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 EEAPTTfG THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 MES. MACKENZIE DANIEL, 
 
 Author of " After Long Years," " Miriam's Sorrow," " My Sister 
 Minnie," " Our Guardian," &c. 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 %oxxboxx : 
 
 T. CAUTLEY NEWBY, PUBLISHER, 
 
 30, WELBECK STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE. 
 
 1864. 
 [the eigut of translation is kesecved.]
 
 «"5 3 
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 
 
 r CHAPTEE I. 
 
 i 
 
 HOME NEWS. 
 
 "Another letter from home," I announced, 
 
 ^ entering tlie schoolroom, where, as usual, my 
 sister sat at her 'composition^ or some such 
 
 ; brain wearying work a full hour before the 
 
 ^ rest of the girls thought it necessary to make 
 
 their appearance down stairs. " Shall I read it 
 
 ^ aloud to you, Gertrude?" 
 
 " Oh do, please," she said, without even 
 looking up or ceasing to write. ''I can listen 
 just as well while I do this bit of copying, 
 and really I have not a moment to lose — you 
 
 ^ know I slept an hour too late this morning." 
 
 ^ VOL. I. B
 
 2 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ''No, indeed, Gertie, I know nothing of 
 tlie kind. What I know is that you are 
 killing yourself in your pursuit of learning, 
 and that you will awake one of these odd days 
 to find it all vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 What can a woman want or do with a brain 
 overcrowded, as I am sure yours must be, 
 with an amount of wisdom that would be 
 more than sufficient to divide amongst all the 
 eight and twenty young ladies, myself in- 
 cluded, who compose this unrivalled and 
 flourishing establishment ? Seriously, and to 
 do a bit of Latin for your especial approval ; 
 cm bono f ' ' 
 
 " Dear child ! ^* said my elder sister, far too 
 intent upon her work either to smile or frown 
 outwardly (whatever she might do inwardly) 
 at the nonsense I was talking^ ''Will you 
 be so good as to read me that letter in your 
 hand, and then leave me to myself till the 
 prayer bell rings. I must get this German 
 composition ready for the professor." 
 
 " W^ho, bye the bye, is not likely to be very
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 3 
 
 grateful to jou for giving Iiim twice or thrice 
 as many pages to look over as he gets from 
 either of his other pupils — except that Miss Ger- 
 trude Beamish, being such a very talented and 
 industrious young lady, is sure to bring laurels 
 to her fortunate instructor in any branch of 
 knowledge — but speaking of German recals 
 me to the letter you are waiting for me to read 
 to you, my poor patient darling. That myster- 
 ious German cousin of ours has turned up, 
 it seems, sooner than was expected, ov indeed 
 desired. She is at Lindenhurst now." 
 
 '' Do pray read what mamma has written, 
 Ethel," pleaded Gertrude, and this time with 
 such a really vexed look upon her usually 
 placid face, that I held my tiresome tongue, 
 (as I am bound to confess it w^as often called,) 
 and proceeded gravely to unfold and read our 
 home letter. 
 
 Here it is, just as our dear mother, in her 
 haste and evident preoccupation of mind, 
 scribbled it off to us. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 reaping the whirlwind. 
 
 "Dear Children, 
 
 " You will be surprised at seeing 
 my handwriting again so soon, and still more 
 surprised when 1 explain to you the object of 
 my writing. It is to entreat one of you to 
 make the sacrifice of your last six weeks at 
 school (I believe it wants about that time to 
 the holidays) and come home to me at once, 
 I would not ask this, knowing how much 
 depends upon the careful completion of your 
 education, had I not a strong motive for doing 
 so. I cannot fully explain myself now. I 
 can only say your cousin Meta Kauffman 
 arrived unexpectedly and unannounced at 
 Lindenhurst a week ago,and that it is of course 
 dull for her — a stranger in a strange land — 
 without a young companion. Your brother, 
 as you know, has no time that he is justified 
 in sparing, to devote to our new inmate, and 
 even if I had myself health and strength for 
 going about with her, she is of too lively and 
 energetic a nature to care for the attendance
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 5 
 
 of an old woman whose one remaining interest 
 in life is her ow^n dear children. I w^ill only 
 add now that I leave it entirely to yourselves 
 to decide which of you is to return to me — 
 only do let me have the happiness of welcom- 
 ing one of my darling girls as soon as possible. 
 I enclose a cheque for the journey. 
 
 '' Guy unites with me in warmest love to 
 you both. 
 
 '' Ever, Qiy dearest children, 
 
 '' Your devoted mother, 
 
 '' Anna Beamish." 
 
 "There, Gertrude," I said, rejoiced to see 
 that eternally scratching pen laid down at last, 
 and my sister's eyes turned for a moment from 
 her back-breaking labour ; '' what do you make 
 out of all this ? what dread phantom is haunt- 
 ing poor mamma now, and requiring the 
 material presence of one of her daughters to 
 exorcise ? Can you read the riddle, or have 
 all your brains been expended on that erudite 
 and metaphysical production before you?"
 
 6 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Ifancj mamma must be dreaming/' replied 
 Gertrude, evidently following her own train 
 of thought rather than giving heed to my 
 questions ; '' why should a girl of nearly 
 twenty, who comes to England for the sole 
 purpose of working for her bread, expect to 
 be amused all day long like an idle, frivolous 
 young lady who is sent out on a visit ? This 
 idea of having one of us home on Metals ac- 
 count is most unreasonable, and certainly, as 
 far as I am concerned, quite out of the ques- 
 tion/' 
 
 '' Dear Gertie, make yourself easy on that 
 point. I will go, since mamma wishes it, and 
 since the honours or prizes I may lose, by the 
 sacrifice of six wrecks' study, would scarcely 
 be worth talking about. And now, shall I 
 explain to you what it all means, or must I 
 leave you to your scribbling and your present 
 mystification on the subject of this bewilder- 
 ing letter ?" 
 
 " Oh, just say what you think, Ethel ; it 
 needn't take you five minutes ; and I should
 
 KEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 7 
 
 perhaps puzzle over it instead of attending to 
 my work if you were to defer your explanation 
 — you are certainly a quicker guesser of all 
 kinds of riddles than I am.'' 
 
 " Not much merit in guessing this, my dear. 
 It is simply, as it seems to me, that Meta 
 Kauffman has turned out to be a young lady 
 of sufficient personal and mental attractions to 
 make a dangerous tete-a-tete companion, day 
 after day, for our sensitive, if not susceptible 
 brother ; and mamma, who is easily frightened, 
 catches hold of the first straw that she sees 
 floating towards her in this dire extremity. 
 If Meta had only been content to remain in 
 her happy fatherland a few weeks longer, Guy 
 would have been safe at Cambridge, and you 
 and I quite free to devote ourselves to the 
 young person's entertainment." 
 
 Here I paused, not because my ideas on 
 the subject were half exhausted, but because 
 Gertrude's look of quiet and, I am sure, un- 
 conscious contempt, struck me as infinitely 
 amusing.
 
 8 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " If Meta IS a girl of this kind," she said (and 
 what those simple words " this kind '^ exactly 
 comprehended, I must leave to the reader's 
 imagination, never having quite fathomed them 
 myself), " I am sure she will not do to join 
 with us in school-keeping. We certainly 
 ought to have known something more of her 
 than that she was our cousin, and an orphan^ 
 before we proposed the plan which has brought 
 her to England. I wonder, though, whether 
 you are right in your surmises, Ethel.'' 
 
 '' Oh, I am sure I am right in saying 
 that mamma is afraid to trust Guy alone with 
 her —but she may be a most proper and un- 
 exceptionable /mwZem for all this. A dreamer 
 and a poet like Guy, would be in far greater 
 danger with a lovely, innocent, unsophisti- 
 cated girl, than with a designing flirt such as 
 I see you are now picturing poor Meta." 
 
 Here Gertrude tapped her foot, a little 
 impatiently, I am afraid, on the uncarpeted 
 floor. 
 
 " But, my dear Ethel, you are only making
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. y 
 
 matters worse, as far as our special object in 
 inviting Miss Kauffman to Lindenhurst is 
 concerned. We want a hard-working, indus- 
 trious girl, with a thorough knowledge of her 
 own language, and a general capacity for 
 usefulness, to assist us in establishing and 
 conducting our future school. Lovely, inno- 
 cent, unsophisticated creatures may do for the 
 heroines of novels, or even for tha life, if 
 there is such, which consists of holidays and 
 perpetual sunshine ; but they are really quite 
 out of place in the working, matter-of-fact 
 existence which is evidently to be our portion. 
 I think if you find, on going home, that Meta 
 is not the sort of person we shall need, you 
 and mamma had better see what can be done 
 about getting her some situation in a private 
 family. I will not destroy my own chance 
 of success in the outset by any association or 
 partnership that might lower the tone of our 
 school. And yet the fact of her being 
 German would have told so well, have had 
 so much weight with most parents having 
 
 B 5
 
 10 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 children to educate. Upon my word, all this 
 is miserably provoking, and has quite spoiled 
 my day's work. Ethel, you have succeeded 
 for once in making me feel as vagrantly 
 inclined as yourself during the precious hour 
 when I like to be busiest. There, I will put 
 all this writing away till after breakfast, 
 though it fills me with remorse to do it, and 
 come and have a turn with, you on the ter- 
 race. Those lazy girls will none of them be 
 down till the bell rings, and it does seem a 
 very lovely morning.'' 
 
 " Oh, it is indeed, Gertie, and it will do you 
 a whole world of good to emerge from this 
 musty schoolroom. The roses are all wasting 
 their sweetness on the desert air, or on Martha 
 and her watering pot, which are even less 
 appreciative objects. I learnt my page of 
 Italian poetry sitting under the shadow of 
 poor broken-nosed Minerva, nearly an hour 
 ago, and then I gathered a great handful of 
 the trailing roses (for nobody here cares a bit 
 for them) and made them into a wreath for the
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 11 
 
 head of the dilapidated goddess, as a reward 
 for the shelter she had given me. Come along, 
 Gertie, and see how dignified she looks in the 
 morning sunshine, with her flower crown and 
 — her broken nose." 
 
 Mj sister and myself had acquired our taste 
 for early rising when we were quite little 
 children, living in our happy country home, 
 under the guidance of the wise and tender 
 father who deemed activity and industry no 
 less essential to the moral than to the physical 
 health of all the juvenile members of his 
 household. So, long before Gertrude began 
 to write French or German compositions in 
 the grey dawn, or I to dream beneath tumble- 
 down statues amongst neglected rose bushes, 
 we had been in the habit of scampering a 
 mile or two over the dewy fields, or through 
 the silent lanes around the vicarage, sometimes 
 with Guy and his dog as our escort, some- 
 times we two alone, hours before we were 
 expected to make oar appearance in the 
 breakfast room, and to recite the little simple
 
 12 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 hymn with which my dear father liked us to 
 commence the business of the day. 
 
 When he died suddenly in the very prime 
 of health and vigour, our quiet, happy, un- 
 eventful existence underwent a change. First 
 of all, as soon as my mother was well enough 
 to be moved with safety, we had to leave the 
 dear old house, to make room for the new 
 vicar, a stranger to us, and an old man who 
 seemed to have outlived human sympathies 
 (if indeed he had ever possessed any) and to 
 be as indifferent to our feelings as he speedily 
 showed himself to be to the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities he had most unjustifiably, 1 
 think, assumed. 
 
 Then for a few weeks, — such dull, miserable, 
 anxious weeks they were with poor mannna, 
 almost incapable of directing or advising us 
 in any way, — we lived in a very humble 
 lodging in the village, and Gertrude, the 
 eldest and certainly the most energetic of the 
 family, began to talk of getting a few little 
 girls to teach during the day, as a means of
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 13 
 
 adding to our reduced, and indeed, wholly 
 insufficient income. I don't think she would 
 have succeeded in doing much at that time, 
 being only seventeen herself, and having had 
 only a home education ; but the necessity for 
 such a doubtful effort was temporarily averted 
 by the benevolent interference of a distant 
 relative, with more money than education, 
 who gave, as a reason for helping us, the not 
 very flattering one, that we were chiefly 
 women (Guy was only fifteen when our 
 father died) and could not therefore help 
 ourselves. This eccentric gentleman stipu- 
 lated, however, that he should choose his own 
 method of affording us assistance. He came 
 down to see us in our very modest lodgings, 
 and spent a day or two in looking out for a 
 suitable residence for us, as a first step. There 
 was an old, ugly, large brick house, dignified 
 by the romantic name of " Lindenhurst," to 
 be let on moderate terms, about half-a mile 
 eastward of the village, and this our relative 
 finally decided on, because he said he meant
 
 14 REAPING THE WHIELWIND. 
 
 to make sclioolmistresses of the young ladies, 
 and LIndenhurst had, once upon a time, accor- 
 ding to tradition, been known for miles round 
 as a flourishing ladies' school. It was, as I 
 have said, a very u^ly, unsightly mansion 
 indeed, and had we had only the dear pic- 
 turesque, comfortable old vicarage to compare 
 it with we should probably have entered our 
 new dwelling — furnished in a somewhat 
 shabby-genteel style by our benefactor — in 
 most discontented and prejudiced frames of 
 mind; but those miserable weeks in the cheap 
 lodgings, where we had seemed literally to be 
 without sufficient air to breathe, had made a 
 vast difference in our estimation and appre- 
 ciation of many things ; and Lindenhurst, with 
 its wide, lofty rooms, and two acred garden 
 (wilderness thougli this latter was), appeared 
 to us little less than a paradise of delights 
 after our recent experience. 
 
 But now that a home had been provided 
 for the family en masse^ schools must be 
 sought out for the younger members of it.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 15 
 
 To mamma's surprise and gratification Mr. 
 King announced his very thoughtful and 
 liberal intention of having Guy educated for 
 the church. 
 
 " His father was a parson before him, so 
 let the boy be a parson too ; he seems fond of 
 his books, and has a whiter face than either 
 of his sisters. 1 don't see what else we could 
 do with him." 
 
 In this way our really kind relation settled 
 a matter that would, by and bye, make a 
 difference of several hundred a year in his 
 own income; and then, leaving mamma to 
 choose between a private tutor and a public 
 preparatory school for Guy, he turned his 
 attention to Gertrude and myself, and at length 
 selected the expensive and fashionable estab- 
 lishment of the Misses Hooper, in one of the 
 suburbs of an equally fashionable and ex- 
 pensive watering place, as our training 
 school for the profession to which he destined 
 us. 
 
 We had spent four years, with the excep-
 
 16 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 tion of the usual holidays, very happily at 
 Parnassus House, and were now considered 
 qualified to commence business on our own 
 account. Gertrude was nearly twenty-two, 
 and I just twenty at the period when I have 
 opened my story. We had the promise of 
 two little pupils (boarders) to begin with, and 
 mamma was only waiting our return home 
 and Guy's departure for Cambridge, to fit up 
 the largest room in the house as a school 
 room, and to have the garden, which had 
 been allowed to remain a wilderness during 
 the four years, put in some kind of order. 
 Our cousin, Meta Kaufifman, had been in- 
 vited to join us in our enterprise, under the 
 impression that a settled home would be a 
 great comfort and advantage to her, while 
 her assistance in teaching her own language 
 and anything else in which she might happen 
 to excel, would be an equal advantage and 
 comfort to us. 
 
 Poor Gertrude, however, had been very 
 seriously put out by my innocent suggestions
 
 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 17 
 
 in reference to that young lady, and during 
 our stroll on the terrace (which lasted nearly 
 half-an-hour), she could talk of nothing else, 
 though I tried again and again to draw her 
 attention to the flowers and the birds, and the 
 softness of the lovely morning air. 
 
 Even when I brought her face to face with 
 my rose-crowned, and, in spite of time's cruel 
 pranks, still smiling goddess, she only 
 shrugged her shoulders, and said in a tone of 
 barely tolerant good nature : — 
 
 "My dear Ethel, I wish you would re- 
 member oftener than you do, that you have 
 ceased to be a child, and that now, under the 
 circumstances which your own penetration 
 has suggested, there will be additional reason 
 for both of us to act the woman !'*
 
 18 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 
 
 CHAPTEK IL 
 
 MINERVA S SHADOW. 
 
 The three directresses of the establishment of 
 Parnassus House expressed different degrees 
 of consternation — namely, the positive, the 
 comparative, and the superlative — according 
 to their respective natures, when they were 
 informed that I had received a summons to 
 return home immediately. Miss Miranda, the 
 youngest and the most genial of the sisters, 
 thought it a shame that poor Signor Robello, 
 the Italian master, and " such an interesting 
 man," should lose his best pupil just as the 
 half-yearly opportunity for exhibiting her pro-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 19 
 
 ficiency in public, and tlius gaining Mm eclat^ 
 was coming on. Miss Hortensia was of 
 opinion that Mrs. Beamish must really be 
 wanting in sound judgment, not to say com- 
 mon sense, to deprive her daughter, on any 
 ordinary pretext, of six weeks' study at Par- 
 nassus House ; and Miss Hooper herself — a 
 very strong-minded lady indeed — hesitated a 
 whole day as to whether she might not resist 
 the mandate altogether, and send '^ a bit of 
 her own mind" to the infatuated Mrs. Beamish, 
 in lieu of the daughter she had so very thought- 
 lessly and improperly asked for. But in spite 
 of all this, I knew from the first that my fate 
 was decided ; and I went on with my packing 
 and other preparations as fast and comfortably 
 as if the idea of my leaving Parnassus House 
 had been received with rapturous satisfaction 
 by the amiable ladies who reigned and ruled 
 there. Not that I was without regrets, and 
 even some sorrow, on my own account, in 
 taking a premature leave of a place where I 
 had been really happy, and of some few com-
 
 20 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 panions to wliom I had been warmly attaclied ; 
 but from the moment I had read mammals letter, 
 the fact had been clear to my mind that I, and 
 not Gertrude, would have to make the sacri- 
 fice required of one of us ; and, somehow or 
 other, I had always found it easy to reconcile 
 myself quickly to whatever was inevitable. I 
 had only to feel quite sure that it was inevi- 
 table, for my imagination to set to work to 
 discover a gleam of light, if not an actual 
 sunbeam, breaking through the darkness — any 
 amount of darkness — that might be threatening 
 to overwhelm me. In the present instance 
 there was indeed nothing very dark or very 
 dreadful in returning sooner than I expected 
 to do to a happy though singularly quiet home ; 
 but as there were manifold reasons why I 
 should have preferred staying at school till 
 the end of our time, I had to set over against 
 all these reasons the pleasure of a few weeks 
 with Guy before his college life began. 
 
 I loved this brother of mine very dearly. 
 I believe I had a warmer admiration for his
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 21 
 
 good qualities, a greater tenderness for his 
 faults, a more perfect appreciation of his 
 character generally, than either mamma or 
 Gertrude ; though by them, too, he was 
 cherished with the fondest affection, and petted 
 and indulged rather more than would have 
 been safe for a vain or an inferior nature. I 
 don't mean to imply by this that Guy had 
 any remarkable superiority of mind or dis- 
 position. I am afraid if I made such an as- 
 sertion here that what I have to tell of him in 
 the story I propose writing would seem to 
 give my words the lie ; but I do mean dis- 
 tinctly to affirm that his faults and weaknesses 
 were not the very small, contemptible ones 
 of vanity or selfishness, and that therefore he 
 was in less danger of being spoiled by an 
 excess of affection than many men would be 
 whose surface characters might present a far 
 larger amount of moral strength than my poor 
 Guy's could boast. 
 
 I think mamma had judged unwisely in not 
 sending him to a public school, but she could
 
 22 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 not bear the idea of parting with all her 
 children at once, and so as Mr. King (having 
 somebody he wanted to help to a situation) 
 rather inclined to the home education plan, a 
 private tutor had been decided on to prepare 
 my brother for Cambridge ; and for the four 
 years during which a young man's character 
 usually receives the strongest impressions, he 
 had lived, with his books, completely out of 
 the world, and growing every day less fitted 
 for the battle he would certainly by and bye 
 have to fight in it. 
 
 At nineteen Guy Beamish knew less of 
 what is called ^' life,'' but which I imagine 
 means the crooked and wicked ways of man 
 and womankind, than many boys of twelve 
 who have been sent out to rough it amongst 
 their fellows. He was just what I designated 
 him in talking to Gertrude about mamma's 
 letter, '^a dreamer and a poet," not a poet 
 who would ever perhaps be likely to sing his 
 songs in the public ear, or bend to receive the 
 bay crown at the hands of an admiring multi-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 23 
 
 tude, but a poet to himself and those few with 
 whom he would care to hold intimate com- 
 munion of thought and feeling — and a dreamer 
 both from habit, and because, no matter what 
 his outward circumstances might chance to be, 
 the ideal would always have a far greater hold 
 upon his mind and intellect than the real. 
 
 These sort of characters are somewhat rare 
 in our present very active and material age, 
 and it is well that they should be so, for they 
 purchase their shadowy and usually very 
 brief happiness at a price that no sensible 
 individual would be particularly desirous of 
 paying for such a doubtful good. 
 
 Thus much have I deemed it necessary to say 
 about my brother before introducing him per- 
 sonally to the reader. Henceforth I shall 
 allow his own words and actions to speak for 
 him, only asking all those who cannot in 
 any way sympathize with him or his trials, to 
 mete out their judgment tenderly, and as 
 they themselves would wish to be judged. 
 
 To go back, then, to the commencement of
 
 24 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 this rather long digression, I repeat that I 
 took comfort in being so abruptly torn from 
 Parnassus House and its inmates from the 
 reflection that I could by no other means have 
 seen anything of Guy before he went to 
 Cambridge. Even this thought did not 
 hinder me from feeling a little too sentimen- 
 tally inclined for a rational young lady on the 
 eve of becoming a schoolmistress, when, my 
 packing all done, I had nothing to think of 
 but the friends 1 was going to part with 
 perhaps for ever, and the old familiar scenes 
 associated with pleasanter memories than any 
 later experience might be able to chronicle 
 and dwell upon. 
 
 Gertrude, who regarded me quite in the light 
 of a martyr on account of the solid educational 
 advantages she thought I was abandoning, 
 did all she could to help me and cheer up my 
 spirits during those last two days of my 
 sojourn at Parnassus House; and between her 
 and my own few particular friends I had not 
 much time to myself, nor many opportunities
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 25 
 
 for indulging in the solitary wanderings and 
 dreamings 1 had always been rather addicted 
 to. Nevertheless, I stole one quiet hour, before 
 any of the household were stirring on the 
 morning of my departure, to pay a farewell 
 visit to my dear friend Minerva of the imper- 
 fect nose, and to reflect calmly and soberly — 
 as calmly and soberly as I could at least — on 
 the old life that was passing away from me, 
 and the new life whose dawn was so near at 
 hand. A grey, quiet dawn, not promising a 
 noon of brilliant sunshine, or even a sky 
 undimmed by clouds, but at the same time 
 giving no threatenings of fiercer storms than 
 usually fall to the lot of every-day, common- 
 place people such as I knew myself to be. 
 
 Perhaps I had learnt so much of wisdom 
 from my frequent sittings under the shadow 
 of Minerva; but I would fain, now that she 
 and I were about to part, have gathered for 
 future use some deeper lessons from her over- 
 flowing storehouse ; some rich, genuine ore, 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 26 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 that should bear, and shine the brighter for, 
 the world's rough handling. 
 
 I am afraid, however, that at the most it 
 was only a little gold dust that I picked up 
 and hid away during that one hour's lonely 
 musings on classic ground, amongst the wild, 
 trailing rose bushes in the early summer morn- 
 ing. 
 
 The broken-nosed goddess seemed to smile 
 benevolently and encouragingly upon me, as 
 I hung round her well preserved neck the last 
 wreath of flowers she would ever receive at 
 my hands, and left — silly school-girl that I 
 was — a great round tear upon the shoulder, 
 which for a moment supported my head before 
 I moved away, half laughing to think that I 
 had cried, from the old favourite sunny spot, 
 for ever !
 
 HEAPING THE WHIELWIND. 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GUY. 
 
 BoLTBY was the name of the small market 
 town to which our modest village was tribu- 
 tary, and at Boltby I arrived per coach just 
 as the soft twilight of a May evening was 
 stealing over the land, and giving to meadow, 
 wood, and stream, a chastened beauty, such 
 as the fairest amongst them could never wear 
 by day. My long journey had tired me a good 
 deal, but I lost all sense of fatigue as the coach 
 drew up before the arched gateway of the 
 principal inn ; and, extricating myself from 
 my cramped position, as vis-a-vis to a very 
 
 c 2
 
 28 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 stont old gentleman, whose happy slumbers I 
 had been afraid of disturbing, I sprang to the 
 pavement, and, quite heedless of appearances, 
 threw my arms round the neck of a tall young 
 gentleman, who at the moment of my descent 
 was, oddly enough, looking another way. 
 
 " My darling Guy- didn't you see me before, 
 or were you dreaming that the substantial 
 conveyance I arrived in was only a phantom 
 coach, and that the real one was coming in an 
 opposite direction ? You dear old boy, how 
 nice it is to be with you once again !'' 
 
 " Why, Ethel" (kissing me very affection - 
 ately, if a little less impulsively than I had 
 kissed him), " you are as much a madcap as 
 ever, and looking — if this sober light is to be 
 trusted — handsome and blooming enough to 
 fascinate in any character you pleased, 
 I knew you were in the coach, my love, but the 
 anxious friends of your fellow passengers 
 thronged the narrow way, and hindered me 
 from approaching nearer. Shall I enquire 
 now about your luggage ?"
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 29 
 
 " Oil, that will be all riglit, dear, thank 
 you. I have had it directed to come on by 
 the carrier to-morrow. Gruy, what is the 
 matter with you to-night ? you are peering 
 into that misty distance again." 
 
 My brother turned to me, rather shortly I 
 fancied, though he smiled as he held out his 
 arm. 
 
 " Come, Ethel, we have a walk, you know, 
 of nearly three miles before us, and it is get- 
 ting late for young ladies to he out alone. I 
 mean," he added quickly, as I scanned his 
 face in astonishment, " for young ladies who 
 have travelled since early morning, to be out 
 at all. Are you very tired, my love?" 
 
 " I was, till I saw the dear old Boltby 
 streets, and the back of a certain young gen- 
 tleman, whose face on all former occasions 
 has been the first to greet my longing eyes. 
 Tell me now, however, all about home, and 
 mamma, and — our new cousin." 
 
 '^ Lindenhurst has not ' suffered change' 
 that I am aware of since you last beheld it,
 
 30 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Ethel. Our mother is about as usual, taking 
 into account the inevitable excitement atten- 
 dant upon your expected advent ; and as for 
 our new cousin, I think you will soon be in a 
 position to judge of her for yourself, as she 
 half agreed to meet us somewhere in the fields 
 between this and home. Am I walking too 
 fast for you ?" 
 
 " By no means ;'^ (which assertion was 
 scarcely true, but as my thoughts were travel- 
 ling even faster than my legs, 1 did not much 
 mind being whirled along at masculine speed 
 for a little while), '' by no means, Guy, dear 
 — but why did not Meta come the whole way 
 with you?'^ 
 
 " She said it was too far for her. She does 
 not appear particularly strong. I am almost 
 sorry there was any question of her coming at 
 all. The coach was beyond its time, and I 
 began to fear she might walk on beyond the 
 distance she originally intended. It will be 
 nearly dark in another half hour.'' 
 
 I was no longer in the dark, at any rate,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 31 
 
 concerning my good brother^s eccentric 
 movements ; but I only said now, very 
 innocently and unsuspiciously, '' Oh, we 
 shall be sure to stumble upon her in a 
 minute or two — she will probably be sit- 
 ting romantically upon the top rail of the stile 
 in the bend of the next field. How delicious 
 the fields are to-night, Guy ! but just tell me, 
 in compassion to my weak, feminine nature, 
 whether Meta is pretty or not, and if you like 
 her;^ 
 
 " Girls' questions," he said, a little scorn- 
 fully (young men of nineteen are of course so 
 superior to all this sort of thing), " but I 
 won't be hard upon you to-night, Ethel, — poor 
 dear Ethel ! walking herself out of breath too 
 because she won't own that I am going faster 
 than she likes — shall we rest here a few 
 minutes, my love ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. I am good for another 
 mile at the same pace, but I want to know 
 whether Meta is pretty, and how you like 
 her."
 
 32 REAPING THE WHIELWIND. 
 
 He had no clioice now but to reply frankly, 
 '' Perhaps you will not consider her pretty ; 
 my mother does not. I am an indifferent 
 judge of women's faces myself. To me she 
 appears rather good-looking than the reverse; 
 and then for your second question — I think I 
 must acknowledge that I like her — you, 
 Ethel, will like her too." 
 
 " KShall I ? are her attractive qualities so 
 undeniable that you can answer at once for 
 my being subdued by them — has it been thus 
 in mamma's case ? " 
 
 ^' Oh," he said, and 1 fancied rather petu- 
 lantly, '' Mrs. Beamish has a trick of concen- 
 trating all her admiration and all her affection 
 upon her own children. We, who are the 
 gaineis by it, ought not to murmur; but it 
 certainly gives Meta a poor chance in that 
 quarter." 
 
 " I believe mamma is just to all ;" I an- 
 swered, and then paused abruptly as we 
 reached at that moment the summit of a 
 rising pathway, and were looking down on the
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 33 
 
 stile I had just before alluded to in the 
 hollow of the next field. 
 
 Somebody, sure enough, was sitting there 
 now — not indeed on the top rail, but on the 
 wooden plank which traversed the low stile, 
 and served as a first stepping stone to those 
 who had to climb it. This somebody was a 
 woman, and even at the distance which inter- 
 vened when we first discovered her, we could 
 see that she was bending forward with her 
 face buried tightly in her folded arms, and 
 that her attitude generally was suggestive of 
 utter absorbtion in her own meditations, if 
 not in some agitating subject of personal 
 grief. 
 
 "Guj, is that Meta?" I asked, breaking 
 off abruptly from what I had been saying, and 
 no less disposed now than my brother to 
 quicken our pace. 
 
 " Yes, that is Meta — she is tired, poor 
 child ! and does not see us yet. 1 hope no- 
 thing is the matter with her," he continued 
 anxiously, as we almost ran down the hill. 
 
 c 5
 
 34 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 '' I never knew her hide her face like that. 
 Ethel, let me get on before you, and find out 
 if there is anything wrong — you won't mind 
 following this short distance alone?'* 
 
 Whether I minded it or not, I was clearly 
 to have no choice in the matter, for as Guy 
 spoke he dropped my arm very unceremoni- 
 ously, and darted down the precipitous path 
 at a speed I should, under no circumstances, 
 have been inclined to emulate. I walked 
 leisurely on, watching Meta, who, hearing the 
 rapid footsteps coming towards her, had raised 
 her head, and was sitting in an erect and na- 
 tural posture, at least a minute before my 
 brother stood beside her. 
 
 What passed at their meeting, of course I 
 could not learn, but in a second or two she 
 took his arm, and they both began very slowly 
 to ascend the hill in my direction. 
 
 I soon made out now that Meta was below 
 the middle height, that her movements were 
 easy and even rather graceful, and that her 
 face (under the broad brimmed hat she wore,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 35 
 
 and in the gathering darkness) looked some- 
 what piquante and interesting. 
 
 Then we had reached each other, and the 
 introduction and greeting took place. 
 
 " It seems I frightened this good cousin of 
 mine by my strange attitude," Meta said in 
 pretty broken English, as we continued our 
 progress towards home. " The truth is, I 
 was thinking very intently — thinking is use- 
 ful to all of us sometimes, is it not ? and when 
 I want to think seriously I must shut out 
 external objects. I must see nothing but the 
 visions of the mind — you comprehend me, 
 Ethel?" 
 
 " Yes," I replied, as Guy pressed my arm 
 (could it be to draw my attention to the pro- 
 fundity of wisdom expressed by this speech ?) 
 " but I am afraid on such a night, and with 
 these green, silent fields around me, I should 
 not have courage to retire within myself, how- 
 ever desirable or useful such an act of mental 
 discipline might be." 
 
 '^ Oh your English fields are beautiful,
 
 36 RFAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 beautiful ! '' said Meta, kindling into sudden 
 enthusiasm — " everything is very beautiful 
 aroui?d Lindenhurst. I am happy to have 
 come to so charming a home/^ 
 
 " You speak our language remarkably 
 well/' was my next observation. '' I should 
 scarcely have expected you could have ac- 
 quired so much from your father, considering 
 how young you must have been when you lost 
 him." 
 
 "T was nearly twelve," Meta explained, 
 " and then, since my mother's death, I have 
 been occasionally thrown amongst English 
 people again. I like the English — oh so 
 much ! " 
 
 " Do you ? Were you ever a governess in 
 an English family ?" 
 
 " No ; not exactly that. I have, however, 
 taught German to English children, going 
 out by the day — not very recently, for my 
 health was rather bad, and I stayed as you 
 heard with my godmother — she who wrote to 
 your mother about me."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 37 
 
 '• Yes ; but we never knew where you 
 were, or how employed, between the period 
 of your mother's death and that of your 
 return to Madame Jozeau. Were you teaching 
 all that time?" 
 
 " Oh, not quite,'' Meta said, with what 
 appeared to me rather a forced laugh. 
 " Occasionally I was visiting some German 
 relations, and occasionally, when I had saved 
 a little money, travelling to improve myself. 
 It has been something of a vagrant, Bohemian 
 life, mine," she added, with a sigh that ap- 
 peared far more natural than the laugh which 
 had preceded it ; '' but I have reached a 
 peaceful haven at last, and I am so very 
 thankful." 
 
 "Poor dear Meta!" Guy said, in atone 
 that gave double meaning to his words ; but 
 I said nothing ; and soon after we arrived at 
 Lindenhurst, when our new cousin, declaring 
 herself very tired, went to her own room and 
 appeared no more that evening. 
 
 It was not until I was myself undressing
 
 38 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 and preparing for bed some hours later, that 
 mamma and I had any opportunity of speaking 
 confidentially together concerning the stranger 
 who had come amongst us, and who was 
 already, by one member of the family at least, 
 regarded in the light of a very dear friend. 
 
 " Of course I know,'' said my mother, sit- 
 ting down upon my little bed, and folding 
 her hands on her lap as she invariably did 
 when speaking about anything that greatly 
 interested her, '^ of course I know that Guy 
 is just at the age when boys of his sensitive 
 and romantic nature are sure to fall in love 
 with the first pretty girl who may chance to 
 be thrown in their way ; and I know, too, 
 that in all ordinary cases this calf-love is an 
 exceedingly harmless and fleeting sort of 
 thing — but somehow I am afraid, unless he 
 and Meta can be quickly separated, it will 
 come to a very serious matter with your poor 
 brother, because not only are all his feelings 
 earnest and enthusiastic, in no common degree, 
 but Meta herself, though I don't like the girl.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 39 
 
 has certainly at times a strange fascination 
 about her, which, more than any amount of 
 mere physical beauty, would be likely to 
 deepen and render constant a man's affection 
 towards her. Nothing could have been so 
 unfortunate as her coming just at this time.'' 
 
