1 I B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 UN IVLRSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 
 v. I
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/vanessa01vane
 
 VANESSA
 
 extracts from some press notices of 
 ' thomasina: by the same a uthor. 
 
 '"Thomasina" is a favourable example of the best school of 
 English Romance, than which there is none more entertaining, 
 purer, more natural. Without any perceptible effort, the author 
 has an unusual knack of portraying character and investing it with 
 an interest that is purely human, never overdrawn, and yet never 
 dull For the delicacies of character-drawing, for play of inci- 
 dent, and for finish of style, we must refer our readers to the story 
 
 itself from the perusal of which they cannot fail to derive both 
 
 interest and amusement.' — Daily News. 
 
 'This is undeniably a pleasing story. . ..The women are unques- 
 tionably well sketched, and the personal character, actions, and 
 ultimate destiny of each individual are in harmony the one with 
 the other.'— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 ' The men and women are true and natural ; they act and talk 
 just as people do in real life. Thomasina is an original and well- 
 drawn character. Gives pleasure without trouble and without 
 weariness.' — Guardian. 
 
 ' " Thomasina " is as pleasant and readable a two-volumed novel 
 as has appeared this year. Considered as a novel of its own kind, 
 "Thomasina" holds too high a place to need any praise. . ..We 
 have read every page of it, and could have done the same had it 
 counted a thousand pages instead of five hundred.' — Examiner. 
 
 ' We would liken it to a finished and delicate cabinet picture, in 
 which there is no brilliant colour, and yet all is in harmony — in 
 which no line is without its purpose, but all contribute to the unity 
 of the whole work.' — Athen.eum. 
 
 'An amusing, animated, and well-told story The^ women 
 
 are ably drawn.... Two lively, simple, and pleasant volumes.' — 
 Spectator.
 
 VANESSA 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Author of ' Thomasina' 'Dorothy 
 ore. 
 
 ' This weak impress of love is as a figure 
 Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat 
 Dissolves to water and doth lose its form. 
 A little time will melt her frozen thoughts, 
 And worthless Valentine shall be forgot' 
 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Henry S. King & Co. 
 
 65 Cornhill & 12 Paternoster Row, London 
 1875
 
 {All rights reserved)
 
 8S3 
 v. 1 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. THE CHRYSALIS . 
 II. THE METAMORPHOSIS . 
 III. THE MESS OF POTTAGE 
 
 ^ 
 
 IV. ' FRESH WOODS AND PASTURES NEW 
 V. CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES 
 VI. THE BEETLE-HUNT 
 
 SO 
 j VII. CONFIDENCES 
 
 * 
 
 VIII. BUTTERFLY-HUNTING 
 
 IX. ' THE LITTLE RIFT ' 
 
 X. HELEN S HOLIDAY 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 19 
 
 3 2 
 47 
 63 
 81 
 100 
 118 
 
 135 
 149
 
 iv CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XI. FAIR AND FICKLE 
 
 PAGE 
 l62 
 
 l8l 
 
 XII. THE BUTTERFLY-NET .... 
 
 XIII. THE CAPTURE *99 
 
 XIV. APPLES OF SODOM 21 ° 
 
 XV. THE WEDDING 2 35
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ; H F i S A. LIS, 
 
 Allertox is one of the small, sleepy little 
 towns which drag on an unprosperous exist- 
 ence in the rural districts of southern England. 
 It can boast of a weekly market, and contains 
 a decadent grammar school and a County 
 Bank, and in the High Street are substantial 
 houses with stone facings, which recall the 
 days of its earlier grander rfien the Hunt 
 Ball was held at the Red Lion,' and was an 
 era in the lives of the county gentry, and when 
 two mail-coaches changed horses daily at the 
 entrance of the inn-yard, which is now only 
 tenanted by two shabby flies and a four- 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 wheeled trap. Those palmy days are long 
 since gone by, and the rising generation of 
 Allerton is too far removed from them to han- 
 ker after the past, however much some of its 
 more aspiring spirits may chafe against the 
 sordid round of cares, the petty tracasseries, 
 and local interests among which their lot is 
 cast. 
 
 Some such dissatisfaction may have filled 
 the hearts of the two sisters who sat at work 
 in a small and poorly furnished room of a 
 house in one of the back streets of Allerton, 
 although it was not likely to take precisely the 
 same form in each case, since they were as dis- 
 similar in disposition as in appearance. Amy, 
 the elder of the two, with her oval face, deli- 
 cately cut lips, and fair hair and skin, might 
 have served as a model for the Madonnas of 
 Raphael's early style ; while Helen, with an 
 olive-brown complexion, a low and broad 
 forehead, shaded by heavy masses of dark hair,
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 3 
 
 not too smoothly braided, and with a figure 
 angular and unformed, as it is apt to be at 
 the age of sixteen, could only claim possibili- 
 ties of beauty which were as yet undeveloped. 
 Both girls were busily at work, Helen stitch- 
 ing seams in the sewing-machine, while Amy 
 applied herself to the discouraging task of 
 mending the finger-tops of a well-worn pair 
 of kid gloves ; and when all was done she 
 dipped a feather in ink, and smeared it over 
 the trace of stitches. 
 
 ' There ! ' she said, with a sigh which ex- 
 pressed as much discontent as satisfaction ; 
 ' that wearisome business is done ; and when 
 I have worn the gloves for one Sunday, I 
 suppose that it will be all to do again.' 
 
 Helen looked up, stopping the click of 
 the machine for a moment to reply : ' I 
 hope that the game is worth the candle, Amy. 
 I met Dennis in the street yesterday, who 
 was looking forward as usual to Sunday 
 b 2
 
 4 VANESSA, 
 
 afternoon, but I doubt whether he would dis- 
 cover whether your hands were gloved in kid 
 or cotton.' 
 
 ' He may not have the opportunity of dis- 
 covering,' said Amy, hastily ; ' he assumes too 
 much when he takes it for granted that we 
 shall walk together, as if I were a maid-servant 
 on her Sunday out — except, indeed, that a 
 maid-servant is much better dressed.' 
 
 ' How you vex your soul on the subject 
 of dress,' rejoined Helen ; ' my theory that 
 shabbiness is a badge of gentility is so very 
 convenient and reassuring, and Dennis has 
 the profoundest contempt for what he calls 
 the accidents of life.' 
 
 ' You always quote Dennis O'Brien's 
 opinions as a law against which there is no 
 appeal,' said Amy, with increasing annoyance. 
 ' I claim the right to think and act for myself. 
 You are altogether mistaken if you imagine 
 that I have given him the right to dictate to 
 me.'
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 5 
 
 1 I do not presume to understand your 
 relations,' said Helen, setting her machine at 
 work again with an energy which gave her the 
 advantage of the last word. ' I very much 
 doubt whether you understand them yourself, 
 but perhaps Dennis is more clear-sighted.' 
 
 ' I wonder when mamma's interview with 
 Uncle Richard will come to an end,' said 
 Amy, when the next pause in Helen's work 
 took place. ' I shall be so glad to escape 
 from the noise of the machine.' 
 
 1 The noise will be less aggravating if you 
 work it yourself,' said Helen. ' If you will 
 finish this skirt for me, I can go and make 
 tea. Mother is always exhausted by Uncle 
 Richard's visits, and the appearance of tea 
 may have a soothing effect, and will also 
 remind him that his visit has run to 
 length.' 
 
 1 I will make tea and take it in myself,' 
 said Amy. ' Your hair is rough, and you have
 
 6 VANESSA. 
 
 no cuffs on, and Sarah is stilHess presentable 
 on a Saturday afternoon.' 
 
 Although Helen might have appreciated 
 some respite from her work, she acquiesced 
 in this division of labour, and Amy repaired 
 to the kitchen, where she prepared the tea-tray 
 with the neatness and refinement which she 
 so well understood, and caused Sarah, the 
 general servant, to carry it upstairs for her, 
 dismissing her again to the lower regions be- 
 fore she opened the door of the room in which 
 Mrs. Mertoun sat with her wealthy brother- 
 in-law. 
 
 Amy's colour was just heightened by the ex- 
 ertion, and her drooping eyelids were prettily 
 expressive of a desire to deprecate her intru- 
 sion ; but her entrance was evidently not un- 
 welcome to her uncle, whose rugged features 
 were softened by a smile as he addressed her. 
 1 We have been talking of you, Amy, and I 
 do not know whether you or the tea is most
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 7 
 
 welcome. Talking is dry work, when people 
 do not agree.' 
 
 * I hope that we shall agree,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun, with nervous timidity of manner ; 
 1 the suggestion has taken me by surprise, 
 and I could not accept it without talking the 
 matter over with Henry.' 
 
 ' And why with Henry, a lad of twenty-one, 
 hardly two years older than Amy herself, 
 who has the best right to be consulted ? ' 
 
 'He is but young, certainly,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun ; ' but he is the bread-winner of the 
 family, and so good and steady, that I cannot 
 help putting him in my dear husband's place.' 
 
 ' Do you wish me to go away, mamma ? ' 
 said Amy, with so evident an inclination 
 to linger that her mother wanted resolution 
 to dismiss her. She took up a piece of fancy 
 work, and while her fingers were busily em- 
 ployed, she fixed her eyes anxiously on her 
 uncle, and said, 'How is Eva, Uncle 
 Richard ? '
 
 b VANESSA. 
 
 ' She is well ; that is — no, she is far from 
 well — languid and full of fancies ; and the 
 doctors tell me to humour her, as if I were 
 not at all times ready to do it. The reigning 
 whim now is that she leads too lonely a life, 
 and that if you were her companion, she 
 should never be out of spirits. What should 
 you think of it ? Your mother would have 
 one mouth less to feed, and indeed would be 
 saved expenses in other ways, for of course 
 I siould give you an allowance*' 
 
 ' If dear mamma can spare me, I should 
 be very happy at Leasowes,' said Amy. It 
 was prettily said, and yet the mother felt as 
 if the honest bluffness with which Helen 
 might have disclaimed the possibility of 
 leaving her home would have been more 
 grateful to her. 
 
 ' Of course she can spare you,' said Mr. 
 Mertoun : ' she would have to do without you 
 if you made a good marriage, of which by the
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 9 
 
 by there is more chance at Leasowes than 
 here. However, I am not going to press 
 as if the favour were all on your side. I can 
 only say that most girls would jump at such 
 an offer/ 
 
 1 And Amy, as you see, is not unwilling to 
 accept it,' said Mrs. Mertoun. ' You must 
 not think that I take an unreasonable time 
 for consideration, if I defer my final answer 
 for a day. I will write by to-morrow's post/ 
 
 ' And if the answer is such as I haVe a 
 right to expect, I will send the carriage for 
 Amy early in next week. Eva dislikes any 
 delay when she has set her heart on a thing, 
 and I left her planning the arrangements for 
 Amy's room, which, she says, must be next 
 to her own/ 
 
 1 Give Eva my very best love,' said Amy ; 
 and though Mr. Mertoun protested with a 
 contemptuous grunt that he was never meant 
 to be the bearer of affectionate messages, he
 
 IO VANESSA. 
 
 was unlikely to forget anything which might 
 afford a moment's pleasure to his delicate and 
 fanciful child. 
 
 Amy anxiously awaited her mother's de- 
 cision when Mr. Mertoun was gone, but, as 
 she knew by experience, the necessity for 
 action was ever retarded by a nervous sense 
 of responsibility. Mrs. Mertoun was en- 
 dowed with the ivy-like nature which clings 
 with tenacity to the first object that offers a 
 firm support, and although it was twelve 
 years since her husband had closed a life of 
 reckless improvidence in disgrace and ruin, 
 she still deferred to his opinions real or 
 imaginary, and hesitated to take any step 
 of which he might have disapproved. Since 
 Henry had attained to manhood, his strong 
 sense was allowed to share the empire of his 
 dead father, but he had imbibed many of the 
 prejudices which had led to estrangement 
 between the two branches of the Mertoun
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. II 
 
 family, and approved of her resolution to 
 accept no pecuniary aid at the hands of the 
 man whom she held to be responsible for his 
 brother's ruin. Such aid had indeed been 
 indirectly given, for when Henry declined 
 the proposal that he should enter his uncle's 
 office at Bixley, Richard Mertoun's interest 
 procured for him a clerkship in the County 
 Bank at Allerton. 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun was a graceful, lady-like 
 woman, with great remains of beauty ; and 
 indeed it was an article of the family creed 
 that few younger women could vie with her 
 in personal attractions. Richard Mertoun 
 disliked her as heartily as near connections, 
 who do not happen to be congenial, are prone 
 to dislike each other ; but for the sake of his 
 nephews and nieces he had always refused to 
 quarrel with her. He came to Allerton at 
 stated intervals, and the younger members 
 of the family sometimes went to Leasowes,
 
 1 2 VANESSA. 
 
 from which Henry and Helen were too apt 
 to return with prejudices confirmed against 
 their rich relations, while Amy never missed 
 the opportunity of cementing that friendship 
 with Eva which now prompted a desire to 
 secure her as a constant inmate. 
 
 ' I must say that Uncle Richard is right,' 
 said Amy, when she had waited in vain for 
 her mother to enter on the subject : ' it is 
 unnecessary to appeal to Henry unless you 
 do it to shelter your own dislike to thfe 
 scheme. To me it seems the happiest escape 
 from dependence, for I have looked forward 
 to becoming a governess or companion now 
 that Helen is old enough to be useful.' 
 
 ' Dependence on a near relation may be 
 more galling than the same position among 
 strangers,' replied Mrs. Mertoun. 
 
 ' I do not think so, mamma. Uncle 
 Richard is essentially kind to me, even when 
 his manner is rough ; and you, who have
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 13 
 
 scarcely seen Eva, can hardly imagine her 
 gentle caressing ways. I am sure that I 
 should be very happy at Leasowes.' 
 
 ' Happier than at home, Amy ?' 
 
 1 We should only be ten miles apart,' said 
 Amy, evading a more direct reply : ' we 
 might often meet, and I should be no longer 
 a burden upon Henry.' 
 
 1 There is another reason why I hesitated 
 to accept your uncle's offer,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun. ' I fancied that you would wish to 
 consult Dennis O'Brien.' 
 
 1 To consult him ? ' repeated Amy, with 
 rising colour : ' indeed, mamma, you alto- 
 gether misconstrue our relations. I deny 
 that he has either the right or the inclination 
 to control my actions. It would be affecta- 
 tion to deny that he admires me, and any 
 warmer feeling has grown insensibly out of 
 our boy and girl friendship ; but he knows as 
 well as I do that a formal engagement would
 
 14 VANESSA. 
 
 be hopeless and absurd ; and it may be for 
 his happiness that we should have fewer 
 opportunities of meeting.' 
 
 ' Possibly ; and it is evident that yours will 
 not be affected by the separation.' 
 
 ' Indeed, mamma, I think it will be best 
 for both,' said Amy, candidly : ' the conscious- 
 ness that the eyes of Allerton are upon us, 
 drawing inferences which the facts do not 
 justify, destroys any pleasure in meeting 
 him.' 
 
 1 In such a case it may be better to part,' 
 said Mrs. Mertoun ; ' but you must also make 
 up your mind to see little of us all. There 
 is no cordiality between Henry and his uncle, 
 and he never willingly goes to Leasowes.' 
 
 ' I shall try to break down the barrier,' said 
 Amy ; ' and at all events I shall be able to come 
 here, and to see more of you all than if I were 
 a governess, perhaps a hundred miles away. 
 You need not tell me that it is hard to be
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 1 5 
 
 dependent, but surely it is still harder to live 
 on here from week to week and year to year 
 with little occupation and no interest in life, 
 except that of a round of sordid economies. 
 You may think it despicable ; Helen I know 
 despises me for hankering after material 
 comforts ; but it seems to me that some com- 
 mand of money is the sum of human hap- 
 piness.' 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun looked doubtful and distressed, 
 but as Helen came in to condole with her 
 mother on the length of her uncle Richard's 
 visit, the subject was allowed to drop ; nor 
 was it mentioned again until late in the even- 
 ing, when the two girls had retired for the 
 night. Mrs. Mertoun was left alone with her 
 son Henry, and she knew how to interpret 
 the pleading tenderness with which Amy 
 bade her good night, so that she began, 
 mother like, to urge the arguments in favour 
 of accepting Richard Mertoun's proposal,
 
 1 6 VANESSA. 
 
 which she had been at some pains to combat 
 when it was first made. 
 
 Henry Mertoun, whose features were 
 marked by the thoughtful and mature gravity 
 which is acquired by those on whom the burden 
 of life has fallen early, listened attentively until 
 the story was told. ' I hardly like the idea,' 
 he said at last ; ' you know that I did not 
 like it for myself, and it was with your full 
 concurrence that I refused a similar offer. 
 But the position may suit Amy, who never 
 seems quite congenial with the family atmo- 
 sphere.' 
 
 ' Poor child ! ' said Mrs. Mertoun ; ' she is 
 old enough to remember when the atmosphere 
 was very different. She was her father's 
 darling, and he thought that nothing was too 
 £ood for her.' 
 
 ' Twelve years of penury might efface the 
 childish memory of those luxurious days, 
 mother. But if the prospect of reviving them
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. I 7 
 
 in Uncle Richard's grand house will make 
 amends for the loss of home sympathy, she is 
 welcome to go.' 
 
 * It is only an experiment, and, if it fails, 
 she can but come back again,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun. ' 
 
 ' Not if she is to come back more fastidious 
 and intolerant of our shifts of poverty than 
 when she went : I do not think that would 
 be well. Let it be clearly understood that if she 
 casts in her lot with our rich relations, she 
 must not complain of crumpled rose-leaves. 
 She must not barter her birthright for a mess 
 of pottage, and then expect the blessing of 
 the first-born.' 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun looked wistfully at her son as 
 she replied, ' If you compare Amy to Esau, 
 Henry, the tone of your speech makes me 
 think of Ishmael. Your hand is against every 
 man.' 
 
 1 Was it not you who taught me to dislike 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 1 8 VANESSA. 
 
 and mistrust my Uncle Richard ? ' said 
 Henry. 
 
 ' It seems time to forget the old grudge,' 
 said Mrs. Mertoun. ' If your Uncle Richard 
 is conscious that he wronged your father, and 
 wishes to make amends to his children, I too 
 will try to forget the past. And I may tell 
 Amy that you consent to her going ? ' 
 
 1 If my consent is necessary. We shall miss 
 her in many ways ; and, as Helen said one 
 day, when we were discussing the possibility 
 of her marriage to O'Brien, " How horribly 
 ungenteel you and I must become when 
 Amy's refining presence is withdrawn." 
 
 Thus the family consent was given to 
 Amy's migration to her uncle's house ; but 
 she knew, in spite of her assertion to the 
 contrary, that the matter could not be con- 
 sidered as settled until Dennis O'Brien had 
 been taken into her confidence.
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 
 
 Henry Mertoun and Dennis O'Brien were 
 fellow-clerks at the county bank, and their 
 intimacy dated from the day of Henry's first 
 appearance there, some two years before. 
 O'Brien, two years his senior, and already 
 accustomed to the drudgery of the office, was 
 kind to the shy, sensitive lad, and the friend- 
 ship between them ripened as quickly as if 
 they had been a pair of lovers. Their 
 leisure hours, as well as those devoted to 
 work, were spent together ; and since O'Brien 
 lived alone in lodgings, it was natural that he 
 should spend much of his time with the 
 Mertoun household. He was soon at home 
 with them all, the object of Mrs. Mertouns 
 
 C 2
 
 20 VANESSA. 
 
 maternal solicitude, and learning to address 
 the girls by their Christian names, while he 
 claimed their services in mounting his ento- 
 mological or botanical specimens as freely as 
 if they had been his sisters. 
 
 Dennis was of Irish extraction, as his name 
 denoted, and possessed many of the charac- 
 teristics of his race. He was eager and 
 enthusiastic, indoctrinating his associates with 
 sentiments which were always emphatically 
 underlined, and exacting unbounded sympathy 
 in all his interests and pursuits. It need 
 scarcely be added that when he divided the 
 human race into two broadly defined classes 
 of angels and demons, Henry Mertoun's 
 beautiful sister did not rank among the 
 demons. 
 
 There was, as Amy had said, no formal 
 engagement between them, for how were two 
 young people even to think of marriage with- 
 out any more ample provision than the salary
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 21 
 
 of a junior clerk ? But in the sweet summer 
 twilight of May evenings, when they had 
 listened to the singing of nightingales, and 
 on balmy days in March as they wandered 
 through the lanes together, plucked white 
 violets from the banks, Amy's hand had been 
 pressed to her lover's heart, and more soft 
 and tender sayings had been exchanged 
 between them than she now cared to 
 remember. Of late, indeed, the joy of 
 such idyllic pleasures had been marred, 
 and Amy had drawn back, gently but reso- 
 lutely, from the freedom of their intercourse. 
 They no longer walked together, unless 
 Henry or Helen were willing to accompany 
 them, and Amy's smiles were rarer on the 
 evenings which Dennis spent at their house 
 than at other times. His courtship became 
 more stormy as she grew more cautious, and 
 she said, not without truth, that he was un- 
 reasonable and exacting. Still he went and 
 came, and hoped that the cloud would pass
 
 2 2 VANESSA. 
 
 away, while Amy felt that the prospect of 
 release from a situation of which she was 
 weary was not her least potent motive for 
 leaving her mother's house. 
 
 The Sunday dinner was scarcely over when 
 Dennis O'Brien's figure flitted past the win- 
 dow, and in another moment he was in the 
 entrance passage, waiting for no response to 
 his knock to enter the parlour. * It is a 
 perfect spring day,' he said; 'all the insects 
 must be abroad, and we ought to make great 
 discoveries on the heath. I hoped to find you 
 ready, Amy.' 
 
 ' Helen doubts about going,' replied Amy. 
 
 ' I was not speaking to Helen,' said Dennis, 
 with a clouded brow ; ' you promised to walk 
 to Durdham Copse with me on the first fine 
 Sunday.' 
 
 ' Henry has made his own plans for the 
 afternoon,' observed Helen, 'and I object to 
 being a bad third.'
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 23 
 
 ' You had better go, Helen ; you were 
 scarcely out of the house last week, and you 
 ought to have a walk,' said Mrs. Mertoun. 
 
 1 Then I must make Dick sacrifice himself,' 
 said Helen, seizing her younger brother by 
 the ear. ' Dick, I appeal to you as a man and 
 a brother to afford me the honour of your 
 company.' 
 
 1 I have got to grind my Greek Testament/ 
 said Dick, doggedly, and suppressing the 
 more powerful attraction of spending a law- 
 less afternoon in bird's-nesting with his school- 
 fellows. 
 
 ' We will grind it together when we sit 
 down to rest in the copse,' said Helen. 
 
 ' I am not going to let you carry the 
 lexicon through the streets on Sunday 
 afternoon,' rejoined Dick, loftily. His 
 imagination was not lively enough to con- 
 ceive the possibility of carrying it himself. 
 
 1 Most true, you slave to propriety ; but is
 
 24 VANESSA. 
 
 not Dennis as infallible an authority as the 
 lexicon itself, and we can appeal to him in 
 any difficulty. Be obliging for once, and you 
 may be rewarded by falling heir to a duplicate 
 specimen of beetle or butterfly. You know 
 Dennis's luck and skill as a collector.' 
 
 The prospect of being shoved through his 
 task at the least possible expense of mental 
 labour prevailed with Dick, when it was 
 coupled with this bait, and he graciously con- 
 sented to accompany his sisters. Amy had 
 awaited his decision with an air of placid 
 indifference, but she and Helen lost no time 
 in preparing for the walk, and since Dick was 
 also dismissed to brush his jacket, Dennis was 
 left alone with Mrs. Mertoun. He instantly 
 turned upon her with a sort of bridled im- 
 patience. 
 
 'Is it by your orders, Mrs. Mertoun, that 
 Amy refuses to walk with me ? ' 
 
 ' She has not refused, Dennis. I have
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 25 
 
 never spoken to her on the subject, but I do 
 not find fault with the instinct which leads her 
 to shun the inference which our gossipping 
 neighbours are so ready to draw.' 
 
 1 An inference in which I glory,' replied 
 Dennis ; ' are we not all in all to each other ? 
 It is only for the few short hours of the week 
 which I spend in Amy's company, that I can 
 be said in any true sense to live : at other 
 times I barely exist' 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun replied by a constrained 
 smile. O'Brien had never until now spoken 
 out his heart so plainly, and before she had 
 summoned resolution to daunt his enthusiasm 
 by a single word of discouragement, the two 
 girls re-entered the room, and the opportunity- 
 was lost. Helen understood her duties as a 
 chaperon, and they walked side by side 
 through the quiet streets of Allerton ; but as 
 soon as they turned into the grass fields which 
 led to Durdham Copse, she and Dick fell
 
 26 VANESSA. 
 
 behind, and the lovers, if lovers they were 
 to be, knew that their colloquy was to be un- 
 disturbed. Dennis made a motion to draw 
 Amy's hand within his arm, and when she 
 demurred, he said pleadingly, ' For this one 
 afternoon, Amy, if never again.' 
 
 Amy blushed, while she suffered the hand 
 which trembled a little to rest lightly on his 
 grasp, and she asked herself whether Henry 
 or her mother had prepared him for the com- 
 munication which she had to make. 
 
 ' I must have startled your mother just now,' 
 resumed Dennis, who was himself too much 
 agitated to observe her discomposure. ' If you 
 had been out of the room for a moment 
 longer, I should have gone headlong into a 
 matter which I was resolved that you should 
 be the first to know. I am not ungrateful to 
 a position to which I owe my acquaintance 
 with Henry and Henry's sister, but you know 
 how I have always disliked the bank drudgery,
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 2 J 
 
 and I am perhaps absurdly elated at the 
 prospect of being transferred to a more con- 
 genial atmosphere. Our common interest in 
 beetles has brought me into friendly relations 
 with Mr. Burdon, one of the bank managers, 
 and I had the kindest letter from him last 
 night, telling me that he was authorized by 
 the other trustees to offer me the curatorship 
 of the museum at Bixley. The immediate 
 rise in salary is not great, but the start it gives 
 me in the only career for which I am fitted 
 would be worth a sacrifice of income. I shall 
 be brought into communication with scientific 
 men, many of whom have achieved distinction 
 from equally obscure beginnings, and I need 
 not now despair of attaining a position worthy 
 even of you, Amy.' He paused, chilled by 
 her silence, and looked anxiously into her 
 face. Amy was, in fact, too much absorbed 
 in the thought of her own new career to be
 
 28 VANESSA. 
 
 greatly affected by the intelligence, except 
 from -one point of view. 
 
 1 The museum at Bixley ? ' she repeated. 
 ' How strange that you should be going there 
 just now ! My Uncle Richard's house is close 
 to Bixley, and it was decided yesterday that 
 I should go to live with him, as companion to 
 his only daughter.' 
 
 ' The Fates have ordained that we should 
 not be separated,' said Dennis, triumphantly ; 
 but Amy was able to put a different interpre- 
 tation on the facts. 
 
 ' You do not know Uncle Richard, Dennis. 
 He is a strange, cold man, with one soft place 
 in his heart for his only child, and I am to 
 be her slave and companion. The position 
 will be a difficult one, and since our poverty 
 has always been an offence in his eyes, I 
 shall not venture to invite my acquaintance to 
 his house.' 
 
 ' True, your acquaintance,' repeated
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 29 
 
 Dennis, with some bitterness. ' I should 
 decline to enter his doors if I am to be 
 designated by so cold a term. But what if I 
 come as your affianced lover ? ' 
 
 ' It is better that we should understand 
 each other,' said Amy ; and the words were 
 spoken with studied calmness even while the 
 paleness of her lips betrayed the greatness 
 of the effort. ' I have wished for an oppor- 
 tunity to declare my conviction that our 
 present relations cannot continue. As boy 
 and girl we have been happy together with 
 no thought for the future, but now that we 
 have each to make a real start in life, we 
 must be fettered by no engagement.' 
 
 ' I understand,' said Dennis, fixing his eyes 
 on Amy with an expression of indignant 
 scorn before which she quailed ; ' we are to 
 exercise the right of free choice in our 
 separate spheres.' He paused for a reply, 
 but Amy made no attempt to contradict the
 
 30 VANESSA. 
 
 interpretation he had put upon her words. 
 ' And this,' he went on with increasing vehe- 
 mence, ' this is the woman I have loved 
 — with no thought of the future, I think you 
 said — I have lived only for the hope of calling 
 you my own, and of providing a shrine fit for 
 the idol of my fancy.' 
 
 1 I have spoken as much for your sake as 
 for mine, Dennis.' 
 
 ' You are considerate indeed,' replied 
 O'Brien with cold irony, and Amy felt the 
 impossibility of continuing the conversa- 
 tion. She dropped his arm, and waited 
 for her brother and sister to come up with 
 them. 
 
 1 Have you found a specimen ?' cried Dick, 
 running forward ; ' remember that you pro- 
 mised me the first Painted Lady of the 
 season.' 
 
 1 This is not Vanessa Cardiri, but a new 
 variety,' replied Dennis; 'a painted lady
 
 THE METAMORPHOSIS. 3 I 
 
 which has just left the chrysalis and intends 
 to soar above 'lis earth worms/ 
 
 ' Where is it ? Let me see ; have you let 
 it go ?' said Dick, surveying O'Brien's empty 
 palm with a puzzled air. 
 
 1 1 have let it go/ repeated O'Brien quietly. 
 Amy declared herself to be too tired to walk 
 to Durdham Copse, and asked Helen to 
 return home with her ; nor has history- 
 recorded that the other two were successful 
 in their entomological researches.
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 
 
 Early in the following week Mr. Mertoun's 
 carriage was sent to Allerton for his niece. 
 Eva, like the petted child she had always 
 been, was eager to obtain possession of the 
 toy she had coveted, and since the family 
 finances allowed of no unnecessary outlay, 
 Amy's preparations were soon made. The 
 parting was over, and she leaned back in the 
 carriage with a delightful sense of luxurious 
 ease. As she was whirled past the Bank, she 
 fancied that she could distinguish the head 
 of Dennis O'Brien above the wire-blind, as 
 he leaned over his desk, but such recognition 
 scarcely dashed her pleasure. The cold es- 
 trangement with which they had parted
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 33 
 
 seemed to her the only possible solution of 
 the difficulties which beset her path : if he 
 had been importunate in his constancy, or 
 passionate in upbraiding her fickleness, their 
 chance encounters in the streets of Bixley 
 must have been a source of embarrassment 
 and annoyance, but as things were, she dis- 
 missed him from her mind with the reflection 
 that when his unreasonable anger had sub- 
 sided he would thank her for what she 
 had done, and they might once more be 
 friends. 
 
 In order to reach Leasowes, it was neces- 
 sary to pass through the busy commercial 
 town of Bixley, the town in which Richard 
 Mertoun had amassed his fortune, and in 
 which he owned a coal and timber wharf and 
 some other thriving concerns. The place 
 seemed like a metropolis to Amy, coming 
 fresh from sleepy Allerton, and she noted the 
 stir of life with interest, and acknowledged 
 
 vol. 1. D
 
 34 
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 the numerous marks of respect paid to Mr. 
 Mertoun's carnage with peculiar satisfaction. 
 Another mile's drive brought her to Leasowes, 
 a square substantial house, with that air of 
 being made to order which is apt to pervade 
 the domain of a self-made man of wealth. 
 The trim pleasure grounds, with their rare 
 shrubs and brilliant flower-beds, the splendid 
 conservatories, and the luxurious fittings of 
 the house, were the pride of Bixley and an 
 object of condescending admiration when 
 presented to the notice of the more aristo- 
 cratic county society. 
 
 Amy was abashed by the appearance of the 
 two tall servants who came to the door to 
 usher herself and her poor little portmanteau 
 into the hall, but her position seemed to be 
 assured by the affectionate warmth of Eva's 
 greeting. ' My dearest Amy ! what a long 
 dull drive you must have had ! I wished so 
 much to go in the carriage, but papa said that
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 35 
 
 it would be too much for me. Bring tea this 
 instant, John ; or will you have lunch ? We 
 do not dine till seven, and it is only half-past 
 three.' 
 
 1 1 want nothing now ; I will have a cup 
 of tea at your usual time,' said Amy. 
 
 ' Bring tea at once,' repeated Eva with 
 decision ; ( is not my time yours? Come to 
 my morning-room, where we can be as lazy 
 and as comfortable as we please. I am not 
 at home to any one this afternoon, John, 1 
 she added as they left the hall ; and Amy felt 
 that she was already installed as a dear and 
 honoured inmate, not as the poor dependant 
 on her uncle's bounty. 
 
