MARGARET MALIPHANT
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS COMYNS CARR 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'la FORTUNINA,' ' NORTH ITALIAN FOLK,' ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. L 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIX 
 
 ^7/ A>,V/,/o ^^^^^^,^V
 
 5^^ 3 
 
 c;?3l 
 
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ^ — ^ — 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 It is twilight upon the marsh : the land at 
 
 the foot of the hill lies a level of dim mono- 
 
 ^ tony, and even the sea beyond is lost in 
 
 ^ mystery. In the middle of the plain one 
 
 'solitary homestead, with its clump of trees, 
 
 stands out just a little darker than anything 
 
 H else, and from afar there comes to me the 
 
 ^. sound of the sea, sweetly lulling, as it has 
 
 -^ come to me ever since I was a little child. A 
 
 ^ chill breeze creeps up among the aspens on 
 
 ^ the cliff, and for a moment there steals over 
 
 A me the sense of loneliness of ten years ago, 
 
 and I seem to see once more a tall, dark fig- 
 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 2 PROLOGUE. 
 
 ure thread his way down among the trees, 
 and disappear for ever on to the wide plain. 
 But this is only for a moment ; for as I 
 look, the past lies stretched, as the plain is 
 stretched, before me — vivid, yet distant as a 
 dream. The white mill detaches itself upon 
 the dark hillside, the cattle rest upon the 
 quiet marsh ; and still the sound of the sea 
 comes to me, tenderly murmuring, as it did 
 when I was a happy child, and tells me of 
 a present that is wide and fair as, above the 
 lonely land, the coming Night is blue and 
 vast.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 My sister Joyce is older than I am. At the 
 time of which I am thinking she was twenty- 
 one, and I was barely nineteen. We were 
 the only children of Farmer Maliphant of 
 Knellestone Grange, in the county of Sussex. 
 The Maliphants were an old family. Their 
 names were on the oldest tombstones in the 
 graveyard of the Abbey, whose choir and 
 ruined transepts were all that was left stand- 
 ing of a splendid church that had been the 
 mother of a great monastery, and of many 
 other churches in the Popish days, when our 
 town was a feature in English history. I am 
 not sure that our family dated as far back as 
 that. I had read of knights in helmets and 
 coats of mail skirmishing beneath the city 
 wall, of which there were still fragments 
 standing, and of gallant captains bringing
 
 4 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 the king's galleys to port in the bay that had 
 become marshland, and I hoped that there 
 might have been Mallphants too, riding up 
 and down the hill under the gateways that 
 were now ivy-grown ; but I am afraid that, 
 even If the family had been in existence at 
 the time, they would only have been archers, 
 shooting their arrows from behind the turrets 
 on the hill. 
 
 At all events — to leave romancing alone — 
 Mallphants had owned or rented land upon 
 the Udimore hills and the downs of Brede 
 for more than three hundred years, and it 
 must have been nearly as long as that that 
 they had lived in the old stone house over- 
 looking the Romney Marsh. For almost all 
 our land had been a manor of the old Abbey, 
 and had been granted to my father's family 
 at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, 
 and it was not much more than a century 
 since the Mallphants had been obliged to 
 sell most of it to the ancestors of him who 
 was now Squire at the big house. But they 
 had never left the old home, renting the land 
 that they had once owned, and tilling the 
 soil that they had once been lords of Our
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 5 
 
 house was the oldest house in the place, an- 
 tiquaries testifying to the fact that it was 
 built of the same foreign stone that fashioned 
 the walls of the old Abbey ; and our name 
 was the oldest name — a fact which my father, 
 democrat as he was, never really forgot. But 
 we were not so well-to-do as we had once 
 been, even in the memory of living folk. 
 
 Family portraits of ladies in scanty gowns 
 and high waists, and of gallants in ruffled 
 shirts, made pleasant pictures in my fancy ; 
 and there were whispered stories of kegs of 
 spirits stored at dead of night in the old 
 cellars beneath the house in my grandfather s 
 time, and of mother's old Mechlin lace 
 having been brought, at the risk of bold 
 lives, in the merry little fishing-smacks that 
 defied the revenue cutters. But smuggling 
 was a dead art in our time, and respectable 
 folk would have been ashamed to buy 
 smuggled goods. We lived the uneventful 
 life of our neighbours, and were no longer 
 the great people that we had been even in 
 my grandfather's time ; for farming was not 
 now so lucrative. 
 
 My sister Joyce was very handsome. I
 
 6 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 have not seen much of the world, but I am 
 sure that any one would have said so. She 
 was tall, taller than I am, and I am not short, 
 and she was slight, and fair as a rose. There 
 was a sort of gentle Quaker-like dignity about 
 Joyce, which I have never seen in one so 
 young. She had it of our mother. Both 
 women were very tall, and both bore their 
 height bravely. Sometimes, it is true, when 
 Joyce walked along the dark passages of the 
 old Grange, her arms full of sweet-scented 
 linen, and bending her little head to pass 
 under the low doorways, or when she made 
 the jam in the kitchen, or pats of butter in 
 the dairy, she stooped just a little over her 
 work; but when — of a June evening — she 
 would come across the lawn with her hands 
 full of guelder-roses and peonies for the par- 
 lour, no one could have said that she was too 
 tall, so erect and gracefully did she seem to 
 flit across the earth. 
 
 Of course I did not consciously notice 
 these things when I was nineteen ; but as I 
 think of her again now, I can see that it was 
 not at all to be wondered at that the country- 
 folk used to talk of Joyce Maliphant as a
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 7 
 
 poor slip of a thing, not fit to be a country- 
 man's wife. There was an over-sensitiveness 
 about her — a sort of tremulous reserve — that 
 marked her as belonging to a different order 
 of beings. It was not that she was weak 
 either in mind or in body. Joyce would 
 often surprise one by her sudden purposes, 
 and as for fatigue, that slender figure could 
 work all day without being tired, and though 
 the cheek was as dainty as the petal of a 
 flower, it had nothing frail about it : it told 
 of health, just as did the clearness of the blue 
 eye and the wealth of the rippling auburn hair. 
 Joyce kept her complexion, partly because 
 she was less out of doors than I was ; but if 
 I had known that I could have had her lovely 
 skin instead of my own freckled face, I do not 
 believe that I would have changed with her. 
 No doubt mother was right, and I might 
 have kept that — my one good point — if I 
 had cared to. Red-haired people generally 
 do have fresh skins, and my hair is just 
 about the colour of Virginian creeper leaves 
 in autumn, or of the copper kettle in the sun- 
 light. I was very much ashamed of it in 
 those days.
 
 8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Luckily I gave little heed to my appear- 
 ance. I was quite content to leave the 
 monopoly of the family beauty to my sister, 
 if I might have freedom to scour the marsh- 
 land with Taff, the big St Bernard ; and so 
 long as my father treated me like a boy and 
 let me help him superintend the farm, he 
 might banter as much as he liked about 
 " Margaret's grey eyes that looked a dif- 
 ferent colour every day," and even rail at 
 me for heavy eyelids that didn't look a bit 
 as if I led a healthy outdoor life. But I 
 did : when there was neither washing nor 
 baking nor butter-making to help with, I 
 was out of doors from morning to night. 
 When I was a child it was with Reuben 
 Ruck the shepherd, and his black colley 
 Luck, who was the best sheep-dog in the 
 country. 
 
 Reuben taught me many things — where 
 to find the forms of the hares upon the 
 marshland, the nests of the butcher - birds 
 and yellow-hammers and wheat -ears that 
 were all peculiar to our home ; he taught 
 me to surprise the purple herons upon the 
 sands or by the dykes at eventide, to find
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 9 
 
 the peewit's eggs upon the shingle, to tame 
 the squirrels in the Manor woods, to catch 
 grey mullet in the Channel, to spear eels in 
 the dykes, to know when every bird's brood 
 came forth, to welcome the various arrivals 
 of the swifts and martins and swallows. 
 
 At the time of which I write, Reuben had 
 had to give up his shepherd's duties, owing 
 to ill-health, and used to do odd jobs about 
 the house and garden ; but he had bred the 
 love of the country in me, and now it was 
 useless for mother to bemoan my wandering 
 habits, or even for our old nurse, Deborah, 
 to take me to task for not caring more about 
 the home pursuits in which my sister so 
 brilliantly excelled. Whatever related to a 
 bird or a beast I would attend to with alac- 
 rity ; but as for household duties, I only got 
 them over as quickly as I could, that I might 
 the sooner be out in the air. I knew every 
 hill's crest inland, every headland out to 
 sea, every shepherd's track across the marsh, 
 every plank across the channels. The shep- 
 herds and the coastguards were all my friends 
 alike, and I think there was not one of them 
 who would not have braved danger rather
 
 lO MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 than I should come to harm, although I do 
 not suppose that I ever exchanged more than 
 six words' conversation with any of them in 
 all my life. Words were not necessary be- 
 tween us. 
 
 '* Farmer Mallphant's little Miss" had 
 always been a favourite, and " Farmer Mali- 
 phant's little Miss " was always his youngest 
 daughter. I like to remember the title now ; 
 I like to remember that if Joyce was mother s 
 rieht hand in the house, I was father's com- 
 panion in the fields. I was very fond of 
 father ; I was very fond of any praise of his. 
 I did not get on so well with mother. I sup- 
 pose daughters often do not get on so well 
 with their mothers. For though Joyce was 
 a fresh, neat, deft girl, just after mother's 
 own heart, and I know that she thought 
 there was none to equal her, they never got 
 on well together. I was always fighting her 
 battles. She was too gentle, or too proud — 
 I was never sure which — to fight them for 
 herself A cross word only spoken In the 
 excitement of a domestic crisis — which meant 
 worlds to a woman to whom housekeeping 
 was an art — would shut Joyce up in an
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. II 
 
 armour of reserve for days, and I often 
 laughed at her even while I fought for her. 
 
 As for me, I used to think I could manage 
 mother. I wish I had the dear old days 
 back again ! It's little managing I would 
 care to do. It came to very little good. I 
 believe that every quarrel I had for Joyce 
 only did her harm with mother ; I was such 
 a headstrong girl that it took a deal to set 
 me down, and I am afraid that she got some 
 of the thrusts that were meant for me in con- 
 sequence. 
 
 One of the special, though tacit, subjects 
 of difference between mother and myself was 
 upon the choice of a husband for my sister. 
 I quite agreed with the country-folk — that 
 she was not suited to be a countryman's wife 
 — but I did not ag^ree with mother's idea of a 
 suitable husband for her. 
 
 Mother was a very ambitious woman. She 
 wanted us to rise in the world ; she wanted us 
 to hold once more something of the position 
 she knew the family had once held. She 
 was not a highly educated woman herself, 
 but she was a shrewd woman. She had had 
 us educated to the best of her abilities, a
 
 12 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 little better than other farmers' daughters ; 
 if she had had her way, she would have sent 
 me, as the cleverer, to school in London. 
 But father would have none of it. He never 
 denied her a whim for herself, but he did not 
 hold with boarding-school learning. 
 
 I was left to finish my education by living 
 my life. But mother was none the less am- 
 bitious for us, and being an old-fashioned 
 woman, her ambition aspired to good mar- 
 riages for us. And I — foolish girl that I 
 was — chose to think that the particular 
 man whom she hoped that Joyce's beauty 
 would secure was a very commonplace lover, 
 and not at all worthy of her. In the first 
 place, he occupied a better position in the 
 world than she did, and would probably con- 
 sider that he was raising her by the mar- 
 riage, which my pride resented. For, after 
 all, it was only what the world considered a 
 better position ; he owned the land that we 
 worked. But the land had only been bought 
 by his ancestors ; whereas our forefathers had 
 owned it for more than two hundred years 
 before that, so that we considered that we 
 were of the finer stock.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 3 
 
 As I set this down now in black and white, 
 I smile to myself : it represents so very badly 
 the real relations that existed between our 
 two families, for the man of whom I speak 
 has always been to us the best and stanchest 
 of friends, and even at that time there was 
 hearty simple intercourse between us, that 
 was quite uninfluenced by difference of rank 
 or party spirit. But the words express a 
 certain side of our feelings, especially a cer- 
 tain side of my own particular feelings, and 
 therefore they shall stand. 
 
 The man whom mother hoped Joyce might 
 marry was Squire Broderick. Ever since we 
 girls could remember, he had been Squire at 
 the big house, for his father had died when 
 he was scarcely twenty- one, and from that 
 time he had been master of the thousand 
 rooks that used to fly across the marsh at 
 even, to their homes in the beeches and elms 
 that sheltered the Manor from the sea-gales. 
 
 I remember thinking when I was a child 
 that it was very strange the rooks should 
 always fly to Squire Broderick's trees rather 
 than to ours. For we had trees too, although 
 not so many nor so big, and our house only
 
 14 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Stood at the other end of the hill, that sloped 
 down on both sides into the marsh. His 
 house was large and square and regular — 
 a red-brick Elizabethan house — and had a 
 great many more windows and chimneys 
 than ours had, and a great many more 
 flower-beds on the lawn that looked out 
 across the marsh to the sea. 
 
 But although the Grange had been often 
 added to in the course of its history, and was 
 therefore irregular in shape and varied in 
 colour, according to the time that the stone 
 had stood the weather, or to the mosses and 
 ivy that clung to its grey walls, I am sure 
 that it was just as fine an old structure in its 
 way, with its high-pitched tiled roof and the 
 lattice windows, that only looked like eyes in 
 the empty spaces of solid stone. 
 
 We certainly had a better view than the 
 Squire. From the low windows of the front 
 parlour we could see the red-roofed town 
 rise, like a sentry-tower out of the plain, 
 some three miles away; and, beyond the 
 ruin of the round stone fortress, lying like a 
 giant asleep in the tawny marshland, we 
 looked across the wide stretch of flat pasture-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 5 
 
 land to the storms and the blue of the sea in 
 the distance. 
 
 I do not suppose that I was conscious of 
 the strange beauty of this marshland as I am 
 conscious of it now ; but I know that I loved 
 it — though people do say that country-folk 
 have no admiration of nature — and I know 
 that I was glad that we saw more of it than 
 they did from the Manor, where a belt of 
 trees had been allowed to grow up and shut 
 out the view. But the rooks loved that 
 lordly belt of trees, and I think that, as a 
 child, I envied the Squire the rooks. If I 
 did, it was the only thing I ever did envy 
 him. 
 
 As the child of the Squire's tenant, and 
 proud of my family pride, it was born in me 
 rather to dislike him than otherwise for his 
 fine old house and his many acres. But this 
 was only when something occurred to remind 
 me of these sentiments — to wit, mother's 
 desire for a marriage between my sister and 
 the village big-wig. Otherwise I did not 
 think of him in this light at all, but rather 
 as the provider of the only treats that ever 
 came our way in that quiet life ; for it was
 
 l6 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 he who would make up a party to take us to 
 the travelHng shows in the Httle town when 
 they came by, or even sometimes to the 
 larger seaport ten miles off. I can still re- 
 member the school feasts at the Manor when 
 we were little girls, and the Squire had but 
 just come into his own, and how, when the 
 village tea and cake had been handed round, 
 he would take us two all over the grounds 
 alone, and give us lovely posies of hothouse 
 flowers to take back to the Grange parlour. 
 
 I can even recollect a ride on his back 
 round the field when I tried to catch the 
 pony, and how wildly I laughed all the time, 
 making the meadows ring with my merri- 
 ment ; but that must have been when I was 
 scarcely more than five years old. Since 
 then he had been a husband and a father, 
 and now he was a widower, and in my eyes 
 quite an old man, although, I suppose, he 
 can have been little more than five -and - 
 thirty. 
 
 I do not remember Mrs Broderick. I 
 asked mother about her once, and she told 
 me that she had died when I was scarcely 
 ten years old. And from our old servant,
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 7 
 
 Deborah, I had further gleaned that It was 
 in giving birth to a Httle son, who had 
 died a year after her, and that mother could 
 not bear to speak of it, because it was just at 
 the same time that we lost our little brother 
 John. Both children had died of scarlet 
 fever, and mother had nursed the Squire's 
 motherless boy before her own. I suppose 
 that was why the Squire was always so 
 tender and reverential to her. 
 
 I know I was sorry for the Squire ; for It 
 seemed hard he should have no heir to all 
 his acres, and should have to live in that big 
 house all alone. But he did not seem to 
 mind It much : he was always cheery ; his 
 fair fresh face always with a smile on it ; his 
 frank blue eyes always bright. It did one 
 good to see him ; it was like a breath of 
 fresh air. I think everybody felt the same 
 thing about him. It was not only that he 
 was generous, a just landlord, ** always as 
 good as his word " — there was something 
 more in it than that ; there was something 
 that made everybody love him, apart from 
 anything that he did. And as I look back 
 now to the past, I can see that the Squire 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 1 8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 can have had no easy time of it amongst the 
 people. He had a thorn in the flesh, and 
 that thorn was my father. 
 
 The Squire was an ardent Conservative, 
 and father was — well, whatever he was, he 
 was opposed to the Squire ; and as he was 
 one of those people who have the rare gift 
 of imparting their convictions and their en- 
 thusiasms to others, he had great influence 
 among the working classes, and his influence 
 was not favourable to the Squire's party. 
 And yet father was no politician. I knew 
 nothinor about shades in these matters at 
 that time, and because father was not a Tory 
 I imagined that he must be a Liberal. But 
 he was not a Liberal, still less was he a 
 Radical, in the party sense of the word. As 
 I have said, he belonged to no party. The 
 reforms that he wanted were social reforms, 
 and they could only be won by the patient 
 struggles of the people who required them. 
 That was what he used to say, and I suppose 
 that was why he devoted all his strength to 
 encouraging the working classes, and cared 
 so little for their existing rulers. But I did 
 not understand this at the time ; it was not
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 19 
 
 till long afterwards that I appreciated all 
 that my father was. Then it occurred to me 
 to wonder how he had come by such ad- 
 vanced ideas living in a quiet country village, 
 and I remembered of a sudden some words 
 that he had said to me one day when I had 
 asked him about a little crayon sketch that 
 always hung above the writing-table in his 
 business - room. It was the portrait of a 
 young man with a firm square chin, a sensi- 
 tive mouth, liquid fiery eyes. He wore his 
 hair brushed back off his broad forehead, 
 and had altogether a foreign air. It was a 
 fascinating face. 
 
 '* That, Meg," he had said, "was a great 
 man — a man who made war against the 
 strong, who helped the poor and down- 
 trodden, and fought for the laws of justice 
 and Hberty. He gave his affections, his 
 goods, his brains, and his life to the service 
 of others. He died poor, but was rich. 
 He was a real Christian. His name was 
 Camille Lambert." 
 
 He said no more, and I never liked to 
 broach the subject again ; for mother had 
 told me afterwards that he had had a
 
 20 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 romantic friendship for the young French- 
 man shortly after her engagement to him, 
 and that he could never bear to speak of 
 him after the time when he laid him to rest 
 under the shadows of the old Abbey Church. 
 
 Mother could tell me little about him 
 beyond the fact that he was some years 
 older than father, and that his parents had 
 belonged to the remnants of that colony 
 of French refugees who had inhabited our 
 town during the last century, and still left 
 their names to many existing houses. In- 
 deed I thought no more of it at the time ; 
 but when long afterwards I remembered the 
 matter, I hunted up a little manuscript 
 pamphlet in father's handwriting, telling 
 the story of his friend's life. 
 
 Camllle Lambert was a disciple of St 
 Simon who had died when my father was 
 yet but a lad. Of an eager and romantic 
 temperament, his enthusiasm had been early 
 fired by those exalted doctrines, and he had 
 given all his substance to the great ''school," 
 which had just opened its branch houses in 
 the provinces. 
 
 In all the works connected with it, Camllle
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 21 
 
 Lambert had taken an active part ; and 
 when financial troubles and dissensions be- 
 tween the leaders led popular ardour to cool 
 and the scheme to be declared unpractical, 
 he broke his heart over the failure of his 
 hopes, and came home to the little English 
 village to die. 
 
 As I read those pages in after years, I 
 felt that it was no wonder that such an 
 enthusiasm should have kindled a kindred 
 flame in the heart of a man so just and so 
 tender as I knew my dear father to be. 
 I love to think of that friendship now ; it 
 explains a great deal to me which has some- 
 times been a puzzle, when I have looked at 
 my father's character with the more mature 
 eyes of my present years. But in those 
 days I did not think deeply enough for any- 
 thing to be a puzzle. I was proud of my 
 father's influence among the country-folk; 
 I liked to hear the shouts of applause with 
 which he was greeted when he stood up to 
 speak at winter evening assemblies in the 
 old Town Hall. I knew that the crusade 
 he preached was that of the poor against 
 the rich ; and a confusion had arisen in my
 
 22 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 mind as to our attitude towards the Squire. 
 I fancied I noticed a restive feeling in 
 father towards the man to whom he paid 
 the rent of his land ; and when I guessed 
 at that secret hope in mother's heart, I 
 began to class the Squire with *'the rich" 
 against whom he waged war in theory, and 
 forgot the many occasions in which they 
 were one at heart in the performance of 
 kindly and generous actions. 
 
 My mood did not last long ; for the old 
 habit of a lifetime was stronger than a mood, 
 and the Squire was our friend, — but for the 
 moment that was my mood. The Squire 
 belonged to an antagonistic class ; perhaps, 
 even worse than that in my eyes, he was 
 a middle-aged man, and Joyce must not 
 marry him. Mother never spoke of her 
 hopes to me. It was old Deborah who 
 sometimes discussed them, — she always did 
 discuss the family concerns far more freely 
 than any one else in the house. She was 
 with us when Joyce was born, and it was 
 natural she should talk most of what mat- 
 tered to those whom she loved most in the 
 world. But Deborah could not be expected
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 23 
 
 to enter into the delicacy of such a situation, 
 and I felt sure that on me fell the duty of 
 fighting to the death before my beautiful 
 sister should be sacrificed to commonplace 
 affluence, instead of shining In the world of 
 romance that I loved to fancy for her.
 
 24 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Captain Forrester was the hero of the 
 romance that I had fashioned in my head 
 for Joyce. One bright, frosty winter's day 
 I had driven her into town to market. The 
 sky was blue, the air was sharp, the Httle 
 icicles hung glittering from the trees and 
 hedgerows as we drove down the hill ; the 
 sea lay steely and calm beyond the waste of 
 white marshland that looked so wide In its 
 monotony. The day was invigorating to the 
 spirits, and it had the same effect on father's 
 new mare as it had on us ; the road, besides, 
 was as hard as iron and very slippery. 
 
 Joyce was nervous in a dog-cart, and she 
 had her doubts of the new purchase. For 
 the matter of that, so had I. The mare 
 pulled very hard. However, we got into 
 town well enough, and in the excitement
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 25 
 
 of her purchases Joyce forgot her uneasiness. 
 It was a long time before she was quite 
 suited to her mind in the matter of soap, 
 and ham, and kitchen utensils ; and just as 
 we were leaving I remembered that mother 
 had told me to bring her some tapes and 
 needles. 
 
 " I've forgotten something, Joyce," said I. 
 '' Get in a minute and take the reins. I'll 
 call a boy to hold the horse's head." 
 
 She got in, and I beckoned a lad hard by, 
 who went to the animal's head. But before 
 I had been in the shop a moment a cry from 
 Joyce called me back. The mare was rear- 
 ing. Whether the lad had teased her or not 
 I do not know, but the mare was rearing, 
 and at her head, instead of the lad I had 
 called, was Captain Forrester. We did not 
 know what his name was then ; we merely 
 saw a tall, good - looking man in smarter 
 clothes than were usually worn by the 
 dandies of the neighbourhood, soothing the 
 restless animal, who soon showed that she 
 recognised a friend. Joyce was as white as 
 a sheet ; but when the young man turned to 
 me and said, raising his hat, " Miss Joyce
 
 26 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Mallphant, I believe," she blushed as red as 
 a poppy. 
 
 It was strange that he should know her 
 name so well. 
 
 '' No," said I, " I am not Joyce ; I am Mar- 
 garet Maliphant. My sisters name is Joyce." 
 
 I w^aved towards her as I spoke. Perhaps 
 I was a little offhand ; folk say I always am. 
 I suppose I must have been, for he muttered 
 a half apology. 
 
 " I should not have ventured to intrude," 
 said he, ''but that I know the nature of this 
 animal. Strangely enough, she belonged to 
 me once. She is not suitable for a lady's 
 driving." 
 
 "Why," said I, puzzled and half-doubtful, 
 ''father only bought her last week from 
 Squire Broderick." 
 
 " Exactly," smiled he, and I noticed what 
 a pleasant, genial smile he had. " I sold the 
 mare to Squire Broderick myself. I know 
 him very well." 
 
 "Oh!" ejaculated I, I am afraid still far 
 from graciously. 
 
 He was still standing by the horse, strok- 
 ing its neck.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 27 
 
 *' Yes," he repeated, and his tone was not 
 a jot less pleasant because I had spoken so 
 very ungraciously. "She used to belong to 
 me. She has a bit of a temper." 
 
 " I like a horse with a little temper," 
 answered I. "A horse that has a hard 
 mouth is dull driving." 
 
 I said it out of pure intent to brag, for I 
 had been offended at its being supposed I 
 could not drive any horse. As I spoke, I 
 put my foot on the step to mount the dog- 
 cart. As soon as the mare felt the move- 
 ment behind her she reared again slightly. 
 Captain Forrester quieted her afresh, but 
 still there was no doubt about it, she had 
 reared. 
 
 "Oh, Margaret," sighed Joyce, "I'm sure 
 we shall never get home safely ! " 
 
 "Nonsense!" cried I, Impatiently. 
 
 I hated to have Joyce seem as though she 
 mistrusted my power of managing a restive 
 horse, and I hated equally to have her show 
 herself off as a woman with nerves. I had 
 already got up into my place, and I now took 
 the reins from her hands and prepared to give 
 the mare her head.
 
 28 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 *' I think I shall walk, Margaret," said 
 Joyce, in a voice which I knew meant that 
 there would be no persuading her from her 
 purpose. She was not generally obstinate, 
 but when she was frightened she would not 
 listen to any reason. 
 
 Rather than have a scene, I knew it would 
 be best to give in. 
 
 " Very well ; then we will both walk," said 
 I. " You had better get down, and I will 
 drive on and put the cart up at the inn. 
 Reuben will have to walk out this evening 
 and take it home." 
 
 I know I spoke crossly ; it was wrong, 
 but I was annoyed. However, even before 
 Joyce had had time to get down I saw that 
 our new friend had gone round to the other 
 side of the dog-cart and was talking to her. 
 
 '' Miss Maliphant," said he — and I could 
 not help remarking what a charming manner 
 he had, and what a fascinating way of fixing 
 his wide-open light-brown eyes full In the 
 face of the person to whom he was speaking, 
 and yet that without anything bold In the 
 doing of It — '' Miss Maliphant, will you let 
 me drive you and your sister home ? I
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 29 
 
 know how uncomfortable it is to be nervous, 
 and I don't think you would be frightened if 
 I were driving, for, you see, I understand the 
 mare quite well." 
 
 Joyce blushed, and I bit my lip. It cer- 
 tainly was very mortifying to have a perfect 
 stranger setting himself up as a better whip 
 than I was. 
 
 Joyce answered. " Oh, thank you, I don't 
 think we could trouble you to do that," she 
 said, with a bend of her pretty head, 
 
 ''It would be no trouble," replied he, look- 
 ing at her. " I am going in your direction." 
 He did not say it eagerly, only with a pleas- 
 ant smile as though his offer were made out 
 of pure politeness. 
 
 I looked at him. He was young and 
 handsome, and he was most certainly a 
 gentleman, for he had the most perfect and 
 easy manners that I had ever met with in 
 any man ; and he was looking at Joyce as I 
 fancied a man might look at the woman 
 whom he could love. Suddenly all my of- 
 fence at his want of respect to my powers 
 of driving evaporated. For a thought flashed 
 across my mind. Might this be the lover of
 
 30 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 whom I had dreamed for my beautiful sister? 
 He had learnt her name beforehand ; there- 
 fore he must have seen her, and also have 
 been sufficiently attracted by her to wish to 
 find out who she was. 
 
 Why, was It not possible that he had fallen 
 in love with her at first sight, and that he 
 had sought this opportunity of knowing her ? 
 Such things had been known to happen, and 
 Joyce was certainly beautiful enough to ac- 
 count for any ardour in an admirer. I 
 stood a moment undecided myself. A young 
 man from the shop where I had made my 
 little purchase came out and put the parcel in 
 the dog-cart. He held another in his hand. 
 
 " This is for the Manor, Captain," said he. 
 " Shall I put it in the carriage ? " 
 
 '* No, no, thank you," answered our new 
 friend. '' The Squire will be driving over 
 one of these days and will fetch it." 
 
 This settled the question for me. 
 
 " Captain ! " 
 
 There was something so much more ro- 
 mantic about a Captain than about a plain 
 Mister. And such a Captain ! I had met 
 captains before at the Volunteer ball, but not
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 3 1 
 
 like this one. It did not occur to me for a 
 moment that if the gentleman was a friend 
 of the Squire's he must needs belong to the 
 class which I thought I abhorred, and there- 
 fore should not be a suitable lover for my 
 sister. I was too much fascinated by the 
 individual to remember the class. Joyce 
 looked at me for help. 
 
 " I don't know what to say, I'm sure," 
 murmured she. 
 
 The horse began to fidget again at being 
 kept so long standing. There could be no 
 possible objection to a friend of the Squire's 
 driving us over. 
 
 " Thank you," said I, trying to be cool 
 and dignified and not at all eager. *' If you 
 would be so kind as to drive us, I shall be 
 very much obliged to you." And turning to 
 the shop-boy, I added, '' Put the parcel into 
 the carriage." 
 
 I do not know what the Captain must 
 have thought of my sudden change of man- 
 ner ; I did not stop to consider. I jumped 
 to the ground before he had time to help me, 
 and began to let down the back seat of the 
 cart.
 
 32 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 "No, no; don't leave the horse," cried I, 
 as he came round to the back to help me. 
 *' I know how to do this perfectly well. Do 
 get up. Joyce Is so very nervous." 
 
 '' As you like," said he, still smiling ; and 
 he got up beside Joyce. 
 
 In a moment I had fixed the seat and 
 jumped Into It, and we started off at a smart 
 trot down the village street. Joyce was not 
 entirely reassured, although vanity prevented 
 her from openly expressing her alarm, as she 
 would have done If I had been at her side. 
 She sat holding on to the cart, with lips 
 parted and eyes fixed on the horse's ears. I 
 had turned round a little on the seat so that 
 I could see her, and I thought that she 
 looked very lovely. I thought Captain For- 
 rester must be of the same mind ; but I 
 think he had not much time to look at her 
 just then — the mare kept his hands full. We 
 rattled down the hill over the cobble-stones 
 and out of the town. Soon Its red roofs, 
 crowned by the square tower of the ancient 
 church at Its summit, were only a feature in 
 the landscape, which I watched gradually 
 mellowing into the white background as I
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 33 
 
 sat with my back to the others. Before long 
 I was lost in one of what father would have 
 called my brown studies, and quite forgot to 
 notice whether the two in front of me were 
 getting on well together or not. The vague 
 dream that I had always had about my 
 sister's future was beginning to take shape — 
 it unrolled Itself slowly before me in a sweet 
 and delightful picture, to which the fair scene 
 before me imparted life and brilliancy as the 
 sense of it mingled imperceptibly with my 
 thoughts. I had never known what it really 
 was that I desired for my sister's lot. To be 
 the wife of a country bumpkin she was far 
 too beautiful ; and yet I thought that nothing 
 should have induced me to help towards 
 mating her with one of the gentry w^ho 
 crushed the people's honest rights. Sir 
 Walter Scott's ' Fair Maid of Perth,' which 
 I had just finished reading, had lent wings 
 to my youthful imagination ; but there were 
 no burghers in these days who held the 
 honourable positions of those smiths and 
 glovers, although no doubt at that time there 
 had been many such living in the very town 
 where we had just been to market, and which 
 VOL. I. C
 
 34 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 was in days of old one of the strongholds of 
 his Majesty's realm. If there had been any 
 such suitors, I think I would have given our 
 "Fair Maid" to one of them; but there 
 was all the difference between the man who 
 owned the linen-draper's shop — even if he 
 did not measure off yards of stuff behind the 
 counter — and the man who fashioned the 
 goods with his own hand and took a pride in 
 making them beautiful. And nowadays there 
 were no men who made armour — there were 
 no men who needed it. War had become a 
 very brutal thing compared to what It was 
 then, when it really was a trial of individual 
 strength ; nevertheless, of the professions of 
 which I knew anything, it was still to my 
 mind the finest, and it seemed to me that a 
 fine profession was the only thing between a 
 countryman and a landed proprietor such as 
 Squire Broderick. I wonder if I should have 
 thought all this out so neatly If the fine, hand- 
 some, and gentlemanly young man who had 
 come across our path had not borne the title 
 of ''Captain" ? Any way, It had struck my 
 fancy, as he had struck my fancy — for Joyce. 
 There was something fresh, and brave,
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 35 
 
 and bright about him, with those wide-open 
 brown eyes, that he fixed so intently upon 
 one's own. I felt sure that he was full of 
 enthusiasm, full of courage and of loyalty — 
 every inch a soldier. He was the first man 
 I had ever seen who impressed me by his 
 personality ; and yet with all that, he was so 
 simple, so light and easy. 
 
 As I look back now upon my first impres- 
 sion of Captain Forrester, I do not think it 
 was an unnatural one. I think that he really 
 had a rare gift of fascination, and it was not 
 to be wondered at that I said to myself that 
 this was the noble hero of whom I had 
 dreamed that he should carry off the lily 
 nurtured In the woodland shade. He was 
 just the kind of man to fit in with my notion 
 of a gallant and a hero — a notion derived 
 solely from those old - fashioned novels of 
 father's library which I devoured in the 
 secrecy of my bedchamber when I could 
 snatch a moment from household darning, 
 and mother was not by to pass her scathing 
 remarks upon even such profitable romance- 
 reading as the works of Sir Walter Scott and 
 Jane Austen.
 