 " Dear mamma," I said, " dont let it worry 
 you too much, however. Guy will soon be 
 gone, and now that I have come home he 
 can have no excuse for leaving his books to 
 dance attendance upon Meta. You do not of 
 course think she cares about him?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! I have seen nothing in her con- 
 duct to inspire such a belief, nor can I say 
 that she has appeared to court his admira- 
 tion (probably she looks upon him as too 
 much of a boy to make it worth her while 
 even to flirt with him), and yet she must be 
 conscious of his growing interest in her, and I 
 think with this consciousness she should have 
 contrived to avoid his society more than she 
 has done." 
 
 " How old is she herself?"
 
 40 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " About twenty-six, I believe ; but sbe 
 looks singularly youthful from her extreme 
 fairness. I do not consider her in the least 
 pretty, but there are moments when her face 
 quite startles you on account of some extra- 
 ordinary attraction which you suddenly 
 discover in it, and which, on a second glance, 
 may entirely have passed away. Her hair 
 is certainly the most beautiful, both from its 
 colour and length, I ever saw." 
 
 " 1 shall be curious to examine this young 
 lady by daylight. Do you think she left to- 
 night because she was really tired, or from a 
 kind feeling that we might be glad to be 
 alone ?'^ 
 
 " Guy would be ready to swear it was from 
 the latter motive. Perhaps it was. I am 
 afraid I am sometimes a little unjust to the 
 poor child. You and Gertrude will probably 
 be able to make up to her by-and-bye for what 
 she must have found lacking in me. It will 
 be all right and comfortable no doubt when 
 once Guy has got safe away."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 41 
 
 I wondered what mamma meant by ''safe 
 away," because my own strong impression 
 was that had he started that very night he 
 would have been no more safe from Meta's 
 influence than he would be if he remained 
 with her another twelvemonth. I did not 
 express this thought, however, because my 
 mother looked so worried and anxious. I 
 only kissed her and said I was very glad to 
 have come home to share her little troubles, 
 and perhaps to help in dispersing them. 
 
 Then she wished me good night, and I went 
 to bed to dream of Guy and our bright- haired 
 German cousin.
 
 42 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 META, 
 
 I WAS first in the breakfast room the next 
 morning, and while I stood at the wide bay 
 window looking out admiringly on the im- 
 proved state of things without — on the recently 
 mown lawn and on the freshly planted shrubs, 
 mamma came softlv behind me, and wound 
 her arms — mother's fashion — round my waist. 
 " It is so pleasant to have you here, my 
 darling," she said, as I turned quickly and 
 paid back her caress with interest, " I always 
 feel ten years younger when my girls are 
 with me. Have you seen Guy or Meta this 
 morning ?"
 
 REAPlNa THE WHIRLWIND. 43 
 
 " No, I did not know that Meta had left 
 her room, and Guy one never expects to see 
 till breakfast is half over. Is our new cousin 
 an early riser ?" 
 
 "Yes, and Guy too since she has been 
 here. They crossed the lawn together, 
 while I was dressing, half an hour ago." 
 
 " Well, come," I said, noticing that poor 
 mamma's look of anxiety had returned to her 
 face as she mentioned this circumstance, 
 '' we must acknowledge that Meta's influence 
 has been in the right direction here. Guy 
 was really shamefully lazy, and he would 
 have found his indolent habits a great incon- 
 venience at Cambridge. Shall I make the 
 tea, mamma?" 
 
 " Yes, love, if you are ready yourself. I 
 daresay they will be in directly." 
 
 Guy came in first, a minute or two after we 
 were seated at table. He said that he had 
 not been with Meta for some time, that she 
 had refused his companionship, declaring that 
 she preferred walking alone. He did not even
 
 44 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 know what direction she had subsequently 
 taken. 
 
 '' 1 should have been so glad to have had 
 an early stroll with you, Guy dear," I put in 
 here, '' Why did you not come home for 
 me?" 
 
 " 1 did not think of it," he candidly ac- 
 knowledged, and then, guessing perhaps that 
 this spontaneous frankness might be a little 
 painful to a sister who loved him as I did, he 
 added instantly, and with a heightened colour, 
 " I don^t mean I did not think of you, dear 
 Ethel, but simply that it never occurred to 
 me to come back to the house for the purpose 
 of asking you to walk with me.'^ 
 
 It is a bad sign when people deem an 
 elaborate apology necessary for any apparent 
 slight or want of affection. 
 
 " Quite forgiven, Guy," I said, with a smile, 
 '' Another morning I will invite you to a 
 ramble with me, and perhaps Meta, if she has 
 by that time had enough of solitary wander- 
 ings, may be tempted to join us."
 
 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 45 
 
 Meta walked quietly into the room as I 
 spoke, and laid her straw hat and grey mantle 
 on a side table. 
 
 "Am I very late?" she asked in a pleasant 
 and half deprecating voice, addressing my 
 mother, " I really meant to give my cousin 
 Ethel a good opinion of my punctuality ; may 
 I kiss you, Ethel dear, in our foreign 
 fashion ?" 
 
 Guy was seated close to me at the breakfast 
 table, and I could scarcely forbear smiling as 
 I observed the looks of unconscious envy he 
 directed towards me as I was receiving Meta's 
 cousinly salute. And unquestionably it was 
 a dainty pair of lips that bestowed the double 
 kiss upon my unappreciating cheeks, and to 
 my thinking, even then, as attractive a face 
 altogether, without being an absolutely pretty 
 one, as I had ever looked upon. I don't 
 know what it might have been, divested of 
 the bright golden hair that formed a complete 
 and wondrous halo round it; possibly the 
 total absence of colour in the complexion,
 
 46 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 and the extreme lightness of the eyes might 
 have given what is called a " washed out 
 look'' to the countenance in general (though 
 when the eyes were animated they alone 
 sufficed to preserve their owner from the 
 charge of insipidity) but with that marvellously 
 beautiful and marvellously abundant hair, 
 Meta Kauffman was, in my opinion, a 
 woman to be gazed at twice by the coldest 
 beholder, and to be most enthusiastically 
 admired and worshipped by a romantic, 
 dreaming boy like my brother Guy. 
 
 A good deal of this occurred to me as I 
 poured out my cousin's coffee, and otherwise 
 ministered to her creature comforts at our 
 simple family meal. She did not talk much 
 herself, and as Guy appeared to have enough 
 to do in watching and waiting upon his 
 idol, the conversation, such as there was, had 
 to be carried on chiefly between mamma and 
 myself. 
 
 She, too, must have had a more than ordi- 
 arily pre-occupied mind, or the interesting
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 47 
 
 information communicated to me just as 
 breakfast was ending, would not have been so 
 long delayed. 
 
 " Oh, Ethel,'' she exclaimed, abruptly, 
 " think of my forgetting, till this moment, to 
 tell you that our new vicar has arrived, and 
 that he is to preach for the first time next 
 Sunday. I have not seen him yet; but great 
 excitement and expectation prevail in the 
 village, as he is not only a single man, but, 
 report affirms, especially good, and especially 
 charming." 
 
 " Anybody would seem especially good and 
 charming after that weary, dreary Mr 
 Dallas," I replied, rather flippantly ; only Mr. 
 Dallas really had been most unfit in every 
 way to be a clergyman ; " but what is our 
 new vicar's name ?" 
 
 " The Reverend Harold Wyke," answered 
 my brother, this time, as Meta, having finished 
 breakfast, and not being as yet exceedingly 
 interested in our village gossip, was leaving 
 the table ; " a fine sounding name, isn't it,
 
 48 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Ethel, promising quite a hero of romance for 
 you young ladies. Anyhow, you'll have the 
 start of Gertrude, for he's sure to call here in. 
 a day or two. I left a card at the vicarage 
 yesterday." 
 
 It was not altogether like Guy to indulge 
 in foolish jesting of this kind, but it did not 
 require a vast amount of penetration to dis- 
 cover wherefore the advent of an amiable 
 charming, single man, such as Mr. Wyke was 
 described, was not wholly agreeable to 
 him. 
 
 " And thus," I answered merrily, '' I shall 
 be rewarded for so quietly yielding to Gertie 
 the privilege of remaining till midsummer at 
 Parnassus House. I thought such extraor- 
 dinary virtue must meet with a speedy 
 recompense." 
 
 " Well," said Guy, with an abrupt return 
 to his usual seriousness, as his eyes followed 
 Meta's movements about the room, " I sup- 
 pose I should only be considered in the way 
 of you young ladies if I volunteered to give
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 49 
 
 up my books for your sweet sakes this morn- 
 ing — is not that about the truth, Ethel?" 
 
 " Quite so, my dear Guy," was my ready 
 answer, interpreting mamma's pleading coun- 
 tenance ; " I have no end of unpacking and 
 putting in order to get through, and I have 
 been indulging in tlie hope of having Meta to 
 assist me in my labours." 
 
 "I shall be very pleased to help you," said Meta, 
 kindly and cheerfully; and so we two, without 
 any further discussion, went away to my room 
 upstairs, and were soon too busy to have either 
 time or inclination for much promiscuous gos- 
 sipping. 
 
 About twelve o'clock, however, I fancied 
 that my companion was beghining to look 
 tired, and I asked her if she was in the habit 
 of taking anything between breakfast and 
 dinner. 
 
 " Not often," she said, sitting down then 
 and half closing her eyes, as it her head were 
 aching ; " sometimes, since I have been here, 
 your brother has made me drink a glass of 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 wine when he has persuaded himself I wanted 
 it; but, indeed, I don't think I ever require 
 anything of the sort, only this poor Guy seems 
 to have such an anxious nature/' 
 
 Now I did not quite like this " poor Guy '' 
 from her, so I replied a little stiffly (we Eng- 
 lish have always got our natural stiffness ready 
 for every occasion) — 
 
 " He has a very kindly nature at all events, 
 and until his sisters returned, of course Guy 
 felt bound to look after you, as our guest, in 
 an especial manner. He knows that poor dear 
 mamma, with the warmest heart and the best 
 intentions in the world, is apt to forget the 
 minor duties of hospitality towards those who 
 may have become domesticated with her. But 
 shall I fetch you a glass of wine now, Meta ?" 
 
 '^ Oh dear no, thank you," she said, while the 
 faintest of all faint smiles hovered round her 
 lips ; '' I will rest for ten minutes on this chair, 
 and then I shall be quite right again. Are 
 you always strong and well, Ethel?" 
 
 " Generally ; I should not otherwise be fit
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 51 
 
 for the duties I hope soon to undertake. 
 Teaching, I think, requires, above most things, 
 abundance of health, energy, and good spirits." 
 " Yes, it does indeed," she said, and then 
 sighed, as if the subject, or continued fatigue 
 from the exertions she had made on my behalf, 
 oppressed her. 
 
 '' Do you dislike teaching very much?" I 
 inquired next, remembering all the charges 
 Gertrude had given me to find out the suita- 
 bility of this young person to be our colleague. 
 ''Oh, not particularly," she said, rather 
 languidly. " I have not abundance of health 
 or energy, or even good spirits, perhaps, but 
 I have a fair share of patience which, I have 
 heard, is useful in teaching, too." 
 
 " Most useful," I acknowledged — " and I 
 am glad to hear that you are possessed of it. 
 For my own part it is not a quality I can 
 boast of, but Gertrude is the very soul of 
 patience, and of nearly everything else that 
 will be required in our vocation, I think. If 
 my sister were not such a pretty creature (I 
 
 D 2
 
 52 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 am sure you will admire her excessivelj, 
 Meta), I should say she was just made for a 
 schoolmistress.' ' 
 
 Meta remained in thought for a second or 
 two after this. Then she said, abruptly : — 
 
 " Are you much interested in the coming 
 visit of the new clergj^man your mother wag 
 speaking of at breakfast time, Ethel ?'* 
 
 '' I — no, not in the least. I am afraid I 
 have rather the bad taste to dislike clergymen 
 as a class. Old Mr. Dallas, Mr. Wyke's pre- 
 decessor, was such a very unfavourable speci- 
 men, and then at school we regarded the 
 clergymen as our natural enemies, because 
 they would preach such outrageously long 
 sermons — more especially in passion week — 
 which we unfortunate girls were required to 
 write from memory. Oh, no, I am at present 
 most comfortably and sublimely indifferent 
 on the subject of our new vicar — why do you 
 
 ask r 
 
 " Simply because I happened just at the 
 moment to remember what Guy had said. Is
 
 BEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 53 
 
 your beautiful sister as cold — I mean as 
 matter-of-fact — as you are ?" 
 
 I lauo^hed in unfeio^ned amusement at this. 
 ^' Why, really, Meta. I never heard before that 
 I was either cold or matter-of-fact. I have 
 rather the credit of being the warm, impul- 
 sive one of the two sisters — more like Guy 
 than Gertie is. She, indeed, is not cold at 
 heart, dear girl, but singularly demonstrative, 
 and as matter-of-fact as an old maid of 
 fifty." 
 
 '' Not prone to fall easily in love, I suppose, 
 then?" 
 
 '* Good gracious, no ; we are neither of us 
 that, thank goodness! we have had other 
 things to occupy our minds : and besides, I 
 don't believe we have ever seen a human 
 being whom it would have been possible to 
 fall in love with. You certainly ask odd 
 questions. Aleta." 
 
 '• Do I '? but you see in my country we are 
 more imaginative aud dreamy than in yours. 
 We read poetry and romances from our
 
 54 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 cradles, and so we naturally grow up 
 romantic, and perhaps — not strong minded. 
 I think the English are far wiser and more to 
 be approved/' 
 
 This was spoken with every appearance of 
 si;icerity. I came down a step or two 
 from the heights of contempt, which I had 
 been gradually ascending, and whence I had 
 rather pharisaically surveyed my poor little 
 German cousin. Then, half in curiosity, half 
 in a generous willingness to bend my own 
 strong mind to her weaker one (the acknow- 
 ledgment on another's part of any inferiority 
 makes us wonderfully magnanimous and indul- 
 gent towards the acknowledger) I assumed an 
 interest in the subject she had chosen, and in 
 my turn became the questioner. 
 
 " I presume then, Meta, that you have 
 had a larger experience in these kind of things 
 than you would have had as an English girl ; 
 you have been in love, perhaps ?" 
 
 For an instant there was a sudden rush of 
 blood to the pale face, — not a soft, conscious
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 55 
 
 blush, such as my half laughing enquiry 
 might have been expected to excite, — but a 
 terrible agitation, marked in other ways than 
 the rapid change of colour, in the whole 
 countenance. The remembrance of something 
 very serious, of something very real, must 
 have been brought before the girl's mind by 
 my thoughtless question. I felt this so 
 strongly that I went up to her, in very sincere 
 penitence, and said I was grieved at having 
 touched an apparently tender string — I should 
 never have thought of anything of the kind if 
 she had not suo-o-ested it to me. 
 
 " Quite true, Ethel," she replied, making 
 a tolerably successful effort to resume her 
 calmness of look and voice. " I was mad 
 and foolish to talk such nonsense to you, 
 good, true-hearted, unsophisticated English 
 girl as you are. But I am quite rested now ; 
 pray set me to work again." 
 
 And I did so, continuing while I worked 
 with her to talk on the most cheerful subjects 
 I could think of, and manao;ino: from time to 
 
 7 O O
 
 56 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 time to steal a glance at the pale face which 
 changed no more its expression that morn- 
 ing. 
 
 After dinner Guy attached himself to us for 
 the rest of the day, and, although I had 
 planned to sit quietly at home and chat with 
 mamma, I had no choice, for her peace of 
 mind^s sake, but to accompany Meta and my 
 brother in a long ramble through the fields, 
 which, as it was excessively warm, tired me a 
 good deal, and did u arvellously little in the 
 way of hindering the impassioned boyish 
 homage that Guy seemed constrained to offer 
 to his cousin, and that his cousin lightly, 
 gaily, half-mockingly, I thought, at times, was 
 content to accept. 
 
 Poor Guy ! For all the use I was likely to 
 be to him I might as well have remained to 
 glean a little more wisdom from my friend 
 Minerva, in the gardens of Parnassus House. 
 
 But this conviction I resolved to keep to 
 myself for the present.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OUR NKW cousin's ACCOMPLISHMENTS, 
 
 I MANAGED to get my brother to myself for a 
 short ramble on the following morning. I 
 wanted to talk to him on many subjects, as 
 in the old times, and especially to lure him 
 to speak to me unreservedly about Meta. I 
 thought that with a nature such as Guy's, a 
 locked-up passion would acquire tenfold in- 
 tensity, and all questions of worldly inex- 
 pediency, and disparity of age, and mamma's 
 prejudice against our German relative set 
 aside, I had a very strong feeling on my own 
 account that this attachment would not do — 
 
 D 5
 
 58 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 that it would work nothing but misfortune to 
 Guj, and sore trouble and bitterness to all of 
 us. I did not dislike Meta ; I was even con- 
 scious of a very kindly interest in her ; I fully 
 believed there was a good, pure spring down 
 somewhere in her heart, and yet I shrank 
 from the idea of her becoming Guy's wife as 
 much as I could have done had I known her 
 to be altogether evil. 
 
 Of course I was not going to let him dis- 
 cover, at this early stage of the matter, any 
 of my sentiments on the subject, or even that 
 I suspected more than a cousinly interest on 
 his part towards the new member of our 
 family. So 1 talked very freely and cheer- 
 fully of Meta Kauffman on this first occasion 
 of my being alone with Guy, and had, at 
 least, the reward of discovering that by no 
 other possible means could I have made 
 myself so agreeable. Not by any word con- 
 fession, however, did my brother betray him- 
 self. Poor boy ! there was indeed no need 
 for this, even had my powers of observation
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 59 
 
 been less quickened by sisterly anxiety than 
 they were. A first love in an ardent, impas- 
 sioned nature, has little chance of concealinf^ 
 itself, notvrithstanding the jealous care with 
 which the very sacredness of the feeUng 
 impels the lover to veil it from the vulgar eye. 
 I knew that morning, when, at the conclusion 
 of our walk, I took my place at the breakfast 
 table by my brother's side, that his whole 
 life had become merged in the life of another, 
 as surely as if an angel from heaven had pro- 
 claimed the fact to me. 
 
 And little experience and little wisdom as 
 I had myself, I could not but feel that a very 
 serious calamity had befallen him. Even had 
 the object of his attachment been altogether 
 worthy, and likely hereafter to prove a help- 
 meet for him, he was too young and had far 
 too scanty a knowledge of life to render it 
 either a good or a healthy thing for him to 
 abandon his whole soul to one absorbing 
 aflfection. He had his way to make in the 
 world — a position of some kind to achieve,
 
 60 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 very grave and important studies in connec- 
 tion with the profession he had himself chosen, 
 (and hitherto appeared wholly contented with) 
 in prospect, to complete ; and without any 
 special gift of prophecy one could easily see 
 that with Meta Kauffman in the foreground, 
 all these matters would lose their prominence 
 and distinctness in poor Guy's vision, and 
 that with him there would be nothing of a 
 mundane nature very clear, except the neces- 
 sity for obtaining, sooner or later, the means 
 of translating his idol to that rose-embowered 
 cottage, which, from time immemorial, has 
 been the goal of all young lovers' hopes and 
 ambition. 
 
 1 knew this terrestrial paradise was in his 
 thoughts when he said to me that morning, in 
 reply to some half-laughing remark of mine 
 concerning his future elevation and usefulness 
 in the church : — 
 
 '' I don't expect great things for myself, 
 Ethel — I scarcely even wish them. I have 
 not enough energy or steady industry to
 
 KEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 61 
 
 become a clever, much less a popular preacher. 
 A curacy to begin with, in a pretty rural vil- 
 lage would quite content me, and then later, 
 when circumstances might demand an increase 
 of income, a berth such as our vicar here has 
 got, for instance — a charming, ivy-covered 
 house, and four hundred pounds a year.'' 
 
 '' But such berths," I said, '' don't usually 
 come simply upon their being wished for. 
 You must either have an undue share of 
 patronage (which I think I have heard you 
 express yourself strongly against), or you 
 must do something to merit so plentiful a 
 supply of the loaves and fishes our church has 
 to bestow. I rather thought, Guy dear, you 
 had the ambition to become an extra faithful, 
 hard-working clergyman." 
 
 *' Oh ! of course I have had my dreams 
 and my visions," he answered, a little sadly 
 it seemed to me, " but after all, what do 
 these things amount to ? One never does, you 
 see, Ethel, achieve the greatness or the good- 
 ness that youth draws pretty pictures about.
 
 62 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 I hope I sliall do my duty, as the catechism 
 says, in that station of life unto which it may 
 please God to call me ; but I don't expect to 
 go much beyond this, and I would seriously 
 advise you, my good little sister, not to expect 
 it forme/' 
 
 I did not ; since a woman, with a fair face 
 and beguiling voice, had taken the place in 
 my poor Guy's heart which God and duty 
 ought alone to have filled. 
 
 A letter from Gertrude that morning de- 
 cided my work for the day. I would find 
 out exactly what Meta's accomplishments 
 were, and satisfy my sister's anxious mind as 
 to our cousin's eligibility or non-eligibility 
 for the specific duties she had come to Eng- 
 land to perform. 
 
 Meta showed a cheerful willingness — not 
 unmingled perhaps with a little conscious 
 superiority — to display her varied talents for 
 my approval. First of all she played and 
 sang to me for nearly an hour, not because I 
 required anything like that time to determine
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 63 
 
 as to her capabilities, but simply because 
 the peculiarity of her style and expression 
 charmed me so much that I forgot my 
 character of judge, and, assuming that of an 
 admiring and delighted listener, entreated her 
 to go on and on till she was fairly tired her- 
 self, and laughingly begged me to take her 
 place and give her breathing time. 
 
 " No, Meta," I said, '' I cannot consent to 
 the humiliation of playing or singing after 
 you. I have some decent theoretical know- 
 ledge of music, having learnt it, from the be- 
 ginning, with the view of becoming a teacher 
 myself; but 1 could no more charm rocks and 
 stones and human hearts in your fashion, than 
 I could write a treatise on algebra, or take in 
 the profound mystery of the national debt. 
 Has Guy heard you play and sing?" 
 
 " Once or twice,'' she replied, carelessly, 
 though I fancied her pale cheek had warmed 
 a little at my honest admiration. " But I am 
 fond of music, you see, and feel it, so 
 there is no great merit in my being a toler-
 
 64 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ably good performer. Shall I fetch my draw- 
 ings now, Ethel?" 
 
 '' Yes, please do," I said rather absently, 
 for my mind was full just then of Meta her- 
 self, and not of her accomplishments. "If, 
 at least, I am not bormg or wearying you 
 too much." 
 
 " Far from it,'^ she answered cheerfully, 
 rising to leave the room, and certainly her 
 face expressed sufficient animation and plea- 
 sure to satisfy my coQScience on the subject. 
 " You must be prepared, however, for a 
 very moderate amount of artistic skill in what 
 I am about to show you." 
 
 By this time I was prepared for anything, 
 for I had begun to look upon Meta Kauffinan 
 as specially gifted by the fairies ; and as- 
 suredly her drawings were not calculated to 
 weaken the impression her rare musical talents 
 had made upon me. They were bold, full 
 of originality, and, altogether, something 
 quite different from the tame, feeble 
 specimens of art I had been in the habit of
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 65 
 
 criticising or executing at Parnassus House. 
 Most of those I now saw were from nature ; 
 the copies were few, and had, even as copies, 
 less merit in them. Only one, a girl's face in 
 crayons, which I could have sworn was Meta's 
 own, aroused my instant attention, and separ- 
 ating it from the rest I turned it eagerly to 
 the light (while she was stooping to pick up a 
 parcel that had fallen from the portfolio), and 
 read in very minute characters in one coi*ner 
 of the sketch the single word " Alan.'^ 
 
 " Meta, this must be meant for you !" I ex- 
 claimed, as my cousin, still ignorant of what 
 I had found, kept bending over the drawings. 
 " But who is Alan, and when — '' 
 
 I could not get beyond, for Meta, with a 
 sudden spring and cry, had snatched the por- 
 trait from me, and was standing with a white 
 quivering face, and painfully troubled aspect, 
 by my side. 
 
 I thought at first she was angry with me, 
 however unreasonable such a feeling would 
 have been, but, when she spoke, her voice only
 
 66 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 betrayed intense vexation, mingled witli some 
 stormier emotion in which I, at least, could 
 have no concern. 
 
 '' I beg your pardon, Ethel ; that portrait is 
 not mine. I had no idea of its being there, 
 or anywhere. I cannot imagine how I could 
 have been so stupid. I thought — '^ 
 
 She paused here, looked earnestly at the 
 portrait for a few minutes, while I looked no 
 less earnestly at her, and then tore it deliber- 
 ately in small pieces and scattered them out 
 of the open window. 
 
 " "What a pity !" I said involuntarily, but 
 to this I did not add another word. What- 
 ever my curiosity on the subject, there was 
 something in Meta's face which forbade my 
 asking a single question, or making the 
 simplest comment on what had occurred. In 
 a few minutes she was apparently quite her- 
 self again, and giving me an animated account 
 of some of the scenes from which her sketches 
 had been taken. 
 
 I wrote to Gertrude that afternoon, and on
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 67 
 
 the subject of Meta Kauffman this is what I 
 said : — 
 
 " Our new cousin is altogether a wonderful 
 being. I cannot be surprised at the fact — 
 clear enough to the most casual observer — of 
 Guy having lost his heart to her, but it is 
 none the less a matter to be deeply and 
 seriously regretted. As regards her qualifica- 
 tions, she is undoubtedly the most accom- 
 plished person, without even excepting my 
 darling Gertie, whom I have ever come in 
 contact with. I cannot help admitting that 
 she would be a great assistance to us if we 
 obtained pupils above the ages of fourteen or 
 fifteen. But I am not sure that you will 
 either like her or approve of her as a constant 
 associate for the young people who may be 
 entrusted to our care. Mind, I know ab- 
 solutely nothing against her, and am, perhaps, 
 like mamma, inclined to judge with too little 
 charity one whom poor Guy has with equal
 
 68 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 haste accepted as a type of all perfection. I 
 want you to see and criticise our foreign rela- 
 tive, Gertie, before we decide on either keep- 
 ing or dismissing her. In the meantime, I 
 shall continue to exert my own indifferent 
 powers of observation, while doing my best to 
 make our very quiet home agreeable to this 
 young lady. Guy leaves us in another week, 
 whereat dear mamma, in spite of the dreaded 
 pain of parting, is unfeignedly glad. I should 
 be so, too, if I did not feel sure that the mis- 
 chief — as far as his heart is concerned — has 
 been irretrievably done. However, we must 
 hope for the best. He is young enough to 
 get over a first love if separated entirely from 
 its object, and I have not the slightest fear of 
 any engagement being entered into between 
 them. Meta may flirt with this poor enthu- 
 siastic boy, and receive his homage in the 
 absence of a more exciting amusement ; but, 
 mark my words, Gertie — she will never marry 
 hiai ! I have only time now to add how I
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 69 
 
 long for the holidays to come, and to assure 
 you that 
 
 " I remain always, 
 
 '' Your very loving sister, 
 ''Ethel/'
 
 70 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE KEVEREND HAROLD WYKE, 
 
 I HAD been at home four or five days before 
 our new vicar called upon us. Then he 
 enquired for Mr. Beamish (it was of course 
 only Guy who had left his card at the vicarage) 
 and seemed surprised, not agreeably, I am 
 sure, at finding there were ladies in the 
 family. 
 
 My mother and myself were working 
 together in the drawing-room when he was 
 announced — a tall, thin man, with large and 
 rather strongly marked features, a quantity of 
 dark, curly hair, and a general aspect of
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 71 
 
 extreme shyness, which gave an awkwardness 
 to his manners, and imparted for the moment 
 a corresponding embarrassment to those who 
 had to receive and welcome him. 
 
 This was the sum total of the impression 
 made upon me by the Eeverend Harold 
 Wyke on the occasion of his first visit to 
 Lindenhurst. 
 
 Mamma, for her part, soon got over the 
 feeling of strangeness which his want of per- 
 sonal ease had inspired, and after slightly 
 introducing me as her youngest daughter, and 
 telling our guest that her son would make 
 his appearance immediately, she entered into 
 the most friendly conversation imaginable, 
 and succeeded in dispelling a considerable 
 portion of the shyness that had sat so ill on 
 this strong-looking, middle-aged man, when he 
 found himself unexpectedly in the presence of 
 two unknown ladies. 
 
 The first voluntary observation he made 
 enlightened me as to the fact of his previous 
 ignorance of our existence.
 
 72 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " I was SO stupid," lie said, still seeming to 
 be meditating speculatively on this stupidity, 
 " as to picture Mr. Guy Beamish an elderly 
 bachelor, living amongst dogs and horses. I 
 never thought of wife, mother, or sister in 
 connexion with him. Strange that our ima- 
 ginations should so often mislead us in refer- 
 ence both to things and individuals we have 
 yet to become acquainted with.'' 
 
 "Very true," replied mamma, who was 
 more of a practical than an imaginative turn 
 of mind — " but there is no necessity for this 
 occurring when there are people around us 
 who can enlighten us on the subjects we are 
 ignorant about. It may be a womanly weak- 
 ness on my part, but I think if I were to 
 settle in a new locality, I should have the 
 curiosity to enquire about all the people T 
 was likely to be brought in contact with." 
 
 " I would not do that, on principle," Mr. 
 Wyke said, with a smile that made him look 
 much more amiable than he had yet done — 
 '' because I should never afterwards feel sure
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 73 
 
 that I had formed an unbiassed judgment 
 concerning any of the persons I had thus en- 
 quired about. Ten to one, in asking even as 
 to the numbers comprising the different 
 families, I should get my informant's own 
 opinion of the characters, tempers and dispo- 
 sitions of at least half the members of them. 
 Besides, in this particular case, as I am a total 
 stranger at Idndenhurst, I could not possibly 
 have made enquiries, unless I had gossipped 
 with my servants ; and this also is against my 
 principles, a little/' 
 
 " And you and your principles may become 
 just a little of a bore," I thought (with an 
 inward smile at my own presumption) as the 
 door opened and admitted Guy — Meta de- 
 murely following. 
 
 It was quite wonderful to see how much 
 sooner and more completely Mr. Wyke ap- 
 peared at home with Guy than he had done 
 with us. In Rye minutes they were talking 
 together as freely and pleasantly as if they 
 had known each other for years, and the 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 vicar, having learned m}^ brother's intended 
 profession, expressed a kind and apparently 
 sincere regret that his stay would now be so 
 short in the neighbourhood. 
 
 *' I should have been so glad to give you 
 any assistance or any hints in my power/' he 
 said, " before your Cambridge term began ; 
 but come to me while you are at home any 
 evenings you can spare. I am quite sure to 
 be alone, and you will be heartily welcome." 
 
 While Guy was thanking him in the warm 
 terms this friendliness undoubtedly merited, 
 and dear mamma, whose heart was quite won 
 now, was looking complacently upon them 
 both, I turned myself a little round that I 
 might see what had become of Meta. 
 
 I suddenly remembered that we had all 
 forgotten to introduce her to Mr. Wyke, and 
 T thought it not impossible that the young 
 lady might have taken umbrage at our neg- 
 lect. 
 
 She was standing just then with her back 
 towards us, at some little distance, and appa-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 75 
 
 rently examining the outside of the books that 
 were scattered for show on the centre table. 
 I noticed what I had failed to do on her en- 
 trance, that she had made a more elaborate 
 and coquettish toilet than it was her wont to 
 do, that in fact she was dressed very prettily 
 and becomingly — for the Eeverend Harold 
 Wyke, I naturally surmised — and, though 
 having small sympathy with coquetry in gene- 
 ral, I could not help feeling a little sorry that 
 so much preparation should have been thrown 
 away, in consequence of our breach of good 
 manners in omitting to introduce the lady and 
 gentleman to each other. 
 
 I was considerino^ how I mio;ht contrive 
 even now to draw her into our circle, when, 
 unconscious, of course, that I was watching 
 her, Meta slowly turned her head and directed, 
 what appeared to me, frightened, wondering 
 eyes towards our wholly unobservant visitor. 
 I use the word unobservant advisedly, and not 
 in reference to Meta only, for Mr. Wyke had 
 never once raised his eyes since the first mo- 
 
 E 2
 
 76 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ment of his entrance into tlie room, and if he 
 saw anything beyond the pattern of the carpet 
 he must have been gifted with some secret and 
 mysterious powers of vision not granted to 
 ordinary mortals. I am quite sure he had 
 not yet seen me, and yet I had spoken more 
 than once, and each time he had courteously, 
 at least, replied to me. 
 
 But it was Meta who claimed my whole 
 attention now, making the shy vicar of Gray- 
 bourne only a secondary object. There could 
 be no doubt that the whole expression of her 
 face, as she turned it momentarily towards our 
 guest, denoted extreme fear and wonderment. 
 Could it be possible that they had met before, 
 that she had any reason to dread meeting him 
 again? Already this girl had harassed and 
 tormented me more than enough with the 
 mysteries surrounding her. There were too 
 many interests at stake, in connection with 
 her meditated sojourn amongst us, to render 
 me very scrupuloas or cautious as to the means 
 I might employ in discovering something of
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 77 
 
 her antecedents. I watched silently another 
 minute or two, and then, just as I fancied I 
 detected a design on my cousin's part to steal 
 unnoticed from the room, I said aloud, inter- 
 rupting a dialogue between the two gentle- 
 men — 
 
 "Mr.' Wyke, pray forgive me for intruding 
 upon your argument for a moment, but we 
 have all been guilty of an omission in not in- 
 troducing our German relative. Mademoiselle 
 Kauffman to you. Meta, my dear (turn- 
 ing and fronting her steadily) pray come and 
 be sociable in the light, instead of dreaming 
 there in the dark all by yourself.' ' 
 
 Meta's face flushed a little, but had, I 
 thought, something of a proud, defiant look in 
 it as she complied with my request and emerged 
 from her obscurity, Guy hastening to place a 
 chair for her next to mine, but no more grate- 
 ful to me, I am sure, than she was herself, that 
 I had thus brought her into notice. 
 
 He need not have been uneasy, however, as 
 far as ^Ir. Wyke was concerned, for that ec-
 
 78 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 centric gentleman just raised his head as I 
 named our cousin, glanced absently for an 
 instant, first at me and then at Meta, and 
 having bowed slightly to the latter — without 
 the smallest token of recognition to satisfy me, 
 or of admiration to alarm Guy — returned to 
 the argument I had interrupted, and during 
 the remainder of his visit never once seemed 
 conscious of the existence of either of the ladies 
 of the party, 
 
 " A woman-hater beyond all doubt," I said, 
 laughingly, when he had taken his departure, 
 and we were comfortably discussing the merits 
 of our new vicar amongst ourselves, " and I, 
 for one, am not the least attracted by him — 
 what do you think of him, Meta ?" 
 
 " I suppose he may be very good," she 
 replied, coldly (and by this I knew she had 
 not forgiven me for detecting her agitation in 
 the drawing-room), '' but I have heard it 
 said that good men are always disagreeable, 
 and Mr. Wyke seems to form no exception to 
 the rule."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 79 
 
 Poor Guy ! how delighted he looked at 
 this speech, which was evidently quite 
 genuine, and how very warm and enthu- 
 siastic were his own praises of the Reverend 
 Harold Wyke after Meta had thus spoken. 
 I believe some of the wisest and the best of 
 men can forgive another man anything rather 
 than a woman's admiration of him. 
 
