UNlVERSi i r OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN STACKS AT THE BAR. LONDON : ROBSON AND SON, GREAT NORTHERN PRINTING WORKS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. AT THE BAR. % Calc. CHARLES ALLSTON COLLINS, AUTHOR OF " A CRUISE UPON WHEELS," ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. 1866. [All lights i-eserved.] . 1 to o 'ii TO DOCTOE GUENEAU DE JMUSSY BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. li^^- CHAP. I. Far away PAGE 1 II. At Home 14 III. An Arrival . 26 IV. The Herbalist's Shop . 43 V. Keeping House 60 VI. Master and Man . 73 VII. Discord 88 VIII. Cornelius Vampi at Hom e 102 IX. Not to be put down 115 X. At a Concert 136 XI. Still Musical 152 XII. The Art Mystic 167 XIII. The Strange Lady 188 XIV. Mischief brewing . . 202 XV. A Crisis . 216 XVI. Down in the World • . 236 XVII. XVIII. A Fatal Mistake . Something Strange . 250 268 XIX. Gabrielle's Danger . 284 AT THE BAR. CHAPTER I. FAR AWAY. The marriage of Gilbert Penmore witli Ga- brielle Descartes was certainly an imjoriident one, and threatened, at tlie time of the opening of this story, to turn out very ill for both the one and the other. Gilbert Penmore was the youngest son of his Excellency Thomas Gilbert Penmore, who, in consideration of great losses incurred at the time of that swift depreciation in West Indian property by which so many unoffending per- sons were suddenly reduced to comparative poverty, was intrusted by the Colonial Office with the governorship of one of our West Indian islands. Soon after the birth of his youngest boy, Mr. Penmore had the misfor- tune to lose his wife ; and then it was that he VOL. I. B A AT THE BAR. determined upon keeping his last-born son and one daughter with him in the West Indies, while he sent his other children to be educated in England. Our governor's appointment was not a good one, and the facilities for educating children in the West Indies are but few ; so that when it was proposed to him by his old friend and distant connection Monsieur Des- cartes, who was governor of one of the French West-Indian islands, that the boy Gilbert should be sent over to be brought up along with his own sons, Mr. Penmore determined, though much against his will, to let the boy go, and kept only his daughter to be his little housekeeper and companion. ^^The boy will have opportunities of getting instruction which it would be impossible for me to afford him," Mr. Penmore said to himself, ^^ and he will pick up a knowledge of French into the bar- gain;" and he did pick up a knowledge of French with a vengeance, as will be hereafter seen. The family of Monsieur and Madame Des- cartes consisted of two boys and a girl, and their education was conducted in the first instance by a governess, and subsequently by a learned young Frenchman, whom M. Des- FAE AWAY. 6 cartes caused to be exported from St. Omer, and wlio was ready to make himself useful, partly as secretary to the governor, and partly as tutor to his children. These boys of M. Descartes were stupid, idle lads enough ; and it was partly, perhaps, with a view of stimu- lating them to exertion that the French governor had proposed that young Penmore should be associated with them in their studies. The lads, however, were not to be dealt with so easily, and were more ready to avail themselves of their young friend's good example in their hours of play than in those devoted to study. Gilbert himself was an in- dustrious youngster enough, and very often had to prepare his companions' lessons as well as his own. I have spoken of Mademoiselle Gabrielle, the daughter of Governor Descartes, as being associated with her brothers in their studies — and indeed to a considerable extent this was the case ; nor is it necessary to conceal the fact that in many branches of education this young lady managed quite to outdo her indolent brothers, and almost keep pace with Ai'thiu' himseK. Between these two, as might ration- ally be expected, a wonderful attachment was 4 AT THE BAR. not long in springing up. They -were con- tinually together. They helped each other with their lessons ; and when these were over, and the time came for such play as the climate permitted, or for an evening ramble by the sea-shore, Mademoiselle Gabrielle was sui^e to be of the party. Nobody interfered much with the young lady's liberty. Her papa was always busy with his duties as governor ; and her mamma was simply a fine lady, a petite maitresse, who was ready to depute the care of her family to any body who would mercifully relieve her of it. In the time of the governess our young lady was certainly more looked after ; but when that lady was superseded by the ex-pensioner of St. Omer, Mademoiselle Gabrielle was left pretty much to her own devices, and to the following of her own in- stincts. Luckily these were in the main excellent. She had inherited her father's rather than her mother's nature; and Governor Descartes was as fine a gentleman, and as good a fellow into the bargain, as ever governed an island — Sancho Panza himself not excluded. He was impulsive and afi'ectionate, with rather a warm temper and a very warm heart ; and in these FAE AWAY. 5 qualities Ms daughter certainly took after him. Eoth of them were sound in the great things ; and if the governor was a little irritable at times, when liis liver was affected, and if Mademoiselle Gabrielle was during the earlier years of her life a bit of a Tom-boy, there was not much harm done after all. She was not what would be called a pretty child. She was thin and sallow, — this last quality being, perhaps, the effect of the climate ; but there was a certain innocence and unworldliness about her expression, wliich, through all the changes wliich her face underwent as she grew from a child to a girl and from a gnd to an almost woman, never left her. She was six years old, and Gilbert was eight, when they first plighted their troths to each other ; and when the two grew to be sixteen and eighteen respectively, they had in no respect wearied of each other's society. How those ten years were passed I have not time to tell; I wish I had. The life of that boy and girl on that West-Indian island had something of Paul and Yirginia about it, wliich would be very pleasant to follow, did not the main incidents of my story, to be hereafter developed, demand all the space at my command. b AT THE BAR. Of course it is uimecessary to say tliat during tliis period of ten years the inter- course between tlie young people was from time to time suspended. Gilbert's father would send for him at intervals, for the plea- sure of having the lad by him and giving him a holiday, as he called it. I am afraid that Gilbert's real holiday — though he was warmly attached to both his father and sister — was rather spent at school; such school as was kept by the ex-student of St. Omer in the house of Governor Descartes. It was on the occasion of one of these visits to his father that Gilbert, not knowing exactly what to do with himself, and being a boy always eager for information, got hold of certain English law-books, of which his father had a good collection to help him in the duties of his office, and sitting himself down with his head in his hands, began to pore over the volumes by the hom^ together. And he had two reasons for thus proceeding. First, a wish to improve himself in the English language; and next, very soon after he had made the first plunge into law, the science and logic of the thing began to exercise such an influence over him — he being at the time a lad of some six- FAE AWAY. 7 teen years' standing — that iie could not aban- don the study he had voluntarily taken up without something of an effort. It has been said above that he wanted first to improve himself in the English language ; and this brings me to an announcement of a rather startling nature, which will be found to affect our hero's career not a little. Gilbert Penmore, though of English birth, having been brought up almost entirely among French people and in a French colony, had attained to a most perfect knowledge of the French language, and in doing so, had to some extent let go his own. In his occasional visits to his home this had, of course, been frequently ob- served and laughed at ; but as the boy grew up to be