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 < x e^*n §^^~> 
 
 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE
 
 BEECHCROFT 
 
 AT ROCKSTONE 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE M. YONGE 
 
 AUTHOR OF ' THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,' ' UNKNOWN TO HISTORY. 
 ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. I 
 
 HotttJon 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK 
 1888 
 
 All ri'jhts n
 
 Printed by R. & R- Clark, Edinburgh
 
 8£3 
 v. 1 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 A Dispersion 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 ROCKQUAY 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 22 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Perpetual Motion 
 
 42 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Queen op the White Ants 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Marbles 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Single Misfortunes never come alone 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 An Empty Nest 
 
 65 
 
 85 
 
 103 
 
 122
 
 Vl CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gillian's Pupil ,141 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Gauging Ajee 164 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 AUT CiESAR AUT NlHIL 183 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 Lady Merrifield's Christmas Letter-Bag • . 205 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Transformations 224
 
 BEECHCBOFT AT KOCKSTONE 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 A DISPERSION 
 
 • A telegram ! Make haste and open it, Jane ; they 
 always make me so nervous ! I believe that is the 
 reason Eeginald always will telegraph when he is 
 coming/ said Miss Adeline Mohun, a very pretty, well 
 preserved, though delicate-looking lady of some age 
 about forty, as her elder sister, brisk and lively and 
 some years older, came into the room. 
 
 ' No, it is not Eeggie. It is from Lily. Poor 
 Lily ! Jasper — accident — Come.' 
 
 1 Poor dear Lily ! Is it young Jasper or old Jasper, 
 I w r onder ? ' 
 
 1 If it were young Jasper she would have put Japs. 
 I am afraid it is her husband. If so, she will be 
 going off to him. I must catch the 11.20 train. 
 Will you come, Ada ? ' 
 
 'Oh no ; I should be knocked up, and on your 
 hands. The suspense is bad enough at home.' 
 
 VOL. I B
 
 2 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 1 If it is old Jasper, we shall see in the paper 
 to-day. I will send it down to you from the station. 
 Supposing it is Sir Jasper, and she wants to go out to 
 him, we must take in some of the children.' 
 
 ' Oh ! Dear little Primrose would be nice enough, 
 but what should we do with that Halfpenny woman ? 
 If we had the other girls, I suppose they would be at 
 school all day ; but surely some might go to Beech- 
 croft. And mind, Jane, I will not have you over- 
 tasking yourself ! Do not take any of them without 
 having Gillian to help you. That I stipulate.' 
 
 Jane Mohun seemed as if she did not hear, as these 
 sentences were uttered at intervals, while she stood 
 dashing off postcards at her davenport. Then she 
 said, on her way to the door — 
 
 1 Don't expect me to-night. I will send Fanny to 
 ask one of the Wellands to come in to you, and tele- 
 graph if I bring any one home with me.' 
 
 1 But, Jane dear ' 
 
 However, the door was shut, and by the time Miss 
 Adeline had reached her sister's room, the ever-ready 
 bag was nearly packed. 
 
 ' I only wanted to say, dear Jane, that you must 
 give my love to dear Lily. I am grieved — grieved 
 for her ; but indeed you must not undertake anything 
 rash.' (A shake of the head, as the shoes went into 
 their neat bag.) ' Do not let her persuade you to stay 
 at Silverfold in her absence. You cannot give up 
 everything here/
 
 i A DISPERSION 3 
 
 'Yes, yes, Ada, I know it does not suit you. 
 Never fear.' 
 
 ' It is not that ; but you are much too useful here 
 to drop everything, especially now every one is away. 
 I would willingly sacrifice myself, but ' 
 
 'Yes, I know, Ada dear. Now, good-bye, and 
 take care of yourself, and don't be nervous. It may 
 mean only that young Japs has twisted his little 
 finger.' 
 
 And with a kiss, Miss Mohun ran downstairs as fast 
 and lightly as if her years had been half their amount, 
 and accomplished her orders to Fanny — otherwise Mrs. 
 Mount — a Beechcroft native, who, on being left a 
 widow, had returned to her former mistresses, bringing 
 with her a daughter, who had grown up into an 
 efficient housemaid. After a few words with her, Miss 
 Mohun sped on, finding time at the station to purchase 
 a morning paper just come down, and to read among 
 the telegrams: 
 
 'Colombo, Sept. 3d. 
 
 'Lieutenant-General Sir Jasper Merrifield, G.C.B., 
 has been thrown from his horse, and received severe 
 injuries.' 
 
 She despatched this paper to her sister by a special 
 messenger, whom she had captured by the way, and 
 was soon after in the train, knitting and pondering. 
 
 At Silverton station she saw the pony carriage, and 
 in it her niece Gillian, a girl not quite seventeen, with 
 brown eyes showing traces of tears.
 
 4 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 Mamma knew you would come/ she said. 
 1 You have heard direct, of course.' 
 
 I Yes ; Claude telegraphed. The horse fell over a 
 precipice. Papa's leg and three ribs are broken. Not 
 dangerous. That is all it says ; and mamma is going 
 out to him directly.' 
 
 I I was quite sure she would. Well, Gillian, we 
 must do the best we can. Has she any plans ? ' 
 
 ' 1 think she waited for you to settle them. Hal 
 is come ; he wanted to go with her, but she says it 
 will cost too much, and besides, there is his Ordination 
 in Advent.' 
 
 ' Has she telegraphed to your uncles ? ' 
 
 'To Beechcroft and to Stokesley; but we don't 
 quite know where Uncle Eeginald is. Perhaps he 
 will see the paper.' 
 
 Gillian's tears were flowing again, and her aunt 
 said — 
 
 ' Come, my dear, you must not give way ; you 
 must do all you can to make it better for your 
 mother.' 
 
 ' I know/ she answered. ' Indeed, I didn't cry till 
 I sat waiting, and it all came over me. Poor papa ! 
 and what a journey mamma will have, and how dread- 
 ful it will be without her ! But I know that it is 
 horrid of me, when papa and my sisters must want 
 her so much more.' 
 
 ' That's right — quite right to keep up before her. 
 It does not sound to me so bad, after all ; perhaps they
 
 I A DISPERSION 5 
 
 will telegraph again to stop her. Did Claude ask her 
 to come out ? ' 
 
 1 Oh no ! There were only those few words.' 
 
 ~No more could be learnt till the pony stopped at the 
 door, and Hal ran out to hand out his aunt, and beg 
 her privately to persuade his mother to take him, or, if 
 she would not consent to that, at least to have Macrae, 
 the old soldier-servant, with her — it was not fit for 
 her to travel alone. 
 
 Lady Merrifield looked very pale, and squeezed her 
 sister close in her arms as she said — 
 
 1 You are my great help, Jenny.' 
 
 1 And must you go ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, certainly.' 
 
 ' Without waiting to hear more ? ' 
 
 'There is no use in losing time. I cannot cross 
 from Folkestone till the day after to-morrow, at night. 
 I must go to London to-morrow, and sleep at Mrs. 
 Merrifield's.' 
 
 1 But this does not seem to me so very bad.' 
 
 ' Oh no, no ! but when I get there in three weeks' 
 time, it will be just when I shall be most wanted. 
 The nursing will have told on the girls, and Jasper 
 will be feeling weary of being laid up, and wanting to 
 take liberties.' 
 
 ' And what will you be after such a journey ? ' 
 
 ' Just up to keeping him in order. Come, you have 
 too much sense to expostulate, Jenny.' 
 
 ' No ; you would wear yourself to fiddle-strings if
 
 6 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 you stayed at home. I only want you to take Hal, 
 or Macrae.' 
 
 1 Hal is out of the question ; I would not interfere 
 with his preparation on any account. Macrae would 
 be a very costly article ; and, moreover, I want him 
 to act major-domo here, unless you would, and that I 
 don't dare to hope for.' 
 
 1 No, you must not, Lily ; Ada never feels well here, 
 nor always at Brighton, and Emily would be too nervous 
 to have her without me. But we will take as many 
 children as you please, or we have room for.' 
 
 ' That is like you, Jenny. I know William will 
 offer to take them in at home, but I cannot send them 
 without Miss Vincent ; and she cannot leave her 
 mother, who has had a sort of stroke. Otherwise I 
 should try leaving them here while I am away, but 
 the poor old lady is in no state for it — in fact, I doubt 
 her living long.' 
 
 ' 1 know ; you have been governess by yourself 
 these last weeks ; it will be well to relieve her. The 
 best way will be for us to take Mysie and Yaletta, and 
 let them go to the High School ; and there is a capital 
 day-school for little boys, close to St. Andrew's, for 
 Fergus, and Gillian can go there too, or join classes 
 in whatever she pleases.' 
 
 ' My Brownie ! Have you really room for all those ?' 
 
 * Oh yes ! The three girls in the spare room and 
 dressing-room, and Fergus in the little room over the 
 porch. I will write to Fanny; I gave her a hint.'
 
 I A DISPERSION 7 
 
 'And I have no doubt that Primrose will be a 
 delight to her aunt Alethea, poor little dear ! Yes, 
 that makes it all easy, for in the holidays I know the 
 boys are sure of a welcome at the dear old home, or 
 Hal might have one or two of them at his Curacy.' 
 
 The gong sounded for the melancholy dinner that 
 had to go on all the same, and in the midst all were 
 startled by the arrival of a telegram, which Macrae, 
 looking awestruck, actually delivered to Harry instead 
 of to his mistress ; but it was not from Ceylon. It 
 was from Colonel Mohun, from Beechcroft : ' Coming 
 6.30. Going with you. Send children here.' 
 
 Never were twenty words, including addresses, more 
 satisfactory. The tears came, for the first time, to 
 Lady Merrifield's eyes at the kindness of her brothers, 
 and Harry was quite satisfied that his uncle would be 
 a far better escort than himself or Macrae. Aunt 
 Jane went off to send her telegram home and write 
 some needful letters, and Lady Merrifield announced 
 her arrangements to those whom they concerned. 
 
 ' Oh ! mamma, don't,' exclaimed Valetta ; ' all the 
 guinea-pigs will die.' 
 
 1 1 thought,' said Gillian, ' that we might stay here 
 with Miss Vincent to look after us.' 
 
 'That will not do in her mother's state. Mrs. 
 Vincent cannot be moved up here, and I could not 
 lay such a burthen on them.' 
 
 ' We would be very good,' said Val. 
 
 ' That, I hope, you will be any way ; but I think it
 
 8 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 will be easier at Eockstone, and I am quite sure that 
 papa and I shall be better satisfied about you.' 
 
 ' Mayn't we take Quiz ? ' asked Fergus. 
 
 ' And Eigdum Funnidos ? ' cried Valetta. 
 
 1 And Euff and Eing ? ' chimed in Mysie. 
 
 ' My dear children, I don't see how Aunt Jane can 
 be troubled with any more animals than your four 
 selves. You must ask her ; only do not be surprised or 
 put out if she refuses, for I don't believe you can keep 
 anything there.' 
 
 Off the three younger ones went, Gillian observing, 
 ' I don't see how they can, unless it was Quiz ; but, 
 mamma, don't you think I might go to Beechcroft with 
 Primrose ? I should be so much quieter working for 
 the examination there, and I could send my exercises 
 to Miss Vincent ; and then I should keep up Prim's 
 lessons.' 
 
 ' Your aunt Alethea will, I know, like doing that, 
 my dear ; and I am afraid to turn those creatures loose 
 on the aunts without some one to look after them and 
 their clothes. Fanny will be very helpful ; but it will 
 not do to throw too much on her.' 
 
 1 Oh ! I thought they would have Lois ' 
 
 ' There would not be room for her ; besides that, I 
 don't think it would suit your aunts. You and Mysie 
 ought to do all the mending for yourselves and Fergus, 
 and what Valetta cannot manage. I know you would 
 rather be at Beechcroft, my dear; but in this distress and 
 difficulty, some individual likings must be given up.'
 
 I A DISPERSION 9 
 
 'Yes, mamma.' 
 
 Lady Merrifield looked rather dubiously at her 
 daughter. She had very little time, and did not want 
 to have an argument, nor to elicit murmurs, yet it 
 might be better to see what was in Gillian's mind be- 
 fore it was too late. Mothers, very fond of their own 
 sisters, cannot always understand why it is not the 
 same with their daughters, who inherit another element 
 of inherited character, and of another generation, and 
 who have not been welded together with the aunts in 
 childhood. ' My dear,' she said, ' you know I am quite 
 ready to hear if you have any real reasonable objection 
 to this arrangement/ 
 
 'No, mamma, I don't think I have,' said Gillian 
 thoughtfully. ' The not liking always meeting a lot of 
 strangers, nor the general bustle, is all nonsense, I know 
 quite well. I see it is best for the children, but I 
 should like to know exactly who is to be in authority 
 over them.' 
 
 ' Certainly Aunt Jane,' replied Lady Merrifield. 
 1 She must be the ultimate authority. Of course you 
 will check the younger ones in anything going wrong, 
 as you would here, and very likely there will be more 
 restrictions. Aunt Ada has to be considered, and it 
 will be a town life ; but remember that your aunt is 
 mistress of the house, and that even if you do think 
 her arrangements uncalled for, it is your duty to help 
 the others to submit cheerfully. Say anything you 
 please fully and freely in your letters to me, but don't
 
 I o BEE CHCROFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 let there be any collisions of authority. Jane will listen 
 kindly, I know, in private to any representation you may 
 like to make, but to say before the children, " Mamma 
 always lets them," would be most mischievous/ 
 
 ' I see,' said Gillian. ' Indeed, I will do my best, 
 mamma, and it will not be for very long.' 
 
 ' I hope and trust not, my dear child. Perhaps we 
 shall all meet by Easter — papa, and all, but you must 
 not make too sure. There may be delays. Now I 
 must see Halfpenny. I cannot talk to you any more, 
 my Gillyflower, though I am leaving volumes unsaid.' 
 
 Gillian found Aunt Jane emerging from her room, 
 and beset by her three future guests. 
 
 ' Aunt Jane, may we bring Quiz ?' 
 
 'And Eigdum Funnidos and Lady Eigdum ?' 
 
 ' And Euff and Eing ? They are the sweetest doves 
 in the world.' 
 
 ' Doves ! Oh, Mysie, they would drive your Aunt 
 Ada distracted, with coo-roo-roo at four o'clock in the 
 morning, just as she goes off to sleep.' 
 
 ' The Eigdums make no noise but a dear little 
 chirp,' triumphantly exclaimed Valetta. 
 
 ' Do you mean the kittens ? We have a vacancy 
 for one cat, you know.' 
 