 36 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 As I sat there in the midst of the snow- 
 plain, with the ocean beyond It, and the 
 weather - worn old town the only human 
 thing In the wide landscape, I fixed my 
 thoughts upon that one little spot with all 
 the concentration of my nature, and fell to 
 weaving a romance far more brilliant than 
 anything I had read, or than anything that 
 had yet suggested Itself to me In my quiet 
 everyday life. The days of gay tourna- 
 ments, and fierce hand-to-hand combats, and 
 warriors clad in suits of mail, were no longer ; 
 but still, to fight for one's country's fame, to 
 win one's bread by adventure and glory, to 
 kill one's country's foes and save the lives of 
 her sons, was the grandest thing that could 
 be, I thought ; and this Captain Forrester 
 did. 
 
 As I dreamed, my eyes grew dim thinking 
 of the wife who must send her lover from 
 her, perhaps for ever — even though it be to 
 glorious deeds ; and as I dreamed, the dog- 
 cart gave a jolt over a stone, and I awoke 
 from my foolish fancies to see that Captain 
 Forrester's hard driving had taken all the 
 mischief out of the mare, and that she was
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 37 
 
 trotting along quite peaceably, while he let 
 the reins hang loose upon her neck, and 
 turned round to talk to my sister Joyce. 
 And as we passed the clump of tall elms 
 at the foot of the cliff, and began slowly to 
 climb the hill towards the village, I looked 
 out across the cold expanse of white marsh- 
 land to the calm sea beyond, and wondered 
 whether it were true what the books said that 
 the peace of a perfect love could only be won 
 through trouble and heartache. Any way, 
 the trouble must be worth the reward, since 
 we all admired those who fought for it, and 
 most of us entered the lists ourselves. But 
 no doubt the trouble and the fighting was 
 always on the man's side, and as I caught a 
 glimpse of Joyce's blushing profile and of the 
 Captain's eager gaze, I said to myself that 
 Joyce was beautiful, and that Joyce was 
 sweet, and that Joyce would have a lover to 
 whom no trouble in the whole world would 
 be too much for the sake of one kiss from 
 her lips.
 
 38 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I HAD jumped down as we ascended the hill, 
 and had walked by the side of the cart. 
 Captain Forrester had turned round now 
 and then to say a word to me, making 
 pleasant general remarks upon the beauty 
 of the country and the healthiness of the 
 situation. But he did it out of mere polite- 
 ness, I knew well enough. When we 
 reached the top of the hill, he gave the 
 reins to Joyce and got down. 
 
 "You'll be all right now, won't you?" 
 said he, helping me in. " I won't come 
 to the door, for I'm due at home;" and 
 he nodded in the direction of the Manor. 
 
 Then he must be staying in our village. 
 
 I said aloud, laughing, "Well, we could 
 hardly get into trouble between this and 
 our house, could we ? "
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 39 
 
 '' Hardly," laughed he back again, looking 
 down the road to the right, which led to the 
 ivied porch of our house. 
 
 How well he seemed to know all about 
 us ! Was he the Squire's guest as well 
 as his friend ? If so, Joyce would see him 
 again. 
 
 *' Won't you come in and see my father 
 and mother ? " said I. 
 
 I was not sure whether it was the thing 
 to do in good society, such as that to which 
 I felt instinctively that he belonged, but I 
 knew that it was the hospitable thing to do, 
 and I did it. Joyce seconded my invitation 
 in an inarticulate murmur. 
 
 I think we were both of us considerably 
 relieved when he said with that same gay 
 smile, and speaking with his clear, well-bred 
 accent, '' Not now, thank you. But I will 
 come and call very soon, if I may." 
 
 He added the last words turning round 
 to Joyce. She blushed and looked uncom- 
 fortable. We were both thinking that 
 mother might possibly not welcome this 
 stranger so cordially as we had done. How- 
 ever, I was not going to have this good
 
 40 MARGARET MALI PH ANT. 
 
 beginning spoilt by any mistake on my part, 
 and I hastened to say, " Oh yes, pray do 
 come. I am sure mother will be delighted 
 to welcome any friend of Squire Brode- 
 rlck's." 
 
 He gave a little bow at that, but he did 
 not say anything. He held out his hand to 
 me, and then turned to Joyce. I fancied 
 that hers rested in his just a moment longer 
 than was necessary ; but then I was in the 
 mood to build up any romance at the 
 moment, and no doubt I was mistaken. 
 But anyhow, I turned the dog -cart down 
 rather sharply towards the house, and Cap- 
 tain Forrester had to stand aside. I was 
 not going to have the villagers gossiping ; 
 and such a thing had not been seen before, 
 as Farmer Maliphant's two daughters talking 
 with a stranger at the corner of the village 
 street. 
 
 '' I wonder whether he is staying at the 
 Manor," said I, as we drove up the gravel. 
 
 And Joyce echoed, " I wonder." 
 
 But she had plenty to do when she got in, 
 showing her new purchases to mother, and 
 telling her the market prices of household
 
 MARGARET MALI PH ANT. 4 1 
 
 commodities, and I do not suppose that she 
 gave a thought to her new admirer for some 
 time. At all events she did not speak of 
 him. Neither did I. I did not go indoors. 
 I always was an unnatural sort of a girl in 
 some ways, and shopping and talk about 
 shopping never interested me. I preferred 
 to remain in the yard, and discuss the points 
 of the new mare with Reuben. But all the 
 time, I was thinking of the man whom we 
 had met In town, and wondering whether or 
 no he would turn out to be Joyce's lover. 
 As I have said before, Reuben and I were 
 great friends. He was a gaunt, loose-limbed 
 old fellow, with a refined although by no 
 means a handsome face, thin features, a fair 
 pale skin, with white whiskers upon It. In 
 character he was simple, obstinate, and taci- 
 turn, and had a queer habit of applying the 
 same tests to human beings as he did to 
 dumb animals. In the household — although 
 every one respected his knowledge of his 
 own business — I think that he was regarded 
 merely as an honest, loyal nobody. It was 
 only I who used sometimes to think that it 
 was not all obtuseness, but also a laudable
 
 42 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 desire for a quiet life, which led Reuben to 
 be such an easy mark for Deborah's wit, and 
 apparently so impervious to its arrows. 
 
 ''She pulled, did she!" said he, with a 
 smile that showed a very good set of teeth 
 for an old man. *' Ah, it takes a man to 
 hold a mare, leastways if she's got any spirit 
 in her." 
 
 ''She didn't pull any too much for me," 
 answered I, half vexed. "What makes you 
 fancy so ? " 
 
 " I seed the young dandy a - driving ye 
 along the road," said he. " I can see a long 
 way. She pulled at first, but he took it out 
 of her." 
 
 If there was any secret in our having 
 driven out of town with Captain Forrester, 
 Reuben had it. 
 
 " Joyce was frightened, and he had driven 
 the mare at the Squire's," said I. "She 
 reared a bit in the town, but I don't think 
 he drove any better than I could have 
 done." 
 
 Reuben took no notice of this remark. 
 " She's a handsome mare," said he. " The 
 handsomer they be, the worse they be to
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 43 
 
 drive. Women are the same — so I've heard 
 tell ; though, to be sure, the ugly ones are 
 bad enough." 
 
 Deborah was not handsome ; but then, 
 had Reuben ever tried to drive her ? Oh, 
 if she could have heard that speech ! She 
 came up the garden cliff in front of us as 
 I spoke, with some herbs in her arms — a 
 tall, strong woman, with a wide waist and 
 shoulders, planting her foot firmly on the 
 ground at every step, and swaying slightly 
 on her hips with the bulk of her person. 
 When she was young she must have had 
 a fine figure, but now she was not graceful. 
 
 '' Yes, she's a beauty," said I, stroking the 
 mare's sleek sides, and alluding to her and 
 not to Deborah. *' When we are alone 
 together we'll have fine fun." The mare 
 stretched out her pretty neck to take the 
 sugar that I held in my hand. She was 
 beginning to know me already. 
 
 "Yes, Miss Joyce is nervous," said Reu- 
 ben meditatively. " Most like she would 
 have more confidence in a beau. Them 
 pretty maids are that way, and the beaus 
 buzz about them like flies to the honey.
 
 44 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 But the beasts be fond of you, miss," he 
 added admiringly, watching me fondling the 
 horse. 
 
 It was the higher compliment from Reu- 
 ben, and it was true that every animal liked 
 me. I could catch the pony in the field 
 when it would let no one else get near it. 
 I could milk the cow who kicked over the 
 pail for any one but Deborah. I could coax 
 the rabbits to me, and almost make friends 
 with the hares in the woods. The cat slept 
 upon my bed, and Taff watched outside my 
 door. 
 
 I laughed at Reuben's compliment; but 
 Deborah strode out of the back-door just 
 then, to hang linen out to dry, and Reuben 
 never laughed when she was by. She gave 
 me a sharp glance. 
 
 '' You've got your frock out at the gathers 
 again," said she. She did not often trouble 
 to give us our titles of " Miss." 
 
 '' Have I ?" replied I carelessly. 
 
 " Yes, you have ; and how you manage it 
 is more than I can tell," continued she tartly. 
 "Now you're grown up, I should think you 
 might have done with jumping dykes, and
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 45 
 
 riding horses without saddles, and such- 
 Hke." 
 
 '* Why, Deb," cried I, laughing, *' I haven't 
 jumped a dyke since I was fourteen. At 
 least, not when any one was by," added I, 
 remembering a private exploit of two days 
 ago. 
 
 " Yes ; I suppose you don't expect me not 
 to know where that black mud came from 
 on your petticoat last night," remarked she 
 sententiously. " Anyhow, I'd advise you to 
 mend your frock, for the Squire's in the 
 parlour, and your mother won't be pleased." 
 
 " The Squire ! " cried I. " Is he going to 
 stay to dinner ? " 
 
 " Not as I know of," answered the old 
 woman. *' But you had better go and see. 
 Joyce let him in, for I hadn't a clean apron, 
 and I heard him say that he had come to see 
 the master on business." 
 
 " Well, so I suppose he did," answered I. 
 
 Deborah smiled, a superior sort of smile. 
 She did not say anything, but I knew very 
 well what she meant. She was the only 
 person in the house who openly insisted that 
 the Squire came to the Grange after Joyce.
 
 46 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Mother may have thought it ; I guessed from 
 many little signs that she did think it, but 
 she never directly spoke of it. But De- 
 borah spoke of it, and spoke of it frankly. 
 
 It irritated me. I pushed past her roughly 
 to reach the front parlour windows. I want- 
 ed to see the Squire to-day, for I wanted to 
 find out whether our new friend was staying 
 at the Manor. 
 
 *' You're never going in like that ? " cried 
 she. 
 
 ''Certainly," replied I. "What's good 
 enough for other folk is good enough for 
 the Squire. The Squire is nothing to 
 me, nothing at all." 
 
 '' That's true enough," laughed Deborah. 
 " I don't know as he is anything to you. 
 But he may be something to other folk all 
 the same. And look here. Miss Spitfire, 
 there may come a day, for all your silly airs, 
 when you may be glad enough that the 
 Squire is something to some of you, and 
 when you'd be very sorry if you'd done 
 anything to prevent it. You go and think 
 that over." 
 
 I curled my lip in scorn. "You know I
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 47 
 
 refuse to listen to any Insinuations, Deborah," 
 said I. " The Squire comes here to visit my 
 father, and we have no reason to suppose 
 that he comes for anything else." 
 
 This was quite true. The Squire had cer- 
 tainly never said a word that should lead us 
 to imagine that he meant anything more by 
 his visits to the Grange than friendship for 
 an old man laid by from his active life by 
 frequent attacks of gout ; but if I had been 
 quite honest, I should have acknowledged 
 that I too entertained the same suspicion as 
 Deborah did. 
 
 " The women must always needs be think- 
 ing the men be coming after them," mut- 
 tered Reuben, emerging from the darkness 
 of a shed to the left with an axe over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 If I had been less preoccupied I should 
 have laughed at the audacity of this remark, 
 which he would certainly not have dared to 
 make unless it had been for the support of 
 my presence. 
 
 "It don't stand to reason," went on Deb- 
 orah, scorning Reuben's remark, " that a gen- 
 tleman like the Squire would come here and
 
 48 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 sit hours long for naught but to hear the 
 gentry folk abused by the master. It is a 
 wonder he stands it as he do, for master is 
 over-unreasonable at times. But, Lord ! you 
 can't look in the Squire's eyes and not 
 know he's got a good heart, and it's Miss 
 Joyce's pretty face that'll get it to do what 
 she likes with, you may take my word for 
 it. The men they don't look to the mind 
 so much as they look to the face and the 
 temper — and Joyce, why, her temper's as 
 smooth as her skin ; you can't say better 
 than that." 
 
 This was true, and Deborah was right to 
 say it in praise, although I do believe in her 
 heart she had even a softer spot for me and 
 my bad temper than for Joyce and her gentle 
 ways. 
 
 Birds of a feather, I suppose. 
 
 '' You seem to think that it's quite an un- 
 natural thing for two men to talk politics to- 
 gether, Deborah," said I, with a superior air 
 of wisdom. '' But perhaps the Squire is wiser 
 than you fancy, and thinks that at his time of 
 life politics should be more in his way than 
 pretty faces."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 49 
 
 Deborah laughed, quite good-humouredly 
 this time. 
 
 " Hark at the lass ! " cried she. '' The time 
 may come when you won't think a man of 
 five-and-thirty too old to look at a woman, my 
 dear." 
 
 *'Oh, / don't mind how old a man is!" 
 laughed I merrily, recovering my good-hum- 
 our at the remembrance of that second string 
 I had to my bow for my sister. *' The men 
 don't matter much to me — they never look 
 twice at me, you know well enough. But 
 Joyce is too handsome to marry an old 
 widower, and I daresay if she waits a bit 
 there'll come somebody by who'll be better 
 suited to her." 
 
 *'Well, all I can say is, I hope she may 
 have another chance as good," insisted the 
 obstinate old thing, shaking out the last 
 stocking viciously and hanging it on to the 
 line. '* But she hasn't got it yet, you know ; 
 and if folk all behave so queer and snappish, 
 maybe she won't have it at all. But you 
 must all please yourselves," added she, as 
 though she washed her hands of us now. 
 And then giving me another of her sharp 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 glances, she said in conclusion, ''And you 
 know whether your mother will like to see 
 you with a torn frock or not." 
 
 I went in with my head in the air. I 
 thought it was very impertinent of Deb to 
 talk of ''good chances" in connection with 
 my sister. I have learned to know her 
 better since then. 
 
 Her desire for that marriage was not all 
 ambition for Joyce. But at that time I little 
 guessed what she already scented in the air.
 
 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 It was a quarter of an hour before I reached 
 the parlour, for I did mend my frock in spite 
 of my bit of temper. The cloth was laid for 
 dinner — a spotless cloth, for mother was very 
 particular about her table-linen — and the 
 bright glass and the dinner-ware shone in the 
 sunlight. I can see the room now : a long, 
 low room, with four latticed windows abreast, 
 and a seat running the length of the windows ; 
 opposite the windows a huge fireplace, across 
 which ran one heavy oaken beam bearing 
 the date and the name of the Maliphants, 
 and supported by two stout masonry pillars, 
 fashioned, tradition said, out of that same 
 soft stone of which a great part of the 
 Abbey was built. Two high-backed wooden 
 chairs, with delicate spindle rails, highly 
 polished, and very elegant, stood close to 
 
 ^fBf^ARY
 
 52 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 the blaze. There was also a pretty Inlaid 
 satin-wood table in the far corner that had 
 belonged to mother's grandfather, and had 
 been left to her ; but the rest of the furniture 
 was plain, dark oak, and had been in the house 
 ever since the Maliphants had owned it. It 
 was a sweet, cosy room ; and if the windows, 
 being old-fashioned and somewhat small, did 
 not admit all the sunlight they might, they 
 also did not let in the wind, of which there 
 was plenty, for the parlour faced towards the 
 sea, and the gales in winter were sometimes 
 terrific. 
 
 We had another best-parlour, looking on 
 the road, where was the piano and the 
 upholstered furniture, covered In brown hol- 
 land on common days ; but though the pale- 
 yellow tabaret chairs and curtains looked 
 very pretty when they were all uncovered, 
 we none of us ever felt quite comfortable 
 excepting in the big dwelling - room that 
 looked over the marsh. How well I re- 
 member it that day when we were all there 
 together! Father sat by the fire with his 
 boots and gaiters still on. He had been out 
 for the first time after a severe attack of his
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 53 
 
 complaint, and he was very irritable. I 
 thought Joyce might have helped him off 
 with the heavy things, but no doubt he had 
 refused ; any offer of help was almost an 
 insult to him. They used to say I took 
 after father in that. He was bending over 
 the fire that day, stretching out his fingers 
 to the blaze — a powerful figure still, though 
 somewhat worn with hard work and the suf- 
 ferings which he never allowed to gain the 
 upper hand. But his back was not bent — an 
 outdoor life, whatever other marks it may 
 leave, spares that one ; his head was erect 
 still — a remarkable head, — the grey hair, 
 thick and strong, sticking up in obstinate 
 little tufts without any attempt at order or 
 smoothness. It was not beautiful hair, for 
 the tufts were quite straight, but at least it 
 was very characteristic ; I have never seen 
 any quite like it. It was in keeping with 
 the bushy eyebrows, that had just the same 
 defiant expression as the tufts of hair. The 
 brow was high and prominent, the eyes keen 
 and quick to change, the jaw heavy and 
 somewhat sullen. At first sight it might 
 not have been called a lovable face ; it
 
 54 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 might rather have been called a stern, even 
 an unbending one. But that it was really 
 lovable, is proved by the sure love and 
 confidence with which it always Inspired 
 little children. They came to father natur- 
 ally as they would have gone to the tenderest 
 woman, and smiled in his face as though 
 certain beforehand of the smile that would 
 answer theirs in return. But father's face 
 was sullen sometimes to a grown-up person. 
 It looked very sullen as he sat by the fire 
 that day. I knew in a moment that some- 
 thinor had ruffled him. 
 
 Mother seemed to be doing her best, how- 
 ever, to make up for the ill reception which 
 her husband was giving his guest ; and 
 mother's best was a very pretty thing. She 
 was a very pretty woman, and she looked 
 her prettiest that day. She was tall — we 
 were a tall family, I was the shortest of us 
 all — and her height looked even greater than 
 it was in the straight folds of the soft grey 
 dress that suited so well with her fair skin. 
 She had a fresh white cap on ; the soft fluted 
 frills came down in straight lines just below 
 her ears, framing her face ; and the bands of
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 55 
 
 snow-white hair, that looked so pretty beside 
 the fresh skin, were tucked away smoothly 
 beneath it. Mother's face was a young face 
 still— as dainty in colour as a little child's. 
 Joyce took her beauty from her. 
 
 Mother was standing up in the middle of 
 the room talking to the Squire, who ap- 
 parently was about to take his leave. Joyce 
 was putting the last touches to the dinner- 
 table. She looked up at me in an appealing 
 kind of way as I came in, and I felt sure that 
 there had been some sort of difference 
 between father and the Squire. They often 
 did have little differences, though they were 
 the best of friends in reality ; but I always 
 secretly took father's side in every argument, 
 and I never liked to see mother, as it were, 
 making amends for what father had said. 
 Yet it was what she was doing now. " I'm 
 sure, Squire Broderick," she was saying, " we 
 take it very kindly of you to interest yourself 
 in our affairs. Laban is a little tetchy just 
 now, but it's because he ain't well. He feels 
 just as I do, really." 
 
 Father made an impatient sound with his 
 lips at this, but mother went on just the same.
 
 56 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ** I'm quite of your mind," she declared, 
 shaking her head. *' I've often said so to 
 Laban myself. We can't go against Provi- 
 dence, and we must learn to take help where 
 we can get it, though I know ofttlmes it's just 
 the hardest thing we have to do." 
 
 What could this speech mean ? I was 
 puzzled. I glanced at father. He sat quite 
 silent tapping his foot. I glanced at Joyce. 
 There was nothing in her manner to show 
 that the subject under discussion had any- 
 thing whatever to do with her. The Squire 
 had turned round as I came Into the room, 
 but mother kept him so to herself that he 
 could do no more than give me a smile as I 
 walked across and sat down in the window 
 seat. 
 
 *' I know It would be the best in the end," 
 mother went on, with a distressed look on 
 her sweet old face. 
 
 It rather annoyed me at the time, simply 
 because I saw that she was siding with the 
 Squire against father ; but I have often re- 
 membered that, and many kindred looks 
 since, and have wondered how It was that 
 I never guessed at the anxiety of that tender
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 57 
 
 spirit that laboured so devotedly to cope 
 with problems that were beyond its grasp. 
 
 " However," added mother, with the pretty 
 smile that, after all, I remember more often 
 than the knitted brow, '' he'll come round 
 himself in time. He always does see things 
 the way you put them after a bit." 
 
 She said these words in a whisper, although 
 they were really quite loud enough for any 
 one to hear. I saw father smile. He was 
 so fond of mother, and the words were so 
 far from accurate, that he could afford to 
 smile ; for there were very few instances in 
 which he came round to the Squire's way of 
 seeing things at that time, although he was 
 very fond of the Squire. The Squire him- 
 self laughed aloud. He had a rich rippling 
 laugh ; It did one good to hear it. 
 
 '* No, no, ma'am," he said, *' I can't agree 
 to that. And no reason why It should be so 
 either." He held out his hand to mother as 
 he spoke. 
 
 " I must be off now," he added. " I ought 
 to have gone long ago. We'll talk It over 
 again another time." 
 
 *'0h, won't you stay and have a bit of
 
 58 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 dinner with us, Squire," cried mother in a 
 disappointed voice. *' It's just coming in. 
 I know it's not what you have at home, but 
 it is a fine piece of roast-beef to-day." 
 
 " Fie, fie, Mrs Maliphant! don't you be so 
 modest," said the Squire with his genial 
 smile, buttoning up his overcoat as he spoke. 
 
 He always had a gay, easy manner towards 
 the mother — something, I used to fancy, like 
 her own younger brother might have had 
 towards her, or even her own son, although 
 at that time I should have thought it impos- 
 sible for a man as old to be mother's son at 
 all. I suppose it was in consequence of that 
 sad time in the past that he had grown to 
 love her as I know he did. 
 
 " I don't often get a dinner such as I get 
 at your table," added he, "but I can't stay 
 to-day, for I'm due at home." 
 
 Just the words that young man had used 
 at the foot of the village street. I was 
 determined to find out before the Squire left 
 whether that young man was staying at the 
 Manor or not. 
 
 " Perhaps Mr Broderick has visitors, 
 mother," I suggested.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 59 
 
 I glanced at Joyce as I spoke. Her 
 cheeks were poppies. 
 
 ''What makes you think so?" asked the 
 Squire, turning to me and frowning a little. 
 
 *' We met a gentleman in town," said I 
 boldly, although my heart beat a little ; " he 
 helped us with the mare when she reared, 
 and he said he was a friend of yours." 
 
 Mother looked at me, and Joyce blushed 
 redder than ever. Certainly, for a straight- 
 forward and simple young woman who had 
 no more than her legitimate share of vanity, 
 Joyce had a most unfortunate trick of blush- 
 ing. I know it was admired, but I never 
 could see that folk must needs be more deli- 
 cate of mind because they blushed, or more 
 sensitive of heart because they cried. The 
 Squire frowned a little more and bit his lip. 
 
 "Ah, it must have been Frank," said he. 
 "He did say he was going to walk into town 
 this morning. My nephew," added he in 
 explanation, turning to mother. " Captain 
 Forrester." 
 
 " Your nephew ! " exclaimed mother, quite 
 reassured. " He must be but a lad." 
 
 " Oh, not at all ; he's a very well-grown
 
 60 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 man, and of an age to take care of himself," 
 answered the Squire, and it did not strike 
 me then that he said it a little bitterly. " My 
 sister is a great deal older than I am." 
 
 " Of course I have seen Mrs Forrester," 
 said mother, " and I know she's a deal older 
 than you are, but I never should have 
 thought she had a grown-up son — and a 
 captain, too ! " 
 
 ** Oh yes, he's a captain," repeated the 
 Squire, and he took up his hat and stick 
 from the corner of the room and put his 
 hand on the door-knob. "Good-bye, Mr 
 Maliphant," cried he cheerily, without touch- 
 ing any more on the sore subject. 
 
 Father did not reply, and he turned to me 
 and held out his hand. '* Good-bye," he 
 said, more seriously than it seemed to me 
 the subject required. '' I'm sorry the mare 
 reared." 
 
 " See the Squire to the door, Joyce," said 
 the mother. And Joyce, blushing again, 
 glided out into the hall and lifted the big 
 latch.
 
 6i 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I WAS dying to hear what had been the 
 subject of the difference between Squire 
 Broderick and father, for that it was some- 
 how related to something more closely 
 allied to our own life than mere politics, I 
 was inwardly convinced. I came up to the 
 fireplace and began toasting my feet before 
 the bars. I hoped father would say some- 
 thing. But he did not even turn to me, and 
 Deborah coming in with the dinner at that 
 moment, mother took her place at the head 
 of the table, and father asked a blessing. 
 Mother did not look sad ; she looked very 
 bright and pretty, with the sunshine falling 
 on her silvery hair, and on her white 
 dimpled hands, lovely hands, that were 
 wielding the carvers so skilfully. I thought 
 at the time that she did not notice father's
 
 62 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 gloomy face, but I think it is far more 
 likely that she did notice it, but that she 
 thought it wiser to leave him alone ; those 
 were always her tactics. 
 
 " Father," began she, as soon as she had 
 served us all and had sat down, "the girls 
 mustn't drive that mare any more if she 
 rears, — it isn't safe." 
 
 " No, no, of course not," assented father 
 absently. Then turning to me, "What made 
 her rear, Meg ? " 
 
 " I don't know, father," answered I. "I 
 was in a shop when she did, and a. boy was 
 holding her. I suppose he teased her. But 
 it's not worth talking about ; it would have 
 been nothing if Joyce hadn't been so easily 
 frightened." 
 
 " I couldn't help it," murmured Joyce. 
 " I know I'm silly." 
 
 " Well, to be sure, any old cart-horse would 
 be better for you than a beast with any 
 spirit, wouldn't it ? " laughed I. 
 
 ** Well, Margaret, the animal must have 
 looked dangerous, you know," said mother, 
 " for no strange gentleman would have 
 thought of accosting two girls unless
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 63 
 
 he saw they were really in need of 
 help." 
 
 I laughed — I am afraid I laughed. I 
 thought mother was so very innocent. 
 
 " I hope you thanked him for his trouble," 
 added she. '' Being the Squire's nephew, 
 as it seems he was, I shouldn't be pleased 
 to think you treated him as short as you 
 sometimes treat strangers. You, Margaret, 
 I mean," added mother, looking at me. 
 
 ** Oh yes, we were very polite to him," 
 said I. And then I grew very hot. Of 
 course I knew I was bound to say that 
 Captain Forrester had driven us home. I 
 hoped mother would take it kindly, as she 
 seemed well disposed towards him, but I 
 did not feel perfectly sure. 
 
 '* We asked him to come in, didn't we, 
 Joyce?" added I, looking at her. 
 
 ** Yes, we did," murmured my sister, 
 bending very low over her plate. 
 
 *' Asked him to come where ? " asked 
 mother. 
 
 ''Why, here, to be sure," cried I, growing 
 bolder. ** He drove us home, you know." 
 
 Mother said nothing, for Deborah had
 
 64 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 just brought In the pudding, and she was 
 always very discreet before servants at meal- 
 times. But she closed her lips In a way 
 that I knew, and her face assumed an 
 aggrieved kind of expression that she only 
 put on to me : when Joyce was In the wrong, 
 she always scolded her quite frankly. There 
 was silence until Deborah had left the room. 
 She went out with a smile on her face which 
 always drove me Into a frenzy, for it meant to 
 say, ''You are In for It, and serve you right;" 
 and I thought it was taking advantage of 
 her position in the family to notice any dif- 
 ferences that occurred between mother and 
 the rest of us. 
 
 When Deborah had gone out, shutting 
 the door rather noisily, mother laid down 
 her knife and fork. She did not look at 
 me at all, she looked at Joyce. That was 
 generally the way she punished me. 
 
 " You don't mean to say, Joyce, that you 
 allowed a strange gentleman to get into the 
 trap before all the townsfolk ! " said she. 
 " You're the eldest, — you ought to have 
 known better." 
 
 I could not stand this. *' It isn't Joyce's
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 65 
 
 fault," said I boldly ; '' I thought we were 
 in luck's way when the gentleman offered 
 to drive us. He knew the mare, and of 
 course I felt that we were safe." 
 
 ''It will be all over the place to-morrow," 
 said mother, pathetically. 
 
 ''Well, the gentleman is the Squire's 
 nephew, and everybody knows what friends 
 you are with the Squire," answered I pro- 
 vokingly. 
 
 "You might see that makes it all the 
 worse," answered mother. " I don't know 
 how ever I shall meet the Squire again. 
 I'm ashamed to think my daughters should 
 have behaved so unseemly. But the ideas 
 of young women in these days pass me. 
 Such notions wouldn't have gone down in 
 my day. Young women were forced to 
 mind themselves if they were to have a 
 chance of a husband. Your father would 
 never have looked at me if I had been one 
 of that sort." 
 
 Father was in a brown study. I do not 
 think he had paid much attention to the 
 affair at all, but now he smiled as mother 
 glanced across at him, seeming to expect 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 some recognition. She repeated her last 
 remark and then he said, bowing to her 
 with old - fashioned gallantry : '* I think I 
 should have looked at you, Mary, whatever 
 your shortcomings had been. You were 
 too pretty to be passed over." 
 
 And he smiled again, as he never smiled 
 at any one but mother, — the smile that, when 
 it did come, lit up his face like a dash of 
 broad sunshine upon a rugged moor. 
 
 *' But mother's quite right, lassies," added 
 he ; "a woman must be modest and gentle, 
 not self-seeking nor eager for homage, or 
 she'll never have all the patience she need 
 have to put up with a man's tempers." 
 
 He sighed, and the tears rose to my 
 eyes. A word of disapproval from my father 
 always hurt me to the quick, and I felt that 
 in this case it was not wholly deserved, as, 
 however mistaken I might have been, I had 
 certainly not been self-seeking or eager for 
 homage. 
 
 '' I'm very sorry," said I, but I am afraid 
 not at all humbly ; ''I didn't know I was 
 doing anything so very dreadful. Anyhow 
 it wasn't I who was afraid of the horse, and
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 6/ 
 
 it wasn't for me that Captain Forrester took 
 the reins." 
 
 This was quite true, but I had no business 
 to have said it. I wished the words back as 
 soon as they were spoken. Joyce blushed 
 scarlet again, and mother looked at me for 
 the first time. I felt that she was going to 
 ask what I meant, but father interrupted her. 
 
 '' There, there," said he, not testily, but 
 as though to put an end to the discussion. 
 "You should not have done it, because 
 mother says so, and mother always knows 
 best, but I daresay there's little harm done. 
 A civil word hurts nobody, and as for the 
 mare, you needn't drive her again." 
 
 So that was all that I had got for my 
 pains. I opened my mouth to explain and to 
 remonstrate, but father rose from the table 
 and said grace, and I dared not pursue the 
 subject further. For the matter of that, the 
 look of pain in his face, as he moved across 
 the room and sat down heavily in the chair, 
 was quite enough to chase away my vex- 
 ation against him. " Meg, just take these 
 heavy things off for me, I'm weary," said he. 
 I knelt down and unfastened the gaiters and
 
 6S MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 unlaced the heavy boots, and brought him 
 his sHppers. He lay back with a sigh of 
 relief. 
 
 '' The walk round the farm has been too 
 much for you, Laban," said mother, sitting 
 down in the other high - backed chair near 
 him. 
 
 *' Let be, let be," muttered he. 
 
 '' Nay, I can't let be, Laban," insisted 
 mother. *' I must look after your health, you 
 know. I can see very well that it is too 
 much for you seeing after the farm as it 
 should be seen after. And that's why I 
 don't think the Squire's notion is half a bad 
 one." 
 
 I stopped with the spoons and forks in my 
 hand that I was taking off the table. Father 
 made that noise between his teeth again. I 
 always knew it meant a storm brewing. 
 
 ** Anyhow, I hope you won't bear him a 
 grudge for what he thought fit to advise," 
 mother went on. " He did it out of friend- 
 ship, I'm sure. And the Squire's a wise 
 man." 
 
 Father did not answer at first. He had 
 risen and stood with his back to the fire.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 69 
 
 His jaw was set, his eyes looked like black 
 beads under the overhanging brows. 
 
 ** Of course I know you'll say he just 
 wants to get a job for his friend's son," con- 
 tinued mother. '' And no doubt he mightn't 
 have thought of it but for this turning up. 
 But he wouldn't advise it if he didn't think 
 it was for our good. The Squire has our 
 interests at heart, I'm sure." 
 
 " Damn the Squire," said father at last, 
 slowly and below his breath. Mother laid 
 her hand on his arm. 
 
 '' Hush, Laban, hush ; not before the 
 girls," said she in her gentle tones. 
 
 "Well, well, there," said he. " The Squire's 
 a good man and an honest man, but I say 
 neither he nor any one else has a right to come 
 and teach a man what to do with his own." 
 
 " He doesn't do it because of any right," 
 persisted mother. "He does it because he's 
 afraid things don't work as well as they used 
 to do, and because he's your friend." 
 
 ** And what business has he to be afraid ? " 
 retorted father. " I say the land's my own, 
 though I do pay him rent for It, and it's my 
 business to be afraid. Does he think I shall
 
 70 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 be behind -hand with the rent ? I've been 
 punctual to a day these last twenty years. 
 What more does he want, I should like to 
 know ? " 
 
 " Now, Laban, you know that isn't it," ex- 
 postulated mother. *' He knows he is safe 
 enough for the rent, but he's afraid you ain't 
 making money so fast as you might. And 
 of course if you aren't, it's clear it's because 
 you're not so strong to work as you were, 
 and you haven't got a son of your own to 
 look after things for you." 
 