about the age I have spoken of, the joke began to be rather too good a one, and his mistakes and his accent began so much to dis- tress his father, that the worthy gentleman at last spoke seriously to his son upon the sub- ject, and entreated him to remember how much it might stand in his way in life if he, an Englishman, was found to be imperfectly ac- quainted with his own language. ^'A lan- guage," the worthy gentleman added, "as superior to the other as light is to darkness ; 8 AT THE BAR. a language -wMch can deal witli tlie highest subjects as well as the most trivial; a language into which even the Bible may be, as it has been, fitly translated, and which being capable of the dignity of blank verse, can give us, when we require it, poetic dialogues free from the French jingle of perpetual rhymes." Gil- bert promised in the vilest English that he would remember the hint and act upon it; and going back to '' school," talked French inces- santly for six months. It was soon after this time that an inci- dent occui'red which wrought a great change in our youngster's life. His little friend and playfellow fell very sick of a fever, such as abound in those climates ; and though she re- covered from it ultimately, the medical autho- rities pronounced it indispensably necessary that she should at once be sent off to Europe for the more complete restoration of her health. There may have been, and I believe there was, another reason for this jou.rney. Madame Des- cartes, who had neglected her children while they were children, now that her daughter was growing up, began to take some interest in her welfare, and more especially, being a very worldly woman, to feel a strong wish that the FAR AWAY. 9 future of her daughter might be a brilliant one. It began then to strike her that the growing intimacy between Gabrielle and young Penmore — a lad of eighteen, not even started yet in life — could hardly lead to the fulfilment of her ambition ; and tliis proposal of the doc- tor's, that the invalid girl should travel to Eiu^ope without delay, met with the greater approval of Madame Descartes, because she felt that it would at all events be the means of separating her daughter from this young man, who at this time certainly did seem to be any thing but the kind of person who could insure a prosperous future to Mademoiselle Gabrielle Descartes. The news that Gabrielle was going away descended upon poor Gilbert like a thunder- clap. The continual intercourse between the two, which had now lasted so long, had got to be regarded by both as a thing of course, and which was never to be interrupted. Indeed, the despair of the two young people was so little to be hidden, that Madame lost no time in hurrying her daughter's departure. This, however, was not accomplished till after the lovers had effected a stolen meeting, and had, not without many tears, once more renewed 10 AT THE BAE. that pledge wHch they had given to each other when a conple of children. What else were they now ? "What did they know of the world ? what of life, and its dif- ficulties and necessities ? Heaven help them, that knowledge was all to come. The parting between the lovers took place some little time before that of Gabrielle's de- parture, for Gilbert was now to go back to his father for a season, having by this time reached an age when it was necessary that he should begin to think how he was to spend the long life which, humanly speaking, lay before him. It was not long after Grilbert's return to his father's roof that the news reached him that Mademoiselle Gabrielle had started for Europe under the care of an English lady, who was a very old friend and schoolfellow of Madame Descartes, and who had under- taken the charge of the young girl for the next few years. During that time she was to live in England. I believe that never once from the time of that parting, which has just been alluded to, between the lovers, did young Penmore for one moment doubt that Gabrielle was to be his wife. On this subject his mind was toler- FAR AWAY. 11 ably tranquil. That thing was to be. The only thing to be done now was to bring it about as soon as possible: and that meant work. Gilbert's father, with his family to provide for, and his means comparatively small when the expenses of his position are consi- dered, could do nothing for him pecuniarily. The young man himseK had a very small sum left him by his mother, and which was to come to him on his majority; but it was rather a sum which might help him to make a start in life, than a fortune to be looked to as a source of income. It was necessary, then, that he should adopt some profession without delay, and embark himself in it with as little expense as was possible. And now there came to him the remem- brance of those books on law which he had found in his father's library; and to these he returned at this time with a purpose, stud}dng them with a degree of success which seemed to show that he really had some aptitude for the acquirement of this particular branch of know- ledge, 'No doubt it was because those books came in his way that he took up with the study of the law ; but how many illustrious persons have there not been whose choice of a 12 AT THE BAR. profession has been influenced — and with the best results — by what came in their way at the critical period of passing from boyhood to man's estate ! The small collection of books on legal sub- jects in Governor Penmore's library, and such others on the same topic as were to be ob- tained on the island, were in due time ex- hausted ; and our young gentleman being still bent on becoming Lord Chancellor, it was at length decided that Gilbert should set sail for the mother country, to be entered at one of the Inns of Court, and to prosecute his studies under professional guidance. His father could get him a free passage to England, and would provide the fees which would be required for his entrance at Lincoln's Inn and his educa- tion in barrister's chambers. More than this he could not do ; and it was arranged that, till he came of age, Gilbert should live on money borrowed on the sum left him by his mother, and afterwards on the money itself, till such time as he should be in the receipt of a profes- sional income. '^I^Tot long," Gilbert thought, poor fellow. At last a certain night came when the lad found himself actually standing upon the deck FAR AWAY. 13 of an English man-of-war bound for home; and as he stood, with his hand upon the bul- wark, in the still tropical night, he gazed with fixed eyes into the darkness before him like one who would fain see his destiny in the future. ''I will do great things," he said. '' I will go more and more deeply into this calling, which to me seems so fascinating. I will imdertake some great defence, which I will conduct so as to become celebrated every where. I will rise to be Lord Chancellor; and Gabrielle shall be my wife, to cheer and help me through it all." CHAPTEE II. AT HOME. Two young people are sitting at breakfast in a small room in a lionse in the subni'bs of London. Tliey are rather an odd -looking couple, and curiously enough — though this does sometimes happen with married people — they are rather alike. Both are sallow ; both have large dark e3^es and dark hair; both incline to be thin; and both, but especially the lady, talk English with a slight accent. This, however, will not be reproduced here; nor, indeed, could the thing be done, as their knowledge of the language in which they are conversing is too perfect to permit of their making mistakes in the choice of words or in grammar, and is, in fact, a matter only of tone and accent. The breakfast would appear to be of any thing but a luxurious sort. Part of a stale loaf, some pieces of dry toast, and the debris AT HOME. 15 of an eggj decorate the table, which is covered with a rather dirty table-cloth. I have said that these yoimg people were sallow and dark and thin; but I shall have chosen my words very ill if I have conveyed the impression that they were either ill-favoured or sickly. Both were straight and well-grown, and the man gave good evidence of that kind of wiriness which is so superior to mere fleshy strength. So with his face. It was nervous, lively, intelligent ; but it was not what would be called handsome. His