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 "
 
 THE 
 
 SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 J . MASTERMAN 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 A FATAL ERROR,' ' HALF A DOZEN DAUGHTERS," : WORTH WAITING FOR, 
 
 ETC. 
 
 1 Tis the unexpected always happens 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES.— VOL. L 
 
 LONDON 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON 
 
 publishers in ©rbinar)? to ^cr ^ttajcsti] the Quint 
 
 1889 
 
 [All rights 7-eserved\
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/scottsofbestmins01rybo
 
 a 
 
 *» 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. NAINI TAL - - - - i 
 
 II. DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 
 
 40 
 
 III. GOOD-BYE - - - - -87 
 
 IV. TIMELY REST - - - I I I 
 
 V. GATHERING CLOUDS - - 143 
 
 VI. THE OLD HOME - - - - 1 86 
 
 VII. MARY LATIMER - - - " ^3 J 
 
 sfl 
 
 c
 
 THE 
 
 SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NAINI TAL. 
 
 Some seven thousand feet about the sun- 
 dried plains of Hindustan, on precipitate 
 mountain-sides clothed ima verdure which 
 neither eloquent tongue nor most skilled 
 brush can properly describe or represent, 
 are perched without rule or order, of all 
 shapes and sizes, the iron-roofed bungalows 
 which form the English military sanatorium 
 of Naini Tal. 
 
 VOL. I. i
 
 2 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 The Tal, or lake, mirrors the leafy 
 steeps which hold it in their embrace with 
 a minuteness which puzzles the eye to 
 discover where reality leaves off and re- 
 flection begins, till for an instant some 
 undercurrent agitates the hitherto motion- 
 less surface, and the seeming solidity is 
 blurred ; it lies, as it were, at the bottom 
 of a vast basin, from which spring forests of 
 giant feathery deodars and pines wreathed 
 with roses, white and yellow jessamine, 
 honeysuckle, and many a starry creeper ; 
 and amid their sweetness the bulbul and 
 hill myna sing, and glorified specimens of 
 our home pets, the robin and the blackbird 
 — the one as big as a starling, the other 
 adorned with an Elizabethan ruff white as 
 snow — luxuriate. Huge bushes of holly 
 shine cheek by jowl with the delicate 
 maidenhair fern — that tender foreigner so 
 much prized in our hothouses — and while
 
 NAINI TAL 
 
 the loud, jovial shout of our cuckoo takes 
 us back to the windy English spring-time, 
 the voice of the barking deer and the 
 toll of the lonely owl-like bell-bird 
 bring us back to the far-off strange- 
 ness of the Himalaya, with their summer 
 flowers and winter snows, their days 
 of heat and nights of cold, their de- 
 lightful contrarieties and marvellous con- 
 trasts. 
 
 The first bugle rang out, gun-fire had 
 sounded, but darkness brooded over the 
 lake, and the mall that borders it was still 
 and deserted. At barracks, lights were 
 visible, as also in two or three of the 
 smaller bungalows round the lower end of 
 the lake ; but as the moments flew on dawn 
 came to the head of Chiriya-Kanla, 
 passed on down his broad, bare shoulders, 
 touched the summits of the other peaks, 
 
 r — 2
 
 4 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 stole rosily over the western slopes, lay 
 hopefully on the peaceful churchyard, 
 and thus proclaimed another day. 
 
 The silence of the night was soon 
 broken. Officers on duty, covered from 
 head to foot in the regulation waterproof, 
 became visible and audible as they took 
 their shivering way to barracks, some on 
 foot, some on the hardy Bhootiah ponies, 
 which gallop up and about the ladder-like 
 paths as sure-footed as cats ; while others, 
 only up for health, were calling out for that 
 early cup of tea, after which they would set 
 off for that exceedingly disagreeable con- 
 stitutional round the Upper Mall, without 
 which half the benefit of their visit would 
 be lost. The eastern side remained in 
 darkness long after the opposite slopes 
 were in light, and amongst its woods and 
 huge boulders lights were long necessary 
 in its scattered houses — houses hanging, as
 
 XAIXI TAL 
 
 it were, in mid-air, or on mere shelves of 
 rock, approached by paths goats might 
 have feared to tread, and surrounded by 
 thick groves that even at mid-day held a 
 chill moisture that made constant fires 
 indispensable. 
 
 The morning was rainy, the night 
 had been rainy — the rains, indeed, were 
 in their prime ; leeches, scorpions, and 
 caterpillars were legion ; every boulder, 
 with its rich covering of moss and fern, 
 was their happy hunting-ground, every 
 rotten-floored bungalow was their place 
 of refuge ; every branch of every tree, 
 with its superb wealth of overgrowth, 
 was their breeding- place. Never was 
 anything more exquisitely beautiful than 
 those gigantic groves, with their side- 
 views over mountain and valley — valleys 
 smoking with dewy incense, mountains 
 opening upon mountains, and culminating
 
 6 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 a hundred miles away in snow-peaks that 
 cleave the very heavens ; never was any- 
 thing more suggestive of damp and the 
 ills of which damp is the fruitful parent. 
 On this particular morning the damp was 
 at its dampest, the trees reeked, and their 
 dripping perpetually echoed around in 
 monotonous regularity. On all sides the 
 mountain rills, quickened here and there 
 into dashing cascades, fell from crag to 
 crag, wore miniature ravines down through 
 the saturated soil, and ran unperceived 
 under the thick underwood, forming many 
 a trap for unwary pedestrians, and paths 
 which but yesterday were solid earth had 
 to-day become mere rocky stairs down 
 which none but a hillman could follow. 
 One such path, opening before the intended 
 way of a little procession toiling upwards 
 from the lake, presented so formidable an 
 obstacle to further progress that a halt
 
 NAIXI TAL 
 
 had been called to consider what was to be 
 done. 
 
 The party consisted of a lady in a dandy, 
 or hammock, slung on a bamboo and carried 
 between two men, accompanied by two 
 gentlemen on foot — a Dr. Smith and a 
 Major Mortimer. The gentlemen wore 
 thick gaiters to protect their legs from 
 leeches, and carried long alpenstocks to 
 protect themselves from slipping over 
 khuds. The lady was covered w T ith water- 
 proofs, so were the gentlemen. The four 
 dandy servants wore a uniform of service- 
 able cloth, with fantastic trimmings of 
 orange and blue ; their legs and feet were 
 naked, and every now and then one of 
 them would stop and pick off a creature 
 that was drawing blood. 
 
 1 Well,' said Mrs. Lister, 'we must get 
 there somehow, you know, if we want to 
 say good-bye. What can we do ?'
 
 8 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMhXSTER 
 
 1 It wouldn't be so difficult to get down,' 
 said Major Mortimer, eyeing- the distance 
 between the bare boulders. ' A few flying 
 leaps would be easy, but how you are to be 
 carried up I can't see !' 
 
 Then th^re was an animated dispute with 
 the dandy wallahs, who, after letting their 
 masters despair, calmly said they saw no 
 difficulty. If only the mem sahib would 
 sit still and trust herself to them, they'd 
 carry her safely over worse ground than 
 that before them. 
 
 With a laugh, the mem sahib said she'd 
 shut her eyes and hold on tight, and, 
 bidding the men proceed, the two gentle- 
 men prepared to follow. Then began a 
 succession of jumps and jerks and leaps 
 and climbing, the sturdy hillmen alighting 
 here on a mere shelf, whence the mountain- 
 side fell a shere precipice hundreds of feet, 
 thence clambering over a ravine, and, with
 
 NAINI TAL 
 
 a leap, bridging a frightful chasm ; now 
 running lightly over the brow of a ridge ; 
 now sliding down a bank perilously close 
 to a deep descent through mid-air. 
 
 Every few moments there was a change 
 of carriers, the tired ones resting themselves 
 by running ahead to make sure of the road. 
 At the end of about half an hour the speed 
 increased ; there was a last stampede, a 
 last frantic jump at and clinging on to a 
 big bush, then a rush round the chimneys 
 of a house, a race down the mountain by 
 the house's side, and then, with grunts of 
 satisfaction, the dandy-men let the dandy 
 slowly down from their shoulders, and the 
 mem sahib's feet rested in the compound 
 of the little bungalow where she would be. 
 
 ' By Jove !' said the Doctor, coming up in 
 time to help Mrs. Lister to get out of her 
 wraps, ' that was a breather ! What monkeys 
 these fellows are ! How they contrived to
 
 io THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 carry you and themselves too passes my 
 comprehension. The Major's dead beat !' 
 
 The Major's tall form came up as the 
 Doctor spoke. He was flinging off his 
 coat as if fainting with heat. 
 
 1 Surely the Scotts won't go down the 
 way we've come ?' he asked. ' Scott can 
 never stand that sort of thing !' 
 
 1 No, no,' Mrs. Lister replied ; ' we had 
 no business to come this way. There's not 
 at all a bad road from the other end, but it 
 would have taken us so long to go round 
 for it.' 
 
 The three stood for a moment looking 
 at the miserable iron-roofed bungalow 
 before them — a wretched weather-stained 
 place with a dilapidated veranda on three 
 sides, the fourth side being close up against 
 a bank covered with rank vegetation ; close 
 in front were hospital doolies — something 
 like long canvas-covered meat-safes on
 
 XAIXI TAL 
 
 tressels instead of legs — round which a 
 dozen or so coolies squatted waiting. The 
 vegetation grew unchecked right up to 
 the veranda ; there was no attempt at 
 cultivation — all looked unkempt and un- 
 wholesome. 
 
 In the fine weather nothing appeared 
 more tempting and picturesque than this 
 little imitation chalet, with its verdant sur- 
 roundings — a place to dream about, and to 
 write about, and to sketch, but not to live 
 in. Its present occupant, Captain Scott, 
 had been ordered up to the sanatorium too 
 late in the season to eet a ^ood house in a 
 good situation, and had to be content with 
 what there was to be had. The clubs and 
 the hotels were too noisy for him in his 
 state of health, and the quiet and beauty of 
 this elevated place had seemed to him, 
 when he arrived, at death's door from the 
 heat and fatigue of the long journey from
 
 12 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Allahabad, almost heavenly. But when 
 day after day and night after night the 
 rain fell like pellets on the iron roof, and 
 the damp invaded the badly-built house, it 
 was seen Naini Tal was not to be the safe 
 place for him it was for most people ; and 
 he had got rapidly worse. There was no 
 organic disease, the doctors said ; only 
 there was weakness, just as likely to be 
 fatal — a neglected chill following a slight 
 attack of fever — a mere nothing at the 
 time, but a something now that threatened 
 with such reality that the station doctor, 
 and the regimental doctor, and a doctor or 
 two of note who were visiting the station, 
 were summoned to a consultation ; and the 
 result was that, though the rainy season 
 was at its height, though the Terai at the 
 foot of the hills which must be traversed to 
 reach India was just then full of malignant 
 air, though Mrs. Scott was not yet strong,
 
 NAINI TAL 
 
 and the baby barely a month old, a re- 
 commendation to the invalid to proceed 
 at once to Bombay on sick-leave, and 
 thence to England, was given as his only 
 chance of recovery. 
 
 The invalid was too ill to think for him- 
 self; his wife was too young and inex- 
 perienced to think for him ; the doctors' 
 verdict was to both arbitrary. Kind 
 friends — mere acquaintances of yesterday, 
 most of them ; but true friendship flourishes 
 nowhere more luxuriantly than in India — 
 came to their help ; everything had been 
 made as smooth as possible for them, 
 and now, on the morning of their start, 
 three good souls had come to cheer 
 and do what they could to start them 
 comfortably. 
 
 Mrs. Lister dropped her voice as she 
 said to the Doctor, still busy with folding 
 her wraps :
 
 14 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 1 Doesn't it seem cruel to send him off 
 on such a day ? — the weather's just awful !' 
 
 1 They'll be out of this damp as soon 
 as they get down to the Brewery,' he 
 replied. ' He'll be better as soon as they 
 reach the plains to-night. She'll suffer 
 most.' 
 
 1 Ah ! that's what I think. She ought 
 to stay here with that poor baby. Yet 
 how could one part them, with him in that 
 state ?' 
 
 ' The baby will be dead before they 
 reach Bombay/ said the Major ; ' its brain 
 will be addled with the jolting, and it will 
 be choked with dust.' 
 
 ' Pooh !' said the Doctor, ' babies can 
 stand anything — senseless little animals.' 
 
 1 Can they ? My sergeant's baby was 
 choked on the way to Cawnpore last year, 
 that's all I know,' answered the Major. 
 
 1 Well, don't let Mrs. Scott hear,' said
 
 NAIN1 TAL 15 
 
 the Doctor, leading the way to the veranda, 
 whence they entered the principal room of 
 the little chalet. There, on a long reclining 
 cane chair, lay the poor fellow whose life 
 hung on so frail a thread that a journey 
 during the rains through the length of 
 Hindustan was the only hope for his re- 
 covery. Wan, worn, and fearfully attenu- 
 ated, he looked as if a journey was the 
 very last thing he was fit for. His voice 
 was almost soundless as he replied to his 
 visitors' cheery greetings, taking each 
 kindly hand in his white, skeleton grasp. 
 
 1 This is good of you !' he said. ' We 
 are in such a fix : ayah has bolted !' 
 
 Mrs. Scott appeared from an inner 
 room at the sound of the new voices. 
 She was a willowy girl of eighteen, very 
 graceful, but very delicate-looking, and her 
 large, darkly-shaded blue eyes were full of 
 anxiety and alarm.
 
 1 6 THE SCOTTS OF WESTMINSTER 
 
 ' Yes,' she said, as she shook hands with 
 the new arrivals, ' ayah has run away, and 
 I shall have to take care of baby.' 
 
 The charge of a wild beast could hardly 
 cause greater repugnance and fear than she 
 expressed in her fair face and sweet voice. 
 
 The Doctor kept her hand in his as he 
 said soothingly : 
 
 ' Better change your mind, and stay here 
 till we find another ayah. Scott will be all 
 right with his bearer.' 
 
 ' Oh no, no !' she said, shrinking ner- 
 vously. 
 
 Her husband's bright eyes turned upon 
 the Doctor. 
 
 ' No, no,' he said ; ' she must go with 
 me, of course. She can manage baby ; it 
 will sleep all the way.' 
 
 A feeble wail broke on their ears — that 
 peculiar rasping wail of a very young baby 
 — and the bearer came forward carrying a
 
 NAINI TAL 
 
 bundle. Mrs. Lister flew to take it, and 
 scolded the man for completely covering 
 the little thing's face. 
 
 1 Mem sahib,' said he, ' the baba is as it 
 was put into my arms ; it is not for me to 
 undo what the mother does.' 
 
 She laughed, and turned with it in her 
 arms to the young mother. 
 
 ' It must have breathing room, my dear,' 
 she said. ' Now, Major, let me introduce 
 you to Miss Scott.' 
 
 1 I'm no judge of babies,' he said, giving 
 a look at the tiny writhing creature. ' Am 
 I expected to say it is very like its father 
 and its mother ?' 
 
 ' God forbid !' Captain Scott said. 
 1 I never saw such a young kid before, 
 so I suppose it's all right ; but there's very 
 little of it — isn't there ?' 
 
 ' Did urn wasn't ?' said Mrs. Lister ; 
 1 that's the proper thing to say to babies. 
 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Precious goods are in small parcels. Cap- 
 tain Scott, you are not worthy of such 
 a jewel. She'll grow up a beauty, I know, 
 or she can't be the child of her parents.' 
 
 ' Let me see,' the Doctor exclaimed, 
 bending over the restless little creature, 
 1 she's hardly a month old. Early days 
 yet — eh ? Oh, but she'll do, with care.' 
 
 He said this to the girl-mother, who was 
 regarding her first-born from a little dis- 
 tance with anything but devotion on her 
 smileless face. 
 
 ' Oh yes,' kindly Mrs. Lister echoed, 
 • they want a great deal of care at this 
 age. Isn't it possible to make ayah appear 
 — bribery or threatening ?' 
 
 But she was told the bazaar had been 
 searched for her in vain. She had at first 
 seemed quite willing to go as far as Bom- 
 bay ; but it was supposed her friends had 
 frightened her about the perils of the tiger
 
 NAJN1 TAL 19 
 
 and fever-haunted Terai — at all events, 
 she was not forthcoming, and it was im- 
 possible to find a substitute at that late 
 hour. 
 
 1 And so bearer and I must do what we 
 can,' Mrs. Scott said. ' Bearer can keep 
 it quiet, but it must travel with me ; and it 
 never will be good when I have it.' 
 
 It hardly needed this assurance to con- 
 vince the onlookers that the weak young 
 mother's inexperienced handling was very 
 different to that of the dexterous practised 
 bearer's. Were there ever such patient, 
 kindly nurses as these poor East Indians ? 
 ' And what have you provided for its 
 food ?' Mrs. Lister asked, as the gentle- 
 men drew round the invalid, whose weak 
 voice was heard w r ith difficulty because of 
 the rattling rain overhead. 
 
 1 So much poison !' she cried, waving 
 aside the bottleful of thin gray liquid
 
 20 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 brought forward in answer to her question. 
 'Nasty buffalo's stuff! Oh dear! this 
 will never do ! Get some fresh cow's 
 milk, bearer.' 
 
 Bearer explained he had sent for cow's 
 milk, and that had been brought instead. 
 
 ' Why didn't you go yourself ?' 
 
 1 He couldn't be spared,' Mrs. Scott 
 answered. ' Charley wants him every 
 moment ; and he had to have baby while 
 I dressed.' 
 
 1 What's up now ?' Captain Scott 
 asked, catching the sound of his own 
 name. 
 
 • Look at this horrid stuff, Doctor !' 
 Mrs. Lister cried, showing the unappe- 
 tizing-looking liquid. ! I know who'll give 
 us some — Mrs. Wood. Look here, Major 
 Mortimer — do, there's a dear, good man ! 
 run over to the Lieutenant-Governor's and 
 see Mrs. Wood, and beg for some morning's
 
 NAINI TAL 21 
 
 milk. Think of your own child, if you 
 had one, getting such trash as this to live 
 on. She'll give you some, if she'd give it 
 to no one else !' 
 
 The handsome Major did not hesitate ; 
 he put two empty soda-water bottles into 
 his pockets, slipped into his waterproofs, 
 and set off to go to the other side of the 
 lake ; while the Doctor, pointing to the 
 increasing daylight, urged the invalid to 
 prepare for the journey. 
 
 ' Come, bearer !' he cried ; ' come and 
 bundle up your master.' 
 
 The bearer placed the baby in her 
 mother's arms and hurried off. Mrs. 
 Scott held it as if it were a stiff, old- 
 fashioned sofa- bolster, and even its slight 
 weight seemed to overpower her. Mrs. 
 Lister took it from her, cuddling it in her 
 motherly embrace. 
 
 'You had better see all the things are
 
 22 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 put in the doolies/ she said; ' I'll take care 
 of baby till you are ready.' 
 
 Then began the business of getting 
 under way : missing coolies had to be 
 hunted up ; unthought-of bills had to be 
 settled at the last moment ; discharged 
 servants thought the last moment con- 
 venient for asking for chits ; and a box 
 wallah hoped a few moments could be 
 spared for the inspection of his wares. 
 
 Luckily for the poor young couple, their 
 friends were equal to the occasion. The 
 Doctor shouted, scolded, threatened, per- 
 suaded, and put his own shoulder to the 
 burthen. Mrs. Lister collected the few 
 necessaries for the journey, and herself 
 saw them put where each traveller could 
 find them. She harangued the bearer, and 
 promised him a better place than he had 
 ever had before if he took care of his 
 charges and kept by them till they were
 
 NAINI TAL 23 
 
 safe on board ship at Bombay. She re- 
 presented to the coolies that their pay and 
 bucksheesh depended on their speed and 
 care ; she told them the eyes of every 
 Kotwal in the district would follow their 
 progress, and the vengeance of the big 
 sahib would be prompt and weighty should 
 they neglect their duty. 
 
 When, after much tedious delay, Captain 
 Scott was settled as comfortably as might 
 be in his dooly, Major Mortimer ran up 
 triumphant ; he had got not only fresh 
 cow's milk for the baby, but a basket of 
 fruit for the parents also, and some light 
 bread and strong beef-tea. He brought 
 a kind message, too, from the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and his wife. The Major was 
 steaming with heat and wet, but his face 
 was bright with kindness ; he had already 
 forgotten the fatigue of his rapid climb. 
 
 With an aching heart Captain Scott
 
 24 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 bent forward out of his dooly and bade 
 God bless his kindly comrade ; his sunken, 
 glittering eyes were too hot for tears. He 
 was thinking how, in all probability, when 
 these eood friends should return to the 
 plains they would come upon his solitary 
 grave ; and, indeed, their thoughts were as 
 sad. 
 
 1 Good-bye, old fellow !' said the Major, 
 who had acted as his best man scarcely 
 a year ago. ' Send me a telegram from 
 Bombay, and let me have a lock of Miss 
 Scott's hair as soon as she sports 
 some.' 
 
 ' Good-bye, Scott !' the Doctor ex- 
 claimed. ' Pitch into the quinine, and 
 sleep as much as you can ; you'll soon 
 be as right as a trivet !' 
 
 Then minute instructions were repeated 
 to the bearer who was to run by his 
 master's dooly, and to the coolie who,
 
 NAINI TAL 25 
 
 carrying a basketful of provisions on his 
 head, was to keep close to the sahib's 
 side ; and then, with many a moan and 
 many a grunt, the coolies raised the 
 dooly-pole to their shoulders and stepped 
 forward. 
 
 Now it was the mem sahib's turn. 
 
 4 Don't let them take him far on in 
 front of me !' she cried as she got into 
 her dooly, and received her baby on her 
 knee. 
 
 Her friends reassured her as if she 
 were a child, and tried to laugh at her 
 fears, but failed to be merry. 
 
 1 Keep baby this side up !' cried the 
 Major. 'And when she's tired give her a 
 peg !' said the Doctor. Then each grasped 
 her hand and bade her be brave. 
 
 Her answer was, with a burst of tears : 
 
 ' Good-bye ! good-bye ! I shall never — 
 never forget you !'
 
 26 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 At a sign from the Major her palanquin 
 was lifted, and the weeping girl was carried 
 onward and downward out of sight. 
 
 They who remained then turned and 
 looked at the deserted home, the dreari- 
 ness of its damp-stained walls, the shabby 
 pretension of its architecture, its rotting 
 wooden ornamentation. Wisps of straw 
 and paper lay about — untidy remains of 
 the packing. The rain had stopped, and 
 on the opposite bank the brightness and 
 business of life was in full play, making 
 the shadowed solitude and silence of the 
 empty abode more dreary by comparison. 
 Mrs. Lister shivered, and broke the mo- 
 mentary thoughtful stillness of the little 
 group by saying : 
 
 1 'Tis wonderful how much human 
 hearts can bear without breaking ; that 
 girl will be a widow and childless before 
 she gets to Bombay.'
 
 NAINI TAL 27 
 
 1 It's hard lines on her,' Dr. Smith said 
 without contradicting the awful opinion ; 
 ■ he'd no business to marry such a poor 
 helpless thing.' 
 
 1 He was as well as you or I when he 
 married !' Major Mortimer cried — ' he need 
 never have broken down like this — and 
 she was the sweetest girl.' 
 
 'Just out from school, I understood,' 
 said the Doctor, ' where she probably 
 learned everything but what was likely 
 to be profitable to her as a wife and 
 mother.' 
 
 1 She ought to have married a rich 
 civilian, such as her father/ said Mrs. 
 Lister. ' What was he about to let her 
 marry so soon ?' 
 
 'Ah, that's it,' the Major replied; 'the 
 fact is, her father wanted to get married 
 too, and the lady didn't like the idea of 
 beginning with a grown-up daughter.'
 
 28 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Then I've heard Scott has private 
 means ?' Mrs. Lister rejoined. 
 
 1 Something,' the Major answered ; ' be- 
 sides, he got kudos for the way he 
 managed that affair in the hills. He's 
 very young to be a Staff-Corps Captain. 
 You'll see, headquarters will push him on ; 
 he's by no means a soldier of fortune.' 
 
 1 That is,' the Doctor said slowly, l if he 
 lives !' 
 
 1 Ah, poor Scott ! he's a good fellow all 
 round,' said the Major sadly, ' and now 
 look at him ; why, only three months ago, 
 not a fellow but would have changed places 
 with him gladly. I'm sure he's got a most 
 devoted wife, experienced or not.' 
 
 ' That he has, but, were I a man, I 
 should prefer a wife who gave me good 
 beef-tea instead of tears. That poor girl 
 has no more notion of being a helpmeet 
 than she has of her duties as a mother.
 
 NAIXI TAL 
 
 I admit she's sweet, and charming, and 
 very, very pretty, but, unless a miracle 
 happens, her ignorance will kill that baby. 
 
 The two gentlemen thought of the 
 beautiful face, the sweet tones full of 
 gratitude and sorrow still vibrating on their 
 ears. The Doctor spoke first. 
 
 ' Oh, all that's wanted '11 come in time,' 
 he said ; ' she's a mere slip of a girl yet, 
 but she's made of the right stuff — "tender 
 and true," as the song says.' 
 
 1 And what can she know about sick- 
 ness and nursery work ?' the Major con- 
 tinued. ' You should have known her at 
 Allahabad to have seen her at her best.' 
 
 ' But you must not misunderstand me !' 
 Mrs. Lister explained. ; I love and ad- 
 mire her immensely as a girl, but I say 
 she has undertaken duties she can't 
 perform. She is not to be blamed alto- 
 gether — rather blame the bringing up of
 
 o THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 the day. Don't I remember what I was 
 at eighteen ? Of course I do, and I don't 
 suppose I was worse than other girls. I 
 was horridly useless ; I fainted at the sight 
 of blood, couldn't look at raw meat ; as 
 for mixing a poultice or tying up a wound, 
 I couldn't have done it. I had nothing to 
 do with practical common life, self-con- 
 trol and self- forgetfulness, usefulness 
 and thought for others. I understood 
 German better than those old-fashioned 
 things. All girls are alike ; so are boys, for 
 that matter. Neither men nor women 
 know their own minds or are worth 
 anything till they are five-and-twenty. 
 Oh, you needn't look disgusted ; it's quite 
 true !' 
 
 Mrs. Lister settled herself comfortably 
 in her dandy as she spoke, and for awhile 
 further conversation was impossible, as the 
 upward mountain climb was resumed, the
 
 NAINI TAL 31 
 
 party meaning to return by an easier road, 
 to reach which they must first go higher 
 up the hillside, and all their breath and 
 attention were needed to surmount the 
 difficulties of the way. When by-and-by 
 a halt was necessary, Major Mortimer 
 resumed the subject just where it had 
 dropped — it had evidently rankled in his 
 mind. 
 
 * Do you mean to say,' he asked, ' a 
 woman doesn't know her own mind till 
 she is five-and-twenty ? Is it fair to ask 
 how long you've been married ?' 
 
 Mrs. Lister laughed — she had barely 
 reached that age yet. 
 
 1 Yes, you may ask !' she cried ; ' I 
 married long before I knew how to take 
 care of myself, therefore I couldn't be 
 expected to know anything about taking 
 care of others. And many a bitter hour 
 and foolish mistake have been the result.
 
 32 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 I think I'm beginning to see clearer now, 
 though.' 
 
 4 But we must all go through an appren- 
 ticeship ; no one springs into being armed 
 cap-a-pie? said the Doctor. 
 
 She replied : 
 
 ' I grant it ; but surely we should get 
 over the apprenticeship before we under- 
 take the business ; we ought to be taught 
 to use the armour before we go to the 
 fight. When I left school " finished " — 
 that is the sarcastic word — I knew all 
 about the Huns, but nothing about the 
 economy of daily domestic life.' 
 
 1 But all that comes naturally later on,' 
 said the Doctor ; ' there are special classes 
 for such subjects, too — children couldn't 
 go in for them.' 
 
 * No one can take in any subject all at 
 once,' she argued ; ' but surely they might 
 be learnt side by side with the Huns ?
 
 NAINI TAL 33 
 
 Knowledge is power, I freely admit, and 
 one ought to know as much as possible of 
 history and all the ologies, but not to the 
 exclusion of common daily matters demand- 
 ing our daily and hourly management. 
 Elder girls in large families are the best 
 off — they have practical demonstration of 
 family needs ; but how many girls there 
 are who, like poor Mrs. Scott, have 
 never handled a baby till they have one of 
 their own. I know I nearly died of fright 
 over my first child : I tried to wash her, 
 and let her roll off my knee down into the 
 bath. She wasn't much hurt, but I nearly 
 died of fright !' 
 
 1 This is awful !' said the Doctor. i I 
 shall remain unmarried till one of your 
 daughters is grown up.' 
 
 Again they moved onward— stumbling, 
 climbing, leaping — but presently they 
 reached the ridge, and turned to the left 
 
 vol. I. 3
 
 34 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 on comparatively good even ground along 
 an avenue of superb trees growing so thick 
 that the view beyond was indistinguish- 
 able. The gentlemen closed up on either 
 side the dandy, and the Doctor went on 
 with the argument. 
 
 1 Well, but/ he said, ' there is some 
 truth in what you say ; I often wonder 
 how first babies ever live out here, where 
 there are no mothers or married sisters 
 to give advice to the inexperienced ; still, 
 there are girls to whom practical common- 
 sense is natural. 
 
