
 middle aged people would hardly believe 
 what an effort it was to her to do what she 
 thought exactly fair. 
 
 " I should be very happy," she said, " but 
 I 'm engaged for this quadrille ; " and she 
 could not help blushing, partly from vexa- 
 tion, and partly because Mr. Hardwicke's 
 steady blue eyes were " perusing her face." 
 
 *' Oh never mind Ellis," said Mrs. Morton, 
 eagerly, " any time will do for Ellis, when 
 we are alone ; or, — I never saw such a for- 
 ward child, he shall dance with little Jane 
 Clarke." 
 
 " If I don''t dance with Miss Scawen, I 
 will sit still all the evening ! " said Ellis, 
 doggedly. 
 
 " It 's very silly, Mrs. Morton, but he has 
 set his mind on it ; " said Anne, giving her 
 bouquet to the little boy ; then, turning with 
 
184 king's cope. 
 
 a graceful little bend to Mr. Hardwicke, she 
 added, " I am very sorry I am not at liberty." 
 
 He returned her bow so calmly, that she 
 could not tell whether he was vexed or not ; 
 and Mrs. Morton wondered if he saw Anne's 
 good -nature in the affair. 
 
 " Well then, Mr. Hardwicke, who shall 
 it be ? " said she, as the quadrille was form- 
 ing. 
 
 " I think, " he said, still with the same per- 
 fect tranquillity, "that if you will allow me, 
 I should like to echo that little boy's senti- 
 ment, and to sit still, as I cannot dance with 
 Miss Scawen." 
 
 This was a climax to Agnes Moray. She 
 burst into a hysterical laugh, and accepted 
 Sholto Anderson. 
 
 Mrs. Morton was exceedingly pleased at 
 such a tribute to her favourite, she upheld 
 him warmly in his resolution, and whenever 
 Frank or James offered to find him a part- 
 ner, she interposed, and said, laughing, — 
 
king's cope. 185 
 
 *' No, no ; Mr. Hardwicke does not 
 dance at present^ I'm in his confidence!" 
 
 " But unfortunately, Anne was engaged for 
 every dance before supper, and Mr. Hard- 
 wicke remained standing near the fire-place 
 talking to Piaster Clavering, who had dropped 
 into conversation with him on matters re- 
 lating to the army. 
 
 Just before supper, Frank Morton went 
 round with a card-basket, in which were 
 the characters. All the young people crowd- 
 ed about him. Anne drew the Queen ; and 
 owing to some mismanagement on the part 
 of Frank, who had fully intended to reserve 
 that part for himself, Mr. Hardwicke drew 
 the King. 
 
 Mrs. Morton positively clapped her hands 
 with delight. 
 
 " You and Miss Scawen are fated to be 
 partners some way or other this evening," 
 she said ; " I must ask your name though.'" 
 
 " Arthur." 
 
186 king's cope. 
 
 " Delightful ! King Arthur, and Queen 
 Guinever. — Remember, Anne. Now if your 
 Majesty will lead your queen to the head 
 of the table, and bounteously disperse this 
 cake to your loving subjects, some of them 
 I know 'will be very glad." 
 
 There were two arm-chairs at the top 
 of the room, and the King and Queen were 
 enthroned in great state. The Andersons 
 made a chaplet of ivy for Anne, and her 
 great sparkling eyes looked glorious under 
 the dark leaves. All the young people were 
 appointed to the different offices under the 
 crown ; there was plenty of laughing and 
 blundering, and eating, above all. 
 
 Queen Guinever sat blushing, and laugh- 
 ing, at the extravagant speeches of her 
 courtiers. The King took it as a matter of 
 course, ordered his subjects about right 
 royally ; and treated Her Majesty with a 
 chivalrous deference worthy the days of the 
 Round Table. He cut the prodigious cake 
 
king's cope. 187 
 
 and dispensed it to the Court, and then ap- 
 peared a huge bowl of punch, smoking and 
 fragrant. Frank Morton who could neither 
 rest, nor let rest, set the punch on fire, 
 and in that state dispensed it to the com- 
 pany, desiring they would drink the Queen's 
 health in flame, as a proof of the warmth of 
 their attachment. The young gentlemen seized 
 this idea with enthusiasm, and quaffed the blue 
 flame trembling on the brim of their glasses to 
 the health of Queen Guinever. 
 
 All but the King, who having turned cour- 
 teously to his consort, and wished her health 
 and a happy reign, set down the untasted 
 glass before him. The Court was in a tumult 
 directly. Not to drain his glass to the health 
 of her gracious Majesty ! it was monstrous ! 
 horrible ! Frank was especially energetic. 
 Ellis was quite agitated, — the Court seemed on 
 the eve of a general rebellion. The King said 
 he was " very sorry that his omission should 
 cause a feeling of discontent among his sub- 
 
188 king's cope. 
 
 jects ; unlike his namesake of the Round 
 Table, he never drank anything but water. 
 He begged to express as much admiration 
 and respect for Her Majesty as the most de- 
 voted of her subjects, — (and he looked full at 
 little Ellis, who looked valiantly at the throne 
 in return) — but he trusted that Her Majesty 
 would allow him not to deviate from his habits, 
 he might say his principles, even on the present 
 occasion." 
 
 Anne bowed and smiled^ and coloured a 
 good deal. Mrs. Morton declared that Mr. 
 Hardwdcke was a pattern to all the young 
 people, and she hoped they would follow his 
 example. 
 
 So order being restored, the feast proceeded. 
 The company were pulling crackers, and eat- 
 ing fruit and bonbons, and the King and 
 Queen, as you may see actors at a stage ban- 
 quet, exchanged a few remarks without being 
 at the trouble of keeping up the characters 
 they represented. 
 
king's cope. 189 
 
 King. Do they dance again after supper ? 
 
 Queen. No ; we are to have fireworks, 
 then. 
 
 King. I really, am very unfortunate to- 
 night. 
 
 Queen. Do you think so ? I am so anxious 
 for the fireworks, — I have never seen any 
 except a few squibs that my brother made 
 once in the winter holidavs. 
 
 King. But then I shall not dance with you 
 at all. 
 
 Queen (rery simplj/). Oh ! never mind. 
 
 Kiyig (laughing). I suppose you have had 
 dancing enough by this time. 
 
 Queen. Oh, that I have ! Waltzing still 
 makes me giddy. 
 
 King. I don'*t like waltzing. 
 
 Queen. Do you think it "WTong ? Some 
 people do. 
 
 King. No ; but I thing a dance should 
 have some intricacy in it. Some of the old 
 dances must have been very fine. 
 
190 king's cope. 
 
 Queen. How old ? 
 
 King. About Elizabeth's time. 
 
 Qiieen. Do you like Scotland ? 
 
 King. I like Edinburgh. 
 
 Queen. I wish I had seen Holyrood House, 
 and the room where Rizzio was murdered. 
 
 King. There is a patch on the floor that 
 they tell you is his blood. 
 
 Queen. Well, perhaps it is. 
 
 King {doubtfully). Perhaps. 
 
 Queen. That wicked Darnley ! 
 
 King. Well, she paid him out for his share 
 in it, at any rate. 
 
 Queen. But that is doubtful. 
 
 King. I don't think so ! 
 
 Queen. Why ? 
 
 King. Because she was not the sort of 
 woman to stick at trifles. 
 
 Queen. Trifles, indeed ! 
 
 King. Did you ever see her picture ? 
 
 Queen. No. 
 
 King. What a beautiful bouquet. 
 
king's cope. 191 
 
 Queen (throwing down the bouquet, and 
 starting up). — Oh ! the fireworks ! 
 
 King (following). Won't you come out on 
 the lawn ? You would see them so much 
 better ; and it is not very cold to-night. 
 
 " The lawn ! Oh, my dear Mr. Hard- 
 wicke, I don't know what to say," exclaimed 
 Mrs. Morton ; " if Anne should take cold, — 
 and then the rockets — sometimes the sticks 
 fall and kill people, don't they ? " 
 
 " They shall not kill anybody to-night, Mrs. 
 Morton," said Mr. Hardwicke, quietly. 
 
 "And then your shawl, and your shoes, 
 my dear Anne, — do wrap up, pray," said 
 Mrs. Morton, anxiously. " Miss Scawen's 
 furs, — that is, if you really wish it." 
 
 '^ Yes, I do wish it," said Anne, almost 
 as quietly as Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 Sd she took his arm and went out. 
 
 '' I hope I shall not find you laid up with 
 cold, when I call to-morrow," said Mr. Hard- 
 wicke. 
 
192 king's cope. 
 
 " Oil, no,"" said Anne, " I am quite warm. 
 How very beautiful ! What streams of light ! 
 What showers of many coloured sparks ! "*"* 
 
 " Are you afraid of the crackers ? They 
 have no respect for royalty, you see,— and 
 yojr dress is so fragile." 
 
 " They are worse than the rockets, I think. 
 Ah ! here comes another ! Am I to be 
 burnt.?" 
 
 " T hope not," said Mr. Hardwicke, laugh- 
 ing. " Come this way, young one. You 
 are one of the Queen's pages, — keep close to 
 me. I think between us we may protect 
 Her Majesty from the crackers." 
 
 *' Oh, the crackers ! " said little Ellis ; 
 "don't be frightened, Miss Scawen, I '11 take 
 care of you. I have just been letting off 
 two rockets, and a Catherine-wheel." 
 
 *' You are in luck not to have a moon," 
 said Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " Yes. I arranged that," said Ellis, " I 
 did, — you may laugh ; — but you know, Miss 
 
king's cope. 193 
 
 Scawen, Frank wanted to have the fireworks 
 on New Year's- eve, and I looked in the 
 almanac, and made him put it off till to- 
 night." 
 
 There was hot elder wine in the hall for 
 those who had been out, and those who 
 were going away. The servants handed round 
 the tall glasses, and long strips of toast. 
 
 Mrs. Clarke and her seven children, Lady 
 Armstrong and her five, were standing and 
 sipping in their cloaks and furs. 
 
 " You can't refuse the stirrup cup," said 
 Frank Morton. 
 
 " Pardon me," said Mr. Hardwicke, de- 
 clining the wine. 
 
 " Why how do you manage at the mess ? 
 Don't they laugh at you ? " asked Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 '• Of course," said Mr. Hardwicke, as calmly 
 as if it had been the most agreeable thing 
 in the world. 
 
 " I think," said James, as he returned 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
194 king's cope. 
 
 from packing Mrs. Clarke's carriage, " that 
 it is King Arthur's gig which stops the 
 way." 
 
 " King Arthur's gig," caused an universal 
 peal, in the midst of which he took his leave. 
 
 '' I think, my dear," said Mrs. Morton to 
 Anne, her usual confidante, " that I have 
 found what Diogenes was looking for all his 
 life. Of course, as you are still in the 
 school-room, you know all about Diogenes." 
 
king's cope. 195 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 This new come shepheard has his market mar'd. 
 Old love is little worth when new is more prefarr'd. 
 
 Spencer. 
 
 " I HOPE, Miss ScaweD, you were pleased 
 with the ball last night," said Agnes Moray, 
 the next morning at breakfast. 
 
 '' Pleased ! " exclaimed Anne, " oh ! I can't 
 tell you how much I was delighted.'' 
 
 '* I hope we were all pleased," said Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
 " That we were," cried the Andersons. 
 
 " Aunt Morton, do you know what o'clock 
 it was before I got to bed ? " asked Ellis ; 
 " half-past two ; and Ramsey Clarke was so 
 tired, he could hardly keep his eyes open. I 
 could have sat up an hour longer." 
 
 K 2 
 
196 king's cope. 
 
 " You must have been tired, I am sure, 
 Miss Scawen," said Agnes, " for you did not 
 sit down one single dance. I believe you 
 danced five times with Frank."" 
 
 " Only four," said Anne, laughing. 
 
 " I don't at all like your Mr. Hardwicke,"" 
 said Agnes. 
 
 " Whose Mr. Hardwicke, my dear ? '' asked 
 ^Irs. Morton. 
 
 Agnes not being able to answer this ques- 
 tion, gave a little scornful laugh, and buttered 
 her toast. 
 
 " Because if nobody owns him, I think I 
 shall put in my claim,'" said Mrs. Morton, 
 gaily ; " I rather like your Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " He is going to India," said Master Claver- 
 ing, with a satisfied air. 
 
 " I like him extremely," said James. 
 
 " I say, Miss Scawen, did not we take good 
 care of you ? " asked Ellis, " Mr. Hardwicke 
 and I. I don't believe a single spark reached 
 you." 
 
king's cope. 197 
 
 " You must have been very cold, Miss 
 Scawen,'"' said Agnes; "I wonder how you 
 could venture out of doors." 
 
 " Oh, no, nothing went wrong ; it was all 
 delightful," said Anne. 
 
 " Lady Armstrong has invited you all for 
 Thursday," said Mrs. Morton. 
 
 There was a general exclamation of joy. 
 
 " I wonder if Hardwicke would like to go,*' 
 said Frank. 
 
 " You can ask him," said Mrs. Morton, 
 " and include him in our party if he does." 
 
 " He will be sure to like it," said Ellis. 
 
 " And why, Master Ellis ? " asked Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
 " Because then he will dance with Miss 
 Scawen," said Ellis. 
 
 Anne coloured, and stammered something 
 about a ridiculous idea. 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Scawen, may I hope for the first 
 dance ? " exclaimed Frank. 
 
 " And the next for me," cried Ellis. 
 
J 98 king's cope. 
 
 " Vouchsafe me one during the evening," 
 said Mr. Anderson. 
 
 " Miss Scawen, which will you fix for me ? '' 
 exclaimed James. 
 
 " Stop, good people," said Mrs. Morton, 
 holding up her pearly h and, " I save the second 
 dance for myself, and Anne cannot promise 
 anybody ; with that exception, I beg you will 
 all try your fortunes." 
 
 "Dancing! what's the use of it?" ex- 
 claimed Master Clavering, suddenly bursting 
 into the conversation; "there's nothing but 
 dancing, I think ; we never danced at King's 
 Cope ; and if you did but know how stupid 
 you all looked, you would be preciously glad 
 to leave it off." 
 
 " You and I, Mr. Clavering," said Mrs. 
 Morton, joyously, are prudent enough to sit 
 still ; our dancing days are over, but we must 
 be lenient to these young people ; it 's very 
 natural, you know, at their age to be fond 
 of it." 
 
king's cope. 199 
 
 " I thought you said you \vanted to dance 
 •v\nth Anne," remarked Master Clavering. 
 
 " No, Mr. Clavering," said Mrs. Morton, 
 with her brightest glance, '' I am not so am- 
 bitious ; I certainly should like to dance Sir 
 Roger de Coverley with you^ but you won't 
 ask me." 
 