 My mother had listened quietly to all we 
 young people had to say on the subject of our 
 late visitor, before she volunteered an opinion 
 of her own, and even then she only observed 
 that Mr. Wyke was too shy and nervous to 
 make a thoroughly useful clergyman in a 
 parish like ours, where women certainly pre- 
 dominated, and she hoped he would soon get 
 a good, hard-working wife to help him in his 
 pastoral duties. 
 
 "You had better tell him so, mother," 
 exclaimed Guy, who was now in charming- 
 spirits, holding a long skein of Berlin wool 
 for Meta, " and perhaps you might recom- 
 mend a lady, and even make the offer for
 
 80 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 him, in consideration of his unfortunate bash- 
 fulness. There are — let me see — the two 
 Miss Downings, and Jane Norton, and the 
 little widow at Primrose Cottage — by-the-bye^ 
 I would give something to be a mouse in the 
 corner when he pays his first visit there — 
 and Alicia Clarkson, and your own two fair 
 daughters for him to choose from. Surely he 
 may find a helpmate amongst all these?" 
 
 " And what has poor Meta done that she 
 should be excluded from your list?" asked 
 mamma, raising her eyes (invariably anxious 
 now), to Guy's beaming face. '' You must 
 not set it down as a fact that a young 
 lady's first impression of a gentleman 
 is always irrevocable. I have often known 
 women marry the men they have positively 
 detested at a first interview." 
 
 Poor, foolish Guy coloured to the very roots 
 of his hair, and Meta, either out of pity for 
 him, or from some other motive, replied rather 
 sharply — 
 
 " Guy understands me, in this case at least,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 81 
 
 better than you do, Mrs. Beamish. When I 
 take a real dislike at first sight, I never en- 
 tirely get over it. Besides, I should, of all 
 women in the world, make a wretched wife 
 for a clergyman.'* 
 
 It was quite curious to watch the effect of 
 these last simple, and, as I believe, unpreme- 
 ditated words upon two of the persons who 
 were listening to them. My mother's coun- 
 tenance positively brightened all over, while 
 Guy became so pale and dejected in a moment, 
 that in spite of much genuine pity I could not 
 help feeling some amount of anger towards 
 him — anger that he should, in so short a time, 
 have made this girl the controller of his 
 destiny, and given to her the power of tinge- 
 ing with happiness or misery every hour of 
 his life. 
 
 I don't think Meta noticed \^hat was going 
 on. Though she had entered into our gossip 
 about Mr. Wyke, her mind was evidently pre- 
 occupied, and neither Guy nor his future 
 profession had been in her thoughts when she 
 
 E 5
 
 82 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 spoke about being an unfit wife for a clergy- 
 man. Soon after this, my brother said he 
 must return to his books, and then we all 
 separated to our different occupations till 
 dinner time.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GOSSIP. 
 
 Ere tlie conclusion of that day we were fated 
 to have the new vicar brought prominently, 
 and, in a somewhat fresh light, before our 
 minds again. 
 
 The Misses Downing, with their niece, Jane 
 Norton, paid us a friendly visit in the even- 
 ing, and readily accepted mamma's invitation 
 to stay to tea. The genteel inhabitants of 
 Gray bourne were rather partial to drinking 
 tea at each other's houses, especially when any 
 little unusual event had occurred in the vil- 
 lage or neighbourhood to form a cheerful
 
 84 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 topic of conversation. The advent of a new 
 vicar, and he an unmarried man, was of course 
 eminently calculated to promote the kind of 
 gossip that single ladies are supposed to 
 delight in, and I was quite sure, the moment 
 I saw the three spinsters I have just men- 
 tioned, that two of them at least had come 
 charged with eloquence on the same subject 
 which had been interesting our own family 
 circle all the morning. 
 
 A very few words will give the reader an 
 introduction to the Misses Downing and their 
 youthful protege. 
 
 Miss Downing was a lady of about forty 
 years of age, with a tall, stately figure, and 
 the remains of considerable personal attrac- 
 tions. She was strong-minded, healthy, 
 energetic, and of very decided literary tastes, 
 which had more than once induced her, it was 
 said, to open a correspondence with the Editor 
 of a local paper, and to offer to supply both the 
 poetry and the leading articles on very 
 moderate terms, as well as to regale the Editor
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. £5 
 
 (who lived at Boltby) with tea and toast 
 whenever he felt inclined to walk as far as 
 Graybourne. No one seemed very clear as 
 to the result of these overtures, but Miss 
 Downing was always suspected of being the 
 author of several heroic and didactic com- 
 positions which from time to time had 
 
 appeared in the poet's corner of the " 
 
 shire Instructor/' and which were signed 
 vaguely '' Semiramis." " .> 
 
 In temper and disposition Miss Downing 
 was really a pattern to elderly spinsters in 
 general, being cheerful, contented, and, as far 
 as appeared on the surface, entirely reconciled 
 to her lot. The little widow at Primrose 
 Cottage said, indeed, that she had by no means 
 relinquished all hope of escaping from the 
 despised sisterhood yet, but then that little 
 widow wasn't a bit charitable towards 
 other women, and could not quite forgive 
 Harriet Downino; for lookino; so well and 
 handsome at forty years of age. 
 
 The second sister, Miss Dora, was an
 
 86 rp:aping the whirlwind. 
 
 invalid, and very romantic. She had long, 
 fair hair, which she wore in ringlets that were 
 always out of curl, and somewhat wiry in tex- 
 ture ; but her blue eyes were soft and pensive, 
 and there were some sweet tones in her low and 
 rather melancholy voice, which,united with her 
 general appearance and invalid state, gave 
 her a claim to be reckoned by most persons 
 of the other sex as an interesting woman. 
 
 Jane Norton, the niece whom these kind- 
 hearted ladies had adopted on the death of her 
 parents, was a bright-eyed girl of about 
 eighteen — not pretty, not graceful, certainly 
 not clever, and yet with a quaint, odd charm 
 about her that it would be very difficult to 
 define. Her aunts were fond of her, and 
 allowed her to do exactly what she pleased — 
 the consequence was, she did nothing (when 
 she was not playing with the cat) but a little 
 dubious needlework on her own account, and 
 spent altogether as idle and useless a life as 
 could well be imagined. Miss Downing, how- 
 ever, on first hearing of our project of opening
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 87 
 
 a school, had suggested that Jane should come 
 at least twice a week to take lessons in music 
 and French ; and the young lady, in whose 
 nature must have existed a latent craving for 
 novelty of any kind, eagerly accepted the offer, 
 and borrowed a huge pile of books (I don't 
 think she ever looked into them) to "get 
 up" the little French she had acquired some 
 years previously at a provincial boarding 
 school. 
 
 And now that I have so far introduced these 
 three amiable women, the reader must imagine 
 them seated at our tea-table, and endeavour- 
 ing, each in her different way, to contribute 
 to the sociability of the party. Of course the 
 vicar was not alluded to at once. Everybody 
 knows how common it is to fence about, and 
 keep off to the last moment that subject which 
 is really nearest to the heart and uppermost in 
 the thoughts ; but at last, in a sudden pause 
 of a sufficiently animated conversation. Miss 
 Dora, in her soft, languid voice, asked my 
 mother if Mr. Wyke had called upon her yet.
 
 88 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 The affirmative answer was the signal for the 
 real business of the evening to commence. 
 
 " Only think/^ said Miss Downing, in the 
 tone of one who is conscious of the importance 
 of communicating an unexpected piece of news 
 — " only think of his being a widower, instead 
 of a bachelor, as we had naturally presumed, 
 after all ; and with a little girl too, who is to 
 arrive next week from her grandmamma's. I 
 am sure I never was more surprisedinmylife." 
 
 When we had each of us said how much 
 surprised wo, were, and how strange it was, 
 and how stupid we had been not to think of 
 at least the possibility of such an interesting 
 state of things, Miss Dora (who had finished 
 her tea and retired to the sofa) spoke again — 
 
 " You see, Harriet is so courageous, and 
 always has her wits about her. She asked 
 Mr. Wyke, point blank, why he had never 
 married, and he replied, poor dear man ! with- 
 out once raising his eyes — 
 
 '' ' Madam, I lost my wife two years ago ;' 
 and then remained silent. I certainly thought
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 89 
 
 he might have said — ' I had the misfortune 
 to lose my dearest wife,' or — ' I am so un- 
 happy as to be a widower;' but he just put 
 it in those few cold words, and so I suppose 
 he had not been very happy with her. It was 
 I who enquired whetlxer he had any family, 
 for Harriet appeared a little shocked at his 
 answer, and indisposed for further questij^n- 
 ing." 
 
 '' My dear child," Harriet inserted here, 
 with the air of an offended empress ; "I am 
 in the habit of having, as you admitted just 
 now, my wits always about me, and these 
 enabled me at once to detect a rebuke to my 
 curiosity (as he deemed it), in our vicar's 
 answer. Although afraid of no man, I would 
 not willingly subject myself to a similar re- 
 proof a second time. But pray continue 
 your history." 
 
 " Oh, there is not much more to tell," re- 
 sumed Miss Dora. "He seemed, I fancied, 
 to brighten a little, and in spite of himself 
 almost, when he spoke of his child. It was a
 
 90 HEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 girl of about eight, he told me, very delicate, 
 though he hoped not unheal thy, and she was to 
 arrive with her nurse from her grandmamma's 
 next week. I immediately thought of you and 
 your sister, my dear Ethel, and ventured to 
 ask if he intended putting her to school. Then 
 he said in a very sudden and decided manner, 
 ' Heaven forbid !' and I grew nervous and 
 could not pursue the subject. I hope, how- 
 ever, when he knows you he will change his 
 mind, and that little Margaret Wyke (I did 
 contrive to discover her christian name), will 
 become one of your pupils.'* 
 
 After thanking Miss Dora for her good- 
 natured zeal on our account, I enquired 
 whether they had gained any further informa- 
 tion relative to our new pastor and his fiimily, 
 I saw that Guy was amused for the moment 
 by this feminine gossip, and he had been 
 looking so dejected since the morning that 
 I was glad of anything to win him from his 
 gloomy thoughts, which I knew had Meta for 
 their object.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 91 
 
 " We did our best to extract something more 
 from him,'^ Miss Dora frankly acknowledged ; 
 " but he went away almost immediately after 
 he had spoken about his little girl. I only 
 got out of him that he had already called on old 
 Mrs. Hallam, of Beechwood, and the widow 
 at Primrose Cottage." 
 
 *' That must have been glorious fun," said 
 Guy, rousing up in earnest now. " Of course, 
 Miss Dora, you insisted on his telling you ex- 
 actly what he thought of the bewitching Mrs. 
 Arnott?" 
 
 " I certainly asked him, Mr. Guy, how he 
 liked her, and if he did not consider her very 
 youthful-looking for a widow. Harriet says, 
 she is certain that a perceptible shudder ran 
 through his frame before he ventured to reply 
 to me, then he only observed coldly — ' I en- 
 deavour to refrain from judging any one at 
 first sight. Mrs. Arnott's youth did not par- 
 ticularly strike me.' I felt really quite 
 abashed and confounded, Mr. Guy, by his
 
 92 REAPING THE WHIELWIND. 
 
 severity, and my sister, to relieve me, began 
 talking of the Hallams, and saying how 
 much we all liked and admired Alicia 
 Clarkson, the old lady's companion. Then 
 this strange man brightened up once more, 
 and said (quite warmly, for him) — ' She is in- 
 deed a very sweet, good girl ; I knew her 
 some years ago in London.' This was 
 another surprise for us, but he went off before 
 there was time to ask a single additional 
 question ; and so now you have the whole re- 
 sult of our courage in the general cause, and 
 I do think we deserve a vote of thanks from 
 the entire community at Graybourne." 
 
 " I quite agree with you, Miss Dora !" ex- 
 claimed Guy, getting up with a carefully 
 suppressed yawn,and following Meta and Jane 
 Norton to the other end of the room, and pre- 
 sently into the garden. And then the nearly 
 threadbare subject was allowed to drop, and 
 the rest of the evening devoted to equally in- 
 teresting discussions between mamma and
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 93 
 
 Miss Dora, concerning the latter's ever vary- 
 ing ailments ; and between Miss Downing and 
 myself, concerning literature and female 
 education in general.
 
 94 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PARTING. 
 
 On Sunday we all went to hear Mr. Wjke 
 preacli, and we were all, in a nearly equal 
 degree, charmed with the simplicity and 
 earnestness of his sermon, so different to the 
 dry, sleepy lectures on morality we had been 
 accustomed to for years from the former vicar. 
 In the pulpit Mr. Wyke's painful shyness 
 totally disappeared. He seemed to forget 
 himself entirely in the deep interest and 
 solemnity of the message he was delivering ; 
 and I don't believe there was an individual in 
 the whole congregation who did not leave the
 
 HEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 95 
 
 cliurcli that day with the conviction that 
 Grayboume had gained something better than 
 a merely agreeable man for a friend and 
 neighbour. 
 
 Old Mrs. Hallam stood, as she was about 
 to get into her carriage, to shake hands with 
 him, and to tell him, in her quaint, off-hand 
 way, that she had paid him the rare compli- 
 ment of keeping awake till the end of his 
 sermon. We were all standing in the porch 
 when this occurred, and I had just been saying 
 a hurried word or two to Alicia Clarkson, the 
 grand old lady's companion. Poor Mr. Wyke, 
 divested of his black gown, was nothing but a 
 plain, shy, awkward man again. He blushed, 
 as a girl might have done, at Mrs. Hallam^s 
 speech, but the next moment, discovering 
 Alicia, turned and greeted her in the most 
 friendly manner. Her extreme calmness 
 seemed to set him at his ease — there was 
 something about Alicia Clarkson that I think 
 acted as a sort of charm on most people — 
 and when the Beechwood carriage had driven
 
 96 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 off, lie lingered yet a few minutes to say a 
 kind word or two to mamma and myself, and 
 to ask when Guy (who had walked on with 
 Meta) was really going to leave us. 
 
 I observed that day at dinner, when, as a 
 matter of course, the conversation was again 
 directed towards the new comer amongst us, 
 that of all the ladies Guy had mentioned as 
 eligible for Mr. VVyke, if he desired to marry 
 a second time, I thought Alicia Clarkson would 
 be the most likely to suit him. 
 
 " He could not choose a better wife, 
 scarcely a prettier," my mother said warmly, 
 for everybody was fond of Alicia ; " but I 
 fancied you girls had long ago made out a 
 romance for her of which Edmund Hallam 
 was the hero. Why is he now to have a rival 
 in this grave, middle-aged widower?'^ 
 
 " I don't know, but I imagine he will have, 
 if he doesn't come down oftener to look after 
 his lady-love. And then we all know that 
 any attachment between those two (I mean 
 Edmund and Alicia), could be only a matter
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 97 
 
 of romance and bitter disappointment after 
 all. Mrs. Hallam will expect a countess for 
 her peerless son at the very least/' 
 
 " I am not so sure of this, Ethel. This 
 Alicia is an immense favourite with the old 
 lady, and I shouldn't wonder (if the alterna- 
 tive was to lose her altogether), that she gave 
 way, and accepted her as a daughter." 
 
 '' How nice it would be," I said, '' to have 
 dear Alicia one of these days, mistress of 
 Beechwood," and then I was abruptly re- 
 called from the pleasant castle I had begun 
 to build (my organ of constructiveness was 
 immense) to answer a question of Meta's 
 relative to this mother and son whom we had 
 been speaking of. 
 
 I could only tell her that the old lady was 
 a very wealthy widow, and had purchased 
 Beechwood, the great white house standing in 
 its own woods between Boltby and Gray- 
 bourne, on the death of her husband, a cotton 
 spinner, who had made a vast fortune by his 
 own industry, and in virtue of his wealth, 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 98 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 allied himself to a lady without a penny, but 
 with some blue blood in her veins. How 
 they had lived together — the plebeian and the 
 aristocrat — no one, in our circle at least, 
 seemed to know ; but one son was the result 
 of their union, the Edmund Hallam alluded 
 to in connection with his mother's compan- 
 ion, and who, in some of the pauses of his 
 idle life, would come down and occasionally 
 spend two or three months at a time at 
 Beechwood. Once a year the old lady always 
 went to London with her young companion, 
 and on these occasions the son resided with 
 them, and accompanied them everywhere. 
 Alicia never voluntarily spoke of this gentle- 
 man, and perhaps that was one reason why 
 Gertie and myself had fancied she liked him, 
 but when questioned on the subject, she said 
 he was agreeable, intelligent, and to her, per- 
 sonally, very kind and considerate. We 
 small people of Graybourne only knew him 
 from seeing him at church on the occasions of 
 his stay at Beechwood, for although Mrs.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 99 
 
 Hallam had spasmodic fits of hospitality 
 towards the surrounding families, we had 
 none of us ever happened to be invited to 
 Beechwood while her son was there. She 
 often sent Alicia to pay a round of visits for 
 her in the village, and thus we came to know 
 and esteem this gentle, unobtrusive girl ; and 
 to welcome her very gladly whenever she ap- 
 peared. 
 
 When I had told Meta all this she thanked 
 me, and asked Guy if he did not think ^liss 
 Clarkson extremely pretty — she thought her 
 lovely, and could quite understand Mr. 
 Hallam having fallen in love with her. 
 
 I discovered later that one of Meta's 
 favourite weapons of coquetry was an enthu- 
 siastic praise of other women's beauty or 
 fascination. 
 
 Of course Guy answered as she doubtless 
 expected, that Alicia was pretty enough, but 
 that he himself could not admire such very 
 still life, that he preferred even ordinary flesh 
 and blood to the most exquisitely chiselled 
 
 F 2
 
 100 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 marble. And then I defended Alicia warmly, 
 and Meta was amused, and ended (not to my 
 brother's perfect satisfaction) by declaring 
 that she should try to make Mr. Hallam's 
 acquaintance, if only for the sake of asking 
 him what he thought of the pure, statuesque 
 beauty of Alicia Clarkson. 
 
 Guy was only able to spare one evening of 
 that week — his last at home — to Mr. Wyke, 
 and it was rather to please my mother than 
 himself that he went at all. The new vicar 
 might be a very good, excellent man, and 
 quite disposed to become a kind friend to him, 
 but there was an attraction at Lindenhurst 
 that threw every other of whatever nature 
 into the shade, and I saw that it was a real 
 trial to him, this one lost evening, as he con- 
 sidered it, at the vicarage. 
 
 Poor Guy ! I did so thoroughly and en- 
 tirely pity him during those few last days that 
 he spent at home. My mother had implored 
 me to prevent, as much as possible, any 
 private walks or talks between him and Meta,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 101 
 
 and wliile I had every inclination to oblige 
 her I could not help feeling sometimes like a 
 contemptible spy upon them both, and wish- 
 ing I had never been sent for from school. 
 For my own part, too, I could not quite share 
 mamma's great fear on the subject ; I could 
 not think that however Guy might plead — 
 and plead no doubt he would as often as he 
 had a chance — Meta would consent to any- 
 thing like an engagement. I believe at that 
 time she had a sort of platonic affection for 
 him, a half grateful, half amused recognition 
 of his boyish and impassioned devotion to 
 herself ; but that it was, or ever would be, 
 more than this, I no more imagined than I 
 imagined Meta had revealed to us the whole 
 truth concerning her antecedents. 
 
 At length the last morning arrived, and 
 Guy came down to breakfast looking very 
 much as if he had passed a sleepless night. 
 Meta was not in the room when he entered ; 
 she generally walked out alone before break- 
 fast, and often lately had only returned when
 
 102 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 our meal was half over. But tlils morn- 
 ing she was tolerably early, and came in 
 with a subdued, pensive look upon her face, 
 and a spray of wild honeysuckle in her 
 hand, 
 
 " For you, Guy," she said, laying it beside 
 his plate, and taking her usual seat next to 
 him. " I thought you would like some re- 
 membrance of the dear Graybourne lanes 
 when you were far away from them. Will 
 you accept so very humble an offering?'* 
 
 " Willi ^cce^t itr 
 
 The tone was very low, for the voice shook 
 as he spoke, and there came a sudden glowing 
 red into his cheeks that I knew he would fain 
 have had none but Meta see. My mother 
 saw it, however, and finished her cup of tea 
 in an almost stern silence. If this girl had 
 no answering love in her own heart, how 
 dared she play thus cruelly with another's 
 deepest and most serious emotions ? 
 
 '' I have yet nearly two hours," Guy said, 
 as we all moved from the breakfast table.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 103 
 
 '^ Mother, sliall you be able to come to me in 
 my den presently ? " 
 
 " As soon as you like, my son," was tbe 
 reply, in very unsteady accents. " Ethel will 
 see to the collecting of your luggage, and 
 perhaps (as both the servants are busy this 
 morning) Meta would not mind walking to 
 the village and ordering up a fly to take you 
 to Boltby." 
 
 I was certain that mamma (who was the 
 most methodical person imaginable) had pur- 
 posely managed not to have the fly bespoken 
 before, that Meta might be sent out of my 
 brother's way at the last moment ; but 
 although the smile with which this request 
 was met, evinced a- perfect knowledge of its 
 meaning, the young lady at once expressed 
 her readiness to do the errand, and even added 
 that she should enjoy the walk." 
 
 Guy was, I think, on the point of uttering 
 some protest against this arrangement, but 
 then he suddenly checked himself, and left 
 the room quietly with his mother.
 
 1C4 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 They were closeted together for more than 
 an hour, at the end of whicli time Mrs. 
 Beamish came out with very red eyes, and 
 joined me in the hall where I was still 
 employed in labelling the different packages. 
 
 " I have been talking to him about Meta,'' 
 she said in a whisper ; " and I find on his part 
 it is even more serious than I imagined. He 
 does not think she cares for him. An hour 
 ago I should have said, ' God grant she 
 never may ! ' but poor boy, he is so wholly 
 wrapped up in her, so wretched in the thought 
 that his love is unrequited, that I declare I 
 am puzzled what to hope in the matter. It is 
 a miserable, miserable affair, altogether, and 
 Heaven only knows how it will end.'' 
 
 "Not in his marrying Meta,*' I replied 
 decisively. "Even if she should consent, I 
 myself, would move Heaven and earth to 
 prevent it ; but, mama, dear, she will not. I 
 am certain of it. Are they together now"? 
 
 " I don't know. Guy told me he was 
 going to look for you in the parlour. Leave
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 105 
 
 these things to me, Ethel, and see where he 
 is. In half-an-hour, or less, the flj will be 
 here." 
 
 So I went to the parlour and, opening the 
 door rather noisily that I might not, in the 
 event of my brother and Meta being within, 
 appear to come upon them as a spy, I saw 
 them standing close together at the far window 
 with their backs to the outer door, and 
 evidently talking very earnestly. 
 
 Before I could make my presence known I 
 heard from Meta the words. " I never shall 
 forget you, dear Guy — you ought to trust me 
 for so much at least," and then I spoke aloud, 
 and the hands which had been clasped were 
 hastily unloosed, and they both came with 
 somewhat conscious faces (though in Guy's 
 grief predominated) slowly towards my end of 
 the room. 
 
 I did not leave them again during the few 
 minutes Guy had now to remain with us. I 
 loved my brother too fondly to feel inclined 
 to relinquish him entirely to any other in 
 
 F 5
 
 106 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 these last sad moments ; but I am bound to 
 acknowledge, however humiliating such an 
 acknowledgment may be, that I might as 
 well have been shut in my own room for 
 any special notice I received from him. 
 
 It was Meta who had his last words, his 
 last look, his last sigh ; and even the true, 
 devoted mother strained her eyes in vain, as 
 the carriage drove off with him, in the hope 
 that perhaps one stray, parting glance might 
 be directed to her loving and wistful face. 
 
 Poor mother ! your reign is indeed over. 
 Never, never again to the end of life will 
 your place — the first and holiest place — be 
 found in that heart whose every feeling you 
 have watched with such anxious tenderness 
 for so many patient years. The new love has 
 entered in and is sitting " all glorified " 
 on her too firmly established throne. Time 
 only can decide what the result of this strange 
 and novel dominion will be.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 107 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 UNDER THE CHARM, 
 
 It took my mother and myself some time to 
 rally from the depression which had fallen 
 like a cloud upon us from the moment of 
 Guy's departure. We missed him every day, 
 almost every hour, and the home from which 
 he had never before been absent, seemed 
 scarcely like home to us without him. 
 
 It was at this time that Meta became, oddly 
 enough, a real comfort and support to my 
 mother, and a something that appeared very 
 necessary and pleasant to me. 
 
 As long as Guy had been in the house,
 
 108 REAPIXa THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 manifesting continually that lie worshipped 
 even the air she breathed, he had been her 
 chief object of interest, and either through 
 the promptings of vanity or some deeper 
 feeling — this remained to be proved — she had 
 exerted all her powers of fascination on his 
 behalf. But now that he had gone, instead 
 of sitting down, as we were weakly inclined 
 to do, and selfishly lamenting his departure, 
 she brought her numerous and varied talents 
 into action, to amuse, and charm, and win his 
 grieving mother and sister. Perhaps just at 
 first, mamma, knowing the extent of Guy^s 
 devotion to Meta, was a little inclined to 
 resent the gaiety and light-heartedness she 
 exhibited in his absence ; but very soon she 
 began to yield to the charm of this perpetual 
 sunshine around her, and to acknowledge — 
 grudgingly, however, at first, because of her 
 early prejudice — that Guy had a fair excuse 
 for the madness which he was cherishing. 
 I think it not impossible that the inevitable 
 necessity for associating these two always in
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 109 
 
 her thoughts had helped my mother, in some 
 slight degree, in getting up a sort of tender 
 interest in Meta. A mother who loves her 
 son very fondly and passionately, can scarcely 
 help, in the end, giving a little love to the 
 woman who is dearest in the world to him, 
 unless, indeed, through jealousy, she is con- 
 strained to hate her — and hate had no exis- 
 tence in my mother's gentle nature. 
 
 It was on the occasion of Meta being 
 invited to spend a whole day from home that 
 I first opened my eyes to the fact of her 
 having become what she was to both of us. 
 There had sprung up a kind of intimacy — I 
 can scarcely call it friendship — between her- 
 self and the young widow at Primrose 
 Cottage, and one morning, when Guy had 
 been gone about a fortnight, Mrs. Arnott 
 called at Lindenhurst, and, in her little per- 
 emptory way, insisted on carrying off Meta, 
 and keeping her till the evening. Of course, 
 Meta being willing, no objection was made
 
 110 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 to the proposal, and the two went away 
 together almost immediately. 
 
 I, for my part, had plenty of work to do 
 that morning, for a quantity of school books, 
 and maps, and other things had arrived from 
 London, and these were to be looked over, 
 sorted, and arranged in the school room. I 
 thought I should be quite glad to have an 
 hour or two to myself ; I had no idea in the 
 world that I should miss the society, or feel 
 lost without the help, of this strange, incom- 
 prehensible girl who had so recently appeared 
 amongst us, and, as it turned out, bewitched 
 us all — but so it really was. Her constant 
 flow of spirits — her powers of amusing — her 
 thrilling, bird-like voice, which from time to 
 time would burst out in disjointed snatches 
 of wild German melodies, her readiness and 
 aptitude in doing any single thing that was 
 required of her, and perhaps above all (for I 
 wish to be quite candid in detailing her fasci- 
 nations) the subtle skill with which she could
 
 REAPING THE WHIELWIND. Ill 
 
 administer flattery to those slie sought to win 
 or please — all these were things to be missed 
 and longed for when suddenly withdrawn — 
 and, though I meant to make a profound secret 
 of the discovery, I had discovered, during 
 my two hours solitary labours on that June 
 morning, that Meta Kauffman had grown to 
 be the very light and sunshine of our quiet 
 home. 
 
 I looked rather curiously into my mother's 
 face when we met at our early dinner. She 
 was not in good spirits — that was evident — 
 and I asked her, as we sat down, if she felt 
 unwell. 
 
 "No, dear," she replied, with a smile meant 
 to reassure me, " only I have seemed to miss 
 your poor brother this morning more than 
 usual. I don't know how or why it should 
 have been so ; perhaps the heat of the weather 
 has depressed me a little — it is very warm 
 to-day, Ethel, is it not?" 
 
 " A very lovely day, mamma, and not too 
 warm for you to have a short walk this after-
 
 112 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 noon with me. I am tired of work, and don^t 
 intend doing any more until to-morrow. I 
 fancy the habit of working in company makes 
 one rather disinclined for solitary industry." 
 
 "Oh, to be sure, you must have missed 
 Meta,'' said my mother eagerly, and as if she 
 experienced quite a relief in attributing to me 
 some of the same feeling she was more than 
 half conscious of herself ; " she is really a 
 good-natured, useful girl, after all, Ethel. '^ 
 
 "Have you missed her, mamma dear?" I 
 asked, with an amused smile at the thought 
 of the humiliating defeat we had both sus- 
 tained. 
 
 " I suppose I have — a little," she replied, 
 smiling back at me. "It seems somehow when 
 Meta is beside me as if I had only lost part of 
 your brother. I can never disunite the two 
 in my thoughts now ; but my own dear girls 
 know my heart too well ever to be jealous, I 
 hope !" 
 
 If mamma added this because she fancied she 
 read in my face any sentiment even remotely
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 113 
 
 bordering on jealousy, she might have spared 
 the apologetic words. I was not thinking of 
 myself at all. I was thinking of Guy as 
 Meta's fond and adoring lover, and of Meta 
 as giving probably but the lightest and shal- 
 lowest cousinly regard to Guy. I said aloud — 
 " Then you no longer shrink from the notion 
 of this Meta as your daughter-in-law ? If she 
 were willing to accept Guy, you would be 
 willing to accept her — is it not so, mamma?" 
 " My dear Ethel, your question put in those 
 plain terms, is difficult to answer. I am quite 
 sure, had mothers the privilege of choosing 
 wives for their sons, Meta is one of the last 
 persons I should have chosen for Guy. Even 
 as it is, I sincerely regret his having met her; 
 but the great and extraordinary love she has 
 inspired in him — no boy's passing fancy this 
 — changes the whole aspect of affairs, and 
 leaves me only the ardent desire to see her 
 with his eyes, and to be enabled to love and 
 trust her for his sake. I think, Ethel darling, 
 we must all try to do this now."
 
 114 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Mamma, you are still blind on the most 
 important point," I said, speaking more seri- 
 ously than I had yet done. " Do believe that 
 the attachment we have been referring to is 
 all on one side. Meta cares no more for Guy 
 in that way than she cares for — for Mr. Wyke, 
 or any other man as yet unknown to her. I 
 am certain of it." 
 
 " Has she told you so ?" my mother asked, 
 growing a little white and nervous over the 
 subject, or, it might be, over this particular 
 view of it. 
 
 "No — we scarcely ever talk together of 
 Guy; but I am clear about what I have said, 
 nevertheless ; she may break his heart, or 
 rather he may be determined to break it for 
 her sake, but she will never marry him." 
 
 " Oh, Ethel, I cannot think so ill of her. 
 She knows his devoted love, and she writes to 
 him sometimes. What object can she have in 
 this, and in seeking to win our love and esteem 
 as she has done, if after all her own heart is 
 wholly untouched?"
 
 PwEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 115 
 
 " I do not pretend to know her object," I 
 said, " if indeed she has any definite one. I 
 only feel sure that she has not the least notion 
 of becoming more to Guy than she is at pre- 
 sent. As for her heart, mamma, I am inclined 
 to think she is not troubled with such a pos- 
 session. How often we hear of the most 
 fascinating people in the world having no 
 hearts of their own." 
 
 "Ethel, I fancied you were beginning to 
 like Meta very much.'' 
 
 This was spoken almost reproachfully, and 
 I answered warmly in self-defence, 
 
 " You were not mistaken. I acknowledge 
 her marvellous powers of captivation, through 
 which my reason and judgment have been 
 completely beaten out of the field. I cannot 
 help liking her any more than I can help 
 liking the sunshine^ and the summer air, but 
 even for Guy's dear sake I cannot wholly 
 trust her, or believe that she would be a 
 desirable wife for him."
 
 116 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " You said just now you were certain she 
 would never marry liim." 
 
 " Well, T do feel certain of tliat, and am 
 reconciled to it in consideration of what I 
 conceive to be her unfitness for him." 
 
 " Ethel/ ^ exclaimed my mother abruptly, 
 after a brief pause, " I see clearly that you 
 have no notion of the extent and reality of 
 Guy's love for this girl. He would not re- 
 cover her final rejection of him. I have a solemn 
 conviction of this ; I know my boy better than 
 any one else can do — and Meta must not 
 reject him. Don't let us talk more about it 
 now — it agitates me too much ; but remember 
 what I have said, and try to get over any 
 remaining prejudice you may have, and which 
 I do not affirm you hold alone, against poor 
 Meta, for as Guy's life is in her hand, she 
 must and shall save it. Now, ring the bell, 
 dear, and in half an hour I shall be ready to 
 take a little stroll with you." 
 
 I was very much astonished and bewildered
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 117 
 
 at such a termination to our discussion ; but 
 I saw that mamma was painfully in earnest, 
 that through the suggestions of some deep 
 inward convictions which still probably 
 warred against her private views and wishes, 
 she had arrived at the conclusion she had 
 expressed — and though I neither believed in 
 the absolute necessity for the union we had 
 been speaking of, to save Guy's life, nor in 
 Meta's yieldingness even on these terms, I 
 respected my mother's commands too much 
 to add another word on the subject. 
 
 So our walk that afternoon was a some- 
 what silent and melancholy one, neither of 
 us being much disposed for ordinary chit- 
 chat ; and we returned home to our early tea 
 feeling more than ever (at least I speak for 
 myself) that having once possessed Meta, it 
 was dull and cheerless to be without her. 
 
 At this time we had only one servant in our 
 modest establishment — she had lived with us 
 for many years, and in virtue of her faithfulness 
 and good nature was quite a privileged per-
 
 118 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 son, notwitlistanding the troublesome defect 
 in her character which will be apparent by 
 and bye. Her face that evening, as she opened 
 the door to us, was so unusually shining and 
 " pregnant with news,'' that I enquired 
 eagerly if anything had happened. 
 
 " The new parson's here. Miss !" she ex- 
 claimed, scarcely waiting to hear my ques- 
 tion — '' he said he wanted very bad to see 
 missis, as he had brought down his little gal 
 on purpose — such a pretty behaved little gal, 
 miss, with hair in curls and a blue sash — and 
 I said I know'd you wouldn't be late as you 
 Lad ordered tea half an hour earlier than 
 usual, having made but a poor dinner, both 
 of you, and I told him as how Miss Meta was 
 gone out for the day, and as we all missed 
 her like, because of her being so merry, and 
 singing about the house, and keeping us all 
 alive ; and I put him and little missie in the 
 drawing-room, and I've set the tea things in 
 there, because I made sure he'd stay and 
 have a cup with you, and I told him you'd
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 119 
 
 be very proud if lie would, as you was both a 
 bit lonesome like without Mr. Guy or Miss 
 Meta, who would corae home before ^twas 
 dark, I told him, as missis didn't reckon her 
 very strong, and was afraid of the night air ; 
 and I told him — " 
 
 " That will do, Betsy," interrupted my 
 mother in her quietest and firmest voice — 
 nothing but extreme quietness and firmness 
 ever could stop the torrent of Betsy's wonder- 
 fal eloquence ; " and less than half of all you 
 have said would have done for Mr. Wyke. 
 You must make another effort to get out of 
 your ridiculous habit of communicating our 
 domestic concerns to strangers. You had 
 better make the tea at once, since it appears 
 you have invited the vicar to stay, and bring 
 it into the drawing-room. '^ 
 
 " And I will go and take off my bonnet,' ' 
 I said, for laughing at Betsy, though her 
 peculiarity was a very old joke in the 
 family now, had quite exhausted me, hot and
 
 120 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 tired as I was frora my walk. ''We little 
 expected such an honour as this, mamma.'' 
 