 ' Of course there are,' she said ; ' and 
 there are helpful husbands who never snub 
 or sneer. I was a lucky girl. My husband 
 was so good ; he was always ready to listen 
 and suggest, and never seemed to see my 
 mistakes. Mind you two, when you are 
 married, don't refuse to share the worries 
 of your wives. Remember '
 
 NAIXI TAL 
 
 ' Look there !' the Major exclaimed, glad 
 to interrupt a speech which was becoming 
 personal. 
 
 Mrs. Lister called to her men to let her 
 out of her dandy, and the three friends 
 stood in silent contemplation of the view 
 before them. They had reached the end 
 of the great lines of trees that had kept 
 them so lono: in shade, and now stood on 
 the topmost ridge, whence, on the one hand, 
 the eye fell through green glades of de- 
 scending forests to the lake, now gleaming 
 silver bright, and, on the other, over grada- 
 tions of mountain plateaus, peaks, and 
 ridges, interspersed with wooded valleys 
 and dense groves of trees. 
 
 The sun had risen, calling into life a 
 million beauties of light, scent, and sound. 
 Off from the deep-blue sky light fleecy 
 clouds were rolling in the direction of the 
 giant snow-peaks which glistened in mid- 
 
 1 — 2
 
 36 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 heaven, some tipped with softest rose- 
 colour, some standing aloft like needles of 
 whitest spar. Every bush and tree was 
 hung with raindrops like glistening votive 
 lamps, every flower was jewelled with 
 them ; no valley of diamonds had ever 
 shone with such pure lustre. But it was 
 the main valley which leads from the 
 endless branches of the mighty chain of 
 mountains to the vast plains of Hindustan 
 which spellbound the observers, the thick 
 mist which filled its hollows and smoothed 
 its inequalities of ground hiding its verdant 
 terraces, its wooded glens and ravines. Its 
 leaping cascades and bowery glades had 
 now caught the morning flood of sunshine, 
 and were by it converted into the semblance 
 of a radiant opal-tinted, foam-wreathed sea; 
 while from out this fairy ocean rose the 
 lesser mountain-tops like enchanted islands, 
 their verdant depth of colouring present-
 
 NAINI TAL 37 
 
 ing a vivid contrast to the pale, mysterious 
 depths from which they sprung. Every 
 familiar landmark was so completely 
 glorified, altered, or effaced, that for long 
 each onlooker gazed as if doubting the 
 reality of the sight. It was, indeed, a 
 paradise of wild loveliness of air, sky, 
 woods, grassy heights, deep khuds, 
 dainties of sound, sight, and smell pro- 
 fusely strewn around ; while rocks and 
 stones, and dead as well as living branches, 
 were covered with a treasury of ephemeral 
 vegetation, all created in full beautiful per- 
 fection by the hand that has no master. 
 
 Mrs. Lister was the first to break the 
 charmed silence ; she was half oppressed 
 by the immensity and loneliness before 
 her. 
 
 1 Isn't it glorious !' she sighed. ' But it 
 must be breakfast-time !' 
 
 ' Look on this picture and on that !' and,
 
 38 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 as he spoke, Dr. Smith pointed with one 
 hand to the glowing landscape, with the 
 other to the jampanees, who were busy- 
 relieving their legs of the leeches which 
 swarmed in the sodden underwood. ' And 
 do look at that procession of hairy worms ! 
 How poor Mrs. Scott used to shudder 
 at all these crawling creatures ! These 
 beasts really bite if one doesn't take care.' 
 He pointed to a moving chain of hairy 
 caterpillars crossing the road before them 
 in single file. There were at least 
 hundreds, but so close one to the 
 other as to resemble an uninterrupted 
 undulating unity. ' After all, though, 
 she'll find the flies greater nuisances than 
 these crawlers.' 
 
 Then up from the mall far down below 
 came the faint sound of a military band. 
 Some military high day had begun, and 
 the Major hurried the loitering servants.
 
 NAIXI TAL 39 
 
 One more look was given to the clouds, 
 then they started downward to every-day 
 life, and 'those poor Scotts' gradually 
 faded away from their friends' conversation, 
 as did the jewelled mist from the valleys.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD. 
 
 As the travellers were carried downward, 
 passing the ridge and rapidly descending 
 by the winding road, they were stopped 
 for a moment at the barracks by a group 
 of officers waiting there to say good-bye 
 — a thoughtless, cheery lot of men, most of 
 them, yet all sorely concerned for the 
 time. 
 
 ' God bless you, old fellow !' said one 
 after the other as the invalid's almost 
 transparent hand was grasped in farewell 
 greeting, and Captain Scott's heart was
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 41 
 
 wrung afresh by this unlooked-for kindly 
 sympathy. 
 
 1 They know I am doomed,' he said to 
 himself, and then, as a turn in the ever- 
 turning road showed him that same ex- 
 quisite scene which was at the same 
 moment enchanting the eyes of his friends 
 on the hill-top, it seemed to him death 
 would have no terror for him. All he 
 needed was rest, and with this tranquil 
 picture before him he almost longed, as 
 the poet-king had longed, ' to flee away 
 and be at rest for ever.' 
 
 The swinging movement of the dooly, 
 the freer air after the long confinement to 
 the house, and the knowledge that he was 
 actually on his journey, had a quieting 
 influence on him ; and at last he yielded 
 to it, and slept a calmer sleep than he had 
 had for long. But there was no sleep for 
 the occupant of the other dooly, though,
 
 42 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 just at first, she, too, was comforted and 
 refreshed by the views and the sense that 
 they were really off on that journey which 
 was to end ' at home.' 
 
 The puny baby w T as asleep for the first 
 half-hour, but, light as was her weight, it 
 was more than the ^irl-mother's arms 
 could support. Her lack of experience 
 was not made good by an intuitive per- 
 ception ; as the child had been placed on 
 her arms, so she continued to hold it, 
 fearing to move lest, the right attitude 
 once lost, all would go wrong. Her weak 
 body was in a constrained position, and 
 soon ached for a change, but, like a martyr 
 in a higher cause, she suffered bravely and 
 intentionally, content so long as the rasp- 
 ing voice remained silent. That was not 
 for long ; at length the eyes opened, and 
 with the eyes the mouth also, though not yet 
 with sound, but with a vain search for food.
 
 Mrs. Scott did not comprehend this 
 pantomime. She had not studied baby 
 signs and ways, and raising the little 
 creature, she danced it up and down with 
 a dim idea that that exercise was a panacea 
 for all baby troubles, especially if accom- 
 panied by a song about ' Dance-a-baby 
 diddy,' of which she now bitterly regretted 
 she remembered but that one line. The 
 effect was unhappily the opposite of the 
 intention. The hungry child bore it a little 
 time, but presently began to whimper, and, 
 as the case became hopeless, changed the 
 whimper to as loud a cry as her tender 
 lungs permitted. Her mother began to cry 
 too, and bent her face upon the little 
 puckered, angry lips in idle hope of so 
 comforting and calming her. Alas ! that 
 was the worst thing possible ; the soft 
 warm cheek was eagerly seized in the hot, 
 tiny mouth, to be instantly rejected with a
 
 44 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 storm of passionate disappointment, that 
 in utter despair the poor mother had to 
 own her inability to quiet her, and to 
 send for the bearer's help. He, of course, 
 had heard every sound — that was un- 
 avoidable in those noiseless wilds — but 
 had forborne to interfere till he was 
 summoned. The mem sahib had the baba, 
 he argued — who more proper to soothe 
 her than her own mother ? but he knew 
 what that loudest outcry meant before he 
 took the child, and there was peace and 
 satisfaction directly he had ministered to 
 the little creature. 
 
 The necessary halt had awakened Cap- 
 tain Scott, and he had looked out and ex- 
 changed a few words with his wife, and had 
 his pillows rearranged ; then baby had been 
 given back to her mother, and soon after 
 recommencing the journey both father and 
 child were asleep again.
 
 DOWNWARD AND OX WARD 45 
 
 For the next two or three hours they 
 continued to descend the grassy, silent 
 pathways, from which the mist had long 
 vanished, giving place to a rapidly increas- 
 ing heat wherein the wayside flowers 
 drooped and paled, and the gorgeous 
 butterflies and turquoise-tailed rocket 
 birds, the white-frilled lungoors, and the 
 never-silent crickets were the only living 
 creatures visible. Mrs. Scott grew 
 languid, then faint ; but, fearful of arousing 
 the sleeping child, she would not lie back, 
 nor ask for any refreshment, though, as 
 the road got lower and lower and the air 
 necessarily drooped, she was sadly in need 
 of some. She had had no thought for her 
 
 <z> 
 
 own wants. A coolie had been ordered to 
 attend close to her husband's dooly, and 
 he carried ample refreshments for all ; but, 
 notwithstanding the strict injunctions given 
 him, he had merely waited till he was sure
 
 46 THE SCOTTS OF BESTM1NSTER 
 
 his master was unable to keep a sharp 
 watch on him, and then he had followed 
 his own sweet will. First he stopped by a 
 running stream to fill himself with water ; 
 after that he was naturally unable to con- 
 tinue a rapid trot. A smoke was the next 
 desirable thing, and while so indulging 
 himself he came upon a heap of tattoo 
 drivers, with whom it was unavoidable to 
 discuss the affairs of his sahib, and a good 
 many compliments and ' Ram, Rams.' He 
 had hardly got rid of them before he descried 
 on the opposite side of the narrow pass a 
 drove of sheep with bags of salt slung 
 over their backs, and, of course, he must 
 squat down and watch their movements. 
 A distant shout from the bearer, who had 
 suddenly bethought himself of the laggard, 
 roused him into speed until he came into 
 view of the little procession moving down 
 the zigzag road within easy reach, when
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 47 
 
 he again slackened his steps and was soon 
 again far behind. But very soon the 
 echoing hills rang with the cry for ' Peer 
 Bux O ! Peer Bux gee !' and then the 
 laggard felt he had best think of others 
 instead of himself; and with the nimble 
 swiftness of a monkey he darted towards 
 the Rest-house, which was in sight far 
 down at the foot of the mountain road, 
 and where the travellers were to halt for 
 their noonday rest. 
 
 They had done well in getting thus far 
 by noon, for the little bungalow was hall- 
 way between Naini Tal and the base 
 of the Himalaya. The coolies quickly 
 relieved themselves of their loads, and ran 
 down to the stream to wash, cook, and 
 drink, in its clear, rock-strewn depths ; 
 while Captain and Mrs. Scott, in the 
 welcome shade of the inner room of the 
 verandaed house, bore as patiently as they
 
 48 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 might the want of food and the moaning 
 of the again restless baby. Just when 
 human nature seemed incapable of bearing 
 more, the coolie arived, flying up as if he 
 had never loitered ; but even the invalid 
 was roused sufficiently to assist the bearer 
 in energetic rebuke couched in unmis- 
 takable language. But the prolonged 
 waiting had the usual effect : Captain 
 Scott fancied something which had 
 not been provided, and tried to eat this 
 and that petulantly and ungratefully ; while 
 his wife, wearily pacing to and fro with her 
 burden of unrest, sickened at the si^ht of 
 food, though she felt almost dying for want 
 of it. 
 
 When his master had managed to follow 
 his faithful servant's entreaties to eat and 
 drink, the bearer ventured to suggest 
 that the mem sahib should take some- 
 thing. Captain Scott turned instantly
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 49 
 
 and, with a sting of remorse, noticed her 
 white drawn face. 
 
 'Janie dear,' he said, 'give that cross- 
 patch to bearer, and come to luncheon.' 
 
 ' But he must be tired and hungry too,' 
 she said in French. ' Do you think baby 
 might lie on the table ?' 
 
 ' Can't you stuff a bottle in its mouth ? 
 I've always seen babies lying about with 
 bottles in their mouths. Bearer, where's 
 the bottle ?' 
 
 The father's advice was followed ; and, 
 leaving the little family in comparative 
 comfort, bearer went off to his own meal. 
 
 Left to themselves, and Janie greatly 
 revived by the wine and food her husband 
 had made her take, they talked hopefully 
 of the journey before them. Once through 
 the Terai, they told each other, all would be 
 straight-sailing ; by early morning they 
 would be at Moradabad, then they could get 
 
 vol. 1. 4
 
 50 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 stores for the long railway journey — there 
 they would get fruit and ice and soda-water, 
 and an ayah if baby required one ; there all 
 their troubles would end. And in the 
 momentary comfort the invalid forgot his 
 former doubt and dread. 
 
 Bearer presently ran in excitedly to beg 
 his mistress to come outside to see a strange 
 sight. 
 
 ' There, mem sahib !' he said, as she 
 followed him to the veranda. 
 
 And Mrs. Scott, looking across the 
 broken uncultivated hillside, saw, some 
 three hundred yards away across the valley, 
 a splendid full-grown tiger, his ears cocked, 
 his feet delicately and deliberately lifted 
 and dropped as a cat following her prey, 
 his tail switching from side to side, his 
 superb skin shining in the sunlight ; while 
 just ahead of him stalked a large peacock, 
 his many-eyed tail outspread, his gracefully
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 51 
 
 crested head erect as he swept onward, act- 
 ing marshal to his majesty the tiger. A 
 royal pair ! Each a perfect specimen, full 
 of graceful strength. 
 
 ' Mem sahib,' the bearer whispered in 
 abject terror as he watched, ' make no 
 sound. Very wicked animal that ! The bird 
 is showing him his dinner ; but if he sees 
 us he may come back and eat us instead.' 
 
 An instant later and another animal 
 came into view. Just after the tiger had 
 passed a huge boulder, a large brown bear 
 came from behind it, and pausing for an 
 instant to give the fiercer beast room, he 
 joined the stately march, keeping well in 
 the rear, and evidently caricaturing the 
 measured movements ; now and then he 
 seemed overcome with the absurdity of 
 the situation, and raised his bulky paw as 
 if meditating a pat on the tiger's flanks, 
 but always refraining his intended stroke 
 
 4—2 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 • 31s LIBRAE
 
 52 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 in time. Once, as if conscious of the 
 mockery going on behind him, the tiger 
 turned and faced him. The bear stood 
 still and mildly bore the interrogative stare 
 as if unconscious of any cause of offence ; 
 but no sooner had the tiger resumed his 
 march than the bear was full of mischief 
 and mockery again. Bearer sighed as the 
 wild creatures passed safely out of sight ; 
 and the coolies, who had hidden the while, 
 came out again, thankful all immediate 
 danger was over. 
 
 When Mrs. Scott went in, she found 
 the bungalow keeper was entertaining Cap- 
 tain Scott with anecdotes of the quantity 
 and fierceness of the tigers thereabouts ; 
 only last year, he declared, a lady had 
 been carried off from that very compound. 
 She was quietly seated reading, when the 
 beast attacked and killed her, and dragged 
 her some way off.
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 53 
 
 ' But surely she must have screamed ?' 
 the Captain asked. ' Didn't anyone hear 
 her ?' 
 
 c Oh yes, she screamed,' was the reply. 
 ' I heard her screams — they were very 
 loud — but we all knew it was a tiger. Of 
 course we hid ourselves.' 
 
 The baby meantime had taken what 
 poor nourishment she could get out of the 
 milk which had already lost its sweetness, 
 and was again murmuring at its hard 
 fate. 
 
 1 Do try and stop that poor little 
 thing !' its father said ; ' bearer must 
 make haste and let us start. I never 
 knew such a temper for such a young 
 thing.' 
 
 She took it up the best way she could, 
 but even her inexperienced husband saw 
 that was not the right way. 
 
 ' This side up with care,' he said, and
 
 54 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 while he laughed she detected a ring of 
 sarcasm in his tone. The child resented 
 the unskilful touch, and cried louder. 
 
 1 It wants some more milk, perhaps,' she 
 said, and told bearer to bring what re- 
 mained of that they had brought with 
 them ; but the child would have none of it, 
 and no wonder — it had been carelessly left 
 in the hot sun, and had become perfectly 
 sour. 
 
 ' Poor little lass !' the father exclaimed ; 
 1 surely anybody might have foreseen that. 
 What's to be done now — can she eat 
 chupatties ?' 
 
 He spoke laughingly, but the case was 
 serious, as they all knew. The goats of 
 the bungalow were out at pasture ; they 
 might meet them on their way, but a 
 present supply of fresh milk was impos- 
 sible. 
 
 Mrs. Scott walked quickly up and down,
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 55 
 
 vainly trying to stop the noise, which had 
 become more than the invalid could bear, 
 but there was no chance of quiet ; the 
 little creature wanted food, and food she 
 would have. Her cries never ceased. At 
 last her mother, who was as hot and miser- 
 able as her baby, asked humbly : 
 
 1 Do you think it is cutting its teeth ? 
 You know, Mrs. Lister's baby suffered 
 dreadfully over its teeth.' 
 
 1 I don't think she's old enough for 
 teeth,' said the father ; ' but, of course, I 
 don't know ;' and husband and wife looked 
 at each other in sad perplexity. 
 
 'If it be a tooth,' and now Mrs. 
 Scott spoke with authority, • it will have 
 to be lanced ; the last time I lunched at 
 the Listers' their baby had one lanced ; 
 they said it was better directly. Do 
 you think you dare lance it ?' 
 
 ' Let's have a look,' he said.
 
 56 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 So Janie held the roaring baby down 
 to the reclining father's level, and he 
 anxiously felt the tiny gums. 
 
 '• There's a hard place here,' he said, 
 keeping his finger on the back of the 
 lower jaw, 'but they don't cut double-teeth 
 first, do they ?' 
 
 1 Children differ, I believe,' she said ; 
 'ask bearer.' 
 
 No smile had crossed the man's face as 
 he watched the little scene, though he was 
 storing it in his memory to enliven his 
 next curry feast. When he was appealed 
 to, he simply said it was impossible for the 
 missy baba to be getting a tooth yet, and 
 he had never known a back double-tooth 
 come first ; so the idea of lancing the gum 
 was abandoned. A sop was at last 
 thought of, and on that meagre fare the 
 little infant ceased to scream ; she was so 
 exhausted, in fact, that a very little comfort
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 57 
 
 went a long way, and, to the unspeakable 
 relief of her parents, she fell into a heavy 
 slumber. 
 
 ' It was so clever of you, Charley, to 
 think of the sop,' his wife said, as the 
 heavy eyes closed at last ; ' but when she 
 wakes what are we to do ?' 
 
 1 Take a crust of bread with you, and 
 let her suck it.' 
 
 At this the bearer interposed : 
 
 ( No, no, sahib,' he said, ' that would 
 choke her dead. Please God, we'll meet 
 the goats.' 
 
 With this hope they started off again, 
 between two and three o'clock, and when 
 the invalid was settled in the dooly, 
 he found himself unable to think or 
 to speak any more ; the spurt of energy 
 had been but for the hour, and as he was 
 carried along he was again the prey of 
 despair and suffering.
 
 58 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Once more his wife sat in her uneasy 
 attitude with the slumbering child on her 
 aching arms ; a heavy sob occasionally 
 shook the frail little body, but she was 
 quiet, and that was what her mother most 
 desired. They were passing through 
 some of the loveliest scenes in nature, but 
 she had no heart to rejoice, no eyes to 
 take in the loveliness ; to her it was all 
 inexpressibly lonely and desolate, and the 
 vastness oppressed and overwhelmed her 
 imaginative mind. She could not think of 
 the beauty of the present, but only of the 
 immensity and vagueness of the past and 
 future of these great solitudes. The 
 great bushes of silvery pampas - grass 
 bordering the grassy glades were instinct 
 with grace and life, but to her they waved 
 with a flutter suggestive of a cemetery. 
 Every now and again they were carried 
 along upward over a rocky ledge in the
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 59 
 
 sheer mountain-side, where avalanches of 
 stones had once descended and still 
 strewed the face of the mountain ; then the 
 way would seem to end in an acute angle, 
 forming a natural grotto lined with velvet 
 moss, and overgrown with ferns of rarest 
 beauty. The sound of falling water filled 
 the air, every streamlet running swiftly to 
 the bed of the valley, where the parent 
 stream, roaring and chafing amongst 
 boulders of all shapes and sizes, ceaselessly 
 dashed onwards to reach the mighty rivers 
 of the plains. 
 
 A turn in the seeming cul de sac would 
 bring them swiftly down through the heart 
 of a pine forest ; the big white stems were 
 like rigid pillars of fate to poor Mrs. Scott, 
 who longed to exchange their solemn 
 sameness and dimness for the brightness 
 of the open ground, with the troops of 
 monkeys darting here and there — grotesque
 
 60 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 caricatures of old white-bearded men — now 
 swinging themselves overhead from branch 
 to branch, now halting to show their teeth, 
 and jabber at the travellers ; the noble 
 Chikor and peacock-plumed moonal, the 
 red-legged partridge and his little gray 
 cousin, for they were all creatures of the 
 present : the dread shadowy woods were all 
 too awful for her. 
 
 Then they would come out to some 
 deep gorge, where the mountain walls rose 
 on either side, immense heights, over- 
 poweringly grand, till surmounting one of 
 them by a ladder-like path, scarce wide 
 enough for the dooly, the sight could 
 range from height to height in endless 
 chains of hills canopied by a cloudless sky 
 of purest, deepest blue. 
 
 With patient, miserable gaze, Mrs. 
 Scott noted all and enjoyed none of 
 these things ; once she slept for a few
 
 DOWNWARD A. YD ONWARD 61 
 
 minutes, but awoke in terror from a horrible 
 dream of falling into space, to find she had 
 let the baby slip from her almost palsied 
 arms, and it was lying at her feet. 
 
 She picked it up in an agony of remorse, 
 and as she earnestly looked on its waxen 
 features, some faint tenderness for its 
 helplessness stirred her heart. The sen- 
 sation pleased her. Hitherto she had re- 
 garded the child with fear and repulsion ; 
 so long as her ayah had charge of it she 
 had thought of it as an object of future 
 regard only, bearable so long as she had 
 no trouble with it ; but when the sole 
 charge of it was forced upon her she had — 
 unconsciously, it is true — rebelled against 
 the burthen as greater than she could 
 endure. 
 
 To some, Nature's maternal love comes 
 in its animal form, as mere instinct ; but to 
 others, the nobler natures, the instinct
 
 62 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 becomes a godlike attribute, unselfish, 
 all-enduring, uncomplaining. The noble 
 qualities Mrs. Scott really possessed 
 were yet dormant ; she was naturally 
 amiable and gentle, therefore it cost her 
 little to be sweet and charming when all 
 went well with her. She expected support 
 and guidance from her father, and when 
 she was disappointed in him, she looked 
 for them from her husband ; but it never 
 entered her head to suppose she owed 
 them just as much help and comfort as 
 they owed her. 
 
 In considering the probability of her hus- 
 band's death, she had vaguely told herself 
 her life would end with his ; that she must 
 look for consolation in his child had never 
 for an instant occurred to her. One great 
 safeguard and pledge of future good she 
 possessed : absolute faith and trust in God 
 — the boundless, unquestioning faith of a
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 63 
 
 little child. It was a hidden-away, shy 
 trust unsuspected by those who knew her 
 most intimately, but not the less real and 
 strong, though, like all else in her character, 
 it was imperfect, because she knew not how 
 to turn it to the best account. When she 
 was first out from England and was the 
 pride of the station, flattered and made 
 much of, this deep inner consciousness kept 
 her from being utterly carried away by 
 vanity and egotism, and led her to choose 
 a husband for what he was instead of what 
 he had. Yet when her husband's health 
 broke down, she was incapable of assisting 
 him, just as now, while she pitied and 
 cried over her hapless infant, she was in- 
 capable of helping her, all the time crying 
 to God in perfect trust, yet unconscious 
 that God did not mean her to be a mere 
 machine. 
 
 Poor little baby ! too young to shed
 
 64 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 tears, yet enduring untold sorrow and 
 suffering ; as the little mouth opened and 
 moved restlessly in search of food her 
 mother wondered what was amiss, and 
 danced her up and down till even she dis- 
 covered something more than diversion was 
 necessary, and in her imperfect Hindu- 
 stanee she tried to make the coolies under- 
 stand she wanted the bearer. But at that 
 moment bearer had come upon the Rest- 
 house goats — had gone joyfully off for a 
 supply of milk — and before lie returned 
 the baby's paroxysm was over ; her head 
 had dropped heavily on her mother's arm, 
 and Mrs. Scott was rejoicing in the 
 calm. 
 
 Fortunately the man came up without 
 having to be fetched, bearing a little lota 
 full of frothed goat's milk. He uttered 
 an exclamation of alarm as he looked at 
 the child, and quickly dropped a drop of
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 65 
 
 milk on the pinched blue lips ; it fell off 
 unheeded. Then he took her in his arms, 
 and, seating himself on the ground, 
 forced the little mouth open, and dropped 
 a tiny drop of milk within ; but there was 
 no sign of eager hunger now : set and 
 motionless the little creature remained, 
 her eyes partly open, but no visible sign 
 of life. In haste he put her back on his 
 mistress's knee, and, bidding the dooly 
 men come on quickly, he ran to stop his 
 master. Roused out of sleep, Captain 
 Scott heard the news with fretful com- 
 plaint. 
 
 ' What did he know about babies ?' he 
 asked. 
 
 Fortunately some faint perception of 
 what was fit had come to Mrs. Scott. 
 As she was carried on she raised the 
 baby's head, and after repeatedly drop- 
 ping milk into the heedless mouth, she 
 
 vol. 1. 5
 
 66 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIKSTER 
 
 found animation gradually returning. The 
 little thing at last swallowed some, and 
 presently eagerly and ravenously con- 
 tinued to receive it — opening her eyes, 
 too, and fixing them on her mother. 
 
 Who so proud as that mother when, 
 her dooly being placed alongside her 
 husband's, she was able to show the proof 
 of her ability ? But even he, all inex- 
 perienced as he was, was frightened when 
 he saw the baby, improved though her 
 mother boasted her to be. 
 
 4 Let us get on as quick as we can,' 
 he said ; ' there may by chance be a 
 doctor at Rajket — at any rate, we shall 
 find one at Moradabad. We shall be 
 there by morning ; but I doubt if she'll 
 last till then.' 
 
 ' Oh, she's all right now ; she was only 
 hungry. She'll be all right with this nice 
 milk — won't she, bearer ?'
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 67 
 
 The man said something to his master 
 in a low tone. 
 
 ' He says you must not give her so 
 much of that,' Captain Scott repeated. 
 ' Little infants like that can't take much at 
 a time, and very weak only. You must 
 mix that with water.' 
 
 'Oh, I'm sure that's nonsense!' she 
 answered ; 'good milk must be better 
 than milk-and-water. These people have 
 queer ideas, you know.' 
 
 So if the little one had nearly died 
 of want, she was now likely to die of 
 repletion. Mrs. Scott continued to 
 feed her every time she seemed about 
 to cry, and long before they reached 
 Rajket, where they were to rest for some 
 hours, she was seriously ill. The night 
 came on — the lovely summer night, per- 
 fumed with the roses and jasmine which 
 bordered the wayside ; but all too soon 
 
 5— 2
 
 68 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 the roses and jasmine, over which the 
 fire-flies flickered like winged diamonds, 
 were left behind. Instead of grassy glade 
 came ankle-deep sandy tracks ; by-and-by 
 wayfarers were met in greater and greater 
 numbers ; pariah dogs made themselves 
 heard ; mud-huts grew out of the under- 
 wood and sand-heaps ; and once more the 
 doolies became stationary under a rest- 
 house veranda — the rest-house of Rajket. 
 
 Then came the usual question of the 
 traveller, 'What can the bungalow man give 
 for dinner ?' and the usual answer, ' Any- 
 thing and everything,' and the usual coming 
 down to nothing but 'spatchcock and chu- 
 patties ;' but, even could a banquet be 
 provided at that wretched bungalow, the 
 plague of flies must prevent its enjoy- 
 ment. To be sure, there was the punkah 
 to keep them at bay ; but where were the 
 punkah-coolies ? The hot season was not
 
 DO WNWARD AND ONWARD 69 
 
 reckoned to have begun yet at Rajket, so 
 no punkah-coolies were available, conse- 
 quently the flies were not to be avoided, 
 and their importunity quickly reduced 
 Captain Scott to a state of irritable 
 prostration. They swarmed thickly on 
 everything, walked into one's eyes, clus- 
 tered on the baby's mouth, perched in 
 black rosettes on her bald head, and, in 
 anger at being dislodged for the moment, 
 assailed her mother and father in in- 
 creased numbers. 
 
 Bearer was busy paying coolies and 
 collecting fresh ones for the next start ; 
 at each stopping-place all the first worry 
 and confusion of preparation comes over 
 again, and on the bearer's shoulders alone 
 rested the whole weight and responsibility. 
 
 Captain Scott revived a little after a 
 glass of quinine and sherry, and called 
 peevishly to his wife :
 
 jo THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Can't you put that brat down some- 
 where ? you seem very fond of it all at 
 once. I shall go mad if these brutes of 
 flies go on tormenting me ! Can't you 
 get a fellow to pull the punkah ? Can't 
 you get someone to make a bed for me ? 
 I am so hot, and so tired. Confound that 
 ayah for running away !' 
 
 Janie spoke impatiently too : 
 
 1 If I put her down those beasts of flies 
 will eat her up, I verily believe,' she said. 
 ' If I could only make myself understood, 
 I'd get a punkah-coolie.' 
 