 Master Clavering looked rather perplexed, 
 and at last he turned to Anne. 
 
 " I say, are you going upstairs reading this 
 morning ? " he asked. 
 " To be sure," she said. 
 " Oh, don't for this once," he said, " I see 
 nothing of you ; it's a shame. If I had known 
 how you meant to go on, I would not have 
 come here at all." 
 
 " It is very silly, Master Clavering, to talk 
 so," said Anne, " you have your own amuse- 
 ments, and I have mine ; it was very well 
 at King's Cope, where we were alone." 
 
 "• Give him this one morning," said Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
200 king's cope. 
 
 '' Ah I you had better," said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " He is so provoking,"" said Anne ; ••' and I 
 shall not attend in the least to you, for I shall 
 draw with Jane Anderson. 
 
 The Anderson girls, with their usual good 
 nature, brought their portfolios and colours for 
 Anne. They were to show her how to tint 
 sepia drawings. Mr. Anderson cleared the 
 writing-table for them ; Master Clavering sat 
 with a Dutch tile on his knees, indefatigably 
 rubbing sepia and indigo. Ellis and Ella stand- 
 ing hand-in-hand at the window, were looking 
 dismally at the falling snow. 
 
 " How like they are, those twins," said Jane. 
 
 " Wonderfully," said Mary. 
 
 " I say, just look at Agnes," said James. 
 
 She was a most conceited little creature, 
 
 and she had taken it into her head to throw 
 
 herself back in an arm-chair, with a shawl 
 
 folded negligently round her, and her pretty 
 
 feet extended on a foot-stool ; she had dropped 
 
king's cope. 201 
 
 her book on her lap, and pretended to be 
 immersed in thought. 
 
 " I say, Agnes, we are all admiring you 
 very much," cried Mary. 
 
 " Not all," said Master Clavering, without 
 looking up from his colours. 
 
 '* I am very much obliged to you,"" returned 
 Agnes, ironically. 
 
 " You can't think how interesting you 
 look," said Frank. 
 
 " Reallv I did not know where I was,'"* said 
 Agnes, languidly ; ''I was so absorbed in 
 this charming poem. I do wis^h you wouldn't 
 look at me." 
 
 " Oh ! we won't," said Marv. 
 
 " We will spare your feeling," said Frank. 
 
 " Perhaps you wouldn't mind our taking a 
 sketch of you," said Jane, laughing. 
 
 *' I should be too happy, Fm sure, to afford 
 
 you any amusement," returned Agnes, raising 
 
 her book to a level with her eyes. 
 
 " What is she reading "i asked Mary. 
 
 K 5 
 
202 king's cope. 
 
 '"Childe Harold !''' said James. 
 
 "It is very doleful, isn't it ? " inquired 
 Jane. 
 
 " It is very improper," returned Mary, 
 decidedly. 
 
 "It is all nonsense," remarked Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 " I wonder what it is about," said Anne, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Never mind,'' said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Oh ! Jane, what is it ? " asked Anne. 
 
 Jane looked respectfully at Master Clavering 
 to know whether she might proceed. 
 
 Anne pulled her by the sleeve. 
 
 " Why, some of the girls at our school 
 have read Byron," she said; "and I know 
 they always read him slyly, and would not 
 have let the teachers see them on any account ; 
 so I suppose he is very bad.'' 
 
 " If you want to know," said Master Cla- 
 vering, doggedly ; " it is about a man who 
 was such a blackguard that nobody cared 
 
king's cope. 203 
 
 for him ; and he, in return, cared for 
 nobody." 
 
 " Well, that ""s not very amusing,'" said 
 Mary. 
 
 " Nobody said it was amusing," remarked 
 Master Clavering, 
 
 " I think you are a very rude boy," said 
 Anne. 
 
 " That darling Childe ! it is quite shocking 
 to hear you abuse him ! "' exclaimed Agnes 
 Moray. 
 
 "Come, are vou friends?" asked Master 
 Clavering, placing before Anne the Dutch 
 tile covered with sepia. 
 
 " Pretty well," said Anne. 
 
 " Then shake hands," he said. 
 
 " Oh ! don't plague me — there. Now go 
 away please, and leave us to draw. I don't 
 like a person watching me while I do the 
 outline," said Anne, turning away. 
 
 " Oh ! I can't bear it," said Jane Ander- 
 son ; " it makes my hand shake." 
 
204 king's cope. 
 
 " Can"'t you take them all oiF to the stables, 
 Frank?" asked Mary. 
 
 " I can take those who like to go," said 
 Frank, laughing ; " I can't march them off 
 against their will." 
 
 " I shall stay here," said Master Clavering. 
 
 " Master Clavering has an attraction," said 
 Mary, laughing, and glancing at Anne. 
 
 "Greater than the stables?" said Frank. 
 
 " Well, I have— there !" retorted Master Cla- 
 vering, taking hold of Mary's sketch. *' And 
 what do you make your lines crooked for ? 
 You are not drawing the tower of Pisa." 
 
 " One would think you came out of a stable, 
 to hear you talk !" exclaimed Anne, indig- 
 nantly. " I wonder you don't like to behave 
 as a gentleman, when you will one day be- 
 come Lord D ! " 
 
 " No, I shan't ! " replied Master Claver- 
 ing. 
 
 " You should not, if I could help it," said 
 Anne; "for I don't think you are at all a 
 
king's cope. 205 
 
 fit person to be an earl — but you will ; and 
 I 'm sorry for it." 
 
 '' Shall I ; when I 'm dead,"' said Master 
 Clavering, sullenly. 
 
 *' Oh, dear !""* cried Jane Anderson. 
 
 «' Dreadful!'' said Mary. 
 
 '* Oh ! don't mind him," said Anne ; " he 's 
 fond of talking in that way. I don't pity him 
 a bit — he is not going- to die." 
 
 " I say, Master Clavering, what is the matter 
 with the lock of my pistol ? " asked Ellis, 
 who had been regaling himself for some time 
 by snapping those warlike appendages. 
 
 Master Clavering went to the window, and 
 asked for a screw-driver and some tow. 
 
 " That 's a mercy," said Anne ; " he will 
 be all the morning poking at that lock." 
 
 " You don't seem at all afraid of him," 
 said Jane. 
 
 " Of hi7n P" said Anne ; " why there 's 
 nothing very awful about Master Clavering." 
 
 " Only when one thinks what he will be,' 
 
206 king's cope. 
 
 said Jane. " Imagine some years hence, when 
 
 I shall say, ' The Earl of D rubbed 
 
 my sepia, and indigo.' '"* 
 
 " And rubbed it very badly ; it 's too thin," 
 said Anne, laughing. 
 
 ''How I should love to be a countess!'' 
 exclaimed Jane. " Of course it is too de- 
 lightful ever to happen ; but fancy the very 
 servants saying, ' your ladyship.' " 
 
 "Dear!" said Anne, " I should not care 
 for that, but if King William were ever to 
 
 if, you know, there should ever be 
 
 another coronation, it would be nice to have 
 a good place to see it." 
 
 " Oh ! heavenly ; and then a coronet to 
 put on your head ! " said Mary. " How 
 grand ! " 
 
 " Well, I think a coronet 's a very clumsy 
 thing," said Anne ; "at least a man's coronet 
 — I never saw a woman's." 
 
 " Oh ! but tell us where did you see it?" 
 exclaimed both the girls, eagerly. 
 
king's cope. 207 
 
 " At Sherwood, when we were children — 
 we were spending the day there." 
 
 " Aod who Uves at Sherwood?*" 
 
 " Lord Orrington — he is not often there ; 
 but Henry knows some of the Sherwoods very 
 well ; he was at school with them, and we 
 used sometimes to be asked to go on the 
 water, and then they came to fish at King's 
 Cope." 
 
 Agnes here joined the party ; it was so 
 very nice to hear about lords and ladies. 
 
 " And as we were playing in the gallery, 
 Lord John took out a coronet from a chest, 
 and wanted to put it on my head, but T ran 
 away ; it was such a great ugly cap ; and 
 only made of tinsel and trumpery.*" 
 
 "Is Lord Orrington a marquis?" asked 
 Agnes, with a very grand air. 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 " Are his sons pleasant ?" said Agnes. 
 
 " I don't know, I used to be afraid of 
 Lord John ; he was so mischievous, but he 
 
208 king's cope. 
 
 has been gone to sea a long time, and Lord 
 William was a great deal older than we were. 
 Lady Lucy and I were great friends when 
 we met, which was very seldom. Her sisters 
 were all married." 
 
 " How many sons are there .f^" said Agnes. 
 
 " Four. I never saw the eldest, and Lord 
 Robert was younger than Lucy. 
 
 " Is he handsome ? '"' 
 
 " Oh, no ; very ugly : they are not a hand- 
 some family. Lady Orrington is very plain. 
 That 's all I know about the Sherwoods,"*' 
 said Anne, turning suddenly to her sketch. 
 
 " How old is Lady Lucy ?'''' asked Mary. 
 
 " Eighteen. She is to come out this year." 
 
 "Is she fair or dark?" 
 
 « Very fair." 
 
 " Why then she must be pretty," said 
 Mary. 
 
 " I have not seen her for three years," said 
 Anne ; " nobody thought her pretty then ; 
 but she was very gentle and pleasant." 
 
king's cope. 20.9 
 
 " Where has she been all that time ?" asked 
 Agnes. 
 
 " At Mote. Lord Orrington prefers Mote 
 to Sherwood, because it is nearer to New- 
 market." 
 
 " Then he is on the turf,"" said Agnes. 
 
 " Yes ; Henry was staying at Mote last 
 autumn," said Anne ; " and he went to New- 
 market with them." 
 
 " Suppose your brother should marry Lady 
 Lucy," said Agnes. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " said Anne, colouring. She 
 managed to stop in time ; she was going to 
 add, that she hoped not ; for she liked Lady 
 Lucy too well to wish that she should marry 
 Henry. She had a very bad opinion of Henry. 
 
 " How very nice to know that sort of 
 people ! " said Agnes. " I quite envy your 
 going to Sherwood."*^ 
 
 " I used to like to go with Hugh," said 
 Anne, " because they have a large piece of 
 water, and a boat with a sail to it — a great 
 
210 king's cope. 
 
 deal better than our little boat at home. Hugh 
 could manage it so well. I love sailing. But 
 Lady Lucy was a great coward, and Lord 
 John always pretended that we were going 
 to upset." 
 
 " And did not that frighten you ? " asked 
 Agnes. 
 
 " No ; I used to look at Hugh, and I 
 knew by his face that nothing was the 
 matter." 
 
 " And I suppose you dined in the school- 
 room," said Agnes. 
 
 " Yes; with the French governess. Lord 
 John was always teazing her. He had a pet 
 squirrel, and one day he put it in her muff. 
 Poor Madlle. Dalmont went into hysterics." 
 
 " What a delightful creature I " said Agnes. 
 
 " Lord John ? I did not like him — he 
 had a great Newfoundland dog, and it would 
 steal quietly behind you, and then spring up 
 and set its paws on your shoulders ; I dread- 
 ed that dog, — and then he stammered very 
 
king's cope. 211 
 
 much, and I did not like him to speak to 
 
 me. 
 
 '' Well, good people," said Mrs. Morton, 
 coming in, " I suppose you have something 
 very pretty to show me ! " 
 
 And sitting down to the table with her 
 bright face and sparkling fingers, she really 
 had very much the effect of a gleam of sun- 
 shine among them. 
 
 " Ah ! you may ask," said Master Clavering ; 
 " except a crooked old castle that this one 
 began (pointing with the pistol to Mary) I 
 don't believe that they have put pencil to 
 paper. They have been gossiping all the 
 morning about those stupid Sherwoods." 
 
 " Well, it \s our privilege, you know," 
 said Mrs. Morton, looking up archly in his 
 face as he stood beside her; " but Mr. Cla- 
 vering, I own I 'm very foolish, only that 
 pistol gives me an odd kind of feeling, a 
 little akin to fear, I believe." 
 
 " It 's not loaded," said Master Clavering 
 
2)2 king's cope. 
 
 " I dare say not," said Mrs. Morton, " only 
 young gentleman have rather undefined ideas 
 on that subject now and then. My darling 
 Frank very nearly shot James with a gun 
 that was not loaded (he thought) ; and as 
 I was coming down stairs at the time, and 
 heard the shot rattle against the banisters, I 
 allow myself, on this one point, to be as 
 unreasonable as ever I like." 
 
 Master Clavering put the pistol into his 
 pocket without saying a word. 
 
 " Thank you so much!" said Mrs. Morton. 
 " Now I can enjoy looking at the drawings. 
 What, Anne, have you done all this ? Oh ! 
 here is Mary''s leaning tower; it does stoop 
 a little — I would add a bit on here — I don^ 
 draw the least, but everybody can find fault, 
 can they not, Mr. Clavering?" 
 
 Master Clavering, who was intently survey- 
 ing her very beautiful hands, made no reply. 
 
 " Some one coming up the steps with 
 Frank," said Mrs. Morton, turning to look 
 
ring's cope. 213 
 
 out of the window. ^' My dear Anne, it is 
 King Arthur. Why, Mr. Hardwicke, what a 
 a ride vou must have had throuofh the snow.'"* 
 
 '* I rather Hke it," said Mr. Hardwicke, 
 after he had very quietly recognised those 
 whom he knew in the room. " I shall see 
 no more snow where I am going." 
 
 '' Yes ; one does not like to see or do 
 anything for the last time, some wise philo- 
 sopher says,'"* remarked Mrs. Morton ; " but 
 there are 1 don't know how many exceptions 
 to the rule."' 
 
 " I 'm sure I shall like to go to school for 
 the last time ;" said Ellis, eagerly. 
 
 " And I wish I could see the last of the 
 snow,'* said Ella, drawing her footstool closer 
 to the fire. 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Hardwicke," said Mrs. Morton, 
 " if you could take these two children with 
 you, one in each pocket, all the way to Cal- 
 cutta, how delighted they would be." 
 
 The two children drew near to Mr. Hard- 
 
214 king's cope. 
 
 wicke, with eager looks, as if they thought 
 there was some little chance for them. 
 
 " But if I cannot take you,'' said Mr. Hard- 
 wicke, kindly to Ella, " perhaps I can take 
 something for you, if you have any friends 
 at Calcutta — is there anything you would like 
 to send?" 
 
 " Oh! yes, if you would he so kind — if you 
 did not mind the trouble," exclaimed Ella, " I 
 want to send papa — you know Aunt Morton 
 — that kettle-holder I worked for him." 
 