 1 Oh yes, we want you to choose between Artaxerxes 
 and the Sofy. But the Eigdums are the eldest pair of 
 guinea-pigs. They are so fond of me, that I know 
 poor old Funnidos will die of grief if I go away and 
 leave him.'
 
 I A DISPERSION ii 
 
 ' I sincerely hope not, Valetta, for, indeed, there is 
 no place to put him in.' 
 
 1 1 don't think he would mind living in the cellar 
 if he only saw me once a day,' piteously pleaded 
 Valetta. 
 
 ' Indeed, Val, the dark and damp would surely kill 
 the poor thing, in spite of your attentions. You must 
 make up your mind to separation from your pets, 
 excepting the kitten.' 
 
 Valetta burst out crying at this last drop that made 
 the bucket overflow, but Fergus exclaimed : ' Quiz ! 
 Aunt Jane ! He always goes about with us, and always 
 behaves like a gentleman ; don't you, Quizzy V and the 
 little Maltese, who perfectly well understood that there 
 was trouble in the air, sat straight up, crossed his paws, 
 and looked touchingly wistful. 
 
 ■ Poor dear little fellow !' said Aunt Jane ; c yes, I 
 knew he would be good, but Kunz would be horribly 
 jealous, you see; he is an only dog, and can't bear to 
 have his premises invaded/ 
 
 ' He ought to be taught better,' said Fergus gravely. 
 
 1 So he ought,' Aunt Jane confessed ; ' but he is too 
 old to begin learning, and Aunt Ada and Mrs. Mount 
 would never bear to see him disturbed. Besides, I 
 really do not think Quiz would be half so well off 
 there as among his own friends and places here, with 
 Macrae to take care of him/ Then as Fergus began 
 to pucker his face, she added, ' I am really very sorry 
 to be so disagreeable/
 
 12 BEECHCROFT AT ROCK'S TONE chap. 
 
 'The children must not be unreasonable/ said 
 Gillian sagely, as she came up. 
 
 c And I am to choose between Xerxes and Artax- 
 erxes, is it V said Aunt Jane. 
 
 ' No, the Sofy/ said Mysie. ' A Sofy is a Persian 
 philosopher, and this kitten has got the wisest face.' 
 
 'Run and fetch them,' suggested her aunt, 'and 
 then we can choose. Oh,' she added, with some relief 
 at the thought, ' if it is an object to dispose of Cockie, 
 we could manage him/ 
 
 The two younger ones were gratified, but Gillian 
 and Mysie both exclaimed that Cookie's exclusive affec- 
 tions were devoted to Macrae, and that they could not 
 answer for his temper under the separation. To break 
 up such a household was decidedly the Goose, Fox, and 
 Cabbage problem. As Mysie observed, in the course 
 of the search for the kittens, in the make-the-best-of-it 
 tone, ' It was not so bad as the former moves, when 
 they were leaving a place for good and all.' 
 
 'Ah, but no place was ever so good as this,' said 
 poor Valetta. 
 
 ' Don't be such a little donkey,' said Fergus con- 
 sequentially. 'Don't you know w T e are going to 
 school, and I am three years younger than Wilfred 
 was ?' 
 
 ' It is only a petticoat school/ said Yal, ' kept by 
 ladies.' 
 
 ' It isn't' 
 
 ' It is ; I heard Harry say so.'
 
 I A DISPERSION 13 
 
 ' And yours is all butchers and bakers and candle- 
 stick makers.' 
 
 On which they fell on each other, each with a howl 
 of defiance. Fergus grabbed at Val's pigtail, and she 
 was buffeting him vehemently when Harry came out, 
 held them apart, and demanded if this were the way 
 to make their mother easy in leaving them. 
 
 ' She said it was a pet-pet-petticoat school,' sobbed 
 Fergus. 
 
 ' And so it ought to be, for boys that fight with girls.' 
 
 ' And he said mine was all butchers and bakers and 
 candlestick makers,' whined Valetta. 
 
 ' Then you'd better learn manners, or they'll take 
 you for a tramp,' observed Harry ; but at that moment 
 Mysie broke in with a shout at having discovered the 
 kittens making a plaything of the best library pen-wiper, 
 their mother, the sleek Begum, abetting them, and they 
 were borne off to display the coming glories of their 
 deep fur to Aunt Jane. 
 
 Her choice fell upon the Sofy, as much because of 
 the convenience of the name as because of the preter- 
 natural wisdom of expression imparted by the sweep of 
 the black lines on the gray visage. Mr. Pollock's 
 landlady was to be the happy possessor of Artaxerxes, 
 and the turbulent portion of the household was disposed 
 of to bear him thither, and to beg Miss Hacket to give 
 Ptuff and Pang the run of her cage, whence they had 
 originally come, also to deliver various messages and 
 notes.
 
 14 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 By the time they returned, Colonel Mohun was met 
 in the hall by his sister. ' Oh, Eeggie, it is too good in 
 you !' were the words that came with her fervent kiss. 
 ' Eemember how many years I have been seasoned to 
 being " cockit up on a baggage waggon." Ought not 
 such an old soldier as I to be able to take care of 
 myself?' 
 
 ' And what would your husband say to you when 
 you got there ? And should not I catch it from 
 William ? Well, are you packing up the youthful 
 family for Beechcroft, except that at Botherwood they 
 are shrieking for Mysie.' 
 
 ' I know how good William and Alethea would be. 
 This child,' pointing to Primrose, who had been hanging 
 on her all day in silence, ' is to go to them ; but as I 
 can't send Miss Vincent, educational advantages, as the 
 advertisements say, lie on the side of Bockstone ; so 
 Jenny here undertakes to be troubled with the rabble.' 
 
 ' But Mysie ? Botherwood met me at the station 
 and begged me to obtain her from you. They really 
 wish it.' 
 
 ' He does, I have no doubt.' 
 
 ' So does Madame la Marquise. They have been 
 anxious about little Phyllis all the summer. She was 
 languid and off her feed in London, and did not pick up 
 at home as they expected. My belief is that it is too 
 much governess and too little play, and that a fortnight 
 here would set her up again. Botherwood himself 
 thinks so, and Victoria has some such inkling. At any
 
 I A DISPERSION 15 
 
 rate, they are urgent to have Mysie with the child, as 
 the next best thing. 
 
 I Poor dear little Fly !' ejaculated Lady Merrifield ; 
 * but I am afraid Mysie was not very happy there last 
 year.' 
 
 ' And what would be the effect of all the overdoing?' 
 said Miss Mohun. 
 
 ' Mysie is tougher than that sprite, and I suppose 
 there is some relaxation,' said Lady Merrifield. 
 
 ' Yes ; the doctors have frightened them sufficiently 
 for the present.' 
 
 I I suppose Mysie is a prescription, poor child,' said 
 her aunt, in a tone that evoked from her brother — 
 
 1 Jealous, Jenny ? ' 
 
 ' Well, Jane,' said Lady Merrifield, ' you know how 
 thankful I am to you and Ada, but I am inclined to 
 let it depend on the letters I get to-morrow, and the 
 way Victoria takes it. If it is really an earnest wish 
 on that dear little Fly's account, I could not withstand 
 old Eotherwood, and though Mysie might be less happy 
 than she would be with you, I do not think any harm 
 will be done. Everything there is sound and con- 
 scientious, and if she picks up a little polish, it won't 
 hurt her.' 
 
 ' Shall you give her the choice ? ' 
 
 ' I see no good in rending the poor child's mind 
 between two affections, especially as there will be a 
 very short time to decide in, for I shall certainly not 
 send her if Victoria's is a mere duty letter.'
 
 1 6 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 * You are quite right there, Lily/ said the Colonel. 
 ' The less choice the greater comfort.' 
 
 % Well done, sir soldier,' said his sister Jane. ' I 
 say quite right too ; only, for my own sake, I wish it 
 had been Valetta.' 
 
 ' So no doubt does she,' said the mother ; ' but 
 unluckily it isn't. And, indeed, I don't think I wish 
 it. Val is safer with you. As Gillian expressed it 
 the other day, " Val does right when she likes it ; 
 Mysie does right when she knows it.'" 
 
 ' You have the compliment after all, Jane,' said the 
 Colonel. ' Lily trusts you with the child she doesn't 
 trust !' 
 
 There was no doubt the next morning, for Lady 
 Eotherwood wrote an earnest, affectionate letter, 
 begging for Mysie, who, she said, had won such golden 
 opinions in her former visit that it would be a real 
 benefit to Phyllis, as much morally as physically, to 
 have her companionship. It was the tenderest letter 
 that either of the sisters had ever seen from the 
 judicious and excellent Marchioness, full of warm 
 sympathy for Lady Merrifield's anxiety for her hus- 
 band, and betraying much solicitude for her little 
 girl. 
 
 c It has done her good,' said Jane Mohun. ' I did 
 not think she had such a soft spot.' 
 
 'Poor Victoria,' said Lady Merrifield, 'that is a 
 shame. You know she is an excellent mother.' 
 
 ' Too excellent, that's the very thing,' muttered,
 
 i A DISPERSION 17 
 
 Aunt Jane. 'Well, Mysie's fate is settled, and I dare 
 say it will turn out for the best.' 
 
 So Mysie was to go with Mrs. Halfpenny and 
 Primrose to Beechcroft, whence the Eotherwoods would 
 fetch her. If the lady's letter had been much less 
 urgent, who could have withstood her lord's postscript : 
 ' If you could see the little pale face light up at the 
 bare notion of seeing Mysie, you would know how 
 grateful we shall be for her.' 
 
 Mysie herself heard her destiny without much 
 elation, though she was very fond of Lady Phyllis, 
 and the tears came into her eyes at the thought of 
 her being unwell and wanting her. 
 
 ' Mamma said we must not grumble,' she said to 
 Gillian ; ' but I shall feel so lost without you and 
 Val. It is so unhomish, and there's that dreadful 
 German Fraulein, who was not at home last time.' 
 
 ' If you told mamma, perhaps she would let you 
 stay,' returned Gillian. 'I know I should hate it, 
 worse than I do going to Eockstone and without you.' 
 
 ' That would be unkind to poor Fly,' said Mysie. 
 ' Besides, mamma said she could not have settling and 
 unsettling for ever. And I shall see Primrose some- 
 times ; besides, I do love Fly. It's marching orders, 
 you know.' 
 
 It was Valetta who made the most objection. 
 She declared that it was not fair that Mysie, who had 
 been to the ball at Ptotherwood, should go again to 
 
 live with lords and ladies, while she went to a nasty 
 vol. 1 c
 
 i8 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 day-school with butchers' and bakers' daughters. She 
 hoped she should grow horridly vulgar, and if mamma 
 did not like it, it would be her own fault ! 
 
 Mrs. Halfpenny, who did not like to have to 
 separate Mysie's clothes from the rest after they were 
 packed, rather favoured this naughtiness by observing : 
 ' The old blue merino might stay at home. Miss 
 Mysie would be too set up to wear that among her 
 fine folk. Set her up, that she should have all 
 the treats, while her own Miss Gillian was turned 
 over to the auld aunties ! ' 
 
 ' Nonsense, nurse,' said Gillian. ' I'm much better 
 pleased to go and be of some use ! Val, you naughty 
 child, how dare you make such a fuss ? ' for Yaletta 
 was crying again. 
 
 1 1 hate school, and I hate Eockstone, and I don't 
 see why Mysie should always go everywhere, and wear 
 new frocks, and I go to the butchers and bakers and 
 wear horrid old ones.' . 
 
 ' I wish you could come too,' said Mysie ; ' but 
 indeed old frocks are the nicest, because one is not 
 bothered to take so much care of them ; and lords and 
 ladies aren't a bit better to play with than other people. 
 In fact, Ivy is what Japs calls a muff and a stick.' 
 
 Valetta, however, cried on, and Mysie went the 
 length of repairing to her mother, in the midst of her 
 last notes and packings, to entreat to change with Val, 
 who followed on tip -toe. 
 
 ' Certainly not,' was the answer from Lady Merri-
 
 i A DISPERSION 19 
 
 field, who was being worried on all sides ; ' Valetta is 
 not asked, and she is not behaving so that I could 
 accept for her if she were.' 
 
 And Val had to turn away in floods of tears, which 
 redoubled on being told by the united voices of her 
 brothers and sisters that they were ashamed of her for 
 being so selfish as to cry for herself when all were in 
 so much trouble about papa. 
 
 Lady Merrifield caught some of the last words 
 1 Xo, my dear,' she said. ' That is not quite just or 
 kind. It is being unhappy that makes poor Val so 
 ready to cry about her own grievances. Only, Val, 
 come here, and remember that fretting is not the way 
 to meet such things. There is a better way, my child, 
 and I think you know what I mean. Now, to help 
 you through the time in an outer way, suppose you 
 each set yourself some one thing to improve in while 
 I am away. Don't tell me what it is, but let me find 
 out when I come home.' With that she obeyed an 
 urgent summons to speak to the gardener. 
 
 1 1 shall ! I shall,' cried little Primrose, ' write a 
 whole copy-book in single lines ? And won't mamma 
 be pleased ! What shall you do, Fergus ? and Val ? 
 and Mysie ? ' 
 
 ' I shall get to spin my peg-top so as it will never 
 tumble down, and will turn an engine for drawing 
 water,' was the prompt answer of Fergus. 
 
 ' What nonsense ! ' said Val ; ' you'd better settle to 
 get your long division sums right.'
 
 2o BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 'That's girls' stuff,' replied Fergus; 'you'd better 
 settle to leave off crying for nothing.' 
 
 ' That you had ! ' said several voices, and Val very 
 nearly cried again as she exclaimed : ' Don't be all so 
 tiresome. I shall make mamma a beautiful crewel 
 cushion, with all the battles in history on it. And 
 won't she be surprised 1 ' 
 
 ' I think mamma meant more than that,' said 
 Mysie. 
 
 ' Oh, Mysie, what shall you do ? ' asked Primrose. 
 ' I did think of getting to translate one of mamma's 
 favourite German stories quite through to her without 
 wanting the dictionary or stumbling one bit,' said 
 Mysie ; ' but I am sure she meant something better 
 and better, and I'm thinking what it is — Perhaps it 
 is making all little Flossie Macklin's clothes, a whole 
 suit all oneself — Or perhaps it is manners. What do 
 you think, Gill ? ' 
 
 ' I should say most likely it was manners for you,' 
 volunteered Harry, * and the extra you are most likely 
 to acquire at Eotherwood.' 
 ' I'm so glad,' said Mysie. 
 
