ND 20, MUSEUM STREET 
 
 SINGLE SUBSCRIPTION , 
 
 One (niiiio,^ R.,. ^^^^^
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/younglord01pons
 
 THE 
 
 YOUNO LOED. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 OF 
 
 '<THE DISCIPLINE OF LIFE," « CLAEE ABBEY, 
 "EDWAED WILLOUGHBY," &c. 
 
 " It is excellent 
 To have a giant's strength, but it is tyiannous 
 To use it like a giant." — Measuee foe Measure. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 ' 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1856.
 
 CUAULKS BKVAN ANU SON, PRINTERS, CHAPEL STREET, OUOSVENOR SQUABS.
 
 
 Pms-^ 
 
 THE YOUNG LOED. 
 
 CHAPTEE I, 
 
 " We thouglit — for I was one — that we espied 
 Some indications strong of dormant pride." 
 
 Ckabbe. 
 
 (Letter from Captain Moore to Lord Singleton.) 
 
 '' Tavistock Square, 
 ^^ June 2. 
 ^* My Lord, 
 
 " I have already been beholden to you 
 on two occasions, nor can I much doubt — 
 although, with your usual modesty, you have 
 H concealed your efforts in my behalf — that I 
 
 VOL. 1.
 
 2 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 am indebted to you for the appointment I 
 have just received in India. Be it so or not, 
 this last favour adds little to the gratitude 
 you have already excited in my breast. Your 
 lordship will, perhaps, be surprised at my 
 presumption, if, in the very moment of ex- 
 pressing my obligations for past favours, I put 
 forward a new request. My apology must be 
 that those in need turn to the benevolent as 
 naturally as rivers run to the sea. 
 
 '^ Your lordship may possibly remember 
 that I have one little girl. She is very dear 
 to me^ but I am compelled, owing to my fears 
 of the Indian climate, to leave her behind me. 
 I have placed her at a good school in Derby- 
 shire, where she will be well treated, and, I 
 hope, well instructed ; and there it is my 
 desire that she should remain until my re- 
 turn to England. It is very possible, how- 
 ever, that I may never return. I put my 
 trust in God, but I am well aware that many
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 3 
 
 perils by sea and land may cut me off even 
 in the vigour of my days. My request to 
 your lordship is, that you will condescend to 
 take upon yourself the office of my daughter's 
 guardian. It will be to me an inexpressible 
 consolation to feel that, should I depart this 
 life in a foreign land, my child's welfare is in 
 your hands. 
 
 " Your lordship may be surprised that I 
 make this request to a man of your rank and 
 position, rather than to any of my own per- 
 sonal friends. My lord, my reason is this — 
 I have observed in your lordship, and in those 
 belonging to you, a strictness and integrity of 
 principle, which I have rarely seen in others 
 of any rank or class whatever. Most men 
 are swayed by the impulses of the moment ; 
 I could think of none in whom I should feel 
 the implicit trust I feel in your lordship, that 
 you would consider the good of my child, and 
 her moral welfare, before all other considera- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 tions. In placing her under your guardianship, 
 I shall have done for her all I can ; I know 
 that your lordship will do the thing that is 
 right, and with this conviction I shall die 
 content. 
 
 " I have stated my wishes plainly. Your 
 lordship will accede to them, I am well aware, 
 if you feel it proper to do so. Should it be 
 an office which — from any just cause — you are 
 disinclined to assume, I can but submit, and 
 will then endeavour to make a second choice. 
 
 " In the accompanying paper you will see 
 that I have taken the liberty to associate with 
 your lordship's name the name of your son. 
 My lord, you have, I trust, many happy 
 years before you. According to all human 
 calculation it will be so; yet life is, at the 
 best, uncertain, and a father must not build 
 the welfare of his child on one foundation. 
 My reason for requesting Mr. Beauchamp to 
 be, — in conjunction with your lordship, my
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 5 
 
 daughter's guardian, is the same which I 
 mentioned in speaking of yourself. I have 
 seen Mr. Beauchamp but once ; he may 
 not have noticed me ; but on that single 
 occasion I observed in him, young as he is, 
 the same principle of rigid integrity, for which 
 his family is remarkable. I must leave it to 
 him and to your lordship to accede to or refuse 
 my request. 
 
 ^^ I have also enclosed to your lordship 
 some papers relative to pecuniary affairs. A 
 maternal uncle of my daughter's has left to 
 her a small fortune, of which she is to become 
 possessor in her twenty-first year. He has 
 placed the sum he destined for her as a mort- 
 gage on an Irish property. As the property 
 is well-managed, T am anxious it should re- 
 main undisturbed. The yearly interest, which 
 amounts to £450 a-year, is placed in the 
 
 hands of Messrs. , who will invest it in 
 
 the funds, to accumulate until my daughter's
 
 6 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 coming of age. This fortune — more particu- 
 lars regarding which you will see in the 
 papers enclosed — is but small ; yet, as your 
 lordship will be aware, it is more than suffi- 
 cient to render my daughter, in future years, 
 an object to adventurers of her own rank in 
 life. For this reason, I am more especially 
 anxious about her, and more earnestly de- 
 sirous that her inexperienced years should 
 be placed under your lordship's guidance and 
 control. 
 
 " My lord, I must conclude by making an 
 apology for troubling you, at such length, on 
 a personal matter. I am aware how little 
 right I have to intrude upon you ; but your 
 lordship will excuse a father's anxiety. 
 ^' I remain, 
 
 " Your lordship's 
 *^ Most grateful and obedient servant, 
 
 " Egbert Moore." 
 
 Lord Singleton was seated at breakfast.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 7 
 
 Tvith his only son and his son's tutor. He 
 read the letter, and laid it down beside him, 
 remarking, half aloud, half to himself — " This 
 requires consideration.^' 
 
 Having so said, he ate his breakfast in 
 silence, bestowing the consideration, of which 
 he had spoken, upon the request that had 
 been made. 
 
 '^ Shall I give you some more coffee, 
 Hugh ?" asked Mr. Horner, the tutor, of his 
 pupil. 
 
 '^ Yes, if you please," Hugh said — answer- 
 ing with great civility, yet allowing his tutor 
 to rise and wait upon him. * 
 
 " The coffee is cold !" he exclaimed, after a 
 moment — " not your fault, Mr. Horner," he 
 added, pohtely ; " but I do wish the servants 
 would learn to make it hot." 
 
 " Let me put some water in — it is quite 
 boiling still." 
 
 "Thank you,"— as his tutor rose again,
 
 8 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 and went to the side-table, where the urn 
 stood — " that will do ; only a drop or two, 
 for I hate it weak/' 
 
 " Your tastes are decided, Hugh," observed 
 Mr. Horner. 
 
 " Yes, of course — I hate half and half" 
 
 Presently, Hugh dropped his spoon. Mr. 
 Horner stooped quickly and picked it up for 
 him. 
 
 " Thank you," again said Hugh, civilly, as 
 he received it. 
 
 " If I were you, Hugh," said his father 
 suddenly, (possibly because his son, at the 
 moment, occupied his thoughts, becoming ob- 
 servant of a state of things which usually was 
 unobserved), " I should not like to be waited 
 on, as you are. If / were blind, I should sup- 
 pose you to be decrepid." 
 
 Hugh coloured, not with shame, but with 
 dislike at being found fault with. He had a 
 good temper, however, and the irritation was
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. ^ 
 
 surmounted in an instant. " What a fine day 
 for the boys' match," he observed, in order to 
 change a disagreeable subject. 
 
 " Yes — shall you be down there, my boy ? 
 They will be pleased with a visit, and I shall 
 be too busy to attend." 
 
 " Of course I shall, and see that all is fair 
 play." 
 
 " Mr. Beauchamp is like a second master to 
 the boys," observed Mr. Horner, smiling — 
 '^ he keeps them in excellent order." 
 
 " Of course I do — I hate rows and unfair- 
 ness." 
 
 ^^ How do you make them mind you ?" 
 asked his father. — " A long whip or what ?" 
 
 " No need of a whip, father. Everybody 
 minds mey 
 
 Lord Singleton smiled, and relapsed into 
 thought. 
 
 When Hugh Beauchamp had satisfied a 
 growing boy's giant appetite, he rose and
 
 10 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 looked out of the window. '^ Come here, Mr. 
 Horner, if you please," he called. 
 
 Mr. Horner laid down his newspaper and 
 obeyed. 
 
 " No, Hugh, come you here," said his 
 father ; '^ I want to speak to you. How 
 should you like to be guardian to a young 
 lady, my boy ?" 
 
 ti Very much, father," with quick decision. 
 
 " Should you ?" and Lord Singleton smiled. 
 ^' Why, Hugh, a guardian has many duties to 
 perform." 
 
 " I would do them, whatever they are." 
 
 '^ And you must remember that a guardian 
 must give his ward a good example." 
 
 ^^ That of course I should," said Hugh, 
 decidedly. 
 
 '' That Mr. Beau champ would be sure to 
 do," observed Mr. Horner. 
 
 " Look here, Jmy boy ; read this letter, and 
 tell me what you think of it."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 11 
 
 Hugh sat down and read attentively. When 
 it was done, he said, " I like the man and his 
 letter." 
 
 " Is that because of the compliment to 
 yourself?" 
 
 " I like what he says about honesty. That 
 is exactly ray opinion. Very few people in 
 the world have good principles." 
 
 ^* I don't like that, Hugh," said his father, 
 gravely. "You and Captain Moore are too 
 severe ; and, for your part, I am sure you are 
 unjust without reason. I cannot, of course, 
 answer for his friends." 
 
 " I only say what I think, father. People 
 do what pleases them. Very few think what 
 they ought to do." 
 
 '' Except yourself, Hugh," his father said, 
 with irony. 
 
 "I certainly try to do what 1 ought, 
 father, and so do you. 1 try to be like 
 you."
 
 12 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 "Mr. Beauchamp certainly does," said 
 Mr. Horner. 
 
 " I am sure I am glad to hear it, but so I 
 hope do many.'' 
 
 " No, not many," said Hugh. 
 
 "Well, but to return to this young lady. 
 Do you choose to be her guardian, Hugh." 
 
 " Certainly. I would not refuse for the 
 world." 
 
 " It may give you trouble some day, my 
 boy." 
 
 " No matter, father. What is trouble ? — I 
 like it." 
 
 "If her father and your father, Hugh, 
 should die before their time, this young lady's 
 welfare will be in your hands. This should 
 be considered seriously." 
 
 " Dear father," Hugh said, with vehemence, 
 " God forbid that should ever be." 
 
 " Well, my dear boy," Lord Singleton said, 
 touched by his son's affection, " I willingly say
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 13 
 
 amen; but, as Captain Moore says, life is 
 uncertain. What should you do if you had a 
 young lady to look after ? " 
 
 " My duty, always, I hope,'' he replied, 
 proudly. 
 
 " Let it be, then, as Captain Moore wishes. 
 I will write to him to-day." And Lord 
 Singleton gathered up his papers, and left the 
 room. 
 
 " Come, Mr. Horner," cried Hugh, " let us 
 get to Greek and Latin as fast as we can, for 
 I want to go down to Barnsley, to see after 
 the boys." And amicably taking his tutor by 
 the arm, he conducted him to the study. 
 
 Hugh Beauchamp was fourteen, but he 
 looked older. He was very tall ; it could 
 hardly be supposed that he would ever be 
 much taller, but he had not the sickly look of 
 overgrown boys. His figure wanted the 
 grace and ease of a settled figure, but it was 
 already strong and muscular, and gave the
 
 14 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 promise of being a fine figure. His face, also, 
 was probably much what it was destined to 
 be. Every year would improve and soften 
 it ; but he already looked like a man. Such 
 as he was, he was striking in appearance 
 more than handsome. His eyes were large, 
 bright, brown eyes, beautiful in colour, and 
 piercing in expression, but too prominent and 
 bird-like for beauty. His nose was large — a 
 good sensible nose, full of character, but not 
 classical. All the upper part of his face and 
 brow was strongly made and strongly marked. 
 The lower part was softer. His smile was 
 open and good, and his mouth was not 
 only well-formed, but expressed many amiable 
 qualities. 
 
 On this boy's mind the idea of being a 
 guardian took a singular hold. Though it 
 was a year before he mentioned it again, 
 it was an airy castle in his mind. He was 
 — as, perhaps, has been seen — fond of domi-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 15 
 
 neering ; his little ward formed the heroine of 
 many an hour's idle dreaming. Her, placed 
 under his sole superintendence, he watched 
 over, in imagination, with ceaseless care, and 
 governed with kind yet iron tyranny. At the 
 end of a year, he one day entered his father's 
 room, and said suddenly — '' Father, what is 
 my ward's name ? " 
 
 Lord Singleton, full of other business, and 
 having no call during her father's lifetime to 
 think of the child, had swept her and her 
 concerns out of his memory. He looked sur- 
 prised for a moment ; then, recollecting him- 
 self, smiled, and replied — ^^ I am ashaoied to 
 confess, Hugh, that I have utterly forgotten ; 
 but, in that escritoire in one of the upper 
 drawers, you will find Captain Moore's letters. 
 I am sure, in one of them, he mentions it." 
 
 He gave his son a key, and Hugh proceeded 
 to search. ^' Sybil Moore," he observed, after 
 looking through one or two letters.
 
 16 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '^ Sybil ! — a pretty name, and romantic, 
 too/' observed Lord Singleton. 
 
 " I like Sybil/' said Hugh ; '' but I hate 
 Moore." 
 
 " The name has not much beauty, cer- 
 tainly.'' 
 
 '^ I don't care about the ugliness, but I hate 
 the name." 
 
 " It can be no surprise to you, how- 
 ever," said his father, smiling. " As her 
 father's name was Moore, we could not have 
 much hope she would be more bountifully 
 dealt with." 
 
 "I hate Moore, because I hate Moore's 
 poems." 
 
 "Do you, my boy? Well, I differ from 
 you. Some of Moore's poems I read with 
 great pleasure." 
 
 " They are so sweet," said Hugh, making 
 a face, " and so loving. I often wonder if he 
 really did think all the nonsense he writes ? "
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 17 
 
 Lord Singleton laughed. '' I won't defend 
 them all, Hugh ; but choose the good and 
 leave the bad — and that is the best we can 
 do in all things in this world. You must not 
 bate your ward because of her name." 
 
 ^' Hate her — oh ! no — I mean to take great 
 care of her. I am only sorry that she has 
 got a name that makes me sick. However, it 
 can't be helped. Thank you, father," he said, 
 returning the key, with the civility that cha- 
 racterized his manners, blunt as they were — 
 and he left the room. 
 
 Lord Singleton looked after him, with the 
 eyes and smile of an adoring father. His son 
 had been all in all to him since his wife's 
 death, eleven years before this time ; and it 
 was not strange that Hugh was somewhat 
 spoiled. By example and precept, his father 
 instilled excellent principles, and saw them 
 taking root ; but he was partially blind to the 
 faults growing up with his virtues. 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 18 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Spoiling, however, of Lord Singleton's kind 
 was a better evil than over-restraint. It 
 nourished the softer parts of Hugh's character 
 — and, if it left evils to grow, it left also 
 wherewith to fight them.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 19 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Oh ! ever when the happy laugh is dumb, 
 All the joy gone and all the anguish come — 
 When fears and cares the lonely thought employ, 
 And clouds of sorrow hide the sun of joy — 
 Then the best counsel and the last relief 
 To cheer the spirit and to cheat the grief, 
 The only calm, the only comfort heard, 
 Comes in the music of a woman's word." 
 
 Arnold's Oxford Prize Poem. 
 
 " Look out Annette dear, and see if your 
 
 father is coming, this suspense is dreadful." 
 
 " No mamma. Poor, poor Hugh, what 
 
 must he be feeling," and tears ran down 
 
 Annette's cheeks. 
 
 " Such a loss will indeed be irreparable," 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 said Mrs. Beauchamp, '^but while there is 
 life there is hope.'' 
 
 " Here he comes ! oh ! mamma I am sure 
 there is no hope in his face. Poor, poor 
 Hugh," and she burst into tears, 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp, whose return was expected, 
 was a distant cousin of Lord Singleton s. He 
 exercised an office that was both that of agent 
 and adviser. The property of Lord Singleton 
 was very large and required much care and 
 trouble. A part of it was wild heathy 
 country, thinly inhabited, and the scattered 
 population little celebrated for good morals. 
 A part contained well-worked mines. In this 
 district a town had sprung up, none knew how, 
 and to this town neither church nor clergyman 
 belonged. It was a part of the large parish of 
 Barnsley ; the rector of which had much work, 
 and not overmuch income. For the time 
 being, a neighbouring curate was paid by Lord 
 Singleton to perform some services and attend
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 21 
 
 or assist in attending to the spiritual wants of 
 the place — but the overgrown population as 
 little famous for morals as their neighbours on 
 the heath, needed better care. Lord Single- 
 ton's income was large, but there was at all 
 times as much to be done with it as could be 
 done. Another part was beautiful agricultural 
 country. This part contained Beauchamp 
 Park and the pretty village of Barnsley, and 
 this was inhabited by as happy a peasantry as 
 England could exhibit. A clear head and 
 good knowledge of business, had made Mr. 
 Beauchamp a valuable adviser to Lord 
 Singleton, and as such he had been estab- 
 lished for three or four years with his wife 
 and children at a pretty house in the park, 
 commonly called the Cottage. 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp hastily entered the room, 
 and said, in a voice awed and broken— 
 " Dead ! " then as he threw himself into a 
 chair, great portly man as he was, he wept.
 
 22 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " It is a sad blow," said Mrs. Beauchamp, 
 wiping her eyes. 
 
 Annette put her arms round her father's 
 neck, and kissed him, and, as she did so, 
 murmured — " Poor Hugh ! how does he bear 
 it?'' 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp blew his nose and shook 
 his head, and then recovered himself to relate 
 to his family all that had taken place. He 
 was a good, sensible, amiable man, not with- 
 out a love of gossip. 
 
 " Poor Hugh is gone to his room," he said. 
 ^^ He would not speak to me or to anyone. 
 After he went to his room, he wrote me a few 
 lines with a pencil, and sent them by the 
 housemaid. There they are ; there is nothing 
 in them." 
 
 " Dear Mr. Beauchamp, 
 
 " I shall be much obliged to you to 
 see that all is done that should be done till 
 I have time to think. H. B."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 23 
 
 " Men do not like to be seen in tears," 
 observed Mrs. Beauchamp, ^^ especially young 
 men.'' 
 
 '' He was not crying when he left us. He 
 never shed a tear, Mr. Horner says, all night 
 long. Mr. Horner was troubled about him, 
 and wished me to follow him, but I did not 
 choose to do so just yet. I will go up again 
 in an hour or two. Go and fetch me a clean 
 handkerchief, Annette dear." 
 
 " I will take Annette," he continued, as she 
 left the room ; " women are the only fit people 
 to deal with men in such cases. I suppose, 
 my love, there can be no objection." 
 
 " The occasion justifies it if there is," replied 
 Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 *' Did his father never know him ?" Annette 
 asked, in a tearful voice, as she returned from 
 her errand. 
 
 " Mr. Horner thinks he did. He saw his 
 eyes turn on Hugh and his lips move about
 
 24 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 an hour before he died. He was at a distance 
 himself and is not sure if any word was actually- 
 said, but he hopes so. Hugh knelt by his 
 father's bedside, from the time he was called 
 till his death, without once moving, except 
 that about dawn he got up and desired Mr. 
 Horner to read prayers ; that must have been 
 nearly nine hours, no wonder his powers are 
 exhausted." 
 
 " It is a misfortune Mr. Temple is away. A 
 clergyman is much needed on such occasions," 
 said Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 '^ True, my love ; Mr. Horner did what he 
 
 could, but not with the authority Mr. Temple 
 
 would have had. Unfortunately, there was no 
 
 opportunity for anything beyond the offering 
 
 up of prayers. Poor Lord Singleton was 
 
 never himself. I have sent an express for 
 
 Temple, but he cannot be here till to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 " I cannot think what poor Hugh will do,"
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 25 
 
 said Annette sadly, " his only father. I mean 
 he has nothing but him. 
 
 ^^ It is indeed a sad loss in every way, and 
 to everybody '' observed Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 " The real loss is to Hugh," said Mr. 
 Beauchamp thoughtfully. " It seems a sad 
 thing that Lord Singleton should be cut off in 
 the midst of so many excellent works, but 
 that loss will be replaced. Hugh has a more 
 powerful and energetic mind than his father 
 had, and all that Lord Singleton did, Hugh 
 will do equally well. The loss to Hugh 
 himself is more serious. He has lost the 
 only person who was in any respect a master 
 to him, and independence at so early an age is 
 bad for all, especially bad I think for Hugh.'' 
 
 ^^ You must advise him, papa." 
 
 '^ That I will, Annette dear, but it is not so 
 certain that he will take my advice. Whether 
 we will or not, Hugh governs us all. Even I 
 myself," he continued, smiling for a moment,
 
 26 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " though I am aware of the evil, and resolve 
 that 1 will not be swayed by his fancies, I 
 give way like the rest of them. Lord Single- 
 ton, my poor friend," he added sadly, as if 
 in conversing he had forgotten the sudden 
 blow that had deprived him of a . friend, 
 ^^ once said to me, that his son had but one 
 fault, and that was wilfulness. ' You all spoil 
 the boy,' he said gravely. I promised to be 
 on my guard, and made a point of contra- 
 dicting him about the new school playground, 
 the very afternoon Lord Singleton spoke, but 
 Hugh had his own way after all, and justly, 
 for his opinion was the best.'' 
 
 " Boys are more positive than men," said 
 Mrs. Beauchamp. ^^Hugh is growing older 
 every day, and will, no doubt, improve." 
 
 " That's true. But here we sit talking !" he 
 exclaimed, after a moment, *'as if that had 
 not happened which has changed the whole 
 face of life. My kind friend, Lord Singleton !
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 27 
 
 How little I thought he would be the one to 
 go first. He never had I believe a day's ill- 
 ness in his life.'' Mr. Beauchamp fell into a 
 reverie. When he woke up from it he said, 
 " Annette, I shall fetch you presently to go 
 up to the Park," for so with the inaccuracy of 
 names the great house was called. " You will 
 do more good to Hugh than any of us." 
 
 Annette was a pretty but pale and timid- 
 looking girl of sixteen. Her manners had a 
 certain quietness and self-possession, yet she 
 appeared one disposed more to lean on others 
 than to stand alone. At her father's words 
 she coloured all over with the quick bright 
 colouring that is common to fragile and deli- 
 cate complexions, and her exclamation — " Oh, 
 papa !" had shrinking in it. 
 
 ^'Do you object, Annette. Mamma says 
 you may go," said her father. 
 
 '' On such an occasion as this," began Mrs. 
 Beauchamp, but Annette interrupted her —
 
 28 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '^ Oh 1 mamma, I do not mind going, except 
 that it frightens me. I never comforted any- 
 body, I have never even seen anybody as 
 unhappy as he will be.'* 
 
 " There will be nothing, dear, to do," said 
 her father. " Just let the poor boy talk, which 
 he will do to a woman more easily than to a 
 man, that is all ; never prepare comfort for 
 anybody, it never does. That I can tell you 
 from experience. 
 
 " No, the spontaneous action of the feelings 
 is the proper one," said Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 Annette was devotedly fond of her cousin 
 Hugh, cousin as he called himself, though in 
 fact the relationship overpast the bounds of 
 real cousinship ; nevertheless she did shrink 
 from her present duty. She could not even 
 fancy him unhappy, much less prepare any- 
 thing to say to him, and when towards 
 evening her father came to fetch her, her 
 heart was inwardly trembling like an aspen leaf.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 29 
 
 As they walked up to the Park, Mr. Beau- 
 champ told her that Mr. Horner had been to 
 see Hugh, but had found him, though quite 
 composed, unwilling to speak to anyone. 
 That he had offered to fetch him, Mr. Beau- 
 champ, but that Hugh had said ^ thank you I 
 had rather be alone.' " So Annette " he 
 continued, " I shall send you up to his room 
 alone. Just for this once it cannot matter," 
 for Mr. Beauchamp harped a little on pro- 
 prieties, ^^ as mamma says the occasion justifies 
 it; and you must see what you can do. I 
 never like those lonely brooding troubles. 
 Make him talk." 
 
 *^Yes papa if T can, — " and she sighed 
 deeply. 
 
 When they entered the house Mr. Horner 
 met them. "I am glad Miss Beauchamp is 
 come," he said, " perhaps she will be a con- 
 solation to Mr. Beauchamp. It makes me 
 miserable to see him, and yet I find myself
 
 30 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 quite unable to be of the least use to him/' 
 and Mr. Horner passed his fingers through 
 his hair with the action of a weak-minded man 
 who really did not know what to say or do. 
 
 '' Go up to him, Annette — Do you know 
 which is Hugh's room ? " 
 
 " No, not now. I remember the old one." 
 
 " Mr. Beauchamp changed his room when 
 he was eighteen," said Mr. Horner. "He 
 used to like to look out on the court and 
 stables; but now he likes to look towards 
 Eotherham, because of his plans. I will 
 show Miss Beauchamp the way.'^ 
 
 " Is he very, very unhappy ?" Annette 
 asked, as she followed him upstairs. 
 
 "He has not said much to me. In fact, 
 he has said nothing about his feelings; but 
 I shall never forget his face, when Dr. Roper 
 told him it was all over, and he must go. I 
 hope, Miss Beauchamp, you will be some con- 
 solation to him ; for, though I should be glad
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 31 
 
 to be SO, I feel I am none. I don't think I 
 have the gift of saying the right thing. 
 There is the door — you had better knock for 
 yourself ;'' and Mr. Horner left her trembling 
 in the passage. 
 
 But courage comes when it is summoned. 
 When Annette reached the door, she felt 
 bolder. She knocked softly, without result ; 
 then loudly ; and Hugh's own voice an- 
 swered, quick and short — " Come in." 
 
 As the door opened, he said — " Thank you, 
 Mr. Horner, but I do not want any dinner. 
 I will have some tea presently." 
 
 ^^ It is not Mr. Horner, Hugh; it is me," 
 Annette said, softly approaching him. 
 
 He was sitting very comfortlessly, as those 
 do who are alone in their grief — who cannot 
 care for small comforts themselves, and have 
 none to make them care. It was nearly twi- 
 light, and the damp mist of a chilly Septem- 
 ber evening was blowing in at the windows ;
 
 32 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 but there were neither fire nor candles. The 
 room looked very cheerless, and so did the 
 desolate son. He was sitting on a hard chair 
 by the side of a table, his head leaning on his 
 hands, his hair in disorder, and his eyes tear- 
 less and dull. 
 
 He got up when he saw it was Annette, 
 shook hands with her, placed a chair for her, 
 and then sat down again in the same place 
 and without speaking. 
 
 She also sat down and waited, hoping much 
 he would address her, but he did not. 
 
 " Do you mind my coming to see you " 
 she said at last, in her affectionate voice. 
 
 " No, thank you Annette, not at all ; T am 
 very much obliged to you." 
 
 Again a pause, then she got up and went 
 near to him and said, " Oh ! Hugh I wish I 
 could comfort you." 
 
 " Thank you, but that neither you nor any- 
 one can do." He spoke quite kindly but as if 
 he felt what he said.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 33 
 
 " I think some things should," she mur- 
 mured. 
 
 "Why Annette, what. I know in time I 
 shall not feel as I do now. People get over 
 things very fast, and perhaps I shall, but that 
 is no comfort to me now." 
 
 " No ! I should think not. I meant other 
 kind of things, comfort about Mm. There 
 have been some verses in my head all day. I 
 could not help saying them to myself They 
 comforted me and perhaps they would you." 
 
 "What are they?" he asked, "I should 
 
 like to hear them, though I don't think verses 
 
 are much use." 
 
 Annette's colour rose deep in the twilight 
 and her lips trembled, but she forced them to 
 
 speak, 
 
 " It matters little at what hour of the day 
 The righteous fall asleep. Death cannot come 
 To him untimely who is fit to die. 
 The less of this cold world, the more of heaven ; 
 The briefer life, the earlier immortality." 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 "I have been saying these all day," she 
 repeated, " I could not help it. They seemed 
 so like him.'" 
 
 "Yes Annette so they are. I like them. 
 You shall write them down for me and send 
 them to me. Yes," he continued,. '' I like 
 them. My head is quite dizzy with thinking 
 of other things and I will try to think of this 
 to-night." 
 
 " What have you been thinking of all day, 
 Hugh." 
 
 "All I must do, now I am alone. I have 
 got very nearly mad with plans. There 
 seems so much to do I get quite bewildered 
 with thinking, and wondering if I can do it." 
 
 " If I were you, Hugh," Annette said after 
 a moment, " I should try not to think about 
 these things just yet. Such a dreadful thing, 
 so sudden and unthought of, it seems as if it 
 must have been sent to say we think too much 
 about this world. It has seemed so to me all day.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 35 
 
 Yesterday he was here so busy, and to-day he 
 is in that world we know so little about. It 
 brings it very near." 
 
 ^^ Yes, Annette," he said, with awe, and 
 looking up in her face.'' 
 
 ^' And if he had not been such a righteous 
 man as it says in the verses, how dreadful." 
 
 " Yes, Annette, but he was a righteous 
 man," and he sighed, " and that is what I 
 keep thinking I will try to be. I wish to be 
 just like him and do all the good he did and 
 meant to do. It was only last night ; 
 only last night, Annette, he was telling me 
 some of his new plans ; how he had been 
 putting away money to build a hospital, close 
 to the mines, for the accidents, and how he had 
 been planning a kind of ragged school for the 
 poor children on the heath, only not quite a 
 ragged school, he said they would respect 
 themselves more if they paid something how- 
 ever small, and other thing she told me, about 
 
 I) 2
 
 36 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 the people, and about the church at Kother- 
 
 ham, how he wished you tell me not to think 
 
 Annette, but I must ; of all he said, and all he 
 meant, because now it comes to me to do, 
 
 because I am now " he had been speaking 
 
 fast and excitedly, warming as he spoke ; but 
 he paused now in a broken voice ; then as he 
 suddenly added ^' Lord Singleton''^ he laid 
 down his head on his hands and burst into 
 passionate tears. 
 
 Annette was frightened at first, the grief when 
 it came was so violent, but soon she remem- 
 bered that this was what her father wished. 
 She remembered also what her mother had said, 
 that young men didn't like to be seen crying. 
 She got up therefore with quick tact and merely 
 paused to wish him, in a tremulous voice, good- 
 bye, and to say she hoped he would let her come 
 again, and then stole away and closed the door. 
 
 It was getting dark and cold and Annette 
 was delicate. As soon as she appeared her
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 37 
 
 father put a plaid over her shoulders and said 
 they would walk home fast. Annette begged 
 Mr. Horner to have a fire lighted in Hugh's 
 room, and to send him some dinner without 
 asking him. Mr. Horner replied " Yes I will. 
 I am glad you told me. I should be so glad 
 to be any consolation to him, but I don't think I 
 have the gift of thinking of right things." 
 
 '^ What a sad thing it is for a man not to 
 have a mother or a sister, papa," Annette 
 observed to her father. 
 
 '^ Yes, that's true. But you must do what 
 you can. We must not be prudish just these 
 few sad days. What did he say to you. 
 Does he seem very much cut up, poor fellow.' 
 
 ^' As unhappy as anybody can be," she said 
 sadly, '^ and so very lonely. He did not seem 
 angiy at my going, and I am not frightened 
 now. I should like to go again to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 " Well, we will see what mamma says. Mr.
 
 38 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Horner has been telling me all that passed 
 yesterday. It seems poor Lord Singleton 
 said so many things. Among others he told 
 Hugh he had settled that it would be a good 
 thing for him to travel abroad for two or three 
 years ; so I am afraid we shall lose him. But 
 come Annette, walk faster. It is a very chilly 
 night, and mamma will be disturbed if you 
 catch cold. I will tell you all I heard when 
 we get home."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 39 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 " Dream on, dear boy ; let pass a few brief years, 
 Replete with troubles, comforts, hopes, and fears. 
 Bold expectations, efforts wild and strong, 
 And thou shalt find thy fond conjectures wrong." 
 
 Crabbe. 
 
 Hugh Beauchamp had long been called " the 
 young lord " and as such had exercised an 
 authority more despotic and scarcely less 
 influential than his father. Authority is often 
 exercised by a spoiled only son and heir, whom 
 no one thinks proper to contradict, but in- 
 fluence only emanates from desert, nothing
 
 40 THE YOUNG LOED. 
 
 but desert can really influence ; and that 
 Hugh did so even in his young days was a 
 proof of the powers of his mind. Now that he 
 was the young lord indeed, he set himself to be 
 a lord and governor in good earnest. 
 
 For a time however action was suspended. 
 Hugh had remonstrated with vehemence when 
 first informed that instead of going to college 
 he was to travel abroad. Lord Singleton had 
 adopted this resolution owing to his perception 
 of the dangers of his son's disposition. He 
 thought the enlarging of the mind by foreign 
 travel peculiarly suitable to meet them. 
 Hugh, as was natural, preferred to remain 
 where his influence and authority were felt, 
 instead of being lost in the crowd of travellers 
 and sight-seers. He had combated his 
 father's resolution with vehemence at the 
 moment of its announcement, and had in- 
 tended to fight it, on the following day, with 
 arguments tantamount to a refusal to agree to
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 41 
 
 it. But after his father's death he submitted 
 to the evil without a murmur ; nay, although 
 his guardian was of a different opinion, and 
 would have preferred that he should associate 
 with young men of his own standing at 
 college, Hugh remained firm in his deter- 
 mination to adhere to his father's will. 
 
 He went therefore attended by Mr. Horner. 
 This Mr. Horner was an inoffensive man, and 
 excellent scholar, who had taught Hugh 
 admirably as a boy, and had remained with 
 him from the force of habit. A change, at 
 least the desirableness of a change, to a com- 
 panion of stronger and larger mind, had been 
 for some months in Lord Singleton's cogi- 
 tations, and of late had been drawing near to 
 a decision, but it was a painful decision, for 
 habit had made Mr. Horner hke a piece of 
 furniture in the family. But Hugh had never 
 heard the question discussed, and expressed to 
 his guardian so strong a wish to retain his old
 
 42 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 tutor, that the guardian made little difficulty 
 about it. 
 