 Most of the young people burst into violent 
 fits of laujrhter. To send a kettle-holder to 
 India — what a useful present. They supposed 
 Ella fancied that there was a blazing fire in 
 the drawing-room, and the kettle singing on 
 the hearth. What a good memory she must 
 have ! But Anne whispered to her that her 
 papa would like to have a specimen of her 
 work, and that he would value it quite as 
 much as if it would be useful ; and Ella look- 
 ing from Anne to Mr. Hardwicke, and seeing 
 
king's cope. 215 
 
 that he remained quite calm and unmoved 
 among all the laughing, went to her work- 
 basket, and brought out the kettle-holder. 
 
 "Do you think papa will care for it?" 
 she said, timidly offering it to Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " I think so ; it will remind him of home/' 
 he said. " Will you fold it in paper and 
 direct it ? You will do it more neatly than 
 I should." 
 
 Ella was very busy and important, folding 
 first in silver paper, then in another cover, 
 and directing under the superintendence of 
 her brother Ellis, to her papa, with all his 
 proper official titles. 
 
 Agnes, looking very pretty and scornful, sat 
 rolled up in her scarlet shawl resolved to 
 take no interest in the matter. She thought 
 she could mortify Mr. Hardwicke by appear- 
 ing not to know that he was in the room ; so 
 she continually addressed little remarks to every 
 one else, taking care to pass him over. 
 
 '* Aunt Morton had I not better rinor for 
 
216 king's cope. 
 
 more coals? The fire is going out I think. 
 Everybody is so absorbed in that wonderful 
 kettle-holder. Pink ribbon ? No, child, I 
 have no pink ribbon — why can't you tie your 
 parcel with a bit of string? Frank, I wish 
 you could find the ' Book of Gems ' — I think 
 there is a view of Chillon in it. Is not the 
 post very late to-day, Mr. Anderson ? I am 
 rather expecting a letter from mamma. Ellis 
 you have my footstool — change if you please 
 — this is not the one I like best." 
 
 She could not make them attend to her 
 — they were talking to Mr. Hardwicke — they 
 had so many questions to ask him. They 
 fancied that he had entered life, while they, 
 still at school, were only on the threshold. 
 
 Anne, although silent, lost not a word he 
 said. She fancied him still more like Hugh 
 — grave, and very much in earnest, yet per- 
 fectly unaffected ; and so few young people 
 are unaffected. He was as plain as Master 
 Clavering, but not so blunt. 
 
king's cope. 217 
 
 "Do you like the thoughts of going to 
 India ? " said Frank. 
 
 " Yes ; I very much wish to go — it is the 
 only place now, where you are likely to see 
 any service," he replied. 
 
 ' Certainly a campaign must be good fun," 
 said Frank. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke laughed slightly. He was 
 not Quixotic, and he did not care to explain 
 that he expected nothing funny in the horrible 
 scenes of battles and sieges. He knew that 
 to attain a great object there must be a great 
 outlay, and as that was his calling, he de- 
 sired to follow it, instead of growing more and 
 more stupid every day of his life in country 
 quarters. 
 
 " I should think you would find the voyage 
 very dull," said James. 
 
 " I shall learn what I can of the language 
 on my way out," said Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 *' But you could do without the language," 
 said Frank. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
^18 king's cope. 
 
 " Better with it," reiDlied Mr. Hardwicke ; 
 " besides it will pass the time." 
 
 Just like Hugh ! thought Anne. He learned 
 Spanish on his way to Valparaiso. 
 
 '^' Hardwicke goes to Lady Armstrong's," 
 said Frank to his mother ; " she invited 
 him." 
 
 " Then Mr. Hardwicke I advise you to 
 Parkindale on your way — it is a half-way 
 
 house between M and the Armstrong's. 
 
 Come to dinner, and leave, if you must, the 
 next morning;" said Mrs. Morton, with a 
 little shy glance towards Anne. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke happening to be looking in 
 the same direction, he accepted Mrs. Morton's 
 invitation with much pleasure, and then cross- 
 ing to the table where Anne sat, said frankly, — 
 
 " Am I too late Miss Scawen ? I hope 
 not this time. I hope I may have the pleasure 
 of dancing with you on Thursday." 
 
 " Yes ; thanks to my prudence you may," 
 said I\Irs. Morton, laughing. " Anne was 
 
king's cope. 219 
 
 besieged by them as usual, but I pounced on 
 the second quadrille, and I make you a present 
 of it. Of course you are very grateful. No, 
 don't bow to Anne : she has nothing to do 
 with it. She had rather not perhaps. It is 
 me, if you please, Mr. Hardwicke. Have you 
 got Ella's parcel ? In six months, I suppose, 
 we shall know whether you have ever deli- 
 vered it." 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke laughed, protested against 
 forgetting the packet, again thanked Mrs. Mor 
 ton for her kindness, shook hands with Ella, 
 bowed to Anne, and then was hurried by 
 Frank to the stables. He had a new horse 
 that he had not quite bought, and Mr. Hard- 
 wicke's opinion must be taken. 
 
 " Oh ! how I like him !'' said Ella. 
 
 " So do I, little Missy,'' said Mrs. Morton. 
 
 " And pray Miss Scawen are you one of 
 his admirers ?" said Agnes, tossing her head. 
 
 " Yes ; I fancy him like my brother," said 
 Anne, quietly. 
 
 L 2 
 
220 king's cope. 
 
 '" Very convenient !"" said Agnes. 
 
 Anne felt provoked with herself that she 
 was embarrassed with Agnes's question and 
 reply. She had heard and seen nothing but 
 good of Mr. Hardwicke, and there was no 
 reason that she should not think well of him ; 
 but still she coloured. She thought it was 
 because Master Clavering was staring at her, 
 but he had often stared before, and she had 
 cared no more than if it had been Miss Elder. 
 AVhile she was pondering on her feelings, 
 little Ellis came up to her, and, leaning on 
 the arm of her chair, said, 
 
 " Miss Scawen, I have been thinking " — 
 
 "Well, Ellis"— 
 
 " I wonder, since Twelfth Night is past, 
 whether the Armstrongs will have a Twelfth- 
 cake on Thursday." 
 
 " You greedy pig !" cried Agnes. 
 
 " It is not for the cake, but the fun. I 
 should like to see Miss Scawen queen 
 again.*' 
 
king's cope. 221 
 
 "And who should be the king?" asked 
 Anne, laughing. 
 
 "Myself, of course;" said Ellis, drawing 
 himself up. 
 
 " Bravo ! " said Master Clavering. 
 
222 king's cope. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 I coud nevir love yit but it did me harm : 
 For evir my manere hath be to love ovirmuch. 
 Now Christ is blessing, quod the Pardonere go with al such. 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 " Are you not afraid, with so many young 
 people in the house, that they will, some of 
 tliem, be falling in love with each other ? " 
 said a neighbour to Mrs. Morton, one morn- 
 ing that they were all scattered about the gar- 
 den, Mr. Hardwicke among the rest, amusing 
 themselves with the fallen snow. 
 
 " I ? not the least in the world,'' returned 
 Mrs. Morton, laughing. " My dear Mrs. Gra- 
 ham, it is not the vice of the age ; boys and 
 girls calculate now-a-days, they don't fall in 
 love : I wish they would, it would do them all 
 
king's cope. ;^23 
 
 the good in the world. Why, even my darling 
 Frank, if he sees a pretty girl, always asks 
 whether she has got any money." 
 
 '* Who is that beautiful girl speaking to 
 Frank ? not one of the Morays, is she ?" 
 
 ''No; my young English friend, Anne 
 Sea wen. Frank is wild about her, but I 'm 
 not in the least afraid of his running away 
 with her; though, I dare say she will have a 
 tolerable fortune : she is engaged to that young 
 man who is walking towards the party on the 
 lawn ; a great match, I understand ; but they 
 are both so young, that I don't quite like the 
 idea of fixing their destiny before they have 
 seen a little of the world. They may both 
 repent it." 
 
 '• Why, if there is no love to be had, my 
 dear Mrs. Morton, what can they do better? " 
 
 " True ; I admit the wisdom of the fact ; 
 but I can't reconcile myself to it, notwithstand- 
 ing. That is what makes me so fond of novels, 
 one gets a little love there, at all events." 
 
2M king's cope. 
 
 " But you, my dear Selina,""' said Mrs. Gra- 
 ham, " need not go to the pages of a novel 
 for a great deal of love, if you were so in- 
 clined." 
 
 A deep blush suffused Mrs. Morton's lovely 
 face ; not because she in any degree shared 
 the love referred to, but because she was con- 
 scious and vexed at the allusion, to a very 
 ardent admirer of hers, a person of rank and 
 fortune, a widower, with grown-up children ; a 
 most desirable match in every point of view, 
 whose attentions she had always repelled, be- 
 cause, without any phrases on her part, she 
 had been sincerely attached to her husband, 
 and death had no power to sever the tie which 
 bound her to his memory. 
 
 She turned to the window, as if to change 
 the subject, and directed her friend's attention 
 to the group on the lawn. 
 
 " See how busy they all are with the snow," 
 she said ; " that was my Frank's idea ; he 
 insisted on building a snow man for Anne 
 
king's cope. 225 
 
 Scawen, who had never seen one. Look at 
 young Hardwicke, he is working as hard as 
 any of them, just as if he were a boy." 
 
 " Why, he is almost a boy," said Mrs. 
 Graham. 
 
 " That makes the wonder ; if he was forty 
 I should think nothing of it ; but a young man 
 of nineteen to allow himself to be a bov, arofues 
 a very striking independence of character. 
 Look at that little coquette, Agnes, how she 
 is trying to attract the young officer ; but he 
 has no eyes for any one but Anne." 
 
 " Perhaps that is the reason why that young 
 man looks so uncomfortable,'' said Mrs. Gra- 
 ham ; " the one in the brown redingote, 
 standing by the laurels." 
 
 *' Anne's intended ; very likely. He is ex- 
 tremely jealous ; but T am glad to say she 
 takes no notice whatever of his whims. When 
 she sings, which she does delightfully, it is 
 beyond everything to see Mr. Hardwicke lean- 
 ing on the piano in a state of ecstasy, and 
 
 L 5 
 
'^26 king's cope. 
 
 Master Clavering in the chimney corner scowl- 
 ing — no he can'*t scowl, his face is too wooden 
 — but looking as much as possible like one of 
 the murderers in Macbeth." 
 
 " Well, I should be half afraid in this par- 
 ticular case, said Mrs. Graham." 
 
 " My dear Jane, — afraid of what ? Did 
 you ever hear of a young officer making an 
 offer to a girl ? he flirts naturally with the 
 prettiest he knows, wherever he is quartered, 
 and then goes away without concerning himself 
 farther about the matter, often without the 
 ceremony of an adieu." 
 
 " And the poor girl, Selina, — " 
 
 " Oh ! the poor girl does exceedingly well, 
 thank you ; she looks a little dull at first at 
 the loss of her suitor, and finds another with 
 all convenient speed. I do wish my darling 
 li'rauk would put on a great coat ; but I sup- 
 pose he wouldn't, if I were to send one out to 
 him." 
 
 " Of course he would not ; but there is the 
 
king's cope. 221 
 
 bell for luncheon ; the young people are flock- 
 ing in fast enough. Is that young Anderson." 
 
 " Yes ; he is not likely to break any hearts, 
 I should say." 
 
 " Is that Alic. Moray ?" 
 
 " Yes, the brother of Agnes ; he came to 
 us yesterday.*" 
 
 " How he is grown." 
 
 " All the Morays are tall.'' 
 
 '* At least the Morays of Deansfield. 
 
 ** I mean that branch. Upon my word, 
 Selina, this Mr. Hardwicke is a verv handsome 
 person." 
 
 " But my Anne, is she not beautiful ? 
 
 " Yes, really ; what wonderful eyes ! and 
 what a complexion — what rich red and 
 white ! " 
 
 " And by candle-light you have no idea of 
 her brilliancy ; and her manners have that soft 
 cdlinerie (we haven't got the word) that really 
 acts like a spell ; poor ugly Sholto is over head 
 and ears — " 
 
228 king's cope. 
 
 '' Not in love, you know," said Mrs. Graham, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Don't be mischievous, Jane ; Oh ! see, 
 that tiresome plague, Agnes, has begun to 
 throw snowballs ; it is really very rude. Ah ! 
 I thought so. It spreads like wildfire. They 
 are all at it — all but Anne and that nice Mr. 
 Hardwicke. Agnes, you romp, be quiet ! '' 
 
 " It is in vain, my dear Selina, to rap 
 against the window-frame ; let them pelt each 
 other, there is no harm done ; besides, it gives 
 an opportunity to your Mr. Hardwicke to defend 
 your beautiful guest : capital ! see, he has 
 escorted her to the steps without a single snow- 
 ball reaching her." 
 
 " No thanks to Agnes Moray," said Mrs. 
 Morton, who observed with what perseverance 
 she had aimed at Anne, and persuaded some 
 of the others to throw in the same direction. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke, who had been walking 
 calmly by the side of Anne, talking all the 
 way, with his hat in his hand, which he raised 
 
king's cope. 229 
 
 every now and then to turn off the snowballs 
 which flew around them, from his companion, 
 had now brought her safely to the foot of the 
 steps. 
 
 She turned round with a gesture of thanks 
 full of grace and expression, and a little mock- 
 ing sign of defiance to the rest of the young 
 people who were clustering towards the en- 
 trance, and ran up into the house. 
 
 " You are cold, I am sure,"" said Mrs. Mor- 
 ton to Anne, as they all thronged towards the 
 fire. 
 
 " Cold ? I believe you she is ! " exclaimed 
 Master Clavering, catching hold of her hand. 
 
 She withdrew it hastily, colouring as she did 
 so, for she observed Mr. Hardwicke's earnest 
 gaze directed to them both. 
 
 " I 'm much obliged to you, Mr. Hard- 
 wicke, for taking such good care of my little 
 friend ; she is not used to make her way 
 among such a rabble,'"* said Mrs. Morton. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke bowed in his usual quiet 
 
230 king's cope. 
 
 manner. Master Clavering favoured him with 
 one of his spiteful glances, and Agnes, who 
 was always on the watch to conciliate Master 
 Clavering, remarked to him that it was all 
 very fine, but, for her part, she did not admire 
 people who were too grand to join in whatever 
 amusement was going forward. 
 
 " Take care, Selina,"" whispered Mrs. Gra- 
 ham, as she took her leave ; "if I am not 
 much mistaken, those two young people are 
 forming an attachment.'*'' 
 
 " Nonsense, my dear ! at their age ! '' 
 laughed Mrs. Morton, as she shook hands 
 with her friend ; but she went to her writing- 
 table, and sitting down as if to write her let- 
 ters, she began, with rather an uneasy feeling, 
 to observe attentively their manner towards 
 each other. 
 