 It was easy to see how the conditions 
 of intimacy were, to be fulfilled by the 
 two cousins. Eva's overflowing affection 
 had hitherto lacked an object on which to 
 expend itself, for although her father wor- 
 shipped her after his fashion, her caressing 
 
 D 2
 
 36 VANESSA. 
 
 kitten-like ways could meet with little 
 response from a man absorbed in business 
 cares, sparing of his words, and as rugged in 
 nature as in feature. As Eva outgrew her 
 childish passion for dolls, she had recourse to 
 live creatures ; but the rarest of birds, the 
 most unsightly of pugs, had failed to satisfy 
 the cravings of her heart, and since the day, 
 now nearly two years ago, when she first 
 observed her cousin's budding beauty, she had 
 been the object of her unswerving admiration. 
 Another little episode, hereafter to be men- 
 tioned, had only increased her sense of 
 loneliness, and her conviction that her 
 cousin's stronger nature might supply the 
 strength and sympathy to which she might 
 cling ; and when the proposal that Amy 
 should come to Leasowes was accepted, she 
 felt that the obligation was all on her side. 
 
 There was no family likeness between the 
 cousins. Eva was short and slightly made,
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 37 
 
 with great vivacity of movement, a colourless 
 skin, and large, liquid eyes, which seemed 
 to bespeak a soul too large for its fragile 
 sheath. Amy, with her statuesque grace, 
 perfectly modelled figure, and clear, porcelain 
 complexion, reminded those who saw her of 
 a figure in Dresden china : she was as 
 beautiful, and almost as cold. 
 
 1 You must have had a trying day,' said 
 Eva, caressing Amy's plump, white hand, 
 ' saying good-bye to all at home. Can Aunt 
 Anne forgive me for wiling you away ? ' 
 
 'She has Helen,' said Amy, not without 
 an uneasy consciousness that Helen's niche 
 in the family would be less easily filled. 
 
 1 True, she has Helen, but — may I say 
 it ? — that is not precisely the same thing. I 
 have not seen Helen very often, and I think 
 there is something antipathetic between us 
 which I daresay we might get over if we 
 were more together. With you it is
 
 38 VANESSA. 
 
 altogether different, although I remember 
 that when you settled at Allerton two years 
 ago, and papa said that we must ask you 
 over, I made rather a grievance of it. I loved 
 you when you came, and I have loved you 
 ever since.' Further expression of her eager 
 affection was checked by the appearance of 
 the footman with the tea-tray, and Eva 
 presently dismissed him with a packet of 
 notes which were to be delivered that after- 
 noon. 
 
 ' Invitations to a dinner-party,' she ex- 
 plained to her cousin. 4 I would not send 
 them out until you had actually arrived. 
 These great formal entertainments have always 
 been a fatigue and oppression to me, but now 
 that you are here to share the responsibility 
 and talk over the guests with me, I fancy 
 that I shall almost enjoy them/ 
 
 ' You take my breath away,' said Amy. 
 4 1 have no dress in which to appear at a
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 39 
 
 regular dinner party. You know our straits 
 of poverty well enough to excuse my shabby 
 dress when we are alone together ; and by and 
 by, if Uncle Richard fulfils his vague promise 
 of giving me an allowance, I will try not to 
 bring discredit on you. Meanwhile I must 
 remain in the background.' 
 
 1 No, indeed, Amy. I have not transplanted 
 you from Allerton that you may live in ob- 
 scurity. I am glad that papa's arrangements 
 were vague, for then I may take my own 
 measures to give them definite shape. No 
 outlay pleases him so well as the money I 
 spend at the Bixley shops, and we will go in the 
 town to-morrow to order what is necessary — 
 what I think necessary for you. When you 
 have got your outfit, papa may please himself 
 about your allowance.' 
 
 Amy faintly disclaimed the possibility of 
 availing herself of such a munificent offer, 
 but her scruples were easily overruled, and
 
 40 VANESSA. 
 
 the dolls of Eva's childhood had not sub- 
 mitted with more smiling complacency to be 
 decked out in the silk and satin costumes 
 which her lively fancy had devised for them. 
 Amy did not see her uncle until she came 
 downstairs, dressed for dinner in the simple 
 white dress which she no longer thought it 
 necessary to husband for more important 
 occasions. Evas gay spirits and eager 
 assurances that Amy was the gentlest, love- 
 liest, and most loveable of human beings, 
 procured for her a cordial reception from Mr. 
 Mertoun ; he kissed her cheek, and hoped 
 that she would be happy in her new home, 
 since he was as ready to welcome another 
 daughter as Eva was to adopt her as a sister. 
 Amy could scarcely believe that this was the 
 same Uncle Richard whose infrequent visits 
 to the little house at Allerton were apt to 
 bring constraint and gloom, and to cloud her 
 mother's face with added care.
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 4 1 
 
 This feeling of surprise and gratitude was 
 partly expressed by Amy when the hour of 
 bed-time came, and the two girls sat together 
 over the bright wood fire which Eva's solici- 
 tude for her comfort had caused to be kindled 
 in her room. It was an unnecessary luxury 
 on that mild May evening, and they left the 
 window open that they might enjoy the 
 singing of the nightingales. ' How kind 
 Uncle Richard was to me ! it was almost as if 
 I bad found my own dear father again; said 
 Amy ; and the words were spoken out of the 
 fulness of her heart. 
 
 1 I fancy that he was thinking of Uncle 
 Henry to-night,' said Eva, thoughtfully. ' I 
 know that the estrangement often weighs 
 upon his mind.' 
 
 ' Do tell me about it, Eva ; my mother 
 will never go into details. I know of course 
 the one terrible fact that distress and ruin 
 followed, or perhaps caused my father's
 
 42 VANESSA. 
 
 death, but I have never been able to under- 
 stand how Uncle Richard was connected 
 with our misfortunes, nor why mamma has 
 been so unwilling to be under any obligation 
 to him.' 
 
 ' Papa often speaks of it,' replied Eva ; ' he 
 thinks Aunt Anne unreasonable, but of course 
 it is natural that she should still see the cause 
 of quarrel with Uncle Henry's eyes. Our 
 grandfather was a country surgeon in small 
 practice, and his two sons had both to make 
 their way in the world. Your father, who 
 was the eldest, went into the surgery for a 
 time, but he did not take to it, and then he 
 was articled to an architect, and that did not 
 do either. There was no money forthcoming 
 to put papa out in the world, nor to give him 
 a tolerable education, and he was glad to take 
 a sort of errand-boy's place in Edgar's coal 
 and timber-yard. He worked his way up 
 into the office by steady application, and
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 43 
 
 when he had been ten years a clerk, he 
 married his master's daughter, and old Mr. 
 Edgar, who died soon afterwards, left every- 
 thing to him when he died. Still papa says, 
 and I think that he has a right to be proud 
 of it, that he owes all his success in life to 
 honest hard work, and not to any stroke of 
 good luck. As soon as he was his own 
 master, he tried to help Uncle Henry, who 
 had never settled to anything, and was living 
 on Aunt Anne's small portion. Papa made 
 him manager of the coal-yard, with a sort of 
 understanding that he should have a share in 
 the business, but they could not get on to- 
 gether. There may have been faults on 
 both sides, but he says that Uncle Henry 
 was reckless and improvident, and would not 
 keep accounts. At last there was a regular 
 quarrel, and papa gave him money — 5,000/. 
 I believe it was — on condition that he should 
 leave Bixley. Uncle Henry, was very angry,
 
 44 VANESSA. 
 
 and said that his brother had broken faith 
 with him ; however, he took the money and 
 went away.' 
 
 1 I can just remember leaving Bixley,' said 
 Amy. ' I think I was five years old. We 
 went to a villa at Twickenham, and lived in 
 what seemed great luxury and splendour, 
 when I contrast it with these later years.' 
 
 ' It only lasted for two years/ replied Eva. 
 ' Papa does not know how the money went, 
 whether in speculation, or if he only lived 
 upon his capital. At the end of that time 
 Uncle Henry began to write to him for help — 
 almost threatening letters he said they were — 
 opening up the old question of the partner- 
 ship. Papa took no notice for some time, 
 and at last returned all the letters in a blank 
 envelope. He blames himself for this now, 
 since it may have driven Uncle Henry to 
 desperation. Two days afterwards, he re- 
 ceived a letter to tell him of his sudden
 
 THE MESS OF POTTAGE. 45 
 
 death, and summoning him to attend the 
 inquest.' 
 
 ■ I remember his coming to Twickenham,' 
 said Amy, shivering ; ' there was an execu- 
 tion in the house, and men comine in' to 
 remove the body for the inquest. Mamma 
 was almost beside herself with the shock of 
 his death and the knowledge of our certain 
 ruin, and we children were huddled together, 
 and hunted from room to room. People 
 talk of the happiness of youth, but I think 
 that from that day to this our lives have been 
 a protracted misery.' 
 
 ' We ought not to have revived these sad 
 memories,' said Eva, 'only I wished you to 
 know how it was with papa, that you might 
 not begin with a prejudice against him. 
 Aunt Anne and Henry have refused his help 
 in so many ways, that he knows that they 
 still nourish the old bitterness.' 
 
 ' I know it ; I always thought that Henry
 
 46 VANESSA. 
 
 was wrong-headed to refuse the offer of 
 coming into his office, and Henry was angry 
 with me for coming here, Eva.' 
 
 1 1 must be doubly dear to you if you have 
 given up Henry for my sake,' said Eva, with 
 a tender embrace. ' Now let us talk of some- 
 thing else, or you will be haunted by bad 
 dreams in your first night at home. Let me 
 see your hair, your beautiful golden hair, 
 which wound its coils around my heart on 
 the first day I ever saw you.' 
 
 1 Silly child !' said Amy smiling, and not 
 unwilling to let down the golden shower of 
 glossy hair, soft and fine as floss silk, which 
 rippled over her shoulders, and far below her 
 waist. Eva toyed and trifled with its untold 
 wealth, until smiles had chased every cloud 
 from Amy's fair face, and her dreams that 
 night were not of the haunting past, but of a 
 bright future opening before her.
 
 47. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1 FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 
 
 The two girls spent a long morning among 
 the Bixley shops, and returned to a late 
 luncheon, and to talk over purchases which 
 had opened to Amy a delightful vista of the 
 costumes appropriate ^to every variety of 
 social gathering which were to take the place 
 of the thin and much-enduring silk dress that 
 was familiar to all the inhabitants of Allerton. 
 They were still in the dining-room when Eva 
 was informed of the arrival of a visitor, 
 
 ' Leave the parcels here ; John will tell 
 Julia to take them to your room,' said Eva, as 
 Amy was about to retreat upstairs. ' I see a 
 good deal of Lady Cecilia Wray, and should 
 like you to know her ; and besides if I intro-
 
 48 VANESSA. 
 
 duce you to her now, there will be one 
 stranger less at our dinner-party, for she is to 
 be one of the guests. Never mind about 
 your hair ; it is much smoother than mine.' 
 And Eva cut short further remonstrance by 
 slipping her hand within her cousins arm, as 
 she opened the door into the drawing-room. 
 
 Lady Cecilia Wray, a fair full-blown lady 
 of forty or thereabouts, greeted Eva with the 
 utmost effusion. ' My dear Eva ! I am 
 ashamed to call so early, but I wished to 
 catch you before you went out. Of course 
 you know that Mr. Wray and I are charmed 
 to accept your invitation to dinner, and I 
 venture to ask whether your table is full, or 
 if we may bring Lord Alan Rae. You re- 
 member my nephew, who spent six weeks 
 with us last summer ; he is coming on 
 Tuesday, and I should not like to leave him 
 on the very first evening.' 
 
 ' I am sure that it will give papa great
 
 ' FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 49 
 
 pleasure to see Lord Alan Rae,' said Eva, as 
 soon as Lady Cecilia's profuse explanations 
 admitted of a reply, ' now I want to introduce 
 another Miss Mertoun to you — my cousin 
 Amy, who has come to live with me.' 
 
 Lady Cecilia received Amy with all polite- 
 ness, but her overflowing cordiality was still 
 reserved for Eva. ' Any addition to our 
 little circle is welcome, and I hope my dear 
 Eva, that you will say the same as far as my 
 nephew is concerned, or have you quite 
 forgotten Alan ? ' 
 
 \ I have not forgotten him,' said Eva, with 
 a slight degree of agitation which did not 
 escape her cousin's notice ; ' I did not know 
 that he was expected at the Holh'es.' 
 
 ' He has been at home all the winter,' said 
 Lady Cecilia ; ' a sad home it is for him, poor 
 fellow, now that my brother's health is 
 failing, and poof Macrae, the eldest son, is in 
 a melancholy state. His head was affected 
 
 vol. 1. E
 
 50 VANESSA. 
 
 by some accident he had as a boy, and I fear 
 that his mind is incurably weakened. Lady 
 Raeburn writes that Alan's happy temper has 
 cheered them all, but they feel that he really 
 needs some relaxation, and now that he is 
 coming south, I daresay that he will stay 
 until the grouse shooting begins. I should 
 like to show you Alan's letter, but I am 
 afraid that I have left it at home. He says 
 that it will give him such pleasure to renew 
 his acquaintance with our neighbours here, 
 since he has the happiest recollection of last 
 summer's visit.' 
 
 ' What a strange woman to go into all 
 these family details,' remarked Amy, when 
 Lady Cecilia had taken leave. 
 
 'It is Lady Cecilia's way,' replied Eva : 
 ' and our plebeian natures are rather gratified 
 by such condescending frankness. She 
 imagines that the eyes of all the world are 
 fixed on the noble house of Rae, and she
 
 ' FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 5 t 
 
 seldom goes through an evening without re- 
 marking that she has not forfeited her maiden 
 name, although, as she belongs to one of the 
 oldest Scotch families, and her husband is 
 only a Berkshire squire, it is merely a coinci- 
 dence in sound.' 
 
 * She seems to be very fond of you, Eva.' 
 ' Rather too fond.' rejoined Eva, with a 
 little moue expressive of dissatisfaction : ' she 
 took me up vehemently when I came out a 
 year ago, and I am always expecting her to 
 let me down again with a run ; but as she is 
 the great lady of Bixley and the neighbour- 
 hood, Papa is flattered, and it has been 
 impossible to avoid the intimacy. She is 
 really good-natured, and amusing for a limited 
 time.' 
 
 ' And what is Lord Alan like ? ' 
 ' How shall I tell you ? He is not like his 
 aunt, nor like people in general. You will 
 see him on Tuesday, and may judge for 
 
 E 2
 
 5 2 VANESSA. 
 
 yourself, and after all I know him very 
 slightly.' But the blush which qualified this 
 assertion was significant to Amy's eyes. 
 
 It appeared that even in a house of which 
 the machinery was as well oiled as that of 
 Leasowes, the giving of dinner-parties was 
 attended by considerable anxiety and trouble. 
 Eva's finer instincts recoiled from any 
 ostentation of wealth, but she was obliged to 
 defer to her father's will on this point, and to 
 submit to him the menu of the dinner, with 
 all its details of lighting and service, to satisfy 
 him that all was arranged on one harmonious 
 scale of costly splendour. 
 
 ' I think there was a Roman Emperor who 
 chose to dine on nightingales' tongues,' said 
 Eva, as she sate down to her writing-table to 
 order some delicacy from Covent Garden 
 which was not yet in season : ' I consider that 
 sort of thing barbaric and out of taste, and it 
 vexes me that Papa does not see it in the
 
 4 FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 53 
 
 same light. If it is necessary to attract fine 
 people by a display of expensive luxuries, in 
 which they would not dream of indulging in 
 their own houses, they had better not come 
 at all. When I lunch with Lady Cecilia, she 
 does not apologise for sitting down to two or 
 three lukewarm slices off the servants' joint, 
 but, if she comes here, Papa thinks that three 
 or four entrees at a guinea each are indispen- 
 sable.' 
 
 Amy assented softly, not caring to provoke 
 an argument, but in her heart she was 
 disposed to think that such palpable proofs 
 of Mr. Mertoun's great wealth were not 
 deserving of Eva's indignant protest. 
 
 The important evening arrived, and it 
 seemed doubly important to Amy, since she 
 was conscious of being perfectly well dressed 
 for the first time in her life. The Wray 
 party was not the first to arrive, and since 
 Amy was already engaged in conversation
 
 54 VANESSA. 
 
 with Sir John Hawthorne, who was to take 
 her in to dinner, they were seated at the 
 table 'before she had leisure to make her 
 observations. Lord Alan had taken Eva 
 down and was now conversing with her, but 
 without much animation. He was a tall, fair 
 young man, as fair as Dennis O'Brien, but, 
 as Amy had no hesitation in admitting, he 
 was far more regularly handsome, although 
 there was an unsettled, vacillating expression 
 in his eyes, which might be accounted a 
 defect. Lady Cecilia had taken entire 
 possession of Mr. Mertoun, and he listened 
 with a certain grim complacency to her 
 extravagant commendation of everything 
 which came under her notice, from the pdtis 
 mix homards to the blaze of white azalea 
 which filled the conservatory at the lower 
 end of the room. ' And that dpergne ! I am 
 sure that I trace Eva's dainty hand in its 
 exquisite arrangement.'
 
 'FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW. 55 
 
 1 No,' said Mr. Mertoun, ' I think that my 
 niece must take credit for that. Is it not so, 
 Amy ? ' 
 
 ' I helped Eva a little : she seemed tired 
 this afternoon,' said Amy. 
 
 "She looks pale,' remarked Lady Cecilia, 
 glancing down the room. ' I do not say ill, 
 for that transparent pallor becomes her. But 
 you must take care of her, Mr. Mertoun.' 
 
 1 The advice is scarcely needed, Lady 
 Cecilia ; since she was an hour old she has 
 been my first thought in the morning, and 
 my last at night. Perhaps I have been 
 over-anxious, and have fostered her natural 
 delicacy.' 
 
 ' Nothing is more deceptive than the 
 appearance of delicacy,' observed Lady 
 Cecilia; 'people tell me that I am the picture 
 of health, and yet I scarcely know what it is 
 to feel really well. You must not be too 
 anxious about dear Eva, Mr. Mertoun ; let
 
 56 VANESSA. 
 
 her have plenty of fresh air and amusement, 
 avoiding excitement and late hours. I want 
 her to come over and spend a long day at 
 the Hollies, — Eva and Miss Amy Mertoun,' 
 she added with a polite afterthought ; ' do 
 say that you can spare them.' 
 
 ' Settle it with Eva/ said Mr. Mertoun, ' I 
 am always out between breakfast and dinner, 
 and the girls can please themselves.' 
 
 Sir John here engaged Amy's attention, 
 and the rest of the dialogue was lost to her. 
 Amy was conscious that she contributed little 
 to the general entertainment, for her secluded 
 life had prevented her from acquiring the 
 ease of good society, and Sir John's well- 
 chosen topics languished and died, in spite of 
 his unremitting - efforts to prolong their exist- 
 ence. Amy felt discouraged and ashamed of 
 her own stupidity, and had yet to learn that 
 even dulness may be forgiven in a perfectly
 
 'FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 57 
 
 beautiful woman. It was a knowledge which 
 she acquired a little later. 
 
 There were other lady guests, but Lady 
 Cecilia continued to be the central figure 
 when they adjourned to the drawing-room. 
 Eva sought in vain to distribute her atten- 
 tions, for Lady Cecilia was resolved to talk 
 to her, and to her only, and the rest of the 
 party sat round to listen and be edified. 
 ' My dear little hostess,' she said, ' I must 
 take a lesson from you in the art of dinner- 
 giving. The only alloy to my pleasure in 
 coming here to-night is the prospect of hear- 
 ing Mr. Wray's critical remarks on our 
 homely fare and inferior appointments. I 
 find it impossible to get a really good cook 
 to stay with us in the country, but your chef 
 de cuisine is worth a king's ransom. And 
 the blaze of colour in your conservatory 
 surpasses anything I have seen at this time 
 of year.'
 
 58 VANESSA. 
 
 ' You should reserve your compliments for 
 Papa,' said Eva, ' such things are in his 
 department, and I am only the little lay 
 figure whom it pleases him to set up at the 
 head of his household.' 
 
 ' Even as a lay figure you excel,' said Lady 
 Cecilia : ' considering the absurd fashions 
 which are now in vogue, it requires the 
 courage of an artistic taste to dress your hair 
 in that simple and becoming manner.' 
 
 This last and more direct attack was too 
 much for Eva's endurance. ' Do please, 
 Lady Cecilia,' she said in a low voice, ' leave 
 my poor little person alone, and help me to 
 bridge over this dull interval. Do you think 
 that I may play something ? ' 
 
 Lady Cecilia first applauded the sugges- 
 tion, and then the performance, and Eva 
 gained so far by her move to the piano, that 
 her irrepressible friend turned to Lady 
 Hawthorne, and talked of instead of to her.
 
 59 
 
 The gentlemen soon came in, and Lord Alan 
 offered to relieve Amy of the task of turning 
 over the leaves of her cousin's music book. 
 She retreated into the recess behind the 
 piano, and was thus a silent listener to the 
 dialogue which followed. 
 
 ' Play something else, Miss Mertoun,' said 
 Lord Alan as Eva struck the last chords of a 
 passage which she had played with consider- 
 able taste and execution, ' something noisy, 
 under cover of which we can talk.' 
 
 ' Will this suit you ? ' said Eva, beginning 
 a fresh movement with a smile and a height- 
 ened colour. 
 
 1 Anything will suit me which does not 
 draw off your attention. Music is a fine 
 thing for promoting conversation ; observe 
 the fresh buzz of talk which has begun with 
 your new piece.' 
 
 ' I know ; of all social absurdities drawing-
 
 60 VANESSA. 
 
 room music is the most gratuitously absurd,' 
 said Eva. 
 
 1 Something may be said for it, as for other 
 abuses,' replied Lord Alan; 'just now, for 
 instance, it serves for a bulwark between us 
 and the company at large. How dull we 
 were at dinner ! ' 
 
 4 I was tired, and yet I do not think that 
 the dulness was altogether my fault,' said 
 Eva. 
 
 ' It was altogether mine, or shall I say 
 my Aunt Cecilia's. Her exuberant energies 
 absorb the vital forces of those with whom 
 she comes in contact, leaving my spirit 
 altogether arid ; but under cover of your 
 music the sponge is removed, and I am 
 myself again. And how are you, Miss 
 Mertoun ? Life seems to go on here just as 
 if I had never been away, — is it this summer 
 or last ? Try to enlighten my bewildered 
 senses.'
 
 ' FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW.' 6 1 
 
 ' We do not change much in Bixley, Lord 
 Alan. In one respect there is a pleasant 
 change, however ; I want to introduce you 
 to my cousin Amy.' 
 
 The introduction was made, and Lord 
 Alan seemed quite as willing to talk lively 
 nonsense to one cousin as to the other. 
 Amy showed no readiness in reply, but her 
 diffident blushes gave a new charm to her 
 beauty, and, when Lady Cecilia came to 
 declare that she must order the carriage, 
 since Mr. Wray disliked late hours, Eva, 
 who had been playing rather plaintive airs 
 while the other two talked together, was not 
 sorry that the conference broke up. An 
 early day was fixed for the girls to drive 
 over to the Hollies, and when Lord Alan 
 said that he should take care to make no 
 other engagement for that day, the words 
 were spoken to Amy. 
 
 ' A very successful evening,' remarked
 
 62 VANESSA. 
 
 Mr. Mertoun, who lost no time in "lighting 
 his bed-room candle as soon as the last 
 carriage had driven off ; ' Lady Cecilia is a 
 guest who always ensures enough of talk.' 
 
 ' Enough, or too much,' remarked Eva, as 
 she followed her cousin upstairs with lagging 
 steps ; ' I am so utterly tired, Amy, that I 
 will not come to your room to-night, lest I 
 should be tempted to linger. We can talk 
 over our guests to-morrow.' When the 
 morrow came, however, Eva did not seem to 
 be more disposed to be communicative, at 
 least so far as Lord Alan Rae was concerned.
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 
 
 Amy had not the pen of a ready writer, and 
 although she wrote to her mother with dutiful 
 regularity, the bold statement that she was 
 very happy, and that Eva and her Uncle 
 Richard were kindness itself, left a good deal 
 to the imagination. Helen declared that she 
 should have made better use of her oppor- 
 tunities, if she had had anything more ex- 
 citing to record than the number of skirts and 
 mantles which she had stitched in the ma- 
 chine for the local draper, by whom she was 
 regularly supplied with work, or the scraps of 
 classical learning which she acquired in help- 
 ing her brother Richard to prepare his school 
 lessons.
 
 64 VANESSA. 
 
 ' The rank and fashion of Allerton are 
 provided with summer finery,' Helen said 
 one morning to her mother : ' Mr. Benson 
 (the draper before mentioned) says that he 
 shall give me nothing else to do for a fort- 
 night, when he must begin to think of the 
 autumn fashions. I am going to indulge 
 myself with a morning's work over Mrs. 
 Somerville's physical geography. Did I tell 
 you that Dennis lent me the book before he 
 went away, promising to correct my notes 
 from it, which I am to send by post. This 
 makes me less dismally sure that all chance 
 of my liberal education has departed with 
 him.' 
 
 ' I wish that I could afford to give you the 
 advantages vou hanker after,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun. 
 
 ' You need not wish it, mother,' said Helen, 
 brightly : ' if I had been set up with the 
 stock-in-trade of an accomplished young lady,
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 65 
 
 I should most likely have been as idle and 
 desultory as my neighbours. Look at Dick, 
 who has been in school for five hours a day 
 since he was eight years old, and the only 
 problem he cares to solve is how to distribute 
 an ounce of thought through a pound of 
 work. All the knowledge which I try to 
 infuse falls off in beautiful round drops, 
 like water off a duck's back, and I do really 
 think that boys are stupider and more frivolous 
 than girls, always excepting Dennis O'Brien. 
 I wonder how Dennis is getting on at Bixley.' 
 
 ' We shall hear next week : Henry intends 
 to spend next Sunday with him,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun, and Helen took a lively interest in 
 the intelligence. 
 
 ' I am glad of that : we shall hear whether 
 Dennis has encountered Amy, and what 
 came of it, and I suppose that Henry will see 
 Amy herself.' 
 
 1 He will call at Leasowes, if his uncle 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 VANESSA. 
 
 seems to wish it : I am going to write to 
 Amy to-day,' said Mrs. Mertoun, who had in 
 fact extorted Henry's unwilling consent to 
 this measure : he said that his visit to Lea- 
 sowes might be distasteful to Dennis and he 
 disclaimed any desire to gratify his sister at 
 the expense of his friend. 
 
 The return of post brought a budget from 
 Leasowes. Richard Mertoun wrote to invite 
 his nephew to join their Sunday dinner, and 
 to bring his friend with him if he liked : Eva 
 enclosed a note for Mrs. Mertoun, entreating 
 her to allow Helen to accompany her brother 
 to Bixley, that she might spend the Sunday 
 with them, and take home a report of Amy's 
 well-being, and there was also a letter from 
 Amy herself to the same effect, which con- 
 tained a token of sisterly affection in the form 
 of a pair of double-button kid gloves. 
 
 ' Only look !' said Helen, displaying the 
 gift with a laugh of honest amusement ; ' this
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 6 J 
 
 little fact speaks volumes, and I interpret it 
 thus. Amy means to say, Come if you like, 
 but do not bring me to discredit by coming- 
 in thread gloves. If she had sent me the 
 three and sixpence in stamps, she knows that 
 I should have been sorely tempted to spend 
 the money in muffins and sardines, that Dick 
 might invite a friend to tea on Saturday 
 evening.' 
 
 Even while Helen disclaimed the possi- 
 bility of rising to the proper level of Lea- 
 sowes gentility, it was evident that the 
 prospect of such a break in her monotonous 
 life was attractive, and the motive urged by 
 Eva of bringing back a report of Amy 
 weighed with Mrs. Mertoun. 'It is of no 
 use trusting to Henry's account of her,' she 
 said, ' a man never sees the things which 
 we really care to know.' 
 
 1 Besides,' added Henry, ' I shall not have ~ 
 much time to bestow on such researches. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 VANESSA. 
 
 My visit is to Dennis, and I certainly shall 
 not desert him to dine at Leasowes.' 
 
 ' You will call there, however,' said Mrs. 
 Mertoun. 
 
 ' Oh yes, I will call, and I think it is quite 
 right that Helen should go there. Eva 
 writes a nice, affectionate note, and, since 
 there is no excuse to make, we ought not to 
 vex her by declining the invitation.' 
 
 Thus then the matter was arranged, and 
 on the following Saturday the brother and 
 sister set out for Bixley. Mr. Mertoun's 
 carriage was not sent for them in this in- 
 stance, and they travelled second class by 
 a circuitous route, yet Helen enjoyed the 
 journey, and was especially pleased to find 
 Dennis O'Brien waiting for them on the 
 platform at Bixley. He greeted them 
 warmly, but when Henry wondered whether 
 Helen could find her own way to Leasowes, 
 he said in a cold and constrained voice :
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 69 
 
 ' She will not have to do so ; Mr. Mertoun's 
 carnage is waiting outside.' 
 
 They passed out of the gate, and there in 
 fact was the light, open carriage, with Amy 
 leaning back in it, looking prettier than ever 
 in her light summer toilette. It was easy 
 to understand why she had not gone on the 
 platform ; for when Dennis emerged from the 
 doorway, and she leaned forward with an 
 eager determination to be recognised, he 
 looked straight before him and walked past 
 the carriage, to stand some paces off while 
 Henry greeted one sister and put the other 
 into the carriage. He lost no time in rejoin- 
 ing his friend and they walked off, arm-in- 
 arm, while the sisters were whirled on through 
 the streets of Bixley. 
 
 1 Dennis O'Brien is really too childish and 
 absurd,' said Amy, quite startled out of her 
 usual placidity of manner : ' this is not the 
 first time I have passed him in the carriage,
 
 70 VANESSA. 
 
 and he has always refused to see me. Two 
 or three of our country neighbours have made 
 his acquaintance, and it will be awkward and 
 annoying to meet him at their houses while he 
 is, in this irrational humour.' 
 
 'Awkward indeed!' rejoined Helen, who 
 was fuming with indignation at O'Brien's 
 wrongs, but Amy was too much absorbed in 
 the sense of her own injuries to notice to 
 which side her sympathy was given. 
 
 ' I must try to speak to Henry about it 
 to-morrow,' she continued ; ' he may be able to 
 convince Dennis of the folly and injustice of 
 placing me in this uncomfortable position.' 
 
 ' I doubt whether you will get much satis- 
 faction out of Henry. Do not let us talk of 
 Dennis now, since it is a subject on which we 
 can neve 1 - agree. How nice you look, Amy ! 
 Is it all as pleasant as you intended it to 
 be?' 
 
 ' Even more pleasant. I cannot tell you
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 7 1 
 
 how kind Uncle Richard is to me, and Eva 
 and I are like sisters together.' 
 
 ' Perhaps the tie is closer than that of 
 sisters in general,' said Helen, who had not 
 got all the satisfaction she desired out of that 
 relationship. ' Eva said the same thing in 
 her letter to mother. It was good of her to 
 ask me here, and I have ,come chiefly to 
 please the mother who wants so much to 
 hear of you, but it is an extravagance which 
 may not be repeated, even if you keep me in 
 kid gloves. Admire the shapely appearance 
 of my hands ! I began to work my fingers 
 into the trammels of civilisation when I 
 reached the Bixley junction, in order that I 
 might display them to you in unsullied glory.' 
 
 Amy smiled at the thought that if Dennis 
 O'Brien were destined to be the crumpled 
 rose-leaf in her lot, any annoyance he might 
 cause her was cheaply purchased by her 
 immunity from such sordid economies. Sh
 
 72 VANESSA. 
 
 laid a disapproving finger on Helen's neck-tie, 
 the only article of her dress, with the excep- 
 tion of the gloves aforesaid, which bore any 
 appearance of newness, and asked, ' Where 
 did you buy that gaudy thing ? It goes very 
 ill with your dress.' 
 
 1 I did not buy it at all, Amy : it was an 
 offering of esteem and regard from Mr. 
 Benson, when I went about my last lot of 
 work. I had an impression that it was 
 rather vulgar, but as he assured me it was a 
 sweet, genteel thing, I could not hurt his 
 feelings by declining the gift' 
 
 ' At all events you might keep it for 
 Allerton church ; you will not meet Mr. 
 Benson here.' 
 