 Lord Singleton set forth, therefore, con- 
 ducting his tutor, and caring in every possible 
 way for his amusement and well-being ; and if 
 Mr. Horner was not useful to his pupil, his 
 pupil was useful to him ; rousing him up from 
 the dreamy scholar whose mind was redolent 
 of a college, to active life and practical views. 
 
 The world, it is said, contains what you 
 find in it, neither more nor less ; for the most 
 part also it contains what you wish to find in 
 it. Lord Singleton carried his own character 
 abroad and moulded all he saw in his travels 
 to his own mind's image. He made his 
 travels extremely useful in a practical way. 
 Schools, hospitals, penitentiaries, reformatory 
 institutions for young and old — whenever he 
 heard of establishments of such a nature he 
 would travel night and day over rough and 
 smooth to get a sight of it ; and many were
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 43 
 
 the sights he saw, and many the wise thoughts 
 he carried away with him. This was good, 
 for most characters it would have been very 
 good ; but it certainly so far interfered with 
 the enlargement of mind that his father had 
 desired, that the dry and practical remained 
 the governing principle of his mind, and that 
 wherever he went he met with the respect 
 and attention which certainly was due to his 
 ardent and enthusiastic spirit, but which did 
 not tend to lessen his importance in his own 
 eyes. 
 
 At length his travels came to an end, and 
 eager and thirsting for action he returned to 
 his own home. He had been absent for above 
 two years, and was within a month of attaining 
 his majority. 
 
 It was late at night when he arrived, but 
 from the first moment that his chariot wheels 
 rolled over his own property, bonfires and 
 illuminations met his gratified and excited eyes.
 
 44 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 As he entered the village of Barnsley nothing 
 but his own authoritative voice prevented the 
 crowd from displacing the horses and bearing 
 him along in triumph; and crowds of men, 
 women, and children followed him shouting 
 to his own door. 
 
 '* I am very much obliged to you all," he 
 cried, his clear ringing voice rising loud and 
 sweet above all sounds as he stood on the 
 threshhold. ^' But now go home and go to 
 bed, and mind there is no drinking or else I. 
 shall be ashamed to have come back to you." 
 
 He was obeyed, the crowd quickly dispersed 
 and all went to bed blessing the young lord 
 and longing for the moment when they 
 might catch a sight of his face on the 
 morrow. 
 
 Mr. Horner had returned with him for a 
 night. The following day he was to proceed to 
 a curacy, to which he had been lately nom- 
 inated, as he was now desirous to settle down
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 45 
 
 into a country clergyman. As on this last 
 night he sat at tea with his former pupil he 
 exclaimed *^ You will be very dull, my lord, 
 living alone in this great house. You must 
 marry." 
 
 *' Marry!" said Lord Singleton, with a 
 scream; ^^ and when, Mr. Horner, do you 
 suppose I shall have time to marry." 
 
 ** Matrimony does not take much time, my 
 lord — it saves time, I believe, if a proper help- 
 mete is chosen." 
 
 "Are you going to marry, Mr. Horner?" 
 
 "Not any person in particular, my lord, 
 but I certainly mean to marry when I am 
 settled." 
 
 " I have not time for such things. There 
 would be all the courting and love-making to 
 do, and to learn how to do it beforehand, for I 
 have no conception of what is done." 
 
 " It comes of itself, my lord, I believe, when 
 the proper person is seen."
 
 46 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " I don't think I ever shall see the proper 
 person," said the young lord, decisively, "I 
 like women in their way, but in that way they 
 bore me. I hate to have to make speeches 
 and be polite." 
 
 ^' But a wife " began Mr. Horner, but 
 
 was interrupted by his pupil. 
 
 ^' Don't say any more about it, Mr. Horner, 
 it is quite a waste of words. I shall be too 
 busy to marry for many years to come. Why, 
 all these poor people that received me so well, 
 I must see after every one of them and about 
 ten thousand more. When do you suppose I 
 am to find time for love-making." 
 
 '' Perhaps not," said Mr. Horner, with 
 submission. 
 
 " I say, Mr. Horner, there is one thing 
 I may as well say to night as you are talking 
 of settling. Mr. Beauchamp said, in his last 
 letter, that poor Mr. Temple is afraid he must 
 give up and go to Madeira, and then to some
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 47 
 
 very mild place in England. If he does give 
 up Barnsley, it is in my gift, you know, do you 
 like to have it." 
 
 Mr. Horner's eyes sparkled with delight. 
 It is true some of the circumstances and 
 requirements of the living might have startled 
 a man of his disposition, but the protection of 
 his young lord's presence and his entire trust 
 in his opinion made all such fears vanish into 
 air, and a most joyful acceptance was given. 
 
 '^ Well, then that is a settled thing," said 
 Lord Singleton, " and if Mr. Temple must go 
 I shall like to have you better than any-one. 
 And now good -night, for I want to be up with 
 the lark in the morning, and I am abominably 
 sleepy to-night." 
 
 The appointment of Mr. Horner to the 
 living of Barnsley was one of Lord Singleton's 
 first exercises of patronage and authority. It 
 took place about six months after his coming 
 of age.
 
 48 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 His announcement of his intention was 
 made earlier. He was calling one morning 
 with Mr. Beauchamp, on Mr. Temple, before 
 the departure of the latter to see what 
 Madeira could do for him, when he suddenly 
 mentioned the fact. Both his auditors looked 
 astonished and annoyed. 
 
 At length Mr. Beauchamp said, " Have you 
 duly considered this, Lord Singleton. From 
 my knowledge of Mr. Horner, he is hardly 
 the person to set over a parish of our kind." 
 
 " Oh ! Horner is wonderfully improved of 
 late years/' cried Lord Singleton. " He used 
 to be rather slow and book-wormish, but since 
 I have routed him about, he is quite another 
 man. You don't know what a change I have 
 made." 
 
 "Routing about may have done a gi-eat 
 deal, certainly," said Mr. Beauchamp, "but 
 some defects are constitutional, and I don't 
 believe routing does them much good. Horner
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 49 
 
 has no spirit or independence. I should never 
 trust his judgment." 
 
 " That's all changed/' said Lord Singleton, 
 " I made him look after the accounts in our 
 travels ; and you can't think what good it did 
 him. It was a great sacrifice, on my part, 
 for I like to do all that myself, but I saw it 
 was just what was wanted to make a man of 
 him. He has a capital head for calculation 
 now." 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp smiled and said, '' Well, I 
 suppose you know best. Education does 
 wonders for us all." 
 
 Mr Temple said nothing, but when Mr. 
 Beauchamp went, he begged Lord Singleton 
 to remain. 
 
 " I wish to say a word about Mr. Horner," 
 he said. '* I am sorry for what you have 
 decided ; you must consider, Lord Singleton, 
 how serious a thing the appointment of a 
 clergyman is." 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ^' That I know well, Mr. Temple, don't sup- 
 pose I forget it, but I really do think I am 
 doing right in appointing Mr. Horner. He is 
 as good a man as ever lived. Thoroughly 
 religious and conscientious. If anybody has a 
 right to say he knows a man, surely I know 
 Mr. Horner. '' 
 
 " Of his goodness and conscientiousness " 
 said Mr. Temple, '^ I have no doubt, but other 
 things are required. A place for everything 
 and everything in its place. Mr. Homer 
 would do well at such a place as Hitching, but 
 not here," 
 
 " What I want" said Lord Singleton, " since 
 you must go, Mr. Temple, is a man who will 
 help me in what I want to do, and that I know 
 Mr. Horner will, for he knows my plans as well 
 as I do myself." 
 
 *^ That may be what you want. Lord Single- 
 ton," said Mr. Temple, gravely, " but not 
 what the parish wants. Without meaning to
 
 THE YOUNCx LORD. 51 
 
 praise myself, for our qualities are gifts not 
 merits, I know that I am a person of a far 
 stronger and firmer mind than Mr. Horner, 
 and yet 1 assure you I have often found 
 my position a difficult one. There are strong 
 and firm minds in this parish to deal 
 with.'^ 
 
 " If there is a difficulty, Mr. Horner must 
 come to me. It will be my hope and wish to 
 give him all the help I can. We will work 
 together." 
 
 "And you, Lord Singleton," continued Mr. 
 Temple, in the same grave tone, " who 
 is to advise, and if needful, to rebuke and 
 exhort you ? Forgive me if I say so, but I 
 think at your age you require an adviser." 
 
 " I am sure, Mr. Temple," replied the 
 young lord, good-temperedly, " I shall always 
 be ready to take advice and, I hope, rebuke 
 also, whenever I want it. What I wish is to 
 do right, and I am very much obliged to you 
 
 E 2 
 
 Of
 
 52 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 tor speaking about this so freely. If I could, 
 I would consider it over again, but the fact is 
 I told Horner that if you were obliged to go, 
 it should be a settled thing, and I must stick 
 to my word.'' 
 
 ^^ If you have made a promise there is no 
 more to be said. I will only say farther, Lord 
 Singleton, that you are very young, and in 
 such matters I think it would be wiser to con- 
 sult with those who are more experienced. 
 Remember how many human beings, how 
 many immortal souls depend for their welfare 
 on such a decision as this." 
 
 Lord Singleton thanked him, promised more 
 consideration for the future, and expressed most 
 affectionate regret that he must lose his good 
 advice. And it was a loss. Mr. Temple was the 
 only person who kept his mind unbiassed in his 
 notions of what was best, by the prepossessions 
 of the young lord. In the appointment of 
 Mr. Horner, Lord Singleton appointed a good
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 53 
 
 man certainly, but one utterly subservient to 
 and dependant on him. He obtained another 
 slave and worshipper.
 
 54 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " The sun upon no happier shone, 
 
 Nor prouder man than Eustace Grey, 
 Ask where you would and iiU would say, 
 
 The man admired and praised of all, 
 By rich and poor, and grave and gay, 
 Was the young Lord of Greyling Hall." 
 
 Crabbe. 
 
 Where is Mr. Beauchamp ? " asked Lord 
 Singleton, suddenly entering the Cottage one 
 morning, early. " I want his advice about a 
 matter of some importance." 
 
 It was three years from the date of the last 
 chapter, and Lord Singleton was now four and 
 twenty. Mentally and bodily, he was probably
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 55 
 
 what he was destined to be. The mental 
 qualities this tale will unfold — the bodily ones 
 need little description. In some respects he 
 was handsomer than his early youth had pro- 
 mised — his tall figure, athletic as it was, had 
 more grace, his large features had softened; 
 but with some improvement there was a slight 
 counterbalancing defect. When heated with 
 argument or chafed with resistance, his brows 
 had a habit of contracting, and as it was not 
 seldom that his temper was vexed, even by 
 those most disposed to yield to his despotic sway 
 this contraction had left by habit a furrow 
 between his eyes. It was the only unpleasing 
 expression in his good-tempered and animated 
 countenance. 
 
 " He is in his office," rephed Mrs Beau- 
 champ. ^' Zoe," to her little girl, " go and 
 call him hither." 
 
 ^^ No, Zoe, sit still. I will go to him my- 
 self. Annette," continued Lord Singleton,
 
 56 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 turning to her, ^^ have you copied that bit for 
 me?'^ 
 
 " Yes, I finished it last night. I will fetch 
 it in a moment/' — Annette flew up stairs and 
 returned with it. 
 
 " Thank you," as he looked over a paper ; 
 '' this is very nicely done. Men and women 
 and children, all divided, six hundred in all. 
 I never should have thought there were so 
 many on the heath ; and, sad to say, all the 
 children almost little vagabonds. What a 
 thing it will be when the school opens." 
 
 " When will it open ?" asked Annette. " I 
 am tired of expecting it." 
 
 ^' In a fortnight, certainly, so Mason has 
 promised, and I shall see tliat he keeps his 
 word. It will be a great day ; we will have 
 a dinner and celebration. I will drive you 
 over, Annette. May I, Mrs. Beauchamp ?" 
 
 " Annette shall certainly go, but, probably, 
 1 or Mr. Beauchamp will take her ourselves."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 57 
 
 "Very well. So as she goes no matter 
 how. I say, Annette, should I be giving you 
 too much trouble if I ask you to copy this for 
 me. Horner gave it me last night, and wants 
 to have it back again, and I really don't know 
 when I shall have time to look at it." 
 
 " I will do it directly," Annette said, 
 quickly. 
 
 •^ What a dirty book," observed Mrs. Beau- 
 champ, as he took a torn, filthy club list from 
 his pocket. " You had better cover it, 
 Annette." 
 
 " Do you mind Annette writing so much," 
 Lord Singleton asked, remarking that she 
 spoke coldly. 
 
 " When your school is opened I hope you 
 will be more at leisure, and then I certainly 
 shall be glad if Annette pays more attention 
 to accomplishments than she can do while she 
 is so much employed." 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Beauchamp !" he exclaimed,
 
 58 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 eagerly, " what are accomplishments compared 
 to the reformation of these poor little vaga- 
 bonds. Annette is really useful now.'' 
 
 '' I confess I like young ladies to be ac- 
 complished," said Mrs. Beauchamp, in her dry 
 way. " Accomplishments are a very great 
 resource to a woman's life. Annette may not 
 always be as much employed and interested, as 
 she now is, and she will then regret that she 
 neglected them. She scarcely ever draws or 
 reads her German now." 
 
 " When I am a little less busy, Annette 
 and I will learn German together. Can you 
 wait till then, Annette ?" 
 
 " Annette likes to write for you much better 
 than doing German," said Zoe, looking up 
 from some stitching her mother had set her 
 to do. 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp was about to reprove her 
 little girl for an indecorous speech, but she per- 
 ceived there was no need. Annette laughed
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 59 
 
 without concealment, and said, " I believe that 
 is true, Zoe ; but I mean to do a great deal of 
 German in the winter." 
 
 And Lord Singleton patted Zoe's head, and 
 said — " Thank you — that's a good girl, Zoe ; 
 now I need not be afraid of troubling Annette 
 any more. Always tell your friends truths 
 they like to hear. Good morning, Mrs. Beau- 
 champ. I really do apologise for that filthy 
 book ; but you must scold Mr. Horner, not 
 me. I often tell him he is a sloven." 
 
 The terms of intimacy on which Lord Sin- 
 gleton and Annette were placed had gradually 
 grown up. On his first return from abroad, he 
 had begun to ask her assistance on many small 
 matters, but at first only occasionally, and 
 always with apologies. His requests had 
 year by year increased, and with their increase 
 his apologies had lessened. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Beauchamp, foreseeing some danger to their 
 daughter in this state of things, had spoken
 
 60 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 much in private of putting an end to it ; but 
 this, though easy to say in general terms, 
 was difficult when the separate requests 
 were made. 
 
 The intended refusal was always a future, not 
 a present thing ; and, when at last the frequency 
 of intercourse, and amount of assistance re- 
 quired did need their interference, the time 
 was passed, and the idea of it had faded away. 
 Such is the power of habit, that what is a daily 
 habit is scarcely remarked upon, and rarely 
 considered as an evil. 
 
 The friendship of Lord Singleton and Miss 
 Beauchamp was known in the neighbourhood, 
 and commented on. During the first year of 
 its continuance, a marriage was announced 
 every alternate week. Mr. and Mrs. Beau- 
 champ had some suspicion of a denouement of 
 the same kind ; and, though in no degree 
 self-interested, or capable of taking any step 
 to forward such an event, they naturally thought
 
 THE YOUNG LORD, 61 
 
 with pleasure of so happy a destiny for their 
 child. All such ideas had, however, after one 
 year, died away. Matrimony had evidently 
 no part in the young lord's thoughts ; he 
 treated Annette and claimed her assistance as 
 simply as if she were his sister ; although, at 
 the same time, he permitted himself no undue 
 familiarities, and submitted without opposition 
 to the common maxims of decorum enforced 
 by Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 On his return from abroad, he observed 
 that she called him Lord Singleton, and one 
 day commented on it. " This is new, is it 
 not, Annette ? — you used to call me Hugh.'' 
 
 " Yes," she replied, '' but mamma desired 
 me to change. I found it difficult at first, but 
 now I don't." 
 
 " I suppose she is right," he said. '^ When 
 I have time to practise it, I will learn to call 
 you Miss Beauchamp ; but you must be 
 Annette till then ; " and, as the time never
 
 62 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 allowed the practice, Annette she still was, and 
 was likely to be. 
 
 Lord Singleton went in search of Mr. 
 Beauchamp, and found him busy in the office 
 — or large uncomfortable room — where he 
 transacted his affairs. 
 
 " Are you very busy, Mr. Beauchamp-?" he 
 asked, '^ for I want to talk to you. Of course 
 I can wait, but I had rather not." 
 
 " My business can easily wait," he replied ; 
 ^^ do you wish to speak to me alone ? " 
 
 ^' Yes, if I can ; it is on a private matter." 
 
 ''Then go, Holland," to his clerk, "and 
 take James Gregory, and bring him back in 
 half an hour." 
 
 '^ That will be no pain to James Gregory," 
 said Lord Singleton, nodding to the man, with 
 a smile. " He likes waiting better than work- 
 ing. — Now Mr. Beauchamp," and as he spoke 
 he drew a chair to the table, and some paper 
 from his pocket, " I want your advice upon a
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 63 
 
 question of some difficulty. *^ Did I ever tell 
 you that I was guardian to a young lady?" 
 
 " No, my dear lord, never." 
 
 *^ That is singular, for once I thought a 
 good deal about it — of late I have certainly 
 forgotten. — I and my father were both made 
 guardians to a little girl, in the event of her 
 father's death. That event has taken place ; 
 I have received no end of letters and papers 
 this morning, and among others, a very pa- 
 thetic one from the poor man, expressing some 
 wishes, and telling me he dies happy, in the 
 conviction I shall do my duty to his child, or 
 which comes to the same thing, that I shall 
 see it done. He gives me, in fact, full powers 
 over her, to do what I please, be her guardian 
 and trustee, or choose a new one. That is out 
 of the question ; where a man is trusted, his 
 duty he must do. I shall do my duty, of 
 course. There are one or two letters, just 
 look them over and give me your advice."
 
 64 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 "How old is the child?" 
 
 " About sixteen, an age that requires a 
 great deal of care." 
 
 "An age, my dear lord, that makes sur- 
 veillance on your part so difficult, that I think 
 it would be better to give a share, at least, of 
 your authority, into the hands of some person 
 of maturer years." 
 
 "Not for the world," said the young lord, 
 vehemently. " In the first place, it would be 
 a shame, when I am perfectly capable, because, 
 as you will see, the poor man depended on my 
 interference, and in the second place, I will 
 never give up any opportunity of doing good 
 that comes in my way as long as I live. Now 
 be so good, Mr. Beauchamp, as to read these 
 letters, and then give me your advice as to 
 what I shall do." 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp put on some spectacles, 
 and proceeded to the inspection of the letters, 
 Lord Singleton impatiently rapping his foot 
 against the floor during the process.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 65 
 
 " Well," he cried, at the first pause, " what 
 do you advise me to do with the young lady ? '^ 
 
 '' My advice," replied Mr. Beau champ, look- 
 ing as wise as if he did truly expect his advice 
 was to be taken, '^ is, that at present you leave 
 the young lady where she is. Sixteen .... 
 it is too early for her education to be properly 
 finished, and a year and a half, or two years, 
 may well pass, before you make any change in 
 her mode of life. During that time, you can 
 make enquiries regarding her personal friends, 
 and satisfy yourself as to the most proper per- 
 son to be entrusted with her for the future. 
 
 "No — no, Mr. Beauchamp," said the young 
 lord, decidedly, '' this will never do. I hate 
 girls' schools. A parcel of girls together are 
 always missish and vulgar ; and if this poor 
 man was to die at all, I am glad that it has 
 happened now, when the girl can be saved 
 from such evils." 
 
 " What then should you propose to do. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 Q6 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 You cannot act the guardian, indeed, you can- 
 not have her actually in your own charge/' 
 
 " Why, no, I suppose not. That is what I 
 should like best, but the world is censorious and 
 one must be more or less a slave to the world.'' 
 
 "Without great censoriousness," said Mr. 
 Beauchamp, smiling, " the world might be 
 excused for censuring in such a case. It 
 would not be decorous. But you may marry, 
 my dear lord, and I wish with all my heart 
 you would, and then you could do as you 
 pleased." 
 
 "Marry, Mr. Beauchamp! and what on 
 earth should I do with a wife ; and for what 
 possible reason can you wish me to be mar- 
 ried?" 
 
 " Partly for your own sake, and partly that 
 I do not like your cousin, Lowry Beauchamp. 
 I should be glad to see an heir from the right 
 stock." 
 
 *^ Ah ! I confess I sometimes think of that ;
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 67 
 
 but Lowry will improve ; or if not, it is no 
 good reason for my being hampered with a 
 wife against my will." 
 
 " No, certainly not against your will. But 
 is your heart so hard that it is impossible you 
 could make a free choice ?" 
 
 " I believe it is, I never was made to be a 
 ladies' man. But what has this to do with the 
 matter in hand. I am not married, and my 
 ward has not a home, — you see the man says 
 she has no near relations, poor child. What is 
 to be done with her ?" 
 
 " What is your own proposal. Lord Sin- 
 gleton? I am sure you have one, and no 
 doubt it is a wise and good one.'' 
 
 ^^Well, Mr. Beauchamp," said Lord Sin- 
 gleton, with some hesitation, " since you will 
 not propose it, I will speak out what I have 
 in my mind. But I depend on you not to be 
 influenced by what I wish in the smallest de- 
 gree. I was thinking that if you would allow 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 me to board and lodge her at your house, she 
 would be under my own eye in great things, 
 and, what is far better, she would be under 
 Mrs. Beauchamp's eye for her daily conduct. 
 Mrs. Beauchamp would look after her health, 
 and manners, and from whom could she learn 
 to be a good useful woman so well as from 
 Annette? I have fairly told you what I 
 wish. Now tell me as fairly whether you object 
 to it.'' 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp stroked his chin for some 
 moments, then observed — 
 
 " I must talk to Mrs. Beauchamp ; un- 
 doubtedly it would be a good plan so far as 
 the young lady is concerned, but I must talk 
 to Mrs. Beauchamp. I will talk it over with 
 her to-night." 
 
 " Should I be giving you too much trouble 
 if I ask you to go and talk it over with her 
 now. I like these things to be settled off 
 hand. Where there are difficulties to be got
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 69 
 
 over, pondering and reflection is useful, but 
 the only question here is whether you think it 
 a bore ; and this your own feeling and Mrs. 
 Beauchamp's will tell you in one minute as 
 easily as in four hundred. I will wait here as 
 long as you please.^' 
 
 ^^ I believe, my dear lord, I shall make no 
 great objection to your proposal. We have 
 often wished for a companion for Annette^ and 
 this appears to be an opportunity to provide 
 one. The only thing I should suggest would be, 
 that she should come as a visitor at first. She 
 may be a well-behaved young lady, such as 
 one should be willing at any rate to cultivate, 
 but we have no certainty of this ; she may be 
 very much the reverse, and if so, we shonld, 
 of course, be unwilling to expose Annette, or 
 even Zoe, to her influence.'^ 
 
 " Whatever she is, she is my ward,*' said 
 the young lord, " and I must look after her ; 
 but I see the truth of what you say. Be so
 
 70 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 good, however, as to go and ask Mrs. Beau- 
 champ's consent to receive her as a visitor, 
 and if this plan fails, I must make Horner 
 take to himself the wife he has so long pictured 
 to his fancy. Don't hurry Mrs. Beauchamp, 
 talk it well over, and by all means speak as 
 you feel, and don't allow my wishes to influence 
 you I beg ; though, you may tell her they 
 are very strong, I will wait here till you 
 come back." 
 
 The conference between Mr. Beauchamp 
 and his wife need not be detailed. There 
 never was a doubt how it would end. Mr. 
 Beauchamp, fond of society and conversation 
 became in the short interval between leaving 
 the office and entering the drawing-room (in 
 addition to his desire to please Lord Single- 
 ton) sincerely anxious to receive the proposed 
 guest into his house ; and the plan, as laid 
 before Mrs. Beauchamp, was coloured by the 
 imagination of the proposer. Mrs. Beauchamp,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 71 
 
 dry and clear-headed, saw a thousand objec- 
 tions, and stated them in her matter-of-fact 
 way ; but she was in her heart as desirous to 
 please Lord Singleton as her husband, and 
 perhaps, was in her way, equally fond of a 
 novelty. Her objections were, therefore, bare 
 statements, expressed, as some unconsciously 
 do, to display their wisdom, by foretelling 
 every unpleasant conclusion which might 
 hereafter possibly spring out of the afiair. In 
 point of fact, her consent was given at once, 
 and so Mr. Beauchamp saw. 
 
 When he returned to the office with his own 
 and his wife's acquiescence, Lord Singleton 
 expressed his gratitude with much eagerness. 
 ^' Indeed, Mr. Beauchamp," he added, " if 
 you had not consented, I should have been at 
 my wit's end. I have no doubt Horner would 
 have married, if I had said it must be so ; but 
 with his penchant for being governed, he must 
 marry a she-dragon, and I should have been
 
 72 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 sorry to put my poor young ward into such a 
 person's charge. I am extremely obliged to 
 you and Mrs. Beauchamp, pray tell her so, for 
 I have not time to go back. I must write my 
 letters with all speed, and I hope we shall see 
 our plans brought to a successful issue." 
 
 With all speed he hastened to open his 
 correspondence with Mrs. Hurlstone, the lady 
 under whose charge Miss Moore had been 
 brought up. His letter began by shortly 
 stating the circumstances, under which he 
 assumed the guardianship of her pupil and 
 the plans he proposed for her future life. It 
 ended thus — 
 
 " Lord Singleton will be much obhged to 
 Mrs. Hurlstone to inform Miss Moore of his 
 decision, and since he thinks it best that her 
 removal to Mr. Beauchamp's house should 
 take place without much delay, he begs to 
 know at what time within the next month he 
 shall make arrangements for her journey. It
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 73 
 
 will give him pleasure to attend to her wishes 
 in every possible way." 
 
 Within a few days he received the following 
 answer : — 
 
 ^'My Lord, 
 
 " I am requested by Miss Moore to ex- 
 press to your lordship her thanks for the 
 trouble you have taken in making arrange- 
 ments for her future comfort. At the same 
 time she desires me to say, that she much 
 prefers that no alteration should be made in 
 her present mode of life, and will gladly pass 
 the next few years under my roof. As I think 
 the desire she expresses will be also con- 
 ducive to her welfare, moral and physical, I 
 have no hesitation in making it known to your 
 lordship. In the hope that our wishes will 
 meet with your Lordship's approbation, 
 " I remain, my lord, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Henrietta Hurlstone."
 
 74 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Lord Singleton knitted his brows for a mo- 
 ment over this letter, then without taking 
 counsel of any one replied to it. 
 
 ^' Madam, 
 
 "I am extremely sorry that I cannot 
 agree to the wish Miss Moore has expressed. 
 The decision at which I arrived was made 
 after mature consideration, and, as it appears 
 to me, on every account to be the best, I am 
 unable to relinquish it. Certain duties have 
 been imposed upon me, and it will be my 
 earnest endeavour to perform them. Miss 
 Moore may, at the same time, be assured that 
 all is done with a view to her welfare, and 
 with an anxious desire to secure her happiness. 
 Under these circumstances, I must again beg 
 you to let me know at what time, within a few 
 weeks, it will be agreeable to Miss Moore to 
 remove from your house to that of Mr. 
 Beauchamp. I remain, madam, 
 
 " Your much obliged, 
 " Singleton."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD 75 
 
 By return of post this letter was answered. 
 
 '^ Miss Moore, presents her compliments to 
 Lord Singleton and begs to inform him that 
 she can by no means consent to kave the 
 house in which she has lived since her child- 
 hood. She thanks him for the trouble he 
 takes in her affairs, but thinks it best to say 
 at once, that with her own personal arrange- 
 ments she cannot admit his interference. In 
 all else she will be grateful for his help, 
 and will endeavour to be guided by his 
 wishes." 
 
 " They must have put her up to this,'^ said 
 Lord Singleton to himself, as he frowned over 
 the letter. " Mrs. Hurlstone is, no doubt, a 
 selfish, interested person, anxious to keep any 
 one, by fair means or by foul, in her house ; but 
 I am quite resolved. I hate girls'-schools and 
 school- girls, and my ward shall be saved from 
 interested people. I am not to be trifled with
 
 76 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 — they shall see that ;" and he wrote again — 
 ** Deae Miss Moore, — 
 
 '^I am very sorry that Our acquaintance 
 should begin with a difference of opinion. 
 When you know me better, I hope you will 
 trust me more, and that this first difference 
 will be the last. It is with great regret I 
 refuse your request ; but, as I have good rea- 
 sons, I am compelled to do it. I hope you 
 believe my assurance, that I have taken every 
 means to secure your comfort and happiness, 
 and that it is only a sense of duty that forces 
 me to act in opposition to your will. 
 
 " Since writing my first letters, however, 
 it has occurred to me, that it may probably be 
 a consolation to you at the present moment to 
 remain in the society of those to whom you 
 are accustomed. I am sorry this did not 
 occur to me before. I will not, therefore, 
 press your removal at so early a period as 1 
 first mentioned, but shall hope to find you
 
 THE YOUNG LOED. 77 
 
 more willing to acquiesce in my decision in 
 three months' time. Early in December, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Beauchamp will be prepared to re- 
 ceive you. 
 
 " T remain, 
 
 " Dear Miss Moore, 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 " Singleton.'' 
 A short letter of acquiescence from Mrs. 
 Hurlstone closed the correspondence. 
 
 Like a wise ruler, Lord Singleton made a 
 concession in time; and though the victory 
 was, 'in fact, on his side, there was a consoling 
 sense of triumph in the defeated party.
 
 78 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 *' Now of my ward discourse. How does she V 
 
 The Hunchback. 
 
 Early in December, Mr. Beauchamp set off 
 to London, to meet his new charge. She was 
 to pass a few days in London at the house of 
 an acquaintance, and from thence Mr. Beau- 
 champ was to conduct her to her future abode. 
 As he was about to leave his house. Lord 
 Singleton entered. "Not gone, Mr. Beau- 
 champ ?" he exclaimed ; " I am glad of that ; 
 now we will go together ; send away that fly, 
 and get into my carriage. I am going to 
 Paris."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 79 
 
 " To Paris ! ^' cried Annette ; " then you 
 will not be here when Miss Moore comes." 
 
 " I am afraid not, but it can't be helped. 
 My old uncle, Sir Henry Vincent, is ill, and 
 wishes to see me ; and, poor old fellow, I am 
 sure I will not disappoint him. I cannot say 
 the time is particularly convenient to me in 
 any way ; but neither is it, I dare say, a plea- 
 sure to him to be ill — so we must not complain 
 of such things. Give my compliments to 
 Miss Moore, and all that sort of thing — you 
 will know what I ought to say — and when she 
 has been here a day or two, write and tell me 
 what you think of her ; that is, will you, Mrs. 
 Beauchamp — I know I dare not take such a 
 liberty with Annette — and be so good as to 
 tell me any other piece of news, and how Hor- 
 ner's toothache is ? One ought not to laugh 
 at a man with a toothache ; but he was such a 
 helpless, miserable object yesterday, I could 
 hardly help it."
 
 80 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " I will write with great pleasure/' said 
 Mrs. Beau champ. 
 
 " I hope you will like Miss Moore. You 
 must make her very happy, Annette. What- 
 ever she may be — even if she be as black as a 
 blackamoor — be kind to her, for my sake." 
 
 '' That I will/' said Annette. 
 
 '^ You may depend on our exertions/' said 
 Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 And the young lord departed. 
 
 Towards six o'clock, two days afterwards, 
 Annette and Mrs. Beauchamp sat expecting 
 the new inmate of their quiet home. Annette's 
 feelings were all pleasurable. Youth naturally 
 expects sympathy and gratification from the 
 companionship of youth. The imagination 
 in early years draws vivid and alluring pic- 
 tures of a stranger. Even later in life, when 
 often disappointment has proved that men and 
 women in general are not heroes and heroines : 
 a stranger's coming excites the fancy, and
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 81 
 
 makes it eager and romantic. Besides this, 
 Lord Singleton was the actor and mover of 
 the present arrival, and that was more than 
 enough to give it interest in Annette's eyes. 
 It was not to be expected that Mrs. Beau- 
 champ's anticipations should be as sunny as 
 her daughter's. In the first place, she had 
 no imagination. If ever gifted with such a 
 property, it had been exhausted for ever in 
 the effort of naming her two children. Se- 
 condly, her experienced mind suggested many 
 natural fears and dreads regarding the being 
 who was to take a child's place among them. 
 These chiefly, however, resolved themselves 
 into one super-eminent terror. Her daugh- 
 ter's manners was a subject very near her 
 heart ; good breeding and propriety of beha- 
 viour were very dear to her. Her bug-bear — 
 her hete noir — was a hoyden. During the last 
 few days, her anticipation of the appearance 
 of a hoyden had been growing stronger and 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 stronger. A girl who had never known a 
 home — a girl brought up at a school of which 
 she had never heard — the associate of any vul- 
 gar girl whose parents had money enough to 
 afford a good education — good manners, in 
 such a case, she inwardly observed, she could 
 scarcely expect to find : a hoyden was but too 
 likely to present itself. 
 
 ^' I hope she is pretty, mamma/' Annette 
 said, breaking a long listening silence. "I 
 must say, I like people to be pretty.''* 
 
 " So as her manners are good, I confess I 
 think beauty of feature of little importance," 
 replied her mother. 
 
 " Except, mamma, that manners can be im- 
 proved, but nothing can make an ugly face a 
 pretty one." 
 
 " Manners may be improved, certainly, but 
 the improvement is usually superficial. Once 
 a hoyden, more or less, the hoyden remains 
 for life."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 83 
 
 " Here they come, mamma," said Zoe, who, 
 having stationed herself on the watch, now 
 rushed into the room. "It is so dark, I can't 
 see anything. I only see that she is in deep 
 black, and that she is sitting by papa.'' 
 