 ' And you, Gill,' inquired Primrose, ' what will you 
 do ? Mine is a copy-book, and Fergus's is the spinning- 
 top-engines, and rule of three; and Yal's is a crewel 
 battle cushion and not crying ; and Mysie's is German 
 stories and manners ; and what's yours, Gill ? ' 
 
 ' Gill is so grown up, she is too good to want an 
 inside thing,' announced Primrose.
 
 i A DISPERSION 2i 
 
 ' Oh, Prim, you dear little thing,' cried both elder 
 brother and sister, as they thought with a sort of pang 
 of the child's opinion of grown-up impeccability. 
 
 ' Harry is grown up more,' put in Fergus ; ' why 
 don't you ask him ? ' 
 
 ' Because I know,' said Primrose, with a pretty 
 shyness, and as they pressed her, she whispered, c He 
 is going to be a clergyman.' 
 
 There was a call for Mysie and Val from upstairs, 
 and as the younger population scampered off, Gillian 
 said to her brother — 
 
 ' Is not it like " occupy till I come " ? ' 
 
 ' So I was thinking,' said Harry gravely. c But 
 one must be as young as Mysie to throw one's " inside 
 things " into the general stock of resolutions.' 
 
 1 Yes,' said Gillian, with uplifted eyes. ' I do — I 
 do hope to do something.' 
 
 Some great thing was her unspoken thought — some 
 great and excellent achievement to be laid before her 
 mother on her return. There was a tale begun in 
 imitation of Bessie Merrifield, called Hildas Experi- 
 ences. Suppose that was finished, printed, published, 
 splendidly reviewed. Would not that be a great 
 thing ? But alas, she was under a tacit engagement 
 never to touch it in the hours of study.
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 EOCKQUAY 
 
 The actual moment of a parting is often softened by 
 the confusion of departure. That of the Merrifield 
 family took place at the junction, where Lady Merrifield 
 with her brother remained in the train, to be carried 
 on to London. 
 
 Gillian, Valetta, and Fergus, with their aunt, changed 
 into a train for Eockstone, and Harry was to return to 
 his theological college, after seeing Mysie and Primrose 
 off with nurse on their way to the ancestral Beechcroft, 
 whence Mysie was to be fetched to Eotherwood. The 
 last thing that met Lady Merrifield's eyes was Mrs. 
 Halfpenny gesticulating wildly, under the impression 
 that Mysie's box was going off to London. 
 
 And Gillian's tears were choked in the scurry to 
 avoid a smoking-carriage, while Harry could not help 
 thinking — half blaming himself for so doing — that 
 Mysie expended more feeling in parting with Sofy, the 
 kitten, than with her sisters, not perceiving that pussy 
 was the safety-valve for the poor child's demonstrations 
 of all the sorrow that was oppressing her.
 
 chap, ii ROCKQUAY 23 
 
 Gillian, in the corner of a Eockstone carriage, had 
 time for the full heart-sickness and tumult of fear that 
 causes such acute suffering to young hearts. It is 
 quite a mistake to say that youth suffers less from 
 apprehension than does age ; indeed, the very inexperi- 
 ence and novelty add to the alarms, where there is no 
 background of anxieties that have ended happily, only 
 a crowd of examples of other people's misfortunes. 
 The difference is in the greater elasticity and power of 
 being distracted by outward circumstances ; and thus 
 lookers-on never guess at the terrific possibilities that 
 have scared the imagination, and the secret ejaculations 
 that have met them. How many times on that brief 
 journey had not Gillian seen her father dying, her 
 sisters in despair, her mother crushed in the train, 
 wrecked in the steamer, perishing of the climate, or 
 arriving to find all over and dying of the shock ; yet 
 all was varied by speculations on the great thing that 
 was to offer itself to be done, and the delight it would 
 give ; and when the train slackened, anxieties were 
 merged in the care for bags, baskets, and umbrellas. 
 
 Eockstone and Eockquay had once been separate 
 places — a little village perched on a cliff of a promon- 
 tory, and a small fishing hamlet within the bay ; but 
 these had become merged in one, since fashion had 
 chosen them as a winter resort. Speculators blasted 
 away such of the rocks as they had not covered with 
 lodging-houses and desirable residences. The inhabit- 
 ants of the two places had their separate churches, and
 
 24 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 knew their own bounds perfectly well; but to the 
 casual observer, the chief distinction between them 
 was that Eockstone was the more fashionable, Bockquay 
 the more commercial, although the one had its shops, 
 the other its handsome crescents and villas. The 
 station was at Bockquay, and there was an uphill drive 
 to reach Bockstone, where the two Miss Mohuns had 
 been early inhabitants — had named their cottage 
 Beechcroft after their native home, and, to justify the 
 title, had flanked the gate with two copper beeches, 
 which had attained a fair growth, in spite of sea- winds, 
 perhaps because sheltered by the house on the other 
 side. 
 
 The garden reached out to the verge of the cliff, or 
 rather to a low wall, with iron rails and spikes at the 
 top, and a narrow, rather giddy path beyond. There 
 was a gate in the wall, the key of which Aunt Jane 
 kept in her own pocket, as it gave near access to 
 certain rocky steps, about one hundred and thirty 
 in number, by which, when in haste, the inhabitants 
 of Bockstone could descend to the lower regions of the 
 Quay. 
 
 There was a most beautiful sea-view from the 
 house, which compensated for difficulties in gardening 
 in such a situation, though a very slight slope inwards 
 from the verge of the cliff gave some protection to the 
 flower-beds ; and there was not only a little con- 
 servatory attached to the drawing-room at the end, but 
 the verandah had "lass shutters, which served the
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 25 
 
 purpose of protecting tender plants, and also the 
 windows, from the full blast of the winter storms. 
 Miss Mohun was very proud of these shutters, which 
 made a winter garden of the verandah for Miss Adeline 
 to take exercise in. The house was their own, and, 
 though it aimed at no particular beauty, had grown 
 pleasant and pretty looking by force of being lived in 
 and made comfortable. 
 
 It was a contrast to its neighbours on either side 
 of its pink and gray limestone wall. On one side 
 began the grounds of the Great Eockstone Hotel ; on 
 the other was Cliff House, the big and seldom-inhabited 
 house of one of the chief partners in the marble works, 
 which went on on the other side of the promontory, and 
 some people said would one day consume Eockstone 
 altogether. It was a very fine house, and the gardens 
 were reported to be beautifully kept up; but the 
 owner was almost always in Italy, and had so seldom 
 been at Eockstone that it was understood that all this 
 was the ostentation of a man who did not know what 
 to do with his money. 
 
 Aunt Adeline met the travellers at the door with 
 her charming welcome. Kunz, all snowy white, 
 wagged his tight -curled tail amid his barks, at sight 
 of Aunt Jane, but capered wildly about the Sofy's 
 basket, much to Yaletta's agony ; while growls, as 
 thunderous as a small kitten could produce, proceeded 
 therefrom. 
 
 ' Kunz, be quiet,' said Aunt Jane, in a solemn, to-
 
 26 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 be-mincled voice; and he crouched, blinking up with 
 his dark eye. 
 
 ' Give me the basket. Now, Kunz, this is our cat. 
 Do you hear ? You are not to meddle with her.' 
 
 Did Kunz really wink assent — a very unwilling 
 assent ? 
 
 ' Oh, Aunt Jane !' from Val, as her aunt's fingers 
 undid the cover of the basket. 
 
 ' Once for all !' said Aunt Jane. 
 
 ' M-m-m-m-ps-pss-psss !' from the Sofy, two screams 
 from Val and Fergus, a buffeting of paws, a couple of 
 wild bounds, first on a chair-back, then on the mantel- 
 piece, where, between the bronze candlestick and the 
 vase, the Persian philosopher stood hissing and swear- 
 ing, while Kunz danced about and barked. 
 
 ' Take her down, Gillian,' said Aunt Jane ; and 
 Gillian, who had some presence of mind, accomplished 
 it with soothing words, and, thanks to her gloves, only 
 one scratch. 
 
 Meantime Miss Mohun caught up Kunz, held up 
 her finger to him, stopped his barks ; and then, in spite 
 of the ' Oh, clon'ts,' and even the tears of Valetta, the 
 two were held up — black nose to pink nose, with a 
 resolute ' Now, you are to behave well to each other,' 
 from Aunt Jane. 
 
 Kunz sniffed, the Sofy hissed ; but her claws were 
 captive. The dog was the elder and more rational, and 
 when set down again took no more notice of his enemy, 
 whom Valetta was advised to carry into Mrs. Mount's
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 27 
 
 quarters to be comforted and made at home there ; the 
 united voice of the household declaring that the honour 
 of the Spitz was as spotless as his coat ! 
 
 Such was the first arrival at Eockstone, preceding- 
 even Aunt Adeline's inquiries after Mysie, and the full 
 explanation of the particulars of the family dispersion. 
 Aunt Ada's welcome was not at all like that of 
 Kunz. She was very tender and caressing, and re- 
 joiced that her sister could trust her children to her. 
 They should all get on most happily together, she had 
 no doubt. 
 
 True-hearted as Gillian was, there was something 
 hopeful and refreshing in the sight of that fair, smiling 
 face, and the touch of the soft hand, in the room that 
 was by no means unfamiliar, though she had never 
 slept in the house before. It was growing dark, and 
 the little fire lighted it up in a friendly manner. 
 Wherever Aunt Jane was, everything was neat ; 
 wherever Aunt Adeline was, everything was graceful. 
 Gillian was old enough to like the general prettiness ; 
 but it somewhat awed Val and Fergus, who stood 
 straight and shy till they were taken upstairs. The 
 two girls had a very pretty room and dressing-room — 
 the guest chamber in fact ; and Fergus was not far oft', 
 in a small apartment which, as Yal said, ' stood on legs,' 
 and formed the shelter of the porch. 
 
 ' But, oh dear ! oh dear !' sighed Val, as Gillian un- 
 packed their evening garments. ' Isn't there any nice 
 place at all where one can make a mess ?'
 
 28 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' I don't know whether the aunts will ever let us 
 make a mess/ said Gillian ; ' they don't look like it.' 
 
 At which Valetta's face puckered up in the way 
 only too familiar to her friends. 
 
 ' Come, don't be silly, Val. You won't have much 
 time, you know ; you will go to school, and get some 
 friends to play with, and not want to make messes 
 here.' 
 
 ' I hate friends ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, Yal !' 
 
 ' All but Fly, and Mysie is gone to her. I want 
 Mysie.' 
 
 So in truth did Gillian, almost as much as her 
 mother. Her heart sank as she thought of having Val 
 and Fergus to save from scrapes without Mysie' s 
 readiness and good-humour. If Mysie were but there 
 she should be free for her ' great thing.' And oh ! above 
 all, Val's hair — the brown bush that Val had a delu- 
 sion that she ' did ' herself, but which her ' doing ' left 
 looking rather worse than it did before, and which was 
 not permitted in public to be in the convenient tail. 
 Gillian advanced on her with the brush, but she tossed 
 it and declared it all right ! 
 
 However, at that moment there was a knock. Mrs. 
 Mount's kindly face and stout form appeared. She 
 had dressed Miss Ada, and came to see what she could 
 do for the young people, being of that delightful class 
 of old servants who are charmed to have anything young 
 in the house, especially a boy. She took Valetta's re-
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 29 
 
 fractory mane in hand, tied her sash, inspected Fergus's 
 hands, which had succeeded in getting dirty in their 
 inevitable fashion, and undertook all the unpacking and 
 arranging. To Val's inquiry whether there was any 
 place for making 'a dear delightful mess/ she replied 
 with a curious little friendly smile, and wonder that a 
 young lady should want such a thing. 
 
 ' I'm afraid we are all rather strange specimens of 
 young ladies,' replied Gillian ; ' very untidy, I mean.' 
 
 ' And I'm sure I don't know what Miss Mohun and 
 Miss Ada will say,' said good Mrs. Mount. 
 
 'What's that? What am I to say?' asked Aunt 
 Jane, coming into the room. 
 
 But, after all, Aunt Jane proved to have more 
 sympathy with ' messes ' than any of the others. She 
 knew very well that the children would be far less 
 troublesome if they had a place to themselves, and she 
 said, ' Well, Val, you shall have the boxroom in the 
 attics. And mind, you must keep all your goods 
 there, both of you. If I find them about the house, I 
 shall ' 
 
 ( Oh, what, Aunt Jane ? ' 
 
 ' Confiscate them,' was the reply, in a very awful 
 voice, which impressed Fergus the more because he 
 did not understand the word. 
 
 ' You need not look so much alarmed, Fergus,' said 
 Gillian ; ' you are not at all the likely one to transgress.' 
 
 ' No/ said Valetta gravely. ' Fergus is what Lois 
 calls a regular old battledore.'
 
 3o BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 c I won't be called names/ exclaimed Fergus. 
 
 ' Well, Lois said so — when you were so cross because 
 the poker had got on the same side as the tongs ! She 
 said she never saw such an old battledore ; and you 
 know how all the others took it up.' 
 
 'Shuttlecock yourself then!' angrily responded 
 Fergus, while both aunt and sister were laughing too 
 much to interfere. 
 
 ' I shall call you a little Uncle Maurice instead,' 
 said Aunt Jane. ' How things come round ! Perhaps 
 you would not believe, Gill, that Aunt Ada was once 
 in a scrape, when she was our Mrs. Malaprop, for 
 applying that same epithet on hearsay to Maurice.' 
 
 This laugh made Gillian feel more at home with 
 her aunt, and they went up happily together for the 
 introduction to the lumber-room, not a very spacious 
 place, and with a window leading out to the leads. 
 Aunt Jane proceeded to put the children on their word 
 of honour not to attempt to make an exit thereby, which 
 Gillian thought unnecessary, since this pair were not 
 enterprising. 
 
 The evening went off happily. Aunt Jane produced 
 one of the old games which had been played at the 
 elder Beechcroft, and had a certain historic character 
 in the eyes of the young people. It was one of those 
 variations of the Game of the Goose that were once 
 held to be improving, and their mother had often told 
 them how the family had agreed to prove whether 
 honesty is really the best policy, and how it had been
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 31 
 
 agreed that all should cheat as desperately as possible, 
 except ' honest Phyl,' who couldn't ; and how, by some 
 extraordinary combination, good for their morals, she 
 actually was the winner. It was immensely interesting 
 to see the identical much-worn sheet of dilapidated 
 pictures with the padlock, almost close to the goal, 
 sending the counter back almost to the beginning in 
 search of the key. Still more interesting was the 
 imitation, in very wonderful drawing, devised by 
 mamma, of the career of a true knight — from pagedom 
 upwards — in pale watery Prussian -blue armour, a 
 crimson scarf, vermilion plume, gamboge spurs, and 
 very peculiar arms and legs. But, as Yaletta observed, 
 it must have been much more interesting to draw such 
 things as that than stupid freehand lines and twists 
 with no sense at all in them. 
 