 Tears of fatigue were running down 
 her face; but she kept behind her husband, 
 and, putting baby on one arm, she waved 
 her handkerchief with the other over his 
 head. He noticed the temper in her voice, 
 but knew nothing of her tears, nor thought 
 of her weakness and fatigue, as he ex- 
 claimed :
 
 DOWNWARD AND OX WARD 71 
 
 'It's no use flying in a rage; you've 
 not much to try you ! You are not on 
 your last legs, unable to help yourself. 
 Of course, that child is a bother to you 
 just now — so am I, I dare say; but you'll 
 soon be rid of us both.' 
 
 1 Oh, Charley !' she cried, falling on her 
 knees beside him, and showing her white 
 wet face, ' don't talk like that. I know 
 I'm stupid and useless, but I am so sick 
 and tired. I would rather die instead of 
 you, if I could. What do you think I can 
 do if you die and leave me ?' 
 
 A passionate burst of agonized tears 
 stopped her, while he, who had repented 
 of the ungenerous words as soon as uttered, 
 tried vainly to undo their effect. 
 
 ' Oh. don't !' he cried, in his utter weak- 
 ness becoming almost hysterical. ' I didn't 
 mean it, my darling — my own little Janie !' 
 
 He sank back fainting, and she sprang
 
 72 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 up and screamed for bearer. Alas ! what 
 had she done ? She became penitent and 
 quiet in a moment, blaming herself bitterly 
 for her want of self-control. She managed 
 to bribe a man to pull the punkah-rope ; 
 and as the dusty old fringe was set in 
 motion, keeping the flies away by its 
 influence, and her husband smiled up at 
 her with a mute petition in his eyes for her 
 forgiveness, she could smile back again 
 and feel comforted. 
 
 When Captain Scott had gone to sleep, 
 and bearer went off for his food and 
 rest, when even baby lay quietly sleeping, 
 Mrs. Scott might have tried to refresh 
 herself with a doze, but her foolish fears 
 prevented her. The big high unceilinged 
 room was to her full of enemies. She sat 
 bolt upright in the middle of the paved 
 floor, her legs tucked under her, prepared 
 to pass the time until the start as patiently
 
 DO WNIVARD AND ONWARD 73 
 
 as might be, battling with her desire to 
 sleep for fear of the musk-rats, the house- 
 rats, the mice, the lizards, and the bats that 
 swarmed in the dilapidated old house. 
 The shrill cry of the blind musk-rat, 
 groping round and round, the squeak of 
 the more daring mice scampering every- 
 where, the whir of the bats' leathern wings, 
 alternately alarmed her. Night was made 
 hideous to her by outside as well as 
 inside sounds ; she could hear the 
 hyena's weird howling, laughing cry, the 
 jackal's hateful, fitful wail, the fox's short 
 cross yap, the wild-cat's hissing growl, the 
 flying fox's loud squeal, and the owl's 
 monotonous moan, with, strangest sound 
 of all to her, the extraordinary whir of 
 the ice-bird as of a stone rebounding over 
 ice. 
 
 Foolish girl ! she sat nursing her dread 
 instead of trying to forget it, and when,
 
 74 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 now and then, the punkah-coolie fell asleep 
 and the flies returned to the attack, she 
 could not summon up enough resolution to 
 call to him to go on. Her thoughts were 
 very painful : the faint stirrings of maternal 
 love were still present, and with them a 
 very faint sense of her shortcomings as a 
 helpmeet were stirring also ; her husband's 
 piercing words rang in her ears. Was he 
 on his last legs ? Was his child going to 
 die too ? Was it not a horrible dream 
 she was dreaming ? Could this hour of 
 gloom and horror be real ? Her husband's 
 fitful breathing, the child's occasional low 
 moaning, answered the question. Poor 
 young wife, educated to fill an ideal exist- 
 ence, kept ignorant of life's real aim and 
 duties ! 
 
 Captain Scott awoke unrefreshed. His 
 strength was overtasked ; he had no 
 power to remember anything, and when he
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 75 
 
 was placed in the dooly and his wife kissed 
 him and whispered tender words, thus 
 trying to express her sorrow for having 
 hurt him, he was too weak to notice her, 
 and she crept away and settled herself in 
 her place with the child, feeling lonelier 
 and more dejected than ever. During her 
 momentary absence bearer had held the 
 baby close to the light, and as he shook 
 his head in mute dismay at its appearance, 
 one of the coolies asked him if it were 
 dead. 
 
 ' Dead — nay !' was the answer, ' but 
 surely dying.' 
 
 As he gave her to his mistress he begged 
 her to keep her warm. 
 
 'Warm!' Mrs. Scott said; 'that's easy 
 down here. She's better, isn't she ?' 
 
 When they had started, and she felt the 
 coolness of the night air, she remembered 
 the warning, and as she drew the quiet
 
 76 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 little figure close a sweet sense of comfort 
 came to her. Was it possible she was 
 going to love this weary burthen ? She 
 tried to look at her when the torch-light 
 occasionally flashed into the dooly, but 
 the light was not strong enough to show 
 her the darkening lines growing about her 
 eyes and mouth. Nor was she alarmed by 
 the laboured breathing, nor the tightly- 
 clenched hands that refused to open in her 
 warm grasp. 
 
 For the first two hours the way lay 
 through dense jungle. On either side all 
 view was prevented by stunted trees and 
 thick underwood. Here and there, as they 
 passed some spot of evil reputation, the 
 men became frightened, and raised their 
 voices in shrill chorus to scare the evil 
 spirit or the wild beast who might be 
 hungering for man's flesh. Only a week 
 ago a mad elephant had attacked the dak
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 77 
 
 in these wilds, had trampled one runner to 
 death, and had pursued his companion for 
 miles. This beast was still at large. 
 Who could say how near he was ? Here, 
 again, a mangy man-eating tiger had 
 boldly entered a walled-in village, and 
 leaping upon the chief man's tattoo, 
 picketed in the very heart of the village, 
 had lifted him bodily and carried him off. 
 
 Shitan himself possessed the animals 
 here ! They were bullet-proof ; it was 
 useless to try to escape them. Never- 
 theless, the poor fellows shouted their 
 loudest, and quickened their pace, and 
 when the deadly shelter of the Terai 
 jungle was left behind, audibly thanked 
 the Evil One who for once had taken their 
 side against the wild janwars. 
 
 Leaving the Terai, they came out on the 
 sandy reach through which the Ganges 
 spreads itself into numerous channels.
 
 78 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 At this season every arm of the mighty 
 river was full, and it was here the real 
 dangers of the journey lay. The night 
 was dark and cloudy, and out in the open 
 the wind blew strongly. At every inter- 
 secting stream there was long delay. If 
 the water was fordable the coolies merely 
 raised the doolies to their heads and 
 walked through ; if it was too deep to ford, 
 the doolies were placed on crazy native 
 punts, and so forwarded. In either case, 
 there was more noise than labour ; voices 
 rose loud and shrill in ejaculation, interroga- 
 tion, anger, or persuasion ; the torches 
 flared and flickered, sending their stifling 
 smoke over the travellers, half choking 
 Captain Scott and making the baby 
 gasp. 
 
 When the main bed of the river was 
 reached the excitement culminated. There 
 a large ferry boat received both doolies,
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 79 
 
 and as they were placed side by side, hus- 
 band and wife could speak to each other. 
 Janie, who had been very frightened during 
 these several watery passages, was re- 
 lieved to be beside her husband again, 
 and bent forward eagerly to greet him; but 
 he seemed weaker than ever, complained 
 of cold and heat, and talked incoherently 
 of having still another river to cross all 
 alone. 
 
 She listened while her heart beat fast 
 with alarm. The feeble voice was only 
 audible now and then, because of the noisy 
 gusts of wind, the creaking of the ferry 
 chains, and the shouting of the servants. 
 The child in her arms feebly kicking was as 
 nothing to the seemingly dying father. 
 She made herself speak hopefully of their 
 nearness to the doctor at Moradabad, of 
 the daylight close by ; but he paid no 
 attention to her words, and the direst
 
 80 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 forebodings oppressed her. A new cause 
 for fear sprung up as soon as they found 
 themselves on land a^ain. Once out of the 
 shelter of the high banks, they became 
 exposed to a hurricane, and the dooly 
 was in momentary danger of being blown 
 over. Mrs. Scott screamed, and when 
 bearer reached her he was in just as great 
 a terror. 
 
 1 Mem sahib,' he said, holding his turban 
 on and hardly able to speak for want of 
 breath, ' we must get shelter somewhere. 
 Here is a regular dust-storm ; the sahib 
 will be killed in it.' 
 
 ( What does the sahib say ? she cried. 
 
 1 The sahib can say nothing. If the 
 mem sahib will only give leave, there is a 
 village near where we can shelter till the 
 storm is over.' 
 
 As he spoke, he had to hold on by the 
 dooly to keep on his feet, and the heavy
 
 DOWNWARD AXD ONWARD Si 
 
 wraps over Mrs. Scott were lifted by the 
 furious searching wind. 
 
 ' Oh, take us there quickly !' she cried in 
 increasing fear. ' Anything to be out of 
 this howling, scowling desert !' 
 
 It was the darkest hour of the night — 
 the hour before dawn — as the bearers, 
 staggering before the blast, conveyed the 
 doolies into the safe shelter of the di- 
 lapidated mud walls that screened the heap 
 of mud hovels which usually constitute an 
 Indian village. The head man was at 
 once aroused, and with many salaams he 
 placed all he had at the disposal of the 
 welcome visitors. 
 
 As a rule, Indians are never profoundly 
 asleep in their closed houses, and the 
 doolies had only just been put down 
 when they were surrounded by people of 
 both sexes and all ages, accompanied by 
 numerous pariah dogs. 
 
 vol. i. 6
 
 82 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Poor Mrs. Scott had been afraid of the 
 storm, but she was now infinitely more afraid 
 of the close proximity of these unkempt 
 natives and unsavoury dogs. The drench- 
 ing storm of rain that presently burst upon 
 them drove most of the crowd to shelter, 
 and the doolies had to be placed in a 
 shed, shared with some cows, a tattoo, and 
 a few goats and dogs. Here the faintness 
 and smell quite overpowered the travellers. 
 Mrs. Scott fainted, and her husband 
 roused himself to insist on being carried 
 out into the open air, rain or no rain. 
 
 The cool, damp wind soon restored both, 
 but Janie shivered with ague, and the bearer 
 handed the baby to a woman in the crowd 
 till the poor mother regained control over 
 her trembling limbs. The villagers made 
 their remarks loudly on their unexpected 
 guests ; and though Mrs. Scott only 
 understood a word here and there, she
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 83 
 
 heard enough to make her thoroughly 
 miserable. 
 
 As daylight came, the storm dispersed, 
 and a brilliant sunrise threw a glamour 
 over the dirt and untidiness of the sur- 
 roundings. Baby had been attended to 
 by her pitying new friends ; her parents 
 had drank some new milk, and rewarded 
 the givers ; and, as the dhoolies were 
 raised, the simple kindly people showered 
 blessings on their occupants. 
 
 As her husband was removed from her 
 side, Mrs. Scott said : 
 
 ' We shall soon be all right, darling. 
 You feel better, don't you ? The worst 
 is over.' 
 
 Yet, as she spoke, she was thinking of 
 the villagers' remarks upon his death-like 
 appearance. 
 
 He looked at her earnestly. 
 
 ' I don't think you are much better than 
 
 6—2
 
 84 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 I am,' he answered. ' I have made up my 
 mind to get an ayah at Moradabad. If 
 you knock up, what shall I do ?' 
 
 He spoke so tenderly that she felt com- 
 forted and cheered, and, as the child was 
 quiet and seemed inclined to sleep, the first 
 hour of the renewed journey passed over 
 well; but as the sun grew intensely hot, 
 and the dust raised by the coolies' feet rose 
 in clouds, invading the dooly and shutting- 
 out all view, the little thing became rest- 
 less, and its mother was again reduced to 
 despair. She had tasted no food for hours, 
 the attack of ague had greatly exhausted 
 her, and now she became an easy prey to 
 fever. 
 
 She would not stop, for the delay during 
 the storm had already prolonged their pro- 
 gress dangerously, and she had not sense 
 enough remaining to take some quinine. 
 The lieht burthen of the child seemed
 
 DOWNWARD AND ONWARD 85 
 
 alternately feather-light and heavy as lead ; 
 a terror possessed her lest she should let it 
 fall or squeeze it too closely ; her very in- 
 dividuality puzzled her — the baby was the 
 only reality she had the power to grasp ; 
 yet it was not a baby, but a terrible phan- 
 tom overpowering her mind and body. 
 The damp and heat of the storm, the 
 worry at the dak bungalow at Rajket, her 
 inexperience and terror, were all powerful 
 aids to illness, and her weakened con- 
 stitution could not fight against them. 
 
 She kept a certain degree of conscious- 
 ness till they reached Moradabad. Its 
 great gates, vast market-place, and wide 
 bazaars impressed her, and were mixed up 
 in her thoughts with Walter Scott's novels ; 
 while she was also observant of the mer- 
 chants, shawled and turbaned, gravely sit- 
 ting on their shop-boards surrounded by 
 piles of gay-coloured cloths and jewellery,
 
 86 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 the heaps of coloured bracelets and anklets, 
 the nose and ear and toe rings, the savoury 
 kawab stalls, the tempting pan, the sweets, 
 and bright horse-trappings, the busy crowd 
 in their gay turbans and flowing sarees ; 
 then her overtaxed body overwhelmed her 
 brain — all and everything became chaotic 
 and blurred ; and when the little party 
 stopped at last at the further side of the 
 town, under the deep-shaded veranda of 
 the dak bungalow, a senseless baby lay at 
 the feet of an equally senseless mother.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GOOD-BYE. 
 
 The Doctor of the 130th Regiment, 
 stationed at Moradabad, was breakfasting. 
 He was finishing a big basin of dhulia — a 
 compound of wheat and milk, answering to 
 English furmity ; while dishes of eggs and 
 bacon, curry and omelette, fish, Irish stew, 
 with trifles, such as jam and fresh fruits to 
 follow, were circled round him for future 
 consideration. He had well earned his 
 meal : hospital, married quarters, and 
 private visits, had kept him at work since 
 before sunrise, and now at ten o'clock,
 
 88 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 after a bath and a glance at the Pioneer, 
 he felt himself entitled to a long rest. 
 
 Two or three other officers were still at 
 table ; they had breakfasted, but loitered 
 on the chance of hearing any gossip the 
 doctor might have picked up in his rounds. 
 
 1 Those selfish married fellows !' the 
 Doctor said, as he swallowed his dhulia ; 
 'they keep one button-holed in the hot 
 sun to hear how their clever youngsters are 
 getting on at home — as if all youngsters 
 weren't alike : nuisances to every fellow 
 but their father and mother !' 
 
 ' You're ruining your appetite with that 
 stickiness, Doctor !' the youngest sub ex- 
 claimed. * Try the unde-poche ; you'll 
 take a kinder view of your fellow-creatures 
 then.' 
 
 The Doctor finished the reviled mess 
 with a grunt of satisfaction and a wink at 
 the boy.
 
 GOOD-B 1 'E 89 
 
 ' Children who smoke and drink at a 
 tender age such as yours,' he said, 'are no 
 judges of what is fit. I want a hot- water 
 plate, Khansamah !' 
 
 He piled his plate with curry and rice, 
 and continued talking. 
 
 ' Married fellows are always flaunting 
 their homes and their youngsters in one's 
 face, as if one couldn't have a home and 
 youngsters of one's own, if one chose.' 
 
 1 No, that's just it !' cried the sub ; 
 ' you know the difficulty is for you to get 
 the "one" to " choose " you. Confess, 
 old fellow, you've asked every spin you 
 ever came across, and can't get one of 
 them all to take up her spoon with you ; 
 they all know your pay doesn't suffice for 
 your grub !' 
 
 A lauorh went round, in which the 
 Doctor joined. 
 
 1 " Needles and pins !" he sang,
 
 9o 
 
 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 '"Needles and pins! When a man 
 marries his trouble begins." No, no ; 
 I never need to ask, my boy ; the 
 difficulty is to keep the girls from asking 
 me. It's so awkward for a fellow to have 
 to say No.' 
 
 ' There's the Major,' he continued, after 
 tossing down a basinful of tea; ' his precious 
 baby didn't sleep last night, so they think 
 it's getting measles or small-pox — the brat's 
 as lively as a flea.' 
 
 ' Come now, Doctor ; it's a darling, you 
 know it is. I heard you tell its mother so 
 yesterday.' 
 
 ' She's so pretty, how could I help it ? 
 Well, I think the Barlow baby is a darling, 
 but it is an exception, just the same as the 
 Barlows are exceptions. If I could find 
 another Mrs. Barlow, I really think I could 
 persuade myself to run in double harness.' 
 
 He helped himself to a fresh supply of
 
 GOOD-BYE 91 
 
 food, and was about to enj'07 it, when his 
 servant interrupted him. 
 
 ' wSahib/ he said, ' here is a man from 
 the dak bungalow.' 
 
 1 Tell him to wait.' 
 
 'He says he can't wait; his master is 
 dead.' 
 
 ' Then I can't be of any use.' 
 
 1 And his mem sahib is dead.' 
 
 1 What does the fool mean ?' 
 
 ' And the chota missy baba is dead.' 
 
 1 Then they'd best bury them all 
 together.' 
 
 'Sahib,' the man continued very em- 
 phatically, ' they are officer people from 
 the hills — white officer people — and the 
 bungalow wallah won't admit them.' 
 
 All the officers sprang to their feet, and 
 ran into the outer veranda, where the 
 Scott's bearer, looking wayworn and weary, 
 took up the story.
 
 92 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 'Will the Doctor sahib come quickly?' 
 he said ; ' my master, Captain Scott 
 sahib, was flying to Bombay — the Naini 
 Tal doctors ordered him off to save his 
 life. They feared he could not bear the 
 journey, but it was his only chance. He 
 did bear it pretty well till about two coss 
 from here, when he could no longer bear 
 the jolting of the dooly ; we thought he 
 would have died. I ran to tell the mem 
 sahib, but she could not understand ; she 
 had the fever. The sahib revived a little, 
 and bade us hurry on ; but when we reached 
 the rest-bungalow he was speechless, and 
 the bungalow man said they were all dead, 
 and would not let them in.' 
 
 The Doctor was working himself into 
 his white uniform as he listened ; his 
 horse had already been sent for. Sym- 
 pathy is quickly evoked in India ; and as 
 he galloped across the short space that
 
 GOOD-BYE 93 
 
 divided the mess from the dak bungalow 
 he was followed by the young men who 
 had listened to the sad story with him. 
 
 They found the bearer's story all too 
 true. Mrs. Scott lay senseless in her 
 dooly, her child huddled up at her feet ; 
 the husband, with glazed, drawn, lemon- 
 coloured face, was lying back open- 
 eyed, and only just conscious ; while 
 the coolies, squatting open - mouthed 
 around, stared at each unfortunate in turn, 
 impotent to help. 
 
 The Doctor's storm of invectives brought 
 the keeper of the bungalow to his senses ; 
 the doors were flung open, the best rooms 
 hastily arranged, the doolies carried in 
 out of the heated air, and the sufferers 
 made as comfortable as circumstances per- 
 mitted. The Doctor carried Mrs. Scott 
 to a charpoy, and did his best to restore 
 animation ; while his companions placed
 
 94 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 Captain Scott on a bedstead on the 
 opposite side of the room ; and bearer 
 loosened the baby's clothing, and rubbed 
 the emaciated little form. 
 
 Captain Scott was soon able to speak, 
 but his wife's condition baffled all attempts 
 at recovery. As for the baby, her frail life 
 was restored as if by a miracle ; but though 
 she took nourishment and lost her pallor, 
 she was sickly enough to make the Doctor 
 send off for one of the ladies of his regi- 
 ment to come to her rescue. She needed 
 a woman's care. 
 
 The young sub volunteered to fetch one, 
 and brought back both a lady and her 
 husband, the Major and Mrs. Barlow who 
 had been discussed so lately. Fortunately 
 the Major remembered Captain Scott 
 at Sandhurst, and though the one had 
 been almost ready to pass out when the 
 other was only going in, the slight link was
 
 GOOD-BYE 95 
 
 quite enough so far from home to make 
 them feel like old friends. So the Major 
 seated himself by the Captain, and ques- 
 tioned and listened sympathetically, while 
 his wife assisted the Doctor. 
 
 Captain Scott's eyes brightened as 
 he watched the pretty young woman bend 
 tenderly over his wife ; the very room be- 
 came light and fresh by her presence. She 
 had one of those few fortunate constitu- 
 tions that expand and blossom as if in their 
 proper element in the Indian climate ; no 
 English gfiri on EnQ-lish soil could show a 
 rosier complexion. And she knew how 
 to dress becomingly : her dainty attire of 
 spotless white was made as no other 
 woman in the station could make theirs 
 — not even with Paris patterns. Yet her 
 dirzee made everything, and the Major 
 truthfully boasted of her economy in dress. 
 The motherly manner with which she
 
 96 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 crooned over the feeble baby, the quick 
 tears starting as she noticed her miser- 
 able plight, touched the young father pro- 
 foundly. Would his poor feeble wife ever 
 expand into so gracious a woman as this ? 
 Tempting dainties followed in her wake, 
 and, to his own great astonishment, Cap- 
 tain Scott ate and drank, and was 
 cheered and invigorated as much by the 
 companionship as by the food. 
 
 When, after long and patient watchful- 
 ness and pains, the Doctor succeeded in 
 restoring animation to the other patient, 
 and she opened her eyes, the question of 
 continuing the journey was discussed, and 
 absolutely negatived by the new friends. 
 Another doctor had been fetched, and 
 while both doctors declared the husband 
 must go forward, they were equally de- 
 cided the wife and child could only be 
 hurried on at the risk of their lives. The
 
 GOOD-BYE 97 
 
 time when the train would leave was 
 drawing near before this could be made 
 clear to Captain Scott, and when he at 
 length realized what was required of him, 
 he put off his decision ' till Janie regains 
 consciousness.' 
 
 But Mrs. Scott, with open but unspecu- 
 lative eyes, made no response when she 
 was addressed, nor did the slightest emo- 
 tion appear on her white face when her 
 husband staggered across the room to her 
 side and again and again called to her to 
 notice him. 
 
 As considerately as was possible, the 
 doctors told him it was best she should be 
 left undisturbed. Her brain was evidently 
 unable to act naturally ; indeed, there was 
 danger in trying to force it into activity. 
 They assured him she needed nothing but 
 prolonged rest, but that rest must be given 
 at once. 
 
 vol. i. 7
 
 98 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 He sat holding his watch in a miserable 
 state of perplexity and indecision. He said 
 he didn't mind dying alone, but she would 
 distress herself so much if he left her behind. 
 As he spoke his eyes moved restlessly from 
 one to the other with an impotent, beseech- 
 ing expression. His companions said what 
 they could. 
 
 ' She'll understand the emergency when 
 she's herself again,' said one. 
 
 1 It would be cruel to make her travel in 
 her state,' said another. 
 
 ' You must go ; you have no choice,' said 
 the one doctor. ' We should be blamed to 
 let you remain.' 
 
 1 And with your good bearer to look after 
 you, your wife will feel quite sure you will 
 be taken care of,' said the second, 
 
 ' And I am going to take her home with 
 me,' Mrs. Barlow added, smiling upon him. 
 4 I have three such nice rooms to spare,
 
 GOOD-BYE 99 
 
 and baby will have my experienced 
 ayah to nurse her up, and you won't know 
 either of them when you meet them 
 again.' 
 
 He smiled a smile akin to tears, and for 
 a moment could not speak. 
 
 1 You don't know what a mere girl she 
 is,' he said at last. ' She'll fret herself to 
 death. Yet it would be best for her to be 
 with such good friends.' 
 
 They knew he was thinking of the event 
 of his death before he reached Bombay, 
 but took advantage of the slight appearance 
 of yielding. 
 
 ' Then,' said the Major, ' we have your 
 permission to keep her and the child until 
 they are fit to follow you. You will tele- 
 graph from Bombay and again from Aden, 
 and of course when you arrive at South- 
 ampton. Send bearer back to us, and he 
 will be handy on the journey again. Be- 
 
 7—2
 
 ioo THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 sides, he will tell Mrs. Scott all the particu- 
 lars she will wish to hear.' 
 
 Captain Scott thought silently for awhile, 
 bringing his weakened mind to see little by 
 little the desirability of accepting the Bar- 
 lows' kindness. 
 
 1 If it must be so, it must,' he said 
 at last ; ' but if she wakes up before I start 
 and seems all right again ?' 
 
 ' Oh, in that case she would go with you.' 
 
 The Doctor spoke thus, perfectly certain 
 in his own mind the poor girl would not be 
 ' all right ' for many a day. 
 
 Captain Scott scribbled a few words to 
 be given his wife in case she did not ac- 
 company him, and gave her father's address 
 at Allahabad. He insisted, too, on leaving 
 a heavy cheque for her expenses, and by 
 the time these business matters were over, 
 bearer had the dooly in and his departure 
 was at hand.
 
 GOOD-BYE 101 
 
 Once more he staggered to his wife's 
 side, and as he observed the red spots 
 on each cheek, and listened to her rapid 
 breathing, he became painfully agitated, 
 and, looking round in sudden suspicion, 
 entreated them to tell him the truth. Was 
 she dying, too ? 
 
 The doctors assured him she was in 
 no danger — the fever was at its height, 
 and she had been over-tired — add- 
 ing : 
 
 1 But you must acknowledge she is not 
 fit to travel.' 
 
 ' I can't leave her like this !' he cried ; 
 1 it would be shocking ! How could I 
 face her people after leaving her to die 
 alone amongst strangers ? No ; I don't 
 mean strangers — never were there such 
 good friends. God bless you all !' 
 
 In his dire weakness he sank into a 
 chair trembling, and all the arguments had
 
 102 THE SCOTTS OF WESTMINSTER 
 
 to be gone over again, before he was induced 
 once more to do as they advised. 
 
 Once more he clasped her burning 
 hands, and kissed the lips that had never 
 before been unresponsive to his. 
 
 ' You will tell her,' he said, ' how I left 
 her — how hard it was. You will telegraph 
 to me at Bombay and Aden. I will be 
 sure to do so too — if I get as far.' 
 
 Mrs. Barlow's bright eyes were full of 
 tears, but she affected a gaiety she felt to 
 be odious, and as he was about to enter 
 the dooly, she held his baby towards 
 him. 
 
 ' Say good-bye to your daughter, papa !' 
 
 He looked down on the puckered sallow 
 caricature of a face with a look of dis- 
 gust. 
 
 ' What a miserable little atom !' he said, 
 and was about to pass on, when a sudden 
 impulse changed him, making him bend
 
 GOOD-BYE 103 
 
 down and kiss her. ' I never cared for 
 babies of that age,' he added apologeti- 
 cally, ' and she is such a scarecrow, isn't 
 she?' 
 
 In after-years he often remembered 
 that first and last kiss, and was glad of it. 
 As he was carried out into the veranda, 
 the strains of a band playing a then 
 fashionable waltz were heard. Scarcely 
 a year ago he and Janie had never tired 
 of dancing together to it ; scarcely a year 
 ago, when the separation of an hour or 
 two was insupportable to both, and now 
 he was going to leave her — perhaps for 
 ever. He called out to be put down 
 again ; he had changed his mind — he 
 would wait till to-morrow ; but he was 
 not obeyed. 
 
 1 Quickly, quickly !' cried the Doctor 
 to the bearers, ■ or you'll miss the train.' 
 
 At the station there were six or seven
 
 104 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 good fellows, some friends of his friends, 
 others merely attracted by good fellow- 
 ship, wishful to cheer him onward. A 
 book, some papers, some fruit, a cushion, 
 a porous water-bottle to sling in the 
 window, a stout stick, a merry message 
 to London, kindnesses thrust upon him 
 by men of whose names he was ignorant, 
 made him take his place in the train 
 with some degree of hope. He smiled 
 out at them as he slowly passed away, 
 their cheery faces floating encouragingly 
 in his memory as he was carried onward ; 
 but their countenances were sad enough 
 as soon as he was out of sight. 
 
 ' Write, his children fatherless, and his 
 wife a widow,' some one said solemnly, 
 and no one felt the quotation inapt. 
 
 So Captain Scott was carried onward 
 through ' the lonely land,' and the smooth 
 rapid motion suited him much better than
 
 GOOD-BYE 105 
 
 the jolting of the often uneven motion of 
 the dooly. He began to be interested in 
 the scenes ; to notice the immensity of the 
 levels ; the violet tints on the distant hills ; 
 the varied olives, greens, and browns of the 
 colossal trees ; the depth of the matted 
 jungle underwood, with its occasional 
 breaks of vivid cultivation ; the heavy 
 widespread eagles swooping through the 
 burning air ; the solitary sarus and bustards 
 standing contemplatively by the reedy 
 watercourses ; the great herds of antlered 
 deer bounding along the open, wisely 
 keeping clear of the tiger-haunted cover, 
 however great their terror of the rattling 
 train ; the beautiful white storks, and the 
 gentleman-like adjutants, besides the host 
 of smaller gayer birds, and the never- 
 absent screaming vultures and kites. 
 