 ' That is true,' said Helen, as she took off 
 the obnoxious ribbon and slipped it into her 
 pocket ; ' you see how amenable I am, but 
 you must not be too critical of my manners 
 and appearance, or I shall become still more
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 73 
 
 awkward than I am by nature. Is not this 
 Swiss cottage which has broken out in 
 chimnies the lodge to Leasowes ? please put 
 my bonnet straight while I compose myself 
 into a becoming attitude of lady-like ease, 
 and assume my very properest behaviour.' 
 
 Helen's bantering tone, combined with the 
 discomposure excited by O'Brien's behaviour, 
 had ruffled Amy's gentle temper, and when 
 the two sisters entered the drawing-room 
 they were constrained and ill at ease ; so that 
 Eva thought that the kindest thing she could 
 do was to suggest that they should adjourn to 
 Amy's room to finish their talk, and then 
 join her on the lawn, to drink tea under the 
 limes. They went upstairs accordingly, but 
 the flow of talk was still languid and intermit- 
 tent : Amy asked sweetly after her mother, 
 displayed some tokens of Eva's lavish 
 affection in the trinkets on her toilette table, 
 listened with faint interest to one or two
 
 74 VANESSA. 
 
 items of Allerton news, and then betrayed 
 the subject which still occupied her mind by 
 the abrupt remark : 
 
 ' If Henry will not stir in the matter, 
 Helen, perhaps you can speak to Dennis 
 O'Brien.' 
 
 * I do not suppose that I shall have the 
 opportunity,' replied Helen. 
 
 ' You will probably see him at the station 
 when you go away on Monday, and I shall 
 not be there, as Henry will be sure to take 
 the early train.' 
 
 ' And if I do see him, what am I to say — 
 that you made a mistake in casting him off 
 and only want to be asked again ? ' 
 
 ' I call that extreme impertinence,' said 
 Amy with unwonted heat : ' he has no right 
 to cut me, because I decline to see him as my 
 lover. I am far from wishing to renew our 
 former intimacy, but he ought to be able to 
 meet me on the terms of ordinary politeness.'
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 75 
 
 ' Cold-hearted people may be polite to 
 those they have once loved, Amy, but it is 
 rrot in Dennis's nature to forget. Besides 
 you announced your intention of cutting him, 
 so at least he told Henry.' 
 
 ' Dennis took fire at once, and was too 
 angry and unreasonable to understand my 
 meaning. I did say that as we should live 
 in such different sets we must not expect to 
 meet, but as it happens we are likely to do 
 so. Mr. Wray, who is a scientific man, and 
 interested in the Museum, has taken a fancy 
 to him, and I know that he is invited to a 
 croquet at the Hollies this week. And if 
 Lady Cecilia and Mr. Wray take him up, he 
 will be asked everywhere.' 
 
 ' So you wish me to tell him to avoid such 
 complications by keeping away. Perhaps 
 you got Eva to ask me to Leasowes on pur- 
 pose to arrange your little difficulties ? ' 
 
 'You take a perverse pleasure in mis-
 
 J 6 VANESSA. 
 
 understanding me, Helen. I can be shut out 
 from no society to which Eva is admitted, 
 but it will be very much to Dennis's disad- 
 vantage if the world is allowed to see that 
 there is this absurd tracasserie! 
 
 ' For which, however, Dennis is not respon- 
 sible. But if it is likely to do him any harm, 
 I have no objection to try to set matters 
 straight between you, although I warn you 
 that you could not have chosen a worse 
 go-between.' The concession, which was 
 not graciously made, was really gratefully 
 received, and Amy was glad to let the 
 conversation drift from a subject on which 
 the sisters' views differed so widely. 
 
 'You like a romance, Helen, and maybe 
 introduced to one in real life to-morrow. 
 Since Eva has not said a word to me on the 
 subject, it is no breach of confidence to tell 
 you that I am nearly sure that she feels a 
 certain interest in Lord Alan Rae, and one
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 77 
 
 of her friends told me that he paid her great 
 attention last summer. He is handsome and 
 agreeable, and will one day be the Marquis 
 of Raeburn, and as it is a poor peerage 
 Eva's fortune will be very acceptable. Lady 
 Cecilia's anxiety to bring about the match is 
 only too apparent, and I believe that may 
 hold Lord Alan back.' 
 
 ' Do you call that a romance, Amy ? I 
 should call it a commercial transaction, since 
 Eva's fortune is the equivalent for a peerage. 
 Her noble lover will expect an extra ten 
 thousand pounds if he discovers that another 
 Miss Mertoun is journey woman to the draper 
 of Allerton.' 
 
 ' Your habit of turning everything into 
 ridicule is very unsatisfactory,' said Amy. ' I 
 thought that you would be interested in what 
 so nearly concerns Eva's happiness, for she 
 is evidently very much attached to him.' 
 
 ' I beg your pardon, and Eva's,' replied
 
 7§ VANESSA. 
 
 Helen, ' but you said nothing about the 
 attachment in the first instance, and I was so 
 uplifted by the idea of being cousin to a live 
 Marchioness that I could think of nothing else.' 
 
 ' Tea is brought out on the lawn,' said 
 Amy shortly, and neither of the girls were 
 unwilling to rejoin Eva there. The sweet 
 sights and sounds of the May afternoon exer- 
 cised their due influence on Helen's cynical 
 spirit and she flitted from the garden to the 
 conservatory, amazing Eva by the quickness 
 with which she named the species of rare 
 flowers which she had never seen, or had 
 seen only in illustrations, and she was still 
 more astonished when Helen mentioned 
 Dennis O'Brien as the authority for some of 
 her botanical statements. 
 
 1 Is that the same Mr. Dennis O'Brien who 
 is the new curator of the Museum? I did 
 not know that you were acquainted with him,' 
 said Eva.
 
 CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAVES. 79 
 
 1 We have known him ever since we came 
 to Allerton ; he is Henry's greatest friend,' 
 replied Helen without pausing to consider 
 how Amy was to account for her suppression 
 of this fact. 
 
 ' Then I hope that Henry may bring him 
 here to-morrow,' said Eva, ' Mr. Wray and 
 Lord Alan both say that he is charming.' 
 
 ' He certainly will not come here,' said 
 Helen bluntly, and then, looking up with a 
 sudden perception of Amy's embarrassment, 
 she wandered off into the conservatory, leav- 
 ing her sister to explain the matter if she 
 chose. 
 
 Eva, incapable of interpreting it to Amy's 
 disadvantage, was already prepared with an 
 explanation. ' I suppose that I must not 
 guess, Amy, why Mr. O'Brien will not come 
 here, nor why you said nothing of your 
 previous acquaintance.' 
 
 1 I do not mind your surmises,' said Amy,
 
 80 VANESSA. 
 
 relieved by the unsuspiciousness which ac- 
 quitted her of any wilful insincerity, ' if the 
 matter does not go further. Mr. O'Brien has 
 not quite got over his disappointment, and I 
 wish that our first meeting were over/ 
 
 ' If it takes place at the Hollies next week, 
 I will promise to look another way,' said Eva 
 smiling, and Amy felt grateful to Helen for 
 the incautious speech which had enabled her 
 to represent the situation in such a satisfac- 
 tory light.
 
 8i 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 
 
 Helen found the evening at Leasowes long, 
 and she believed that the Sunday which was 
 to follow might be yet more tedious. She 
 regarded the visit as a thing to be done, and 
 to talk of afterwards ; but she doubted whether 
 it would bear repetition, on other grounds 
 besides those of economy. Intercourse with 
 Amy could only bring home to her ' the fact 
 that their lives were drifting further asunder, 
 and her sister's complicated relations with 
 t)ennis O'Brien must continue to be a source 
 of irritation. Nor could Helen look forward 
 to the delivery of her sister's message to 
 Dennis with any satisfaction, believing that 
 he might resent her intervention as an im- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 8 2 VANESSA. 
 
 pertinence, so that on the whole she was 
 disposed to wish herself back at Allerton. 
 
 When Sunday came, Helen found that she 
 was to drive into Bixley for morning service, 
 with her sister and cousin. She was too 
 much dismayed by the critical glances which 
 her uncle Richard darted at her from under 
 his shaggy eyebrows to propose to walk with 
 him ; and it did not occur to the other two 
 girls that she despised the advantage of 
 coming into church cool and fresh, with a 
 toilette unsullied by the dusty road-way. 
 
 The modern and unsightly parish church 
 was situated in the heart of Bixley, and the 
 Mertoun family occupied a spacious pew in 
 the gallery conspicuous by its fittings and 
 position, and commanding a view of the whole 
 congregation. Even at Allerton Henry and 
 O'Brien had been apt to stray in search of 
 some rural church, and Helen did not there- 
 fore expect to see them in such an assembly
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 83 
 
 of middle-class respectability. There were, 
 however, several of Eva's acquaintance with 
 whom she exchanged greetings at the conclu- 
 sion of the service ; and a tall, fair young man, 
 whom Helen at once divined to be Lord Alan 
 Rae, was waiting for them at the foot of the 
 gallery stairs. 
 
 ' Yes, I walked in,' he said, in reply to 
 Eva's inquiries : ' a Sunday with one's rela- 
 tions is apt to run to length, and I knew that 
 I might depend on your giving me luncheon. 
 It is the only day on which I can find Mr. 
 Mertoun at home.' 
 
 Mr. Mertoun heard and was not insensible 
 to the implied compliment, and urged Lord 
 Alan to take the vacant place in the carriage. 
 
 1 Indeed Papa prefers walking : perhaps 
 you would like to walk with him,' said Eva, 
 when Lord Alan appealed to her, and he 
 took the place opposite to her in the carriage 
 without further demur, a fact which had its 
 
 g 2
 
 84 VANESSA. 
 
 due significance in the eyes of the little world 
 of Bixley. The short drive was long enough 
 to modify the democratic bias with which 
 Helen was prepared to regard the first live 
 lord with whom she had come in contact. 
 His pleasant voice and manner might not 
 have subdued her, but one little speech went 
 straight to her heart. 
 
 ' There is the Museum, in which I spent a. 
 most agreeable hour yesterday with the new 
 curator — a great contrast to poor old Jenkins 
 who used to potter over his curiosities with 
 shaking hands, and if I asked a question out 
 of the beaten track he only stared at me with 
 his lack-lustre eyes. My uncle is delighted 
 with this young O'Brien : he says that he is 
 better informed than most men of twice his 
 age and will certainly make a name for him- 
 self in the scientific world. And he is so 
 modest and unassuming, really a thorough 
 gentleman, and a little unwilling to be patron-
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 85 
 
 ized. Lady Cecilia is bent on securing him 
 for her croquet on Wednesday, but he would 
 not pledge himself to come.' 
 
 1 I hope that I shall soon make his ac- 
 quaintance, even if we do not meet at the 
 Hollies,' said Eva; and Helen, who had been 
 on the point of proclaiming her prior friend- 
 ship, understood her cousin's guarded tone, 
 and held her peace. 
 
 After luncheon, Mr. Mertoun retreated into 
 his own room, to look over the miscellaneous 
 correspondence which was not allowed to 
 interfere with the more regular business of 
 office hours, since it was reserved as an 
 occupation for Sunday afternoons. The 
 servant came in to know if the carriage 
 would be wanted again, and Eva was not 
 unwilling to be told that she looked tired, 
 and had better not think of going to the 
 afternoon service. They stepped out to sit 
 in the verandah, and Amy was considering
 
 86 VANESSA. 
 
 the expediency of withdrawing herself and 
 Helen to some other part of the lawn, when 
 Henry Mertoun, who had just been ushered 
 into the drawing-room, came out through the 
 open window to join them. Eva would have 
 sent for her father, but Henry interposed to 
 prevent the summons. 
 
 1 Do not disturb my uncle now, Eva, as I 
 intend to pay my visit later in the afternoon. 
 I have only looked in to see whether Helen 
 would like to join our walk. Dennis says/ 
 he continued, addressing his sister, ' that he 
 has found some famous hunting grounds for 
 beetles, to which he wishes to introduce 
 you.' 
 
 ' The very thing I was wishing for ! ' 
 exclaimed Helen, joyously starting to her 
 feet : ' I will run up to get ready, and will 
 not keep you waiting half a minute, Henry.' 
 And her expeditious movements made the 
 interval which Dennis O'Brien had been
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 87 
 
 forced to employ in pacing up and down 
 outside the lodge gates as brief as possible. 
 
 1 That was the most heavenly idea of yours, 
 Dennis,' said Helen, with a renewed burst of 
 exultation ; ' I am sure that I need not give 
 Henry the credit of it ; and I should have 
 been stifled if I had been doomed to sit 
 there all the afternoon and evening, with my 
 company manners on.' 
 
 ' The suggestion was not wholly dis- 
 interested,' replied O'Brien : ' Mertoun has 
 little toleration for what he profanely calls 
 bug-hunting, and it is a pursuit which is much 
 better carried on in partnership. This is 
 quite a new range for beetles, although it is 
 scarcely ten miles from our old haunts, and 
 I hope that I shall at last be able to teach 
 you the distinction between a carabus and a 
 cicindela! 
 
 And of car abides and cicindelcz the two 
 young collectors continued to talk, with an
 
 55 VANESSA. 
 
 occasional excursion into the wider fields of 
 physical science, until Henry protested against 
 such barren disquisition, and demanded an 
 account of Helen's proceedings at Leasowes. 
 
 ' The life there is just what I imagined,' 
 she replied : ' Eva is very gentle and nice, 
 and Uncle Richard is certainly more agree- 
 able in his own house, although still rather 
 alarming; And here Helen paused, un- 
 willing to wound Dennis by filling in the 
 family group with any account of Amy. 
 
 ' Go on, Helen/ said Dennis, looking at 
 her keenly : ' I am less thin-skinned than you 
 imagine, and you will not hurt my feelings.' 
 
 ' Then,' said Helen, who was ever rash of 
 speech, ' I think I ought to tell you that you 
 have hurt Amy's feelings. She cannot 
 understand why you have cut her.' 
 
 ' Is she so dull of comprehension ? I am 
 following her injunctions to the letter.' 
 
 ' Then perhaps you have mistaken the
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 89 
 
 spirit. I am charged to tell you that you 
 ought not to keep out of her way, nor refuse 
 to recognize her as a former acquaintance. 
 There, — I have delivered my message with 
 Homeric accuracy, and do not want to hear 
 any more of it. It is no affair of mine.' 
 
 Both the young men laughed, and it was 
 evident that if disappointment still rankled 
 in O'Briens breast he was resolved that it 
 should not crush him. His buoyancy of 
 spirit was sustained by the success he had 
 already achieved ; and he talked hopefully of 
 the future, and of the encouragement given 
 hi'm by Mr. Wray. He spoke of Lord 
 Alan with less enthusiasm, declaring him to 
 be agreeable, but dilettante and superficial. 
 
 'You are ungrateful,' said Helen. ' I have 
 met him at Leasowes, and he said many civil 
 things of you.' 
 
 'It is the way of the family,' rejoined 
 Dennis ; 'he brought his aunt to the Museum
 
 90 VANESSA. 
 
 last week ; a terrible woman, who asked 
 fatuous questions, and talked fulsomely.' 
 
 ' Lord Alan detected your dread of being 
 patronized,' said Helen, 'and hoped that it 
 would not prevent you from accepting Lady 
 Cecilia's invitations. Her name is always 
 coming to the surface at Leasowes, and I 
 wanted to know what she is like.' 
 
 ' She means to be good-natured, I really 
 believe,' said Dennis, ' but she is as vulgar- 
 minded as a lady of quality can be, and 
 often is.' 
 
 ' You talk as if you had a wide experience 
 of the species,' remarked Henry, sardonically.' 
 
 ' I admit that I was talking at large,' said 
 O'Brien with a laugh : ' we democrats are 
 too apt to fancy that we know things by 
 intuition.' 
 
 ' I think that you ought to accept her 
 invitations, however,' continued Henry : ' it 
 would not do to affront Mr. Wray, and
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 91 
 
 besides, there must be a certain relief in 
 getting beyond the range of Bixley tea- 
 parties.' 
 
 ' When did you adopt the maxims of Mr. 
 Worldly Wiseman, Henry ? ' said Dennis, 
 good-humouredly : ' they have not been your 
 own rule of action. Since I came here, I find 
 that your uncle is in some sort the king of 
 Bixley, and, from what you told me some 
 time ago, I fancy that you had only to hold 
 out your hand to become the heir apparent.' 
 
 1 I do not regret my decision,' answered 
 Henry: 'there were painful circumstances 
 connected with our early life at Bixley which 
 made my mother unwilling to return to it ; and, 
 although my foot is now on the lowest rung 
 of the ladder, I may work my way up, as my 
 uncle has done before me.' 
 
 1 I wish that I could transplant you all 
 here however. Do tell your mother how 
 often I think of the happy evenings we have
 
 92 VANESSA. 
 
 passed together, and how happy I should 
 still be in her house, although the glamour of 
 the old days has departed.' 
 
 ' Is not this a good beetle ground ? ' said 
 Helen, with a wholesome desire to escape 
 from such allusions. ' I am sure that rotten 
 old stump is worth probing.' Dennis took 
 out his knife, and while Henry disposed 
 himself to the comfortable enjoyment of the 
 ' Saturday Review,' with a pipe in his mouth 
 and his back against a tree, his companions 
 set to work to poke and probe, and burrow and 
 potter, with an ardour which left no scope for 
 any interest in life except beetles. 
 
 If Eva had witnessed this harmony of 
 tastes, it would have confirmed the surmise 
 which she imparted to Amy that after- 
 noon. ' Do you know, Amy, that I am not 
 quite so sorry for Mr. O'Brien as I was 
 yesterday. When I saw how Helen's face 
 lighted up at the prospect of walking with
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 93 
 
 him, it occurred to me that he might be 
 induced to console himself.' 
 
 1 With Helen ? there can be nothing less 
 likely,' said Amy, slightly injured by the 
 suggestion : ' there is a sort of tutor and 
 pupil bond between them, and Helen is much 
 more of a schoolboy than a woman. At all 
 events she is not the woman whom Dennis 
 O'Brien will ever love.' 
 
 Amy's tone of positive assurance enabled 
 her cousin's lively imagination to take a leap 
 in a different direction, and she began to sus- 
 pect that Amy's rejection of Mr. O'Brien had 
 not been final. It was an inference which 
 Eva was the more ready to draw, since her 
 peace of mind had been disturbed that after- 
 noon by a nameless fear lest Lord Alan's 
 evident admiration for Amy's beauty might 
 further unsettle his wavering allegiance to 
 herself. He undoubtedly appeared less 
 gratified than Amy had intended him to be
 
 94 VANESSA. 
 
 by her declaration that she must go into the 
 house to write some letters, leaving him and 
 Eva on the lawn. 
 
 Lord Alan's eyes followed her retreating 
 figure and a sudden pang impelled Eva to 
 ask , ' Do you admire my cousin's beauty as 
 much as I do ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose that every one must admire 
 her. In her own style she is almost faultless,' 
 said Lord Alan. 
 
 Eva faintly hoped that a less faultless 
 style of beauty might win favour in his eyes, 
 but Lord Alan did not make the most of his 
 opportunities that afternoon. He observed 
 that his five miles walk had made him lazy, 
 and readily acquiesced in the suggestion that 
 they might sit more comfortably indoors. If, 
 however, he had been swayed by a desire for 
 further contemplation of Amy's beauty, he 
 was again baffled, since Amy had retreated 
 to her own room, and was at that moment
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 95 
 
 in the enjoyment of the peaceful slumber 
 which seemed to her the legitimate reward of 
 Sunday morning's attendance at church — a 
 slumber undisturbed by recollections of the 
 lovers' walks among the lanes and flowery 
 coppices, which had given a charm to bygone 
 Sundays. 
 
 Lord Alan looked at his watch and ob- 
 served that he had a long walk before him, 
 and that he must get back to the Hollies in 
 time to rest and cool before dinner. ' We 
 shall meet on Wednesday at latest — sooner if 
 I can devise an errand into Bixley,' he said 
 as he took leave of Eva, and his smile, and 
 the pressure of his hand, made her heart 
 throb with pleasure which seemed to her ill- 
 grounded when she was left alone to think 
 over the matter. She knew how it was with 
 herself, but the hunger of her heart after a 
 solution of the old, old question was as yet 
 unsatisfied — seemed at this moment further
 
 g6 VANESSA. 
 
 from satisfaction than before. A year ago 
 there had been no such questionings, and she 
 had given away her heart without a doubt 
 that her affection was requited. A girl of 
 seventeen, still unused to attentions of which 
 she had since received her full share, she had 
 abandoned herself to a dream of happiness ; 
 and when, after a few short weeks of intimacy, 
 Lord*Alan went away, and made no sign, she 
 awoke from it to feel that she had been mis- 
 led by a too susceptible vanity to misconstrue 
 his transient admiration. Some secret tears 
 had been shed, some bitter moments of shame 
 and humiliation had been lived down, and she 
 resolved to think of him no more ; but Lady 
 Cecilia's influence had been exerted to keep 
 the interest alive in her heart, and, when Lord 
 Alan himself appeared once more on the 
 scene, all her resolutions were scattered to 
 the winds. She could not give him up while 
 a hope remained, but she was determined to
 
 THE BEETLE- HUNT. 97 
 
 be guarded, and to rely only on facts as proof 
 of his sentiments, and the fact which at this 
 moment stared her in the face was, that he 
 had deliberately thrown away the opportunity 
 of spending a precious hour alone with her. 
 
 When Amy came downstairs, refreshed by 
 her nap and prepared to enjoy the afternoon 
 cup of tea, she was too discreet to express any 
 surprise at finding Eva alone. Mr. Mertoun 
 also emerged from his den, and almost imme- 
 diately afterwards Helen and her brother re- 
 turned from their walk — Helen still radiant 
 with pleasure, while her dusty and travel- 
 worn appearance revealed traces of the after- 
 noon's occupation, and her healthy appetite 
 for the slices of brown bread and butter 
 threatened to interfere with her enjoyment of 
 the dinner which was to follow. Henry's 
 manner insensibly assumed the stiff, reserved 
 politeness which was apt to chill Mr. Mertoun's 
 attempts to establish more friendly relations : 
 
 vol. 1. H
 
 98 VANESSA. 
 
 he repeated his refusal to stay to dinner ; and 
 cut short his visit, on the plea that he and 
 O'Brien were going to evening service. 
 
 1 After all, I do not think the worse of the 
 lad for being so stiff and independent,' said 
 Richard Mertoun when he was alone with his 
 daughter. * It is a fault on the right side at 
 any rate, and he does not take after his father, 
 who made a point of never doing anything for 
 himself which he could get other people to do 
 for him.' 
 
 Eva was more disposed to resent Henry's 
 determination to' stand aloof, for she under- 
 stood the strength of her father's desire to 
 see one of his own name succeed to the busi- 
 ness which it had been the labour of his life 
 to create, and it seemed to her a noble and 
 legitimate ambition. 
 
 Since Henry was impracticable she resolved 
 to indoctrinate Helen with her views, and they 
 talked long and earnestly together that even-
 
 THE BEETLE-HUNT. 99 
 
 ing. Helen was deeply interested in Evas 
 account of the circumstances connected with 
 her fathers death, of which she, as well as 
 Amy, had remained in ignorance, and she 
 was willing to accept the diplomatic mission 
 with which she was charged. 
 
 h 2
 
 IOO VANESSA, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONFIDENCES. 
 
 Helen returned home in high spirits, and 
 with such a budget of lively gossip as seldom 
 brightened the even tenor of her life at 
 Allerton. Dennis's success in his new 
 career, as well as Amy's entire satisfaction 
 with her position, were subjects on which it 
 was pleasant to enlarge ; and they were 
 almost equally gratifying to Mrs. Mertoun's 
 motherly instincts, since she had adopted 
 O'Brien as another son. Helen did not, 
 however, think fit to unfold her mission from 
 Eva until she was alone with her eldest 
 brother. Mrs. Mertoun, as well as Dick, 
 kept early hours, and when they had retired 
 for the night, Henry was apt to give himself
 
 CONFIDENCES. IOI 
 
 up to hard reading, while Helen drew out 
 a basket of undarned socks which would 
 provide her with occupation for some time to 
 come. Although she had a great talent for 
 silence, she did not on this occasion scruple 
 to interrupt her brother's studies. 
 
 1 1 doubt whether Dick will do any more 
 good at school, Henry. He has learned 
 nothing for the last six months.' 
 
 ' I doubt it too,' answered Henry ; ' it is of 
 no use to pour more into a vessel than it will 
 hold, and Dick's vessel is of small capacity. 
 But a boy of fifteen cannot earn a livelihood, 
 and if I were to take him from school, he 
 would only loaf about the streets.' 
 
 ' Eva suggested that he might make a 
 start in Uncle Richard's office ; and I think 
 the vocation might suit him, as he has a turn 
 for figures, and a superficial smartness about 
 outside things.' 
 
 1 Are you going over to the Bixley
 
 102 VANESSA. 
 
 faction ? ' said Henry, looking up quickly ; 
 ' why should I accept for Dick a position I 
 declined for myself ? ' 
 
 ■ Because you are of different fibre. There 
 is no self-assertion about Dick, and, if he 
 would be steady and take an interest in his 
 work, I think that he would get on with 
 Uncle Richard. If he went to Bixley we 
 might consign him to Dennis, who would 
 employ his leisure hours in the mounting of 
 beetles and other innocent pastimes.' 
 
 ' You ride your hobby hard when you 
 make a moral engine of bug-hunting,' said 
 Henry with a laugh which was readily echoed 
 by his sister. 
 
 ' It is a fact, however, even when you put 
 it in that insulting form. It is a grand 
 resource to have a definite pursuit, and it has 
 saved me from eating my heart out with 
 vexation at the prospect of having to spend 
 the best years of my life in stitching on
 
 CONFIDENCES. 103 
 
 vulgar and fussy trimmings. I imagine that 
 the handling of your neighbour's money must 
 be nearly as disheartening an occupation, and 
 you would be ever so much pleasanter, both 
 to yourself and your family, if you were 
 to take up a science. I have thought of 
 suggesting chemistry, on which subject ^ I am 
 blankly ignorant.' 
 
 1 Long may you remain so ! If you begin 
 to dabble in chemistry, you and Dick would 
 infallibly blow us out of the house with 
 hideous stinks.' 
 
 ' You need not be uneasy. Botany and 
 beetles will satisfy my aspirations for the 
 next ten years, by which time I hope to be 
 qualified to become professor at the female 
 college of science which Dennis and I intend 
 to establish in Utopia.' 
 
 1 Ten years hence I predict that Dennis 
 will have abandoned his Utopian schemes 
 for a career of prosperous common sense. If
 
 104 VANESSA. 
 
 he goes on as he has begun at Bixley he 
 will become the fashion, and marry a 
 Duchess's daughter.' 
 
 ' If he were to marry twenty Duchesses, 
 he would never be disloyal to his old friends. 
 However this is beside the question of Dick's 
 future, and there is nothing Utopian in my 
 project for his advancement in life.' 
 
 1 Scheme as you please, Helen ; but there 
 is no need to make up our minds unless 
 Uncle Richard makes a bond fide offer to 
 take the boy into his office.' 
 
 ' Eva says that the offer will not be made 
 unless he is sure that it will be accepted. 
 The fact is,' continued Helen, with the 
 tendency to moralize which is apt to pervade 
 conversation as we approach the small hours 
 of the night, ' the fact is that the Mertouns 
 are a thin-skinned family, and we must 
 respect his little feelings as well as our own. 
 Taken all together, I do not admire the
 
 CONFIDENCES. IO5 
 
 family peculiarities of hardness and touchi- 
 ness which stamp the race. You and I 
 know our own asperities only too well, and 
 Dick is cased in a surly shell which it is very 
 hard to penetrate.' 
 
 ' Amy is soft enough/ said Ralph. 
 
 ' On the outside ; she has the softness and 
 bloom of a peach, but sooner or later you 
 come down upon the hard stone with an un- 
 pleasant jar.' 
 
 ' The stone being the organ which 
 represents her heart ? I suppose that your 
 resentment of O'Brien's wrongs has inspired 
 the simile. Did Amy help you and Eva in 
 the hatching of this plot ? ' 
 
 ' Eva suggested it to me when we were 
 alone together,' replied Helen, ' and asked 
 me to lay it before you and mother. I have 
 begun with you because it worries her to 
 hear us wrangling over any point at issue
 
 1 06 VANESSA. 
 
 after our amiable fashion, and she likes to be 
 spared the burden of decision.' 
 
 ' I think that he had better £0,' said 
 Henry, after a pause ; 'it is absurd to raise 
 objections when Amy is already one of the 
 Bixley Mertouns, and, as you say, O'Brien 
 will have his eye on the boy. I will talk to 
 my mother about it to-morrow.' There was 
 no want of filial duty in the tacit assumption 
 that the matter was already decided, for Mrs. 
 Mertoun, prematurely aged by a struggling 
 life of anxieties and privations, had for some 
 time resigned the reins to her grave, resolute 
 son, who was ready to think as well as to act 
 for her, and before whose living presence the 
 shadowy authority of her dead husband must 
 inevitably wane. Helen was satisfied with 
 the success of her generalship, and felt some 
 natural irritation when, after the plan had 
 taken shape, and it was arranged that young 
 Richard should enter his uncle's office when
 
 CONFIDENCES. 107 
 
 the school broke up for the midsummer 
 holidays, Amy took credit for the whole 
 arrangement, and hoped that Henry would 
 now admit that her migration to Leasowes 
 had been prompted by a desire to promote 
 the welfare of her family, and not for her own 
 personal benefit. 
 
 The Leasowes household was meanwhile 
 agitated by a discussion which bore no 
 reference to Dick's future career. It was 
 on the evening preceding the day of Lady 
 Cecilia's croquet-party that Mr. Mertoun 
 came home to dinner silent and preoccupied ; 
 but he was so often immersed in the cares of 
 business that the girls scarcely noticed his 
 abstraction, and, when bed-time came, Amy 
 went up alone, Eva lingering as she was apt 
 to do for a few last words with her father. 
 When she came upstairs, after a longer 
 interval than usual, Amy did not observe 
 that there was anything amiss until Eva
 
 108 VANESSA. 
 
 broke down in the attempt to reply to some 
 trivial remark, and burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 ' What can I do for you, dearest ? Oniy 
 tell me what is the matter,' said Amy, when 
 the tenderest caresses failed to calm her 
 cousin's agitation. 
 
 'It is nothing, nothing really : I was 
 flurried by what Papa said,' replied Eva at 
 last. 
 
 Amy's unromantic imagination instantly 
 conjectured that some commercial disaster 
 had involved her uncle in ruin, and she said 
 breathlessly, ' Must you also exchange riches 
 for poverty ? ' 
 
 Eva almost smiled through her tears : 
 1 Oh no, Amy, it is not that. It may seem 
 absurd to say so, but I hope that I should 
 bear the loss of fortune with greater fortitude. 
 I have been grateful to you, Amy, for saying 
 nothing of Lord Alan, since I could not have 
 borne it even from you. And now it is hard
 
 CONFIDENCES. 109 
 
 to find that the gossips of Bixley have been 
 making mischief by coupling our names to- 
 gether. The whole thing is a revelation to 
 Papa, though I thought he might have 
 guessed — ' 
 
 ' People will gossip,' said Amy, who could 
 think of no more consolatory utterance than 
 this truism, and it did in fact occur to her 
 that she would have been less grievously 
 disconcerted by any rumour which might 
 credit her with a lordly lover. 
 
 ' Papa means to be kind,' continued Eva 
 with another shower of tears : ' he asked if 
 there was any understanding between us, and 
 when I said no, he said that it was the 
 greatest relief to him.' 
 
 ' But why?' asked Amy: 'he seemed 
 pleased to see Lord Alan on Sunday.' 
 
 ' Only, he says now, because he has a 
 regard for Lady Cecilia and Mr. Wray, and 
 wished to show every civility to their nephew.
 
 I IO VANESSA. 
 
 Some one has been prejudicing him against 
 Lord Alan, telling him that he has been wild 
 and unsteady, and I know not what besides. 
 But the most terrible thing is about the in- 
 sanity in the family : he does not believe 
 that Lord Macrae's imbecility is caused by 
 an accident, and he thinks it probable that 
 Lord Alan may have the same tendency.' 
 