 " I don''t care a straw if he ""s ever so much 
 in love with Aer," she soliloquised, as she 
 drew her pen-holder through her fingers ; 
 " men always get over it, and it serves them 
 
king's cope. 231 
 
 right, for they are always more or less incoii- 
 siderate or unprincipled in their dealings with 
 women : but if my poor little Anne takes a 
 stupid fancy to him, what 's to be done ? 
 And he's going off to India any day, and I 
 don't know whether he has a farthing of 
 money. Certainly, it is a very inconvenient 
 world in some respects. But she won't run 
 off with him, — I am safe there, — she is- too 
 proud. And I don't think he would ask it. 
 Well — they are talking very calmly together. 
 I don't believe they are more in love than 1 
 am. Jane Graham was always famous for 
 taking fright at shadows. I remember her 
 when the scarlet fever was about. People 
 — even young people — may, I suppose, like to 
 talk to each other without always wanting to 
 marrv. I wish he were not so handsome 
 though : and that calm demeanour is so effec- 
 tive. He has so much self-possession, and 
 such a perfect hand. Well, I don't see 
 what I can do. I can't forbid him the house. 
 
232 king's cope. 
 
 And if he were to cut out Master Claveriug, 
 I declare I should only be amused, as far as 
 I am concerned." 
 
 Mrs. Morton scribbled a few notes while 
 she made these reflections; and Master Cla- 
 vering, equally engaged in watching the sup- 
 posed lovers, sat by the fire humming to 
 himself. Anne and Mr. Hardwicke, standing 
 by the window, were talking quietly, but so 
 earnestly, that they were quite unconscious 
 of what was going on around them. 
 
 " And you don't know how long you will 
 be absent,"" said Anne. 
 
 " Not exactly. My father talks of getting 
 me exchanged into some other regiment in a 
 few years, but, of course, that must be un- 
 certain ; and as he has no strong reason for 
 wishing me to return, he will not be so likely 
 to exert himself. Service in India presents 
 many advantages to a poor man."" 
 
 " Then, in fact," said Anne, her voice 
 faltering a little, " you can't look for- 
 
king's cope. 2.33 
 
 ward to seeing your friends at any definite 
 time." 
 
 '' No ; five or six years, but it may be lon- 
 ger ; and, then, life is so uncertain out there.'"* 
 
 Anne turned pale. 
 
 " And yet you wish to go,'"* she said. 
 
 " It was my earnest desire a fortnight ago,*" 
 he replied ; but the tranquillity of his voice, 
 if it was meant to disguise his meaning, could 
 not make her think anything but that since 
 he had known her his wishes had undergone 
 a change. 
 
 She coloured deeply, and then said, in a 
 hurried tone, — 
 
 " Even when a time is fixed, it is not 
 always certain, and then the disappointment 
 falls heavily on the friends. Hugh was coming 
 home last autumn, but he was appointed to 
 another ship, and now it is delayed for three 
 years more. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke had heard, you may be sure, 
 of Hugh. He said, gravely, — 
 
234f KINGS COPE. 
 
 " I think that must have almost broken 
 your heart."" 
 
 " So I thought,'" said Anne, sadly. " I 
 really believed I should die ; but I think now 
 people can bear anything. I have known so 
 much grief, I often wonder if life is made 
 up of sorrows.'" 
 
 " I hope not in your case,*" said her com- 
 panion ; " certainly not in mine, since I have 
 known you." 
 
 " Oh ! I have been very happy, too, at 
 Parkindale,"" said Anne, trembling, and trying 
 to turn the conversation into a more ordinary 
 channel. " I shall never forget the time I 
 have spent here."" 
 
 " Nor I," said Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " And when do you leave ? "" asked Anne. 
 
 " I am expecting orders every week : and 
 
 you?" 
 
 " We go home in ten days," said Anne. 
 
 "You have heard, then ? " 
 
 " Yes; at least Master Clavering had a 
 
king's cope. 235 
 
 letter this morning. Papa and Mrs. Scawen 
 come here this day week, and leave for King's 
 Cope three days afterwards.'' 
 
 " And then — " said Mr. Hardwicke, glancing 
 towards Master Clavering. 
 
 " Oh ! I wish not to look forward. I wish 
 to enjoy these few days so completely. I am 
 not happy at home," said Anne, in a low 
 voice . 
 
 " I shall never hear of you in India," said 
 Mr. Hardwicke, " though I shall never cease 
 to think of you, — unless, indeed, I see your 
 name in the papers." 
 
 " Mine ! " 
 
 " On your marriage." 
 
 " You to believe that ! " said Anne, re- 
 proachfully. 
 
 •' Oh ! " if I dared to offer you another 
 home, however distant ! " said Mr. Hardwicke, 
 now for the first time betraying in his agi- 
 tated manner how deeply his feelings were 
 concerned. 
 
236 king's cope. 
 
 Anne raised her finger to her lips : she saw 
 Master Clavering''s eager face watching her, 
 as if he could hear their words, 
 
 " Would you refuse it?" asked Mr. Hard- 
 wicke, more earnestly. 
 
 " No,*" she whispered. 
 
 " Anne ! " cried Mrs. Morton from her 
 writing-table. 
 
 She was obliged to go. 
 
 Mrs. Morton wished to use Anne's little 
 grasshopper seal. That is, she wished to 
 break up a conference that was growing a 
 little too particular, — and she was a little too 
 late, that was all. 
 
 Anne^s fate was fixed for life. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Morton ! she did all she could. 
 She kept Anne looking for seals and folding 
 letters until Mr. Hardwicke took his leave, 
 and then her composure was a little restored 
 by finding that he did not attempt to shake 
 hands with Anne : he merely bowed to her 
 as he did to the other young ladies. To 
 
king's cope. 237 
 
 be sure, the Pembroke-table was between 
 them, and he w^as the last person in the 
 world to make a scene ; only when people 
 were in love, Mrs. Morton seemed to think 
 that they were in the habit of overturning 
 the chairs and tables. 
 
 But the next day she distinguished herself 
 by a still more masterly stroke of policy. 
 
 It happened to be Sunday, and it had 
 been planned that they should walk over to 
 
 M , to hear some famous preacher who 
 
 was expected to give a charity- sermon on 
 that day ; and Frank had said at breakfast 
 that they would have an opportunity of seeing 
 Mr. Hardwicke in all his glory, for he would 
 be in command of the detachment. Captain 
 Cozens, with a praiseworthy choice of times 
 and seasons, devoting the sabbath invariably 
 to the consumption of an extra allowance of 
 spiritous liquors and cigars, to enjoy which 
 luxuries in perfection, it was his custom to 
 remain in bed until the Monday morning. 
 
238 king's cope. 
 
 Mrs. Morton had quite forgotten Mr. Hard- 
 wicke and his dragoons. Oh ! this would 
 never do — it would be too dazzling — young 
 girls were so found of the military ! — she must 
 prevent such an alarming meeting. 
 
 " Do you know I think we wont all go to 
 
 M ," she said, with her pretty smile ; " I've 
 
 been thinking it will be no great compliment 
 to poor Mr. Clarke to empty his church, for 
 I know the Grahams and Armstrongs are 
 going to M . I will stay at home, and per- 
 haps my little Anne, if she has no great fancy 
 for foreign preachers, will keep me company. 
 Two will be enough — I only don't want our 
 pew to be quite vacant." 
 
 '* 1 will, with pleasure," said Anne, quietly ; 
 for matters were much too serious between her 
 and Mr. Hardwicke, to make it any object to 
 her to see him at church ; and as for the 
 soldiers, it happened that Anne had no interest 
 in that branch of our national defences — had 
 he commanded a man-of-war she would gladly 
 
king's cope. 239 
 
 have gone a Lundred miles to catch a glimpse 
 of it. 
 
 " I '11 stop with you too," said Master Claver- 
 iug : "I don't want to go to M ." 
 
 " We shall be a strong party then," said 
 Mrs. Morton, smiling. 
 
 " I 'm sure we don't want him," said Anne, 
 looking to Mrs. Morton. 
 
 " Well, you will have me, whether you want 
 me or not," said Master Clavering, angrily. 
 
 " Is not that speech a little ominous, my 
 dear ? " said Mrs. Morton laughing, as they 
 rose from table. 
 
 " Oh ! he is odious ; I am beoinninof to 
 hate him ! " exclaimed Anne, impatiently. " It 
 seems as if I was never to get rid of him. I 
 do wish he was going to M ." 
 
 "Now that's very ungrateful, naughty 
 Anne," said Mrs. Morton, pausing at the door 
 of her dressing room : " mind and put on 
 your furred cloak, and your dear little velvet 
 bonnet — Parkin dale church is terribly cold — 
 
240 king's cope. 
 
 because poor Mv. Clavering ' worships the 
 shadow of your shoe-tie ; ' you despise him — 
 you will know better one day. Our sex are 
 too often won by careless trifling suitors, whose 
 whole demeanour seems to say they don't care 
 whether they have you or not. I declare 
 women often provoke me — almost as often as 
 men. Are you ready, you quick little crea- 
 ture ? and so I protest is Mr. Clavering, 
 there he stands in the middle of the hall." 
 
 He was not quite ready ; he was having a 
 little discussion with his servant about a pair 
 of gloves. Power was insisting on his wearing 
 a fresh pair. 
 
 " You can't go to church with the ladies 
 with that old pair, Mr. Clavering, and so 1 
 tell you," said Power. 
 
 " I shall," he retorted ; " I 've got them on 
 now, and I won't take them oif for anybody." 
 
 " Come, Mr. Clavering, it won't keep you 
 a minute," said his servant, vainly pressing the 
 new pair on his acceptance. 
 
king's cope. 241 
 
 , " I tell you I like these, they fit me,'' he 
 persisted. 
 
 " These are just your size, sir," said Power. 
 
 " I don't believe you, and I can't bear the 
 colour," said Master Clavering. 
 
 " I am sure, ladies, I don't know what to 
 do, nor what method to take," said Power, 
 casting an appealing glance towards Mrs. 
 Morton. 
 
 Master Clavering, moved by this invocation, 
 snatched the gloves from his servant, and 
 flinging his old ones down on the ground, like 
 a gauntlet of defiance, followed the ladies to 
 the carriage, where, leaning his head against 
 the side of the window, he murmured his 
 saint's legend all the way to church. 
 
 " And this is the person my father thinks 
 good enough for 7?ze," said Anne to herself, as 
 her eye rested on Master Clavering's strange 
 countenance. " I have a difi^'erent opinion of 
 my own deservings ; I can love and value 
 something higher than thai : I have made a 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
242 king's cope. 
 
 choice that Hugh will approve when he knows 
 it : I am not yet quite humble enough to 
 accept the heart of Master Clavering. ' 
 
 And poor Master Clavering as he sat in 
 church with his hands in Anne's muff, swinging 
 his foot, and triumphing to think that she had 
 
 not gone to M to see " that fellow Hard 
 
 wicke," would have been a little surprised 
 could he have looked " into her bosom's deep- 
 ness," to behold her treasuring every word and 
 gesture of his rival, and upholding herself as 
 it were, in the absolute devotion she was proud 
 to feel for him, by drawing a comparison be- 
 tween her two admirers, very remarkably to 
 the disadvantage of the one who now enjoyed 
 the pleasure of her society. 
 
king's cope. M3 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 For ever fortune dost thou prove 
 
 An unrelenting foe to love : 
 
 And when we meet a mutual heart 
 
 Step in between^ and bid us part ; 
 
 Bid us sigh on from day to day, 
 
 And wish and wish the soul away — 
 
 Till youth and genial years are flown, 
 
 And all the life of life is gone. — Thompson. 
 
 That fate does sometimes appear to set 
 its face against the best intentions is a very 
 melancholy truth. The next morning at break- 
 fast, while some of the party were reading 
 their letters, and Anne was eagerly trying 
 to make out something that Ellis was telling 
 Jane Anderson, about Frank having done all 
 he could to make Mr. Hardwicke laugh in 
 church, by pelting him with berries off the 
 sprigs of holly, and Mr. Hardwicke shaking 
 
 M 2 
 
244 king's cope. 
 
 them off his book without ever raising his 
 eyes to see where they came from, Frank 
 himself clashed into the room, holding out a 
 long streaming play-bill printed in large red 
 letters. 
 
 " Look here, Mamma ! "" he said, inflict- 
 ing his usual salute on the side of Mrs. 
 Morton's pretty Mechlin cap : " see what 
 that rascal Adams ought to have sent us a 
 
 week ago. A performance at M , for 
 
 this very evening. I have written to order 
 a box, and we must settle who shall go. 
 You, of course. Miss Sea wen, because you 
 said the other day how much you would like 
 to see one of Shakspeare's plays acted, and 
 this is ' Cymbeline.' "" 
 
 Mrs. Morton murmured something that 
 sounded as if she wondered whether it would 
 be too cold for Anne at the theatre ; but Frank 
 exclaimed at the idea, — 
 
 " Good heaven ! my dear mother, when it 
 is perfectly stifling ; horrible, always at the 
 
king's cope. 245 
 
 M theatre — a wretched Httle den of a 
 
 place, that cant be cold, and always crammed 
 from floor to ceiling. Besides, Miss Jarman 
 plays to-night, and I think Miss Scawen would 
 like her Imogen." 
 
 " Oh, how much I should like it ! " said 
 Anne. 
 
 Mrs. Morton had no more to say. Frank 
 ruled everything at Parkindale. 
 
 "And do you know," continued Frank, 
 " that Hardwicke leaves on Friday morning ; 
 he was going to write to you to say every- 
 thing proper about not being able to come to 
 you on Thursday ; he has a good many things 
 to look after, but I told him I would give his 
 message instead ; he means to drop in at 
 the Armstrong's for an hour, and that is as 
 much as he can." 
 
 There was just one moment in this speech 
 when Anne felt her eyes grow dim, and a 
 strong disposition to sink from her chair, but 
 she struggled against the weakness, and her 
 
246 king's cope. 
 
 cheek flushed ; and breathing only a little more 
 quickly, she looked up as if to read in the 
 faces around her, what they thought or felt 
 at the tidings. 
 
 Mrs. Morton was looking at her uneasily. 
 Agnes Moray with a little dash of triumph in 
 her expression. 
 
 " I am sure we shall miss him very much,"" 
 said James. 
 
 " Very much, indeed," said Agnes, with 
 a glance at Master Clavering. 
 
 A dissenting noise from Master Clavering. 
 
 " Shall we not ? "" said Mrs. Morton, ventur- 
 ing to appeal to Anne. 
 
 This was too much — her lips trembled — she 
 broke into a faltering laugh, and left the 
 room. 
 