 " And we could have told you as much as 
 that, Zoe," said Annette smiling. " Eun back 
 and meet papa. Shall I go ? May I, mamma ? " 
 she asked, hesitatingly, longing to give a cor- 
 dial welcome to the young and, probably 
 affrighted stranger, but always a submissive 
 daughter to her mother's rules of propriety. 
 
 "No, my love, sit still, the wind is very 
 cold to-night, and I should prefer that you 
 received her here." 
 
 " Poor girl," said Annette. " It must 
 be a trying thing to come to a houseful of 
 strangers." 
 
 " It will soon be over," said the wise mother. 
 
 The door opened with a burst, Zoe leading 
 the way; Mr. Beauchamp followed, and hi*. 
 
 g2
 
 84 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 young charge was behind him. " This is Miss 
 Moore, Anne," he observed, as he received the 
 greetings of his wife and daughter, " you must 
 make her warm and comfortable ; " — and then 
 soliloquizing, " they will get on best by them- 
 selves," he returned to a refractory postboy ; 
 to renew an often repeated argument as to the 
 number of miles between Beauchamp Park and 
 the station. 
 
 Miss Moore stood at the door immoveable. 
 Mrs. Beauchamp went towards her with a 
 slight formal bow, and begged her to draw 
 near to the fire. The bow was more formally 
 returned, and the invitation was unnoticed. 
 With a half-glance of apology at her mother, 
 Annette, unable to restrain a kinder welcome, 
 went towards her with her hand stretched out, 
 and a more earnest repetition of her mother's 
 words on her lips. She, at the same time, endea- 
 voured to draw the young stranger forward ; but 
 with a very resolved and self-possessed move-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 85 
 
 ment, Miss Moore, after a few steps, seated 
 herself on a sofa, at some distance from the 
 cheering warmth of the fire. 
 A bright lamp stood on the table near which 
 she sat, and Annette and Mrs. Beauchamp 
 were able to satisfy their curiosity regarding 
 their guest. Mrs Beauchamp, indeed, was 
 already satisfied. Eepelled she might be, but 
 there was obviously nothing of the hoyden in 
 the slight figure of the silent stranger. 
 Annette also could not but be satisfied, as 
 she gazed on the fair face before her. Sybil 
 Moore was beautiful ; not, perhaps, with per- 
 fect beauty, but with many of its elements. 
 Her hazel eyes were large, soft, and piercing ; 
 her dark chestnut hair shone in the lamplight ; 
 and her skin, even after the heat and cold of 
 a journey, was as smooth as it was white and 
 dazzling. There are many who depreciate 
 the beauty of complexion ; because it is not 
 of so high an order of beauty as beauty of
 
 86 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 feature, they undervalue its charm; but a 
 fine complexion is a lovely thing, and, if 
 not of the highest order, is a beauty that 
 gives great pleasure. Sybil Moore had it in 
 perfection, and Annette, for a few moments, 
 gazed at her with wondering admiration. She 
 had hardly decided, however, that she never 
 had seen so fair a face, when her opinion 
 underwent some change. The small lips were 
 closed with a cold and rigid air, and her 
 haughty and womanly manner sat unplea- 
 santly on her youthful appearance. She sighed, 
 as she feared her new companion might prove 
 hard and repulsive. But again a more favour- 
 able opinion was formed. Zoe had followed 
 her father from the room, but at this point 
 of the survey crept in again. Annette drew 
 her, with a smile, to the silent guest, and 
 Zoe frankly extended her hand. The cold 
 lips parted, and an answering smile — as sweet 
 as Annette could desire — for a moment lit up
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 87 
 
 her face into new beauty ; then vanished like 
 lightning, and left her as chilly as before. 
 
 ^' It is a long journey, Miss Moore," Mrs. 
 Beauchamp began. " I fear you must be 
 much fatigued." 
 
 "Not at all, thank you," was the short, 
 stiff answer. 
 
 " The railway is less tiring than a close 
 fly," continued Mrs. Beauchamp, anxious to 
 make some conversation. "Our roads here 
 are hilly, and, I confess, I find the way from 
 the station unpleasant and inconvenient." 
 
 " I hate the railway," said the young lady, 
 decidedly ; '^ and the last part of the journey 
 was by far the best." 
 
 " Lord Singleton would be pleased to hear 
 you say that," said Annette, smiling; "he 
 does not like to have the roads abused — does 
 he, mamma?" 
 
 Sybil drew herself up with a look of supreme 
 indifference, and the conversation dropped.
 
 88 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '^ We are charged vpith messages from Lord 
 Singleton," Mrs. Beauchamp observed, after a 
 pause. " It was with extreme regret that he 
 quitted the neighbourhood at this moment, 
 but in a matter of sickness there is no choice. 
 He begged us to express his regrets, to you, 
 and to make his apology." 
 
 A slight inclination of her head was all the 
 answer to this speech, and even Mrs. Beau- 
 champ's good breeding was at a loss for any 
 further small talk. 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp, fortunately, now returned, 
 and, seeing at a glance that they were not 
 ' getting on,' he relieved the party by a quick 
 observation. " Miss Moore will not allow she 
 is tired, but, if she is not, she ought to be 
 so ; therefore, Annette, the sooner you take 
 her to rest before dinner the better.'' 
 
 All received the proposal cordially. Miss 
 Moore hastily rose, and the two young ladies 
 left the room. They went up the stairs in
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 89 
 
 silence; but when Annette threw open the 
 door of Sybil's room, the comfort and pretti- 
 ness of the room surprised the latter into 
 kindly manners and kindly warmth. 
 
 ^^What a pretty room!" she exclaimed. 
 *' How comfortable you have made it. I am 
 so much obliged to you.'' 
 
 "I am glad you like it/' said Annette, 
 eagerly. " It was new done by Lord Single- 
 ton, entirely to please you, and entirely by 
 his own taste." 
 
 Again Sybil's manners changed ; and, with- 
 out a word, she crossed the room, threw off 
 her bonnet, and sat down by the fire in sullen 
 indifference. On removing her bonnet, she 
 appeared to Annette prettier than before. 
 Her head was small, and well placed on her 
 neck and shoulders. Increasing admiration, 
 and the effect of her few warm words, disposed 
 Annette to like her, notwithstanding the repel- 
 ling manners she had assumed ; and, being a
 
 90 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 very simple, straightforward kind of person, she 
 asked the plain question — " Do you like me 
 to stay with you, or would you rather be 
 alone?" 
 
 " I should like you to stay," said Sybil, 
 graciously ; and Annette took a seat by the 
 fire, opposite to her. 
 
 Sybil leant her head on her hand, and 
 though she had invited Annette to stay, made 
 no effort to speak. 
 
 "Does anything displease you?" Annette 
 asked, after watching her grave countenance 
 for some moments. 
 
 • " It does not please me to come amongst 
 strangers," she replied, coldly. "It is not 
 likely that it should." 
 
 " No, certainly ; I thought you would feel 
 that ; but the strangeness will soon be over, 
 and then I hope you will like us. Lord Sin- 
 gleton planned it all with a view to your hap- 
 piness."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 91 
 
 Sybil made no answer; but, after another 
 pause, asked — " Have I seen all your family?" 
 
 " Yes ; I have only that one little sister. 
 We live a very quiet life here ; but I hope 
 you will not mind ?" 
 
 " That depends. A quiet life need not be 
 dull, but is often so. I should not like a dull 
 life." 
 
 " I don't think it is dull," Annette replied, 
 with some eagerness ; "at least I never find 
 it so. Lord Singleton is always doing some- 
 thing to make an interest." 
 
 Instead of replying, Sybil threw herself 
 back in her chair with an expression of weari- 
 ness. 
 
 Annette immediately rose, and said she 
 would leave her to rest. 
 
 The young lady acquiesced, and Annette 
 returned to the dining-room. 
 
 She found her father awaiting her. He 
 wished to indulge in a little gossip over the
 
 92 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 new comer. " Well, Annette, how do you 
 like her ? '' he inquired. 
 
 Annette's reply was an expression of de- 
 lighted admiration at her beauty. 
 
 " She is very pretty, certainly, and her 
 manners are good, as mamma has just been 
 saying.'' 
 
 " I said there was nothing of the hoyden 
 about her,'' observed Mrs. Beauchamp. " Her 
 manners are stiff, but that often proceeds from 
 shyness. It is a good fault. I would rather 
 see a young lady even over shy and silent, 
 than hoydenish." 
 
 "I think Lord Singleton will be sur- 
 prised," Annette said. " I am sure he expects 
 something very different." 
 
 " Mamma must write to him to-morrow, and 
 tell him she is a very well-behaved young lady. 
 She is not very talkative, but her eyes are so 
 bright, I am sure that is from no want of 
 sense. I dare say we shall get on very well.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 93 
 
 I confess I am not displeased to have a little 
 beauty. I like a pretty face/' 
 
 " I am glad her manners are good ; that is 
 the chief thing/' said Mrs. Beauchamp, '^ as 
 far as outward appearance goes. It now 
 remains to discover whether her mind is well 
 informed, and her principles fixed."
 
 94 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 " The ladies fair, the maidene free, 
 Were all accustom'd then to say. 
 Who would a handsome figure see 
 
 Should look upon Sir Eustace Grey." 
 
 Crabbe. 
 
 The two young ladies were left together the 
 following morning, after breakfast. 
 
 Sybil walked to the window, and looked out. 
 The view from the window was very pretty. 
 It was but park scenery, but the park was 
 finely wooded, and the ground was in some 
 places rugged and broken. A part of the 
 house was seen in the distance, with blue hills 
 behind, and a sloping bank tufted with fine
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 95 
 
 trees before it. It was a fine day, and even 
 in its winter garb, the view was attractive. 
 
 '* I like this view," Sybil said. " It is an 
 advantage to look out on anything so pretty." 
 
 "That is the house, Lord Singleton's house," 
 said Annette. " It looks very well from here ; 
 the shades those trees throw on the bank at 
 sunset are quite beautiful; I often watch 
 them." 
 
 " I don't care whose house it is," Sybil said 
 carelessly, *^ I like the view ; the hills, and the 
 trees, and the fields. Shall I be in the way if 
 I make a sketch of it ? " 
 
 "Wait till the spring," Annette said; "it does 
 not do itself justice to-day. I should be sorry 
 to see it in a dreary winter drawing." 
 
 " I may not be here in the spring," replied 
 Sybil ; " and I had better do it while I can. I 
 always make a point of sketching every place 
 I go to, be it pretty or not; the sketches 
 stand in the place of a journal."
 
 96 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ^* Shall you not be here in the spring ? " 
 Annette asked in some surprise. " I thought 
 you were to live with us/' 
 
 " That depends/' was the decisive reply. 
 
 She left the room as she spoke, and pre- 
 sently returned with her drawing materials. 
 Annette in the meanwhile had placed herself 
 at her own employment. She also was draw- 
 ing, but it was the stiff copy of a cottage plan, 
 by feet and measurement, left with her by 
 Lord Singleton. 
 
 Sybil silently seated herself, made her sketch 
 with great rapidity, and worked in the first 
 soft tints of colour. When this was done, she 
 rose and looked over Annette's shoulder. 
 
 " You are very busy. Miss Beauchamp," she 
 said. " May I see what you are about " 
 
 Annette laid down her rulers, and pushed 
 her copy towards her. 
 
 "It is beautifully done, but what is the 
 use of it?"
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 97 
 
 '* It is the plan of a new cottage, for Lord 
 Singleton. The plan was lent him bj some- 
 body who could not spare it long." 
 
 '^ And so he orders you to make a copy of 
 it," Sybil said, with a curl of her lip. 
 
 " Not orders," Annette said, ^smiling ; ''he 
 asks me to do it, and I am glad. I like to be 
 useful." 
 
 Sybil said no more. When she returned to 
 her seat, Annette rose in her turn and looked 
 at her companion's employment. Her ex- 
 pressions of surprise and admiration were loud 
 and warm. The drawing was good, the 
 colouring managed with great taste, and the 
 first tints gave the promise of more beauty 
 than a finished sketch often fulfils. 
 
 Surprised and pleased with her pleasure, 
 Sybil was about to answer, when she added, 
 " Lord Singleton will be quite delighted, he 
 has so often wished to have this very view." 
 
 The words were naturally said, and were the 
 
 VOL. I, H
 
 98 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 expression of a very natural feeling; but 
 perhaps as naturally they irritated, and gave 
 offence. They had hardly left Annette's lips, 
 before Sybil dashed her brush with a hasty 
 movement into some thick grey colour, and 
 spread it in a ferocious cloud on her clear sky. 
 Annette, all unconscious of offence, exclaimedin 
 dismay. By this time grown cooler, and perhaps 
 satisfied with this vent for her ill-temper, Sybil 
 sobered down the dark tint, and certainly in 
 the end the effect of her irritation was to add 
 considerably to the beauty of her sketch. 
 
 After watching her proceedings for some 
 minutes, with eager pleasure, Annette at 
 length said — 
 
 "You must not think, Miss Moore, that 
 I mean to flatter, if I ask how, at sixteen, 
 it is possible you can have learned to draw 
 and paint like this. I am not clever myself, 
 but I think I know what is good and pretty, 
 and T am certain this sketch of yours would be 
 called by great people ' masterly.^ '
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 99 
 
 " I am not sixteen/' replied Sybil. " I am 
 seventeen to-day." 
 
 ^^ Are you, indeed !" Annette said, quickly 
 and kindly; "then I will wish you many, 
 many happy returns of the day." 
 
 "Thank you," Sybil replied, with cold 
 quietness, but as she stooped her head over 
 her drawing, Annette saw a rising colour in 
 her cheek, and a tremulous motion in her 
 eyelids that seemed to say, happiness was not 
 a certain hope to her desolate and orphan 
 state. 
 
 She looked at her with deepening interest, 
 though she forbore in this early stage of their 
 acquaintance to intrude into her unexpressed 
 feelings. 
 
 In the course of the morning the sketch was 
 nearly completed, and it lost but little in its 
 finishing. It was a happy effort of one who 
 had learnt, in common with almost all, at this 
 day, the art of water-colouring, and who had 
 
 n 2
 
 100 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 taste and genius enough to give real character 
 to her sketches. 
 
 Before it was quite finished, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Beauchamp entered the room, and each sepa- 
 rately, as they approached Sybil, exclaimed 
 with admiration at her drawing, and added, as 
 Annette had done — 
 
 " How delighted Lord Singleton will be !" 
 The exclamations came like the spontaneous 
 language of their hearts — they were but 
 natural, — yet still more than before, it must 
 be owned, were irritating. At the first, Sybil 
 dashed her brush aside and pushed her drawing 
 from before her ; at the second, impatience was 
 no longer controlable, and rooting it from the 
 block on which she had sketched, she tore it 
 in pieces. Yet her heart yearned over it as 
 her best and happiest efibrt ; and even in the 
 act of destruction, she contemplated it as sor- 
 rowfully as a penitent child some regretted 
 work of mischief
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 101 
 
 " I am afraid," said Mr. Beauchamp, reco- 
 vering from his surprise, " that you dreaded 
 Lord Singleton's criticism ; but I assure you 
 there is no need. His appreciation of works 
 of art is very just, but he has never had time 
 to make himself a connoisseur,^' 
 
 '^ I dread no criticism," said Sybil, drawing 
 herself up, penitent no longer ; " the severer 
 the better, so that it is just." 
 
 ^^ Why did you do it ?" asked Annette, 
 taking the remnants from her hands ; ^^ I 
 would give many pounds, if I had them, to re- 
 cover that sketch again." 
 
 " You shall have another and a better one," 
 Sybil said, smiling, " and without any pounds." 
 And gathering her drawing materials together, 
 and throwing the remnants, in passing, into 
 the fire-place, she left the room. 
 
 ^' You must not let her be afraid of Lord 
 Singleton, Annette," said Mr. Beauchamp. 
 " Tell her how good and kind he is."
 
 102 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 It was a subject on which Annette could 
 be eloquent, and she promised to do, what 
 would be well performed. 
 
 Her wonderment at the talents of her 
 youthful guest did not diminish. Sybil had 
 only learned the accomplishments which every 
 child now learns, but she gave to them — to 
 those at least which pleased her taste, such as 
 drawing and music — a zest and heartiness of 
 attention which made her performances sin- 
 gularly pleasing to others. Annette had 
 learned all, and more than all, that Sybil had 
 learned, but her heart and mind went in 
 another direction. She played without taste 
 and drew without spirit. Except as a means 
 of pleasing her mother, the occupations were 
 without charm to herself, and, consequently, 
 ^he was without power to make them charming 
 to others. 
 
 She had, however, as she said herself, the 
 taste that appreciates, and with wonder, and
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 103 
 
 a most amiable kind of envy, she watched and 
 listened to Sybil. 
 
 A few days after her arrival, she again 
 expressed to Sybil her surprise in the acquire- 
 ments she had, at so early an age, attained. 
 
 ^'How you depreciate youth," Sybil said. 
 " What should do things well, if youth does 
 not?" 
 
 " I thought youth was the time to learn," 
 said Annette, smiling. ^' One does not expect 
 perfection in youth." 
 
 ^•Perfection! that is a great word; but 
 even perfection I should better expect from 
 youth than from age. There is a spirit in 
 youth we never can hope to have again. Do 
 you suppose that I, for instance, when the 
 cares and troubles of the world have dulled 
 me, shall care to play and to draw as I do 
 now ? These things interest me now, but their 
 zest will pass by when life begins." 
 
 " You argue it out very well," said Annette,
 
 104 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '^ but you cannot change my feeling of wonder 
 at all you have done in your short life ; and it 
 is not my opinion only. Papa said yesterday 
 — no," she added, stopping and laughing, ^^I 
 must not tell you what he said, as it would 
 make you vain ; but it meant the same that I 
 say — wonder that you, in your youth, should 
 have accomplished more than most people 
 gain with years of practice and trouble." 
 
 '^ You will not make me vain by compli- 
 ments gathered from my youth," was Sybil's 
 reply. ^' I say again, there is a spirit in 
 youth that nothing can baffle. What advan- 
 tage has age, to compare to the freshness 
 there is in youth ? " 
 
 '^ Years, I suppose," said Annette. I mean 
 just that which youth cannot have — the year 
 which have given it wisdom and experience." 
 
 '^ And what have years ever done equal 
 to what the want of years has done. I express 
 myself ill, but I mean what I say. As I lay
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 105 
 
 in bed at night, I sometimes think of what 
 youth has done till my blood boils. Think 
 only of that young Napoleon. He was nothing 
 in his age compared to what he was in his 
 youth. And I," she added, unconsciously 
 gathering herself up, and her hazel eyes flash- 
 ing with brightness — ^' I, without pretending 
 to genius or any other uncommon thing, feel 
 that I, in my youth, can do whatever life 
 requires of me ; and more, far more, than I 
 shall do when the dullness of wisdom comes 
 over me." 
 
 '^ I think, indeed, you could do anything 
 you pleased," said Annette, smiling ; '^ and 
 one thing I must tell you you have done — you 
 have made a convert of me. I am all for 
 youth now, and wish I was younger, that I 
 might feel the spirit you feel. Certainly," she 
 added, thoughtfully, " what you say has great 
 truth. Without arguing upon it, as you do, 
 I have often felt the same with regard to
 
 106 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Lord Singleton. When poor Lord Singleton, 
 his father, died, everyone spoke of the loss of 
 his advice and great experience ; but his son, 
 our Lord Singleton, does more and influences 
 more, far, far more, than his father ever did. 
 The spirit that animates him seems as if it 
 could never droop or die. It drives him on, 
 and all who come near him." 
 
 Sbiyl made no comments on this application 
 of her theory, but after a short silence said, 
 in a slightly sarcastic tone, " May I ask you 
 one question, Miss Beauchamp?" 
 " One or many,'' replied Annette. 
 "Is Lord Singleton perfect?'' 
 Annette coloured, but answered without 
 hesitation, and even with readiness, "1 don't 
 know what you expect me to say, but I will 
 say what I think, without fear of your laughing 
 at me. Imp :rfect, of course, we all are, I sup- 
 pose, properly speaking ; and, therefore, Lord 
 Singleton is imperfect; but if you ask me
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 107 
 
 in what he is not perfect, I cannot answer 
 you. If I were to search for faults I could not 
 find them." 
 
 "That is decisive," Sybil replied in the 
 same manner. " But may I ask further, Miss 
 Beauchamp, what you call perfection? We 
 all have different ideas of the word, and 
 your definition may only include freedom from 
 open vice." 
 
 " To have no thought but to do good in the 
 world," said Annette with warmth, " no 
 thought of self, no thought but for others. 
 Where there is this spirit, even when I see 
 faults, I forgive them. When I see none then 
 I call it perfection." 
 
 Sybil made no answer, and each young 
 lady proceeded with her employment. Little 
 Zoe, who was at work in a window, was the 
 next to speak. 
 
 " Annette, if you don't mind my saying it, 
 I think Lord Singleton has one fault."
 
 108 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Both looked up smiling, and Annette said 
 '' No, Zoe I don't mind. Mamma does not 
 like you to find faults, but 1 dare say you 
 mean nothing unkind now." 
 
 " I never mean anything unkind," said the 
 little girl, " but I can't help making remarks, 
 whether I say them out or not, and I think, 
 sometimes, Lord Singleton speaks a little too 
 loud." 
 
 " Oh ! well, perhaps, Zoe, but that is hardly 
 a fault ; and, if that is all, I think 1 may still 
 call him perfect." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Miss Beauchamp," 
 said Sybil. " I don't mean in this particular 
 case," she observed, haughtily ; " it has been 
 decided that Lord Singleton is perfect; but 
 speaking generally, manner is only the out- 
 ward sign of inward dispositions, and if there 
 is anything wrong or disagreeable in the man- 
 ner, you may be sure there is something more 
 wrong within."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 109 
 
 *^ How wise you are,'' said Annette smiling, 
 '^ you speak like a judge of sixty.'' 
 
 " It does not want years to make obser- 
 vations, it only wants opportunity, and that I 
 have had." 
 
 "But only in one place, and among one 
 class of people, have you? and that is not 
 enough to make decisions as you do." 
 
 " If you think I have only been at school, 
 Miss Beauchamp," said Sybil quickly, " you 
 are much mistaken. I have many friends, and 
 in visiting my friends I have seen most parts 
 of England, and all classes of people." 
 
 " Then I fear, indeed," said Annette thought- 
 fully, " that you will find us dull. I hoped 
 this was your first, or nearly first, visit. Are 
 your friends all as clever as — " she smiled and 
 stopped, and asked " are they all clever 
 people?" 
 
 " If they were, my world would be different 
 to any other world. No. If this were my first
 
 110 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 vi^it I might find it dull, for life is not like 
 life's dreams, but I have seen enough to have 
 learned that truth, and, therefore, look for no 
 impossible things."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 *' The wise and active, conquer difficulties 
 By daring to attempt them. Sloth and folly 
 Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and hazard, 
 And make the impossibility they fear." 
 
 ROWE. 
 
 After ten days' absence, the following letter 
 was received from Lord Singleton : — 
 
 " Champs Elysees, 
 " Dec. 12. 
 " My Dear Mrs. Beauchamp, — 
 '' I am become so great a French scholar, 
 that I can hardly condescend to write plain
 
 112 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 English. I have been talking French day 
 and night ever since I came. I suppose 
 you saw that my poor old uncle died on 
 the 5th. It was sudden — not unexpected. 
 Poor old fellow, I am glad I came, for he was 
 pleased. I have been busy with some busi- 
 ness of his ever since, and could not find time 
 to write. I write to-day, merely to tell some 
 good news. My uncle's will was opened to- 
 day, and I find he has left me £8,000 — the 
 very sum I want. I had no idea he was so 
 rich, and certainly had no claim to have any- 
 thing. ]^ow for the long-desired church and 
 endowment at Rotherham. Tell Horner the 
 good news, and tell him to look me, out of his 
 big books, the plan of a good, plain, useful 
 church. About five hundred sittings — no 
 sham, no ornaments, short, thick tower, and 
 lancet windows. If he finds a proper one, 
 one, beg Annette to make a copy, and I will 
 send it to London, and get an estimate at
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 113 
 
 once. Give my compliments to everybody. 
 Thank you for your letter ; for, as you are a 
 woman of your word, I know there is one 
 somewhere, but I have never seen it. Hur- 
 rah! for the Church. I shall soon be home. 
 ^^ Yours, affectionately, 
 
 " Singleton." 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp gave the letter, with a 
 smile, to her husband ; he passed it on to 
 Annette ; and, with a glance of inquiry to her 
 mother, Annette laid it before Sybil. 
 
 Though scarcely more than a week had 
 elapsed since she became an inmate of the 
 house, she had assimilated herself so pleasantly 
 to their ways, that she was no longer a 
 stranger to them. It is true, they stood a 
 little in awe of their guest, listening to the 
 opinions of her very youthful years with a 
 deference which spoke more forcibly than 
 Sybil's words could do, of the non-importance 
 of age ; but this awe added to the interest she 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 inspired ; and while both Mr. Beauchamp and 
 Annette had completely lost their hearts to 
 her, even Mrs. Beauchamp had been surprized 
 into a cordiality she never gave to new ac- 
 quaintance, and rarely to old. She answered 
 Annette's look of inquiry with a ready acqui- 
 escence, and Sybil was made a partaker in the 
 interest Lord Singleton's letter created. 
 
 It was offered by Annette in the affectionate 
 desire to exhibit the generous and disin- 
 terested spirit that possessed him ; but when 
 Sybil had perused the epistle, she laid it 
 down, with the dry and sarcastic inquiry — 
 
 "Is Lord Singleton mad?" 
 
 Annette coloured. Mr. Beauchamp said, 
 smiling — 
 
 " No — no. Miss Moore, not mad, only en- 
 thusiastic. He writes to us who understand 
 him." 
 
 '^ Enthusiasm is often only another name 
 for madness," observed Sybil.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 115 
 
 " If it is," Annette cried, with eager and 
 somewhat indignant warmth, '^ then I wish all 
 the world was mad. The only people I can 
 ever care to see are such mad people ! " 
 
 " I believe I agree with you," Sybil said, 
 heartily. '^ Let enthusiasm be as mad as it 
 will, there is a spirit in it that warms one in 
 this cold world.'^ 
 
 "Within due bounds, and regulated with 
 prudence, enthusiasm is no doubt useful," 
 said Mrs. Beauchamp. 
 
 '^ No doubt it is," said her husband. '' 1 
 am all on Annette's side. I wish we could 
 stir it up in Horner's sluggish soul. If any- 
 thing will inspire him, it will be the thoughts 
 of this church, xlnnette shall tell him. Get 
 your bonnet, my love, and we will go down 
 and rouse him with the news. Put on a 
 warm cloak, for there was a hard frost last 
 night. Will you come with us, Miss IMoore? 
 If it is not too early, we shall like your 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 company, and Lord Singleton will, I am 
 certain, be glad to have the benefit of your 
 taste." 
 
 '' Thank you," said Sybil, coldly ; " but I 
 have no taste in such matters." 
 
 Kevertheless, when Annette returned with 
 a chosen plan, she did condescend to show a 
 certain taste by criticizing it most unmer- 
 cifully. The criticism was not just. Lord 
 Singleton's directions left much room for 
 simple beauty, and both Annette and Mr. 
 Horner had very correct taste and judgment. 
 It pleased Sybil, however, to condemn with 
 utter condemnation, and to cast contempt 
 upon it by glowing descriptions of beauties 
 which could not be attained. Confident that 
 the plan was a pretty one, and one likely to 
 be pleasing to Lord Singleton, Annette, 
 unmoved by Sybil's animadversions, set to 
 work on her copy. But not so Mr. Horner. 
 He was much excited, and came several times
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 117 
 
 to the Cottage to talk the subject over, but 
 ever guided by any strong opinion or guiding 
 mind, he shortly lost his interest in the simple 
 plan proposed, and began to dream of cloistered 
 arches, mosaic pavements, and richly-dejsigned 
 windows. Pleased with her convert, Sybil 
 talked on, and criticized with unsparing free- 
 dom ; nor were Mr. and Mrs. Beauchamp 
 perfectly indifferent to her condemnations. 
 They began to fear the eyes of the world 
 might accuse Lord Singleton of niggardliness. 
 Such is the singular influence of criticisms 
 boldly expressed, be they just or not. 
 
 " Lord Singleton arrived last night. Have 
 you heard that, Annette ?'' said Mr. Beau- 
 champ, on entering the breakfast-room four or 
 five days after the receipt of Lord Singleton's 
 letter. 
 
 " How glad I am ! " she exclaimed ; and the
 
 118 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 exclamation was not needed to express what 
 her sparkling eyes proclaimed. 
 
 Sybil drew herself up into stateliness, though 
 her heightened colour showed some interest in 
 the announcement. 
 
 " At what hour did he arrive ?" asked Mrs. 
 Beauchamp. 
 
 " He came late, they say, but he is already 
 up and about. James Gregory took up a 
 fiote from Mr. Horner, early this morning, and 
 found him in the stables. He told him to 
 come on here, and tell me he was arrived. 
 We shall see him shortly, no doubt." 
 
 " Among his other perfections, does Lord 
 Singleton do without sleep ?" Sybil asked, in 
 a dry voice. 
 
 '' He sleeps but little, certainly," replied 
 Mr. Beauchamp ; ^' too little, I think, for body 
 and mind. There is a look in his eyes that 
 sometimes alarms me ; they seem to ask for 
 rest, and they do not have it."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD 119 
 
 "Oh I papa, do you think so/' cried 
 Annette ; '^ his eyes look to me as if they 
 needed no sleep, so bright, so eager, and full 
 life." 
 
 " Too bright and eager, Annette ; that is 
 precisely what I mean. I sometimes long to 
 close them, and force them to take their natu- 
 ral rest." 
 
 " Mad, perhaps," said Sybil, in the same 
 mildly sarcastic way. 
 
 " No, no. Miss Moore, I have no fears for 
 Lord Singleton's mind. With all his enthu- 
 siasm, he is the essence of good sense. The 
 danger I fear is simply to his eyes, a bodily, 
 not a mental disease. How curious you must 
 be to see him," he added suddenly, turning his 
 gaze full upon her. 
 
 " I ! no, indeed," replied Sybil, taken by 
 surprise, and colouring with indignation. 
 
 " I think you must," said Annette, smiling, 
 '' at least, I am sure I should if I had
 
 120 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 heard as much about any one, as you have 
 about Lord Singleton/' 
 
 '' When I have seen Lord Singleton/' said 
 Sybil, with lofty coldness, " I shall be able to 
 judge whether he is worth curiosity/' 
 
 ^^ Whatever may be your impression regard- 
 ing Lord Singleton, Miss Moore," observed 
 Mr. Beauchamp, a good-humoured naturalness 
 taking from the fade character of the compli- 
 ment, " I think he will be disposed to think 
 you worth curiosity." 
 
 Sybil vouchsafed no sign of gratification, 
 and the conversation dropped. 
 
 Lord Singleton's appearance was expected 
 the whole morning, but he did not come. At 
 half-past twelve Mr. Beauchamp came into the 
 dining-room, and said he should walk up to 
 the Park. '' Something must have happened to 
 prevent his coming to us," Mr. Beauchamp 
 added, " and possibly he may want my assist- 
 ance. It must be some real business, Miss
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 121 
 
 Moore/^ looking at Sybil, "or I am sure he 
 would have hastened to make your acquaint- 
 ance before now.'^ 
 
 " No apology is due to me," said Sybil, 
 calmly, " I can perfectly wait his leisure." 
 
 Nevertheless, if her secret heart could have 
 been searched, some pique at his delay, short 
 as it was, might have been discovered, and this 
 did not add kindliness to the feelings with 
 which she regarded him. 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp left the room, and was 
 soon perceived by his wife, crossing the park 
 towards the house. He had not been ten 
 minutes out of sight, before the clatter of 
 a horse's hurried gallop was heard at the front 
 door, and a moment afterwards, Lord Single- 
 ton entered the drawing-room. 
 
 He gave a quick tap at the door, putting 
 his head in with '* May I come in ?" at the 
 same moment. Annette rose with smiling 
 eyes, and Mrs. Beauchamp with real pleasure ;
 
 122 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 but Sybil sat immoveable, bending — as if 
 totally without interest or concern in his 
 appearance — over her drawing. 
 
 '' How do you all do ?" he said, cordially 
 shaking hands with each. ^' I am glad to see 
 you again ; though I am in such a hurry to- 
 day, I have hardly time to say so. Is that 
 Miss Moore ?" 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp turned to Sybil to intro- 
 duce her, but, with the same cordial manner, 
 Lord Singleton went to her and held out his 
 hand, saying — ^^ Though this is our first meet- 
 ing. Miss Moore, your name is so familiar to 
 me, that I cannot feel we are strangers." 
 
 Sybil rose, and could not refuse to take the 
 hand he held out ; but, having done so, with- 
 drew hers instantly with haughty coldness, 
 and reseated herself. 
 
 Her manner was entirely lost upon him. 
 Having done his duty, he thought of her and 
 looked at her no more, but turned eagerly to
 
 THE YOUNU LORD. 123 
 
 Annette — '^ I am sorry my visit must be so 
 short, Annette, as I have a thousand things 
 to say ; but there's a row, and I must be off 
 to see about it." 
 
 '•'•Lrowr exclaimed Mrs. Beauchamp, in 
 involuntary alarm, for nothing but surprise 
 could have drawn such a word from her 
 lips. 
 
 ^' Has not Horner told you his troubles ? 
 No, I dare say not ; for he said nothing to 
 me, and a word at the beginning would have 
 saved it all. He is such a coward — so afraid 
 of rows that he never is out of them. It is at 
 the school on the heath. The boys will not have 
 prayers read. When Horner or the master tries 
 to read, they kick up a row. This has been 
 going on for three weeks, and Horner was so 
 afraid of their threats of leaving the school if 
 he persisted, that he has given way — actually 
 given way to a parcel of ragged rascals 
 who know no better. But he guessed what
 
 124 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 my mind would be, and wrote me a note this 
 morning, to tell me what had occurred. I 
 believe he was too great a coward even to 
 come and tell me himself, but I have been 
 down to give him a piece of my mind ; and 
 now I am off to the heath to settle the matter 
 at once." 
 