expression was some- what of an anxious kind, — perhaps a little unhappy; but when he addressed the lady opposite to him, it lit up directly, and was singularly pleasant to see. I have said that between the man and his wife there was a certain resemblance, and I have spoken of their being both of a sallow complexion; but I believe that, with regard to the lady at any rate, I have chosen the word ill. I ought rather to have said that her complexion simply bore evidence of her having been bom in a climate where the sun is less merciful than in these temperate regions. Eut it was a clear and healthy colour, and her eyes, which were of a gray colour, said nothing 16 AT THE BAB. of illness or languor. They were a very young couple : the husband did not appear to be more than two- or three-and-twenty, and the wife was two or three years younger. At the time of this their introduction to the reader it appeared that the two were sit- ting in solemn conclave over a letter which lay on the table before them, and the contents of which appeared rather to have puzzled them. '^You see we must do something," said the young man. ^^That money left me by my poor mother is nearly gone, and what I can make by writing for newspapers and law magazines is certainly not enough for the expenses of even this ^ small establishment.' " ^^And the attorneys," said the lady, who was indeed none other than our former friend Gabrielle Descartes, only we must now call , her Gabrielle Penmore, — ''those cruel, wicked attorneys ; are they still as little ready to help you as ever ?" " I might as well never have been ' called,' for any thing I can get to do from them." " The wretches !" '' Gabrielle, they actually laugh at my foreign accent, and say that so ridiculous an AT HOME. 17 idea was never heard of as a man getting np in a conrt of law and pleading in donbtful English." ^^My poor Gilbert, what are we to do? Snch a life as you lead, yon ought to succeed. You are always working and striving, and you have no enjoyments, and such poor clothes, and — Gilbert, you are not sorry that you married me ?" '^ Sorry! Well, in one respect I am sorry for having brought you into such a scrape." ^'We shall get out of it yet. Look here, Gilbert : suppose I were to go and commit some crime, and you were to defend me. I will if you lilvc." They both laughed heartily at this idea. Then they came back to the original subject which had been under discussion — the letter. ''It is curious," said Gabrielle, "this pro- posal of your cousin to come and live with us arriving just at this moment. It would help us very much, no doubt. "What sort of a person is she, Gilbert ?" " I hardly know. I have heard my father say that she is excessively vain, and rather spiteful." "0 Gilbert!" VOL. I. C 18 AT THE BAR. "Her father and my mother were first- cousins; so she and I are what lawyers call first-consins once remoyed. I have only seen her once, and I fonnd her to be very m-uch my, senior, — ten or a dozen years, I should say ; very carefully made up though, and with some pretension to good looks. She told me that I had inherited personally all the defects of both my parents, and none of their beauties." '^ What a dreadful woman !" ''I don't think you could stand it, Ga- brielle." " Yes, but I intend to stand it. Look here, Gilbert. We have got our way, and are married and together, which was what we wanted, and which so few people attain to so soon. Surely it would be very wrong for us to complain and grumble at this small incon- venience? You say she's very well off; so, with what she contributes, we shall get on better in our housekeeping; and then you'll be able to have all sorts of comforts, and — " Her husband tried to interrupt her, but she went on : " And so shall I. And you won't have to slave so hard, and you can devote yourself more to law, which you like. And then you'll be AT HOME. 19 more in court, and ready for any thing tliat might come in your way; and you'll get a chance, and we shall become illustrious, and live happily ever afterwards." Yes; they were married. That boy-and- girl attachment of the West-Indian island had come to something at last. Gilbert Penmore was not long, after he had once set foot on English ground, in finding out his old play- fellow; and as every possible obstacle that could be devised was put in the way of their intercourse, — ^by the special stipulation of Ma- dame Descartes, extending at last to an order consigning the young lady to the care of an aunt living at Paris, — it came to pass that the young people took their own way out of the difficulty, and on the very day previous to that on which Gabrielle was to have started for Paris were united by bans in the parish- church of St. Benet Fink, in the city of Lon- don, the bridegroom having taken care to occupy lodgings in that parish for a good three weeks beforehand. It was wrong, no doubt. It was a clan- destine act. They were flying in the face of parents and friends. They were wanting in 20 AT THE BAR. patience and trnstfalness and prudence. Tliey did wrong, and they suffered for it, as is commonly the case. They were very poor — poor enough to have to undergo many privations. Their poverty was always staring them in the face and meeting them at every turn. Then they were living upon their capital, such as it was. It was very little now, and getting less every day. There was a source of misery and anxiety at once : to know that their little store was continually diminishing, and to be mainly ignorant how it was to be replenished. The gaps and apertures in that small in- come were not replenished ; they were only patched and gagged for a time by all that poor Gilbert Penmore could do. After he was called, he sat in his place in coui't day after day the picture of hope deferred. He knew that he was a lawyer, that he had worked harder at law and studied its intri- cacies with greater perseverance than half the men whom he saw strutting into court with their briefs conspicuous in their hands. He knew that they were often shallow and im- sound in their arguments, superficial in their apparent eloquence, brazen in their insolence. AT HOME. 21 and wrong in their facts; and yet, such is the benumbing influence of non-success, he had at times to summon all the man within him not to feel cowed before these men who he knew were his inferiors. Still he worked harder and harder. He watched the course of every case, noted its peculiarities, observed what precedents were quoted in connection with its details, and laid up precious matter for his own future guidance. He never gave in. Sometimes, indeed, it did seem rather hard to him that he never got a chance, — that he was never employed as a junior to get up the particulars of a case, or that when a pri- soner on circuit was undefended, the judge would never catch his anxiously - expectant eye, and say: '^Mr. Penmore, will you have the kindness to watch the case for the pri- soner ?" And then, his wretched day in court over, there was hard, hard work to be done after- wards, — hard writing on law-questions, hard newspaper-work on subjects of the day, and (perhaps hardest of all to a fastidious man) the struggle to be amusing, to produce what is called ''light literature" — articles for maga- zines and periodicals demanding new choice 22 AT TIIE BAE. of subjects and new ideas continually, l^ov were his labours always crowned witb success even in these departments of literature. Some- times when he had prepared a newspaper- article on a subject which he thought a good one, he would be told that it was just a day too late ; or that it was not a matter which the editor thought it safe to interfere with; or the magazine would send him back his " light literature/' with a bewildering an- nouncement that it was exceedingly good, but "not suitable" for publication in that perio- dical. All these are mishaps which most literary men have to go through at first ; but they get through them when they are single men; and such failures are not very destruc- tive : but in this present case every such mis- adventure was a serious loss, and Penmore would often find it very hard work to possess his soul in patience when so severely tried. As to getting any assistance from friends or relatives, the thing was impossible. Gover- nor