 Aunt Ada, being subject to asthmatic nights, never 
 came down to breakfast, and, indeed, it was at an hour 
 that Gillian thought fearfully early ; but her Aunt Jane 
 was used to making every hour of the day available, 
 and later rising would have prevented the two children 
 from being in time for the schools, to which they were 
 to go on the Monday. Some of Aunt Jane's many 
 occupations on Saturday consisted in arranging with 
 the two heads of their respective schools, and likewise 
 for the mathematical class Gillian was to join at the 
 High School two mornings in the week, and for her 
 lessons on the organ, which were to be at St. Andrew's 
 Church. Somehow Gillian felt as if she were as
 
 32 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 entirely in her aunt's hands as Kunz and the Sofy had 
 been ! 
 
 After the early dinner, which suited the invalid's 
 health, Aunt Jane said she would take Valetta and 
 Fergus to go down to the beach with the little Varleys, 
 while she went to her district, leaving Gillian to read 
 to Aunt Ada for half an hour, and then to walk with 
 her for a quiet turn on the beach. 
 
 It was an amusing article in a review that Gillian 
 was set to read, and she did it so pleasantly that her 
 aunt declared that she looked forward to many such 
 afternoon pastimes, and then, by an easier way than 
 the hundred and a half steps, they proceeded down the 
 hill, the aunt explaining a great deal to the niece in 
 a manner very gratifying to a girl beginning to be 
 admitted to an equality with grown-up people. 
 
 ' There is our old church,' said Aunt Ada, as they had 
 a glimpse of a gray tower with a curious dumpy steeple. 
 
 1 Do you go to church there V 
 
 'I do — always. I could not undertake the hill on 
 Sundays ; but Jane takes the school-children to the St. 
 Andrew's service in the afternoon.' 
 
 ' But which is the parish church V 
 
 ' In point of fact, my dear, it is all one parish. 
 Good-morning, Mr. Hablot, My niece, Miss Gillian 
 Merrifield. Yes, my sister is come home. I think she 
 will be at the High School. He is the vicar of St. 
 Andrew's,' as the clergyman went off in the direction 
 of the steps.
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 33 
 
 • I thought you said it was all one parish.' 
 
 'St. Andrew's is only a district. Ah, it was all 
 before your time, my dear.' 
 
 c I know dear Uncle Claude was the clergyman here, 
 and got St. Andrew's built.' 
 
 1 Yes, my dear. It was the great work and thought 
 with him and Lord Kotherwood in those days that 
 look so bright now,' said Aunt Ada. ' Yes, and with 
 us all.' 
 
 ' Do tell me all about it,' entreated Gillian ; and her 
 aunt, nothing loth, went on. 
 
 ' Dear Claude was only five-and-twenty when he had 
 the living. Nobody would take it, it was such a 
 neglected place. All Bockquay down there had grown 
 up with only the old church, and nobody going to it. 
 It was a great deal through Eotherwood. Some 
 property here came to him, and he was shocked at the 
 state of things. Then we all thought the climate might 
 be good for dear Claude, and Jane came to live with 
 him and help him, and look after him. You see there 
 were a great many of us, and Jane — well, she didn't 
 quite get on with Alethea, and Claude thought she 
 wanted a sphere of her own, and that is the way she 
 comes to have more influence than any one else here. 
 And as I am always better in this air than anywhere 
 else, I came soon after — even before my dear father's 
 death. And oh ! what an eager, hopeful time it was, 
 setting everything going, and making St. Andrew's all 
 we could wish ! We were obliged to be cautious at the 
 
 o 
 VOL. I D
 
 34 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 old church, you know, because of not alarming the old- 
 fashioned people. And so we are still ' 
 
 ' Is that St. Andrew's ? Oh, it is beautiful. May 
 I look in ? ' 
 
 ' Not now, my dear. You will see it another time.' 
 
 ' I wish it were our church.' 
 
 ' You will find the convenience of having one so 
 near. And our services are very nice with our present 
 rector, Mr. Ellesmere, an excellent active man, but 
 his wife is such an invalid that all the work falls on 
 Jane. I am so glad you are here to help her a little. 
 St. Andrew's has a separate district, and Mr. Hablot is 
 the vicar ; but as it is very poor, we keep the charities 
 all in one. Eotherwood built splendid schools, so we 
 only have an infant school for the Eockstone children. 
 On Sunday, Jane assembles the older children there and 
 takes them to church ; but in the afternoon they all go 
 to the National Schools, and then to a children's service 
 at St. Andrew's. She gets on so well with Mr. Hablot 
 — he was dear Claude's curate, you see, and little Mrs. 
 Hablot was quite a pupil of ours. What do you think 
 little Gerald Hablot said — he is only five — " Isn't Miss 
 Mohun the most consultedest woman in Eockquay ?'" 
 
 'I suppose it is true,' said Gillian, laughing, but 
 rather awestruck. 
 
 c I declare it makes me quite giddy to count up all 
 she has on her hands. Nobody can do anything 
 without her. There are so few permanent inhabitants, 
 and when people begin good works, they go away, or
 
 ii ROCKQUA Y 35 
 
 marry, or grow tired, and then we can't let them 
 drop ! ' 
 
 * Oh ! what's that pretty spire, on the rise of the 
 other hill V 
 
 'My dear, that was the Kennel Mission Chapel, a 
 horrid little hideous iron thing ; but Lady Flight 
 mistook and called it St. Kenelm's, and St. Kenelm's 
 it will be to the end of the chapter.' And as she 
 exchanged bows with a personage in a carriage, 'There 
 she is, my dear.' 
 
 ' Who ? Did she build that church ? ' 
 
 ' It is not consecrated. It really is only a mission 
 chapel, and he is nothing but a curate of Mr. Hablot's/ 
 said Aunt Ada, Gillian thought a little venomously. 
 
 She asked, < Who ? ' 
 
 'The Eeverend Augustine Flight, my dear. I 
 ought not to say anything against them, I am sure, 
 for they mean to be very good ; but she is some City 
 man's widow, and he is an only son, and they have 
 more money than their brains can carry. They have 
 made that little place very beautiful, quite oppressed 
 with ornament — City taste, you know ; and they have 
 all manner of odd doings there, which Mr. Hablot 
 allows, because he says he does not like to crush zeal, 
 and he thinks interference would do more harm than 
 good. Jane thinks he ought not to stand so much, 
 but ' 
 
 Gillian somehow felt a certain amusement and 
 satisfaction in finding that Aunt Jane had one dis-
 
 36 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 obedient subject, but they were interrupted by two 
 ladies eagerly asking where to find Miss Mohun, and 
 a few steps farther on a young clergyman accosted 
 them, and begged that Miss Mohun might be told 
 the hour of some meeting. Also that c the Bellevue 
 Church people would not co-operate in the coal club.' 
 
 Then it was explained that Bellevue Church was 
 within the bounds of another parish, and had been 
 built by, and for, people who did not like the doctrine 
 at the services of St. Andrew's. 
 
 By this time aunt and niece had descended to the 
 Marine esplanade, a broad road, on one side of which 
 there was a low sea wall, and then the sands and rocks 
 stretched out to the sea; on the other a broad space 
 of short grass, where there was a cricket ground, and 
 a lawn-tennis ground, and the volunteers could exer- 
 cise, and the band played twice a week round a 
 Eussian gun that stood by the flagstaff. 
 
 The band was playing now, and the notes seemed 
 to work on Gillian's feet, and yet to bring her heart 
 into her throat, for the last time she had heard that 
 march was from the band of her father's old regiment, 
 when they were all together ! 
 
 Her aunt was very kind, and talked to her affec- 
 tionately and encouragingly of the hopes that her 
 mother would find her father recovering, and that it 
 would turn out after all quite an expedition of pleasure 
 and refreshment. Then she said how much she re- 
 joiced to have Gillian with her, as a companion to
 
 ll ROCKQUAY 37 
 
 herself, while her sister was so busy, and she was 
 necessarily so much left alone. 
 
 ' We will read together, and draw, and play duets, 
 and have quite a good account of our employment to 
 give,' she said, smiling. 
 
 1 1 shall like it very much,' said Gillian heartily. 
 
 'Dear child, the only difficulty will be that you 
 will spoil me, and I shall never be able to part with 
 you. Besides, you will be such a help to my dear 
 Jane. She never spares herself, you know, and no 
 one ever spares her, and I can do so little to help her, 
 except with my head.' 
 
 ' Surely here are plenty of people/ said Gillian, for 
 they were in the midst of well-dressed folks, and 
 Aunt Ada had more than once exchanged nods and 
 greetings. 
 
 ' Quite true, my dear ; but when there is anything 
 to be done, then there is a sifting ! But now we 
 have you, with all our own Lily's spirit, I shall be 
 happy about Jane for this winter at least.' 
 
 They were again interrupted by meeting a gentle- 
 man and lady, to whom Gillian was introduced, and 
 who walked on with her aunt conversing. They had 
 been often in India, and made so light of the journey 
 that Gillian was much cheered. Moreover, she pre- 
 sently came in sight of Val and Fergus supremely 
 happy over a castle on the beach, and evidently indoc- 
 trinating the two little Varleys with some of the 
 dramatic sports of Silverfold.
 
 38 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Aunt Ada found another acquaintance, a white 
 moustached old gentleman, who rose from a green 
 bench in a sunny corner, saying, 'Ah, Miss Mohun, 
 I have been guarding your seat for you.' 
 
 'Thank you, Major Dennis. My niece, Miss 
 Merrifield.' 
 
 He seemed to be a very courteous old gentleman, for 
 he bowed, and made some polite speech about Sir 
 Jasper, and, as he was military, Gillian hoped to have 
 heard some more about the journey when they sat 
 down, and room was made for her ; but instead of that 
 he and her aunt began a discussion of the comings 
 and goings of people she had never heard of, and the 
 letting or not letting of half the villas in Eockstone ; 
 and she found it so dull that she had a great mind to 
 go and join the siege of Sandcastle. Only her shoes 
 and her dress were fitter for the esplanade than the 
 shore with the tide coming in ; and when one has just 
 begun to buy one's own clothes, that is a consideration. 
 
 At last she saw Aunt Jane's trim little figure come 
 out on the sands and make as straight for the children 
 as she could, amid greetings and consultations ; so with 
 an exclamation, she jumped up and went over the shingle 
 to meet them, finding an endeavour going on to make 
 them tolerably respectable for the walk home, by 
 shaking off the sand, and advising Yal to give up her 
 intention of dragging home a broad brown ribbon of 
 weed with a frilled edge, all polished and shiny with 
 wet. She was not likely to regard it as such a
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 39 
 
 curiosity after a few days' experience of Kockquay, as 
 her new friends told her. 
 
 Kitty Varley went to the High School, which 
 greatly modified Valetta's disgust to it, for the little 
 girls had already vowed to be the greatest chums in 
 the world, and would have gone home with arms 
 entwined, if Aunt Jane had not declared that such 
 things could not be done in the street, and Clem Yarley, 
 with still more effect, threatened that if they were such 
 a pair of ninnies, he should squirt at them with the 
 dirtiest water he could find. 
 
 Valetta had declared that she infinitely preferred 
 Kitty to Fly, and Kitty was so flattered at being 
 adopted by the second cousin of a Lady Phyllis, and 
 the daughter of a knight, that she exalted Val above 
 all the Popsys and Mopsys of her present acquaintance, 
 and at parting bestowed on her a chocolate cream, 
 which tasted about equally of salt water and hot hand 
 — at least if one did not feel it a testimonial of ardent 
 friendship. 
 
 Fergus and Clement had, on the contrary, been so 
 much inclined to punch and buffet one another, that 
 Miss Mohun had to make them walk before her to 
 keep the peace, and was by no means sorry when the 
 gate of ' The Tamarisks ' was reached, and the Varleys 
 could be disposed of. 
 
 However, the battery must have been amicable, for 
 Fergus was crazy to go in and see Clement's little 
 pump, which he declared ' would do it ' — an enigmatical
 
 4 o BEECHCROFT A T R0CKST0NE CHAr. 
 
 phrase supposed to refer to the great peg-top-perpetual- 
 niotion invention. He was dragged away with diffi- 
 culty on the plea of its being too late by Aunt Jane, 
 who could not quite turn two unexpected children in 
 on Mrs. Yarley, and had to effect a cruel severance of 
 Yal and Kitty in the midst of their kisses. 
 
 ' Sudden friendships/ said Gillian, from the superi- 
 ority of her age. 
 
 1 1 do not think you are given that way,' said Aunt 
 Jane. 
 
 ' Does the large family suffice for all of you ? 
 People are so different,' added Aunt Ada. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Gillian. ' We have never been in the 
 way of caring for any outsider. I don't reckon Bessie 
 Merrifield so — nor Fly Devereux, nor Dolores, because 
 they are cousins.' 
 
 ' Cousins may be everything or nothing,' asserted 
 Miss Mohun. ' You have been about so much that 
 you have hardly had time to form intimacies. But 
 had you no friends in the officers' families ? ' 
 
 'People always retired before their children grew 
 up to be companionable,' said Gillian. ' There was 
 nobody except the Whites. And that wasn't exactly 
 friendship.' 
 
 ' Who were they ? ' said Aunt Jane, who always 
 liked to know all about everybody. 
 
 ' He rose from the ranks,' said Gillian. * He was 
 very much respected, and nobody would have known 
 that he was not a gentleman to begin with. But his
 
 ii ROCKQUAY 41 
 
 wife was half a Greek. Papa said she had been very 
 pretty ; but, oh ! she had grown so awfully fat. We 
 used to call her the Queen of the White Ants. Then 
 Kally — her name was really Kalliope — was very nice, 
 and mamma got them to send her to a good day- 
 school at Dublin, and Alethea and Phyllis used to 
 have her in to try to make a lady of her. There used 
 to be a great deal of fun about their Muse, I remember ; 
 Claude thought her very pretty, and always stood up 
 for her, and Alethea was very fond of her. But soon 
 after we went to Belfast, Mr. White was made to retire 
 with the rank of captain. I think papa tried to get 
 something for him to do ; but I am not sure whether 
 he succeeded, and I don't know any more about them.' 
 