 " What shall you do ?" asked Annette. 
 
 " Do !" he exclaimed, raising his voice in 
 his excitement ; " why^ I shall just tell them 
 to obey my orders, or to be off at once. What 
 do I care for educating a school of rebellious 
 heathens, that is not what I call education. 
 They must obey my orders and learn their 
 duty, or I will leave them to educate them- 
 selves. Poor fools ! there will be no difficulty, 
 if one is firm with them. Horner is a most 
 estimable man, but he is a milksop — there is 
 no denying it. I wish I could find an ogress 
 wife to spirit him up a little. Now, good 
 morning to you all, for I have no time to
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 125 
 
 lose. Good bye!" — and courteously — yet 
 without special notice — bowing his head to 
 Sybil and Mrs. Beauchamp, and nodding to 
 Annette and Zoe, he departed. 
 
 A silence followed his departure. Annette 
 longed to know what Sybil thought, but did 
 not like to ask. It was not in Mrs. Beau- 
 champ's idea of propriety to suppose young 
 ladies to have opinions on such subjects at all 
 — not that she did not suppose they had, but 
 she did not choose them to suppose that she 
 supposed they had. It was Zoe whose curio- 
 sity was restrained by no bonds. 
 
 " How do you like Lord Thingleton, Miss 
 Moore?" she inquired, lisping, as was her 
 habit. 
 
 '' I think your opinion was a very just 
 one, Zoe,'* she replied, sarcastically. 
 
 Annette blushed with disappointment and 
 displeasure. To her eyes his bright kind face 
 had been as sunshine. She could see no fault
 
 126 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 or blemish in him, and had hardly conceived a 
 state of mind to which he would present an- 
 other appearance. She made no comment, 
 however, or defence, but continued to work 
 in silence. 
 
 "What was Zoe's observation?" inquired 
 Mrs. Beauchamp, gravely. 
 
 "Indeed, mamma," exclaimed the little 
 girl, blushing almost to tears at being thus 
 brought forward, " I meant no harm. I only 
 said, sometimes I thought he spoke too loud." 
 
 " Little girls have enough to do with their 
 own defects, without criticizing their elders 
 and betters," said Mrs. Beauchamp, severely. 
 
 " Oh ! Mrs. Beauchamp, don't be angry 
 with Zoe," cried Sybil, with earnestness. " We 
 were speaking, one day, of faults and perfec- 
 tions, and Zoe happened to mention this pecu- 
 liarity of Lord Singletons's. I ought to have 
 remembered that what is said hastily should 
 not be repeated seriously. I beg your pardon,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 127 
 
 Zoe/' she continued, rising up, and putting 
 arm caressingly round the little girl, in a warm 
 winning way she often had — "you have good 
 right to be angry with me." 
 
 " Don't spoil Zoe, Miss Moore," said Mrs. 
 Beauchamp — but she spoke with kindness, 
 not displeasure. 
 
 In the afternoon Annette walked with her 
 father to Barnsley. Mr. Beauchamp had 
 missed Lord Singleton in the morning, but 
 hoped to meet him at the school on his return 
 from the heath. A reading-room for the work- 
 people was going to be opened at the begin- 
 ning of the new year, and a box of books had 
 to be unpacked, and a catalogue made. Mr. 
 Beauchamp was above no kind of work, and 
 he and Annette unpacked, and wrote, for an 
 hour before Lord Singleton came. When he 
 arrived at last, it was at full gallop, and in 
 the same mad haste in which he had been in 
 the morning ; for the unexpected business that
 
 128 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 had occupied him had thrown all his own busi- 
 ness into arrear. He looked hastily over the 
 books, begged Annette to be so good as to 
 make the catalogue without him ; said he was 
 very sorry to leave them, but he must. The 
 masons were waiting for orders about the 
 alteration in the stables, and a whole day had 
 been lost. 
 
 " But what have you done ?" asked Annette, 
 eagerly. '^ Is all quiet ?" 
 
 ^'All right,'' he said; "I would stay and 
 tell you about it, if I could ; but, knowing I 
 should not have time, I sent Horner with the 
 news to the Cottage. You will find him there. 
 Good-bye." 
 
 " Lord Singleton 1 " Annette called, pursu- 
 ing him to the door, with a girl's curiosity ; 
 " do stay one moment. What did you think 
 of Miss Moore ?" 
 
 " I really had not time to think about her." 
 
 " Is she not beautiful ? You must have 
 had time to see that."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 129 
 
 " Indeed, I had not. Is she very beauti- 
 tiful ? What is she — dark or fair ?" 
 
 ^^ Oh ! Lord Singleton," said Annette, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Indeed, my dear Annette, I did not see. 
 I had only one vision before my eyes, and that 
 was poor Horner baffled by the boys — not a 
 lovely one. What is Miss Moore — dark or 
 fair ?" 
 
 "Very dark, but with a beautiful white 
 skin. She is so pretty ; we were so surprised 
 when we first saw her." 
 
 " Yes ; I did not at all expect a beauty. 
 Is she a good girl ? I hope you like her ?" 
 
 " Very much,'' said Annette, warmly ; ^*she 
 is odd — that is not common — but very nice : 
 we all like her." 
 
 *^ I am glad of that. By-the-bye, I must 
 have some conversation with her about her 
 affairs, and I had better do it at once. Mr. 
 Beauchamp ! will you tell Miss Moore that I 
 
 VOL I. K
 
 130 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 should like to see her alone for a few minutes 
 to-morrow morning? Let me see — about ele- 
 ven, if that is not too early ; make a civil 
 message from me ; and now let me go. Good- 
 night, Annette. I have a great deal to say 
 when I have time ; and to you, Mr. Beau- 
 champ. Perhaps you could come up to me in 
 half an hour or so." 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp replied in the affirmative, 
 and Annette returned home alone. She looked 
 in at the drawing-room window before she 
 entered, and saw, by the bright fire-light — for 
 it was now dark — Sybil and Mr. Horner : the 
 latter was eagerly speaking, and the former 
 was listening with an interest which made her 
 beautiful face sparkle with animation. 
 
 "I am so glad you are still here," said 
 Annette to Mr. Horner, on her entrance. ^' I 
 was afraid I might have missed you." 
 
 '' I should have waited. Miss Beauchamp, 
 knowing your interest in our concerns. I
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 131 
 
 found Miss Moore alone, but she was good 
 enough to beg me to remain, and has been 
 listening with very kind attention to all I 
 have had to say." 
 
 " I like to hear of any victory, let it come 
 from whence it may," said Sybil, as if in apo- 
 logy for her evident interest in what he had 
 related. 
 
 *' You admire firmness. Miss Moore," ob- 
 served Mr. Horner ; "so do I ; but I am 
 sadly deficient in the quality I admire, which, 
 undoubtedly, you are not." 
 
 " If that is true, Mr. Horner, why do you 
 not acquire it ? All things can be gamed by 
 those who wish for them." 
 
 " Can they ? I doubt it. I doubt if firm- 
 ness can be gained. I know for myself" — 
 and he passed his fingers through his thin 
 hair — " that it is not in my power to be firm. 
 I am swayed by arguments, and guided by tlie 
 opinions of others, even of those whom I do 
 
 k2
 
 132 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 not admire. What would be your receipt, Miss 
 Moore, for acquiring firmness of character ?" 
 
 " Form your opinions, and then hold them 
 fast, let them be opposed ever so violently." 
 
 "A good receipt for obstinacy, not firm- 
 ness," said Annette. ^^A firm man is never 
 afraid of giving way, if there is a reason 
 for it." 
 
 ^' A firm man may give way," said Sybil ; 
 "but that is not the question. Mr. Horner 
 wishes to learn how to be firm, and the first 
 thing is, to determine not to be swayed when 
 once your mind is made up." 
 
 "If it is made up well and justly," said 
 Annette, "not otherwise. But, Mr. Horner, 
 do tell me about to-day. What did Lord 
 Singleton do ?" 
 
 " He behaved like himself. Miss Beauchamp, 
 with the firmness and good sense that charac- 
 terises him. We went together into the 
 school, and he walked up to the desk, and
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 166 
 
 desired all the boys to stand. They obeyed 
 at once. He then said, that if he wished to 
 act only with justice, he should instantly de- 
 sire them to leave the school, and return no 
 more ; but, as he hoped ignorance was the 
 cause of their wicked and disorderly behaviour, 
 he should explain his reasons to them for the 
 duties he desired them to perform. And he 
 did so in a few most admirable words ; telling 
 them that, for himself, he knew he could not 
 do his duty without God's assistance, nor 
 more could they, nor any man ; and, there- 
 fore, instead of teaching them mere book- 
 learning, like heathens, he meant to teach 
 them, like Christian men, what was right, 
 and how to do right. Therefore, he said 
 nothing should move him, but prayers should 
 be offered daily in his school, if there was but 
 one boy left to hear them. He compelled 
 no one to come ; if they did not choose to 
 learn, he was sorry ; but it would be their
 
 134 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 loss, not his, and so they would find. Hav- 
 ing explained himself, he then desired that 
 any boy who did not choose to submit, should 
 leave the school at once. There was a dead 
 silence. He repeated his order, adding, that 
 he mast tell them, that any boy making a 
 noise at prayers, after this notice, should 
 receive a sound thrashing, and be expelled 
 on the spot. Again there was a dead silence. 
 He then said, kindly, that he saw they all 
 meant to be good friends for the future, and 
 that he should think no more of what was 
 past. He then left the school, and they all 
 ran after him, and cheered him as he rode 
 away with all their hearts. There will be 
 no more trouble, I believe." 
 
 '^I should, think not," said Annette, with 
 warmth. " They could not have withstood 
 him.^^ 
 
 " A firm will is never withstood," observed 
 Sybil.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 135 
 
 ^^ It gives me encouragement, Miss Moore,'' 
 said Mr. Horner, ^' to find that you think 
 firmness is a quality that can be acquired. I 
 have been too much in the habit of consider- 
 ing it a gift from Heaven, which no man can 
 attain for himself 
 
 " And so it is, I think," said Annette ; 
 ^' and the only thing that is like it, is strong 
 principle which determines to do right always. 
 I am against learning obstinacy ; it makes 
 people very disagreeable." 
 
 '' I like people to have and hold their own 
 opinions, whether it is obstinacy or not," 
 observed Sybil ; and Mr. Horner gave his full 
 concurrence to the sentiment. 
 
 The following morning, punctual to his 
 time, Lord Singleton arrived. Sybil was not 
 in the drawing-room, but Mrs. Beauchamp 
 and Annette, as they took their works, and 
 left the room, said they would go in search of 
 her.
 
 136 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " I am extremely sorry to disturb you," ob- 
 served Lord Singleton, with his usual civility. 
 " It need never occur again ; I trust not, 
 at least — not unless my ward should be so 
 troublesome as to need my private animadver- 
 sions.^' 
 
 " And that is not very likely," said Annette, 
 laughing, as she followed her mother. 
 
 Sybil had purposely absented herself, but, 
 being summoned, proceeded with a dignified 
 air to the interview. Her dignity was, as on 
 a former occasion, lost on Lord Singleton He 
 shook hands with her with kindness, placed a 
 chair for her at a table, and, drawing some 
 papers from his pocket, took his seat beside 
 her. 
 
 " I will not detain you many minutes, Miss 
 Moore,'' he began ; " but, in matters of busi- 
 ness, I like to be precise, and to have every- 
 thing clear and defined. It saves a world of 
 trouble and misunderstanding afterwards. You
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 137 
 
 are aware, I suppose, that, on coming of age, 
 you will be in possession of a small fortune." 
 
 '' Yes," replied Sybil, '' Mrs. Hurlstone told 
 me so three months ago ; otherwise, I intended 
 to be a governess as soon as I was eighteen." 
 
 "Indeed!" said Lord Singleton, somewhat 
 startled at the decisive announcement ; " that 
 was rather premature. You are also aware, 
 then, I suppose, that the money saved for you 
 
 by your father was lost in the failure of 
 
 Bank, two years ago ? " 
 
 "Yes; my father told me of that when 
 the failure took place. He did not tell me 
 of my better fortune. I cannot tell why." 
 
 " I can guess," said Lord Singleton, smil- 
 ing. " He did not wish the circumstance to 
 be known until you were under his protection, 
 or the protection of some other guardian." 
 
 " My father's protection," said Sybil, with 
 emotion, " of course, I needed — all do — but 
 since that has been taken from me, I hope I
 
 138 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 shall be able, in all circumstances, to protect 
 myself." 
 
 " I hope so, too," said Lord Singleton, 
 kindly ; " but, should it be otherwise, I hope 
 you will remember that there is a protector, 
 under whom your father has placed you, ready 
 at your call." 
 
 Sybil's proud lip swelled, but she said 
 notliing. 
 
 " I have arranged with Mr. Beauchamp," 
 Lord Singleton resumed, after a moment, 
 ^' that he should accept a certain sum, taken 
 from the accumulation of your fortune, for 
 receiving you into his house. He was not 
 desirous to do this, but independence is plea- 
 sant, and I thought you would prefer it." 
 
 Sybil inclined her head with much gracious- 
 ness, but inquired — ^' I thought my fortune 
 could not be touched until I was one-and- 
 twenty ?" 
 
 ^' That is true, but I have made arrange-
 
 THE rOUNG LORD. 189 
 
 ments." Meeting her inquiring eyes — eyes 
 that seemed to say she would know all she 
 chose to know — he continued — "I did not 
 think it necessary to trouble you with details, 
 but you shall hear them, if you please. You 
 have a few hundreds from your father ; when 
 these are exhausted, I will advance such a 
 sum as is absolutely necessary for your present 
 comfort ; and when you come of age, you 
 shall pay me, if you choose. Do you see any 
 objection to this ?" 
 
 Sybil pondered with her eyes on the table 
 for some moments. ^^ I suppose, as I am 
 under age, it would be useless for me to 
 give any bond for repayment," at last she 
 asked. 
 
 " Totally useless, I should suppose," he 
 said; '^but I am no lawyer." 
 
 ^* Then, what would happen to my debt, 
 in the event of my death before I was twenty- 
 one r
 
 140 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " My dear Miss Moore," exclaimed Lord 
 Singleton, with come impatience, '^ allow me 
 to say that a young lady can know nothing of 
 legal points. I am your trustee, and I must 
 and will act as seems to me best in these mat- 
 ters. Depend upon it, all shall be just and 
 right. Let us leave that part of the subject. 
 My next question is as to the sum you would 
 wish to have for your private expenses. Do 
 not answer me in haste, but think over the 
 matter, and let me know." 
 
 " Miss Beau champ has £50 a year ; I 
 think I ought to do with the same," was 
 Sybil's instant reply. 
 
 ^' That is exactly the sum I should have 
 proposed," said Lord Singleton, with pleasure. 
 '^ I am glad our opinions are the same. I was 
 afraid that you would think it too little ; but 
 though, with your prospects, I think you 
 ought to live with perfect comfort, still I 
 recommend economy : there is no folly so
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 141 
 
 great as squandering a fortune before we 
 get it." 
 
 ^^ So I think," she said, decisively ; " and 
 be my allowance little or great, I will make 
 it do.'^ 
 
 Pleased with the good sense of his ward, 
 Lord Singleton now got up and said he would 
 trouble her no longer. " I have only to say 
 further," he observed, as he held out his hand, 
 "that I hope you are comfortable here, and 
 that you are now satisfied I made a good choice 
 in fixing the place of your abode ? " 
 
 " At present I am satisfied," she replied, 
 with strong emphasis. " If I should not be 
 so in future, I shall certainly not remain." 
 
 "We will see about that when the time 
 comes," said her young guardian, good- 
 humouredly, and left her without noticing or 
 even perceiving the wrath flashing from her 
 eye.
 
 142 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " He is gracious, if he be observed. 
 He hath a tear for pity, and a hand 
 Open as day for melting charity : 
 Yet notwithstanding being incens'd he's flint- 
 As humorous as winter, and as sudden 
 As flaws congealed in the spring of day." 
 
 King Henry IV. 
 
 Between some characters having no similarity 
 to each other, there is a natural sympathy ; 
 though very diverse it may be in most points, 
 disposition fits disposition, habits fit habits, and 
 mind understands mind. Between others re- 
 markably similar, there exists, on the contrary, 
 a natural antagonism ; though, in fact, their
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 143 
 
 dispositions do fit, and their minds are capable 
 of understanding each other, there is a per- 
 petual jar. This must, of course, be peculiarly 
 the case where two strong wills, and marked 
 characters, meet. Until one or the other, 
 either from a greater degree of amiableness or 
 some slighter degree of strength, succumbs, 
 there must be strife. 
 
 Any indifferent, yet observant mind, would 
 have foreseen, and watched with amusement, 
 the strife that must inevitably ensue between 
 Lord Singleton and his ward; — that it was not 
 observed, was because his own mind, and the 
 minds of all about him, were so pre- occupied 
 with the conviction of his right to reign, that 
 rebellion was an idea that could not enter the 
 imagination. 
 
 Which was the strongest of the two could 
 
 * not be surmised without trial ; but in addition 
 
 to natural force of will, the wilfulness of both 
 
 the guardian and the ward was strengthened
 
 144 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 by otlier considerations. Lord Singleton, by 
 a sense of his duty as a guardian, and Sybil, 
 from a resolute determination that her young 
 guardian should not rule over her. His domi- 
 neering conduct regarding her place of abode 
 had excited the first flame of rebellion in one, 
 who, from natural disposition, from independ- 
 ence of early control, and from the kind, but 
 ill-judged court, that had been paid, where- 
 soever she went, to her talents and beauty, 
 had formed no lowly estimate of her rights 
 and powers; to this the sight of the submission 
 paid to him in his dominions, had added a per- 
 verse and most childish determination to be 
 the one to oppose the tyranny of his rule. 
 
 The first difference between them was merely 
 a difference of opinion. It was on the subject 
 of the new church. 
 
 A few days after his return. Lord Singleton 
 came to the Cottage to talk over the proposed 
 plan. Annette only was at home, and she and
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 145 
 
 Lord Singleton perfectly agreeing in all points, 
 settled the whole matter between them. Lord 
 Singleton put the plan she had drawn out 
 into his pocket, and proceeded next to Mr. 
 Horner, to talk it over with him. He ex- 
 pected acquiescence and delight ; but, to his 
 astonishment, was met by opposition and dis- 
 content. Point after point was criticized, 
 and suggestion after suggestion thrown out, 
 till the humble church seemed about to swell 
 into a cathedral. With good-humoured pa- 
 tience, Lord Singleton answered some of the 
 objections till, as they multiplied, he could 
 not refrain from saying impatiently, that " If 
 this was the way in which Mr. Horner took 
 it, there had better be no church at all." 
 
 "By no means," was Mr. Horner's reply, 
 *^ all I should propose, is, that the sum des- 
 tined for the building be put aside to accumu- 
 late, until a more respectable edifice can be 
 
 VOL. L L
 
 146 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 erected. Let all things be done decently and 
 in order." 
 
 A perfect thunder came down on the head of 
 the unfortunate man, at this expression of 
 opinion, and overwhelmed by the force of 
 arguments, very soundly, and very impe- 
 riously enforced, Mr. Horner lost sight of 
 Sybil's receipt, to hold his own opinion, and 
 giving it up in haste, excused himself by shel- 
 tering it under Miss Moore's authority. 
 
 It was late when Lord Singleton left Mr. 
 Horner, but at all times disconcerted at oppo- 
 sition, especially on a subject so near his 
 heart, and still more discontented that the 
 opposition should have come from his ward, 
 he turned his restless steps to the Cottage. 
 
 The Cottage drawing-room was the scene of 
 repose and comfort. By the fire Mr. Beau- 
 champ slept. On each side of the table, on 
 which the lamp stood, Annette and Mrs. 
 Beauchamp worked, the former, coarse work
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 147 
 
 for the poor, the latter, something more re- 
 fined and complicated, which, by her example, 
 she endeavoured to prevail on her daughter 
 to approve. In a corner of the room, was a 
 small round table, with a table-cloth upon it, 
 and there sat Zoe, at her tea, and Sybil keep- 
 ing her company. 
 
 Lord Singleton tapped, and looked in. 
 '^ Don't wake Mr. Beauchamp,'^ he said, "my 
 business is not with him ;" and instead of ad- 
 vancing into the room, he pulled a chair, and 
 placed himself at Zoe's little table. 
 
 "Now Zoe, my good child,^' he said, "make 
 me some tea, very hot and very strong. My 
 visit is to you, Miss Moore, can you guess 
 why?" 
 
 A quiet negative was all Sybil's reply. 
 
 " I went down to talk to Horner about the 
 church, this afternoon, and I find him all 
 astray, full of whims and crotchets, when I had 
 hoped to find him full of rapture, and all these 
 
 l2
 
 148 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 crotchets he shelters under your authority. In 
 short, I find, Miss Moore, that you disapprove 
 of my plan entirely." 
 
 " Mr. Horner has no right to speak of my 
 private opinions," said Sybil, with indignant 
 haughtiness. 
 
 ^' No rio;ht, perhaps, but the poor man has 
 no opinions of his own, you know, so when I 
 broke his head with arguments, he was obliged 
 to fly for shelter somewhere. I was sorry to 
 find that you had been prompting him." 
 
 " My own opinions I have," said Sybil, 
 coldly. " If, when I expressed them, Mr. 
 Horner was convinced, it is no fault of mine ; 
 I neither prompted, nor desired to prompt 
 him." 
 
 *^ Never mind Horner," said Lord Singleton, 
 " we will leave him alone. Let us come to 
 the case in point. You object to my proposed 
 church, is it not so ?" 
 
 " Object !" said Sybil, angry at being sup-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 149 
 
 posed even to take an interest in Lord Single- 
 ton's concerns. " I have no business to ob- 
 ject : I have no concern in the matter. Speak- 
 ing generally, I may have given an opinion, 
 but that is all." 
 
 " Certainly/' he replied ; "I never supposed 
 you wished to oppose me, but speaking gene- 
 rally, you object to such a plan. May I ask 
 why ?" 
 
 " I hate anything poor and mean," Sybil 
 said, with warmth. 
 
 ^^ So do I, with all my heart, but I don't 
 call simple things poor and mean ; what I call 
 mean is anything that is sham. All shall be 
 thoroughly good in my church, but simple it 
 must be, for no man can do more than he can 
 do. Is it not better to give the poor things a 
 poor church, than to leave them without 
 one?" 
 
 " I doubt it," said Sybil, eager against her 
 will ; ''in such things the best should always
 
 150 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 be given. If they see you give what is poor, 
 they will think but little of it/' 
 
 " I don't call simple poor/' cried Lord Sin- 
 gleton, with some heat. " For my part, I 
 infinitely prefer a simple country church to all 
 the grand decorations in the world. But if I 
 did like them, I could not give them in this 
 case. It would be millions of years before 
 what I have got would accumulate into a sum 
 sufiicient to build Westminster Abbey." 
 
 " I suppose aU would be glad to have 
 Westminster Abbey, if they could, but there is 
 no need to run into extremes." 
 
 ^^ Just be so good. Miss Moore, as to show 
 me on a piece of paper the kind of thing you 
 mean. Annette, bring us a pencil and a bit 
 of paper, if you please." 
 
 It was a difficult request to comply with, 
 nevertheless Sybil made no opposition to it. 
 Annette stood over her as she quickly sketched 
 the outward form of some church that had
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 151 
 
 taken her fancy, with decorations many and 
 various — beautiful, but highly wrought. When 
 it was done she placed it before him. 
 
 " I like Miss Moore's plan better than 
 yours," lisped Zoe. 
 
 " Do you," he said, pinching her cheek with 
 some vexation. ^^ I don't ; and if I did I 
 could not build this under ten thousand at 
 least. No — no, Miss Moore I am extremel}' 
 obliged to you for your advice, but I cannot 
 
 take it. I could not if I would, and I " 
 
 He paused, checked himself, and smiled. 
 '^ I offered no advice," Sybil said, coldly ; 
 " and certainly have no wish that my opinion 
 should influence in a matter where I have no 
 interest." 
 
 ^' But I must beg you to feel interest," he 
 said, rising ; ^^ I shall not be content till you 
 approve my plan. She will when it is done, 
 won't she, Annette. Is there any other dis- 
 sentient voice ?"
 
 152 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Beauchamp said, when it came 
 to a question of delay, they could not have a 
 doubt in the matter; and, as Sybil said no 
 more, Lord Singleton went away tolerably 
 content ; but that small opposition irritated 
 him in a way that could hardly be conceived, 
 except by those who have been accustomed to 
 rule unquestioned. He tossed his books about 
 during the evening, seeking for arguments in 
 favour of simple churches, and perfectly un- 
 conscious the while of the cause of his restless 
 state of mind. 
 
 This argument was not renewed, and all 
 things flowed easily along for a few weeks. 
 Lord Singleton and his ward became accus- 
 tomed to see each other, but formed no inti- 
 mate acquaintance. He behaved to her with 
 kindness and civility, but showed no desire to 
 cultivate her. Annette remained his friend 
 and confidante, and though he spoke freely 
 before Sybil, he rarely sought to hear her 
 opinions, or engage her peculiar interest.
 
 THE YODNG LORD. 153 
 
 " Do you not admire Miss Moore," Annette 
 said to him one day. 
 
 " Yes, very much," he replied, cordially. 
 " Her eyes are beautiful, and I like the way 
 she moves her head about." 
 
 '^ Then why do you not talk to her more?" 
 
 '^ My dear Annette what has that to do 
 with the matter. When I am talking to you 
 or Mrs. Beauchamp, I sometimes look at her, 
 because she is there, but that is all. I have 
 nothing to say to her. I never was made for 
 a lady's -man." 
 
 " But she is not a common girl. She has 
 very good opinions on most subjects. You 
 would like to talk to her if you tried." 
 
 *^ Should I, then I am sure T shall not try. 
 I want no fresh business on my hands." ' 
 
 " Business " said Annette laudiino:. 
 
 "Yes, business. If I got into a habit of 
 gossipping with girls, there would be an end 
 of my work. I keep my eye upon her to see
 
 154 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 that all goes right and then I think my duty 
 is done." 
 
 It was some weeks before Lord Singleton 
 thought himself called upon to interfere in 
 Miss Moore's habits and mode of life. Not 
 that he entirely approved of them. To Annette 
 he more than once expressed himself on the 
 subject. 
 
 '^ She does no one useful thing from 
 morning till night," was his observation in 
 talking of her, one day. 
 
 " She has to learn first to make herself 
 useful," was Annette's reply. '^ She is only 
 seventeen." 
 
 " But when she has learned all this music 
 and drawing that takes up her time, of what 
 use will it be ? " 
 
 ^^ Oh ! Lord Singleton," cried Annette, 
 " do you mean to make the world so hard and 
 dry, that you would banish all beauty from it. 
 I thought you liked music. I am sure you
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 155 
 
 seemed to like Miss Moore's playing and 
 singing, the other night, when you dined 
 with us." 
 
 ^' So I did. I like good music always, and 
 hers is very good. It is all right for a 
 pleasure, but I say she spends her life in these 
 things and does nothing useful Now, my 
 idea of a woman, and a man too for that 
 matter, is, that they are sent into the world to 
 make themselves useful. I think a life that is no 
 use to anybody, is a very sad and fojlish thing." 
 " I am sure I think so too," said Annette 
 warmly, ^^ but some people are not so happy 
 as to find useful things ready and waiting for 
 them to do. They will come, in time to 
 Sybil, and so will her will to do them. Mean- 
 while, she is really useful to Zoe. She is 
 teaching her many things." 
 
 Lord Singleton gave two or three dis- 
 contented nods with his head but said no more 
 at the time, and did not think himself justified,
 
 156 TPIE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 in spite of his paternal authority over her, in 
 interfering with the way in which she passed 
 her time. • This did not apply, however, to a 
 case which he looked on as a positive dere- 
 liction of duty. In such a case he thought 
 himself absolutely called upon to interfere. 
 This was in consequence of Miss Moore's 
 absenting herself always, and apparently by 
 rule, from the afternoon service on Sundays. 
 Supposing the omission, at first, to be acci- 
 dental, and afterwards hoping that the example 
 of others would influence her, he allowed eight 
 or nine weeks to pass without an admonition ; 
 but at length, no change of habit taking place, 
 be thought the time was come for an exercise 
 of his authority. 
 
 " I must trouble you, Mrs. Beauchamp," 
 he said to her, one day, "with a message to 
 Miss Moore. Why does she not come to 
 church in the afternoon? Have you not 
 invited her to come ? "
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 157^ 
 
 ^*Yes, indeed, often, but she replied to me, 
 when I once remonstrated with her on the 
 subject, that it was not her habit to attend 
 divine service twice in the day." 
 
 *^ Habit! Mrs. Beauchamp, what is habit? 
 that is a very poor answer to make. We, all 
 of us, have bad habits enough, everyone knows. 
 Our hope is to get rid of them, not to cherish 
 them. Be so good as to tell Miss Moore that 
 her absenting herself, gives me pain, and that 
 I must beg of her to make a point of attending 
 in future." 
 
 ^' I will certainly obey your wishes," ob- 
 served Mrs. Beauchamp ; " but Miss Moore, 
 though a very amiable person in many re- 
 spects, does not appear to me to wish to have 
 her conduct interfered with. It is possible 
 my words may have no effect." 
 
 " That is not likely. If she is a sensible 
 person — as I should fancy she was — she must 
 see the duty when it is pointed out to her. 
 What I wish is, that I myself, and all who are
 
 158 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 in any way connected with me, should give an 
 example to the people of attention to their 
 duties. Horner wishes much to procure a 
 better attendance of an afternoon. The poor 
 souls say they have but one holiday, and can- 
 not spend it all in church, and so they go 
 lounging to the public-house. Now, if we 
 excuse ourselves from the duty, who have not 
 that excuse, how on earth can we expect them 
 to think of it seriously ! I assure ycu, I find 
 it difficult enough with my numberless affairs 
 to go, and should often let myself off, if I did 
 not think of this. Tell Miss Moore my wishes, 
 make as civil a message as you can, and let 
 me see her as regular and attentive as Annette 
 is. She cannot do better than copy Annette." 
 Mrs. Beauchamp promised, and fulfilled her 
 promise. She had a dry way of speaking, 
 especially when delivering a message, which 
 made it the more unpalatable. It was given, 
 however, very faithfully, and Lord Singleton's
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 15b^ 
 
 motives, in wishing for an alteration in her 
 conduct, duly set forth. 
 
 Sybil listened to her with a glow in her 
 cheek and a sparkle in her eyes, but she pre- 
 served her dignity unruffled. When Mrs. 
 Beauchamp ceased to speak, she merely in- 
 clined her head, and answered — " Very well." 
 
 This was on a Monday, and, the message 
 having been delivered, the subject was for- 
 gotten. On the Sunday afternoon following, 
 when the time for setting off arrived, Mrs. 
 Beauchamp sent Annette to Sybil's room to 
 beg her to get ready. 
 
 Annette did so, and was closing the door, 
 as she hurried on to prepare herself, when 
 Sybil called to her to say, with great civihty 
 — '' Thank you for coming, Annette, but I 
 have no thoughts of going to church this 
 afternoon." 
 
 '^ Are you not well?" Annette asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! — particularly well."
 
 160 THE YOQNG LORD. 
 
 ^' I thought " Annette began, then 
 
 discreetly paused, and only said — "Mamma 
 sent me ; I will tell her," and hastened away. 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp was perplexed, but, un- 
 willing to have her own authority compro- 
 mised, by insisting on what would not be 
 performed, she made no further efforts to 
 persuade Sybil to accompany them. 
 
 Lord Singleton, always hurried, but always 
 punctual, was standing at the church door to 
 see them come. He felt a little elation of 
 spirit in the thought of thus bringing Miss 
 Moore to a sense of her duty, and a little self- 
 congratulation in reflecting on the good use 
 he made of his authority. 
 
 It was with mortification, therefore, that he 
 saw the Beauchamp family arrive alone. 
 
 "Where is Miss Moore?" he asked, 
 quickly. 
 
 " She said she had no intention of coming 
 with us," said Mrs. Beauchamp.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 161 
 
 Lord Singleton contracted his brow and bit 
 his lip. 
 
 " Young ladies are difficult subjects to deal 
 with, Lord Singleton," observed Mr. Beau- 
 champ, laughing. 
 
 " Who would rear three daughters fair, 
 Must hold a steady bridle ;" 
 
 and only a father can do that." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Beauchamp," said 
 Lord Singleton ; " any one can who has autho- 
 rity — can, and ought ; and I shall." 
 
 *^ I only mean that overstrained authority is 
 apt to break." 
 
 "Yes — yes," said Lord Singleton, reco- 
 vering himself, " I know ; but there's no fear 
 of that in this case. But come along ; the 
 bell has done ringing, and Horner will be in a 
 fever if we stand gossipping here." 
 
 The following morning, as Lord Singleton 
 was walking about the Park, followed by his 
 gardener, considering the spots in which to 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 begin some new plantation, he observed Miss 
 Moore at a little distance alone. It was too 
 good an opportunity to be lost, and hastib 
 saying — " I want to speak to Miss Moore, 
 Sinclair, you had better go on without me," 
 he followed her with rapid steps. 
 
 " Miss Moore," he called once or twice, 
 and Sybil turned about, and calm and cold 
 awaited him. 
 
 " Good-morning," he said. " Pray don't 
 stand still this frosty day. I will walk a little 
 way with you if you will allow me." 
 
 Sybil inclined her head and walked on un- 
 movedly grave ; he attended her in silence. 
 Her stately demeanour gave him a sensation 
 of awkwardness, but it was not a sen- 
 sation natural to him, and he soon flung it 
 off. 
 
 " I begged Mrs. Beauchamp to give you a 
 message, Miss Moore," he began ; "I hope 
 she delivered it correctly."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 163 
 
 " I received a message," replied Sybil ; 
 " whether correctly given or not, I cannot 
 say.'' 
 