 ' Oh Eva !' exclaimed Amy, inexpressibly 
 shocked, ' how can he say anything so cruel ?' 
 
 ' He does not intend to be cruel/ replied 
 Eva : ' it Is Papa's way to state facts plainly, 
 and he did not, could not know how he was 
 rending my heart. He wished to open my 
 eyes before it was too late. But it is too 
 late.' 
 
 1 If he is attached to you,' said Amy 
 hesitating, and Eva caught up the word. 
 
 ' You may say " if" Amy. You cannot 
 feel more doubtful than I do myself. A year 
 ago I did not doubt, and since then I have
 
 CONFIDENCES. I 1 1 
 
 tried to forget words and looks which per- 
 haps may have meant nothing. He is all the 
 world to me, and I am not even sure that he 
 cares for me a little.' 
 
 ' He must care for you,' said Amy : ' Lady- 
 Cecilia's manner would be very different if 
 he were not in earnest.' 
 
 * I do not doubt that Lady Cecilia is in 
 earnest. She has said so much of the necessity 
 of Lord Alan's marrying well that I cannot pre- 
 tend to be in doubt as to her motive. And 
 if he is in debt, as Papa says, he might be 
 driven to make me an offer, but not because he 
 loves me as I want to be loved.' And Eva 
 hid her face, with a moan of plaintive despair. 
 Since words of comfort failed, Amy tried to 
 soothe her by gesture, laying her cool finger- 
 tips on her cousin's throbbing temples. 
 
 The contrast in their moods impelled Eva 
 to speak again. ' How unlike we are, Amy. 
 You will never dash yourself to pieces against
 
 I I 2 VANESSA. 
 
 the bars of fate : you have the repose of 
 strength, while I am weak and storm-tossed. 
 You must not despise me because you know 
 my secret, but help me to shield it from the 
 knowledge of others. Papa says that we 
 must go to this miserable party to-morrow, 
 and that I must be guarded in my manner to 
 Lord Alan, as there will be more gossip if I 
 stay away.' 
 
 ' I will help you all I can,' said Amy ; and 
 she prevailed on Eva to go to bed, and only 
 left her when she declared, in the piteous tone 
 of a child exhausted by a storm of passion, 
 that she would rather be alone and in the 
 dark. Amy went to her room, and sat up 
 late, thinking over the unreasonable pre- 
 judices which induced Mr. Mertoun to 
 thwart Eva's cherished hopes : she could see 
 nothing in Lord Alan's gay and self-possessed 
 manner to justify the fear of hereditary in- 
 sanity, and she accepted Lady Cecilia's
 
 CONFIDENCES. I I 3 
 
 adjustment of the scales when she balanced 
 Lord Alan's noble birth against Eva s fortune. 
 The combination of the two seemed to Amy 
 to make up the sum of earthly happiness. 
 
 The morning brought some further ex- 
 planation of Mr. Mertoun's views. The 
 maid who brought Amy her hot water in- 
 formed her that her master hoped that she 
 would be able to speak a word with him 
 before breakfast, and Amy dressed in haste 
 and repaired to her uncle's study. 
 
 ' Have you seen Eva this morning ?' he 
 inquired anxiously. 
 
 ' Not this morning, Uncle Richard : I was 
 with her last night.' 
 
 ' I thought that I heard you both moving 
 about late. Of course she told you what I 
 said to her, since girls always like to talk 
 over their love affairs, real or imaginary.' 
 
 'Yes, Uncle Richard,' said Amy timidly. 
 
 vol. 1. I
 
 I 14 VANESSA. 
 
 She was anxious to stand well with her uncle, 
 without being disloyal to her friend. 
 
 ' And this affair I take to be imaginary,' 
 continued Richard Mertoun, bending his keen 
 grey eyes on Amy with a searching glance. 
 ' I suppose that she told me all the truth, 
 when she assured rne that there was no 
 engagement, nor even a tacit understanding 
 between them/ 
 
 ' I think that Eva was most pained by the 
 discovery that people were gossipping about 
 her,' said Amy : 'she never mentioned Lord 
 Alan to me until last night, and then she said 
 that she did not believe that he really cared 
 for her.' 
 
 ' She is so shrinking and sensitive,' said Mr. 
 Mertoun : ' I have not been able to sleep all 
 night for thinking how much I had wounded 
 her, and yet it is evident that the warning was 
 not given too soon. Nothing could induce me 
 to let her marry into the Rae family : I know
 
 CONFIDENCES, I I 5 
 
 from those who are well informed that there 
 has been a taint in the blood for many 
 generations, and that while the women do 
 not turn out badly, the men are nearly all 
 vicious or insane. This Lord Alan is aeree- 
 able enough in society, a gentleman, and with 
 plenty to say for himself, but your fine young 
 gentlemen do not always make the best 
 husbands, and of course he is liable to break 
 out like the rest. I hear that he is a little wild 
 in his talk even now, especially after dinner/ 
 
 1 Eva seems anxious to do all that you wish,' 
 said Amy. 
 
 ' She is a good child,' replied the father, 
 tenderly : ' I still hope that I am more to her 
 than any handsome young lord who may 
 have tried to turn her head with a few soft 
 sayings, without making any deep impression 
 on her heart. Is it not so, Amy ? ' 
 
 ' Indeed I hope so, Uncle Richard.' 
 
 ' You are a sensible girl yourself,' resumed 
 1 2
 
 1 1 6 VANESSA. 
 
 Mr. Mertoun, encouraged by his niece's 
 assent ; ' I rely upon your tact and judgment 
 in any difficulties which may arise. It is 
 clearly better for Eva to go to this party at 
 the Hollies, or the tongues of our gossipping 
 neighbours would wag faster than before ; and 
 I would not go myself, even if I could spare 
 the time, lest Eva should imagine that I dis- 
 trusted and wished to watch her. You may 
 be able to do more than I can to detach 
 Lord Alan and ward off a declaration by 
 which Eva would be unreasonably distressed. 
 I do not enter into particulars, since you must 
 be guided by circumstances as they arise.' 
 
 'Yes, Uncle Richard,' said Amy, a little 
 perplexed by instructions which were of so 
 vague a nature. How was she to aid in the 
 process of ' detachment,' and had the slight 
 tokens of Lord Alan's admiration for herself, 
 which had sent a pang through Eva's bosom,
 
 CONFIDENCES. 1 1 7 
 
 been noticed by other eyes ? Amy had no 
 leisure to solve this question at once, and 
 could only resolve to follow her uncle's advice 
 in one particular, and to be guided by circum- 
 stances.
 
 I 1 8 VANESSA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 
 
 Eva and her cousin set out on their drive to 
 the Hollies a little late, and yet not late 
 enough to provoke any special comment by 
 the tardiness of their arrival. The two girls 
 were dressed alike, in rather fanciful Watteau 
 costumes, which gave piquancy to Amy's 
 beauty, and pointed her resemblance to a 
 porcelain shepherdess ; but in Eva's case the 
 effect was less successful : it may have been 
 ill suited to her style of beauty, or only have 
 been marred by her sad and anxious heart, 
 but in any case the contrast between the 
 cousins left all the advantage on Amy's side. 
 It was Eva however whom Lady Cecilia 
 welcomed with gracious distinction.
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 119 
 
 ' My dear Eva ! as each carriage drew up, 
 I trusted that it was yours. Alan was quite 
 in despair at having to begin a game without 
 you, as he said that you promised to be here 
 early, and at last we arranged that Mr. Wray 
 should hold your mallet.' 
 
 ' Perhaps you will allow my cousin to play 
 instead of me,' said Eva : ' I have a headache 
 which made me doubtful about coming at all, 
 and I cannot do more than sit in the shade 
 with you.' 
 
 Lady Cecilia could only assent, but when 
 she took Amy across the turf to join the knot 
 of players, she had a different arrangement 
 to suggest : ! Eva Mertoun cannot play, 
 Alan,' she said in a low voice to her nephew, 
 ' would you like to give up your mallet to 
 her cousin ? ' 
 
 ' As Miss Amy Mertoun pleases,' said 
 Lord Alan politely, ' but I know that my 
 uncle is dying to be released.'
 
 1 20 VANESSA. 
 
 While Amy protested that she would 
 rather look on than interfere with the game, 
 another of the players turned towards her. 
 It was Dennis O'Brien, and, while Amy 
 changed colour, he bowed with the distant 
 coolness of a slight acquaintance. 
 
 ' How do you do, Miss Mertoun,' he said 
 quietly ; ' I need scarcely say that you do 
 me no favour in taking my mallet. You know 
 of old that. I am no croquet player.' 
 
 There was nothing in the words to strike 
 the ear of strangers, but they made Amy's 
 heart beat with unruly vehemence which 
 rendered her perfectly incapable of reply. 
 She took the mallet from O'Brien's hand 
 without a word, angry with her own want of 
 presence of mind and with her former lover's 
 stinging indifference, but a little consoled 
 by Lord Alan's undisguised satisfaction in the 
 arrangement which made Amy his partner in 
 the game. Mr. Wray, who had only con-
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. I 2 I 
 
 sented to play on the understanding that he 
 should give way to the first comer, was 
 less gratified by the unceremonious haste with 
 which Dennis escaped from his proposal to 
 make a fresh transfer, and he took up his 
 mallet again with an air of melancholy resigna- 
 tion, prepared to become once more the object 
 oi his young lady partner's withering scorn, as 
 he frustrated all her policy by his blundering 
 strokes. It was one of the occasions on 
 which Mr. Wray was unable to free himself 
 from the role assigned to him among many 
 of his acquaintance, of being only Lady 
 Cecilia's husband, although his individuality 
 was fully recognized in the set of scientific 
 men with whom he preferred to associate. 
 
 Amy could not at once respond with spirit 
 to Lord Alan's efforts to interest her in the 
 game. The meeting with Dennis had passed 
 off well, and his guarded manner and cool 
 politeness were exactly what she had herself
 
 122 VANESSA. 
 
 prescribed, but the readiness with which he 
 had followed the prescription was not flatter- 
 ing to her self-esteem, and she felt that it was 
 due to herself to evince equal indifference by 
 replying to Lord Alan's soft sayings with a 
 bewitching gentleness of manner which had 
 its due effect in rivetting the chains in which 
 her beauty had already begun to enthrall his 
 fickle affections. Mr. Mertoun could scarcely 
 have anticipated such prompt and efficient 
 co-operation when he invoked her aid in the 
 work of ' detachment,' and Eva watched the 
 process with a sore and swelling heart. To 
 Lady Cecilia also it appeared that her ela- 
 borately planned croquet-party would prove 
 an unprofitable investment, and she flitted 
 about in restless dissatisfaction, as impatient 
 of the protracted game as Mr. Wray himself ; 
 and more deeply injured when Lord Alan and 
 Amy disappeared at its conclusion down a
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. I 2 3 
 
 grass alley, from which they only emerged 
 a^ain late in the afternoon. 
 
 Lord Alan then came up to address Eva 
 for the first time since her arrival : ' I hope 
 that you are feeling better, Miss Mertoun ; 
 I am so grieved to hear that you are suffering 
 from headache. Your cousin missed a good 
 deal of lively excitement in not being able to 
 join our game,' he added, appealing to Amy. 
 
 1 Amy plays a better game than I do,' said 
 Eva, simply ; and it may have been only her 
 cousin's uneasy conscience which detected any 
 double meaning in the remark. 
 
 ' She played remarkably well,' said Lord 
 Alan, ' and we were both exhausted with our 
 exertions, and glad to sit down and rest 
 among the ferns. I think you know the 
 place, Miss Mertoun ? ' 
 
 ' The fernery ? yes, I know it well,' 
 replied Eva. She too had spent a long after-
 
 1 24 VANESSA. 
 
 noon in its refreshing shade, with Lord 
 Alan by her side, just a year ago. 
 
 ' I am afraid that the tea and coffee are 
 both cold : perhaps you would prefer an ice ?' 
 said Lady Cecilia, turning stiffly to Amy. 
 
 ' Let me send for a cup of hot coffee, Miss 
 Mertoun/ said Lord Alan, eagerly bending 
 forward : ' it is my fault that we are so late. 
 Unless, indeed, you prefer an ice ? ' 
 
 ' Indeed, I do,' said Amy, looking prettier 
 than ever through her diffident blushes, and 
 it is not given to every woman to blush be- 
 comingly. But, as Lady Cecilia remarked 
 to her friends, there was no soul in such pink 
 and white prettiness. She was one of the 
 large-bodied women who love to talk of the 
 soul. 
 
 Eva had not been left entirely on Lady Ce- 
 cilia's hands that afternoon, for Dennis O'Brien 
 was introduced to her and they had some 
 talk together. His eyes, as well as Eva's,
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 1 25 
 
 followed the croquet-players persistently, and 
 a vague desire to ascertain the true nature of 
 his relations to Amy prompted Eva's remark : 
 ' I think, Mr. O'Brien, you knew my cousin 
 at Allerton ? ' 
 
 ' I know them all,' said Dennis : ' Henry is 
 my great friend, and our intimacy made me 
 almost one of the family. I miss the home 
 life in my lodgings at Bixley.' 
 
 1 Helen said that they missed you at 
 Allerton,' said Eva : ' what an odd, clever 
 girl she is, quite unlike girls in general.' 
 
 ' I am partly responsible for her singularity,' 
 said Dennis : ' it has been pleasant to teach 
 anyone of so much originality and power of 
 research, yet I do not altogether plume 
 myself on the result. She might distinguish 
 herself as a man, but I doubt whether she 
 will be a popular or agreeable woman.' 
 
 The critical tone of this remark convinced 
 Eva that Helen was still, as Amy had said,
 
 1 26 VANESSA. 
 
 only a schoolboy in his eyes, and she ven- 
 tured on the further observation : ' The 
 two sisters are very unlike.' 
 
 ' Unlike indeed,' said Dennis emphatically, 
 'and not only in externals. But I know them 
 too well to discuss their peculiarities.' 
 
 It was at this juncture that Mr. Wray 
 came up to congratulate himself on his tardy 
 release from the servitude of croquet, which 
 entitled him to carry off O'Brien to look over 
 his collection of fossils, and Eva was left to 
 discover that Lord Alan did not show the like 
 eagerness to make amends for the time he had 
 lost in the fulfilment of his social duties. She 
 had honestly intended to satisfy her father by 
 discouraging his attentions, but this could not 
 diminish the bitterness of the admission that 
 no discouragement was necessary. Eva was 
 amono- the first to order her carriage, and 
 when Lord Alan protested against such an 
 early departure, his remonstrances were point-
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. I 2 7 
 
 edly addressed to Amy. It was to her also 
 that the remark was made., that he should 
 soon have occasion to go to Bixley and that 
 he would take Leasowes on the way. Mr. 
 Wray took Eva to the carriage and Lord 
 Alan followed, not too closely, with Amy ; 
 indeed there were a few moments' delay, to 
 be explained by the freshly gathered bunch of 
 tea-roses which he left in Amy's lap after she 
 was seated in the carriage. 
 
 They had passed through the lodge gates 
 before silence was broken by either of the 
 girls ; and Eva leaned back in her corner of 
 the carriage and closed her eyes, perhaps to 
 keep back the tears which were ready to fall. 
 At last Amy ventured to take her hand, and 
 to say softly : c Is your head very bad, dear 
 Eva?' 
 
 ' Not very bad, Amy, but a headache 
 sometimes serves as a convenient excuse 
 when one is out of heart or temper/ There
 
 1 28 VANESSA. 
 
 was another silence, and then Eva added : 
 ' If Papa had been here to-day, he would 
 have been satisfied that the gossips of Bixley 
 had mistaken the object of Lord Alan's 
 attentions. Is it not so, Amy ? ' 
 ' Indeed, Eva, I could not help it.' 
 ' I suppose not. You can no more help 
 being lovely and lovable than I can help 
 being sought only for my father's money. 
 We shall not quarrel, even about this, Amy : 
 to-morrow and for all days to come I mean 
 to be reasonable.' Amy kissed her cousin, 
 and wisely held her peace : it was in order to 
 hide her own embarrassment that she played 
 with the roses in her lap, whilst Eva, in the 
 unreasoning anguish of a tortured heart, was 
 ready to ascribe the unconscious action to her 
 desire to flaunt such proofs of favour in the 
 eyes of her slighted rival. 
 
 The other actor in this little drama did 
 not escape a severer criticism. Lady Cecilia
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 1 29 
 
 had spent more money than she could afford 
 on her garden party, regarding it as an in- 
 vestment of capital which was to produce a 
 speedy return in the shape of her nephew's 
 engagement to Eva Mertoun, and she was 
 naturally indignant at the signal failure of 
 all her schemes. When the last visitor had 
 driven off, and Mr. Wray had retreated to the 
 peaceful seclusion of his own room, for the 
 half hour which still remained before dinner, 
 Lord Alan discovered that he was not to be 
 left to the same repose. He took up a news- 
 paper, but Lady Cecilia was too angry and 
 too much in earnest to be diverted from her 
 object. 
 
 ' I know how much latitude young men 
 allow themselves, Alan, but, even according 
 to their lax code, I imagine that it is in bad 
 taste to flirt with a pair of cousins who stand 
 almost in the relation of sisters to each other.' 
 
 'What an alarming prelude, Aunt Cecilia! 
 
 vol. 1. K
 
 13° 
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 Pray go on with your lecture,' said Alan, with 
 a lazy good-humour which did not modify 
 his aunt's displeasure. 
 
 ' I really hoped, Alan, that you were in 
 earnest this time, and that you would make a 
 marriage in every way suitable and satis- 
 factory.' 
 
 ' The accusation takes a different form. I 
 hold flirtation to be one of the pleasing pre- 
 liminaries to marriage.' 
 
 ' Always supposing that you flirt with the 
 right person. You know, Alan, that I have 
 given you every facility for making Eva 
 Mertoun's acquaintance. She is a thoroughly 
 nice lady-like girl, and the more you know 
 the better you will like her. Last summer 
 you paid her great attention, and now, just as 
 all the neighbourhood is aware of the fact, 
 you slight her in the most glaring manner for 
 a girl whom you saw for the first time ten
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 1 3 I 
 
 days ago. I should like to know what your 
 intentions really are.' 
 
 ' I thought that it was only the heavy father 
 of genteel comedy who asked a man about 
 his intentions,' said Lord Alan, suppressing a 
 yawn. ' However, I have no objection to 
 tell you that I was rather taken with your 
 lovely young heiress a year ago. There was 
 a naturalness and piquancy about her manner 
 which I found refreshing, and, if she had come 
 on instead of going off, and also if you had 
 flaunted her money-bags less persistently in 
 my face, I might have drifted into matrimony. 
 But the fates are against it, the rich cousin 
 has become sickly and spiritless, and the 
 poor one is lovely and bewitching, and I have 
 no " intentions," except that I intend my 
 three months' visit here to be as agreeable as 
 possible.' 
 
 ' Your levity is incorrigible,' said Lady 
 
 K 2
 
 I 3 2 VANESSA. 
 
 Cecilia, and she pondered how the three 
 months' visit could be curtailed. It was true 
 that she had urged her nephew to come up from 
 Scotland, and to stay at the Hollies until the 
 grouse-shooting began ; but he had manifestly 
 accepted the invitation on false pretences, if, 
 instead of courting an heiress, he employed 
 his time in an idle flirtation with her penniless 
 cousin. She broke ground that evening by 
 suggesting to Mr. Wray the expediency of 
 leaving home for a time, but his reply was 
 vague and discouraging. Since his conjugal 
 felicity was not perfect, he preferred to remain 
 at home where the presence of a third person 
 blunted the edge of those sharp sayings which 
 were apt to be exchanged in a domestic tete- 
 a-tete. He said that he was writing a treatise, 
 which made it impossible for him to separate 
 from the contents of his library, but that if 
 Lady Cecilia thought that she could afford it, 
 she might take a run up to London, and he
 
 BUTTERFLY-HUNTING. 1 3 3 
 
 and Alan would keep house together. Lady 
 Cecilia deplored the selfish apathy of man- 
 kind, and was constrained to cast about for 
 some other means of breaking off Lord Alan's 
 unprofitable pursuit of Amy Mertoun. 
 
 The account of the garden party at the 
 Hollies will scarcely be complete without 
 the comment furnished by the following note 
 from Dennis O'Brien : 
 
 1 My dear Helen, 
 
 ' Herewith I return your notes on Somer- 
 ville, interlined with unsparing criticism, 
 which I sum up in the advice that you should 
 avoid tall English and study compression of 
 style. Henry will be pleased to learn that I 
 can also take advice, since I acted on his 
 politic counsel to attend the aristocratic 
 croquet. It gave me the opportunity of 
 studying the instinct and habits of Vanessa 
 Cardui, which are really interesting in a
 
 1 34 VANESSA. 
 
 scientific point of view. Perhaps this allusion 
 will be more intelligible to you than it was to 
 Dick, on the memorable Sunday afternoon 
 when I was disillusioned. 
 
 ' Yours truly, 
 
 1 Dennis, O'Brien/
 
 oo 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ' THE LITTLE RIFT.' 
 
 Lady Cecilia's croquet served as a starting- 
 point for other gaieties in the neighbourhood, 
 and the hot June days which followed were 
 occupied by a succession of garden parties. 
 Eva was as reasonable as she had engaged to 
 be. She accepted each invitation as it came 
 without demur, although she knew that Lord 
 Alan Rae must be among the invited guests, 
 and was almost equally confident that he would 
 distinguish Amy by his exclusive attention. 
 Amy's passive manner seemed to endure, 
 rather than to invite, his admiration ; and, ex- 
 cept for one or two signs, known only to 
 themselves, the affectionate relations between 
 the cousins appeared to be unchanged.
 
 I36 VANESSA. 
 
 There was a change, however, to be felt 
 rather than described. They no longer 
 lingered in each other's rooms at bed-time. 
 There were no more whispered words, and 
 the playful sayings, which bespeak perfect 
 confidence, vanished before the smooth 
 politeness which acts as the veneer of mutual 
 constraint. Amy felt that her position was 
 insecure, and that if at any time the strain on 
 Eva's endurance became too severe, a word 
 to her father might reveal the estrangement, 
 and procure her exile from Leasowes and a 
 return to the sordid round of cares at Allerton 
 from which she had so recently escaped. 
 Such a possibility struck upon her heart with 
 a chill of dismay, and, since marriage offered 
 the only certain escape from it, Amy could 
 not rise to the pitch of heroism implied in 
 any serious discouragement of Lord Alan's 
 addresses. She told herself that, even if she 
 forbore to snatch the prize, it would not be
 
 'THE LITTLE RIFT.' 1 37 
 
 more within Eva's grasp, since she had ac- 
 cepted her father's decision as irrevocable. 
 That the prize itself might not be worth 
 snatching, did not enter into her calculations. 
 Mr. Mertoun's objections to the match were 
 ascribed by her to his characteristic reluctance 
 to trust his daughter's happiness to any keep- 
 ing but his own, and to the natural propensity 
 of mankind to rake up frivolous accusations 
 against those who are raised above the 
 common herd by their rank or noble qualities. 
 The fact still remained that Lord Alan was 
 of noble birth, and Amy's craving for material 
 enjoyment was gratified by the thought that 
 she should enter a sphere where all was har- 
 mony and brightness. Besides, she liked 
 Lord Alan for himself, though not perhaps 
 with the same warmth with which she had 
 once liked, or loved, Dennis O'Brien. That 
 sentiment still lingered in her breast, and the 
 gentle deference of Lord Alans manner did
 
 138 VANESSA. 
 
 not even now awaken the same conflicting 
 emotions which never failed to be aroused by 
 the few cold and ceremonious words which 
 Dennis exchanged with her when they 
 chanced to meet. Amy considered that this 
 was only due to the uneasy feeling of shame 
 with which we ever look back to a dead folly, 
 and that the grateful esteem and regard with 
 which she was prepared to devote herself to 
 Lord Alan's happiness were better calculated 
 to outwear the union of a life-time. 
 
 While Amy thus arrayed the reasons in 
 favour of accepting the offer of Lord Alan's 
 hand, those who knew him most intimately 
 doubted whether the offer would be ever 
 made. His friends argued that, since Eva's 
 wealth had failed to allure him into repairing 
 the broken fortunes of his family by marriage, 
 he was still less likely to be in earnest in his 
 present suit ; and it was chiefly from a dis- 
 interested wish to spare Amy's peace of
 
 'THE LITTLE RIFT.' 1 39 
 
 mind, and possibly with the afterthought that 
 her nephew might resume his more serious 
 courtship of Eva if his relations with her 
 were uncomplicated by this additional proof 
 of inconstancy, that Lady Cecilia applied her 
 energies to the task of diverting Lord Alan 
 from his new pursuit. She had failed in her 
 efforts to remove him from the neighbour- 
 hood ; but there was another mode of effect- 
 ing her purpose, and it was with this object 
 in view that she drove into Bixley one after- 
 noon, and, calling at Mr. Mertoun's office, she 
 sent in her card to inquire whether he was 
 at leisure and would allow her to come up 
 for a few minutes. But one answer could be 
 given to such a message, and Mr. Mertoun, 
 after the involuntary ejaculation, ' What does 
 the woman want ? ' sent out a polite request 
 to Lady Cecilia to walk upstairs. He 
 received her stiffly, anticipating an appeal in
 
 I40 VANESSA. 
 
 Lord Alan's favour, and her opening speech 
 did not dissipate this belief. 
 
 'It is so good of you, Mr. Mertoun, to 
 allow me to take you by storm in this way. 
 I am really ashamed to trespass upon your 
 valuable time, but the interest I take in your 
 dear Eva must be my excuse.' 
 
 ' Eva is infinitely obliged to you,' said Mr. 
 Mertoun, drily. 
 
 ' Once before,' resumed Lady Cecilia, 
 blandly unconscious of his repelling manner, 
 ' I ventured to call your attention to Eva's 
 fragile looks. A woman's eye is quick to 
 notice any signs of delicacy, and you will 
 excuse my apparent officiousness in the case 
 of a motherless girl.' 
 
 ' Eva always looks delicate,' said Mr. 
 Mertoun, disclaiming almost fiercely the 
 secret anxiety by which he was constantly 
 consumed, ' and the great heat we have had 
 lately is trying to her.'
 
 'THE LITTLE RIFT. I4I 
 
 1 Exactly so,' replied Lady Cecilia ; ' our 
 inland summers are always relaxing. At the 
 sea-side it is different, and it occurred to me 
 that a change of air is all that is needed to 
 restore Eva's strength and tone. I know 
 that it is difficult for you to leave home, but 
 since she has her cousin's companionship, 
 the two girls could go to some quiet sea-side 
 place together.' 
 
 1 It is not a bad suggestion/ said Mr. 
 Mertoun, after pausing a moment to consider 
 whether it could be prompted by any motive 
 but that which lay on the surface. ■ As you 
 say, Amy might go with her, and I would 
 run down for a Sunday ; but since I have no 
 partner, I cannot be away from my business 
 for many days at a time.' 
 
 1 I would gladly take Eva to the sea-side 
 myself,' said Lady Cecilia, ' but Mr. Wray 
 never likes to leave home ; and besides, it 
 would throw out my nephew's plans, since he
 
 142 VANESSA. 
 
 has arranged to stay with us for another six 
 weeks.' 
 
 Lady Cecilia imparted this last piece of 
 information in an ingenuous tone which dis- 
 armed all Mr. Mertoun's suspicions. In 
 urging Eva's removal from the neighbour- 
 hood while Lord Alan continued to reside at 
 the Hollies, she proved that she had relin- 
 quished any scheme she had entertained of 
 promoting the intimacy, if indeed Mr. 
 Mertoun had not wronged her in such a 
 belief. His brow cleared, and he said with 
 real friendliness, 'It is very good of you, 
 Lady Cecilia, to take such an interest in my 
 little ofirl. I am less at home than I could 
 wish, and it is true that I might not be the 
 first to notice any failure of health or spirits. 
 I will talk over the matter with her and 
 Amy when I go home this evening, and I 
 will send them off to Swanage if I see any 
 occasion for it.'
 
 1 THE LITTLE RIFT.' 1 43 
 
 Lady Cecilia would not trespass any 
 longer on Mr. Mertoun's valuable time, and 
 took leave of him, satisfied that she had set 
 the stone rolling and that her nephew would 
 be deprived of the pastime in which he had 
 chosen to employ the long summer days. 
 
 Eva's sad eyes brightened when her father 
 came home prepared with his scheme for 
 sending her from home. There is no tread- 
 mill more wearisome than the round of 
 gaieties which demand a smile upon the lips 
 when the spirits are flagging and the heart is 
 sore ; and to escape from such servitude to 
 the little watering-place, where she might be 
 as silent and unsocial as she pleased, was a 
 welcome prospect. But the 'little rift' which 
 severed her from her cousin was slowly widen- 
 ing, and she could not endure the thought of 
 constant and close companionship, when 
 there would be no third person present to 
 lessen the constraint. ' If you can get on
 
 144 VANESSA. 
 
 without us, papa,' she said, ' I really think 
 that a month at Swanage would do me good, 
 but it would be dull for Amy unless I may 
 ask Helen to come with us. They might 
 take long walks together when I am only fit 
 to sit on the shore, and I rhould enjoy 
 giving Helen the thorough rest and holiday. 
 I know from Mr. O'Brien, even more than 
 from what Amy has told me, how hard- 
 worked she is at home.' 
 
 ' Settle it as you like,' said Mr. Mertoun, 
 not altogether pleased, ' I see that you are 
 determined that I shall adopt the whole 
 family. Here is young Richard coming into 
 the office next week, and I suppose that you 
 will soon find niches for the rest. I can see 
 the attraction to a pretty, sensible girl like 
 Amy, but this other sister has always appeared 
 to me singularly deficient in outward graces.' 
 
 'She is at the awkward age,' said Eva, 
 ' but there is something honest and down-
 
 ' THE LITTLE RIFT.' 1 45 
 
 right in her, something on which I feel that 
 I could fall back in any trouble.' 
 
 1 And what trouble do you anticipate ? ' 
 said Mr. Mertoun, looking at her keenly. 
 
 ' Nothing very serious,' said Eva, smiling, 
 4 but there are times when my head aches 
 and my limbs tremble, and when the trouble 
 of living seems almost too great.' 
 
 ' A girl's nervous fancies ; you certainly 
 want change of air,' said Mr. Mertoun 
 hurriedly. ' And you may take Helen if you 
 like. A parcel of girls together : you will 
 be apt to get into mischief, but I shall send 
 Misbourne to look after you.' Misbourne 
 was the old housekeeper who had ruled at 
 Leasowes in Eva's childhood, and with 
 whom Eva now shared a divided empire. 
 
 When Amy learned that the sentence had 
 gone forth that they were to leave Leasowes 
 for Swanage in the course of the ensuing 
 week, her countenance expressed none of the 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 T46 VANESSA. 
 
 discomfiture she felt, but she ventured to ask 
 in a slightly injured tone whether it were not 
 rather early for the sea-side. ' At this time 
 of year/ she said, - 1 fancy that the place 
 must be given up to nursery-maids and 
 children.' 
 
 ' Swanage is not a gay and fashionable 
 place at any time of year,' said Eva. ' There 
 is nothing so detestable as sea-side gaieties. 
 The days may be too glaring for us to go out 
 much, but I shall enjoy the long summer 
 evenings on the shore, and the release 
 from housekeeping cares, and the privilege 
 of wearing shabby clothes. I hope that you 
 will not dislike it very much.' 
 
 ' Of course not, Eva, I think it will be 
 delightful,' said Amy, not with enthusiasm. 
 ' But if you can carry out your idea of taking 
 Helen, would it not be well for me to stay 
 and keep house for Uncle Richard ? He will 
 be very uncomfortable without you or
 
 1 THE LITTLE RIFT.' 1 47 
 
 Misbourne to look after him, and I might be 
 of some use to Dick in his first independent 
 start in life, while it is near enough to 
 Allerton to make Helen easy about leaving 
 mamma.' 
 