 Mother sighed as she said this, but I am 
 afraid I looked at her with angry not sym- 
 pathetic eyes. 
 
 '* The Squire takes a true interest in us 
 all," repeated she for the third time, her 
 voice trembling a little. 
 
 *' Well, then, let him take his interest else- 
 where this time, ma'am, that's all I've got 
 to say," retorted father, in no way appeased. 
 *' If things were as they should be, there'd 
 be no paying of rent to eat up a man's profits 
 on the land, but what he made by the sweat 
 of his brow would be his own for his old age, 
 and for his children after him. And if we
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 71 
 
 can only get what ought to belong to the 
 nation by paying for it, then all I bargain for 
 is — let those who get the money from me 
 leave alone prying into how I get it together." 
 
 I had stood perfectly still all this time, 
 with the spoons and forks in my hand, listen- 
 ing and wondering. Father's last speech I 
 had scarcely given heed to. I had heard 
 those opinions before, and they had become 
 mere words in my ears. I was entirely 
 engrossed with wondering what was the 
 exact nature of the Squire's suggestion, and 
 with horror at what I feared. I was not 
 long left in doubt. 
 
 ''Well, you make a great mistake in being 
 angry with Squire Broderick, Laban, indeed 
 you do," reiterated mother, shaking her head, 
 and without paying any attention to his fiery 
 speech. She never did pay any attention 
 to such speeches. She always frankly said 
 that she did not understand them. "If the 
 Squire recommends this young Mr Trayton 
 Harrod to you, it is because he knows him 
 and thinks he would work with you, and 
 not be at all like any common paid bailiff. 
 I'm sure of that."
 
 72 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 *' Well, then, mother, all I can say is — It's 
 nonsense, — that is what it is. It is nonsense. 
 If a man is a paid bailiff, the more like one 
 he is the better. And I don't think it Is at 
 all likely I shall ever take a paid bailiff to 
 help me to manage Knellestone." 
 
 With that he strode to the door and 
 opened it. 
 
 '' Meg, will you please come to me in my 
 study in a quarter of an hour," said he, turn- 
 ing to me as he went out. " There are a 
 few things in the farm accounts that I think 
 you might help me with."
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 I WENT Into the sunlight and stood leaning 
 upon the garden-hedge looking out over the 
 glittering plain of snow to the glittering blue 
 of the sea beyond. The whole scene was 
 set with jewels of light, and even the grey 
 fortress in the marsh seemed to awaken for 
 once out of its sleep ; but I was in no mood 
 to laugh with the sunbeams, for my heart was 
 beating with angry thoughts. A bailiff, a 
 manager for Knellestone — and Knellestone 
 that had been managed by nobody but its 
 own masters for three hundred years ! It 
 was impossible ! Why, the very earth would 
 rise up and rebel ! From where I stood I 
 could see our meadows down on the marsh, 
 our fields away on the hills towards the sun- 
 set, the pastures where our shepherds spent 
 cold nights in huts at the lambing-time, the
 
 74 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 land where our oxen drew the plough and our 
 labourers tilled the soil and harvested the 
 ingatherings. Would the men and the beasts 
 work for the manager as they worked for 
 us ? Would the land prosper for a stranger 
 and a hireling, who would not care whether 
 the cattle lived or died, whether the seasons 
 were kind or cruel, whether the trees and 
 the flowers flourished or pined away, — who 
 would get his salary just the same though 
 the frost nipped the new crops, though the 
 wheat dried up for want of rain or rotted in 
 the ear for lack of sun, though the cows cast 
 their calves and the lambs died at the birth ? 
 How absurd, how ridiculous it was ! Did it 
 not show that it had been suggested by one 
 who took no interest in the land, but who let 
 it all out to others to care for ! Of course 
 this was some spendthrift younger son of a 
 ruined gentleman's family, or some idiot who 
 had failed at every other profession, and was 
 to be sent here to ruin other people without 
 having any responsibility of his own, — some- 
 body to whom the Squire owed a duty or a 
 favour. Perhaps a man who had never been 
 on a farm in his life, maybe had not even lived
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 75 
 
 in the country at all. In my childish anger I 
 became utterly unreasonable, and gave vent 
 in my solitude to any absurd expressions 
 that occurred to me. I smile to myself as I 
 remember the Impotent rage of that after- 
 noon. Indeed I think I hated the Squire 
 most thoroughly that day. It was the Idea, 
 too, that I was being set at naught that 
 added to my anger. Hitherto It was I who 
 had transmitted father's orders to the men 
 whenever he was laid by or busy ; and as I 
 have said before, he often trusted me to ride 
 to the bank with money, and even to take 
 stock of the goods before sales and fairs 
 came on. Of course I know now that I was 
 worse than useless to him. I was a clever 
 girl enough, and dauntless in the matter of 
 fatigue or trouble, but I was entirely Ignor- 
 ant of the hundred little details that make all 
 the difference In matters of that kind, and 
 pluck and coolness stood me in poor stead of 
 experience. But at that time I was con- 
 fident, and as I stood there looking at the 
 brightness that I did not see, tears came 
 into my eyes — tears of mortification that even 
 the Squire should have considered me so
 
 76 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 perfectly useless that I could be set aside 
 as though I did not exist. How often I had 
 wished to be a boy ! How heartily I wished 
 it that afternoon ! If I had been a boy there 
 would never even have been a question of 
 getting a paid manager to help father. I 
 should have been a man by this time, nearly 
 of age, and no one would have doubted that 
 I was clever enough and strong enough to 
 see after my own. 
 
 Father called from the window, and I went 
 in. He was sitting by the table, surrounded 
 by papers, his foot supported on a chair. 
 
 ''Sit down, Meg," said he. "I want you 
 to help me remember one or two things in 
 the books that I don't quite understand, — I 
 think you can." 
 
 He spoke quite cheerfully. I had been 
 setting down things in the book while he had 
 been ill, and paying the wages to the men, 
 and it was quite natural he should want to 
 see me about it. I sat down, and we went 
 over the books item by item. We had had 
 a very sound education though simple, quite 
 as good as most girls have, and I had been 
 considered more than usually smart at figures.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. JJ 
 
 But that day I think I was dazed. I could 
 not remember things ; I could not tell why 
 the books were not square ; my wits were 
 muddled on every point. Father was most 
 patient, most kind. I think he must have 
 seen that I was over-anxious, — but his kind- 
 ness only made me more disgusted with 
 myself; for I knew that that dreadful ques- 
 tion was in his mind the whole time, as it 
 was in mine. Whenever I told him any- 
 thing that was not satisfactory in the conduct 
 of affairs, or anything that had failed to turn 
 out as he expected, I knew that it was in his 
 mind although he did not think that I saw it. 
 " We can't expect old heads to grow on 
 young shoulders," said he at last, patting 
 mine gently, a thing most rare for him to do. 
 "It takes many a long day to learn experi- 
 ence, my dear. And sometimes we don't do 
 so much better with it than we did without 
 it." He put the books away as he spoke, 
 and leant back in his chair. " That'll do 
 now, child," he added ; " to-morrow I shall 
 be able to see the men myself. I am well 
 and hearty again now — thank the Lord — and 
 a good bit of work will do me good."
 
 78 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ''You mustn't begin too soon, father," said 
 I, timidly; ''you know the weather is very 
 cold and treacherous yet." 
 
 " Oh, you women would keep a man in- 
 doors for ever for fear the wind should blow 
 in his face," cried he, testily. " But there's 
 an end to everything. When I'm ill you 
 shall all do what you like with me, but when 
 I'm well I mean to be my own master." 
 
 " But I shall still be able to help you, 
 father, as I have done before — shan't I ? " 
 added I, still, singularly, without my ac- 
 customed self-confidence. 
 
 " Why, yes, child, of course," he replied. 
 " And you and I will be able to get on yet 
 awhile without a stranger's help, I'll war- 
 rant." It was the only allusion he had made 
 to the horrible subject during the whole of our 
 interview. It was the only allusion he made 
 to it in my presence for many a long day. 
 He rose from his chair as he spoke the last 
 words, and walked across to the window. 
 
 The afternoon was beginning to sink, and 
 the sun had paled in its splendour. The 
 lights were grey now over the whiteness of 
 the marsh, and the snow looked cold and
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 79 
 
 cruel. Something made my heart sink, too, 
 as I noticed how grey was father's face in 
 the scrutinising light of the afternoon. I 
 had not noticed before that he had really 
 been ill. I left the room quickly, and went 
 out again. The stinging March air struck a 
 chill into my bones, and yet it was scarcely 
 more than four o'clock. Two hours of day- 
 light yet ! How was it possible that any man 
 but the strongest should work as a man must 
 work whose farm should prosper ? And 
 was father really a strong man ? I was sick 
 with misgivings. What If, after all, the 
 Squire were right ? But I would not be- 
 lieve it. Father had had the gout ; it was 
 always the strongest men who had the gout. 
 I turned to go Indoors. A laugh greeted 
 my ears from the library. I passed before 
 the window. Yes ; it was father who was 
 laughing as he shook hands with a man who 
 had just entered the room. I looked. The 
 man was a tall, blond, spare fellow, with a 
 sanguine complexion, very marked features, 
 small grey eyes, and a bald head. I knew him 
 to be a Mr Hoad, father's solicitor in town. 
 He was well dressed in a black suit and grey
 
 80 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 trousers. He was a very successful man for 
 his time of life, people said. I knew that 
 father liked him, and I was glad that father 
 should have a visitor who cheered him to- 
 day. But for my own part, I knew no one 
 who filled me with such a peculiar antipathy. 
 I could not bear the sight of the man. Yet 
 he was a harmless kind of fellow, and very 
 polite to ladies. Joyce often used to take me 
 to task for my excessive dislike to him. If 
 it was because I did not consider him on 
 equal terms with us, from a social point of 
 view — for I must confess I was ridiculously 
 prejudiced on this score, and where I had 
 learnt such nonsense I do not know — then 
 the shipowners and other people of that class 
 to whom I could give ''good day" in town 
 were much less so. But I could not have 
 told why I disliked him so particularly ; I 
 could not have told why I wondered that 
 father could have any dealings with him, 
 — why I was always on the watch for some- 
 thing that should prove that I was in the 
 right in my instinct. And somehow his ap- 
 pearance on this particular evening affected 
 me even more uncomfortably than usual, and
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 8 1 
 
 I felt that I could not go in and see him — 
 perhaps even have to discuss the very sub- 
 ject that was weighing on my mind — when I 
 wanted to be alone to nurse my own mortifi- 
 cation, and lull my fears to rest by myself. 
 I crept Into the hall quietly and fetched a 
 cloak and hood, and then, running round to 
 the yard, I called the St Bernard. He came, 
 leaping and jumping upon me, this friend 
 with whom I was always in tune. I opened 
 the gate gently, and together we went out 
 upon the road. 
 
 I think Taff and I must have walked three 
 miles. The roads were stiff and slippery, 
 the air was like a knife ; but I did not care. 
 The quick movement and the solitude and 
 the quiet of the coming night soothed me. 
 We got up upon the downs where lonely 
 homesteads stud the country here and there, 
 and came back again along the cliffs that 
 crown the marshland. There I stood a 
 long while face to face with the quiet world 
 upon which the moon had now risen In the 
 deep blue of a twilight sky. It looked down 
 upon the wide white marsh upon whose 
 frozen bosom grey vapours floated lightly; 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 82 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 it looked down upon the dark town that rose 
 yonder so sombre and distinct out of the 
 mystery of the landscape ; the channel that 
 flows to the sea lay cold and blue and 
 motionless at the foot of the hill, like a sheet 
 of steel. It made me shudder. There was 
 not a ripple upon its deathly breast. The 
 snow around was far more tender. For the 
 first time in my life I felt the sadness of the 
 world ; I realised that there was something 
 in it which I could not understand ; I re- 
 membered that there was such a thing as 
 death.
 
 S3 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I DID not escape Mr Hoad by my walk. He 
 had stayed to tea. I do not think that he 
 was a favourite of mother's, but she always 
 made a great point of welcoming all father's 
 friends to the house, and I saw that she had 
 welcomed him to-night. He sat in the place 
 of honour beside her, and there were sundry 
 alterations on the tea-table, and a pot of 
 special marmalade in the middle. 
 
 It was very late when I came in. I took 
 off my things in the hall and went in without 
 smoothing my hair. I thought I should have 
 been in disgrace for coming in late, and for 
 having my hair in disorder when a guest was 
 present ; but mother had forgotten her dis- 
 pleasure, and smiled as she pushed my cup 
 towards me. She never made any allusion to 
 bygone differences ; her anger never lasted long.
 
 84 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 The mood that I had brought with me 
 from without was still upon me, and when I 
 saw that father's face had lost its grey pallor, 
 that his eyes shone with their usual fire, and 
 that his voice was strong and healthy, I 
 sighed a sigh of relief and told myself that 
 I was a fool, and that Mr Hoad must really 
 be a good fellow if he could so soon chase 
 away the gloom from my parent's brow. 
 
 *' Your husband looks wonderfully well 
 again, Mrs Mallphant," he was saying; ''it's 
 quite surprising how soon he has pulled 
 round. When I met the doctor the other 
 day driving from town and stopped to ask 
 after him, he said it would be weeks before 
 he could be about again. But he has got 
 a splendid constitution — must have. Not 
 that I would wish to detract from your powers 
 of nursing. We all have heard how wonder- 
 ful they are." 
 
 Mr Hoad smiled at mother, but she did 
 not smile back again. There were people 
 whom she kept at arm's length, even though 
 carefully civil to them. I don't suppose she 
 knew this, for she was a shy woman, but I 
 recollect it well.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 85 
 
 ''We can all nurse those we are fond of," 
 she said. " I'm sure I'm very pleased to 
 think you should find Mr Maliphant looking 
 better." 
 
 ''Better! Nonsense!" exclaimed father. 
 " I'm as well as I ever was in my life. 
 Don't let's hear any more about that, wife, 
 there's a dear soul." 
 
 " Nay, you shall hear no more about it 
 than need be from me, Laban, I can promise 
 you that," smiled mother, pouring out the 
 tea, while Joyce, from the opposite side of 
 the table, where she was cutting up the seed- 
 cake that she had made with her own hands 
 the day before, asked the guest after his two 
 daughters. 
 
 " They are very busy," ' answered Mr 
 Hoad. " A large acquaintance, you know, — it 
 involves a great deal of calling. Tm afraid 
 they have been remiss here." 
 
 " Oh, pray, don't mention such a thing, 
 Mr Hoad," exclaimed mother hastily. " We 
 don't pay calls ourselves. We are plain folk, 
 and don't hold with fashionable ways." 
 
 Mr Hoad smiled rather uncomfortably. 
 
 *' And we have not much to amuse them
 
 86 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 with," I put in. *' We do nothing that young 
 ladles do." 
 
 I saw mother purse up her lips at this, and 
 I was vexed that I had said It ; but father 
 laughed, and said : '* No, Hoad, my girls are 
 simple farmer's daughters, and have learnt 
 more about gardening and housekeeping 
 than they have about French and piano- 
 playing, though Meg can sing a ballad 
 when she chooses as well as I want to 
 hear it." 
 
 I declared that my voice was nothing to 
 Miss Hoad's ; and Joyce, always gracious, 
 looked across to Mr Hoad and said : ''I 
 wonder whether Miss Jessie would sing 
 something for us at our village concert ? " 
 
 "I'll ask her," said Mr Hoad, a little 
 diffidently. " I'm never sure about my 
 daughters' engagements. They have so 
 many engagements." 
 
 *'We shall be very pleased to see them 
 here any afternoon for a practice, shan't we 
 mother ? " added Joyce. 
 
 ** The young ladles will always be wel- 
 come," replied mother, a little stiffly ; and I 
 hastened to add, I fear less graciously :
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 8/ 
 
 '* But pray don't let them break any en- 
 gagements for us." 
 
 Mr Hoad smiled again, and then father 
 turned to him and they took up the thread 
 of their own talk where they had left it. 
 
 "You certainly ought to know that young 
 fellow I was speaking of," Mr Hoad began. 
 " I was struck with him at once. A wonder- 
 ful gift of expressing himself, and just that 
 kind of way with him that always wins 
 people, one can't explain it. Handsome, too, 
 and full of enthusiasm." 
 
 '' Enthusiasm don't always carry weight," 
 objected father. ''It's rather apt to fly too 
 
 high." 
 
 " Bound to fly high when you have got to 
 get over the heads of other folks," laughed 
 Mr Hoad. 
 
 Father looked annoyed. " I wasn't joking, 
 I wasn't joking," said he. " If men want to 
 go in for great work, they can't afford to take 
 it lightly." And then he added with one of 
 his quick looks, " But don't misunderstand 
 me, Hoad. Enthusiasm of the right kind 
 never takes things lightly. It's the only 
 sort of stuff that wins great battles, because
 
 S8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 it has plenty of courage and don*t know the 
 meaning of failure. Only, there's such lots 
 of stuff that's called enthusiasm and is noth- 
 ing but gas. I should like to see this young 
 man and judge for myself God forbid I 
 should think youth a stumbling-block. Youth 
 is the time for doing as well as for dreaming." 
 
 Father sighed, and though I could not tell 
 why at the time, I can guess now that it was 
 from the recollection of that friend of his who 
 must have been the type of youthful enthusi- 
 asm thus to have left his memory and the 
 strength of his convictions so many years in 
 the heart of another. 
 
 ''Well, you can see him easily enough," 
 said Mr Hoad. '' He's staying in your 
 village, I believe. He's a nephew of Squire 
 Broderick's." 
 
 '' What ! Captain Forrester ? " cried I. 
 
 " Ah, you know him of course, Miss Mali- 
 phant. Trust the young ladies for finding 
 out the handsome men," said Mr Hoad, 
 turning to me with his most irritating ex- 
 pression of gallantry. I bit my lips with 
 annoyance at having opened my mouth to 
 the man, especially as he glanced across at
 
 MARGARET MALI PH ANT. 89 
 
 Joyce with a horribly knowing look, at which 
 of course she blushed, making me very 
 angry. 
 
 " I fancy the Squire and he don't get on 
 so extra well together," said Mr Hoad. 
 *' Squire don't like the look of the lad that'll 
 step Into his shoes, If he don't make haste 
 and marry and have a son of his own, I 
 suppose." 
 
 ** I should think this smart captain had 
 best not reckon too much on the property," 
 said mother stiffly, up In arms at once for 
 her favourite. *' The Squire's young enough 
 yet to marry and have a dozen sons." 
 
 *'Yes, yes, ma'am, only joking, only 
 joking," declared Mr Hoad. ** I shouldn't 
 think the lad gave the property a thought." 
 
 '' If he's the kind of man you say, he can't 
 possibly care about property," said I, glibly, 
 talking of what I could not understand. 
 Father smiled — but smiled kindly at me. 
 Mr Hoad laughed outright and made me 
 furious. 
 
 /' I see you're up in all the party phrases, 
 young lady," said he. 
 
 *' How did you come to know the young
 
 90 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 man, Hoad ? " asked father, without giving 
 me time to reply. " You seem to have be- 
 come friends In a very short time." 
 
 '' He came to me on a matter of business," 
 repeated Hoad evasively. *' I fancy he's 
 pretty hard up. Only got his captain's pay 
 and a little private property, on his father's 
 side, I suppose, and no doubt gives more 
 than he can spare to these societies and 
 things." 
 
 Father was silent. Probably he knew, 
 what I had no notion of, that there was 
 another branch to Mr Hoad's profession 
 besides that of a solicitor. Evidently he 
 did not like to be reminded of the fact, for 
 he knitted his brow and let his jaw fall, as 
 he always did when annoyed. 
 
 *' I don't know how we came to talk 
 politics," Hoad went on, "but we did, and I 
 thought to myself, * why, here's just the man 
 for Maliphant' I never knew any one else 
 go as far as you do ; but this young fellow — 
 why, he nearly beat you, 'pon my soul he did ! " 
 
 "Politics!" echoed father, frowning more 
 unmistakably than ever ; '* what have they 
 got to do with the matter ? "
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 91 
 
 "Come, now, Mallphant, you're not going 
 to keep that farce up for ever," cried Mr 
 Hoad, in his most Intimate and good-natured 
 fashion. Oh, how I resented it when he 
 would treat father as though he were on 
 perfect equality with him ! For my father's 
 daughter I was intolerant ; but then Mr Hoad 
 patronised, and patronising was not necessary 
 in order to be consistent. 
 
 *' What do you mean ? " asked father. 
 
 '* It was all very well for you to swear you 
 would have nothing to do with us before," 
 continued Mr Hoad. " You did not think 
 we should ever get hold of a man who looked 
 at things as you do. But now we have. 
 And if you really have the Radical cause at 
 heart, as you say, you will be able to get him 
 in for the county. He has got everything 
 in his favour — good name, good presence, 
 good breeding. Those are the men to run 
 your notions ; not your measly, workaday 
 fellows, — they have no influence with the 
 masses." 
 
 Father rose from the table. His eyebrows 
 nearly met in their overhanging shagginess, 
 and his eyes were small and brilliant.
 
 92 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 *' I don't think I understand you, Hoad," 
 said he. ** We seem to be at cross purposes. 
 Do you mean to say that this young man 
 wants to get into Parliament ? " 
 
 " Oh, no plans, no plans whatever, I should 
 say," said Hoad. *' He merely asked me 
 who was going to contest the Tory seat, and 
 when I asked him if he was a Radical, he 
 aired a few sentiments which, as I tell you, 
 are quite in your line. But I should think 
 we might easily persuade him — he seemed 
 so very eager. If you would back our man, 
 Maliphant, we should be safe whoever he 
 was, I do believe," added the solicitor, em- 
 phatically. "He has a really wonderful 
 influence with the working classes, that 
 husband of yours, ma'am," he finished up, 
 turning to mother. 
 
 "Yes," said she proudly; " Laban's a fine 
 orator. When I heard him speak at the 
 meeting the other day, he fairly took my 
 breath away, that he did." 
 
 Mother looked up at father with a pleased 
 smile, for she loved to hear him praised, but 
 for my own part I knew very well that he 
 was in no mood for pleasant speeches.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 93 
 
 " I have always told you, Hoad, that it's 
 no part of my scheme to go in for politics," 
 said he, in a low voice, but very decisively. 
 '* I see no reason to change my mind." 
 
 " Well, my dear fellow, but that's absurd," 
 answered Mr Hoad, still in that provokingly 
 friendly fashion. *' How ever do you expect 
 to get what you want ? " 
 
 '' Not through Parliament, anyhow," said 
 father, laconically. '* I never heard of any 
 Act of Parliament that gave bread to the 
 poor out of the waste of the rich. I'll wait 
 to support Parliament till I see one of the 
 law-makers there lift up a finger to right 
 the poor miserable children who swarm and 
 starve in the London streets, and whose 
 little faces grow mean and sharp with the 
 learning to cheat those w^ho cheat them of 
 their daily bread." 
 
 I can see him now, his lip trembling, 
 his eye bright, his hands clenched. It was 
 the cry with which he ended every discourse : 
 this tender pity for the many children who 
 must needs hunger while others waste, who 
 must needs learn sin while others are shield- 
 ed from even knowing that there is such a
 
 94 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 thing : those innocent sinners, outcasts from 
 good, patient because hopeless, yet often 
 enough incurably happy even in the very 
 centre of evil, — they were always in his 
 heart. It was his most cherished hope in 
 some way to succour them, by some means 
 to bring the horror of their helplessness 
 home to the hearts of those who had happy 
 children of their own. 
 
 I held my face down that no one should 
 see my tears, and I knew that father took 
 out his big coloured pocket - handkerchief 
 and blew his nose very hard. Mr Hoad, 
 however, was not so easily affected. 
 
 " Ah ! you were right, Mrs Maliphant," 
 said he, in a loud, emphatic voice. " Your 
 husband would make a very fine orator. All 
 the more reason it's a sin and a shame he 
 should hide his talents under a bushel. Now, 
 don't you agree with me ? " 
 
 " Oh, Laban knows best what he has 
 got to do," answered mother. *' I think 
 it's a great pity for women to mix them- 
 selves up in these matters. They have 
 plenty to do attending to the practical affairs 
 of life."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 95 
 
 Mr Hoad burst into a loud fit of laughter. 
 '*Ah, you've got a clever wife, Maliphant," 
 cried he. '* She's put her finger upon the 
 weak joint in your armour ! Yes, that's it, 
 my boy. They're fine sentiments, but they 
 aren't practical ; they won't wash. But 
 you would soon see, when you really got 
 into the thing, that the best way to make 
 the first step towards what you want, is not 
 to ask for the whole lot at once. The thin 
 edge of the wedge — that's the art. And I 
 should be inclined to think this young fellow 
 was not wanting in tact." 
 
 '* Anyhow," answered father quietly, '' if 
 Squire Broderick's nephew were minded to 
 oppose the Tory candidate for this county, 
 I should certainly not wish, as Squire Brod- 
 erick's old friend, to support him in his ven- 
 ture." 
 
 ** Ah, you're very scrupulous, Maliphant," 
 laughed Mr Hoad. But then, seeing his 
 mistake, he added quickly : '* Quite right, 
 perfectly right of course, and I don't sup- 
 pose the young man has any intention of 
 doing anything of the kind." 
 
 " No doubt it was rather that the wish
 
 96 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 was father to the thought in you, Hoad," 
 answered father frankly. 
 
 " Ah, well, you may be as obstinate as you 
 like, Maliphant," said the solicitor, trying to 
 take father's good-tempered effort as a cue 
 for jocoseness, **but we can get on very well 
 without you if the young ladies will only give 
 us their kind support. I hope you won't be 
 such an old curmudgeon as to forbid that ; 
 and I hope," added he, turning to Joyce with 
 that sugary smile of his, ''that the young 
 ladies will not withdraw their patronage if, 
 after all, a less handsome man than Captain 
 Forrester should be our Radical candidate." 
 
 '* Oh, thank you," said Joyce, blushing 
 furiously, and looking up with distressed 
 blue eyes ; " indeed we scarcely know Cap- 
 tain Forrester at all. We couldn't possibly 
 be of any use to you." 
 
 "Of course not," cried I. "Whoever 
 were the candidate, we should not canvass. 
 We never canvass. We are not politicians." 
 
 I wonder that nobody smiled, but nobody 
 did. Father was too busy with his thoughts, 
 and perhaps Mr Hoad was too much aston- 
 ished. But as though to cover my priggish-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 97 
 
 ness, Joyce said sweetly, when Mr Hoad rose 
 to go, " You won't forget the concert, will 
 you ? And, please, will you tell Miss Bessie 
 that I shall be very glad to do what I can to 
 help her with her bazaar work." 
 
 He promised to remember both messages, 
 and shook hands with her in a kind of linger- 
 ing way, which I remember was a manner he 
 always had towards a pretty girl. I thought 
 mother took leave of him a little shortly. 
 Father alone accompanied him out into the 
 hall, and saw him into the smart little gig 
 that came round from the stable to pick him 
 up. I went to the pantry for the tray to 
 clear the tea things. When I came back 
 again into the parlour Joyce had gone up- 
 stairs, and father and mother were alone. 
 I do not know why it was, but as soon 
 as I came in I felt sure that the discus- 
 sion with Hoad, eager as it had been at 
 the time, was not occupying father's mind. 
 I felt sure that mother had alluded to 
 that more important matter hotly spoken 
 of after the Squire's visit. She was stand- 
 ing by the fire, and father held her hand 
 in his. He asked me to bring a lamp 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 98 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 into his study, and went out. I glanced at 
 mother. 
 
 ** What does father want to go to work for 
 so late?" said I. "Why don't he sit and 
 smoke his pipe as usual ? " 
 
 Mother did not answer : her back was 
 turned towards me, but there was some- 
 thing in its expression which made me feel 
 sure that she was crying. 
 
 ** But he seems much better to-night, 
 mother," I added, coming up behind her; 
 ** he was quite himself over that argument." 
 
 *' Yes, dear, yes, he can always wake up over 
 those things," answered she, and sure enough 
 there was a tremble in her voice, and every 
 trace of the dignity that she had used towards 
 me since the scene at the dinner-table had 
 entirely disappeared. 
 
 *' Dear mother, why do you fret ? " said I 
 softly. ''I'm sure there's no need." 
 
 '' No, no, of course there's no need," she 
 repeated. " But, Margaret," added she, hur- 
 riedly, as though she were half ashamed 
 of what she were -saying, *' if he could be 
 brought to see that plan of the Squire's in 
 a better light, I'm sure it would be a good
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 99 
 
 thing. I don't think his heart has ever been 
 in farm-work, and I can't a-bear to see him 
 working so hard now he is old. It would 
 have been different you see if — if little John 
 had lived." 
 
 I kissed her silently. The innocent slight 
 to my own capacities, which had so occupied 
 my mind an hour ago, passed unnoticed by 
 me. And as father that night at family 
 prayers rolled forth in his sonorous voice 
 the beautiful language of the Psalms, the 
 words, '* He hath respect unto the lowly, 
 but the proud he knoweth afar off," sank 
 into my heart, and I thought that I should 
 never again want to set myself up above 
 my betters.
 
 100 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I LAY awake quite half an hour that night, 
 and I made up my mind — just as seriously as 
 though my feelings were likely to prove an 
 Important influence — that I would in no way 
 try to bias my father in his decision about 
 taking a bailiff. But real as was my trouble 
 about this matter that to me was so mighty, 
 it was all put to flight the next morning by 
 an occurrence of more personal and imme- 
 diate interest. Such is the blessed elasticity 
 of youth. The occurrence was one which 
 not only brought the remembrance of Cap- 
 tain Forrester, and my romantic dreams for 
 Joyce, once more vividly to my mind, but 
 it also gave no small promise of enjoyment 
 to myself ; it consisted in the sudden appear- 
 ance of a groom from the Manor, who de- 
 livered into my hands a note for mother.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. lOI 
 
 It was morning when he came : mother 
 was still in the kitchen with Deborah, and 
 Joyce and I had not finished making our 
 beds and dusting our room. But I do not 
 think there was any delay in the answering 
 of that door-bell. I remember how cross I 
 was when mother would insist on finishing 
 all her business before she opened the 
 note : she went into the poultry-yard and 
 decided what chickens and what ducks should 
 be killed for the week's dinners, she went in- 
 to the dairy to look at the cream, she even 
 went up herself into the loft to get apples 
 before she would go and find her spectacles 
 in the parlour. And yet any one could have 
 imagined that a note from the Squire meant 
 something very important. And so indeed 
 it did. It contained a formal invitation to 
 a grand ball, to be given at the Manor house. 
 The card did not say a ''grand" ball, but of 
 course we knew that it would be a grand 
 ball. We were fairly dazed with excitement. 
 Actually a ball in our quiet little village ! 
 Such a thing had not been known since I 
 had been grown up, and I had not even 
 heard of its having occurred since the days
 
 102 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 when young Mrs Broderick had come to the 
 Manor as a bride. Of course we had been 
 to dances in town once or twice — once to the 
 Hoads', and once to a county ball, got up at 
 the White Hart Inn, but I think these were 
 really the only two occasions on which I 
 had danced anywhere out of the dancing 
 academy. Joyce, being a little older, could 
 count about three more such exciting 
 moments in her life. The card was passed 
 round from hand to hand, and then stuck 
 up on the mantel-shelf in front of the clock, 
 as though there were any danger that any 
 of the family would be likely to forget on 
 what day and at what hour Squire Brod- 
 erick had invited us to ** dancing" at the 
 Manor. 
 
 '* I wonder what has made the Squire 
 give a ball now ? " said mother. " I suppose 
 it's the prospect of the elections. He thinks 
 he owes it to the county." 
 
 ''Why on earth should he owe the county 
 a ball because of the elections ! " cried I. 
 " He is not going to stand, and I don't think 
 he can suppose that a ball would be likely 
 to do the Farnham interests much good.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 103 
 
 if that's the only man they have got to put 
 forward on the Conservative side." 
 
 " I don't think it's a young girl's business 
 to talk in that flippant way, Margaret," said 
 the mother. Father was not present just 
 then. ** I don't think it's becoming in young 
 folk to talk about matters they can't possibly 
 understand." 
 
 I was nettled at this, but I did not dare to 
 answer mother back. 
 
 " You never heard your father talk like 
 that of Mr Farnham, I'm sure," added 
 mother. "He likes him a great deal better 
 than he does Mr Thorne, although Mr 
 Thorne is a Radical." 
 
 " Well, I should think so ! Mr Thorne is 
 a capitalist, and father doesn't think that 
 men who have made such large fortunes 
 in business ought to exist," cried I boldly, 
 applying a theory to an individual as I 
 thought I had been taught. ** It is no use 
 his being a Radical, nor giving money to 
 the poor, because he oughtn't to have the 
 money. It's dreadful to think of his having 
 bought a beautiful old place like the Priory 
 with money that he has ground out of his
 
 104 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 work-people. No, nobody will ever like Mr 
 Thorne in the neighbourhood." 
 
 ** I know Squire and he don't hold to- 
 gether at all," answered mother. ''Though 
 they do say Mr Thorne bought the property 
 through that handsome young spark of a 
 nephew of the Squire's. The families were 
 acquainted up North." 
 
 ** Who told you that, mother ? " asked I 
 quickly. 
 
 " Miss Farnham said so when she called 
 yesterday," replied mother. '' And she said 
 it was Mr Thorne was going to contest the 
 seat with her brother, so I don't know how 
 Mr Hoad could have come suggesting that 
 young captain to your father as he did 
 yesterday. A rich man like the manu- 
 facturer would be sure to have much more 
 chance." 
 
 I was silent. I was a little out of my 
 depth. '* I don't believe Mr Hoad knew 
 anything at all about it," I said. '' How 
 could a man be going to contest a seat 
 against the candidate that his own uncle 
 was backing ? It's ridiculous. Mr Hoad 
 has always got something to say."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 105 
 
 " Margaret, you really shouldn't allow 
 yourself to pass so many opinions on folk," 
 repeated mother. '' First Mr Farnham, and 
 then Mr Thorne, and now Mr Hoad. It's 
 not pretty in young women." 
 