 " But you did not attend to it." 
 
 She deigned no answer. 
 
 " You will, I hope," he said, anxiously, 
 "attend to it in future. I wish much that 
 you should, and there was surely nothing un- 
 reasonable in my request." 
 
 '' The request might be reasonable, but it 
 was unreasonable to suppose I should attend 
 to it." 
 
 " How so ? Why ?" asked he, colouring. 
 
 " Because you could have no reason to 
 suppose that I should regulate my conduct 
 by your desire. Forgive me for speaking 
 plainly." 
 
 *^ I did suppose it," he said, hastily. '^ It 
 appears, then, that you do not intend to do 
 your duty, merely because you are advised to 
 do it." 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 "By no means," she replied, with provok- 
 ing calmness. " What is right I hope I shall 
 do, but I shall not do what is right because 
 you wish it." 
 
 Lord Singleton bit his lip to restrain an 
 intemperate answer. He recovered himself, 
 and, after a moment, more coolly resumed the 
 conversation. 
 
 " It is a childish thing to recriminate, Miss 
 Moore. Sensible men and women ought to 
 argue without anger. Let me put the matter 
 before you in its true light. We are placed 
 in particular relations to each other, and 
 nothing but my own will can free us from 
 the responsibility of those relations. I have 
 been invested by your father with authority 
 over you ; and, whether you hear me or not, 
 I, for my part, consider his wish as sacred, 
 and shall at all times try to do my duty to 
 
 you ; and this 
 
 ^^ With authority," Sybil interrupted him,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 165 
 
 her eyes flashing with indignation, ^^ you are 
 not invested ! My father entrusted to you 
 the management of my worldly concerns, and 
 I am grateful to you for the interest you take 
 in them. There is no further relationship 
 between us." 
 
 *' You are mistaken," he replied, gravely ; 
 " the trust which I was asked to accept, and 
 which I accepted, extends further than you 
 suppose. I was invited to be your guardian, 
 your friend, and your adviser, and such I will 
 be to the best of my power. You need not 
 suppose, however, that I shall make any 
 undue use of my office. Force is a poor 
 weapon to use — all I hope is to influence ; 
 and if I can influence you to do what I think 
 right, I shall consider myself happy." 
 
 ^*I hope," said Sybil, proudly, "that wher- 
 ever good can be learned I shall learn it. I 
 am not ashamed to confess that, since 1 have 
 been here, I have found myself deficient in
 
 166 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 many duties I ought to practice ; and when I 
 see what is right I shall do it, let the know- 
 ledge come from whence it may. But when I 
 do my duty, it will be because I see it, and 
 not because you wish me to do it. I utterly 
 deny your right to interfere in my personal 
 concerns, and I take this opportunity to tell 
 you once and for ever that nothing shall ever 
 induce me to submit to it.'' 
 
 ^^ It will be in vain to deny it," he cried, 
 losing the command of his temper. " I know 
 my duty, and I will do it in spite of your 
 pride and your ingratitude ; you may resist 
 me if you please, but I will persevere in my 
 efforts to do you good, and to make you 
 happy, let your resistance be what it may. 
 Good morning." 
 
 And bowing to her he hastened away. 
 
 Sybil looked after him, her proud yet 
 childish heart swelling with triumph. To have 
 baffled and insulted him was a sensation so
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 167 
 
 sweet, that she stood still with fluttering 
 pulses to enjoy it. 
 
 A few moments passed, and he was again 
 by her side ; a slight glow on his cheek and 
 anxiety and eagerness on his bright face. 
 
 " I lost my temper, Miss Moore," he said, 
 " and I have returned to say I am sorry for 
 it. What I said was right, but my manner 
 was wrong, and I sincerely beg your pardon." 
 
 He smiled, extended his hand, shook hers 
 cordially, and was gone. 
 
 Sybil again looked after him, and this time 
 in some surprize. His re-appearance in a 
 degree damped her joy in having insulted 
 him, and she walked part of the way home in 
 a perplexed and uneasy state of mind. As 
 the impression of his last words however 
 faded, and his former unwarrantable assump- 
 tion of authority recurred, the perplexity gave 
 way to a new sense of gratification in having 
 so entirely and obviously gained the mastery 
 over him.
 
 168 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Sybil had an honest nature, and having 
 been convinced by reflection that Lord Sin- 
 gleton was perfectly right in the wish he had 
 expressed, no ' ugly pride ' prevented her 
 from yielding the disputed point. 
 
 After luncheon on the Sunday following, 
 she begged Annette to call her when it was 
 time to get ready, as she intended to go to 
 church. 
 
 ** I am so glad,'' Annette said, with un- 
 thinking pleasure — " you cannot think how 
 anxious Lord Singleton has been.'' 
 
 " I go because I think it right, not because 
 it is Lord Singleton's wish," replied Sybil, 
 coldly. After a moment's thought she added 
 with some seriousness — " You have been 
 better taught than I have, Annette, and in 
 most things I have to learn of you ; but there 
 is one thing that you may learn of me — you 
 and all here — and that is, that there is a 
 higher rule of right and wrong than Lord Sin- 
 gleton's will."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 169 
 
 " You are very severe, Sybil," said Annette, 
 colouring deeply, as her quick conscience owned 
 there might be truth in Sybil's words, but it 
 was not then that the discovery of that truth 
 took a real root within. 
 
 Lord Singleton saw Sybil's entrance into 
 church with a most pleasurable sensation. It 
 was, upon the whole, a drawn battle, and the 
 feeling of defeat was, therefore, unfelt on 
 either side. He had the good taste and good 
 sense to make no comment on her concession 
 to herself, but to Annette he said — 
 
 " I rather admire her, Annette, not for her 
 pride and nonsense, but because she is not 
 ashamed to do what is right when she is con- 
 vinced it is right. I was afraid I had made a 
 mistake in speaking to her, but now I am con- 
 vinced that if one only does what one thinks 
 best, things always go straight in the end. 
 Some people mind a row. I don't. Explosions 
 now and then are useful things."
 
 170 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 To himself he said, regretfully — " If I had 
 but had her in my hands a few years ago, 
 when the character is more pliable, I would 
 have made her a valuable woman. Now, I 
 am sometimes afraid it is too late. But no," 
 he added ; *' too late is a fool's reflection. 
 Nothing that is alive can be beyond improve- 
 ment. A fine, brave character, like hers, 
 must be capable of everything that is good, 
 and good I will make her " — and his breast 
 heaved with a new emotion in the thought. 
 
 From this time he began to watch her more 
 — not only to watch, as he had done, the move- 
 ments of her head, but the indications of her 
 character. His interest changed from an 
 interest in her as his ward, to an interest of a 
 more personal nature. 
 
 The change, however, produced no change 
 in his manner or demeanour. He remained 
 kind and cordial, but distant — sought no 
 intimacy — inquired little into her opinions —
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 171 
 
 after a civil greeting, often scarcely appeared 
 to notice her presence. 
 
 This behaviour did not win Sybil to sub- 
 mission. Naturally disposed to like and ex- 
 pect attention, some inward and unacknow- 
 ledged pique was felt in his conduct, and she, 
 in return, maintained a stately reserve.
 
 172 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " He had a frank and pleasant look, 
 A cheerful eye and accent bland, 
 His very speech and manner spoke 
 
 The generous heart and open hand. 
 About him all was gay or grand — 
 
 He had the praise of great and small — 
 He bought, improv'd, projected, plann'd — 
 And reigned a prince at Greyling Hall." 
 Sir Eustace Grey. 
 
 In the spring, Lord Singleton went, for two 
 or three months, to London. He was not fond 
 of London, nor ever left Beauchamp Park 
 without regret ; but he said his position and 
 habits required the change, and he submitted 
 to it with a good grace. When in London,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 173 
 
 he mixed little in general society, but his 
 active mind found much to see, to think of, 
 and to do. He was interested in politics, and 
 would express an opinion (and one almost 
 always sound and good) when a subject pecu- 
 liarly excited his attention, but he was not 
 ambitious of political importance, and resisted 
 many counsels to put himself forward. An- 
 nette, whose affectionate admiration of his cha- 
 racter made her earnestly desire that it should 
 be widely known and widely esteemed, had 
 often and often urged him to become a frequent 
 speaker; but he took a juster view of his 
 abilities than she did. 
 
 " No, no, Annette," he one day replied ; 
 'I am not an orator. I can express myself 
 pretty well when I have a thing to say, but 
 ray style is homely, and if I tried to make it 
 otherwise, I should make an ass of myself. 
 Now and then 1 see a small thing that nobody 
 else seems to see, and then I say it out with-
 
 174 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 out any fear, and sometimes I do good ; but I 
 don't see all the windings, and turnings, and 
 distant dangers of politics — in fact, I never 
 turned my attention to them ; so don't wish 
 me to be a failure, which is what I should be 
 if I was as ambitious as you are." 
 
 '' You always say you can do what you 
 please," she suggested. 
 
 " But I don't wish it, Annette. Perhaps I 
 could make some figure if I pleased, but I 
 don't wish it. I hate London, and London 
 society, and London scandal, and London fuss. 
 I should not go to London at all if it were not 
 for this reason, that I hate a cramped narrow- 
 minded man still more, and that is what I 
 should be if I always lived here. No, no, my 
 place is here, and to be here is what I am 
 most fit for. If all the world knew their own 
 places as well as I do, we should have fewer 
 asses than we now have." 
 
 He returned from London in the beginning
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 175 
 
 of July ; and when he returned, he came 
 accompanied by two young men, one of whom 
 was his cousin, Lowry Beauchamp. 
 
 No young men could be more dissimilar in 
 tastes and habits than these two cousins were, 
 and each felt something more and stronger 
 than indifference to the society of the other. 
 Lord Singleton, however, was thoroughly 
 good-natured ; and when Lowry Beauchamp 
 expressed a wish to revisit a spot he had not 
 seen since his boyhood, an invitation was 
 given as cordial in manner as it was civil in 
 words. Not that Lowry Beauchamp had any 
 fond or sentimental recollections of his boy- 
 hood — that was not in his character. His 
 wish was to laugh at his cousin, to watch, 
 to criticize, to speculate on the future ; 
 but this wish being less easy to express, he 
 worded his wish in the manner related above. 
 Lowry Beauchamp was, like Lord Singleton, an 
 only son, and at this time a being left alone in
 
 176 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 the world ; but this was almost the only point 
 of resemblance between them. He was poor, 
 yet rich enough to be idle — poor, yet rich 
 enough to indulge his indolent and luxurious 
 tastes at his pleasure. His face and figure 
 were handsome — the former much more regu- 
 larly so than the young lord's ; his manners 
 were pleasing if he chose ; his conversation 
 was agreeable when he chose ; nor was his 
 character devoid of good qualities — but he 
 was selfish, and as charity covers a multitude 
 of sins, so selfishness cuts at the root of all 
 virtues. 
 
 The life of the inhabitants of the cottage 
 had passed happily away during Lord Single- 
 ton's absence. Its even tenour had been 
 diversified by a visit to the sea-side, a change 
 commonly made at this time of the year for 
 Annette's health, which, though rarely ailing, 
 was often delicate, and was apt to sufier from 
 the cold winds of the spring. Sybil, active
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 177 
 
 and hardy, enjoyed herself with eager enjoy- 
 ment. They returned to the cottage a month 
 before Lord Singleton's return, and from that 
 time the perpetual expectation of his appear- 
 ance kept all things lively and on the alert. 
 It was not Annette only who felt that Lord 
 Singleton was always doing something to make 
 an interest. So disposed are human minds to 
 a kind of idolizing — so prone to hang their in- 
 terest on a single character, that Sybil not- 
 withstanding her determined indifference, was 
 infected with the universal epidemic, and felt, 
 and frankly acknowledged that the day was 
 dull, in which, from some quarter or other, 
 tidings of him failed to arise. 
 
 Lord Singleton and his guests arrived late 
 at night — but the sunny summer morning 
 aroused at an early hour even the indolent 
 Londoner, Lowry Beauchamp. The sunbeams 
 darted into his room, the birds sang loudly, 
 the mowers whetted their scythes, and though 
 
 VOL. I, N
 
 178 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 he bestowed considerable abuse on these and 
 other country sounds, yet they indisposed him 
 to sleep, and he arose. Once up he dressed 
 and went out, and once out he pronounced it 
 * delicious.' The grass yet spangled with dew, 
 the fresh scent of the flowers, and the glowing 
 colours of the roses, tempted him on . to look 
 and to enjoy, and with a kind of half contempt 
 at his own pleasure he sauntered about ad- 
 miring and alone. 
 
 This innocent frame of mind shortly, how- 
 ever, lost its novelty, and a hope that the 
 breakfast hour was near brought his steps 
 back to the house. As he approached it, 
 wandering about like himself in the enjoyment 
 of the morning air, he met the old house- 
 keeper. She had seen three Lord Single- 
 tons at Beauchamp Park, and her devotion 
 to the family embraced, more or less, all who 
 bore the name of Beauchamp. For the sake 
 of his name she had tolerated Lowry in his
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 179 
 
 boyhood, but he had not been according, to 
 her standard, a true Beau champ, and nothing 
 but his name had preserved to him her 
 respect. 
 
 He remembered her, however, more as a 
 friend than an enemy ; as soon as he saw her 
 he called to her and kissed his hand ; and on 
 his overtaking her raised her up from a pro- 
 found curtsey by a cordial shake. He then, 
 after a polite inquiry after her health, entered 
 into familiar conversation. 
 
 *'I hope you think I am grown, Mrs. 
 Dawson." 
 
 ^^Law, sir." 
 
 " I hope you think I am grown handsome." 
 
 *'Law, sir." 
 
 •^ What a fine young man the young lord 
 has become. It must do your heart good to 
 see him." 
 
 *' That it does, sir, and handsome as he is, 
 he is better than he is handsome." 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " That is delightful to hear. Well, Mrs. 
 Dawson, when are you to have a Lady Single- 
 ton ; I suppose you expected one from London 
 this year." 
 
 " I hoped so, sir, but my lord knows best." 
 
 " I suppose you all wish him to marry ?" 
 
 ^* We do, sir ; for my part, I often say, I 
 shall not die happy, till I rock a young lord on 
 my knee." 
 
 " That is a gratification which I could be 
 content to resign," said Lowry Beauchamp. 
 " He ought to make haste, Mrs. Dawson ; it 
 is hard upon me to have him living like a 
 bachelor, it gives me unpleasant agitation. 
 Why don't you advise him to marry ! What 
 sort of a girl is Miss Beauchamp, would she 
 do for your lady ?" 
 
 '' She's as sweet a young lady as ever I 
 saw," said the old woman, warmly. 
 
 " Well then, let us marry my lord to her at 
 once."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 181 
 
 ** Once I thought it would be so, but it 
 seems I made a mistake. My lord knows 
 best, and we won't say any more about that." 
 
 '^ There is no other young lady down here, 
 I suppose ?'' he inquired carelessly. . 
 
 ^^ There is my lord's ward, Miss Moore, a 
 beautiful young lady." 
 
 '' My lord's ward ! why, where did he get a 
 ward ?" he exclaimed, with surprise, 
 
 " She was left to the care of my lord, and 
 he put her to live with Mr. Beauchamp." 
 
 ^^ Indeed ! this is news to me. And she is 
 a beautiful young lady, is she ?" 
 
 " Beautiful indeed, but not so sweet as Miss 
 Beauchamp." 
 
 " Perhaps my lord thinks she is sweeter. 
 Would she do for Lady Singleton ?" 
 
 " If my lord chooses her. Whoever my 
 lord chooses, will be the best." 
 
 " What a fine morning, Mrs. Dawson. I 
 won't keep you any longer. Shall we soon 
 have any breakfast?"
 
 182 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " The bell will ring for prayers in five 
 minutes,'^ said Mrs. Dawson, looking at her 
 watch, and curtseying, she withdrew. 
 
 " Evidently Mrs. D. thinks there is some- 
 thing on the tapis,'^ said Lowry Beauchamp to 
 himself, " I shall soon make it out. What a 
 fool I am to care. If ever a man was made 
 out to be the father of twelve sons, it is 
 Singleton. I might as soon have expected old 
 Jacob to die a bachelor. I wish he would set 
 about it soon, I hate this uncertainty, and yet, 
 whenever the day comes, it will be a crushing 
 blow.'' 
 
 As he re-entered the house, a great bell 
 rang, and following some servants who were 
 hurrying along, he came to the hall in which 
 Lord Singleton stood. The latter nodded to 
 his cousin, and then proceeded to read a few 
 verses of strong moral advice from the Book 
 of Proverbs, in an emphatic voice. When 
 that was done, he repeated three or four 
 prayers, and the service was concluded.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 183 
 
 " Short and sweet," said Lowry Beauchamp, 
 approaching his cousin. 
 
 "I am no friend to long prayers," replied 
 Lord Singleton. ^'Will you be so good, 
 Lowry, as to go and call Herbert, and show 
 him the breakfast-room ? A man is waiting 
 to see me ; but I will come to you there in 
 five minutes. 
 
 " Oh ! the fatigue of a busy man," solilo- 
 quised Lowry, as he went in obedience to his 
 orders. 
 
 The party of three were soon seated at 
 breakfast. Lowry Beauchamp, proud of his 
 early rising, as the performers of that feat 
 usually are, boasted much of the beauty of 
 the morning. 
 
 ^' If I had known you meant to get 
 up, I should have been down to show you 
 the improvements," said Lord Singleton ; 
 " but I thought you v/ere an inveterate slug- 
 gard."
 
 184 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " I do nothing by rule, but all as the whim 
 takes me," said his cousin. 
 
 ^' And a very bad life that is," said Colonel 
 Herbert. 
 
 "• It suits me. It is an interest to me to 
 wonder at what o'clock I shall get up to- 
 morrow. So it is to my servant. I provide 
 interest for two. Singleton and his house- 
 hold have no such pleasure; they know he 
 must be down on the stroke of nine. If you 
 had been down at nine, Herbert, as you ought 
 to have been, you would have had the profit 
 and pleasure of seeing Singleton acting like a 
 patriarch, and instructing his house and house- 
 hold after him.'' 
 
 " You would not have me act like a heathen, 
 would you ? " said Lord Singleton, hastily, 
 fancying he heard a sneer in the words. 
 
 "By no means. But why, Singleton, since 
 you are so fitted to be a patriarch, why not be 
 one in good earnest ? — you are a very poor crea-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 185 
 
 ture of a patriarch without a wife and family. 
 I should esteem you a thousand times more if 
 I saw you upholding the family in a proper 
 way." 
 
 ^* All in good time,'' he said, laughing. 
 
 " I wonder you do not marry," observed 
 Colonel Herbert. " I am as little dependent 
 on society as most men ; but I think I should 
 find nine months' solitude a burden." 
 
 " When I find it a burden, I suppose I shall 
 wish to marry ; but at present I do not ; and, 
 until 1 am at leisure, I hope I shall not. If I 
 were not very much in love, I should, I am 
 certain, find a wife a bore ; and, if I were in 
 love, a wife would take up too much time. I 
 am happier as I am." 
 
 " Shall you be such an ardent lover ?" asked 
 Colonel Herbert, laughing. 
 
 " I can't tell ; but I think, if not an ardent 
 lover, a wife must be a bore." 
 
 " I hear that, among your other occupa-
 
 186 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 tions/' said Lowry Beau champ, watching his 
 cousin's face as he spoke, " you have un- 
 dertaken the superintendence of a young 
 lady?'' 
 
 " Well, what of that ?" said Lord Singleton, 
 quickly. 
 
 *' Nothing on earth, only that I think it 
 must be an interesting occupation to a young 
 gentleman." 
 
 "As to that, I have little to do with her. 
 I reserve my superintendence for great mat- 
 ters." 
 
 " Where do you keep her incarcerated V 
 
 " She lives with Mr. Beauchamp." 
 
 '* I hear that she is a beauty. When will 
 you give me an opportunity of deciding that 
 point r 
 
 " When you please,'' replied Lord Singleton, 
 his answers as short and cold as possible. 
 
 " I suppose she is an heiress, and that you 
 have the administration of her properties."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 187 
 
 " Pray, Lowry, leave my ward alone," said 
 Lord Singleton, hastily. " Do let us find some 
 other conversation than girls and matri- 
 mony." 
 
 " Your ward must be a very sacred person," 
 said his cousin, laughing, ^' if what I have 
 said is liable to reprehension. Pray where did 
 you pick her up ?" 
 
 " I promised to be her guardian, when I 
 was a boy, and when her father died I kept 
 my word." 
 
 '^ Her father then was indued with magical 
 prescience in making his choice. He akeady 
 foresaw what a sober, solemn, respectable 
 guardian you would be. Perhaps, he also 
 foresaw the inevitable necessity o'' your chang- 
 ing the sober guardian into the still more sober 
 and respectable husband. 
 
 " Have done," said Lord Singleton, angrily, 
 *' have you not sense enough to know that the 
 suggestion of such an idea, will destroy all the
 
 188 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 good I can do, and all Miss Moore's peace in 
 life." 
 
 " My dear Singleton, I have not the most 
 remote idea of suggesting it to Miss Anybody. 
 I suppose in your house I may speak my 
 thoughts freely ?" 
 
 " Let us leave such trash alone. Herbert, 
 are you fond of cricket ? We are to have a 
 village match this evening, and I must go 
 down and see it. But I hope everybody will 
 do what pleases them, and make themselves 
 perfectly at home.'' 
 
 " The cricket-match will suit me well," re- 
 plied his friend. "When I come to a new 
 place I like to study the manners and customs 
 of rich and poor. There will be a good field, 
 I suppose, for observations in ^ more senses 
 than one." 
 
 ** Then we will ride early. I am building a 
 church, and I must go and see it — that will do 
 after luncheon ; for this morning I have several
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 189 
 
 things to do, and if you like to poke about 
 with me I shall be very happy ; but please 
 yourselves.'' 
 
 Colonel Herbert accompanied Lord Sin- 
 gleton. Lowry Beauchamp remained loun- 
 ging in the garden with a book. He was 
 annoyed when, on their return at luncheon 
 time, he found that they had paid a visit to 
 Mrs. Beauchamp, and that both the young 
 ladies had been seen." 
 
 " You might have told me. Singleton, where 
 you were going. I thought you were intend- 
 ing to poke after pigs and paupers." 
 
 " We did. Pigs, cows, schools, cottages, 
 and everything else we passed by. Of course 
 I went to pay my respects to Mrs. Beauchamp 
 and Annette. But if you are anxious to see 
 them you will have an opportunity this eve- 
 ving. They are all coming to the cricket 
 match."
 
 190 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " How often have I bless'd the coming day, 
 When toil remitting lent its turn to play, 
 And all the village train from labour free, 
 Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree." 
 The Deserted Village. 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp with Zoe and the two young 
 ladies were on the cricket ground before Lord 
 Singleton arrived. Benches had been placed 
 for their accommodation, and they sat down 
 in a sunny spot and watched the game. But 
 Annette's eyes were wandering. All was dull 
 and flat till Lord Singleton came.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 191 
 
 " Here they corae, mamma !" she exclaimed, 
 joyfully, speaking her thought with fearless 
 ease. 
 
 '' Who r asked Sybil. " Oh ! I see. Is 
 that other gentleman your cousin ? " 
 
 " He has, unfortunately, the same name," 
 said Annette ; '* but I don't call him the least 
 bit of a cousin." 
 
 "He is the same relation to you that 
 Lord Singleton is, and you call him a cousin." 
 
 " Cousin is an indefinite term," said An- 
 nette, laughing, " sometimes one may acknow- 
 ledge it and sometimes not. I don't want 
 Mr. Beau champ for a cousin." 
 
 '^Andwhy not?" 
 
 " Don't speak thoughtlessly, Annette," ob- 
 served her mother. " She has never seen Mr. 
 Beauchamp, Miss Moore." 
 
 "My cousin, Lowry Beauchamp, is ex- 
 tremely anxious to make your acquaintance, 
 Mrs. Beauchamp," said Lord Singleton, as he
 
 192 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 and his friend approached. " I received a 
 severe rebuke for calling upon you without 
 him this morning." 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp had very perfect manners. 
 She made the most appropriate speech and 
 introduced Lowry to his cousins and to Miss 
 Moore. 
 
 He scanned each with a scrutinizing gaze. 
 He had hardly known himself, hardly acknow- 
 ledged, at least, the cause of his interest in 
 Miss Moore, yet when he saw her, and owned, 
 that even to his criticizing eyes, she was beau- 
 tiful, the cause was plain. He felt that dan- 
 ger there must be for his cousin, and though 
 he had not certainly the faintest hope of Lord 
 Singleton's remaining unmarried, this did not 
 prevent a desire to torment him in the present 
 case. 
 
 They were quick, vague thoughts that 
 passed through his mind, and these were 
 blended with admiration of Sybil's face, and a
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 193 
 
 desire of amusement and excitement for his 
 own sake. 
 
 Though Miss Moore was the object that at- 
 tracted him, it was by Annette that he placed, 
 and to Annette that he addressed, himself. She 
 endeavoured to be civil, but her thoughts were 
 not with him. The game that had been dull, 
 was now full of excitement. Lord Singleton 
 had expressed his interest in one particular 
 player, and on his success, Annette was con- 
 sequently bent. While he ran she stood almost 
 breathless, and twice Mr. Beauchamp spoke to 
 her, and was unheard. 
 
 He bit his lip ; he was not accustomed to 
 be overlooked. 
 
 " Annette, Mr. Beauchamp addressed you," 
 said her mother, at the second offence. 
 
 Annette blushed, turned to him, and begged 
 his pardon, but owned that she could not 
 attend. 
 
 ^' Does not cricket amuse you ?" she asked. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194: THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " Undoubtedly in this society I shall be 
 scorned for the confession," he replied, " never- 
 theless, the truth is the truth, no, it does not." 
 
 '^ Never mind him, Annette," cried Lord 
 Singleton, seeing what had passed, " let him 
 please himself. Come up here, you will see 
 much better." 
 
 Annette took Zoe's hand, and joined Lord 
 Singleton and Colonel Herbert, who were on a 
 bank a little above. Mrs. Beauchamp seated 
 herself on a bench, Sybil on another, and after 
 a short observation of those about him, Lowry 
 Beauchamp stretched himself on the ground ; 
 there he remained in silence. 
 
 He had quick discernment of character, not 
 in its best and highest qualities, these were 
 apt to escape him, but of the lighter kind, 
 especially in all the shades and varieties of 
 vanity. He could see at a glance, where at- 
 tentions never failed to flatter, and where 
 their want never failed to pique ; nevertheless,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 195 
 
 he was at a loss how to classify Sybil ; — her 
 manners were so unconscious, she was so dig- 
 nified, even if expectant of attention, that he 
 was uncertain whether to pay her at once the 
 attentions that were her due, or by piquing, to 
 draw a greater degree of observation and in- 
 terest to himself He at length decided on the 
 latter course. 
 
 It will be perceived that Mr. Lowry Beau- 
 champ was a young gentleman who had formed 
 no very high estimate of women, and who had, 
 on the contrary, formed a high one of the im- 
 portance of his own attentions. 
 
 After a time, Mrs. Beauchamp, hearing Lord 
 Singleton loudly applaud, joined Annette and 
 Zoe on the bank, and Sybil and Lowry Beau- 
 champ alone remained below. With consider- 
 able self-denial he allowed five minutes more 
 to pass before he spoke ; then, when he felt 
 certain his silence was becoming remarkable, 
 
 o2
 
 196 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 he slowly rose, and took the seat which Mrs. 
 Beauchamp had vacated. 
 
 " You alone, Miss Moore," he began, bend- 
 ing towards her, " appear to be uninfected with 
 the universal activity of this place.'' 
 
 " Because I don't understand the game," 
 she replied, quietly. " If I did, I dare say 
 it would amuse me too. As it is, I only see 
 people walk up and down, and I don't know 
 what they mean." 
 
 " What a picture of life ! " he said ; ^^every- 
 body walks up and down, and we don't know 
 what they mean. What curious creatures 
 human beings are ! " 
 
 Sybil laughed, but her attention was caught. 
 
 " My brain aches with all Singleton has 
 done to-day," he continued. ^' It is hard he 
 should do the work, and I should bear the 
 pain." 
 
 '* Lord Singleton does a great deal of good," 
 Sybil said, indifferently.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 197 
 
 ^^You think so, do you?" he asked, watch- 
 ing her countenance, narrowly. " I some- 
 times doubt the benefits of such universal 
 meddling." 
 
 " I have no means of judging whether or 
 not good is actually done," Sybil said again, 
 in the same indifferent tone. " All I mean is, 
 that he intends to do good." 
 
 " There is no love for Singleton in that 
 voice," he said internally, and immediately 
 indulged himself in the sarcastic and half- 
 contemptuous inquiry ; "Do you join in the 
 admiration for his character, which is the 
 frenzy of these parts ?" 
 
 But he had either misunderstood her, or 
 gone too far. While her hazel eyes flashed, 
 and her cheek glowed at his freedom, she 
 haughtily said — 
 
 " Lord Singleton is my guardian ; I do not 
 discuss his character with strangers," 
 
 She looked so beautiful in her wrath and
 
 J 98 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 disdain, that he was lost in contemplation for a 
 moment, and when he roused himself, it was 
 with anxiety that he said, " I beg your par- 
 don — being Singleton's cousin, I felt at liberty 
 to discuss his merits, and forgot, at the mo- 
 ment, the position in which you stand." 
 
 Sybil made no answer, and a silence fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Before he spoke again, a ball struck against 
 the trunk of a tree, and being turned in an 
 unexpected direction, rebounded violently to- 
 wards the place where they sat. It was but 
 an instant's fear — for it did not reach the spot 
 — but, in the instant, Lowry Beauchamp 
 started up, and went backwards : Sybil sat 
 perfectly still. 
 
 He returned with an exclamation on his 
 lips, which made her say, with a smile — 
 
 " A man ! and afraid ? " 
 
 " Yes, afraid," he replied, unabashed. 
 
 " And a man to confess it," said Lord Sin-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 199 
 
 gleton, who had hastened to Sybil, when 
 he saw the danger. " Miss Moore, forgive 
 me the word, you are fool-hardy," 
 
 '^ I knew it would not reach us," she said 
 smiling ; "I was not afraid." 
 
 "Then, I wish you would be afraid," he 
 said, good-humouredly. " However, that was 
 a mere chance ; it will not happen again ;" 
 and he returned to his place on the bank above 
 them. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp saw Lord Singleton's 
 solicitude for his ward's safety with anxiety and 
 suspicion ; although, in truth, his manner was 
 far more good-natured than empresse. He re- 
 sumed his seat with a more determined purpose 
 to make a favourable impression, and his efforts 
 were not unsuccessful. Sybil was young, fond 
 of novelty and amusement, excitable and 
 pleased with admiration. These qualities had 
 laid dead for some months, but they were 
 alive and awake within her ; and she gave no
 
 200 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ungracious attention to the insensible flattery 
 of manner of one whose conversation amused 
 and interested her. 
 
 A dispute having arisen in which the de- 
 cision of the umpire was somewhat loudly 
 called in question; Lord Singleton hastened 
 down to the disputing parties to settle the 
 point by his paramount authority. At his 
 request, Annette and Mrs. Beauchamp went 
 with him, " That we may have no bad 
 language," he said. Colonel Herbert re- 
 mained behind. 
 
 He seated himself by Sybil on the bench she 
 occupied, and said, smiling, as his eye followed 
 the eager steps of the young lord — 
 
 " I have been extremely interested and 
 pleased to day by the sight of Singleton's 
 manner of life among his people. A sober, 
 sluggish kind of benevolence is common 
 enough, but he has a zest for doing good 
 which I have rarely seen before. Two days
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 201 
 
 in his society and I feel I should catch the 
 fever, so genuine is his enthusiasm.'^ 
 
 " I have been suggesting to Miss Moore/' 
 observed Lowry Beauchamp, '' with all rever- 
 ence to Singleton, that I somewhat question 
 the benefits he confers. He makes himself the 
 machine on which all his people's virtues turn, 
 and when his eye from any cause comes to be 
 withdrawn, the whole system will go to 
 ruin." 
 
 " Perhaps so,'' said Colonel Herbert ; " but 
 man can but do what he can. The future is 
 not in his power. I have no doubt Singleton 
 is not always wise. Young enthusiasm is 
 usually liable to error ; but what I like is, 
 the spirit that animates him and the return of 
 attachment it meets. A person of very indo- 
 lent habits, however wise and benevolent he 
 might be, would never excite the idolatry 
 which Singleton excites." 
 
 "Let no one depend on the idolatry of
 
 202 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 his fellow men," said Lowry Beauchamp. ^^ It 
 is all very well while the sun shines ; but it 
 never lasts through a storm." 
 
 " That may be all very true," argued 
 Colonel Herbert. " I have very little depen- 
 dence on the stability of any good thing in 
 human nature ; but I think the best part of 
 men is their hearts. If that can be touched 
 there is better hope for them than from any 
 other cause. Character is the thing that 
 really influences in the world, and justly; I 
 am much disposed to hero worship. What do 
 you say, Miss Moore — I hope you agree with 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes," she said, slowly, '' as far as my 
 wishes go, but hero worship is more full of 
 disappointment than anything else in this 
 disappointing world." 
 
 " That is too severe — much too severe for 
 you," said Colonel Herbert. " Hero worship 
 will not disappoint if we do not form exagger-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 203 
 
 ated and unreal pictures. I will give Sin- 
 gleton as an instance ; nothing on earth I am 
 convinced could ever tempt him to a low or 
 dishonourable thought or action, or taint the 
 disinterested and unselfish temper of his mind ; 
 and when one feels that about a man, I say he 
 is fit to be a hero." 
 
 As Colonel Herbert ceased to speak, An- 
 nette and Mrs. Beauchamp returned, and 
 Sybil was saved from making an answer she 
 did not desire to make. 
 
 '^ Is all amicable ?" Colonel Herbert asked 
 of Annette. 
 
 ^'Oh! yes," she replied, eagerly, ^^ as soon 
 as ever Lord Singleton spoke they were quite 
 satisfied." 
 