Penmore could do nothing for his son beyond writing to his solicitor to introduce Gilbert as a young barrister seeking employ- ment ; while as to Gabrielle's relations, her mother had declined all intercourse with her AT ho]u:e. 23 from the moment of lier contracting a marriage so entirely opposed to her views, and her father was so afraid of his wife that he could only send her a present now and then, abstracted, as it were, from his own income with the greatest difficulty; for madame kept a rigid eye on all her husband's pecuniary doings, and required so much for her own expendi- ture in dress and luxury, that it was with the greatest difficulty that the poor governor could manage to get hold of a few pounds at rare intervals to send to his dear Gabrielle. Gil- bert, for his part, did not take much by that introduction to the solicitor. Mr. Brickdale was a cautious and entirely conventional old gentleman; and Penmore's accent, and queer yellow complexion under the white barrister' s- wig, made him quail before the idea of putting a case into his hands. There was one good thing, however, got out of this connection. Mr. Brickdale was in a position to give out a good deal of work in the shape of law-copying ; and at this the two would work when nothing else was to be done. I say the '^two" advisedly; for in due time, and after much labour, Gabrielle at- tained to a considerable proficiency in round- 24 AT THE BAE. hand, and in dne time ^as able to relieve her husband of this sort of drudgery at any rate. In shortj these young people were exposed to privations and troubles of the most harass- ing and miserable kind, and which their bringing-up and earlier habits had in no sort fitted them to undergo. It was a terrible ordeal, and one which it required great pa- tience and courage to pass through. And all that day, which succeeded the con- versation described at the beginning of this chapter, Gabrielle pondered over these things, and thought of her husband and of his dis- appointments and privations, and how these last might at least be alleviated by accepting his cousin's proposal ; and so at last her mind was made up, and she repeated to herself, '' We have got our happiness of being together, and we would not exercise patience and wait ; and so we must not think it a great matter that we have some need to be patient now, and bear together instead of bearing apart." So when her husband came home she told liim in the most wilful manner that the thing was settled, and that he was to write off to AT HOME. 25 his cousin and inform her that rooms would be prepared for her reception and that of the servant who was to accompany her, and that every thing would be ready at the commence- ment of the ensuing week. CHAPTEE III. AN AEEIVAL. The clay appointed for the arrival of Miss Carrington was not a pleasant one. It was a stormy November clay, windy, — witL. gusts of rain. Every thing went wrong in the honse in Beanmont Street. The chimneys smoked, the doors banged, a looking-glass was blo"\vn do^vn by the mnd and smashed to pieces, and poor little Mrs. Penmore's heart quailed at the omen even more than at the loss. Then the servant — the one servant — had a sulky fit, and refused to be comforted. Moreover, she took to disappearing. It requires some experience of domestic difficulties to enable any person to appreciate the full horror of this proceeding. Something is wanted below, and the maiden is despatched promptly to get it. Instead of returning, however, she remains below, and is not un- earthed without much calling and ringing. AN AREIYAL. A ( At last she appears without the object iu search of which she was sent, and disappears again in search of it. Then the area-bell rings, and a tradesman holds the yonng woman spell-bound on the kitchen-steps, where, of course, she cannot hear a summons from the bedroom. At last — for this is a windy day, let us remember — the door bangs, our damsel is shut out, and her mistress, having reached the stage of desperation, descends to the kit- chen to see what has become of '^ Charlotte," and finds her tapping at the window for ad- mittance in a manner sufiiciently aggravating. Even now, however, she is not to be considered as a secure property : she discovers that it is the right day for needlework; and when every thing is in the wildest confusion up- stairs, and she is wanted there every moment, she is continually relapsing into calm stocking- mending, or perhaps does a trifle in the way of washing and ironing on her own account. 'Nor must it be forgotten that this is the day when discoveries are made that '^we have no firewood," or that ''we are out of potatoes;" and so disappearances on quite an extended scale in search of these luxuries become not only indispensable but meritorious. It would 28 AT THE BAE. be difficult in tliis joarticular instance to say ■whether this young woman's sulkiness or her tendency to disappear was the more trying. Of course the larger part of the work up- stairs fell to the share of the mistress of the house. It was upon her that devolved all the trouble of planning which rooms were to be given to her guest and to her servant, — I be- lieve Mrs. Penmore dreaded this last most of the two, — and how they could be arranged most satisfactorily. She it was who had to twist and tui^n the poor furniture about so as to make it show to the best advantage, and to execute wonders with bits of pink -calico showing through cheap muslin. As to her own bedroom, she literally despoiled it, tak- ing all the articles that had any aesthetic pre- tensions at all upstairs to Miss Carrington's room, and leaving herself, as Charlotte ele- gantly put it, "without a stick." The room prepared for Miss Carrington presented at last quite a pretty appearance, so much will taste do in these cases, even with a very small ex- penditure of capital. Altogether it was a day of many fatigues and difficulties; and besides all those, it was necessary to get up some sort of meal for the AN AERIVAL. 29 lady, and anotlier for tlie dreaded servant, both, of whom were to arrive at about eight o'clock in the evening. Moreover, the butcher did not send what was required of him, and Char- lotte disappeared, as might have been ex- pected, to remind him of liis neglect. But the worst trouble of all that poor Ga- brielle had to bear that day was her husband's absence. He must be away at the time when the formidable lady was to arrive. That even- ing he had work to do at a newspaper- office ; and work in his case could never be neglected. It would be necessary, then, that Mrs. Pen- more should receive her new guest alone and unsupported. Alone she must face this utter stranger, and encounter all that might be awk- ward, or even unpleasant, in connection with tliis first interview. There was nothing for it, however, but to endure and go thi'ough with it; so Gabrielle made up her mind — a pro- ceeding which enables us to get tlirougli a great many things which appear to be abso- lutely unendurable. The day and part of the evening were con- sumed in preparations ; and it was not till the time for the arrival of Miss Carrington di'cw very near that Mrs. Penmore found time at 30 AT THE BAE. last to sit down, almost for the first time that day, and await with many nervous qualms the arrival of her guest. The tea-things were spread comfortably upon a white cloth; and there was a fowl (awful extravagance) cooking at the -^^e below. It had been discovered at the eleventh hour that there was no fresh-bu.t- ter in the house, and Charlotte had been de- spatched in search of that luxury ; so Gabrielle sat in an agony of dread lest the new arrivals should come before the wretched handmaid had returned from her errand. Of course it happened so. The Fates are merciless in these cases ; and Charlotte had not returned from this her last disappearance when Mrs. Penmore, who had been listening with strained attention to every sound that came from the street outside, distinctly heard the rattle of wheels on the road- way — heard them draw nearer and nearer — heard a female voice screaming the number of the house to the cabman, upon which the vehicle suddenly stopped and drew up at the door, wliile a furious ringing at the street-bell announced that the hour had arrived wliich poor Gabrielle had so long and so keenly dreaded. And now there was nothing for it but to AN AERIVAL. 