 All that day she kept expecting that he 
 would come. Every horse, every carriage that 
 passed near the house, gave her a sickening 
 hope that died away as the sounds faded in 
 the distance. 
 
king's cope. 247 
 
 One of the strongest features of her sudden 
 attachment, was the entire trust with which 
 her lover inspired her. None of that racking 
 doubt and cloudy suspicion, which the poet 
 has declared to be inextricably woven into 
 the texture of love, ever disturbed her mind 
 for an instant. From the first moment of her 
 meeting him, he had singled her out alone ; 
 he had bestowed no notice upon any other 
 person. She placed him beside Hugh in her 
 thouo-hts as of one who could do no wronof. 
 That he could forget her was as impossible 
 as that she could cease to remember him. She 
 had no perplexities, only the dread of separa- 
 tion on her mind, and she longed wearily for 
 the moment of their meeting, that they might 
 speak on the subject, and arrange if possible 
 some means of communication during the long 
 years that they must be parted. 
 
 He was waiting for them at the theatre. 
 Mrs. Morton oftered him a seat next herself, 
 but with that quiet manner which seldom 
 
24S king's cope. 
 
 deserted him, he said he could not think of 
 crowding her, and that he had secured a seat 
 in the adjoining box : by which means he 
 contrived to place himself next to Anne, who 
 was seated close to the compartment, and 
 could converse with her without being over- 
 heard, 
 
 " You did not come to-day," said Anne, a 
 little reproachfully. 
 
 " No. I could not have seen you alone ; 
 and I have been thinking over what is to be 
 done." 
 
 " How pretty Miss Jarman looks, Miss 
 Sea wen.?" said Frank Morton, leaning across 
 the box : " with her fair hair and blue eyes. 
 She is no bad representative of the matchless 
 Imogen." 
 
 Anne smiled faintly, glanced at the stage, 
 and then turned to Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " Can I write to you ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh ! no. I was about to tell you, we can 
 never write. Mrs. Scawen sees every letter 
 
king's cope. 249 
 
 that comes into the house, and my father 
 sends them himself to the post, — all go through 
 his hands, and I never leave the park gates. 
 'Till Hugh comes home, I have no hope of 
 hearing from you, or writing myself."" 
 
 " This is what I thought," said Mr. Hard- 
 wicke : " and if I were to ask your father's 
 permission to correspond with you, he would 
 laugh at me ; at our age we should be looked 
 upon as fools incapable of forming a lasting 
 attachment. My own father would say the 
 same. I am implying no censure on Mr. 
 Scawen.'' 
 
 " I am sure,'' said Anne, " I am fifteen — I 
 can feel — I can see my own mind.'"* 
 
 " And so can I, and I am nineteen : but 
 I know what people would say. Now I have 
 been thinking it over, and I can see but one 
 way to place our fate beyond the reach of 
 accidents.'' 
 
 He hesitated, and seemed unwilling to pro- 
 ceed. 
 
250 king's cope. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Sea wen ! " cried little Ellis, who 
 was seated on the other side of Anne : " that 
 wretch, lachimo ! I could shoot him — he will 
 — he has taken the bracelet ! but do you think 
 her husband will believe she gave it him ? I 
 don't see why he should." 
 
 " You will hear all about it," said Anne. 
 " I don't know the story." 
 
 " Miss Scawen," said Frank, "is it not pretty 
 to hear Miss Jarman say, 
 
 'But not away to-morrow V 
 
 It comes in so well after her burst of anger. 
 I wish we had thought of acting a play. I am 
 sure you would be able to act." 
 
 " We might get up a scene or two," said 
 James : " something from the ' Merchant of 
 Venice.'" 
 
 " Or Hotspur," said Frank. 
 
 " I am sure we would not have Shak- 
 speare," said Agnes, pertly ; " we would get 
 up a vaudeville." 
 
I- 
 
 J king's cope. 251 
 
 "nO Anne, trembling with impatience, waited 
 till they again turned to the stage. 
 
 *' But I don't understand you," she said ; 
 " you cannot wish — you cannot mean that 
 I should elope with you ?" 
 
 " No, Heaven forbid ! '' said Mr. Hard- 
 wicke, gravely. " Besides, that could not be 
 for many reasons. People cannot run off to 
 India without some preparation — and I am 
 too poor ; I would not expose you to hard- 
 ships ; — but more than that, I would not ex- 
 pose you to the censure that always attaches 
 itself to such a step.*" 
 
 " I thought so. I felt I could trust you 
 better than myself," said Anne, fervently. 
 
 " Yet if, before I left, the ceremony were 
 to pass between us,**' said Mr. Hardwicke, 
 in a hurried manner, — *' putting me out of the 
 question, though I confess it would be to 
 me an inexpressible comfort, — ask yourself 
 whether you would not feel more tranquil 
 during these silent years, knowing that no- 
 
-'52 KING'S COPE. 
 
 thing could ultimately separate us. Think it 
 over, and let me know on Thursday. It 
 will then be time." 
 
 " I wish to do what you think best,"' said 
 Anne ; " I have entire trust in you. I do 
 not know how to act — I seem to have lost 
 all power of thought." 
 
 She was trembling violently. 
 
 '* I dread the idea of hurrying you into a 
 promise that you might afterwards regret," 
 said Mr. Hardwicke. " Think that we can 
 never exchange a word or sign to say that 
 we are living or dead, until your brother 
 comes to protect you at Datchley ; think 
 whether there should not be some very strong 
 bond between us to make that silence more 
 endurable, — picture the future to yourself, 
 and choose what will make you happiest ; — for 
 me, I shall wish I had never crossed your 
 path, if I cast a shadow on your way. Oh ! 
 when we meet again I will make up to you 
 for all." 
 
king's cope. 25S 
 
 " Do not think you add to my cares," said 
 Anne ; " I am happier and prouder than I 
 ever was. I think with you, that I should 
 not feel so lonely if — " 
 
 A deep blush overspread her face. 
 
 " That scene is a little too hazardee^'''' said 
 Mrs. Morton, observing Anne's colour rise, 
 and supposing she was listening to the dia- 
 logue on the stage ; " my dear Frank, I had 
 quite forgotten ' Cymbeline,' — I wonder they 
 don't curtail some of these scenes a little 
 more." 
 
 " My dear mother, what an idea ! It 
 would be absolute sacrilege. The very finest 
 poem, without exception, that Shakspeare ever 
 wrote ; don't you think so, James ?" 
 
 " Why, as a poem, I prefer ' Troilus and 
 Cressida,'" said James. 
 
 '* But that is so philosophical," said Frank. 
 
 " Good people all, the act scene is rising," 
 said Mrs. Morton, "and here comes Imogen." 
 
 " I shall see you on Thursday," added 
 
254 king's cope. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke, " think it over every way 
 till then ; if you decide in my favour, I will 
 arrange the rest."" 
 
 '' Think for me," said Anne, " I have told 
 you I cannot, I am so confused ; you must 
 judge for me as you would wish a person 
 to act who will one day bear your name." 
 
 He could only press her hand, — they 
 were all rising to go. Mrs. Morton de- 
 clared it was beyond her to stay the after- 
 piece. The charm of the place had vanish- 
 ed with Imogen. The Anderson girl's were 
 drying their eyes; Agnes was using her 
 flacon of salts as if she had been overcome. 
 Frank was pressing Mr. Hardwicke to re- 
 turn and sup with them. 
 
 He accepted the invitation, although he 
 
 was obliged to return the same night to M . 
 
 But it gave him an opportunity of riding 
 beside Mrs. Morton's carriage, while Anne 
 leaned from the window, as if looking out 
 upon the frosty night. 
 
king's cope. 255 
 
 They hardly spoke to each other, but 
 Anne used to look back on that drive be- 
 neath the brilliant stars, as the happiest hour 
 she had ever passed. 
 
 A vague delight which she could not 
 explain to herself, and a sadness which had 
 in it no touch of sorrow, possessed her 
 heart ; she looked forward without terror 
 to the future, for then he would have the 
 right to protect her. The thought of her 
 father's anofer did not disturb her, he would 
 know nothing until the time came for Arthur 
 to claim her, and then Hugh would be on 
 their side. 
 
 So she surrendered herself to all the in- 
 toxication of a first attachment, without the 
 alloy of fear or anticipation ; and Mrs. Mor- 
 ton, as she looked at her tranquil face at the 
 supper-table, whispered to herself, — 
 
 " Thank goodness ! the danger is over, and 
 my little Anne is heart-whole." 
 
^56 king's cope. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A down the stair 
 Stole on, and like a creeping sunbeam slid 
 From pillar unto pillar, until she reached 
 The gateway. Tennyson. 
 
 Day thoughts feed nightly dreams. 
 
 And sorrow tracketh wrong 
 
 As echo follows song. H. Martineau. 
 
 Whether any presentiment of ill crossed 
 Master Clavering''s mind or not, certain it is 
 that he was in a horrible temper on the day of 
 Lady Armstrong's party. He flatly refused 
 to go, declaring that he had a dreadful pain 
 in his chest, and that Anne should stay at 
 home to keep him company. 
 
 On hearing this very cool announcement, 
 Anne was frightened, and, like many frightened 
 people, flew into a passion. 
 
 " Not go to Lady Armstrong's ? that she 
 
KING S COPE. 2oi 
 
 would ! She had set her heart upoD it. If 
 he chose to be sulky and stay at home, his 
 servant might make his tea. And as for the 
 pain in his chest, she did not believe in it ; 
 it was a very convenient pain ! — it always 
 came when he was out of humour.'''' 
 
 Now Master Clavering could put himself in 
 a stubborn sort of passion, too, and he unfor- 
 tunately, retorted that — 
 
 " He supposed she wanted to go there to 
 meet that fellow, Hardwicke.'" 
 
 Then her eyes flashed fire. There was some 
 truth in this. 
 
 " How dared he call people fellows, who 
 were better than himself? He once called 
 Hugh a fellow ! Her Brother, Hugh ! She 
 had a great mind never to speak to him 
 again !'" 
 
 " Ah ! Hugh," said he, doggedly. " Much 
 you are thinking about Hugh, now ! I knew 
 how long that would last." 
 
 " I am thinking of Hugh !"" she exclaimed. 
 
258 king's cope. 
 
 with a stamp of her foot : " I wonder how 
 you presume to say I forget him. He is the 
 noblest creature that ever hved, and the hand- 
 somest, and not filled with jealousy and sus- 
 picion, like some other people. But you can 
 only be friends with people who are friends 
 with no one else ; you can't see merit in any 
 other person ; and if your selfish ways are not 
 humoured, you say spiteful things, and in- 
 solent things, too, sir, which I will not 
 bear." 
 
 Her face was glowing, even her neck 
 was crimson : but his feelings were less 
 rapid. 
 
 " I can see little enough merit in myself^ 
 if you mean that," he said, with a kind of 
 half melancholy simplicity that was almost 
 touching : '' and these fellows must be badly 
 off, indeed, if they are not better off than I 
 am in some respects;" and he pressed his 
 hand on his heart : " but it is no pleasure 
 to me to hear them cried up, particularly 
 
king's cope. ^59 
 
 Hardwicke ; for all you said for Hugh just 
 now, you meant for him." 
 
 We do not live in the Palace of Truth, and 
 it is not usual to inform our friends when 
 they are deceiving us, that we see through 
 them. Anne coloured still more deeply, and 
 became even still more angry. 
 
 " You grudge every body every bit of 
 praise,*" she cried, speaking still faster. " You 
 grudged Frank Morton praise for his dancing, 
 and said he looked like a fool, hopping up 
 and down like a sparrow. And you envied 
 Mr. Anderson when he quoted those lines of 
 Ben Jonson, and all the people admired them. 
 You said they did not make sense. You are 
 a dog in the manger." 
 
 " And what do I grudge Hardwicke ? " 
 he asked, sullenly. 
 
 '• Everything," she exclaimed, recklessly ; 
 " for he is superior in everything to you and 
 the others. And I will go to the Armstrongs ; 
 and if you choose to say I go to meet him, 
 
260 king's cope. 
 
 you may say it ! even to papa you may say it, 
 if you like, and I shall not care ! There is such 
 a thing as growing desperate ! '"* 
 
 " What ! my pretty Anne in a passion ! '' 
 said Mrs. Morton, coming into the room, and 
 quite surprised at the state of excitement in 
 which she found her, — standing opposite to 
 Master Clavering"'s chair with flashing eyes and 
 clenched hands, — and not less surprised, per- 
 haps, at Master Clavering's quiescent attitude, 
 with his head leaning as usual against the 
 corner of the chimney-piece. 
 
 " Yes ! she 's in a rage, she won't stop at 
 home with me," said that young gentleman, 
 coolly. 
 
 " Oh ! but Mr. Clavering, we have all 
 counted on this party, and Anne could not 
 be spared; perhaps you will be well enough 
 after all, to go with us ? '' 
 
 *' No, I shan't," he replied ; " and if she goes, 
 1 advise you to look sharp after her, for you 
 would not much like it, if she sfave vou the slio." 
 
KINGS COPE. 261 
 
 At this additional insult, Anne's over- 
 wrought nerves gave way, and she burst into 
 tears. 
 
 " Oh ! little Anne, never mind, he did not 
 mean it,'' said Mrs. Morton, good-naturedlj, 
 drawing Anne's head on her shoulder : " boys 
 are so clumsy with their random shots. I 
 really beg your pardon, Mr. Clavering, but 
 vou are all of vou too roudi for us. You 
 can never understand the meaning of the 
 word feelings ; and so, after all, it is hardly 
 your fault when you crush them." 
 
 But Master Clavering after standing silent 
 for a minute, looking perfectly aghast, went 
 suddenly up to her, and seized her hand. 
 
 " Oh ! but don't cry," he said, in a terrified 
 voice ; " I don't mind your being angry, but 
 vou must not crv. If vou don't leave off, 1 11 
 shoot myself. You must stop, for I can't bear 
 it." 
 
 "She shall stop presently, Mr. Clavering," 
 said Mrs. Morton, smiling ; " when next you 
 
262 king's cope. 
 
 see her, she will have quite a cheerful face ; 
 but when our nerves are shaken, they won''t 
 stand still immediately, — another thing that you 
 gentlemen cannot be brought to comprehend. 
 I am going to take Anne to my dressing- 
 room, and after a little quiet, and a little 
 Eau de Cologne, she will be quite a different 
 person."" 
 
 So in this pleasant frame of mind they 
 parted ; ^Irs. Morton leading Anne up stairs, 
 and Master Clavering returning to the chimney- 
 corner in a state of great despondency. 
 
 Now Mrs. Morton was quite prepared, with- 
 out the shrewd advice that Master Clavering had 
 given her, to keep her eye upon Anne. She 
 hoped, and believed indeed, that this caution 
 was quite unnecessary ; but she knew that 
 sometimes wilful young people would do very 
 extraordinary things, and that even to escape 
 from Master Clavering, Anne might take it 
 in her head to run off with Mr. Hardwicke. 
 