 He smiled, and, as they slowly left the 
 field, walked by her side. He was pretty sure 
 that she would agree in his views of hero 
 worship. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp still attended Sybil.
 
 204 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '' I think/' he said, " you feel, like me, that 
 to listen to the paltry disputes of peasants, is 
 not the school for a hero." 
 
 " I don't know," she replied, thoughtfully. 
 " I am not quite sure." 
 
 ^^ I would by no means say that small 
 actions are not heroic," he continued, ^^but 
 my idea of a hero requires something of self- 
 sacrifice. Now, though I have the highest 
 respect and real afiection for Singleton, I do 
 not think there is much sacrifice in his benevo- 
 lence. I should say that it is his pleasure to 
 domineer." 
 
 Sybil coloured and made no answer, but he 
 perceived that she responded to what he said. 
 
 The two parties separated when they left 
 the cricket ground, and Lord Singleton and 
 his friends returned home. 
 
 As soon as they were out of sight, Annette 
 said, suddenly — 
 
 ^* I am very glad to have seen Mr. Beau-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 205 
 
 champ, for now I may dislike him as much as 
 I please." 
 
 " Hush, Annette," said her mother. " What 
 a strange way of speaking of a relative ! " 
 
 "And why do you wish to dislike him so 
 much ? " asked Sybil. 
 
 " I only mean," replied Annette, blushing 
 at her mother's reproof, " that I have always 
 had a prejudice against him, and now that I 
 have seen him I am sure I was right." 
 
 "I think Mr. Beauchamp is much hand- 
 somer than Lord Singleton," lisped Zoe, who 
 either from a child's perversity, or because he 
 treated her in too infantine a manner for her 
 dignity — was never so well pleased as when 
 she could set herself against him. 
 
 "My dear Zoe!" exclaimed Annette, 
 quickly and indignantly, but then, sobering 
 her too eager manner, she added — " But I 
 was not speaking of looks, that is, of hand- 
 someness. I think he looks cold and selfish, 
 and I could never trust his face."
 
 206 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " Don't condemn faces so loudly, my dear," 
 said Mr. Beauchamp, coming suddenly behind 
 his daughter, and making her start. " And I 
 must add, don't condemn characters on one 
 day's acquaintance. ' Charity thinketh no 
 evil.'" 
 
 " Annette does not like any variety in 
 human nature," said Sybil, smiling. " She 
 would have all the world cut on her own 
 pattern, and whatever is not like that pattern, 
 she thinks it her bounden duty to hate." 
 
 " I like people to be unselfish and honest, 
 and to have spirit in them," said Annette. 
 ^' Artificial, indolent, languid people I cannot 
 bear ; but I did not mean to be ill-natured 
 about Mr. Beauchamp, and I will try and like 
 him better if I ought. Not that I can," she 
 murmured to herself. 
 
 Colonel Herbert and Lowry Beauchamp 
 called at the Cottage the following morning. 
 When the door opened to admit them, Annette
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 207 
 
 was on the floor, surrounded by books, and 
 Sybil was in her own place in the window, 
 drawing. Annette's books had been sent to 
 her by Lord Singleton. He had requested her 
 to select from and arrange them, having 
 brought them from London, either to dis- 
 tribute in his various schools, or to make 
 an addition to the reading-room established in 
 the winter. 
 
 She jumped up on the appearance of the 
 visitors, but two or three questions from 
 Colonel Herbert betrayed the nature of her 
 occupation, and very soon she was on her 
 knees on the floor again, while she submitted 
 the books to his interested inspection. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp meanwhile seated himself 
 by Sybil, and, being something of an artist, 
 entered with an enthusiasm, partly real and 
 partly affected, into her favourite pursuit. 
 
 He found her far more cold in manner, and 
 far less disposed to be amused than he had
 
 208 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 left her on the preceding day. Sybil was not 
 at all aware in how great a degree Annette's 
 opinions influenced her mind ; it was a grow- 
 ing influence ; she could not help trusting to 
 the clearness of her moral sight, and the cold- 
 ness of this day was owing to the dislike she 
 had the evening before so decidedly expressed. 
 Sybil knew she had been pleased with Lowry 
 Beauchamp's conversation. She was after- 
 wards half ashamed that she had been so. Her 
 reserve and backwardness only roused him to 
 more determined efforts. With no settled pur- 
 pose in his head, with none at least beyond 
 tormenting his cousin and amusing himself, he 
 was resolved to engage her attention, and 
 being so resolved, he succeeded. Sybil was 
 amused, and suffered herself to be amused ; 
 came down from her stateliness, and conversed 
 at her ease. The discovery of a mutual ac- 
 quaintance at length placed them on very 
 friendly terms.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 209 
 
 ^' Berkeley Priory !" he exclaimed, as he 
 turned over a book of sketches ; '' how or why 
 Berkeley Priory ?" 
 
 " Why not ?" said Sybil, smiling. 
 
 " Because she is a friend of mine.'' 
 
 " And also a friend of mine." 
 
 " Indeed !" he cried, in a strong accent of 
 surprise. ^^ It is not anything extraordinary 
 in the fact of our knowing the same person," 
 he explained, smiling, " that provoked that, 
 indeed ! but I am surprised. There is nothing 
 astonishing that she should be a friend of 
 mine, but I am astonished to hear she is a 
 friend of yours. How could it come about if I 
 may ask such a question ?" 
 
 "I was at school with her daughter 
 Honoria Berkeley, and I went home with her 
 for the holidays last Christmas." 
 
 " Easily explained, as most mysteries are. 
 Miss Berkeley I suppose you know is now out 
 and a beauty, that is, she would be a beauty 
 
 VOL. L p
 
 210 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 if her mother was not one. What a hand- 
 some, good-tempered, indefatigable person 
 Mrs. Berkeley is. People say she toils for 
 pleasure, but I say pleasure flows from her 
 without toil." 
 
 "I was very much amused at Berkeley 
 Priory," Sybil said. 
 
 '' No doubt ; it is in a certain way the most 
 exciting house I know, sometimes too much 
 so. What were they doing when you were 
 there, for there is always something going on ; 
 though in a different style, Mrs. Berkeley is as 
 active as Singleton." 
 
 ti Very different," Sybil said, laughing. *' I 
 think acting was the chief amusement when I 
 was there. Acting and tableaux." 
 
 '^ And you were ' a tableau/ of course. 
 Mrs. Berkeley would never have let you escape. 
 I wish I had been there. What character did 
 you personate ?" 
 
 " Joan of Arc was the principal one. There
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 211 
 
 were a series of tableaux on the life of Joau 
 of Arc, — extremely well got up, I believe, at 
 least so an artist said who was there/' 
 
 " Is your name Sybil ?" Lowry Beauchamp 
 suddenly inquired. 
 
 " Yes," she said, in some surprise. 
 
 " Ah ! then now I remember. I was at 
 the Priory, last Easter, and the name of Sybil 
 as a natural genius and born actress, was on 
 all their lips. To confess the truth, I paid 
 very little attention. When a name is re- 
 peated overmuch, I get heartily sick of it, and 
 I little expected that I should ever meet the 
 Sybil myself" 
 
 "They made more of it than was true," 
 Sybil said. " Mrs. Berkeley's worst fault is, 
 that she is a flatterer." 
 
 "Is it flattery to praise the absent ?" 
 
 "I think," Sybil said, smiling, "that in 
 flattering the absent she flattered her own 
 tableaux. — I am not very good-natured to say 
 
 P 2
 
 212 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 SO, but I think she likes to make much ol 
 what is done in her house." 
 
 " True and discriminating ; and as to good- 
 nature, what is a fair field for observation if 
 not the follies of our fellow men? When 
 I laugh at Singleton, and his busy ways, I am 
 far from considering myself ill-natured." 
 
 Before Sybil replied, an announcement was 
 made by Zoe, that she saw Lord Singleton 
 coming. Lowry Beauchamp slowly rose, drew 
 his chair into the midst of the parcels of 
 books, and was found inspecting them when 
 his cousin entered. His satirical remarks, as he 
 read out some passages of ' Tales for children,' 
 were, as is commonly said, ^as good as a 
 play.' Annette laughed. Lord Singleton, re- 
 luctant, yet amused, sat upon a table to 
 listen, and when he was gone, Mrs. Beau- 
 champ pronounced upon his manners and 
 conversation a dry but exceedingly flattering 
 eulogy.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD 213 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back. 
 I am too highborn to be propertied, 
 To be a secondary at control. 
 To any sovereign state throughout the world.' 
 
 King John. 
 
 Lord Singleton was a very kind and attentive 
 host, but his attentions proceeded more from 
 civility and good-nature than from genuine 
 pleasure. He was too fond of following his 
 own ways, and too self-dependent to need or 
 desire society for its own sake ; and though 
 he liked the company of those who suited him, 
 he, in a much greater degree, disliked those 
 who did not suit. He was well pleased to
 
 214 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 have a sensible person like Colonel Herbert to 
 talk to, but the ways and habits of his cousin 
 jarred with his, and were a perpetual source 
 of irritation to his temper. He restrained 
 himself from duty and civility's sake, but the 
 restraint was galling. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was a great 
 relief that his guests were disposed to amuse 
 themselves. Lowry Beauchamp had taste as 
 an artist and some love for the beauties of 
 scenery. He expressed a wish to visit all the 
 fine prospects, of which there were many, in 
 the neighbourhood. Colonel Herbert, without 
 sharing strongly in either of these tastes, had, 
 with the natural bent of an observant mind, a 
 desire to see all that was to be seen wherever 
 he went. Lord Singleton, therefore, fui^nished 
 his guests with horses and directions, and 
 then, as he expressed it in more forcible 
 language than was common to him, "thanked 
 his stars that he was rid of them."
 
 THE YOUNa LORD. 215 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp was not satisfied, how- 
 ever, with Colonel Herbert's society. He 
 persuaded, and without much difficulty, Mrs. 
 Beauchamp to be curious also, and daring the 
 ten days of Colonel Herbert's stay, three or 
 four excursions, the weather being extremely 
 fine, were taken in company with Mrs. Beau- 
 champ, her daughters, and Sybil. Mrs^ Beau- 
 champ's acquiescence in Lowry Beauchamp's 
 proposals was given readily, for two reasons — 
 first and avowedly, as she said to Mr. Beau- 
 champ, " because Annette saw but little good 
 society — and society was useful to the mind 
 and manners of young ladies ; " secondly and 
 unavowedly, because she perceived a dawning 
 fancy for her daughter in Colonel Herbert's 
 mind, and without a thought of forwardness 
 or matchmaking, was very willing to allow it 
 fair play. 
 
 Unobtrusively, for he was most desirous to 
 escape observation, Lowry Beauchamp, on
 
 216 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 these and other occasions, continued his endea 
 vours to engage Sybil's attention. It was a 
 more difficult matter than he had anticipated. 
 She puzzled him ; when he had formed a 
 theory of her character, some chance observa- 
 tion overthrew it, and it was in her best quali- 
 ties that he was especially at fault. When he 
 was confident of having made a favourable im- 
 pression, he Avould suddenly discover that she 
 was in no ways regarding him. But that 
 which chiefly puzzled him, was, as to the 
 opinion she had formed, and the feelings she 
 entertained, for Lord Singleton. He made her 
 the depository of his reflections regarding the 
 young lord, and these reflections were made in 
 no unfriendly tone, but with a playful sarcasm 
 of word and manner, which is far more depre- 
 ciating than abuse. In these Sybil never 
 joined, but still she allowed them, and occa- 
 sionally, when made with more than usual 
 drollery, she was provoked into a smile ;
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 217 
 
 nevertheless, he could not feel secure that there 
 was not more of admiration and interest than 
 he desired to find. 
 
 " As I and Herbert rode here this morning," 
 he said to her one day, while watching the 
 progress of a sketch she was taking, '^ we had 
 a discussion on the subject of selfishness. — 
 What is selfishness, how do you define it ?" 
 
 '' To follow only our own pleasure, I sup- 
 pose," was Sybil's quick reply. 
 
 " But then, if it be so, are not some very 
 benevolent people as selfish as their neighbours. 
 There are some, to whom labouring for others 
 is a pleasure, is a passion They please them- 
 selves as much in doing a work of benevolence 
 as another man in procuring a beautiful work 
 of art, or taking a pleasant journey." 
 
 '^ It may be so," said Sybil, " but what 
 comparison is there between a mind, whose 
 care is to please itself, and the mind which has 
 so overcome itself, as to have pleasure only in
 
 218 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 doing good to others. I don't know," she con- 
 tinued, growing eager as she spoke, ^' why we 
 should think virtue can only exist in sacrifice 
 and pain ; we can hardly suppose that the 
 angels of heaven do otherwise than take plea- 
 sure in their offices of mercy." 
 
 " I know very little of angels," he said, 
 smiling, " my remark extends only to common 
 mortals. I will give an example. Singleton, 
 for instance, who does more good in a day, 
 than most men in a year.'' 
 
 ^' I don't like examples from individuals," 
 Sybil said, coldly. 
 
 '^But general observations are always vague, 
 as vague as theories. I must show ray mean- 
 ing from individuals ; let us return, then to 
 Singleton ; — now I admire his character as 
 much as you do." 
 
 *^ As I do ! " exclaimed Sybil, haughtily. 
 
 ** Yes, was not what you said intended as 
 a picture of Singleton ? I assure you I under- 
 stood it to be so."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 219 
 
 "You may have understood it as you please." 
 she said, colouring, " Lord Singleton was not 
 in my mind. I am only speaking generally." 
 
 '^ Well, then, I will amend my speech. I 
 admire Singleton in many ways, but I cannot 
 shut my eyes to the fact that he is a natural 
 born despot. Born to royalty, he would have 
 been an emperor of Russia without cruelty. 
 Born in a humble rank, he would have been a 
 school-master, threatening the rod very freely, 
 but benevolently sparing it when he could. He 
 delights in making a good use of his power, 
 but the love of power is his master passion. 
 Can you contradict me ?" 
 
 Sybil smiled, and said nothing. 
 
 ^^ You must understand, Miss Moore, that 
 this question of selfishness arose from an 
 attack made upon me by Herbert. I indulged 
 in a slight sarcasm upon Singleton's love of 
 setting the world to rights. Herbert took up 
 his cudgels and retorted, by charging me with
 
 220 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 a life of self-pleasing, and complimented me 
 by saying, that a man of my habits would 
 never excite the attachment Singleton excites. 
 I made my defence, by suggesting that the 
 effects and outward signs of self-pleasing were 
 according to the circumstances in which a man 
 is placed, and that, without becoming a better 
 man, I might, in Singleton's circumstances, do 
 just what he does." 
 
 Sybil involuntarily shook her head, and 
 slightly smiled. 
 
 '^ You think not," he said, with some morti- 
 fication. '' You little know. Miss Moore, the 
 effect of circumstances in a man's life. I have 
 lived for many years an isolated being, without 
 a home, near ties, or specified duties. A man 
 in that position must struggle through life as 
 he can, and is not to be harshly judged, if self 
 be more prominent in his mind than it is with 
 those to whom much is given. You cannot 
 imagine what it is to be without some natural 
 object of life."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 221 
 
 " Can I not ?" Sybil said, sadly. 
 
 " Can you ? — But no — there are some peo- 
 ple who have a natural charm about them, 
 which attracts and attaches even strangers. 
 They cannot, whatever their circumstances, 
 know what a temptation to selfishness an in- 
 dependent and isolated existence gives." 
 
 Sybil blushed slightly, but answered with a 
 warmth which lighted her face into one of its 
 sudden flashes of extreme beauty, " Of course, 
 there are temptations ; one does not speak of 
 them. The thing to admire, is the character 
 which overcomes temptations whether they arise 
 from the love of power, or the love of ease." 
 
 Some words of involuntary admiration were 
 upon his lips, as he watched her kindling 
 countenance, but he was too little certain of 
 pleasing her, to express them. He only 
 smiled, ^nd said, '^ An easy doctrine to preach, 
 a hard one to practice." 
 
 The difficulty of his pursuit excited his in-
 
 222 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 terest more than he had intended or antici- 
 pated. Some thoughts, far more serious and 
 definite than he had ever entertained, began 
 vaguely to float through his mind, and with 
 their entrance, his exertions, though kept un- 
 der strict control, increased in vigour. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp's desire to gain the 
 favour of his ward, totally escaped Lord Sin- 
 gleton. He was not given to thought or sus- 
 picion on such subjects. If he had expressed 
 any opinion at all, regarding the dangers of 
 the present intercourse, he would probably 
 have said, " Surely young ladies and gentle- 
 men can associate for a week or ten days to- 
 gether, without any nonsense going on." But 
 it so happened, that he never considered the 
 matter at all. He was busy, as usual, and 
 trusting to Mrs. Beauchamp to settle all pro- 
 prieties regarding frequency of visits and such 
 matters, he allowed his guests to amuse them- 
 selves as they pleased, without his disturbance 
 or supervision.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 223 
 
 It was Colonel Herbert who first dropped a 
 hint on the subject. 
 
 Colonel Herbert's visit had been ostensibly 
 for a fortnight, but at the end of nine or ten 
 days, he said he must return to London. The 
 evening before his departure, he walked down 
 with Lowry Beauchamp, to pay a farewell visit 
 at the Cottage. 
 
 " What sudden business takes you away ?" 
 said Lowry Beauchamp, as they walked. 
 '' Don't tell me regimental business, for I shall 
 not believe you.'' 
 
 Colonel Herbert smiled, and said, '* You are 
 right, it is not regimental business." 
 
 '^ What then?" 
 
 " Are you particularly anxious to know ano- 
 ther man's business ; if you really are, I will 
 tell you." 
 
 " I really am ; curiosity possesses me. A 
 man goes before his time if he is sent for, but 
 you are not sent for ; or if he is bored, but you
 
 224 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 are not bored. The reason must, therefore, 
 have smgularity, and I wish to know it." 
 
 '^My reason," said Colonel Herbert, "was 
 simply this — I thought I had been here long 
 enough for my own happiness." 
 
 " I thought so ; but pray let me ask, 
 why be so modest? You are able to marry 
 when you please and where you please. You 
 are pleased now. Therefore, why depart ?" 
 
 "I am not young enough or romantic 
 enough to throw away my happiness on a 
 hopeless pursuit. Happily, I have seen the 
 hopelessness before I have lost my peace of 
 mind." 
 
 " You are the poorest, meanest-spirited 
 fellow for a lover," said Lowry Beauchamp, 
 laughing, " that ever I met with. Certainly, 
 Dryden would not put you among the de- 
 servers of the fair." 
 
 " How perverse," said Colonel Herbert, 
 thoughtfully, "are the chances of this world
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 225 
 
 in matters of affection. It sometimes makes 
 me heartily weary of it. Here there is an 
 affection than which I can fancy no happier 
 possession in life ; but it is irremovably fixed 
 on another person, and that other person 
 neither sees it, nor, if he saw, would care 
 to have it. Such is life, and such the waste 
 of happiness in this world." 
 
 " You have been seeing a great deal during 
 your stay here. I suppose you must mean 
 Miss Beauchamp and Singleton, but I see no 
 grounds for saying she is in love with him. 
 They are great friends, and, as I understood 
 Mrs. Beauchamp, have been more like brother 
 and sister than anything else. If you care 
 about her, pray do not be so easily daunted." 
 
 " In love with him is not a proper ex- 
 pression. There are no signs of a secret, 
 pining attachment in Miss Beauchamp, but 
 her heart is his, nevertheless. You are a 
 poet, are you not ? Do you remember Byron's 
 
 VOL. I Q
 
 226 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 expression, ' She was the ocean to the river of 
 his thoughts?' So is Singleton to her, and 
 vain would be the efforts of any man to turn 
 that river to any other source. I have 
 examined this narrowly for my own sake and, 
 being convinced, 1 depart. '^ 
 
 "As far as I can see, no woman has much 
 chance with Singleton till years have abated 
 the frenzy of his philanthropy." 
 
 " Perhaps ; I am not so sure.'' 
 
 " In what direction?" asked his companion, 
 quickly. ^^ Among your discoveries, you have 
 not surely given Singleton's heart to Miss 
 Moore!" 
 
 " By no means to that degree ; but whether 
 it never will be so I should not allow myself 
 to be sure. His interest in her welfare is 
 so great, that I feel a spark may fan it into 
 flame. You must remember that he naturally 
 considers it due to his position, to be reserved 
 in his attentions now."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 227 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp made no answer to this, 
 and they went on in silence to the Cottage. 
 Annette and Mrs. Beauchamp were sitting 
 together, reading. Sybil was not there. 
 Lowry Beauchamp talked to Mrs. Beau- 
 champ, but at every sound his eye glanced 
 at the door, and with more and more of 
 eagerness and impatience as the visit drew to 
 a close. 
 
 Suddenly Sybil and Zoe appeared together 
 at the window. Lowry Beauchamp started 
 up, threw open a window, stepped out, and 
 joined her. Colonel Herbert looked at him 
 with an inquiring and penetrating glance ; the 
 movement had such quick em/pressement, that 
 it brought a blush of surprize and shyness 
 to Annette's cheek ; and of the same or some 
 other feeling, as Colonel Herbert perceived, 
 to Sybil's also. 
 
 The following morning. Colonel Herbert 
 took his departure. Lord Singleton rode with 
 
 Q2
 
 228 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 him half way towards the station. As he 
 went along, he bemoaned his fate in being left 
 alone with Lowry Beauchamp." 
 
 '^ Your going is hard upon me, Herbert, 
 I must say/' he said. " You promised to help 
 me out with a good fortnight ! What on 
 earth I shall do with Lowry I cannot imagine. 
 As to loitering about with him, as you do, 
 I would much rather give up existence at 
 once." 
 
 " Don't trouble yourself," replied his com- 
 panion. "' Beauchamp is quite able to amuse 
 himself." 
 
 " I don't wish to be uncivil. In our cir- 
 cumstances, it would be particularly wrong if I 
 were uncivil. If I could see him take an in- 
 terest in any single thing, I should even be 
 glad to have him here. But he does not. 
 The whole property may go to the dogs for 
 what he cares, except in a mercenary view, I 
 suppose."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 229 
 
 " Beauchamp is more interested here than 
 you seem to be aware of," said Colonel Her- 
 bert, smiling. 
 
 " How ? In what single thing does he take 
 an interest ?" 
 
 " Miss Moore, I fancy." 
 
 " Miss Moore !" cried Lord Singleton, a glow 
 of passion rushing to his face. *' Good Hea- 
 vens ! Herbert, what do you mean ?'' 
 
 " I hope I am not acting unfairly by Beau- 
 champ, in giving you a hint of this. From 
 various things you have said, I fancy such an 
 attachment would be displeasing to you, " 
 
 " Nothing on earth should ever induce me 
 to consent to it," he burst in with passionate 
 violence. 
 
 *^ And as you appeared to have no idea of 
 what was going on, it seemed to me hardly 
 fair to leave you in the dark.'' 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you. Nothing 
 shall ever make me consent to it. I only wish
 
 230 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 you had spoken before. How long has this 
 been going on ? Blind fool that I am !'' 
 
 " It is only since yesterday that I have thought 
 Beauchamp had any serious purpose of enga- 
 ging her affections. He has had a great deal 
 of confidential talk with her from the first day 
 when they met at the cricket match ; but that 
 is nothing. I have seen him confidential with 
 too many women, married and single, ever to 
 think much of that. I believe I was firmly 
 persuaded that he was not a marrying young 
 gentleman till yesterday ; but from his man- 
 ner then, I believe him to be really in 
 love.'' 
 
 " And Miss Moore ?" asked Lord Singleton, 
 shortly, yet with great anxiety. 
 
 *^ That I am sure I cannot tell. She does 
 not seem displeased at his attentions ; but a 
 young lady of seventeen — did you not say she 
 was only seventeen ? — would be very unlikely 
 to be so. I should not fancy there was much
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 231 
 
 harm done — I should not suppose she was 
 likely to be easily won/' 
 
 " What a blind idiot I have been !" said 
 Lord Singleton, vehemently. ^' This would 
 indeed be a pretty way of fulfilling her father's 
 trust in me, to let her become the wife of a 
 selfish, indolent, profligate dandy. I scorn 
 myself at the bare idea of such an event." 
 
 " Come, come, Singleton, you are too hard 
 on Beauchamp." 
 
 " No, I am not. I am not a person to mince 
 matters. I know what I know, and I must 
 say what I think ; and I shall do my duty too. 
 Nothing on earth shall ever make me consent 
 to it." 
 
 " What shall you do ?" asked his com- 
 panion. *^ My best advice to you is, to get 
 cool before you do or say anything." 
 
 " I will. That is good advice. I feel now 
 that I would willingly fling him into the river. 
 I shall not trust to you. I will see whether
 
 232 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 you are right with my own eyes before I 
 speak. If I think there is any danger, I 
 shall tell Miss Moore at once that I will not 
 have it/' 
 
 *^ Be careful. There is nothing young 
 ladies resent so much as interference in such 
 matters; and though you are her guardian, 
 remember, you are a very young one. She 
 may justly object to your observations on her 
 conduct." 
 
 " I will be as discreet as if I were her 
 father," said the young lord, confidently ; ^^ I 
 shall turn it all well over in my mind, and do 
 it as I think best. Of course, there will be a 
 row, but I am not the least afraid of that. 
 She has a will of her own, but I like it. I 
 had far rather conquer a strong will like hers 
 than a poor weak one like Horner's." 
 
 "Yes, if there is a real, honest victory," 
 said Colonel Herbert. " What I fear is, the 
 driving her to the very thing you wish to avoid.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 233 
 
 A man, I suppose, can know very little how 
 sensitive a woman's feeling is in such matters, 
 and, quite involuntarily, he may say the very 
 thing that is most galling." 
 
 '^ I think I have good right to be angry," 
 said Lord Singleton, without heeding his 
 friend's words. " Lowry knows perfectly well 
 how little I approve of him or his ways. He 
 must know, therefore, what pain he gives me 
 by such an attempt." 
 
 " You do not allow for the force of fancy," 
 said Colonel Herbert, smiling. " A man in 
 love does not sit down to consider all the 
 objections to his passion ; but, if he thinks of 
 them at all, intends to overcome them." 
 
 " Lowry in love ! — carried away by pas- 
 sion ! — folly and nonsense ! He has no more 
 heart than a bit of stone. If I thought Lowry 
 could be carried away by anything, I should 
 
 not T should like him better than I do. 
 
 But I know him well. I never will consent 
 to this."
 
 234 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '' My last advice to you, Singleton — if any 
 difficulty arise from this matter — is, be cool, 
 and don^t be prejudiced." 
 
 " Oh, certainly. I beg your pardon, if I 
 seem to be in a passion. I am not really 
 so. Vexed I am, that I allow — vexed at my 
 own trusting folly ; but quite cool — or, at 
 least, I will be so before I speak." 
 
 After parting with his friend. Lord Single- 
 ton rode home. During the ride he cooled 
 himself, according to his promise — that is to 
 say, he supposed himself to be doing so, for 
 it is possible his meditations had a contrary 
 effect. On arriving at his house, he heard, 
 with strong indignation, that Mr. Beauchamp 
 was tired of waiting for him, and was gone to 
 luncheon at the Cottage. 
 
 Thither, in the heat of the moment. Lord 
 Singleton pursued him. He found the whole 
 party on the lawn, in their walking dresses, as 
 if about to proceed on some business or expe-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 235 
 
 dition, and Lowry Beauchamp with them. 
 His good sense now, at last, cooled the im- 
 petuosity of his temper, and he joined them 
 without any display of wrath. 
 
 Being invited by Mrs. Beauchamp to walk 
 with them, he acquiesced — an unexpected 
 politeness, for which, had he cared to remark 
 it, he might have been rewarded by the 
 sparkling pleasure in Annette's eyes. The 
 very first arrangements disturbed and irri- 
 tated him, though they were but natural ones. 
 As he placed himself by Mrs. Beauchamp and 
 Annette — and the path did not admit of six — 
 it was to be expected that Lowry Beauchamp 
 would accompany Sybil and Zoe behind. But 
 the sound of their voices, engaged in constant 
 conversation, fretted him almost beyond en- 
 durance. 
 
 As the objects of his attention were, how- 
 ever, behind him, he could not arrive at any 
 certain decision ; and he made but an indif-
 
 236 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ferent companion, while he vainly occupied 
 himself in endeavouring to see without his 
 eyes. The chances of the walk, however, 
 gave him the opportunity he desired. Annette 
 paid a visit of a few minutes to an invalid 
 lady, which visit had been the ostensible 
 object of the walk; and while she and Zoe 
 entered the house, the remaining four stood, 
 or sat, on the heath together. Now, in fact, 
 there was very little to be seen. Lowry 
 Beauchamp was on his guard, and with Sybil's 
 manners there was no fault to be found ; but 
 it is seldom that a watcher's eyes do not see 
 that which they look for. To Lowry Beau- 
 champ Lord Singleton paid little attention; 
 from the first moment he had felt no doubt 
 about him ; it was on Sybil he intently, yet 
 guardedly, fixed his gaze ; and two smiles, a 
 look of attention and interest during some an- 
 ecdote, and, above all, a slight blush, for which 
 Lord Singleton could not discover a cause,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 237 
 
 left him convinced that there was no time to be 
 lost, if he wished to prevent an enormous evil. 
 
 The following day was Sunday. After the 
 afternoon service, Mrs. Beauchamp and Annette 
 went to a Sunday-school, and this day, for the 
 first time, Zoe accompanied them. Sybil and 
 Mr. Beauchamp were to walk home together. 
 Lowry Beauchamp was not there. 
 
 While Sybil was speaking to Annette in the 
 churchyard, Lord Singleton went up to Mr. 
 Beauchamp, and said — " 1 want to say a few 
 words to Miss Moore alone, without making 
 any fuss ; will you manage it for me, when 
 we get to the Cottage ?" 
 
 " It is a dangerous request, my dear lord,'' 
 replied Mr. Beauchamp, laughing ; " but I 
 suppose I may trust you ?" 
 
 " I will follow you," said the young lord, 
 knitting his brows at the poor joke; and left him. 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp and Sybil strolled home- 
 wards. As they reached the Cottage, Lord
 
 238 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Singleton appeared, and joined them, and all 
 three entered the drawing-room together. 
 
 Mr. Beauchamp, without making any com- 
 ment, passed through the room, and closed the 
 door. Sybil threw on the table some roses she 
 had gathered, and after rapidly placing a few in 
 a flower-glass, was about to follow his example, 
 with the glass in her hand. Lord Singleton, 
 who had been standing at the garden-door, 
 unwilling to alarm her by too hasty a begin- 
 ning, here turned round, and said, eagerly and 
 decidedly — '^ Pray don't go, Miss Moore ; I 
 wish much to have a few moments' conversa- 
 tion with you." 
 
 Anger and rebellion rushed in a crimson 
 flood to Sybil's brow, and her first impulse 
 was to pass on without a word ; but her dis- 
 dainful impulses usually controlled her pas- 
 sionate ones, and, after a moment's considera- 
 tion, she turned back, set down the glass on 
 the table, and haughtily awaited what he had 
 to say.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 239 
 
 " Pray be so good as to sit down/' he 
 observed ; " I do not wish to speak in haste." 
 
 She obeyed with a kind of defiant obedience, 
 and he seated himself opposite to her. 
 
 "What I have to say/' he began, leaning 
 forward, and regarding her with earnestness, 
 " requires some explanation. You may per- 
 haps think that I am not justified in saying it, 
 and, therefore, I will tell you beforehand my 
 motives for doing it. I should not feel it my 
 duty to leave you in ignorance of my senti- 
 ments in any matter of importance, and though 
 I might let you know them by other means — I 
 might convey them to you by Mr. or Mrs. 
 Beauchamp, for instance — yet, upon the whole, 
 I thought a personal communication the best 
 and pleasantest for you. There are some 
 things about which the old proverb, 'the 
 least said, the soonest mended,' is particularly 
 true, and about which, I myself, if the case 
 were mine, should much dislike a fuss."
 
 240 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " It is a matter of total indifference to me," 
 Sybil said, chillingly. ^^ I am ready to hear 
 what you have to say, either from yourself or 
 Mrs. Beau champ, as you please." 
 
 He was hurt by her manner. He had, in 
 fact, after the first heat was over, pondered 
 much on the best way of proceeding, and 
 though certainly mistaken, had decided on a 
 personal interview, to save her the annoyance 
 of being watched and suspected by the Beau- 
 champs. He thought he deserved greater 
 kindness, and his temper of mind was not 
 calmed in consequence. 
 
 A pause ensued. It is difiicult to converse 
 with rigid iron. Lord Singleton felt uncom- 
 fortable and unlike himself, and was much in- 
 clined to pass his fingers through his hair, as 
 Mr. Horner did in his perplexities. This did 
 not last, however; it was a momentary in- 
 voluntary submission to Sybil's; pride,]; and as 
 soon as he recollected himself and his position,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 2il 
 
 it was overcome. He then plunged headlong 
 into his diflSculties. 
 
 "I have been trying to form my words into 
 polite phrases, Miss Moore/' he began, with a 
 slight smile, ^^but it will not do; and, after all, 
 it is no matter. With a sensible person the 
 plain truth is the best, so do not be offended at 
 hearing the plain downright truth from me. I 
 have been very much pained at seeing my 
 cousin, Lowry Beau champ's attentions to you. 
 He is not a person of whom I, acting for your 
 father, could possibly approve for your hus- 
 band, and so I think it best to tell you, before^ 
 I hope, your affections are in the least engaged, 
 that nothing on earth should ever induce me 
 to consent to such a marriage." 
 