 " No," she replied ; " but I am very glad 
 to have an opportunity of improving our 
 acquaintance with Mr. Wyke. You, Ethel, 
 must try what you can do to amuse his child. 
 Children always take to you at once. And 
 arrange your hair neatly, my dear."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 121 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 
 ENTERTAINING THE VICAR. 
 
 I LAUGHED again, as I stood for a few minutes 
 before the glass, at the idea of mamma having 
 told me to arrange my hair neatly for Mr. 
 Wyke. It is true she would have done the 
 same had the most intimate of our female 
 acquaintances been going to take tea with us, 
 for unless specially admonished I was apt to 
 be a little careless in respect of personal 
 tidiness ; but the notion of taking the smallest 
 additional trouble to look well for Mr. Wyke 
 struck me as extremely ludicrous. I did not 
 believe he would know the face of one of his 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 lady parishioners from another, if he lived 
 amongst us for twenty years — and when I 
 joined the party below I was still struggling 
 to regain the amount of dignified gravity with 
 which I deemed it proper to greet and wel- 
 come our very grave and dignified vicar. 
 
 Mamma rose to leave the room for the 
 purpose of laying aside her walking dress as 
 soon as I entered. 
 
 " Mr. Wyke is good enough to say he will 
 have a cup of tea with us, Ethel. I shall be 
 down directly, and you may ring to have the 
 tray brought in at once.'' 
 
 She spoke cheerfully, as if the thought of 
 entertaining this reverend gentleman had 
 quite dissipated her fatigue, and imparted 
 new life and spirits to her. I w ondered first, 
 and then felt indignant that it should be so — 
 what could anybody see in a shy, heavy, un- 
 interesting person like the vicar of Gray- 
 bourne, who, except in the pulpit, appeared 
 as if he had lost his way in the universe, and 
 alighted on our social earth by mistake. His
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 123 
 
 voice, however, had, I fancied, a touch of 
 human kindliness in it as he broke in upon 
 these flippant thoughts of mine by saying : 
 
 " You see I have brought my little girl. Miss 
 Beamish, to make your acquaintance. Mar- 
 garet, come and shake hands with this young 
 lady." 
 
 A small, delicate looking creature with blue, 
 wistful eyes, and an aspect of painful ner- 
 vousness (evidently inherited from her father) 
 laid down at this summons a tempting picture 
 book, with which Betsy had thoughtfully 
 supplied her, and crept timidly to where I 
 was standing:. 
 
 Did any marvellous instinct reveal to her 
 that at the same moment she had crept into 
 my heart, or was it only the natural gift I 
 possessed for attracting all children, that 
 caused Margaret Wyke to become at once 
 and for ever at home with me? I can- 
 not tell. I only know that after one 
 hasty glace into my face the little soft hand 
 insinuated itself gently into mine, and the 
 
 G 2
 
 124 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 wliole countenance, anxious and troubled a 
 minute ago, settled into a quiet, natural re- 
 pose. 
 
 The father, for all his down-cast eyes, must 
 have observed this, for he said, after Margaret 
 and myself had been speaking for a few 
 minutes together — 
 
 " You are fond of children, Miss Bea- 
 mish?'* 
 
 " Of some children only," I replied ; ''but, 
 as a rule, I believe all children take pretty 
 readily to me. Your Margaret is not strong, 
 is she?'' 
 
 " No, I fear not,'' he answered, with some- 
 thing that would have been a sigh if a powerful 
 will had not checked it ; " and in consequence 
 of this sbe is as yet sadly ignorant. I have 
 been for some time past, and am still, debating 
 the grand question of her education. Little 
 girls must be educated, but I don't like the 
 idea of a governess in the house, and I 
 have always had a strong prejudice against 
 schools."
 
 EEAPiNG THE WHIRLWIND. 125 
 
 This was candid, at least, and in a measure, 
 might be termed confidential. I looked up at 
 the speaker with a smile that would come to 
 my lips, and said — 
 
 " I see nothing for it in this dilemma, Mr. 
 Wyke, but educating her yourself. Why 
 not?" 
 
 " I don't play the piano, or sing, or draw, 
 Miss Beamish,'' he replied, more than half 
 inclined, I thought, to smile too ; "but I have 
 taught Maggie to read and write, and I sup- 
 pose to these accomplishments I could add 
 Latin and Greek by-and-bye. Is this what you 
 would recommend?" 
 
 " Scarcely. I have no fancy myself for 
 learned ladies, but I gave you the best advice 
 that I could, under the difficult circum- 
 stances." 
 
 " So you did, and I am very much obliged 
 to you. I wish — " 
 
 At this moment my mother re-entering the 
 room, the vicar's wish died upon the air, as I 
 was sent at once to the tea table, and little
 
 126 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Margaret came witli me and soon claimed my 
 whole attention. 
 
 Mamma and Mr. Wyke talked chiefly about 
 Guy while the tea drinking was going on, 
 and I did not join in their conversation at all, 
 In the brief intervals of my chat with Maggie 
 I listened to what they were saying, and felt 
 half amused and half irritated by the vicar's 
 very slow enunciation, and by the ridiculous 
 way in which he still kept his eyes perpetu- 
 ally bent upon the ground. 
 
 I said to myself I should certainly shake 
 him a hundred times a day if he were my 
 
 father, or brother, or . No, that other 
 
 word refused to write itself clearly even in 
 my thoughts, which went meandering on, in 
 quest of new subjects of entertainment, leav- 
 ing the good, prosy vicar altogether aside. 
 
 " Will you take me into your pretty gar- 
 den ? " whispered Maggie, while Betsy was 
 removing the tea-tray. " I like flowers, and 
 it is so warm here — papa won't mind our 
 going."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 127 
 
 " Come along, then/' I said, gaily, almost 
 as glad as the child to have an excuse for 
 leaving mamma and her new friend to prose 
 together. '' We will have a scamper over the 
 lawn — a race if you like — and then you shall 
 hunt for ripe strawberries in the kitchen gar- 
 den." 
 
 " Margaret is not strong enough to race 
 with you. Miss Beamish," exclaimed the vicar 
 in his severest tones, as we were hastening 
 out of the room ; '' and be kind enough not to 
 let her eat too much fruit, as she is easily 
 made sick. She had better have her hat 
 on." 
 
 " All right," I replied, shortly, feeling I 
 should exceedingly enjoy stamping at him. 
 '' There are not a dozen strawberries in the 
 whole garden, and if your little girl gets tired, 
 I am quite strong enough to carry her. Come, 
 Margaret." 
 
 So we went without any further remon- 
 strance or suggestions from Margaret's anxious 
 parent, and in a few minutes were enjoying
 
 128 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 oursielves as thorouglily as if no such monitor 
 existed, or had tried to alarm us into a decent 
 propriety of conduct. 
 
 *' I can run races as well as any body/' 
 the little one said half whisperingly, and 
 closing both her hands tightly over mine, 
 " only papa always thinks 1 am not strong 
 enough to do anything. I should like to play 
 more than I do ; my nurse says I ought to 
 play with other children, but papa is afraid I 
 shall get hurt, or tired, or something. Per- 
 haps he will let me come sometimes and play 
 here." 
 
 " I hope so, Maggie, dear," I answered, 
 stooping to kiss the small, pale face that I 
 thought might not unnaturally awaken a 
 father's anxiety ; '' but by-and-bye I shall not 
 have much time for playing with you. I am 
 going to keep a school." 
 
 " To keep a school !" The child drew a 
 deep breath as if the idea had almost over- 
 whelmed her. " You don't look like a school- 
 mistress. I don't think you can be one.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 129 
 
 They must be old, and ugly, and cross, for I 
 have seen two or three, and that's what they 
 were all like. You are only making fun, 
 arn't you?'' 
 
 " Oh, no, Maggie ; I am telling you the 
 truth, and I daresay I shall grow ugly and 
 old and cross enough some day. Perhap:^' 
 keeping school helps to bring this state of 
 things about, so I had better enjoy my holi- 
 day while it lasts. Suppose we have just a 
 little quiet race — one that wouldn't frighten 
 papa — to the strawberry bed yonder." 
 
 " Oh, yes, we will ; but I want to say 
 something first. If you are really going to 
 keep a school, do ask papa to let me come to 
 it; he was telling you just now I must learn. 
 Why didn't you say then you were a school- 
 mistress, and could teach me?" 
 
 " Because, Maggie, I have reason to believe 
 your papa knew it before-hand. Didn't you 
 hear him say he disliked schools?" 
 
 " Oh, that can be only such schools and 
 schoolmistresses as T dislike. I am sure he 
 
 a 5
 
 130 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 would like you to teach me. T shall ask him, 
 if you won't.'' 
 
 ''No, dear child, I hope you will not. 
 Your papa knows best what is right for you. 
 Perhaps he will let you come to me some day 
 if he is left to decide it himself. And now for 
 our race and the strawberries." 
 
 Margaret, arriving first at the winning post, 
 only a little flushed and not at all tired, began 
 in a state of very pleasurable excitement to 
 search for the fruit I had tempted her with, 
 and I, throwing myself on the grass beside 
 her, conscious at last that I had gone through 
 enough physical exertion for one day, watched 
 the small, dainty-looking creature dreamily, 
 and felt some pity for the father who had 
 probably laid all his earthly hopes at the 
 shrine of this fragile idol, which a single 
 adverse wind might hurl in a moment to the 
 dust, 
 
 '' I ought not to get impatient at this poor 
 man's prosiness or heaviness," I had just 
 thought, when a step, not quite familiar,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 131 
 
 sounded on the lawn behind me, and I sprang 
 up abruptly to confront the gentleman whom 
 I had been paying the compliment to com- 
 passionate and meditate about. 
 
 " Margaret is quite safe, you see, and quite 
 happy," I began in a tone that was intended 
 to deprecate any fault finding on his part. 
 " Were you afraid to trust her for this little 
 time with me?" 
 
 " If I had been," he said, " I should not 
 have suffered her out of my sight. I dcn't 
 think you have been very prudent yourself 
 in lying on the grass, so late in the evening. 
 Perhaps you will show me the rest of the 
 garden while Maggie is busy there ; and then 
 we must be going home." 
 
 The gravel paths of our quondam wilder- 
 ness were very narrow, and did not admit 
 of even two persons, however slim, walk- 
 ing in them side by side. So I preceded 
 my solemn companion along several of these, 
 some straight and others winding, till we 
 came to an open space of uncut grass, ter-
 
 132 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 minating in a sort of copse, at the end of 
 which a gate led out into the Boltby Eoad. 
 
 " A wild place, even now, you see," I re- 
 marked, as my companion, when we had left 
 the paths, came and walked beside me. " We 
 have done as much in the way of clearing and 
 beautifying as we could afford, and, for my 
 part, I like nature in the rough." 
 
 "Not human nature, I hope?" said the 
 vicar, interrogatively. 
 
 '' I was not thinking of human nature, cer- 
 tainly," I replied ; " but even that I would 
 rather have rough than artificial — would not 
 you?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; but don't you think rough 
 human nature capable of improvement by 
 other than artificial means ; don*t you recog- 
 nise its need of a divine element to purify and 
 strengthen it for its human work and warfare ? 
 This is what I meant when 1 said I hoped 
 your remark was limited to the inanimate 
 nature we see around us." 
 
 '' A sermon out of the pulpit, and for my
 
 KEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 133 
 
 sole edification/' I tliought to myself, a little 
 impatiently ; but I answered aloud. '' Of 
 course in a spiritual sense, I know that 
 the roughness of our nature must be got 
 rid of, but one cannot be always remembering 
 this in our every day conversations. I am 
 afraid, Mr. Wyke, you will find us a very 
 benighted set of people at Graybourne." 
 
 Without noticing this last worse than 
 foolish observation, my companion said, some- 
 what severely, I fancied — " Then am 
 I to understand that you keep one class 
 of thoughts and feelings for Sundays 
 and another for week days, and that any 
 allusion to spiritual things, except on the 
 Sabbath, is an offence or a weariness to you ?" 
 
 " Oh dear, no," I replied quickly, and less 
 than ever inclined to like this tiresome man, 
 who had thought fit to preach to me out of 
 season ; "I did not mean anything of the 
 kind. I don't know indeed now, what I 
 meant. Shall we return, and see how your 
 little girl is getting on ?"
 
 134 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 "I am in no hurrj, if you are not, and I 
 wanted to talk to you for a miDute or two 
 about your sister — your elder sister, I be- 
 lieve ?" 
 
 "Yes," I said, in some astonisliment ; "I 
 am the youngest, and inferior to dear Gertie 
 in every way; you will be pleased with her, 
 I am sure, Mr. Wyte.'* 
 
 *' Has she a good temper?" 
 
 " A good temper !" I exclaimed, too much 
 startled by this abrupt enquiry to avoid the 
 bad taste of repeating the vicar's words, " Has 
 anybody told you it is otherwise ?" 
 
 "No; except a casual remark from one of the 
 Miss Downings, and a sentence or two from 
 your mother just now, your sister has never 
 been mentioned to me. My question is per- 
 fectly independent of any previous informa- 
 mation on the subject." 
 
 It was on my lips to say, "then, what 
 concern is it of yours?" but I remembered 
 the dignity of Mr. Wyke's office, and the re- 
 verence I was inclined, when he was in his
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 135 
 
 pulpit, to feel for the man himself; and so T 
 answered, courteously — '' My sister is 
 very good, very conscientious, very self- 
 denying on all important points ; a dear, 
 clever, affectionate girl, but she would 
 tell you herself .that lier temper is a little 
 hasty, and as you have given me no chance of 
 evading a direct reply, I suppose, I must con- 
 fess that I also think it is." 
 
 "And your own is the same?'^ 
 
 I fairly laughed aloud at this ; it was so 
 exceedingly irresistible. Was our new vicar 
 thinking of establishing a confessional at 
 Graybourne, and feeling his way to so strange 
 an innovation by thus unceremoniously ran- 
 sacking the consciences of his parishioners ? 
 I could hit upon no other elucidation of the 
 mystery of his present proceedings, and when 
 I had had my laugh out, I said — 
 
 " I believe I must petition for a little time 
 to reflect on this last home question of yours, 
 Mr. Wyke. The fact is, I have the credit 
 amongst my own people of being a sort of
 
 136 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 angel as to temper — milk and honey, you 
 know, and all that kind of thing — but your 
 very straightforward enquiry, implying as it 
 seems to do, a different opinion, has taken 
 conscience by surprise ; and she is really not 
 prepared with an answer. {low long can you 
 give me for self-examination ?'' 
 
 " I am not jesting. Miss Beamish," said the 
 vicar, in a tone that was almost as sad as it 
 was disapproving, ''but if such a question as 
 I have ventured upon, made in a serious 
 spirit, would be offensive to you, even from a 
 man nearly old enough to be your father, and 
 a minister of religion, I am willing to with- 
 draw it. We will return to my little girl, if 
 you please." 
 
 Could anything be more tiresome and 
 worrying than to be thus completely mis- 
 understood ? How was I to deal with a man 
 who had not an atom of mirth or fun, or ap- 
 preciation of these refreshing things, in his 
 whole nature ? I had just made up my mind 
 to assure him emphatically that I had never
 
 EEAPING THE WHIKLWIND. 137 
 
 been offended at truth and sincerity in my 
 life, and that I was rather flattered than other- 
 wise at his expressing an interest in my tem- 
 per, when voices in the road, from which a 
 high wall only divided us, reached our ears, 
 and instantly claimed my attention in con- 
 sequence of the strange effect one of these 
 (which I had at once recognized as Meta's) 
 seemed to produce on the vicar. 
 
 We were standing at the moment very near 
 to the iron gate I have before mentioned, and 
 scarcely had I noticed my companion's start 
 and look of perplexity (as the voice which 
 had evidently excited them arose on the still 
 evening air), when Mrs. Arnott and ]\leta 
 Kaufiman came into view, walking leisurely 
 in the middle of the elm-bordered road that 
 we were now looking upon. 
 
 Neither of the ladies happened to turn to- 
 wards the gate as they passed, and so I did not 
 speak. I was intently occupied with the con- 
 jectures this new incident had suggested, and
 
 138 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 wondering whether Mr. Wyke would make 
 any voluntary observation. 
 
 As he remained apparently buried in pro- 
 found thought, I said presently, and as if I 
 had noticed nothing — 
 
 " My cousin has been spending the day at 
 Primrose Cottage. It is kind of Mrs. Arnottto 
 see her safely home. If I had brought the key of 
 the gate here I might have spared them a 
 round of a quarter of a mile, but perhaps they 
 would not have thanked me, as they seemed to 
 be in very deep and interesting conversation. 
 Meta has taken a strange fancy to the gay 
 young widow.^^ 
 
 " I did not know it was your cousin who 
 just passed us," replied the vicar, appearing 
 to emerge with some difficulty from his musing 
 fit. " Miss Kauffman, I believe you called 
 her the day I first saw you all. It is likely 
 enough that two German voices should re- 
 semble each other. I was startled at the 
 instant by the odd similarity of your cousin's
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 139 
 
 voice to one I heard, under rather painful cir- 
 cumstances, in Germany, some time ago. 
 Voices always impress me more than faces — 
 though I believe I should anywhere recognise 
 the face belonging to that voice. It was a 
 very uncommon one." 
 
 " And probably quite unlike my cousin 
 Meta's," I said, mischievously, being quite 
 positive that Mr. Wyke had never yet given 
 a single straightforward glance into any of our 
 countenances. 
 
 At this remark of mine, all the vicar's 
 habitual shyness, which had been laid aside for 
 that evening, returned as if by magic, and he 
 said, with the air of a bashful schoolboy : 
 
 " I don't think I am much given to examine 
 young ladies' faces, I am sure if Miss Kauff- 
 man and a perfect stranger were brought at 
 this moment before me I should not know one 
 from the other ; but, as you say" (had I said 
 it ?) " the fact of voices being alike forms no 
 reason why faces should be so. I am afraid, 
 Miss Beamish, I have been keeping you out
 
 140 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 too long, and Margaret ought to have been 
 at home an hour ago. I will pick her up on 
 my way, and go now and bid your mother 
 good evening." 
 
 When we reached the house, Meta had 
 arrived, but was up-stairs taking off her 
 bonnet, and as the vicar insisted on making a 
 hasty retreat, there was no meeting between 
 them that night. 
 
 I consoled myself, and hushed my ardent 
 curiosity on the subject to sleep by the reflec- 
 tion that there would be speedy and abundant 
 opportimities for bringing them together.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 141 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 meta's announcement. 
 
 Meta did not tell us much about her visit to 
 Primrose Cottage. She only said, in a general 
 way, that she had enjoyed it very well, and 
 that Mrs. Arnott had asked her to go again 
 early in the following week. It struck me 
 that during the next few days there was a 
 little cloud over the usually bright spirits of 
 this impenetrable cousin of mine, and more 
 than once I was on the point of asking her 
 if anything had gone wrong with her ; but 
 increasing acquaintance with Meta was con- 
 firming me in a belief I had very early im-
 
 142 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 bibed, that sbe had a singular dislike to being 
 questioned about herself in any way. So I 
 let her alone for the present, watching her 
 certainly with ever growing hiterest and 
 curiosity, but secure in my firm persuasion 
 that long before Guy could meet her again, I 
 should have fathomed the mysteries connected 
 with her past life, and amidst the shadows of 
 which she still appeared to be occasionally 
 walking. 
 
 When the Sunday came — the Sunday after 
 Mr. Wyke's visit to Lindenhurst — Meta ex- 
 cused herself from accompanying us to church. 
 This was not a very unusual thing with her, 
 though to please my mother I believe she 
 often went when she had no inclination to do 
 so; but on the present occasion, as she did 
 not complain of feeling unwell, I ventured 
 to remonstrate a little, and to say I thought 
 she was wrong to absent herself from a place 
 of worship, simply because she felt no especial 
 interest in going. 
 
 '' Has Mr. Wyke made a saint of you al-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 143 
 
 ready, Ethel?'' she replied, with her thoroughly 
 good-tempered, sunny laugh. " He must be 
 a wonder to have done so much in a single pri- 
 vate interview ; but have some mercy upon the 
 poor sinners who have been less highly privi- 
 leged than yourself. I have only listened to 
 his eloquence in public, you know.'' 
 
 " Meta, I am no saint," I said in answer to 
 her jesting, which in anybody else would have 
 appeared ill-timed and ungraceful ; '' but I 
 cannot bear to see people staying away from 
 church for nothing. It is a bad example, to 
 say the least of it ; and schoolmistresses,! think, 
 ought to be patterns of all that is good." 
 
 I added this last clause jokingly, of course, 
 and because I fancied Meta was beginning to 
 weary of my importunity. She coloured 
 slightly, and replied in a graver voice: — 
 
 " So they ought, Ethel, and therefore I fear 
 I shall Aever be fit for one ; but you are not 
 dressed yet, and the bells have been ringing 
 these ten minutes." 
 
 I left her then, and saw no more of her
 
 144 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 till we returned from churcli at one o'clock. 
 That was our dinner hour on Sundays, and 
 on this occasion we had brought home Alicia 
 Clarkson to spend the afternoon with us. 
 Mrs. Hallam had seen me shaking hands 
 with her in the porch, and had said with her 
 usual bluntness: 
 
 " You may borrow Alicia for a few hours, 
 if you want her. I am going to pay a round 
 of formal visits which would tire the poor 
 child to death. About five I will either send 
 or call for her.*' 
 
 So Alicia had gladly availed herself of this 
 unlooked-for leave of absence ; and she and 
 I, meeting so rarely, and having always been 
 greatly inclined to like each other, had a 
 hundred things to talk about, that for the 
 time, drove Meta and her singularities entirely 
 out of my thoughts. 
 
 At dinner, however, I could not help 
 noticing that she was unusually preoccupied 
 and inattentive to what was passing around 
 her. Except when gazing at Alicia, or
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 145 
 
 listening to what she might be saying (and 
 Alicia spoke very little), Meta appeared wholly 
 wrapped up in her own meditations. 
 
 '' You are not well, my love,'' my mother 
 said to her once, with quite the same tender 
 anxiety she would have manifested in ad- 
 dressing either of her own girls (could Guy's 
 future wife be less to her than his sisters ?) 
 '' You should have gone out into the air this 
 beautiful morning.'' 
 
 "I am perfectly well," Meta replied, with 
 that soft smile of hers, which was in itself a 
 complete thank offering, ''and I have been 
 into the air while you good folks were at 
 church. I walked as far as Primrose 
 Cottage." 
 
 " As far as Primrose Cottage," repeated 
 mamma in astonishment, " And with what 
 possible object; surely not to call during 
 church time on Mrs. Arnott ?" 
 
 "Well, yes it was," Meta answered, with 
 half a laugh and half a blush ; " She told 
 me the other day she should be at home 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 this morning, and I wanted to speak to her 
 particularly.'^ 
 
 My mother seemed waiting for and ex- 
 pecting some further explanation, but as 
 none came she allow^ed the subject to drop, 
 and talked, during the remainder of the time 
 we remained at table, to Alicia Clarkson. 
 
 In leaving the dining-room I invited Alicia 
 to come with me into the garden, and we 
 found a dellciously shady spot under some 
 thick lime trees where we sat down and 
 enjoyed thoroughly the long, breezy summer 
 afternoon. 
 
 I asked my companion, amongst other 
 things, of her former acquaintance with our 
 vicar, and she told me she had lived as gover- 
 ness in a family he was connected with through 
 his late wife, and where he visited constantly 
 when in London. 
 
 Very warmly Alicia spoke of the general 
 excellence and purity of his character ; 
 very gratefully and even affectionately of the 
 kindness she had herself received from him ;
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 147 
 
 but there was no embarrassment in her manner, 
 no faltering or consciousness in her voice ; 
 just so she might have spoken of a father or 
 an elder brother ; and I smiled as I remem- 
 bered how some of us had destined this 
 sweet Alicia to be the grave Vicar's second 
 wife, and wondered whether he was aware 
 of the very calm nature of her sentiments 
 towards him. 
 
 After this I ventured (as gu'ls will venture 
 when they are alone together) on more 
 delicate ground, and spoke to Mrs. Hallam's 
 companion of Mrs. Hallam's son. It was 
 quite a different matter now. At first, like 
 Coleridge's heroine, 
 
 She listened with a flitting blush, 
 ' A downcast eye, a modest grace ; 
 
 but as I went on and grew bolder in my 
 surmises and assumptions, Alicia became very 
 grave and pale, and said at last, putting her 
 little trembling hand into mine — probably 
 that I might not think it was any lack of 
 
 H 2
 
 148 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 confidence in me that dictated her words — 
 she was such a tender-hearted creature — 
 
 " Dear Ethel, let us talk of something else. 
 You must know, in spite of all you say, that 
 Edmund Hallam would never dare, even if 
 he were inclined, to choose a girl like myself 
 for his wife. Have you not heard, that in 
 consequence of the death of a distant cousin, 
 he is next heir to an earldom ; and Lord 
 Clinton is now a very old man.'' 
 
 " No, I never heard this, Alicia, but I can- 
 not see that it would make much difference 
 in people's feelings ; however, I will not utter 
 another word to agitate or vex you, dear. I 
 suppose Edmund will soon be coming to Beech- 
 wood again." 
 
 " Almost immediately," she said, and the 
 colour went and came so rapidly on her cheek 
 as she spoke, that I could no longer be in the 
 slightest doubt as to her feelings at any rate. 
 "Almost immediately, and T believe Mrs. 
 Hallam is going to give a very grand fete on 
 his birthday, which will occur next month.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 149 
 
 She talks of having an out-of-door enter- 
 tainment, and if so, all the Grajbourne people 
 will be invited. That will be nice, Ethel, for 
 of course you and Gertrude will come." 
 
 " Yes, if our school duties have not com- 
 menced. For my part I shall like it exces- 
 sively 5 we have so little change here, and it 
 would doubtless be a great treat to our 
 cousin Meta. What do you think of Meta, 
 Alicia ?'' 
 
 '' I think she is wonderfully attractive, 
 and, at times, very, very pretty, but I don't 
 fancy I could feel at home with her. She is 
 not like an English girl." 
 
 " Oh no, but you should hear her sing, 
 and by the bye, how does your own singing 
 get on ? Are you still taking lessons ? " 
 
 " Yes, but I have really so little voice" 
 (here she sighed in a manner that I thought 
 wholly disproportioned to the occasion), " that 
 it seems a pity to spend the money on me. 
 I tell Mrs. Hallam so continually, but she 
 only laughs and bids me persevere."
 
 150 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " She is passionately fond of music herself, 
 is she not?" 
 
 "Yes — all the Hallams are — of singing 
 especially. — And so Miss Kauffman has a 
 beautiful voice?'' 
 
 " Very beautiful, and very peculiar. You 
 think her attractive now. When you have 
 heard her sing you will feel that you 
 never discovered her fascination till that 
 moment. She is a remarkable person alto- 
 gether, I assure you." 
 
 " You like her very much ? " 
 
 " A simple question, Alicia, and one that, 
 after all I have said about my cousin, ought 
 to be easy to answer ; and yet it really is not. 
 I am charmed by Meta certainly ; I find her 
 society delightful ; I miss her if she is only 
 absent for a day — and yet, inasmuch as I do 
 not in the least understand her, I don't think 
 I can venture to affirm that I thoroughly and 
 entirely like her." 
 
 " Strange ! but I am sure I should feel as 
 you do with regard to anybody 1 failed to
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 151 
 
 compreliend. Where we give our affection it 
 is so desirable to be able to give our perfect 
 esteem/^ 
 
 ''Oh, I think so too — what could be more 
 torturing than to love and doubt, or having 
 loved, we will say, to preserve that sentiment 
 when the esteem which first inspired it had 
 vanished for ever ? I suppose this does hap- 
 pen sometimes, Alicia ? " 
 
 Alicia pondered a little, and then decided 
 that it might, but that it would be very, very 
 terrible. And after this we grew more and 
 more romantic and young-womanish in our 
 harmless talk (for the soft summer air was 
 strangely provocative that summer's eve of 
 tender thoughts and impressions), and I don't 
 know what we should have come to, had not 
 Meta suddenly appeared upon the scene, and 
 put an end to our pleasant dreams and ima- 
 ginings. 
 
 She might not have done this had she joined 
 us with no other purpose than that of ming- 
 ling in our idle gossip, for Meta was — as I
 
 152 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 judged lier then — a hundred times more dreamy 
 and romantic than either Alicia Clarkson or 
 myself, and would no doubt have guided us 
 into the very centre of that wondrous dream- 
 land whose threshold we simple English girls 
 could barely touch with our timid feet — but 
 she had come to us with the plain practical 
 object of imparting to me a communication 
 which, for some reason or other, she preferred 
 that I should listen to in company. 
 
 " Ethel,'' she commenced, rather abruptly, 
 and declining to sit down, in favour of a lean- 
 ing posture against the trunk of a tree which 
 shaded Alicia and myself, " I have been ex- 
 plaining to Mrs. Beamish why I went to 
 Primrose Cottage this morning, and now I 
 wish to give the same confidence to you. 
 Through Mrs. Arnott I have heard of a situ- 
 ation in a private family which I think it will 
 be very desirable for me to accept. In fact," 
 she continued, meeting for an instant my look 
 of blank surprise, and probably deeming it 
 best to avert at once all chance of opposition,
 
 HEAPING THE VVHIRLWIND. 153 
 
 " I liave only to see the lady as a mere form, 
 and then the matter wilt be settled." 
 
 I believe I was rude enough to continue to 
 look at her, when she had done speaking^ for 
 more than a minute — the suddenness of the 
 thing so entirely bewildered me, but presently 
 words came of themselves, and I expressed, 
 in tolerably strong terms, the utter astonish- 
 ment with which this singular communication 
 had filled me. 
 
 Alicia rose then and strolled away from us. 
 
 " I was prepared for some amount of dis- 
 approval on your part," Meta said gently, and 
 almost humbly, now we were alone — '' and 
 therefore I would not mention it till the thing 
 was done. Forgive me, Ethel, for having 
 thought more of my own interest on this oc- 
 casion than yours. I should not have liked 
 the monotony of a school, and at the best it 
 would have been long before I ,could have 
 made much money as your assistant. Here, 
 at Mrs. Vivian's, I shall have eighty guineas 
 a year, and be treated as one of the family." 
 
 H 5
 
 154 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " At Mrs. Vivian's, of Fell House — is it 
 there you are going, Meta ? " 
 
 " Yes, her last governess was a cousin of 
 Mrs. Arnott's. She is leaving to be married, 
 and Mrs. Arnott spoke for me. Thej wanted 
 some one who would teach German and sing- 
 ing well. I suppose I can do as much as that, 
 Ethel.'' 
 
 I was beginning to see that Meta had a 
 right to choose her own position, and to do 
 the best she could for herself. 
 
 " Assuredly you can," I replied in a more 
 cordial voice, " and I am glad so excellent a 
 thing has fallen in your way. Had Gertrude 
 been at home I should never have dreamt of 
 objecting to it, but I must say I think you 
 should have waited her coming— she had a 
 right to be consulted as it was at her sugges- 
 tion chiefly that you were invited to England, 
 and she is or will be the head of the concern 
 you came to make part of. I cannot bear to 
 have anybody put a slight upon dear Gertie." 
 
 '^ You forget," pleaded Meta, still very
 
 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 155 
 
 humbly and apologetically, " that Mrs. 
 Vivian was not likely to wait my pleasure in 
 the matter. She required an answer at once, 
 as far as my willingness to go to her was 
 concerned, and I must either have lost the 
 situation or accepted it without delay/' 
 
 " Well, then, we must just make the best of 
 it, I suppose, and, for one thing you, must 
 write to Gertrude yourself, Meta, and tell 
 your own story. I daresay you can win with 
 your pen as easily as with your tongue. By- 
 the-bye, what does mamma say to it all ?" 
 
 " She is sorry, I am sure, but will not seek 
 to influence me in any way. She thinks I 
 could scarcely refuse the offer of eighty guineas 
 a-year.'' 
 
 " It is tempting, certainly ; and the Vivians, 
 I imagine, are nice people. I only hope 
 Gertie will not be disappointed.^' 
 
 " How much you think of your sister, 
 Ethel. Are you afraid of her ?" 
 
 " Afraid of my darling Gertie ? '' I ex- 
 claimed, indignantly. " Why, Meta, what
 
 156 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 could have put such a wild idea into your 
 head ; are you serious in asking me the ques- 
 tion ?'' 
 
 " Yes — quite serious, and it occurred to me, 
 I suppose, because I am conscious of being 
 afraid of her myself/' 
 
 " You, Meta, and without having seen her. 
 Surely you are talking nonsense now ?" 
 
 "I am not, indeed. You all speak of 
 Gertrude as if she were a person to be looked 
 up to, and feared; a person of qaick and 
 decisive judgments, and who would have little 
 mercy upon the faults and weaknesses of 
 those around her. Ethel, I like you, and 
 dear Mrs. Beamish, and poor Guy very sin- 
 cerely. I could live with you happily for 
 ever — but I am quite sure I should not love 
 your sister ; and so it is best for us not to 
 attempt an every-day life together. '^ 
 
 "And is this, then, the reason you are 
 leaving us, Meta ?^ 1 asked somewhat coldly ; 
 for her strange opinion of Gertrude had 
 wounded and distressed me.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 157 
 
 " Oil, not entirely," she replied, quickly ; 
 ''and what I have said on that subject is to 
 you alone. Had you not better join Miss 
 Clarkson again now, and I have promised to 
 go and make tea for Mrs. Beamish. We will 
 send for you and your guest when it is ready. 
 Shake hands, Ethel, won't you ?'' 
 
 I shook her hand lightly, and she turned 
 without another word, and went back into the 
 house.
 
 158 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 FRIGHTENED, 
 
 Mrs. Vivian, of Fell House, called the next 
 day and liad a long interview with my mother 
 on the suhject of Meta and her qualifications. 
 I do not know all that passed between them, 
 but mamma must have spoken very warmly and 
 approvingly of the girl whom she expected one 
 day to claim as a third daughter,for Mrs. Vivian, 
 in leaving, declared herself more than satisfied, 
 and expressed a hope that as her old governess 
 was obliged to go to London that week to 
 make preparations for her marriage, Miss
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 159 
 
 Kauffman would be able to take up her 
 residence at Fell House the week after. 
 
 It was purely by accident, I know, but it 
 did seem odd that the day finally deter- 
 mined on for Meta's leaving our roof, was the 
 one immediately preceding that on which dear 
 Gertrude was to return home. 
 
 " But I shall often come and see you all," 
 said Meta cheerfully — she had been particu- 
 larly cheerful since the whole matter of her 
 going to the Vivians was settled. " I 
 know I shall not be required to have the chil- 
 dren with me much more than half the day, 
 and the distance, after all, is a mere 
 nothing.'^ 
 
 " Four miles, at least,'' my mother said, 
 " and that is rather too far for you to walk, 
 my child, with your delicate health. Pray 
 think of yourself, Meta, and never attempt 
 anything rash on our account." 
 