31 go and open the door. The servant had not returned, and it was qnite impossible to keep her visitor waiting outside. While she had hesitated the bell had sounded again; and it was still ringing when she at length opened the door, and found herself face to face with a middle-aged female of a fierce and acid counte- nance, who was standing on the door -step. Behind her was a cab, the door of which was held open by the driver, while a lady was dimly seen within waiting to emerge till it had been certainly ascertained that this was the right house. '^ Does Mr. Penmore live here?" asked the acid-looking woman. Gabrielle answered timidly in the affirma- tive ; and she of the fierce visage having con- veyed the information to the lady in the cab, this last descended without more ado and came into the house. She looked sharply at Gabri- elle, who now advanced with extended hand, as if she doubted her genuineness ; and then taking the ofi'ered hand in a hesitating manner, exclaimed, '' What ! are you Mrs. Penmore ? and don't you keep a servant ?" " yes, we have a servant ; but she was 2 AT THE BAR. obliged to go out on an errand jnst noTV^. Pray come in here and warm yourself," she added, opening the dining-room door. ''0," said Miss Carrington with a little scream, as she entered, ^'what a funny little place I" ^' Funny !" What a terrible word that was! The room was little, but it was neat. It was even prettily arranged, but the furni- ture was not of the conventional dining-room sort ; and, alas, it must be owned that in the get-up of that apartment subterfuge was not unknown. But to say ^^ funny!" — Yes, that was a cruel word. Meanwhile the servant — for such was the acid lady who had originally confronted Ga- brielle on the door-step — followed her mistress to the door of the room, into which she looked for a moment, and then, with a slight toss of the head, returned to superintend the un- lading of the cab, honouring Gabrielle as she passed with a prolonged and exhaustive stare. While the bumping and bursting noises inseparable from the introduction of large lug- gage into a small house were going on in the passage, Mrs. Penmore and her guest were left confronting each other in the dining-room; AN AREIVAL. 33 and Gabrielle saw to begin with, and as a matter of coui'se, that the newly-arrived lady was not in the least the sort of person she had expected. Miss Carrington, to begin with, was handsomer, as far as features went, than Gabrielle had expected; but her complexion was not by any means a good one ; and she had an uneasy dissatisfied expression, which made one feel uncomfortable in her presence. She seemed to be about thirty years of age, or perhaps a year or two more ; was thin and haggard -looking, and had the art of saying disagreeable things in a sharp aggravating voice. I believe she could not help this ; for when she really tried to be agreeable — which it must be owned was seldom enough — then it was that the most spiteful things of all would come out. ^' Ah, one could tell that you were of foreign blood," said Miss Carrington, '' only by looking at you, and Avithout hearing you speak — you're so very dark." Gabrielle excused herself under this ac- cusation as well as she could, by intimating that the sun where she was brought up was rather a powerful one, and that the inhabit- ants of the "West-Indian islands were gener- VOL. I. D 34 AT THE BAE. ally gifted with darker complexions than fell to the lot of Europeans. At this moment there was a smart rap at the door, and the form of the sonr-visaged servant appeared. She seemed to be chewing yenom, from the expression of her mouth. "Well, Cantanker, what is it?" inquired Miss Carrington. It is needful to mention that the name of this agreeable -looking female was Jane Can- tanker. Destiny had, by a strange freak, fitted in this case the name to the woman in a re- markable manner. " I merely wished to ask," said Miss Can- tanker, with the gurgling of suppressed fury in her voice, "where I am expected to set in the evening?" and she looked inquiringly round the room, as if she rather expected to see an open door, with a luxurious apartment be- yond, to be devoted to her special service. Miss Carrington looked at her hostess. "You can answer that best, I think — " she said. "Well — " replied the poor little woman, with much hesitation, " I thought — I thought the kitchen. I was not prepared — " "There, Cantanker, do you hear?" said AX AREIYAL. 35 Miss Carringtoii ; for the woman had remained like a block of marble, and had taken no notice of what Mrs. Penmore had said. " Begging yoiu- pardon, miss, " she now remarked, addi'essing her mistress, ^^I shall set in no such place ; for besides that the floor is of stone, and the cheers bare Windsor ones, the servant-girl is but an ignorant maid- of-all-work, and not fit company for decent people." There was an awkward pause after this. ^^ Well," said Miss Carrington, ''what's to be done ?" Poor Mrs. Penmore hesitated more than ever. ''I am sure I don't know; unless," she added, — ''unless you would like to sit in your bedroom." "Do you hear?" asked Miss Carrington; for Cantanker had again become marble. "I hear, miss," said this relentless per- son, condescending to answer her mistress, but looking steadily at Gabrielle, as she had done fi'om the first. " I have not yet seen it." "You had better ask Charlotte — as she is come back — to show it to you," said Mrs. Penmore timidly. Miss Cantanker remained fixed and sta- 36 AT THE BAE. tionary. And again lier mistress had to in- terpret. ^' You had better ask Charlotte to show it to you." Yery slowly, and with her eyes still fixed upon Mrs. Penmore, the accommodating Miss Cantanker backed towards the door, and after consuming as much time in the act as possible, opened it, and vanished slowly. ^^Is not my cousin at home?" inquired Miss Carrington as soon as this agreeable per- son had disappeared ; and the lady looked in- quisitively about the room, as if she expected to see the unfortunate Gilbert concealed in some corner. ^^He was very sorry," Mrs. Penmore re- plied, ''very sorry indeed, but he was obliged to be away to-night." ''I think he might have stretched a point under the circumstances," said the lady in an injiu^ed tone. ''I do assure you," urged poor Gabrielle, ^^ that nothing but a matter of business, which could not be put ojff, would have taken him out on such an occasion." After this there was a pause of some con- siderable duration. It was only broken by AX ARRIVAL. 37 the information conveyed by Miss CaiTington to her hostess, that '' she never took tea;" and as the meal which had been prepared for her special benefit teas tea, this was rather discon- certing. There was nothing for it but to get ont a bottle of Marsala and decant it then and there. Miss Carrington, to judge from her ex- pression of countenance, did not seem to like this much, but she did not say an}^ thing ; and presently there was another sharp tap at the door, followed without ceremony by the entry of Miss Cantanker, with an expression of coun- tenance which it was not good to behold. ^'Well, Cantank — " Miss Carrington was beginning, when her maid interrupted her. ^'I wish to know, miss, whether I have come here to be insulted and put in a dog-hole to sleep ?" This tremendous question, which Avas put to Miss Carrington, but at the luckless Gabri- elle, was on so fearful a scale that poor Mrs. Penmore was struck entirely speechless by it. ^^ Explain yourself, Cantanker," her mis- tress interposed; ^'do^you mean that your room is not what you like ?" ^'Like!" echoed the maiden, *' like !" and she spoke with awful slowness and solemnity. 