 ' Not exactly friendship, certainly,' said Aunt Jane, 
 smiling. 'After all, Gillian, in your short life, you 
 have had wider experiences than have befallen your 
 old aunts !' 
 
 'Wider, perhaps, not deeper, Jane,' suggested Miss 
 Adeline. 
 
 And Gillian thought — though she felt it would be 
 too sentimental to say — that in her life, persons and 
 scenes outside her own family had seemed to ' come like 
 shadows and so depart ' ; and there was a general sense 
 of depression at the partings, the anxiety, and the being 
 unsettled again when she was just beginning to have 
 a home.
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 PERPETUAL MOTION 
 
 If Fergus had not yet discovered the secret of perpetual 
 motion, Gillian felt as if Aunt Jane had done so, and 
 moreover that the greater proportion of parish matters 
 were one vast machine, of which she was the moving 
 power. 
 
 As she was a small spare woman, able to do with a 
 very moderate amount of sleep, her day lasted from 
 6 A.M. to some unnamed time after midnight ; and as 
 she was also very methodical, she got through an 
 appalling amount of business, and with such regularity 
 that those who knew her habits could tell with tolerable 
 certainty, within reasonable limits, where she would be 
 found and what she would be doing at any hour of the 
 seven days of the week Everything she influenced 
 seemed to recur as regularly as the motions of the great 
 ruthless-looking engines that Gillian had seen at work 
 at Belfast ; the only loose cog being apparently her 
 sister Adeline, who quietly took her own way, seldom 
 came downstairs before eleven o'clock, went out and 
 came in, made visits or received them, wrote letters,
 
 chap, in PERPETUAL MOTION 43 
 
 read and worked at her own sweet will. Only two 
 undertakings seemed to belong to her — a mission- work- 
 ing party, and an Italian class of young ladies ; and even 
 the presidency of these often lapsed upon her sister, 
 when she had had one of those ' bad nights ' of asthma, 
 which were equally sleepless to both sisters. She was 
 principally useful by her exquisite needlework, both in 
 church embroidery and for sales ; and likewise as the 
 recipient of all the messages left for Miss Mohun, 
 which she never forgot, besides that, having a clear 
 sensible head, she was useful in consultation. 
 
 She was thoroughly interested in all her sister's 
 doings, and always spoke of herself as the invalid, 
 precluded from all service except that of being a pivot 
 for Jane, the stationary leg of the compasses, as she 
 sometimes called herself. This repose, together with 
 her prettiness and sweetness of manner, was very 
 attractive ; especially to Gillian, who had begun to feel 
 herself in the grip of the great engine which bore her 
 along without power of independent volition, and with 
 very little time for Hilda's Experiences. 
 
 At home she had gone on harmoniously in full 
 acquiescence with household arrangements ; but before 
 the end of the week the very same sensations came 
 over her which had impelled her and Jasper into 
 rebellion and disgrace, during the brief reign of a very 
 strict daily governess, long ago at Dublin. Her reason 
 and sense approved of all that was set before her, and 
 much of it was pleasant and amusing ; but this was
 
 44 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 tlie more provoking by depriving her of the chance of 
 resistance or the solace of complaint. Moreover, with 
 all her time at Aunt Jane's disposal, how was she to 
 do her ' great thing' ? Valetta's crewel battle cushion 
 had been reduced to a delicious design of the battle of 
 the frogs and mice, drawn by Aunt Ada, and which 
 she delighted in calling at full length ' the Batrachyo- 
 machia,' sparing none of the syllables which she was to 
 work below. And it was to be worked at regularly 
 for half an hour before bed-time. Trust Aunt Jane 
 for seeing that any one under her dominion did what 
 had been undertaken ! Only thus the spontaneity 
 seemed to have departed, and the work became a task. 
 Fergus meanwhile had set his affections on a big 
 Japanese top he had seen in a window, and was eagerly 
 awaiting his weekly threepence, to be able to complete 
 the purchase, though no one but Valetta was supposed 
 to understand what it had to do with his ' great tiring.' 
 
 It was quite pleasant to Gillian to have a legitimate 
 cause of opposition when Miss Mohun made known 
 that she intended Gillian to take a class at the after- 
 noon Sunday-school, while the two children went to 
 Mrs. Hablot's drawing-room class at St. Andrew's 
 Vicarage, all meeting afterwards at church. 
 
 'Did mamma wish it?' asked Gillian. 
 
 1 There was no time to mention it ; but I knew she 
 would.' 
 
 ' I don't think so,' said Gillian. ' We don't teach 
 on Sundays, unless some regular person fails. Mamma
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 45 
 
 likes to have us all at home to do our Sunday work 
 with her.' 
 
 ' Alas, I am not mamma ! Nor could I give you 
 the time.' 
 
 ' I have brought the books to go on with Val and 
 Ferg. I always do some of their work with them, and 
 I am sure mamma would not wish them to be turned 
 over to a stranger.' 
 
 'The fact is, that young ladies have got beyond 
 Sunday-schools !' 
 
 ' No, no, Jane,' said her sister ; ' Gillian is quite 
 willing to help you ; but it is very nice in her to wish 
 to take charge of the children/ 
 
 ' They would be much better with Mrs. Hablot than 
 dawdling about here and amusing themselves in the 
 new Sunday fashion. Mind, I am not going to have 
 them racketing about the house and garden, disturbing 
 you, and worrying the maids.' 
 
 ' Aunt Jane !' cried Gillian indignantly, ' you don't 
 think that is the way mamma brought us up to spend 
 Sunday ?' 
 
 ' We shall see,' said Aunt Jane ; then more kindly, 
 'My dear, you are right to use your best judgment, and 
 you are welcome to do so, as long as the children are 
 orderly and learn what they ought.' 
 
 It was more of a concession than Gillian expected, 
 though she little knew the effort it cost, since Miss 
 Mohun had been at much pains to set Mrs. Hablot's 
 class on foot, and felt it a slight and a bad example
 
 46 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 that her niece and nephew should be defaulters. The 
 motive might have worked on Gillian, but it was a 
 lower one, therefore not mentioned. 
 
 She had seen Mrs. Hablot at the Italian class, and 
 thought her a mere girl, and an absolute subject of Aunt 
 Jane's — stumbling pitifully, moreover, in a speech of 
 Adelchi's ; therefore evidently not at all likely to teach 
 Sunday subjects half so well as herself ! 
 
 Nor was there anything amiss on that first Sunday. 
 The lessons were as well and quietly gone through as 
 if with mamma, and there was a pleasant little walk 
 on the esplanade before the children's service at St. 
 Andrew's ; after which there was a delightful introduc- 
 tion to some of the old books mamma had told them of. 
 
 They were all rather subdued by the strangeness 
 and newness of their surroundings, as well as by anxiety. 
 If the younger ones were less anxious about their 
 parents than was their sister, each had a plunge to 
 make on the morrow into a very new world, and the 
 Varleys' information had not been altogether reassuring. 
 Valetta had learnt how many marks might be lost by 
 whispering or bad spelling, and how ferociously cross 
 Fraulein Adler looked at a mistake in a German verb ; 
 while Fergus had heard a dreadful account of the ordeals 
 to which Burfield and Stebbing made new boys submit, 
 and which would be all the worse for him, because he 
 had a ' rum ' Christian name, and his father was a 
 swell. 
 
 Gillian had some experience through her elder
 
 ill PERPETUAL MOTION 47 
 
 brothers, and suspected Master Varley of being guilty 
 of heightening the horrors ; so she assured Fergus that 
 most boys had the same sort of Christian names, but 
 were afraid to confess them to one another, and so 
 called each other Bill and Jack. She advised him to 
 call himself by his surname, not to mention his father's 
 title if he could help it, and, above all, not to seem to 
 mind anything. 
 
 Her own spirits were much exhilarated the next 
 morning by a note from Harry, the recipient of all 
 telegrams, with tidings that the doctors were quite 
 satisfied with Sir Jasper, and that Lady Merrifield had 
 reached Brindisi. 
 
 There was great excitement at sight of a wet morn- 
 ing, for it appeared that an omnibus came round on 
 such occasions to pick up the scholars ; and Valetta 
 thought this so delightful that she danced about ex- 
 claiming, 'What fun !' and only wishing for Mysie to 
 share it. She would have rushed down to the gate 
 umbrellaless if Aunt Jane had not caught and conducted 
 her, while Gillian followed with Fergus. Aunt Jane 
 looked down the vista of young faces — five girls and 
 three boys — nodding to them, and saying to the senior, 
 a tall damsel of fifteen — 
 
 1 Here are my children, Emma. You will take care 
 of them, please. You are keeping order here, I suppose V 
 
 There was a smile and bow in answer as the door 
 closed, and the omnibus jerked away its ponderous 
 length.
 
 48 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' I'm sorry to see that Stebbing there/ observed the 
 aunt, as she went back ; ' but Emma Norton ought to 
 be able to keep him in order. It is well you have no 
 lessons out of the house to-day, Gillian.' 
 
 ' Are you going out then ? ' 
 
 ' Oh yes !' said Miss Mohun, running upstairs, and 
 presently coming back with a school-bag and a crack- 
 ling waterproof cloak, but pausing as she saw Gillian 
 at the window, nursing the Sofy, and gazing at the gray 
 cloud over the gray sea. ' You are not at a loss for 
 something to do,' she said ; ' you said you meant to 
 write to your mother.' 
 
 ' Oh yes !' said Gillian, suddenly fretted, and with 
 a sense of being hunted, ' I have plenty to do.' 
 
 ' I see,' said Miss Mohun, turning over the books' 
 that lay on the little table that had been appropriated 
 to her niece, in a way that, unreasonably or not, un- 
 speakably worried the girl, ' Brachet's French Grammar 
 — that's right. Colenso's Algebra — I don't think they 
 use that at the High School. Julius Csesar — you should 
 read that up in Merivale.' 
 
 ' I did,' said Gillian, in a voice that very nearly said, 
 ' Do let them alone.' 
 
 ' Well, you have materials for a very useful, sensible 
 morning's work, and when Ada comes down, very likely 
 she will like to be read to.' 
 
 Off went the aunt, leaving the niece stirred into an 
 absolute desire, instead of spending the sensible morn-, 
 ing, to take up Near Neighbours, and throw herself
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 49 
 
 into an easy-chair; and when she had conscientiously 
 resisted that temptation, her pen would hover over 
 Hilda's Experiences, even when she had actually 
 written ' Dearest Mamma.' She found she was in no 
 frame to write such a letter as would be a comfort to 
 her mother, so she gave that up, and made her sole 
 assertion of liberty the working out of a tough double 
 equation in Colenso, which actually came right, and 
 put her in such good-humour that she was no longer 
 afraid of drumming the poor piano to death and Aunt 
 Ada upstairs to distraction, but ventured on learning one 
 of the Lieder ohne Worte; and when her Aunt Ada came 
 down and complimented her on the sounds that had 
 ascended, she was complacent enough to write a very 
 cheerful letter, whilst her aunt was busied with her 
 own. She described the Sunday-school question that 
 had arisen, and felt sure that her father would pro- 
 nounce his Gill to be a sensible young woman. After- 
 wards Miss Adeline betook herself to a beautiful lily 
 of church embroidery, observing, as Gillian sat down 
 to read to her Alphonse Karr's Voyage autour cle mon 
 Jardin, that it was a real pleasure to listen to such 
 prettily-pronounced French. Kunz lay at her feet, the 
 Sofy nestled in Gillian's lap, and there was a general 
 sense of being rubbed down the right way. 
 
 By and by there loomed through the rain two 
 
 dripping shiny forms under umbrellas strongly inclined 
 
 to fly away from them — Miss Mohun and Mr. Grant, 
 
 the junior curate, whom she had brought home to 
 
 VOL. I e
 
 50 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 luncheon. Both were full of the irregularities of the 
 two churches of Bellevue and St. Kenelm's on the 
 recent harvest-thanksgiving Sunday. It was hard to 
 tell which was most reprobated, what St. Kenelm's 
 did or what Bellevue did not do. If the one blew 
 trumpets in procession, the other collected the offer- 
 tory in a warming-pan. Gillian had already begun to 
 find that these misdoings supplied much conversation 
 at Beechcroft Cottage, and began to get half weary, 
 half curious to judge for herself of all these enormities ; 
 nor did she feel more interested in the discussion of who 
 had missed church or school, and who needed tickets 
 for meat, or to be stirred up to pay for their coal club. 
 
 At last she heard, ' Well, I think you might read 
 to her, Gillian ! Oh ! were not you listening ? A 
 very nice girl near here, a pupil teacher, who has de- 
 veloped hip complaint, poor child. She will enjoy 
 having visits from you, a young thing like herself.' 
 
 Gillian did not like it at all, but she knew that it 
 would be wrong to refuse, and answered, ' Very well,' 
 with no alacrity — hoping that it was not an immediate 
 matter, and that something might happen to prevent 
 it. But at that moment the sun came out, the rain 
 had ceased, and there were glistening drops all over 
 the garden ; the weather quarter was clear, and after 
 half an hour's rest after dinner Aunt Jane jumped up, 
 decreeing that it was time to go out, and that she 
 would introduce Gillian to Lilian Giles before going 
 on to the rest of her district.
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 51 
 
 She gathered a few delicate flowers in the little 
 conservatory, and put them in a basket with a peach 
 from the dessert, then took down a couple of books 
 from the shelf. Gillian could not but acquiesce, 
 though she was surprised to find that the one given to 
 her was a translation of Undine. 
 
 1 The child is not badly off,' explained Miss 
 Mohun. ' Her father is a superior workman. She 
 does not exactly want comforts, but she is sadly 
 depressed and disappointed at not being able to go 
 on with her work, and the great need is to keep 
 her from fretting over her troubles, and interested in 
 something.' 
 
 Gillian began to think of one of the graceful hectic 
 invalids of whom she had read, and to grow more 
 interested as she followed Aunt Jane past the old 
 church with the stout square steeple, constructed to 
 hold, on a small side turret window, a light for the 
 benefit of ships at sea. Then the street descended 
 towards the marble works. There was a great quarry, 
 all red and raw with recent blasting, and above, below, 
 and around, rows of new little stuccoed, slated houses, 
 for the work-people ; and a large range of workshops 
 and offices fronting the sea. This was Miss Mohun's 
 district, and at a better-looking house she stopped and 
 used the knocker. 
 
 That was no distinction ; all had doors with knockers 
 and sash windows, but this was a little larger, and the 
 tiny strip of garden was well kept, while a beautiful 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY
 
 52 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 myrtle and pelargonium peeped over the muslin blind ; 
 and it was a very nice-looking woman who opened 
 the door, though she might have been the better for 
 a cap. Aunt Jane shook hands with her, rather to 
 Gillian's surprise, and heard that Lily was much the 
 same. 
 