 Meta laughed and kissed the anxious speaker 
 with every appearance of the most grateful 
 aftection. Perhaps I wronged her when I
 
 160 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 thougbt to myself that mammals fears of her 
 doing anything rash for our sakes were entirely 
 groundless. 
 
 Poor dear mamma ! she was terribly divided 
 both in her opinion and feelings concerning 
 this new plan of Meta's. In some respects 
 she considered it a good thing and rejoiced 
 that so eligible a position had been offered to 
 our young relative ; but then again she feared 
 Guy would see it in a different light, and 
 make himself unhappy at the thought of the 
 possible trials and probable temptations to 
 which Meta might, as a governess in a fash- 
 ionable family, be exposed. 
 
 At length she found courage to write and 
 tell him of it, and his answer, which came by 
 return of post, did not tend to quiet her mind 
 on the subject. He was deeply grieved 
 and distressed at the news she had given 
 him ; feared Meta had not been happy 
 at Lindenhurst; implored both mamma and 
 myself to do our utmost to dissuade her from 
 the plan, and ended by declaring he should
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 161 
 
 have no peace till he heard the whole thing was 
 abandoned. 
 
 With this heart-rending letter — it was 
 really so to the loving mother — mamma 
 sought Meta, and asked her if her determina- 
 tion to leave us was irrevocable — if poor 
 Guy's passionate and absolute disapproval of 
 her quitting Lindenhurst could not move her 
 to stay, at least till he came home again. I 
 happened to walk into the room where they 
 were, just as my mother had got so far in her 
 errand, and was waiting almost breathlessly for 
 Meta's reply. 
 
 The girl seemed to ponder a minute or two ; 
 (I don't believe she wavered for a single 
 instant about her own plans, although there 
 was this appearance of doing so) ; then she 
 looked up into my mother's face with her 
 sweetest and most caressing smile, and said 
 softly, 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Beamish — I will write to Guy, 
 and you will see that his next letter to you 
 will be very different."
 
 162 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 And so it was, tliougli wliat arguments or 
 arts slie used to induce liim to retract all his 
 previous objections, and view the matter as 
 she viewed it, I am quite incapable of saying. 
 At any rate the thing was done. Guy was 
 content; his mother was content ; I was 
 content; and Gertrude, though astonished, 
 took it all very philosophically, writing five 
 lines on the subject of Metals decision, and five 
 pages on the subject of the monster examina- 
 nation for rewards and prizes which was to 
 come off at Parnassus House on the following 
 day. 
 
 Meta had very few preparations to make in 
 connection with her change of abode. She 
 had brought an extensive wardrobe with her, 
 and had hitherto had no opportunity of dis- 
 playing anything but the simplest toilette. 
 But at Fell House it would be very different. 
 The Vivians were gay people, visited and re- 
 ceived all the best county families, and had, 
 besides, constant guests from London or else- 
 where staying in the house. Mrs. Arnott had
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 163 
 
 assured Meta that her voice alone would 
 secure her admittance and welcome amongst 
 all these people, but that independently of any 
 special gifts or attractions, the " governess '' 
 in the Vivian family was quite an honoured 
 and privileged individual. 
 
 " So there's no fear, you see, of my not 
 getting on comfortably with them,'' Meta said 
 to me one day, as we were discussing the 
 future. " In going out as governess, the only 
 apprehension I could ever experience would 
 be that of having my claims as a gentle- 
 woman overlooked. Pride is one of my chief 
 weaknesses, Ethel, and when that is trampled 
 on, I can become very fierce indeed." 
 
 " Most women can, I think, unless they are 
 saints or angels," I replied shortly, for though 
 Meta alluded to her pride as a weakness, her 
 manner implied that she really viewed it as a 
 meritorious quality, and one which she was 
 singular in possessing. " I don't suppose you 
 are either worse or better than your neigh- 
 bours in this respect."
 
 164 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Ah, you don't know me yet, Ethel,'* 
 Meta laughed, good-humouredly, ''and now 
 that Gertrude will not be able to study me 
 too, perhaps you never may. I don't think I 
 could have stood the fire of a couple of model 
 English girls, devoted heart and soul to each 
 other, and full of amiable but strong British 
 prejudice. We shall have more mutual love 
 and faith at a distance, believe me, even if 
 under Mr. Wyke's teaching — public and pri- 
 vate — you grow into one of the saints you just 
 now spoke of." 
 
 It was surely not surprising that my 
 "strong British prejudice" revolted desper- 
 ately against nearly every word of this curious 
 address. I was not what is romantically 
 called "a creature of impulse " in general, but 
 it certainly was impulse which dictated my 
 words now, as I said : 
 
 " Meta, you are right in asserting that I do 
 not know you, that I probably never shall 
 know you, for you seem to me encompassed 
 by mysteries far too profound for so weak a
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 165 
 
 sight as mine to fathom. I claim no extra- 
 ordinary penetration in having discovered that 
 you and Mr. Wyke have met before, and that 
 yon are anxious to get out of his neighbour- 
 hood.'^ 
 
 I was sorry when the words were spoken ; 
 very, very sorry. I had no intention of pain- 
 ing my cousin in that way. Her face, so 
 joyous and almost defiant a moment before, 
 grew suddenly white and elongated, with a 
 pinched, unnatural expression, as if some of 
 its youth had been abruptly torn, with the 
 sunshine, out of it. With that countenance 
 — which really frightened me — she stared 
 into mine, half helplessly, half enquiringly, 
 for a minute or two. Then, as I did not 
 speak, she said in a thick, labouring voice : 
 
 " Has Mr. Wyke told you he ever met me 
 before, Ethel?'' 
 
 Understanding her fear, I hastened to 
 reply— 
 
 " No ; he has no idea of it. Only when he 
 heard your voice the other evening, as you
 
 166 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 passed the garden gate by wliicli we were 
 standing, he started and explained afterwards 
 that it was like a voice he had heard, under 
 painful circumstances, some years ago in 
 Germany.'* 
 
 '' This was all, quite all, he said, Ethel ?" 
 
 " Quite all, Meta. He has not seen your 
 face }^et, you know/' 
 
 She remained for several minutes buried in 
 profound and evidently agitating thought, 
 during which her face gradually resumed 
 something of its natural expression. At the 
 end of that time she met my eyes (I think 
 they must have had a penitent if not a pitying 
 look in them) unflinchingly, and said : 
 
 " Ethel, I will not burden your mind or 
 conscience with the details of a secret that 
 could avail me nothing to tell, nor you to 
 hear. I will only ask you, as a special grace 
 to me, to keep from everybody, even from 
 Gertrude, your suspicion about Mr. Wyke. 
 Thus far I may acknowledge. We have met 
 before, and it was under painful circumstances,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 167 
 
 but he knows nothing bad of me. Will jou 
 take my word for this, and will you give me 
 the promise I have asked ?'' 
 
 '^ If I give it, Meta, it is because we are 
 parting, and I should be distressed to occa- 
 sion you any further pain. I am not fond of 
 concealments or mysteries, and hitherto I have 
 been accustomed to tell my sister everything/' 
 
 ''But you do promise?" said Meta, entreat- 
 irigly, though I could detect some impatience, 
 and a little contempt for my British scruples, 
 both in look and tone. " Don^t keep me in 
 suspense, Ethel." 
 
 " I meant you to understand the promise as 
 given. And now, we will talk of pleasanter 
 things. Did mamma tell you that the Miss 
 Downings and their niece are coming to tea 
 to-night, expressly to say good bye to you, 
 and to hear you sing once more ?" 
 
 " I am greatly flattered," Meta replied ; but 
 her thoughts were not with those excellent 
 neighbours of ours, and I soon after made an 
 excuse for leaving her to herself.
 
 168 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 During the next few days, and these were 
 the last of our being together, Meta's spirits 
 drooped visibly, and I could see that she 
 avoided, with the utmost care, every oppor- 
 tunity of another tHe-d-tete with me. Mamma, 
 who was very sorrowful herself, attributed 
 Meta's dejection to her regret at leaving us, 
 now that the parting was so near at hand ; 
 but although I did not share her view of the 
 matter (knowing, indeed, that it was far 
 otherwise, and believing that Meta would say 
 good-bye to us with no emotions but those of 
 gladness), 1 made no attempt to undeceive the 
 kind, warm heart, that would have been 
 wounded cruelly in thinking as I thought. 
 
 Mrs. Arnott, to whom Meta owed her good 
 fortune, came often to Lindenhurst from the 
 time the matter was settled. Without in the 
 smallest degree disliking this little woman — I 
 knew her too superficially for that — her society 
 wearied me, and made me think human nature 
 a poorer thing than I was inclined at other 
 seasons to do. Yet there was nothing really
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 169 
 
 bad or vicious in lier — nothing that the most 
 strait-laced moralist could lay hold of as a 
 reason why she should be shunned or con- 
 demned ; she was only intensely vain, in- 
 tensely frivolous, intensely occupied about 
 those small matters of personal adornment, 
 personal conquest, and personal amusement 
 generally, which, when made to form the 
 entire staple of a grown-up woman's conver- 
 sation, become to every thinking mind so 
 utterly paltry and contemptible. 
 
 I don't know whether thinking people — 
 people to whom thought is simply the natural 
 exercise of a faculty that has been given 
 them — have any right to despise their unthink- 
 ing neighbours, or to say, '' stand by, for my 
 soul is larger than thine ! " but they do it, I 
 suppose, instinctively and unpremeditatedly, 
 in the same way that a very tall man cannot 
 help looking down upon the short one who 
 happens to be walking by his side. 
 
 Mrs. Arnott was a pretty woman, and she 
 was young, and tolerably rich, and free. In 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 her own estimation these manifold advantages 
 placed her as much above a girl like myself 
 with my own bread to earn, and a very 
 moderate share of personal attractiveness, as 
 the shining stars were above the humblest 
 flowers on which they looked. 
 
 The idea of my despising her, therefore, 
 would have appeared to this very happy little 
 widow a fancy too ludicrous to be for a moment 
 seriously entertained. Perhaps it was ; and 
 yet somehow I never came in contact with her 
 without feeling her mental dwarfishness, and 
 thinking of a verse I had once read — 
 
 " Little things on little wings, 
 Bear little souls to Heaven." 
 
 I don't believe that Meta was particularly 
 attached to Mrs. Arnott, although, outwardly, 
 they were the fastest friends. In spite of a 
 few surface points of resemblance, there was 
 no real congeniality between the two ; and 
 pretty women, it is said, never cordially like 
 each other. I don't know how this may be ; 
 I am inclined to set it down as one of the
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 171 
 
 cruel scandals that short-sighted men delight 
 to circulate against the gentler sex ; but I do 
 know that the widow of Primrose Cottage and 
 my cousin Meta Kauffman were bound to- 
 gether by exceedingly brittle links, and that 
 their friendship appeared to me, even then in 
 its earliest and warmest stage, one of those 
 which the simplest accident might dissolve for 
 ever. 
 
 Still Meta liked, while she remained at 
 Lindenhurst, to have Mrs. Arnott a good deal 
 with her, and the widow, having no particular 
 excitements or distractions on hand, was con- 
 tent enough to come and tell us all she knew 
 about the Vivians of Fell House, and their 
 gay doings. 
 
 Thus it was that neither my mother nor 
 myself had much opportunity of talking 
 quietly or alone with Meta at the last. She 
 went away, on the morning appointed, in i\Irs. 
 Vivian's carriage, which that lady had kindly 
 sent for her — went away tearless, even after 
 my mother's tears and blessing, but not with- 
 
 I 2
 
 172 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 out thanking us graciously and sweetly for all 
 we had done for her, and reiterating her as- 
 surance that she meant to come very, very 
 often, to see us.
 
 KEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 173 
 
 CHAPTEE XIIL 
 
 PROSPECTIVE GAIETY. 
 
 Gertrude came home, and we were all yeiy 
 happy. Even Meta could be but little missed 
 in the new delight of my sister's presence. 
 We had so much to talk about, so much to 
 hear, and so much to tell ; small matters 
 they were, truly, that we discussed so eagerly 
 and untiringly, but all important to us at the 
 time, because nothing of deeper or more vital 
 interest had as yet arisen to ruffle the calm 
 stream of our peaceful lives. 
 
 Walking together — we two sisters — in the 
 quiet fields those lovely summer nights, how
 
 174 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 many a serene and softly- tinted picture we 
 drew of the future that lay before us —a future 
 that had no ambitious hopes, no very lofty 
 wishes, no romantic expectations of any kind 
 surrounding it, but was just what the ordi- 
 nary course of human events seemed to encou- 
 rage us in anticipating as possible, probable, 
 and almost inevitable, unless sickness or death 
 came amongst us and changed all things in 
 the outer world. 
 
 I remember dear Gertrude saying so often, 
 though not, of course, always in the same 
 words : — 
 
 "You and I were born to be workers, 
 Ethel — it is a noble vocation ; let us try to 
 pursue it, not only conscientiously, but 
 lovingly, not only for the bread it may 
 win, but for the comfort and strength it 
 must o:ive to our own hearts and minds if we 
 go steadily onwards. Above all, never let 
 us suffer any sickly rorpance or sentiment — 
 those follies which occupy the lives of more 
 than half the girls and women we meet — to
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 175 
 
 come between us and our life's duties. It 
 would be weak and ridiculous to begin our 
 youth by making any vows of perpetual 
 spinstersliip ; but, for my part, I earnestly 
 hope that what is called 'falling in love,* 
 may be spared to us both as long as we have 
 work to do ; and I am especially thankful in 
 the reflection that Grayboume offers no single 
 temptation to any madness of the kind." 
 
 I never failed to assent when Gertrude — my 
 eldest sister, you know — talked in this way ; 
 but I sometimes could not help smiling a little 
 to myself, and wondering whether she had 
 taken my place (after I left Parnassus House), 
 under the shadow of Minerva, and there learnt 
 so much of wisdom. 
 
 I smiled, perhaps, because her grave words 
 sounded quaintly, coming from such pretty 
 coral lips, and endorsed by the sober, stedfast 
 look, which I thought even then could not be 
 the only expression belonging to those long- 
 fringed, violet eyes. 
 
 But we were very happy, and the bright
 
 176 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 summer days went swiftly by, while we 
 matured our plans in connection with the 
 labours we were so soon to begin, and en- 
 joyed the remnant of our holiday as thoroughly 
 as if we were school-girls still. 
 
 Mr. Wyke called soon after my sister re- 
 turned, and was introduced to her. She talked 
 to him as she would have talked to anybody 
 then of her labours and her triumphs at Par- 
 nassus House, and her hopes of being able, 
 in the coming time, to make school life as 
 happy to her own pupils as it had been to 
 her. I felt sure that the simplicity of her 
 character must charm and interest him, and I 
 believe it did, for he came oftener to us than 
 to any of his other neighbours — the poor 
 always excepted — and seemed to grow m.ore 
 and more at home with us. 
 
 My little friend Maggie was a frequent 
 guest at Lindenhurst, too — indeed, I am not 
 sure that Maggie's fondness for the place had 
 not something to do with the vicar's increas- 
 ing sociability — and about a week before our
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 177 
 
 actual labours were to commence, lie informed 
 me (I cannot imagine why it should have 
 been me, and not Gertrude), that if I did not 
 think his little daughter would be too trouble- 
 some on account of her backwardness, he 
 should like to send her to us every day for 
 three or four hours. 
 
 Secretly, I could not help being rather 
 flattered at this decision, knowing as I did 
 the great prejudice he had always had against 
 schools ; but I only said, in my calmest 
 manner, that I had no fear of Maggie being 
 in the least troublesome, and that I should be 
 very glad to have her. 
 
 " Thank you,^' he answered, somewhat 
 cordially, and then, after an interval of 
 silence, during which I could see the old 
 spirit of bashfulness stealing on and taking 
 entire possession of him, he added — 
 
 " And perhaps, as Maggie knows you better 
 than your sister, and is fond of you, it will 
 not interfere with your arrangements if I ask 
 you just at first to be her teacher.'' 
 
 I 5
 
 178 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 I said I sliould have much pleasure in 
 keeping my little friend entirely to myself — 
 and the anxious father seemed satisfied with 
 this, and in going away shook my hand a 
 trifle more warmly than he had ever yet 
 done. 
 
 In the meanwhile we had seen nothing of 
 Meta. One short note had reached us two 
 days after her departure, in which she ex- 
 pressed herself charmed with her new home 
 and new friends ; but no allusion was made 
 in it of coming to Lindenhurst, nor was Ger- 
 trude spoken of in any way. I resented this 
 deeply for my sister, who only laughed, and 
 said that some of us must have painted her 
 in very hideous and terrifying colours to our 
 German relative. For her part she was in no 
 hurry for the introduction, even though 
 mamma would remind her that Meta was 
 one day to be our dear Guy's wife. Ger- 
 trude curled her pretty lip at every mention 
 of our brother's infatuation, and declared her 
 conviction that she could talk him out of it
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 179 
 
 in half an hour, when once she had him to 
 herself again. 
 
 How strange it is that many really clever, 
 thinking people, absolutely refuse to believe 
 in the existence of feelings and passions of 
 which they are incapable themselves. 
 
 At length there appeared a chance of 
 Gertrude and Meta being introduced to each 
 other, whether they cared for it or not. 
 
 Mrs. Hallam sent out invitations right and 
 left to a monster fete, to be given in Beech- 
 wood Park, on the birthday of her son, who 
 had been already for two or three weeks 
 staying with his mother. 
 
 This great event, in prospective, naturally 
 created immense excitement in quiet little 
 Graybourne, and there was a fearful amount 
 of running to and fro amongst the ladies to 
 ascertain from their neighbours whether they 
 had accepted the invitation, how they meant 
 to go, what they thought of wearing, &c. 
 
 The Miss Downings and their niece were 
 the first who came to us on this popular
 
 180 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 errand, and it was not difficult to see that 
 each of them, in her own peculiar way, was 
 in a state of inward effervescence, that had it 
 lasted long must have heen highly detrimental 
 to her general health. 
 
 Of course, Miss Downing, as an authoress, 
 and a strong-minded woman, would have dis- 
 dained to appear vulgarly interested in a 
 matter of mere amusement, but she certainly 
 entered into the all- important question of 
 dress, as if she exceedingly enjoyed the idea 
 of it ; and Jane Norton, who, in her quiet, 
 mouse-like way, had a wonderful faculty of 
 observation, told me privately that Aunt 
 Harriet was awfullv excited at the thoup-ht 
 that she might meet the editor of the 
 
 " shire Instructor," whom, in spite of the 
 
 long correspondence between them and her 
 frequent invitations to him, she had never yet 
 been privileged to see in the flesh. 
 
 Miss Dora was in a very plaintive, sym- 
 pathy-craving mood indeed. She had a 
 thousand dark apprehensions that she might
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 181 
 
 wake up very ill on the eventful morning, or 
 that she might be taken very ill on the road, 
 or that she might be taken very ill even when 
 there; but all this, which I am sure was 
 genuine, did not hinder her from discussing 
 the toilette question with singular animation, 
 and even growing almost angry with the 
 calm Harriet, when the latter said, that as 
 they were '* no longer young girls," she was 
 of opinion that they ought to wear either sober 
 grey or mouse-coloured dresses, with plain 
 white bonnets and veils. 
 
 " You can wear what you like," decided 
 Miss Dora, in the end, '' but neither grey nor 
 mouse-colour suits my complexion, so I shall 
 certainly go, if, indeed, I can go at all" (and 
 here came quite a heart-breaking little sigh), 
 " in a pink muslin and a pale blue bonnet ; 
 and Jane, if she pleases, may be dressed ex- 
 actly like me." 
 
 " Thank you. Auntie," Jane said, de- 
 murely, while Miss Downing looked distressed 
 for her weaker-minded sister ; " but as I have
 
 182 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 a very pretty white dress, I tliink it would be 
 a thousand pities to buy me another. The 
 Miss Beamishes are both going to wear white, 
 and so, if you don't mind, I will decide on 
 wearing mine." 
 
 " Very wise of you, Jane, my dear," put in 
 Miss Downing, approvingly. "Young 
 people should always endeavour to combine 
 simplicity with economy. And so you two," 
 (turning towards Gertie and myself), " intend 
 to appear in pure, classical white." 
 
 " We have nothing else to appear in," said 
 Gertrude, " and money is too scarce to be 
 spent in new dresses, when we have old ones 
 that will do. If they happen to be classical, 
 so much the better. I am sure I did not 
 know it." 
 
 " What a dear, matter-of-fact girl you are!" 
 exclaimed Miss Downing, enthusiastically. 
 " I am afraid at your age I was not half so 
 wise. But you are fresh from school, and 
 hard, dry work. By and bye we shall have 
 you coming out in a new character."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 183 
 
 " Never in a sentimental one/' rejoined 
 Gertrude, with a little disdainful laugh. " I 
 have a contempt for sentimentalists, Miss 
 Downing ; and what you call dry, hard work, 
 will be my choice, no less than it will be 
 my necessity, through life.'' 
 
 '* Well, well," said the elder lady, whose 
 studies, if they had taught her nothing else, 
 had probably taught her some slight know- 
 ledge of human nature ; " we will believe 
 your assertions, my dear, until we have 
 proof that you are made of flesh and blood 
 like other mortals. In the meanwhile let us 
 all hope that the fifteenth may turn out an 
 auspicious day, and that each guest at Beech- 
 wood may have an opportunity of enjoying 
 him or herself, after his or her peculiar 
 notions.'' 
 
 Jane Norton, who was sitting a little apart 
 with me, bit her lips hard to keep in a burst 
 of laughter at her good aunt's expense. She 
 whispered presently : 
 
 " There is no doubt that Aunt Harriet's
 
 184 REAPING THE WHIELWIND. 
 
 ' peculiar notions ' of enjoyment on tlie oc- 
 casion would be a four or five hours' tete-a- 
 tete with the editor^ under some greenwood 
 tree ; but it is not so sure that he will see 
 things in the same light. I wish he might 
 thou[jh — auntie is a good creature and ought to 
 be made happy.'' 
 
 " And what would be your peculiar notions 
 of enjoyment on the same occasion?" I asked 
 of this sharp young lady, who seemed to 
 think it quite natural and correct to discuss 
 the weaknesses of her elders. 
 
 " Oh," said Jane, after a very brief pause 
 for reflection, " I shall of course enjoy every- 
 thing hugely from the moment I arrive till it 
 is time to come awav ag:ain : but if Mrs, 
 Hall am has such a thing as a cat, my very 
 peculiar delight would be to have that cat to 
 nurse and play with, lying in some shady 
 spot, hearing the delicious music floating 
 around me, and seeing — while unnoticed my- 
 self — all the lovely dresses of the grand ladies 
 who will be there."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 185 
 
 '' Strange combination, Jane/' I replied, 
 wondering at the mixture of child and woman 
 in this girl's nature. " A cat, delicious music, 
 and the contemplation of lovely dresses. Why 
 not ask leave to take your own tabby, that for 
 once your idea of perfect enjoyment may be 
 realized ?" 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered, laughing, '' that 
 would scarcely do. My own tabby is charm- 
 ing at home, but I like ' something new,' even 
 in cats, and a cat accustomed to the luxuries 
 of Beech wood would be an especially interest- 
 ing study. I was about to ask you what you 
 would consider the perfection of happiness. 
 Miss Ethel ? but there is Aunt Harriet making 
 a movement to go." 
 
 In the evening of that same day, Mrs. 
 Arnott paid us a visit, entered at full length 
 on a description of the very elaborate toilette 
 she had ordered for herself from London for 
 the fifteenth, and spent five minutes, perhaps, 
 in asking and hearing from us what we were 
 intending to wear.
 
 186 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Then she spoke of Meta, and told us that 
 she had received a note from her the day 
 before, that she appeared very busy and very 
 happy, and was looking forward to the Beech- 
 wood entertainment as eagerly as we quiet 
 Graybourne people were doing. 
 
 " Oh, and I must tell you,'' continued this 
 lively little personage, who would have been, 
 by-the-bye, a very unsafe recipient of a secrec. 
 " I must tell you what I suspect Mademoiselle 
 Kauffman is up to now. There is a young 
 man staying at Fell House who has actually 
 arrived at the mature age of thirty without 
 ever having fallen in love. My cousin used 
 to tell me lots about him. I believe she half 
 lost her heart to him herself, foolish girl! 
 Well, he is there at present, Meta says, and 
 one of the most enthusiastic admirers of her 
 singing. Of course she will hear of his cold- 
 ness and insensibility as regards the gentler 
 sex, and equally, of course, she will make an 
 inward vow to bring him to her feet. I know 
 I should, were I in her place. What fun it
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 187 
 
 must be to her, especially if he really should 
 prove hard to win. I shouldn't mind back- 
 ing Meta to any amount, if she goes into the 
 affair heart and soul. Every man breathing 
 is vulnerable in one point, and a clever 
 woman will easily discover where his weak- 
 ness lies.*' 
 
 I saw that my mother was getting seriously 
 annoyed at hearing Meta spoken of in this 
 light, flippant way, and that Gertrude's face 
 was expressing unqualified disapprobation, 
 not to say disgust, at the whole style of Mrs. 
 Arnott's conversation. To me her present 
 gossip was somewhat less wearying than her 
 first dissertation on bonnets, shawls, and demi- 
 trains ; but I considered that we had had 
 enough of it now, so I interrupted her flow of 
 eloquence to ask what was the cold-hearted 
 gentleman's name. 
 
 " Oh, didn't I introduce him to you pro- 
 perly ?" she said, with increasing animation, 
 believing, I suppose, that she had inspired 
 immense interest in her new hero. " He re-
 
 188 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 joices in the euphonious name of Walter 
 Kenjon — much too prettj and romantic, I 
 think, for a man who has no heart/* 
 
 " Well, it is rather a pretty name," I as- 
 sented, finding that neither mamma nor Ger- 
 trude were disposed to speak, " and what 
 occupation does he pursue that is capable of 
 filling his life, and keeping him from the 
 vulgar amusement of falling in love ?'* 
 
 " Oh, he paints, I believe, not for a liveli- 
 hood, but for the simple love of art ; and he 
 is a great reader, and knows something of 
 everything under the sun, and goes in for all 
 the cardinal virtues, with a few extra ones 
 besides. I assure you I am wild to see this 
 cold perfection myself, and don't promise that 
 I shan't try to outdo Meta, if I get a chance.'' 
 
 " Do let me offer you a glass of wine, Mrs. 
 Amott," said my mother, with a severe quiet- 
 ness that the dullest person must have under- 
 stood. " You have a long walk to Primrose 
 Cottage, and you have taken nothing since 
 you came in."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 189 
 
 The widow declined tlie proffered refresh- 
 ment, but rose a few minutes after, and wished 
 us all good night. 
 
 " Odious, odious little woman !'' exclaimed 
 Gertrude, as soon as we were alone. " If 
 that is Metals bosom friend, I can only rejoice 
 that our German cousin has found another 
 home." 
 
 My mother sighed, but refrained from any 
 observation at all.
 
 190 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE FETE. 
 
 The fifteenth arrived, and proved as bright 
 and beautiful a daj as the most desponding 
 amongst us could have desired. 
 
 Up to the last moment Gertie and myself 
 had hoped to prevail on our mother to 
 accompany us to Beechwood, but she remained 
 firm in her resolution to stay at home; — she 
 had certainly not been in good spirits lately — 
 and we, amongst the many friends who kindly 
 ofibred to take us under their wing, selected 
 the Misses Downing, and were at their house, 
 as^agreed upon, by eleven o'clock.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 191 
 
 Jane Norton, looking very fresh and 
 pretty in her white dress and new straw 
 bonnet, flew down stairs to receive us. 
 
 " We are all ready," she exclaimed breath- 
 lessly, •■' and the carriage will be here in a 
 minute or two. Aunt Harriet looks quite 
 queen-like in her rich, sober-coloured dress, 
 and Auntie Dora is a picture, only she will 
 keep saying she is going to have a fainting fit, 
 and I am sure she has swallowed enough 
 sal volatile to choke her. It is really very 
 piteous, and makes Aunt Harriet so dread- 
 fully nervous. There, I declare that is the 
 carriage rattling down the street, and now 
 there will be another dose of ammonia. Oh, 
 do^ one of you, run up and persuade her that 
 she is quite well, or we shan't get off to-day." 
 
 Accordingly I went up (as Gertie had a 
 little head ache, and was glad to rest after our 
 walk), and found the interesting invalid re- 
 clining, with half -shut eyes, in her elder 
 sister's arms, while a servant standing by 
 held two or three small bottles, besides some
 
 192 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 smelling salts, and an emptied wine glass, in 
 her great red hands. 
 
 '' Oh, my dear Ethel, isn't this distressing 
 and vexatious ?'' cried Miss Downing the mo- 
 ment I appeared, " only to think of our poor 
 dear Dora being taken so ill at this very cri- 
 tical juncture ; but she always said it would 
 be so, and her prophetic words have come but 
 too true. Whatever is to be done?" 
 
 '' Is Miss Dora really faint ?" I asked, ob- 
 serving that she had even more colour than 
 usual, " or is this only a little nervous attack, 
 do you think r 
 
 "Oh," said poor Miss Downing, despairingly. 
 '^I believe it is just the fear of being ill that 
 is doing it all ; and she has taken such a 
 quantity of these abominable stimulants, not 
 to mention a little very weak brandy-and- 
 water, that I really dread their effect upon 
 her. If it were not for you two girls and our 
 Jane, I would not hesitate a moment on send- 
 ing away the carriage, and staying quietly at 
 home with her,''
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 193 
 
 At this alarming announcement, spoken in 
 all sincerity, I am convinced, Miss Dora 
 opened her languid eyes very wide indeed. 
 
 " My dearest Harriet" (in a faint voice), 
 " I would not permit you to make such a 
 sacrifice for the whole world. Give me only 
 a little time — my poor heart is beating so 
 violently — and I shall be ready to accompany 
 you. Miss Ethel, I am so sorry to keep you 
 waiting, but you see what a frail, helpless 
 creature I am." 
 
 " But you will only get worse," I urged, 
 "while you remain in this hot room, imagining 
 that you are going to faint. The fresh air and 
 the gentle motion of the carriage will brace 
 your nerves in a few minutes, and you will 
 feel all right by the time we arrive at the 
 park gates. Indeed, Miss Dora, I never saw 
 you look so well or so handsome in my 
 life." 
 
 This finished the matter. The invalid only 
 begged for one more sip of chloric sether, and 
 then, supported by her sister and the appa- 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 rently tired-out attendant, she descended tlie 
 stairs, and to Jane's great delight, was safely 
 packed in the carriage before she had time to 
 anticipate any new evils in connection with 
 herself. 
 
 Who could help feeling well on such an 
 enchanting morning? Jane Norton, in the 
 ecstacy of her enjoyment, fidgetted to such a 
 degree — some people always fidget when they 
 are unusually happy — that twice or thrice she 
 was threatened with banishment to the seat 
 outside, next to the driver. 
 
 " You had better not send me there,' ^ she 
 said, with another spasmodic swaying to and 
 fro of her restless little body, " or I may mis- 
 take that cherry-cheeked old man for my 
 precious Catakins, whom I am longing to 
 have to hug and squeeze just now. Oh, does 
 anybody know whether there are cats at 
 Beechwood, andj if so, whether it would be 
 thought odd for me to go to the kitchen and 
 ask to borrow a pussy for the day ?" 
 
 '' Do be quiet, Jane," commanded Miss
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 195 
 
 Downing, majestically, as she smoothed out 
 her handsome silk dress, and looked as if her 
 niece's childish nonsense had brought her 
 rudely down from cloudland, or from some 
 pleasant anticipations not wholly unconnected 
 with a certain editor. 
 
 Miss Dora did not talk much ; but I could 
 see that her nervousness was fast yielding to 
 the bright and cheering influences of sunshine, 
 pure air, and all the novelty in anticipation. 
 As we drove into the park, followed, as well 
 as preceded, by quantities of other vehicles, 
 she was looking as tranquil and composed as 
 any of us, and only less radiant and ecstatic 
 than the young lady who coveted the loan of 
 a cat as the sole thing wanting to raise her to 
 the very pinnacle of bliss. 
 
 We were in very excellent time. I fancy 
 country ladies generally manage to be that — 
 and on descendino^ from our carriao-e we were 
 conducted, by a liveried servant, to a very 
 grand tent near the house, and quite distinct, 
 both on account of its size and decorations, 
 
 K 2
 
 196 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 from the numerous smaller ones scattered here 
 and there about the beautiful park. 
 
 This tent was the reception room for the 
 day of the gracious lady of the fete. She sat 
 (being too old to endure the fatigue of stand- 
 ing), on a raised seat at the farthest end, and 
 her guests walked to her through alleys of the 
 most exquisite flowers, which filled the air 
 with a fragrance almost oppressive, from its 
 intense and mingled sweetness. Immediately 
 behind Mrs. Hallam stood her son, an elegant 
 rather than handsome young man, of about 
 seven or eight-and-twenty. Next to him, 
 and looking shyly, but perfectly happy, was 
 Alicia Clarkson, dressed very simply and 
 becomingly, and seeming quite a recognized 
 member of the family. 
 
 Each party as they arrived were received 
 in this tent by Mrs. Hallam, introduced to her 
 son, if not already known to him, and pre- 
 sented with a programme of the day's 
 entertainments. 
 
 Our little party went through the pre-
 
 REAPING THE WHIKLWIND. 197 
 
 scribed ceremony with, I trust, some credit 
 to ourselves, and certainly to our entire 
 satisfaction, for Mrs. Hallam said something 
 kind and gracious to each of us; and to 
 Gertrude^ whom she had not seen for six 
 months, she was condsscendino- enouo^h to 
 present a sprig of white geranium, which she 
 plucked with her own hands from a magni- 
 ficent plant standing near her. 
 
 " You have grown a very pretty creature," 
 she said, without the least regard to my modest 
 sister's blushes, and lightly touching the fair 
 cheek she was admiring with the pure white 
 flower. "But don't let this favouritism of 
 nature convert you into a smiling, silly 
 coquette, as it does so many pretty women. 
 Try to keep both heart and mind free and 
 unstained. Vanity defiles, as well as things 
 with uglier names. Perhaps the old woman's 
 gift, though it is only a perishing flower, will 
 remind you of her warning. Now pass on, 
 my dear, and amuse yourself for a few hours 
 all you can."
 
 198 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 For nearly an hour we five, who had come 
 together, remained in company, wandering 
 about the less crowded parts of the park, 
 listening delightedly to the admirable music 
 of the bands, peeping into the tastily deco- 
 rated refreshment tents, and growing familiar, 
 by slow degrees, with the utterly novel 
 excitement of the whole thing. 
 
 Of course on poor Miss Dora^s account — 
 she was really weak and delicate, apart from 
 her imaginary ailments — we were often obliged 
 to sit down, and on one of these occasions, 
 having chosen a. seat that commanded a view 
 of the middle avenue along which the car- 
 riages drove on entering the park, we saw 
 the party from Fell House arrive. 
 
 There were Mr. and Mrs. Vivian and two 
 of their younger children in the first carriage 
 — Meta Kauffman with the eldest daughter, 
 a girl of about fourteen, an old lady, and a 
 young man, in the second. Meta was look- 
 ing excessively animated and charming, 
 dressed, as indeed she well knew how, to per-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 199 
 
 fection, and talking (when we first discovered 
 her) with apparent eagerness to the gentle- 
 man who was her vis-a-vis. 
 