 ' The last will be only a sentimental 
 advantage, unless you migrate to Allerton 
 for the time I am away,' said Eva, with the 
 slightest shade of aigrcur in her tone. ' The 
 distance is too great for constant intercourse, 
 and you know that you have not been over 
 once since you came to Leasowes. I am 
 quite sure that Papa will not let you sacrifice 
 yourself to his comfort, since I often leave 
 him in this way, though not often so early 
 in the year. He rather enjoys his bachelor 
 life, and says that he gets through twice as 
 much work as when I am at home. He 
 dines out among the Bixley people, and once 
 in a fortnight or so he runs down to spend 
 a Sunday with me. He would be rather 
 
 L 2
 
 -I48 VANESSA. 
 
 oppressed if he felt himself responsible for 
 your amusement/ 
 
 1 I only wished to be of use. If it would 
 bore Uncle Richard, of course I would much 
 rather be with you,' said Amy. The sugges- 
 tion of even a temporary return to Allerton, 
 seemed to her sensitive imagination to imply 
 a threat of her eternal exile from Leasowes 
 and all its advantages, and nothing short of 
 unconditional submission might save her from 
 such a fate. She declared herself as ready to 
 go to Swanage as to promote the scheme of 
 adding Helen to her party, although there 
 was in fact little in the note which she 
 appended to Eva's letter on the subject, 
 beyond an expression of self-gratulation over 
 the benefits which the benign influence of her 
 presence at Leasowes had procured for the 
 other members of her family.
 
 149 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Helen's holiday. 
 
 ' O my prophetic soul ! ' exclaimed Helen, 
 as she ran her eye over the two letters which 
 her mother handed to her without a word of 
 comment : ' I always felt that Amy's promo- 
 tion was only the thin end of the wedge. 
 Dick has already been sucked into the 
 vortex, and the rest of the family are. 
 commanded to follow.' 
 
 ' A confusion of metaphors, Helen/ 
 observed Henry, as he rose hastily from the 
 breakfast-table ; ' I shall be too late for the 
 bank if I stay to protest that there is no 
 legitimate connection between wedges and 
 whirlpools. I only stay to declare that if 
 Leasowes is the vortex, it will find me a 
 tough morsel to swallow.'
 
 1 50 VANESSA. 
 
 ' I am glad that Henry could not stay to 
 bias your decision,' said Mrs. Mertoun, when 
 the house-door had closed behind him ; ' I 
 have quite set my heart on your taking a real 
 holiday for the first time in your life.' 
 
 ' Have you really, mother ? ' replied 
 Helen, stroking and fondling her mother's 
 hand with a rare burst of tenderness : ' I 
 never knew you to set your heart on anything 
 so unnatural and absurd. Do you think that 
 I am to leave you alone to vex your soul 
 about Dick's proceedings at Bixley, or 
 Sarah's last piece of stupidity in the kitchen ? 
 I hope that Henry will get away for his 
 holiday in three weeks' time, and then you 
 and I must look forward to our annual dissi- 
 pation at the Manor Farm. I met Miss 
 Charlton in the street two days ago, and she 
 told me that she expected us to spend a long 
 day with her as soon as the worry of the hay 
 harvest was off her mind.'
 
 HELENS HOLIDAY. I5.T 
 
 * I shall not feel lonely, with Miss Charlton 
 to look in now and then,' persisted Mrs. 
 Mertoun : 'there is really no valid reason for 
 refusing Eva's kindness.' 
 
 1 1 see many reasons why we should not 
 all become pensioners on Uncle Richard's 
 bounty,' said Helen. * I do not want to 
 unlearn the lesson of independence which 
 has been the best fruit of our struerfine life, 
 on know, mother, that it will take me six 
 weeks' machine-work to balance my account 
 with Mr. Benson for Dick's new set of shirts.' 
 
 ' I daresay that Benson would let that 
 stand over until you come back.' 
 
 ' I dare say he would ; but if he had to get 
 some one else to do his machine-work, I 
 should lose my connection. You need not 
 shock Amy's gentility by bringing forward 
 any such plebeian reasons, although I think 
 the stitching of trimmings as little degrading 
 as Uncle Richard's dealings in coal, corn, and
 
 152 VANESSA. 
 
 timber ; but write a polite refusal, full of the 
 vague generalities which it is impossible to 
 refute. I do not imagine that Eva really cares 
 about my going, and if Amy had been in 
 earnest about it, she would have testified to the 
 fact by enclosing another pair of kid gloves.' 
 
 ' If you are set against the plan, Helen, it 
 is of no use tx> argue the point/ said Mrs. 
 Mertoun, with a plaintive note in her voice. 
 
 Do not worry yourself any more about 
 it, mother,' rejoined Helen, brightly, ' you 
 know in your heart that my going is out of 
 the question ; and I will write the letter of 
 refusal myself, lest Eva should imagine that 
 I am a victim.' 
 
 The letter was, however, postponed by 
 Helen to the exigencies of her machine, 
 although its composition occupied her -mind 
 while she bent over her work, which was 
 carried on in the little back parlour, in order 
 that she might be free from interruption..
 
 HELEN S HOLIDAY. I 5 3 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun meanwhile had a visit from the 
 Miss Charlton of the Manor Farm, of whom 
 mention has been made. The Charltons 
 were substantial yeomen who had occupied 
 their own land for many generations, and 
 Charlton Manor was within a walk of Aller- 
 ton. It was a picturesque old tenement, its 
 brick walls and tiled roof mellowed by the 
 interlacing growth of moss and lichens which 
 had been undisturbed for centuries. There 
 was a flagged pathway up to the front door, 
 which was not opened once in six weeks, and 
 a back entrance through the farm and poultry 
 yard into the tiled kitchen, in which Miss 
 Charlton pottered about of a morning, much 
 more at home than she appeared to be in the 
 low-browed parlour to which she used to 
 adjourn to receive her afternoon visitors. 
 
 Miss Charlton w r as a little, brisk, old lady, 
 who wore her own grey hair with her morn- 
 ing print dresses, and arrayed herself in a
 
 154 VANESSA. 
 
 brown front and a black silk gown, rich in 
 quality, but short and scanty in quantity, 
 when she went abroad or expected company 
 at home. She kept house for her brother 
 George, who was several years younger than 
 herself, and had still an air of youth and 
 comeliness about him. He was reputed to 
 be wealthy, but their style of living was more 
 in keeping with the customs of a bygone gene- 
 ration than with modern notions. They kept 
 only two indoor servants, and would have 
 thought it an unjustifiable extravagance to 
 eat meat which had not been killed on the 
 farm : but the consumption of beef and ale 
 was great on all festive occasions, and George 
 Charlton paid away a large sum in weekly 
 wages to men whose chief claim to his service 
 lay in the fact that they were too old or in- 
 firm to obtain work elsewhere, and that their 
 fathers and grandfathers had worked on the 
 estate before them.
 
 HELENS HOLIDAY. I55 
 
 Amy had always attempted to ignore the 
 .acquaintance of Miss Charlton and her 
 brother, whom she designated as ' Helen's 
 friends/ but she had not been insensible to 
 the material advantages it offered in the 
 frequent tokens of regard which were so often 
 left at the door with Mr. Charlton's respectful 
 compliments — the little loin of dairy-fed pork, 
 the delicious cream cheeses, the fragrant 
 strawberries or russet apples which followed 
 in due succession. Since Amy's removal to 
 Leasowes, intercourse with the inhabitants of 
 the Manor Farm had been less restricted, 
 and Miss Charlton was on sufficiently un- 
 ceremonious terms to invade Helen's retreat, 
 tapping lightly at the door when her long 
 visit to Mrs. Mertoun came to an end. She 
 received a cordial welcome : Helen kissed 
 the old lady's cheek, which was at once 
 withered and ruddy, like a shrivelled pippin ; 
 -apologised, not unnecessarily, for her own
 
 15^ VANESSA. 
 
 fluffy appearance, and tilted a pile of work 
 out of the only spare chair, on which she 
 entreated Miss Charlton to make herself 
 comfortable. 
 
 ' Indeed, Miss Helen,' she replied, ' I have 
 been here too long already. I sat gossipping 
 with your dear mamma to cheer her up, for 
 she looks nervous and low/ 
 
 ' Your visits always do her a world of good, 
 Miss Charlton. She has a good many lonely 
 hours, now that Amy is gone, and I cannot 
 sit with her while I am at work because the 
 noise of the machine worries her head. You 
 bring a whiff of country air in with you 
 which is almost as good for her as a visit to 
 the Manor Farm.' 
 
 ' You have taken the word out of my 
 mouth,' said Miss Charlton, ' for I have 
 almost persuaded Mrs. Mertoun to pay us a 
 visit. A month in the country, on our homely 
 fare of good cream and whey and new-laid
 
 HELENS HOLIDAY. I 57 
 
 eggs, will do her a world of good, and her 
 only difficulty is about leaving you here.' 
 
 1 That difficulty is easily solved,' said 
 Helen, not unsuspicious of the attack to 
 which Miss Charlton was diplomatically lead- 
 ing the way : ' Henry and I can keep house 
 together with perfect comfort and propriety.' 
 
 1 As if your dear mamma would consent 
 to take her pleasure when you are as hard at 
 work as ever. No, Miss Helen, /know her 
 better than that.' 
 
 1 Then, Miss Charlton, you must include 
 me in the invitation to the Manor Farm, and 
 let one of your waggons call for the sewing- 
 machine.' 
 
 1 Another time, my dear, another time. I 
 am sure that I take it as a great compliment 
 that you should think of putting up with our 
 old-world ways. If Mr. Henry will conde- 
 scend so far, there will be a bed for him 
 whenever he likes to come out to the farm, 
 but we cannot take all our visitors at once.'
 
 I50 VANESSA. 
 
 'Your duplicity amazes me,' said Helen 
 with mock solemnity. ' Have I not played 
 at hide and seek at the farm, through the 
 long range of sloping attics, each furnished 
 with its oaken press and bed with dimity 
 hangings, where you might put up a regiment 
 or a boarding-school ? Confess that you and 
 mother have been intriguing against me, and 
 that this is only a plot for sending me to 
 Swanage against my will.' 
 
 1 1 am not at all ashamed to confess it,' 
 said Miss Charlton stoutly : ' I soon found 
 out that your mamma was fretting over the 
 idea that you had given up the jaunt on her 
 account, and I wish that you could have seen 
 her face light up as soon as I saw my way 
 out of the difficulty. Do not vex her and 
 disappoint me by interfering with the ar- 
 rangement I propose.' 
 
 ' Well, I will not — at least if Henry makes 
 no objection to my going,' said Helen, and 
 there was some heroism in the concession,
 
 HELENS HOLIDAY. I 59 
 
 since it implied the surrender of her inde- 
 pendence : ' I must hear what Henry has to 
 say in the matter, and also Mr. Benson, and 
 if the Fates send me to Swanage, I will try to 
 think it pleasant. But I know that it would 
 be much pleasanter to drink cream and make 
 hay at the Manor Farm.' 
 
 1 Another time, my dear,' repeated Miss 
 Charlton, mildly triumphant in the success of 
 her mission. ' I am sure that George would 
 be flattered to hear you say so, though he 
 would not approve of your taste. He is a great 
 admirer of your beautiful sister, and indeed it 
 is quite a tender subject with him. I tell him 
 that he does not care near so much about 
 going into Allerton, now that there is no 
 chance of meeting her in the street' 
 
 Helen thought with some amusement of 
 the scorn with which Amy would disclaim 
 her bucolic admirer, but she was able to see 
 the matter from Miss Charlton's point of view 
 and to accept George Charlton's homage with
 
 1 60 VANESSA. 
 
 gratitude, and the simple-hearted old lady 
 remarked to her brother that evening that, 
 though some people said that the Mertouns 
 held their heads too high, she should always 
 declare Miss Helen had the sweetest manner 
 of all the odrls she knew. 
 
 Mrs. Mertoun was overjoyed, Henry only 
 slightly contemptuous, when it appeared that 
 Helen had reconsidered her determination to 
 decline Eva's invitation, and it was accepted 
 accordingly, with due, but by no means 
 extravagant, expressions o f gratitude. A few 
 busy days of preparation followed, and, on 
 the evening before her own departure, Helen 
 had the satisfaction of seeing her mother and 
 Henry comfortably established at the Manor 
 Farm. Dick had already preceded her on 
 the journey to Bixley, too well oleased with 
 his new outfit of clothes and his reiease from 
 school tasks to feel any aversion to the more 
 monotonous drudgery of office life, to which
 
 Helen's holiday. 161 
 
 he must now devote himself. The house at 
 Allerton was to be shut up, and, since it was 
 many years since there had been so little strain 
 on Mrs. Mertoun's slender income, Henry had 
 acceded to O'Brien's proposal that they should 
 start early in July, on a walking tour together 
 in the south of England. ' I hope that you 
 will include Swanage in the programme/ 
 Helen said, more in jest than earnest, and she 
 was surprised by Henry's ready reply, that 
 he should like to explore the Isle of Purbeck 
 unless Dennis were averse to the idea. Helen 
 began to suspect that the bitterness with 
 which Henry had hitherto regarded his uncle 
 Richard was modified by the interest he had 
 begun to feel in his pale, gentle cousin. 
 Under all the circumstances, Helen felt that 
 she could enjoy her holiday with an easy 
 conscience, and she set out from the deserted 
 house at Allerton in buoyant spirits. 
 vol. t. u
 
 1 62 VANESSA. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 
 
 Helen had taken an early train to Bixley, 
 since there was nothing to detain her in her 
 dismantled home and she wished to avoid 
 travelling in the sultry heat of mid-day, so 
 that the carriage which took Mr. Mertoun to 
 his office met her at the station, and she 
 found Eva and Amy lingering over their 
 breakfast when she arrived at Leasowes. 
 
 ' You have got yourself up in the most 
 elaborate style for the sea-side,' said Amy, 
 after a critical survey of her sister's appear- 
 ance : ' that blue serge will be the very thing 
 for Swanage, although it looks hot on such a 
 day as this.' 
 
 ' I am glad that you approve of Mr.
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 1 63 
 
 Benson's taste this time,' said Helen, quick to 
 resent her sisters condescending note of 
 admiration : ' the dear old man sent me the 
 dress two days ago as a slight token of his 
 respectful regard. He explained that it was 
 one of his Parisian patterns, for which he had 
 no further occasion, and that he should be 
 too much honoured by my acceptance of it.' 
 
 ' Who is Mr. Benson ? ' asked Eva, and, 
 while Amy ruffled up her plumes like an 
 offended chicken, Helen's reply was prompt. 
 
 1 Mr. Benson is my friend and patron, 
 the leading linendraper of Allerton — a little, 
 snuffy old man, who may possibly claim my 
 acquaintance on the sands at Swanage. As 
 I work for him regularly, I expected him to 
 make difficulties about my coming away, but, 
 on the contrary, he said yesterday that every 
 one was better for a holiday, and that he had 
 himself thought of spending the month of 
 August at Swanage, only Mrs. B. was more 
 
 M 2
 
 164 VANESSA. 
 
 partial to Weymouth. In the course of the 
 same evening this dress was brought in, and 
 I am so overwhelmed with his munificence 
 that I think of making myself a walking 
 advertisement, and displaying the shop ticket 
 on my sleeve.' 
 
 It was undoubtedly trying to a possible, 
 Amy might have said to a probable, Lady 
 Alan Rae, to hear her sister blazon abroad the 
 favours she had received from a country 
 draper, and Amy manifested her annoyance 
 by declaring the necessity of going to see 
 about her packing, and declining Helen's 
 offers of assistance. 
 
 1 Tell me about Dick,' said Helen, when 
 she was alone with Eva. ' We have had one 
 letter from him, illiterate but satisfied. I 
 hooe that Uncle Richard has not discovered 
 how badly he spells.' 
 
 ' He will have time to improve his spelling 
 by a long course of copying before he is pro-
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 1 65 
 
 moted to any original composition,' said Eva. 
 1 He came up here the day he arrived, but 
 he would not stay, even for a cup of tea, as 
 he was impatient to be off to Mr. O'Brien's 
 lodgings, and we have not seen him since. 1 
 
 1 He will be quite safe with Dennis, safe 
 and happy,' said Helen ; ' Dick has a room in 
 the same house, and I suppose that there will 
 be nothing improper in my going there to 
 see that his things are properly unpacked and 
 put away.' 
 
 1 I suppose not,' said Eva doubtfully : ' Mr. 
 O'Brien is always at the Museum at this 
 hour.' 
 
 1 I was not thinking of Dennis,' said Helen, 
 with a laugh. * Only whether Mrs. Ball, the 
 landlady, would think that I was taking a 
 liberty. Why, when Dennis was at Allcrton, 
 he used to brino- me his shirts to mend and 
 his stockings to darn.' 
 
 1 Oh, if he is on such brotherly terms as
 
 1 66 VANESSA. 
 
 that office implies, there is nothing to be 
 said/ said Eva, smiling also. ' I can see no 
 objection to your looking after Dick's com- 
 fort, and if Mrs. Ball thinks it an unwar- 
 rantable liberty we shall never know it. 
 But it is too hot to walk, and if you can 
 wait till after lunch I will drive you into 
 Bixley.' 
 
 ' The walk is nothing; said Helen. ' I 
 went twice as far yesterday in the hottest part 
 of the day, walking out to the Manor Farm 
 and back.' 
 
 'The farm in which Aunt Anne has 
 arranged to board while you are away ? ' 
 inquired Eva. 
 
 ' That is Amy's way of stating, or mis- 
 stating, a fact,' said Helen, colouring. ' There 
 is no arrangement in the sense you mean. 
 Mr. George Charlton and his sister made the 
 offer, in the kindness of their hearts, putting 
 us under an obligation which money would
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE, 1 6/ 
 
 not repay, if we had it to give, which we have 
 not.' 
 
 4 1 did not mean to slight your friends/ 
 said Eva, who did not in truth understand 
 where the offence lay. 
 
 1 I know that you did not, Eva, but I was 
 irritated by the false impression which Amy 
 had contrived to odve of their onerous ki n d_ 
 ness. The truth is that Amy and I survey 
 life from different planes, and you cannot live 
 with such an uncongenial pair of sisters for six 
 weeks, without being disabused of your ideal 
 of family harmony.' 
 
 ' Life is a series of disillusions : one more 
 or less cannot signify,' said Eva in a tone of 
 weariness and dissatisfaction which still rang 
 in Helen's ears as she walked briskly down 
 into the town. 
 
 Helen's manner, so apt to be aggressive 
 with those whom she held to be her equals or 
 superiors, had a frank and winning charm
 
 1 68 VANESSA. 
 
 which found its way to the hearts of those with 
 whom she had occasion to associate in the 
 class below her. If Amy had glided into her 
 brothers lodgings on a visit of inspection, 
 Mrs. Ball might have felt disposed to resent 
 such an unnecessary intrusion ; but Helen was 
 not kept standing on the well-worn floor-cloth 
 in the passage for more than two minutes 
 before she and the landlady were on the most 
 cordial terms, and she was ushered into Mr. 
 Richard's little attic bedroom, while Mrs. Ball 
 declared her intention of acting a mothers part 
 to him in the matter of shirt-buttons. Helen 
 was emboldened to relieve the desolate bare- 
 ness of the room by arranging her brothers 
 few possessions in more orderly fashion, and 
 Mrs. Ball stood by meanwhile, with something 
 also to say of her other lodger, Mr. O'Brien. — 
 ' The most regular, civillest-spoken young 
 gentleman that ever I had in the house, 
 Miss Mertoun. I have lived in high families,
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 1 69 
 
 and I know a gentleman when I see him, and 
 so I put up with his messes of bottles and old 
 stones and things, though goodness knows 
 the use of such rubbish except to harbour 
 dust. And if he had been Master Richard's 
 own brother, he could not have taken him up 
 shorter for sitting down to tea without wash- 
 ing his hands.' 
 
 o 
 
 ' Between you and Mr. O'Brien, Master 
 Richard ought to know when he is well off,' 
 said Helen. ' Do, Mrs. Ball, make him un- 
 derstand that he must not spatter ink over 
 the wristbands of more than one shirt a week, 
 and discourage the practice of sticking his 
 pen behind his ear, until he has learned to 
 keep it there. I imagine that great blot on 
 his shirt-collar is due to his ambition to 
 acquire the clerk-like art of carrying a pen.' 
 
 ' Law ! Miss Mertoun, boys will be boys,' 
 said Mrs. Ball sententiously, and when Helen 
 had agreed to the axiom with the solemnity
 
 70 VANESSA. 
 
 it demanded, she felt that her mission was 
 fulfilled, and that she might wish Mrs. Ball 
 good morning. She did not, however, at once 
 retrace her steps to Leasowes, but acted on 
 the half-formed intention which had influenced 
 her desire to visit Bixley independently, and 
 she turned into the street which led to the 
 Museum. ' A free day,' she remarked to 
 herself, after a glance at the notice-board. 
 1 That is lucky, considering the state of my 
 finances, although I should not think sixpence 
 an exorbitant price to pay for a few minutes' 
 talk with Dennis.' 
 
 It was the dinner-hour at Bixley, and, with 
 the exception of two or three artisans who 
 had strolled in on their way from work, 
 the rooms were empty. Helen walked on, 
 glancing in a cursory manner at the rows of 
 elass cases, until she reached the closed door 
 of a room which was labelled private, and, 
 after only a moment's hesitation, she knocked,
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 171 
 
 and Dennis O'Brien answered the sum- 
 mons. 
 
 'Why, Helen/ he said, a little scandalized, 
 1 have you come all alone to invade my 
 domain ? Dick told me that you were expected 
 at Leasowes to-day.' 
 
 ' With whom should I come, Dennis ? 
 Dick is at the office, and I did not suppose 
 you would wish me to bring Amy.' 
 
 ' I did not imagine that Amy would be 
 brought,' said Dennis. ' But I am very glad 
 to see you, and you shall tell me the Allerton 
 news while we take a turn through the 
 Museum.' 
 
 ' I must not stay five minutes, as I shall be 
 late for luncheon, but I wanted to talk to you 
 about Dick, and also to ask what you say to 
 this Swanage scheme. Of course you think 
 me a great fool for going ? ' 
 
 ' No, I do not, Helen. I was rather 
 surprised when Dick told me, but I am glad 
 that you agreed to go. It may prevent your
 
 172 VANESSA. 
 
 sister from drifting altogether away from the 
 old moorings.' 
 
 1 On the contrary,' said Helen, ' I am con- 
 vinced that Amy never sees me without 
 feeling a more imperative necessity for break- 
 ing away from the life she despises. I get 
 on better with Eva, but I do not expect to 
 be on familiar terms with anything but the 
 alsfae and actiniae until I come home a^ain. 
 I look forward to their nearer acquaintance 
 with the most lively interest, and one of my 
 objects in coming here to-day was to ask for 
 the name of some good, cheap, exhaustive 
 manual, since I intend to live on the rocks.' 
 
 Here the talk became technical, but it 
 insensibly drifted back to matters of human 
 interest. ' I have encountered the Leasowes 
 party several times,' said Dennis : 4 they came 
 in here one day, incited, as I believe, by Lord 
 Alan Rae, who was with them, and he called 
 me out of my den, as you did just now, to
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. I 73 
 
 answer seme question of your sisters about a 
 fossil. I could see that Amy did not like it.' 
 
 ' Perhaps you liked it still worse, Dennis,' 
 said Helen, looking at him anxiously. 
 
 ' I am growing callous to that sort of thing,' 
 said O'Brien, although the working of his 
 mobile features belied his professions of in- 
 sensibility ; ' people say that her engagement 
 to Lord Alan Rae may be declared any day.' 
 
 ' Then people talk nonsense, as they usually 
 do. Amy herself told me, not a month ago, 
 that Lord Alan wishes to marry Eva.' 
 
 Before O'Brien could declare his reasons 
 for a different belief, the discussion was cut 
 short by the appearance of Lord Alan him- 
 self, who had just entered the room. He 
 came up to speak to O'Brien, and it cost him 
 the effort of a moment's recollection to recog- 
 nise in Helen the third Miss Mertoun, but 
 nothing could be more cordial than his greet- 
 ing when the effort was successful. ' Forgive
 
 1 74 VANESSA. 
 
 my hesitation; he said, ' since I could not 
 expect to see you in Bixley. I have been 
 absent from the Hollies for a day or two and 
 have only learned on my return, very much 
 to my regret, that Leasowes is deserted. 
 Pray tell your sister, when you write, how 
 much I regret that I did not see her a^ain.' 
 
 1 1 will give your message byword of mouth,' 
 said Helen : ' I sleep at Leasowes to-night 
 and go with my sister and cousin to Swanage 
 to-morrow.' 
 
 A gleam of satisfaction, not unmingled with 
 anger, lighted up Lord Alan's handsome 
 features. ' I was misled by Lady Cecilia,' 
 he said : ' but I shall not miss the opportunity 
 of paying a farewell visit to Leasowes. I 
 hoped to have found you at leisure for a 
 scientific talk,' he added, turning to O'Brien, 
 1 but that is a pleasure which may be deferred, 
 as I might possibly fail to see the Miss 
 Mertouns if I call too late.'
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 1 75 
 
 ' You will find me here at any time, Lord 
 Alan,' replied Dennis, with formal courtesy 
 of manner. 
 
 1 1 must go too,' said Helen, less confident 
 than before that Dennis was mistaken in the 
 object of Lord Alan's frequent visits to 
 Leasowes : ' I shall be late for lunch as it is. 
 Good-bye, Dennis : give my blessing to Dick 
 in case I do not see him this evening, and 
 cry, Turn again, Whittington, if he betrays 
 any backsliding from the career of com- 
 merce.' 
 
 1 1 have my horse,' said Lord Alan, as they 
 went down the outside steps of the Museum, 
 and he discovered that Helen was on foot : 
 1 1 am afraid that I can hardly offer to keep 
 pace with you.' 
 
 1 Of course not,' replied Helen : ' the 
 kindest thing you can do is to ride on, and 
 beg my cousin not to wait lunch for me. I 
 shall be hot enough as it is,' she added to
 
 1 76 VANESSA. 
 
 herself, when Lord Alan had acted on this 
 suggestion, ' and the process of manufacturing 
 the small talk suitable to a lord would have 
 set my face aflame for the rest of the after- 
 noon.' 
 
 Even without this additional aeeravation, 
 
 , Ob 
 
 Helen found it expedient to go at once to her 
 room to efface the traces of her hot and 
 dusty walk before taking her place at the 
 luncheon table. Although the meal was over 
 Eva waited for her in the dining-room, but Lord 
 Alan and Amy had gone out to play croquet 
 at the shady end of the garden. Helen's 
 conviction of the unveracity of Bixley gossip 
 was still further disturbed by this combination, 
 and she was more struck than she had been 
 on her first arrival by the anxious and dis- 
 tressed expression of her cousin's face. ' Pray 
 do not wait for me, Eva,' she said imploringly ; 
 ' you know that this is our usual dinner-hour, 
 and as I had an early breakfast, very much
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. 
 
 *77 
 
 in the rough, I am quite ungenteelly hungry. 
 Do let me forage for myself, while you sit out 
 to watch the croquet.' 
 
 ' I can see quite enough of the game from 
 the windows,' said Eva, and when Helen 
 followed the direction of her cousin s eyes, 
 she saw that the game had not in truth begun. 
 Lord Alan was speaking with eager anima- 
 tion ; while Amy listened with downcast eyes, 
 in the prettiest attitude of wrapt attention. 
 Helen said no more, and discovered that the 
 appetite of which she had boasted had 
 suddenly forsaken her. 
 
 In a few minutes Amy came up to the 
 windows : ' I wanted to see whether Helen 
 had finished luncheon,' she said : ' there is 
 quite a fresh breeze under the trees and you 
 will find it pleasant sitting there, even if you 
 are not inclined to play croquet.' 
 
 1 Just as Helen likes,' said Eva, indiffe- 
 rently. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 I 78 VANESSA. 
 
 Helen, with a determination to note, and if 
 possible to baffle, the treachery of which she 
 conceived her sister to be guilty, gave her 
 voice in favour of an adjournment to the lawn. 
 Treachery was perhaps too strong a term to 
 apply to Amy's conduct, but a forcible voca- 
 bulary is needed to express the rash judg- 
 ments of youth. Amy did what she could to 
 deprecate the inference which Helen was so 
 ready to draw, by the efforts which she made 
 to disclaim Lord Alan's pointed attentions. 
 She declared that it was too hot for croquet,, 
 and took the garden seat beside her cousin, 
 while Lord Alan threw himself on the turf at 
 her feet. 
 
 1 I have been deploring the break-up of 
 our set here,' he said ; ' the Hollies will be 
 intolerably dull when Leasowes is deserted, 
 and I think of running down to Cowes next 
 week to look at a new yacht which is for sale
 
 FAIR AND FICKLE. I 79.. 
 
 or hire there. She is still without a name, 
 and I shall be sdad to receive suedes- 
 tions.' 
 
 1 The" Vanessa " would not be a bad name 
 for a yacht,' said Helen, when Amy and Eva 
 remained silent. If she had expected the 
 name to implant a thorn in her sister's 
 bosom, the attempt was a failure. It did not 
 occur to Amy that Dennis O'Brien had ever 
 likened her to a Painted-lady butterfly, and 
 she was equally unconscious that Vanessa 
 was its scientific equivalent. 
 
 1 The ''Vanessa" let it be,' said Lord Alan. 
 1 Look out for the name in the yachting 
 intelligence, and when you see that she is 
 lying at Lymington or Weymouth, you may 
 expect the first favourable wind to bring her 
 into Swanage Bay.' He spoke generally, 
 but two at least of his hearers knew for 
 whom the information was specially intended ; 
 
 N 2
 
 I So VANESSA. 
 
 and, while Eva listened with a tightening 
 of the heart, Amy exulted in such a proof of 
 the futility of the machinations which had 
 been devised to estrange her from her noble 
 lover.
 
 i8i 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BUTTE RFLY-XET. 
 
 Two days later the three girls had settled 
 down to the life of laborious idleness incident 
 to a temporary residence in sea-side lodgings, 
 Amy enjoyed the pre-eminence of being the 
 prettiest and the best-dressed young lady 
 visitor of the season, and she exhibited her 
 new costumes upon the pier or as she 
 sauntered alona- the cliffs which fringe the 
 coast. Eva sat chiefly on the shore, taking, 
 a languid interest in the children who fre- 
 quented the sands, and cementing a friend- 
 ship with the most attractive among them by 
 offerings of chocolate bonbons. Helen pre- 
 sented as strong 1 a contrast to one of her 
 <_> 
 
 companions in the homeliness of her attire,.
 
 1 82 VANESSA. 
 
 as she did to the other in her superabundant 
 energy. The glory of Mr. Benson's present 
 was soon tarnished by her reckless scrambles 
 over slippery sea-weed in her pursuit after 
 natural curiosities, heedless of the rock-pools 
 in which her skirts were draggled, as well as 
 of the white dust of the stone quarries. 
 Nothing came amiss to her in her zeal as a 
 collector, and the patience of their landlady 
 was sorely tried when the sill of every 
 window was beset with stones and fossils, 
 when ribands of sea-weed dangled from the 
 hat-pegs in the hall, and the parlour was 
 furnished with earthen pans filled with sea- 
 water and its marine inhabitants. 
 
 Before Amy awoke from her first sleep, 
 Helen had walked to Tilly Whim to see 
 the sun-rise ; had groped among the rocks 
 for some addition to her assortment of sea- 
 monsters, and had been amongst the earliest 
 bathers in the bay. From such expeditions
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. 1 83 
 
 she would return with a glow of health and 
 spirits, and too clamorous an appetite for 
 breakfast to enter into Eva's critical remarks 
 on the quality of the bread or the flavour of 
 the butter. Her boots and gloves were 
 reduced to the consistency of pulp by the 
 hard usage to which she subjected them, and 
 Amy remonstrated with her in vain on the 
 want of foresight with which she allowed her 
 slender store of pocket-money to melt away 
 in the purchase of manuals of marine zoology 
 which she read voraciously, and generally 
 discovered to be worthless, while the various 
 necessities of her toilette remained un- 
 supplied. 
 
 If Amy was annoyed by her sister's law- 
 less and unconventional habits, which threat- 
 ened to brine discredit on the firm, Eva took 
 a more tolerant view of Helen's peculiarities, 
 and noted with a pleased eye the bronzed 
 and ruddy colour which soon tanned the
 
 1 84 VANESSA. 
 
 cheek that had become sallow under the 
 influence of a sedentary life. She was 
 anxious to put die largest possible amount of 
 pleasure into Helen's brief holiday, and was 
 always willing to take a carriage to explore 
 the surrounding country ; but the weather 
 was still sultry, and it was agreed to defer 
 any more distant expeditions until Henry 
 Mertoun should make his appearance. The 
 scheme for his tour with Dennis O'Brien began 
 to take shape soon after their arrival at Swan- 
 age ; and he wrote that the Isle of Purbeck 
 was to be their destination, since Dennis con- 
 sidered that it would be a profitable field 
 both for sketching and entomology. Dennis 
 proposed to give some days to the sketching 
 of Corfe Castle, and Henry would avail him- 
 self of their halt there to come over to see 
 his sisters. Helen was only half-satisfied : 
 she could see Henry at Allerton, and had a 
 much greater desire for O'Brien's sympathy
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. 1 85 
 
 and assistance in her marauding excursions 
 on the sea-shore ; but they all felt that the 
 masculine element could be introduced into 
 their narrow circle with advantage, and looked 
 forward to Henry's coming as to an era. 
 