 He had left these plains so short a 
 time ago, and yet now that he was
 
 106 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 back on them again, he felt as pleased as 
 if he were looking on the face of an old 
 friend ; the very dried-up appearance of the 
 long grass was welcome : it showed him 
 he was among familiar scenes once more, 
 no longer boxed up and motionless in the 
 gloom and damp of Naini Tal. But as 
 the sun sank, and the solemn half-light 
 of an Indian night fell upon the country, 
 his thoughts, driven inward, became as 
 sad as before, and he taxed himself with 
 deliberate desertion of his dying wife. 
 Her voice rang in his ears as he remem- 
 bered how, when Mrs. Lister had pro- 
 posed he should leave her at Naini Tal, 
 she had said, ' I shall die if you go without 
 me ;' and yet, forgetful of her youth and 
 inexperience and timidity, her entire de- 
 pendence on him, he had forsworn him- 
 self, and selfishly set aside her tender 
 pleading.
 
 GOOD-BYE 107 
 
 So by the time the train stopped, in the 
 middle of the night, to let the travellers 
 refresh themselves, he had made up his 
 mind to go back at all risks, and bearer was 
 ordered to pull out the luggage, and make 
 the necessary arrangements. 
 
 A passenger hurrying along the crowded 
 platform noticed the invalid, and accosted 
 him : 
 
 ' What, Scott !' he exclaimed ; ' and on 
 the way to Bombay ! What's up ? and 
 where's the missis ?' 
 
 Captain Scott's hollow eyes brightened 
 as he recognised an old civilian friend ; 
 and he rapidly poured his story into his 
 sympathizing ears, adding : 
 
 1 Of course I can't leave India unless 
 she can come with me ! I'm going back 
 by the next train.' 
 
 But Mr. Cartwright was a friend in 
 need, and he argued against such a plan
 
 108 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 so convincingly that once more Captain 
 Scott allowed himself to be persuaded to 
 go on ; his friend settled himself at his 
 side, and, like a good fellow, gave himself 
 up to cheer and soothe his companion. 
 When they reached Bombay, he took all 
 further arrangements upon himself, settled 
 him comfortably at ' Watson's ' till they 
 had to go on board ship, and with great 
 delight brought him a telegram from Mora- 
 dabad containing reassuring news of Janie. 
 
 ' Barlow sends it,' Captain Scott said, 
 only half satisfied. ' My wife must be 
 very ill yet, or she would have sent it.' 
 
 * Oh, nonsense ! Of course Barlow 
 sends it ! You don't suppose there would 
 be a miracle, do you ? Mrs. Scott can't 
 be quite well, but she is better.' 
 
 ' And there is no mention of the child,' 
 Scott continued, turning the telegram 
 about.
 
 GOOD-BYE 109 
 
 1 No mention of the child ? Of course 
 not. It's sure to be all right. You won't 
 know it when it runs to meet you at 
 Southampton.' 
 
 Captain Scott questioned the possibility 
 of its running to meet him. 
 
 ' They don't run alone at three months, 
 do they ?' he asked. 
 
 His bachelor friend supposed not, but 
 confessed his ignorance. Some faint stir- 
 ring of fatherly pride awoke as the invalid 
 pictured the little scene of reunion, and he 
 determined to ask for information of some 
 lady-passenger. 
 
 Lying comfortably in harbour, on the 
 shaded deck of the homeward-bound ship, 
 he managed to write a tolerably cheerful 
 and very loving letter to his 'poor darling,' 
 as he called her ; and as he felt inexpres- 
 sibly refreshed already by the soft sway- 
 ing of the vessel and the exquisite beauty
 
 no THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 of the surroundings, he declared he was 
 quite recovered enough at least to wait 
 till she was with him. When his friend 
 joined him, he told him he was resolved 
 to remain in Bombay ; and getting up 
 to convince him of his wonderful strength, 
 he all but fell headlong. 
 
 ' The pilot's on board,' Mr. Cartwright 
 said, as he put him back in his reclining 
 chair. ' Cut that epistle short, and fasten 
 it up, there's a good fellow ; or when we 
 begin to roll you may not be so fit as you 
 are just now. There's no going back 
 possible for you or me.'
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TIMELY REST. 
 
 For three days after her removal to the 
 Barlows' bungalow, Mrs. Scott lay in that 
 borderland which is neither life nor death, 
 neither being nor annihilation, when out- 
 ward si^ns are unheard, outward sights 
 unseen ; then she became conscious to a 
 certain limited extent. She felt herself as 
 an individuality, yet had a far-off sense of 
 being someone else — things were palpable 
 and impalpable at the same time, and she 
 saw forms that were not, mingled with 
 forms that were. Reason was swallowed
 
 1 1 2 THE SCO TTS OF BES TMINS TER 
 
 up in nonsense, and voices round her were 
 alternately very faint and very loud, just 
 as her hand or le<j seemed at one moment 
 preposterously big and heavy, and at the 
 other a mere shadow without weight. She 
 felt no curiosity about anything, nor had 
 she the power to recollect. 
 
 While she was lying powerless, a tiny 
 coffin was brought out of the house just as 
 the men were assembling for parade, and 
 Major Barlow got leave to accompany his 
 wife to the cemetery, where he and she 
 drove off in the early morning to bury the 
 little stranger. Kindly mothers, passing 
 for their early drive, sorrowed for the 
 child's untimely death, and many a sympa- 
 thizing voice, repeating the sad story of 
 the parents, was hushed in tender pity. 
 On that day it seemed unlikely the mother 
 could recover, and the bungalow was beset 
 by callers to inquire for her. The whole
 
 TIMELY REST 113 
 
 station felt for her as only strangers in a 
 strange land do feel for each other's trials, 
 and Mrs. Barlow could have had any 
 amount of volunteer nurses ; but after a 
 night of watching and intense anxiety the 
 doctors gave a favourable opinion, and it 
 was then the telegram was sent to Bombay, 
 the news of the child's death being with- 
 held for the time. 
 
 When Mrs. Scott first recovered suf- 
 ficiently to realize freedom from pain, and 
 a sense of peace and rest to which she had 
 long been a stranger, her eyes were first 
 attracted by the punkah flounce of snowy 
 whiteness, so different to the coarse, gray, 
 grim one that had hung in the Rest-house. 
 Then she was sensible of the smell of 
 roses, and her tired eyes rested on a big 
 basin full of fragrant clusters just under 
 the punkah's influence, and she thought 
 vaguely of a story she had lately read, 
 
 vol. 1. 8
 
 114 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 ' The Little Pilgrim,' and feebly calling 
 to mind its opening pages, descriptive 
 of the freed soul's first rapture in the rest 
 and sweetness of the heavenly garden, 
 began slowly to wonder whether she had 
 cast off the burthen of the flesh and was safe 
 in the eternal home ; but as she tried to 
 raise herself to look further into her sur- 
 roundings, sparks of fire seemed to flash 
 into her eyes, and the weight of her head 
 answered the inquiry most conclusively. 
 Days had to pass into weeks before she 
 could ask and bear to be told how she had 
 reached her present home, and the fact of 
 the baby's death was kept from her till all 
 fear of a relapse was over. 
 
 The thought of the child possessed he 
 through her return to convalescence as 
 something pleasant, and when she occa- 
 sionally heard the sound of a baby's voice, 
 her face would flush and her eyes sparkle.
 
 TIMELY REST 115 
 
 She was put off with excuses when she first 
 asked to see it; she was told it was asleep, or 
 out, or the Doctor insisted on her being kept 
 perfectly still ; and she was satisfied for a 
 time, feeling her own inability to be of the 
 slightest use to it ; but when she was well 
 enough to sit up and read her husband's 
 letter — that precious letter which had re- 
 mained so long unread under her pillow — 
 and could bear to be lifted out of bed for 
 a few hours daily, it was impossible to 
 delay breaking the news much longer. 
 
 The fact of her husband having left her 
 caused her no pain ; never in the least did 
 she blame him for it — on the contrary, she 
 gave him credit for all the sorrow and re- 
 luctance he had really felt. Her own weak- 
 ness and uselessness at such a crisis grieved 
 her. In the long hours of convalescence 
 that stood forth reproachfully. Her mind 
 seemed to have strengthened during her 
 
 8—2
 
 n6 THE SCOTTS OE BESTMINSTER 
 
 illness, and she now saw more clearly what 
 she might have done. Very humbly she 
 determined to do better in the future — 
 better for the little creature whom she 
 thought of no longer as a grievous burthen, 
 better for the husband to whom she had 
 proved herself so useless. So she remained 
 a few days longer content to keep quiet, so 
 as to get bettersooner ; and though she was 
 unable to amuse herself by reading, or work- 
 ing, or even talking much — for no strength 
 had yet returned to her voice — she was by 
 no means unhappy. She became learned 
 in the erratic pulls of the punkah coolie, 
 and could tell his moods to a surety. She 
 knew how often in the hour he took sleep, 
 how often he woke with a snort and 
 did his best to make up for lost time. 
 She would count the gaping warps in the 
 many doors of her room and wonder how 
 long it would be before the splits became
 
 TIMELY REST 117 
 
 yawning gaps. She learned to distinguish 
 the old lizards, with their skins like stone, 
 from the young lizards, with their leathery 
 hides ; the very squeaks of the musk-rats 
 had degrees in her sharpened hearing : 
 the chatter of the mynas in the roof 
 assumed meanings undreamed of by un- 
 interested listeners ; and when in the com- 
 parative cool of the evenings her doors 
 were opened on the veranda, and numerous 
 insects flew around her, she could classify 
 them by the different flutter of their wings. 
 And she was no longer afraid of all these 
 creatures, as she had been so lately, though 
 she was in her helplessness comparatively 
 at their mercy. Deeper feelings had 
 sprung up, and were slowly at work in her 
 awakening mind. 
 
 The last time Mrs. Barlow had made 
 an excuse about bringing the child to her 
 Mrs. Scott had felt rather hurt, but had
 
 n8 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMLXSTER 
 
 soon resolved in her humility that they 
 knew of her stupidity and incapacity, and 
 would not trust it to her. She said some- 
 thing of this when Mrs. Barlow sat working 
 by her next morning. 
 
 ' If you will bring baby, I will not ask to 
 take it,' she said ; ' I will watch you with it, 
 and by-and-by I shall learn how to handle it.' 
 
 Mrs. Barlow was nonplussed, and once 
 more tried to put her off. 
 
 ' You had a bad night, dear,' she said ; 
 1 wait till the Doctor has been, and we'll 
 hear what he: thinks.' 
 
 At that moment the low laugh of a baby 
 was heard ; it was the precious Barlow boy 
 being brought home from his early ride. 
 Mrs. Scott became excited ; she raised her 
 thin hands : 
 
 ' I hear her!' she cried. 'No, I can't 
 wait any longer ; fetch her now, or I shall 
 try and fetch her myself.'
 
 TIMELY REST 119 
 
 The work dropped from Mrs. Barlow's 
 hands. 
 
 4 That is my baby,' was all she could 
 
 say. 
 
 ' Is it?' cried the invalid, still unsuspicious 
 of the truth. ' Then you have a baby, too ! 
 Go and bring them both— do— directly !' 
 
 ' It's too o-reat an exertion,' Mrs. Barlow 
 answered, painfully conscious of her 
 cowardly evasion. 
 
 * It would do me so much good to see 
 her again, dear,' Mrs. Scott said implor- 
 ingly ; ' perhaps you know I didn't much 
 care for her at first— I didn't know what 
 to do with her— but now I seem to yearn 
 for her ; she must be so grown, and perhaps 
 she is like Charley. Ayah used to say she 
 would grow like him.' 
 
 This was getting worse and worse ; still, 
 Mrs. Barlow could not think of what was 
 best to do or say. Would it be safe to tell
 
 120 THE SCOTT S OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 the truth to this shadowy, yellow-skinned, 
 trembling invalid ? 
 
 ' She must notice things by now,' the 
 latter continued, flushing and paling as she 
 talked. ' See, there is a hoopoe outside — 
 fetch her now and let me see if she notices 
 it.' 
 
 ' I hear the Doctor !' Mrs. Barlow cried, 
 unable to bear it any longer ; ' lie still just 
 a few moments longer, and I will bring 
 him.' 
 
 So saying, she flew out of the room, 
 while Mrs. Scott, full of glad anticipation, 
 waited as patiently as she could. But the 
 sound Mrs. Barlow had heard was not 
 the sound of the Doctor's horse, but of 
 her husband's. Major Barlow gave that 
 customary call which most English officers 
 give on their return from parade in the hot 
 weather — for whisky and soda — and then 
 turned to his wife.
 
 TIMELY REST 121 
 
 ' What's up ?' he said, remarking her 
 agitation ; ' are you ill, my pet ?' 
 
 ' Oh, what shall I say to her ? She asks 
 for her baby, and I can't tell her ; I forget 
 what we decided to say. Would you mind 
 telling her, Dick dear ? I cant' 
 
 1 No,' he answered, drawing her to him 
 and speaking very seriously ; ' think if it 
 were our boy, and you had to be told : 
 wouldn't you like some kind woman-friend 
 to tell you best ?' 
 
 She burst into tears. 
 
 1 Yes, of course, you are always right, 
 Dick ; but, oh ! do teli me what to say.' 
 
 1 The right words will come to you,' he 
 said soothingly ; ' take the boy with you ; 
 she will like to see him !' 
 
 ' Oh, Dick, if it were me, I should hate 
 all other babies ; I should think they had 
 no rieht to thrive and live if mine were 
 dead. No, I mustn't let him be seen.'
 
 122 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Well, then, you know best ; but go and 
 get it over at once. Don't torture her. I 
 advise you to take sonny.' 
 
 So, with an idea under all that the sight 
 of her boy must be cheering under any 
 circumstances, she decided at last to comfort 
 herself with his presence in the coming 
 ordeal, and with the strong bright child in 
 her arms she returned to Mrs. Scott. The 
 latter for an instant took him to be her 
 own, but only for an instant : his size and 
 age forbade her to deceive herself. 
 
 1 What a dear little thing !' she cried, in 
 genuine admiration ; ' and is mine coming ? 
 She must look a shrimp in comparison ;' 
 and her eyes watched to see her come 
 through after her friend. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow seated herself by the bed- 
 side. 
 
 1 You forget how very, very ill your dear 
 baby was,' she said softly, clasping her
 
 TIMELY REST 123 
 
 blooming boy in her arms as if for courage 
 to proceed. 
 
 ' Oh no, I don't. Those kind people in 
 the village where we took refuge said how 
 ill it was ; they said, too, my husband was 
 dying, but you see they were wrong.' 
 
 1 When I brought it here,' Mrs. Barlow 
 continued, ' I thought it could not live. 
 Ayah undressed it. We cried over its little 
 wasted body.' 
 
 1 It wanted experienced nursing,' Mrs. 
 Scott said. ' Didn't it get easier directly 
 you took it in hand ?' 
 
 1 Dr. Harold gave us no hope from the 
 first.' 
 
 As she spoke, Mrs. Barlowburied her face 
 in her boy's curls, wondering how to go on. 
 
 1 Poor little darling, I wonder if it will 
 know me soon.' 
 
 Not a doubt had crossed her yet ; she 
 still watched the door.
 
 124 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Then in desperation her companion 
 spoke out : 
 
 • Can't you understand ? Oh, don't you 
 remember it was dying all the way down ? 
 Dear Mrs. Scott, you must not grieve; 
 you must get over it for your husband's 
 sake !' 
 
 As she spoke, she put her boy down on 
 the floor and clasped Mrs. Scott's hands, 
 watching the effect of her words, dreading 
 lest she had been too outspoken, or not 
 outspoken enough. She was immensely 
 relieved when, instead of scream, or faint, 
 or hysterical outburst, as would have been 
 her own way of taking such a blow, the 
 invalid's low voice said calmly : 
 
 1 Then she is dead — God has taken her 
 from me ! He saw I was not fit to take 
 care of her.' 
 
 1 I don't think she felt it half as much as 
 I did,' Mrs. Barlow told her husband after-
 
 TIMELY REST 125 
 
 wards. ' She would hear all about how it 
 died, and how we buried it ; and she said 
 she must go and see about its grave ; but 
 she didn't cry. She only said would we all 
 keep away from her to-day. She would 
 be better alone. And she kissed baby two 
 or three times, and actually smiled at him. 
 If he had died, and she had brought her 
 baby to me, I am sure I could have killed 
 them both.' 
 
 ' Ah, but you are a vixen !' her husband 
 said, kissing her ; ' she's a different nature. 
 I dare say she's crying her eyes out now. 
 You'd better go in quietly after awhile 
 and make her eat something.' 
 
 But she was not crying — not even 
 grieving ; a dull sense of pain benumbed 
 her ; she said to herself she had no feeling. 
 She could not grieve for her separation 
 from her husband, and now she could not 
 sorrow for the loss of her first-born. Only
 
 126 THE SCOTT S OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 a few hours before a warm yearning to- 
 wards the child had made her happy ; now 
 she acquiesced in her removal ; not because 
 it was best for the little one, but because it 
 was a proper punishment for herself. Life 
 had brought her all its best things, and she 
 had not known how to use them. How 
 should she dare to pray for these good 
 gifts to be restored ? How should she 
 dare to pray at all to an offended God ? 
 In the deepest self-abasement she be- 
 moaned herself, yet no light came to her. 
 It was almost as if she were content to 
 remain out of God's sight and hearing, 
 and would not seek for light or help. She 
 acquiesced in the righteousness of the trial, 
 while she saw no comfort to be drawn from 
 it ; and there was no kindly voice near 
 to show her how her bodily weakness 
 overpowered her reason. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow peeped in at luncheon-time,
 
 TIMELY REST 127 
 
 and seeing her sleeping, quietly withdrew 
 again ; but tiffin was not over before a 
 piercing scream sounded from the sick- 
 room, Both Major and Mrs. Barlow 
 rushed in, to find their oruest fighting- an 
 imaginary foe — dashing her hands before 
 her, and screaming for help, her eyes 
 remaining shut, and her face wet with 
 perspiration. 
 
 She was dreaming a horrible dream, 
 she explained, when they had succeeded in 
 making her conscious. She thought she was 
 on board ship in a violent storm, she felt the 
 deck give way beneath her feet, and she 
 had been flung into the boiling sea, where 
 she felt herself fighting with the waves. 
 Mrs. Barlow was with her, and Major 
 Mortimer, and many people she had never 
 seen before ; and it was all so real and 
 vivid that she wept and trembled even 
 after she had come to herself, and the
 
 128 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Doctor had to be fetched before she could 
 be restored to anything like calm. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow could understand and 
 appreciate this violent mood, and was 
 quite in her element expostulating and 
 soothing, and Hying about telling the many 
 friends who dropped in every afternoon, just 
 before going to hear the band, how she 
 had fancied this and that when her visitor's 
 shriek sounded ; how her heart had actually 
 ceased to beat ; and how even the boy had 
 been frightened to tears. 
 
 The next day it was evident that a great 
 change had come to Mrs. Scott — as if a 
 strong revulsion had been forced by the 
 shock of the vivid dream. Indeed, 
 it had done for her what all the 
 medicine had failed to do. It had done 
 more than this. It had freed her mind 
 from the Calvinistic horror which had 
 bound it ; and in her great thankfulness
 
 TIMELY REST 129 
 
 to wake and find the shipwreck terrors 
 were unreal her soul had leapt up in 
 unshackled praise, and she was able to 
 acknowledge not only that all was well 
 with the child, but that she could and 
 would use the sorrow aright. She exerted 
 herself so effectually that in a day or two 
 she was able to drive to the cemetery and 
 order a little cross to mark the grave ; and 
 when Mrs. Barlow's friends came, she did 
 not shrink from seeing them. But the 
 Barlow r baby was her greatest pleasure. 
 It was as if she would make up for her 
 want of interest in the dead baby by devo- 
 tion to the living. 
 
 The precious Barlow baby reigned a 
 king over the household ; he was, indeed, 
 a gilded youth. He had his ayah and his 
 bearer, his pony for his rides at dawn, his 
 well-hung bullock-cart for evening attend- 
 ance at the band, his own cow for his own 
 
 vol. 1. 9
 
 ISO THE SCOTT S OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 refreshment, his own punkah and tattie- 
 coolies to keep his own apartments cool, 
 and the rest of the establishment at his 
 beck and call. The advent of a tooth 
 sent a thrill through the family, and its 
 arrival created a sensation in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Major Barlow was the tallest 
 and best-grown man in the cantonment, 
 but even he trembled when his boy looked 
 languid. They told a story about him one 
 night at mess — how he had appeared at 
 orderly-room looking so wobegone as to 
 attract the sympathetic notice of all the 
 officers, from the Colonel downwards. 
 
 ' Touch of fever, eh ?' said the chief. 
 
 ' Down on your luck, Major?' said the 
 Adjutant. 
 
 ' Not a beastly sunstroke ?' said his 
 Captain. 
 
 1 Swallowed a hearse,' whispered the 
 youngest sub.
 
 TIMELY REST 13: 
 
 The Major sighed, and said something 
 about swelled gums and lancing and a 
 sleepless night. 
 
 1 Decayed tooth, no doubt,' the Colonel 
 said, and offered to give him some gutta- 
 percha to fill the cavity till he could get 
 hold of a dentist, at which the Major 
 smiled sadly, and explained, so gravely 
 that no one dare risk a smile : 
 
 1 I am speaking of our poor little laddie.' 
 
 Indeed, though the bachelors had many 
 a joke about the precious boy, they took 
 care to keep it among themselves ; for the 
 Barlows' bungalow was much too pleasant 
 a refuge to run any risk of forfeiting their 
 welcome there. 
 
 When a letter was received from Cap- 
 tain Scott, announcing his safe arrival in 
 England in astonishingly recovered health, 
 and urging his wife to follow him as soon 
 as she could, Mrs. Scott declared herself 
 
 9—2
 
 132 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 perfectly able to travel, and, though still 
 mere skin and bones, she would listen to 
 no inducement to remain for the cold 
 season, but at once secured a passage 
 from Bombay for the first week in Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 On hearing of this plan, her father wrote 
 characteristically, ordering her to remain 
 where she was till she could travel in 
 comfort, wishing he could fetch her to 
 stay with him for a time, but he was 
 obliged to take his wife up to Landour, 
 and unreservedly censuring her husband 
 for his selfishness and thoughtlessness. 
 
 Janie smiled over this. 
 
 1 How absurdly unjust !' she said. ' If 
 Charley, at death's door, could take the 
 journey comfortably, how can it hurt me, 
 comparatively well as I am ? Why, we 
 shall have been separated four months 
 when we meet a^ain in October !'
 
 TIMELY REST 
 
 Her arrangements and plans infected 
 Mrs. Barlow, who began to think what 
 a nice thing it would be to take her pre- 
 cious boy to show to her friends at home. 
 She declared if she could make up her 
 mind to leave her darling Richard, this 
 would be the time ; and, while Richard 
 laughed at the absurd notion, the idea 
 remained. 
 
 ' You have no excuse,' he said. ' This 
 climate suits you as well as it suits me, 
 so you'll have to wait to show off at 
 home till the boy needs to be taken to 
 school.' 
 
 Then, oddly enough, the very next week 
 Mrs. Barlow's radiant health succumbed 
 to a sharp attack of fever, and, in his 
 alarm, her husband proposed a visit to 
 England. 
 
 1 You couldn't have a better opportunity, 
 darling, than to go with your nice friend.
 
 i 3 4 THE SCOTT S OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 I should feel half reconciled to the separa- 
 tion, knowing you were in such good com- 
 pany.' he urged. 
 
 But then the depressed little woman 
 wouldn't hear of such a thing. ' Did he 
 want to get rid of her ? How could she 
 go away and leave him ?' 
 
 But the precious baby settled the vexed 
 question, as he settled most questions for 
 them. An obstinate tooth spurned even 
 the encouraging thrust of the lancet, and 
 the bright curly head lay low on his 
 bearer's shoulder, while the laughing eyes 
 refused to sparkle, no matter what new and 
 gorgeous toy was offered for his amuse- 
 ment, and the hot, swollen mouth re- 
 fused to do its duty and let the irritating 
 molar through. For the precious child's 
 sake the parents would sacrifice themselves, 
 and, to Mrs. Scott's great delight, it was 
 settled she should have the company of
 
 TIMELY REST 135 
 
 mother and child on her approaching 
 journey. 
 
 The Major took them to Bombay, made 
 their journey as bright and comfortable as 
 kindly forethought could, saw them on 
 board the Elephant a, and kissed his wife 
 and child for the last time. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow sobbed and cried with a 
 vehemence that sorely tried her husband. 
 
 1 Try and get leave,' she exclaimed, ' and 
 come after us. Oh, why did I say I would 
 go away ! Let me go back with you, or I 
 shall die ! Oh, I know something will 
 happen, and we shall never meet again !' 
 
 ' Hush, hush !' he said, straining her to 
 him again and again. ' Now I must go. 
 Let me go, my dear love.' He broke 
 away from her, fearing to show his weak- 
 ness ; then, turning to her before passing 
 out of sight, he added, ' Take care of my 
 boy !'
 
 136 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Now, why did he say that ?' she cried, 
 when he could no longer be seen ; and, 
 throwing herself on her berth, she wept 
 passionately. 
 
 Mrs. Scott stood pityingly over her, not 
 knowing how to comfort this uncontrollable 
 grief. But Mrs. Barlow thought her 
 apathetic, and reproached her for her 
 silence. 
 
 ' Ah !' she exclaimed, ' you are going 
 to your husband ; of course you can't feel 
 as I do, but I only know no power on 
 earth shall ever make me leave him aeain. 
 I shall get out at Aden, and come back. 
 I'm determined I won't go any further/ 
 She caught up the child, now restored to 
 his usual good health, and kissed him 
 till he struggled out of her grasp. ' As if 
 I wanted telling to take care of you !' she 
 said ; ' as if I could live at all out of his 
 sight unless I had you to comfort me !'
 
 TIMELY REST 137 
 
 Presently sea-sickness laid her low, 
 and mercifully rendered her unmindful 
 of all and everything beside her own 
 suffering's. 
 
 Another letter from her husband reached 
 Mrs. Scott just before she began the 
 voyage — a very happy letter, declaring 
 he was so far restored to health that he 
 was ashamed to go before the medical 
 board in London, lest he should be looked 
 upon as an impostor, and bidding her look 
 out for a porpoise when she arrived, in- 
 stead of the skeleton from whom she had 
 parted ; so no wonder she began the 
 journey hopefully and cheerfully ; and as 
 she was a good sailor, every breath of the 
 comparatively cool sea air strengthened 
 her. Sallow and lean and lemon-coloured 
 as she still was, she was yet attractive, 
 and her neighbour at table congratulated 
 himself.
 
 1 38 THE SCO TTS OF BLS TMINS TER 
 
 Mrs. Scott's simple manner had a charm 
 independent of beauty — a restful charm 
 exceedingly pleasing by contrast with the 
 voluble self-asserting affectation of the 
 majority of the grass-widows who, with 
 a sprinkling of merchants, doctors, chap- 
 lains, and officers, formed the rest of the 
 saloon passengers, and she in turn was 
 drawn towards the elderly Colonel who, 
 with the ship's captain, occupied the 
 seats on either side of her. 
 
 The Captain had given her the place 
 of honour on his right hand because she 
 was almost the only lady able to come to 
 table for the first two or three days, and 
 also because her girlish, delicate appear- 
 ance seemed to demand his special care ; 
 and she, feeling safe and happy be- 
 tween the two fatherly gentlemen, soon 
 won their regard and confidence, and, 
 intuitively sure of their sympathizing
 
 TIMELY REST 139 
 
 interest, told them her little story, and 
 mentioning her father's name, discovered 
 he was well known to Colonel Shepherd, 
 and that her mother, too, had been a 
 former friend — that young mother who 
 was a very shadowy recollection to 
 her. 
 
 On this discovery the two became quite 
 friendly, and little by little Janie learnt 
 his history for the last twenty years, 
 during which time he had never seen wife 
 and children, or been to England. His 
 youngest child was a wife and mother 
 already. He had intended going home 
 several times, but alw T ays had some suffi- 
 cient reason for delay, another step to 
 wait for, a border riot to quell, a boy's 
 outfit to provide, the depreciation of the 
 rupee. Year by year had slipped away, 
 just till a certain debt was cleared off, or 
 a probable event occurred, the wife at
 
 140 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 home taking her full share of patience 
 and anxiety, occasionally kicking against 
 the pricks, and resolving to join him if 
 he could not join her, then counting the 
 cost, and forcing herself to see it was 
 beyond their means ; Jack's crammer's bills 
 were heavier than had been calculated, or 
 Willie's failure in the exam, lengthened 
 his school expenses, or an impatient 
 wooer would wait no longer, and a trous- 
 seau had to be provided at an incon- 
 venient season, or the girls were too 
 young to be taken out to India, too old 
 to be left to strangers — thus for twenty 
 years the self-denying couple had gone 
 on, always going to be, but never being 
 reunited ; and as the Colonel spoke of 
 seeing his family again at last, he admitted 
 he felt a horrible dread lest even now 
 something should prevent it. 
 
 1 Not shipwreck or death only,' he said.
 
 TIMELY REST 141 
 
 4 I dread the effect of the long separation, 
 lest we may feel we have done without 
 each other so long, our ways and tastes 
 may have drifted apart, and we may be a 
 burthen to each other.' 
 