 " That must be the person Mrs. Arnott 
 was telling us about," I said to Gertrude, 
 when she had taken what observation she 
 could of Meta — " I forget his name." 
 
 " Walter Kenyon," replied my sister, whose 
 memory both for names and dates was re- 
 markable — '' he has rather a pleasant coun- 
 tenance." 
 
 Then we had to listen to the various 
 opinions of our chatty companions on the 
 dress and appearance of some people who had 
 passed close to our bench — and the Vivians 
 and their suite became lost for the present in 
 the general crowd. 
 
 It was not long after this, and when Jane 
 Norton was growing manifestly tired of our 
 aimless wanderings, that Alicia Clarkson, 
 leaning on our vicar's arm, found us out, and 
 declared we had been the objects of her search 
 for at least a quarter of an hour.
 
 200 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ''I wanted to tell you/^ she said, when Mr. 
 Wyke had greeted us all kindly, " that 
 several of the lower rooms of the house are 
 thrown open for those who may get tired of 
 remaining in the open air. There is the music 
 room, and the billiard room, and a little room 
 quite apart and solitary, with plenty of 
 couches and easy chairs for the invalids. 
 Miss Dora, you are beginning to look tired. 
 Shall I show you this quiet retreat now?" 
 
 " It is certainly very tempting," replied 
 Miss Dora, hesitatingly ; '^ but perhaps I 
 should never find my way out again, and it 
 would be rather lonely to spend the whole 
 day there by myself." 
 
 '' But I will come with you, dear, of 
 course," said the elder sister, " and I have 
 no fear of ever losing my way. Only, what 
 is to be done with these young ladies in the 
 meanwhile ?" 
 
 " I will provide for their safety and amuse- 
 ment too," said Alicia, laughing. " Perhaps 
 Mr. Wyke will take them to the archery
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 201 
 
 ground, where there are some ladies playing ; 
 or to have some refreshment while I am away 
 with you. The little room I have told you of 
 is also supplied with a refreshment table, so 
 that you can get there anything you like in 
 that way.^^ 
 
 Thus we parted, and our benevolent vicar, 
 looking however slightly overwhelmed at 
 having three young ladies thrust upon him so 
 abruptly, conducted us to the gayer part of 
 the grounds, where archery and games of 
 various kinds, and even some dancing (or a 
 courageous attempt at it) were going on. 
 
 Here, too, we came upon several of our 
 acquaintances, and one of our Graybourue 
 matrons, the doctor's wife, who was standing 
 with her husband as a looker on, got into 
 conversation with Gertrude, and soon drew 
 her away from us altogether — the pretence 
 being to show her some mimic boat racing on 
 the small lake, but the real object, I suspec^t, 
 to increase her own importance by having so 
 very pretty a girl by her side. 
 
 K 5
 
 202 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Amongst the dancers we soon made out tlie 
 'petite and gaily-attired figure of Mrs. Arnott. 
 I knew by this time, that Mr. Wyke did, 
 in truth, shrink (with almost a morbid dislike) 
 from the flirting, silly little widow of Primrose 
 cottage, and I therefore warned him quietly 
 of her near neighbourhood, and of the pro- 
 bability of her discovering and joining us 
 when the dance was over. 
 
 Without a word he moved quickly in an 
 opposite direction, seeming to forget, for the 
 moment, that Jane and myself were under his 
 charge. 
 
 " Oh, how I should like to dance, or to try 
 and shoot an arrow, or to do something," 
 whispered my young companion to me, as I 
 watched, in secret amusement, the vicar's re- 
 treating form. " Do you think, Miss Ethel, 
 if anybody were to ask me, I might dance, 
 though, of course,'* she added, in a ludicrously 
 desponding tone — " it is quite absurd to sup- 
 pose that anybody will." 
 
 Poor Jane was wholly unconscious that
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 203 
 
 tliese words were overheard bj a tall, middle 
 aged, and very respectable looking gentleman 
 standing immediately behind us. In another 
 minute he had come forward, and with a half 
 smile on his grave face was addressing the 
 now deeply blushing Jane. 
 
 "I have not danced for some years," he 
 said, in a particularly agreeable voice — '' and 
 I am sure I shall be a most awkward partner ; 
 but if, while waiting for a better, you will 
 generously accept me, I shall feel very highly 
 honoured, and we can join the quadrille that 
 is now being formed." 
 
 Jane Norton's simple " Oh ! " — as this 
 courtly speech was concluded, was one of the 
 most amusing and suggestive things I ever 
 heard. The gentleman was evidently quite 
 fascinated by it. He took her hand, and be- 
 fore the embarrassed girl could make a single 
 appeal to me as to what she ought to do, he 
 had led her to a place amongst the dancers, 
 and I was left standing quite alone. 
 
 Not an agreeable position to be in,
 
 204 liEAPING THE WHIELWIND. 
 
 considering that nearly all around me were 
 total strangers, and that move in what direc- 
 tion T might I could not reach a quiet spot 
 without passing through a dense crowd. Besides 
 this, I felt I had scarcely a right to leave Jane 
 entirely to her new friend, for, although he 
 was a gentleman and no longer young, we did 
 not even know his name, and the child, whose 
 quaint simplicity had so strongly attracted 
 him, was as ignorant of all the usages of 
 society as the birds singing in the oaks and 
 ehns above our heads. 
 
 While I debated uneasily what I should 
 do, and railed inwardly against Mr. Wyke 
 for deserting us, the cause of this desertion 
 suddenly espied me, and ran away from the 
 gentleman she was flirting with, to shake my 
 hand. 
 
 " Frightful, to think of your being alone 
 and unprotected," she cried, when I had ex- 
 plained partially how matters stood. " That 
 vicar is a bear — a monster — unfit for civilized 
 society. You must accept me as a chaperone
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 205 
 
 for tlie present, and I will get rid of my 
 devoted kn'ght." 
 
 " By no means," I said eagerly, feeling that 
 any solitariness would be preferable to Mrs. 
 Arnott's volubility, exercised on my behalf 
 alone. " If, however, you will just look after 
 Jane Norton, who is dancing yonder with 
 that tall man in black, I should be truly 
 grateful to you ; and I, in the meanwhile, 
 will see if I cannot find my sister and Mrs. 
 Luke." 
 
 '^ Certainly, certainly," she replied quickly, 
 glancing in the direction I indicated. *' I 
 don't know the man a bit; who is he, I 
 wonder ! But I will claim his partner the 
 moment the quadrille is over, and take every 
 care of her till I see you, or some of her own 
 people, again." 
 
 This was all I wanted, so with another 
 hand- shaking we parted, and I turned 
 towards the green slope which I believed Mrs. 
 Luke and Gertie had descended in going to 
 the lake. I was not fated, however, to be
 
 206 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 delivered from my lonely and unprotected 
 situation in that way. 
 
 A hand suddenly pressed my arm very 
 lightly, as I stood looking, still rather hesi- 
 tatingly, into the distance, and a voice pro- 
 nounced my name in amusingly penitent 
 accents. 
 
 " Miss Ethel, I am completely ashamed of 
 myself. I don't know what I could have 
 been thinking of, to leave you so abruptly 
 and selfishly. Can you forgive me ?'' 
 
 I laughed first, for it was quite impossible 
 to help it, as I turned and saw our kind 
 vicar's rueful expression of countenance. 
 Then I gave frank utterance to my next im- 
 pulse, and said how very glad I was that he 
 bad come back to me ; solitude, amidst such 
 a motley crowd, was anything but refreshing 
 or agreeable. 
 
 " I think T ought to do penance for my 
 rudeness," he continued, as I accepted his 
 offered arm, "by confessing the weakness 
 that led to it, or perhaps — for young ladies
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 207 
 
 are quick at most things — your penetration 
 may already have given you a clue to it. If 
 so, we need not waste our time in dwelling 
 upon such a very foolish matter.' ' 
 
 But I had no intention of letting off my 
 victim quite so easily. The chance of teasing, 
 in an innocent way, a man like Mr. Wyke, 
 was far too irresistible to be lightly relin- 
 quished. 
 
 ^' I have not much penetration," I said, 
 gravely, " but it certainly has occurred to me 
 that you are a little bit afraid of Mrs. Arnott 
 — of her fascinations, of course, I mean." 
 
 The poor vicar stopped suddenly, as if a 
 bullet had gone through him, and turning 
 sharply round, with all his shyness for once 
 frightened out of him, looked me full and 
 steadily in the face. I could have taken an 
 oath, had it been required of me, that it was 
 the very first time he had ever done so. 
 
 '' Miss Beamish, is that what you think of 
 me ? is that really the interpretation you have 
 put upon my running away from the lady in
 
 208 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 question ? Pray speak frankly, now the sub- 
 ject has been broached, and above all" (he 
 must have seen the quivering of my lips), 
 " speak seriously." 
 
 His seriousness (though I was half angry 
 with it for interfering with the amusement I 
 had promised myself) put my levity to 
 instant flight, and I answered soberly 
 enough, to convince him I was speaking the 
 truth : — 
 
 " No, indeed, Mr. Wyke, you must give me 
 credit for understanding you a little better 
 than this. I know that you only share my 
 own distaste for the society of Mrs. Arnott. 
 If it is a weakness, as you have called it, you 
 see I have to plead guilty to the same. She 
 tires and bores me inexpressibly." 
 
 " A very mild effect compared with that 
 she produces on me," he said, looking 
 relieved, however, at my explanation. " I 
 cannot account for the shrinking I have from 
 this young woman ; her voice, her laugh, her 
 style of talking, and in short, everything
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 209 
 
 about her, is strangely offensive to me — -jars, 
 in some mysterious manner, upon my nerves. 
 It is not dislike ; that I could combat with, and 
 perhaps overcome ; it is simply repulsion." 
 
 I think he did not intend to confess so 
 much, for the next moment he added, rather 
 sbyly, 
 
 '^ Circumstances have drawn this little secret 
 from me on your behalf, Miss Ethel. I 
 should not care to have it talked about." 
 
 '' It never will be by me," I replied ; and 
 then feeling sure he would be glad to dismiss 
 the subject, I dashed at once into another, 
 and told him how Jane Norton had been taken 
 from me, and the arrangement I had made 
 with Mrs. Arnott to look after her at the end 
 of the dance. 
 
 '' I had forgotten," he said, with the smile 
 that came so rarely, but which made quite 
 another man of this grave vicar of ours. " I 
 had forgotten that I left two of my lambs to 
 go astray ; where should you like to walk 
 now, Miss Ethel?"
 
 210 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 '^ It is nice everywhere, with a companion/' 
 I answered, out of the growing buoyancy of 
 my spirits, " but I suppose I ought to search 
 for some of my acquaintances. I have not 
 even fallen in with my cousin yet." 
 
 '' And that reminds me," said Mr. Wyke, 
 '' that there will be an old friend of mine 
 here, with whom I shall be glad to shake 
 hands. He is staying with the Vivians, and 
 they would be certain to bring him in their 
 train to-day." 
 
 " Is his name Kenyon ?'^ I asked, with some 
 little interest in the question. 
 
 '' Yes ; do you know him too ?" 
 
 " Only from the report of Mrs. Arnott, who 
 certainly did not prepossess me in his 
 favour." 
 
 " He is, or was, some years ago, a very 
 good young man. This is, I am aware, a 
 conventional phrase, and expresses quite 
 different ideas to different people. I mean 
 that he had right principles, and acted upon 
 them; the world may have corrupted him
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 211 
 
 since then, as it does so many who begin well ; 
 but I beg your pardon, Miss Ethel, for getting 
 into a sermonising vein on a day like this. 
 We have both, it seems, somebody to look for. 
 What do you say to our penetrating into the 
 interior of that magnificent tent yonder ? You 
 may be glad of a little refreshment by the time 
 we reach it." 
 
 I did not care particularly for refreshment 
 just then, and I thought it would have been 
 very agreeable to stroll about in the wooded 
 part of the park, where the soft rustling of 
 the trees, mingling with the distant music of 
 the bands, made altogether such exquisite 
 melody in the sweet summer air; but my 
 companion was just a good, wise, practical 
 Christian man, with no doubt higher views 
 and wider aims in life than any that as yet 
 had been even in thought revealed to me ; 
 he was not a dreamer, or even an impassioned 
 lover of nature for its own sake, and had I 
 claimed his sympathy with even the least 
 wild and girlish of the ideas that (suggested
 
 212 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 by tlie subtle influences of summer, sunsliine, 
 and music, such as I had rarely before 
 listened to) were dancing in a sort of rapture 
 through my brain, I should probably have 
 been as one speaking in an unknown tongue 
 to him. At any rate, I believed so, and 
 therefore, in answer to his last proposal, I 
 said readily : — 
 
 " Yes, we will go first into the tent, and 
 perhaps some of our acquaintances whom we 
 wish to find may be there/' 
 
 Mr. Wyke, notwithstanding his tall figure 
 and steady purpose, had a difiiculty in making 
 a pathway for me, between the crowd throng- 
 ing the tent, towards the long centre table. 
 Those who had finished eating and drinking 
 themselves, were either waiting on their com- 
 panions, or chatting in parties behind the 
 eaters. There was evidently a very strong 
 attraction beginning to be felt towards the 
 repository of so many tempting creature 
 comforts ; and the nearly breathless vicar 
 turned with a smile, when at length he had
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 213 
 
 succeeded in winning for me a very narrow 
 space by the table, and said : — 
 
 " I would that my exertions in your favour, 
 Miss Ethel, had been with a nobler object in 
 view than the attainment of a glass of wine 
 and a sandwich ; but, at any rate, let the 
 success which has crowned these efforts, en- 
 courage you to apply to me should you ever 
 need my services in a more important matter." 
 
 What a courteous and gallant speech from 
 the bashful and reserved vicar of Graybourne! 
 I was actually conscious of a blush, both of 
 surprise and gratitude, as I said — " thank 
 you," no less for those pretty words, than for 
 the wine and sandwich he was handing to 
 me. 
 
 The next moment, raising my eyes with no 
 definite object, for hitherto every face I had 
 seen in the tent was strange to me, I was 
 startled out of all merely personal reflections 
 by discovering (on the opposite side of the 
 table — only lower down) — Meta, and the 
 young man who had been talking with such
 
 214 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 apparent earnestness to her in the Vivians' 
 carriage. 
 
 Thought is very rapid, and often quite 
 irrespective of any previous preparation of 
 the mind in connection with the subject which 
 may abruptly claim its attention. My thought 
 at that instant was — '' Mr. Wyke will see and 
 recognize Meta now, and the mystery sur- 
 rounding her will be made clear, and my 
 conscience will be relieved of an oppressive 
 secret, and Guy will probably be delivered 
 from a thraldom that is injuring both himself 
 and his future prospects." 
 
 My promise to Meta almost bound me, I 
 believed, to refrain from hastening her ex- 
 posure— if exposure it would be — of my own 
 free will ; and, therefore, 1 would not say to 
 Mr. Wyke — '' there is my cousin — look at 
 her, and see if the face matches the voice 
 which sounded familiar to you some few 
 weeks ago." This would have appeared like 
 treachery ; and besides, the spell that Meta 
 Kauffman had woven around me was not
 
 REAPINa THE WHIRLWIND. 215 
 
 quite broken yet. So I only said — in giving 
 back my glass and plate : — 
 
 " I have discovered a friend I wish to speak 
 to, and should like to get, if possible, to the 
 other side of the table. Shall we try?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 And once more the tall figure and the 
 strong arm went before me in the jostling 
 crowd, till, gently touching the arm of my 
 brave pioneer, I warned him that my object 
 was attained. 
 
 Meta and her cavalier — a most attentive 
 a,nd assiduous one he seemed to be — stood 
 with their backs to us, eating and drinking, 
 and talking together merrily. Mr. Wyke 
 had not yet heard her voice — she was speak- 
 ing low to-day, and much less than her com- 
 panion. Should I break in upon the pleasure 
 they were both so evidently enjoying — should 
 I bring to her face, in lieu of the bright, beam- 
 ing look I had just seen there, that terrified, 
 scared expression I so well remembered ?
 
 216 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Whatever she had done, was I to be her 
 judge or her avenger ? 
 
 No. I was happy myself to-day — very 
 happy — and this was enough to deter me 
 from spoiling another's happiness. 
 
 " Let us get on/' I whispered, to my kind 
 protector, who seemed strangely unobservant 
 of all that was passing around him. " There 
 would be no chance of saying half a dozen 
 words to anybody in such a crowd ; and the 
 heat is making me feel sick." 
 
 But before either of us could move a step 
 farther, Meta turned abruptly from the table — 
 perhaps at the sound of my voice, perhaps by 
 an impulse of her own. 
 
 " Ethel !" as our eyes met, " how glad I 
 am to have found you at last." 
 
 " Meta, Mr. Wyke is close to us." 
 
 It was more, I think, the sudden dread of 
 '' a scene " than any kindlier feeling, that 
 prompted me to whisper those hurried words. 
 In moments of great emergency I don't be-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 217 
 
 lieve people in general are much actuated by 
 any unselfish motives — these may come when 
 there has been time for reflection, but instinct 
 and impulse are both rather personal than 
 relative, as all faithful searchers into their 
 own hearts may discover if they like. 
 
 As I spoke my warning Meta*s face flushed 
 to the deepest crimson, and her eyes, with 
 that terrified look in them again, went in the 
 very direction I would have kept them from 
 taking. Mr. Wyke, who had been quietly 
 elbowing me a pathway towards the door — 
 wholly unconscious of what was going on so 
 close to him — turned just then with a smile 
 of encouragement that I might proceed. 
 Something in my face, I suppose, a little 
 mystified him, for he suddenly looked away 
 from me and towards my cousin, standing im- 
 mediately behind me. 
 
 I thought it was all over; I had even 
 worked myself up to believe I should hear 
 poor Meta scream or see her faint, when, to 
 my infinite relief, the young man, whose pre- 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 sence I had forgotten, moved accidentally just 
 enough in front of my cousin to hide her face 
 from the vicar, and at the same moment to 
 reveal his own. 
 
 "Walter Kenyon!" exclaimed Mr. Wyke, 
 in accents of unmistakeable pleasure, " I 
 scarcely hoped my chief object in coming here 
 to-day would have been so soon accomplished. 
 You must spare me half-an-hour of your time 
 when I have delivered this young lady safely 
 into the custody of her friends.'^
 
 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SUNSHINE AT BEECHWOOD. 
 
 Well, I certainly had not anticipated being 
 disposed of in quite so summary a manner. 
 Our good vicar's words brought me down to 
 a much lower level than the one I had been 
 occupying for the last quarter of an hour. I 
 was simply a young lady whom it would be a 
 relief at the first convenient moment to 
 " deliver into the custody of her friends." 
 What else, indeed, could I think myself? 
 Was it likely that, to a man of Mr. Wyke's 
 age and character, I could prove so agree- 
 able and congenial a companion as the ac- 
 
 L 2
 
 220 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 complished and intellectual individual of 
 whom our vicar had just testified that he had 
 right principles and acted upon them. Cer- 
 tainly not ; the thing was as clear as noonday^ 
 and yet I believe I must date from that mo- 
 ment a feeling that I cannot name dislike, or 
 distrust, or even actual prejudice, but which 
 was as strong and real as if composed of all 
 these emotions, and which sprang up in my 
 mind then and there against Mr, Walter 
 Kenyon. 
 
 Most unreasonable and absurd of course it 
 was, as nearly all sudden prejudices or pre- 
 possessions are, and I say this frankly now 
 lest any idea may be entertained that I am 
 setting up for one of those wise ones who 
 have mysterious intuitions concerning per- 
 sons and events which, according to their own 
 belief at least, never fail of coming true. I 
 knew, even then, that there was no sort of 
 dependence to be placed on any intuition of 
 mine, and that Walter Kenyon was quite as 
 likely to develop into a saint or a hero, hav-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 221 
 
 ing unconsciously inspired animosity in me, 
 as if my warmest feelings had been arrayed 
 in his favour. 
 
 At present I had not even the opportunity 
 of bestowing a second glance upon him, for 
 Mr. Wyke, having announced his intention of 
 seeking his friend again in the same spot 
 where he had found him, the moment he had 
 got rid of me, moved on more energetically 
 than ever, and compelled the loungers on all 
 sides of us to make room for me to follow him 
 till we arrived at a free, open space, at a short 
 distance from the crowded tent, when he 
 silently offered me his arm. 
 
 I had time now to think of Meta, and to ask 
 myself whether I was really glad or sorry at 
 the escape she had once more had. At the 
 moment, it had certainly been an immense 
 relief to me, but that was partly because I 
 felt happy myself, and partly because I feared 
 any public demonstration of her annoyance at 
 th.e meeting she had evidently some myste- 
 rious reason for shrinking from. But this
 
 222 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 mystery was becoming increasingly repug- 
 nant to my mind, and I felt sure that on each 
 occasion of its being forced upon my atten- 
 tion I should be more and more bewildered 
 as to my own duty in the matter, Guy's 
 happiness and honour being involved in the 
 question of this girl's worthiness. 
 
 From some half depressing and half im- 
 impatient thoughts on this weary subject, I 
 was roused by my companion exclaiming 
 abruptly : 
 
 " Miss Ethel, where are we going ? What 
 friends shall I take you to ? I had forgotten 
 with what object I was mercilessly obliging 
 you to walk so fast/' 
 
 " And I was quite unconscious that we 
 were walking fast. I had better look for the 
 Miss Downings in the little room Alicia spoke 
 about ; we are not far from the house now." 
 
 " Very well ; but I need not exhaust your 
 strength in getting you there. Mr. Walter 
 may well exercise patience for half-an-hour 
 or so ; it is more than three years since we
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 223 
 
 have met. He looks older, but is otherwise 
 not altered externally. I hope the world he 
 has been living in — I mean the gaj, unthink- 
 ing world — has not left its poisoned breath 
 upon his moral nature. Walter Kenjon was 
 not meant to be a trifler or a fool.'' 
 
 '' Oh, 1 understand he is anything but a 
 fool/' I observed hastily, though I believed 
 the vicar was rather thinking aloud than talk- 
 ing to me. " Mrs. Arnott spoke of him as 
 highly intellectual and generally accomplished 
 — it is this, I imagine, which makes him such 
 a favourite in society. Intelligent young men 
 are said to be somewhat rare." 
 
 '' I did not mean a fool in that sense," the 
 vicar very quietly replied. " I am apt to 
 estimate folly as Solomon did so many cen- 
 turies ago. Don't you know that the most 
 profound knowledge does not always include 
 even the smallest amount of wisdom, and that 
 wisdom — this wisdom I am speaking of — may 
 exist in conjunction with an ignorance denser 
 than you can probably form an idea of ? "
 
 224: REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Not being quite clear as to whether the 
 vicar threw out these observations in his 
 clerical character indifFerent as to who might 
 be his listener, or whether he put them in the 
 form of a question to which he meant me to 
 reply, I preferred remaining silent for a few 
 minutes after he had spoken, and as he did 
 not press the matter T concluded that my first 
 suggestion had been correct. 
 
 " Mr. Kenyon must have been glad to 
 recognize an old friend so unexpectedly ;" I 
 said, when a sufficient interval had elapsed 
 for my companion to have discovered that I 
 did not care for being ' preached to ^ to- 
 day. " I suppose he wrb not aware of 
 your appointment to the living of Gray- 
 bourne ? '' 
 
 " Possibly not, or he would have come to 
 see me — if at least he is still the Walter Ken- 
 yon I knew three years ago — but three years 
 in the life of a young man may work won- 
 drous changes, especially if his pathway has 
 had few thorns or brambles laid across it —
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 22 
 
 L'ZO 
 
 and you said, I believe, that he was a favourite 
 in society." 
 
 " I quoted Mrs. Arnott on the subject. I 
 know less than nothing of this gentleman 
 myself. '^ 
 
 " And are a little tired of talking about 
 him ? " said the vicar, with a sudden penetra- 
 tion into my secret feelings that I should never 
 have given him credit for — '' well, Miss Ethel, 
 I have once more to beg your pardon for 
 having been both selfish and thoughtless as 
 regards the young lady I ought to have made 
 it a point of duty to entertain. You see I 
 have really no business in gay scenes like 
 this. I have not even the excuse of youth 
 for being here at all.^' 
 
 " Yet," I answered, really thinking at that 
 moment that the good vicar was talking non- 
 sense, " there are many who must be nearly 
 double your age here this morning, and who 
 appear to be enjoying themselves excessively. 
 I see no reason why people of any age may 
 not innocently enjoy all that has been pro- 
 
 L 5
 
 226 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 vided for our entertainment at Beech wood 
 to-day." 
 
 " I am sure,'^ Mr. Wyke said, with a benig- 
 nant smile — for I turned to look at him as he 
 spoke — " that if they can enjoy it at all, they 
 can do so innocently. I am not quite a fana- 
 tic. Miss Ethel, though I think you are in- 
 clined to regard me as such." 
 
 How did he know — this man who never 
 seemed to see anything beyond the ground his 
 feet rested on — in what light I regarded him ? 
 and why, if he did not consider the scenes we 
 were mingling in wrong, should he himself be 
 unable to enjoy them ? 
 
 Obtaining no satisfactory answers to these 
 mental queries, and not feeling it safe to ven- 
 ture on shaping either of them into words, I 
 only said, foolishly enough ; — 
 
 " No, indeed, I could not consider you a 
 fanatic, Mr. Wyke, having had the privilege 
 of hearing you preach so many Sundays. I 
 am only sorry that for any cause you should 
 fail to enjoy what I myself and all your
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 227 
 
 parishioners cannot help so thoroughly en- 
 joying." 
 
 " Thank you,'^ he replied, simply, and 
 rather abruptly ; and yet there was some- 
 thing in his voice that touched me, and made 
 me wish earnestly for a moment, that the 
 power were given me to comfort, in whatever 
 way he might need comfort, the grave, lonely, 
 patient man, whose life was spent in comfort- 
 ing those around him. 
 
 We were so near the house now that we 
 made no further attempt at conversation 
 while we were together. It did not take 
 us long to find the little room we were in 
 quest of, and the Miss Downings being still 
 there, Mr. Wyke delivered me into their 
 keeping, and, with a kind good-bye, retraced 
 his steps to the place where his friend was to 
 meet him. 
 
 " You see we have made ourselves very 
 comfortable in our solitude,'^ said Miss 
 Downing, when, the history of my own and
 
 228 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Jane's adventures having been given, I was 
 resting for a few minutes on the unoccupied 
 end of Miss Dora's sofa. 
 
 It really appeared that they had done so, 
 and without much difficulty, I thought, con- 
 sidering the appliances at command. 
 
 Through the open window of this pleasant 
 little sanctum came the mingled odours of 
 jessamine and roses, which were trained on 
 the outer wall, and suffered one of their 
 richly-laden boughs every now and then to 
 flutter into the room and cast a light, dancing 
 shadow, on the polished oaken floor. Just 
 beside this window stood a table supplied with 
 all imaginable delicacies, in the shape of 
 fruits, wines, and jellies, to tempt the appetite 
 of the sick or the weary ; and then for mental 
 food there was a book-case well stocked with 
 books of every description likely to be taken 
 up by temporary sojourners In the room, and 
 from which Miss Downing had selected a 
 somewhat ponderous looking volume, en-
 
 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 229 
 
 titled — " The Law of Nations," and Miss 
 Dora a prettily bound edition of L. E. L. — 's 
 poems. 
 
 So thej were both very comfortable and 
 bappy, and in no hurry to return to the noisier 
 scene beyond. The music reached them 
 sometimes in faint, broken utterances of 
 harmonious sounds, which Miss Dora said 
 made her feel deliciously sleepy, and Miss 
 Harriet liked, because it carried her back 
 (though she forgot to explain how or why) to 
 the old classic days in which it would have 
 been her glory to have lived and shone. 
 
 " But you will not care, Miss Ethel, for 
 staying quietly here with us ; '^ the elder 
 sister observed, when I had been sitting at 
 Miss Dora's feet for about a quarter of an 
 hour, " and how to get you back to the 
 grounds and provide you with a fitting cha- 
 perone I know not. Dear Dora cannot be 
 left.'' 
 
 ''But I can go with you now wherever you 
 like," said Miss Dora, rising quite briskly,
 
 230 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 and speaking as clieerfully as if she had never 
 had an ailment in her life ; " and, indeed, I 
 do think, Harriet, we ought to find Jane, and 
 release that flighty Mrs. Arnott from a charge 
 she is doubtless weary of. I will trouble Miss 
 Ethel to bring me a little more of that re- 
 freshing jelly from the table, and then I shall 
 be quite prepared to accompany you both 
 anvwhere." 
 
 While Miss Dora partook of her jelly, and 
 Miss Harriet continued her entranced study 
 of '' The Law of Nations/' I stood by the 
 open window, and thought how beautiful 
 everything was at Beech wood. It was not 
 the gaily dotted lawn and park that this little 
 room looked upon, but a terrace stretching 
 along the south side of the house, and bounded 
 by a thick copse of tall trees, with narrow 
 paths through it, which were too long and 
 winding for me to follow with my rather 
 short sight to the end. 
 
 But while I stood waiting for the sisters I 
 could just discern two people entering this
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 231 
 
 copse from one of its sides, and walking 
 slowly along the path that skirted the line of 
 trees farthest from the terrace. They were 
 a lady and gentleman in evidently close and 
 earnest conversation ; the former I knew to 
 be Alicia Clarkson — the latter I more than 
 suspected was Edmund Hallam. 
 
 Dear Alicia — she was happy and at rest, 
 then, as regarded her heart's timid hopes, at 
 last. I had thought as much when I first 
 looked into her sweet face that morning, for 
 there had been a something in it — I cannot 
 say what it was — which I had never seen 
 there before. Mrs. Hallam's liking for this 
 girl must have triumphed over any more 
 ambitious expectations she might once have 
 formed for her son, and prompted her to con- 
 sent to his asking Alicia to be his wife. I 
 knew that without this maternal consent Alicia 
 would scarcely, in her position, have per- 
 mitted Ed imnd even to speak of love to her, 
 and assuredly her modest countenance would 
 never have worn that expression of full
 
 232 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 and serene peace wliicli distinguislied It to- 
 day. 
 
 And so Alicia Clarkson, tlie quiet, unas- 
 suming little girl, who would, doubtless, a 
 short time ago, have thought two hundred a 
 year a handsome competence, would, by and 
 bye, be mistress of Beechwood, walking in 
 rustling silks through these stately rooms, and 
 taking her place as one of the first ladies of 
 the county. And it would all come very 
 naturally to her, all her honors sit most easily 
 upon her graceful shoulders. She was one of 
 those women — gentle, good, and of quiet 
 hearts — whom no destiny can very much 
 surprise or take at a disadvantage. As the 
 wife of a poor man, Alicia would be cheerful, 
 content, industrious, and long-enduring. As 
 the wife of a rich one, of the highest in social 
 rank, she would fulfil her duties meekly, but 
 with unerring tact, and in either position give 
 the notion to all around her that she had 
 been born and educated in and for that alone. 
 
 I had got thus far in my musings about
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 233 
 
 Alicia, and the brilliant future that seemed in 
 store for her, when I was roused by an an- 
 nouncement from Miss Dora that she was now 
 quite ready, and a sudden proposal from Miss 
 Downing that, before returning to the lawn, 
 we should make the tour of those rooms 
 thrown open on this occasion to the guests 
 at Beechwood. 
 
 As this suggestion was agreeable both to 
 Miss Dora and myself, we at once decided on 
 adopting it, and more than half an hour 
 passed rapidly away while we walked leisurely 
 through the handsome apartments, examining 
 the pictures, the bronzes, and many other 
 curious works of art which abounded at 
 Beechwood. 
 
 At length we arrived at the door of the 
 music room — the first door we had found 
 closed of all those we had hitherto passed 
 through. I had just suggested that there 
 might be some one within the room, when 
 we heard a hand run lightly over the keys of 
 an apparently magnificent piano, and the next
 
 234 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 moment my cousin Meta's voice thrilled in 
 its fullest, richest tones, through the profound 
 quiet around us. 
 
 1 was too startled at the first instant to 
 make any observation, but Miss Downing, 
 who had also recognised the voice, said 
 immediately, and in pleased accents : 
 
 " Miss KaufFman, I declare ; let us go in and 
 listen to her.'' 
 
 So Miss Dora, who looked very much as 
 if she were ready to creep to some quiet 
 sofa again, opened the door softly — the piano 
 was quite at the other end of the long room 
 — and we all crossed the threshold. 
 
 Not a step beyond, however, for neither of 
 us desired to intrude upon or even be seen by 
 the group surrounding the singer. 
 
 By her side and turning over the leaves of 
 her music was Mr. Walter Kenyon, an 
 evidently enthusiastic admirer of the sweet, 
 harmonious sounds, that Meta's pretty lips 
 were pouring forth (might it not be for his 
 entertainment chiefly ?)
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 235 
 
 Just behind him sat Mrs. Vivian, with a 
 complacent, satisfied expression on her face, 
 as if she had herself some part in the glory 
 being won by her children's governess ; and 
 indeed she had (as I afterwards discovered) 
 the merit of having induced Meta to bring 
 her music, and of suggesting that she should 
 display her talent for the benefit of the chosen 
 few whom she knew would appreciate it. But 
 amongst these, with the exception of the two I 
 have already named, I only recognized one, 
 though nearly a dozen ladies and gentlemen 
 stood or sat somewhere near the piano. This 
 one — somewhat to my surprise, considering 
 how recently I had seen him wholly engrossed 
 as I believed with Alicia Clarkson — was 
 Edmund Hallam ; and if it had not been for 
 what Alicia had told me that last Sunday 
 afternoon she spent at Lindenhurst about the 
 passion all the Hallams had for singing, I 
 should have been a little anxious on her ac- 
 count in witnessing the wrapt and entranced
 
 236 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 delight with which he appeared just now to 
 be listening to Meta. 
 
 And even I could understand this, for 
 apart from its scientific perfection there was a 
 peculiar charm and fascination about my 
 cousin's singing that I should think the coldest 
 person in existence must have been touched 
 by. It was one of those voices which seem to 
 appeal to the heart rather than to the ear, 
 and to draw the listener for the time into a 
 world of passion and romance from which he 
 emerges sadly and reluctantly, and with its 
 strange beauty haunting him, when the song 
 IS done. 
 
 It was a wild German melody with which 
 Meta had commenced on this occasion, and 
 when it was finished, the applause quite shook 
 the room, and was only stilled by two or three 
 eager voices entreating her to sing again. 
 Amongst these Edmund Hallam, who had not 
 applauded at all, was foremost, and I certainly 
 felt glad that Alicia did not see the expression
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 237 
 
 of her lover's eyes as, on Meta's resuming her 
 place at the piano, he took his station on the 
 side opposite to Mr. Kenyon, and this time 
 looked at, as well as listened to, the fair 
 singer. 
 
 We waited only for this second song to be 
 over, and then, leaving the music room, re- 
 traced our steps to the entrance hall, and so 
 passed out upon the crowded lawn again, and 
 soon found a comparatively quiet seat for 
 Miss Dora, who was by this time incapable of 
 any further exertion. Presently she said she 
 wished her sister and myself would go in 
 search of Jane, that she should be quite 
 happy alone till we returned, and that she 
 thought Mrs. Arnott's patience ought not to 
 be taxed any longer. 
 