38 AT THE BAR. ^'It is a garret. It lias a sloping roof. The cheers is rush-bottomed. There are no cur- tains to the bed, which itself is a turn-np. There is no carpet, but a bedside. There is not a mossnl of fire ; and what is more, there is no grate to put one in." '^Eeally, I think — " Miss Carrington com- menced in an injured tone, and addressing Gabrielie. But Cantanker had not done yet. ^' And hif Mrs. Penmore thinks," she went on, still, howeyer, speaking to her mistress, ^'hif she thinks that I am going to put up with a dog-hole, and that I am come here tamely to be insulted, she will find that she is mistaken, and that Jane Cantanker is not the woman to be put upon." Here the lady relapsed into silence, and stood looking defiance at a photographic por- trait of Mr. Penmore, which hung against the wall. ^^I really think," resumed Miss Carring- ton, '' that you might have provided a little better for the comfort of my servant, Mrs. Penmore." "I thought it was very comfortable," urged the wretched Gabrielie. "• I know that it is all nice and clean; and as to fire, I had AN AEEIYAL. 39 no idea that your servant would expect such a thing. Surely it is very unusual — " '' Jane Cantanker is more than a servant to me, — she is a companion, and I look upon any slight put upon her as an injuiy done to myself." ^' There is an apartment next to my mis- tress's, and it is that which I should msh to hoccupy," remarked Miss Cantanker sententi- ously and still looking at the photograph. ^^0, that is my husband's study," cried Mrs. Penmore, aghast. '^ Study or no study, that is the room I should wish to hoccupy," repeated Cantanker. ^'Eeally," Miss Carrington remarked with a slight toss, '^ I think that studies are all very well ; but under the circumstances, when peo- ple get a good price for their rooms — " Gabrielle started at that sting, and the West-Indian element in her blood was all on fire. But presently she remembered how much was at stake, and called up her newly- formed resolution to endure. '^ If you could put up with it just at first," she said, '^ we might see afterwards what other arrangement could be made." But Miss Cantanker was not to be dealt 40 AT THE BAR. with SO easily. She hastened to remind the as- sembled company that she was not going to be put upon, and that to sleep in a dog-hole was a thmg she would not consent to do. Moreover, she stated that she had never been so treated in the whole course of her life ; and this con- sideration appearing to strike her in a piteous light, and to fill her with great commiseration for herself, she finally asserted that she did not think to have lived to be thus cruelly dealt with, and bursting into a volley of sobs, sunk into a neighbouring chair and took to hys- terics. After this there was a great commotion. Every consolatory topic was tried, and for a time in vain, till it occiuTed to somebody — possibly because the lady herself, with a glazed eye fixed upon the decanter, stammered forth that ^'she felt a-sinking," — it occuiTcd to somebody to administer a glass of Marsala, fol- lowed swiftly by a second ; a course of treat- ment which was attended with such success that at last this angelic martp', after much flattery and cajolery, so far gave way as to consent to occupy the " dog-hole " for one night, and one night only, on the condition, distinctly understood, that she was never AN ARRIVAL. 41 asked so niucli as to pass its detested tliresliold again. And this difficulty disposed of, there re- mained the mistress to appease as well as the maid. Miss Carrington did not like her room. It "was small and stuffy, and the pattern of the chintz was hideous. Then there was no che- val-glass; and that, mind, must be remedied the very next day. The room had not a simny aspect ; a condition of affairs which could not be remedied so easily. Then the bed was not i^laced north and south ; and that was an unpardonable piece of negligence, and must be set right at once, though it implied the mov- ing of every article of furniture in the room. Moreover, she wished for a night-light; and the mihappy Charlotte had to be despatched at a late hour to get some. Finally, she was very much disappointed that there was no broth in the house, as she always liked — not taking tea — to have a cup of broth the last thing. That night, when at last the house was quiet and her guests, for a time at least dis- posed of, poor Mrs. Penmore fell into a par- oxysm of bitter grief, and wept till her pillow was wet mth her tears. It was past tlu-ee o'clock in the morning when her husband came 42 AT THE BAE. back; and when she saw how tired and worn he looked, and thought how much he went through for her, she determined that at least for that night he should not be distressed by any thing that she could tell him. So, as he leaned over the bed and showed her the money that he had earned, she put her arms about his neck and smiled upon him, and told him how his cousin had arriyed, and how they had had a nice fowl for supper and a bottle of Marsala — as Miss Carrington did not take tea — and how the lady and her servant were both made comfortable for the night. CHAPTER lY. THE "herbalist's SHOP. The shop of Mr. Cornelius YamiDi stood in a noisy crowded thoroughfare in the vicinity of Tottenham-Court Eoad. The street in "which Mr. Yampi's residence was situated was one of those which are only to be found in poor neighbourhoods, and which are characterised by extreme stagnation during the day-time and a mighty confusion and stir after night- fall. It was one of those streets in which itinerant vendors of vegetables, fried-fish, peri- winkles, and other necessaries of the poor man's life, have constituted to themselves the right of establishing then- stalls in a long line on the edge of the foot-way, with a distinct intention of rivalling their competitors in the shops, at whose very doors they have planted their barrows, and imderselling them as far as that is possible in so cheap a neighboui'hood. 44 AT THE BAE. There seem to be, ho-vrever, customers enough for both. On a Saturday night the shops on either side of the way, and the t^v^o lines of stalls facing the shops, have both of them plenty of customers, and appear both to be doing a brisk business, if a cheap. Per- haps the stalls get, on the whole, the most custom. Their owners make so much noise, are so confident in the goodness of their own wares, are so importunate with the passers-by, have such an insinuating way of thi^isting a handful of onions or a bunch of greens under the noses of hesitating housewives, that it is almost impossible to resist their wiles, without at least falling a victim to the extent of a few lettuces or a bundle of turnips. It is a curious, bewildering scene ; and the flare of the candles screened with paper, which belong to the itine- rants, and of the gas-jets with no screens at all, which blaze and roar in the open shops, make the place quite as light as it is in the (I^ovember) daylight, not to say a good deal lighter. Meantime the costermongers roar to you as you pass; the butchers in fi'ont of their houses solicit your patronage in the most emphatic terms; and the ballad-singer, with the group of chikben and the watchful eye^ THE herbalist's SHOP. 45 contributes his dismal note to swell the general uproar. It lias been said that in the thoroughfare with which we have to do the rows of stalls are ranged in front of the shops, and are dis- tinctly intended to compete with them for public favour and patronage ; and it is in this point that Mr. Cornelius Vampi has an advan- tage over his neighbours. There are no coster- mongers in Mr. Yampi's line ; for Mr. Yampi is a herbalist and a seedsman, and a seller of corn-plasters and of all sorts of drugs ; and he has even a plaster-cast of a horse in his win- dow, to intimate that medicines adapted to the stomachs of the inferior animals may be ob- tained at his emporium ; while as to the lozenges for coughs, and lozenges for dys- pepsia, and for any other human or inhuman ailment which can be conceived, they even rival the collection of boxes of ointment which always abound to so alarming an extent in the poorer neighbourhoods of the metropolis. But it must not be supposed that Mr. Yampi's shop was, in the strict sense of the word, a chemist's shop. There were no red and green and amber-coloured bottles in the window, nor was there any coloured lamp 46 AT THE BAE. oyer the door, nor any intimation in words to suggest that the business was a druggist's. '' Cornelius Yampi, Herbalist/' was all that was inscribed, and that in letters which were obscure from dirt and antiquity, l^or was the inside of the shop more suggestive of pharmacy than the exterior. Where were the rows of brilliant bottles labelled " Sp. Mind." or "Tinct. Amnion." ? or the drawers, ^^Pulv. Col." and "Carb. Sod."