 " You see how insolent he is, Mrs. Morton !'' 
 
king's cope. 263 
 
 exclaimed Anne, as she sat sobbing on the 
 sofa in that lady's boudoir. *' You see he 
 dictates to me as if I belonged to him. To 
 suppose that I would stay at home for him ! 
 To obey his crazy whims ! Never ! I would 
 rather die." 
 
 " Why, dear httle Anne,'' said Mrs. Morton, 
 pausing in her occupation of dropping lavender 
 on lumps of sugar : " this much I say for 
 Mr. Clavering, poor young gentleman ! that he 
 has every reason to think his attentions very 
 acceptable to your papa, and he has not quite 
 tact enough to see how far they are acceptable 
 to your papa's daughter. And remember, that 
 hundreds of girls of the highest rank would 
 be delighted at his notice, though it is so 
 oddly expressed ; for one day he will be a 
 very important personage, with more thousands 
 a year than you or I can imagine : so now 
 take these lavender drops, like a good child, 
 and lie down till it is time to dress." 
 
 Anne did as she was bid, and clasping her 
 
.964 king's cope. 
 
 hands over her eyes, she lay thinking long 
 and deeply over her affairs. She saw plainly, 
 now, that her father intended to marry her 
 to Master Clavering some time or other. Mr. 
 Clavering, she supposed, had the same inten- 
 tion : she would put it beyond their power. 
 If she gave her hand to Mr. Hardwieke, all their 
 arguments, their threats would not be able to 
 move her : but she felt that any less decisive 
 pledge would be insufficient. How could she 
 stand aofainst her father^s harsh determination 
 and violence of temper, if a mere promise had 
 passed between them ? when it came to the 
 j)oint she felt that she would not have courage 
 enough to resist his will, and then, what misery ! 
 But once married, she could not comply with 
 their demands; even Mrs. Sea wen's malice 
 would be wasted upon her, and she well knew 
 with what acrimony her step-mother would 
 foster such a dispute. If she had ever hesitated 
 in consentino^ to Mr. Hardwicke's wishes, the 
 scene of this morning had resolved her. Her 
 
king's cope. ^65 
 
 pride as much as her affection took the 
 alarm. She to submit to such a miserable 
 creature as Master Clavering ! She to give 
 him a right to control her ! As she had said 
 to Mrs. Morton: "She had rather die !'' 
 
 There were no tears when Mrs. Morton came 
 to see her dressed, but her eves were crlitter- 
 ing like stars. Her white muslin dress, always 
 " curiously fine," was simply relieved by a 
 strip of red velvet round the neck and waist, 
 and a cluster of fine white chrysanthemums 
 at the back of her hair, formed her only 
 ornament. 
 
 " Always nice and artistical ; though you 
 hardly know what that means, yet," said Mrs. 
 Morton ; '' and here, my love, is a great painted 
 butterfly of a fan for you to flutter about. I 
 observed you had not one at my dance." 
 
 *'0h! Mrs. Morton, you are a thousand 
 times too good ! I really — " 
 
 " I insist, my dear. Agnes Moray does a 
 great deal with her fan, and, as she has con- 
 
 VOI.* I. N 
 
266 king's cope. 
 
 stituted herself your rival, pray let it be 
 ' war to the fan' between you." 
 
 Anne smiled and accepted, and Frank 
 Morton bursting in, to ask for some perfume 
 for his handkerchief, interrupted the conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 " My darling Frank, do put the stoppers 
 back into my bottles, and don't pull that shelf 
 down upon your head," urged Mrs. Morton. 
 " Oh ! the awkwardness of these boys ; give me 
 the flacon — you always take too much." 
 
 " Do you like otto of rose, Miss Scawen ? '' 
 said Frank, giving his handkerchief to his 
 mother to perfume. " What a lovely hand- 
 kerchief ! how transparent it looks ! but your 
 dress always is, — you always cut out everybody 
 else." 
 
 " I cut them out at a very cheap rate, then," 
 said Anne, smiling, and holding out her muslin 
 skirt. 
 
 " He is pulling your lace to pieces, Anne. 
 I warn you," said Mrs. Morton, rescuing 
 
king's cope. 267 
 
 Anne's handkerchief from her son's destructive 
 fingers. 
 
 *' Miss Scawen, 1 claim the first quadrille, 
 you know," said Frank, fidgetting about, as 
 his mother, with that caressing fondness that 
 her manner always assumed towards him, stood 
 arranging his hair and cravat in a more 
 becoming manner. 
 
 " I think I must beg you to excuse me," 
 said Anne ; ''I have a bad headache, and I 
 am sure a single dance would make it so 
 much worse, that I should be obliged to leave 
 the room." 
 
 " Oh ! this one dance ! " cried Frank : " you 
 will not be the worse for it, indeed ; or, if 
 you are, I will take up your cause ' against 
 all comers,' and you shall not dance again." 
 
 " Oh ! men, men ! " said Mrs. Morton, 
 smiling, and turning to Anne : — " in heaven 
 there will be more poor than rich, and more 
 women than men : at least, so says some 
 learned divine. But, my dear, I advise you 
 
 n2 
 
268 king's cope. • 
 
 to subscribe to his disinterested offer, for — ""' 
 (she bent forward and whispered in her ear) 
 '' it will sound well to-morrow morning." 
 
 Anne was as quick as lightning. She 
 coloured, which blush, Frank, of course, set 
 down to her being a good deal in love with 
 him ; but she saw directly that when Master 
 Clavering should ask her, with his sullen look, 
 with whom she danced, and she could reply, 
 only with Frank Morton, things would go on 
 much more peaceable between them. 
 
 When they all collected in the drawing- 
 room to wait for the carriage, Master Cla- 
 vering edged himself as near to Anne as 
 he could, and stared hard at her for some 
 moments. 
 
 '' I say, I have had a letter from * your 
 father, he said, " would you like to see it ? 
 He comes here to-morrow, and we go straight 
 back to King's Cope. What do you say to 
 that ? "^ 
 
 '* I have nothing to say against it," said 
 
king's cope. 269 
 
 Anne, steadily. " Why should I desire to 
 remain here any longer. On the contrary, 1 
 had rather be moving." 
 
 For as Mr. Hardwicke was to leave the 
 next day, she really felt relieved at the pro- 
 spect of quitting the place where she had known 
 him. 
 
 " Well, if you are not sorry, I am sure 
 1 am not,"*' said Master Clavering. " It seems 
 your mother-in-law finds the north does not 
 agree with her. I am sure I thought she 
 was too tough to mind anything. However, 
 it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, 
 and this will blow us, thank heaven, over 
 the border again." 
 
 Anne scarcely heard him. She was occu- 
 pied with her own thoughts. 
 
 " Well ! are you friends ! " said Master 
 Clavering. 
 
 *' If you are sorry," said Anne. 
 
 "- Well, I am sorry,'' he replied, after an 
 effort. 
 
270 king's cope. 
 
 So they shook hands as usual. 
 
 " Where 's my Httle Anne ? she goes with 
 me," said Mrs. Morton, who was quite deter- 
 mined to keep her in sight the whole evening, 
 and who, perhaps, thought she meant to make 
 her escape during the drive. " Jane and 
 Agnes go with Ella in the clarence. Mary 
 and Anne with me. Are all ready ? "" 
 
 She expected that Mr. Hardwicke would 
 be waiting for them : it was natural that he 
 should hand Anne from the carriage, and assist 
 in taking off her shawl, and though they 
 exchanged a few sentences in a low voice, 
 as they followed together into the dancing- 
 room, she thought that very proper too. 
 Frank came up to invite Miss Scawen for 
 the first quadrille, and Mr. Hardwicke made 
 no objection : he smiled as she withdrew her 
 hand from his arm, said something in her 
 ear, and then turning to little Ella, asked her 
 to dance. 
 
 Ella could not contain her joy. To dance with 
 
king's cope. 271 
 
 a real officer, with a pair of gold epaulettes, 
 and she only twelve years old ! and Agnes^ 
 she knew, would have given — oh ! her best 
 velvet bonnet for such a partner. Blushing, 
 laughing, and hurrying, she yet could not 
 help stepping back to Agnes, who sat biting 
 her lips by the side of Mrs. Morton, and 
 savin Of, — 
 
 " Cousin Agnes, I am going to dance vath 
 Mr. Hardwicke, and if you are not dancing, 
 perhaps you would hold my bouquet for me ? '*' 
 
 Agnes looked so extremely inclined to box 
 her cousin''s ears for this ill-timed speech, 
 that Mrs. Morton said, laughingly, — 
 
 " You may give me the bouquet, Ella, for 
 Agnes has not made up her mind yet, whether 
 ^^fshe will dance or not ; now / am sure to sit 
 still.'' 
 
 " Oh ! thank you, Aunt Morton,*" said Ella : 
 " perhaps we had better take our places ; 
 shall we have Frank and Miss Scawen for 
 our vis-d-iis^ Mr. Hardwicke.'^" 
 
^12 king's cope. 
 
 " What a little ready-made coquette it is ! "'"* 
 said Mrs. Morton, laughing. 
 
 " An odious, conceited animal ! " exclaimed 
 Agnes, indignantly. " These children's parties 
 turn their heads, and make them so forward 
 and affected, there 's no bearing them. I will 
 never suffer any children of mine to go out 
 to them."" 
 
 "Did you go to many, my dear.'*'" asked 
 Mrs. Morton, innocently. 
 
 " I am sure Aunt, I don't remember, '"' re- 
 turned Agnes ; " but my opinion of them is 
 the same.'' 
 
 " Oh ! so is mine, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Morton, playing with Ella's bouquet. 
 
 Most perseveringly did Mrs. Morton watch 
 Anne through the first three quadrilles ; then 
 her attentions began to flag a little ; and, 
 during la pastorale, just in the part where 
 her dearest Frank was executing those steps 
 which had made Master Clavering compare 
 him to a sparrow, it happened that there came 
 
king's cope. 273 
 
 into the room the very nobleman who has 
 previously been mentioned as one of her great 
 admirers. 
 
 Now it chanced that there were few peo- 
 ple in the world whom she esteemed and 
 respected so highly, and therefore though it 
 was entirely out of her ideas to give him 
 her hand, she never thought of receiving 
 him ungraciously. She made room for liim 
 on the sofa, shook hands with him very 
 cordially, her sweet face lighted up \\'ith 
 smiles and dimples, and when he began, 
 as he always did, to talk about her boys, 
 she became so deeply engrossed in the con- 
 versation that she really quite forgot what 
 was going on around her. 
 
 He was a little elderly man, rather stout 
 in his figure, with grey hair, and an air of fresh- 
 ness and refinement that would prevent his 
 being mistaken for an ordinary person. He 
 was the representative of a very ancient barony; 
 and as he had sufhcient kindness to plan a 
 
 N 5 
 
274 KING S COPE. 
 
 thousand benevolent schemes, and sufficient 
 wealth to carry them all out, he was very 
 highly regarded in his neighbourhood. 
 
 All Mrs. Morton's friends and well-wishers 
 had urged her again and again to accept this 
 nobleman. It would be such an excellent 
 match — it was really, in their opinion, wrong 
 to neglect any proper means of advancement ; 
 and then it was a duty she owed her sons to 
 secure for them such a powerful friend — it 
 was really almost robbing them to refuse ; for 
 Lord S had a great deal of money to leave. 
 
 Now Mrs. Morton had read in history of 
 ladies who had accepted of very powerful 
 protection for themselves and their families, 
 such as was not indeed exactly sanctioned 
 by the Church, but was nevertheless a source 
 of great wealth and advancement ; and she 
 thought much better of these ladies than of 
 any respectable woman who profaned the 
 sacrament of marriage by any interested 
 motives. 
 
king's cope. 275 
 
 But there was no talk of marriage that 
 
 evening ; Lord S was too well-bred to 
 
 be always bringing forward the same topic, 
 — they were conversing very busily about 
 Frank. 
 
 All at once she lifted up her eyes. The 
 quadrille was over, and she did not know 
 how many quadrilles besides. And where was 
 Anne ? and where was Mr. Hardwicke ? — not 
 in the room, — that her quick glance told her 
 in a moment. She started up in alarm. 
 
 '' You must excuse me, Lord S ," she 
 
 said, trying to laugh off her embarrassment ; 
 " but I have a little stranger with me, whom. 
 I don't see, and I am afraid she will be stand- 
 ing about, and catching cold at some open 
 window. ( yT:7F^T^' 
 
 Lord S immediately offered to assist in 
 
 the search, and giving his arm to Mrs. Morton, 
 they proceeded through the rooms. 
 
 Now Anne and Mr. Hardwicke were sit- 
 ting quietly on the staircase all the time. 
 
276 king's cope. 
 
 The house was old and oddly built, and the 
 staircase did not face you as you entered 
 the hall. It ran quite across the back, and 
 as the balustrades were thick and twisted, 
 people might be sitting on the steps a long 
 time without being observed. He had told 
 her all his arrangements for their hasty and 
 imprudent marriage early the next morning, 
 and she had listened with that entire ac- 
 quiescence in everything he said, which is 
 invariable on the woman's side when she is 
 really in love. And he had put a turquoise 
 ring on her finger, and kissed her hand a great 
 many times ; and then she unfastened the 
 golden heart from Hugh's bracelet, and strung 
 it on a slender gold chain, and hung it round 
 his neck. 
 
 " There," she said, trying to smile, " that 
 is really a part of my heart which I trust 
 with you till you return, then you shall give 
 it back to me." 
 
 •' I will," he said, gravely ; *' and if I die, 
 
king's cope. 277 
 
 I will leave directions that it shall be restored 
 to you. Do not think me dead, or false (he 
 added after a pause) till you receive this.'' 
 
 Then Anne began to cry, and it seemed 
 as if her head was resting on his shoulder, for 
 it is wonderful how she started up on hearing 
 Mrs. Morton's clear voice in the hall. 
 
 " Anne, dear Anne ! do tell me if that is 
 your white frock I see through the banisters f 
 Oh, yes, she pops up her dear little head ! 
 A thousand thanks. Lord S — — ; now dont 
 let me keep you in the cold." 
 
 She was so impressive that Lord S 
 
 obeyed her at once, and went into the card- 
 room. ^^^ 
 
 " Miss Scawen found the dancing-room too '^'^ 
 warm," said Mr. Hardwicke, calmly. 
 
 " She must have found the staircase any- 
 thing but warm, I should think," said Mrs. 
 Morton, anxiously ; " and no shawl, naughty 
 Anne ; come and get a hot cup of coffee 
 before we start.**' 
 
278 king's cope. 
 
 " Come," said Anne, turning round, and 
 offering her hand to Mr. Hardwicke. He 
 placed it on his arm. 
 