 Sybil struggled to be cold and calm, but in 
 vain. Her cheek was dyed, her eyes were 
 flashing with passion. " Lord Singleton,'' she 
 exclaimed, ^^ you strangely forget yourself Do 
 you dare to say such things to me ?" 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ^' Yes, I do dare," he replied, almost as 
 passionately as herself, "and I shall dare much 
 more for the sake of your happiness and wel- 
 fare. I know my cousin well, and I know 
 that he is not a person long to command the 
 respect and love of a character like yours ; 
 you would be plunging into certain misery if 
 you encouraged him, and so I tell you plainly 
 that nothing on earth — '' 
 
 He was interrupted by her sudden rising. 
 "Lord Singleton," she said, endeavouring to 
 express herself with calmness, " you have no 
 right to speak to me in such a way, and I 
 shall certainly not give you the right you can- 
 not otherwise have" — and too hastily to be 
 arrested, and heeding not his eager "Miss 
 Moore, one moment, I entreat you," she left 
 the room, and left him discomfited. 
 
 But if he were discomfited, she in reality 
 was no less so. Her pride swelled at the insult 
 she had received, rebelled at the authority he
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 243 
 
 assumed ; and the thought of her desolate or- 
 phan state which left her with none to whom 
 she could fly for refuge against his tyranny, 
 drew tears of passion and bitterness from her 
 eyes. Thought and solitude only added to 
 her indignation, and in the tumult of her 
 agitated and irritated emotions, anxious to 
 escape all notice and intrusion, she softly stole 
 down stairs, and made her escape by a back 
 door into a wood that skirted the Park. This 
 wood was, from its loneliness and shade, a 
 favourite resort, when at any time she wished 
 to indulge in solitude and reflection. 
 
 Lord Singleton, meanwhile, had never been 
 so baffled before. He knit his brows and even 
 stamped his foot in impatience, but this 
 temper was speedily followed by a profounder 
 vexation. He dreaded lest by his mis- 
 management she should have been driven to 
 the very state of mind from which he most 
 desired to withhold her ; and the young lord's 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 pride and passion were conquered by his cares 
 for his ward's welfare. 
 
 He stood for a few minutes leaning out of 
 the window, while he pondered on what step 
 to take, and then rapidly crossing the room, 
 sate down to write. 
 
 His letter was this : — 
 
 "Dear Miss Moore, 
 
 "If by my too plain speaking I have 
 offended you, I most earnestly beg you to for- 
 give me. Be assured, though my manner of 
 speech may be hasty and inconsiderate, that 
 my meaning is good, and prompted by the 
 truest wish for your happiness. The opinion I 
 expressed I am forced to repeat. I cannot 
 consistently with my duty say otherwise. Do 
 not, because I offend you, refuse to take my 
 warning. It was, perhaps, to be wished, since 
 my cares for your welfare are displeasing to 
 you, that the duty I speak of had never been 
 imposed upon me ; but what is done is done,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 245 
 
 and wishes are useless. You have more than 
 once disputed my right to advise you. Will 
 you read the two letters I enclose ? I brought 
 them for the very purpose of showing you how 
 impossible it is for me to act otherwise than I 
 have done. Be wise and candid, and like 
 yourself, and acknowledge this. I have only 
 to say in conclusion, that I am sorry to have 
 pained you. I knew I should do it, but I 
 ventured that, and would venture much more, 
 to save you from unhappiness and to fulfil the 
 trust your father reposed in me. Be so good 
 as to return me the letters. 
 
 " Your very sincere friend, 
 
 " Singleton." 
 
 He had directed his letter, and was sealing 
 it, when Annette entered. 
 
 "You see, Annette," he said, quickly, 
 " that I have taken the liberty to write here. 
 This is a letter to Miss Moore. I have offended 
 her by speaking my mind too freely, no matter
 
 246 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 on what subject ; but I am truly sorry to give 
 offence, and so I have written to explain my- 
 self better than I did by words. Will you be 
 so kind as to take the letter to her room and 
 give it to her ?" 
 
 Annette took it without any questionings, 
 and finding Sybil absent, laid it on her table 
 and returned. 
 
 " Miss Moore is not there," she said ; '^ but 
 I have left the letter. ' Is that right ?" 
 
 " Not there !" Lord Singleton replied, look- 
 ing much annoyed. ^' What has she done 
 with herself?" 
 
 * She often walks alone — you need not 
 trouble yourself about that — almost always on 
 a Sunday evening, when it is fine." 
 
 Lord Singleton said nothing, but the look 
 of annoyance did not vanish. 
 
 "Are you vexed. Lord Singleton?" Annette 
 asked, anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, I am," he replied, vehemently.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 247 
 
 " She has caused me nothing but vexation 
 from the first moment she came, and I wish I 
 had never had anything to do with her." 
 
 " Don't wish that," Annette said, with 
 earnestness. '^ You have done her a great 
 deal of good." 
 
 " Have T, Annette ? " he said, only too 
 ready to be soothed and consoled. ^* What 
 good have I done ?" 
 
 " She is so really good now. At first, her 
 ideas of goodness were more like theories than 
 reality ; but now she is really good. She may 
 be mistaken sometimes — that is, like most 
 people she may have faults ; but she is so 
 anxious to do right." 
 
 " Ah ! Annette/' said the young lord, with 
 a moment's humility, "if it be so, it is you 
 she has to thank, not me." 
 
 " Many things here have been useful," 
 Annette said, earnestly; " she says so herself; 
 but it all comes to the same in the end — for
 
 248 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 who brought her here ? I don't mean to be 
 a flatterer, but, now you are distressed, I 
 cannot help saying what I think." 
 
 '' Thank you. Well, I am glad, at any rate, 
 that good is done," he replied, receiving the 
 flattering unction into his soul; ^'and, since you 
 say it is so, I will try and not be vexed, as I 
 now am, I own. I must do my duty, and only 
 hope the consequences will not be bad. Take 
 care she has the letter as soon as she comes 
 in ; and you can just add, Annette, that, 
 though I said nothing of what had passed, I 
 begged you to tell her how sincerely sorry I 
 was to have been obliged to give her pa^in." 
 
 It would have been a great comfort to him 
 to confide his troubles to so kind a consoler as 
 Annette, but his sense of honour was too high 
 to permit such a relief; and he went home to 
 increase his perturbations in solitude. 
 
 Sybil's lonely walk, the object of which 
 had been to cool and compose herself, was
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 249 
 
 attended with the same effects as Lord Sin- 
 gleton's cooling ride the day before. The 
 more she reflected, the more glaring seemed 
 the insult she had received. The humiliation 
 of being thus addressed — the humiliation of 
 being supposed to need such an address — it 
 was not pride and passion only, but that 
 which is called ' a woman's delicacy ' which 
 rose up in arms. It would have been better 
 if she had taken ' a woman's delicacy ' as a 
 counsellor in this emergency ; but the coun- 
 sellor she did choose was that passionate pride 
 which cannot fail to mislead and betray. — The 
 unsafest of all. 
 
 Her conscience did not own that she had 
 given any provocation to the insult. In this 
 point her conscience was partly mistaken — for 
 her sufferance of attentions which she per- 
 ceived was certainly encouragement — but her 
 mind was not clear enough for conscience to 
 speak ; she said she had not needed the warn- 
 ing, and then, with the singular inconsistency
 
 250 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 of the human heart, determined that needed 
 it should be. She would do that which her 
 guardian advised her not to do ; she defied 
 him to control her, and would by her actions 
 prove her independence. 
 
 This was the resolution which, after a cool- 
 ing — or, rather, heating — walk of an hour or 
 more, rose to the surface of her mind. It 
 was not calmly made — but it seized her, and 
 she yielded to it. 
 
 In returning to the Cottage, she met Lowry 
 Beauchamp. He had missed her in calling 
 there, and had been wandering about in the 
 hope of some such opportunity as this. For 
 his views he could not have found her at 
 a better moment. 
 
 He approached her with some indifferent 
 remark on his lips, but his quick eyes imme- 
 diately perceived that something was the 
 matter. 
 
 "Has anything annoyed you?" he asked; 
 *'you do not look like yourself!''
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 251 
 
 " NothiDg/' she replied, quickly — " that is, 
 nothing of importance." 
 
 ^^ You were right, '^ he said, with a a smile, 
 '^ to add that latter clause, or you would have 
 forfeited the high character for truth you hold 
 in my eyes ; your face cannot deceive." 
 
 "I am sorry," she said, colouring; "for 
 though 1 do not wish to deceive, neither do I 
 wish to be seen through." 
 
 "It is the penalty strong characters must 
 pay, that is, strong characters whose coun- 
 tenances have the charm of being mirrors 
 to their minds. I can conceive," he added, 
 expressively, " no greater penance than to be 
 the object of your scorn. It would be wither- 
 ing." 
 
 " Yes, I can scorn," she said, drawing up 
 her slight figure, and a defiant spirit flushing 
 her cheek and darting from her eyes. 
 
 She looked strangely beautiful in her 
 passion ; yet it was not an expression which
 
 252 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 would have attracted a clear and good mind. 
 Lowry Beauchamp, however, watched her 
 kindling countenance with intense admiration. 
 Her scorn was not for him, that was plain, 
 and he seized the moment to say some mean- 
 ing words. 
 
 "If you can scorn, you can also give 
 happiness. If it were a penance to be the 
 object of the one, what will they feel who 
 receive from you the other ! " 
 
 His voice was low and even agitated. 
 Sybil's heart beat, certainly with no responsive 
 feeling, if real feeling was in question, but 
 with flattered vanity, with the natural shyness 
 of the moment, and most and chiefest of all 
 with the sweet sense of triumph over her 
 guardian. Under these varied sensations, her 
 head grew dizzy, and her judgment became 
 clouded, and, with a blushing cheek and 
 unrepelling eye, she accepted his words. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp saw his advantage. It
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 253 
 
 was beyond his hopes. He became excited 
 (that is for Azm, who, perhaps, wisely enough, 
 never permitted any excitement to lead him 
 where he was not willing to go), and was 
 about, under the strengthening influence of 
 the moment's fever, to make a nearer and 
 a bolder venture, when, as they turned a 
 corner and came in sight of the Cottage, he 
 perceived Annette and Zo^ hastening towards 
 them. 
 
 Upon the whole he was not sorry. He was 
 not so positively certain he read her rightly as 
 to make his venture a fearless one. He was 
 not on the whole sorry to be allowed another 
 opportunity for examination ; but though his 
 judgment was not angry at the interruption, 
 his feelings were, and he cried impatiently 
 and regretfully — 
 
 " Miss Beauchamp ! I really cannot talk to 
 her to-night. We do not, certainly, need 
 moralists to tell us that pleasures are tran-
 
 254 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 sitory. I will leave you. Good-night.^' And 
 he held out his hand. 
 
 Though he had no time for words, his looks 
 spoke eloquently ; and when Sybil gave her 
 frank and ready hand in return, she gave him 
 almost ^11 he desired of certainty and encou- 
 ragement. But she was in no sane mood of 
 mind. Little thought was she giving to him, 
 could he but know it. All her thought was 
 of the glad pleasure of rebelling against her 
 guardian. 
 
 '* Good-night," she blushing and courteously 
 replied to his good-night, and with rapid foot- 
 steps hastened homewards.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 255 
 
 GHAPTEE XII. 
 
 " ' I will resist,' he said, impelled by pride ; 
 ' I must submit,' recurring fear replied ; 
 As wheels the vane when winds around it play, 
 So his strong passions turned him every way." 
 
 Crabbe. 
 
 Annette followed Sybil to her room, and 
 delivering the letter and the message, she 
 added — "I don't know what it is about, 
 though, perhaps, I do guess ; but I am sure 
 Lord Singleton speaks only the truth, when 
 he says how sorry he is to have given you 
 pain. I never saw any one more vexed and 
 annoyed/'
 
 256 THE YOUNG LORD, 
 
 Sybil was taking off her bonnet, and she 
 made no reply. 
 
 Annette left the room. 
 
 Sybil looked at the letter, thick with its 
 enclosures, and seemed little disposed to read 
 the lecture she supposed it contained. Twice 
 she threw it aside ; but she was in a restless, 
 uncomfortable state of mind, and the very 
 desire to be doing something made her turn 
 to it at last. Her father's letters, which she 
 first seized, and read with eagerness, touched 
 her. His strong expressions regarding her 
 moral welfare — and these dedicated fi^om his 
 death-bed — not only affected, but troubled 
 her. Two or three large tears fell from her 
 eyes, and in falling, like the large drops of a 
 thunder-shower, cleared the atmosphere of her 
 mind. She began to recover her sanity. 
 From these letters, which she was forced to 
 own gave Lord Singleton larger powers than 
 she had anticipated, she turned to his, and the
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 257 
 
 frank, kind tone, even against her will, softened 
 her. She could not excuse his insolence ; but 
 she felt less indignant and revengeful now it 
 was passed. She leaned her head on her 
 hand, and began to think ; and it was while 
 thus in thought, that, like a flash of lightning, 
 what had passed with Lowry Beauchamp 
 returned to her mind, and assumed its true 
 colours there. It is no exaggeration to say, 
 that the thought was like a serpent's sting. 
 
 Eeality is the only thing that affects the 
 mind : words and pictures are nothing unless 
 they have truth in them. More than once 
 that day, the idea of Lowry Beauchamp as a 
 lover — even the idea of marriage with Lowry 
 Beauchamp — had been presented to her mind, 
 and she had not turned from it — it had made 
 no impression ; but now that she had, by her 
 own conduct, brought it within the verge of 
 possibility — nay, of probability — it affected 
 her far otherwise. It was a new madness 
 VOL. L s
 
 258 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 that came over her ; but, this time, a frenzy 
 of dread and remorse. Too candid and right- 
 minded not to acknowledge what she had 
 done, she saw before her nothing but misery 
 or humiliation — misery, if she advanced a 
 step — humiliation, in her own eyes, at least, 
 if she drew back. 
 
 During the evening, she, with effort, con- 
 trolled her emotions ; but the night she passed 
 was such as they pass, who, with conscientious, 
 yet undisciplined minds, have — through their 
 own headstrong passions — brought themselves 
 to a brink of misery. 
 
 Lord Singleton's evening was not much 
 more calm. His first duty had been to Sybil ; 
 but he was not a person to say a word against 
 any man in concealment, and he had now to 
 inform his cousin what he had done. It 
 was a less agreeable duty than the first. 
 There had been excitement in making known 
 to Sybil his will ; but, to tell a man to his face
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 259 
 
 that you have been abusing him behind his 
 back, is a cold matter-of-fact business, which 
 has not much excitement to support it. 
 Lord Singleton had not intended to speak 
 that evening, but his mind was so unsettled 
 by what had passed, and so restless with fears 
 of what might occur, that it was a relief to 
 him to occupy himself further. 
 
 When the servants, therefore, left the room, 
 and he and his cousin sat alone at dessert, he 
 rose up, threw the window wide open, cooled 
 himself with a breath of fresh air, poured out 
 a glass of wine, and then began ; — 
 
 " I don't like to speak against a man, with- 
 out telling him of it, Lowry, and so I have a 
 confession to make to you.'' 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp was not slow to guess 
 the purport of his confession, and a momentary 
 colour in his face showed he did ; — he only an- 
 swered, however, sarcastically, ^'Your confes- 
 sion, I suppose, will be a lengthy one, em- 
 
 S2
 
 260 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 bracing all the days of your life. Abuse from 
 you is no novel thing. I am glad you have 
 given me warning. I shall put myself at my 
 ease to hear it." And he threw up his legs on 
 a chair. 
 
 " That is not fair," Lord Singleton said, in- 
 dignantly. '' Whatever I may think, I do 
 not often say what I think. I did, yesterday, 
 to Herbert, but that is not to the purpose. 
 I was not speaking of expressions of disappro- 
 val; — what I have to confess. Is having, in some 
 respects, acted unfairly by you, for I have done 
 what I can to prevent your gaining what I sup- 
 pose you Avish to have." 
 
 " And by what right," asked his cousin, 
 with some heat. 
 
 " By the right of a guardian. Let me tell 
 you plainly what I have done. I suppose you 
 to be endeavouring to gain Miss Moore's affec- 
 tions — I have warned her, this day, against 
 you, and told her, without any concealment,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 261 
 
 that nothing on earth shall induce me to con- 
 sent to such a marriage/' 
 
 Whatever Lowrj Beauchamp felt, he swal- 
 lowed his wrath, and preserved his cool, sar- 
 castic tone. " I hope your efforts were satis- 
 factorily received. It may perhaps just be re- 
 marked, that you were a little premature in 
 your interference." 
 
 "Premature, yes, in the hope of sparing 
 pain. You cannot deny, Lowry, that I am 
 right in my supposition." 
 
 " Whether I do or not, is nothing to the 
 purpose. Perhaps you are right, perhaps 
 wrong. Since you have taken on yourself to 
 be a spy, pray continue to hold that estimable 
 office. I shall not forbid you. You have 
 done what you think right. I shall do what 
 I think right. You have given me warning ; 
 I give you warning." 
 
 "If I could make you understand my 
 duty as a guardian, I should not care that
 
 262 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 you thought me a harsh one, or that you called 
 me names. What is called harsh and unjust, 
 is very often very right. I have under- 
 taken to watch over her welfare, and I 
 think it very much against her welfare to be 
 married to you, and I will do my duty at tl;e 
 cost of being unfair, though you are my cousin." 
 
 ''A costly sacrifice, truly. I feel for you. 
 But let me assure you that I do perfectly un- 
 derstand your duty as a guardian. A young 
 lady, rich and beautiful, has dropped into your 
 fortunate hands, and as a rich and handsome 
 guardian should, he means to unite perfections." 
 
 " Rich !" said Lord Singleton, with ineffable 
 scorn.'' 
 
 '' Well, yes, rich." 
 
 " What has riches to do with a woman's 
 perfections ?" 
 
 " In some cases a good deal. In all cases 
 they add to them. For, myself, I openly confess 
 I shall never think of a woman without them."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 263 
 
 '"'' Well, Lowry, I beg your pardon ; of 
 course I cannot expect you to feel quite as I 
 do on that point ; but lest you ever again 
 should suspect me of being such a sordid soul 
 as to wish by any means to gain possession of 
 my ward's wealth, I may as well tell you at 
 once, that her wealth is a very poor concern. A 
 matter of six or seven hundred a year, no more." 
 
 Lord Singleton spoke in the heat of the 
 moment to exonerate himself of sordid mo- 
 tives, not to impress his cousin, but as he 
 spoke, looking full in Lowry Beauchamp's face, 
 he saw his countenance change. It fell. A 
 something of elation and self satisfaction fell 
 from it. The change arrested his attention. 
 He saw, understood, and scorned it. 
 
 What he saw was not the fancy of his brain. 
 Lowry Beauchamp had certainly not antici- 
 pated so lame and impotent a conclusion to 
 his visions regarding Sybil. When he consi- 
 dered the point, he perceived that he had 
 been carried away by his imagination, for he
 
 264 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 could show no certain ground for his suppo- 
 sitions that she was a real heiress. The re- 
 buff Lord Singleton had given him on one 
 occasion, when he threw out an inquiry regard- 
 ing her position, was the only fact he could 
 point to, to excuse himself in his own eyes, — 
 for excuse he needed. He certainly cared for 
 Sybil in a degree, she had caught his fancy, but 
 he was not a man to yield to a fancy without 
 good strong reasons. Such he had imagined he 
 had in this case. Finding himself mistaken his 
 dream, whatever his regret, was over. He 
 was totally incapable of wishing to undertake 
 the impossible task of uniting luxurious and 
 self-indulgent habits to small means and family 
 cares. 
 
 The shock of his cousin's words was severe, 
 but he commanded himself The change in 
 his countenance was involuntary, his answer 
 was quite cool. 
 
 ^' A sum which is small or great, according 
 to the taste or habits of the possessor."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 265 
 
 " Of course, a large sum to many, but not 
 a sum to tempt either you or me. I am rich, 
 and thankful to be so, for though, perhaps, I 
 ought to be ashamed of it, I confess I don't 
 know what I should do if I were poor ; and 
 you, Lowry, I am sure so far agree with me, 
 that a house and household on a thousand or 
 fifteen hundred a year, or whatever the 
 exact sum might be, would be purgatory to 
 you." 
 
 " You are right speaking generally, but 
 there are circumstances which may change 
 purgatory into another place." 
 
 There was a touch of feeling in his tone ; 
 partly assumed, but partly natural also, for 
 Sybil had not lost her charm in his eyes. That 
 touch of nature caught and affected Lord 
 Singleton, whose ears were singularly acute to 
 the discovery of truth of feeling. 
 
 With a manner altogether different to any 
 in which he had yet spoken, he now ex- 
 claimed —
 
 266 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 '^My dear Lowry are you really attached 
 to Miss Moore. I am inexpressibly sorry if 
 you are." 
 
 *' Have you been lecturing me under the 
 supposition that I am a hypocrite," said his 
 cousin, coldly. 
 
 " A hypocrite, no, but I did not expect to 
 find real feeling. I am more sorry than I can 
 say to give you pain. But it is a matter in 
 which I have no choice ; you must, — now 
 confess it, you do understand and do justice 
 to my motives.'* 
 
 " I do perfectly. You have a prize, I will 
 not say a wealthy one, but a precious one, in 
 your hands and you wish to reserve it for 
 yourself" 
 
 ^' How dare you !" cried Lord Singleton, 
 angrily. " Now, Lowry, listen to me — put 
 yourself as well as you can in my place. I 
 may be wrong or I may be right in my judg- 
 ment of you, but it is no novelty to you — you 
 say that yourself — that I do not approve of
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 267 
 
 your ways — I do not like your principles, 
 neither your moral nor religious ones. I 
 think them low and dangerous. Thinking 
 and being in the habit I hope of acting con- 
 scientiously, can you blame me that I do my 
 best to guard from you, one over whose wel- 
 fare I have promised to watch, and whom I 
 am certain you could not render happy." 
 
 '' I neither blame nor otherwise. Every 
 man has a right to act as he pleases. You 
 being all-powerful, can in all points please 
 yourself." 
 
 " I am very sorry I have given you pain, 
 Lowry. I wish you could assure me that the 
 pain will not be great." 
 
 "Thank you for your solicitude. What- 
 ever the pain may be, I assure you that now 
 I know your intentions with regard to Miss 
 Moore, I will not enter the lists against you." 
 
 " Take care how you provoke me," Lord 
 Singleton cried, passionately. " I beg your
 
 268 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 pardon, Lowry," cooling himself, " but do you 
 know you try me almost beyond endurance ? 
 If you were to breathe such an idea as that in 
 Miss Moore's hearing, you would do a mis- 
 chief that could not be mended. What trust 
 — what confidence could she repose in me, if 
 she supposed her guardian to be influenced by 
 selfish passion ? It makes me mad to think 
 ofitr 
 
 ^' You may depend on my secrecy," replied 
 his cousin, provoking to the last. ^' It would 
 indeed be too bad of me to rob your declara- 
 tions of their freshness, by a premature dis- 
 closure." 
 
 The young lord's temper was getting be- 
 yond his control. He pushed the bottles 
 and glasses from before him, and rose up, 
 keeping silence with a violence upon himself 
 which drew blood from his bitten lips. When 
 he obtained the victory, it was more from a 
 sense of his position as master of the house,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 269 
 
 than from any higher restraint upon his pas- 
 sion. 
 
 " Come, Lowry," he said, " don't let us 
 quarrel. I would be good friends with you if 
 I could ; and if I have been obliged to speak 
 my mind freely, I am sincerely sorry. If it 
 pleases you to know it, you have tormented 
 me enough, and let that be your revenge ; 
 and now let us be at peace." 
 
 *^ With all my heart," said Lowry, smiling; 
 '^ so far, at least, as rivals can be." 
 
 Having, by one consideration or another, 
 been baffled in essentials, it was not, perhaps, 
 unnatural that Lowry Beauchamp chose to 
 use the weapon for punishment which he 
 found to be effectual ; but its irritating effect 
 on Lord Singleton was such, that had he not 
 possessed considerable self-control, and also 
 been blessed with a temper which, fiery as it 
 was, had no rancune in it, the consequences 
 might have been serious.
 
 270 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Having, however, that happy thing, a sweet 
 temper, he was — so soon as he had mastered 
 his annoyance — planning means to amuse his 
 guest during the evening ; and, for this pur- 
 pose, routed out from some damp chamber a 
 portfolio of old drawings, which he supposed 
 might interest his cousin's tastes. 
 
 Lowry Beauchamp had not the least wish 
 to quarrel with Lord Singleton. He there- 
 fore accepted the proffered attention, and the 
 evening closed in harmony. 
 
 The young lord, when he rose the next 
 morning, would have been thankful to know 
 what step would be taken by his cousin, to 
 put an end to his present position regarding 
 Miss Moore, but he received no information. 
 After breakfast they parted, as usual ; and 
 when Lord Singleton returned from a hurried 
 visit to Mr. Horner, Lowry Beauchamp was 
 nowhere to be seen. He was standmg in the 
 court-yard, pondering on by no means pleasant
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 271 
 
 reflections, when Mr. Beauchamp's errand boy 
 appeared with a letter in his hand ; being 
 loudly called for by Lord Singleton, he de- 
 livered it to him. With quick haste and eager 
 curiosity he tore open the envelope, but 
 Captain Moore's two letters were the sole 
 contents. No word from Sybil, either of ac- 
 knowledgement or defiance. He was forced 
 to remain, bursting in ignorance, for he would 
 not for worlds have gone near the Cottage, 
 lest he should seem to be — what Lowry Beau- 
 champ had called him — a spy upon her actions. 
 Sybil's restless night was followed by a rest- 
 less morning. Her self-confidence, for the 
 time being, was gone, and she thought with 
 dread of what the day might bring forth. 
 Her eyes now saw clearly, that, in the mad- 
 ness of pride, she might have been capable of 
 plighting her faith to Lowry Beauchamp, and 
 what has been, may, in a like mood, return 
 again. She distrusted herself. Even, how-
 
 272 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ever, if no fear of such a result existed, her 
 way was difficult, as backward paths must 
 always be. It was difficult and humiliating 
 in itself, and the strength of her fearful fancy 
 made it seem more difficult still. 
 
 In the course of the morning, she returned 
 to wander in her favourite resort. . She went 
 thither partly in the hope of solitude, and 
 partly in the hope that her solitude might be 
 broken. Such double wishes are no uncom- 
 mon features in the restless and anxious mind. 
 She dreaded the meeting that sooner or later 
 must come, and yet longed that it should 
 come, that the spectre aroused by her fearful 
 fancy might be laid to rest. * Sybil's tempera- 
 ment was very excitable, and the excitable, in 
 their excitements, are scarcely sane. While 
 she wandered and waited, she worked herself 
 into a fever of uneasiness and dread. Her 
 perplexities were ended in a way which cer- 
 tainly she neither anticipated nor desired.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 273 
 
 After an hour of wandering alone, Lowry 
 Beauchamp came according to her expectation 
 and wish. As she saw him approach, she en- 
 deavoured to put on a free and stately air. She 
 endeavoured, by her manner, to deny what her 
 manner, the day before, had confessed. But 
 in vain. Supported by self-confidence and 
 pride, none could better assume a queenly air ; 
 but her self-confidence had fallen from her — 
 she was humbled in her own eyes, and her 
 nature was too frank and ingenuous to conceal 
 it. In vain the stately head and un slackened 
 pace — she blushed as she met him, and embar- 
 rassment was written on every feature and 
 every limb. 
 
 If her situation was embarrassing, Lowry 
 Beauchamp's was much more so. He had to 
 extricate himself from a position in which he 
 no longer desired to stand ; and this he wished 
 to do without appearing to submit to Lord 
 Singleton's authority, and without coming to 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE YOUNG LOED. 
 
 any explanation with Sybil. The former, his 
 pride forbade — the latter, his selfishness. He 
 did not wish to find that her feelings were 
 favourable towards him. His vanity very 
 justly assumed they were, but he wished to 
 avoid conviction. A scene would have been 
 exceedingly repugnant to him, and this for 
 obvious reasons; for, having fully made up 
 his mind that poverty, or what he considered 
 poverty, was a state of life he could not en- 
 dure, the knowledge of Sybil's attachment 
 could only be burdensome. 
 
 The escape he planned was like himself — 
 selfish ; self-love only was considered, and a 
 mind was shown in which the first principle of 
 a gentleman — that of giving ' honour to the 
 weaker sex' — was wanting. 
 
 If inwardly embarrassed, however, he 
 showed no signs of embarrassment in the 
 outer man ; neither did he betray any con- 
 sciousness of the very visible embarrassment 
 in Sybil's manner. He met her with an open
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 275 
 
 and fearless ease, from which every recollec- 
 tion of the preceding evening seemed to be 
 swept away, and which, while it assumed a 
 familiar intimacy, assumed also the existence 
 of a perfect understanding between them, that 
 so and so only it was to be. 
 
 Such things are usually overdone. His 
 manner, in Sybil's estimation, was insolent : 
 contrasted with the fever of fear regarding 
 him which had excited her mind, it was hu- 
 miliating. In one moment, all feelings of 
 contrition — all feelings of regret at her con- 
 duct — all feelings of remorse at having mis- 
 led him — were as entirely forgotten, as if they 
 had never existed ; and pride again rose up 
 the sole governor of her behaviour. 
 
 With a manner as easy and unembarrassed, 
 and she supposed as cool as his own, she 
 entered into the discourse with which he 
 accosted her. 
 
 " You are fond of solitude. Miss Moore," he 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 observed, as he walked by her side, after some 
 indifferent conyersation on the sun and the 
 shade. " I have often remarked this since I 
 have been here.'^ 
 
 " They are very poor creatures who do not 
 sometimes like to be alone," Sybil said, care- 
 lessly ; ^^ but I don't like solitude in oppo- 
 sition to society. I like both." 
 
 "A very necessary explanation," he replied, 
 laughing. " Our fellow creatures in general 
 have no power of conceiving two principles 
 in the mind. Most people on hearing that 
 Miss Moore liked solitude would set her down 
 as having the spirit of a hermit. To me it 
 was not necessary. I know human nature too 
 well not to be convinced that they are ' to one 
 thing constant never.'" 
 
 ^' And they are best inconstant," Sybil said, 
 hastily, an irritation she could not suppress — 
 an irritation his coolness of manner caused her 
 giving bitterness to her tongue ; " for to be
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 277 
 
 constant would; for the most part, be to be 
 invariably bad." 
 
 " You are very severe on human nature — 
 more severe than even I, with all the satirical 
 propensities for which I am reproved, should 
 have the heart to be." 
 
 ^^ I was wrong to speak of human nature,'' 
 she replied, in the same bitter tone ; " human 
 nature is not a class : men differ one from the 
 other as much as plants or animals do." 
 
 '^ And to some men you would give the 
 permission to be constant ? " 
 
 " I suppose," she said, more mildly and 
 indifferently, feeling a sudden consciousness 
 that her hasty speeches were not as dignified 
 as might be, "one likes constancy where a 
 thing is worth constancy, not without." 
 
 " Had I time or inclination," Lowry Beau- 
 champ said, after a moment, his manner 
 assuming, in a slight degree, a less easy tone, 
 " I should ask permission to sound the depth
 
 278 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 of your thoughts, and discover to what 
 characters you would apply Shakspeare's 
 words, 'Were he constant, he were perfect.' 
 But another question is now uppermost in 
 my mind. How is it that you, so formed to 
 observe, to discriminate, to admire, and 
 appreciate the best of what society can give, 
 can be contented here — in this by nature, 
 I grant it, rich, but, intellectually, poverty- 
 stricken land ? " 
 
 '^ There are better things than intellect," 
 Sybil said, hastily. 
 
 " I doubt it," he said, with a smile. 
 
 " I mean," she replied, again composing 
 her irritated mind, " that I have found good- 
 ness and attachment, and with that in my 
 desolate lot I am and should be content." 
 
 " You may be content, but your friends 
 cannot be content for you. I must wish you 
 better things. Shall you be with the Berkeleys 
 again ? "
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 279 
 
 ^' I hope so — some day." 
 
 " There with them, perhaps, I shall meet 
 you again." 
 
 " Perhaps," she said, with frigid careless- 
 ness. 
 
 "Miss Moore," he said, suddenly, after 
 a moment's pause, " do you ever feel tempted 
 to curse your fate ? " 
 
 " I trust not," she replied, with dignity. 
 
 "No," he continued, with some real agita- 
 tion ; " why should I ask you, rich in gifts as 
 you are, so strange a question. But there 
 are those — Why is it that to me desires for 
 happiness have been given, large, insatiable, 
 and yet the worldly means of gratifying them 
 have been withheld ? I have often been 
 tempted to curse my fate, but never so much 
 as now." 
 
 The drift of his meaning was plain through 
 his vague phraseology. 
 
 " And why, now ? " was a question on
 
 280 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Sybil's proud, indignant lips, but her better 
 woman's nature withheld her. She would for 
 ever have scorned herself, had she endeavoured 
 to draw from him what he was unwilling to 
 utter. She only said, with eyes that flashed, 
 but a tongue that was cold, " I thought fate 
 was not to be cursed, but conquered." 
 
 " Where conquest is possible, yes," he re- 
 replied, a slight glow on his cheek. '' Where 
 it is not so, and since cursing is forbidden, a 
 hard submission remains. I sought you this 
 morning — feeling I dared no longer linger 
 here — to bid you farewell ; and what must be 
 done, had best be done quickly. May every 
 happiness attend you." 
 
 He held out his hand, and cold and calm 
 she gave her own ; but when he made a move- 
 ment, as if he would have raised it to his lips, 
 she withdrew it haughtily. He did not appear 
 to perceive her indignation, and departed. 
 
 He departed, as Sybil was well assured,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 281 
 
 feeling that he might have won her, had he de- 
 sired it. She felt humbled in the dust, yet, 
 from that humiliation, nothing but pride 
 sprang up. Not towards him, however, did 
 the bitterness of her anger turn ; in her eyes 
 he was not worth a thought. Her indignation 
 was for him, whose unjustifiable interference 
 had disordered her mind, and driven her into 
 circumstances of difficulty and temptation.
 
 282 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " At first thou gav'st me milk and sweetnesses, 
 I had my wish and way, 
 My path was strewed with flowers and happiness, 
 
 There was no month but May, 
 But with my years sorrow did twist and grow, 
 And made a party unawares for woe." 
 
 George Herbert. 
 