 When Mrs. Barlow was able to appear 
 she joined the trio at table and on deck, 
 where it was an established thing that the 
 Colonel's chair should be placed by Mrs. 
 Scott's. The precious Barlow baby was 
 another source of interest to him ; he 
 had a grandson the same age, and there- 
 fore took a keen interest in the young 
 hero's teeth and general deportment, there- 
 by speedily gaining the young mother's 
 friendship. 
 
 In the child's temporary nurse they 
 found a further bond of union. She was 
 one of the second-class widows going 
 home ; and her late husband had formerly 
 been a gunner in the same battery with
 
 142 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Colonel Shepherd ; thus the latter con- 
 sidered himself the natural guardian of 
 the three unprotected women, and they 
 as naturally looked to him as referee and 
 adviser, and, content with each other, 
 kept to themselves, and amused them- 
 selves by themselves, thereby incurring 
 some ill-will from those outsiders to be 
 found on board ship as elsewhere, the 
 gossips and the vulgar.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS. 
 
 For the first few days new fellow-passen- 
 gers were constantly appearing as they 
 recovered from the first effects of the 
 voyage, and in one of the last Mrs. Scott 
 recognised her Naini Tal friend, Major 
 Mortimer. With an exclamation of plea- 
 sure, she hastened towards the companion- 
 way — the Barlow baby in her arms — and 
 greeted him. He, too, showed consider- 
 able pleasure in the meeting, and held her 
 hand, while he asked and was told the 
 reason of her presence.
 
 144 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 My dear Mrs. Scott, you here ! but 
 Scott went lone a^o. I saw his name 
 down, and supposed you went, too, as a 
 matter of course. And the baby — how 
 she's grown ! Will she cry if I take her ?' 
 
 Then he stopped suddenly. Something 
 in her face rebuked him. 
 
 ' Didn't you know ?' she said softly. 
 1 Baby died at Moradabad — this is Mrs. 
 Barlow's child.' 
 
 She turned towards Mrs. Barlow, who 
 was watching curiously, and introduced the 
 Major. Then, with the freemasonry common 
 amongst military men, the Colonel and the 
 Major discovered each knew something of 
 the other; and the Major had once met 
 Mrs. Barlow's husband, so here was a 
 delightful addition to the little coterie, and 
 two bachelors from the North-West Pro- 
 vinces, who were for ever hovering about 
 on the chance of talking to the two nicest
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 145 
 
 young women on board, were disgusted to 
 see this good-looking new man crop up and 
 diminish their chances. 
 
 There was real happiness to Mrs. Scott 
 in this unexpected meeting. Major Mor- 
 timer formed part of her happiest life, and 
 had helped to lighten her burthen of sor- 
 row at Xaini Tal when that happy life was 
 shadowed. His last act had been one of 
 kindness to her dead baby and her appar- 
 ently dying husband. His last cheery 
 words still rang in her ear. He had been 
 her husband's great friend before she knew 
 either of them, too, and had been his best 
 man at that ceremony which had seemed 
 to place her above all further sorrow ; and 
 she rejoiced to think he was now to be her 
 companion till she rejoined the bright young 
 husband of that happy time, and life would 
 recommence for her under even fairer 
 auspices. Do we ever gain by experience ? 
 
 vol. 1. 10
 
 146 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Janie's imagination was free again. The 
 past had been dark, it is true, but with re- 
 turning health the memory of the trials of 
 the past was fading from her strengthen- 
 ing mind, though she could never forget 
 how she had stumbled, nor ever think of 
 the lost child without a pang of self- 
 reproach. 
 
 ' No,' Major Mortimer explained, when 
 she asked if he had intended to go home 
 when they last saw him. ' No, I had not, 
 but a relation I never saw left me a little 
 property, and it is necessary I should go on 
 that account' 
 
 ' Happy man !' Mrs. Barlow cried. 
 
 ' That depends.' 
 
 A smile broke over his face as he 
 spoke. 
 
 ' And never come back ?' Mrs. Scott 
 asked. ' Oh, I am sorry !' 
 
 ' That depends also. But you won't be
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 147 
 
 going back yet awhile ? — Scott will take his 
 furlough ?' 
 
 1 I don't know. We are sure to be back 
 as soon as he is able, and he says he's per- 
 fectly well already.' 
 
 ' Perhaps we may travel back together 
 next autumn,' he said, smiling still more. 
 ' How nice it would be!' 
 
 ! He's going home to be married, of 
 course !' Mrs. Barlow said, when she and 
 Mrs. Scott, who shared one cabin, were 
 alone together. ' What is his story ? — 
 interesting I am sure. Such a handsome 
 man to be a bachelor at his age ! Tell me, 
 quick.' 
 
 Janie laughed. 
 
 * He hasn't any story in particular that I 
 know,' she replied. ' What nonsense ! 
 he's a confirmed old bachelor. Why, he's 
 years older than Charley, and never even 
 flirts.' 
 
 10 — 2
 
 148 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Mrs. Barlow was one of those young 
 women who are interested in the private 
 histories of all their acquaintances, and 
 Major Mortimer greatly interested her. 
 
 ' He may be years older than your hus- 
 band, but he doesn't look a bit older than 
 mine,' she said. ' And don't you think 
 Dick would get anyone he chose to marry 
 him if he were single ? As for him not 
 flirting, why, that proves conclusively he 
 cares a good deal for somebody at home. 
 See if I don't drag it out of him before we 
 land ! I believe you know all about him, 
 though, and I'm sure he'd tell yo?i if you 
 asked him.' 
 
 Mrs. Scott said she didn't see what 
 business it was of hers to make him tell 
 her what he thought proper to withhold. 
 She hoped he was going to be married 
 happily, for he was a great deal too nice 
 to be a selfish old bachelor. There was
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 149 
 
 another lady-passenger, the most important 
 person on board in her own estimation, 
 equally interested in the private matters of 
 all who crossed her path — a Mrs. Smith, 
 the wife, as she never failed to let it be 
 known, of 'a first-class Bengal commis- 
 sioner.' She condescended to take a 
 special interest in the two graceful young 
 married ladies, and as it never occurred to 
 her that her society could be other than a 
 boon, she usually joined them on deck, and 
 favoured Mrs. Barlow especially with hints 
 for the benefit of the precious baby. 
 
 She had at an early stage of the ac- 
 quaintance found out by plain questioning 
 why they were going home, and had suc- 
 ceeded in making the warier Colonel tell 
 her a great deal more than he intended of 
 his ways and means ; and when Major 
 Mortimer appeared on the scene she was 
 equally interested in him.
 
 150 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 ' A handsome man !' she said, seating 
 herself by Colonel Shepherd as they re- 
 turned to the deck after dinner. ' Not at 
 all unlike Mr. Smith, though. Mr. Smith 
 gets his clothes from Calcutta, and that coat 
 of Mortimer's is country-cut, I'm sure. Is 
 he a married man ?' 
 
 The Colonel didn't know ; he hadn't 
 catechized him, he said, with a chuckle. 
 
 ' 1 think I shall like him, though,' she 
 added, after awhile — the ' though ' refer- 
 ring to his country-cut coat. ' 1 think I 
 shall speak to him. Mr. Smith would 
 approve of him, I fancy.' 
 
 ' Surely, Smith has no eye for beauty,' 
 thought the Colonel, as he looked after 
 Mrs. Smith's tall, angular figure and heavy, 
 common face, as she sauntered up to where 
 the Major was playing with some children, 
 and, after surveying him calmly through 
 her gold pince-nez, began to question him.
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 151 
 
 ' Good-evening, Major. I believe your 
 name is Mortimer ?' 
 
 He straightened himself till he looked 
 down on her from a considerably greater 
 height than her own, and answered : 
 
 1 My name is Mortimer.' 
 
 ' Ah ! I used to know a Mortimer at 
 Dum-Dum in '64 — E. D. Mortimer, 
 P.W.D. ?' 
 
 1 I have never been so fortunate as to be 
 in the Public Works Department, and my 
 initials are not E. D.' 
 
 4 Ah ! Then I knew a Mortimer at 
 Alipore in '60 — a fair lad of the Craven 
 family ; that's why we noticed him — a nice 
 modest lad, rather afraid of being in our 
 way, I remember. He was F. T. G.' 
 
 'Indeed!' said the Major, exchanging 
 glances over her head with Mrs. Scott and 
 her friends. 
 
 ' And I remember,' she continued, still
 
 152 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 looking him up and down through the 
 pince-nez, 'a Mortimer at Mean-Meer. I 
 was staying with Stubbs, General of the 
 division, at that time — a cousin of Mr. 
 Smith's. He went to the bad — oh, a very 
 sad thing ! — something to do with a ser- 
 geant's wife, I recollect. Took to drink, 
 too, I think. His initials were ' 
 
 His patience was exhausted. He con- 
 quered his vexation with an effort. 
 
 ' I have not yet taken to drink,' he said, 
 speaking very slowly ; ' and I am glad to 
 say I know nothing of your disreputable 
 acquaintance at Mean-Meer. My initials 
 are K. G.' 
 
 ' K. G., K. G.,' she repeated blandly, in 
 no way put out. ' K. G. Mortimer. Why, 
 of course I remember. You were in the 
 Old Company's Devils, as they were called. 
 Bless me ! but that must have been before 
 your time. I knew them when I was a
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 153 
 
 girl, and I always said, if I married a 
 soldier, I would marry one of the Old 
 Devils. But I did better, of course. The 
 Commissioner was in the second class even 
 then, and now, of course, he's at the top of 
 the tree. Are you going home for good, 
 or only on leave ?' 
 
 A glance at the laughing faces beyond 
 his questioner disarmed his annoyance, and 
 he answered civilly. 
 
 • Is your wife with you ?' she next asked. 
 
 A simple ' No ' told her nothing more, 
 and for the present she felt she had gone 
 far enough. Like Mrs. Barlow, she deter- 
 mined to drag all the rest out of him 
 eventually. So she retired to the young 
 ladies, and pinched the Barlow baby's 
 cheeks till he kicked out viciously, upon 
 which she congratulated Mrs. Scott on 
 having no such encumbrance. 
 
 ' I sometimes regret I never had one,'
 
 154 THE SCOTTS OF WESTMINSTER 
 
 she added. ' You see, in the Commis- 
 sioner's position, he could have helped him 
 on so beautifully. Of course, with you the 
 matter is very different. I'm sure I often 
 wonder how military men manage to drag 
 their children up at all.' 
 
 In Mrs. Smith's opinion India had been 
 created for English civilians. The English 
 army was kept up to protect the civilians ; 
 even the Viceroy was there but to add 
 to their importance. That the immense 
 variety of inferior officers should exist at 
 all but for the benefit of the first-class 
 civilians was too well known a fact to 
 need anything beyond her passing notice. 
 
 The two young ladies on board, as 
 officers' wives, were entitled to her friendly 
 consideration, because she was great and 
 powerful, and they were nobodies ; and 
 she prided herself upon her condescension, 
 for 'only the truly great can afford to
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 155 
 
 know nobodies ' was her favourite remark. 
 To believe in herself was as much her 
 creed as to believe in God, and this strong 
 self-confidence and self-assertion imposed 
 upon Mrs. Scott's humble-mindedness. 
 The younger woman had good old- 
 fashioned notions of showing respect and 
 deference to her elders, and she never 
 thought of making an original remark in 
 her presence, or of differing from her 
 opinions. When she was made to laugh at 
 the other's peculiarities, she laughed pro- 
 testing, as it were, and a knowing look, made 
 by one of her friends behind Mrs. Smith's 
 back, made Mrs. Scott feel dishonourable. 
 Not so with Mrs. Barlow. That lively 
 lady held her own undauntedly ; she made 
 sly hits at the Commissioner's wife con- 
 tinually. 
 
 ' One would really fancy she was a 
 brigadier's wife,' said the Major's lady
 
 156 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 mockingly, when Mrs. Scott begged her 
 to spare her sarcasms. ■ How absurd she 
 is, talking of that old Smith in his stuffy 
 court full of blacks, as if his position is 
 to be compared to a brigadier's in his 
 lovely uniform, prancing about in the midst 
 of an enchanting start!' 
 
 And Mrs. Scott felt, as in duty bound, 
 that there was no disputing her friend's 
 reasoning. In return, Mrs. Smith told 
 Colonel Shepherd in confidence she con- 
 sidered Mrs. Scott a well-meaning but 
 poor-spirited creature, while Mrs. Barlow 
 had the making of a fine character, if only 
 she had made a better match — which 
 meant, as the Colonel said in repeating 
 it, if she'd married a Commissioner. 
 
 Evening is generally the most enjoy- 
 able time on board a P. and O. ship. 
 The morning air is hot, and one has 
 hardly recovered from the unrefreshing
 
 GATHERIXG CLOUDS 157 
 
 night in the small cabin ; there are diaries 
 to be filled up, and small instalments of 
 letters to be written, which makes one's 
 own company the best. Afternoon is long 
 and painfully idle ; the men get together, 
 play cards and quoits and smoke, the 
 women sleep and linger over changing 
 their gowns for dinner ; but after dinner, 
 when the deck has cooled, and one reflects 
 that another tedious day is nearly over, 
 bringing us so many hours nearer to the 
 land where we would be, sociability comes 
 forward again, and there is a short truce to 
 the feelings of disgust with which other- 
 wise worthy travellers are disposed to 
 regard their enforced companions. 
 
 The gathering shades of evening veil 
 temporarily the surrounding disagreeables. 
 Spite, envy, hatred, and all uncharitable- 
 ness slumber for awhile under the influ- 
 ence of a good meal ; the very invalids
 
 158 THE SCOTTS OF BESTM1NSTER 
 
 take heart and forget all their ailments, 
 while the boat glides onward through the 
 silvery phosphorescence, and the stars 
 gleam like globes of fire through the 
 rigging. A dance, or games, or music, 
 all the better if a guitar or banjo accom- 
 panies a musical voice on deck, cheat 
 everyone into the semblance of mirth and 
 good fellowship ; and at these times Mrs. 
 Smith was at her best : her daily pint of 
 champagne, ' ordered by the doctor,' acted 
 like oil on her ill-fitting ideas, and made 
 her gracious all round. Even the two out- 
 siders, Hayward and Harris, from the 
 North- West Provinces, were permitted to 
 feel her affability, and as she strolled on- 
 wards towards her own favoured coterie at 
 the end of the quarter-deck, she would stop 
 for a few moments' conversation with them, 
 and question them freely as to their 
 prospects and families.
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 159 
 
 ' Snobs,' Mrs. Barlow had dubbed both 
 young men, merely because their coarse 
 tobacco and loud attire offended her fastidi- 
 ous taste. Peaceable Colonel Shepherd 
 was alarmed when they occasionally thrust 
 themselves forward, lest the too demon- 
 strative young lady should make her 
 personal remarks too loudly. 
 
 1 The springs first violet ' was her name 
 for Mr. Harris, because that unfortunate 
 youth had been beguiled in his far-off up- 
 country station to invest in a suit of bril- 
 liant violet tweed, Zorabjee of Fuzzle- 
 pore having solemnly assured him such a 
 garb was then the most fashionable thing 
 in Europe, making him give more than a 
 month's pay for it too. 
 
 And Mr. Harris had rejoiced in be- 
 lieving his dress was fit for any position, 
 admirable for travelling, the correct thing 
 for visiting, and the thing for Hyde Park
 
 160 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 and Bond Street, until he had gone aboard 
 the Elephant a, and read, as he could not 
 help reading, the adverse verdict in his 
 fellow-travellers' faces. Then, but for 
 motives of economy, he would have flung 
 the whole suit overboard. 
 
 Mrs. Smith, however, had no objection 
 to the colour of his clothing ; he listened 
 respectfully to her advice, and her account 
 of the Commissioner's power and authority, 
 and that was enough for her. On this 
 evening in particular she kept him talk- 
 ing as she moved towards her own special 
 intimates, and he was obliged to follow 
 right up to the charmed circle, where he 
 made his bow awkwardly enough, no one 
 but Mrs. Scott making any return. He 
 did his best to be pleasant, hoped the 
 ladies admired the sunset, introducing to 
 them, as it were, with a wave of his hand, 
 the gorgeous mass of troubled colour
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 161 
 
 round the declining sun, adding that the 
 Captain did not admire it — thought it 
 meant mischief. Had any of the party 
 ever been in a storm ? For himself, he 
 liked one ; it made a noise and cleared 
 the air ; he liked variety. Mrs. Smith 
 answered for all. 
 
 4 The Captain was laughing at you. On 
 my last voyage home we had just such sun- 
 sets all the way to Suez. We had a lovely 
 voyage.' 
 
 They were standing facing the west, 
 their faces and figures bathed in the re- 
 fleeted glory. In the path of the sun 
 the sky was palest lemon, fading into 
 light green, on which rested clouds of ex- 
 traordinary shape and depth of colouring. 
 The near cloudlets were of deepest 
 almost black, purple. Behind them came 
 flame-edged masses of gorgeous rose 
 and orange, with intersecting banks of 
 
 VOL. I. II
 
 1 62 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 turquoise, while against all this flashing 
 brilliant glow the great dome of heaven, 
 calm, cloudless, and of coolest opal, 
 stretched away over the scarcely heaving 
 ocean. 
 
 ' Not at all like a storm,' said Mrs. 
 Barlow, resenting the new-comer's infer- 
 ence. ' The sunsets have been just like 
 this ever since we started. Of course the 
 Captain was laughing, and I don't wonder 
 at him,' she added, scarcely lowering her 
 voice. 
 
 ' There's variety enough on board with- 
 out desiring a storm,' Mrs. Smith said, 
 tapping her pince-nez against her watch- 
 chain, and talking at Mr. Harris. ' I never 
 understand people being bored. The life 
 amuses me immensely. It is so novel, such 
 a study of men and manners, such a change 
 to one's own highly-polished and sumptuous 
 life at home. I always approve of bringing
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 163 
 
 the classes together now and then ; it teaches 
 toleration, forbearance, and politeness. I 
 have not the least objection to mingle with 
 my inferiors for a short time. I like to do 
 what good I can. I hope I am above class 
 prejudices.' 
 
 * What is your boss, then?' Mr. Harris 
 asked, with a smirk. ' I thought you said 
 he was only a Commissioner !' 
 
 The worm had turned. He had under- 
 stood htr inference, and this was his way 
 of resenting it. 
 
 ' Only a Commissioner, sir !' she said, 
 looking as if she could throw her pince-nez 
 at him. ' And boss — may I ask the mean- 
 ing of that vulgar-sounding word ?' 
 
 ' Beg pardon ! By boss I mean the 
 master — the old man at home.' 
 
 She turned towards Colonel Shepherd 
 and Major Mortimer, but they were point- 
 ing out fresh departures in the sunset 
 
 1 1 — 2
 
 1 64 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 clouds to each other, while Mrs. Barlow 
 and Mrs. Scott were crimson with trying 
 not to laugh. When she turned her back, 
 Mr. Harris was no longer visible. 
 
 1 This comes of condescending to clerks,' 
 she cried, almost breathless with indignation. 
 
 Luckily the first-lieutenant arrived on 
 the spot and diverted her attention from 
 this outrage on her dignity by bidding her 
 look how the sky had changed again. 
 The purple-black clouds had extended 
 themselves over the opal setting, and the 
 vermilion and orange clusters had piled 
 themselves upwards till they resembled 
 mountains aflame with internal fire. They 
 stood in fullest contrast of glaring, glowing 
 colouring, startling the sight with the fierce- 
 ness of their glare. 
 
 1 Does it mean storm ?' Mrs. Scott asked 
 apprehensively. ' That curiously-dressed 
 man said the Captain said so.'
 
 GA THE RING CLOUDS 165 
 
 He put her off with a vague reply. 
 
 4 These gorgeous sunsets are common 
 at this season and in these waters. Our 
 passengers usually try to put them on 
 paper, but their colours are never rich 
 enough. Splendid weather, isn't it ?' 
 
 ' I'm sure the sea looks queer, too,' she 
 continued. ' So oily and sullen. It sends 
 back the heat so viciously.' 
 
 ' Oh, this heat is nothing. Last Sep- 
 tember the water was at 150° nine feet 
 below the surface. Now it is only 92 . 
 We couldn't have it cooler at this time of 
 year. We shall reach Aden in two or 
 three days, so if a storm should come we 
 can get shelter there. What are you going 
 to spend there ?' 
 
 Mrs. Smith caught his last words. 
 
 ' Don't spend anything, my dear,' she 
 said. ' The feathers they offer you are 
 the mere refuse after the dealers have
 
 1 66 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 picked out the best. I hate the raw 
 material in any shape. / buy my feathers 
 in mv bonnets.' 
 
 Mrs. Scott moved away. The Captain 
 had joined Colonel Shepherd. She wanted 
 to hear his opinion of the weather. There 
 was a pause in their talk when she reached 
 them. 
 
 1 Captain Steele,' she said, ' do tell me if 
 these clouds mean a storm is coming. They 
 get more awful night after night.' 
 
 ' Awful !' he cried, in well-feigned amaze- 
 ment. ' I was just admiring their magnifi- 
 cence. The artist who would dare to paint 
 them on canvas would be considered too 
 imaginative !' 
 
 1 Surely they are exceptionally extra- 
 ordinary ?' 
 
 ' Exceptionally beautiful ! Well, they 
 may mean a capful of wind, which would 
 save coal, you know, and help us along
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 167 
 
 delightfully. But we are having a very 
 fine passage. Do you know Coleridge's 
 "Ancient Mariner" ? Well, three or four 
 years ago when I came along here in Julythe 
 sea was exactly as he describes it. Strange 
 things did actually come up and crawl upon 
 the water. It positively festered !' 
 
 'And was there a great storm after- 
 wards ?' 
 
 1 Oh dear no. Sometimes these superb 
 sunsets are the result of storms too far away 
 for us to feel.' 
 
 She looked doubtfully at him. 
 
 1 I wish I could believe you,' she said 
 wistfully. 
 
 His voice softened as he answered : 
 
 ' Don't go out of your way to meet 
 trouble, my dear child. If we have a stiff 
 breeze, you need not fear — you are a good 
 sailor ; but your friend will probably suffer 
 while it lasts.'
 
 168 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Have you ever been shipwrecked ?' 
 ' No, but I was once very near it. We 
 were carrying troops to Canada, and a 
 frightful gale crossed us, blew us out of our 
 course, carried away our boats, and shipped 
 two feet of water in the saloon and ladies' 
 cabin. I certainly never thought to weather 
 it. Yet it was very funny/ he said, laugh- 
 ing at the remembrance. ' We had a lady 
 on board — a very good soul she was ; but 
 in our extremity she offered to have all 
 her boxes thrown overboard to lighten the 
 ship, and just at the last, when we really 
 seemed all but lost, she ran up to me to 
 suggest the troops should be sacrificed to 
 save all the rest. Oh, she meant it — every 
 bit of it !' 
 
 As he finished, a curious sensation was 
 felt — a vibration running through the ship. 
 He turned towards his first mate question- 
 ingly. At the instant a violent revulsion
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 169 
 
 took place, as if the screw had got out of 
 bounds ; then another shiver shook the 
 boat — a sudden stoppage and stillness ! 
 
 Both officers rushed off, while the pas- 
 sengers grouped together and exchanged 
 opinions as to what had happened. 
 
 1 Something wron^ with the screw,' was 
 the prevailing notion, and it satisfied the 
 weaker sex, while it did not bind the men 
 to any special criticism. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow flew down to her boy and 
 informed him they would perish together, 
 while Mrs. Scott thought of her dream and 
 resigned herself to her fate, till both, yield- 
 ing to the charm of the quiet succeeding to 
 the irritating monotony of the screw, took 
 courage, and believed it was all right, as 
 they were still afloat ; and the one put 
 back her boy to bed, and the other calmly 
 read her evening portion of the Bible. 
 
 Later on they returned to the deck, to
 
 \7 o THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 find the gentlemen smoking and pro- 
 menading and the ladies talking and 
 laughing as usual. Their two special 
 gentlemen came to meet them as they 
 appeared above the stairway. 
 
 ' Isn't it deliciously quiet ?' the Major 
 exclaimed. 
 
 1 But is it all right ?' said Mrs. Scott. 
 1 Have you learnt what happened ?' 
 
 1 No ; they are examining the screw. 
 That's where the damage is, no doubt. 
 Oh, it will be all right to-morrow. What 
 have you been doing ? — making your 
 wills ?' 
 
 He passed on with Mrs. Barlow, both 
 making merry over the fright, while the 
 Colonel, who was very silent, followed with 
 Mrs. Scott. 
 
 ' Do you think it is all right ?' she asked. 
 
 He spoke cheerfully, but it was with an 
 effort.
 
 GATHERIXG CLOUDS 171 
 
 1 Oh, no doubt we shall be joiner on 
 all right by to-morrow ; but — there's the 
 delay.' 
 
 1 Anything's better than a storm,' she 
 said. ' Look how the night has come over 
 all the beautiful clouds, and the stars have 
 gone !' 
 
 The sea lay calm and sullen as ever, and 
 blackness obscured its oily, molten surface. 
 The lamps on the masts cast a feeble 
 glimmer as the great ship lay in un- 
 easy quiet. The Captain came amongst 
 his passengers presently in quite high 
 spirits. 
 
 1 You must make the most of your 
 quiet night, ladies and gentlemen,' he 
 said. 
 
 Then he shook hands with his favourites, 
 and disappeared. 
 
 At dawn most of them were awakened 
 by the noise of the screw once more in
 
 172 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 motion. There was immense and pro- 
 longed splashing and floundering, much 
 shouting and stamping and bustle. The 
 men-passengers, in dressing-gowns, went 
 to see what they could of the expected 
 start, and the women lay awake, excited 
 and expectant. Then the boat went for- 
 ward a few evolutions, but just as all 
 seemed right, there was a struggle between 
 the sea and the gear, more splashing and 
 floundering and shouting, and then — a 
 sudden stoppage and silence as before. 
 
 At breakfast the passengers were told 
 the damage was greater than was expected. 
 The screw could not be repaired properly 
 without going into dock, so only one was 
 now available ; but with the help of canvas 
 they would not be many hours behind time 
 at Aden. All they wanted now was a 
 friendly wind. 
 
 The ladies thought the explanation quite
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 173 
 
 reassuring. Mrs. Smith said she was not 
 in the least anxious ; she was always singu- 
 larly fortunate in her voyages. 
 
 By-and-by Mrs. Scott got Colonel Shep- 
 herd to herself, and was just coaxing him 
 to tell her the true state of the case, when 
 Major Mortimer came up and took the 
 words out of his mouth. 
 
 ' The thing is simply this,' he said. 
 ' Supposing one of a pair of carriage- 
 horses broke down, and the other had to 
 do all the work alone, hampered by being 
 on one side — well, it would pull a little 
 uneasily, and the pace could not be much. 
 That's our case, only, as soon as the wind 
 comes, sails will replace the lame screw. 
 That's it, isn't it, Colonel ?' 
 
 ' Exactly,' said the Colonel, stroking his 
 iron-gray moustache. 
 
 * Oh, I see !' cried Mrs. Scott, her face 
 restored to smiles. ' I'll go and tell Mrs.
 
 174 THE SCOTTS OF BESTML\STER 
 
 Barlow ; she is always so anxious about 
 her boy's safety.' 
 
 The sea lay in a sluggish leaden mass, 
 now and then agitated at a distance by 
 shoals of porpoises literally dancing on the 
 water, and resembling black men bathing 
 afar off; and once by a grampus, whose 
 appearance created delightful excitement 
 for the time ; flying fish, too, now and 
 again skimmed over the waves like silver 
 birds, and all day long the sun beat down 
 with such trying intensity that the very 
 Lascars suffered ; but no wind came suffi- 
 cient to help them materially, and their 
 progress was very unsatisfactory. 
 
 With a few of the experienced, the 
 Captain discussed the situation openly. 
 They knew the machinery was in a very 
 disabled condition, though they did not 
 know that there had been scruples about 
 letting the steamer leave Bombay ; only no
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 175 
 
 other boat was available, and they trusted 
 the patching-up there done would last the 
 return voyage. They knew sufficient, 
 however, to make them anxious ; for the 
 glass was falling rapidly, and if a storm of 
 any violence, such as the sunsets predicted, 
 fell upon the boat in its present disabled 
 condition, there would be very little chance 
 for its safety. 
 
 4 I don't see how we shall escape a 
 storm,' said the Captain ; ' that accident 
 has played the very devil with us. But 
 for that, we should have beaten the dis- 
 turbance, and got into Aden.' 
 
 ' Pleasant !' said Major Mortimer, as 
 he and the Colonel left the anxious 
 group in the Captain's cabin ; ' but, mind, 
 not a word to frighten those poor girls.' 
 
 Then they joined the 'poor girls' on 
 deck, played with the precious baby, held 
 skeins of silk for his mother, and talked
 
 i/6 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMIXSTER 
 
 gaily of the oyster luncheon to be enjoyed 
 at Aden. And when just before dinner 
 a breeze sprang up, and clouds veiled the 
 sun, everyone was quite happy and con- 
 tented, and spoke of ' being blown into 
 Aden in no time.' 
 
 Neither the Captain nor his first officer 
 remained at table after the meal began, 
 and before it was finished the motion of 
 the vessel was decidedly unpleasant. 
 