 The days lengthened into weeks, and 
 Amy had seen the white sails of several 
 yachts furled in Swanage Bay with a quick- 
 ening hope, which faded again in disappoint- 
 ment when she learned the names of their 
 owners. The ' Vanessa ' came not, and it was 
 Henry's arrival which made the first break 
 in the monotony of their life. He walked in 
 one afternoon, dusty and travel-worn, but full 
 of enjoyment, and declaring Dennis to be 
 the most genial and intelligent of travelling 
 companions, with an emphasis which was 
 plainly designed for Amy's benefit. 
 
 'I do not doubt it,' said Helen; 'there 
 are a hundred things I want to ask him if he 
 would only come here.'
 
 1 86 VANESSA. 
 
 ' I doubt if he will do that,' replied Henry, 
 
 * but I think that he will receive you 
 graciously if you are disposed to act 
 Mahomet's part. Have you seen Corfe 
 Castle ? ' 
 
 ' We have seen nothing,' said Eva, 
 
 * because we waited for you to take us about. 
 Let us order a carriage and drive over early 
 to-morrow to spend a long day among the 
 ruins.' 
 
 ' An ingenious way of introducing Henry 
 to the beauties of Swanage,' remarked Amy, 
 who never went willingly out of sight of the 
 quay. 
 
 ' Its beauties are soon seen,' replied Henry ; 
 6 it is a stony aggregation of small houses, 
 and awakens no desire for more intimate 
 acquaintance.' 
 
 ' Besides,' added Helen, ' Henry will come 
 back with us to-morrow night, and stay here 
 as long as Dennis is at Corfe Castle.
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-XET. 187 
 
 In spite of his disparaging remark, he will 
 allow that the place has sketching capabilities 
 when he has walked round the coast with 
 me. We might take a turn before break- 
 fast' 
 
 1 Thank you,' said Henry with a laugh ; ' I 
 have come here for a little respite from 
 O'Brien's unflagging energy in sight-seeing, 
 and will not fall a prey to your merciless 
 strength. Eva has already described the 
 limits of your morning stroll, and cart-ropes 
 will not draw me out before breakfast. But 
 we will go together to bespeak my bed at the 
 inn, and then perhaps walk up to the best 
 point of view for the sunset.' 
 
 Henry set out with both his sisters, but 
 Amy was not prepared to accompany him 
 even for this limited distance ; and, as they 
 retraced their steps from the inn, she declared 
 her intention of turning on to the wooden 
 jetty to await the arrival of the Poole
 
 1 88 VANESSA. 
 
 steamer. ' Such a misguided thing to do/ 
 remarked Helen, as she and her brother 
 ascended the hill ; ' Amy takes the deepest 
 interest in the arrival of that steamer, which 
 she considers, to be our only link with the 
 civilised world.' Helen spoke at random 
 and with no prevision of the links in which 
 passing events were even now welding the 
 chain of Amy's fate. 
 
 The ' Royal Albert ' was discharging its 
 passengers when Amy walked down the pier, 
 and she did not feel any lively interest in the 
 two middle-aged spinsters in blue veils who 
 were obstinately resisting the blandishments 
 of the boatmen who proposed to relieve them 
 of their loose parcels ; nor yet in the careworn 
 father of a family, as he stood still to count 
 over his property, which consisted of boxes 
 of every shape and size, a bath, a peram- 
 bulator and a baby, not to mention two pale- 
 faced girls, and a miniature sailor who
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. 1 89 
 
 considered his wooden spade and pail the 
 only important articles in the miscellaneous 
 pile. These were the objects which first met 
 Amy's view, and she regarded them with a 
 languid amusement which was lost in a very 
 different feeling when she caught si^ht of a 
 tall, fair young man, in a yachting dress, who 
 was crossing the gangway. Their eyes met, 
 on his side with a smile of animated pleasure, 
 on hers with a blush of rosy red, and before 
 his foot touched the pier Amy had turned 
 away with an instinctive desire not to court 
 recognition. She had gone but a few paces 
 before she became conscious that Lord Alan 
 was by her side. 
 
 ■ Do you run away from me ? ' he asked, in 
 a low breathless voice. 
 
 ' It looked as if I had come to meet you,' 
 replied Amy with downcast eyes. 
 
 1 May I hope that you have so come ? If 
 I am not ashamed to say that I have come
 
 1 90 VANESSA. 
 
 a hundred miles in the hope of seeing you 
 again, you need not grudge me a poor hun- 
 dred yards/ 
 
 ' I began to think that you would not come 
 at all/ said Amy, no longer attempting to 
 conceal the fact that she had in truth watched 
 and waited for him. 
 
 ' The time has seemed long to me also, 
 Miss Mertoun, although I have not been 
 idle. As soon as I had completed my 
 purchase of the "Vanessa," I ran down to 
 Cowes, first to collect my crew, and then to 
 try and make the yacht a little more worthy of 
 the precious freight she is to carry. My 
 arrangements were only concluded yesterday, 
 and, when the wind dropped this afternoon 
 before I could reach Swanage, I ran the 
 " Vanessa" under Branksea and boarded the 
 steamer as she passed. I must go back by 
 her in a quarter of an hour to sleep on board 
 the yacht, but I shall be back with the first
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-XET. 191 
 
 tide to-morrow, in time for our promised 
 cruise.' 
 
 4 We have made an engagement for 
 to-morrow/ said Amy ; ' my cousin has 
 arranged that we should drive to Corfe 
 Castle.' 
 
 ' I was not thinking of your cousin, Miss 
 Mertoun. Are you bound to be of the 
 party ? ' 
 
 ' They expect me to go. It will seem 
 strange that I should stay here alone; said 
 Amy. 
 
 ' Surely you can plead a headache, fear of 
 the heat — anything that will procure us the 
 happiness of spending some happy hours in 
 each other's society, unwatched by curious 
 and grudging eyes. Or is such a prospect 
 distasteful ? ' 
 
 ' Xot distasteful,' said Amy, and her 
 increasing embarrassment ^ave courage to 
 Lord Alan's importunity.
 
 192 VANESSA. 
 
 ■ In all my arrangements, my one thought 
 has been how to give you pleasure, and you 
 are the only being whom I care to see on 
 board the " Vanessa." I shall come ashore 
 in the boat at ten to-morrow, and shall hope 
 to find you on the south side of the quay. 
 Come in a boating dress, for if the day be 
 favourable you need not be afraid to take a 
 short cruise.' 
 
 ' I am not afraid of the sea,' said 
 Amy. 
 
 ' Still less, I hope, of me,' rejoined Lord 
 Alan, in accents of tenderest reproach. The 
 steamboat bell was ringing its energetic 
 signal for departure, but he still lingered at 
 the pier gate with Amy's hand fast locked in 
 his. Unwillingly, he relinquished his grasp, 
 and walked slowly away, with more than one 
 backward glance, and he was gone before 
 Amy had uttered a syllable of the reply in 
 which she tried, or fancied that she tried, to
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. I 93 , 
 
 disclaim the possibility of keeping the 
 appointment Lord Alan had made. 
 
 Amy little thought that the parting, from 
 which the most uninterested bystander could 
 read something of tender sentiment, had 
 flashed its full meaning before the indignant 
 eyes of Eva. She had stepped out to make 
 some necessary purchases for to-morrow's pic- 
 nic, and was passing the gate at the moment 
 when Lord Alan turned away; she could not 
 be mistaken in her cousin, and a second glance 
 was scarcely needed to identify her com- 
 panion. Eva turned pale and hurried on, 
 whilst Amy retraced her steps to the house, 
 unconscious of the recognition. 
 
 At the tea-table that evening, when Helen 
 and her brother were discussing some point 
 of history in connection with Corfe Castle, 
 Amy announced her intention not to join the 
 party. ' On thinking over the matter,' she 
 said, ' I have decided not to go with you.-. 
 
 vol. 1. o
 
 194 VANESSA. 
 
 There is no need to make a mystery of the 
 fact that Dennis and I are not on easy terms 
 together, and our mutual constraint might 
 spoil the pleasure of the rest' 
 
 1 Dennis ought to feel flattered by such 
 consideration for his feelings,' remarked 
 Henry, ' and yet I fancy that he might 
 endure some hours in your society without 
 any very acute suffering.' 
 
 ' Very possibly,' said Amy colouring, ' but 
 still we may be happier apart, and I shall 
 enjoy a quiet day upon the sands.' 
 
 1 It is a long day to spend alone,' said Eva, 
 with a stress on the last word, intended to 
 mark her sense of her cousin's duplicity ; but 
 the shaft fell short, since Amy was still 
 unconscious of the chance which had 
 revealed her stolen interview with Lord 
 Alan. 
 
 ' I must observe that I shall get more good 
 out of Dennis if Amy is not there/ said
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. I 95 
 
 Helen, ' and I do not feel heroic enough to 
 give up the day's pleasuring on her account 
 Do let us go, Eva, and enjoy ourselves 
 ■without any qualms of conscience.' 
 
 ' My conscience is clear,' said Eva, with a 
 peculiar smile, which puzzled Helen, while it 
 altogether escaped Amy's notice. She was 
 satisfied to have the matter arranged with so 
 little trouble, and sat working in silence and 
 with a pre-occupied mind. 
 
 Henry talked of. Dick's start in the office 
 at Bixley, and Eva was gratified by his frank 
 acknowledgment of Mr. Mertoun's great 
 kindness to him. ' The Charltons invited 
 Dick to spend a Sunday with us at the farm,' 
 he said, ' and I thought him improved, more 
 manly and intelligent, and interested in his 
 work. He went back on Monday to dine at 
 Leasowes, an invitation by which he was 
 flattered, though awe-struck.' 
 
 1 Poor Dick te£e-a-tcte\\Axh Uncle Richard !' 
 
 o 2
 
 190 VANESSA. 
 
 exclaimed Helen : ' how stupid Uncle Rich- 
 ard must have thought him ! ' 
 
 1 I suspect that his uncle may be more 
 tolerant of dulness than his sister,' said Eva. 
 
 1 Very possibly : I know that Henry and 
 I are both intolerant,' replied Helen : ' the 
 truth is, that as we do not mix with people 
 to see them as they are, we have leisure 
 to construct the ideal of what they ought to 
 be.' 
 
 ' A philosophic excuse for fastidiousness,' 
 observed Henry with a smile. 
 
 Helen had never seen her brother in such 
 happy and natural spirits, and doubted 
 whether to ascribe the fact to O'Brien's 
 genial influence, or that the sense of injury 
 which had so long rankled in his breast, 
 embittering" his relations with his uncle 
 Richard, was effaced by an awakening 
 interest in his cousin. Although sometimes 
 provoked by Eva's variable spirits, and her
 
 THE BUTTERFLY-NET. I 97 
 
 fits of languor and depression, the two girls 
 had learned to love each other in the close 
 intimacy of the last three weeks, and Helen 
 found some amusement in weaving a romance 
 between the Romeo and Juliet of the rival 
 houses. At present, however, the courtship 
 could only be suspected by a very lively 
 imagination, for Eva was gentle and indif- 
 ferent, and Henry's native roughness cf 
 manner was but little softened in her favour. 
 Although Helen was the only one of the 
 party who felt any unwillingness to anticipate 
 the usual hour of bedtime, it was Helen a^ain 
 who was first wrapped in sleep. Amy and 
 Eva occupied two little chambers opening 
 into each other, and long after the door of 
 communication had been closed between 
 them, Eva could see the lirfit of her cousin's 
 candle shining under it, and could hear Amy 
 moving softly about. Amy could not, or at 
 all events did not, account to herself for the
 
 I98 VANESSA. 
 
 restlessness which prompted her to put all 
 her possessions in perfect order that night. 
 She looked over the contents of her desk and 
 took out a little packet, containing one or 
 two notes from Dennis, and some songs 
 which he had copied for her ; and, as she set 
 a light to the papers in the empty grate, and 
 watched the flame die away in a smouldering- 
 heap of ashes, Amy felt that she had in truth 
 taken leave of her old life, and was prepared 
 to face the future, which was opening be- 
 fore her. When, at last, she went to bed 
 she found it possible to sleep peacefully 
 through the grey dawn of the summer's 
 morning, while Eva lay watching it with 
 worn and sleepless eyes, and tried to school 
 her rebellious heart into the conviction that 
 the friend who had betrayed and the lover 
 who had deceived her were alike unworthy 
 of regret.
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CAPTURE. 
 
 The morning was still grey when the young 
 people met again at an early breakfast, but 
 this, as Henry observed, would be an ad- 
 vantage for their drive, and he was confident 
 that the clouds would clear away, and the 
 sun shine forth to gild the ruins of Corfe 
 Castle. While the other two were too eager 
 in their preparations to notice that anything 
 was amiss, Amy observed that Eva was 
 pale and silent, and followed her upstairs to 
 ask whether she were quite fit for the long 
 day's expedition. 
 
 There was a suppressed fierceness in the 
 tone of Eva's reply which was strangely at
 
 200 VANESSA. 
 
 variance with her habitual gentleness of man- 
 ner. ' Do you really wish me to stay at 
 home, Amy ?' 
 
 1 no, dear Eva ; I mean, not on my 
 account,' said Amy, annoyed by the con- 
 sciousness of rising colour : ' but I thought 
 you looked ill, and I promised Uncle Richard 
 ■ that I would take care of you.' 
 
 ' I mean to go,' said Eva, shortly, and 
 Amy, conscious of a disinterested motive in 
 her suggestion, and of considerable relief in 
 its rejection, turned into Helen's room with 
 a virtuous sense of her own heroism in having 
 attempted — and failed — to interfere with Lord 
 Alan's scheme for their mutual enjoyment. 
 She found Helen in the highest spirits, as 
 she collected the implements for her day's 
 pleasuring, which included on this occasion 
 a eeoloofical hammer and chisel, a tin case 
 for botanical purposes, and a butterfly net 
 and beetle-box. Amy wished to add a sun-
 
 THE CAPTURE. 201 
 
 shade to this miscellaneous baggage, but 
 Helen rejected the suggestion with scorn. 
 
 1 For the good of my complexion, Amy ? 
 You know very well that I parted with that 
 superfluous article the day after we got here, 
 and I do not miss it in the least. You must 
 come with us if the party is to wear any air 
 of distinction, and it is not too late to think 
 better of it.' But Amy considered that it 
 was too late, and the carriage drove off with- 
 out her. 
 
 When Misbourne came to inquire at what 
 hour she would be pleased to dine, Amy 
 replied that she intended to take some bis- 
 cuits and spend the day on the beach, and 
 that most probably she should require nothing 
 else until the rest of the party returned from 
 Corfe Castle. Such Spartan fare was more 
 in accordance with Helen's tastes and habits 
 than with her sisters, but Misbourne was on 
 ceremonious terms with 'Miss Amy' and
 
 202 VANESSA. 
 
 made no comment on the fact, and Amy, 
 although she told herself that she had quite 
 made up her mind to decline Lord Alan's 
 proposal of a cruise in his yacht more reso- 
 lutely than she had done on the preceding- 
 evening, went upstairs and exchanged her 
 light summer cambric for a boating dress 
 before she repaired to the beach. 
 
 She established herself in the shade of a 
 boat near the jetty, but the light and variable 
 wind on which Lord Alan's movements must 
 depend, rendered him more tardy in his 
 appearance, and Amy had leisure for some 
 anxious surmises while she bent over her 
 lace-work, and fancied that the nursery-maids 
 in her neighbourhood would guess her mo- 
 tive if she scanned the horizon too closely. 
 Towards noon, as the weather-wise had 
 predicted, the clouds rolled off, a fresh breeze 
 sprang up, and Amy presently descried the 
 white sails of the ' Vanessa,' as she rounded
 
 THE CAPTURE. 2C>3 
 
 the point, and glided gracefully into the bay. 
 When the yacht lay to, her boat was manned 
 to brino- her owner to the shore, and Lord 
 Alan's eager glance soon fell on Amy, who 
 sat as motionless as if she wished to elude 
 observation. 
 
 1 You have not come to meet me this time, 
 Amy,' said he smiling. It was the first time 
 that he had dropped the more formal appel- 
 lation, and although Amy's womanly instinct 
 told her that no explanation had passed 
 between them to justify such an advance, she 
 ventured on no protest. 
 
 1 You are prepared for our cruise, I see/ 
 continued Lord Alan, ' and we had better go 
 on board at once, while the wind serves for 
 sailing.' 
 
 ' I have been thinking; said Amy, ' that it 
 would be better to put off our cruise until 
 to-morrow, and wander along the cliffs this 
 morning. Helen is fond of sailing, and she
 
 204 VANESSA. 
 
 and my brother Henry would both enjoy 
 going with you.' 
 
 1 Have I left the Hollies for the pleasure of 
 taking your brother and sister out yachting ? ' 
 said Lord Alan, with a shade of haughtiness 
 in his tone : ' must I say it yet again, Amy ? 
 It is for you, and you alone that all my 
 arrangements were made, and since my com- 
 pany is distasteful to you, I will go back as I 
 came.' 
 
 The tears stood in Amy's beautiful eyes 
 as she looked up with a mute beseeching- 
 glance, ready to yield, and yet trembling, as 
 if the full meaning of the step which she was 
 about to take dawned upon her. 'For an 
 hour, or two hours at the most, I will go with 
 you,' she faltered, and Alan Rae accepted the 
 concession with gratitude and renewed 
 tenderness. 
 
 ' Nay, Amy ; I have frightened you by my 
 hasty words. You shall not stay on board an
 
 THE CAPTURE. 205 
 
 hour nor a minute longer than it seems good 
 to you, but you must give your own orders 
 to the sailing master, since I can take no 
 note of time whilst you are by my side. And 
 you must come at once while the tide serves.' 
 
 Amy suffered Lord Alan to raise her from 
 the beach, and she did not withdraw her 
 hand, though it trembled a little, when he 
 pressed it for a moment to his lips. 
 
 It was necessary to embark from the pier, 
 and as they passed along it, Amy was sen- 
 sible that they were a mark for curious 
 glances from the knot of idlers who were 
 gathered there, after the fashion of sea-side 
 places. It was also evident that Lord Alan 
 observed and resented the inquisition, and 
 he waved off with a haughty air the officious 
 help of those who wished to lend a hand in 
 pushing off the boat. Amy breathed more 
 freely when they were not only on board the 
 yacht, but installed in the luxuriously fitted
 
 206 VANESSA. 
 
 and airy cabin in which, as Lord Alan said, 
 she would be more comfortable until the noon- 
 day heat was over ; and yet her composure 
 was of short duration, since Lord Alan 
 reclined on the cushions by her side, and 
 whispered with the assured confidence of an 
 accepted lover : ' Mine now, Amy, — now, 
 and for ever.' 
 
 ' Not Amy,' she faltered, struggling even 
 now to express the conviction that it was not 
 thus she should be wooed and won. 
 
 ' And why not Amy — Bien-aimee — Amy 
 to me, if to none other in the world beside. I 
 take but what I ask : call me Alan, and the 
 cup of my pleasure will be full' And his 
 name was scarcely breathed through Amy's 
 scarlet lips before a lover's kiss had repaid 
 her compliance. 
 
 This was at high noon, and it was eight 
 hours later when the happy, tired party 
 returned to Swanage from Corfe Castle, —
 
 THE CAPTURE. 20J 
 
 returned in triumph, as Helen considered, 
 with Dennis O'Brien in the carriage. He had 
 made a successful sketch of the ruins, and 
 was not unwilling to be allured by Helen's 
 representations of the geological wealth of 
 the rocks and stone-quarries ; and if Amy's 
 Ima^e hovered in the background as a more 
 powerful attraction, her name was unspoken 
 by either. Misbourne was already on the 
 door-step, awaiting their arrival with a dis- 
 turbed face, and the information that her 
 other young lady had gone out at ten o'clock 
 and had not returned. There had been a 
 thunderstorm, and a squall of wind and rain, 
 and ' she hoped to goodness that Miss Amy 
 might not be drowned, nor fallen over the 
 cliff: 
 
 A chill of dismay fell on the hearts of all, 
 and Henry answered roughly, as a man speaks 
 to disclaim an over-mastering fear : ' Of 
 course you would have heard if there had
 
 208 VANESSA. 
 
 been any accident. Amy has probably taken 
 shelter somewhere from the storm, but I will 
 go out at once to make inquiries.' 
 
 ' Miss Amy could not take shelter if she 
 were out at sea,' rejoined the housekeeper : 
 1 and that is what some people say, but I 
 could not understand the rights of it.' 
 
 ' It is absurd to suppose that she would go 
 out boating by herself, and you have said, 
 Eva, that you have not a single acquaintance 
 here.' 
 
 ' It is not for me to speak,' said the house- 
 keeper, after a glance at her young mistress, 
 who seemed incapable of reply : ' but some 
 one told the landlady that she was seen to get 
 into a boat this morning which came ashore 
 to fetch her.' 
 
 ' Why should we waste time in this way ? ' 
 said Dennis impatiently : ' let us go in different 
 directions to make inquiries.' 
 
 The two young men were about to act on
 
 THE CAPTURE. 209 
 
 this suggestion, and Helen wondered whether 
 she might also leave her cousin to take part 
 in the search, when Eva laid her trembling 
 hand on Henry's shoulder. ' One word with 
 you first/ she said, and Helen drew O'Brien 
 into the passage, that the other two might be 
 left together. 
 
 1 What is the mystery ? ' said Dennis, for- 
 getting the laws of good-breeding in his 
 fierce anxiety. 
 
 1 None that I know of,' said Helen, who 
 met his troubled eyes with a steady gaze : ' it 
 must be some absurdity of Misbourne's, since 
 she considers herself responsible for our health 
 and morals, and she is always fussy. Cer- 
 tainly it is not Amy's habit to be out for so 
 many hours, but if the storm broke here with 
 greater violence than it did at Corfe, and she 
 were weather-bound at any distance from 
 home, she might feel timid about walking 
 home alone in the dusk.' 
 
 vol. 1. p
 
 2 I O VANESSA. 
 
 While Helen sought to satisfy her own: 
 uneasiness as well as that of her companion 
 by this explanation, Henry was agitated by 
 Eva's surmise as to the true cause of his 
 sister's disappearance. ' I wanted to ask you 
 to go to the pier first/ she said : ' the boatmen 
 will be sure to know if Amy has gone out 
 with anyone.' 
 
 ' With anyone, Eva ? With whom could 
 she go, since you say that you have no 
 acquaintance here ? ' 
 
 ' I said so when you first arrived. An 
 hour later I saw Lord Alan Rae taking 
 leave of Amy at the pier-gate, and he may 
 have brought his yacht here.' 
 
 'He may have brought his yacht here,' 
 repeated Henry angrily; ' I can only suppose 
 that you have connived at their clandestine 
 meeting.' 
 
 1 It is not so, Henry. I may have done 
 wrong in not telling you or Helen that I
 
 THE CAPTURE. 211 
 
 witnessed their meeting yesterday evening, 
 but I saw it by a mere chance. I was not 
 in Amy's confidence.' 
 
 ' Forgive me, Eva,' said Henry, recollect- 
 ing himself ; ■ it is not easy for a man to be 
 smooth-tongued when he has to face the 
 possibility of his sister's disgrace and ruin. 
 I will go at once to the pier-head, but I can- 
 not, I dare not, tell O'Brien in what 
 direction your fears point. For all his 
 assumption of indifference, such a suspicion 
 would wring his heart.' 
 
 When Henry came out into the passage 
 Dennis took his arm, saying that he would 
 go with him. 
 
 ' No, Dennis, no!' replied Henry, shaking 
 him off ; ' wait here whilst I go down to the 
 quay, I shall be back in five minutes.' As 
 the clock counts time the interval was 
 scarcely longer, but to the three who sat 
 
 P 2
 
 2 I 2 VANESSA. 
 
 looking on each other with blanched faces 
 the pause seemed almost intolerable. 
 
 When Henry returned, any consideration 
 for his friend was lost in overwhelming 
 emotion. ' It is true, by Heaven ! ' he ex- 
 claimed, 'a yacht called the "Vanessa" came 
 into the bay this morning ; the owner's name 
 did not transpire, but the description of his 
 appearance tallies with that of Lord Alan. 
 He came ashore in a boat, met Amy on the 
 beach, and took her at once on board the 
 yacht, so that I make no doubt that the 
 villainy was deliberately planned.' 
 
 4 There was a sudden change of wind, 
 which may have prevented them from get- 
 ting back,' said Helen. 
 
 ' The wind changed at six o'clock, just be- 
 fore the thunderstorm,' replied Henry; 'if they 
 had intended to come back at all, they would 
 have been anxious to do so before we 
 returned from Corfe. I learned from the
 
 THE CAPTURE. 2 1 3, 
 
 boatmen that the "Vanessa" is a large new- 
 yacht ; she came from Cowes yesterday, and . 
 stood across for the Needles on leaving the 
 bay as if to go down the Solent again.' 
 
 There w-as a little murmur, a sort of. 
 stifled sigh from Eva, and Helen turned 
 round to see that she had fainted. ' You 
 had better go away,' said Helen quickly ; 
 1 send Misbourne to me, and I will join you 
 presently.' Misbourne came, but the young 
 men seemed unwilling to leave the room 
 until a faint tinge of colour, and the tears 
 which w r elled from beneath her closed eye- 
 lids, betrayed that Eva's consciousness was 
 returning. 
 
 ' We will walk up and down outside, 
 until we have decided what to do,' whispered 
 Henry ; ' tell Eva that I blame her in 
 nothing ; I fancy that I spoke roughly to her 
 just now 7 .' 
 
 It was a dark, cloudy evening, and in the
 
 214 VANESSA. 
 
 gathering twilight which veiled the working 
 of his features, Dennis found it more easy 
 to declare his purpose. ' There is but one 
 thing to be done,' he said, ' let us go back to 
 catch the mail train at Wareham. One of 
 us must go to Portsmouth, and from thence 
 to all the yacht stations in the Solent ; the 
 other to London, in case he has decided to 
 go there, or to Scotland.' 
 
 ' You, Dennis, will you go in pursuit of 
 her ? ' said Henry. 
 
 1 And why not ? ' he replied. ' Do you 
 think that I can bear to sit with folded hands 
 while it may still be possible to avert dishonour 
 from the name of the woman I have loved ? ' 
 
 1 I will go to Portsmouth,' said Henry, 
 after a pause ; ' since the yacht is new, and 
 just fitted for sea, I suspect that it has been 
 part of his infernal scheme to keep her on 
 board until her ruin was complete. It is 
 well that you are a man, Dennis, and can
 
 THE CAPTURE. 215 
 
 find relief in action. You see what the 
 shock has done for Eva, and I feel as if it 
 might kill my mother when she comes to 
 hear of it.'
 
 2 I 6 VANESSA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 APPLES OF SODOIVA 
 
 Henry Mertoun had done Alan Rae some 
 injustice when he imputed to him a deliberate 
 plan for Amy's ruin. He had formed no 
 such plan, but he abandoned himself to the 
 gratification of the moment without suffering 
 it to be alloyed by any foreshadowing of evil 
 consequences. For a brief space it appeared 
 to Amy that her anticipations were fully 
 realised, and that every hour was bringing 
 her nearer to the brilliant and successful 
 marriage which had been the object of her 
 ambition. The little vessel danced gaily 
 over the waves, and Lord Alan was con- 
 stantly by her side, whispering those tender 
 nothings in which passion first finds expres-
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 21 7 
 
 sion, evincing the tenderest solicitude for her 
 comfort, and drawing her attention to arrange- 
 ments which had been planned, as he often 
 repeated, expressly with a view to her ac- 
 commodation. Yet misgivings began to 
 arise in Amy's breast, when it appeared that 
 his entire satisfaction in the present left no 
 room for any consideration for the future ; 
 and it cost her an effort to respond with a 
 smile to the remark that Lady Cecilia had 
 been successfully blinded by her nephew's 
 intimation of his purpose to spend a few 
 weeks in yachting with a ' companion.' It 
 was a designation which grated on Amy's 
 ear. 
 
 ' Where are we going ? ' she asked pre- 
 sently. 
 
 1 Xowhere in particular. We are about 
 three hours out from Swanage, and it may 
 take us twice as long to beat back again.' 
 
 1 Then it will be dark, and the rest of my
 
 2 I 8 VANESSA. 
 
 party will have returned from Corfe Castle,' 
 said Amy, turning pale. 
 
 ' Very possibly. If they take their plea- 
 sure, why should not Ave ? ' said Lord Alan, 
 gaily. But when he saw Amy's eyes fill 
 with tears, he turned away with a whistle of 
 annoyance, and said that he would go and 
 talk to the sailing master. He was absent 
 for some minutes, which gave Amy time to 
 recover her composure, and to resolve to be 
 pleased with his decree, whatever it might be. 
 
 1 Berridge says that we cannot possibly get 
 back to Swanage to-night,' said he ; ' wind 
 and tide are both against us, and there is a 
 storm coming up.' 
 
 ' What are we to do ? ' replied Amy with a 
 sinking heart. 
 
 Alan thrust his hands into his pockets and 
 looked out of the cabin windows, as he 
 answered with a more successful assumption 
 of indifference : ' What can we do, but spend
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 2IO. 
 
 the night on board, after running in for 
 shelter somewhere ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, Alan,' said Amy. bursting into tears, 
 and hiding her face in her hands. He took 
 her in his arms and soothed her with the 
 tenderest reproaches, wilfully mistaking the 
 cause of her distress. 
 
 ' So easily frightened by the mention of a 
 storm, my love ! Only this morning you de- 
 clared that you could live on the sea, and to- 
 morrow your nautical fervour will revive with 
 the sunshine. If you anticipate trouble in 
 returning to Swanage, let us give up the idea 
 of returning at all. We will take a maid on 
 board at Portsmouth, with everything which 
 is necessary for your comfort, and run across 
 the channel to Cherbourg or Dieppe.' 
 
 Before Amy could even attempt a reply, a 
 distant roll of thunder, a flutter and rustle of 
 wind, and the large drops which specked the 
 white deck, heralded the approaching storm.
 
 2 20 VANESSA. 
 
 Lord Alan, who had already taken her below, 
 was unable to remain with her, since the wind 
 had chopped round to the east, and he felt 
 that his presence was necessary on deck in the 
 confusion incident to a sudden shifting of the 
 sails. Amy was left alone, feeling a little 
 sea-sick, and very frightened and miserable. 
 As the peals of thunder rolled nearer and 
 one bright flash of lightning" illumined the 
 
 o o o 
 
 cabin with its lurid glare, her terror became 
 almost uncontrollable, and it was in this 
 pitiable state that Lord Alan found her when 
 his services were no longer required on deck. 
 He wished to be tender, but there was a 
 touch of annoyance in his attempts to reassure 
 her. 
 
 ' Amy, my dear love, look up, and re- 
 member that no harm can happen to you 
 whilst I am by your side. The thunder- 
 storm is nothing, and will roll off in half-an- 
 hour, but since the change of wind must pre-
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 221 
 
 vent our getting further to-night, I propose 
 to run into Lymington or Yarmouth/ 
 
 ' Oh, I am so thankful ! ' exclaimed Amy, 
 looking up in sudden relief. ' Let us go to 
 Lymington. I cannot stay in the yacht. I 
 must go back to Swana^e to-night' 
 
 ' To get back to Swanage to-night is out of 
 the question,' said Lord Alan shortly. ' Con- 
 sider its distance from any railway-station, 
 and it may be nine or ten o'clock before we 
 get up to Lymington. To-morrow, if you 
 will—' 
 
 4 To-morrow will be too late,' said Amy, 
 with a fresh burst of tears. ' I shall not 
 dare to meet Henry.' 
 
 Lord Alan made no reply until a louder 
 clap of thunder brought on another access of 
 terror, and when Amy uttered a scream, he 
 laid his hand heavily upon her shoulder : 
 1 Control yourself, Amy, for your own sake, 
 if not for mine ; remember that in a small
 
 2 22 VANESSA. 
 
 vessel like this everything is heard, and let 
 us avoid a scandal if possible. I will do any- 
 thing in reason to satisfy you.' 
 