 " Oh, dear me ! '''* thought Mrs. Morton. 
 " I am half afraid all this looks very like 
 something serious. But it can't be helped 
 and this is the very last evening they meet, — 
 so after all, it is not very alarming, — I only 
 hope the poor little thing won't fret about 
 it. 
 
 She was not fretting then, that is certain. 
 She took the cup of coffee that Mr. Hard- 
 wicke prepared for her, and suffered him to 
 shawl her, and lead her to the carriage very 
 calmly, and she shook hands with him, and 
 wished him good bye, just as the others did ; 
 much more tranquilly than Mrs. Morton, who 
 clasped his hand quite affectionately, and 
 spoke her farewell in a faltering voice, and 
 then throwing herself back in the carriage 
 with tears in her eyes, said, with a sob, — 
 
 " It is a horrid word, that ' good-bye,"* 
 
king's cope. 279 
 
 and then when I see a young creature Hke 
 that, driven out mto tlie world, I can't help 
 thinking of my own boys." 
 
 " Oh ! it is very melancholy," said Agnes, 
 carelessly. 
 
 " But he danced with me. Aunt Morton, 
 I shall never forget that," said Ella ; '* and he 
 talked to me, and asked me when I should 
 go back to my papa at Calcutta. — I only 
 wish I knew. He has got my parcel safe. 
 He complimented me on my dancing. Do 
 you know whom he danced with afterwards, 
 Miss Sea wen ?''"' 
 
 " There, that is enough !" interrupted 
 Agnes, not suiFering Anne to reply. " I do 
 believe you would ^o on all night long 
 about your dear Mr. Hardwicke. Nobody 
 cares whether he danced any more ; I think 
 him very stupid, for he told me he could 
 not waltz." 
 
 It rather surprised Anne when they re- 
 turned, to find that Master Clavering was 
 
280 king's cope. 
 
 waiting up for them. He came out into the 
 hall, and singling Anne from among the rest, 
 took hold of her cloak. 
 
 "Come, I am glad to see you back again;" 
 he said. 
 
 " Why what could induce you to sit up, 
 Master Clavering ?" asked Anne. 
 
 "Never mind," he replied ; " but go to bed, 
 you are as pale as death ; I thought you 
 were never coming back." 
 
 "'It is a long way to Lady Armstrong's," 
 observed Mrs. Morton. 
 
 " Ah ! and it is a long way to a good 
 many other places," he remarked ; " however, 
 good night ! " 
 
 " Now don't you call him mad, Mrs. Mor- 
 ton .'''" said Anne, as they parted on the stairs. 
 " But mad, nor' nor' west;" returned Mrs. 
 Morton, smiling ; " sleep well, little Anne." 
 
 She did not mean to sleep. The Hre was 
 still burning in her room. She drew the logs 
 together, dressed herself in her walking 
 
king's cope. .'^Sl 
 
 clothes, with some difficulty, for she was 
 not used to attend upon herself, and sat 
 down on the hearth rug to wait. She felt 
 chilly, feverish, sick ; she was not thinking 
 about the step she was going to take ; she 
 was only feeling. She leaned her burning 
 forehead on her hands, and sat listening for 
 the sound of the clock. 
 
 At last it struck six. 
 
 That was the time at which he had said 
 he would be waiting for her at the bottom 
 of Mrs. Morton's garden. 
 
 She tied her bonnet, found her gloves, and 
 crept softly down stairs. She did not trem- 
 ble then^ she felt as if she had a right to 
 act for herself. When she unfastened the 
 hall door and looked out, she found the 
 morning dark and drizzling, — that did not 
 signify, she stepped down upon the terrace, 
 and walked bravely forward. He was there 
 — he had been waiting. He told her the 
 church was two miles off, and said some- 
 
282 king's cope. 
 
 thing about the dampness of the morning. 
 But they spoke very little. 
 
 With his arm round her, and his great 
 horseman's cloak wrapped over hers, she felt 
 neither wet nor fatigued. Part of the way 
 she knew very well, — the bridge over the 
 stream, and the long lane at the foot of the 
 hill, — but at the end of the lane they turned 
 into a wilder country, a kind of ravine be- 
 tween steep barren hills ; at last the ravine 
 seemed to widen, the hills sank into mere 
 undulations of the ground. Beyond, a little 
 lake was set like a silver wedge into the 
 valley, and by its side stood a small hut 
 of a church, the resort of the few farmers 
 and labouring families of the district. 
 
 He led her through the small church-yard, 
 thick with humble graves, and into the rustic 
 church, where two candles were burning, to 
 enable the pastor to go through the service. 
 
 He was miserably poor and discreditable, 
 and the bribe which Mr. Hardwicke was half 
 
KING S COPE. 288 
 
 ashamed to offer him, was a treasure that 
 he had never hoped to possess. I beHeve 
 he would have consented to bury her aUve 
 for half the sum. Two farm labourers, one 
 the father of the child whom Mr. Hardwicke 
 had saved ; the other, some Scotch cousin 
 of his, were witnesses to the ceremony, 
 which the minister read through his nose, 
 with a most frightful Scottish brogue. The 
 labourers were not in the least interested in 
 penetrating the mystery. They got more 
 than a week's wao-es for standinof there, and 
 there they accordingly stood. They saw a 
 .girl in a long blue cloak, and a straw bon- 
 net, and one of them thought her name 
 was Ramsey, while the other fancied it was 
 Colquhoun. Once or twice in their lives 
 afterwards they referred to it as a sort of 
 date. " The morning on which the young 
 English chap married the Scottish lassie;*" 
 and that was all the impression it ever made 
 upon them. The ceremony was soon over. 
 
284 king's cope. 
 
 When they went out into the air, the rain 
 had ceased, and the dayHght was just begin- 
 ning to steal over the hills. 
 
 Anne would not suffer Mr. Hardwicke to 
 walk home with her: he pleaded hard to be 
 allowed to do so : the last few minutes that 
 they might ever pass together he was very 
 unwilling to surrender ; but she was posi- 
 tive. '' I have a fancy, Arthur, she said, and 
 you must humour it, that we should part on 
 holy ground.'' 
 
 It would have been very perverse if he 
 had refused her anything just then. So he 
 led her down to the little gate, and kissed 
 her hands, and opened it for her to pass 
 through. Their leave-taking could not be 
 very demonstrative, for the witnesses had not 
 yet gone away. But nobody saw them, for 
 the minister was counting his gold in the 
 porch, and the labourers were looking for their 
 spades, which they had laid behind a grave- 
 stone, when they went into the church. 
 
king's cope. 285 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Like to the falling of a star, 
 Or as the flights of eagles are, 
 Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue, 
 Or silver drops of morning dew, 
 Or like a wind that chafes the flood, 
 Or bubbles which on water stood ; 
 Even such is man, whose borrowed light, 
 Is strait called in and paid to-night. 
 
 Henry King. 
 
 Anne found her way back as easily as she 
 had anticipated. They had been so late the 
 night before, that the servants were not risen, 
 and she fastened the hall-door so that they 
 would not see that any one had been out. 
 She undressed, and went to bed, and fell 
 almost immediately into a deep sleep ; which 
 some persons will do when their fate is de- 
 cided, though they have been very restless 
 
286 king's cope. 
 
 while it was in suspense. She slept so long 
 that Mrs. Morton had sent in several times 
 to ask how she was, before she awoke. Then 
 she had her breakfast in her room ; and her 
 kind hostess coming in to see that her coiFee 
 was hot and her toast properly made, was 
 delighted to find that she did not look either 
 pale or disconsolate. On the contrary, sitting 
 up in bed, with the breakfast-tray before her, 
 her cheeks warm and flushed from sleep, and 
 her rich hair escaping in tendrils from her 
 pretty little nightcap, she presented a very 
 comfortable picture. Mrs. Morton, whose 
 opinion about her feelings fluctuated on an 
 average every half hour, now took a decisive 
 stand. " What a simpleton I was,""* she 
 thought, " to fidget myself so wretchedly 
 about nothing — absolutely a fancy of my own. 
 I know, or rather I did know once, what it 
 was to be in love ; and you, my little Anne, 
 with your luminous eyes, have yet to learn 
 what it means. I wonder now what it was 
 
king's cope. ^87 
 
 she felt for youug Hardwicke. I suppose 
 that sort of Hking which would in time have 
 ripened into love."' So she sat on the edge 
 of the bed, gossiping cheerfully with Anne 
 
 about the party, and about Lord S ; how 
 
 he had inquired who Anne was, and had 
 said some very pretty things about her, which 
 Mrs. Morton would not repeat, for fear of 
 making her vain ; and then she laughed about 
 Master Clavering, and declared that she had 
 thought it was his ghost coming out to 
 meet them in the hall, and told Anne to 
 laugh at him well about his illness, which 
 could not be very bad, if he was able to 
 sit up till four o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Anne was very young, and now that every- 
 thing was settled and the parting over, her 
 spirits rose again. She talked quite cheerfully 
 to Mrs. Morton, avoiding, however, all mention 
 of Mr. Hardwicke's name until she rose to 
 dress. 
 
 Her first care, as soon as her maid left 
 
288 king's cope. 
 
 her, was to secure her wedding-ring. Among 
 the many pretty trinkets her mother had 
 given her, was a small velvet bag thickly 
 embroidered with gold thread, which had been 
 used to hold an amulet, or, perhaps, some 
 relick of peculiar sanctity. This she hung 
 to a slender gold chain similar to the one 
 she had given Mr. Hardwicke ; she had eight 
 or ten of them as fine as threads, which were 
 worn together like a skein, to support an 
 eyeglass or a locket. In this little bag, not 
 so large as a crown piece, she deposited the 
 wedding-ring and the turquoise, determining 
 to wear them always round her neck. Then 
 if Mrs. Scawen were to demand what she 
 was wearing, she could produce the velvet 
 bag ; and she sewed it up so securely, that 
 any one not knowing the opening might easily 
 think it had none. It happened, however, 
 that it was never challenged. 
 
 Master Clavering received her with great 
 glee when she appeared in the drawing-room. 
 
king's cope. 289 
 
 He was in very good humour, and said nothing 
 about the pain in his chest. Indeed, what 
 with his satisfaction at Mr. Hardwicke's de- 
 parture, and his own near prospect of return- 
 ing to England, he became quite animated, 
 and made a great impression on the Anderson 
 girls, who never forgot his future destinies. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Scawen arrived before dinner. 
 " Trust her for coming safe,'' said Master 
 Clavering, who was standing by Anne at the 
 window. " That sort of woman is sure never 
 to get her neck broke. However, they take 
 us home to-morrow, and so we won't quarrel 
 with them." 
 
 " I think you are very ungrateful," said 
 Anne, " when you have been so kindly treated 
 here." 
 
 " Very likely," said Master Clavering; '' but 
 I shall be glad enough to see you safe out of 
 the house, and so I tell you. Hardwicke is 
 gone, but I don't half like that fellow Ander- 
 son, ugly as he is." 
 
 VOL. 1. o 
 
290 king's cope. 
 
 Anne began to laugh, but she checked her- 
 self, for her father and his wife came into the 
 room. 
 
 She felt that embarrassment natural to a 
 person who knows that he ought to be glad 
 to meet a relation whom, from circumstances, 
 he had much rather avoid. However, she 
 advanced and shook hands with her parents 
 just as Master Clavering did. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen received her with more of a 
 vinegar aspect than usual ; but Mr. Scawen 
 looking at her attentively, said to his wife in 
 a tone of interest, " I don't think Anne looks 
 well, Mrs. Scawen."' 
 
 Any mark of kindness was so unusual from 
 him, that her composure was almost destroyed. 
 Her lips trembled, and the tears rose to her 
 eyes. All the independence of her conduct she 
 had defended to herself on the plea that she 
 was not cared for ; that her father did not wish 
 to advance her happiness, and that therefore 
 she had a right to secure it herself, — the right 
 
king's cope. 2dl 
 
 that every creature has to protect themselves 
 from injury. But if it were otherwise — if he 
 really loved her- — she tried to think that im- 
 possible — but the words rang in her ears, 
 and disturbed and distressed her for a long 
 time. 
 
 Anne might be excused for crying heartily 
 when the time came for taking leave of Mrs. 
 Morton ; the bright widow shed a few tears 
 herself. Mrs. Sea wen said every bitter thing 
 that could be imagined to Anne, when they 
 were fairly on their road, always taking for 
 granted that she was crying at returning to 
 her home. This is a common habit with bad 
 tempers, especially if they have baited and 
 teazed their victim into crying, they then 
 allege some reason which they know to be 
 untrue to account for the tears, and it becomes 
 a very fertile topic to expatiate upon. 
 
 But Master Clavering's clear head (for 
 though shallow it was very clear) would not 
 allow her to escape so easily. 
 
 o 2 
 
^92 king's cope. 
 
 " We are both glad to go home, she and /,'"' 
 he said, very distinctly ; " we have had enough 
 of it, and so it seems have yon. But she is 
 sorry to part with Mrs. Morton, who has been 
 very kind to her, and who is an uncommonly 
 pretty woman, and I only wish she was sitting 
 opposite to me at this moment.*" 
 
 Mr. Scawen laughed, and Mrs. Scawen dared 
 not reply. Although harsh to her himself, he 
 always seemed to like Master Clavering to 
 defend his daughter. 
 
 They returned by way of Carlisle, and spent 
 the Sunday in that ancient city. 
 
 Anne confided to Master Clavering (whose 
 amiability had redoubled when they had fairly 
 crossed the Eden) that she had the most eager 
 desire to go to the cathedral, and she was 
 afraid that if there was another church to be 
 had, her father would go thither ; so when 
 they met at breakfast on Sunday morning, that 
 young gentleman announced his plans in the 
 following manner :-^ 
 
KING'S COPE. 2i)S 
 
 " I want to go to the cathedral, and I shall 
 take her with me." 
 
 As this arrangement was not quite usual, 
 Mr. Scawen amended it by proposing that they 
 should all go together, to which Master 
 Clavering offered no opposition. 
 
 The cathedral, though very ancient, is one 
 of the smallest in England, and being built of 
 the red stone that abounds in that district, is 
 deficient in the venerable and delicate colour- 
 ing that belong-s to most of those glorious 
 buildings. But the choir is remarkably fine — 
 the carved oak screen and organ, as black 
 almost as ebony ; and on the tower is that 
 little corner turret, constantly to be met with 
 in the northern churches, and which served as 
 a look out when border towns were residences 
 much more exciting than agreeable. It hap- 
 pened that a dignitary of the cathedral was 
 just dead, and the choir was hung with black, 
 while the choristers and officiating clergyman 
 wore broad black scarfs across their white 
 
^94* king's cope. 
 
 surplices ; the music chaunted was in character 
 with the costume ; the psalms were sung in a 
 minor key — the anthem was one of those rich 
 pieces of mournful harmony that thrill to the 
 very centre of the heart. As Anne knelt with 
 her head bowed down, stifling her sobs, and 
 stealthily wiping away her tears, the thought 
 was perpetually crossing her mind, " Have I 
 done wrong — have I misjudged my privilege — 
 ought I to have acted against my father's will 
 — am I not living in deceit ? '" 
 
 With the tokens of recent death before our 
 eyes, the conscience is apt to become more 
 exacting. 
 