 1 Putting up sail,' said the cheerful 
 purser ; ' she'll steady directly.' 
 
 But the motion increased, and Mrs. 
 Barlow quickly succumbed to it, and soon 
 went to her cabin, excusing her retreat 
 with the remark that she wanted to see her 
 dear boy put to bed. Mrs. Scott, being 
 proof against sea-sickness, accompanied 
 the gentlemen on deck, and for a time 
 enjoyed the hurrying wind, now steadily 
 increasing. The hurly-burly raised her
 
 GATHERIXG CLOUDS 177 
 
 spirits. Clinging on to her two guardians, 
 she paced up and down in the teeth of the 
 breeze, enjoying the long unfelt blast, and 
 laughing and talking more like Mrs. Barlow 
 than her own quiet self. 
 
 The western sky was more splendid 
 than ever — inky-black clouds lay across 
 the scarlet and orange and rose of the 
 sunset glory, and the sea beneath, now 
 lashed into action by the wind, reflected 
 the roseate brilliancy. The light was 
 fiercely vivid over the horizon, while 
 eastward and southward the sky began 
 to thicken as if by a dull gray mist. The 
 more experienced passengers were uneasy ; 
 the ignorant were merely startled by the 
 strange, weird beauty of the evening ; and 
 Mrs. Scott paced on, feeling invigorated 
 and inspirited by the cool, damp wind, the 
 bustle, and the long inexperienced ability 
 to step out and enjoy brisk movement 
 
 vol. 1. 12
 
 178 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 again. Not till the radiance faded away, 
 and murky clouds covered the heavens as 
 with a pall, did her gay spirits flag ; then, 
 looking round on the changed scene, she 
 shuddered, and soon went down to her 
 cabin. 
 
 The carpenter followed her in — he was 
 putting up the dead lights. Mrs. Mole, 
 the boy's nurse, greeted him with vexation. 
 
 ' Can't you leave us one bit of light ?' 
 she said. ' We are all smothered when 
 you fasten the window up like that. I'd 
 as soon live at the bottom of a bottle.' 
 
 He laughed good-naturedly. 
 
 ' Better so than having a sea come in 
 and wet you through. No water~ can 
 break in now,' he said, tapping his work 
 to make sure it was thorough. 
 
 Mrs. Barlow raised her whirling head, 
 and mournfully ' supposed they were going 
 to have an awful storm.'
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 179 
 
 Ships' carpenters are accustomed to timid 
 passengers, and know how to cheer them. 
 He assured her everything was just as it 
 should be, and promised calm water and 
 fair skies on the morrow ; but as the night 
 deepened, and the tramp of sailors over- 
 head grew more and more hurried, and 
 their shouts heightened with the heighten- 
 ing wind, the three women felt all their 
 courage ebb away, and spent the night in 
 abject fear. 
 
 With daylight there was increased wind 
 instead of calm, and the heavy waves 
 buffeted the boat with alarming violence. 
 Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Scott were the only 
 two ladies able to put in an appearance 
 at breakfast. Even amongst the men 
 there were many absentees. The fiddles 
 were on the table, and the usual accidents 
 happened, inducing the usual merriment. 
 The pursers were the only ship's officers 
 
 12 — 2
 
 i So THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 present, and they were lively enough ; so 
 Mrs. Scott was cheered, and was able to 
 go back to her poor prostrate friend with a 
 reassuring report. Towards mid-day the 
 other screw ceased to work, and the 
 passengers who were obliged to remain 
 in the saloon openly criticised the situa- 
 tion. Mr. Harris professed to know 
 exactly what ought to be done, but 
 didn't like to interfere, he said. Mrs. 
 Smith reassured the trembling ladies. 
 
 ' I somehow always contrive to have 
 Queen's weather,' she said. ' Now, you'll 
 see ; at sunset the wind will lull, and to- 
 morrow we shall be among the red-headed 
 divers at Aden.' 
 
 Most of them talked themselves easy at 
 last, and bets were made as to the time 
 of their arrival in harbour. 
 
 But the wind did not lull at sunset, yet 
 those who were not down with sickness
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 181 
 
 managed to spend a sufficiently pleasant 
 evening, putting off the improvement till 
 next day, and few of them noticed that the 
 Captain had not left the deck since the 
 previous night. 
 
 By-and-by, when the women and the 
 careless had retired for the night, Major 
 Mortimer tried to go upstairs to see for 
 himself how the storm went on, but he was 
 not permitted ; the officer who stopped him 
 did so laughingly, assured him no lands- 
 man could stand on deck, and that the 
 ship's company was responsible for the 
 lives of the passengers ; but all the same, 
 the Major guessed what had happened, 
 and before the night was over most of 
 them knew they were battened down. 
 
 Next morning there was no tea and 
 coffee, for the fires were put out, and some 
 of the women became hysterical, and there 
 was a scene in the saloon. The ship's
 
 1 82 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 officers, however, continued to treat all 
 as a good joke, and as the ordinary result 
 of every 4 stiff breeze,' as they called it ; 
 but before the day was over everyone 
 knew somehow that they were being 
 driven along at the mercy of the winds, 
 that the poles were bare, and that the 
 Captain and his chief officer had not 
 stirred from their posts for thirty-six hours. 
 A few, a very few, knew more than this ; 
 bad as it was, there was worse than the 
 majority dreamed of, for not even the 
 chief officers knew where the ship was 
 driving. She had been out of her course 
 for many hours, and had long been out 
 of guidance ; there was more peril in her 
 headlong, purposeless flight than in the 
 gales which buffeted her, and the seas 
 which swept her. 
 
 Both Colonel Shepherd and Major 
 Mortimer were amongst the well informed,
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 183 
 
 but to the ladies looking to them for help 
 they kept uniformly hopeful and cheerful. 
 As time wore on there was no distinction 
 of class or attempt at regularity of meals ; 
 the saloon contained all the passengers, 
 and all were bound together in one 
 common dread. Another day passed, 
 another night came on, and the ship still 
 plunged and rolled as she would, the winds 
 shrieking, the wood creaking and straining 
 — that chorus of hideous sounds which 
 adds to the fears of the timid in a 
 storm. 
 
 On that fourth night there was no 
 pretence of going to bed. Mrs. Barlow 
 kept her boy in her arms. Terror had 
 conquered her sickness. She sat close to 
 Mrs. Scott, whispering her fear occasion- 
 ally. Mrs. Mole was close by them, 
 shaking her head and groaning. Later 
 in the night, a clergyman prayed for their
 
 1 84 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 preservation, and for a time the women 
 were comforted and the men softened. 
 Soon after prayers Colonel Shepherd and 
 the Major absented themselves, and came 
 back with heavy coats on. 
 
 ' Are you going on deck ?' Mrs. Scott 
 asked. 
 
 The Colonel kept her attention with 
 a roundabout, evasive answer, while Major 
 Mortimer and Mrs. Mole went into the 
 ladies' cabin and brought out blankets and 
 shawls, which they dropped unseen behind 
 their seats. 
 
 ' Is it true the cows are dead ?' Mrs. 
 Barlow was asking. 'What shall we do 
 for my boy's milk ?' 
 
 Someone near said, ' Two Lascars have 
 been washed overboard !' when a tremen- 
 dous blow was heard overhead. The main- 
 mast had fallen, carrying a boat overboard 
 with it.
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 185 
 
 Just before dawn a new sound was 
 added to the straining and creaking and 
 smashing and knocking — the swirling of 
 water in a narrow space ; and very shortly 
 afterwards the companion-way was wrenched 
 open, and the first officer's voice was heard 
 bellowing above the violence of the storm : 
 
 ' All passengers on deck !'
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE OLD HOME. 
 
 Captain Scott had not exaggerated in 
 saying he felt ashamed of going before the 
 medical board in London ; for the voyage 
 had benefited him so greatly that he had 
 walked ashore on arrival at Southampton. 
 Pale-faced and thin, it is true, but upright 
 and sure-footed, though only a month be- 
 fore at Bombay he had been carried on 
 board as weak and helpless as an infant. 
 Long before he reached England, all his 
 painfully morbid self-reproach had left him, 
 and he knew he had done right in hasten- 
 ing homewards alone.
 
 THE OLD HOME 187 
 
 The news of the child's death, which 
 reached him at Suez, grieved him a little, 
 and it was then he was glad of that fare- 
 well kiss. But great love for an infant of 
 days seldom rises in a father's heart. If 
 the nursery be not over-full, he regards the 
 new arrival with more pride than affection. 
 It appeals to him a little more than his 
 favourite dog — that is all. The full tide of 
 love that comes to the mother from the 
 moment of the child's birth is unknown to 
 the father, or, if there be an exception, it is 
 but to prove the rule. So when he went 
 on shore at Malta he had a black band put 
 round his sleeve, and bought some black 
 gloves, and felt he had done his duty to 
 the memory of his firstborn. When he 
 told what had happened to his friend, Mr. 
 Cartwright had said it was ' rather rough ' 
 on poor Mrs. Scott. 
 
 ! Yes,' was the answer, in rather a ques-
 
 1 88 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 tioning tone ; ' but she wasn't used to 
 children, and it would have been a great 
 bother on the voyage.' 
 
 As Mr. Cartwright did not know his 
 friend's wife, he discreetly forbore further 
 remark. It struck him as a novel view of 
 the case, but that was not his business, and 
 he was glad the bereavement would not 
 interfere with his companion's recovery. 
 As neither man was expected in England, 
 there w r as no one to meet them at South- 
 ampton — no eager letters awaiting them 
 with pressing invitations, and they were 
 able to travel on together, and dine at the 
 club together, when they reached London, 
 and then go their separate ways. It was 
 when his kind friend had bidden him good- 
 bye, and Captain Scott was left to the 
 loneliness of a lodging, that he first realized 
 his wife's absence fully. 
 
 The evening seemed interminable. The
 
 THE OLD HOME 
 
 weather was damp, and he dare not seek 
 amusement out of doors. A letter to his 
 half-brother announcing his return only 
 occupied a few moments, and after that 
 had been despatched he wondered what he 
 was to do with himself, and so he fell a- 
 thinking. He thought of Janie when he 
 first saw her fresh from England. Blush- 
 ing, shy, and yet exquisitely attractive, he 
 remembered how from the very first she 
 had innocently shown her preference for 
 him above all the other men who had tried 
 their best to win her regard, and how 
 staunch she had been to him when her 
 father had doubted the prudence of her 
 choice ; and then he remembered certain 
 hasty words of his when, during his own 
 inability to manage the household matters, 
 her incapacity had come very prominently 
 before him. Her face had flushed, and 
 she had shrunk out of sight like a frightened
 
 190 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 child, but had never resented his irritation 
 until that wretched outburst of his on their 
 way clown from the hills. That he could 
 not bear to dwell upon ; but when they met 
 again he would remind her how totally un- 
 hinged he had been, as also had she. Of 
 course she was inexperienced. What could 
 she know of Indian ways and means when 
 she had had no home-training ? He should 
 have considered all that, but for that knock- 
 down attack of illness which had weakened 
 his mind as well as his body, he told him- 
 self. Her pure heart, her sensitive nature, 
 her childlike confidence in him, were better 
 than mere technical knowledge. There 
 was the making of a splendid character in 
 her, and he would do his best to keep, to 
 form, and mature it. As soon as she came 
 to him they would go amongst their friends 
 and see how they managed their families. 
 They would go through a course of reading
 
 THE OLD HOME 191 
 
 together — good sterling works. He would 
 always remember his own short-comings 
 before he reflected on hers. He took up 
 a little photograph of her and blessed and 
 kissed it, though it was but an amateur's 
 caricature done with half-spoilt chemicals, 
 and, as he gazed, he thought of the effect 
 of her beauty on his English friends. 
 What would his half-brother say when he 
 saw her ? Wouldn't he be sorry he had 
 written to expostulate with him about mar- 
 rying so young, ' before he could possibly 
 know his own mind,' and citing his own 
 prudence in waiting ' for years of discretion 
 before he doubled his responsibilities and 
 expenses ' ? 
 
 The younger brother had considered 
 this as presuming upon his elder brother- 
 ship, and had said as much in reply, but 
 when Mr. Scott should see his new rela- 
 tion there was no doubt he would love and
 
 192 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 admire her. The doubt was whether she 
 would love and admire him ! He thought 
 with a smile how she would outshine all 
 the women of the little provincial town 
 where his brother lived and practised as a 
 lawyer. In his mind's eye he saw the eyes 
 of the congregation fastened upon her when 
 she first accompanied him to church — the 
 inspection which would be made of her at 
 the parties that would be given in their 
 honour. How his old schoolfellows would 
 envy him, and his old flames envy her ! 
 Yet with these meaner anticipations were 
 mingled the sense of his own unfitness to 
 guide — of his own unworthiness — adesire to 
 live a higher life than he had lived hitherto. 
 Not to shirk the rough ways because they 
 were unpleasant, but to be able bravely to 
 face misfortune, as well as to be humble in 
 prosperity. His wife's dependence upon 
 him was so real that the necessity of not
 
 THE OLD HOME 193 
 
 letting her depend on a broken reed was 
 heavy upon him. 
 
 London was emptying fast, but that 
 made no difference to him. He had 
 passed but little of his life there, and knew 
 only two or three units amongst its millions. 
 When he sought them out next day, with 
 the kindly eagerness the stay-at-home can- 
 not understand, he got no satisfaction out 
 of them. One said he must come and see 
 them again when they were settled down 
 for the winter. Another could not get 
 over his surprise at seeing him at all, and 
 said he was sorry he hadn't turned up 
 sooner, that he might have asked him to 
 dinner while there was someone worth 
 meeting left in town; and the other said he 
 had often and often wondered what had 
 become of him, and was dying to hear all 
 about his marriage, but his every moment 
 was just then fully occupied. 
 
 vol. 1. 13
 
 194 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 His tailor was the most cordial of all, 
 but one doesn't look for disinterested affec- 
 tion in one's tailor. So it was not alto- 
 gether a lively time, and when the elder 
 brother wrote cordially bidding him come 
 to Bestminster as soon as he could, and 
 stay as long as he liked, Captain Scott felt 
 his heart warm, and decided that even the 
 dulness of the society of a country town 
 was better than the largest town in the 
 world without any society at all. He 
 therefore got through his business as 
 quickly as he could, bought some Indian 
 jewellery in Regent Street for expectant 
 relations — a proceeding much to be re- 
 commended to travellers from the East as 
 a great saving of time and anxiety — and 
 once more started on his travels. 
 
 How neat and trim and charming was 
 the tranquil country through which the 
 train bore him ! — the fields of corn, ripen-
 
 THE OLD HOME 195 
 
 ing to harvest, tending into ever-changing 
 shades of golden green as the cool, brisk 
 wind ruffled the heavy ears ; the sober 
 cows, so large and fat in contrast with 
 the lean, half-starved kine of India ; the 
 little villages clustered amongst woods and 
 hayricks, and guarded by the gray old 
 churches ; the low hills with their rounded 
 undulations, pigmy copies of the heights 
 on which he had so lately looked ; the toy 
 trees in their summer verdure, the slowly 
 moving rivulets, flower-bordered, flowing 
 through the placid meadows ; the well- 
 kept, tasteful houses in their settings of 
 smooth lawns and trim gardens. And when 
 the way ran on through well-timbered 
 Hampshire, with its ancient homesteads, 
 its deep lanes, its forest wildness and 
 wealth of fern and bracken, trailing 
 bramble and wild-roses, he felt he was in 
 familiar scenes. 
 
 1 x — 2
 
 196 THE SCOTTS OF BESTM1NSTER 
 
 How unaltered it all appeared ! The 
 heath-croppers still flung out their sturdy 
 legs and galloped from the noise of the 
 train ; the blue-eyed, flaxen-haired children 
 still stood on gates and waved hats and 
 sun-bonnets in salutation to the whirling 
 passengers ; he knew when to look out 
 for the far reach of blue sea, and to listen 
 for the hollow sound of the train passing 
 over the long bridge across the estuary, 
 which in his boyhood had been so delight- 
 fully suggestive of danger. 
 
 Here was the well-known contour of 
 the home country; the terraced hills bound- 
 ing the view (how small they had become!); 
 the beacon on the highest point which had 
 once seemed to pierce the sky ; the pine 
 woods with their soft, clean carpeting of fir 
 needles; the sandy soil covered with purple 
 ling and heather, full of insect, animal, and 
 bird life ; the clay country with its large
 
 THE OLD HOME 197 
 
 heaps of debris, its pools of gleaming 
 water, its rough tracks and rougher 
 cottages ; the estuary with its once opulent 
 town decaying on its low, flat shore, and 
 the sluggish river flowing beyond the 
 estuary, doubling and winding amongst 
 the low-lying emerald meadows, dyked 
 and dammed like those in Holland, and 
 leading by sweet and devious ways, where 
 the rushes and the tall sedges, the water- 
 lilies and the great gold king-cups har- 
 boured many a warbler and many a dainty 
 trout, to the quaint little town, in its prime 
 when Alfred ruled, to which Captain Scott 
 was bound. 
 
 Here and there, rising from amongst the 
 level land, a barrow was seen, with its crown 
 of pine-trees — the last resting-place of 
 some chieftain who had withstood many a 
 Danish invasion. How well did the 
 traveller remember watching with breath-
 
 ic,8 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 less interest the opening of one of these 
 barrows, and how disappointed he had 
 been at the result — a few old bones and 
 shreds of pottery, instead of the figure of 
 a gigantic warrior with his horse and his 
 dog beside him ! 
 
 The smell of the air as he hung out 
 of the window was delicious to him — that 
 mixture of sand and bracken and pine and 
 salt and ripening corn, so invigorating after 
 the exhausting atmosphere of the East ; 
 and something else came with the home- 
 like scenes and smells : a hopeful anticipa- 
 tion of a new beginning — renewed life, 
 renewed youthful strength ; suffering and 
 pain were to be no more dwelt upon ; he 
 was content to look forward and rejoice. 
 
 The engine slackened speed ; here was 
 the little side station, its platform bordered 
 with bushes of blue hydrangea, and on it, 
 wearing a broad straw hat, light, full
 
 THE OLD HOME 199 
 
 trousers, and cutaway shooting-coat, with 
 a tall child on either hand, stood, with 
 beaming face of welcome, the elder half- 
 brother, the guardian of his boyhood, un- 
 seen for seven long years. 
 
 As the young man, with his unmis- 
 takable soldier-like bearing in his new 
 London-made suit, stepped out of the train, 
 many eyes besides his brother's surveyed 
 him admiringly. The two porters, the 
 busman and the station-master were on 
 the look out for him, as for someone in 
 whom they took an interest begotten of 
 generations of former Scotts ; and many a 
 countryman going forward with the train 
 and recognising the well-known lawyer on 
 the platform, guessed who the new arrival 
 must be, and nodded neighbourly con- 
 gratulations as they were carried past. 
 
 The brothers met with smiles, and held 
 each other's hands warmly ; then the
 
 200 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Captain greeted his nieces, and as the 
 train disappeared he called to the porters 
 and bade them : 
 
 ' Take up those things of mine to Mr. 
 Scott's at once,' speaking as a man accus- 
 tomed to prompt and unquestioning atten- 
 tion speaks. 
 
 * The Captain wishes these things of 
 his brought up to my house as soon as 
 you can, James,' added the elder brother. 
 ' Charles, you must remember James 
 Burton — his wife was our Martha, you 
 know. And here's our careful station- 
 master, Rawlins — new since your time, I 
 think, but he was in our father's office 
 as a boy. You remember those days, 
 Rawlins, don't you ? Long time ago, 
 though — before the Captain here was 
 born, I fancy. And this is an old soldier. 
 Come here, Jones. Charles, this is Jones, 
 of the Dragon. You were in the Crimea,
 
 THE OLD HOME 201 
 
 were you not, Jones ? Well, you'd better 
 take charge of the Captain's traps, and 
 you can ask for a glass of ale when you've 
 carried them in.' 
 
 Meantime the two girls, with eyes tight 
 on their young uncle, were perfectly con- 
 scious of his amusement over these intro- 
 ductions and explanations. As he inter- 
 cepted their glances they coloured deeply, 
 and fidgeted awkwardly, and he good- 
 naturedly relieved their embarrassment by 
 turning to them while the phaeton was 
 being brought up. 
 
 ' Which is Ann, and which is Janie ?' he 
 asked. ' One of you has the same name 
 as your aunt, I know.' 
 
 Their father bustled up, and bundled 
 both girls into the back seat of the car- 
 riage before they could answer ; then he 
 shoved his brother into the front, and 
 jumping in beside him, continued his direc-
 
 202 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 tions to the busman while gathering up 
 the reins and tucking the apron over him ; 
 then, when fairly started and trotting along 
 the causeway leading through low pasture- 
 land to the town, he inquired : 
 
 1 Well, Charles, and what do you think 
 of your nieces ? — hardly more than intelli- 
 gent turnips at present, eh ? I wonder if 
 you've got a word out of them yet ? But 
 don't be deceived ; they are in reality the 
 noisiest tomboys ! Mary Latimer does 
 her best to polish them, but it's no use.' 
 
 The girls giggled as their uncle sat 
 round and smiled at them. 
 
 ' Now tell me,' he said, ' which is Janie. 
 When I saw you last you were like two 
 little dumplings, and now I behold two 
 nearly grown-up young ladies. I am quite 
 shy to be called uncle by you.' 
 
 1 You shall drill them,' said his brother ; 
 ' we'll have parade every day — they'll
 
 THE OLD HOME 203 
 
 represent the awkward squad ; they're all 
 angles and curves — curves in the wrong 
 direction. If only we could turn their 
 heads right round, their figures would be 
 perfect. This is Jane ; we fancied we saw 
 a likeness to your wife from the photo you 
 sent us.' 
 
 There was a certain appealing expres- 
 sion in the eyes that had some slight re- 
 semblance, so Charley could honestly admit 
 there w r as something reminding him of his 
 wife. 
 
 Mr. Scott at once begged his little 
 daughter to remember there were plain 
 likenesses, and it did not at all follow that 
 because she was a little like her pretty 
 aunt she was pretty too. Uncle Charley 
 winked at his abashed niece, and both girls 
 went offinto fits of silent laughter as he said : 
 
 1 No, indeed, we won't drill ! we'll dance 
 instead. Dancing is the best exercise for
 
 204 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 the figure. I'll be dancing-master, and 
 we'll get your mother to be band. How 
 is Ann, Ambrose ?' 
 
 ' Oh, all right ! but too busy, of course, 
 to come when I want her.' 
 
 ' Papa,' one of the girls said, ' you 
 know she wanted to come, and you said 
 there wasn't room for us all/ 
 
 This was awkward ; but Mr. Scott's 
 attention was just then attracted to a 
 passer-by, whom he hailed effusively as he 
 drew up to address him. 
 
 1 Why, Pilch ! you out again ! and as 
 hearty as ever, I declare ! Now, who do 
 you think I've got here — home from the 
 wars ?' He nudged his brother as he 
 spoke. ' Why, Master Charles ! You re- 
 member him, don't you ? A sad scamp, 
 wasn't he ? Charles, you know Pilch, who 
 used to be head clerk to Norton ?' 
 
 The old man smiled and bowed, and
 
 THE OLD HOME 205 
 
 tottered on, while Charley protested he had 
 never even heard of him before ; but he 
 recognised the next comer, and would have 
 stopped, had not Mr. Scott whipped his 
 horse out of the way of the bus, which was 
 overtaking them, and said : 
 
 * No, no ! the fellow's on the other side ; 
 he voted dead against us last time. Of 
 course, you can notice him when you are 
 alone, but not when you are with me — it 
 wouldn't do, you know/ 
 
 1 I'd forgotten all that rubbish,' said 
 Charley. 
 
 As they drove up the High Street, he 
 was shown the new windows in the News- 
 room, and informed they were the result of 
 his brother's determination. 
 
 ' We had a regular dispute about them,' 
 Mr. Scott said. ' Old How was Mayor, 
 and wouldn't vote the money — such a 
 correspondence it was, to be sure ! I'll
 
 206 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 show it you some day. But I gained the 
 day. The letters were published, and I 
 was complimented on my good English. 
 I flatter myself I know how to put a phrase 
 together grammatically, if I know nothing 
 else.' 
 
 Many of the tradespeople were at their 
 open doors, and saluted the new-comer 
 with smiles of welcome. The elder brother 
 only returned some of them — of some he 
 took no notice at all. 
 
 1 That fellow Jinks voted against my 
 getting the town clerkship,' he grumbled 
 of one ; ' that chap tried to prevent me 
 being made vestry clerk,' he complained of 
 another. 
 
 But Charles, having no political scruples, 
 smiled back on all his fellow-townsmen, 
 remembering them as familiar home-faces, 
 though over all were the subtle changes 
 visible after long absence.
 
 THE OLD HOME 207 
 
 As they drove up Church Street, Mr. 
 Scott bade his brother prepare for a grand 
 surprise. 
 
 4 What do you think of that ?' he asked, 
 as he pulled up beside the low church- 
 yard wall. 
 
 When Captain Scott left home the fine 
 old church was in the dirty, neglected 
 condition of so many country churches ; 
 till within a few years back, it had been 
 surrounded by a graveyard filled to over- 
 flowing w T ith lichen-covered stones ; nettles 
 grew high above the mouldering boundary 
 wall, and the onlv gardeners ever admitted 
 to keep down the coarse grass were the 
 butcher's sheep, who found there a safe 
 and profitable halting-place between the 
 market and the shambles. Since then a 
 new vicar had brought new notions ; the 
 old crowded wilderness of what were 
 called ' altar tombs ' — most like stunted
 
 208 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 four-post bedsteads of stone — had been 
 cleared of all unsightly weeds, and neat 
 paths cut through the closely-shaven grass, 
 and beyond it a new and fairer garden 
 appeared, carefully planted out and already 
 exhibiting improved monuments, less like 
 fragments from Stonehenge or stony side- 
 boards. 
 
 ; Ah !' Mr. Scott exclaimed, as his 
 brother expressed his satisfaction at the 
 difference. ' Wouldn't you like to take a 
 run round ?' 
 
 Charley didn't like ; indeed, he had been 
 too near death lately to care to pay a 
 visit to its abode immediately on his return 
 home. 
 
 1 Ah well,' his brother said, evidently 
 disappointed, ' some other time, then ; but 
 I wanted you to see the new stone I've 
 put up to our father. We've a new stone- 
 cutter set up here, and he's rather doubt-
 
 THE OLD HOME 209 
 
 ful, so I thought it as well to make sure 
 of him for our side by giving him an 
 order at once — the fellow's very grateful. 
 I can tell you Normanby people are quite 
 envious of our smart graveyard.' 
 
 The large, handsome, old church 
 occupied the outer angle of the most 
 suburban street in Bestminster, and the 
 Scotts' old house faced the street leading 
 immediately away from Church Street to- 
 wards the market-place. It stood a little 
 back from the road with an imposing 
 three-storied front of cut stone ; its three 
 rows of windows were spotlessly bright, 
 and carefully curtained with snowy muslin. 
 The front-door, with glittering door and 
 bell handles, opened on an imposing flight 
 of broad stone steps, flanked by stone 
 lions ; a little flagged garden, with trim 
 evergreen bushes on either side the 
 pathway, led to the front-gate, with its 
 
 vol. 1. 14
 
 210 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 heavy single stone supports, each sur- 
 mounted by a stone plum-pudding. How 
 often had Charley yearned to push those 
 meaningless balls over and trundle them 
 down the street ! 
 
 The offices were in a low wing, just 
 as in his father's, grandfather's, and great- 
 grandfather's time ; here were no spotless 
 windows and glittering handles. It was 
 a tradition in the family that spotless 
 cleanliness in the office would indicate 
 much leisure- — ergo, little work ; a show of 
 dirt, therefore, was necessary to impress 
 country clients with the belief that there 
 was no time for eye-wash. 
 
 Mrs. Scott was at the door as soon as 
 the wheels sounded outside, and it seemed 
 to Charley she was not so dowdy and 
 dissatisfied-looking as she used to be ; 
 indeed, she not only looked younger, but 
 was much more self-possessed. As he
 
 THE OLD HOME 211 
 
 kissed her he told her she had gone back- 
 ward instead of forward in age, and she 
 astonished him by having a reply ready : 
 
 ■ As for you,' she said, ' you left us an 
 awkward boy, and here you are so fine a 
 gentleman we shall all have to apologize 
 for our country manners.' 
 
 ' No flirting, Ann,' her husband cried, 
 entering the hall, and chucking her under 
 the chin jocosely. 
 
 Charley remembered this habit of his, 
 and he also remembered how sullenly she 
 used to resent it, while now she took no 
 notice beyond moving her head beyond 
 his reach, as she led the way into the 
 dining-room, where the early dinner awaited 
 them. 
 
 ' All my old friends,' said the new 
 arrival, nodding to the pictures round the 
 large, comfortable room. ' There's the 
 "Jumping Gee-gee" of my infancy. I'll 
 
 14 — 2
 
 212 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 never believe any horse vaulted so far 
 above a five-barred gate in reality. I 
 used to envy that huntsman immensely/ 
 
 4 Yes, it was my admiration too/ said 
 Ambrose ; ■ it's not a bad composition/ 
 
 1 And our ancestors too !' cried Charley, 
 eyeing distrustfully two Queen Anne por- 
 traits of a lady and gentleman — the lady 
 much pinched in at the long waist, and 
 very taper-fingered ; the gentleman very 
 much frilled and buttoned and wigged. 
 