 ' It is her spirits are so bad, you see, Miss Mohun,' 
 she added, as she ushered them into a somewhat stuffy 
 little parlour, carpeted and bedecked with all manner 
 of knick-knacks, photographs, and framed certificates 
 of various societies of temperance and providence on 
 the gaily-papered walls. The girl lay on a couch near 
 the fire, a sallow creature, with a big overhanging brow, 
 made heavier by a dark fringe, and an expression that 
 Gillian not unjustly decided was fretful, though she 
 smiled, and lighted up a little when she saw Miss 
 Mohun. 
 
 There was a good deal said about her bad nights, 
 and her appetite, and how the doctor wanted her to 
 take as much as she could, and how everything went 
 against her — even lardy cake and roly-poly pudding 
 with bacon in it ! 
 
 Miss Mohun put the flowers on the little table 
 near the girl, who smiled a little, and thanked her in 
 a languid dreary manner. Finding that she had 
 freshly been visited by the rector, Miss Mohun would 
 not stop for any serious reading, but would leave Miss 
 Merrifield to read a story to her. 
 
 'And you ought to get on together,' she said,
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 
 
 smiling. ' You are just about the same age, and your 
 names rhyme — Gillian and Lilian. And Gillian's 
 mother is a Lily too.' 
 
 This the young lady did not like, for she was 
 already feeling it a sort of presumption in the girl to 
 bear a name so nearly resembling her mother's. She 
 had seen a little cottage poverty, and had had a class 
 of little maidservants ; but this level of life which is 
 in no want, keeps a best parlour, and does not say 
 ma'am, was quite new to her, and she did not fancy 
 it. When the girls were left together, while Mrs. 
 Giles returned to her ironing, Gillian was the shyer 
 of the two, and began rather awkwardly and re- 
 luctantly — 
 
 * Miss Mohun thought you would like to hear this. 
 It is a sort of German fairy tale.' 
 
 Lilian said, s Yes, Miss Merrifleld,' in a short dry 
 tone, completing Gillian's distaste, and she began to 
 read, not quite at her best, and was heartily glad when 
 at the end of half an hour Mrs. Giles was heard in 
 parley with another visitor, so that she had an excuse 
 for going away without attempting conversation. She 
 was overtaken by the children on their way home 
 from their schools, where they had dined. They 
 rushed upon her, together with the two Varleys, who 
 wanted to take them home to tea ; and Gillian giving 
 her ready consent, Fergus dashed home to fetch his 
 beloved humming-top, which was to be introduced to 
 Clement Varley's pump, and in a few minutes they
 
 54 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 were off, hardly vouchsafing an answer to such com- 
 paratively trifling inquiries as how they were placed 
 at their schools. 
 
 Gillian found, however, that neither of her aunts 
 was pleased at her having consented to the children's 
 going out without reference to their authority. How 
 did she suppose they were -to corne home ? 
 
 ' I did not think; can't they be fetched ?' said Gillian, 
 startled. 
 
 ' It is not far,' said Adeline, pitying her. ' One of 
 the maids ' 
 
 'My dear Ada!' exclaimed Aunt Jane. 'You 
 know that Fanny cannot go out at night with her 
 throat, and I never will send out those young girls on 
 any account.' 
 
 ' Can't I go ?' said Gillian desperately. 
 
 ' Are not you a young girl ? I must go myself.' 
 
 And go she did at a quarter to eight, and brought 
 home the children, looking much injured. Gillian went 
 upstairs with them, and there was an outburst. 
 
 ' It was horrid to be fetched home so soon, just as 
 there was a chance of something nice ; when all the 
 tiresome big ones had gone to dress, and we could have 
 had some real fun,' said Valetta. 
 
 ' Eeal fun ! Eeal sense ! ' said Fergus. 
 
 ' But what had you been about all this time ?' 
 
 ' Why, their sisters and a man that was there would 
 come and drink tea in the nursery, where nobody 
 wanted them, and make us play their play.'
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 55 
 
 ' Wasn't that nice ? You are always crying out for 
 Harry and me to come and play with you.' 
 
 1 Oh, it wasn't like that,' said Val ; ' you play with 
 us, and they only pretended, and played with each 
 other. It wasn't nice.' 
 
 1 Clem said it was — forking,' said Fergus. 
 
 ' No, spooning,' said Val. ' The dish ran after the 
 spoon, you know.' 
 
 ' Well, but you haven't told me about the schools,' 
 said Gillian, in elder sisterly propriety, thinking the 
 subject had better be abandoned. 
 
 'Jolly, jolly, scrumptious!' cried Fergus. 
 
 1 Oh ! Fergus, mamma doesn't like slang words. 
 Jasper doesn't say them.' 
 
 ' Not at home, but men say what they like at school, 
 and the 'bus was scrumptious and splendiferous !' 
 
 ' I'm sure it wasn't,' said Valetta ; ' I can't bear 
 being boxed up with horrid rude boys.' 
 
 ' Because you are only a girl !' 
 
 ' Now, Gill, they shot with ' 
 
 ' Val, if you tell ' 
 
 ' Telling Gill isn't telling. Is it, Gill V 
 
 She assented. 
 
 ' They did, Gill. They shot at us with pea-shooters; 
 sighed the girl. 
 
 1 Oh ! it was jolly, jolly, jolly !' cried the boy. 
 ' Stebbing hit the girl who made the sour face on her 
 cheeks, and they all squealed, and the cad looked in 
 and tried to jaw us.'
 
 56 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' But that dreadful boy shot right into his mouth,' 
 said Val, while Fergus went into an ecstasy of laughter. 
 1 Wasn't it a shame, Gill ?' 
 
 ' Indeed it was,' said Gillian. ' Such ungentlemanly 
 boys ought not to be allowed in the omnibus.' 
 
 ' Girls shouldn't be allowed in the 'bus, they are so 
 stupid,' said Fergus. ' That one — as cross as old 
 Halfpenny — who was she, Val?' 
 
 ' Emma Norton ! Up in the highest form !' 
 
 ' Well, she is a prig, and a tell-tale-tit besides ; 
 only Stebbing said if she did, her junior would catch 
 it.' 
 
 'What a dreadful bully he must be!' exclaimed 
 Gillian. 
 
 ' I'll tell you what,' said Fergus, in a tone of pro- 
 found admiration, ' no one can hold a candle to him at 
 batting ! He snowballed all the Kennel choir into 
 fits, and he can brosier old Tilly's stall, and go on just 
 the same.' 
 
 'What a greedy boy !' exclaimed Val. 
 
 'Disgusting,' added Gillian. 
 
 'You're girls,' responded Fergus, lengthening the 
 syllable with infinite contempt ; but Valetta had spirit 
 enough to reply, ' Much better be a girl than rude and 
 greedy.' 
 
 ' Exactly,' said Gillian ; ' it is only little silly boys 
 who think such things fine. Claude doesn't, nor Harry, 
 nor Japs.' 
 
 ' You know nothing about it,' said Fergus.
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 57 
 
 ' Well, but you've never told me about school — how 
 you are placed, and whom you are under.' 
 
 ' Oh ! I'm in middle form, under Miss Edgar. 
 Disgusting ! It's only the third form that go up to 
 Smiler. She knows it is no use to try to take Stebbing 
 and Burfield.' 
 
 ' And, Gill,' added Val, ' I'm in second class too, and 
 I took three places for knowing where Teheran was, 
 and got above Kitty .Varley and a girl there two years 
 older than I am, and her name is Maura.' 
 
 ' Maura, how very odd ! I never heard of any one 
 called Maura but one of the Whites,' said Gillian. 
 ' What was her surname ? ' 
 
 This Valetta could not tell, and at the moment 
 Mrs. Mount came up with intent to brush Miss 
 Valetta's hair, and to expedite the going to bed. 
 
 Gillian, not very happy about the revelations she 
 had heard, went downstairs, and found her younger 
 aunt alone, Miss Mohun having been summoned to a 
 conference with one of her clients in the parish room. 
 In her absence Gillian always felt more free and com- 
 municative, and she had soon told whatever she did 
 not feel as a sort of confidence, including Valetta's 
 derivation of spooning, and when Miss Mohun returned 
 it was repeated to her. 
 
 1 Yes/ was her comment, ' children's play is a con- 
 venient cover to the present form of flirtation. No 
 doubt Bee Varley and Mr. Marlowe believe themselves 
 to have been most good-natured.'
 
 58 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 'Who is. he, and will it come to anything?' asked 
 Annt Ada, taking her sister's information for granted. 
 
 ' Oh no, it is nothing. A civil service man, second 
 cousin's brother-in-law's stepson. That's quite enough 
 in these days to justify fraternal romping.' 
 
 1 1 thought Beatrice Varley a nice girl.' 
 
 ' So she is, my dear. It is only the spirit of the 
 age, and, after all, this deponent saith not which was 
 the dish and which was the spoon. Have the children 
 made any other acquaintances, I wonder ? And how 
 did George Stebbing comport himself in the omni- 
 bus ? I was sorry to see him there ; I don't trust 
 that boy.' 
 
 ' 1 wonder they didn't send him in solitary grandeur 
 in the brougham,' said Miss Ada. 
 
 Gillian held the history of the pea-shooting as a 
 confidence, even though Aunt Jane seemed to have 
 been able to see through the omnibus, so she contented 
 herself with asking who George Stebbing was. 
 
 ' The son of the manager of the marble works ; 
 partner, I believe.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Aunt Ada, ' the Co. means Stebbing 
 primarily.' 
 
 ' Is he a gentleman ? ' 
 
 ' Well, as much as old Mr. White himself, I suppose. 
 He is come up here — more's the pity — to the aris- 
 tocratic quarter, if you please,' said Aunt Jane, smiling ; 
 ' and if garden parties are not over, Mr. Stebbing may 
 show you what they can be.'
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 59 
 
 ' That boy ought to be at a public school,' said her 
 sister. ' I hope he doesn't bully poor little Fergus.' 
 
 1 1 don't think he does,' said Gillian. ' Fergus 
 seemed rather to admire him.' 
 
 ' I had rather hear of bullying than patronage in 
 that quarter,' said Miss Mohun. ' But, Gillian, we 
 must impress on the children that they are to go to 
 no one's house without express leave. That will avoid 
 offence, and I should prefer their enjoying the society 
 of even the Varleys in this house.' 
 
 Did Aunt Jane repent of her decision on the 
 Thursday half-holiday granted to Mrs. Edgar's pupils, 
 when, in the midst of the working party round the 
 dining-room table, in a pause of the reading, some one 
 said, ' What's that ? ' — and a humming, accompanied by 
 a drip, drop, drip, drop, became audible ? 
 
 Up jumped Miss Mohun, and so did Gillian, half 
 in consternation, half to shield the boy from her wrath. 
 In a few moments they beheld a puddle on the mat at 
 the bottom of the oak stairs, while a stream was de- 
 scending somewhat as the water comes down at Lodore, 
 while Fergus's voice could be heard above — 
 
 { Don't, Varley ! You see how it will act. The 
 string of the humming-top moves the pump handle, 
 and that spins. Oh !' 
 
 ' Master Fergus ! Oh — h, you bad boy ! ' 
 
 The shriek was caused by the avenging furies who 
 had rushed up the back stairs just as Miss Mohun 
 had darted up the front, so as to behold, on the landing
 
 60 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 between the two, the boys, one spinning the top, the 
 other working the pump which stood in its own trough 
 of water, receiving a reckless supply from the tap in 
 the passage. The maids' scream of ' What will your 
 aunt say ? ' was answered by her appearance, and rush 
 to turn the cock. 
 
 ' Don't, don't, Aunt Jane,' shouted Fergus ; ' I've 
 almost done it ! Perpetual motion.' He seemed quite 
 unconscious that the motion was kept up by his own 
 hands, and even dismay could not turn him from being 
 triumphant. 
 
 ' Oh ! Miss Jane,' cried Mrs. Mount, ' if I had 
 thought what they boys was after.' 
 
 ' Mop it up, Alice,' said Aunt Jane to the younger 
 girl. ' No, don't come up, Ada ; it is too wet for you. 
 It is only a misdirected experiment in hydraulics.' 
 
 ' I told him not,' said Clement Yarley, thinking 
 affairs serious. 
 
 'Fergus, I am shocked at you,' said Gillian 
 sternly. ' You are frightfully wet. You must be sent 
 to bed.' 
 
 ' You must go and change,' said Aunt Jane, pre- 
 venting the howl about to break forth. ' My dear 
 boy, that tap must be let alone. We can't have 
 cataracts on the stairs.' 
 
 ' I didn't mean it, Aunt Jane ; I thought it was 
 an invention,' said Fergus. 
 
 'I know; but another time come and ask me 
 where to try your experiments. Go and take off those
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 61 
 
 clothes ; and you, Clement, you are soaking too. Eun 
 home at once.' 
 
 Gillian, much scandalised, broke out — 
 
 1 It is very naughty. At home, he would be sent 
 to bed at once.' 
 
 'I am not Mrs. Halfpenny, Gillian,' said Aunt 
 Jane coldly. 
 
 1 Jane has a soft spot for inventions, for Maurice's 
 sake,' said her sister. 
 
 ' I can't confound ingenuity and enterprise with 
 wanton mischief, or crush it out for want of sympathy/ 
 said Miss Mohun. ' Come, we must return to our 
 needles.' 
 
 If Aunt Jane had gone into the state of wrath to 
 be naturally expected, Gillian would have risen in 
 arms on her brother's behalf, and that would have 
 been much pleasanter than the leniency which made 
 her views of justice appear like unkindness. 
 
 This did not dispose her to be the better pleased 
 at an entreaty from the two children to be allowed to 
 join Mrs. Hablot's class on Sunday. It appeared 
 that they had asked Aunt Jane, and she had told 
 them that their sister knew what their mother would 
 like. 
 
 1 But I am sure she would not mind/ said Valetta. 
 ' Only think, she has got a portfolio with pictures of 
 everything all through the Bible !' 
 
 ' Yes/ added Fergus, ' Clem told me. There are 
 the dogs eating Jezebel, and such a jolly picture of the
 
 62 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 lion killing the prophet. I do want to see them ! 
 Varley told me ! ' 
 
 ' And Kitty told me/ added Valetta. ' She is 
 reading such a book to them. It is called The 
 Beautiful Face, and is all about two children in a 
 wood, and a horrid old grandmother and a dear old 
 hermit, and a wicked baron in a castle ! Do let us go, 
 Gillyflower.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Fergus ; ' it would be ever so much 
 better fun than poking here.' 
 