 After a little discussion as to the propriety 
 of the step she suggested, and a little more as 
 to our chances of finding any one we wanted 
 in such a motley crowd — distributed, too, 
 over so extensive a space, it was finally agreed 
 that the attempt should be made, but that if
 
 238 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 not successful in half-an-hour, we should give 
 it up and join Miss Dora again in the sheltered 
 retreat where, with many misgivings on her 
 sister's part, we were about to leave her. 
 
 So Miss Downing and I went forth as 
 wanderers across the lawn, where even 
 moderately rapid progress was impossible, 
 into the wider park, where, from the variety 
 of roads, and our ignorance as to the parti- 
 cular points of popular attraction to which 
 any of them would conduct us, our difficulties 
 rather increased than diminished ; and finally 
 into a thick wood that looked so cool and 
 tempting, that we neither of us felt inclined 
 to pursue our wild goose chase any further, 
 until we had rested for awhile under one of 
 those grand old trees, and suffered the murmur 
 of that busy, holiday-keeping world, to flow 
 by us while we took no part for the time in 
 its somewhat noisy enjoyment. 
 
 " This is really delicious," said Miss 
 Downing, when we had chosen our seat, and 
 were luxuriating in the quiet beauty and
 
 EEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 239 
 
 peaceful stillness all around us. '' I should 
 Lave been content to spend my whole day 
 here, with a congenial companion ; a mind, 
 Miss Ethel, with which my own could have 
 held profitable communion ; a mind, whose 
 powers must have been quickened and 
 expanded in a calm scene of nature's pro- 
 viding such as this — a mind " 
 
 " Like our vicar's for instance ?" I suggested 
 a little mischievously, as Miss Harriet paused 
 in the effort as I thought to find yet choicer 
 words in which to express her poetical ideas. 
 " I am sure no one could fail to get profit 
 from holding communion with him." 
 
 " Undoubtedly, my dear, undoubtedly ; and 
 I am rejoiced to find that Mr. Wyke's excel- 
 lence is, even at this early stage of his minis- 
 terings amongst us, appreciated by one of the 
 most intelligent of his listeners ; but I was 
 not thinking when I spoke of the kind of 
 profit to be gained from a preacher, though 
 that must of course be at all times desirable. 
 It was the yearning after intellectual fellow-
 
 240 HEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ship that this bright, calm scene, awakened in 
 my heart. You, Miss Ethel, have a sister 
 whose mental capacities I know you consider 
 even superior to your own ; you can scarcely 
 estimate the blank in the lives of those who 
 dwell in entire mental solitude. Do not mis- 
 understand me in reference to my dearest 
 Dora, whose character I respect as much as T 
 love it. She is essentially feminine in all her 
 gifts and graces, and possesses quite as much 
 intellect as any woman need have, for all the 
 ordinary purposes of the world we inhabit ; 
 but there are regions into which I never can 
 take her with me — there are depths I am 
 compelled to descend alone ; there is a cloud- 
 land which her tender woman's eyes would 
 ache in straining unto, and so I wrap my- 
 self in my own harder thoughts and imagin- 
 ings ; and, except on rare occasions like the 
 present, am tolerably content wdth my un- 
 shared kingdom.' ' 
 
 " There are not many very intellectual people 
 at Graybourne," I said, feeling rather ashamed
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 241 
 
 of replying by such a common-place observa- 
 tion to a speech like Miss Harriet's — only I 
 could think of nothing else at the moment to 
 say. 
 
 " There are none, Miss Ethel, besides your 
 sister and yourself/' she rejoined with warmth, 
 " and I need not tell you that there must ever 
 exist a certain barrier between girls of your 
 age and women of mine, however nearly 
 balanced may be their intellectual capa- 
 cities." 
 
 " Oh, but indeed, neither Gertie nor myself 
 claim to be intellectual," I said, not desiring 
 to appropriate the compliment offered. " She 
 likes dry studies, and I like all kinds of de- 
 sultory reading ; either of these tastes may 
 exist without much superiority of intellect, 
 don't you agree with me. Miss Downing?" 
 
 '' Scarcely," she replied, with so thoughtful 
 a face, and in such a patiently argumentative 
 tone, that I resigned myself to a discussion of 
 probably greater length than interest, and was 
 beginning to assume a look of courteous at- 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 rp:aping the whirlwind. 
 
 tention, when, a little to my relief, I must 
 confess, there came footsteps rustling over 
 some of last year's dead leaves in the path 
 behind us, and a minute afterwards a gentle- 
 man, with a young, smiling lady on his arm, 
 was standing before us, the lady saying in 
 pleased and excited tones : 
 
 " Aunt Harriet, Mr. Burns wishes to be in- 
 troduced to you/'
 
 BEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ENDING OF THE FETE. 
 
 Now Burns was the name of the editor with 
 whom Miss Downing had so long held a 
 literary correspondence, and concerning whom 
 report said that she had striven in vain for 
 eight years to become personally known to 
 him. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the reader will 
 be prepared to hear that it was not without 
 very manifest embarrassment that JaneNor ton's 
 aunt saluted the gentleman so abruptly pre- 
 sented to her by that singularly happy-looking 
 young lady. I believe I had myself heard 
 
 M 2
 
 244 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 tlie name of Burns in connection with the 
 editor of our local journal, but at that moment 
 I certainly did not remember it. I recognised 
 in Jane's present companion the dancing 
 partner with whom I had left her, and I was 
 amused in thinking how greatly Jane's own 
 ideal of enjoyment had been improved upon, 
 by the substitution of a very respectable and 
 probably agreeable admirer for a senseless cat. 
 
 Mr. Burns in the meanwhile was addressing 
 some very courteous speeches, though in the 
 simplest possible language, to the delighted 
 Miss Harriet, who discovered from almost his 
 first words that he was really her unknown 
 correspondent — the intellectual prodigy whose 
 society she would have chosen before any 
 other on this happy fete day. 
 
 As soon as Jane could put in a syllable of 
 her own, she had a long explanation to give, 
 albeit no one had as yet asked her for it, or 
 challenged the propriety of her being in that 
 quiet wood alone with an acquaintance of an 
 hour.
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 245 
 
 Mr. Burns had been so excessively kind to 
 her, she said. He would not hear of Mrs. 
 Arnott taking her from him when the quad- 
 rille was over. Mrs. Arnott would be sure to 
 keep with the dancers, and Mr. Burns thought 
 his young friend would like to see a little of 
 all that was going on ; so he had been her 
 guide to every part of the park where the 
 entertainments of the day were being dili- 
 gently pursued ; they had seen the boat rac- 
 ing, and the archery, and a balloon ascent, and 
 listened to the different bands, and had re- 
 freshments in one of the finest tents, and were 
 on their way to a very picturesque spot in the 
 park (which Mr. Burns had often visited and 
 greatly admired), when Jane had discovered 
 her aunt and myself, and her companion had 
 begged for an introduction to the former — 
 not, however, aware when he did so that he 
 should be brought face to face with the lady 
 whose charming writings had made her al- 
 ready, in some sense, known to him. 
 
 And poor Miss Harriet, a little intoxicated
 
 246 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 at this unexpected realization of so many 
 hopes, blushed like a girl at his matter of 
 course politeness, and asked if he would allow 
 her to introduce him to her sister Dora. 
 
 Mr. Burns was evidently in the humour to 
 allow anything of a reasonable nature, so it 
 was soon decided that we should all return 
 together to the lawn, and I began fco think 
 that my own individual part in the day's 
 amusements was not likely to be of a very 
 exciting character. 
 
 Nevertheless, as Jane and myself slowly 
 followed our two elders (for Mr. Burns had 
 no choice but to offer his arm to Miss Downing) 
 I felt tolerably satisfied to have things as they 
 were. Independently of the positive enjoy- 
 ment to be derived from such a summer sky 
 above, and such a summer scene around me, 
 my nature experienced real delight in watch- 
 ing whatever was genuine in the emotions of 
 others, and in weaving for them a future 
 history to which these emotions should lead. 
 
 My weaving, however, was done in secret,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 24:7 
 
 while Jane Norton, who wove too, gave me 
 the full benefit of her young mind's industry. 
 
 " I am so glad. Miss Ethel,'' she began — 
 '' so very happy to think that I have been the 
 means of bringing about this introduction. 
 Only fancy poor little me being made the 
 instrument of such a great work. Did you 
 ever see dear Aunt Harriet look so pleased ? 
 and are they not a well-matched pair as to 
 height, and age, and everything ? Oh I ain 
 quite certain it will be all right now, are 
 not you?" 
 
 "What will be all right, Jane?" I asked, 
 though it wjuld have been difficult not to 
 guess the young lady's meaning. 
 
 " Oh, you know — though indeed I should 
 be lectured for an hour by both aunties if they 
 could hear me. The truth is I see, and 
 cannot help seeing, a thousand things that are 
 not intended for my vision, and that perhaps 
 it is an impertinence on my part to observe 
 at all. Still, what can I do, if the faculty 
 has been given me ? Is it my fault if I have
 
 248 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 discovered, while nursing the cat, that Aunt 
 Harriet, with all her sweet temper and 
 amiability, is not quite a happy woman, and 
 that the one desire of her life, at least since I 
 have lived with her, has been to meet a being 
 in whom she could recognise a kindred soul ; 
 and that this being has always taken, in her 
 dreams, the name of Burns/* 
 
 " Jane,'* I said, " your imagination must 
 be in sad need of pruning. I should have 
 supposed Miss Downing far too strong-minded 
 for the romance you attribute to her, which 
 would be more in your Aunt Dora^s style. 
 But, apart from this, do you think Mr. Burns 
 the kind of man of whom anybody, when 
 they knew him, could make a hero ?'* 
 
 " I am sure he is a very nice, kind man," 
 replied Jane eagerly^, "and if he is getting on 
 in years, Aunt Harriet herself is not a girl. 
 Mr. Burns has good eyes, a handsome nose, a 
 very passable mouth, with beautifully white 
 teeth ; and not a dozen gray hairs in his 
 head."
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 249 
 
 "Well done, Jane," I said, "jou have 
 made excellent use of your time, but let me 
 seriously advise you, in spite of all these 
 advantages and my own belief that he is 
 really a ' nice, kind man,' not to begin match- 
 making for him or for anybody. It is a most 
 unprofitable employment, and generally ends 
 either in disappointment or mischief of some 
 sort.'' 
 
 It was very obvious that my wisdom, in 
 this case, did marvellously little towards 
 crushing Jane's foolishness. She was far 
 too elated with her own grand castle to pull 
 even a stone of it down at my bidding. 
 
 ''At least," she said, coaxingly, "you will 
 acknowledge that the thing is likely to happen, 
 now that they actually know each other, and 
 are sure to find out that they have kindred 
 tastes and sentiments, and so on." 
 
 " But I don't think this is at all sure, 
 Jane," I obstinately persisted ; " the mere 
 fact of a man being the editor of a newspaper 
 does not necessarily imply the existence of 
 
 M 5
 
 250 KEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 that intellectual superiority your aunt, ac- 
 cording to you, has been dreaming of, or 
 sighing for. Besides, many intellectual men 
 prefer women of simple, domestic tastes and 
 habits, such as your aunt Dora for instance/^ 
 
 *' So they may; but I don't think Mr. Burns 
 will. Just see how eagerly, and with what 
 animation, they appear to be talking together 
 just now. He evidently receives with great 
 interest every word she is saying, and you 
 know. Aunt Harriet can talk well when she 
 pleases. I wonder when she will ask him 
 over to tea, and what she will get for him.'' 
 
 We had by this time reached the lawn 
 again, and as Jane gave utterance to her last 
 sentence, which had rather amused me as 
 being so unmistakeably a Jane Norton tran- 
 sition, I suddenly caught sight of a party in 
 the distance, amongst whom I fancied I re- 
 cognised both Gertrude and Meta Kaaff- 
 man. 
 
 " I must leave you,'' I said, hurriedly, to 
 my companion; "but you will get up to
 
 HEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 251 
 
 your aunt in a moment, by walking a little 
 faster. Tell her I saw my sister and cousin, 
 and could not resist joining them/* 
 
 '' All right, " Jane answered, good- 
 humouredly ; and in another minute she 
 was, I presume, safe at Miss Downing's side, 
 and I, somewhat out of breath, and flushed, 
 was standing in the centre of a group, of 
 which the two I sought formed part, but in- 
 cluded several others, nearly strangers to 
 me. 
 
 " However did you manage to be carried 
 off by such gay people ? '' I whispered to 
 Gertie, the first moment I had an opportu- 
 nity of doing so. "I left you with quiet Mrs. 
 Luke, and I find you in this goodly company, 
 and looking as calm and composed as if you 
 had been amongst them all your life." 
 
 '^ I only look as I feel," Gertrude replied, 
 smiling, and drawing me a little back from 
 her companions ; " but where have you been 
 all this time, Ethel, and what has become of 
 Jane Norton ? "
 
 252 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " I will relate my adventures bj-and-bye, 
 Gertie. At present I want to hear yours. You 
 bave, of course, been introduced to Meta?'* 
 
 "Yes; I was still witb Mrs. Luke, but 
 getting rather tired of my gossiping and 
 restless chaperone, when we fell in with Mr. 
 Hallam, Alicia Clarkson, and Meta. Alicia 
 told Meta who I was, and our fair cousin im- 
 mediately claimed the right of taking me from 
 Mrs. Luke, who made no great objection to 
 resigning me, having, I imagine, had nearly 
 enough of Beech wood ; and so I joined the 
 trio we had met, and by degrees our number 
 increased, and we are now on our way to 
 have some tea and coffee which we were told 
 was being dispensed to a favoured few in a 
 small tent near Mrs. Hallam's. I am so 
 glad you have come, Ethel. Meta has been 
 walking with, and talking to me ; but I feel 
 there is no bond except our cousinship be- 
 tween us, and I am thankful to escape the 
 tete-d'tete. Do you think there is anything 
 serious in that quarter? ''
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 253 
 
 She iudicated Mr. Hallam and Alicia 
 Clarkson, who were now walking side by side 
 again, Meta having paired off with Walter 
 Kenyon, and the rest of the group composed 
 of older persons of both sexes,nioving leisurely 
 in front of us younger ones. 
 
 *' Yes," I said — '' I feel sure they are en- 
 gaged, and I am so delighted on dear Alicia^s 
 account. How sweet and pure and calm she 
 looks to-day. But what do you think of 
 Metals appearance ? " 
 
 " Attractive undoubtedly, but they say her 
 singing is something marvellous. Mr. Kenyon 
 raved to me about it just now." 
 
 " Mr. Kenyon ! Have you had much con- 
 versation with him, then, Gertie ? " 
 
 '' A'^ery little, but supposing it had been 
 very much, why should you look so alarmed ? 
 Have you discovered since we parted that 
 there is anything dangerous in this young 
 man?" 
 
 '• I have discovered nothing," I said; and
 
 254 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 being really at a loss to account for tlie mo- 
 mentary feeling of vexation with which I had 
 heard that Mr. Kenyon had been talking to 
 my sister — '' except that Mr. Wyke knew this 
 gentleman two or three years ago. He spoke 
 highly of him, and appeared pleased at the 
 idea of meeting him again. But what do you 
 think of him, Gertie ? '' 
 
 Smilingly and lightly she answered — '' I 
 have not bestowed two thoughts on him yet, 
 Ethel — but now that you call upon me to do 
 so, I believe I must acknowledge that I found 
 him agreeable and very gentlemanly. Meta 
 is apparently of the same opinion.'^ 
 
 "Oh, Meta, in her craving for admiration, 
 will stoop to accept it from any one. I fancy 
 if poor mamma saw her to-day she would 
 speak less confidently of Guy's chance of 
 winning her. The very idea of her marrying 
 that boy is absurd.' ' 
 
 '' Quite absurd indeed," assented my sister. 
 " Now that I have seen our cousin I shall
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 255 
 
 soon be able to disabuse mamma's mind of so 
 wild a notion — but Meta is looking back after 
 us ; we shall have to join her." 
 
 " I have not yet had a word with you to- 
 day, Ethel/' said Meta, as we came up to her, 
 and she glided round by my side, while her 
 companion at the same instant placed herself 
 by Gertrude. " T want to thank you for the 
 timely warning you gave me just now, though 
 I scarcely think it was necessary. I am changed 
 since I met that vicar of yours three years ago; 
 and his eyes have a trick of glancing at objects 
 and people somewhat carelessly, as if the mind 
 had no part in the act. I am, however, no 
 less indebted to you for your friendliness, 
 and I should like to be assured that you 
 believe what I told you when 1 was at 
 Lindenhurst. Do you trust me so far, 
 Ethel?" 
 
 Her voice was coaxing and seductive ; her 
 manner pleading and almost childlike; her 
 beautiful eyes had a suspicion of tears in them 
 as she lifted them enquiringly to mine ; and so
 
 256 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 I was touched and won in spite of myself, 
 and I squeezed the hand she timidly offered 
 me and assured her I had no doubt of her 
 truth, and that I would wait with patience 
 her own unravelling of the mystery which 
 surrounded her. 
 
 " Dear, dear Ethel ! " she said then, and 
 now the tears really came, and stood upon the 
 long fringed lids. " I shall never, never 
 cease to be grateful for your kindness. I 
 shall love you always. Ah, if you knew how 
 my heart yearns and aches for love." 
 
 I would have answered her, but that I 
 could not, do what I would, prevent the 
 uneasy sensations with which I listened to 
 the half whispered dialogue going on so close 
 to me between Mr. Walter Kenyon and Ger- 
 trude. I do not mean that she spoke in a 
 lower voice than usual, for I donH think it 
 was the case, but he seemed to me to be talk- 
 ing in softer, quieter and more earnest tones 
 that he had any right to do to a young lady 
 only just made known to him. I suppose I
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 257 
 
 looked vexed and preoccupied, for Meta, after 
 a bit, said abruptly — 
 
 "Don't be alarmed for your pretty sister 
 (she is very, very pretty, Ethel,) but don't be 
 alarmed that the gentleman who is talking to 
 her has the faintest design of carrying her off. 
 He makes himself agreeable to all ladies, 
 young and old, but he never falls in love 
 with any. You have no fear, I am sure, for 
 Gertrude's own heart. She is too English, 
 and too matter of fact, and too sensible gene- 
 rally, is she not, for that to be in jeopardy?" 
 
 " Of course I have no fear," I replied a 
 little sharply, for I believed there was some 
 latent satire in Meta's words— "but I am not 
 fond of new acquaintances, and Mr. Kenyon 
 appears to me a very light, trifling sort of 
 young man, and— and, in short, I think I 
 must be getting tired, for I wish it was later 
 and that we were safe and quiet at home 
 again." 
 
 "You looked particularly happy when I 
 first saw you with Mr. Wyke."
 
 258 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I have no doubt I did, for I felt 
 happy ; and I have, on the whole, enjoyed 
 the day, perhaps as much as anybody — still 
 I shall not be sorry when it is over. Even at 
 school a whole holiday, as we used to call an 
 entire day of idleness or pleasure, wearied me 
 very much. Eecreation is delightful after 
 work, but unless I have worked first 1 cannot 
 thoroughly enjoy it." 
 
 " And when does your work begin ?" Meta 
 asked. 
 
 " Next week, when the little Munroes (our 
 two boarders) are to arrive. By the bye, yoa 
 have not managed to come so often as you 
 anticipated to Lindenhurst, Meta." 
 
 " No, there is plenty of teaching to be got 
 through at the Vivians, I assure you, and in 
 the evenings they require me to come in and 
 sing to them. I have positively no time at 
 all to myself." 
 
 *' Yet you like your new home. You are 
 very happy and comfortable, are you not ?" 
 
 *' I like it, and I am quite comfortable,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 259 
 
 Ethel. Happiness is a thing apart from our 
 outward position, I think ; some natures are 
 not capable of the calm which constitutes hap- 
 piness. I doubt if I have ever been really 
 happy in my life." 
 
 " Meta, does Guy write to you sometimes?" 
 
 I asked the question abruptly, and startled 
 my cousin a little, it appeared ; but she 
 replied in a minute frankly enough : — 
 
 " He has written once since I have been 
 at Fell House, and I have answered his 
 letter." 
 
 " Do you intend to keep up a correspon- 
 dence ?" 
 
 "No, 1 have told him that I have no time ; 
 that it is better not." 
 
 At this moment Gertrude came and touched 
 my arm; we had been gradually getting a 
 few yards in advance of my sister and her 
 companion. 
 
 '' Ethel, Mr. Kenyon wished to be in- 
 troduced to you. He says he owes you an 
 apology for something he declines revealing
 
 260 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 to me. Let me give you my place, as I see 
 Alicia Clarkson is free for a few moments, and 
 I want to have a chat with her.^' 
 
 Mr. Walter Kenyon expressed in very- 
 choice words the pleasure he had in making 
 my acquaintance, to which courtesy I am sure 
 I replied stiffly if not coldly, and then he said 
 he had recognised me as the lady whom Mr. 
 Wyke had been escorting in the morning, and 
 whom he believed that gentleman had been 
 ungallant enough to leave on his account. 
 
 " Mr. W^^ke was quite justifed in so doing,'* 
 I replied frigidly, adding, with rather un- 
 necessary emphasis ; " He is too good and 
 straightforward a man to think of mere 
 gallantry when the claims of an old friend- 
 ship are in question." 
 
 Here Walter Kenyon laughed, (/ saw 
 nothing to laugh at) and, as I turned to look 
 at him, I observed that his face, pleasant and 
 even handsome as it undoubtedly was, had a 
 very decided expression of weakness in it, 
 which, scarcely noticeable while his features
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 261 
 
 were in repose, came out in strong relief with 
 the mirth my remark had excited. 
 
 '' This reverend gentleman does me too 
 much honour, if he gives the name of friend- 
 ship to our former slight acquaintance," he 
 said, laughing still, " but if I stay any time 
 in the neighbourhood I shall be glad to see 
 more of him. He is a clever man, and I 
 have a very especial yearning towards all 
 clever people." 
 
 " You were not long enough with him to- 
 day to judge much of his mental capacities,'' 
 I observed, feeling almost a necessity laid 
 upon me to say something disagreeable. 
 
 "" Oh, no, on a day like this, one does not 
 care for rational or sensible conversation. I 
 don't, at least, but then I am a most imperfect 
 individual. Miss Beamish, and on most 
 occasions do the thinscs I ouo:ht not to do, and 
 leave undone those it would be my duty to 
 perform. Now, for instance, I believe I ought 
 to be looking for Mrs. Vivian and offering 
 her my services, her excellent lord and master
 
 262 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 being too stout and apoplectic to walk about, 
 but instead of this I am amusing myself in a 
 more congenial way, and pressing out of the 
 agreeable fruit offered to me all the richest 
 juices it contains. DonH you disapprove 
 entirely of my conduct?*' 
 
 " I have no right either to approve or con- 
 demn it,*' I replied, with a little less churlish- 
 ness, for his frank humility, though intermixed 
 with a sprinkling of lightness, had given a 
 blow to my prejudice against this young man, 
 '' but if Mrs. Vivian is in any degree depen- 
 dant on you for seeing what is going on to-day, 
 I should advise you to seek her out at once. 
 She would doubtless be glad to know of the 
 tea and coffee distribution in the tent we are 
 bound for.'' 
 
 " A good idea — a kind one on your part, I 
 mean, Miss Beamish — and when you are all 
 safely inside the tent, I will leave you and do 
 my duty. Oh, what a pity !— it seems this is 
 the land of promise we are in quest of, as the 
 old ladies and their cavaliers in front of us are
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 263 
 
 filing into it. Do you decide that I 7nust go 
 and ransack park and lawn, and tents and 
 state rooms, for Mrs. Vivian ?" 
 
 " If you have decided that it is your duty I 
 may leave your own conscience to do the rest," 
 I replied; and then he said laughingly (but 
 this time I rather admired his laugh) : — 
 
 " One can see you have profited by the 
 vicar's companionship to-day, Miss Beamish. 
 I don't wonder now that my society soon gave 
 him a head-ache, and compelled him to go 
 home." 
 
 We were parted in the crush that accom- 
 panied our entrance into the already closely 
 packed tent, which should either have been 
 six times as large, or have kept its secret better 
 in reference to the beverages to be partaken 
 of inside. I did not see Mr. Kenyon again, 
 but whether he really went in search of Mrs. 
 Vivian or not I have no idea. I was myself 
 at length jostled to a place between Alicia 
 Clarkson and an elderly lady frightfully out 
 of temper, because she said her dress was
 
 264 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 being trodden from her back, and also because 
 the luxury of a cup of tea or coffee seemed 
 much farther off than if she had yearned for that 
 refreshment in the desert of Sahara. Alicia 
 was looking tired, and, I thought, a little sad. 
 Could it be for so slight a reason that not far 
 behind us stood, gaily chatting together, Meta 
 and Edmund Hallam, who doubtless, on his 
 way back to Alicia, had been wedged in and 
 detained hopelessly and against his will in the 
 spot where we discovered him. 
 
 I do not believe that Alicia had a particle 
 of suspicion or jealousy in her nature, so I 
 daresay the insignificant circumstance I have 
 referred to had nothing to do with her weary 
 aspect. Yet, if I had been in her place I am 
 not sure that I should have felt quite comfort- 
 able in witnessing the effect of Meta Kauff- 
 man's allurements on the gentleman standing 
 beside her, and bowing his tall figure to catch 
 every sound of her musical voice. 
 
 Of my sister I saw nothing more for the 
 next ten minutes, at the end of which time,
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 265 
 
 Alicia and myself having been gradually pro- 
 pelled by the crowd behind us quite round the 
 tent, without even catching a distant glimpse 
 of the tea-table (if such a thing really existed) 
 were amused at finding ourselves again at the 
 entrance door, and experiencing quite as much 
 difficulty in getting out as we had done in 
 getting in. 
 
 Gertrude and another lady, who had been 
 of our party, were yet outside, waiting, as it 
 seemed to us, their chance of entering. 
 
 I shook my head ruefully as we approached 
 them. 
 
 '' The tea is very bad, and the coffee worse,'' 
 I said, as they kindly expressed a hope that 
 we had been refreshed by our potations, " and 
 unless you are very thirsty indeed, I cannot 
 recommend you to become applicants for the 
 wretched stuff that is being dealt out in 
 there. Alicia will tell you that this advice is 
 friendly." 
 
 '' We know all about it, thank you," replied 
 Gertie, laughing, " and have accepted a prior 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 testimony as to the exceeding sourness of the 
 grapes we had been foolishly hankering after. 
 I only waited for you, Ethel, that we might 
 go together to find our friends. Somebody 
 has raised a report that a thunder storm is 
 threatening, and perhaps Miss Dora may be 
 nervous, and want to go home.*' 
 
 The clouds were, indeed, beginning to look 
 alarming, and in many places the clear blue 
 sky that had so lately smiled down serenely 
 upon us, was entirely hidden. We bade Alicia 
 a hasty farewell, and walked quickly to the 
 spot where I expected to meet with our little 
 party. They were all there, protected, and 
 apparently well entertained by Mr. Burns, 
 who, when we came up, was assuring the 
 ladies there would still be ample time to get 
 home, if their conveyance was anywhere near 
 the park gates, before the storm commenced. 
 
 Our arrival was the signal for a general 
 move. It was the weak and timid Miss Dora 
 who this time leant upon their new friend^s 
 arm, the rest of us following close behind, and
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 267 
 
 rejoicing that for the invalid's sake we had 
 obtained so gallant and efficient a protector. 
 
 Jane Norton was still in a state of efferves- 
 cence very curious to see, and it required all 
 Miss Downing' s stately authority to keep her 
 from giving some absurd expression to her 
 intense contentment. It had been, she said 
 such a perfectly and indescribably delightful 
 day, and everything had turned out so exactly 
 as it should have done, and nothing had gone 
 wrong, not even with Aunt Dora; and as for 
 Aunt Harriet — '^ tell me," she whispered to 
 me, as that lady was engaged for the moment 
 talking to my sister, " if she does not look ten 
 years younger within the last hour ? Isn't it 
 a lovely pink that has come into her cheeks, 
 and when she smiles can't you fancy that she 
 is including the whole world in her be- 
 nignity ?" 
 
 '^ Jane, you are certainly the oddest little 
 person I ever met with," I exclaimed instinc- 
 tively, as I turned to scrutinize more narrowly 
 than I was in the habit of doing the counten- 
 
 N 2
 
 268 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 ance of the young lady, whose organ of 
 observation must have been a study to 
 ;phrenologists. " Have you read many novels 
 in your time, or has any curious personal ex- 
 perience made you wise beyond your years, 
 regarding the hearts of those around you ?" 
 
 " I have not read half-a-dozen novels in my 
 life," laughed Jane, " for I do not even like 
 them, and I don't know what you mean about 
 personal experience. You cannot suppose I 
 have ever felt as I imagine Aunt Harriet is 
 feeling. It must be very funny, I should 
 think, I mean strange, and rather pleasant to 
 admire somebody very much indeed, and to 
 have the hope that they will admire you in the 
 same way. I shouldn't care about its happen- 
 ing to myself, and of course it never will, as I 
 am neither pretty, nor clever, nor anything ; 
 but I like to see it happening to other people. 
 I think it's the greatest fun in the world." 
 
 And while Jane spoke, I had been deciding 
 that her ever changing countenance was more 
 attractive than many far prettier ones, and
 
 HEAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 269 
 
 that nobody could look at it twice without 
 discovering that its owner had a mind, how- 
 ever veiled this might generally be by her 
 childish words and manner. 
 
 I only said to her now : — 
 
 '' Don't, however, be too sanguine, or too 
 imaginative, Jane. Mr. Burns may prove a 
 very agreeable friend for all of you apart from 
 the idea you have rather prematurely taken 
 up. Has the invitation to tea been given yet ?" 
 
 " No, I believe not ; but he h coming to call 
 at the beginning of next week, and to bring 
 Aunt Harriet some books she was saying she 
 could not get at Graybourne. I only hope he 
 will not choose one of my school days for his 
 visit. I told him I was going to school, Miss 
 Ethel?" 
 
 '' And what did he think of the plan?" 
 
 " Oh, he only laughed, and said he had no 
 doubt it would be very good for me. There, 
 I felt a large drop of rain on my hand ; the 
 storm will be here directly, and then what 
 will become of us ?"
 
 270 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 We were now quite close to the place wliere 
 we hoped to find our carriage, and much too 
 far from the house, and even from the tents, 
 to think of seeking shelter at Beechwood. 
 Miss Dora, who had a real horror of thunder 
 storms, and was by this time completely worn 
 out, looked very white indeed, and every step 
 seemed to cost her an effort. In her anxiety 
 for her sister, Miss Downing quite forgot to 
 keep up her character of authoress and femme 
 d'esprit^ and exhibited herself in the more 
 natural and pleasing one of an affectionate, 
 unselfish woman. As the invalid was too 
 frightened, as well as too ill, to be left with- 
 out a male escort, Jane and myself volun- 
 teered to walk on down the road, lined with 
 every description of vehicle (many of which 
 were now being eagerly claimed by their 
 owners) till we should meet with the one we 
 sought ; but although this plan was adopted 
 in default of a better, I don't know how we 
 should have managed, in the increasing con- 
 fusion and rapidly nearing storm, had not
 
 REAPING THE WHIKLWIND. 271 
 
 most unlooked-for help come to us in the 
 shape of our kind vicar who (according to 
 ordinary calculation) ought to have reached 
 home more than an hour ao:o. 
 
 He never explained how he happened to be 
 standing without an umbrella, and getting wet 
 through as fast as he could, under the park 
 wall, and with his own vehicle within a few 
 yards of him. The moment Jane and myself 
 came in sight, he recognised us (this alone 
 was wonderful), and said he knew where our 
 carriage was, and would call it immediately. 
 
 He returned with us to the rest of our party, 
 and findino: that Mr. Burns had offered to ac- 
 company the Miss Downings home, on account 
 of the helpless state of poor Miss Dora and 
 her sister's genuine alarm about her, Mr. 
 Wyke very kindly proposed taking either my 
 sister or myself in his conveyance, which hap- 
 pened to be an old-fashioned post chaise, and 
 only held two. 
 
 " You go,'* I whispered to Gertrude, think- 
 ing that it would be more agreeable to the
 
 272 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 vicar, as he had already had so much of my 
 society during the morning ; but her look 
 of severe dissent from this suggestion made 
 me say quickly, lest he should notice and be 
 hurt by it : — 
 
 " Please to have me once more, Mr. Wyke. 
 I never was in a post chaise, and I like all old 
 fashioned things immensely.'* 
 
 He said, in his very quiet way, that he 
 should be equally happy to accommodate 
 either of us, and so I was lifted into the high 
 wheeled, yellow machine, just as the storm 
 burst upon us, and a little shriek from poor 
 Miss Dora (as their carriage rolled past ours), 
 announced that her nerves had given way at 
 last, and that the attendance of Mr. Burns 
 would not be an unneeded luxury. 
 
 " You are not afraid of thunder?" said my 
 companion, turning with a kindly anxious 
 face to me, as a louder clap succeeded the 
 first we had heard, and our horses showed 
 symptoms of restiveness. 
 
 '^ No, not in the least. I would not have
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, 273 
 
 inflicted my presence upon you if I had 
 been." 
 
 '' I hope you would. Do you think, then, 
 I shrink from whatever is not smooth and 
 agreeable?" 
 
 *' I only think I should not wish to be the 
 disagreealle object in your way. I am afraid 
 the necessity of disposing of me this morning 
 curtailed your enjoyment of your friend Mr. 
 Kenyon's society." 
 
 " I don't know that you need regret that 
 circumstance particularly. Mr. Kenyon did 
 not appear to care very much for remaining 
 with me. I was stupid to expect he would, at 
 such a time. By the bye, I hope you enjoyed 
 yourself after I left you ?" 
 
 '^ Pretty well. I was introduced to this 
 Mr. Kenyon." 
 
 "Ah, indeed! and how did you like 
 him?" 
 
 " Eather better than I expected to do. He 
 seems frank, and is certainly gentlemanly and 
 winning in manner," 
 
 N 5
 
 274 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Yes, SO I always considered him. He 
 talks of spending some time at the Vivians." 
 
 " Does he ? Then you will meet him often, 
 I dare say ?'' 
 
 " I am not confident of that, Miss Ethel. 
 Young people do not generally put them- 
 selves in the way of those they think may 
 preach to them. If 1 am not mistaken Walter 
 Kenyon has drifted, or is fast drifting, into 
 another current than the one I believed he 
 had embarked on when I first knew him. 
 Forgive me for these remarks, and remember 
 it was you who began speaking of the 
 gentleman this time." 
 
 We got upon other topics then, and in 
 spite of the raging elements without, I can 
 answer for myself that the drive to Gray- 
 bourne was very far from a dull one. Several 
 times when the lightning was very vivid, the 
 horses reared and plunged a little, and on 
 these occasions Mr. Wyke was even nervously 
 anxious lest I should be alarmed, but by 
 degrees my composure satisfied him that I
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 2iO 
 
 was not a timid young lady, and on landing 
 me safely at our own door he went so far as 
 to congratulate me on my courageousness, 
 and to add that he hoped I should be able to 
 impart some portion of this desirable quality 
 to his poor little shrinking, frightened girl, 
 when she became my pupil. 
 