 '' Very well, mother, I won't do it again," 
 said I, merrily. " At all events. Parliament 
 doesn't matter much — father says so ; and 
 anyhow Squire's going to give us a ball, and 
 nothing can matter so much as that." 
 
 Nothing did matter half so much to us 
 three just then, it is true. Mother was just 
 as much excited as we were, and we all fell 
 to discussing the fashions with just as much 
 eagerness, if not as much knowledge, as if 
 we had been London born and bred. 
 
 *' You must look over your clothes and 
 see you have got everything neat. Joyce, I 
 suppose you will wear your white embroid- 
 ered 'India,' " said the mother. And from 
 that it was a very natural step to go and 
 look at the white muslin, and at the other 
 clothes that our simple wardrobes boasted, 
 so that we spent every bit of that morning 
 that was not taken up with urgent household 
 duties, in turning over frocks and laces and
 
 I06 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ribbons, and determining what we should 
 wear, and what wanted washing before we 
 did wear it. Yes, I think I thought of my 
 dress that day for the first time in my Hfe. 
 There was no need to think of Joyce's, 
 because she was sure to be admired ; but if 
 there was any chance of my looking well, 
 it could only be because of some happy 
 thought with regard to my costume ; and so 
 when mother suggested that she should give 
 me her lovely old sea-green shot silk to be 
 made up for the occasion, my heart leapt for 
 joy. I was very much excited. For Joyce, 
 because I had quite made up my mind that 
 it was Captain Forrester who had persuaded 
 the Squire to give this ball ; and for myself, 
 because it was really a great event in the 
 life of any girl, and I was passionately fond 
 of dancing. I spent the afternoon washing 
 my old lace ruffles, and pulling them out 
 tenderly before the fire, and all the time I 
 was humming waltz tunes, and wondering 
 who would dance with me, and picturing 
 Joyce to myself whirling round in the arms 
 of Captain Forrester. I thought of Joyce 
 and her lover so much that it was scarcely
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 10/ 
 
 a surprise to me when, just as the Hght was 
 beginning to fade and tea-time was near, I 
 heard a sharp ring at the front door, and 
 running to the back passage window with my 
 lace in my hand, I saw that Squire Broderick 
 was standing in the porch, and with him 
 his nephew, Captain Forrester. I heard 
 Joyce fly through the hall to the kitchen. 
 I think she must have seen the two gentle- 
 men pass down the road, and then she ran 
 back again into the parlour, and Deborah 
 went to the door. 
 
 '* Mrs Maliphant at home ? " said the 
 Squire's cheery voice ; and scarcely waiting 
 for a reply, he strode through to the front 
 room. 
 
 I threw down my lace, turned down my 
 sleeves, and without any more attention to 
 my toilet I ran down-stairs. Mother had 
 gone to do some little errands in the village 
 and had not come in : Joyce stood alone 
 with the visitors. She had her plain dark- 
 blue everyday gown on, but the soft little 
 frills at her throat and wrists were clean. 
 I remember thinking how fortunate it was 
 that they were clean. She was standing in
 
 Io8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 the window with Captain Forrester, who was 
 admiring our view over the marsh. 
 
 " It's a most beautiful country," said he. 
 And his eyes wandered from the plain with- 
 out that the shades of evening were slowly 
 darkening, to the face at his side that shone 
 so fair against the little frilled muslin curtain 
 which she held aside with her hand. 
 
 The Squire sat at the table ; he had taken 
 up the morning paper, and I supposed that 
 the frown on his face was summoned there 
 by something that he read in the columns 
 of this, the Liberal journal. Captain Forrester 
 left Joyce and came towards me as soon as I 
 entered the room. 
 
 '' Miss Maliphant, I am delighted to meet 
 you again," said he, with his pleasant pol- 
 ished manner that had the art of never 
 making one feel that he was saying a thing 
 merely to be agreeable. ** After our little 
 adventure of the other day, I felt that it was 
 impossible for me to leave the neighbour- 
 hood without trying to make our acquaint- 
 ance fast." 
 
 " Oh, are you leaving the neighbourhood ? " 
 said I, — I am afraid a little too anxiously.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 109 
 
 ''Well, not just yet," smiled Captain For- 
 rester. '' I think I shall stay till over the 
 ball." 
 
 ** Nonsense, Frank," said the Squire, ris- 
 ing and pushing the paper away from him. 
 ** Of course you will stay over the ball." 
 Then turning to me, he said merrily, " No 
 difficulty about you young ladies coming, I 
 hope ? " 
 
 " I don't know, Mr Broderick," answered 
 I. " You must wait and ask mother. It's a 
 very grand affair for two such simple girls as 
 Joyce and me." 
 
 "Oh, Margaret, I think we shall be 
 allowed to go," put in Joyce in her gentle, 
 matter-of-fact voice. "You know we went 
 to a very late ball last Christmas in town." 
 
 Considering that we had been sitting over 
 frocks all the morning, this would have been 
 nonsense, excepting that Joyce never could 
 see a joke. 
 
 " I think I shall have to take Mrs Mali- 
 phant in hand myself if she makes any ob- 
 jection," said the Squire, "for we certainly 
 can't spare you and your sister." 
 
 Joyce blushed, and Captain Forrester
 
 no MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 turned to her and was going to say some- 
 thing which I think would have been com- 
 plimentary, when father entered the room. 
 He had his rough, brown, ill -cut suit on, 
 and his blue handkerchief twisted twice 
 round his neck and tied loosely in front, 
 and did not look at all the same kind of 
 man as the two in front of him. I noticed 
 it for the first time that evening. I was 
 not at all ashamed of it. If I had been 
 questioned, I should have said that I was 
 very proud of it, but I just noticed it, and 
 I wondered if Captain Forrester noticed it 
 too. It certainly was very odd that it 
 never should have occurred to me before, 
 that this lover whom I had picked out for 
 Joyce belonged to the very same class as 
 the Squire, whom I thought was so unsuit- 
 able to her. I suppose it was because 
 Captain Forrester was not a landed pro- 
 prietor, and that any man who belonged 
 to the noble career of soldiering atoned for 
 his birth by his profession. 
 
 "How are you, Maliphant?" said the 
 Squire, grasping him by the hand as though 
 there had been no such thing as any uncom-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. Ill 
 
 fortable parting between them. " I'm glad 
 to see you are none the worse for this cursed 
 east wind. It's enough to upset many a 
 younger and stronger man." 
 
 Father had taken the proffered hand, but 
 not very cordially. I am not sure that he 
 ever shook hands very cordially with people ; 
 perhaps it was partly owing to the stiffness 
 in his fingers, but I believe that he regarded 
 it as a useless formality. I imagine this 
 because I, too, have always had a dislike to 
 kissings and hand-shakings, when a simple 
 *' good-day " seemed to me to serve the pur- 
 pose well enough. 
 
 '* Pooh ! " said father, in answer to the 
 Squire's remark. " A man who has his work 
 out-doors all the year round. Squire Brod- 
 erick, needs must take little account whether 
 the wind be in the east or the south, except 
 as how it'll affect his crops and his flock." 
 
 The Squire took no notice of this speech. 
 It was so very evident that it was spoken 
 with a view to the vexed question. 
 
 '* I've brought my nephew round," said he, 
 and Captain Forrester left Joyce's side as he 
 said it, and came forward with his pleasant
 
 112 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 smile and just the proper amount of deference 
 added to his usual charming manner. "He 
 wanted to see the Grange," added the Squire, 
 again with that frown upon his brow that I 
 could not understand, but which no doubt 
 proceeded, as he had affirmed, from the effect 
 of the east wind upon his temper. 
 
 ** I'm very glad to see you, sir," said 
 father shortly. " I hear you rendered my 
 daughters some assistance the other day." 
 
 Captain Forrester smiled. *' It could 
 scarcely be called assistance," he said. 
 ''Your dauehter" — and he looked at me to 
 distinguish me from Joyce — "would have been 
 capable of driving the horse, I am sure." 
 
 "Oh, I understood the mare reared," an- 
 swered father. 
 
 ** Well, she is not a good horse for a lady 
 to drive," allowed Captain Forrester, as 
 though the confession were wrung from 
 him ; and I wondered how he guessed that 
 it annoyed me to be thought incapable of 
 managing the mare. " But some women 
 drive as well as any man." 
 
 The Squire took up the paper again. I 
 did not think it was good manners of him.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. II3 
 
 " What a splendid view you have from 
 this house," continued Captain Forrester. 
 " I think it's much finer than from our 
 place." 
 
 The Squire's shoulders moved with an 
 impatient movement. The article he was 
 reading must decidedly have annoyed him. 
 
 ''Yes," answered Joyce; "but you should 
 come and see it in summer or in autumn. 
 It's very bleak now. The spring is so late 
 this year." 
 
 ''Ay; I don't remember a snowfall in 
 March these five years," said father. 
 
 " But it has a beautiful effect on this 
 plain," continued the young man, moving 
 away into the window again. And then 
 turning round to Joyce, he added, " Do you 
 sketch. Miss Maliphant ? " 
 
 " No, no," answered father for her. " We 
 have no time for such things. We have 
 all of us plenty to do without any accom- 
 plishments." 
 
 " Miss Margaret can sing ' Robin Adair,' " 
 put in the Squire, "as well as I want to 
 hear it, accomplishments or not." 
 
 " Indeed," said Captain Forrester, with a 
 VOL. I. H
 
 114 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 show of interest. '* I hope she will sing it 
 to me some day." 
 
 He said it with a certain air of patronage, 
 which I found afterwards came from his own 
 excellent knowledge of music. 
 
 "Are you fond of singing?" said I, 
 simply. I was too much of a country girl 
 to think of denying the charge. I was very 
 fond of good music ; it was second nature 
 to me, inherited, I suppose, from some for- 
 gotten ancester, and picking out tunes on the 
 old piano was the only thing that ever kept 
 me willingly indoors. Father delighted in my 
 simple singing of simple ditties, and so did 
 the Squire. I had grown used to thinking it 
 was a talent in me, my only one, and I was 
 not ashamed of owning up to it. '' I'll sing 
 it to you now if you like." 
 
 *' That's very kind of you," said the young 
 man, with a little smile. And I sat down 
 and sang the old tune through. I remember 
 that, for the first time in my life, I was really 
 nervous. Captain Forrester stood by the 
 piano. He was very kind ; I don't know 
 that any one had ever said so much to me 
 about my voice before, but in spite of it all I
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 15 
 
 knew for the first time that I knew nothing. 
 I felt angrily ashamed when Joyce, in reply to 
 pressing questions about her musical capac- 
 ity, answered that I had all the talent, and 
 began telling of the village concerts that I 
 was wont to get up for the poor people, and 
 of how there was one next week, when he 
 must go and hear me sing. 
 
 *' Certainly I will," he answered, plea- 
 santly, *'and do anything I can to help you. 
 I have had some practice at that kind of 
 thing." 
 
 **Why don't you say you are a regular 
 professional at it, Frank ? " put in the Squire, 
 I fancied a little crossly. " He's always get- 
 ting up village concerts — a regular godsend 
 at that kind of thing." 
 
 Frank laughed, and said he hoped we 
 would employ him after such a character, 
 and then he asked what was our programme. 
 Joyce told him. I was 'going to sing, and 
 Miss Hoad was going to sing — and she sang 
 beautifully, for she had learned in London — 
 and then I would sing with the blacksmith, 
 and Miss Thorne would play with the grocer 
 on the cornet, and glees and comic songs
 
 Il6 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 would fill up the remainder. The smile upon 
 Captain Forrester's face clouded just a little 
 at the mention of Miss Thorne. 
 
 " Miss Thorne is not very proficient on the 
 piano," said he. " Have you already asked 
 her to perform ? " 
 
 *' Do you know Miss Thorne ? " asked 
 Joyce, surprised. 
 
 *' Yes," answered the Captain ; *'she lived 
 in the village where I was brought up as a 
 boy — not far from Manchester. Her father 
 was a great manufacturer, you know." 
 
 '' Yes ; we know that well enough." And 
 I glanced uneasily at father ; for if he knew 
 that this young fellow was a friend of the 
 Thornes, I was afraid it would set him 
 against him. Luckily, he was busy talking 
 to the Squire. 
 
 " She's a very nice girl," said Joyce, kindly, 
 wanting to be agreeable, although indeed we 
 knew no more of Mary Thorne than shaking 
 hands with her coming out of church on a 
 Sunday afternoon. 
 
 *' Charming," acquiesced the Captain ; ''but 
 she's not a good musician, and I shouldn't 
 ask her to perform unless you're obliged to."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 11/ 
 
 We said we were not obliged to ; but Joyce 
 said she wouldn't like to do anything unkind, 
 and she was afraid Mary Thorne wanted to 
 be asked to perform. And then they two 
 retired into the window again, discussing the 
 concert and the view, and I soon saw proud- 
 ly that they were talking as though they had 
 known one another for years. It generally 
 took a long while for any one to get through 
 the first ice with Joyce, but this man had an 
 easy way with him ; he was so sympathetic 
 in his personality, — so kind and frank and 
 natural. 
 
 '* That's a most ridiculous article in the 
 ' Herald,' " said the Squire to father. " I 
 wonder Blair can put in such stuff. He's 
 a sensible man." 
 
 " I wonder you'll admit even that, Squire," 
 answered father, with a little laugh. The 
 paper, I need not say, was the Liberal organ. 
 
 " Oh, well," smiled the other, '' I can see 
 the good in a man though I don't agree with 
 him. But I think that'' — pointing to the 
 print — ''is beneath contempt." 
 
 " I don't hold with it myself," answered 
 father; "the man has got no pluck."
 
 Il8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 '' Oh no, of course — doesn't go far enough 
 for you, Maliphant," laughed the Squire ; and 
 at that moment mother came in, or I do not 
 know what father would have answered. She 
 came in slowly, and stood a moment in the 
 doorway looking round upon us all. Joyce 
 blushed scarlet, and came forward out of 
 the recess. The Squire rose and hastened 
 towards her. 
 
 '' We have been invading your house while 
 you have been away, Mrs Maliphant," said 
 he. "That wasn't polite, was It? But you'll 
 forgive me, I know." 
 
 Mother's eyes scarcely rested on him ; they 
 travelled past him to Captain Forrester, who 
 stood in the window. 
 
 *' My nephew, Frank Forrester," said the 
 Squire, hastily following her look. The 
 Captain advanced and bowed to mother. 
 He could do nothing more, for she did not 
 hold out her hand. 
 
 ''I am very glad to see any friend of 
 yours. Squire," said she. And then she 
 turned away from him, and unfastened her 
 cloak, which I took from her and hung up 
 in the hall.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. II9 
 
 '* Joyce, lay the cloth," said she. *' We'll 
 have tea at once." I left the room with 
 sister. 
 
 " Never mind," whispered I outside, as we 
 fetched the pretty white egg-shell cups that 
 always came out when we had any company ; 
 *' mother doesn't mean to be queer. She's 
 just a little cold now, because she wants Cap- 
 tain Forrester to understand it wasn't with 
 her leave we let him drive us home. But 
 she isn't really cross." 
 
 ''Cross! Oh, Margaret, no — of course 
 not," echoed Joyce. She was taking down 
 a plate from under a pile of cups, and said 
 no more at the moment. I was ashamed and 
 half vexed. That was the worst of Joyce. 
 Sometimes she would reprove one when one 
 was actually fighting her battles. 
 
 " Of course we ought not to have done it," 
 continued she, setting the cups in order on 
 the tray. '' I felt it at the time." 
 
 " Then, why in the world didn't you say 
 so ? " cried I. 
 
 ' ' I didn't know how to say so, — you scarce- 
 ly gave me a chance," answered she. " Of 
 course I know you did it because I was so
 
 120 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Stupidly frightened, but It makes me rather 
 uncomfortable now." 
 
 ** Oh, I thought you seemed to get on 
 very well with Captain Forrester just now," 
 said I huffily, kneeling down to reach the 
 cake on the bottom shelf. " You seemed 
 quite civil to him, and you didn't look un- 
 comfortable." 
 
 '' Didn't I ? I'm glad," answered Joyce 
 simply. " Of course one wants to be civil 
 to the Squire's friends in father's house. 
 And I do think he is a very polite gentle- 
 man." 
 
 She took up the tray and moved on into 
 the parlour, and I went across into the 
 kitchen to fetch the urn. I had never been 
 envious of Joyce's beauty up to the present 
 time. Nothing had happened to make me 
 so, and I was fully occupied in being proud 
 of it. But if her beauty was of such little 
 account to her that she had not even been 
 pleased by this handsome man's admiration 
 of it, — well, I thought I could have made 
 better use of it. 
 
 When I went into the parlour again the 
 groups were all changed. Father stood by
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 121 
 
 the fire, and the Squire had risen. Father 
 had his hands crossed behind his back and 
 his sarcastic expression on, and the Squire 
 was talking loudly. Joyce was laying the 
 cloth, and mother stood by the window 
 where sister had stood before ; Captain 
 Forrester was talking to her as if he had 
 never cared to do anything else. I could 
 not hear what they were saying, the Squire's 
 voice was too loud ; but I could see that 
 mother was quite civil. 
 
 '' I never liked that man Hoad," the 
 Squire was saying, and I felt a throb of 
 satisfaction as I heard him. *' I don't be- 
 lieve he's straightforward. Do anything for 
 money, that's my feeling." 
 
 '' He's a friend of mine," said father stiffly. 
 
 ** Oh, well of course if he's a friend of 
 yours, well and good," answered Mr Brod- 
 erick shortly. '' You probably know him 
 better that I do. But I don't like him. I 
 should never be able to trust him." 
 
 " Perhaps that is because you do not 
 know him," suggested father. 
 
 *'No doubt, no doubt," answered the 
 Squire.
 
 122 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 " I hear he has turned Radical now," 
 added he, coming to the real core of the 
 grievance. "He used to call himself a 
 Liberal, but now I hear he calls himself a 
 Radical, and is going to put up some Radi- 
 cal candidate to oppose us." 
 
 " Yes, I know," answered father, too hon- 
 est to deny the charge. 
 
 '* Oh, do you know who it is ? " asked the 
 Squire sharply 
 
 **No, I don't," answered father in the 
 same way. 
 
 The Squire paused a moment ; then he 
 said, unable to keep it in, " Are you going 
 to support him too ? " 
 
 The colour went out of father's face : I 
 knew he was angry. 
 
 ''Well, Mr Broderick, I don't know what 
 sort of a candidate it'll be," said he in a 
 provoking manner. ''There's Radicals and 
 Radicals." 
 
 The Squire smacked his boot with his 
 walking-stick and did not answer. Captain 
 Forrester came forward, for mother had 
 gone to the table to make the tea. 
 
 " Did I hear you say that you were a Radi-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 23 
 
 cal, Mr Maliphant ? " asked the young man, 
 looking at father. 
 
 "I am not a Tory," answered father, 
 without looking up. I thought his tone 
 was cruelly curt. 
 
 *' Well, I am a Socialist," answered Frank 
 Forrester, with an air that would have been 
 defiant had it not been too pleasant-spoken. 
 Father smiled. The words must have pro- 
 voked that — would have provoked more if 
 the speaker had not been so good-tempered. 
 
 " Ah, I know what you young fellows 
 mean by a Socialist," he murmured. 
 
 *' I should say I went about as far as 
 most men in England," said Frank, looking 
 at him in that open-eyed fixed way that he 
 used towards men as well as towards women. 
 
 " I should say that you went further than 
 you can see," said the Squire laconically. 
 
 Frank laughed good-humouredly. '*Ah, 
 I refuse to quarrel with you, uncle," said he, 
 taking hold of the Squire's arm in a friendly 
 fashion. It was said as though he would 
 imply that he could quarrel with other 
 people when he liked, but his look belied 
 his words.
 
 124 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 '' If you will let me, I'll come in and have 
 a chat one of these days, Mr Maliphant," 
 continued he. " When uncle is not by, you 
 know." He said the words as though he 
 felt sure that his request would be granted, 
 and yet with his confidence there was a 
 graceful deference to the elder man which 
 was very fascinating. Why did father look 
 at him as he did ? Did he feel something 
 that I felt? And what was it that I felt? 
 I do not know. 
 
 '* I am a busy man and haven't much time 
 for talk, sir, but you're welcome when you 
 like to call," answered father civilly, not 
 warmly. 
 
 The Squire had sat down again while his 
 nephew and father were exchanging these 
 few words. He crossed one knee over the 
 other and sat there striking his foot with his 
 hand — a provoking habit that he had when 
 he was trying to control his temper. 
 
 *' There'll be a nice pair of you," said he, 
 trying to turn the matter off into a joke. 
 '' It's a pity, Frank, that you have no vote 
 to help Mr Maliphant's candidate with." 
 
 " I don't know that any so-called Radical
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 125 
 
 candidate would or could do much in Parlia- 
 ment to help the questions that I have 
 at heart," said Captain Forrester. " As Mr 
 Maliphant justly observed, there are Radi- 
 cals and Radicals, and the political Radical 
 has very little in common with those who 
 consider merely social problems." 
 
 Father did look up now, and his eyes 
 shone as I had seen them shine when he 
 was talking to the working men ; for though 
 I had not often heard him — the chief of his 
 discourses being given in the village club — 
 I had once been to a large meeting in town 
 where he had been the chief speaker. 
 
 **One never knows where to have any 
 of you fellows," laughed the Squire, rather 
 uncomfortably. " You always led me to 
 believe, Maliphant, that you would have 
 nothing to do with political party spirit. 
 You always said that no party yet invented 
 would advance the interests of the people 
 in a genuine fashion ; and now, as soon as a 
 Radical candidate appears, you talk of sup- 
 porting him." 
 
 *' I'm not aware that I talked of support- 
 ing him," said father.
 
 126 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ** But you won't return a Radical," con- 
 tinued the Squire, not hearing the remark. 
 " The country isn't ripe for that sort of 
 thing yet, whatever you may think it will 
 be. You're very influential, I know. And 
 if you're not with us, as I once hoped you 
 might be, you'll be a big weight against 
 us. But with all your influence, you won't 
 return a Radical. The Tories are too 
 strong ; they're much stronger than they 
 were last election, and then Sethurst was 
 an old-fashioned Liberal and a well-known 
 man in the county besides. You won't re- 
 turn a Radical. I don't believe there's a 
 county in England would return what you 
 would call a Radical, and certainly not 
 ours." 
 
 ^' I don't believe there is," said father 
 quietly. 
 
 '' Then why do you want to support this 
 candidate ? " 
 
 " I don't," answered father. "I'm a man 
 of my word. Squire Broderick. I told you 
 long ago I'd have nothing to do with politics, 
 and no more I will. If I am to be of any use, 
 I must do it in another way — I must work
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 12/ 
 
 from another level. The county may return 
 what it likes for all I shall trouble about it." 
 
 **Well, 'pon my soul," began the Squire, 
 but at that moment mother's voice came 
 from the tea-table. She saw that a hot 
 argument was imminent, and she never 
 could abide an argument. I think that 
 father too must have been disinclined for 
 one, for when she said, " Father, your tea 
 is poured out," he took the hint at once. 
 The Squire looked disappointed for a 
 moment, but I think he was so glad that 
 father's influence was not going to take 
 political shape against his candidate that he 
 forgave all else. 
 
 Mother was just making Captain Forrester 
 welcome beside her as the newest guest, 
 when Deborah opened the door and ushered 
 in Mr Hoad. I had quite forgotten that 
 father had invited him. He stood a moment 
 as it were appraising the company. His eye 
 rested for less than an instant on Squire 
 Broderick, on Captain Forrester, and then 
 shifted immediately to mother. 
 
 "Oh, I am afraid that I intrude, Mrs 
 Maliphant," said he.
 
 128 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ''Not at all, not at all, Hoad," declared 
 father. " Come in ; we expected you." 
 
 Mother rose and offered him her hand. 
 Then Captain Forrester, who had been 
 looking at him, came forward and offered 
 his too in his most genial manner. It was 
 not till long afterwards that I found out that 
 he made a special point of always being most 
 genial to those people whom he considered 
 ever so little beneath him. 
 
 '' Oh, how are you, Hoad," said he. " I 
 thought I recognised you, but I wasn't 
 quite sure. I didn't expect to meet you 
 here." 
 
 " No ; nor I you ! " exclaimed Hoad, glid- 
 ing with ready adaptability into the position 
 offered him — a quality which I think was 
 perhaps his chief characteristic. " Delighted 
 to see you." 
 
 Forrester gave up his place next mother, 
 and sat down beside Joyce. The Squire 
 just nodded to Mr Hoad, and then the 
 conversation became general till the Squire 
 and his nephew left, very shortly after- 
 wards.
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Three weeks had passed since the day 
 when Captain Forrester drove us out from 
 town. Winter was gliding slowly into 
 spring. The winds were still cold and 
 piercing, and the bright sun and keen air 
 sadly treacherous to sensitive folk, but the 
 snow had all melted and the grass sprung 
 green upon the marsh, throwing the blue 
 of the sea beyond into sharp contrast ; the 
 cattle came out once more to feed; yellow- 
 hammers and butcher-birds began to appear 
 on the meadows ; and over earth and sea, 
 soft grey clouds broke into strange shapes 
 upon the blue. 
 
 I remember all this now ; then I was only 
 conscious of one thing — that, in spite of the 
 east wind, I was happy. 
 
 Father was well again : he rode over the 
 VOL. I, I
 
 130 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 farm on his cob just as he used to do, and 
 mother had forgotten the very name of a 
 poultice. Joyce and the Captain showed 
 every sign of playing in the romance that 
 I had planned for them ; no one had men- 
 tioned the subject of a bailiff for Knellestone 
 from that day to this ; and the Squire's ball 
 was close at hand. 
 
 How was it possible that I should be 
 otherwise than happy ? 
 
 It was the very night before the dance. 
 Jessie Hoad, who had consented to sing for 
 our village concert, had been over, and we 
 had been having a practice under Captain 
 Forrester's directions. She was a fashion- 
 ably-dressed, fashionably-mannered, fashion- 
 ably-minded young woman, and quite content 
 with herself; she generally resented direc- 
 tions, but she had submitted with a pretty 
 good grace to his. 
 
 Miss Thorne had also been in. Joyce in 
 this had shown one of those strange in- 
 stances of obstinacy that were in her. Mary 
 Thorne had asked to come, and she should 
 not be refused. I remember noticing that 
 Captain Forrester and that particularly gay-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 13 1 
 
 tempered young lady seemed to be very 
 intimate together, — ^just, in fact, as people 
 who had known one another from childhood 
 would be. They took the liberty of telling 
 one another home -truths, — at least Mary 
 Thome did (I fancied Frank responded less 
 promptly), and did it in a blunt fashion that 
 was peculiar to her. But I liked blunt 
 people. I liked Mary Thorne very much. 
 
 Although she was an heiress to money 
 that had been ** sucked from the blood of the 
 people" — to money made from a factory 
 where girls and little children worked long 
 hours out of the sunlight and the fresh air, 
 — although she lived in a great house that 
 overlooked acres of land that belonged to 
 her, — and although my father could scarcely 
 be got to speak to hers, — I liked Mary 
 Thorne. She was so frank and jolly, and 
 took it so as a matter of course that we 
 were to be friends, that I always forgot that 
 she rode in a carriage when I walked, and 
 that she and I ought by rights not to be so 
 much at ease. 
 
 That day she was particularly jolly, and 
 she and I and Captain Forrester laughed
 
 132 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 together till I was quite ashamed to see 
 that I had left Joyce all the entertaining of 
 Miss Hoad to do In the meantime. For the 
 Captain had not paid so much attention to 
 Joyce on that day as on most others ; I sup- 
 pose he thought It was more discreet not to 
 do so before strangers. 
 
 Both our lady visitors had left, however, by 
 half-past five o'clock, and Captain Forrester 
 stood on the garden-terrace now with Joyce 
 alone, while I had returned to the darning of 
 the family socks. It was close upon sunset, 
 and they were looking at the lilacs that were 
 beginning to swell In the bud. Joyce wore 
 a lilac gown herself, I remember. The Cap- 
 tain had once admired it, and I had noticed 
 that she had put it on very often since then. 
 
 I watched them from the parlour window 
 where I sat with my work. For the first 
 time I was half frightened at what I had 
 done. I wondered what this romance was 
 like that I had woven for Joyce. I felt that 
 she was gliding away out of my ken, Into 
 an unknown world where I had driven her, 
 and where I could not now follow her. Was 
 it all happiness In that world ?
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 133 
 
 Although the light was fading, and I 
 wanted it all for my work, I moved away 
 from the window-seat farther into the room. 
 It seemed indelicate to watch them — al- 
 though, indeed, they were only standing there 
 side by side quietly, and what they were 
 saying to one another I could not have 
 heard if I had wished to do so. But it was 
 my doing that they were alone at all. Joyce 
 had stockings to darn too, but I had sug- 
 gested that the parlour posy wanted fresh- 
 ening, and that there were some primroses 
 out on the cliff. 
 
 Mother was out : she had gone to assist 
 at the arrival of a new member of the popu- 
 lation, and such an event always Interested 
 her so profoundly, that she forgot other 
 things for the moment. Such an opportun- 
 ity might not occur again for a long time, 
 and I was not going to miss it, — otherwise 
 those two had not been alone together be- 
 fore. At least, not to my knowledge. 
 
 Once Joyce had gone out into the village 
 marketing by herself, and when she had 
 come home she had run straight up Into her 
 room Instead of coming Into the parlour. I
 
 134 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 had gone up to her after a little while, as she 
 did not come down, and had found her 
 sitting by the window with her things still 
 on, looking out to the sea with a half 
 troubled expression on her face. I had 
 asked her what was the matter, and she had 
 smiled and said, " Nothing at all," and I had 
 believed her. 
 
 However, even in the most open way in 
 the world. Captain Forrester had managed 
 to get pretty well acquainted with Joyce by 
 this time, for he had come to the Grange 
 almost every day since the Squire had 
 brought him to pay that first call. He came 
 on the plea of interest in father's views ; and 
 though mother, I could see, had taken a 
 dislike to him, simply because he was a 
 rival to the Squire, and took every oppor- 
 tunity of saying disparaging things about 
 him to us girls when he was not present, 
 even she felt the influence of the friendly 
 manner that insisted on everything being 
 pleasant and friendly in return, and did not 
 seem somehow to be able to deny him the 
 freedom which he claimed so naturally, of 
 coming to the house whenever the fancy
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 135 
 
 seized him. Certainly it would have been 
 very difficult to turn Captain Forrester 
 out. 
 
 Although it was evident enough to every 
 one but father, in his dreamy self-absorption, 
 that the young man came to see my beauti- 
 ful sister, and was quickly falling hopelessly 
 in love with her, still he was far too courteous 
 to neglect others for her : he was always 
 doing something for mother, procuring her 
 something that she wanted, or in some way 
 helping her ; and as for me, he not only took 
 all the burden of the village concert off my 
 shoulders, the musical part of which always 
 fell to my lot, but he also taught me how to 
 sing my songs as I had no idea of how to 
 sing them before, and took so much interest 
 in my voice and in my performance that he 
 really made me quite ambitious for the time 
 as to what I might possibly do. And how- 
 ever much mother might have wished to 
 turn the Captain out, there were difficulties 
 attending this course of action. 
 
 In the first place, he was the Squire's 
 nephew, and she could not very well be rude 
 to the Squire's nephew, however much she
 
 136 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 may have fancied that the Squire would, in 
 his heart, condone it ; and then father had 
 taken such an unusually strong fancy to the 
 young man, that it would have been more 
 than mother had ever been known to do to 
 gainsay it. This friendship between an old 
 and a young man was really a remarkable 
 thing. 
 
 Father was not at all given to marked 
 preferences for people : he was a reserved 
 man, and his own society was generally suf- 
 ficient for him. Even in the class whose 
 interests he had so dearly at heart — his own 
 class he would have called it, although in 
 force and culture he was very far above 
 the typical representatives of it — he was a 
 god to the many rather than a friend to the 
 individual. And apart from his friendship 
 with the Squire, which was a friendship 
 rather of custom than of choice, I do not 
 remember his having a single intimate 
 acquaintance. For I do not choose to con- 
 sider that Hoad ever really was a friend in 
 any sense of the word. 
 
 I have always fancied that father's cap- 
 acity for friendship was swallowed up in
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 37 
 
 that one romantic episode of his youth, that 
 stood side by side with his love for our 
 mother, and was not less beautiful though 
 so different. 
 
 At first I think Forrester's aristocratic 
 appearance, his knowledge of hunting and 
 horseflesh, and music and dancing, and all 
 the pleasures of the rich and idle, his 
 polished manners, and even his good coat, 
 rather stood In his light in the eyes of the 
 " working man " ; but it was only at first. 
 Forrester's genuine enthusiasm for the in- 
 terests that he affected, and his admiring 
 deference for the mind that had thought the 
 problem out, were enough to win the friend- 
 ship of any man ; for I suppose even at 
 father's age one Is not impervious to this 
 refined sort of flattery. 
 
 Those were happy days in the dear old 
 home, when we were all together, and none 
 but the most trivial cloud had come to mar 
 the harmony of our life. 
 
 I never remember father merrier than he 
 was at that time. He and Frank would sit 
 there smoking their pipes, and laughing and 
 talking as it does one's heart good to remem-
 
 138 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ber. There was never any quarrelling 
 over these discussions, as there used to be 
 over the arguments with the Squire. Not 
 that the young man always agreed at once 
 about things. He required to be convinced, 
 but then he always was convinced in the end. 
 And his wild schemes for the development 
 of the people, and the prevention of crime, 
 and the alleviation of distress, all sounded 
 so practical and pleasant, as set forth in his 
 pleasant, brilliant language, full of fire and 
 enthusiasm, and not at all like the same 
 theories that father had been wont to quarrel 
 over with the Squire in his sullen, serious 
 fashion. 
 
 Everything that the Captain proposed 
 was to be won from the top, — by discussions 
 and meetings among the great of the land. 
 He could shake hands on terms of equality 
 with the poorest labourer over his pot of 
 beer, but it was not from the labourer that 
 the reform would ever be obtained ; and he 
 quite refused to see the matter In the sombre 
 light in which father held it, who believed in 
 no reform — if reform there could be — that 
 did not come from the class that needed
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 139 
 
 it, and that should come without bitter 
 struggles and patient, dogged perseverance. 
 And in the end he convinced — or seemed 
 to convince — Frank that this was so. 
 