 Mrs. Scott laughed. 'Ancestors of 
 ours ' was the favourite — slightly ambigu- 
 ous — phrase of her husband when inviting 
 attention to his pictures, though he knew, 
 and she knew, and all the elder Best- 
 minster worthies knew, that they were 
 part payment of a bad debt to his father, 
 who fancied himself a bit of an artist, 
 
 There was a Magdalene, too, with very 
 muscular arms, so muscular that some
 
 THE OLD HOME 213 
 
 friends said it was not a Magdalene at all, 
 notwithstanding the long hair, but a St. 
 John. Of it Mr. Scott thought very highly, 
 declaring it to be the work of one of the 
 old masters, though he was too cautious 
 to name the artist. There was a Venus 
 and Cupid, too — Venus armed with a 
 small-tooth comb with which she seemed 
 about to smooth her winged boy's much- 
 ruffled hair. Even Mr. Scott was not 
 enthusiastic about this picture. He gener- 
 ally drew attention to the massive frame 
 only, ' as a wonderful piece of carving,' and 
 murmured something about Correggio. 
 There was a ' Poussin,' too — so old that 
 the eye could make out of it nothing but a 
 cluster of ruined pillars, a white horse 
 rearing in the foreground, and some 
 shadowy towers against an orange sky. 
 Mr. Scott was wont to shake his head in 
 showing this picture. Words failed him
 
 2 1 4 THE SCO TTS OF BES TMINS TER 
 
 to express his admiration of its ' depth of 
 tone.' 
 
 Just now, however, instead of watching 
 his brother's smiling recognition of each 
 well-known subject, he was all impatience 
 to attract his attention to a new, large oil- 
 painting over the sideboard, representing 
 ' Brother Scott ' as large as life in full 
 Masonic costume. 
 
 ' I want you to look at that,' cried the 
 original, waving his arm towards it. 
 
 1 Ah !' said Charley, unfolding his nap- 
 kin. ' Very good indeed !' 
 
 ' Take off the covers,' Mrs. Scott said. 
 4 What will you have, Charles ?' 
 
 'We haven't said grace, mother/ Ann said. 
 
 1 Nice bit of colour,' her father continued. 
 ' Hands very powerfully painted — embroi- 
 dery on apron inimitable. For what we 
 are going to receive, the Lord make us 
 trulv thankful.'
 
 THE OLD HOME 215 
 
 The girls sniggered ; Charley with diffi- 
 culty avoided grinning. Mrs. Scott said : 
 
 ' Really, Ambrose !' 
 
 And Ambrose, proceeding to attack the 
 dish before him, continued unabashed : 
 
 1 That painter-fellow is a relation of 
 Parsons' at the bank — a stubborn beast 
 who always delights to vote against us. 
 Last election was rather a ticklish affair. 
 Burton and I determined to take the bull 
 by the horns, so we got ourselves painted 
 by the artist-chap, and got him no end of 
 custom by letting ourselves be exhibited. 
 There used to be a crowd of farmers 
 staring on market-days, and lots of them 
 wanted to be exhibited, too, and altogether 
 the painter was so grateful that we got 
 Parsons' vote and interest, and I really 
 don't think we could have carried the day 
 without him.' 
 
 Mr. Scott turned his attention to his
 
 216 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 brother, and asked him minute questions 
 concerning his wife, his wife's father, his 
 illness and journey, his prospects, his share 
 in that skirmish on the frontier which gave 
 him his promotion. 
 
 1 Lucky chap !' he added. ' You must be 
 about the youngest captain in the army.' 
 
 Charley began to think he should soon 
 be called upon for a list of his clothes, 
 but the opportune arrival of a client pre- 
 sently called the elder away to his office, 
 and the younger was free to solace himself 
 with a pipe. 
 
 A pipe smoked in his old bedroom, which 
 still showed traces of his former occupancy 
 — his initials cut on the window-sill, his 
 height cut on the door, a shelf full of 
 Jules Verne's and other thrilling schoolboy 
 stories, a caricature photograph of a loutish 
 boy in football suit — ' I never could have 
 been like that,' he said to himself — a stuffed
 
 THE OLD HOME 217 
 
 sea-bird in a case — his own stuffing — in a 
 melancholy and moulting condition, and 
 two cricket bats slung cross-ways over the 
 fireplace. He seated himself by the open 
 window, and thought over that old life as 
 he gazed over the large old-fashioned 
 garden to the level meadows, the tranquil 
 river, the red sandstone cliff where the 
 river turned abruptly — the unaltered peace- 
 ful landscape which had so often wearied 
 him with its sameness. Though the house 
 stood in a street, its back was quite open 
 to the country, and high walls and trees 
 prevented it being overlooked. The calm 
 and sweetness were inexpressibly charming. 
 Never before had he sentimentalized over 
 his boyhood. It had not been a very 
 happy time. He did not remember either 
 father or mother, nor had his step-brother 
 cared to make up for their loss. He had 
 seen he was well fed, clothed, and schooled
 
 218 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 as a matter of necessity, and had carefully 
 nursed his little property, but he had 
 grudged him his holidays, and never at- 
 tempted to share his scant pleasures. 
 
 Charley smiled as he remembered what 
 a bugbear Ambrose had seemed in those 
 days — not that he had ever questioned his 
 elder brother's affection. Boys and girls 
 as a rule do not sit down and consider and 
 weigh and measure their lots ; but he had 
 felt a want, though he couldn't have named 
 it, and his early marriage was probably the 
 result of that want. How could he ever 
 have trembled before that brother's word ? 
 
 1 Such a rum-looking chap !' he solilo- 
 quized, recalling the Leghorn hat and cut- 
 away coat and very light loose trousers, and 
 smiling as he thought over his oddities. 
 
 He fell to thinking over his sister-in-law 
 next, with his lately-acquired experience of 
 woman. Why had he always thought of
 
 THE OLD HOME 219 
 
 her as a down-trodden, dreary person ? 
 She must have been really good-looking 
 not so very long ago ; and her manner to 
 her husband was certainly neither subser- 
 vient nor fearful. She was becomingly 
 dressed, too. It seemed to him that 
 formerly she was always a dowdy in slate- 
 coloured alpaca, and her manner fearful 
 and awkward. Here was something to 
 find out ; for the difference was not fanciful 
 — of that he was convinced. The two girls 
 were free from his retrospective criticism. 
 They were in the nursery when he went 
 away. 
 
 ' Funny, apple-faced girls,' he said to 
 himself. ' I dare say they'll not be bad- 
 looking some day, when they've outgrown 
 pigtails, and got some flesh on their arms 
 and legs ;' and then he remembered he had 
 promised to have a game of tennis as soon 
 as he had smoked his pipe. So, collecting
 
 220 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 his presents, he went down to distribute 
 them. 
 
 A visitor was in the drawing-room — the 
 new Vicar, who was brother to Mrs. Scott ; 
 and in him Charley soon read the reason 
 for her altered manner. The well-to-do 
 Vicar of Bestminster was a client and rela- 
 tion worth propitiating, and with him at 
 hand the much-snubbed wife had gradually 
 learnt to assert her right to be something 
 more than nurse-housekeeper, and Ambrose 
 had wisely tolerated the gradual change, 
 though at first he had succumbed in her 
 brother's presence only. Strangely enough, 
 however, as his wife made him feel her in- 
 dependence of action, she began to acquire 
 a new grace and charm in his eyes ; he 
 began to be glad she asserted herself, and 
 proud of the fresh local importance she 
 gained through her new departure. Per- 
 haps he knew, despite all this, that, were it
 
 THE OLD HOME 
 
 necessary, he could easily put on the screw 
 again, and bring back the old order of 
 things. 
 
 After awhile, when the Vicar and the 
 soldier were fast friends, they spoke of this 
 change. The Vicar said : 
 
 ' I showed Ann she was ruining her 
 husband's character by letting him lord it 
 over the family and treat her so disrespect- 
 fully, as a nonentity, before anyone and 
 everyone. She owed it to herself and her 
 girls to keep up her proper position as wife 
 and mistress ; and he's ever so much better 
 a fellow since he learnt self-restraint. I 
 saw them walking together once when a 
 heavy storm of rain came on ; they'd only 
 one umbrella between them, which she was 
 carrying. He actually took possession of 
 it, and walked briskly off, leaving her to 
 follow as she could f 
 
 The Vicar was accompanied by two little
 
 222 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 boys — twins of four years old. He had 
 been a widower ever since they were born, 
 and ever since they could take care of them- 
 selves he was rarely seen without them. 
 
 Charley was greatly attracted by their 
 sturdy, independent ways. Though they 
 were the same age, they were not the same 
 size. The one was plump and short, the 
 other tall and thin ; but the little one ruled 
 the tall one. They stood forward and 
 listened to what was going on without 
 taking any part ; and when they were not 
 interested, they seated themselves close 
 together in a far corner, with a thumb in 
 each mouth, the disengaged hands holding 
 each other's ears, and would thus remain, 
 perfectly content, till summoned away. 
 Their baptismal names were Francis and 
 Victor, but the names by which they were 
 known, and which they conferred on them- 
 selves, were Toompy and Toomty.
 
 THE OLD HOME 223 
 
 But for the Vicars ever-watchful care, 
 these boys would have been ruined by 
 over-indulgence. They were the objects 
 of devoted attention and affection to every 
 unmarried woman in the parish. Once, 
 when they had the measles, the Vicarage 
 was besieged by volunteer nurses ; and a 
 large basketful of dainty dishes was sent by 
 the Vicar every night, under cover of the 
 darkness, to the aged inmates of the alms- 
 houses, being the fragments that remained 
 over and above of the adoring spinsters' 
 offerings. The Vicarage front- door was kept 
 locked during this illness, and a bulletin 
 was tied to the knocker, so that there should 
 be no pretext for visitors to be admitted. 
 The Vicar used the back-door all that time, 
 and generally put his coachman in charge 
 of the invalids during his absences. 
 
 For a long time the three figures had 
 been familiar to Bestminster — the tall
 
 224 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 father between his two little sons — at 
 all hours of the day. While the Vicar 
 paid his visits to the sick, the little lads 
 would sit in the best parlour, patiently 
 sucking their thumbs and holding their 
 ears, quite regardless of the eyes of the 
 children of the house watching them from 
 behind the door ; nor did the most alluring 
 offers of fruit and sweets tempt them to 
 disobey their father's orders to accept 
 nothing except in his presence. 
 
 The Vicar was father, mother, tutor, and 
 nurse, in one. There was only one woman 
 in the world to whom he would have given 
 some of these duties if she would have 
 consented to take them for him ; he had 
 neither taste nor leisure for flirting, though 
 he was still a young man, and the atten- 
 tions of his fair neighbours neither flattered 
 nor amused, but simply annoyed him. 
 The only woman he loved better than his
 
 THE OLD HOME 225 
 
 sister had never shown any interest beyond 
 a neighbourly interest in him, nor in his 
 boys in his presence ; but he was content 
 to wait, hoping, so long as no more-favoured 
 suitor came into view, that all would eventu- 
 ally end well for him. 
 
 He and Captain Scott liked each other 
 from their very first meeting. The Vicar 
 had expected to see a man of the world, or 
 a prig, and so was pleasantly surprised ; 
 and the Captain, full of esprit de corps, 
 had not looked for a kindred spirit in the 
 black coat of a Vicar of a remote country 
 town. 
 
 The Vicar had called in only for a 
 moment to pay his respects to the new- 
 comer, he said, when the girls were 
 clamorous for him to have just one game 
 of tennis ; he and his boys were due at 
 a village two miles over the heath, but 
 they let him go cheerfully enough when 
 
 vol. 1. 15
 
 226 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 their newer uncle offered to play with 
 them instead. They grew familiar over 
 the game in the shady garden all by 
 themselves, and when they were all tired 
 Uncle Charley found himself comfortably 
 seated between the two girls, being initi- 
 ated into the local gossip, and being 
 questioned about Aunt Jane's eyes and 
 hair and general appearance. 
 
 ' Aunt Janie,' said he correctingly: 'why 
 do you let them call you two girls Jane 
 and Ann ? Don't answer till they soften 
 them down. Even Jenny and Nanny 
 would be better than hard Jane and 
 Ann.' 
 
 * Yes, I do think papa and mamma 
 might have given us pretty names,' cried 
 Ann. ' Mary Latimer always says children 
 ought to have temporary names till they 
 are old enough to choose for themselves. 
 Do you know Mary, Uncle Charles ?'
 
 THE OLD HOME 227 
 
 1 Uncle Charley,' he corrected. ■ Yes, 
 of course I know her. Isn't she married 
 yet, or going to be ?' 
 
 1 If you'll promise not to tell/ said 
 Jane, ' I believe Uncle Will would like to 
 marry her, but I think she's too old now. 
 She's older even than you, you know/ 
 
 1 Well, but I'm quite a youngster — at 
 least, your father says so ; and she's only 
 about two years older than I. Is she 
 rheumatic or blind or toothless, and cappy 
 and hairless ?' 
 
 1 Oh, Uncle Charles — ey ! you are laugh- 
 ing at us. She's very pretty yet. We 
 think — Ann and I think — that she has had 
 a disappointment. Perhaps someone she 
 liked died of consumption, or ' 
 
 There was a sudden pause. The same 
 thought had struck both girls, and their 
 uncle read it in their eyes. 
 
 ' Yes, I used to think her lovely,' he said. 
 
 J5— 2
 
 228 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 I don't mind telling you I was awfully- 
 spoony over her.' 
 
 And he sighed profoundly. . 
 
 ' And why,' said Jane, creeping up closer 
 — ' why didn't you marry her ? Did you 
 ask her, and did she say " No " ? or ' 
 
 Ann took up the subject. 
 
 1 Or Oh, Uncle Charley, we'll 
 
 never tell, but — do you suppose it is be- 
 cause you married Aunt Janie that Mary 
 has not married anyone else ?' 
 
 ' Well,' he said, shaking his head, ' I 
 was in love with her ever since I began 
 stick-up collars. I daren't attempt it in 
 turn-down Etons, you know, but as soon as 
 I got into stick-ups I tried my best to cut 
 out Chivers, who unconsciously sucked all 
 the varnish off the tops of three canes 
 while staring at her in church. He never 
 got the varnish off his tongue, and so the 
 medical board spun him in his exam. ;
 
 THE OLD HOME 229 
 
 and Mary wouldn't look at him, but she 
 and I were fast friends. We were both 
 fond of toffy.' 
 
 Uncle Charley looked very serious, but 
 the girls didn't feel quite sure of him. 
 
 1 But when you went to India and saw 
 Aunt Janie you forgot ?' Ann suggested. 
 
 1 When I went to India and saw Aunt 
 Janie it was all over with me. I never 
 even thought of my collars. You won't 
 mention it, will you ? but I forgot all 
 about Mary and her toffy and every- 
 thing.' 
 
 1 How awful !' said Ann. 
 
 1 How dreadful !' said Janie. 
 
 But they looked beaming, and rubbed 
 their hands together. This was evidently 
 as good as a novel to them. He looked 
 as penitent as he could. 
 
 ' Yes,' he continued, ' Aunt Janie made 
 me marry her instead. I hope you'll keep
 
 2.3o THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 close to me when I first meet Mary. It 
 will be so awkward.' 
 
 1 Poor thing !' sighed Ann. 
 
 * Perhaps if you told her she'd better 
 marry Uncle Will she would/ Jane mur- 
 mured. 
 
 Uncle Charley groaned. 
 
 ' When your affections have been trifled 
 with, you won't glance at another !' he said. 
 
 Then, looking at the four round eyes, full 
 of curiosity and interest, he rose hastily, 
 and, fearing if he remained he would spoil 
 all, he went off to the drawing-room. 
 
 ' I believe he's been trying to take us 
 in !' said one girl as he left them. 
 
 * I wonder if it's all a make-up !' said 
 the other. 
 
 But they ended in believing it all, and 
 looked forward to further interesting dis- 
 closures at the meeting between the two 
 former friends.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MARY LATIMER. 
 
 Afterwards, with his brother and sister- 
 in-law, Mary Latimer was again dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 ' I heard from her to-day,' Ambrose 
 told him. ' She is coming home very soon 
 now.' 
 
 ' And she's not married, nor going to 
 be ?' Charley asked. 
 
 1 Our girls are mad over her,' said Mrs. 
 Scott. ( She's so good to them — quite like 
 an elder sister. No, I wish she would 
 marry, for her life is very lonely now her
 
 232 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 mother's dead. Mrs. Latimer once said 
 something about a love-affair, but the 
 married daughter said it wouldn't do. He 
 hadn't anything, so it came to nothing.' 
 
 1 Someone here ?' asked Captain Scott. 
 
 1 No, someone she met at her sister's ; 
 but, dear me ! that's years ago.' 
 
 1 Doesn't the Vicar want a wife ?' 
 
 Mrs. Scott smiled, but was silent. 
 
 ' Bless me !' Ambrose cried, speaking 
 sharply. ' What could he do with a wife ? 
 There are the boys — quite as much as 
 he can manage. I wouldn't put such an 
 idea in his head !' 
 
 Mrs. Scott's eyes met her young brother- 
 in-law's. She was not so stupid as he had 
 thought her, after all. 
 
 ' She's very comfortably off,' Ambrose 
 added. ' Of course that might be an in- 
 ducement, but / manage her business 
 matters, and she has plenty of friends.
 
 MARY LATIMER 
 
 She's a clever woman in her way, too. I 
 expect she knows when she's well off, and 
 doesn't care to change. At any rate, she's 
 a nice girl, a very nice girl. I look upon 
 her as quite one of my family.' 
 
 For a couple of weeks Captain Scott felt 
 as serenely happy as it is ever given one 
 to feel. The weather was perfect ; the 
 local gossip amused him ; the local politics 
 amazed him. He felt strengthened by the 
 constant excursions by river and road — got 
 up for his benefit by the kindly unsophisti- 
 cated old-new acquaintances. The long 
 afternoons passed on the other side of the 
 purple boundary hills, where the sea broke 
 over yellow sands and shell-strewn shores, 
 were delightfully invigorating to his still 
 weakened frame. Fresh air without 
 fatigue, and amusement without excitement, 
 were just what he needed, and just what 
 he got. There was a novel sensation of
 
 234 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 interest and pleasure, too, in the affection 
 of his nieces and the two little lads who 
 persisted in calling him uncle. The de- 
 lightful power so long unfelt of getting 
 gratification out of everything was strong 
 in him, and the natural consequence was 
 that he became a general favourite. Every 
 family in Bestminster felt it incumbent to 
 give special entertainments in his honour. 
 ' To meet Captain Scott ' was the stereo- 
 typed form of invitation, and even beyond 
 Bestminster, in the county circles — those 
 exclusive circles rarely opened to mere 
 professional families — Captain Scott's name 
 was knowm to fame. The great local mag- 
 nate, Mr. Chivers, M.P., of Chivers Park, 
 member in the Conservative interest, con- 
 descended to ask to see him when he was 
 at Mr. Scott's office one market-day — that 
 weekly fete-day for Bestminster on which 
 luncheon in Mr. Scott's dining-room was
 
 MAR 1 " LA TIMER 235 
 
 always spread (in the Conservative interest) 
 for friends and clients from the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 Quite unconscious of the immense 
 honour conferred on him by the sum- 
 mons to his brother's office, Captain Scott 
 obeyed it with a short brown pipe in his 
 mouth, and smilingly nodded to the old 
 buffer — as he mentally termed the tall, 
 stout man — whose presence seemed to fill 
 the room. The elder brother wished the 
 younger had left his pipe behind him, and 
 he exclaimed somewhat pompously : 
 
 ' Charles, Mr. Chi vers, our worthy 
 member, kindly wishes to inquire after 
 you. Mr. Chivers, allow me to present 
 Captain Charles Scott' 
 
 1 Thank ye,' said the young man, ac- 
 cepting the outstretched hand with another 
 smile, which displayed a double row of 
 faultless teeth. ' I am quite fit again ; in
 
 236 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 fact, I am not sure J ought to remain idle 
 any longer.' 
 
 And then he sank into the nearest chair, 
 and emptied the ashes of his pipe into the 
 empty fireplace. 
 
 Ambrose looked and felt uneasy ; though 
 he was slightly relieved that the pipe had not 
 been replaced between the lips. Charley 
 was acting as though the society of Con- 
 servative Members of Parliament was an 
 every-day thing, so he spoke up quickly, 
 by way of bespeaking the great man's 
 forbearance : 
 
 ' But I assure you, sir, he was sent off 
 by the authorities in India to save his life 
 — actually to save his life, sir !' 
 
 ' I know it, I know it !' was the reply ; 
 'your brother is not a nameless or fameless 
 soldier;' and Mr. Chivers looked benign as 
 he turned to the younger man and added : 
 1 I called for two reasons : one to see your
 
 MAR Y LA TMIER 237 
 
 good brother on law matters ; the other to 
 thank you personally for a great kind- 
 ness you did to my poor nephew, Fred 
 Laurence !' 
 
 ' You poor Laurence's uncle !' Charley 
 cried, leaving his chair, and the keenest 
 interest lighting his face immediately. 
 
 1 Yes, and he told us how, when you and 
 he were side by side in that melee when 
 you were surprised by the hillmen of 
 Kali-koh, and he was wounded in his 
 sword arm, you covered him at the risk 
 of your life and brought him safely 
 through.' 
 
 ' It was our first brush ; we thought more 
 of it than it deserved,' Charley said 
 modestly. ' Laurence fancied I was very 
 heroic — he was my great chum in our 
 griffin days. I assure you I did nothing 
 but what any fellow would have done. 
 He died soon after he got home, didn't he ?
 
 238 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 We were all cut up about him. Poor Fred 
 Laurence, he was a fine fellow !' 
 
 Mr. Scott felt proud. 
 
 1 You never told me of all this, Charles !' 
 he said, looking admiringly at the young 
 man's flushed face. 
 
 ' The odd thing is/ Mr. Chivers con- 
 tinued, ' I never connected your name 
 with your brother here till last night, 
 when I was dining at Lord Normington's, 
 and someone mentioned you as a very 
 young captain, and someone explained 
 how you got your promotion for your skill 
 and ' 
 
 1 And luck !' Charley cried, raising his 
 hands deprecatingly. ' So many were killed 
 off, sir ! that is the plain unvarnished truth, 
 and I happened to escape.' 
 
 * And skill and courage, sir !' Mr 
 Chivers went on, his kind words slightly 
 marred by a certain condescension in their
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 239 
 
 utterance. ' I really can't understand why 
 I was so dense over the name. I see it 
 every Sunday in Normington Church on 
 your mother's tablet — a very pretty woman 
 she was ! I never understood how she 
 
 could marry old I mean — you see, he 
 
 was a widower, and she a mere girl !' 
 
 This was rather awkward for the 
 moment, and Charley could have burst 
 out laughing at the sudden change in his 
 brother's face. Mr. Chivers quickly re- 
 covered himself and went on : 
 
 1 I find you married the only child or 
 Normington's old friend Linley. He said 
 he was going to drop a card on you and 
 ask you out there ; but I want you to come 
 and meet him at my house first. I must 
 show you poor Fred's last photograph.' 
 
 1 You are very kind ; but though I am 
 so well, I am really not well enough for 
 temptations at late dinners.'
 
 24o THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 4 Oh, you shan't be tempted at all. No, 
 no ; I will first consult Mrs. Chivers about 
 our engagements, and drop you a line to- 
 morrow naming the day.' 
 
 ' How oddly things come about !' said 
 Mr. Scott that evening, when the family 
 met again at the late tea — that heavy 
 seven o'clock meal which took the place 
 of dinner throughout Bestminster. ' Here's 
 Charles really connected with our two great 
 swells, and I not to know a word about it ! 
 Why, Charles, you are really as well your- 
 self! Mamma, he's been heroic and daring, 
 and we've never been told a word !' 
 
 ' Anything you like,' said Charley ; ' only 
 let Ann give me some tea.' 
 
 * He actually almost refused Mr. Chivers' 
 invitation to dinner !' Ambrose said. 'They 
 keep a man-cook, Charles !' 
 
 The girls watched the effect of this 
 announcement on their uncle, who tossed
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 241 
 
 off his tea and seemed in no way affected 
 by his brother's remark. 
 
 'And never invite townspeople,' Ambrose 
 added, 'except all together once a year — 
 or twice in election times ; but he is actually 
 asking Lord Normington to meet you f 
 
 The girls had put down their knives and 
 forks, breathless ; but Charley's attention 
 was concentrated on a cutlet, and he only 
 said : 
 
 1 What sort of a chap is he ?' 
 
 ' Who— his lordship ?' 
 
 ' Yes, old Normington.' Ann nudged 
 Jane. Charley continued : ' Oh, I think I 
 remember him, though — a thin, shabby little 
 hooked-nosed man. Oh yes, I perfectly 
 remember : he came to church the last 
 Sunday I was at home, and during the 
 sermon he stood up and leaned over into 
 the next pew and rapped a small boy on 
 the head for chewing India-rubber. Don't 
 
 vol. 1. 16
 
 242 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 you remember, Ambrose ? you wouldn't 
 laugh, and I choked outright/ 
 
 Ambrose smiled faintly, and then checked 
 himself : 
 
 1 Jane saw him very lately/ he said, 
 nodding at his little daughter. ' He asked 
 you how old you were, didn't he ? It 
 was last Quarter Sessions day, wasn't it 
 Jane ?' 
 
 1 Yes, father ; and he had a dirty old 
 frayed collar on. He ' 
 
 Her father interrupted her hastily : 
 
 * A man of his rank/ he said, ' can dress 
 just as he chooses ; he knows your aunt 
 Jane's father, and is coming to call on your 
 uncle/ 
 
 ' Janie,' said Charley, 'she can't bear to 
 be called Jane, Ambrose ! you'd better 
 practise Janie at home before she comes. 
 What became of that young Chivers who 
 used to play cricket when we had matches
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 243 
 
 between Bestminster and Normington — the 
 one who used to spoon Mary Latimer ?' 
 
 The girls looked up with twinkling eyes. 
 Their mother spoke : 
 
 ' You'll remember all our old gossip by- 
 and-by,' she said ; ' but these children must 
 be off to their lessons.' 
 
 Uncle Charley opened the door for his 
 nieces ; these little attentions — 'just as if 
 we were grown up,' said Ann — charmed 
 the girls. 
 
 ' Never mind a snubbing,' he whispered, 
 as they passed out rather crestfallen. 
 4 When Aunt Janie comes, we'll have a 
 bride-cake all to ourselves. It will be 
 nearly as good as a wedding, and then we'll 
 persuade Mary to have another.' 
 
 Of course Mr. Scott had to relate the 
 events of the day to his brother-in-law. 
 
 1 Charles received the invitation quite 
 coolly,' he said. 
 
 16 — 2
 
 244 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 ' What ought I to have done ?' said 
 Charley — ' salaam or salute ?' 
 
 ' Mr. Chivers is a little god in this 
 house,' Ann remarked. 
 
 Her husband looked annoyed. 
 
 1 Charles is a very young man,' he said, 
 4 though I am rejoiced to find he has made 
 himself a name already. Only think,' he 
 added, turning to the Vicar, ' he was talked 
 about at a large dinner-party at Lord 
 Normington's !' 
 
 1 Well done !' said the Vicar kindly. 
 
 1 The fellow has done some very brave 
 action' — here Ambrose slapped his brother's 
 shoulder — 'but he wont talk of it, though 
 others do, it seems.' 
 
 ' Nonsense !' said Charley. 
 
 'When you left the room, Mr. Chivers 
 said you'd a good claim to the Victoria 
 Cross.' 
 
 < Oh, rubbish !'
 
 MA RY LA TIMER 2 4 5 
 
 1 And I find you have two medals and 
 clasps. Why didn't you tell us ?' 
 
 ' They were in general orders. Every 
 fellow gets them when he's been under fire.' 
 
 1 No, no !' said Ambrose. ' Well, in 
 future I shall always read the military news. 
 I'll get the A rmy and Navy voted for in 
 our news-rooms. Why, of course we ought 
 to have had it there long ago. I'll spare 
 your blushes, Charles ; but I'm proud of 
 you, my boy !' 
 
 ! I wish you'd greater right to be,' 
 Charley answered quietly. 
 
 He wished his wife had been present to 
 witness his brother's pleasure. He himself 
 was touched by it. 
 
 The Vicar said : 
 
 1 So you are all going to dine at Chivers 
 Park ? Out of season, too.' 
 
 1 Oh no ! Only Charles.' 
 
 ' Why not ?' Charley asked.
 
 246 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 We are not asked.' 
 
 ' But of course you will be ?' 
 
 ' One can hardly expect it ; though it 
 would be rather nice to go when the rest 
 of the townsfolk are not asked.' 
 
 ( I certainly shan't go alone. They 
 wouldn't be such cads, surely, as to leave 
 you and Ann out ?' 
 
 ' Will may be asked,' Mrs. Scott said, 
 1 and he could -drive you ; but I don't sup- 
 pose we shall get an invitation.' 
 
 Next morning Captain Scott received 
 the much-talked-of note : it was written on 
 leather-like paper, and bore a large coat- 
 of-arms of many - coloured quarterings, 
 whereon mythical creatures were em- 
 blazoned ; and there was no correspond- 
 ing billet for anyone else. 
 