 "Give my love to Maggie,'' I said, after T 
 had shaken hands with her father, and thanked 
 him for all his kindness during the day, "and 
 tell her I, at least, wished she had been with 
 us, if only to have given papa a chance of 
 enjoying the fete a little bit." 
 
 " How do you know I did not enjoy it ?" 
 he asked, with a smile, I suppose, at my pre- 
 tending to have understood his feelings. 
 
 '' I am afraid you did not," I answered ; 
 and then I became unpleasantly conscious of 
 growing red, as I thoaght of the strong desire 
 which had arisen in my mind to comfort the 
 good vicar when I fancied he was out of 
 spirits. 
 
 Thanks to the gentleman's inveterate habit
 
 276 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 of looking on the ground, he was none the 
 wiser for my heightened colour, but he shook 
 hands with me a second time (no doubt in 
 forgetfulness that he had already once per- 
 formed that little ceremony), and said, rather 
 shyly : — 
 
 " I enjoyed it all quite as much as I 
 expected, or even wished to do. You need 
 have no regrets on my account, Miss Ethel. 
 Good bye, now, for your mother will be 
 anxious about you, and I think these poor 
 horses have had about enough of it.*'
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 277 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 BY THE STEPPING STONES. 
 
 The Beechwood entertainment, which to all 
 appearance had begun and ended so serenely 
 and uneventfully (with the exception, indeed, 
 of the thunder-storm that only sent the ma- 
 jority of the guests to their homes an hour or 
 two before they would otherwise have dis- 
 persed), did in reality sow the seeds of many 
 important changes in the fate of several indi- 
 viduals who were ai the time wholly uncon- 
 scious of exciting the activity of the weird 
 sisters presiding over human life and destiny. 
 Amongst the immediate and visible results
 
 278 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 of that one day's unaccustomed exertion and 
 festivity, was the rather serious illness of poor 
 Miss Dora Downing. We heard of it the 
 next morning from our village Esculapius, 
 dapper little Mr. Luke, whose periodical 
 visit of inquiry at Lindenhurst happened to 
 be due on that occasion. 
 
 He told us he had been sent for the pre- 
 vious evening, to recover the lady from a 
 succession of fainting fits, and that, though 
 she had enjoyed a tolerably good night, he had 
 found her excessively w^eak and languid in 
 the morning, and had been obliged to see her 
 twice before starting on his usual rounds. 
 
 " A bad subject, I am afraid, for anything 
 like a hona-fide illness,' ' he had said, in con- 
 cluding his account, ''and, if I'm not mis- 
 taken, the poor nervous little woman is in for 
 it in earnest now." 
 
 ''What do you think it is?" mamma 
 anxiously inquired, for Miss Dora, as well as 
 her sister, was greatly liked amongst us. 
 
 "Oh, my dear lady," replied the discreet
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 279 
 
 surgeon, " that is far more than T am able at 
 present to tell. It may be pleurisy, it may 
 be congestion of the liver, it may be rheu- 
 matic fever, it may be jaundice, it may be a 
 combination or a complication of all these ; 
 or it is just possible it may be nothing more 
 than intense nervous exhaustion consequent 
 upon the excitement and fatigue of yesterday. 
 Why, there is my wife, a strong, active, 
 healthy woman, as you all know ; well, there 
 she is, Ivino: about on the sofa with head-ache 
 and low spirits this morning. You'll excuse 
 me saying it, but you ladies are really such 
 impressionable, susceptible beings, that it 
 takes less than nothing to knock you over. 
 I am glad to find, however, that there are no 
 patients waiting for me here. Your young 
 people, Mrs. Beamish, are looking even more 
 than usually bright and blooming." 
 
 *' Thank you, they are in excellent health," 
 mamma replied, smiling fondly round at 
 Gertie and mvself. " They have neither of
 
 280 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 them complained yet of paying any penalty 
 for their amusement of yesterday." 
 
 " Well, well," said the little doctor, who, 
 notwithstanding his acknowledged dandyism, 
 had a spice of sentiment in his composition, 
 '^ youth is a glorious thing, the one golden 
 bubble on our life's troubled and muddy 
 stream ; but it breaks too soon, my dear 
 lady, it breaks too soon ;" (here Mr. Luke, 
 perhaps unconsciously, passed his hand over 
 that part of his head from which the hair was 
 gradually retreating;) "and then for the 
 remainder of our existence we can do nothing 
 but chant its requiem, some sadly, some pas- 
 sionately, some with tolerable philosophy, as 
 the case may be, but all, all, real mourners — 
 deny it who will ! — for the glory that has de- 
 parted from us, and that can come to us again 
 no more for ever. No, no, at the ages of your 
 young ladies, Mrs. Beamish, a few extra 
 pleasures or even pains will leave no traces 
 behind, will necessitate no doctors' bills, will
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 281 
 
 entail no stinging-nettles of any description. 
 By the bye, Miss Gertrude, I suppose I must 
 not repeat a word of what I heard said about 
 you yesterday, and again this morning, at 
 some of the houses I have called at. It does 
 not do, as my wife tells me, to make young 
 people vain. Of course, though (this is to 
 cover your blushes), you have all heard of the 
 engagement between young Hallam and 
 Alicia Clarkson?" 
 
 " No, we only guessed it," I said, '' and had 
 just been talking about it when you came in, 
 Mr. Luke. If this is indeed true, it is the 
 pleasantest news you have brought us for 
 many a day. Really, Mrs. Hallam must be 
 a charming old lady, to give her consent so 
 readily." 
 
 " Not a bad sort, not a bad sort I assure you, 
 Miss Ethel, to those who understand her. But 
 to my mind the case is as clear as noonday. 
 Here is an elderly gentlewoman of family and 
 fortune who has outlived ambition, if she ever 
 had any to speak of, who is devotedly attached
 
 282 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 to her only son and wishes above all things 
 to keep him near her for the remnant of her 
 days ; and here is the son asking his mother's 
 consent to his marrying a pretty, well con- 
 ducted young girl of whom he knows the old 
 lady is already excessively fond, and would 
 miss as much as her right hand were she to 
 leave Beechwood. Alice hasnH a penny it is 
 true, and has been earning her bread for two 
 or three years as a hired companion — but 
 what of that ? She comes of a good family, 
 is a perfect lady, and will beyond all manner 
 of doubt make a model wife and daughter-in- 
 law. There, now you have the whole matter 
 cut and dry ; and yet, mark my words, there 
 will be enough gos sipping, and speculating, 
 and wondering, and croaking, about this very 
 simple thing to keep our dull county in a fer- 
 ment for six months. Good morning, ladies, 
 I have exceeded my allotted tine by fifteen 
 minutes, and must now step along pretty 
 briskly to make up for it.'' 
 
 As mamma walked out into the hall with
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 283 
 
 Mr. Luke (I don't know whether it was with 
 any object of discovering what he had heard 
 said of Gertie) my sister remarked to me that 
 it would be necessary for one of us to go down 
 into the village by and bye to enquire after 
 Miss Dora. 
 
 "And if you donH mind, Ethel/' she con- 
 tinued — " I should be glad for you to perform 
 this little duty, because I could take the op- 
 portunity of being alone with mamma, to 
 speak to her about Guy and Meta." 
 
 " So you could, dear, though I am pretty 
 sure it will be love's labour lost. However, 
 I am quite willing to call at the Downing' s, and 
 of course in my absence you can do your 
 best." 
 
 Accordingly, I started on my errand as 
 soon as our early tea was over; and the 
 evening being very cool and delicious after 
 the storm of yesterday, I chose a roundabout 
 way to the village, through some meadows, 
 and a shady lane or two ; and loitered in idle 
 mood to enjoy the rose scented air, to listen
 
 284 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 to the murmur of a little stream whose course 
 I was following, and to think and speculate 
 in the old, dreamy, school girl fashion which 
 had as yet by no means lost its charm for 
 me. 
 
 It may be supposed that on this occasion 
 my thoughts would naturally, if not inevi- 
 tably, dwell chiefly on the scenes and occur- 
 rences of the previous day — on the short but 
 brilliant pageant that had stood out like a 
 gaudily tinted picture amongst the very sober 
 ones, both as to colour and grouping, which, 
 represented my daily life. But it was not so. 
 I had little temptation to-night to think of 
 Beechwood at all. My dream ings were of 
 the past, of my childhood and earlier youth, 
 of my dead father, of the days when we lived 
 at the vicarage ; (a more ancient mansion 
 than the dwelling of the present vicar, Mr. 
 Dallas having at his own expense pulled 
 down nearly every stone of the old house and 
 reared a new one in its stead ; ) of our brother 
 Guy, and the hopes and expectations we used
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 285 
 
 to indulge in concerning him when we were 
 all happy, merry children together. We did 
 not think at that time that he would be a 
 clergyman ; he had never exhibited any 
 decided leaning towards bis father^s calling, 
 and our dreams for him were rather of 
 literary greatness, of some marvellous 
 achievements in the world of lettters which 
 should exalt him to the very pinnacle 
 of fame, and prove to the whole admiring 
 world what was really in him. That Guy 
 had genius there had since been abundant 
 proofs to show, but I scarcely think that any 
 could be received as more conclusive than the 
 simple fact that this genius was recognized 
 and believed in by his own sisters while they 
 were yet almost children, and he himself was 
 their inferior in years. 
 
 Well, I was meditating, this summer even- 
 ing, principally on Guy's genius, on that 
 " something " which was assuredly in him, 
 but which might possibly never, as far 
 as the world was concerned, have any
 
 286 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 outward expression. He was not industrious, 
 he had but scant ambition; his health was 
 not of the most vigorous; and above all, 
 while yet the boyish down was on his lip, he 
 had been so unfortunate as to fall in love ; 
 not in the way that boys of his age usually 
 commit this folly — lightly, carelessly, and 
 with inherent power to break the bonds 
 whenever they should grow weary of them — 
 but deeply, earnestly, and with all the strength 
 of his passionate heart and soul thrown reck- 
 lessly into the venture ; in the way, in short, 
 that the very genius I have been speaking of 
 made natural to him, and took out of the 
 range of the common place, as it would have 
 taken any other passion or any other absorb- 
 ing interest that might have come into the 
 story of his life. I had read indeed and heard 
 that to some natures love was an inspi- 
 ration, an incentive to the highest efforts, a 
 quickener and sustainer of genius, no less than 
 its richest reward. Why might it not be 
 all this to Guy ? Was there anything in the
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 287 
 
 object of his passion to hinder it, or was the 
 passion itself to blame ? I believed the 
 latter quite as much as the former, and jet 
 I was not enough of a metaphysician to un- 
 derstand wherefore it should be so. I was 
 ignorant then of the fact that love, as a 
 passion, love indeed as generally felt by men 
 of ardent natures, has a far greater tendency 
 to enslave than to enoble, to render selfish 
 than to free from selfishness. 
 
 It is only when that element in love which 
 is "of the earth, earthy,'' is taken out of it, 
 by the purifying fires of sorrow, or the slower 
 process of time's inevitable revealings, that the 
 divine passion becomes really divine, and 
 capable of transforming into a god a figure of 
 mortal clay. 
 
 But one thing was very clear to me even 
 now, and that was the answer to the question 
 suggesting itself to my mind in following out 
 the train of thought I have just tried to give an 
 idea of. The question — what will Guy do
 
 288 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 with, his genius if throughout his life it finds 
 no outward vent ? The answer — it will be- 
 come an inward flame, scorching up his 
 healthiest feelings, and intensifying any sorrow 
 or disappointment that destiny may have in 
 store for him. 
 
 I believed then, and I believe now, that to 
 some few persons is granted a wonderful pre- 
 science with regard to the future of those they 
 dearly love. They see the years to come 
 mapped out and encircled with white or black 
 lines as the case may be, and they hear the 
 far off music, either sad or joyous, that will 
 play the accompaniment to the life's march of 
 the individual in whom they are interested. 
 This is not a gift to be coveted, nor is it one 
 that we can reject at will ; it might be some- 
 times turned to good account if the torrent of 
 human passion were ever capable of being 
 arrested by words of warning or of threat, but 
 as it is, I imagine that neither the loving nor 
 tlie loved is benefited by it ; and for ray own
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 289 
 
 part I have often devoutly wished that the 
 fairies had bestowed a gift of a more ordinary 
 kind on me. 
 
 From my dreamy and most unsatisfactory 
 meditations concernino: Guv, I came, in the 
 
 Owl I 
 
 natural course of thinors, to think a little about 
 Gertrude, and to wonder (for I had no remark- 
 able foresight as regarded my sister, though I 
 loved her dearly too) what her future would 
 be like. Slie was far too attractive — that the 
 dullest person could see — to remain long a 
 schoolmistress, however strong might be, at 
 present, her own inclinations towards that 
 most prosaic and monotonous calling. With- 
 out Guy's genius, without even my ideality, 
 Gertrude was intellectual, thoughtful, and 
 capable, I believed, of very warm, enthusiastic 
 feelings. Hitherto she had made duty her 
 sole guide and prompter, and this duty, con- 
 ducting her along the beaten path of dry, 
 scholastic studies, she had pursued it as dili- 
 gently and faithfully as if it had been a 
 flowery maze leading to some brilliant arcadia. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 But would it be always thus ? Was there no 
 deeper music within her that would waken up 
 by and bye at the touch of one skillful hand ; 
 that would, once awakened, never sleep again^ 
 but flood all her life with richest harmony, 
 or with the most piteous discord? 
 
 Dear, dear Gertie ! good girl, calm, peaceful 
 heart, what treasures would the advancing 
 waves of time deposit at her feet ; what pearls 
 from the great ocean of the future should I, 
 who loved her so, deem fair enough to bind 
 upon that pure and spotless brow ? 
 
 I had wandered, in the intense pre-occupa- 
 tion of my mind, some distance beyond a little 
 bridge about the centre of the meadow that I 
 should have crossed to reach the village. 
 Discovering my error, and at the same time 
 arriving at the conclusion that it was getting 
 very late, I thought I might take advantage 
 of some stepping stones laid across the stream 
 and so avoid going over a second time the 
 ground I had already traversed. It was by 
 no means a difficult undertaking, and I accom-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 291 
 
 plislied it safely, and with no other mconveni- 
 ence than a little wetting of my boots, which 
 made me look down at them ruefully, and even 
 sigh audibly (though I should have laughed 
 the next moment) inasmuch as they happened 
 to be my best, and I was not likely to have 
 another pair very soon. 
 
 To my astonishment, and even momentary 
 alarm (for I had not seen a living creature in 
 all my walk) there came suddenly a merry, 
 ringing laugh from the opposite side of the 
 stream, and, before 1 had time to turn round, a 
 male figure had sprung lightly over the same 
 stones I had just so slowly and cautiously 
 trodden on, and was standing, hat in hand, 
 beside me. 
 
 " Mr. Kenyon ! Good evening, though you 
 have scarcely left me presence of mind to say 
 so much. Why did you startle me in this 
 way?" 
 
 '' I could not really help it. I am, how- 
 ever, very sincerely ashamed of myself. Miss
 
 292 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 Beamish, and I came across to ask you to 
 forgive my rudeness. My road lies in a 
 different direction." 
 
 " What were you laughing at ?" 
 
 " I must confess, I suppose, even at the risk 
 of not obtaining your pardon. It was an 
 irresistible and very naughty impulse that 
 prompted me to laugh at the droll way in 
 which, after so gracefully accomplishing the 
 feat of traversing these rough stones, you 
 stood looking down at your wet boots. If I 
 had only had my sketch book with me, I 
 should have been tempted, instead of laugh- 
 ing, to have made a picture of the scene. But 
 do say I am forgiven, for indeed I feel my 
 rudeness laying like a heavy weight upon my 
 conscience." 
 
 '^ Take it off at once then," I replied, quite 
 inclined to laugh now myself " I can readily 
 believe I cut a most ridiculous figure, but you 
 see I thought myself all alone." 
 
 '' Yes, I was aware of that. I had, how-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 293 
 
 ever, been at a very short distance from yon 
 for at least five minutes. I came along the 
 path running at right angles from the one you 
 were following, and should have turned in the 
 opposite direction if your apparently sudden 
 idea of trying the stepping stones had not 
 chained me as an admiring watcher to the 
 spot. I really hope though your feet are not 
 very wet — nothing gives cold so soon." 
 
 " Oh, thank you," I said, '' they are scarcely 
 wet at all, and I shall walk fast enough to 
 dry them in ten minutes. Don't let me detain 
 you, Mr. Kenyoii, if you are pursuing your 
 walk, as you told me, in an opposite direc- 
 tion." 
 
 " The truth is," he replied, smiling, but ap- 
 pearing in no hurry to move on, '' I am, or 
 was, bound for Lindenhurst with a message 
 from Mrs. Vivian to the lady of the mansion. 
 Having met you, IMiss Beamish, I think I may 
 deliver it here, and then perhaps you will 
 accept my escort to whatever remote district 
 you are wending your way. It is getting too 
 
 3
 
 294 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 late for young ladies to be so far from home 
 alone/' 
 
 Utterly bewildered by this free and easy 
 address and by his apparent familiarity with 
 the name of our abode, I replied to him by a 
 string of questions which must have betrayed 
 my very puzzled state of mind. 
 
 '' Whatever can you mean, Mr. Kenyon ?'' 
 T asked. " Am I asleep, or have I misunder- 
 stood your words ? Mrs. Vivian and mamma 
 scarcely know each other. What message 
 could the lady of Fell House possibly have to 
 send to Lindenhurst, and why should you be 
 chosen to carry it ? " Then, as a sudden 
 thought struck me, I felt my cheeks burn 
 while I added — '' Is it anything about my 
 cousin. Miss Kauffman ?" 
 
 " Oh, dear no," he hastened to answer, 
 " nothing of the kind. Miss Kauffman is 
 well, and happy, I have every reason to be- 
 lieve. By the bye, I had a long talk with 
 her last night about you and your sister. We 
 stayed to dinner at Beechwood, and she en-
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 295 
 
 chanted everybody again witli her magnificent 
 voice. In the course of the evening we got 
 up a little dance ; it was famous fun, I assure 
 you, though I am no great dancer myself, and 
 it was during a promenade through the rooms 
 after a quadrille, that Miss KaufiPman gave 
 me a sketch of Lindenhurst and its fair in- 
 mates/' 
 
 " Indeed !" I said, rather coldly. " It was 
 very obliging of her." 
 
 " Well, it certainly was in this case," he 
 replied, frankly, '' because I had been im- 
 pertinent enough to ask questions about you. 
 One of my peculiarities, ]\Iiss Beamish, is an 
 intense interest in every new mind that is 
 brought under my notice. I am an en- 
 thusiastic student of minds, in the same way 
 that some men are students of inanimate 
 nature. Will you accuse me of flattery if I 
 say that I discovered immediately on being 
 introduced to your sister and yourself that 
 you had each of you a very superior, though
 
 296 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 totally distinct mental organization, and that 
 it was this conviction which tempted me to 
 the presumption of asking questions about 
 you. If I have done wrong I can only say I 
 am sorry, and T am sure you are too good to 
 continue angry with me/^ 
 
 " I don^t know that there is anything to be 
 angry about,'^ I admitted, though really I felt 
 far from grateful. " Miss Kaufifman's in- 
 formation, even as regards myself, must have 
 been exceedingly limited, and with regard to 
 my sister she saw her for the first time yester- 
 day." 
 
 " So I discovei'ed ; but she seemed to know 
 as much about her as if they had lived to- 
 gether for years. She spoke most highly of 
 you both, I assure you." 
 
 " What did she say of Gertrude ?'' I asked 
 this as if I meant it to be answered, and, 
 amused, I think, at my earnestness, he re- 
 plied : — 
 
 " She said your beautiful sister was cold
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 297 
 
 and calm, and pure as a statue of snow, that 
 she always did what was right and never 
 anything that was wrong ; that study was her 
 passion, and romance and poetry mere idle 
 words without a meaning for her ; that her 
 one ambition was to train up other young 
 ladies to be as clever and duty-loving and 
 sober-minded as herself; that, in short, she 
 was a flesh and blood Minerva, to whom 
 destiny, in a mood of undue favouritism, had 
 given the face and form of a Venus. This 
 last, at any rate, I could endorse as the truth. 
 The rest was difficult to believe.'^ 
 
 If Mr. Kenyon expected me to discuss my 
 sister's character with him, he must have been 
 disappointed. To all he told me I said not a 
 word. I only enquired abruptly what was 
 the message with which he had been entrusted 
 by Mrs. Vivian. 
 
 " True, we were forgetting that !'' he 
 answered, with a tact in discerning my re- 
 pugnance to pursue the other topic which I 
 did not fail to appreciate. " The very simple
 
 298 REAPING THE WHIELWIND, 
 
 truth Is just this — Lizzie Vivian has a birth- 
 day coming in a few days ; she will be fifteen, 
 and her small ladyship wants to have a party 
 given in her honour. They talked over the 
 matter at Beechwood last night, and [ believe 
 it was Mrs. Hallam (by the bye, what a 
 superb old lady it is ! ) who suggested that the 
 Miss Beamishes and — and, let me see, a 
 young girl living with two elderly aunts in 
 the village, should be invited on the occasion. 
 Mrs Vivian warmly applauded the idea, ac- 
 companying it with some eulogistic remarks 
 which I must not venture to repeat. This 
 evening when she was asking Miss Kauffman 
 if she would like to have the carriage, and be 
 the bearer of the invitation, I volunteered to 
 do it without the carriage, and was accepted 
 as a substitute. You have now the whole 
 case before you. Miss Beamish, and shall 
 decide whether I had better go on to Linden- 
 hurst or not." 
 
 " If," I said, " an answer is required, 1 fear 
 you must have the trouble of going on. I
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 299 
 
 don't know at all what mamma will decide, 
 or even what Gertrude would wish. We have 
 never been to Fell House, and next week our 
 pupils are to arrive." 
 
 '' Indeed I must not take back a refusal, or 
 pretty Lizzie will cry her eyes out. She 
 wants as many young ladies and gentlemen as 
 can possibly be got together on so brief a 
 notice. Mrs. Vivian begged me to say she 
 should esteem your coming as a great favour, 
 and that the carriage should both take you 
 and bring you home again." 
 
 " Well, I suppose there will be no objection 
 raised, as Mrs. Vivian is so kind about it. I 
 must get on to the village now, Mr. Kenyon, 
 or I shall be reported lost. Good evening." 
 
 He shook hands with me, repeated an 
 earnest hope that we might meet again on the 
 birthday, asked me a few directions concern- 
 ing the way to Lindenhurst, and then, leaping 
 the brook, pursued with swift steps the path I 
 had recently come down. 
 
 Not less swiftly did I continue my route to
 
 300 HEAPING THE WHIKLWIND. 
 
 the village, vexed at having been so long de- 
 tained, and all the course of my thoughts 
 altered by this unexpected rencontre at the 
 stepping stones. 
 
 It was quite dusk, when at length I stood 
 at the little white gate leading into the patch 
 of ground, called the front garden, of the Miss 
 Downings* cottage. 
 
 Jane Norton sat with the cat beside her, 
 and a piece of bread and butter in her hand 
 on the wooden bench of the porch outside the 
 door. She was looking very tired, very list- 
 less, and very much unlike the bright young 
 lady of yesterday. 
 
 " Goodness, is that you, Miss Ethel?'' she 
 exclaimed, rising with some alacrity as I came 
 up the gravel path. " Oh, havn't we had a 
 miserable day ! I never was so weary of any 
 day in my life. Of course you have heard 
 about poor Aunt Dora ?" 
 
 '' Yes ; I have come purposely to learn how 
 she is to-night." 
 
 '' I think she's asleep now. Mr. Luke was
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 301 
 
 here about an hour ago, and he said he would 
 send her something to make her go to sleep. 
 She is very ill, indeed, you know, and Aunt 
 Harriet is in a fearful state about her. The 
 liouse has been in such confusion all day — no 
 regular meals nor anything. I have not been 
 allowed near the sick room, and except the 
 doctor and Mr. Wyke I have neither seen nor 
 spoken to a human being since the morning. 
 I wish they w^ould let me do something to 
 help — it's very miserable to be kept in idleness 
 and solitude a whole day." 
 
 '^ So it is, Jane ; but perhaps your Aunt 
 Harriet feared this illness might prove to be 
 infectious. Did you say the vicar had 
 called?" 
 
 '' Yes ; he has been here tw^ice, and offered 
 to send one of his servants to assist in the 
 house if it should be needed. Mr. Luke 
 thinks now, however, that it will turn out to 
 be only a very bad nervous attack. He told 
 me so himself when he came down-stairs this 
 last time." 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 302 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 
 
 " Then I hope Miss Downing is less anxious. 
 She will grow ill too if she takes her sister's 
 illness so much to heart." 
 
 '^ I think Mr. Burns is sure to come over 
 to-morrow," said Jane, suddenly dropping her 
 voice to a whisper, '' and that will do Aunt 
 Harriet good." 
 
 '^ Did he stay with you at all after he had 
 brought you home yesterday evening, Jane?" 
 1 asked, not to seem devoid of interest in the 
 matter. 
 
 '' No ; he would not even get out of the 
 carriage, which was to take him back to 
 Boltby. By the bye. Miss Ethel, how did 
 you enjoy your drive with the vicar?" 
 
 " Very well, Jane, thank you. And now I 
 must say good night ; see how dark it is 
 growing." 
 
 " And the house is too dreary and uncom- 
 fortable for me to press you to stay. Will 
 either of you be coming this way to- 
 morrow ?" 
 
 ^' Perhaps — most likely. We shall be
 
 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. 303 
 
 anxious to know how Miss Dora is going 
 
 on/^ 
 
 Then we said good night again, and I chose 
 the shortest road this time, and ran nearly all 
 the way home. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 T. 0. Newby, 30, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London,
 
 In 2 vols. Price 2l8. 
 
 PHASES OF LIFE. 
 
 By Mrs. SMITH. 
 ' It will find many interested and admiring readers." — Observer, 
 
 In 3 Vols. Price 31s. 6d. 
 
 THE QUEEN OF THE SEAS, 
 
 A TALE OF SEA AND LAND. 
 
 By C. F. Armstrong, 
 
 Author of " The Two Midshipmen," " The Lily of Devon," " The 
 Medora," "The Young Commander," &c 
 
 In 2 Vols. 21s. 
 
 SIR TIMOTHY GRACELESS. 
 
 " There is considerable vivacity and animation, and a constant bustle 
 throughout, which keeps the reader interested to the end." — Morning 
 Post. 
 
 JOAN CAREW. 
 
 A Novel. By E. M. 0. 
 
 " The author had no need to write anonymously, for many who have 
 paraded their names upon the title pages of their literary creations cer- 
 tainly have not had the pretensions which E. M. 0. manifests. The plot 
 is cleverly constructed, and the purpose unexceptionable." — Bell's Mes- 
 senger.
 
 To be had in all Libraries : A New Novel. 
 
 EAISED TO THE WOOLSACK. 
 
 By LANGTON LOCKHART. 
 
 " To all who are in search of a fascinating novel we recommend 
 ' Raised to the Woolsack.' It will please its thousands." — Sporting 
 Magazine. _, 
 
 " Passages of life and character which no one can read without deep 
 interest and advantage." — Weekly Register. 
 
 " Mr. Lockhart tells his story pleasantly, and with all the penmanship 
 of a ready writer." — Morning Post. 
 
 " One of the best novels we have read for some time. Mr. Lockhart 
 has made his debut in the arena of letters in a way which at once entitles 
 him to, and we doubt not will speedily win for him, a large circle of 
 readers." — Brighton Gazette. 
 
 " The incidents of the book are natural and exceedingly interesting, 
 and the characters are drawn with a force and skill rarely found in a 
 young author." — Brighton Gazette. 
 
 In 3 vols. Price, 36s. 
 
 THE FIEST TEMPTATION: 
 
 OR, ERITIS SICUT DEUS. 
 
 A PHILOSOPHICAL ROMANCE, 
 Translated from the German by Mrs. WILLIAM R. WILDE. 
 
 " The book deserves serious thought, and well will it repay that 
 thought." — Observer, 
 
 "This is in every respect the most remarkable novel of our time. 
 It is truly a philosophical romance, and will be thoroughly appre- 
 ciated by the educated clergy and laity. Moreover, to the general 
 reader it will be found one of the most interesting fictions ever met 
 yfiih.:'— Daily Post. 
 
 "All the readers of 'Essays and Reviews' should peruse these 
 volumes." — Express,
 
 |ltto aittJ ||0piilar llctrcls. 
 
 In 2 Vols. 21s. 
 
 A HEART TWICE WON, 
 
 By H. L. STE^'E^'sox. 
 
 Dedicated (by permission of his daughter) to her cousin the late 
 W. M. Thackeray. 
 
 " The characters are limned with a steady pencil, and the colouring 
 dashed in with broad lights." — Worcester Herald. 
 "A simple story pleasantly told." — Belts Messenger. 
 " It will be read with the liveliest interest."— Pm^/u; Opinion. 
 
 In 2 vols., 21s. 
 
 FATHER STIRLING, 
 
 By J. Mc'GRIGOR ALLAN; 
 
 Author of " The Cost of a Coronet," &c. 
 
 " Father Stirling has a moral and social rather than theological pur- 
 pose. The author's aim being to show by the attractive machmery 
 of a well-told story, the evils of celibacy, which are forcibly illustrated 
 in the type of the amiable Clement Stirling." — Liverpool Albion. 
 
 "Mr. Allan has depicted, with a drv' literal power that is very effective, 
 the mental and spiritual struggles of the poor priest. The work through- 
 out is interesting and valuable." — London Review. 
 
 "_A novel resembling a good drama. It is very interesting." — Public 
 Opinion. 
 
 " We unhesitatingly pronounce this to be one of the most interesting 
 and certainly the best written novels of the present year." — Daily Post, 
 
 " Readers who are fond of books written ' with a purpose,' should try 
 ' Father Stirling.' ''—Illustrated Times.
 
 In 2 vols., 21s. 
 
 NO EELATIONS. 
 
 By JULIA CORNER ; 
 Author of " Culverley Rise," " History of Spain," &c. 
 
 " A very clever and interesting work conceived in a high spirit and 
 written with great ability." — Sporting Review, 
 
 In 3 Vols. Price 31s. 6d. 
 
 LITTLE FLAGGS, THE ALMSHOUSE 
 FOUNDLING. 
 
 By the author of " Myself and my Relatives." 
 
 " It is a well told story." — John Bull. 
 
 " The story is cleverly built up, and crowded with interesting and ex- 
 citmg incidents." — London Review. 
 
 " The style is clear, nervous, and decided, to a degree which very 
 few novelists take the trouble to attain, or could reach if they would. 
 The story is one of well sustained and ever powerful interest." — Morning 
 Post. 
 
 In 2 vols. 21s. 
 
 A PAGE FROM THE PEERAGE. 
 
 " The author gives proof of possessing considerable powers of observa- 
 tion. — Reader. 
 
 "We close this book in a hurry of pleasurable surprise and approba- 
 tion, as to warrant a feeling of special gratitude to the author." — Globe. 
 
 " The book abounds in interesting scenes and situations." — Morning 
 Post. 
 
 " This novel is unquestionably of a superior character." — BdVs Mes-
 
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 THE TEETH AND BREATH. 
 
 How often do we find the human face divine disfigured by neglecting the chiefest 
 of its ornaments, and the breath made disagreeable to companions bj^ non-attention 
 to the Teeth ! Though perfect in their structure and composition, to keep them 
 in a pure and healthy state requires some little trouble ; and if those who are 
 blessed with well-formed teeth knew how soon decay steals into the mouth, making 
 imsightly -what otherwise are delightful to admire, and designating unhealthinesa 
 by the impurity of the breath, they -would spare no expense to chase away these 
 fatal blemishes. But although most ladies are careful, and even particular in these 
 de.icate matters, yet few are sufficiently aware of the imperative necessity of avoid- 
 ing all noxious and mineral substances of an acrid nature, and of which the greater 
 part of the cheap tooth-powders and pastes of the present day are composed. It is 
 highly satisfactory to point ottt Messrs. Kowlands' Odonto, or Pearl Dentifrice, as 
 a preparation free from all injurious elements, and eminently calculated to embellish 
 and preserve the dental structure, to impart a grateful fragrance to the breath, 
 and to embellish and perpettiate the graces of the mouth - Court Journal. 
 
 ROWLANDS' ODONTO 
 
 Is a White Powder, compounded of the clioicest and most recherche ingredients of 
 the oriental herbal, of inestimable value in presei-ving and beautifying tlie teeth, 
 strengthening the gums, and in giving a pleasing fragrance to the breath. Price 
 2s. 9d per box.— Sold by Chemists and Perfumers. 
 
 *** Ask for "ROAVLANDS' ODONTO." 
 
 THE HUMAN HAIR. 
 
 Of the numerous compounds constantly announced for promoting the growth or 
 reproduction of the Human Hair, few sur\ive even in name, beyond a very limited 
 period ; whilst 
 
 ROWLANDS' MACASSAR OIL, 
 
 with a reputation unparalleled, is still on the increase in public estimation. The 
 unprecedented success of this discovery, either in preserving the hair in its original 
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 and is certified by numerous tcstnnonials and by the highest authorities. It has 
 obtained the patronage of Royalty, not only of our own Court, but those of the 
 whole of Europe From its exquisite purity and delicacy, it is admirably adapted 
 for the hair of children, even of the ra(jst tender age, and is in constant use in the 
 nursery of Royalty, and by the families of the Nobility and Aristocracy. It is 
 alike suited for either sex ; and, whether employed to embellish the tresses of female 
 beauty, or to add to the attractions of manly grace, will be found an mdispensable 
 auxiliary to the toilet both of ladies and gentlemen — Price 3s 6d. and 7s. ; or 
 family bottles (eijual to four small) at 1( s. 6d , and double that size, 21s. - Sold by 
 all Chemists and Perfumers. 
 
 *** Ask for "RO\\rLANDS' MACASSAR OIL." 
 
 Emulation, in whatever pursuit, where general utility is the object kept in 
 view, is one of the immutable privileges of Genius ; but it requires no slight degree 
 of perspicuous attention to distinguish Originality from Imitation, and the exercise 
 of Caution becomes of more than usual importance, where the effect of a remedial 
 application (both as regards health and personal appearance), is the subject of con- 
 sideration ; these observations are imperatively called for from A. Rowland & Sons, 
 of ' ondon, whose successful introduction of several articles of acknowledged and 
 standard excellence for the Toilet has given rise to fertility of im'tation, perfectly 
 unprecedented : they would have deemed observation unnecessan were temporary 
 deceptions unaccompanied by permanently injurious effects— it is with reference to 
 Rowlands' KALTDoit /or the Complexion, that the Public are particularly interested 
 in the present remarks. This preparation eminentlj' balsamic, restorative, and 
 invigorating ,• — the result of scientific botanical research, and equally celebrated for 
 safety in application, as for unfailing efficacy in removing all Impurities and Dis- 
 coloratiotis of the >-kin, has its " Spurious Imitations of the most deleterious char- 
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 their repellant action endangering health, which render it Indispensably necessary 
 to see that the words " Rowlands' Kaltdor " are on the wrapper, witli the signa- 
 ture in red ink, " A, Rowland Jk Sons." told by Chemists and Perfumers. 
 
 s