? Where were the glass-cases full of perfumery, and soaps, and dentifrices, and pastilles ? There were none of these. ISTo china jars of leeches, no mahogany hall- chairs, — always, for inexplicable reasons, so much affected by chemists, — ^no lemonade- bottles, no gazogene ready to pump out soda- water for the thirsty. Lastly, there was no pale, mild-eyed, gentlemanly creature, dressed in black, and wearing a white apron and spectacles, behind the counter, ready to give you advice gratis, or to pull out your tooth in the back-shop. Mr. Cornelius Yampi's shop was a herbalist's shop ; and this you certainly felt very strongly when you got inside it. The herbs stared you in the face in every direction, and look where you would. They hung — these were the com- THE herbalist's SHOP. 47 moner kinds — in masses from the ceiling; they reposed on shelves all round the shop in bimdles, neatly labelled. You felt that all the little drawers were full of them ; indeed, most of these drawers were inscribed — and that in plain English — with names that left no doubt: — St. John's wort, hedge -hyssop, celandine, monk's-hood, rue, holy thistle, and the like. 'Not were these the only curiosities in which this strange warehouse abounded. There were bones shadowed forth in obsciu'e comers, — bones of the elk, skulls of horses and dogs, a complete skeleton of a cat, and sundry glass-jars containing objects impossible to identify preserved in spirits. All seemed jumbled too in inextricable confusion ; but yet it is a fact that Mr. Cornelius Yampi knew perfectly well where to lay liis hand upon any thing that he wanted, from the stuffed alligator to the jar of snails, to which his celebrated corn-plaster was so largely indebted. But not more different was Mr. Cornelius Yampi' s shop from that of a chemist and druggist than was Mr. Yampi himself from the smug gentleman who has been described above. He was a tall, powerfully-built man, with a large abdomen, and the j oiliest red 48 AT THE BAR. face that ever was seen. It did you good only to see him smile, and to hear the rich loud tones of his jolly voice. This man had been gifted with a perfectly well-ordered natiu:e ; and all the wheels of his machinery worked so glibly and so easily, that a degree of serenity was the result, which compelled him at times, as he once informed an intimate friend, ^'to wear a scrubbing-brush next his skin, because he was too happy." And perhaps it would be a difficult thing to find a happier man than our friend the herbalist. Entirely absorbed in a number of occupations, all to him of surpassing interest ; distracted by these and by the nu.merous ex- periments of a medical sort connected with the herbs in which he dealt, and in whose virtues he was a profound believer; applied to con- tinually by the poor people in tliis poor neigh- bourhood for advice in their ailments, — for they all believed in him implicitly, and got benefit from the very tone of the man's mind, if not from his medicaments, — Mr. Cornelius was occupied every moment of his life, and that in a m^anner entirely congenial to his tastes. JSTor was this all. In addition to his medical studies, there was another kind of THE HEEBALIST's SHOP. 49 knowledge in the pursuit of which our friend was even more eager than in himting out the hidden virtues of his favourite herbs. Cor- nelius Yampi was an astrologer. Strange as this announcement may appear, it was nevertheless true that here was a man keeping a shop in a poor street in the metro- polis, and in the nineteenth century, who was yet a profound believer in the stars, and in their influence for good or evil on the lives of liis fellow-citizens. He had at the top of that very house, of which the herbalist's shop formed the lower part, a garret, which he had converted into a sort of observatory, and from which on clear nights he was able to study all the planets, making his combinations and deductions there- from entirely to his o^oi satisfaction. Here too, and on his favourite hobby, he had not hesitated to lay out money. He had got a telescope of very fair power, mounted on a stand, a celestial globe, and all sorts of ex- pensive instruments ; while the walls were decorated with charts showing the situations of the heavenly bodies, besides a row of book- shelves, on which were displayed the works of Copernicus and !N'ewton cheek- by -jowd — for VOL. I. E 50 AT THE BAE. Cornelius combined the sciences of astrology and astronomy — with his fayourites, Albertns Magnus and Cornelius Agrippa. All the time that our good Mend Yampi could spare from his shop-duties below was devoted to the prosecution of his fayourite studies in the obseryatory aboye. Here he sat late in the night at work ; for he could do with little sleep, and his Herculean strength seemed to set weariness at defiance. Here he consulted the stars in the interests of those persons — a much more numerous class than might haye been supposed — who came to consult him as to their future careers. Here, haying once got the day and hour of the nativities of liis different clients, he was able to ascertain what fortunes and misfortunes were in store for them ; when and under what circumstances their matrimonial career was to begin, and how it was likely to prosper ; when danger was to be apprehended, and when an avalanche of prosperity and happiness. He would seriously warn one against going near water on a certain day, for instance, and would quote his own example as corroborative of the warning ; relating how on a certain day, when his own horoscope had foretold that he should THE herbalist's SHOP. be in danger by water, he bad shut bimself up in bis room, determined not to stir ont of it all day; bow be bad been sent for at a certain hour to the sbop to attend to a matter wbicb was beyond tbe province of bis assistant ; bow be bad, in bis baste, kicked oyer a pail of water wbicb was standing on tbe stairs, and being kept some time with no opportnnity of changing bis wet sboes and stockings, bad cangbt an inflammation of ihe Inngs, wbicb bad well-nigb finisbed bim. He wonld tell another that on the day after to-morrow he must be on bis gnard against the animal creation, which was dead against bim on that day, and wonld cantion his client not so mnch as to get into an omnibns, or cross over the street, or caress a dog or a cat, during the twenty-four hours. All these predictions and warnings he would back up by quotations fi'om the horo- scope of the particular individual with whose destiny he happened to be concerned — quota- tions couched in terms wholly unintelligible to the many; mystifying statements about '' Mer- cury breaking into the bouse of Mars," and other jargon of the craft. jS'or did it in the least affect the reputation of oiu' sage, or UKIVtRSITY OF IIUNOII OBRAHY 52 AT THE BAR. diminish his own confidence in his powers of vaticination, when these prophecies failed ut- terly to be fulfilled. For was it not always possible to say — yes, and to believe, for Cornelius was an honest man — that adverse influences had been suddenly brought to bear, or that his client had, under his direction, been able so to act as to defeat the malignant intentions of the inimical planets ? Such was the individual whose ruddy countenance showed behind the counter of the herbalist's shop which has just been described, on a certain Saturday evening in early Decem- ber. It was a Avet, sloppy evening, when all the lamps in all the shops and at all the stalls, besides the street-lamps themselves, were reflected in the pavement and the puddles, giving a double brilliancy to the scene. Evening, and especially Saturday evening, was a busy time in the herbalist's shop ; and both Cornelius himself and his assistant — a youth of eighteen, whom our friend would insist on calling ''boy" — were kept actively at work till a late hour in the evening. On Saturday evenings such streets as that in which Vampi resided are so full of booths, where not only the necessaries but the luxu- ries of poor life are retailed, that tliey look almost as if a fair were being held in them ; and the poor are lured on to commit wild excesses in the excitement of the moment, indulging in sheep's-trotters for supper, even with the prospect before them of a roast -joint from the " bake-us " next day. And on this particular night, too, the poor man has time to think of his ailments. This is the night when the fact that he is ^'bad in his inside" may be confronted, and it is now that the rheumatic limb may get a chance of being duly embro- cated and rubbed. Our herbalist's shop was pretty well filled. Here was a gardener wanting to buy seeds ; a boy with a swelled face looking rueful. By the counter stood a grave, worn-looking woman, with an empty bottle in her hand; another, with a sick child in her arms, was cxliibiting the little thing's wasted leg to the learned astrologer. ^' She don't seem to get a bit stronger," the poor woman said. '''Noy poor little morsel," replied our philo- sopher sympathetically, " nor ever will, while you bring her out on such a night as this. Why it's death to her, my good woman. 