 I noticed how, imperceptibly, under the 
 influence of father's earnest, powerful nature, 
 the young man slowly became more earnest 
 and more serious too. He talked less and 
 he listened more ; and truly there was no 
 lack of food. 
 
 The great subjects under discussion were 
 the nationalisation of land and the formation 
 of trade corporations for the protection of 
 the artisan class. These corporations were 
 to be formed as far as possible on the model 
 of the old guilds of the middle ages ; they 
 were to have compulsory provident funds 
 for widows, orphans, and disabled workmen ; 
 they were to prevent labour on Sundays, and 
 the employment of children and married 
 women in factories ; they were to determine 
 the hours of labour and the rate of wages, 
 and to inquire into the sanitary condition of 
 work-places. 
 
 There were many other principles be- 
 longing to them besides these that I have
 
 140 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 quoted, but I cannot remember any more, 
 though I remember clearly how father and 
 Frank disagreed upon the question of 
 whether the corporations were to enjoy a 
 monopoly or not. I suppose they agreed 
 finally upon the point, for I know that Frank 
 undertook to air the matter at public meet- 
 ings in London, and seemed to be quite sure 
 that he would be able to start a trial society 
 before long. I recollect how absolutely he 
 refused to be damped by father's less san- 
 guine mood ; and best of all, I remember the 
 smile that he brought to father's face, and 
 the light that he called back to his droop- 
 ing eye. 
 
 There was only one blot : the Squire did 
 not come to see us. No doubt I should not 
 have allowed at this time that it was any 
 blot, and when mother remarked upon it, I 
 held my tongue ; but I know very well that 
 I was sorry the Squire kept away. 
 
 On this evening of which I am thinking, 
 however, the Squire did not keep away. I 
 am afraid I had hurried a little over the 
 darning of father's socks, that I might get 
 to the making up of my own lace ruffles for
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 141 
 
 the great event of the next night, and as I 
 was sitting there In the window, making the 
 most of the fading daylight, he came in. I 
 heard him ask Deborah for father In the hall, 
 and when she answered that she thought 
 he was still out, he said he would wait and 
 walked on into the parlour. He was free to 
 come and go in our house. I fancied that 
 he started a little when he saw me there 
 alone ; I suppose he expected to find the 
 whole party as usual. 
 
 " Oh, how are you ? " said he abruptly, 
 holding out his hand without looking at 
 me. " Is your mother out ? " 
 
 I explained that mother had gone to the 
 village to see a neighbour. 
 
 "I'll just wait a few minutes for your 
 father," said he. '* I want particularly to 
 see him to-night." 
 
 "Is it about that young man.-^" asked I. 
 
 I do not know what possessed me to ask 
 it. It was not becoming behaviour on my 
 part, but at his words the recollection of 
 that Mr Trayton Harrod, whom he had 
 recommended to father as a bailiff, had 
 suddenly returned to me. No mention
 
 142 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 having been made of him again, I had 
 really scarcely remembered the matter till 
 now, the excitement of the past three weeks 
 had been so great. 
 
 He knit his brows in annoyance, and I 
 was sorry I had spoken. 
 
 ** What young man ? " asked he. 
 
 '' That gentleman whom you recom- 
 mended to father for the farm," said I, half 
 ashamed of myself 
 
 '' Oh, Trayton Harrod ! " exclaimed the 
 Squire, with a relieved expression. *' Oh 
 no, no, I shall not trouble your father again 
 about that unless he speaks to me. I 
 thought it might be an advantageous thing, 
 for I have known the young man since he 
 was a lad, and he has been well brought 
 up, — a clever fellow all round. But your 
 father knows his own business best. It 
 might not work." 
 
 It was on my lips to say that of course it 
 would not work, but I restrained myself, and 
 the Squire went on. 
 
 ''I'm so delighted to see your father 
 himself again," he said. '* There's no need 
 for any one to help him so long as he can
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 143 
 
 do It all himself; and of course you, I know, 
 do a great deal for him," added he, as 
 though struck by an after - thought. " I 
 saw you walking round the mill farm this 
 morning." 
 
 " Did you ? " answered I. " I only went up 
 about the flour. I didn't see you." 
 
 *'No," he said. ''I was riding the other 
 way." 
 
 He walked up to the window as he spoke, 
 and looked out over the lawn. 
 
 Somehow I was glad that I had just seen 
 Joyce and Captain Forrester go down the 
 cliff out of sight a few minutes before the 
 Squire arrived. 
 
 *' Everybody out ? " asked he. 
 
 '' Yes," answered I. '' Everybody." 
 
 He did not ask whether his nephew had 
 been there. He drew a chair up to the 
 table and began playing with the reels 
 and tapes In my work-basket. Mother and 
 Joyce would have been In an agony at see- 
 ing their sacred precincts invaded by the 
 cruel hand of man, but it rather amused me 
 to see the hopeless mess into which he was 
 getting the hooks and silks and needles.
 
 144 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 My basket never was a miracle of orderli- 
 ness at any time. 
 
 " Is Miss Joyce quite well," said he at 
 last, trying to get the scissors free of a train 
 of cotton in which he had entangled them. 
 
 I felt almost inclined to laugh. Even to 
 me, who am awkward enough, this seemed 
 such an awkward way of introducing the 
 subject, for of course I had guessed that he 
 had missed her directly he had come into 
 the room. 
 
 "Yes, quite well, thank you," answered I. 
 And then I added, laughing, and seeing that 
 he had got hold of a bit of my lace, '* Oh, 
 take care, please ; that's a bit of my finery 
 for to-morrow night." 
 
 He dropped it as if it had burned him. 
 " Oh dear, dear, yes, — how clumsy I am ! " 
 cried he, pushing the work-basket far from 
 him. ** I hope I have spoilt nothing." 
 
 ''Why, no, of course not," laughed I. " I 
 oughtn't to have spoken. But you see I 
 have only got that one bit of lace, and I 
 want it for to-morrow night." 
 
 *' Oh yes ; I suppose you young ladies are 
 going to be very grand indeed," smiled he.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 145 
 
 " Oh no, not grand," insisted I ; ** but 
 very jolly. We mean to enjoy ourselves, I 
 can tell you." 
 
 " That's right," said he. " So do I." 
 
 But he could not get away from the sub- 
 ject of Joyce. 
 
 '* Has your sister gone far ? " asked he in 
 a minute. 
 
 '' I don't know," I answered, quite deter- 
 mined to throw no light upon the subject of 
 where she was and with whom. 
 
 A direct question made it difficult now to 
 keep to this determination. 
 
 " Do you know if my nephew has been 
 here this afternoon ? " was the question. 
 
 I looked down intently at my work. 
 
 "Yes, he came," answered I. *' He sat 
 some while with father, till father went out." 
 
 I did not add any mention of where he 
 had been since. It was a prevarication of 
 course, but I thought I did it out of a desire 
 to spare the Squire's feelings. He asked no 
 more questions. He sat silent for a while. 
 
 " Your father and Frank seem to be great 
 friends," observed he presently, and I fan- 
 cied a little bitterly. 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 " Yes," I replied ; " Captain Forrester has 
 quite picked father's spirits up. He has 
 been a different man since he had him to 
 sympathise with over his pet schemes." 
 
 I felt directly I had said the words that 
 they were inconsiderate words, and I re- 
 gretted them, but I could not take them 
 back. 
 
 Squire Broderick flushed over his fair 
 white brow. 
 
 " Yes ; my nephew professes to be as keen 
 after all these democratic dodges as your 
 father himself," he said curtly. 
 
 ''Oh, it's not that," cried I, anxious to 
 mend matters. " Father doesn't need to 
 have everybody agree with him for him to 
 be friends with them." 
 
 "No, I quite understand," answered the 
 Squire, beginning again on the unlucky 
 basket. And after a pause he added, as 
 though with an effort, *' Frank Is a very de- 
 lightful companion, I know; and when he 
 brings his enthusiasm to bear upon subjects 
 that are after one's own heart, It is naturally 
 very pleasant." 
 
 " Yes," I agreed. *' That's just it, he is
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 147 
 
 SO very enthusiastic. He would make such 
 a splendid speaker, such a splendid leader of 
 some great democratic movement." 
 
 The Squire left my work-basket in the 
 muddle In which he had finally put it, and 
 stuck his hands into his pockets. 
 
 ** Do you think so ? " he said. 
 
 ** Oh yes, I'm sure of It," continued I, 
 blindly. ''And I am sure father thinks so 
 too." 
 
 *' Indeed ! " answered the Squire, I thought 
 a little scornfully. " And, pray, how is my 
 nephew going to be a great democratic 
 leader ? Is he going into Parliament ? Is 
 he going to contest the county at the next 
 election ? " 
 
 "Why, how can you think he would do 
 such a thing, Mr Broderick," exclaimed I, 
 " when he knows that you are supporting 
 the opposite side ? " 
 
 " Oh, that would be no objection," said 
 the Squire, still in the same tone of voice. 
 "The objection would be that a Radical 
 stands such a small chance of getting in." 
 
 " Besides," added I, collecting myself, " I 
 am sure he has no wish to o-q Into Parliament. 
 
 o
 
 148 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Father and he both agree that a man can do 
 a great deal more good out of Parliament 
 than in it. They say that the finest leaders 
 that there have been in all nations have 
 been those who have got at the people 
 straight — without any humbug between 
 them." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said the Squire. Then con- 
 trolling himself, he added, " Well, and does 
 Frank think that he is going to get at the 
 people that way ? Does he suppose it will 
 cost him nothing ? " 
 
 *' Oh no ; I suppose it will cost money," 
 assented I. 
 
 '' Ah ! " said the Squire, in the tone of a 
 man who has got to the bottom of the 
 question at last. " Well, then, I think it's 
 only fair that your father should know that 
 there is very little chance of Frank's being of 
 any use to him. If he is pinning his faith 
 on Frank as a possible representative of his 
 convictions, he is making a mistake, and it is 
 only right that he should be warned. Frank 
 has no money of his own — no money at all. 
 He has nothing but his captain's pay, and that 
 isn't enough for him to keep himself upon."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 149 
 
 The Squire spoke bitterly. Even I, girl as 
 I was, could see that something had annoyed 
 him to the point of making him lose control 
 over himself. 
 
 " I don't think father has pinned his faith 
 on Captain Forrester," said I, half vexed. 
 " I don't think there has been any question 
 between them such as you fancy. I think 
 they are merely fond of discussing matters 
 upon which they agree. At all events, I am 
 sure it has never entered father's head to 
 consider whether Captain Forrester had 
 money or not." 
 
 "Well, I think, for several reasons, it is 
 just as well there should be no mistake about 
 the thing," repeated the Squire vehemently, 
 walking up and down the room in his excite- 
 ment. '' Frank has no money and no pros- 
 pects, excepting those which he may make 
 for himself I sincerely hope that he may 
 do something better than marry an heiress, 
 which is his mother's aim for him, but mean- 
 while he certainly has very little property 
 excepting his debts." 
 
 A light suddenly broke upon me. The 
 words, " marry an heiress," had suddenly
 
 ISO MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 flashed a meaning on Squire Broderlck's 
 strange attitude. He was afraid that 
 Captain Forrester was winning Joyces 
 affections. He was jealous. I would not 
 have believed it of him ; but perhaps, of 
 course, it was natural. I was sorry for him. 
 The remembrance of the sad bereavements 
 of his youth made me sorry for him. 
 
 After all, though I did not then consider 
 him a young man. It was sad to have done 
 with life so early, — to have no chance of 
 another little heir to the acres that he owned, 
 instead of that poor little baby of whom 
 mother had told us. For, of course, there 
 was no chance of that, and Captain Forrester 
 would finally inherit them. I had not 
 thought of that before. No wonder he 
 was bitter, and I was sorry for him. He 
 spoke no more after that last speech. He 
 came and stood over me where I was 
 working. 
 
 '' But, after all," said he presently, in his 
 natural genial tones, " I don't know why 
 I troubled you with all that. You are 
 scarcely the person whom it should in- 
 terest. I beg your pardon."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 151 
 
 I did not know what to say, so I said 
 nothing. 
 
 The Squire moved to the window, and 
 I put down my work and followed him. 
 The daylight had gone ; there was no more 
 sewing to be done that evening without a 
 lamp. As I came forward I saw the tall, 
 slight figure of Captain Forrester standing 
 up against the dim blue of the twilight sky, 
 and holding out his hand to help my sister 
 up the last, steepest bit of the ascent to our 
 lawn. I glanced at the Squire. His face 
 was not sad nor sorry, but It was angry. He 
 turned away from the window, and so did I, 
 and as we faced round we saw mother stand- 
 ing In the doorway. She had her bonnet 
 and cloak still on ; she must have come In 
 quietly by the back-door, as she had a habit 
 of doing, while we were talking. How much 
 had she heard of what the Squire had said ? 
 
 He went up to her and bade her good-day 
 and good-bye In one breath. He said he 
 would not wait longer to see father. He 
 went out and away without meeting his 
 nephew. I was very glad that he did, for 
 thus mother went up-stairs at once to take
 
 152 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 off her things, and being In a garrulous frame 
 of mind, from her experiences of the after- 
 noon with the new-born baby, she stayed 
 up-stairs some time talking to Deborah, and 
 did not come down to the parlour again till 
 after Captain Forrester had taken his leave. 
 So she never knew anything of that long 
 half-hour spent upon the garden cliff at the 
 sun-setting.
 
 153 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 I THINK I saw the dawn that day on which 
 the ball was to be. Whether I did or not, 
 the morning was still very grey and cold 
 when I crept out of my bed and stole to the 
 wardrobe to look at our two dresses. There 
 they hung, carefully displayed upon shifting 
 pegs such as were used in old-fashioned 
 presses : one soft white muslin, the other 
 of that pale apple-green shot silk which had 
 belonged to mother in the days of her youth, 
 and which I had been allowed to make up 
 for the occasion. We had worked at them 
 for days. 
 
 Joyce was clever at dressmaking : she was 
 clever at all things that needed deftness of 
 fingers. She had fitted me with my frock, 
 and we had both worked together. But now 
 the dresses were finished, the last ruffle had
 
 154 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 been tacked in ; there was nothing more to 
 do, and the day wore away very slowly till 
 evening. 
 
 At last the hour came when it was time 
 to dress, and such a washing of faces and 
 brushing of hair as went on in that little 
 attic chamber for half an hour, no one would 
 believe. 
 
 Joyce insisted on "finishing" me first. 
 She coiled up my hair at the back of my 
 head, brushing it as neatly as she could, and 
 laying it in two thick bands on either side 
 of my temples. It never will look very neat, 
 it is such vigorous unruly hair, this red hair 
 of mine, and to this day always has tendrils 
 escaping here and there over forehead and 
 neck. But she did her best for it, and I was 
 pleased with myself. I was still more pleased 
 with myself when I got on the green shot 
 silk with the lace ruffles. Joyce said she 
 was surprised to see what a change it made 
 in me. So was I. 
 
 My skin was very pink and white wherever 
 it was not spoilt by freckles, and the green of 
 the frock seemed to show it up and make the 
 red lips look redder than ever. It is true
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 155 
 
 that my neck and arms were frail still with 
 the frailness of youth, but then my figure 
 was slim too, and my eyes were black with 
 excitement, and shone till they were twice 
 their usual size. I thought, as I looked in 
 the glass, that I was not so very plain. Yes, 
 I was right when I had begged the shot silk. 
 Joyce could wear anything, but I, who was 
 no ''fine bird" by nature, needed the "fine 
 feathers." 
 
 I was pleased with myself, and I smiled 
 with satisfaction when Joyce declared again 
 that she was quite surprised to see what a 
 good appearance I had. "If you would only 
 keep yourself tidy, Margaret, you have no 
 idea how much better you would look," said 
 she. 
 
 It was what Deborah was always saying, 
 but I did not resent it from Joyce. She was 
 gentle in her way of saying it ; and I re- 
 member that I promised I would brush my 
 hair smooth in future, and wear my collars 
 more daintily. I do not believe that I kept 
 to my resolution, but that evening I was not 
 at all the Margaret of everyday life as I 
 surveyed myself in the glass.
 
 156 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 " But come," said I, hurriedly — half 
 ashamed of myself, I do believe — " we shall 
 be late if we don't make haste. Do get 
 on, Joyce." 
 
 Joyce began brushing out her long golden 
 hair — real gold hair, not faint flaxen — and 
 coiled the smooth shining bands of it round 
 her little head. It was a little head, such as 
 I have seen In the pictures of the Virgins 
 painted by Italian painters of long ago. 
 
 '* I shan't be long," said she. 
 
 I sat down and watched her. She would 
 not have let me help her if I had wanted to 
 do so. She would have said that I should 
 only disarrange myself, and that I should be 
 of no use. Certainly nothing was wanted 
 but what she did for herself, and she did It 
 quickly enough. When she stood up before 
 the mirror — tipped back to show the most of 
 her person, for we had no pier-glasses at the 
 Grange — I do not believe that any one could 
 have found a thing to Improve In her. Her 
 figure looked taller and slenderer than ever 
 in the long white dress, and the soft little 
 folds of the muslin clung tenderly around her 
 delicate shape, just leaving bare her neck and
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 157 
 
 arms, that were firm and white as alabaster. 
 Her face was flushed as a May rose; her 
 lips were parted in her anxiety to hasten, 
 and showed the little even white teeth within. 
 Her blue eyes were clear and soft under the 
 black lashes. 
 
 She moved before the glass to see that her 
 dress was not too long, and bent back her 
 slender throat, upon which she had just 
 clasped mother's delicate little old-fashioned 
 gold necklace with the drops of yellow beryl- 
 stone. It was the only bit of good jewellery 
 in the family, and Joyce always wore it, it 
 became her so well. 
 
 '' Come now, Meg," said she, '' I am quite 
 ready. Let's go and see if we can do any- 
 thing to help mother." 
 
 We went down-stairs. Deborah was there 
 in mother's room waiting to survey us all. 
 She had just fastened mother's dove-coloured 
 satin gown that had served her for every 
 party she had been at since she was married. 
 Mother had just the same shaped cap on 
 that she always wore ; she never would alter 
 it for any fashion, but that night the frill of 
 it was made of beautiful old lace that she
 
 158 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 kept in blue paper and lavender all the rest 
 of the year. I thought she looked splendid, 
 but Joyce was not so easily pleased. 
 
 '* Dear mother, you really must have 
 another gown before you go anywhere 
 again," said she, shaking out the skirt with 
 a dissatisfied air. "This satin has lost all 
 its stiffness." 
 
 Mother looked at it a little anxiously her- 
 self, I remember, when Joyce said this. We 
 considered Joyce a judge of dress and the 
 fashions, and of course the Squire's ball was 
 a great occasion. But she said she thought 
 it did very well for an old lady, and in- 
 deed so did I, although that may perhaps 
 have been because I was very anxious to 
 be off. 
 
 Dear mother! I do not think she gave 
 much thought to herself; she was taken up 
 with pride in us. Yes, I do believe that 
 night she was proud even of me. 
 
 She smiled when Deborah, with her hand 
 on the door knob, said patronisingly that 
 although she did not hold with bare arms 
 and necks for modest females, she never 
 would have thought that I should have
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 159 
 
 "dressed up" so well. Mother bade her 
 begone, but I think she was pleased. 
 
 " Dear me ! " said she, looking at me. '' I 
 recollect buying that silk. It must have 
 been in '52, when father took me up to town 
 to see the Exhibition. It was cheap for the 
 good silk it is. It has made up very well." 
 
 She turned me all round. Then she went 
 to her jewel-case, unlocked it, and took out 
 a row of red coral beads. 
 
 " That's what you want with that dress," 
 said she, fastening them round my throat. 
 ''And you shall have them for your own. 
 Red-haired women ought to wear coral, folk 
 say. Though, for my part, I always thought 
 it was putting on too many colours." 
 
 How well I remember my pleasure at that 
 gift! Joyce wanted to persuade me not to 
 wear them ; she said the pale green of the 
 frock was prettier without the red beads. 
 But I wouldn't listen to her ; I was too 
 pleased with them, and I do not believe that 
 it was entirely owing to gratified vanity : I 
 think a little of it was pleasure that mother 
 thought my appearance worth caring for. 
 
 I should not have thought it worth caring
 
 l60 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 for myself two days ago, and I should not 
 have cared whether mother did or not. But 
 something had happened to me. Was It the 
 sight of Joyce and her lover that had made 
 me think of myself as a woman ? I cannot 
 tell. All I know is, that when we walked 
 Into the Squire's ball-room a quarter of an 
 hour afterwards, I felt my face flame as I 
 saw his gaze rest upon me for a moment, 
 and I longed most heartily to be back again 
 In my high-necked homespun frock, with no 
 corals round my throat at all. So Inconsist- 
 ent are we at nineteen ! 
 
 Fortunately my awakening self-conscious- 
 ness was soon put to flight by other more 
 engrossing emotions. There was a fair 
 sprinkling of people already when we got 
 into the room, and more were arriving every 
 moment. Mr Farnham and the maiden 
 sister with whom he lived were going busily 
 about welcoming the Squire's guests almost 
 as though they were the host and hostess 
 themselves : he was the Conservative mem- 
 ber. A quiet, inoflensive old gentleman 
 himself, who would have been nothing and 
 nobody without the Squire ; but blessed
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. l6l 
 
 with a most officious lady for relative, who 
 took the whole neighbourhood under her 
 winof. 
 
 She rather annoyed me by the way she 
 had of trading on the Squire's support of 
 her brother. He supported her brother 
 because he was a Conservative, not at all 
 because he was Mr Farnham, or even Miss 
 Farnham's brother. 
 
 Poor Mr Broderick ! I daresay, if the truth 
 had been known, he must often heartily have 
 longed to get rid of them. But the old thing 
 was a good soul in her way, if it was a dic- 
 tatorial, loud-voiced way, and was very active 
 among the poor, although it was not always 
 in the manner which they liked. 
 
 She and mother Invariably quarrelled over 
 the advantages of soup-kitchens and clothing 
 clubs ; for mother was every bit as obstinate 
 as Miss Farnham, and being an old-fashioned 
 woman, liked to do her charity in a more 
 personal fashion. 
 
 I looked with mingled awe and amuse- 
 ment upon their meeting to-night. Miss 
 Farnham had an aggressive sort of head- 
 dress, with nodding artificial flowers that 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 l62 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 seemed to look down scornfully upon mo- 
 ther's old lace and soft frills. She had not 
 seen me for some time, and when mother 
 introduced me as her youngest daughter, 
 she took my hand firmly in hers, and held 
 it awhile in her uncompromising grip while 
 she looked at me through and through. 
 
 ''Well, I never saw such a thing in my 
 life ! " exclaimed she presently, In a loud 
 voice that attracted every one's attention. 
 
 I blushed. I was not given to blushing, 
 but It was enough to make any one blush. I 
 thought, of course, that she was alluding to 
 my attire, in which I had felt so shy and 
 awkward from the moment that I had en- 
 tered the ball-room, from the moment that 
 I had felt the Squire's glance rest upon my 
 neck and arms. 
 
 She dropped my hand. 
 
 *' The very Image of him," said she, turn- 
 ing to mother. 
 
 '' Yes, she is very like her father," agreed 
 the mother. 
 
 ''Why, my dear, the very Image of him," 
 repeated the aggravating creature. " Got his 
 temper too ? " asked she, turning to me again.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 163 
 
 " I don't know, ma'am, I'm sure," answered 
 I, half amused, but still more annoyed. *' I 
 daresay." 
 
 "Oh, I'll be bound you have, and proud 
 of it too," declared she, shaking her head 
 emphatically. '' Girls are always proud to 
 be like their fathers." 
 
 " I don't suppose it'll make any very 
 particular difference who I'm like," said I. 
 ''Things will happen just the same, I ex- 
 pect. 
 
 Miss Farnham laughed, and patted me 
 boisterously on the back. 
 
 I do not think she was an ill-natured 
 woman, although she certainly had the 
 talent of making one feel very uncom- 
 fortable. 
 
 **Well, you're not so handsome as your 
 sister," added she. '* But I don't know that 
 you hadn't better thank your stars for that." 
 
 With that she turned away from me and 
 sat down beside mother, arranging her dress 
 comfortably over her knees as though she 
 meant to stay there the whole evening. 
 
 The people kept coming fast now. The 
 Squire stood at the door shaking hands as
 
 l64 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 hard as he could. There was the old village 
 doctor with his pretty grand-daughter, and the 
 young village doctor who had Inherited the 
 practice, and had just married a spry little 
 wife In the hope of making It more Important. 
 
 And then there was the widow of an offi- 
 cer, who lived In a solid brick house that 
 stood at the corner of the village street, and 
 had two sons In the ship business In town. 
 And there was the mild-eyed clergyman 
 with his delicate young wife, who had more 
 than enough babies of her own, and was 
 only too thankful to leave the babies of the 
 parish to Miss Farnham or any one else who 
 would mother them. 
 
 She was a sweet little woman, with a 
 transparently white face and soft silky hair, 
 and she wore her wedding-dress to-night, 
 without the slightest regard to the fact that 
 It was made In a somewhat elaborate fashion 
 of six years back, and was not exactly suited 
 to her figure at that particular moment. She 
 sat down between mother and Miss Farn- 
 ham, and must have been considerably 
 cheered by that lady's remark to the effect 
 that she looked as if she ought to be in her
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 165 
 
 bed, and that if she did not retire to it she 
 would most likely soon be in her grave. 
 
 I left mother and went up to greet Mary 
 Thorne, who had just come In with her 
 father. He was a great, strong, florid man, 
 rather shaky about his /^'s, but very much the 
 reverse of shaky in any other way ; shrewd 
 and keen as a sharp knife or an east wind. 
 
 I don't know that I ever spoke to him but 
 this once in my life. Father had such an 
 overpowering aversion to him that we were 
 not allowed to keep even the daughter's ac- 
 quaintance long after this, but he made the 
 impression on me that there was only one 
 soft spot in him, and that for the motherless 
 girl who was the only person allowed to con- 
 tradict him. 
 
 She contradicted him now. 
 
 The Squire had gone up to receive them, 
 bluntly enough even I could see ; but the 
 Squire might be allowed to have an aver- 
 sion to the man who was going in as a 
 Radical to contest his Conservative's long- 
 occupied seat, though indeed I believe his 
 dislike to the manufacturer was quite as 
 much because he had bought up one of the
 
 l66 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 old places in the neighbourhood with money- 
 earned In business. I fancy the Thornes 
 were only invited that night as old friends 
 of Frank Forrester's, and I don't think 
 Frank was thanked for the necessity. 
 
 '' You must have had a rare job, Brod- 
 erick, lighting this old place up," he was 
 saying as I came up. " All this dark oak, 
 so gloomy looking." 
 
 " Oh, papa, how can you ! " laughed his 
 daughter. *' Why, it's what everybody ad- 
 mires. It's the great sight of the whole 
 neighbourhood." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know my dear," answered 
 Mr Thorne. *'You mean to say that we 
 should like to live here ourselves. Well, 
 yes, I should have bought the place if it 
 had been in the market, but " 
 
 " But you would have done It up," broke in 
 the Squire, bristling all over, " whereas there's 
 been nothlnof new in the Manor since " 
 
 He stopped. 
 
 I fancied that he was going to say, " since 
 I brought my bride home," but he said, after 
 a pause, " since my father died." 
 
 ''Well, to be sure I do like a bit of bright-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 167 
 
 ness and colour," acknowledged Thorne, 
 whose fine house, although in excellent 
 taste, was decidedly ornate and splendid ; 
 ''and it is more suited to festal occasions." 
 
 " There, papa, you know nothing about 
 it," declared Mary emphatically. '' I declare, 
 I never saw the Manor look better. Those 
 flags and garlands are beautiful." 
 
 " Oh, my nephew Frank did all that," 
 answered the Squire carelessly. "He likes 
 that sort of thing." 
 
 ''Captain Forrester," repeated the girl, 
 with just a little smile on her frank, fresh face. 
 "Well, it does him credit, then. It isn't 
 every one would take so much trouble." 
 
 " He likes taking trouble," said I. "Just 
 look at the trouble that he has taken over 
 our concert." 
 
 "He likes playing first fiddle," laughed 
 Miss Thorne gaily, her rosy face — that was 
 too rosy for prettiness, although not too rosy 
 for the perfection of health— flushing rosier 
 than ever as she said it. " I always tell 
 him so." 
 
 I did not answer. Mr Thorne and his 
 daughter moved on, and I looked round the
 
 1 68 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 room In search of the Captain. The place 
 did look very beautiful, although I do not 
 think that I should like now to see Its severe 
 proportions and splendid wood wainscoting 
 disfigured by flags and garlands. We were 
 dancing in what used long ago to be the 
 monks' refectory. The house had been 
 built on the site of a part of the monastic 
 buildings belonging to the Abbey, and this 
 portion of the old edifice had been retained, 
 while the remainder of the house was in 
 Tudor style. I heard the Squire explaining 
 It to the new parson, who had lately come 
 to the next parish. I had heard him explain 
 it before, or I do not suppose that I should 
 have known anything at all about it. 
 
 " I suppose you consider it shocking to be 
 dancing in any part of the monastery," I 
 could hear him say, laughing ; *' but it Isn't 
 so bad as a friend of mine, who gives balls in 
 what used to be the chapel." 
 
 The parson was a young man with a 
 sallow shaven face and very refined features : 
 the expression of his mouth was gentle, al- 
 most tremulous, but his eyes were dark and 
 penetrating.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 169 
 
 *' I'm not quite so prejudiced as that," he 
 said, laughing also, ''although I do wear the 
 cloth." 
 
 *' That's right," said the Squire heartily. 
 "We have the remains of a thirteenth-cen- 
 tury chapel of the purest period in the 
 grounds, and we don't desecrate that even 
 by a school-feast. You must come and see 
 it in the day-time." 
 
 Father came up at that moment. He felt 
 dreadfully like a fish out of water, poor 
 father, in this assembly, and looked it. The 
 Squire in a hasty fashion introduced him to 
 the Rev. Cyril Morgan, and passed on to 
 shake hands with a portly wine merchant, 
 who had lately retired from business in the 
 neighbouring town, and had taken one of 
 the solid red-brick houses that were the rem- 
 nants of our town's affluence. 
 
 This gentleman introduced his wife, and 
 she had to be introduced to the company, 
 and the host's hands were full. Father 
 moved away with the parson. He seemed 
 rather disgusted at first, but the young man 
 looked at him with a smile upon his gentle 
 mouth and in his dark eyes, and said diffi-
 
 I/O MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 dently, '* I have heard a great deal of you, Mr 
 MaHphant, — the whole neighbourhood rings 
 with your name. I am proud to meet you." 
 
 Of course I liked that young man at once, 
 and as I went to sit down again beside the 
 mother and Joyce, I was pleased to see 
 across the room that father and the Rev. 
 Cyril Morgan had entered upon a conver- 
 sation. But, to tell the truth, I soon forgot 
 him, — I was too busy looking about me. 
 
 I could not help wondering where Captain 
 Forrester could be, and I was quite angry 
 with Joyce for being so dignified and seeming 
 to care so little. She seemed to be quite 
 engrossed with the Hoad girls, who sailed 
 in followed by their father, just late enough 
 to be fashionable, and to secure a good effect 
 for their smart new frocks. 
 
 I am afraid I was not gracious to the 
 Hoads. I could not be so gracious as Joyce, 
 who took all their patronising over the 
 concert in the utmost good faith. I turned 
 away from them, and continued my search 
 for Joyce's admirer. I disliked them, and I 
 am afraid that I showed it. 
 
 But they passed on, — Bella, who was the
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 171 
 
 better looking of the two, pursued by two 
 town-bred youths asking for a place on her 
 card ; Jessie, the elder, talking with an old 
 lady of title from the seaport town, who 
 wished her to sing at a charity concert. 
 
 They seemed to be very much engrossed ; 
 nevertheless, when presently the band struck 
 up the first waltz, they, as well as many other 
 people in the room, turned round to look who 
 was dancing it. They put up their long- 
 handled eye-glasses and fairly stared. For 
 as soon as the music began the Squire had 
 walked up to my sister and had asked her to 
 open the ball with him. 
 
 Mother blushed with pleasure and triumph ; 
 her dear blue eyes positively shone. She 
 did not say a word, but I know that if she 
 had spoken she would have said that she was 
 not surprised. 
 
 I was not surprised either, but I was very 
 much annoyed, and I was not at all In a good 
 temper with Captain Forrester when, two 
 minutes afterwards, he appeared coming out 
 of the conservatory with Mary Thorne upon 
 his arm. What had he been about ? No 
 wonder that his face clouded when he saw
 
 1/2 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 that he was too late. But it was his own 
 fault. I was not a bit sorry for him. Mary 
 Thorne was laughing, and looking up half- 
 defiantly in his face. She looked as If she 
 were saying one of those rough blunt things 
 of which she was so fond ; and she might well 
 say one at this moment to Captain Forrester, 
 although I scarcely supposed it could be on 
 the topic on which he deserved It. 
 
 Could she possibly be chaffing him on 
 having missed the first dance with my 
 sister ? No ; for she had had no oppor- 
 tunity of noticing his devotion to her. She 
 dropped his arm and nodded to him merrily, 
 as much as to bid him leave her, — as much 
 as to say that she knew there might be 
 better sport elsewhere. And after a word 
 in reply to what she had said, he did leave 
 her and came across to me. 
 
 There was a troubled, preoccupied look 
 on his bright face which was scarcely ac- 
 counted for by the fact that he had missed 
 a dance with Joyce. He greeted me and sat 
 down beside me without even askinof after 
 father. We sat and watched Joyce float 
 round in the strong grasp of the Squire,
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 173 
 
 but I do not think that we were either 
 of us quite so pleased at the sight as was 
 mother, upon whose face was joy unalloyed. 
 