 1 They certainly want teaching better/ 
 said Charley. ' I shall decline without 
 more ado.'
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 247 
 
 His brother was in despair. Such a 
 valuable client must not be offended. It 
 was a custom — an acknowledged custom 
 in England — for town and county to keep 
 apart. Charley was, as a soldier, eligible 
 for any society, and, as a stranger, he 
 could disregard local prejudices ; but, as a 
 brother, he was bound to consider his rela- 
 tions. 
 
 1 But don't you see he is noticing me 
 and insulting you ?' 
 
 1 My dear Charles, a man in my position 
 — town clerk, vestry clerk, magistrates' 
 clerk, treasurer to the county charities, 
 agent to the immense Chivers estate, 
 alderman of this ancient borough, owning 
 a name which has been on the roll of Eng- 
 lish lawyers for a hundred and fifty years — 
 am not I above the petty rules of society ? 
 The want of an invitation to dinner can't 
 injure a man in such a position !'
 
 248 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 ' If I go alone, write me down ass !' 
 
 Mrs. Scott was of her husband's way of 
 thinking for once. 
 
 1 If we don't consider ourselves insulted,' 
 she said, ' you need not stand up for us. 
 Mr. Chivers is kind to us in his own way. 
 We go to dine with him once a year, and 
 he sends us a piece of venison once or twice 
 a year.' 
 
 1 Not always the best part,' Charley said, 
 laughing. ' I can remember scrags coming 
 sometimes, Ann, and you said it was shame- 
 ful/ 
 
 ' Never mind,' she answered. ' Your 
 brother's heavy bills are punctually paid, 
 and other good clients come through the 
 Chiverses' influence. We can't afford to 
 quarrel with our bread and butter.' 
 
 Mr. Scott moved towards the door with 
 his letters, saying, ' So you'll write and 
 accept/ as if the matter was settled.
 
 MARY LATIMER 249 
 
 * No,' said Charley. ' But to please you 
 I'D make an excuse. I told him I couldn't 
 stand dinner-parties yet. Confound him ! 
 does he think I must make myself ill just 
 to please him ?' 
 
 And he sat down to pen a decent excuse, 
 while he marvelled at the narrowness of 
 freeborn Britons. 
 
 Mrs. Chivers received the excuse, and 
 it vexed her. 
 
 1 How tiresome !' she exclaimed to her 
 husband. ' This will throw out our 
 number. You said he was sure to 
 come/ 
 
 1 Perhaps he's afraid of the night air. 
 I'll offer him a bed. We must have him, 
 for I told Normington he was coming. 
 Normington thinks so much of the father- 
 in-law, you know. The best way will be 
 for me to ride over and see the young 
 fellow.'
 
 250 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 So next morning, when Captain Scott 
 was peacefully smoking and reading in the 
 veranda at the back of his brother's house, 
 Jane came flying through the open French 
 window of the drawing-room, crying : 
 
 1 Uncle Charley, here's Mr. Chivers ask- 
 ing for you !' 
 
 ' Say I'm out !' said he. 
 
 And, without another word, he flew down 
 the long garden, making the encroaching 
 branches of the rose-trees scatter their pink 
 and crimson leaves as he brushed rapidly 
 past them, till, gaining the door opening 
 into a narrow lane skirting the fields be- 
 yond, he found himself safe on the 
 further side, though in his hasty exit 
 he almost knocked over a lady who was 
 passing. 
 
 ' Charley !' said she, surprised out of her- 
 self as she swerved out of his way, ' what 
 is the matter ?'
 
 MA RY LA TIMER 2 5 1 
 
 1 Mary !' said he, feeling his ridiculous 
 position, and gasping for breath as he 
 tried to draw himself up and look digni- 
 fied. 
 
 She burst out laughing. 
 
 1 Surely you don't get into scrapes yet !' 
 she cried. ' I've seen you fly out here in 
 a panic before now ; but you were not a 
 married man and a hero then !' 
 
 ' It's a visitor,' he panted. 
 
 1 It can't be a dun or a school- 
 master !' 
 
 He leaned up against the wall, for his 
 strength was not yet equal to any frantic 
 exertion, and laughed as he said : 
 
 1 It's Ambrose's god — Chi vers, M.P. !' 
 
 ' And where's Mrs. Charley ?' she asked, 
 standing and regarding him with an ad- 
 miring kindly smile, perfectly free from 
 coquetry. ' I only came last night — sooner 
 than T intended, or I should have expected
 
 252 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 some of you to have been to see me. I'm 
 trying to remember you are grown up 
 and settled ; but, except for this,' and she 
 stroked her upper lip, ' you are very little 
 altered. I really can't call you Captain 
 Scott yet.' 
 
 ' I hope you never will. Mrs. Charley 
 is coming very soon, I hope ; I know 
 you'll like her. And how is it you haven't 
 followed my example, and got married ? 
 You're prettier and jollier than ever !' 
 
 'Impertinent boy! No one will have 
 me.' 
 
 As she spoke, a very becoming colour 
 flushed her face ; and at that moment the 
 garden-door was opened behind them, and 
 there stood Mr. Chivers, with Janie as 
 crimson as a peony at his side. 
 
 ' Ah !' said the Member, bowing to Miss 
 Latimer, ' I hope I don't intrude ?' and he 
 fixed his eyes on the young lady's glowing
 
 MARY LATIMER 
 
 cheeks. ' But my little friend here said 
 her uncle was just outside ; and as I 
 promised Mrs. Chivers I would make a 
 point of seeing you, Captain Scott, I 
 ventured to follow you.' 
 
 Charley felt himself in an awkward 
 position. 
 
 ' I don't want to stop your walk,' Mr. 
 Chivers continued, as they all turned back 
 into the garden. ' I only want to say we 
 really can't take " No/' We will put you 
 up for the night if you fear the drive 
 home ; and as for dinner, you shan't 
 touch anything but what you like.' 
 
 ' You are very kind,' Charley said, molli- 
 fied by the civility ; ' but I must abide by 
 my decision. You must recollect I am on 
 sick-leave.' 
 
 * But Lord Normington — your father- 
 in-law s old friend — is coming on purpose 
 to meet you.'
 
 54 THE SCOTTS OE BESTMINSTER 
 
 Mr. Chi vers thought it as well to remind 
 these young folks of lawful ties. 
 
 Charley was conscious of the inference, 
 and was vexed. 
 
 1 1 shall hope to see him some other 
 time,' he said stiffly ; * and you seem to 
 ignore the fact that I am staying with my 
 brother, sir !' 
 
 Mr. Chivers looked him up and down. 
 4 The young fellow looked a gentleman, 
 every inch of him !' he said, in telling this 
 to Lord Normington afterwards; 'and I — 
 upon my life — I felt I hadn't acted like 
 one.' At the time, he said, after a 
 moment's pause : 
 
 ' Ah ! I understand. You are quite 
 right — of course you are ! Come along, 
 and let us talk it over with my good 
 friend Scott. I hope he isn't angry with 
 me !' 
 
 Ambrose came bustling out to meet
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 255 
 
 them as they reached the veranda. He was 
 afraid of some such speech of Charley's. 
 
 An explanation, however softened, could 
 not fail to be awkward ; and Mr. Chi vers 
 was wondering how he should attempt it, 
 when everyone's attention was arrested 
 by Charley sinking on the veranda-seat, 
 deathly pale. His imprudent race had 
 been too much for him ; and by the time 
 he had pulled himself together again, Mr. 
 Chivers' task was very light. 
 
 ' I see it's all outside show, after all,' he 
 said. ' It would be wrong of us to tease 
 you with parties yet awhile, though, really, 
 you looked so strong and bright the other 
 day.' Then he turned to Ambrose, and 
 added : ' You and Mrs. Scott will come to us 
 with him — won't you ? — when he is better. 
 Our table was crowded out this time ; and 
 you are such a busy fellow, it's no use 
 giving you a short notice, is it ?'
 
 For the next few days Captain Scott 
 had to keep quietly at home. His sister- 
 in-law was very good to him. She shut 
 out all visitors except Miss Latimer, who 
 never was considered in that light, and 
 gave up the drawing-room, with its win- 
 dows open on the shady veranda, entirely 
 to him. There, wherein all the sweet 
 garden scents accumulated, he found the 
 time by no means heavy. Mary brought 
 her work, and plied her old friend with 
 judicious questions, drawing out his Indian 
 experiences. The girls would sit listening 
 and beaming, ever on the look-out for 
 what they never saw — tragic looks and 
 eloquent glances ; for the two had come 
 together again as they had parted — the 
 best of good friends. In those bygone 
 holiday- times, when Charley had been 
 made to feel very much in the way in his 
 brother's house, Mary had done what she
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 257 
 
 could to amuse him. She knew well 
 enough how she had been the object of 
 his calf-love, and she had accepted his 
 admiration, and turned it to account in 
 many wa>s for his good. She had laughed 
 at him, while she loved him in a half- 
 motherly, half-sisterly way, and she had 
 either planned or procured him all the 
 extra pleasures of his school-days. Now 
 he had come back, not a bit changed, she 
 said at first ; but it was not long before she 
 had to acknowledge, and, like a true woman,, 
 she was proud to acknowledge, that he had 
 gone far ahead of her. 
 
 ' Mary/ Mrs. Scott asked her one day, 
 1 did you ever fancy that boy would improve 
 so greatly f 
 
 ' Yes/ Mary answered. ' You know I 
 always thought more of him than Mr. Scott 
 did. I'm not surprised. I always liked 
 him, but now I'm proud of him, too.' 
 
 vol. 1. 17
 
 258 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 ' It's a pity he married a stranger. I'm 
 rather doubtful how she'll take to us. She's 
 connected with grand people. I'm afraid 
 she'll take him right away from the old 
 Bestminster people.' 
 
 1 I think he has a will of his own,' Mary 
 said, ' though it is always said when a man 
 marries he takes to his wife's people more 
 than to his own.' 
 
 1 Not always/ Ann said softly. 
 
 ( Of course there are exceptions,' Mary 
 added quickly. ' I shouldn't like my 
 husband to let me henpeck him, should 
 you ?' 
 
 The idea of either of these women 
 henpecking their husbands struck Mary 
 ludicrously. She laughed so merrily that 
 Ann ended in laughing too. 
 
 ' I suppose,' Ann said presently, ' he'll 
 bring her here as soon as she comes. I 
 wish Ambrose would have a new carpet
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 2 59 
 
 in the spare room ; and there's that four- 
 post bed. I expect she's never slept in 
 such an old-fashioned thing ! I shan't 
 tell her all the Scotts have died in it. She 
 mightn't like it. I wish you'd tell Ambrose 
 not to mention it. He always tells. He 
 thinks it makes the bed interesting/ 
 
 The postman's arrival made a fortunate 
 diversion ; for Mary dreaded being made 
 the recipient of Ann's domestic trials. 
 Most of the letters were for the young 
 man, who followed the servant into the 
 room with eager expectation. A swift 
 flush came over his face as he picked out a 
 thin Indian one. 
 
 4 Janie, by Jove !' he cried. ' And what 
 a shaky fist, poor girl ! You'll excuse me,' 
 he added, hastily opening it, ' but it's the 
 first I've had from her since I left.' 
 
 He read it again and again before he 
 looked up ; then he said : 
 
 17 — 2
 
 260 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 She's much better, but they won't let 
 her travel yet. The Barlows — those good 
 creatures who took her in, you know — are 
 beyond everything good to her. Well, 
 that's all right.' His eyes were sparkling, 
 his voice full of joy-notes. He was about 
 to put the letter in his pocket, when he 
 stopped and asked Mary to look at the 
 writing. ' It looks awfully ill, doesn't it ?' 
 he asked. 
 
 She was touched by the young husband's 
 happiness. 
 
 * That was written nearly a month since,' 
 she said. c She'll be much stronger by now.' 
 
 He smiled at her. 
 
 * Ah, you always say the right thing ! 
 I shall telegraph ; it's no use writing. I 
 shall tell her to come at once. It will be 
 hot, though, in the Red Sea. Perhaps I 
 ought to tell her to wait. Yes, I suppose 
 I ought.' His face fell for a moment ; then
 
 MA R Y LA TIMER 26 1 
 
 it brightened. ' I'll tell her,' he added ; 
 1 but I know she'll come, all the same. 
 I'll say : " Don't you think you'd better 
 wait ?" and then she'll come.' 
 
 1 And then we shall all have to play 
 second fiddle, Mrs. Scott,' said Mary. 
 
 1 Yes,' said Ann ; ' the Normingtons and 
 the Chiverses will reign in our stead. But, 
 Charles, you'll bring her here first ; your 
 brother always said that, you know.' 
 
 1 I'd like to see Janie climbing up into 
 that lugubrious spare bed,' said Charley, 
 with a shout of laughter. ' I wouldn't 
 hurt Ambrose's feelings for the world ; 
 but that spare room is — you know it is 
 — an alarming apartment. I'll tell you 
 what I've been thinking ; for, of course, 
 she'll come here first. She'll love this life 
 as much as I do. I was thinking of taking 
 that cottage on the Normington Road, and 
 making it our head-quarters.'
 
 262 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Ambrose found them discussing this 
 plan, and he thought it a good one. 
 The house was small, but very modern 
 and complete ; and the grounds were large 
 and well-planned. A man and a maid 
 could keep all in order both inside and 
 out. It was altogether a lucky chance, 
 and Charles had best lose no time in 
 looking after it. So they all started off 
 to survey it, picking up the Vicar and his 
 boys as they went. The distance was not 
 much over a mile, and the walk through 
 the pine-scented roads was in itself 
 delightful. It was a happy, noisy walk, 
 for the country road was quite solitary, 
 with the unreclaimed heath on either side, 
 and the girls and boys were incited to 
 mischief by their uncle, who shielded them 
 from Mr. Scott's attempted expostula- 
 tions. 
 
 The house they sought stood at the end
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 263 
 
 of a little avenue of ragged fir-trees — a 
 peaty clearing, planted with rhododendrons 
 and hydrangea, bordering the entrance 
 road. Close to the back of the house 
 the firs closed up ; but on the other three 
 sides there were open views far over the 
 country to where the undulating distance 
 darkly-purple met the sky. It was a little 
 house of two stories, with a wide, rustic 
 veranda, and a nicely-turfed lawn in 
 front. On one side lay a good-sized 
 vegetable garden, wattled in in primitive 
 style ; on the other, detached from the 
 dwelling by a small plantation of saplings, 
 was a coach-house and stable. The rooms 
 were bright and in good condition ; and 
 Charley was enthusiastic about the whole 
 thing. Ann and Mary should choose and 
 arrange the furniture, he said, and hire the 
 servants. Ambrose knew of a likely cob 
 to be had at a reasonable rate, and a
 
 264 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 phaeton had been advertised only in last 
 week's local paper. 
 
 ' The whole thing is to one's hand !' 
 Captain Scott cried exultingly. ' I won't 
 say a word to Janie ; it will be a jolly 
 surprise. Girls, we'll grow no end of 
 strawberries and cream, and you shall 
 have holiday all the year round, and 
 we'll keep a r soft corner for Tompty and 
 Toompy.' 
 
 He stood in front of the little domain, 
 with his hat tilted over his eyes to avoid 
 the level sunshine. Already he was in 
 Paradise. Here, in this sweet, silent place, 
 his wife and he would begin life again ; 
 here, for their furlough at least, the world 
 should not come between them ; they 
 would start fresh, the old trials and 
 mistakes forgotten, or remembered only 
 to be avoided in the future. How happy 
 they would be ! happier even than in those
 
 MARY LATIMER 
 
 few months of ecstatic bliss which had 
 followed their first meeting. 
 
 Mary came to his side. 
 
 1 It only wants "Eve" to make it per- 
 fect,' she said, as if reading his thoughts. 
 
 1 But I wish we could put back the year 
 a month or two,' he answered. 
 
 < Why ?' 
 
 ' All this is lovely now, but in October 
 and November it will be very different.' 
 
 ' It is always beautiful ; this heath-country 
 has a charm of its own ; always in all seasons 
 the lights are ever changing ; you never see 
 the wholesale decay here as you see it in 
 more verdant country ; the firs are never 
 sere and sodden, and there is so much bird, 
 and insect, and rabbit life to keep it 
 cheerful.' 
 
 1 Yes ; she'll like the wide sweep of sky 
 and earth,' he said, 'and we'll keep 
 moorghies — I mean fowls. Oh, I think
 
 266 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 it will be famous! I'll go and take it to- 
 morrow.' 
 
 Mr. Chivers, riding past on the high- 
 road, wondered at the gathering in front of 
 the empty place, and must needs ride up 
 to satisfy his curiosity. He, of course, 
 noticed the couple standing apart in earnest 
 talk. Ambrose bustled up to the new- 
 comer and explained matters. 
 
 ' The sooner his wife joins him the 
 better,' said the County Magnate. 
 
 1 Eh, what, sir ?' and Ambrose's eyes 
 followed his patron's in alarm. ' That's 
 Miss Latimer, sir — his old friend. She's 
 his senior, his kind friend in his schoolboy 
 days !' 
 
 1 That woman turned my boy's head, 
 remember ; she made a fool of him, 
 Scott !' Ambrose could have retaliated 
 she left him as she found him ; he was very 
 indignant, not only on his brother's account,
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 267 
 
 but also because he was honestly fond of 
 Mary. Mr. Chivers continued in a low 
 emphatic tone : ' As for her age, that's 
 nothing to do with it; she's handsomer now 
 than she was at twenty ; she doesn't look 
 older than him.' 
 
 All the way home Ambrose was very 
 silent ; but no one noticed his silence. 
 Charley was talking- enough for all ; and 
 Mary, with a girl hanging on each arm, was 
 suggesting all sorts of absurdities for the 
 new house, while the Vicar laughed and 
 carried his boys by turn. 
 
 The elder brother reflected that what 
 Chivers insinuated, false though it un- 
 doubtedly was, might be believed by others 
 as well as him ; and while he felt angry, and 
 sure there was not the faintest shadow of 
 truth in the accusation, it nevertheless 
 rankled in his mind and perplexed him. 
 He was cross and disputatious all the even-
 
 268 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 ing. Mary stayed for the evening meal, 
 and for the first time he was vexed. After- 
 wards the younger ones strolled about 
 the twilight garden, while Mr. and 
 Mrs. Scott went through their weekly 
 accounts. Out of hearing of their parents, 
 Ann and Jane chattered openly enough ; 
 they wanted Uncle Charley to describe an 
 Indian garden. Were there white lilies 
 there such as these that looked so ghost-like 
 against the dark background ? But Uncle 
 Charley could talk about nothing but the 
 new home, so Mary gave them such a 
 correct account of the shrubs, and creepers, 
 and trees of a garden in the plains of India, 
 that he accused her of having got her 
 description out of a book. 
 
 1 I have often noticed,' he added, ' how 
 much you know about Indian life ; I declare 
 you are the only person I have ever met, 
 not absolutely connected with India, who
 
 MAR 1 r LA TIMER 269 
 
 lias ever seemed to care two brass farthings 
 about anything Indian.' 
 
 ' Yes ?' she said ; 4 well, I have always 
 been fascinated by India — especially by its 
 horrors,' she added, laughing. 'When I 
 was a little girl, Mrs. Sherwood and Henry 
 Martin were my favourites, and as I grew 
 up I read deeper writers. Kaye beats any 
 romance writer I know, and the fascination 
 of that first Afghan war never wanes with 
 me. Further back, too, what can be 
 so breathlessly exciting as the adventures 
 of those pioneers of the great East Indian 
 Company, those few British heroes against 
 the kings and princes over millions of 
 subjects ? And then the awful account the 
 innocent had to render for the guilty in the 
 Mutiny of '57.' Her voice shook. ' I 
 often wonder how people live through such 
 trials,' she continued. *I can remember the 
 shock throughout the land when that news
 
 270 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 came ; of course it is a sort of nightmare 
 dream to me. I didn't understand it then, 
 but now I can almost realize the awful 
 agony !' 
 
 1 You ought to go to India,' he said 
 lightly. ' I have often wondered why 
 you take so unusual an interest in that 
 country.' 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 ■ Ah ! who can tell the why of a woman's 
 fancy ?' she said. 
 
 And he exclaimed, without consideration, 
 speaking as lightly as she had spoken : 
 
 c Ah, Mary, confess ! Who is he ?' 
 
 She turned abruptly towards the house. 
 
 1 Mother will scold us for staying out so 
 long, girls,' she said, taking no notice of 
 his remark, and leading the way into the 
 lighted room ; and Charley, looking at her 
 as they entered, saw her face was crimson. 
 
 The accounts were not over, and the
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 27 1 
 
 new-comers went to the further end of the 
 room not to disturb them. Mr. Scott was 
 still in a captious mood. 
 
 1 Gloves, two -and- sixpence,' he was 
 saying, as Mrs. Scott read from her 
 private book, and he transferred the item 
 to his own ledger. ' Whose gloves ?' 
 
 ' Mine. 1 
 
 He protested she was always buying 
 gloves, and wasted some minutes in look- 
 ing back for the date of her last pair. 
 
 * Here it is !' he cried triumphantly. 
 " Gloves, wife, two - and - sixpence." I 
 thought so! "Gloves, two-and -sixpence, 
 wife," and only just two months ago.' 
 
 ' I think I have been very careful, con- 
 sidering they were cheap things.' 
 
 4 Cheap things — I never buy gloves at 
 all!' 
 
 1 You don't mind wearing funeral things.' 
 
 4 I don't mind being economical. Well ?'
 
 272 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 1 Three yards of lace, sixpence.' 
 
 4 Lace ! Good gracious ! one would 
 think we were the gayest of the gay ; 
 nothing but gloves and lace !' 
 
 1 I certainly shouldn't be fit for the 
 gayest of the gay decked out in twopenny 
 lace.' 
 
 She did not mean to be funny, but Mary 
 began to count backwards to herself to 
 avoid laughing, while Charley listened 
 in wonder. 
 
 ' Cleaning straw hat, one-and-sixpence, 7 
 Mrs. Scott continued. 
 
 4 One-and-sixpence for a straw-hat clean- 
 ing ! Quite unnecessary. Those girls' 
 hats cost a fortune !' he rejoined. 
 
 Mrs. Scott's voice was decidedly sar- 
 castic as she replied : 
 
 • The hat is yours.' 
 
 He entered the figure without another 
 word.
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 273 
 
 ' Foreign postage, one-and-eightpence,' 
 was her next item. 
 
 He put down his pen~and faced her. 
 
 ' Once more, I tell you, I will not throw 
 away money on foreign postage. Your 
 brother writes to Australia, and you must 
 enclose your letters in his ; it's ridiculous 
 to write separately. It's not fair to your 
 children to throw away money like this.' 
 
 She closed the book and rose. 
 
 ' I think we'll do the rest in private,' 
 she said ; ' it is a bad example to your 
 brother.' Charley wondered whether she 
 took this wrangling as a matter of course ; 
 it was impossible to guess from her calm 
 voice. ' Do you tax your wife's accounts, 
 Charles ?' she added. 
 
 1 No,' he answered ; ' she never keeps 
 accounts. She buys what she wants, and 
 so do I. We don't bother each other ; 
 life's too short !' 
 
 vol. 1. 18
 
 274 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 Ambrose shook his head. 
 
 ' That's not business,' he said. ' Women 
 have no idea of the value of money. Ann 
 would soon make me bankrupt if I didn't 
 put on the screw occasionally.' 
 
 ' Ah !' said Ann ; ' but, you see, I can't 
 live without fine clothes. Perhaps you 
 haven't noticed my luxurious habits, 
 Charles ?' 
 
 ' Can't say I have, luckily for you, 
 Ann — you look nice in whatever you 
 put on.' 
 
 Her face softened, and the hardness left 
 her voice as she exclaimed : 
 
 1 One good thing, kind words cost 
 nothing ; I shall come to you for a 
 character when I want one, Charley.' 
 
 She had never called him Charley be- 
 fore. Her husband looked at her quickly. 
 
 4 A compliment fetches you women di- 
 rectly/ he cried. * I'm sure I've often
 
 MARY LATIMER 275 
 
 told you you always dress well enough for 
 my taste.' 
 
 Miss Latimer put on her hat. 
 
 ' You are all getting personal,' she said, 
 rising. ' It is time for me to be off.' 
 
 She looked at Captain Scott to accom- 
 pany her home as a matter of course, but 
 the elder brother stood forward, saying : 
 
 ' I want some fresh air. I'll walk with 
 you.' 
 
 ' I am honoured,' she cried gaily. 
 
 It was impossible to detect any dis- 
 appointment in her manner, and Mr. 
 Scott was annoyed with himself for look- 
 ing for any ; but it was best to be pru- 
 dent, and he would do what he could to 
 keep scandal outside his family. 
 
 Charley's interest in his new home 
 deepened when he had taken it on a 
 three years' lease. Not that he needed an 
 English home for more than one year, 
 
 18—2
 
 276 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 but he could not resist the lease when he 
 found the alterations he required could 
 only be allowed on that condition. He 
 wrote for price-lists and patterns. He 
 had workmen inside and outside. There 
 were opening of drains, digging up and 
 planting, just as if he meditated spending 
 a lifetime there. Shoals of tradesmen's 
 estimates flooded the breakfast-table. His 
 brother said he was spending a small for- 
 tune in stamps and stationery, and in- 
 quired if he was going to entertain the 
 whole Corporation at the Firs, as he needed 
 so much accommodation. 
 
 Charles said there must be a mjest- 
 chamber for a lady and a box for a chum. 
 He needed for himself a room for his guns 
 and pipes, a dressing-room, and a bath-room. 
 Then he talked about a room for his wife's 
 work — a drawing - room and a dining- 
 room, until Mary suggested he should
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 27 7 
 
 persuade Mr. Chivers to change houses 
 with him. The Vicar never laughed at 
 him ; he was deeply interested in the 
 hopeful young housekeeper and his plans. 
 Something of his own long-past happy 
 anticipations came back to him as he 
 listened to Charley's. He was by no 
 means a sad man : Time had long ago 
 reconciled him to the inevitable. His boys 
 and his parish had hitherto sufficed him, 
 and he had not cared to mix in general 
 society : the county never presumed to 
 invite him as a stopgap ; the town spread 
 its best and stiffest for his entertainment ; 
 but until the young soldier came he had 
 never been intimate with anyone. With 
 Charley, Mr. Chard's stiff manners re- 
 laxed ; old jokes cropped up, old Uni- 
 versity stories were ventilated to cap the 
 other's mess anecdotes. The young man 
 would hook his arm in the elder's, and
 
 278 THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 force his interest. Mrs. Scott watched the 
 two anxiously at first, lest the boyish fami- 
 liarity should be resented ; but the Vicar 
 chuckled when he was hailed as ' Chard, 
 old fellow,' and was even inveigled once 
 into betting, and of course losing ; he was 
 drawn into discussions on furnishing, and 
 made to give an opinion upon cretonnes 
 and curtains ; he was marched off at all 
 hours to superintend or advise. Charley 
 would hoist one small boy on his shoulder, 
 and bid the father take up the other in like 
 manner, and then they would tramp off to 
 the cottage to forget all about meals and 
 hours. 
 
 The Vicar's advice was always desired, 
 but not always taken. It was poohpoohed 
 without the smallest hesitation unless it 
 suited Charley. Ambrose had never pre- 
 sumed to be on such familiar terms with 
 his brother-in-law. Indeed, Charley would
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 279 
 
 never have dreamed of treating Ambrose 
 as he treated the elderly parson. 
 
 But Charley could be serious enough at 
 times, and he and Mr. Chard had cultivated 
 tastes in common on subjects which had 
 no interest to the lawyer. Ambrose was 
 thoroughly local-minded ; his county to him 
 was mapped out for voting purposes ; its 
 holdings were interesting simply for the 
 number of the constituents they supplied 
 in the Conservative interest ; its great 
 families were serviceable merely for 
 political reasons ; an election was to him 
 what death is to others — the one great 
 event of life. The rest of the world, with 
 its arts and science, its productions and 
 progress and wars, had no great share in 
 his thought. He was a reliable, respect- 
 able, honourable man in his own place, 
 and among his own people ; elsewhere he 
 was a nonentity.
 
 28o THE SCOTTS OF BESTMINSTER 
 
 The Vicar turned with relief to the 
 half-brother, with his wide sympathies, his 
 impartial criticism, his robust, far-seeing 
 hopefulness. In his six-and-twenty years 
 Charley had seen more of life than had 
 Ambrose in his eight -and -forty, his 
 quicker intellect and broader spirit taking 
 him far ahead. The two congenial spirits 
 found it weary work listening to the 
 solemn confabulations of the news-room 
 worthies, when, banks and offices being 
 closed for the day, they met nominally 
 to look at the papers, really to exchange 
 the small local news of the day. The 
 Vicar had soon learnt to exchange ex- 
 pressive looks with Charley over these 
 solemn conclaves, when the squeaking of 
 the town-pump handle was the topic, or 
 the wickedness of the paupers' objection 
 to gruel three times a day stirred the 
 righteous indignation of these poor-law
 
 MAR Y LA TIMER 28 1 
 
 guardians. To be sure, the Vicar had 
 occasional qualms that he was hardly 
 charitable sometimes in laughing over his 
 young friend's criticisms on some of these 
 worthy townspeople ; but Charley had no 
 such scruples : he acknowledged their 
 many actual virtues ; he argued, therefore, 
 it was fair he should be allowed to see 
 their amusing oddities also. There was 
 no possibility of lowering his love of fun 
 in those happy days of preparation. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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