 ' You don't want fun on Sunday.' 
 
 ' Not fun exactly, but it is nicer.' 
 
 ' To leave me, the last bit of home, and mamma's 
 own lessons.' 
 
 ' They ain't mamma's,' protested Fergus ; but Valetta 
 was touched by the tears in Gillian's eyes, kissed her, 
 and declared, c Not that.' 
 
 Whether it were on purpose or not, the next Sunday 
 was eminently unsuccessful ; the Collects were im- 
 perfect ; the answers in the Catechism recurred to 
 disused babyish blunders ; Fergus twisted himself into 
 preternatural attitudes, and Valetta teased the Sofy to 
 scratching point; they yawned ferociously at The 
 Birthday, and would not be interested even in the 
 pony's death. Then when they went out walking, 
 they would not hear of the sober Eockstone lane, but 
 insisted on the esplanade, where they fell in with the 
 redoubtable Stebbing, who chose to patronise instead 
 of bullying ' little Merry ' — and took him off to the
 
 in PERPETUAL MOTION 63 
 
 tide mark — to the agony of his sisters, when they 
 heard the St. Andrew's bell. 
 
 At last, when the tempter had gone off to higher 
 game, Fergus's Sunday boots and stockings were such 
 a mass of black mud that Gillian had to drag him 
 home in disgrace, sending Valetta into church alone. 
 She would have put him to bed on her own responsi- 
 bility, but she could not master him ; he tumbled 
 about the room, declaring Aunt Jane would do no 
 such thing, rolled up his stockings in a ball, and threw 
 them in his sister's face. 
 
 Gillian retired in tears, which she let no one see, 
 not even Aunt Ada, and proceeded to record in her 
 letter to India that those dreadful boys were quite 
 ruining Fergus, and Aunt Jane was spoiling him. 
 
 However, Aunt Jane, having heard what had 
 become of the youth, met him in no spoiling mood ; and 
 though she never knew of his tussle with Gillian, she 
 spoke to him very seriously, shut him into his own 
 room, to learn thoroughly what he had neglected in 
 the morning, and allowed him no jam at tea. She 
 said nothing to Gillian, but there were inferences. 
 
 The lessons went no better on the following Sunday ; 
 Gillian could neither enforce her authority nor interest 
 the children. She avoided the esplanade, thinking she 
 had found a nice country walk to the common beyond 
 the marble works ; but, behold, there was an outbreak 
 of drums and trumpets and wild singing. The Salva- 
 tion Army was marching that way, and, what was worse,
 
 64 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap, in 
 
 yells and cat-calls behind showed that the Skeleton 
 Army was on its way to meet them. Gillian, frightened 
 almost out of her wits, managed to fly over an impractic- 
 able-looking gate into a field with her children, but 
 Fergus wanted to follow the drum. After that she 
 gave in. The children went to Mrs. Hablot, and 
 Gillian thought she saw ' I told you so ' in the corners 
 of Aunt Jane's eyes. 
 
 It was a further offence that her aunt strongly 
 recommended her going regularly to the High School 
 instead of only attending certain classes. It would 
 give her far more chance of success at the examination 
 to work with others ; and her presence would be good 
 for Valetta. But to reduce her to a schoolgirl was to 
 be resented on Miss Vincent's account as well as her 
 own.
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE AXTS 
 
 The High School was very large. It stood at present 
 at the end of a budding branch of Eockquay, where 
 the managers, assisted by the funds advanced by Lord 
 Eotherwood and that great invisible potentate, the head 
 of the marble works, had secured and adapted a suitable 
 house, and a space round it well walled in. 
 
 The various classes of students did not see much of 
 each other, except those who were day boarders and 
 spent the midday recreation time together. Even those 
 in the same form were only together in school, as the 
 dressing-room of those who dined there was separate 
 from that of the others, and they did not come in and 
 out at the same time. Valetta had thus only really made 
 friends with two or three more Eockstone girls of about 
 her own age besides Kitty Varley, with whom she went 
 backwards and forwards every day, under the escort 
 provided in turn by the families of the young ladies. 
 
 Gillian's studies were for three hours in the week 
 at the High School, and on two afternoons she learnt 
 from the old organist at Eockstone Church. She went 
 
 VOL. i f
 
 66 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 and came alone, except when Miss Mohun happened to 
 join her, and that was not often, ' For,' said that lady 
 to her sister, ' Gillian always looks as if she thought I 
 was acting spy upon her. I wish I could get on with 
 that girl ; I begin to feel almost as poor Lily did with 
 Dolores.' 
 
 ' She is a very good girl,' said Miss Adeline. 
 
 ' So she is ; and that makes it all the more trying 
 to be treated like the Grand Inquisitor.' 
 
 ' Shall I speak to her ? She is always as pleasant 
 as possible with me.' 
 
 ' Oh no, don't. It would only make it worse, and 
 prevent you from having her confidence.' 
 
 'Ah, Jane, I have often thought your one want 
 was gentleness,' said Miss Ada, with the gesture of 
 her childhood — her head a little on one side. ' And, 
 besides, don't you know what Eeggie used to call 
 your ferret look ? Well, I suppose you can't help 
 it, but when you want to know a thing and are re- 
 fraining from asking questions, you always have it 
 more or less.' 
 
 ' Thank you, Ada. There's nothing like brothers 
 and sisters for telling one home-truths. I suppose it 
 is the penalty of having been a regular Paul Pry in my 
 childhood, in spite of poor Eleanor making me learn 
 " Meddlesome Matty " as soon as I could speak. I 
 always do and always shall have ringing in my ears — 
 
 ' " Oil ! what a pretty box is tins, 
 I'll open it," said little Miss.'
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 67 
 
 'Well, you know you always do know or find out 
 everything about everybody, and it is very useful.' 
 
 ' Useful as a bloodhound is, eh V 
 
 ' Oh no, not that, Jenny.' 
 
 'As a ferret, or a terrier, perhaps. I suppose I 
 cannot help that, though,' she added, rather sadly. ' I 
 have tried hard to cure the slander and gossip that goes 
 with curiosity. I am sorry it results in repulsion with 
 that girl ; but I suppose I can only go on and let her 
 find out that my bark, or my eye, is worse than 
 my bite.' 
 
 ' You are so good, so everything, Jenny,' said Adeline, 
 ' that I am sure you will have her confidence in time, 
 if only you w r on't poke after it.' 
 
 Which made Miss Mohun laugh, though her heart 
 was heavy, for she had looked forward to having a 
 friend and companion in the young generation. 
 
 Gillian meantime went her way. 
 
 One morning, after her mathematical class was over, 
 she was delayed for about ten minutes by the head 
 mistress, to whom she had brought a message from her 
 aunt, and thus did not come out at noon at the same 
 time as the day scholars. On issuing into the street, 
 where as yet there was hardly any traffic, except what 
 was connected with the two schools, she perceived that 
 a party of boys were besetting a little girl who was 
 trying to turn down the cross road to Bellevue, barring 
 her way, and executing a derisive war-dance around 
 her, and when she, almost crying, made an attempt to
 
 68 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 dash by, pulling at her plaited tail, with derisive shouts, 
 even Gillian's call, ' Boys, boys, how can you be so dis- 
 graceful ! ' did not check them. One made a face and 
 put his tongue out, while the biggest called out, ' Thank 
 you, teacher,' and Gillian perceived, to her horror, that 
 they were no street boys, but Mrs. Edgar's, and that 
 Fergus was one of them. That he cried in dismay, 
 ' Don't, St ebbing ! It's my sister,' was no consolation, 
 as she charged in among them, catching hold of her 
 brother, as she said — 
 
 ' I could not believe that you could behave in such 
 a disgraceful manner ! ' 
 
 All the other tormentors rushed away headlong, 
 except Stebbing, who, in some compunction, said — 
 
 ' I beg your pardon, Miss Merrifield ; I had no 
 notion it was you.' 
 
 ' You are making it no better,' said Gillian. ' The 
 gentlemen I am used to know how to behave properly 
 to any woman or girl. My father would be very sorry 
 that my brother has been thrown into such company.' 
 
 And she walked away with her head extremely 
 high, having certainly given Master Stebbing a good 
 lesson. 
 
 Fergus ran after her. ' Gill, Gill, you won't tell.' 
 
 ' I don't think I ever was more shocked in my life,' 
 returned Gillian. 
 
 ' But, Gill, she's a nasty, stuck-up, conceited little 
 ape, that Maura White, or whatever her ridiculous 
 name is. They pretend her father was an officer, but
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 69 
 
 he was really a bad cousin of old Mr. White's that ran 
 away; and her mother is not a lady — a great fat 
 disgusting woman, half a nigger; and Mr. White let 
 her brother and sister be in the marble works out of 
 charity, because they have no father, and she hasn't 
 any business to be at the High School.' 
 
 ' White, did you say ? Maura White ! ' exclaimed 
 Gillian. ' Captain White dead ! Oh, Fergus ! it must 
 be Captain White. He was in the dear old Eoyal 
 Wardours, and papa thought so much of him ! To 
 think of your going and treating his daughter in that 
 shocking way 1' 
 
 ' It was what Stebbing said,' gruffly answered 
 Fergus. 
 
 ' If you let yourself be led by these horrid cads ' 
 
 ' He is no such thing ! He is the crack bat of 
 Edgar's ' 
 
 ' A boy is a cad who can't behave himself to a girl 
 because she is poor. I really think the apology to me 
 was the worst part of the matter. He only treats 
 people well when he sees they can take care of them- 
 selves.' 
 
 * I'll tell him about Captain White,' said Fergus, a 
 little abashed. 
 
 ' Yes. And I will get the aunts to call on Mrs. 
 White, and that may help them to a better level among 
 these vulgar folk.' 
 
 ' But you won't ' said Fergus, with an express- 
 ive pause.
 
 70 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 ' I won't get you into trouble, for I think you are 
 sorry you treated one of our own in such a manner.' 
 
 ' I wouldn't, indeed, if I had known.' 
 
 ' I shall only explain that I have found out whom 
 Maura belongs to. I should go and see them at once, 
 only I must make Val find out where she lives.' 
 
 So Gillian returned home, communicating the 
 intelligence with some excitement that she had dis- 
 covered that Valetta's schoolmate, Maura White, was 
 none other than the daughter of her father's old 
 fellow-soldier, whose death shocked her greatly; and 
 she requested to go and call on Mrs. White as soon as 
 she could learn her abode. 
 
 However, it seemed to be impossible that any one 
 should live in Eockstone unknown to Aunt Jane. 
 
 1 White ? ' she said. ' It can't be the Whites down 
 by Cliffside. No ; there's a father there, though he 
 generally only comes down for Sunday.' 
 
 ' I am sure there are some Whites on the Library 
 list,' said Miss Ada. 
 
 ' Oh yes ; but she washes ! I know who they 
 must be. I know in Bellevue there are some ; but 
 they go to the Kennel Church. Didn't you come home, 
 Ada, from that function you went to with Florence, 
 raving about the handsome youth in the choir ? ' 
 
 ' Oh yes, we thought it such an uncommon, foreign 
 face, and he looked quite inspired when he was singing 
 his solo.' 
 
 ' Yes ; I found out that his name was White, a
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 71 
 
 clerk or something in the marble works, and that he 
 had a mother and sister living at Bellevue. I did see 
 the sister when I went to get the marble girls into the 
 G.F.S., but she said something foolish about her mother 
 not liking it.' 
 
 ' Yes ; nobody under the St. Kenelm influence ever 
 will come into the G.F.S.' 
 
 '■ But what is she doing ? ' asked Gillian. ' Do you 
 mean Kalliope ? ' 
 
 ' I suppose I do. I saw a rather nice-looking 
 young woman in the department where they make 
 Florentine mosaic, and I believe they said she was 
 Miss White ; but she cut me off very short with her 
 mother, so I had no more to do with her.' 
 
 1 1 am sure mamma would wish me to call on Mrs. 
 White,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' There's no reason against it,' said Aunt Jane. ' I 
 will go with you the first day I can.' 
 
 When would that be, wondered Gillian. She told 
 Valetta to talk to Maura and learn the name of the 
 house ; and this was ascertained to be 3 Ivinghoe 
 Terrace, Bellevue Road ; but Val had very little 
 opportunity of cultivating the acquaintance of town 
 girls, who did not stay to dinner, as she had to go home 
 immediately after school, under Emma Norton's escort, 
 and perhaps she was not very ardent in the cause, for 
 Kitty Varley and her other friends did not like the 
 child, and she was more swayed by them than perhaps 
 she liked to confess to her sister.
 
 72 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Each morning at breakfast Gillian hoped that Aunt 
 Jane would lay out her day so as to call on Mrs. White ; 
 but first there was the working party, then came the 
 mothers' meeting, followed by afternoon tea at Mrs. 
 Hablot's for some parish council. On the third day, 
 which might have been clear, ' a miserable creature,' as 
 Gillian mentally called her, wrote to beg the Misses 
 Mohun to bring themselves and her niece to make up 
 a lawn-tennis set, since some one had failed. Gillian 
 vainly protested that she did not care about lawn 
 tennis, and could not play unless Jasper was her 
 partner ; and Aunt Jane so far sided with her as to 
 say it was very inconvenient, and on such short notice 
 they ought not to be expected. But Aunt Ada clearly 
 wanted to go ; and so they went. It was a beautiful 
 place, but Gillian could not enjoy herself, partly because 
 she knew so few of the people, but more because she 
 was vexed and displeased about the Whites. She 
 played very badly ; but Aunt Jane, when pressed into 
 the service, skipped about with her little light figure 
 and proved herself such a splendid player, doing it so 
 entirely con amore, that Gillian could not but say to 
 herself, 'She was bent on going; it was all humbug 
 her pretending to want to refuse.' 
 
 That afternoon's dissipation had made it needful 
 to do double work the next day, and Gillian was again 
 disappointed. Then came Saturday, when Miss Mohun 
 was never available, nor was she on Monday; and 
 when it appeared that she had to go to a meeting at
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 73 
 
 the Cathedral town on Tuesday, Gillian grew desperate, 
 and at her tete-a-Ute meal with Aunt Ada, related the 
 whole history of the Whites, and her great desire to 
 show kindness to her father's old brother -officer's 
 family, and how much she was disappointed. 
 
 Miss Adeline was touched, and indeed, fond as she 
 was of her sister, she could not help being nattered by 
 Gillian's preference and confidence. 
 