 She was simply genuinely proud that the 
 Squire should have opened the ball with 
 her daughter. I think she would have been 
 proud of it had there been no deeper hopes 
 at the bottom of her heart. But there were 
 deeper hopes, and as I watched Joyce that 
 night I remembered them. 
 
 In the excitement of watching the romance 
 that I had fancied developing itself more 
 quickly and more decisively than I had even 
 hoped, I had at first quite forgotten my fears 
 about the Squire wanting to marry Joyce. 
 They had not occurred to my mind at all 
 until that afternoon two days ago when he 
 had talked so vehemently about Frank's 
 position. But now, as I watched him with 
 her, the notion which I had rather refused 
 to entertain at all before took firmer shape. 
 
 I was afraid that the Squire really did 
 mean something by this very marked atten- 
 tion to his tenant's daughter. It must needs 
 excite a great deal of comment even amongst 
 those who knew our rather particular posi-
 
 174 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 tlon in the village, and the unusual Intimacy 
 between two families of different social stand- 
 ing. Would he have courted that comment 
 merely for the sake of gratifying his old 
 friend ? What if he should propose to 
 Joyce — if he should ask our parents' con- 
 sent to the marriage at once ? Would Cap- 
 tain Forrester, the unknown stranger, have 
 any chance beside the friend of years ? 
 Would the soldier, who had nothing but 
 what he earned by his brave calling, have 
 a chance against the man who could give 
 her as fine a home as any in the county ? 
 
 Not with mother ; no, I felt not for an in- 
 stant with mother. But with father ? 
 
 I kn^w very well that father, whatever his 
 respect for the man, would never see a mar- 
 riage between the Squire and his daughter 
 with pleasure, — and I even thought it likely 
 that he would downright forbid it. But 
 what would be his feelings with regard to 
 the Captain ? Would they be any different 
 because, belonging by birth to another class, 
 he yet desired to work for the interest of the 
 class that was ours ? I could not tell. 
 
 I was roused from my dream by the voice
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 175 
 
 of Captain Forrester at my side. He was 
 asking me for a dance — this very next one. 
 There was something in the tone of his 
 voice that puzzled me, — a harsh sound, 
 as though something hurt him. Of course 
 I gave him the dance. I was only too 
 delighted. 
 
 My feet had begun to itch as soon as I 
 had heard the music, and when I had seen 
 Joyce sailing round, and no one had come 
 to ask me, I had felt very lonely. We stood 
 up, even before the Squire had brought 
 Joyce back to mother, — we stood up, and with 
 the first bars of the new waltz we set forth. 
 I soon forgot all thought of Joyce or any one 
 else in the pure joy of my own pleasure. 
 
 I did love dancing. I did not remember 
 that it was Captain Forrester with whom I 
 was dancing, I only knew that it was a man 
 who^ held me firmly, and whose limbs moved 
 with mine in an even and dreamy rhythm 
 as we glided across something that scarcely 
 seemed to be a floor, to the slow lilt of magic 
 music. I was very fond of dancing. I sup- 
 pose Captain Forrester guessed it, for he 
 never paused once the whole dance through.
 
 176 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 When we stopped, just pleasantly out of 
 breath, as the last chords died slowly away, 
 he said, with his eyes on my face in that 
 way that I have described, " Why, Miss Mali- 
 phant, you are a heavenly dancer. Where 
 did you learn it ? " 
 
 *' I had SIX lessons at the academy in the 
 town," answered I gravely, and I wondered 
 why he burst out laughing ; " but Joyce gets 
 out of breath sooner than I do, although she 
 had twelve lessons." 
 
 The laughter faded out of his face as I 
 mentioned Joyce's name. 
 
 " I don't mean to say that Joyce doesn't 
 dance beautifully," I added hastily; **she 
 dances better than I do, because she is so 
 tall and slight, but she does get out of breath 
 before the end of a waltz." 
 
 He did not make any remark upon this. 
 He only said, *' Shall we go back to your 
 mother ? " 
 
 We got up and walked across the room. 
 Miss Thorne was talking to mother, and a 
 clean-shaven, fresh-coloured young officer was 
 inscribing his name on Joyce's programme. 
 
 Captain Forrester just shook hands with
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 177 
 
 Joyce, and then he came and sat down be- 
 side mother and began talking away to her 
 in his most excited fashion, telling her all 
 about the waxing of the floor and the hang- 
 ing of the banners and the trimming of the 
 evergreen garlands, and how the gardener 
 w^ould put the Union Jack upside down, 
 until she was forced to be more gracious 
 with him than was her wont. 
 
 Joyce's sweet mouth had the look upon it 
 that I knew well when mother and she had 
 had an uncomfortable passage, but I could 
 not imagine why she should wear it to-night. 
 I could look across upon her programme, and 
 I could see that there were names written 
 nearly all the way down it, although I could 
 not read whose names they were, and, espe- 
 cially after my one taste of the joy of waltz- 
 ing, I was beginning to think that no girl 
 could have cause for sadness who had part- 
 ners for every dance. Alas ! I had but one, 
 and my spirits were beginning to sink very 
 low. I had forgotten love-affairs ; I wanted 
 to waltz. 
 
 ''There is a dreadful lack of gentlemen," 
 said Jessie Hoad, who had come up beside 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1/8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 US, putting up her eyeglass and looking 
 round the room. '' That unfortunate man 
 must have his hands full." 
 
 '' Do you mean Squire Broderick ? " asked 
 Miss Thorne. *' I don't think he considers 
 himself unfortunate. He looked cheerful 
 enough just now dancing with Miss Mall- 
 phant." 
 
 Miss Hoad vouchsafed no reply to this ; 
 she moved off to where her father was talk- 
 ing to mine In a corner, and passing her arm 
 within his, walked him off without the slight- 
 est ceremony to be Introduced to the old 
 lady with the handle to her name who had 
 come over from our fashionable seaport. 
 
 I thought It was very rude, but Mr Hoad 
 was not quite as affable himself to-night as 
 he was in the privacy of our own Grange 
 parlour. 
 
 " I hate that kind of thing," said Miss 
 Thorne to me In her outspoken way. 
 ''When are there ever men enough at a 
 country dance unless you get In the riff- 
 raff from behind the shop -counters ? We 
 come to meet our friends, not to whirl round 
 with mere sticks."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 79 
 
 I thought it was very nice of Miss Thorne, 
 but I wished there were just men enough to 
 dance with me. 
 
 The music struck up again, and Joyce went 
 off with her partner. I felt as though Hfe 
 indeed were altogether a disappointment ; 
 and it did not give me any pleasure to 
 hear Miss Thorne commenting upon Joyce's 
 beauty, nor laughing in her frank, good- 
 natured way about the Squire's attentions, 
 any the more than it amused me to hear 
 fragments of the gay descriptions with which 
 Captain Forrester was making the time pass 
 for mother. 
 
 But, after all, I began to despair too soon ; 
 it was only the fourth dance of the evening. 
 Before it was over the Squire came up to me. 
 
 '' I have been so busy," said he, ''I haven't 
 been able to come before, but I hope you 
 haven't given all your dances away ? " 
 
 Although I was new to the ways of the 
 world, an instinct within taught me to say 
 coolly, " Oh no, not all." 
 
 "What can you give me?" asked he. 
 And he quoted three numbers further on in 
 the evening. " I think, being old friends, we
 
 l8o MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 might dance three dances together," added 
 he with a smile. 
 
 "Oh yes," cried I. '^ I should like to 
 dance them with you." 
 
 The Squire was a beautiful dancer, al- 
 though he was not a young man — or rather, 
 although he was not what I then considered 
 a young man. I fancied he did not smile 
 at my enthusiastic reply. He even looked 
 rather grave. I was too simple to think of 
 not giving him my programme. I saw him 
 glance at it and then at me. From that mo- 
 ment I did not lack partners, and, as far as 
 the company could provide them, good ones. 
 
 To be sure I jostled round the room with 
 a raw youth or two, and guided a puffing 
 gentleman through the maze, and let my 
 toes be trodden upon by a tall gentleman 
 with glasses on his nose, who only turned 
 round when he thought of It ; but on the 
 whole I enjoyed myself, and it was all thanks 
 to my host. I scarcely knew a man when I 
 went Into the room, and certainly, save for 
 that one wild delightful waltz. Captain 
 Forrester had taken no account of me, 
 althouorh he had sat close to me half the
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. i8l 
 
 evening, and one would have thought he 
 would have noticed that I was not dancing. 
 But then, of course, he was preoccupied. I 
 could not make him out at all. All the 
 evening I could not once catch him even 
 talking to Joyce, and I am quite sure that 
 when I went in to supper he had not asked 
 her to dance once. 
 
 If I had been enjoying myself less I might 
 have thought more of it, but I was too happy 
 to remember it until the breathing-time came, 
 when I went into the dining-room. Then, 
 when I saw Captain Forrester sitting in one 
 of the best places with that horrid old Miss 
 Farnham, and Joyce at a side table, with 
 scarcely room to stand, and no one but my 
 pet aversion, Mr Hoad, even to get her 
 something to eat, my blood boiled, and I 
 could scarcely speak civilly to him. 
 
 And he seemed so interested too, so wrapt 
 up in what the silly creature was saying, with 
 that nodding old top-knot of hers ! I was 
 thankful when he rose and took her outside 
 to finish their discussion about the poor-laws 
 in the seclusion of some corner of the draw- 
 ing-room. I was very angry with him.
 
 l82 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 I looked suspiciously at the Squire, who 
 had taken mother In to supper and sat at 
 the head of the table with her. Mother 
 was smiling happily : she was proud of the 
 honour that the Squire was doing to her 
 and hers. But I could not look kindly at 
 the Squire. It was infamous if, out of mere 
 jealousy, he had tried to spoil two lives. 
 Instead of being proud that he had done my 
 sister the honour of opening the ball with 
 her — instead of being grateful to him for his 
 kindness to me, and pleased to see all the 
 attention that he was paying to our mother 
 amidst the county magnates whom he might 
 have preferred, — I was eaten up with this new 
 idea, and felt my heart swell within me as 
 Joyce passed me presently, with that calm 
 and yet half-tired look on her beautiful face. 
 
 Midnight was long past, and it was 
 nearly time to go home. In fact, father had 
 said that It was time to go home long ago. 
 He had made a new friend In the young 
 parson, and seemed to have passed an hour 
 happily with him, but the parson had left, 
 and he had exhausted every argument that 
 he would consent to discuss with the people
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 183 
 
 whom he met in ordinary society, and had 
 been persuaded by Mr Hoad to speak a 
 civil word on commonplace subjects to his 
 pet aversion Mr Thorne, and now he was 
 thoroughly sick of the whole thing, and 
 would have no more to do with it. 
 
 He came up to mother and begged her 
 to come home, but mother had heard the 
 Squire ask Joyce for another dance later on, 
 and I knew very well that she would not 
 leave till that was through : besides, she was 
 the most unselfish old dear in the world, for 
 all her rough words sometimes, and would 
 never have consented to deprive us of an 
 inch of pleasure that she could procure us. 
 
 Personally I was very grateful to her. I 
 had a dance left with the Squire myself, and 
 besides the pleasure of it, I had been arrang- 
 ing something that I wanted to say to him. 
 I was standing alone in the entrance to the 
 conservatory when he came to claim it. I 
 was looking for Joyce. I had missed her 
 ever since supper. I had thought — I had 
 hoped — that she was with Captain Forrester ; 
 but when Miss Thorne told me he was talk- 
 ing politics with Mr Hoad in the drawing-
 
 1 84 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 room, I believed her, and was at a loss to 
 understand my sister's absence. Could she 
 be unwell ? But I did not confide my doubts 
 to the Squire. He put his arm around me 
 and swept me off on to that lovely floor, and 
 I thought of nothing else. 
 
 I remember very clearly how well the 
 Squire looked that night, — fresh and merry, 
 with bright keen eyes. 
 
 '* That's a pretty frock, Miss Margaret," 
 said he, as we were waltzing round. 
 
 '' Oh, I'm so glad you like it," answered I ; 
 *' I was afraid It wasn't suitable." 
 
 In the excitement of the ball I had en- 
 tirely forgotten all about my appearance, but 
 now that the Squire remarked upon it, I re- 
 membered how uncomfortable I had felt In 
 it at first. 
 
 '' Why not suitable ? " asked he. 
 
 ** Mother bought it at the great Exhibition 
 in '52," said I. 
 
 But the real cause of the awkwardness of 
 my feeling had arisen from the fact that I 
 felt unlike myself in a "party frock," and 
 not at all from any fear that the frock might 
 be old-fashioned.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 85 
 
 *' Oh ! and Miss Hoad considers that an 
 objection, I suppose," smiled he. *'Well, I 
 don't. There's only one thing I don't Hke," 
 added he In his most downright manner — " I 
 don't Hke the trinkets. You're too young for 
 trinkets." 
 
 He had felt it. He had felt just what I 
 had felt — that it was unsuitable for a girl like 
 me to be dressed up. 
 
 *' You mean the corals," said I ; and my 
 voice sank a little, for I was proud of the 
 corals too, and pleased that mother should 
 have given them to me. 
 
 ''Yes," he answered. "They are very 
 pretty ; but," he added gently, " a young girl's 
 neck is so much prettier." 
 
 We waltzed round two turns without 
 speaking. Then he said abruptly, " Per- 
 haps, by the way, I ought not to have said 
 that, but I think such old friends as we are 
 may say anything to one another, mayn't 
 we r 
 
 "Why, of course," said I, rather sur- 
 prised. 
 
 The speech was not at all like one of the 
 Squire's. I had always thought that he said
 
 l86 MARGARET MALIFHANT. 
 
 just whatever he liked to any of us. But to 
 be sure, until the other evening, he had never 
 spoken very much to me at all. 
 
 I laughed — a little nervous laugh. I was 
 stupidly nervous that night with the Squire. 
 " I think we should be very silly if we didn't 
 say whatever came into our heads," said I. 
 '* I don't think I like people who don't say 
 what they think. Although, of course, it is 
 much more difficult for me to say things to 
 you, than for you to say them to me." 
 
 ** Why ? " asked he. 
 
 *' Well, of course, because you're so much 
 older," answered I. 
 
 He was silent. For a moment the high 
 spirits that I had so specially noticed in him 
 seemed to desert him. 
 
 " Well, what do you want to say to me 
 that's disagreeable," said he presently, with a 
 little laugh. 
 
 "Oh, nothing disagreeable," declared I. 
 " It's about your nephew. Captain For- 
 rester." 
 
 " Oh ! " said he. 
 
 His expression changed. It was as though 
 I had not said what he had expected me to
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 1 87 
 
 say. But his brow clouded yet more, only 
 it was more with anger than sadness, — the 
 same look of answer that he had worn the 
 other afternoon. He certainly was a very 
 hot-tempered man. 
 
 " I don't think you are fair to him," said I 
 boldly. 
 
 He looked at me. He smiled a little. 
 
 " In what way not fair to him ?" said he. 
 
 " Well, if It had been any one else but me," 
 answered I, "and you had said all that you 
 did say the other day In the Grange parlour, 
 I think the person would have been set 
 against Captain Forrester. Of course It 
 made no difference to me, because I like him 
 so much." 
 
 He winced I fancied. 
 
 "You don't understand, my dear young 
 lady," said he. '' I merely wished that there 
 should be no misunderstandlnors." 
 
 " I don't think there were any misunder- 
 standings," answered I. "We always knew 
 that Captain Forrester was not a man of 
 property. He told us so himself." 
 
 " Well, then, that's all right," said the 
 Squire.
 
 l88 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ''We liked him rather the better for it," 
 concluded I, prompted by a wicked spirit of 
 mischief. 
 
 The Squire did not reply to this. Of 
 course there was nothing to reply to it. It 
 was a rude speech, and was better taken no 
 notice of. He merely put his arm round my 
 waist again, and asked if we should finish 
 the waltz. I was sorry for my discourtesy 
 before we had done, and tried to make up 
 for it. 
 
 Although the weather was still very treach- 
 erous in spite of the clear sky, couples had 
 strayed out through the conservatory on to 
 the broad terrace outside. I suggested to 
 the Squire that we should do the same. He 
 demurred at first, saying it was too cold ; but 
 as I laughed at this, and ran outside without 
 any covering over me, he came after me 
 — but he passed through the entrance -hall 
 on his way and fetched a cloak, which he 
 wrapped round me. In spite of my naugh- 
 tiness, he had that care for the daughter of 
 his old friends. 
 
 The moon was shining outside. It made 
 dark shadows and white lights upon the ivied
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 189 
 
 walls and upon the slender grey pillars of 
 the ruined chapel : within, beneath the 
 pointed arches, black patches lay upon the 
 grass, alternated with sharp contrasts of 
 lights where the moonbeams streamed in 
 through the chancel windows. 
 
 The marsh was white where the silver 
 rays caught the vapours that floated over 
 it, and dark beyond that brilliant pathway ; 
 there was a track of light upon the sea. We 
 stood a moment and looked. Even to me 
 it seemed strange to leave the brightness of 
 within for this weird, solemn brightness of 
 the silent world without. I think I sighed. 
 I really was very sorry now for having made 
 that speech. 
 
 We walked round the terrace outside 
 the chapel. We scarcely spoke five words. 
 When we came to the wood that shades 
 the chapel on the further side we stopped. 
 The path that led into It lost Itself in black- 
 ness. 
 
 '' It's quite a place for ghosts, Isn't It ? " 
 said I. 
 
 '' Yes ; It's not the place for any one else," 
 laughed the Squire. " Any one less used to
 
 190 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 dampness would certainly catch their death 
 of cold." 
 
 "Oh, you mustn't laugh at ghosts," an- 
 swered I. ** I believe in ghosts. And I'm 
 sure this wood must be full of ghosts — so 
 many wonderful people must have walked 
 about in It hundreds of years ago." 
 
 ** So long ago as that ? " said he. 
 
 He was determined to treat my fancy 
 lightly. But his laugh was kindly. We 
 turned back to the white moonlight, but not 
 before I had noticed a tall white figure in 
 the black depths, which I should have been 
 quite sure was a ghost if I had not been 
 equally sure of the contrary. The figure 
 was not alone. If it had been, I should 
 have accosted it. As it was, I took the 
 Squire's arm and walked away quickly in 
 the direction of the house. The music had 
 struck up again. The swing of an en- 
 trancing Strauss waltz came floating out on 
 the night wind. 
 
 ** We must go indoors," said the Squire, 
 not at all like a man who was longing to 
 dance to that lovely air ; ''I'm engaged for 
 this to Miss Thorne."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 191 
 
 Poor man ! No doubt he had had nearly 
 enough by that time of playing the host 
 and of dancing every dance ; he wanted a 
 few minutes' rest. 
 
 I too was engaged, but not to a very de- 
 lightful partner. After one turn round the 
 room with him, I complained of the heat, 
 and begged him to take me outside. Of 
 course we went towards the ruin. 
 
 Of the few couples who had come out, all 
 had gone that way, because from that point 
 there was a break in the belt of trees, and 
 one could see to the marsh and the sea. But 
 we went round the chapel to the wood on 
 the other side. 
 
 '' I say, it looks gloomy in there, doesn't 
 it ? " said the young man at my side. 
 
 *' Yes," answered I, but I was not looking 
 into the wood now. 
 
 I had glanced into the interior of the ruin 
 as we had passed, and I had seen a tall black 
 figure leaning in the deep shadow against 
 the side of the central arch that stood up so 
 quietly against the soft sky. I felt quite sure 
 that the "ghost" whom I had seen a few 
 minutes before was close by. I was nearly
 
 192 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 certain that I saw a white streak that was not 
 moonHght beyond the bend of the arch. 
 
 I turned round and went down the lawn 
 a few steps, my companion following. He 
 began to talk to me, but I did not know 
 what he said. I was listening beyond him 
 to another voice. It fell sadly upon my ear. 
 
 ''I've no doubt the girl was right," it said. 
 ''I'm sure she was right. I had never 
 noticed it before, but his leading you out 
 to-night before every one was very signifi- 
 cant." 
 
 It was my sister's voice that answered, but 
 she must almost have whispered the words, 
 for I could not hear them at all. 
 
 The man spoke again. 
 
 " Yes ; that's not very likely," answered he, 
 with a soft laugh. " Of course, how could 
 he help It ? Oh, I ought to have gone 
 away," he added ; " I ought to have gone 
 away as soon as I had seen you. But I 
 couldn't. You see even to-night, when I 
 have tried to keep away from you, you have 
 made me come to you at last. And I didn't 
 think that I was doing you any harm till 
 now."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 193 
 
 He emphasised the word "you." I did 
 not notice It then, but I recollect It now. 
 
 Again my sister's voice said something, 
 — what, I could not hear. 
 
 " Do you mean that, dearest ? do you 
 mean that ? " said he softly. *' That you 
 would not marry him If you could help It, 
 although he would make such a lady of 
 you ? Ah, then I think I can guess some- 
 thing!" 
 
 A fiery blush rose to my cheek. I was 
 glad that in the white moonlight my com- 
 panion could not see It. I ran quickly 
 down the slope of grass on to the gravel 
 walk. It was dreadful, dreadful that I 
 should have listened to these words which 
 were meant for her ear alone. 
 
 " Come," I called to the lad, who loitered 
 behind; "come, it's cold, we must go In." 
 
 He followed me slowly. 
 
 " I believe there were a man and a girl 
 spooning behind that wall," he said, with a 
 grin. 
 
 How I hated him ! I have never spoken 
 to him from that day to this, and yet, was it 
 his fault ? 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 We went back into the ball-room. The 
 waltz was over. I had a partner for the 
 last one, but I did not care to dance it. 
 I was watching for Joyce, and when I saw 
 her presently floating round with her hand 
 on Captain Forrester's arm, I thought I was 
 quite happy. 
 
 But mother was not happy. She had 
 thought that Joyce would dance the last 
 dance with Squire Broderlck. She said that 
 father was tired, and that she wanted to go. 
 And indeed his face looked very weary, and 
 his heavy lips heavier than ever. 
 
 No doubt we were all tired, for the Squire 
 too had lost the cheerful look that he had 
 worn all through the evening. 
 
 I sat and waited for Joyce, and I won- 
 dered to myself whether any one would ever 
 make love to me with his heart in his voice.
 
 195 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Time dragged heavily on my hands after the 
 excitement of the Squire's ball was over. It 
 was not only that I had to go back to the 
 routine of everyday life — for there was still 
 the concert to look forward to, which gave 
 us plenty of interest — but it was that during 
 a whole fortnight I had been looking for 
 news from Joyce, and that Joyce had said 
 never a word. No ; she had rather been more 
 silent than usual, constrained and unlike her 
 own serene and happy self; and I had been 
 frightened — frightened at sight of the torrent 
 that I had let loose, and doubtful whether, in 
 spite of all his democratic theories, this hand- 
 some, courtly, chivalrous knight, who was my 
 embodiment of romance, was really a fit mate 
 for the humble damsel nurtured in the quiet 
 shade.
 
 196 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Well, anyhow the torrent rolled on, whether 
 it was really I who had set It free or not, and 
 I was forced to stand aside and watch Its 
 course without more ado. 
 
 There had been plenty to watch. The 
 village concert had come and gone ; It had 
 taken place a week after the Squire s ball. 
 Captain Forrester had worked us very hard 
 for It towards the end. We had had practls- 
 Ings every afternoon, and I had rehearsed my 
 solos Indefatlgably ; but, save for singing In 
 the glees and playing an accompaniment now 
 and then, Joyce had taken no active part In 
 the musical performance, and I had fancied 
 that she had kept out of the way a great deal 
 more than she need have done. 
 
 I could not understand her at all. She 
 would not give Frank the ghost of a chance 
 of saying a word to her alone ; she shunned 
 him as she shunned me. 
 
 On the night of the concert he was, of 
 course, too much excited until the perform- 
 ance was over, to remember even Joyce at 
 first ; for he was one of those natures who 
 throw themselves ardently Into whatever they 
 take up, and he was just as eager over this
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 197 
 
 entertainment, of which he had accepted the 
 responsibility, as though It were going to be 
 given before a select company Instead of 
 before a handful of country bumpkins. 
 
 Well, he was rewarded for his pains. The 
 concert was voted a brilliant success, and by 
 a long way the best that had ever been given 
 In the village. 
 
 ''When quiet stars are In the skies," and 
 " Robin Adair," which I sang '* by request," 
 as an encore, were greatly applauded, as were 
 also the glees that we had so patiently prac- 
 tised ; and though, of course, the crowning 
 point of the evening was Captain Forrester's 
 own song, poured forth in his rich, mellow 
 baritone, we had none of us reason to com- 
 plain of the reception that we got ; and the 
 stone walls of the old town hall, that had 
 stood since the days when the headsman was 
 still an Institution, responded to the clapping 
 of the people. 
 
 To be sure, they wanted father to stand up 
 and give them a speech, but he would have 
 nothing to do with that on this occasion : he 
 said It was one of relaxation and not of work ; 
 and he always refused to touch upon things
 
 igS MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 that were sacred to him, for mere effect, or in 
 anything but the most serious spirit. He 
 wished them all good-night, and told them so. 
 
 I remember a curious incident that occurred 
 that night. One of the American oil-lamps 
 that lighted the hall took fire ; a panic arose 
 in the little crowd ; the women pressed to the 
 door. But Captain Forrester, calling out to 
 the people in strong, reassuring tones to keep 
 their seats, seized the lamp, carried it burn- 
 ing above the heads of the throng, and threw 
 it down into the little courtyard without. 
 
 When the fright was over I missed father 
 and Joyce. Him I found at once, sitting on 
 the steps with two sobbing little ones on his 
 knees — two little ones whose sisters had run 
 out without them, and whose little hearts 
 had been numbed with fear. Father would 
 generally neglect any grown-up person in 
 preference to a child. But Joyce I could not 
 see. 
 
 I felt sure that she must have gone to look 
 after Captain Forrester ; but when presently 
 he came back with his hand bandaged, and 
 said that he had seen nothing of Joyce, I was 
 really frightened. I discovered her sitting
 
 MARGARET MALI PH ANT. 199 
 
 down In a dark corner of the courtyard, 
 crying. 
 
 She said that she had been terrified by the 
 accident, and had run out for safety before 
 any one else. But her manner puzzled me. 
 And for a whole week after that her manner 
 continued to puzzle me. 
 
 Frank Forrester came every day to the 
 Grange to see father. They had a new 
 scheme on hand, an original scheme, a pet 
 scheme of my dear father's — the scheme of all 
 his schemes which he held most dear, and 
 one which I know he had had for years, and 
 had never dared hope would find favour with 
 any one. It was a scheme for the succour of 
 those poor children who had either no pa- 
 rents, or whose parents were anxious to get 
 rid of them. 
 
 Of course, I did not understand the work- 
 ings of it at the time, it not being possible that 
 I should understand the requirements of the 
 case ; but from what I can recollect, gleaned 
 from the scraps of talk that fell from father 
 and Captain Forrester, I think it was intended 
 to pick up cases which were not provided for 
 in the ordinary foundling hospitals, and to
 
 200 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 rescue those poor wretched little creatures, 
 whose parents were willing to part with them, 
 from a life of sin and degradation. 
 
 The children were to be taught a trade, 
 and were to be honourably placed In situa- 
 tions when they left the home. 
 
 Of course It was a vast scheme — how vast 
 I am sure father cannot have grasped at the 
 time ; but although he must have had grave 
 doubts of the possibility of Its success, he 
 was carried away for the moment by Frank 
 Forrester's wild enthusiasm upon the subject, 
 and was persuaded by him to try and put It 
 into Immediate practice. 
 
 I think he was more drawn to Frank than 
 ever by this. I think he was drawn to every 
 one who cared for children. But although 
 the Captain was very enthusiastic over this 
 scheme, he found time to look at Joyce and 
 to sigh for a word from her, for a chance of 
 seeing her alone, and she would not give It 
 him. 
 
 For a whole fortnight after that memor- 
 able evening of the Squire's ball she had 
 kept him sighing ; at least, I think that she 
 had, and I was very sorry for him.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 201 
 
 To be sure, mother's eyes were vigi- 
 lant — it needed some bravery to elude 
 mother's eyes ; but then I thought that, if 
 one wanted a thing very much, one would be 
 brave. 
 
 Was Joyce cold-hearted ? Was that why 
 her face was so calm and so beautiful ? 
 
 But one day, at last, the Squire and his 
 nephew came and went away together, and 
 mother, thinking the visit was over for the 
 day, had gone out on household errands. I 
 was coming in from taking a parcel of poor 
 linen to the Vicaracre when Deborah met me 
 In the hall. 
 
 '' That there Captain's In with Miss Joyce 
 In the parlour," said she. " They didn't want 
 no light, they didn't. But I've took 'em in 
 the lamp just this minute." 
 
 She said this with grim determination, and 
 went off grumbling. 
 
 Deborah wanted Joyce to marry the Squire, 
 and I fancy she suspected me of furthering 
 her acquaintance with the Captain. 
 
 I did not go In as Deborah suggested, not 
 until close upon the time when I was afraid 
 mother would come home.
 
 202 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Joyce was sitting In the big arm-chair with 
 her hands clasped across her knees, gazing 
 Into the fire. 
 
 Captain Forrester sat at the old spinet — 
 our best new piano was In the front parlour 
 — and touched Its poor old clanging keys 
 gently, and sang soft notes to it in his soft 
 mellow voice. They were passionate love- 
 songs, as I now know ; but the words were In 
 foreign tongues, and I did not understand 
 them ; no doubt Joyce did. He rose when I 
 came in, and asked what o'clock it was. 
 
 I told him, and he laughed his gay, sympa- 
 thetic laugh, and declared that at the Grange 
 he never knew what the time was ; he be- 
 lieved we kept our clocks all wrong. Then 
 he said that he could not wait any longer for 
 father that evening, but would come to see 
 him in the morning. He went up to Joyce, 
 and held out his hand. She shook herself, 
 as though to rouse herself from a dream, and 
 rose. This time it was no mistake of mine. 
 Captain Forrester held Joyce's hand a long 
 while. 
 
 " Good-bye — till to-morrow morning," said 
 he, in a low voice.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 203 
 
 She did not answer, and he turned to me. 
 
 " Good night, Miss Margaret," he said, 
 and there was a ring in his voice — an 
 impressiveness even towards me — which 
 seemed to say that something particular had 
 happened. 
 
 When he was gone, I felt that I must know 
 what it was. This barrier of reserve between 
 two sisters was ridiculous. 
 
 ** Joyce," said I, half impatiently, **have 
 you nothing to tell me ? " 
 
 She looked up at me. A flush spread 
 itself all over her neck and face, her short 
 upper lip trembled a little, — it always did 
 with any emotion. 
 
 "Yes," answered she simply. "Captain 
 Forrester wants to marry me." 
 
 I did not reply. Now that it had come 
 to this pass as I wished, I was frightened, 
 as I have said. 
 
 But Joyce was looking up at me with an 
 appealing look in her eyes. I stooped down 
 and kissed her. 
 
 '' You dear old thing," I said ; '* I'm so 
 glad, I hoped he had, — I have hoped all 
 along he would."
 
 204 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 '' I thought you wished it," she said, with 
 childlike simplicity. 
 
 I laughed. 
 
 '' Of course I knew from the very begin- 
 ning that he would fall in love with you," I 
 said. 
 
 '* O Margaret, don't say that ! " pleaded 
 she. And then, after a pause, with a little 
 sigh she added, '' I should have thought he 
 would have been wiser than to fall in love 
 with a country girl, when there must be so 
 many town girls who are better fitted to 
 him." 
 
 '' Nonsense ! " cried I. ** The woman who 
 is fitted to a man is the woman whom he 
 loves." 
 
 ** Do you think so ? " murmured she, dif- 
 fidently. 
 
 ** Why, of course," I cried, warming as I 
 went on, and forgetting my own doubts In 
 laughing at hers. *' A man doesn't marry a 
 woman for the number of languages that she 
 speaks, and that kind of thing, — at least not 
 a man like Captain Forrester. I don't know- 
 how you can misjudge him so. Don't you 
 believe that he loves you?"
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 205 
 
 *'0h yes," she murmured again; '' I think 
 that he loves me." 
 
 I said no more for a while. Joyce's atti- 
 tude puzzled me. That she should speak so 
 diffidently of the adoration of a man who had 
 addressed to her the passionate words which 
 I had overheard, passed my comprehension. 
 
 I fell to wonderinor what was her feelinor 
 towards him. More than ever I felt that she 
 had passed beyond me Into a world of which 
 I knew only in dreams. I had risen now, 
 and stood over the fire. 
 
 " I always dreamt of something like that 
 for you, Joyce," said I. '* I always felt that 
 you weren't a bit suited to marry a country 
 bumpkin, but I never pictured to myself any- 
 thing so good as this for you. Mother had 
 grand ideas for you, I know. Oh yes ; and 
 you know she had now," added I, in answer 
 to a deprecatory ** Oh, don't ! " from my sister. 
 '' But I should have hated what she wanted ; 
 and I don't believe you would ever have 
 consented. But Captain Forrester Is not a 
 landed proprietor ; he cares for the rights 
 of the people, as father does. He is a fine 
 fellow ; and then he is young, and has never
 
 206 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 loved any one else," added I, dropping my 
 voice. 
 
 I suppose I said this in allusion to the 
 Squire's first wife. 
 
 She did not say anything, and I knelt 
 down beside her. ** Dear Joyce," I whis- 
 pered — and I do believe my voice trembled 
 — *' I do want you to be happy. And though 
 I shall feel dreadfully lonely when you 
 have gone away and left me, I shan't be 
 sorry, because I shall be so glad you have 
 got what I wanted you to have." 
 
 She squeezed my hand very tight. 
 
 " Oh, but I shan't be married, dear, not 
 for ever so long yet," said she. " Why, you 
 forget, we don't know what father and mother 
 will say." 
 
 **Why, father and mother can only want 
 what is best for you," answered I. And I 
 believed it. 
 
 Nevertheless, what father and mother, 
 or at all events what mother thought best, 
 was not what I thought best. 
 
 When Captain Forrester came the next 
 morning, I knew before he passed into father's 
 business-room that he was not going to re-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 20/ 
 
 celve a very satisfactory answer. He was 
 expected ; his answer was prepared, and I 
 was to blame that it was. 
 