 However domineering Lord Singleton might 
 be in the exercise of his authority, no one 
 could be fuller than he was of kind thoughts 
 and tact, (which is also kindness) in his deal- 
 ings with others. Feeling that it might be 
 painful to Miss Moore, to meet him again im- 
 mediately after his cousin's departure, he ac-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 283 
 
 companied Lowry Beauchamp to London, and 
 there remained for ten days, a prey to irrita- 
 tion, and an ennui that could scarcely be con- 
 trolled. 
 
 As soon as the ten days' absence he had im- 
 posed upon himself was over, he returned un- 
 expectedly, called at Mr. Beauchamp's house 
 at nine o'clock at night, on his way to his 
 own, shook hands with every body, reported 
 some trifling news as an apology for his sud- 
 den visit, and almost immediately took his 
 leave again. 
 
 The meeting which he had dreaded and he 
 thought she must dread, was thus far over, 
 and being over, he thought of the affair in any 
 disagreeable light no more. 
 
 All things returned to their usual course. 
 The intercourse between the guardian and his 
 ward was perhaps more distant than before ; 
 but as he made no advances, and attempted 
 nothing beyond a kind and respectful greeting
 
 284 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 when they met and when they parted, there 
 was no opportunity for exhibitions of pride or 
 coldness on Sybil's part. 
 
 Offended pride was, however, rankling bit- 
 terly within her. Her candid nature had 
 meditated very profitably on the humiliation 
 she had received. She looked on her conduct 
 in its true colours ; made sage reflections on 
 pride and vanity, passion and excitement, wil- 
 fulness and obstinacy, and very resolutely de- 
 termined to be misled by them no more ; and 
 her resolutions were as sincere as they were de- 
 termined, yet, nevertheless, she treasured in 
 her heart the while, feelings against Lord Sin- 
 gleton, which could not fail again to betray 
 her. Looking on him in the light of an enemy 
 to her peace, she cherished sentiments of proud 
 defiance and rankling revenge ; and though 
 the even tenor of her life laid them for a time 
 to sleep, it was a slumber that at any mo- 
 ment might be broken.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 285 
 
 Lord Singleton, meanwhile, having put away 
 all the disagreeable effects of the late events, 
 indulged in some elation of self-satisfaction on 
 the success attending his efforts The state of 
 his general tone of mind during the latter part 
 of this year, may best be seen from the follow- 
 ing letter to Mr. Temple : — 
 
 ^^ Beauchamp Park, 
 October 26th. 
 " My dear Mr. Temple, 
 
 " I beg you not to apologize for your letter 
 of inquiries. Besides that I am extremely 
 glad to hear from you at all, I am also glad to 
 find that you are still interested in our con- 
 cerns. I should have answered your letter 
 last week, but that I was in the very midst of 
 my year's accounts, and had not time for a 
 good letter. 
 
 " We are going on in the most satisfactory 
 manner in every way ; everything seems to 
 prosper. I hope it is not vanity to feel that
 
 286 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 a blessing attends all I do. I don't know why 
 it should be vanity ; I think we are told that 
 people who do their duty shall be blessed, and 
 I am sure I try to do mine with all my heart. 
 Whether it is vanity or not, such is the case ; 
 everything goes well, sometimes there are diffi- 
 culties, but they are hardly seen before they 
 are gone, and I rather like to meet them, for 
 the pleasure of conquering them. 
 
 " The church is getting on famously ; but it 
 will not be finished till next year. Building 
 is very expensive, every day some new want 
 starts up, notwithstanding that, I will not hear 
 of any excesses, but keep to my first simple 
 plan. The people are all watching the build- 
 ing with interest, and I believe it is a real 
 pleasure to the workmen to work at it. The 
 thing, however, that pleases me most, is the 
 school on the heath. That has been a real 
 benefit to the property, even in one year. We 
 had a slight disturbance last winter ; the poor
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 287 
 
 ragged rascals refused to have prayers, put up 
 to it, I suppose, by their wretched parents ; 
 but a little decision conquered this difficulty, 
 and ever since we have gone on without a 
 drawback. I am told that the children, hav- 
 ing learnt to be orderly and respectful, teach 
 their parents some of the same spirit. With 
 the girls it is still more apparent than the boys. 
 I hear they refuse to come to school dirty and 
 in rags, and this makes their mothers exert 
 themselves. Old Dawson tells me neatness is 
 the best sign in a woman. She tells me her 
 mother used to say — ' Cleanliness, next to 
 godliness,' so I hope neatness will lead us to 
 greater good in time. There is a good deal of 
 vice and poverty, I fear, at Rotherham ; but I 
 look to the church and resident clergyman for 
 improvement there. 
 
 " Horner and I get on extremely well. I 
 dare say I was hasty in appointing him ; but, 
 except on one or two occasions, I have never
 
 288 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 repented of my choice. He is a very good 
 man, and does us all good with his preaching. 
 Every now and then he takes upon himself to 
 have opinions which he really is utterly incom- 
 petent to have, and then there comes a row. 
 But he soon sees his fault, and draws back ; 
 and if he consulted me, as I have often begged 
 him to do, we should have no rows at all. 
 He has not yet found his ogress wife. I wish 
 he would. Sometimes I fancy he has a very 
 foolish thought in his head. 
 
 '' All the Beauchamps are well. Annette 
 is as good and kind as ever. Miss Moore is 
 still with them. One of the best pieces of 
 work that ever was done, was putting her to 
 live there. She loves them, and they love her, 
 and I think it has added to the happiness of 
 all parties. It has been, I am sure, a real 
 advantage to Miss Moore. Annette tells me 
 I have done her good. In some ways, per- 
 haps, I have ; but Annette herself is the per-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 289 
 
 son who has really softened and improve her. 
 I knew she would beforehand. 1 was certam 
 Annette was the kind of person to influence a 
 young girl. You once told me to be very care- 
 ful, or I should have difficulties with my ward. 
 I have, and more than you would suppose ; 
 but, the longer I live, the more I am convinced 
 that if one boldly does what is right, it will 
 all turn to good in the end. I had a good 
 deal of vexation a month or two ago, but I 
 held to my maxim, and it has all turned out 
 better, a thousand times, than I expected. 
 
 " I have given you a very bright picture of 
 our goings on. You must not, however, sup- 
 pose we are quite in Elysium. I see some 
 troubles arising. I am afraid we shall have hard 
 times to live through, this coming winter. 
 The wheat was a very light crop all over 
 England, and the price of bread, even already, 
 is high. I am told it will be famine price, or 
 nearly so, before the spring. In our neighbour- 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 290 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 hood, also, the potato crop was an entire 
 failure; and that has always been, as you 
 know, a favourite article of food among us. 
 Poverty brings discontent, and Eotherham is 
 not a promising place for discontent to lodge 
 in. However, I am not much afraid. 1 have 
 already chalked out all my plans. I will do 
 what I can to help my people, and if money 
 comes short, I shall sell my hunters, and give 
 up hunting for this winter. I don't expect 
 this will be necessary, but Solomon was quite 
 right in saying ^ riches have wings ;' rich as I 
 ought to be, I sometimes find myself very hard 
 up. Whatever comes, I can depend on the 
 attachment of the people, and that is the 
 great thing. 
 
 '• I forgot to answer your question as to 
 whether I am not thinking of matrimony. 
 Not the least in the world. I am perfectly 
 happy as I am, and I think a wife would be a 
 great plague. I am very glad you have got a
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 291 
 
 $. 
 
 niece with you. In illness, I should suppose 
 a woman is a comfort. You must positively 
 come to England for next summer ; and 
 remember, after your brother, the first claim 
 upon you is from me. 
 " I am, 
 
 *' Yours very faithfully, 
 ^' Singleton." 
 Mr. Temple, who was in the south of 
 France, answered this letter immediately, to 
 request a drawing of the new church. He 
 took the opportunity to say — " You are, no 
 doubt, right, my dear lord, in supposing that 
 a blessing attends those who do their duty ; 
 but as doing our duty is often only the fol- 
 lowing out our own natural inclinations, we must 
 not always look on success and prosperity as 
 rewards. Sometimes, I assure you, they are 
 trials — and very severe ones — of our humility. 
 Be not higli-minded, hut fear. You will ex- 
 cuse me for making this observation ; I should 
 
 u2
 
 292 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 not do it, if I did not perceive a danger in the 
 success that attends you. Go on to do your 
 duty, but do not suffer your heart to be lifted 
 up, and above all, do not trust overmuch to 
 your own efforts. You have often desired me 
 to speak plainly. I do so now.'' 
 
 The young lord procured a ground plan of 
 the new church from Annette, and through 
 Annette a pretty sketch of its bodily appear- 
 ance from Sybil. He dispatched these to Mr. 
 Temple, with this short letter — 
 ''My Dear Ms. Temple, 
 
 ''I send the plan. A thousand thanks 
 to you for blowing me up. I know 1 
 want it. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Singleton." 
 
 The prophecies of coming troubles with 
 which Lord Singleton closed his letter, were 
 more than realized. Distress was very 
 prevalent at the close of the year, and,
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 293 
 
 as is generally the case with those who are 
 accustomed to attention and care, the distress 
 was much felt, and discontent or despon- 
 dency was the consequence. Lord Single- 
 ton did all he could. He raised for the 
 time being, the rate of wages to meet the 
 pressure of high prices ; he entered on two or 
 three new works to employ a larger number of 
 hands, and in every district he established a 
 soup kitchen to relieve the pressing wants of 
 the poorest. Before the winter was far ad 
 vanced, he was as good as his word, and sold 
 his hunters. 
 
 '^ Have you really given up hunting," An- 
 nette said to him with a glow of admiration on 
 her cheek, when the fact was mentioned before 
 her; for Lord Singleton was a ^mighty hunter.' 
 
 " Yes ; why do you look so surprised ? 
 Did you think I was incapable of making any 
 sacrifice ? — that was a poor thought." 
 
 " Oh ! no, indeed ; but I am sorry ; 1 am
 
 294 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 very glad you did it, but I am sorry that you 
 should have had to do it." 
 
 "Lord Singleton knows/' observed her 
 mother, " that the pleasure of benevolence is 
 enhanced by a sacrifice." 
 
 " Very true, Mrs. Beauchamp ; and yet I 
 confess it has been a bitter pill to me. Poor 
 Loadstar ! She went off this morning. I 
 have sold her to Herbert, for I could not 
 make up my mind to let anybody in this 
 county have her. I nearly shed a tear when 
 I sent her off to-day, and Dick, I believe, 
 really wept." 
 
 " But then, was it necessary ?" asked An- 
 nette, pitifully. " Why not keep one ?" 
 
 " You cannot eat your cake, and have it, 
 Annette," said Mrs. Beauchamp, in her dry 
 way. 
 
 " It was not quite that, Mrs. Beauchamp," 
 said Lord Singleton. " I am not so hard up, 
 but that I could have kept Loadstar if 1 had
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 295 
 
 pleased, but I hear those thankless democrats, 
 at Kotherham have been grumbling about it. 
 Willis told me — and though I think I have as 
 good a right to my hunters, as they have to 
 their pipes, it's as well to be on the safe side 
 in troublous times. Now, I don't know what 
 they can exclaim against, for I am sure my 
 clothes are very modest, and so is my living." 
 
 " Yes," Annette said, laughing. " I like 
 your dress, but there is certainly nothing 
 recherche in it." 
 
 "Except, perhaps, my pocket-handkerchiefs, 
 I am afraid I have always had a taste for fine 
 cambric. Just now, while I was talking to 
 Macbride, 1 blew my nose, and either my con- 
 science suggested it, or else his wicked eyes 
 were counting up the cost of the cambric all 
 the while. I have never done anything but 
 for the good of these fellows, and yet I believe 
 they hate me from the bottom of their hearts, 
 and all because I was fortunately, or unfortu- 
 nately, born a lord."
 
 296 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 The discontent and grumbling was not con- 
 fined to Rotherham. A bad spirit soon spreads, 
 especially when the pressure of poverty gives 
 just, or apparently just, grounds for comment- 
 ing on the unequal distribution of good things 
 in mortal life. Among the wild inhabitants of 
 the heath a murmuring and cavilling tone was 
 assumed, and poverty was made the excuse for 
 the re-appearances of the vices of thieving and 
 drinking — vices, to which, of old, they had been 
 much addicted, but which Lord Singleton had 
 supposed his cares and pains had banished for 
 ever. 
 
 Nor was it among the almost heathen popu- 
 lation of the heath and Eotherham, that dis- 
 appointment awaited him. Among his most 
 trusted people in his own village of Barnsley, 
 deception and ingratitude were but too com- 
 mon in these trying times ; and the truth was 
 forcibly impressed upon the minds of all : — 
 " Put not your trust in any child of man."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 297 
 
 Almost the greatest disappointment that 
 awaited Lord Singleton, was, however, that 
 which he experienced in Mr. Horner. Some 
 weak people are stirred up by occasions, — and 
 animated by the stimulus of excitement, are 
 borne along in their daily arising duties fear- 
 lessly ; but occasion served but to perplex Mr. 
 Horner. He was terrified and aghast at the 
 rude speeches he heard, bewildered with the 
 multitude of duties required of him, and far 
 from being a help to the young lord, plunged 
 all things into confusion and difficulty. 
 
 To ensure fairness and order, and to prevent 
 that reckless charity, which is so destructive 
 to morality, Lord Singleton had taken upon 
 himself the charge of two soup kitchens in the 
 Rotherham district, and for the same purpose 
 had placed the one on the heath and the one 
 at Barnsley in Mr. Horner's hands. A month 
 after they had been established, complaints 
 assailed Lord Singleton on every side, and in
 
 298 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 looking into some of the cases represented, the 
 whole plan of distribution was found to be a 
 mass of confusion. The large families com- 
 plained they had little ; small families were 
 reported to have too much ; some were known 
 to come twice in a day for supplies, and this 
 without rebuke or discovery ; while some 
 above the pressure of want, and by no means 
 proper recipients of charity, were reported to 
 carry away large quantities and throw it to 
 their pigs. In short, it was discovered that 
 Mr. Horner was in the hands of whosoever 
 pleased to command, or alarm him, and that 
 Lord Singleton's charity was in a fair way of 
 turning the whole population into rogues. 
 
 Lord Singleton spoke to him, and received, 
 with his hands passed through his hair as he 
 spoke, a humble and affecting acknow- 
 ledgement of incapacity. "To be weak, is not 
 so miserable," Carlyle says, " but to he iveaJcer 
 than our task ;" this was Mr. Horner's case.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 299 
 
 The poor man appeared to be verging on 
 idiocy, from utter powerlessness to do what 
 was required of him. The will was there, the 
 power was not. Unwilling to weaken his m- 
 fluence among the people by taking the work 
 out of his hands, Lord Singleton, on this con- 
 fession, made no change, but promised assis- 
 tance. The following day, the soup was to be 
 given out in Barnsley, and he promised to be 
 with him early, to assist in settling the whole 
 concern on a new and proper footing. 
 
 In the morning, however, Lord Singleton 
 was sent for in much haste, to Rotherham. 
 Some of his workmen there, had struck for 
 higher wages. He was forced to go. He 
 wrote a note to Mrs. Beauchamp, begging her 
 to send Annette to Mr. Horner's assistance, or 
 if it was too cold for Annette, to be so good 
 as to go herself 
 
 The winter was a very severe one, and to 
 Annette's great disappointment and Lord Sin-
 
 300 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 gleton's also, Mrs. Beauchamp had been 
 obliged to refuse to let her undertake any 
 duties that required exposure to the air. On 
 this morning, neither Annette nor Mrs. Beau- 
 champ were able to accede to Lord Sin- 
 gleton's request. Even Annette was forced, 
 however reluctantly, to allow the impossibility. 
 Both were suffering from very severe sore 
 throats, at that moment, prevalent in the 
 country. 
 
 Zoe was sent to Mr. Beauchamp in his 
 office, to beg him to go. Mr. Beauchamp, it 
 was found, had followed Lord Singleton to 
 Rotherham. Annette was in despair at the 
 disappointment Lord Singleton would feel. 
 She was sorry not to do the good, but to re- 
 fuse him was the deepest pang. She began to 
 talk of fur cloaks and quick walking, and 
 changing her boots when she got to Barnsley. 
 
 " Don't speak thoughtlessly, Annette," said 
 her mother; ^' I am sorry for the refusal also, 
 but the occasion requu^es it."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 301 
 
 Sybil had been reading in silence until this 
 moment, but at Annette's expression of ex- 
 treme regret, she suddenly raised her eyes and 
 said— '^ ShaU I go ?" 
 
 The proposal was received by Annette with 
 surprised delight. She was taken at her word, 
 and could not retract. 
 
 " If you really feel equal to the exertion, 
 Miss Moore, '^ said Mrs. Beau champ, '' you will 
 be conferring a favour on Annette and myself, 
 not to speak of Lord Singleton." 
 
 ^' I offered for Annette's sake, for nothing 
 else," Sybil said quickly, and she went. 
 
 On arriving at the appointed place, — a large 
 room and kitchen adjoining, set apart for the 
 time being, — she found Mr. Horner in a maze 
 of perplexed misery. The door was thronged 
 with applicants, in no wise gifted with patience 
 or silence, and there he stood in the midst, 
 afraid to refuse their demands — afraid to dis- 
 please Lord Singleton by compliance — afraid
 
 302 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 to act summarily — and equally afraid of 
 yielding to popular clamour. Concession, 
 however, was in his way of dealing, inevi- 
 table. 
 
 Sybil had a ruling and creative genius. By 
 quick intuition she saw her way, where many 
 minds only learn it by experience, and others, 
 such as Mr. Horner, never learn it at all. 
 Her very presence brought strength and 
 order; confusion disappeared. It was no 
 wonder Mr. Horner looked up to her as to 
 a goddess. 
 
 " We had better begin from the very begin- 
 ning, Mr. Horner," she said ; '^ act as if it 
 were the first time of giving out, and as if we 
 were strangers here ; that will be the only 
 way in which I can help you. Have you 
 some ink and paper? Let us do it all 
 regularly." 
 
 He brought her all she required. She ap- 
 pointed one man to keep the door, and ensure
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 303 
 
 tlie regularity she wanted, and, one by one, 
 went into the circumstances of the people. 
 She noted down the number in family, the 
 amount .of weekly earnings, and then con- 
 sulted Mr. Horner on the proper quantity of 
 food to allow. This she wrote on a ticket, 
 with the name of the applicant, informing each 
 one as they presented themselves, that unless 
 the ticket was duly presented on every occa- 
 sion, no further help would be given. 
 
 Nothing could be simpler. It was singular, 
 as Mr. Horner justly observed, that he could 
 have been so perplexed. 
 
 The proceedings, from their efficiency, took 
 some time ; and when they were over, Sybil 
 hastily copied out the list she had made, for 
 Annette's amusement and information ; and 
 before it was done, it was dusk. 
 
 She was finishing the last few names, when 
 Lord Singleton entered. 
 
 " Well, Annette ! " he cried, seeing Mr.
 
 304 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Horner and a lady in the twilight ; *' how do 
 you get on?" 
 
 " It is not Annette," Sybil said, rising 
 quickly. " Neither Annette nor Mrs. Beau- 
 champ are well ; and as Annette was much 
 disappointed at not being able to come, I 
 offered to do it instead." 
 
 "You have done a most good-natured 
 thing, then," he said, heartily, " and I am 
 a great deal more obliged to you than I 
 can say." 
 
 "Miss Beauchamp herself could not have 
 done what Miss Moore has done," observed 
 Mr. Horner. "Her assistance has been in- 
 valuable." 
 
 " That is not fair, Mr. Horner," Sybil said, 
 laughing. " Miss Beauchamp would probably 
 have done just the same. It is quite enough 
 flattery to say that what I have done, is done 
 weU." 
 
 " I meant no flattery," he said, warmly ;
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 305 
 
 '^ I spoke the truth, and Lord Singleton will 
 say the same." 
 
 He recounted Sybil's simple arrangements 
 with much zest and emphasis. 
 
 " I think the rules are wonderful for you, 
 who had no experience," Lord Singleton said 
 to Sybil, smiling ; ^' but, as for the rules them- 
 selves ; they are only absolutely needful ; — 
 with the exception of noting down the quan- 
 tity of soup to be given to each, they are the 
 same as my own. That is a good thought. — 
 I am extremely obliged to you for the trouble 
 you have taken." 
 
 " I will go now," Sybil said ; '^ it is getting 
 late." 
 
 Mr. Horner, with empressement^ fetched a 
 cloak she had thrown off, and assisted her to 
 put it on. 
 
 Lord Singleton went to the door, and looked 
 out. When he came back, he said, decidedly — 
 
 VOL. L X
 
 306 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ' ' You must not go home alone, Miss Moore. 
 It is too late." 
 
 ^^ I don't mind," she said, as decidedly. 
 " I am never afraid." 
 
 '^ In general there is no need to be afraid. 
 Just now, I am grieved to say, I don't feel the 
 confidence in our people I used to feel. There 
 are some bad out-of-work grumblers about. 
 I shall not let you go alone." 
 
 '' I shall be very happy to accompany Miss 
 Moore," said Mr. Horner, eagerly. 
 
 '^ No, no, Mr. Horner," replied the young 
 lord, sharply enough. ^' I shall do that 
 myself. Miss Moore, will you be so good as 
 to wait five minutes ? AYillis is expecting me 
 at the end of the street, and I must just tell 
 him I shall not come." 
 
 He went without waiting for an answer. 
 
 Sybil saw he was determined to do it, and 
 wisely acquiesced without resistance. She 
 walked to the door and looked out.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 307 
 
 " AVhat a fine moon is rising!" she ob- 
 served. ^' I shall like the walk." 
 
 ^' You will like all things to-day, Miss 
 Moore/' said Mr. Horner ; " the mind makes 
 all things, and pleasant reflections will attend 
 you." 
 
 "Well, yes. I am glad to have been 
 useful ; but do not make so much of it, 
 or you reproach the whole of my past idle 
 life." 
 
 " I am not likely to do that," he replied, 
 with warmth. " Silent influence is not waste. 
 If I make much of to-day, it is that I felt 
 the influence more, and sadly acknowledged 
 how wanting I am in the qualities I most 
 admire." 
 
 " You should not be so humble," Sybil 
 replied, kindly. *' You want firmness, nothing 
 more. Why don't you learn to be firm ? " 
 
 " Oh ! if you would teach me," he said, 
 fervently. 
 
 x2
 
 308 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 "I !" replied Sybil, surprised and cold. 
 
 ^' Do you not know you only can ? Have 
 you not perceived ? . . . . Forgive me if I 
 offend, but some feelings cannot be controlled." 
 
 " Pray do not speak so, Mr. Horner," Sybil 
 said, withdrawing herself coldly from him. 
 *' I have given you no reason." 
 
 " I am silenced," he said, sadly and 
 humbly. " I forgot myself strangely. For- 
 give me if you can." 
 
 ^' There is nothing so very much to 
 forgive," she replied, without unkindness. 
 ^' Only let us forget such foolish words How 
 cold it is ! Let us walk on, and meet Lord 
 Singleton." 
 
 They did so, and he joined them a moment 
 afterwards. Mr. Horner wished them good- 
 night, and they went on together. 
 
 " I don't offer you my arm. Miss Moore," 
 Lord Singleton said, '' because I fancy you 
 would rather not have it."
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 309 
 
 " Much rather not," she replied ; and they 
 went on quickly side by side. 
 
 " I ought to apologize for forcing my 
 company upon you without your leave," he 
 began again, in a moment ; " but my reason 
 was, that I thought Horner seemed rather 
 excited with his admiration to-day. You will 
 be angry with me for saying so, but I must 
 just give you a hint not to be too good- 
 natured to him. You had better not." 
 
 ^' Thank you, I can take care," she said, 
 coldly. 
 
 He was discreet enough to leave it there. 
 In fact, his mind was occupied with other 
 things ; and having relieved his mind of this 
 piece of advice — which, in truth, had long 
 been burdening it — he recurred to them, and 
 presently expressed his thoughts to Sybil as 
 he would have done to Annette or to any 
 other friendly listener. 
 
 " I am thoroughly vexed to-day," he began.
 
 810 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ^' Till now, when I have heard people abuse 
 the world, and say what an unsatisfactory, dis- 
 appointing place it was, I have always thought 
 it was cant and nonsense, or, at least, the faults 
 of those that found it so ; but I begin to change 
 my opinion. I am ready to-day to rail at the 
 world as loudly as anyone. It is an unsatis- 
 factory, disheartening place, and I am heartily 
 tired of it." 
 
 "- What has happened to annoy you ? " 
 Sybil asked, with more kindness than usual. 
 
 " Nothing has happened to-day, that has 
 not happened every day, in fact ; but patience 
 gets wearied at last, at least, mine does. You 
 know, perhaps, that my workmen struck for 
 higher wages this morning. I have been at 
 Rotherham all day about it. It is a perfectly 
 unreasonable demand, and nothing on earth 
 shall make me give way to it. I raised them 
 when I thought it was right ; now it is not 
 right, and threatening shall never affect me.
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 311 
 
 I have been arguing with them all day, and 
 such a thankless, ungrateful set, I never met 
 with. I did not lose my temper, I am happy 
 to say, but I could have thrashed them, one 
 and all, with the greatest pleasure.'^ 
 
 ^^ They are put up to it, of course, by those 
 few bad men you were speaking of the other 
 day." 
 
 " Yes, of course they are. But that is 
 what I complain of It is the ingratitude that 
 vexes me. What have those brutes done for 
 them that they should trust them, and turn 
 against me. But ifc is all of a piece every- 
 where ; the boys at the heath school have 
 taken this opportunity, because they know I 
 am harassed, to renew their rebellion about 
 prayers — and you will hardly believe it," 
 he stopped, and laughed, ^' but I hear, that 
 even in Barnsley, I am reported to make the 
 soup of carrion, to save the expense of butcher's 
 meat. Willis told me.''
 
 312 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 ^^ I think it is very foolish of Mr. Willis to 
 repeat such idle stories," Sybil said, warmly. 
 
 ^' Perhaps it is, and more foolish still of me 
 to listen. But you must own I have some 
 reason to be vexed. My whole life of pains 
 and care for these people seems to be wasted. 
 They think no more of me, and care no more 
 for me, than they do for old Hubbard, the 
 miser, who, when his tenants make a complaint, 
 tells them it is no business of his. I have 
 thought of nothing, night or day, but doing 
 my people good, and this is the end of it. I 
 could sell them all, and go to Australia, with 
 
 joy-" 
 
 ^^ Everybody says the same," Sybil said, 
 with more interest than she usually showed in 
 her communications with him. " Everybody, 
 that is, who tries to be a benefactor. Man- 
 kind is ungrateful, and to work for them must 
 be disappointing." 
 
 '' That is not a cheerftd view of life. What
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 313 
 
 would you have me work for, if not for man- 
 kind ?" 
 
 ^' For mankind, but not from the hope of 
 their gratitude, I suppose — " 
 
 '^ Well, I suppose not, either, but to work 
 on under ingratitude, is very bitter. It re- 
 quires a strong heart.'' 
 
 " Yes, I should think so, and a strong 
 motive, too." 
 
 " What motive do you mean ?" 
 
 ^^ The motive that should guide us all. 
 Something a good deal higher than any wishes 
 or tastes we may have. I suppose that is 
 what supports people when injustice and in- 
 gratitude wears them out. I only say I think 
 so. 1 speak from no practice or experience of 
 my own." 
 
 The young lord was silent. He walked on 
 with quick, tramping steps, pondering as he 
 went. At last he slackened his pace, and 
 said —
 
 314 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Moore ; you have done 
 me good, and I wanted it. I was in a very 
 rabid state against my fellow-creatures, but I 
 see what you mean. I act a great deal too 
 much from low, self-pleasing motives. Now 
 my pleasure is pretty well damped, and I be- 
 lieve if I was inclined to give way to my vex- 
 ation, I should take no more pains, but leave 
 the poor things to their own devices. But I 
 see what you mean ; my duty does not change 
 by their thanklessness. If it were my duty 
 before, it is so now, and I will do it," he 
 added, somewhat fiercely, striking his stick 
 with violence against a tree that stood in his 
 way. ^* You shall see." 
 
 Not much more was said, and they arrived 
 at the Cottage in silence. The drawing-room 
 was shut up, and looked as it usually did at 
 that hour, with the exception that Zoe and 
 her tea-table were not yet there. Sybil went 
 upstairs to take off her things. Lord Single-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 315 
 
 ton, with his fraternal ease of manner, seated 
 himself by Annette on the sofa, and said — 
 
 '' I was very sorry, Annette, you could 
 not help me to-day; but, as it has turned out, 
 it did not matter. Miss Moore has covered 
 herself with glory. I never was so surprised 
 in my life, as to find that she was up to the 
 practical matters of this world. You can't think 
 what good sense and judgment she has shown.'^ 
 
 *' I am glad you have found it out, at 
 last,'' said Annette, smiling. "' You never 
 would believe me, when I told you she was 
 not a common person." 
 
 *^ Yes, I believed that ; I could see that 
 myself I knew she was clever, but I did 
 not know she was wise." 
 
 "It is often opportunity alone," observed 
 Mrs. Beauchamp, " that reveals the higher 
 qualities of the mind." 
 
 " And opportunity, Mrs. Beauchamp," said 
 Lord Singleton, '^ comes to a great many 
 people, without revealing any qualities at all.
 
 316 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Witness poor Horner. One can hardly conceive 
 a grown man behaving so much like a simple- 
 ton. He is utterly unfit for what he has to 
 do. What is to be done with him, I don't 
 know." The young lord fell into a reverie ; 
 it lasted for some minutes, and, by his con- 
 tracted brow, seemed an unpleasant one. 
 When he woke up he said — ^' I made a mis- 
 take in that appointment, it must be owned. 
 It is all my fault, and I am sorry for it." 
 
 " Mr. Horner is certainly unfit for some of 
 the duties of this parish," said Annette, the 
 consoler ; " but he does a great deal of good 
 that nobody talks about, or knows anything 
 about. It is hard to judge of people only by 
 their failures." 
 
 " That is very true, my dear Annette," 
 said Lord Singleton, warmly. ^^ Horner is a 
 thorough well-principled man. There is not, 
 there never was anything like vice and 
 wickedness in him. I knew that when I 
 appointed him, and I thought entire trust was
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 317 
 
 the best thing, after all. But Horner is a 
 fool," he added ; " there is no disguising it. In- 
 stead of setting himself practically to work, he 
 dreams of fine things — now one, now another. 
 He provoked me out of all patience to-day.'* 
 
 Annette looked up with a smile of intelli- 
 gence. She always understood his thoughts. 
 He gave her an answering, half-contemptuous, 
 half-amused nod, but said nothing. 
 
 " Horner will do better after this shake," 
 said Mr. Beauchamp, drowsily. '' It has 
 thoroughly wakened him to his deficiencies, 
 and that is a great step to improvement." 
 
 ** We will hope so ; for, as I am sure no- 
 body will ever make him a bishop, we must 
 bear with him here all our days. I must, at 
 any rate, and learn patience. Well, now, 
 good night," said Lord Singleton, rising 
 reluctantly. " I need not stay till Miss 
 Moore comes down ; but you can tell her, if 
 I did not say so, how extremely obliged to 
 her I am for her exertions. Good night."
 
 318 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 Annette whispered something to her mother. 
 
 Mrs. Beauchamp said — ^' You would not 
 give us the pleasure of your company at 
 dinner, I suppose, Lord Singleton. We should 
 be very glad if you would.'' 
 
 " You will be dull to-night, with all your 
 troubles," said Annette. 
 
 " I should like it of all things," he said,, 
 quickly ; ^' for I am a little out of sorts, I 
 own." Here Sybil entered the room, look- 
 ing more than commonly bright and lovely. 
 Lord Singleton gazed at her, pondered for a 
 moment — then, as if speaking continuously, 
 added — " But, no, I think not. When a per- 
 son is out of sorts, it is just as well to meet 
 their discomposure, and fight it out at once. 
 I shall go home and think over my faults; 
 and, I hope, profit by it. Good night. Good 
 night, Miss Moore," he said, approaching and 
 shaking hands with her ; " and a thousand 
 thanks for your assistance." And he went. 
 
 Sybil sat down in the place Lord Sin-
 
 THE YOUNG LORD. 319 
 
 gleton had left and recounted to Annette the 
 events of the day. The conversation was 
 animated and long. Mr. Beauchamp reclining 
 in his chair half-asleep and half-awake, drow- 
 sily contemplated them, and from mere con- 
 templation, his thoughts, by no indirect paths, 
 proceeded to speculate on their fates in life. 
 His admiration for Sybil was great, but his 
 love for Annette made him admire in almost 
 as great a degree her pale face, brightened as it 
 was with the truth and unselfish kindness 
 which characterized her disposition. From 
 those before him his thoughts in the same 
 dreamy manner turned to Lord Singleton, and 
 he meditated on the strangeness of nature, 
 which left him so fancy free, as to be better 
 pleased to pass his evening with liis OAvn 
 thoughts, than with such company. 
 
 In the midst of these thoughts he fell into a 
 real slumber, and pursuing his meditations in 
 his dreams, he fancied that lie made a re- 
 prtiach to Lord Singleton on the coldness of
 
 320 THE YOUNG LORD. 
 
 his heart, to which Lord Singleton repUed in 
 a deep and oracular voice — 
 
 " Opportunity only reveals the secrets of the 
 mind.'^ 
 
 Excited hy the mystery and the manner of 
 the reply, Mr. Beauchamp dreamed that he 
 bent forward to examine the speaker's face, 
 and performing the action with his bodily as 
 well as his visionary powers, he sat up and 
 awoke. 
 
 " Who said ^ opportunity reveals ?' '' he 
 asked, looking around him in a startled, be- 
 wildered manner. 
 
 " Mamma did, a long while ago," Annette 
 replied, laughing. 
 
 " Oh ! was that all. I thought no 
 
 matter, I was in a dream I see." And he lay 
 down and reposed again. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHARLES BEVAN AND SON, FBINTER8, CHAPEL STBEET, 6R0SVBN0R SftLARK.
 
 i
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 823P775Y C001 V.I 
 Young Lord / 
 
 3 0112 088987786