 Amy checked her sobs, and looked up with 
 the pretty, pouting wilfulness of a petted 
 child. ' You must not be unkind to me, 
 Alan. Set me on shore, and I will find my 
 own way home.' 
 
 ' And you call that request reasonable, 
 Amy ? Do you propose to spend the night 
 alone on the mud shores of the estuary ? In 
 a few minutes the storm will be over, and then 
 you will smile at your own fears, and allow 
 that now and always I am to think and act 
 for you. The tide will soon carry us up to 
 Lymington, where we shall be under shelter ; 
 but I think it will be best to remain on board 
 the yacht, since there is no hotel fit for your 
 accommodation. ' 
 
 ' I do not want to go to the hotel/ 
 said Amy. 'If we cannot get back to
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 2 23 
 
 Swanage, we may at any rate go on— on to 
 London.' 
 
 4 And why to London ? ' said Lord Alan, 
 fixing his eyes upon her for a moment, and 
 then turning away, as if unwilling to read 
 in her imploring gaze the desperate hope to 
 which she climcr that even yet her o-ood 
 name might be saved by a hasty marriage. 
 
 1 We will go to London, if you wish it/ he 
 said at last. In the unreasonable state of 
 mind to which Amy's terrors had reduced her, 
 he felt that any attempt to urge her further 
 to entertain his suo^restion f remaining on 
 board the yacht might cause a scandal, which 
 he wished to avoid. He was annoyed, and 
 at little pains to conceal his annoyance ; but, 
 with the morning light and the facility for 
 escaping the eyes of the world, which could be 
 better attained in a great city than elsewhere, 
 he felt confident that she would acquiesce 
 submissively in whatever he might decree,
 
 2 24 VANESSA. 
 
 and what that decree was to be he would 
 not now pause to decide. 
 
 Dennis O'Brien ^ot out of the mail-train 
 at Brockenhurst, and, since the night was 
 dark and rainy, and he had travelled in the 
 last carriage, the two shrouded figures who 
 hurried into a reserved compartment in the 
 fore-part of the train escaped his notice. He 
 went into the office to inquire whether any 
 passengers had booked from Lymington or 
 Brockenhurst by this or by the preceding 
 train ; and, since the booking clerk was short 
 and surly in his answers, as men are apt to 
 be in the small hours of the night, the train 
 moved on before he obtained the information 
 which he sought. ' A lady and gentleman,' re- 
 peated the clerk ; ' how should I know whether 
 it were a lady ? A gentleman telegraphed 
 from Lymington for a reserved carriage, and 
 drove up just in time to catch the train — a 
 tall gentleman in a pea-jacket, and he and
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 225, 
 
 they booked for London and went on by this . 
 very train.' 
 
 A few more inquiries satisfied O'Brien that 
 he was on the right track ; and he looked hope- 
 lessly at the two red lights of the receding 
 train, and chafed through the chill and weary 
 hours which elapsed before he could again- 
 start in pursuit of the fugitives. 
 
 Amy snatched an hour's troubled slumber 
 while she sat by her lover's side ; and when 
 she opened her eyes to see the summer sun- 
 rise flooding the landscape with rosy light, 
 and to hear Lord Alan's renewed expressions 
 of devoted attachment, her scruples and mis- 
 pavings seemed to have fled with the darkness, 
 She made no further inquiries as to their 
 destination, and Lord Alan directed the driver 
 of the cab which he hailed on their arrival at 
 Waterloo, to take them to the Charing Cross 
 hotel. 
 
 1 You require some hours' rest after all this 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 VANESSA. 
 
 hurry and agitation,' he said : ' I will order 
 a room for you, and when we meet at 
 breakfast or luncheon, as the case may be, it 
 will be time enough to decide on our future 
 plans.' 
 
 Amy acquiesced in this arrangement with 
 gentle submission, and when she was shown 
 into a bedroom adjoining the private sitting- 
 room, in which Lord Alan said that he should 
 be found whenever she required him, she 
 threw herself on the bed, and slept like a tired 
 child. Three hours afterwards, she re-ap- 
 peared, refreshed by a sound sleep, and by such 
 toilette as was possible in her destitute condi- 
 tion, but she still looked pale and heavy-eyed, 
 and her composure was easily upset. Lord 
 Alan rang for breakfast, and ordered a cutlet. 
 
 ' Cutlets, my lord ? ' said the glib waiter : 
 * yes, my lord, and for her ladyship like- 
 wise ? ' 
 
 ' Cutlets for two,' replied Lord Alan stiffly,
 
 APPLES OF SODOM- 227 
 
 adding by way of comment as soon as the 
 door was closed : ' Officious beast ! I suppose 
 that he has been studying the engraved 
 plate on my dressing-case.' 
 
 Amy walked to the window, without 
 attempting to reply, and when Alan con- 
 strained her with eentle force to turn her face 
 towards him, he saw that it was covered with 
 tears. ' My timid, shrinking love; he said, 
 1 why should the mistake distress you ? The 
 man has only ante-dated a title of which you 
 shall have no cause to feel ashamed.' 
 
 1 It is foolish of me,' said Amy, smiling now 
 at the vaofue assurance which made her heart 
 flutter with renewed hope. 
 
 ' The night journey has made you nervous/ 
 resumed Lord Alan : ' after breakfast you will 
 take a more reasonable view of life, and then 
 I hope to charm away all your fears of the sea. 
 Once again on board the yacht, which is to be 
 in readiness for us at Cowes, you will be safe 
 
 Q2
 
 2 28 VANESSA. 
 
 from any annoyance.' Amy's heart sank 
 aeain, and all Lord Alan's tender watchful- 
 ness for her comfort and his repeated assur- 
 ances that the joy of her presence gave a new 
 charm to life, failed to restore her cheerful- 
 ness. 
 
 Breakfast was scarcely over, when the 
 waiter brought in a card : ' A gentleman 
 Avishing to speak with you, my lord.' 
 
 ' Bid him wait : I will see him by-and-by 
 in the coffee-room, ' said Lord Alan, putting 
 the card from him with a haughty gesture. 
 
 4 Henry,' gasped Amy, turning pale as 
 death. 
 
 * No, my dear love, not your brother. He 
 may conceive himself entitled to see you, 
 although I do not allow that any man on earth 
 has the right to interfere between us ; but this 
 is a message from young O'Brien, and if I see 
 him at all, it will be to demand an account of 
 his impertinent intrusion. Meanwhile, let him
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 229 
 
 wait.' But, as he spoke, a knock at the door 
 was followed by O'Brien's entrance, and Lord. 
 Alan started up in fierce anger. ' Probably, 
 sir, you are not aware that this is a private 
 room.' 
 
 1 I am aware of it, Lord Alan; said Dennis, 
 standing his ground firmly, although scarcely 
 able to master his emotion when his eyes fell 
 on Amy's shrinking form : ' it appears to me 
 that a private room is best adapted for such 
 an interview as this must be. I shall not 
 detain you long ; I will not detain you at all, 
 if Miss Mertoun is prepared to return with 
 me to her friends.' 
 
 Amy turned her head away, as she sank 
 down on the sofa, trembling and speechless ; 
 and Lord Alan held her hand in a grasp 
 which trembled also with suppressed fury. 
 
 1 Address yourself to me, sir, if you must 
 speak at all,' he said : ' I must first learn the
 
 23O VANESSA. 
 
 pretext for your unwelcome intrusion. Do 
 you claim the rights of a discarded lover ? ' 
 
 ' I claim no interest in the matter, except 
 as her brother's friend,' said Dennis, and the 
 words sounded strangely cold, as they fell 
 from his pale lips : ' Henry Mertoun em- 
 powered me to act for him, if I were the first 
 to light upon the right track. No doubt he 
 will start for London as soon as he receives 
 the telegram I have just despatched, but in 
 the meantime I am prepared to take Miss 
 Mertoun to her mothers house.' 
 
 ' Miss Mertoun can dispense with your 
 services, Mr. O'Brien. Speak to him, Amy, 
 assure him that your choice is made, that you 
 have cast in your lot to live and die with one 
 who truly loves you.' 
 
 Amy's lips moved without uttering a 
 sound, but the gesture with which she clung 
 to Alan Rae's arm, and hid her face on his 
 shoulder was significant enough. To forsake
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 23 I 
 
 her lover at Henry's bidding would have 
 been hard, but to turn from him in O'Brien's 
 presence seemed impossible. 
 
 ' Now, sir, perhaps you are satisfied,' said 
 Lord Alan. 
 
 ' Satisfied to go back and tell her mother 
 that one who calls himself a gentleman has 
 constrained a woman to proclaim her own 
 dishonour ! ' rejoined Dennis. 
 
 The stinging truth struck home, and wrung 
 from Lord Alan the avowal which had, up to 
 that moment, formed no part of his profligate 
 scheme. 'Who talks of dishonour, Mr. 
 O'Brien ? If Amy is not yet my wedded 
 wife, it is because you have surprised us 
 before marriage was possible. I go from 
 here to my banker's to take the necessary 
 steps for procuring a special license, and I 
 invite you to be present at our wedding this 
 afternoon, and will further do you the honour 
 of requesting you to give the bride away.'
 
 232 VANESSA. 
 
 1 1 will not shrink from the task,' said 
 .Dennis steadily, as his eyes fell once more 
 upon Amy. She sat still with averted face, 
 Ibut the nervous action with which she clasped 
 and unclasped her hands seemed to betray 
 •her sense of degradation in the eyes of the 
 man who had so lately esteemed her the 
 noblest thing on earth. ' I doubt whether 
 Henry Mertoun can be here in time, and it 
 will be a relief to him to find that you have 
 made the only reparation which is possible 
 for this night's work. I shall remain in the 
 hotel until you can fix the time and place for 
 /our meeting this afternoon.' 
 
 ' Do you doubt my word, Mr. O'Brien, 
 ,that you propose to remain here as a spy 
 upon my actions ? ' 
 
 ' Such was not my meaning,' said O'Brien, 
 with studied courtesy, divining Lord Alan's 
 inclination to pick a quarrel with him, which 
 might vindicate his liberty of action : ' I have
 
 APPLES OF SODOM. 233 
 
 had a sleepless night, and a hurried journey, 
 and I see no necessity for further exertion.' 
 
 He left the room, and Lord Alan remained 
 to writhe under the conviction that he had 
 pledged his honour as a gentleman to the 
 step from which he recoiled. When Amy 
 lifted her eyes in timid gratitude, she met a 
 very different expression in her lover's face. 
 
 1 That man, — that hound, Amy, who has 
 dared to come between us ; did I hit the 
 mark when I called him your discarded 
 lover ? ' 
 
 ' If it had been Henry, he would have 
 been even more cruel in his anger,' faltered 
 Amy. 
 
 ' That is not the question. I repeat, what 
 is this man to you ? ' 
 
 ' I believe that he loved me a little once ; 
 you can see for yourself that he hates and 
 despises me now. Oh, Alan, if you turn 
 against me, you had better kill me at once.'
 
 234 VANESSA. 
 
 ' I am to marry you instead,' he replied 
 with something like a sneer. ' You and 
 O'Brien have elected that it is so to be. As 
 things were, I was prepared to be your slave ; 
 as they are, your husband must also be your 
 master. I have a right to claim perfect 
 candour as to your relations with the past, 
 absolute submission with regard to the 
 future. As I have already said, O'Brien 
 shall give my bride away, since I could not 
 inflict upon him more refined torture, but 
 when that part is played out I forbid you 
 ever again to see, or speak with, him. Do 
 you understand my words ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, Alan,' said Amy, low and sub- 
 missively, and Alan's suspicious temper was 
 appeased for the moment, since he could not 
 read the doubt and terror which chilled her 
 heart. The apple of Sodom at which Amy 
 had snatched was already crumbling to ashes 
 in her grasp.
 
 ?35 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 Late in the afternoon of the same day, 
 O'Brien met Henry Mertoun at the 
 Waterloo Station. ' It is you, Dennis/ said 
 Henry, as their hands met in close union, 
 and eyes that were haggard with anxiety and 
 sleeplessness were moistened for a moment : 
 4 you would scarcely be here unless you had 
 o^ood news for me.' 
 
 ' I hope that it is good,' said Dennis. ' I 
 come straight from Lord Alan's wedding, and 
 it was I who gave away the bride ! Such is 
 the irony of fate.' In few words he went on 
 to relate his morning's work, and indeed, 
 Henry was intolerant of details. 
 
 ' We will talk of it no more,' he said : ' it
 
 236 . VANESSA. 
 
 is a black, heartless business, and but for you 
 it might have been infinitely worse. We 
 shall never forget what we owe vou, Dennis.' 
 
 1 1 wish that forgetfulness were possible,' 
 he replied emphatically : ' the haughty gloom 
 of Lord Alan's manner, and your sisters 
 nervous timidity, will haunt my dreams for 
 many a day. Do you intend to see them ? ' 
 
 'No,' rejoined Henry, ' Amy has chosen 
 her own lot and must abide by it ; I will 
 neither make nor mar in the matter, and it 
 will be better for me to qt> down to Allerton 
 before some garbled version of the facts 
 reaches my mothers ears. It is so likely 
 that a Swanage grocer will make capital out 
 of the excitement by sending a paragraph to 
 the newspapers, and I charged Helen not to 
 write until she had certain intelligence to 
 give. If you feel disposed to finish your 
 tour in Purbeck, it would be a satisfaction to 
 the two girls to hear particulars from
 
 THE WEDDING. 237 
 
 yourself. I have neither heart nor funds for 
 any more holiday-making, and I shall go 
 back to my desk at the Bank to-morrow.' 
 
 Dennis acquiesced in this arrangement 
 and went down to Poole that evening, in 
 order that he mi^ht take the first steamer to 
 Swanage on the following day. Helen, ap- 
 prised of his movements, and of the bare fact of 
 her sister's marriage, by a few hurried lines 
 from her brother, awaited his arrival on the 
 pier ; but neither seemed able to enter at once 
 on the subject of which their hearts were full, 
 and O'Brien's first inquiry was for Eva. 
 
 ' She slept a little last night, but she is 
 very low and nervous, and I doubt whether 
 she will be really better until we get away 
 from here. I thought that the fresh air 
 might revive her, but she thinks it impossible 
 to go out, because people will stare. I say, 
 let them stare, but Eva is so thin-skinned.' 
 
 ' You must both wish to get away,' said
 
 238 VANESSA. 
 
 Dennis, ' and your mother will need you 
 much: 
 
 ' Poor mother ! I hunger to be with her,' 
 said Helen, in an unsteady voice. ' I could 
 not leave Eva here alone, and I wait for 
 Uncle Richard's answer, as she has written 
 to ask whether she may go home. Do you 
 know where they have gone, Dennis ? not, I 
 imagine, to Lady Cecilia's.' 
 
 ' I suppose that they will go, or have 
 already gone, to Scotland,' replied Dennis : 
 ' Henry sent an advertisement of the 
 wedding to the papers yesterday, and Lord 
 Alan may think it expedient to see his father 
 before the announcement meets his eyes.' 
 
 1 Tell me what you think of it all, Dennis ?' 
 said Helen, looking up suddenly. 
 
 ' That is a large question, and we had 
 better sit down if we are to talk the matter 
 out,' replied O'Brien, throwing himself on the 
 sands, a little in advance of Helen, so that she
 
 THE WEDDING. 239 
 
 could not see his face. ' I think, Helen, 
 that Lady Alan Rae has dark days in store 
 for her, and that she, in her inmost heart, 
 knows that she has staked her happiness on 
 a false issue.' 
 
 1 For the present, at all events, I should 
 have thought that the knowledge that she is 
 Lady Alan Rae would satisfy her aspirations/ 
 said Helen. ' It is his conduct which puzzles 
 me — why he should risk the displeasure of 
 his family, and give up so much for her sake, 
 unless he truly loves her.' And Dennis was 
 not disposed to enlighten her as to the 
 involuntary nature of the sacrifice. 
 
 1 It was a strange wedding,' he said, be- 
 ginning to find relief in relating his experi- 
 ences. ' They were married in the room in 
 which I found them, with no attempt at 
 bridal ceremony. Amy was still in her boat- 
 ing dress, with her head uncovered. She 
 trembled so much that I thought she would
 
 24O VANESSA. 
 
 have dropped, and her answers were perfectly 
 inaudible.' 
 
 ' Poor Amy ! ' said Helen, while the tears, 
 which she was apt to consider a sign of 
 affectation or weakness flowed freely. ' Did 
 she speak to you, Dennis, and had she a*ny 
 message for us ? ' 
 
 ' She came up to me when Lord Alan went 
 into the next room to pay the fees, and took 
 my hand for a moment, as she thanked me 
 hurriedly for what I had done for her. She 
 said something in so low a tone that I could 
 scarcely catch it, about her ivory-bound 
 prayer-book, which you were to give me.' 
 
 ' The prayer-book you gave to her on one 
 of her birthdays. It is on her toilette-table 
 at our lodgings, and you shall have it when 
 we eo in. Eva must wonder now whether 
 we are coming.' 
 
 They lingered no longer, and Helen left 
 Dennis alone in the sitting-room, presently
 
 THE WEDDING. 24 I 
 
 returning with the little prayer-book, which 
 she put silently into his hand. Dennis un- 
 clasped the book to turn to the fly-leaf on 
 which, in the happy days of their early 
 acquaintance, he had inscribed Amy's name, 
 and, as he did so, one or two dried flowers 
 fluttered from between the pages. 
 
 1 Memorials of the walks we have taken 
 together,' observed Dennis, and he was more 
 deeply moved when he turned to the last leaf 
 of the book, on which a discoloured spike of 
 flowers was gummed, with the initials D. O. B., 
 and a date inscribed below. ' Look here, 
 Helen; this is a spike of habenaria, the white 
 butterfly orchis, which I picked for her, not 
 five minutes before she told me that all was at 
 an end between us. It is faded and blackened 
 now, like our early love, but the relic proves 
 that its memory still lingered in her heart, 
 and it may be that I should have won her 
 
 vol. 1. R
 
 242 VANESSA. 
 
 back if I had been less deeply wounded by 
 her fickleness.' 
 
 ' That is to say, your lives might have 
 flowed in the same current, if you had been 
 equally shallow-hearted,' said Helen, with 
 characteristic vehemence. ' No, Dennis, it is 
 better as it is — better for you, I mean. Amy 
 has acted basely — I must say it, though she 
 is my own sister — and not only towards you. 
 Poor Eva is cut to the heart.' 
 
 Richard Mertoun was equally distressed 
 and shocked by the alteration which he 
 noticed in his daughter when he met her at 
 the Bixley station, two days later. The 
 facts in connection with his niece's elopement 
 had only been reported to him in a mitigated 
 form ; and his first feeling was one of relief, 
 since he did not consider himself responsible 
 for Amy's misconduct, and believed that the 
 ill-advised haste with which the marriage had 
 been contracted would convince Eva that his
 
 THE WEDDING. 243 
 
 objections to Lord Alan Rae were well 
 founded. In fact, he supposed that Eva 
 must be more affected by the loss of her 
 cousins companionship than by that of her 
 possible lover. 'Why, my dear child,' he 
 said, ' you look worse than when you went 
 away. We must drive round by Popham's, 
 and desire him to come up and see you this 
 evening/ 
 
 1 Oh no, papa,' said Eva earnestly. ' Do 
 not let me be worried about my health, and 
 my appetite, and Dr. Popham's prescrip- 
 tions. All that I want is, to be let alone.' 
 
 Helen had gone on to Allerton by the 
 same train, after promising, not very willingly, 
 to return to Leasowes for a few days, if she 
 found that her mother could spare her. ' Only 
 for a few days,' she stipulated. ' Dennis 
 says that life is made up of failed experi- 
 ments, and that the only inexcusable thing is 
 
 to fail in the same way twice. You made a 
 r 2
 
 244 
 
 VANESSA. 
 
 mistake in adopting Amy as a sister, and you 
 shall not do the same thing over again with 
 me.' 
 
 1 You have often said that no two sisters 
 have less in common,' said Eva. 
 
 ' It was said before I knew how widely our 
 paths were to diverge ; and, as things are at 
 present, I have no poor lover to forsake nor 
 will my beauty turn the head of a rich one ; 
 but it would not be less fickle to abandon my 
 connection with old Benson and the sewing- 
 machine, and to leave our mother to carry on 
 the struggle of life without me. And you 
 need not regret that I have other work to do, 
 Eva, for if I were set up on a pinnacle to be 
 worshipped, you would soon be ashamed of 
 your uncouth idol.' 
 
 However that might be, Eva cried very 
 much when Helen gathered together the 
 bulky marine and geological treasures with 
 which the railway carriage was littered, and
 
 THE WEDDING. 245 
 
 disappeared into the booking-office to vindicate 
 her independence by taking a second-class 
 ticket for the remainder of the journey, instead 
 of availing herself of her cousins intention 
 to pay her way home. This was another 
 trait which pointed the contrast between 
 the two sisters ; for Eva found herself 
 continually on the verge of giving offence by 
 her habits of lavish liberality, in which Amy 
 had acquiesced almost as a matter of course. 
 The return to Leasowes seemed doubly 
 cheerless, when Helen was no longer by her 
 side to brace her spirits by wholesome 
 counsel. She was harassed by her father's 
 affectionate solicitude about her health ; and 
 the anticipation of Lady Cecilia's appearance 
 to jar her sensitive nerves by her comments on 
 their mutual injuries loomed like a nightmare 
 in the background. Dr. Popham's prescrip- 
 tions seemed a less evil ; and Eva gave way 
 to the lassitude which oppressed her, and
 
 246 VANESSA. 
 
 lay in bed for some days, while Misbourne 
 was instructed to deny to visitors any access 
 to her sick room. 
 
 Helen had not written to her mother to 
 announce her return ; so that she left her 
 goods at the station and walked through the 
 quiet streets of Allerton to their own house, 
 which she found to be still untenanted. She 
 set out at once for Charlton Manor, enjoying 
 the coolness and verdure of the grass-fields, 
 and the quiet beauties of the inland land- 
 scape, but subdued, at once by the parting 
 from Eva and by the prospect of witnessing 
 her mother's distress on Amy's account. ' If 
 it should be my lot to be crossed in love,' 
 she said to herself, ' I hope that I shall bear 
 it more bravely than poor Eva. I will take 
 Dennis as my model of fortitude ; he is 
 neither crushed nor embittered by his dis- 
 appointment, and yet no one can say that he 
 is insensible to it.'
 
 THE WEDDING. 247 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Helen 
 reached the farm, and the elms which 
 surrounded it threw their long shadows 
 across the grass which the sleek cows were 
 munching with practical, if not with aesthetic, 
 enjoyment of its dewy fragrance. While 
 Helen hesitated to startle her mother by 
 walking up the flagged pathway, and enter- 
 ing the house without preamble, her per- 
 plexity was relieved by Mr. George 
 Charlton's appearance from behind the farm 
 buildings. He was very unlike his small, 
 brisk sister in person — younger by more 
 years than she would have cared to specif)', 
 tall and broad-shouldered, deliberate in 
 speech, and with the somewhat bovine cast 
 of features which is not uncommonly 
 acquired by men whose work lies among the 
 fields and pastures of rural England. He 
 advanced to meet Helen with the broadest 
 smile of congratulation. ' Mrs. Mertoun
 
 248 VANESSA. 
 
 will be delighted to see you, and so indeed 
 are we all,' he said. ' We have not been 
 able to talk of anything but your sister's 
 great marriage at home, and it was just the 
 same when I went into the market yesterday. 
 At first Mrs. Mertoun was a little startled 
 and upset by getting no longer notice of it, 
 but young people must manage matters their 
 own way, and the more we think of it the 
 better she is pleased. As my sister Anne 
 says, ' Miss Amy's beauty will grace a 
 coronet, and the Marquis of Raeburn cannot 
 fail to be charmed with his daughter-in-law.' 
 
 Helen was relieved, if a little surprised, 
 to find that her mother had been enabled 
 to view the matter through Miss Charlton's 
 spectacles, and she felt no desire to dispel 
 the illusion. Mrs. Mertoun was not in truth 
 quite so free from misgivings as George 
 Charlton represented her to be, and she shed 
 a few tears when she had taken Helen to her
 
 THE WEDDING. 249 
 
 own room, acknowledging that it was very- 
 sudden, and that Henry was sadly put out 
 and vexed about it. But, she added, Amy's 
 happiness was the chief thing to be con- 
 sidered, and, if her lover had insisted on 
 secresy, she must not be too much blamed. 
 There was not much time for private dis- 
 cussion on Helen's first arrival, for Miss 
 Charlton was hovering about, ea^er to 
 enforce her welcome by making Helen sit 
 down to the substantial evening meal which 
 was already spread. The cream which had 
 been brought in for tea, rich as it was, was 
 not considered rich enough to do her honour ; 
 and fresh supplies were ordered from the 
 dairy, together with a golden slice of honey- 
 comb. Helen was quite ready to do justice 
 to these delicacies, and although she felt like 
 a monster of hypocrisy when she was called 
 upon to describe Lord Alan's noble appear- 
 ance, courtly manners, and ardent affection,
 
 25O VANESSA. 
 
 she could abandon herself with the healthy 
 instinct of youth, which disdains to brood 
 over unseen griefs, to the amusement of the 
 moment when the conversation diverged to 
 the wider subject of courtship. 
 
 1 It is not much you know about it, 
 George, the more's the pity,' said Miss 
 Charlton, who believed herself to be swayed 
 by a heroic desire to abdicate in favour of a 
 young sister-in-law. 
 
 ' I got over it early in life,' replied George, 
 with a grim smile ; ' mother cured me of 
 courting when I was only a lad, and I never 
 tried it again.' 
 
 ' You have kept the matter very close all 
 these years,' rejoined Miss Charlton, * I 
 never heard a word of it.' 
 
 ' Tell us now,' said Helen ; and though 
 Mr. Charlton coloured and fidgetted, and 
 said that it was nonsense, he did not resist 
 the importunity.
 
 THE WEDDING. 25 I 
 
 ' 1 was only a lad/ he repeated, ' and very 
 much taken up with Molly Moggs the dairy- 
 maid, who was six years older than me, and 
 had been keeping company with our carter 
 since they went to Sunday-school together, 
 though I knew nought of it. I came into 
 the milking-house one afternoon, and, never 
 thinking that mother was in the next stall, I 
 came behind Moll as she bent over the 
 milking-pail, took up her face in my two 
 hands, and gave her a smacking kiss. 
 Mother turned sharp round to say that Moll 
 was wasting her time, with her face all 
 aflame when she saw that it was I. There 
 was Moll crying behind her apron, and I 
 stood there like a fool not knowing what to 
 do or say. ' You say that he never served 
 you so before, Moll,' said mother, ' and I'll 
 show you what to do if he ever offers to 
 serve you so again.' She pulled my head 
 down by the hair and gave me such a box
 
 252 VANESSA. 
 
 on the ear as made the sparks fly out of my 
 eyes. I did not think so much of the blow, 
 but it made me mad to see Moll drop her 
 apron and forget her crying, and lay her 
 head against the cow's side to laugh. I 
 locked myself up in my room and would not 
 have any supper, and that night I swung 
 myself out the chamber window into the 
 garden, and ran off, meaning to enlist for a 
 soldier or go to sea. I ran a mile beyond 
 Allerton, and then I remembered that I had 
 ofone to the milkin^-house before I littered 
 down the calves, and that the poor things 
 would be crying for their supper all night.' 
 
 ' And so you went back to the farm,' said 
 Helen ; ' that is a delightful conclusion to 
 the idyll. The calf which revived your 
 wavering allegiance to the Manor Farm 
 ought to have been stuffed and put in a glass 
 case.' The homely talk, the country fare,
 
 THE WEDDING. 253 
 
 were alike refreshing to her harassed spirits, 
 and she was able to take a more cheerful 
 view of Amy's future when they retired for 
 the night, and it was necessary to discuss the 
 matter with Mrs. Mertoun in all its bearings. 
 
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 SCIENCE. 
 
 EUCLID SIMPLIFIED IN METHOD AND LANGUAGE. Being 
 a Manual of Geometry on the French System. By J. R. Morell. 
 
 The chief features of the work are : — The separation of Theorems and Problems — The 
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 Physiology of the Senses. 
 
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 Prof. LIEBREICH (University of Berlin). 
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 Forms of Life and other Cosmical Conditions. 
 
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 Modem Epidemics. 
 
 Prof. SCHUTZENBERGER (Director of 
 the Chemical Laboratory- at the Sorbonne). 
 On Fermentations. 
 
 Mons: FREIDEL. 
 
 The Functions of Organic Chemistry. 
 
 Mons. DEBRAY. 
 Precious Metals. 
 
 Mons. ALFRED GRANDIDLER. 
 Madagascar. 
 
 65, Comhill ; 6° i2 ; Paternoster Pow, London.
 
 io Works Published by He?iry S. King 6° Co., 
 
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 A CLUSTER OF LIVES. By Alice King-, Author of "Queen of 
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 Contents. — Vittoria Colonna — Madame Recamier — A Daughter of the Stuarts — 
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 65, Cornhill ; and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King & Co., n 
 
 MILITARY WORKS. 
 
 RUSSIA'S ADVANCE EASTWARD. Based on the Official Reports of 
 Lieutenant Hugo Stunun, German Military Attache to the Khivan Expedition. To 
 which is appended other Information on the Subject, and a Minute Account of the 
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 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY, UNDER GEN. 
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 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY UNDER GEN. 
 
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 has he succeeded, that it might really be imagined 
 
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 THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST ARMY UNDER GEN. 
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 In demy 8vo. Uniform with the above. Price gs. 
 
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 " Contains much solid and valuable information. 
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 and agreeable than those of many of his comrades 
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 Academy. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE BAVARIAN ARMY CORPS. 
 By Captain Hugo Helvig:. Translated by Captain G. S. Schwabe.. 
 
 With 5 large Maps. In 2 vols. Demy 8vo. Price 24s. 
 
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 ful to the future historian of the war ; and it is, on most creditably."— _//■/«•>?£■«>«. 
 the whole, written in a spirit of fairness and im- | "An instructive work." — Westminster Revie7i\ 
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 is enriched by some excellent large scale maps, and his translation is admirably executed." — Pall 
 
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 65, Cornhill ; 6^ 12, Pate?'?wster R07&, London.
 
 12 IVorks Published by Henry S. King &* Co., 
 
 Military Wop.ks — continued. 
 
 AUSTRIAN CAVALRY EXERCISE. From an Abridged Edition 
 compiled by Captain Illia Woinovits, of the General Staff, on the Tactical Regula- 
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 Messrs. King- are publishing, a small treatise on I Daily Review. 
 ' Austrian Cavalry Exercise' will hold a good and 
 useful place." — Westminster Review. I 
 
 History of the Organisation, Equipment, and War Services of 
 THE REGIMENT OF BENGAL ARTILLERY. Compiled from 
 
 Published Official and other Records, and various private sources, by Maj or Francis 
 W. Stubbs, Royal (late Bengal) Artillery. Vol. I. will contain War Services. The 
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 VICTORIES AND DEFEATS. An Attempt to explain the Causes which 
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 "The young officer should have it always at 
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 language, definitions of varieties of ground and the 
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 Naval and Military G 1 . 
 
 THE FRONTAL ATTACK OF INFANTRY. By Capt. Laymann, 
 
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 " An exceedingly useful kind of book. A valu- ] plains how these were modified in the course of 
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 It recounts, in the first place, the opinions and effect of the fire; and how, accordingly, troops 
 tactical formations which* regulated the German should be trained to attack in future wars."— Naval 
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 ELEMENTARY MILITARY GEOGRAPHY, RECONNOITRING, 
 
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 in order to know to what points in an enemy's 
 country to direct his attention ; and pro-, i 
 this necessity by giving, in terse and sensible 
 
 THREE WORKS BY LIEUT.-COL. THE HON. A. ANSON, 
 
 V.C., M.P. 
 The Abolition of Purchase and the I Army Reserves and Militia Reforms. 
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 STUDIES IN THE NEW INFANTRY TACTICS. Parts I. & II. 
 