 In the opposite pew there sat some part of 
 the deceased clergyman's family ; the ladies 
 shrouded in black silk hoods that concealed all 
 but the lower part of the face. One of these 
 was a girl of singular beauty, her mouth and 
 chin shaped with the utmost delicacy, but as 
 white as ivory. Now and then a tear fell from 
 her cheek down upon her clasped hands ; but 
 
king's cope. 295 
 
 the beautiful lips were calm in their expression, 
 and might have been selected by a sculptor as 
 a type of resignation. 
 
 Anne kept thinking — " She could never 
 have deceived — she could never have rebelled 
 against her father (it was her uncle, by the 
 way) ; — or she could not kneel so calmly 
 under the roof where he rests, and pray for 
 peace. / ought to pray for pardon. And 
 so she did — trembling so much all the time 
 that Master Clavering thought she was cold, 
 and coolly taking Mrs. Scawen's sable tippet 
 from the pew-door where it was hanging, put 
 it over Anne's shoulders. But it must be 
 confessed that 'when the service was over, and 
 she was removed from the influence of the 
 black scarfs and the wailing music, her spirits 
 rose again, and she recovered her complacency. 
 She was sure Arthur never would have advised 
 her to do what was wicked. Her father did 
 not love her, and he meant to make her 
 miserable ; and as for concealing the step she 
 
296 king's cope. 
 
 had taken, why, of course, it was impossible 
 to do otherwise ; and neither Mr. nor Mrs. 
 Scawen had any right to her confidence ! 
 
 In fact, she was quite ready to walk to 
 the castle, and enjoy the prospect, and the 
 recollections of the place. Certainly the build- 
 ing is not handsome. No graceful turrets — 
 no circular towers — no majestic gateways to 
 be seen. Queen Mary's tower is a stubborn- 
 looking house, and the unsightly red stone 
 of which it is built won't even allow it to 
 look ancient. But the view from the ram- 
 parts is magnificent. Around, to the north 
 and east the Cheviot and Cumberland hills 
 stretch into the horizon, swelling and sink- 
 ing, and melting into every softened tint of 
 grey and lilac ; on the other side lies the 
 town — farther on, the masts of the shipping 
 which come up the river, and there winding 
 among the fields and trees, the beautiful 
 Eden may be traced in streaks of light. But 
 it was very cold — 1 should think it always 
 
king's cope. 297 
 
 was, at Carlisle ; and Master Clavering ordered 
 the party down. It was curious to see how 
 Mr. Scawen acquiesced in everything he pro- 
 posed. 
 
 As they were leaving the castle, an officer, 
 crossing the court with some papers in his 
 hand, turned and stared, and turned and stared 
 again at Anne, with that brutal audacity which 
 can only be perfectly acquired in a barrack. 
 A stare made up of a kind of gaping curiosity, 
 mingled with a savage air of defiance, but 
 happily (when directed to a modest woman) 
 not a particle of approval or admiration. 
 
 This put Master Clavering into a very sulky 
 temper. 
 
 "Did you see that fellow.?"" he asked, 
 looking sharply at Anne, who was walking 
 along quite unconscious of what passed. — 
 '' Why don't you wear a veil ? An insolent 
 dog !" 
 
 Anne started, looked up, and beholding only 
 
 at the gateway a very peaceful sentinel stand- 
 
 o 5 
 
298 king's cope. 
 
 ing in a grey wrapper, wondered what her 
 companion could mean. 
 
 " I sometimes think you are crazy, Master 
 Clavering," she said. " Did you fancy that 
 sentry looked at us, that you were so angry."" 
 
 " Never mind,"' he muttered, " it was not 
 your fault — some people are handsome ; and 
 some people had better keep their eyes to 
 themselves. However when once you get back 
 to King's Cope, there you will stay — that 
 is one comfort." 
 
 It might be a comfort ; but Anne sighed 
 heavily. 
 
 Master Clavering remained with them but 
 a few days after they returned. His father 
 had arrived in London, and had procured his 
 commission ; and Power was directed to pack 
 him up and take him off to town. 
 
 His attention was very much divided during 
 the last two days between Anne and his hum- 
 ming-tops, until it occurred to him to have 
 the trunk destined for those treasures brought 
 
king's cope. 299 
 
 into the study, and to enlist her senices in 
 helping him to pack them up. 
 
 This took a long time, because he insisted 
 on spinning every one in turn before he put 
 it away, and Anne, kneeling with her lap 
 full of Spanish wool, had to wait till the 
 last sounds had murmured away, and the top 
 had whirled and twisted itself under the sofa, 
 or among the legs of the table, before she 
 was allowed to proceed. 
 
 But she packed them in such a masterly 
 manner that he frequently called her a good 
 fellow, and insisted on shaking hands with 
 her three several times ; and in the evening 
 he said to Mr. Scawen, that he did not know 
 what on earth he should do without Anne, 
 and he wished to goodness he could take her 
 with him. 
 
 Mr. Scawen smiled, but merely said that 
 he hoped they should all have the pleasure 
 of seeing Mr. Clavering at King's Cope on 
 some future occasion. 
 
300 king's cope. 
 
 Not a word about Anne, to her great delight. 
 Then Miss Elder came back, and Anne found 
 herself quietly restored to the study, and every- 
 thing going on just as before her visit. 
 
 Then she had time really to think of the 
 terrible step she had taken. In the excitement 
 of her journey, and the distress of leaving Mrs. 
 Morton, and even the occupation that Master 
 Clavering''s stay produced in the house, she 
 had not felt able to reflect ; and, except that 
 momentary twinge in the cathedral, she had 
 never reproached herself for what she had 
 done. But now she would often sit crouching 
 over the study-fire, turning the affair over in 
 her mind in every possible point of view, till 
 she felt sick at heart, and so confused in her 
 head, that Miss Elder found it impossible to 
 extract from her the usual amount of literature. 
 She was too young to have a great and per- 
 petual care weighing on her mind. Mr. 
 Sea wen remarked that she grew thin — and 
 •Miss Elder feared that her holidays at Park- 
 
king's cope. 301 
 
 indale had not done her any good : which 
 guess came remarkably near the truth ; though 
 not exactly in the sense in which it was made. 
 
 But sometimes, when she was sure of being 
 quite alone, and she had drawn her velvet bag 
 from her bosom, and pressed it to her lips, 
 with the delightful consciousness that absence 
 could do nothing against their love, all her 
 doubts and difficulties would seem to give way 
 at once. 
 
 As to Arthur, nothing could ever shake his 
 constancy, she was sure. She pictured him 
 retaining, year after year, her image in his 
 heart, as strongly as his was impressed upon 
 her own at that moment. 
 
 And as months passed on without her hear- 
 ing even Master Clavering'*s name mentioned 
 by her father, she began to hope that he never 
 had the scheme of uniting them, and that that 
 singular young gentleman would never more 
 be a source of vexation to her. 
 
 In the Spring she was taken to London, that 
 
302 king's cope. 
 
 she might have the advantage of masters — 
 but this made no great difference in her habits 
 — only the study at the back of a London 
 house was not nearly so pleasant as the study 
 at King's Cope ; and her daily walk in Ken- 
 sington Gardens was not so much to her taste 
 as her rambles by the brook in the park at 
 home. 
 
 In music she made so remarkable a progress, 
 that her masters did not know how to extol 
 her enough. She always evinced a very strong 
 dislike to dancing, which Miss Elder could not 
 comprehend, and tried to overcome by a good 
 deal of sensible argument. But Anne had 
 quietly determined in her own mind that when 
 she went into society she would never dance, 
 and she felt that these guinea lessons would be 
 a source of contention and reproach from Mrs. 
 Scawen. That lady would often upbraid her 
 with their residence in town, declaring that all 
 that enormous expense was incurred in the vain 
 hope of making Anne an accomplished and 
 
king's cope. 303 
 
 elegant young woman — and that it was griev- 
 ous to think of the hundreds that were being 
 lavished upon her education, without any chance 
 of an adequate return. As she was growing 
 so beautiful, that Miss Elder really felt nervous 
 at walking with her through the streets, perhaps 
 Mrs. Scawen's remarks were kindly meant to 
 balance the admiring looks with which she was 
 greeted whenever she stirred from the house. 
 As Anne grew older, and, it must be confessed, 
 haughtier, Mrs. Scawen endeavoured to domi- 
 neer over her still more palpably. The less 
 her power really was, the more she made a 
 show of thwarting her in every trifling thing. 
 In the colour of her dresses, for instance, she 
 made a point of insisting upon whatever Anne 
 disliked ; and if she took a seat on the sofa, 
 her step-mother usually ordered her off to a 
 chair. Always treating these petty annoyances 
 with silent contempt, always relying on her- 
 self, forming her own views, acting on her own 
 impulses, and at an age when the character 
 
304 king's cope. 
 
 is generally in some confusion, she was in 
 danger of becoming altogether headstrong and 
 unamiable. Neither her father nor Mrs. Sea- 
 wen had ever succeeded in making her do 
 anything that she had resolved not to do, and 
 there was every reason to suppose that they 
 would not be more successful in future, should 
 any cause of dissension arise between them. 
 Very earnestly did Miss Elder labour to 
 strengthen her principles, and to soften the 
 scornful tendencies of her character ; but at 
 that early age, feeling generally supplies the 
 place of principle — so that, when the feelings 
 are well-directed, people do not find this out ; 
 and, when they do find it out, it is usually 
 in a disagreeable manner. 
 
 She saw her brother Henry twice during 
 the three seasons she spent in town ; the first 
 time he did not speak to her at all : the 
 second time he remarked to her that he thought 
 she was growing rather a fine woman. As 
 there did not exist between them the famili- 
 
king's cope. 305 
 
 arity of relations, Aone took the remark as 
 an insult, just as if a stranger had made it — 
 and turned from him with a deal of beautiful 
 scorn on her lip. 
 
 Sometimes, from hints that passed between 
 her father and his wife in her presence, she 
 had reason to think that Henry was very 
 extravagant, and that his moral conduct was 
 displeasing to Mr. Scawen — and this rather 
 heightened the contempt with which she 
 regarded him. 
 
 One day, Miss Elder was endeavouring to 
 soften down some bitter expression that she 
 had let fall, relating to the indifference or 
 dislike with which she was regarded in her 
 home. 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Elder,'' she rephed, hastily ; 
 "it is in vain to try and deceive myself. 
 Would you believe that, one day, a long time 
 ago, I fancied Papa cared about me, from 
 something he said, and I actually distressed 
 myself, thinking what a bad return I had made 
 
306 king's cope. 
 
 him ; but I very soon found my mistake, and 
 at least," she added, laughing, but with her 
 eyes full of tears, "that source of uneasiness 
 is entirely at an end ! " 
 
 Poor Miss Elder found it best to generalise 
 her remarks : it did not do to descend to 
 particulars. 
 
 One day, one golden morning — the brightest 
 that she knew for years (it was some six or 
 eight months after her visit to Scotland) — 
 she saw Arthur Hardwicke's name in the 
 paper. 
 
 Mrs. Scawen strictly forbad her ever taking 
 up a newspaper, and, like most other young 
 people, she had neither interest nor curiosity 
 about public affairs, and but for this prohibi- 
 tion, would have remained wholly indifferent to 
 this branch of literature. But, one morning, 
 Mr. Scawen, who had called her into his 
 study to giver her some trifling direction, was 
 obliged to go up stairs to speak to a workman, 
 and desired her to await his return. 
 
king's cope. 307 
 
 The Morning Post was lying on his desk. 
 She snatched it up, and the first thing that 
 met her eye was the name of Mr. Hard- 
 wicke. 
 
 It was a panegyric of his conduct during 
 the shipwreck of the troop ship in which he 
 was embarked off the Cape of Good Hope. 
 To the courage and coolness of Lieutenant 
 Hardwicke might be ascribed, in great measure, 
 the excellent conduct of the troops on board, 
 who were landed ^vithout hurry or confusion, 
 and with very trifling loss. Mr. Hardwicke 
 being the very last person to leave the sink- 
 ing vessel, which went down a very few 
 minutes after almost every soul had been 
 conveyed to shore a few miles from Cape 
 Town. 
 
 Anne kissed the paper ; she pressed it to 
 her heart — she trembled — she laughed — she 
 cried — she did not know how to give a voice 
 to her joy. 
 
 She did not see the account which followed, 
 
308 king's cope. 
 
 of the lamented death of Captain Cozens, 
 who was stated to have been equally beloved 
 and respected bj a numerous circle of friends, 
 and who met his fate on that melancholy 
 occasion, because, being in the most disgust- 
 ing state of intoxication, as fast as people car- 
 ried him on deck, he persisted in tumbling 
 down the companion-ladder again, until every 
 one became too much engrossed by their own 
 safety to pay any further attention to him, 
 particularly as it was the general opinion that 
 in the last fall he broke his neck. 
 
 In consequence of this valuable life being 
 prematurely sacrificed, Mr. Hardwicke suc- 
 ceeded to the command of his troop. But of 
 this Anne knew nothing. At last, at the close 
 of her third season in London, she was told 
 by her parents that her education was finished. 
 She had learned all that it was proper for a 
 young lady to know. She could play, and 
 dance, and draw flowers ; she could speak 
 German and Italian ; she was now to read no 
 
king's cope. 309 
 
 more history, nor was it necessary that she 
 should have anything more to say to the 
 English poets. She was to be introduced into 
 society, and Mrs. Scawen " hoped very much 
 that she would not disgrace her family by any 
 iornorant remarks or awkward habits. It cer- 
 tainly had pleased heaven to deny her either 
 beauty or talent ; but if she was modest and 
 unassuming, perhaps her friends might be able 
 to make allowance for her defects."" 
 
 She was therefore told as soon as they 
 arrived in Lancashire, that a dinner was to 
 be given, on her account, to the neighbouring 
 families, that her name was to be enofraved 
 on Mrs. Sea wen's cards, and she was thence- 
 forward to be considered ^^ out !'*'' 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
/ 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Printed by S. & J. Bektley and Henry Flet, 
 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane. 
 
 ^■■•^•. 
 
Sfc^ 
 

 .i""^-' vjr J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 823W153K C001 v.1 
 King's Cope.