 That evening, after the Captain's proposal 
 to Joyce, the Squire sent down a message to 
 ask whether father would be disengaged, and 
 if he were, whether he might come down 
 after supper to smoke a pipe with him. We 
 were seated around the meal when Deborah 
 brought in the message. 
 
 " Certainly," answered father. " Say that 
 I shall be pleased to see Mr Broderick." But 
 when she was gone out, he added gruffly, 
 ''What the deuce can the Squire want to 
 see me for ? I don't know of anything that 
 I need to talk to him about." 
 
 He looked at mother, but mother did not 
 answer. She assumed her most dio'nified 
 air, and there was a kind of suppressed smile 
 on her face which irritated me unaccountably. 
 As soon as the meal was over, she reminded 
 us that we had the orange marmalade to tie 
 up and label, and we were forced to leave 
 her and father together. 
 
 I went very reluctantly, for I wanted to 
 hear what they had to say, and Deborah was
 
 208 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 in a very Inquisitive mood — asking us how it 
 was that the Squire had not Invited us up to 
 supper at the Manor these three weeks, and 
 when this fine gentleman from London was 
 going to take himself back again to his own 
 home. 
 
 I left Joyce to answer her, and found an 
 excuse to get back again to the parlour as 
 fast as I could. Father and mother sat 
 opposite to one another in their high-backed 
 chairs by the fire. Father had not been 
 well since that night of the ball. I think he 
 had cauorht a chill in the east wind, and was 
 feeling his gout again a little. I think it 
 must have been so, or he would scarcely 
 have remained sitting. Knowing him as I 
 did, I was surprised ; for I knew by his face 
 in a moment that he was in a bad temper, 
 and he never remained sitting when he was 
 in a bad temper. 
 
 " Nonsense, Mary, nonsense ! " he was 
 saying. ** I'm surprised at a woman of your 
 good sense running away with such Ideas ! 
 Mere friendship, mere friendliness — that's 
 all." 
 
 ''Well," answered mother, stroking her
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 209 
 
 knee, over which she had turned up her 
 dress to save it from scorching at the fire, 
 *'it was not only his taking Joyce out to 
 dance first before all the county neighbours, 
 but he took me in to supper himself — and, I 
 can assure you, was most attentive to me." 
 
 **Well, and I should have expected noth- 
 ing less of him," said father. " The man is 
 a gentleman, and you have been a good 
 friend to him. No man, squire or not, need 
 be ashamed of taking my wife in to supper 
 — no, not before ten counties ! " 
 
 Mother smiled contentedly. 
 
 ** Every one can't be expected to see as 
 you do, Laban," said she. " I think it was 
 done with a purpose." 
 
 '' Oh ! And, pray, what purpose ?" asked 
 father, in his most irritating and irritated tone. 
 
 Mother was judicious ; perhaps even she 
 was a little frightened. She did not answer 
 just at first. I had slid behind the door of 
 the jam-press in the corner of the room, and 
 now I began putting the rows of marmalade 
 pots in order. She had not noticed me. 
 
 ** I think the Squire wishes to marry our 
 eldest daughter," said she slowly ; and then 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 210 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 she reached down her knitting from the man- 
 tel-piece and began to ply her needles. 
 
 There was a dreadful silence for a minute. 
 
 *' I have thought so for a long time," added 
 mother. '* I have felt sure that he must have 
 some other reason for coming here so often 
 beside mere friendship for two old people." 
 
 Father leant forward in his chair, resting 
 his head on the arm of it, as though about to 
 rise, but not rising. 
 
 " Well, then, if he has any other reason, 
 the longer he keeps it to himself the better," 
 said he, in a voice that he tried to prevent 
 from becoming loud. *' But we have no right 
 to judge him until we know," added he. 
 " You've made a mistake, mother. The 
 Squire isn't thinking of marrying again. He's 
 no such fool." 
 
 " I don't see that he'd be such a fool to 
 wish to marry a sweet girl that he has known 
 all his life," remonstrated mother. 
 
 '* He can marry no girl of mine — at least, 
 not with my consent," declared father loudly, 
 his temper getting the better of him. *' My 
 girls must marry in their own rank of life, or 
 not at all. I have no need of the gentry to
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 211 
 
 put new blood Into our veins. We are good 
 enough and strong enough for ourselves, any- 
 day. But come, old lady, come," he added 
 more softly, trying to recover himself, '' you've 
 made a mistake. It's very natural. Mothers 
 will be proud of their children, and women 
 must always needs fancy riches and honours 
 are the best things in the world." 
 
 "Oh, I don't fancy that, I'm sure, Laban," 
 answered mother. ** But I can't think you 
 would really refuse such a true and honest 
 man for Joyce." 
 
 '' Well, then, Mary, look here ; you be 
 quite sure that I shall never consent to my 
 daughter marrying a man who must come 
 down a peg In the eyes of the world to wed 
 her," began he, raising his voice again, and 
 speaking very slowly. 
 
 He looked mother keenly In the face, but 
 he got no further than that, for I emerged 
 from the jam-cupboard with a pot in my hand ; 
 and at the same moment Deborah flung open 
 the door and announced Squire Broderlck. 
 Mother put down her skirt quickly, and father 
 sank back In his chair. There was an anxi- 
 ous look upon the Squire's face which puzzled
 
 212 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 me, but he tried to laugh and look like him- 
 self as he shook hands with us. 
 
 '' You mustn't speak so loud, Mallphant, 
 you mustn't speak so loud if you want to 
 keep things a secret," laughed he. *' Marry- 
 ing ? Who is going to be married, if you 
 please ? " 
 
 Mother blushed, and even father looked 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 " We were only talking of possibilities, 
 Squire, very remote possibilities," said he. 
 " The women are fond of taking time by 
 the forelock In such matters, you know. But 
 now we'll give over such nonsense, and 
 bring our minds to something more sensible. 
 You wanted to see me ? " 
 
 *' Yes," answered the Squire. *' And I 
 have only a few minutes. My nephew leaves 
 to-morrow, and we have some little affairs to 
 attend to." 
 
 " Your nephew leaves to-morrow ! " cried I 
 aghast. They all turned round and looked 
 at me, and I felt myself blush. 
 
 ** He never said so when he was here this 
 afternoon," I added hurriedly, with a little 
 nervous lauo^h. 
 
 o
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 213 
 
 *' No, I don't suppose he knew it when we 
 were here," answered the Squire, evidently 
 ignorant of the Captain's second visit alone. 
 *' He had a telegram from his mother this 
 evening, begging him to return home at once." 
 
 I said no more, and Squire Broderick 
 turned to father. " Can you give me a few 
 minutes ? " asked he. 
 
 Father rose. It vexed me to see that he 
 rose with some difficulty. He was evidently 
 sadly stiff again, and it vexed me that the 
 Squire should see it. Without uttering a 
 word he led the way to his business-room. 
 
 I remained where I was, with the jam-pot 
 in my hand, looking at mother, who sat by 
 the fire knitting. There was a little smile 
 upon her lips that annoyed me immensely. 
 
 " I think I ought to tell you, mother, that 
 I was behind the jam-cupboard door while 
 you and father were talking, and that I heard 
 what you said," said I, suddenly." 
 
 " Well, of course I did not expect you to 
 come intruding where you were not wanted, 
 Margaret," said mother ; " but I don't know 
 that it matters. I'm not ashamed of what I 
 said."
 
 214 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 " Of course not," answered I ; " and I've 
 guessed you had that notion In your head 
 these months past." 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure, what business 
 you had to guess," said mother. "It wasn't 
 your place, that I can see." 
 
 " And I may as well tell you that I'm quite 
 sure Joyce would never think of the Squire 
 if he did want to marry her," continued I, 
 without paying any attention to this re- 
 mark. I paused a moment before I added — 
 " she couldn't, anyhow, because she's in love 
 with another man." 
 
 Mother looked at me over her spectacles. 
 She looked at me as though she did not see 
 me, and yet she looked me through and 
 through. 
 
 " Margaret," said she at last, loftily, '* I 
 consider it most unseemly of you to say such 
 a thing of your sister. A well-brought-up 
 girl don't go about falling in love with men 
 in that kind of way." 
 
 '' A girl must fall in love with the man she 
 means to marry, mother ; at least, so I should 
 think," said I. 
 
 And I marched off into the kitchen with
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 215 
 
 the jam-pot that wanted a label, and did 
 not come out again till I heard the busi- 
 ness-room door open, and the Squire's voice 
 In the hall. 
 
 " Well, you'll come to dinner on Thursday, 
 anyhow, and see him," he was saying ; " it 
 need bind you to nothing." 
 
 Father grumbled something as he hobbled 
 across, and I noticed again how lame he was 
 that day. The Squire, seeing mother upon 
 the threshold of the parlour door, stopped 
 and added pleasantly, *' Maliphant has pro- 
 mised to bring you up to dine at the Manor, 
 so mind you hold him to his word." Mother 
 assured him that she would, and the Squire 
 went out. 
 
 ** Well ? " asked she, turning to father with 
 a questioning look on her face, which was 
 neither so hopeful nor so happy as it had 
 been ten minutes ago. 
 
 " Well ? " echoed he, somewhat crossly. 
 Then his frown changing to a smile, he 
 patted her on the arm, and said merrily, 
 "No, mother, no. Wrong this time ; wrong, 
 old lady, upon my soul. The time hasn't 
 come yet when we are to have the honour of
 
 2l6 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 having our daughters asked in marriage by 
 the gentry." 
 
 " Hush, Laban, hush," cried mother, vexed ; 
 for the kitchen door stood open, and Joyce 
 was within earshot. And then, following him 
 into the parlour, whither I had already found 
 my way, she added, " Maybe I'm not quite 
 such a fool as you think, and the time will 
 come one day, although it's not ripe just yet." 
 
 " A fool ! Who ever called you a fool, 
 Mary ? Not I, I'm sure," declared father. 
 " No, you're a true, shrewd woman, and, as 
 you are generally right in such matters, I 
 daresay you may prove right now : but all I 
 want to make clear to you is, that whatever 
 time the Squire's question comes — if it be 
 a question of that nature — his answer will 
 always be the same," 
 
 Mother said no more. She was a wise 
 woman, and never pursued a vexed question 
 when there was no need to do so. I, who 
 was not so wise, thought that I now saw a 
 fitting opportunity for putting in my own 
 peculiar oar amid the troubled waters. 
 
 " I don't think you need trouble your head 
 about it, father," I said. "Joyce will never
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 217 
 
 marry Squire Broderick, even if he were 
 to ask her. She's in love with Captain 
 Forrester." 
 
 Father turned round with the pipe he was 
 filling 'twixt his finger and thumb and looked 
 at me. 
 
 "Margaret," said mother, "didn't I tell 
 you just now that that was a most strange 
 and unseemly thing to say ? " 
 
 I did not answer, and father still looked at 
 me with the pipe between his finger and 
 thumb. 
 
 '* In love with Captain Forrester, indeed ! " 
 continued mother scornfully. "And pray, 
 how do you know that Captain Forrester 
 is in love with Joyce ? " 
 
 "Well, of course," answered I with a toss 
 of my head, " girls don't fall in love with 
 men unless the men are in love with them 
 first. Who ever heard of such a thing ? 
 Of- course he's in love with Joyce." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! " said mother em- 
 phatically, tapping the floor with her foot as 
 she was wont to do when she was annoyed. 
 " Captain Forrester and your sister haven't 
 met more than half-a-dozen times in the
 
 2l8 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 course of their lives. I wonder what a love 
 is going to be like that takes the world by 
 storm after three weeks' acquaintance." 
 
 ** There Is such a thing as love at first 
 sight," answered I, with what I know must 
 have been an annoyingly superior air. It 
 did not impress mother. 
 
 "A wondrous fine thing, I've been told," 
 was all that she said. 
 
 I turned to father, who had not spoken. 
 "Well, anyhow they're In love with one 
 another," I repeated. " I know it as a fact, 
 and he's coming here to-morrow morning to 
 ask your leave to marry her." 
 
 "The devil he is!" ejaculated father, 
 roused at last. 
 
 Mother dropped her knitting. I do be- 
 lieve her face grew white with horror. 
 
 " I always thought, Laban, it was a pity 
 to have that young man about so much when 
 we had grown-up girls at home," moaned 
 she, quite forgetting my presence. " But you 
 always would be so sure he was thinking of 
 nothing but those politics of yours." 
 
 " To be sure, to be sure," murmured 
 father.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 219 
 
 ** And he was always so pleasant to all of 
 us," she went on, as though that too were 
 something to deplore in him ; *' but I never 
 did think he'd be wanting to marry a farmer's 
 daughter. And I should like to know what 
 he has got to marry any one upon ? " added 
 she after a pause, turning to me indignantly, 
 as though I knew the Captain's affairs any 
 better than she did. 
 
 " His captain's pay," answered I glibly, 
 although I had been chilled for a moment 
 by this remark. *' And why should you 
 consider him a ne'er - do - well, because he 
 earns his living in a different way to what 
 you do ? He kills the country's enemies, and 
 you till the country's land. They are both 
 honourable professions by which a man gets 
 his bread by the sweat of his brow." 
 
 I looked at father : all through I had 
 spoken only to him. He smiled, and began 
 to light his pipe. It was a sign that his 
 mind w^as made up. Which way was it 
 made up ? 
 
 " Joyce is just the girl men do fall in love 
 with," said I, wisely; "and as for her — well, 
 you can't be surprised at her falling in love
 
 220 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 With a man whom you like so much your- 
 self." 
 
 ''Ay, I do like the young man," agreed 
 father staunchly. *' I can't help it. They're 
 precious few such as he whose heads are 
 full of aught but seeking after their own 
 pleasure." 
 
 ''Well, if you like him so much, why are 
 you sorry that he wants to marry Joyce ? " 
 asked I, boldly. 
 
 " I did not say that I was sorry, lass," said 
 father calmly. 
 
 My heart throbbed with pleasant triumph, 
 but the battle was not over yet. 
 
 " Well, Laban, I don't suppose you can 
 say that you're glad," put in mother almost 
 tartly, "after what I've heard you say about 
 girls marrying out of their own class in life." 
 
 " Captain Forrester is not rich and idle," 
 said I. 
 
 "No!" answered mother scornfully, "he 
 is not rich — you're right enough there ; but 
 he is a good sight more idle than many men 
 who can afford to keep a wife in comfort. I 
 know your sort of play soldiers that never 
 see an enemy."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 221 
 
 " He's rich enough for a girl of mine," 
 replied father. " As to his being idle, I hope 
 maybe he's going to do better work saving 
 the lives of innocent children than he could 
 have done slashing at what are called the 
 nation's foes." 
 
 *' Yes, yes," said mother, a trifle impatiently. 
 " I make no doubt you're right. I've noth- 
 ing against the young man, but I can't believe, 
 Laban, as you really mean to say that you'd 
 give your girl to him willingly." 
 
 '* Well," answered father, '* I'm bound to 
 say I'm surprised at the news. But we old 
 folk are apt to forget that we were young 
 once, — and when I was a lad I loved you, 
 Mary, so we mustn't be hard on the young 
 ones. It's neither poverty nor riches, nor 
 this nor that, as makes happiness — it's just 
 love ; and if the two love one another, we 
 durstn't interfere." 
 
 " I don't understand you, Laban, indeed I 
 don't," cried poor mother, beside herself with 
 anxiety. " It's not according to what you 
 were saying a few minutes ago, and you can't 
 say it is." 
 
 Father was silent. I suppose he could
 
 222 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 not help knowing In his heart that the ob- 
 jections to Captain Forrester must be practi- 
 cally the same as those to Squire Broderick, 
 with the additional one that he was almost a 
 stranger to us. But his natural liking for the 
 young man obscured his vision to plain facts. 
 Father and I were very much alike ; what 
 we wanted to be must be. But when I look 
 back at that point In our lives, I pity poor 
 mother, who was really the wisest and the 
 most practical of us all. 
 
 '' Well, mother, the lass must decide for 
 herself," said father. "She's of age; she 
 should know her own mind." 
 
 "Joyce knows her own mind well enough," 
 said I. " She has told Frank Forrester 
 that she will marry him, subject to your 
 approval." 
 
 " I wonder she took the trouble to add so 
 much as that," said mother at last. " Young 
 folk nowadays have grown so clever, they 
 seem to teach us old folk." 
 
 There was a tremor In her voice, and 
 father rose and went across to her, laying 
 his hand on her shoulder. 
 
 " Meg, go and tell your sister to come
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 223 
 
 here," said he in a moment. " You need not 
 come back." 
 
 I was hurt at the dismissal, and I waited 
 In the passage till Joyce came out from the 
 interview ; but her face was very white, and 
 all that she would say was, '* O Margaret, 
 let them settle It. I don't want to have any 
 will of my own." 
 
 I was very much disappointed, and was 
 fain to be agreeably surprised, when on the 
 following morning I heard that, after mature 
 deliberation, our parents had decided to allow 
 the Captain a year's probation. 
 
 I had been afraid that mother would en- 
 tirely override all father's arguments : she 
 generally did. 
 
 The affair was not to be called an en- 
 gagement, — both were to be perfectly free 
 to choose again ; but if at the end of that 
 time both were of the same mind, the 
 betrothal should be formally made and an- 
 nounced. 
 
 Mother must, however, have been very 
 hard in her terms ; for the young folk were 
 neither to meet nor to write to one another, 
 nor to have any news of one another beyond
 
 224 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 what might transpire In the correspondence 
 that father would be carrying on with Frank 
 on outside matters. 
 
 Frank told me the conditions out in the 
 garden, when I caught hold of him as he 
 came out of father's study. The whole 
 matter was to be a complete secret, shut 
 closely within our own family. This mother 
 repeated to me afterwards — I guessed very 
 well with what intent. But although Frank 
 must have suspected a possible rival in 
 his uncle, he absolutely refused to be cast 
 down. 
 
 The thought even crossed my mind that 
 I should have liked my lover to have been 
 a little more cast down. But no doubt he 
 felt too sure of himself, even after the slight 
 shock of surprise that it must have been to 
 him to find his suit not at once accepted. 
 
 Nevertheless, as he passed out of the room 
 where he had taken leave of Joyce alone, he 
 bent forward towards me as I stood in the 
 hall, and said gravely, " Miss Margaret, I 
 trust her to you. Don't let her forget 
 me." 
 
 My heart ached for him, and from that
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 225 
 
 moment It was afire with the steadfast re- 
 solve to support my sister's falling spirits, 
 and preserve for her the beautiful romance 
 which had so unexpectedly opened out 
 before her. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 226 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Joyce and I sat in the apple -orchard one 
 May afternoon. It was not often we sat 
 idle ; but Joyce was going away on the 
 morrow on a visit to Sydenham, and we 
 wanted a few minutes' quiet together. 
 
 There was no quiet indoors : mother was 
 in one of her restless moods, and Mr Hoad 
 was with father. I supposed he was still 
 harping on that subject of the elections, for 
 I could not tell why else he should come so 
 often ; but I could have told him that he 
 might have spared his pains, for that father 
 never altered his mind. 
 
 However, on this particular occasion I was 
 glad that he came, for I thought that it 
 might save father from missing Frank too 
 much — although, to be sure, they did not 
 seem to get on so well as before Frank's
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 22/ 
 
 coming; and I fancied that there was even 
 the suspicion of a cloud on father's face 
 when he closed the door after his man of 
 business. 
 
 Who could wonder ? Who would like 
 Hoad after Frank Forrester ? For my own 
 part, I always avoided him, and that was 
 why I had taken Joyce out of doors. 
 
 An east wind blew from the sea, and the 
 marsh was bleak, though the lengthening 
 shadows lay In soft tones across Its crude 
 spring greenness. The sun shone, and the 
 thorn-trees that were abloom by the dykes 
 made white spots along their stralghtness — 
 softer memories of the snow that had so 
 lately vanished, kindly promise of spring to 
 come. Under the apple-trees heavy with 
 blossom, the air was blue above the vivid 
 emerald of the springing grass, and all 
 around us slenderly sturdy grey trunks and 
 angular boughs, softened by a wealth of rose- 
 flushed flower, made delicate patterns upon 
 the sky or against the glittering sea-line 
 beyond the marsh. 
 
 But a spring scene with Its frank, passion- 
 less beauty, its tenderness that is all promise
 
 228 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 and no experience, Its arrogance of coming 
 life, does sometimes put one out of heart 
 with one's self, I think — although It should 
 not have had that effect on one who stood 
 in the same relation to life as did the spring 
 to the year. Anyhow, I was not In my most 
 cheerful frame of mind that day — not quite 
 so arrogant and sanguine myself as was my 
 wont. 
 
 Since the day when Captain Forrester had 
 left the village three weeks ago, things had 
 not gone to my liking. In the first place, I 
 was not satisfied with this engagement of 
 a year's standing, that was to be kept a 
 profound secret from every one around. I 
 thought It was not fair to Joyce. And then, 
 and alas ! I fear an even more active cause In 
 my depression of spirits — Mr Trayton'Harrod 
 had been engaged as bailiff to Knellestone 
 farm ! 
 
 Yes; never should I have expected It. It 
 was too horrible, but It was true. Father 
 and mother had gone up to meet him at 
 dinner at the Manor two days after the 
 Captain's departure, and father had been 
 forced to confess that he was a quiet, sen-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 229 
 
 sible, Straightforward fellow, without any 
 nonsense about him, and that there was no 
 doubt that he knew what he was about. 
 
 It was very mortifying to me to hear father 
 speak of him In that way, when I had quite 
 made up my mind that he was sure not to 
 know what he was about. But It seems that 
 I was curiously mistaken upon this point. 
 
 Far from being a mere amateur at the 
 business, he had been carefully educated for 
 It at the Agricultural College at Ashford. 
 His father had been of opinion that his own 
 ventures had failed because of a too super- 
 ficial knowledge of the subject — a knowledge 
 only derived from natural mother -wit and 
 practical observation — and he wished his son 
 to labour under no such disadvantages. 
 
 I fancy Mr Harrod's father had been, as 
 the country folk say, '* a cut above his neigh- 
 bours " In culture and social standing, and 
 had taken to farming as a speculation when 
 other things had failed. But of course this 
 was no reason why his son should not make 
 a good farmer, since he had been carefully 
 educated to the business. 
 
 He was not wanting In practical experience
 
 230- MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 either. He had done all he could to retrieve 
 the fortunes of his father's farm, but the 
 speculation was too far gone before he took 
 the reins ; and the elder Harrod had died 
 a ruined man, leaving his son to shift for 
 himself. 
 
 All this I had gleaned from talk between 
 my parents and the Squire in our own house ; 
 but it was mortifying, even though I had not 
 guessed at that time that there was any real 
 danger of his coming to Knellestone. For 
 that had only been settled two days ago, and 
 I could not help fancying that Mr Hoad was 
 partly to blame. 
 
 Of course there was no denying that father 
 had been ill again — not so seriously ill as In 
 the winter, but incapacitated for active life. 
 He had not been able to mount his horse 
 nor to walk farther than the garden-plot at 
 the top of the terrace for over a fortnight. 
 
 The doctor had suggested a bath -chair; 
 but the idea of a farmer beinor seen in a 
 bath - chair was positively insulting, and I 
 would rather have seen him shut indoors for 
 a month than showlno^ himself to the nelo^h- 
 hours in such a plight. The idea was aban-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 23 1 
 
 doned ; but gradually, and without any sign, 
 his mind came round to the plan which he 
 had at first so violently repudiated — that of 
 a bailiff for Knellestone. 
 
 I do not know whether it was really Mr 
 Hoad who had anything to do with his 
 decision. He certainly had influence over 
 father, and had been very often at the 
 Grange of late, but it may have been merely 
 the effect which Mr Harrod himself pro- 
 duced. Anyhow, a fortnight or so after the 
 dinner at the Manor, father announced to us 
 abruptly at the dinner-table that he had that 
 morning written to engage " that young man 
 of the Squire's" to come to Knellestone. 
 His manner had been so queer when he said 
 it, that nobody had questioned him further 
 on the matter ; and as for me, I had been so 
 thoroughly knocked down by the news, that 
 I do not think I had spoken to father since ! 
 
 If my sister's departure had not been 
 arranged — and in a great measure arranged 
 by me — before this news had come, I am 
 sure that I should not have suggested it ; for 
 it was the first time in our lives that we had 
 been parted, and, reserved as I was, I felt
 
 232 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 that I wanted Joyce to be there during this 
 family crisis. 
 
 She at least never allowed herself to be 
 ruffled, and though this characteristic had its 
 annoying side, there was comfort in it ; and 
 just at that particular moment we needed a 
 soother, for the family was altogether in a 
 somewhat ruffled condition. 
 
 Father was cross because of what he had 
 been driven into doing with regard to the 
 bailiff. Mother was cross because the Squire 
 had not proposed for Joyce, and Captain 
 Forrester had. And I was cross — more cross 
 than any one — because I was an opinionated 
 young woman, and wanted to have a finger 
 in the management of every pie. 
 
 It was a good thing that Joyce took even 
 her own share in these matters more quietly 
 than I took it for her. Nevertheless even she 
 was a little dismal that evening. How was it 
 possible that she could be happy parted, with- 
 out even the solace of correspondence, from 
 the man whom she loved ? I believe in my 
 secret soul I set Joyce down as wanting in 
 feeling for not fretting more than she did; 
 but she was out of spirits, and mother had
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 233 
 
 agreed with me that Joyce was pale, and had 
 better choose this time for a visit to Aunt 
 Naomi, which had been a promise for a long 
 time. And now it was impossible to put It off. 
 
 Joyce came back from a dream with a 
 little sigh, and turned towards me. 
 
 '* Well, did you see Mr Trayton Harrod 
 this morning, Margaret ? " asked she. " Deb- 
 orah says he was here to see father. When 
 does he come for good ? " 
 
 '' I don't know, answered I shortly. '* I 
 know nothing at all about Mr Trayton 
 Harrod." 
 
 Joyce sighed a little. " Deborah says he is 
 a plain kind of man," continued she — ''very 
 tall and broad, and very short in his manners." 
 
 ** He can't be too short in his manner for 
 me," answered I. " He'll find me short too." 
 
 Joyce stretched out her hand and laid It on 
 mine. It was a great deal for her to do. 
 In the first place, we were not given to out- 
 ward demonstrations of affection ; and in the 
 second place, Joyce knew that I abhorred 
 sympathy, and that from my earliest child- 
 hood I had always hit out at people who 
 dared to pity me for my hurts.
 
 234 MARGARET MALIPHANT.- 
 
 '' Dear Margaret," said she, '' I want you 
 not to be so much set against this young man. 
 Father said he was a straightforward, good 
 sort of fellow, you know ; and you can't be 
 sure that he will be disagreeable until you 
 know him." 
 
 " I don't suppose he is going to be dis- 
 agreeable at all," declared I. *' He may be 
 the most delightful man in the world — I've 
 no doubt he is. I only say that he is nothing 
 to me. I shall have nothing to do with him, 
 and I shan't know whether he is delightful 
 or not." 
 
 "Well, if you begin like that, it wi/l be 
 setting yourself against him," said Joyce 
 bravely. She paused a moment, and then 
 added, " I'm In hopes it will be a good thing 
 for father. I've often thought of late that 
 the work was too hard for him. Father's 
 not the man he was." 
 
 " Father's all right," insisted I. *' It's 
 always the strongest men who have the gout. 
 You'll see father will walk the young ones 
 off the ground yet when it comes to a day's 
 work. A man can work for his own, — he 
 works whether he be tired or not ; but a
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 235 
 
 hireling — why should a hireling work when 
 he hasn't a mind to ? It's nothing to him ; 
 he gets his wage any way." 
 
 This theory seemed to trouble Joyce a 
 bit, for she was silent. 
 
 '' No," said I, " it'll be no go. He won't 
 understand anything at all about it, and all 
 he will do will be to set everybody by the 
 ears." 
 
 ** I don't see why that need be," persisted 
 Joyce. " The Squire says that he has been 
 brought up to hard work, and that he 
 has quite a remarkable knowledge of the 
 country." 
 
 " Yes, what good did his knowledge of 
 the country do him?" asked I, scornfully. 
 "He managed his father's farm in Kent, and 
 his father died a bankrupt. I don't call that 
 much of a recommendation." 
 
 I had been obliged to come down from 
 my high horse as to this friend of the Squire's 
 being one of his own class, an impoverished 
 gentleman who wanted a living, for there 
 was no doubt that he had been born and 
 bred on a farm, and had been, moreover, 
 specially educated to his work ; but I had
 
 236 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 managed to find out something else In his 
 disfavour nevertheless. 
 
 My sister was puzzled as to how to answer 
 this. '' I did not know that that was so," 
 said she. 
 
 '* Of course It Is so," repeated I. " That's 
 why he must needs take a job." 
 
 *' Poor fellow ! " murmured Joyce. 
 
 ** Nonsense ! " cried I. " He ought to have 
 been able to save the farm from ruin. It's 
 no good pitying people for the misfortunes 
 they bring upon themselves. The weak 
 always go to the wall." 
 
 I did myself Injustice with this speech. 
 It did not really express my feelings at all, 
 but my temper was up. 
 
 Joyce looked pained. " Perhaps the affairs 
 of the farm were too bad to be set right before 
 he took up the management," suggested she. 
 " At all events, I suppose father knows best." 
 
 " I can't understand father," exclaimed I 
 hastily. "He seems to me to take much 
 more Interest In plans for saving pauper 
 children than he does In working his own 
 land." 
 
 '' O Margaret ! how can you say such a
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 237 
 
 thing," cried Joyce aghast. ''You know that 
 father Is often laid by, and unable to go 
 round the farm." 
 
 ** Yes, yes, I know," I hastened to answer, 
 ashamed of my outburst, and remembering 
 that I was flatly contradicting what I had said 
 two minutes before. '* Nobody really has 
 the interest in the place that father has, of 
 course. That's why I don't want him to 
 take a paid bailiff. When he is laid by, he 
 can manage it through me." 
 
 ''I'm afraid that never answers," said 
 Joyce, shaking her head; ''I'm afraid busi- 
 ness matters need a man. People always 
 seem to take advantage of a woman." 
 
 I tried to laugh. '* I wonder what Deb- 
 orah would say to that," I said, trying to turn 
 the matter into a joke. 
 
 " Deborah doesn't attempt anything out of 
 her own province," answered Joyce. 
 
 It was another of her quiet home-thrusts. 
 She little guessed how they hurt, or she 
 would never have dealt them, — she who 
 could not bear to hurt a fly. 
 
 '' Margaret," began she again, her mind 
 still set on that conciliatory project which
 
 238 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 she had undertaken, *'do promise me one 
 thing before I go. I don't like going away, 
 and it makes me worse to think you will be 
 working yourself up into a fever of annoy- 
 ance at what can't be helped. Do promise 
 me that you won't begin by being set against 
 the young man. It'll make it very uncom- 
 fortable for everybody if you are, and you 
 won't be any the happier. You can be so 
 nice when you like." 
 
 I looked at her surprised. It was so very 
 rarely that Joyce came out of her shell to 
 take this kind of line. It showed it must 
 have been working in her mind for long. 
 
 *' Yes, dear, yes," said I, really touched by 
 her anxiety, ** Til try and be nice." 
 
 ''You do take things so hard," continued 
 she, " and it's no use taking things hard. 
 Now if you liked you might help father still, 
 with Mr Harrod, and he might be quite a 
 pleasant addition to your life." 
 
 " That's ridiculous, Joyce," I answered 
 sharply. ** You must see that he and I 
 could never be friends. All I can promise 
 is not to make it harder for him to settle 
 down amongst the folk, for it'll be hard
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 239 
 
 enough. However clever the Squire may 
 think him, he won*t understand this country, 
 nor this weather, nor these people at first, 
 — there's no doubt of that. He'll make 
 lots of mistakes. But there, for pity's sake 
 don't let's talk any more about him," cried I, 
 hastily. ** I'm sick of the man; and on our 
 last evening too, when I've such a lot to say 
 to you." 
 
 " What have you to say to me ? " asked 
 my sister, looking round suddenly, and with 
 an uneasy look in her face. 
 
 **Oh, come, you needn't look like that," 
 laughed I. ''It's nothing horrid like you 
 have been saying to me. It's about Captain 
 Forrester." 
 
 Her face grew none the less grave. 
 ''What about him?" asked she in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "Well, Fm going to fight for you, Joyce, 
 while you're away," said I. " I don't think 
 youVe been over -pleased about having to 
 go to Aunt Naomi, and perhaps you have 
 owed me a grudge for having had a finger in 
 settling it. It will be dull for you boxed up 
 with the old lady and her rheumatism, but
 
 240 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 you must bear in mind that I shall be work- 
 ing for you here, better than, maybe, I could 
 if you were by." 
 
 *' Why, Meg, what do you want to do ? " 
 asked my sister aghast. 
 
 *' Fm going to get mother to make your 
 engagement shorter," said I, getting up and 
 standing in front of her, *'and I'm going to 
 make her allow you and Frank to write to 
 one another." 
 
 " O Meg, how can you ? " gasped Joyce. 
 
 ** Well, I'm going to," repeated I, doggedly. 
 She did not reply. She clasped her hands 
 in her lap with a nervous movement, and 
 dropped her eyes upon them. 
 
 " Mother said that the year's engagement 
 was so that you and Captain Forrester should 
 learn to be quite sure of yourselves. Now, 
 how are you to be any surer of yourselves 
 than you are now if you don't get to know 
 one another any better ? And how are you 
 going to know one another any better if you 
 never see one another, and never write to 
 one another ? " 
 
 Joyce paused before she replied. She 
 lifted her eyes and fixed them on the chan-
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 241 
 
 nel, of which the long tortuous curves, wind- 
 ing across the marsh to the sea, were blue 
 now with an opaque colour in the growing 
 greyness of the evening. 
 
 " Perhaps mother don't wish us to know 
 one another any better. Perhaps she wishes 
 us to forget one another," said she at last, 
 slowly. 
 
 " I know mother wants you to forget one 
 another, because she wants you to marry the 
 Squire," said I bluntly, '' but father doesn't." 
 