54 AT THE BAR. Take her home, take her home, as fast as you can go, and get her warm, and give her a cnp of warm broth if you can manage it. Ah, you can't." The poor woman shook her head sorrow- fully. ^'ISTo, Mr. Vampi, not to-night, I'm afraid." '' Ah, then, give her a little gruel ; here's a packet of grits ; you can pay for it next week, you know. And here — take these herbs" — the astrologer had been maldng up a collection all this time — '^ and let them boil gently for a couple of hours in a quart of water, and then poiu^ it off and give her two table-spoonfuls three times a day, and be sure you keep her indoors and warm, and don't bring her next time you come. — ISTow, ma'am, what's for you?" This was addressed to a very little giii, who, speaking in a very loud voice, and pro- ducing a very large empty bottle, imperatively demanded : ^^ Ha'p'orth of klorrid of lime, please; and I've been to Mr. Squills' s, and he said he didn't make ha'p'orths, so I thought I'd come here." ''Well, I don't Imow, I'm sure, but what THE herbalist's SHOP. 55 he was right," replied Cornelius good-hum- ouredly; '^a ha'j^'orth -will be uncommonly little, you know, miss." The young lady was nothing abashed. ''Well, make as large a ha'p'orth as you can," she said; "for mother says the drains is awful, and she feels quite sick." And haying received what she wanted, and paid for it on the spot, the little woman departed in triumph, hugging her bottle. A young girl, who might have been a milliner's apprentice, or perhaps the daughter of a small tradesman, was waiting her turn. Mr. Yampi was occupied with the gardener for the moment. "Ah, you'll find those bulbs turn out magnificent, I know. I msh I could find time to go out to your place and see them when they're in flower. Yes, and here's the mignonette-seed. — And here, boy," he con- tinued, addressing the assistant, "get down some of those Dutch bulbs, and show them to Mr. Green, while I attend to this young lady. — ^Ah, my good girl, I haven't had time yet to finish your horoscope, but I've begun it." 5G AT THE BAR. ^^And how do you think it looks, Mr. Yampi?" '' "Well, you know, it seems a pretty good average one. There's a difficult bit or two to get over. Mercury's sadly against you; but I'm just seeing my way to an intervention on the part of Jupiter, who's very friendly, and as long as there's no coalition with Taurus, you may do very well yet. But you musn't be in a hurry, you know ; I always like to do these things thoroughly, and I'm a great deal occupied just now, besides being in difficulties myself with the Ursa Major, who's got a regular spite against me; so, you see, you must be patient, and you musn't hurry me." '' And when may I come again, Mr. Yampi ?" ^' 0, in about a week, and perhaps then it may be ready ; and in the mean time I'd caution you against having any thing to say to any body with red or even reddish hau' ; for Mars is looldng uncommonly antagonistic, I can tell you." The young lady gave a little start at this last suggestion, and went on her way sorrow- fully. However, she consoled herself as she crossed the threshold — ^' James is fair," she I THE HEEBALIST's SHOP. 57 said in a low key; ^'but his 'air is not red, it's haiibnrn." More and more customers came pouring in, and our friend was applied to for advice as to the treatment of ^'my good man's bad leg," or ^^ Charley's measles," or ^^ Sarah Jane's rash," or ''Betsy Sloyinger's" hair that was falling off, and all sorts of other tragedies and dilemmas. Out of all these our learned friend came triumphantly; but it was always when consulted upon matters of a less earthly nature that he seemed the most oracular and the most in his element. IN'otliing could ex- ceed the certainty of conviction which charac- terised his expressions of opmion, or the zest with which he entered upon the subject. 'Nov were his disciples few in number, or always of the weaker sex, though it must be owned that these jDreponderated, and that such lords of the creation as were desirous of prying into hidden matters were generally afraid of the shop, and apt to seek secret interviews with the astrologer in his observatory up- staii's. On that Saturday night with which our narrative is concerned, and while the herbalist was most busy, the figure of a lady might 58 AT THE BAE. have been seeiij if any one had taken the trouble to notice it, gazing in at the shop- wincloY/ in an mieasy and wistful manner, and then looking about her as if undecided how to act. The lady y^as muffled up closely in a woollen shawl, and her face was covered with a veil the pattern of which was so thick and spreading that it was impossible to judge of her features with any accuracy. She seemed to want to enter the shop, and yet to hesitate about it, and would sometimes even walk a little way in another direction, and then re- turn. On one of these occasions of her return- ing to the shop, she seemed at last to have made up her mind, and, not waiting to think any more about it, she turned swiftly in at the door and advanced to where the wise man, in a temporary lull of custom, was stand- ing behind his counter absorbed in thought, and mounted no doubt upon his favourite hobby. The lady made straight up to him, and they were soon engaged in a conversation apparently of some interest; but it was con- ducted in so low a key that only a word occasionally pronounced in the louder tones of the stalwart herbalist was at all audible. I THE herbalist's SHOP. 59 TJltimately, and after a great many pros and cons, some preparation, on wMcli a great deal of care had been bestowed, was handed over to the lady, who paid for what she had re- ceived at once, and left the shop closely veiled, as she had entered it. CHAPTEE V. KEEPINa HOUSE. The scene in tlie herbalist's shop, commemo- rated in the last chapter, is represented as having taken place in the month of December, whilst on reference to the chapter which pre- ceded it, it will be found that the arrival of Miss Carrington in London occurred in 'No- vember. There had been time in the interval for all the disagreeable qualities possessed by Miss Carrington and her amiable domestic to become fully developed, nor was it possible after that first night that Mrs. Penmore could keep her husband in ignorance of what was going on. In the first place it was indispensable that the question of the little study upstairs, and its abdication by the legitimate owner, should be discussed, and this implied the necessity of touching on Miss Cantanker's peculiar tem- per, as shown in her announcement that she KEEPING HOUSE. 61 neither could nor would remain in tlie apart- ment wliich had been originally prepared for her. So, by degrees it came out, that this good-natured person was likely to be then and always a soui'ce of great trouble and annoyance in the house. The luckless Gilbert, reckoning without his host, suggested that if Miss Cantanker did not like her quarters, Miss Cantanker might go; but here his wife was in a condition to set him right. ^'Her mistress," she said, "would as soon think of parting with her right hand as of dismissing her attendant, who had managed to get an as- cendency oyer her about which there could be no doubt. The two must go or stay together ; there was no doubt about that." And so it ended in the little study being confiscated, and poor Gilbert had to execute such work as he did at home either in his small dressing-room, which had no fireplace, or in the