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 " The subject of the respective advantages of 
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 Second Edition. Revised and Corrected. 
 TACTICAL DEDUCTIONS FROM THE WAR OF 1870—71. By 
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 65, Corjihill ; c^ 12, Paternoster Row, London. 
 
 mirably treated j indeed, we cannot but consider 
 it to be decidedly superior to any work which has 
 hitherto appeared in English upon this all-import- 
 ant subject." — Standard.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King O 5 Co., 13 
 
 Military Works— continued. 
 THE OPERATIONS OF THE SOUTH ARMY IN JANUARY 
 
 AND FEBRUARY, 1871. Compiled from the Official War Documents of the Head- 
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 Demy 8vo, with Maps. Uniform with the above. Price 60. 
 
 THE ARMY OF THE NORTH-GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 
 
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 the other volumes of the ' German Military Series,' 
 wliich Messrs. King are now producing in hand- 
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 war, and on the employment of the different 
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 FROM SEDAN TO THE END OF THE WAR OF 1870-71. With large 
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 of works upon the war that our press has put forth. 
 Our space forbids our doing more than commend- 
 ing it earnestly as the most authentic and instruc- 
 tive narrative of the second section of the war that 
 has yet appeared. "—Saturday Review. 
 
 "The book is of absolute necessity to the mili- 
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 — United Service Gazette. 
 
 '• The work of Major von Blume in its English 
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 HASTY INTRENCH MENTS. By Colonel A. Brialmont. Translated 
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 tical illustrations of the use of hasty intrenchments hours . . . deserves to become a standard military 
 on the field of battle.'' — United Service .Magazine. , work." — Standard. 
 
 STUDIES IN LEADING TROOPS. By Colonel von Verdy Du 
 
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 •«• General Beauchamp WALKER says of 1 observant and fortunately-placed staff-officer is in 
 
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 CAVALRY FIELD DUTY. By Major-General von Mirus. Translated 
 
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 V:'.::nteer Service Gazette. 
 
 65, Com hill ; 6° 12, Paternoster Roiv, London.
 
 14 Works Published by Henry S. King & Co., 
 
 INDIA AND THE EAST. 
 
 THE THREATENED FAMINE IN BENGAL; How it may be 
 
 Met, and the Recurrence of Famines in India Prevented. Being No. i of 
 " Occasional Notes on Indian Affairs." By Sir H. Bartle E. Frere, Gr.C.B., 
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 THE ORIENTAL SPORTING MAGAZINE. A Reprint of the first 
 
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 GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA, with 
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 ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY OF 
 INDIA. 
 
 FACTS AND FEATURES OF INDIAN 
 HISTORY, in a series of alternating 
 Reading Lessons and Memory Exercises. 
 
 65, Comhill ; &* 12, Paternoster Roiv, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King &> Co., 15 
 
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 Second Edition. 
 
 WESTERN INDIA BEFORE AND DURING THE MUTINIES. 
 Pictures drawn from life. By Major-Gen. Sir Georgre Le Grand Jacob, 
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 EXCHANGE TABLES OF STERLING AND INDIAN RUPEE 
 
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 1 6 Works Published by Henry S. King e^ Co., 
 
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 GUTTA-PERCHA WILLIE, THE WORKING GENIUS. By 
 
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 THE DESERT PASTOR, JEAN JAROUSSEAU. Translated from 
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 London Xews. 
 
 THE DESERTED SHIP. A Real Story of the Atlantic. By Cupples 
 
 Howe, Master Mariner. Illustrated by Townley Green. Cr. 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 " Curious adventures with bears, seals, and other I the story deals, and will much interest boys who 
 Arctic animals, and with scarcely more human have a spice of romance in their composition."— 
 Esquimaux, form the mass of material with which | Courant. 
 
 HOITY TOITY, THE GOOD LITTLE FELLOW. By Charles 
 
 Camden. With Eleven Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " Relates very pleasantly the history of a charm- I them to do right. There are many shrewd lessons 
 ing little fellow who meddles always with a kindly | to be picked up in this clever little story."— Public 
 disposition with other people's affairs and helps | Opinion. 
 
 THE BOY SLAVE IN BOKHARA. A Tale of Central Asia. By 
 
 David Ker, Author of "On the Road to Khiva," &c. Crown Svo, with 
 Illustrations. Price 55. 
 
 SLAVONIC FAIRY TALES. From Russian, Servian, Polish, and 
 Bohemian Sources. Translated by John T. Naake, of the British Museum. Crown 
 8vo. With Four Illustrations. Price 55. 
 
 " A most choice and charming selection and thirteen Servian, in Mr. Naake's modest but 
 
 The tales have an original national ring in them, serviceable collection of Slazonic Faity Tales. 
 and will be pleasant reading to thousands besides Its contents are, as a general rule, well chosen, 
 children. Yet children will eagerly open the and they are translated with a fidelity which 
 
 pages, and not willingly close them, of the pretty deserves cordial praise . . . Before taking leave 
 volume. " — Sta nda rd. 
 
 "English readers now have an opportunity of 
 becoming acquainted with eleven Polish and eight 
 Bohemian stories, as well as with eight Russian 
 
 volume." — Standard. of his prettily got up volume, we ought to mention 
 
 " English readers now have an opportunity of that its contents fully come up to the promise held 
 becoming acquainted with eleven Polish and eight out in its preface." — Academy. 
 
 65, Corjihill ; 6° 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by He?iry S. King &> Co., 17 
 
 Books for the Young and for Lending Librares — continued. 
 
 WAKING AND WORKING; OR, FROM GIRLHOOD TO 
 WOMANHOOD. By Mrs. G. S. E-eaney. Cr. Svo. With a Frontispiece. 5s. 
 
 AT SCHOOL WITH AN OLD DRAGOON. By Stephen J. 
 
 Mac Kenna. Crown 8vo. With Six Illustrations. Price 55. 
 
 "Consisting almost entirely of startling stories of | "Mr.MacKenna's former work,' Plucky Fellows,' 
 
 military adventure . . . Boys will find them suffi- is already a general favourite, and those who read 
 
 ciently exciting reading." — Times. the stories of the Old Dragoon will find that he has 
 
 "These yarns give some very spirited and in- J still plenty of materials at hand for pleasant tales, 
 
 teresting descriptions of soldiering in various parts ! and has lost none of his power in telling them well." 
 
 of the world.*'— Spectator. I —Standard. 
 
 FANTASTIC STORIES. Translated from the German of Richard 
 Leander, by Paulina B. Granville. Crown 8vo. With Eight full-page Illustra- 
 tions, by M. E. Fraser-Tytler. Price 5*. 
 
 " Short, quaint, and, as they are fitly called, fan- I "'Fantastic' is certainly the right epithet to 
 tastic, they deal with all manner of subjects."— apply to some of these strange tales."— Examiner. 
 Guardian. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 STORIES IN PRECIOUS STONES. By Helen Zimmern. With 
 
 Six Illustrations. Crown Svo. Price 5s. 
 
 ' ' A series of pretty tales which are half fantastic, 
 half natural, and pleasantly quaint, as befits stories 
 intended for the young." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " A pretty little book which fanciful young per- 
 
 sons will appreciate, and which will remind its 
 readers of many a legend, and many an imaginary 
 virtue attached to the gems they are so fond of 
 wearing." — Post. 
 
 THE GREAT DUTCH ADMIRALS. By Jacob de Liefde. Crown 
 
 8vo. With Eleven Illustrations by Townley Green and others. Price 5s. 
 
 " May be recommended as a wholesome present I "A really good book." — Standard. 
 for boys. They will find in it numerous tales of " A really excellent book." — Spectator. 
 adventure." — AtJtenceum. \ 
 
 THE TASMANIAN LILY. By James Bonwick. Crown 8vo. 
 
 With Frontispiece. Price 5s. 
 " An interesting and useful work."— flour. | ceived, and are full of those touches which give 
 
 " The characters of the story are capitally cor.- | them a natural appearance."— Public Opinion. 
 
 MIKE HOWE, THE BUSHRANGER OF VAN DIEMEN'S 
 LAND. By James Bonwick. Crown 8vo. With a Frontispiece. Price $s. 
 
 " He illustrates the career of the bushranger half I are, to say the least, exquisite, and his representa- 
 a century ago ; and this he does in a highly credit- I tions of character are very marked."— Edinburgh 
 able manner ; his delineations of life in the bush Courant. 
 
 PHANTASMION. A Fairy Romance. By Sara Coleridge. With an 
 Introductory Preface by the Right Hon. Lord Coleridge of Ottery S. 
 Mary. A new Edition. In 1 vol. Crown 8vo. Price 7s. td. 
 
 " The readers of this fairy tale will find them- I read it were it twice the length, closing the book 
 selves dwelling for a time in a veritable region of with a feeling of regret that the repast was at an 
 romance, breathing an atmosphere of unreality, | end."— Vanity Fair. 
 
 and surrounded by supernatural beings."— Morn- I " A beautiful conception of a rarely -gifted mind." 
 ing Post. —Examiner. 
 
 " This delightful work . . . We would gladly have | 
 
 LAYS OF A KNIGHT-ERRANT IN MANY LANDS. By Major- 
 General Sir "Vincent Eyre, C.B., K.C.S.I., &C. Square crown 8vo. With 
 Six Illustrations. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Pharaoh Land. | Home Land. | Wonder Land. | Rhine Land. 
 " A collection of pleasant and well-written I " The conceits here and there are really very 
 stanzas . . . abounding in real fun and humour." amusing."— Standard. 
 —Literary World. ' 
 
 BEATRICE AYLMER AND OTHER TALES. By Mary M. Howard, 
 Author of " Brampton Rectory." 1 vol. Crown 8vo. Price 6s. 
 
 "These tales possess considc able merit."— I "A neat and chatty little volume."— Hour. 
 Court journal. 
 
 65, Cornhill ; &> \2, Paternoster Row, Lo?idon.
 
 1 8 Works Published by Henry S. King 6- Co., 
 
 WORKS BY ALFRED TENNYSON. 
 
 THE CABINET EDITION. 
 
 Messrs, Henry S. King & Co. have the pleasure to announce that 
 they are issuing an Edition of the Laureate's works, in Ten Monthly 
 Volumes, foolscap 8vo, entitled " The Cabinet Edition," at Half-a- 
 Crown each, which will contain the whole of Mr. Tennyson's works. 
 The first volume is illustrated by a beautiful Photographic Portrait ; 
 and the other volumes each contain a Frontispiece. They will be 
 tastefully bound in Crimson Cloth, and will be issued in the 
 following order : — 
 
 Vol. 
 
 1. EARLY POEMS. 
 
 2. ENGLISH IDYLLS & OTHER POEMS. 
 
 3. LOCKSLEY HALL & OTHER POEMS. 
 
 4. AYLMER'S FIELD & OTHER POEMS. 
 
 5. IDYLLS OF THE KING. 
 
 Vol. 
 
 6. IDYLLS OF THE KING. 
 
 7. IDYLLS OF THE KING. 
 
 8. THE PRINCESS. 
 
 9. MAUD AND ENOCH ARDEN. 
 10. IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Volumes I. to IV. are now ready. 
 Subscribers' names received by all Booksellers. 
 
 The other forms in which Mr. Tennyson's Works are published are : — 
 
 1'RICE. 
 S. d. 
 
 POEMS. Small 8vo 9 
 
 MAUD AND OTHER POEMS. Small Svo 50 
 
 THE PRINCESS. Small 8vo . 5 o 
 
 IDYLLS OF THE KING. Small Svo 70 
 
 >> ,, Collected. Small Svo 120 
 
 ENOCH ARDEN, &c. Small Svo 60 
 
 THE HOLY GRAIL, AND OTHER POEMS. Small Svo 70 
 
 GARETH AND LYNETTE. Small Svo 50 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM THE ABOVE WORKS. Square Svo, cloth extra . .50 
 SONGS FROM THE ABOVE WORKS. Square 8vo, cloth extra . . ..50 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. Small 8vo 60 
 
 LIBRARY EDITION OF MR. TENNYSON'S WORKS. 6 vols. Post Svo, each 10 6 
 POCKET VOLUME EDITION OF MR. TENNYSON'S WORKS. 11 vols., in 
 
 neat case 50 o 
 
 u gilt edges 55 o 
 
 THE WINDOW ; OR, THE SONGS OF THE WRENS. A Series of Songs. 
 
 By Alfred Tennyson. With Music by Arthur Sullivan. 4to, cloth, gilt extra 21 o 
 
 POEMS. Illustrated Edition, 4 to 21 o 
 
 65, Com hill; £>• 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 Works Published by Henry S. Ring & Co., 19 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 FOUR ELEGANT POETICAL GIFT BOOKS: 
 LYRICS OF LOVE, From Shakspeare to Tennyson. Selected and arranged 
 by W. Davenport Adams, Junr. Fcap. 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " We cannot too highly commend this work, de- I " Carefully selected and elegantly got up . . It 
 lightful in its contents and so pretty in its outward is particularly rich in poems from living writer^." — 
 adornings." — Standard. ' jfohn Bull. 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT'S POEMS. Red-line Edition. Hand- 
 somely bound. With Illustrations and Portrait of the Author. Price -js. 6d. A Cheaper 
 Edition, with Frontispiece, is also published. Price 3^. 6d. 
 
 TJiese are tJie only complete English Editions sanctioned by tJie Author. 
 " Of all the poets of the United States there is no tion."— Academy. 
 one who obtained the fame and position of a classic " We are glad to possess so neat and elegant an 
 earlier, or has kept them longer, than William edition of the works of the most thoughtful, grace- 
 Cullen Bryant ... A singularly simple and straight- ful, and Wordsworthian of American poets.'' — 
 forward fashion of verse. Very rarely has any . British Quarterly Review. 
 
 writer preserved such an e%-en level of merit: " Some of the purest and tenderest poetry of this 
 throughout his poems. Like some other American generation . . . Undoubtedly the best edition of the 
 poets, Mr. Bryant is particularly happy in transla- ' poet now in existence."— Glasgow Xews. 
 
 ENGLISH SONNETS. Collected and Arranged by John Dennis. 
 Fcap. 8vo. Elegantly bound. Price 2 s - 6d- 
 
 " Mr. Dennis has shown great judgment in this | delight. The notes are very useful. . . The volume 
 selection." — Saturday Rez'irri: is one for which English literature owes Mr. Dennis 
 
 "An exquisite selection, a selection which every the heartiest thanks." — Spectator. 
 lover of poetry will consult again and again with | 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 HOME-SONGS FOR QUIET HOURS. By the Rev. Canon R. H. 
 
 Baynes, Editor of " Lyra Anglicana," ccc. Fcap 8vo. Cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " All the pieces breathe the spirit of true poetry, I siderable power, and will be certain to be appre- 
 and are characterised by deep religious feeling." ciated by that large and increasing class which 
 — Leeds Mercury. . ; loves sacred poetry." — Church Herald. 
 
 '• A tasteful collection of devotional poetry of a "A most acceptable volume of sacred poetry ; a 
 very" high standard of excellence. The pieces are , good addition to the gift books of the season." — 
 short, mostly original, and instinct, for the most Rock. 
 
 part, with the most ardent spirit of devotion." — ; "These are poems in which every word has a 
 Standard. meaning, and from which it would be unjust to 
 
 " A very valuable and attractive batch of most ' remove a stanza . . . Some of the best pieces ia 
 readable verses . . . This collection is one of con- the book are anonymous."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 %* The above four books may also be had handsomely bound in 
 Morocco with gilt edges. 
 
 THE DISCIPLES. A New Poem. By Mrs. Hamilton King:. Second 
 Edition, with some Notes. Crown 8vo. Price js. 6d. 
 
 "A higher impression of the imaginative power could scarcely deny to ' Ugo Bassi' the praise of 
 of the writer is given by the objective truthfulness being a work worthy in every way to live . . . The 
 of the glimpses she gives us of her master, help- style of her writing is pure and simple in the last 
 ing us to understand how he could be regarded degree, and all is natural, truthful, and free from 
 by some as a heartless charlatan, by others as an . the slightest shade of obscurity in thought or die- 
 inspired saint." — Academy. tion. .. The book altogether is one that merits 
 
 "Mrs. King can write good verses. The de- unqualified admiration and praise."— Daily Tele- 
 scriprion of the capture of the Croats at Mestre is graph. 
 
 extremely spirited ; there is a pretty picture of the , " Throughout it breathes restrained passion and 
 road to Rome, from the Abruzzi, and another of lofty sentiment, which flow out now and then as a 
 Palermo."— Athenaum. stream widening to bless the lands into powerful 
 
 "In her new volume Mrs. King has far surpassed music." — British Quarterly Review. 
 her previous attempt. Even the most hostile critic 
 
 ASPROMONTE, AND OTHER POEMS. By the same Author. Second 
 
 Edition. Cloth, 4*. 6d. 
 
 "The volume is anonymous, but there is no reason I ' The Execution of Felice Orsini,' has much poetic 
 for the author to be ashamed of it. The ' Poems merit, the event celebrated being told with dra- 
 of Italy' are evidently inspired by genuine enthu- matic force." — Athenceum. 
 siasm in the cause espoused; and one of them, I "The verse is fluent and free." — Spectator. 
 
 65, Comhill ; c^ 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 20 
 
 Works Published by Henry S. King 6r> Co., 
 
 Poetry — continued. 
 
 SONGS FOB, MUSIC. By Four Friends. 
 Square crown 8vo. Price 5s. 
 
 CONTAINING SONGS BY 
 
 Reginald A. Gatty. Stephen H. Gatty. 
 
 Greville A. Chester. Juliana H. Ewing. 
 "A charming gift-book, which will be very 
 popular with lovers of poetry."— John Bui!. 
 
 " The charm of simplicity is manifest through- 
 Out, and the subjects are well chosen and suc- 
 cessfully treated.'— A' ock. 
 
 " One of the most delightful books of verse ot 
 the season."— Mirror. 
 
 " The collection is pleasing and varied."— Hud- 
 dersfield Chroi 
 ROBERT BUCHANAN'S POETICAL 
 WORKS. Collected Edition, in 3 Vols., 
 price 6s. each. Vol. I. contains, — "Bal- 
 lads and Romances;" " Ballads and Poems 
 of Life," and a Portrait of the Author. 
 
 Vol. II.—" Ballads and Poems of Life ;" 
 "Allegories and Sonnets." 
 
 Vol. III.—" Cruiskeen Sonnets ; " " Book 
 of Orm ;" "Political Mystics." 
 
 " Holding, as Mr. Buchanan does, such a con- 
 spicuous place amongst modern writers, the read- 
 ing public will be duly thankful for this handsome 
 edition of the poet's works." — Civil Service 
 Gazette. 
 
 " Taking the poems before us as experiments, 
 we hold that they are very full of promise ... In 
 the romantic ballad, Mr. Buchanan shows real 
 power." — Hour. 
 
 " If Mr. Buchanan were an unknown poet, this 
 volume would be amply sufficient to establish his 
 reputation among all lovers of true poetry."— 
 Liverpool Albion. 
 
 " We can conscientiously recommend this col- 
 lected edition to every admirer of Mr. Buchanan s 
 poetry. " — Glasgow Xccs. 
 THOUGHTS IN VERSE. Small crown 
 8vo. Price is. 6d. 
 
 This is a Collection of Verses expressive 
 of religious feeling, written from a Theistic 
 stand-point. 
 
 "AH who are interested in devotional verse 
 should read this tiny volume."— Academy. 
 ON THE NORTH WIND— THISTLE- 
 DOWN. A volume of Poems. By the 
 Hon. Mrs. Willoughby. Elegantly 
 bound, fcap. 8vo. 
 PENELOPE AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 By Allison Hughes. Fcap. 8vo. 
 POEMS. By Annette F. C. Knight. Fcap. 
 8vo. Cloth. Price 5*. 
 
 "The pleasant writer of these pleasant pages 
 excels chiefly in poetical imagery, in tracing" the 
 analysis of mind and matter, and in giving beauti- 
 ful expression to the most beautiful feelings of our 
 nature."— Standard. 
 
 COSMOS. A Poem. 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 SUBJECT.— Nature in the Past and in the Pre- 
 sent. — Man in the Past and in the Present. — The 
 Future. 
 
 NARCISSUS AND OTHER POEMS. 
 By E. Carpenter. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 " In many of these poems there is a force of 
 fancy, a grandeur of imagination, and a power of 
 poetical utterance not by any means common in 
 these days."— Sta udard. 
 
 I POEMS. By Augustus Taj'lor. Fcap. 8vo. 
 
 Cloth. Price $s. 
 I A TALE OF THE SEA, SONNETS, 
 AND OTHER POEMS. By James 
 Howell. Ecap. 8vo. Cloth, 5^. 
 
 " Mr. Howell has a keen perception of the 
 beauties of nature, and a just appreciation of the 
 charities of life. . . . Mr. Howell's book deserves, 
 and will probably receive, a warm reception." — 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM 
 THE GREEK AND LATIN POETS, 
 AND OTHER POEMS. By R. B. 
 Boswell, M.A. Oxon. Crown 8vo. 5s. 
 
 " Most of these translations we can praise as of 
 very high merit. . . . For sweetness and regu- 
 larity, his verses are pre-eminent." — Literary 
 iman. 
 "Mr. Boswell has a strong poetical vein in 
 his nature, and gives us every promise of success 
 as an original poet." — Standard. 
 
 EASTERN LEGENDS AND STORIES 
 IN ENGLISH VERSE. By Lieu- 
 tenant Norton Powlett, Royal Artillery. 
 Crown 8vo. 5J. 
 
 "There is a rollicking sense of fun about the 
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 and plenty of swing, which irresistibly reminds us 
 of our old favourite."— Graphic. 
 
 SONGS FOR SAILORS. By Dr. W. C. 
 
 Bennett. Dedicated by Special Request 
 to H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh. 
 Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. With Steel Portrait 
 and Illustrations. 
 
 An Edition in Illustrated paper Covers. 
 Price is. 
 WALLED IN, AND OTHER POEMS. 
 By the Rev. Henry J. Bulkeley. Crown 
 Svo. 5-r. 
 
 " A remarkable book of genuine poetry." — 
 Ev ening Standard. 
 
 "Genuine power displayed." — Examiner. 
 
 "Poetical feeling is manifest here, and the 
 diction of the poem is unimpeachable." — Pall 
 Mall Gazelle. 
 
 SONGS OF LIFE AND DEATH. By 
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 "Sonnets," "The Masque of Shadows," 
 etc. Crown Svo. 5s. 
 
 " The art of ballad-writing has long been lost 
 in England, and Mr Payne may claim to be its 
 restorer. It is a perfect delight to meet with such 
 a ballad as 'May Margaret' in the present 
 volume. " — // 'est/mnster Review. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 VIGNETTES IN RHYME AND VERS 
 DE SOCLE TE. By Austin Dobson. 
 Fcap. 8vo. 5J. 
 " Clever, clear-cut, and careful." — Athenceum. 
 "Asa writer of Vers de Socicte, Mr. Dobson 
 is almost, if not quite, unrivalled." — Examiner. 
 
 " Lively, innocent, elegant in expression, and 
 graceful in fancy." — Morning Post. 
 
 IMITATIONS FROM THE GERMAN 
 OF SPITTA AND TERSTEGEN. 
 By Lady Durand. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 
 
 " A charming little volume. . . "Will be a very 
 valuable assistance to peaceful, meditative souls." 
 — Church Herald. 
 
 65, Comhill ; 6° 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 J Forks Published by Henry S. King 6° Co., 
 
 21 
 
 Poet ry — continued. 
 
 ON VIOL AND FLUTE. A New Volume 
 of Poems, by Edmund W. Gosse. With. 
 a Frontispiece by W. B. Scott. 8vo. 5s. 
 " A careful perusal of his verses will show that 
 he is a poet. . . His song has the grateful, mur- 
 muring- sound which reminds one of the softness 
 and deliciousness of summer time. . . . There is 
 much that is good in the volume." — Spectator. 
 
 EDITH ; or, Love and Life in Cheshire. 
 By T. Ashe, Author of "The Sorrows of 
 Hypsipyle," etc. Sewed. Price 6d. 
 
 ' ' A really fine poem, full of tender, subtle 
 touches of feeling." — Manchester News. 
 
 " Pregnant from beginning to end with the re- 
 sults of careful observation and una... 
 p o -.v e r . ' — Cluster Ch ronirfe. 
 
 GOETHE'S FAUST. A New Translation in 
 Fume. By C. Kegan PauL Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " His translation is the most minutely accurate 
 that has yet been produced. . . " — Examiner. 
 
 "Mr. Paul is a zealous and a faithful inter- 
 preter.'' — Saturday Review. 
 
 TEE INN OF STRANGE MEETINGS, 
 AND OTHER POEMS. By Mortimer 
 Collins. Crown Svo. 5^. 
 
 " Abounding in quiet humour, in bright fanc\-, 
 in sweetness and melody of expression, and, at 
 times, in the tenderest" touches of pathos." — 
 -hie. 
 
 " Mr. Collins has an undercurrent of chivalry 
 and romance beneath the trifling vein of good- 
 humoured banter which is the special character- 
 istic of his verse."— Athenaum. 
 
 EROS AGONISTES. ByE.B.D. Crown 
 8vo. 3 j. cd. 
 
 "It is not the least merit of these pages that 
 they are everywhere illumined with moral and 
 religious sentiment suggested, not paraded, of the 
 brightest, purest character." — Standard. 
 
 CALDERON'S DRAMAS. Translated from 
 the Spanish. By Denis Florence Mac- 
 Carthy. Post Svo. Cloth, gilt edges, ioj. 
 
 " The lambent verse flews with an ease, spirit, 
 and music perfectly natural, liberal, and har- 
 monious." — Spectator. 
 
 " It is impossible to speak too highly of this 
 beautiful work. 7 ' — Month. 
 
 A LEGEND OF ST. PAULS. By the 
 Rev. G.B.Howard. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 SONNETS, LYRICS, AND TRANSLA- 
 TIONS. By the Rev. Charles Turner. 
 Cr. 8vo. 4s. 6d. 
 
 "Mr. Turner is a genuine poet; his song is 
 sweet and pure, beautiful in expression, and often 
 subtle in thought."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " The light of a devout, gentle, and kindly 
 spirit, a delicate and graceful fancy, a keen in- 
 telligence irradiates these thoughts."— Contem- 
 porary Review. 
 
 THE DREAM AND THE DEED, AND 
 OTHER POEMS. By Patrick Scott, 
 Author of " Footpaths between Two 
 Worlds," eta Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, $s. 
 
 " A bitter and able satire on the vice and follies 
 of the day, literary, social, and political."— Stan- 
 dard. 
 
 "Shows real poetic power coupled with evi- 
 dences of satirical energy."— Edinburgh. Daily 
 Review. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 SONGS OF TWO WORLDS. First 
 
 Series. By a New Writer. Fcp. Svo. 5^. 
 
 • poems will assuredly take high rank 
 
 among the class to which they belong."— British 
 
 Quarterly Revieu-, April 1st. 
 
 " No extracts could do justice to the exquisite 
 tones, the felicitous phrasing and delicately 
 wrought harmonies of some 01 these poems." — 
 Konconfor7nist. 
 
 " A purity and delicacy of feeling like morning 
 air. " — Graphic. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 SONGS OF TWO WORLDS. Second 
 Series. By the Author of " Songs of Two 
 Vv'orlds." Fcap. Svo. 5*. 
 
 " In earnestness and sweetness the author may 
 be pronounced a worthy disciple of Henry Vaughan 
 .... Instinct with a noble purpose and high ideal 
 .... The most noteworthy poem is the ' Ode on a 
 Spring Morning,' which has somewhat of the 
 charm of ' L' Allegro ' and ' II Penseroso.' It is 
 the nearest approach to a masterpiece in the col- 
 lection. "We cannot find too much praise for its 
 noble assertion of man's resurrection." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 " A real advance on its predecessor, and con- 
 tains at least one poem (' The Organ Boy ') of 
 groat originality, as well as many of much beauty 
 .... As "exquisite a little poem as we have read 
 for many a day .... but not at all alone in its 
 power to fascinate." — Spectator. 
 
 ■• Will be gratefully welcomed." — Examiner. 
 THE GALLERY OF PIGEONS, AND 
 OTHER POEMS. By Theo. Mar- 
 zials. Crown Svo. 4s. 6d. 
 
 "A conceit abounding in prettiness.''— Ex- 
 aminer. 
 
 " The rush of fresh, sparkling fancies is too 
 rapid, too 5 abundant, not to be 
 
 spontaneous." — Acad 
 
 THE LEGENDS OF ST. PATRICK 
 AND OTHER POEMS. By Aubrey 
 de Vere. Crown Svo. $s. 
 
 " Mr. De Vere's versification in his earlier poems 
 is characterised by great sweetness and sim- 
 plicity. He is master of his instrument, and 
 rarely offends the ear with false notes." — Pall 
 Mall Gazette. 
 
 "We have but space to commend the varied 
 structure of his verse, the carefulness of his 
 grammar, and his excellent English." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. A 
 Dramatic Poem. By Aubrey de Vere, 
 Author of " The Legends of St Patrick." 
 Crown Svo. 5*. 
 
 "Undeniably well writtea." — Fm min e r. 
 
 " In some points Mr. De Veres poetry is a model 
 to most of his fellow singers. Its idioms and 
 phraseology are English, thorough and correct 
 English ; his verses, with few exceptions, are 
 symmetrical, simple, and sweet ; and his diction 
 throughout is dignified, as becomes the stately 
 muse of tragedy, and often rises to sublime 
 pitch, leaving all his contemporaries far behind." 
 — Standard. 
 
 " A noble play. . . . The work of a true poet, 
 and of a fine artist, in whom there is nothing 
 vulgar and nothing weak. . . . We had no con- 
 ception, from our' knowledge of Mr. De Vere's 
 former poems, that so much poetic power lay in 
 him as this drama shows. It is terse as well as full 
 of beauty, nervous as well as rich in thought. "— 
 Spectator. 
 
 65, Comhill ; & 12, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 22 
 
 Wo?'ks Published by Henry S. King 6r> Co. 
 
 FICTION. 
 
 WOMAN'S A RIDDLE; or, Baby 
 Warmstkey. By Philip Sheldon, 
 Author of " When George III. was King." 
 3 vols. 
 
 LISETTE'S VENTURE. By Mrs. 
 Russell Gray. 2 vols. [In September. 
 
 IDOLATRY. A Romance. By Julian 
 Hawthorne, Author of " Bressant." 
 2 vols. [In September. 
 
 BRESSANT. A Romance. By Julian 
 Hawthorne. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 " One of the most powerful with which we are 
 acquainted." — Times. 
 
 " We shall once more have reason to rejoice 
 whenever we hear that a new work is coming out 
 written by one who bears the honoured name of 
 Hawthorne."— Saturday Review. 
 
 VANESSA. By the Author of" Thomasina," 
 " Dorothy," &c. 2 vols. {In October. 
 
 THOMASINA. By the Author of ' ' Dorothy," 
 " De Cressy," &c. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 
 " A finished and delicate cabinet picture ; no 
 line is without its purpose." — Atheneeutn. 
 
 THE HIGH MILLS. By Katherine 
 Saunder3, Author of " Gideon's Rock," 
 &c. 3 vols. [In October. 
 
 AILEEN FERRERS. By Susan Morley. 
 In 2 vols. Crown 8vo, cloth. 
 
 " Her novel rises to a level far above that which 
 cultivated women with a facile pen ordinarily 
 attain when they set themselves to write a story. 
 .... Its grammar is faultless, its style is pure, 
 flowing, terse, and correct, there is not a line of 
 fine writing from beginning to end, and there is a 
 total absence of anything like moralising, or the 
 introduction of pretty ineffectual sermons .... It 
 is as a study of character, worked out in a manner 
 that is free from almost all the usual faults of lady 
 writers, that ' Aileen Eerrers ' merits a place 
 apart from its innumerable rivals."— Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 LADY MORETOUN'S DAUGHTER. 
 By Mrs. Eiloart. In 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 
 "Carefully written .... The narrative is well 
 sustained." — AtJtentSH?n. 
 
 " An interesting story .... Above the run of 
 average novels." — Vanity Fair. 
 
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 28 
 
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 J Forks Published by Henry S. King 6° Co. 
 
 29 
 
 THEOLOGICAL— continued. 
 
 WORKS BY THE REV. STOPFORD A. BROOKE, 
 
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 30 Works Published by Henry S. King 6° Co., 
 
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 Works Published by Henry S. King S* Co., 31 
 
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 32 Works Published by Henry S. King 6° Co., 
 
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