 ''O Meg, don't," whispered Joyce. 
 
 '* Well, of course you know it," laughed I, a 
 little ashamed of myself, " and you know that 
 I know it. But you never would have married 
 him, dear, so mother is none the worse off if 
 you marry Captain Forrester, and you are not 
 going to forget him because they want you to." 
 
 '* No," murmured she. " But oh, Meg," 
 she added, hastily rising too, and taking my 
 hand, " I don't want you to say anything to 
 them about it. It's settled now, and it's far 
 best as it is. I had far rather let it be, and 
 take my chance." 
 
 " What do you mean by taking your 
 chance ? " cried I. '' You mean to say that 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 242 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 you can trust to your lover not to forget 
 you ? Well, I suppose you can. He wor- 
 ships you, and I suppose one may fairly ex- 
 pect even a man to be faithful one little year. 
 But, meanwhile, you will both of you be un- 
 happy instead of being comparatively happy, 
 as you would be If you could write to one 
 another and see one another sometimes. 
 Now that seems to me to be useless, and I 
 don't see why it need be. At all events, I 
 shall try to prevent it." 
 
 *' You're a good, faithful old Meg, as true 
 as steel," said Joyce tenderly, taking my hand; 
 '* and I suppose you can't understand how I 
 feel, because we are so different. But I want 
 you to believe that I would much rather wait. 
 Indeed I would much rather wait." 
 
 I gazed at her in silence. Once more 
 there stole over me a strange feeling of awe, 
 born of the conviction that Joyce had floated 
 slowly away from me on the bosom of a 
 stream that was to me unknown. Whither 
 did it lead, and what was it like ? What 
 was this '' being in love," of which I had 
 dreamed of late — for her if not for myself? 
 I laughed constrainedly.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 243 
 
 ** Well, I never was in love," said I, '*and 
 perhaps I never shall be. But I feel pretty 
 sure that when a girl loves a man and he 
 loves her, being parted must be like going 
 about without a piece of one's own self. No, 
 Joyce, you can't deceive me. I know that 
 you want to see him every hour and every 
 minute of your life, and that, when you don't, 
 something goes wrong inside you all the 
 while." 
 
 Joyce sighed gently, and drew her shawl 
 around her. ** You're so impetuous," sighed 
 she. *' Liking one person doesn't make one 
 forget every one else." 
 
 " Liking! — no," said I, and then I stopped. 
 
 The marsh-land had grown dark with a 
 passing cloud, and the aspens on the cliff 
 shivered in the rising wind. A window 
 opened in the house behind, and Deborah's 
 voice came calling to us across the lawn. 
 
 " Well, whatever you two must needs go 
 catching your deaths of cold out there for, I 
 don't know," cried she, as we came up to her. 
 " And not so much as a young man to keep 
 you company ! Oh ! there's two dismal 
 faces," laughed she, as I pushed past her.
 
 244 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 '* Well, I was wiser in my time. The men 
 never gave me no thoughts, good nor bad." 
 
 ** No, you never got any one to mind you 
 then as Reuben minds you now," cried I. 
 
 But Joyce stopped the retort by asking 
 what we were wanted for. 
 
 *' There's company in the parlour," answered 
 she, speaking to me still. '' The Squire's 
 come to bid Miss Joyce good-bye, and there's 
 your friend Mr Hoad." 
 
 I made no answer to this thrust, but as 
 we passed through the passage, the door of 
 father's room opened, and the voice of Mr 
 Hoad said, with a laugh, ''No, I'm afraid 
 you will never get any good out of him. A 
 brilliant talker, a charming fellow, but no 
 backbone in him. I was deceived in him 
 myself at first, but he's no go. I should 
 think the less any one reckoned on him for 
 anything the better." 
 
 " You don't understand him," began father 
 warmly ; but he stopped, seeing us. 
 
 My cheeks flushed with anger. There 
 was a grin on Deborah's face, but my sister's 
 was serene. 
 
 She could not have understood.
 
 245 
 
 ■ CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Joyce had been gone a week before Mr 
 Tray ton Harrod arrived. I had preserved 
 my gloomy silence on the subject of his com- 
 ing, although I was dying to know all about 
 It ; and as father had given in to my mood by 
 telling me no particulars, it so happened that I 
 did not even know the exact day of his arrival. 
 
 It was a Monday, and baking day. There 
 was plenty to do, now that Joyce was gone, 
 and I did not do her work as she did It. 
 Mother was constantly reminding me of the 
 fact. It did not make me do the work any 
 quicker, or like doing It any better ; but, of 
 course, it was natural that mother should see 
 the difference, and remark on it. 
 
 At last, however, the baking and mending 
 and dusting was all done, and mother gave 
 me leave to take a little basket of victuals to
 
 246 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 an old couple who lived down by the sea. I 
 had been very miserable, feeling pitiably how 
 little I had done at present towards fulfil- 
 ling my promise to Joyce of trying to make 
 things pleasant, and sadly conscious that I 
 was not in mother's good books, or, for that 
 matter, in father's either, for which I am 
 afraid I cared more. He had scarcely 
 spoken a word to me all the week. 
 
 Poor father ! Why did I not remember 
 that it was far worse for him than it was for 
 me ? But as I ran across the lawn, with 
 Taff yelping at my heels, I do not believe 
 that I gave a thought to his anxieties, al- 
 though I must have seen his dear old head 
 bending over the farm account-books through 
 the study window as I passed. I was so 
 glad to have done with the housekeeping, 
 that I forgot everything else in the tender 
 sunshine of a May afternoon that was fleck- 
 ing the marsh with spots of light, shifting as 
 the soft clouds shifted upon the blue sky. 
 How could any troubles matter, either my 
 own or other people's, when there was a 
 chance of being within scent of the sea-weed 
 and within taste of the salt sea-brine ?
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 247 
 
 I whistled the St Bernard, and we set off 
 on a race down the cliff. My hat flew off, I 
 caught it by the strings ; all the thickness of 
 my hair uncoiled itself and rippled down my 
 back. I felt the hairpins tumble out one by 
 one, and knew that a great curly red mass 
 must be floating in the wind ; but I had a 
 hundred yards to run yet before I came to 
 the elms at the foot of the hill — and Taff 
 was hard to beat. 
 
 Alongside the runnels that hemmed the 
 lane, a riband, bluer than the sea or sky, ran 
 bordering the green ; it was made up of 
 thousands of delicate veronica blossoms, 
 opening merry eyes to the sun, and the red 
 campion dotted the bank under the cliff, and 
 the cuckoo-flowers nodded their pale clusters 
 on edges of little dykes. But I did not see 
 the flowers just then. I ran on and on, jump- 
 ing the gate that divides the marsh from the 
 road almost as Taffy jumped it himself — on 
 and on along the dyke, without stopping, till 
 I came to the first thorn-tree that grows upon 
 the bank ; and there, at last, I was fain to 
 throw myself down to rest, out of breath and 
 trembling.
 
 248 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 What a run it was ! I remember it to this 
 day. It drove away all my ill-temper; and 
 as I sat there twisting up my hair again, and 
 laughing at Taff, who understood the joke 
 just as if he were a human being, I had no 
 more thought of anything ajar than had the 
 white May trees that dotted the marsh all 
 along the brown banks of the dykes, and lay 
 so harmoniously against the faint blue of the 
 sky, where it sank into the deeper blue of 
 the sea beyond. 
 
 Dimly, beyond the flaken stretch of plain 
 that was slowly flushing with the growing 
 green, one could see the little waves rippling 
 out across the yellow sands, with the sun- 
 light flashing upon their crests ; over the 
 meadows red and white cattle wandered, and 
 little spotless lambs played with their mothers 
 on the fresher banks ; tufts of tender prim- 
 roses grew close to my hand, fish leapt in the 
 still grey waters of the dyke, birds sang in 
 the belt of trees under the Manor-house, 
 lapwing made strange bleating and chirp- 
 ing sounds amid the newly sprouting growth 
 of the rushes that mingled softly with the 
 faint gold of last year's mown crop : the
 
 MARGARET MALI PH ANT. 249 
 
 cuckoo's note came now and then through 
 the air. The spring had come at last. 
 
 I tied on my hat again and jumped up. I 
 beofan to slno^, too, as I walked. I was 
 merry. What with Captain Forrester, and 
 what with the trouble about the bailiff, and 
 what with Joyce's departure, and the house- 
 hold duties falling upon me, I had not been 
 out among my favourite haunts for a long 
 time, and the sight of the birds and the beasts 
 and the flowers was new life to me. I noted 
 the marks of the year's growth as only one 
 notes them who knows the country by heart : 
 I knew that the young rooks were already 
 on the wing, that the swifts and the swallows 
 had built their nests, that the song-thrush 
 was hatching her brood, and that a hunt 
 along the sunny sandy banks under the lee 
 of the hill would discover the round holes 
 where the little sand-martin would be labori- 
 ously scooping her nest some two feet deep 
 into the soft ground. 
 
 I promised myself a happy afternoon when 
 next I should have leisure, searching for 
 plover's eggs along the banks of the dykes 
 where the moor-hen and lapwing make their
 
 250 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 homes ; but to-day I dared not loiter, for the 
 old couple for whom I was bound lived under 
 the shadow of the great rock where the 
 marsh ends and the land swells up into white 
 chalk cliffs fronting the sea, and that was 
 four good miles from where I now was. Taff 
 and I put our best legs foremost, vaulting 
 the gates that separated the fields, and cross- 
 ing the white bridges over the water, until 
 at last we came to where the dyke meets 
 the sea, and the martello towers stud the 
 coast. 
 
 I confess we had not always walked quite 
 straight. Once my attention had been caught 
 by the hovering of a titlark in the vicinity of 
 a bank by the wayside, and I had not been 
 able to resist the temptation of climbing a 
 somewhat perilous ascent to look for the nest, 
 whose neighbourhood I guessed. It was on 
 the face of a curious sort of cliff that lay 
 across the marsh : one side of it sloped down 
 into the pasture-land, but the other presented 
 a grey rugged front to the greensward be- 
 low, and told of days when the sea must have 
 lapped about its massive sides, and eaten its 
 way into the curious caves where now young
 
 MARGARET IVJALIPHANT. 25 I 
 
 oaks and mountain-ash clove to the barren 
 soil. 
 
 About half-way up the nethermost bank 
 of this cliff I found the nest of the titlark 
 beneath a heather bush. But in it sat a 
 young cuckoo alone and scarcely fledged, 
 while lying down the bank, about a foot 
 from the margin of the nest, lay the two 
 little nestlings of the parent bird. I picked 
 them up and warmed them in my hand, 
 and put them back in the nest, where 
 they soon lifted their heads again. Then I 
 stood a moment and watched. The young 
 cuckoo began struggling about till it got its 
 back under one of them, and, blind as it still 
 was, hitched it up to the open part of the 
 nest, and shoved it out on to the bank. Once 
 more I picked the poor little bird up and 
 put it back into its mother's nest. Then 
 seeing that the cruel little interloper seemed 
 to have made up its mind to try no more 
 ejecting for the moment, I slid down the 
 bank again and went on, promising myself, 
 however, to look in upon this quarrelsome 
 family on my way home. 
 
 This little adventure delayed us, but we
 
 252 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 ran a great part of the remainder of the way 
 to make up for It, and reached old Warren's 
 cottage somewhat out of breath, and I with 
 red cheeks and hair sorely dishevelled by the 
 journey. However, as we were old friends, 
 we were soon restored by the kindly welcome 
 that we got. Taffy lay down on the hearth 
 with the great Persian cat, and I took my 
 seat In the chimney - corner, Mrs Warren 
 insisting on preferring the bed for a seat. 
 
 It was a funny little hut, nestled away 
 under the shadow of the towering cliff, with 
 the sea lapping or roaring within fifty yards 
 of It, and the lonely marsh stretching away 
 miles and miles to the right of It. No one 
 knew why Warren had built It, but some 
 fancied that he still had smuggled goods 
 hidden away In the caves of the cliffs, and If 
 so, he naturally chose a dwelling-place hard 
 by, and not too much under the eye of man. 
 It was a poor hovel, better to die In than to 
 live in, one would have thought ; but old 
 Warren seemed to be of a contented dis- 
 position, and to enjoy his life well enough, 
 although as much could not apparently be 
 said of his wives, of whom he had had three
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 253 
 
 already. The present one had lasted the 
 longest, the former two having been killed 
 off in comparatively early life (according to 
 Warren) by the loneliness of their life and 
 the terrors of the elements which they had 
 witnessed. 
 
 Warren was a dramatic old fellow, and 
 could tell many a story of shipwreck and dis- 
 aster, and even (when pressed) of encounters 
 between the revenue cutters and the smug- 
 glers' boats, of dangerous landings on this 
 dangerous bit of coast, and of nights when 
 it was all the *'boys" could do to get their 
 kegs of spirits safely ashore and buried in 
 the sand before morning. This afternoon 
 he was in particularly good spirits. Some- 
 thing in the colour of the land and the sea, 
 and in the direction of the wind, had remind- 
 ed him of a day when the fog had come up 
 suddenly and had caused disaster, although, 
 to my eye, the heavens were clear and fair 
 as any one could wish. I soon drew from 
 him the account of a terrible struggle between 
 the Government officers and the smugglers, 
 when the fog had given the latter a miracu- 
 lous and unexpected triumph, and this led
 
 254 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 on to the tale — oft - repeated but never 
 stale — of the wreck of the Portuguese ''mer- 
 chant," when the " lads " picked up the wicker 
 bottles that floated ashore, and drank them- 
 selves sick with eau-de-Cologne in mistake 
 for brandy. 
 
 This was my favourite story ; but it was 
 hard to know whether to laugh or to cry 
 when Mrs Warren number three would 
 shake her head sympathetically at the tear- 
 ful account of the demise of Mrs Warren 
 number two, who " lay a-dying within, while 
 the lads drank the spirit without," and old 
 Warren was forced to take a drain himself 
 to help him in his trouble. 
 
 The time always passed quickly for me 
 with the funny old couple in their funny old 
 hovel under the cliff, and it was late after- 
 noon before I got out again on to the beach. 
 Warren's memories had not been awakened 
 by mere fancy ; his prophecy was right. 
 There was a heavy sea-fog over the marsh, 
 blown up by a wind from the east. I 
 gathered my cloak around me, and set off 
 walking as fast as I could. The mist was 
 so thick that the dog shook himself as he
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 255 
 
 ran on in front of me ; the damp stood in 
 great drops on the bristles of his shaggy 
 coat and of my rough homespun cloak ; it 
 took the curl even out of my curly hair, 
 which hung down in dank masses by the side 
 of my face. 
 
 I could not see the sea, though I could 
 hear it lapping on the shore close by : I could 
 not even see the dyke at my left, and yet 
 it was not thirty yards away. I knew the 
 way well enough, however, and the fog only 
 made an amusing variety to an everyday 
 walk. I started off merrily, avoiding the 
 road, which was not the shortest way, and 
 making, to the best of my belief, a straight 
 line across the marsh, as I had done hun- 
 dreds of times before. But a mist is de- 
 ceptive, and I could not have been walking 
 more than a quarter of an hour when I felt 
 the ground suddenly give way beneath me, 
 and I found myself disappearing into one 
 of the deep ditches that intersect the marsh 
 between the broader dykes. 
 
 I knew that there was brackish water at 
 the bottom of the ditch, and though I did not 
 mind a ducking, I did not care for a ducking
 
 256 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 in dirty water, and so far from home. By 
 clutching on to the docks and teazels on the 
 bank, I managed to hold myself up and get 
 my heels into the soil, and then with one 
 spring I landed myself on the opposite bank. 
 My petticoats would not escape Deborah's 
 notice, but my feet were dry, and even my 
 skirts would not attract immediate attention. 
 
 But how had I got to the ditch ? and where 
 was I now ? Yes, I must have borne fur- 
 ther to the left than I had intended ; but it 
 did not much signify — one way across the 
 marsh was as good as another to me, and I 
 had better keep to this side now, and go 
 home under the lee of the hill. There would 
 be the advantage that I might be able to find 
 my little titlark gain. I whistled, for I could 
 not see the dog, and presently my call was 
 answered by a loud barking close in front of 
 me, and, lifting up my face, I vaguely saw 
 Taff chasing some larger object before him 
 into the mist. 
 
 I knew at once that in coming to this side 
 of the ditch I had landed myself among a 
 herd of the cattle that had now taken up 
 their summer quarters upon the marsh. I
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 257 
 
 was not afraid of the cattle. I had seen 
 them there ever since I had been a child, 
 browsing in the warm weather : they were 
 part of the land. But I wondered just 
 where I had got to, and I stopped to think 
 where the sea was, and where the dyke. 
 Without these two landmarks I was some- 
 what bewildered. The cattle closed around 
 me. They, too, seemed to be doubtful about 
 something, but they kept their eyes on me. 
 I wished Taff would not bark so. 
 
 I turned round, and once more began 
 walking briskly in the direction which I 
 thought was the right one. A great brown 
 beast stood just in front of me. I had not 
 noticed him before, but he had come up over 
 a mound of the uneven marsh-land, and stood 
 staring at me with head gently rocking. Up 
 till now I had not had a moment's uneasi- 
 ness, but I began to wonder whether the 
 marsh cattle were always safe. I moved, 
 and the bull moved too. Taff barked louder 
 than ever, and the bull began to bellow 
 softly. I was never so cross with the dog 
 in my life, and I could not punish him, for I 
 dared not take my eyes off the brown beast. 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 258 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 I moved forward till I had passed the 
 place where the bull stood. But now it was 
 worse than ever. The mist was so thick, 
 and I had so entirely lost my way, that I 
 dared not retreat backwards for fear of falling 
 into an unseen dyke, and some of the dykes 
 were deep at this time of the year. I began 
 to run gently, but my heart failed me as I 
 heard behind me the bull following, still 
 bellowing softly. If I were only on the 
 right road, there must be a gate soon, but I 
 feared I was not on the right road. Taff 
 kept running round in front of me, hinder- 
 ing my speed. I felt that the creature was 
 gaining on me. I don't think I was ever so 
 frightened before. I don't remember that my 
 presence of mind ever so entirely failed me 
 as it did on that day. But my legs seemed 
 as though they were tied together. I stood 
 still waiting, and then I think I must have 
 fallen to the ground. 
 
 I knew that the bull must be close upon 
 me, and it was no more than what I expected 
 when I felt myself suddenly lifted up by the 
 waist and flunor to what seemed to me an 
 immense distance through the air. For a
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 259 
 
 moment I lay stunned. The bellowing of 
 the bull, the barking of the dog, the murmur 
 of the sea, — all mingled in my ears In one 
 great booming sound. Then slowly I be- 
 came conscious that there was a human 
 presence beside me in the fog. I opened my 
 eyes. I was lying close under a five-barred 
 gate. The bull was on the other side of it ; 
 Taffy lay whining beside me ; and over me 
 stood a big, tall man, looking down at me 
 quietly. 
 
 " Are you hurt, miss ? " said he. 
 
 I struggled into a sitting posture, and 
 pulled myself up on to my feet by the help 
 of the gate. 
 
 " No, no, thank you," answered I. But 
 my head was dizzy, and my arm ached 
 dreadfully. 
 
 "I'm afraid I flung you over rather hard," 
 said he. ** But there wasn't time to do It 
 nicely." 
 
 '' You flung me over ! " cried I, aghast. 
 
 " To be sure," answered he. " Did you 
 think it was the bull ? " 
 
 He gave a short laugh — scarcely a laugh, 
 it was so very grim and quiet. But when
 
 26o MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 he laughed, his smile was like a white flash 
 — I remember noticing It. I gazed at him. 
 Angry as I was — and I was absurdly, child- 
 ishly angry — I could not help gazing at this 
 man, who was able to take me up like a 
 baby and fling me over a five-barred gate 
 in a twinkling. 
 
 He was very broad and strong ; his eyes 
 were dark brown, his hair was black and 
 curling, and so was his beard. He had 
 neither a pleasant face nor a handsome face 
 — until he smiled. I was not conscious at the 
 time of any of these details ; but there, in 
 the fog, I thought he looked very imposing. 
 
 ** I'm afraid, if it had been the bull, he 
 would have flung you farther and hurt you 
 more," said he. " You lay there very handy 
 for him." 
 
 How I hated myself for having fallen to 
 the ground ! 
 
 '' Come, Taff," said I, giving the dog a 
 little kick, ''get up." 
 
 The dog sprang to his feet with his tail 
 between his legs. No wonder he was 
 frightened and surprised. I had never done 
 such a thing to him before. But I had a
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 261 
 
 vague feeling that If he had not hindered 
 me I should have got over the gate alone, 
 and I was savage at the Idea of having 
 needed help from a man. 
 
 '' Good evening to you," said I, curtly, 
 nodding my head In the direction of the 
 man, but without looking at him again. 
 
 ** Good evening," answered he, raising his 
 hat. " I hope you'll be none the worse for 
 your fall." 
 
 I vouchsafed no answer to this speech, but 
 strode on down the track as fast as my ach- 
 ing limbs and dizzy head would allow me to 
 do. The sea murmured on the beach at my 
 right. I could not see It for the fog, but I 
 could hear it. After a while I think it must 
 have lulled my anger to rest. The sea has 
 always been a good friend to me, in Its 
 storms as in its calm. I like to see it rage 
 as I dare not rage, and I like to see it calm 
 as I cannot be calm. The restless sea has 
 taught me as many things as the quiet marsh : 
 they are both very wide. And that day I am 
 sure It lulled my irritable temper. 
 
 Before long I began to think that I, to say 
 the least of it, had treated my deliverer with
 
 262 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 scant courtesy. When I got to the farm that 
 divides the marsh from the beach, I turned 
 round to see if he were following. The fog 
 was beginning to lift. The distant hills of 
 the South Downs rose out of the sea of 
 vapour, and were as towering mountains in 
 the mystery, lying dim and yet blue against 
 the struggling light of the sunset behind. 
 The white headland that I had left, detached 
 itself boldly against the sea-line — for the 
 mist was only on the level land now, where 
 it lay like a sheet a few feet above the 
 marsh, so that the objects on the ground 
 itself shone, illumined by the slanting rays 
 of the sun, till each one had a value of its 
 own in the scene. Through the golden 
 spray of the sunlit vapour the red and the 
 white cattle shone like jewels upon the brown 
 land, where every little line of water was like 
 a snake in the vivid light ; and as I turned 
 and looked towards the grey cliff, where I 
 had climbed the bank after the bird's nest 
 a few hours before, the long line of hill 
 behind, dotted with fir - trees and church 
 steeples and little homesteads, lay midway 
 in the air through the silver veil.
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 263 
 
 I Stood awhile looking back. I do not 
 know that I was conscious of the wonder of 
 the scene, but I remember it very vividly. 
 At the time I think I was chiefly busy wish- 
 ing the stranger to come up, that I might 
 rectify my lack of courtesy. I saw him at 
 last. He came in sight very slowly, and 
 stood a long while leaning against the last 
 gate lighting his pipe. I watched him several 
 minutes, and he never once looked along the 
 path to see if I was there. Why was I an- 
 noyed ? I had dismissed him almost rudely. 
 He did but do as he was bid. And yet I 
 do believe I was annoyed: I do believe I 
 was unreasonable to that point.
 
 264 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 When I came In to supper that evening, my 
 friend of the fog was standing beside father 
 on the parlour hearth-rug. Directly I saw 
 him, I wondered how I could have been such 
 a fool as not to have guessed at once that 
 that was Mr Trayton Harrod. But It had 
 never occurred to me for a moment ; and 
 when I recognised In the man to whom I had 
 promised to be friendly, also the person who 
 had presumed to take me by the waist and 
 pitch me over a gate, all my bad temper of 
 before swelled up within me worse than ever, 
 and I felt as though It would be quite impos- 
 sible for me even to be civil. And yet I had 
 since promised somebody, even more defin- 
 itely than I had promised Joyce, that I would 
 do my best to make matters run smoothly. 
 For that very evening father had made
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 265 
 
 an appeal to my better feelings. It seems 
 that while I had been out, Reuben Ruck and 
 mother had had a real pitched battle. Mother 
 had told him to do something in preparation 
 for the arrival of the bailiff, which he had re- 
 fused to do ; and upon that mother had gone 
 to father, and had said that It was absolutely 
 necessary that Reuben should leave. 
 
 When I came home I had found father 
 standing on the terrace In the sunset. It 
 was a very unwise thing for him to do, for 
 the air was chill. I wondered what had 
 brought him out, and whether he could be 
 looking for me. The little feeling of estrange- 
 ment that had been between us since he had 
 settled for the bailiff to come to the farm had 
 given me a great deal of pain, and a lump 
 rose in my throat as I saw him there watch- 
 ing me come up the hill. It was partly re- 
 pentance for the feelings I had had towards 
 him, partly hope that he was going to want 
 me again as he used to do. 
 
 *' Where have you been, lass?" said he, 
 when I reached him. " You look sadly." 
 
 I laughed. The tears were near, but I 
 laughed. My arm hurt me very much, and
 
 266 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 my head ached strangely ; but I was so glad 
 to hear him speak to me again like that. 
 
 '' The mist has taken my hair out of curl," 
 said I — ''that's all. I have been down to 
 the cliffs, to take old Warren some tea. Did 
 you want me ? " 
 
 ''Yes," answered he. "I want to have a 
 talk with you." 
 
 "Well, come indoors then," said I. "You 
 know you oughtn't to be out so late." 
 
 We went into the study. Mother and Deb 
 were getting supper ready in the front dwell- 
 ing-room. There was no lamp lit ; we sat 
 down in the dusk. 
 
 "Your mother and Reuben have had a row, 
 Meg," began father, with a kind of twinkle 
 in his eye, although he spoke gravely. 
 " A row ! " echoed I. " What about ? " 
 " About Mr Trayton Harrod," answered 
 father. " She wants me to send Reuben 
 away." 
 
 "Send Reuben away!" cried I, aghast. 
 " Why, it wouldn't be possible. There would 
 be more harm done by the old folks going 
 away than any good that would come of new 
 folks coming, that I'll warrant."
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 267 
 
 " That's not the question," said father, 
 tapping the table with his hand. '' Mr 
 Harrod has got to come, you know, and if 
 the old folk don't like it, why, they'll have 
 to go." 
 
 " There's one thing certain," added I, — 
 " Reuben wouldn't go if he were sent away 
 fifty times." 
 
 Father laughed — the first time I had 
 heard him laugh for a fortnight. 
 
 "Well, he'll have to be pleasant if he 
 does stay," said he. 
 
 " Oh, you none of you understand Reuben," 
 said I. "He's not so stupid as you all 
 think. He'll be pleasant if he thinks it's for 
 our good that he should be pleasant. He 
 wishes us well. But he'll want convincing 
 first. And," I added, with a little laugh, 
 *' maybe I want convincing myself first." 
 
 And it was then that father appealed to 
 my better feelings. 
 
 '' Yes, Meg," said he, " I know that. I've 
 seen that all along, and maybe It's natural. 
 We none of us like strangers about. But I 
 thought fit to have Mr Harrod come for the 
 good of the farm, and now what we all have
 
 268 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 to do is to treat him civilly, and make the 
 work easy for him." I was silent, but father 
 went on. " And what I want you to do, 
 Meg, is to help me make the work easy 
 for him. It won't be easier to him than it is 
 to us. If his father had not died beggared, 
 I suppose he would have had his own by 
 now. It is a hard thing for children when 
 their parents beggar them." It being dark, 
 I could not see his face, but I heard him 
 sigh, and I saw him pass his hand over his 
 brow. '' Mother is right," he added. ''We 
 ought to make him feel it as little as we can ; 
 and as Joyce is away, you're the daughter of 
 the house now, Meg. I want you to remem- 
 ber that. I want you to do the honours of 
 the house as a daughter should. What a 
 daughter is at home a wife will be when she 
 is married." 
 
 " I shall never marry," said I, with a short 
 laugh. '* But I'll behave properly, father, 
 never fear." 
 
 " That's right, my lass," said father, who 
 seemed to take this speech as meaning some- 
 thing more conciliatory than it looks now as 
 I set it down. ** He is coming to-night to
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 269 
 
 supper. Mother means to ask him to come 
 every night to supper. She would have 
 liked to give him house-room, but that don't 
 seem to be possible. So we mean to make 
 him welcome to our board.'' 
 
 "All right," said I. *' I suppose mother 
 knows best." 
 
 ''Yes," echoed father; ''mother always 
 knows best. She's a wise woman — that's 
 why every one loves her." 
 
 Again I promised to do what I could to 
 resemble mother — to conciliate Reuben, and 
 to make myself agreeable to our guest. And 
 yet, alas ! in spite of all that, I could not 
 conquer my petty feelings of ill-temper when 
 I came into the parlour and found that the 
 man to whom I intended to be polite was 
 the man who had offended me by being 
 polite to me. What a foolish girl I was! 
 As I look back upon it now, I am half in- 
 clined to smile. But I was only nineteen. 
 
 Mr Harrod had his back towards me when 
 I came into the room. But I could not have 
 failed to recognise the broad strong shoul- 
 ders, and the very black curly hair. I must 
 have been the more changed of the two, for
 
 270 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 I had brushed and braided my locks, which 
 curled all the merrier for the wetting, and I 
 had put on another dress. Nevertheless his 
 eyes had scarcely rested upon me before his 
 mouth broke again into that smile that 
 showed the strong white teeth. 
 
 " I hope you're none the worse, miss," said 
 he. '* I was afraid you had got a bad shak- 
 ing." 
 
 Deborah, who was bringing in the supper, 
 looked at me sharply. Mother had not yet 
 come In, and father was in a brown study, but 
 the remark had not escaped old Deb. She 
 could not keep silence even before a stranger. 
 
 '' I thought you looked as if you had been 
 up to some mischief again," said she. '' Your 
 face Is a nice sight." 
 
 I flushed angrily. I think it was enough 
 to make any girl angry. It was bad 
 enough to know that I was disfigured by a 
 scratch on my cheek without having a 
 stranger's attention attracted to it, and run- 
 ning a risk besides of a scolding from mother, 
 who came In at the moment. Luckily she 
 did not hear what Deborah had said. She 
 was too much eno-aged in welcominor her
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 2/1 
 
 guest, which she did with that gentle dignity 
 that to some might have looked like a want 
 of cordiality, but to me seems, as I look back 
 upon it, to be just what a welcome should 
 be — hospitable without being anxious. But 
 when we were seated at the supper-table 
 she noticed the mark on my face. 
 
 '' It's only a fall that I got on the marsh," 
 said I, in answer to her inquiry. " It isn't 
 of the slightest consequence." 
 
 She said no more, neither did Mr Harrod. 
 I must say I was grateful to him. He saw 
 that I wished the matter to be forgotten, and 
 he respected my desire, but I have often 
 wondered since what construction he put 
 upon my behaviour. If he thought about 
 me at all, he must have considered me a 
 somewhat extraordinary example of a young 
 lady, but I do not suppose that he did con- 
 sider me at all. Of course I was nothing 
 but a figure to him : he had plenty to do 
 feeling his level in the new life upon which 
 he had just entered. 
 
 I am sure that Mr Harrod was a very shy 
 and a very proud man. When mother said 
 that she should expect him every evening to
 
 272 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 sup at the Grange, he refused her Invitation 
 with what I thought scant gratitude, although 
 the words he used were civil enough ; and 
 when father spoke of his friendship with the 
 Squire, he said that he was beholden to the 
 Squire for his recommendation, but that he 
 should never consider himself a friend of a 
 man who was In a different station of life to 
 himself. 
 
 I think in my heart I admired him for 
 this sentiment, and father should also have 
 approved of It; but. If I remember rightly, 
 mother made some quiet rejoinder to the 
 effect that It was not always the people who 
 were on one's own level that were really one's 
 best friends. I recollect that she, who was 
 wont generally to sit and listen, worked hard 
 that evening to keep up the conversation. 
 
 Dear mother ! whom with the arrogance of 
 youth I had never considered excellent ex- 
 cepting as a housewife or a sick - nurse. 
 County news, the volunteer camp, the drain- 
 age of the marsh, the scarcity of well-water, 
 the want of enterprise In the townspeople, 
 the coming elections, — dear me, she had 
 them all out; whereas father and I, who had
 
 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 273 
 
 undertaken, as it were, to put our best legs 
 foremost, sat silent and glum. To do my- 
 self justice, I had a racking headache, and 
 for once in my life I really felt ill, but I 
 might have behaved better than I did. 
 
 Mr Harrod began to thaw slowly under 
 the influence of mother's kindness. She had 
 such a winning way with her when she chose, 
 that everybody gave way before it ; and I 
 noticed that even from the very first, when 
 he was certainly in a touchy frame of mind 
 towards these, his first employers, Mr Harrod 
 treated mother with just the same reveren- 
 tial consideration that every one always used 
 towards her. 
 
 In spite of it all, that first evening was not 
 a comfortable time. Father and Mr Harrod 
 compared notes upon different breeds of 
 cattle and upon different kinds of grains ; 
 but there was a restraint upon us all, and 
 I think every one was glad when mother 
 made the move from the table and father 
 lit his pipe. I have no knowledge of how 
 they got on afterwards over their tobacco : 
 when I rose from the table the room swam 
 around me, and if it had not been for 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 274 MARGARET MALIPHANT. 
 
 Deborah, who, entering on some errand 
 at the moment, took me by the shoulders 
 and pushed me out of the door in front of 
 her, I am afraid I should have made a most 
 unusual and undignified exhibition of myself 
 in the Grange parlour. As it was, I had to 
 submit to be tucked up in bed by the old 
 woman, and only persuaded her with the 
 greatest difficulty not to tell mother of my 
 accident, some account of which, as was to 
 be expected, she wrung from me in explana- 
 tion of Mr Harrod's words in the parlour. 
 
 ''I'd not have been beholden to him if I 
 could have helped it," were the consoling 
 words with which she left me ; and as I lay 
 there, aching and miserable, I became quite 
 convinced that any comradeship between my- 
 self and my father s bailiff had become all 
 the more impossible because of the occur- 
 rence of the afternoon. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. 
 
 \