 1 Well, my clear, this is a nice day, not too hot or 
 too cold ; I do not see why I should not walk down 
 with you and call. If I find it too far, we can take 
 a cab to go back.' 
 
 ' Oh, thank you, Aunt Ada ; it is very very kind of 
 you, and there is no knowing when Aunt Jane may be 
 able to go. I don't like to close up my Indian letter 
 till I can say I have seen them.' 
 
 Gillian fidgeted a good deal lest, before her aunt's 
 post -prandial repose was over, visitors should come 
 and put a stop to everything, and she looked ready to 
 cut the throat of a poor lady in a mushroom hat, who 
 came up to leave a message for Miss Mohun about a 
 possible situation for one of her class of boys. 
 
 However, at last they started, Kunz and all, Miss 
 Adeline quite infected by Gillian's excitement. 
 
 1 So your father and mother were very fond of 
 them.' 
 
 ' Papa thought very highly of him, and was very 
 sorry he had to return,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' And she was a beautiful Greek.'
 
 74 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Gillian began to be quite afraid of what she might 
 have said. 
 
 ' I don't think she is more than half Greek/ she 
 said. c I believe her mother was a Corfiote, but her 
 father was English or Irish. I believe he kept a shop 
 in Malta.' 
 
 ' Quite a mixture of nationalities then, and no 
 wonder she is beautiful. That youth had a very strik- 
 ing profile ; it quite reminded me of a gem as I saw it 
 against the dark pillar.' 
 
 ' I did not say she was very beautiful now,' said 
 Gillian, feeling a qualm as she recollected the Queen 
 of the White Ants, and rather oddly divided between 
 truthfulness, fear of alarming her aunt into turning 
 back, and desire of giving her a little preparation. 
 
 ' Ah ! those southern beauties soon go off. Some 
 one told me that Lord Byron's " Maid of Athens," 
 whose portrait I used to think- the loveliest thing in 
 the world, became a great stout woman, but was quite 
 a mother to all the young Englishmen about. I 
 remember I used to try to hold my head and keep my 
 eyelids down like the engraving in an old book that 
 had been my mother's.' 
 
 1 Oh ! I think I have seen it at Beechcroft,' said 
 Gillian, very much amused, for she now perceived 
 whence arose Aunt Ada's peculiar turn of the head 
 and droop of the eyelashes, and how the conscious 
 affectation of childhood had become unconsciously 
 crystallised.
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 75 
 
 She grew more and more anxious as they found 
 some difficulty in making out Ivinghoe Terrace, and 
 found it at last to be a row of rather dilapidated little 
 houses, apparently built of lath and stucco, and of that 
 peculiar meanness only attained by the modern suburb. 
 Aunt Ada evidently did not like it at all, and owned 
 herself almost ready to turn back, being sure that 
 Valetta must have made some mistake. Gillian re- 
 peated that she had always said the Whites were very 
 poor, but she began to feel that her impatience had 
 misled her, and that she would have been better off 
 with the aunt who was used to such places, and whose 
 trim browns and crimsons were always appropriate 
 everywhere, rather than this dainty figure in delicate 
 hues that looked only fit for the Esplanade or the 
 kettledrum, and who was becoming seriously uneasy, 
 as Kunz, in his fresh snowiness, was disposed to make 
 researches among vulgar remains of crabs and hakes, 
 and was with difficulty restrained from disputing them 
 with a very ignoble and spiteful yellow cur of low 
 degree. 
 
 No. 3, with its blistered wall and rusty rail, was 
 attained, Kunz was brought within the enclosure, and 
 Gillian knocked as sharply and fast as she could, in 
 the fear that her aunt might yet turn about and 
 escape. 
 
 The door was opened with a rapidity that gave 
 the impression that they had been watched, but it 
 was by a very untidy -looking small maid, and the
 
 76 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 parlour into which they were turned had most mani- 
 festly been lately used as the family dining-room, and 
 was redolent of a mixture of onion, cabbage, and other 
 indescribable odours. 
 
 Nobody was there, except a black and white cat, 
 who showed symptoms of flying at Kunz, but thought 
 better of it, and escaped by the window, which for- 
 tunately was open, though the little maid would have 
 shut it, but for Miss Adeline's gasping and peremptory 
 entreaty to the contrary. She sat on the faded sofa, 
 looking as if she just existed by the help of her fan 
 and scent-bottle, and when Gillian directed her atten- 
 tion to the case of clasps and medals and the photo- 
 graph of the fine-looking officer, she could only sigh 
 out, ' Oh, my dear ! ' 
 
 There was a certain air of taste in the arrangement 
 of the few chimney-piece ornaments, and Gillian was 
 pleased to see the two large photographs of her father 
 and mother which Captain White had so much valued 
 as parting gifts. A few drawings reminded her of the 
 School of Art at Belfast, and there was a vase of wild 
 flowers and ferns prettily arranged, but otherwise every- 
 thing was wretchedly faded and dreary. 
 
 Then came the opening of the door, and into the 
 room rolled, rather than advanced, something of 
 stupendous breadth, which almost took Gillian's breath 
 away, as she durst not look to see the effect on her 
 aunt. If the Queen of the White Ants had been stout 
 before, what was she now ? Whatever her appearance
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 77 
 
 had been in the days of comparative prosperity, with a 
 husband to keep her up to the mark, and a desire to 
 rank with the officers' wives, she had let everything go 
 in widowhood, poverty, and neglect ; and as she stood 
 panting in her old shiny black alpaca, the only thing 
 Gillian recalled about her like old times was the black 
 lace veil thrown mantilla fashion over her head ; but 
 now it was over a widow's cap, and a great deal rustier 
 than of old. Of the lovely foreigner nothing else re- 
 mained except the dark eyes, and that sort of pasty 
 sallow whiteness that looks as if for generations past 
 cold water and fresh air had been unknown. There 
 was no accent more interesting in her voice than a 
 soiqigon of her Irish father as she began, ' I am sorry 
 to have kept the lady so long waiting. Was it about 
 the girl's character that you came ? ' 
 
 ' Oh no, Mrs. White,' interrupted Gillian, her shy- 
 ness overpowered by the necessity of throwing herself 
 into the breach. c Don't you remember me ? I am 
 Gillian Merrifleld, and this is my aunt, Miss Adeline 
 Mohun.' 
 
 The puffy features lighted up into warmth. ' Little 
 Miss Gillian ! And I am proud to see you ! My little 
 Maura did tell me that Miss Valetta was in her class 
 at the High School ; but I thought there was no one 
 now who would come near the poor widow. And is 
 your dear mamma here, Miss Gillian, and are she and 
 your papa quite well ? ' 
 
 Gillian could hardly believe in such dense remote-
 
 78 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ness that her father's accident should be unknown, but 
 she explained all, and met with abundant sympathy ; 
 the dark eyes filled with tears, and the voice broke into 
 sobs, as Mrs. White declared that Sir Jasper and Lady 
 Merrifield had been the best friends she ever had in 
 her life. 
 
 But oh ! that the handkerchief had been less grimy 
 with which she mopped her eyes, as she spoke of the 
 happy days that were gone ! Gillian saw that poor 
 Aunt Ada was in an agony to get away, and hurried 
 out her questions for fear of being stopped. ' How was 
 Kalliope — was she at home ? ' 
 
 ' Oh no, poor Kally, she is the best girl in the world. 
 I always say that, with all my sorrows, no one ever 
 was more blest in their children than poor little me. 
 Eichard, my eldest, is in a lawyer's office at Leeds. 
 Kally is employed in the art department, just as a com- 
 pliment to her relation, Mr. White. Quite genteel, 
 superior work, though I must say he does not do as 
 much for us as he might. Such a youth as my Alexis 
 now was surely worthy of the position of a gentle- 
 man.' 
 
 The good lady was quite disposed to talk ; but there 
 was no making out, through her cloud of confused 
 complaints, what her son and daughter were actually 
 doing ; and Aunt Ada, while preserving her courtesy, 
 was very anxious to be gone, and rose to take leave at 
 the first moment possible, though after she was on her 
 feet Mrs. White detained her for some time with apolo-
 
 tv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 79 
 
 gies about not returning her visit. She was in such weak 
 health, so unequal to walking up the cliff, that she was 
 sure Miss Mohun would excuse her, though Alexis and 
 Kally would be perfectly delighted to hear of Miss 
 Gillian's kindness. 
 
 Gillian had not made out half what she wanted to 
 know, nor effected any arrangement for seeing Kalliope, 
 when she found herself out in the street, and her aunt 
 panting with relief. ' My dear, that woman ! You 
 don't mean that your mother was fond of her.' 
 
 ' I never said mamma was fond of her.' 
 
 ' My dear, excuse me. It was the only reason for 
 letting you drag me here. I was almost stifled. What 
 a night I shall have ! ' 
 
 ' I am very sorry, Aunt Ada ; but, indeed, I never 
 said that mamma was fond of her, only that papa 
 thought very highly of her husband, and wished us to 
 be kind to her.' 
 
 1 Well, you gave me that impression, whether you 
 wished it or not ! Such a hole ; and I'm sure she 
 drinks gin !' 
 
 ' Oh no, aunt !' 
 
 ' I can't be mistaken ! I really was afraid she was 
 going to kiss you !' 
 
 ' I do wish I could have made out about Alexis and 
 Kalliope.' 
 
 1 Oh, my dear, just working like all the lot, though 
 she shuffled about it. I see what they are like, and 
 the less you see of them the better. I declare I am
 
 So BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 more tired than if I had walked a mile. How am I 
 ever to get up the hill again V 
 
 ' I am sorry, aunt/ said Gillian. ' Will you take 
 my arm? Perhaps we may meet Kalliope, if the marble 
 people come out at four or five. What's that bell V 
 as a little tinkle was heard. 
 
 ' That's St. Kenelm's ! Oh ! you would like to go 
 there, and it would rest me ; only there's Kunz.' 
 
 ' I should like to see it very much,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' Well,' said Aunt Ada, who certainly seemed to have 
 something of the ' cat's away ' feeling about her, and, 
 moreover, trusted to avoid meeting Kalliope. 'Just 
 round the corner here is Mrs. Webb's, who used to 
 live with us before she married. Kunz will be happy 
 with her. Won't he, my doggie, like to go and see his 
 old Jessie ? ' 
 
 So Kunz was disposed of with a very pleasant, neat- 
 looking woman, who begged Miss Adeline to come and 
 have some tea after the service. 
 
 It was really a beautiful little church — ' a little gem ' 
 was exactly the term that suggested itself — very ornate, 
 and the chief lack being of repose, for there seemed 
 not an inch devoid of colour or carving. There was a 
 choir of boys in short surplices and blue cassocks, and 
 a very musical service, in the course of which it was 
 discovered to be the Feast of St. Eemigius, for after 
 the Lesson a short discourse was given on the Conver- 
 sion of Clovis, not forgetting the sacred ampulla. 
 
 There were about five ladies present and six old
 
 it THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 81 
 
 women, belonging to a home maintained by Lady 
 Flight. The young priest, her son, had a beautiful 
 voice, and Gillian enjoyed all very much, and thought 
 the St. Andrew's people very hard and unjust ; but all 
 this went out of her head in the porch, for while Lady 
 Flight was greeting Miss Mohun with empressement, 
 and inviting her to come in to tea, Gillian had seen 
 a young woman who had come in late and had been 
 kneeling behind them. 
 
 Turning back and holding out her hands, she 
 exclaimed — 
 
 ' Kalliope ! I so wanted to see you.' 
 ' Miss Gillian M errifield,' was the response. ' Maura 
 told me you were here, but I hardly hoped to see you.' 
 ' How can I see you ? Where are you ? Busy ? ' 
 ' I am at the marble works all day — in the mosaic 
 department. Oh, Miss Gillian, I owe it all to Miss 
 Merrifi eld's encouraging me to go to the School of Art. 
 How is she ? And I hope you have good accounts of 
 Sir Jasper ?' 
 
 ' He is better, and I hope my mother is just arriving. 
 That's why we are here ; and Alethea and Phyllis are 
 out there. They will want to know all about you.' 
 
 At that moment Aunt Adeline looked round, having 
 succeeded in persuading Lady Flight that she had 
 another engagement. She saw a young woman in a 
 shabby black dress, with a bag in her hand, and a 
 dark fringe over a complexion of clear brown, straight 
 features, to whom Gillian was eagerly talking 
 
 VOL. I G
 
 82 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 ' Ah ! ' she said, as Mr. Flight now came up from 
 the vestry ; ' do you know anything of that girl ? ' 
 
 ' Second-rate people, somewhere in Bellevue,' said 
 the lady. 
 
 ' The brother is my best tenor,' said Mr. Flight. 
 ' She is very often at St. Kenelm's, but I do not know 
 any more of her. The mother either goes to Bellevue 
 or nowhere. They are in Bellevue Parish.' 
 
 This was quite sufficient answer, for any interfer- 
 ence with parochial visiting in the Bellevue district 
 was forbidden. 
 
 Aunt Ada called to Gillian, and when she eagerly 
 said, ' This is Kalliope, aunt,' only responded with a 
 stiff bow. 
 
 ' I do not know what these people might have been, 
 Gillian,' she said, as they pursued their way to Mrs. 
 Webb's ; \ but they must have sunk so low that I do 
 not think your mother can wish you to have anything 
 to do with them.' 
 
 ' Oh, Aunt Ada ! Kalliope was always such a good 
 girl!' 
 
 ' She has a fringe. And she would not belong to 
 the G.F.S.,' said Aunt Ada. ' No, my dear, I see 
 exactly the sort of people they are. Your aunt Jane 
 might be useful to them, if they would let her ; but 
 they are not at all fit for you to associate with.' 
 
 Gillian chafed inwardly, but she was beginning to 
 learn that Aunt Ada was more impenetrable than 
 Aunt Jane, and, what was worse, Aunt Jane always
 
 iv THE QUEEN OF THE WHITE ANTS 83 
 
 stood by her sister's decision, whether she would have 
 herself originated it or not. 
 
 When the elder aunt came home, and heard the 
 history of their day, and Gillian tried to put in a word, 
 she said — 
 
 ' My dear, we all know that rising from the ranks 
 puts a man's family in a false position, and they 
 generally fall back again. All this is unlucky, for 
 they do not seem to be people it is possible to get at, 
 and now you have paid your kind act of attention, 
 there is no more to be done till you can hear from Ceylon 
 about them.' 
 
 Gillian was silenced by the united forces of the 
 aunts. 
 
 ' It really was a horrid place,' said Aunt Ada, when 
 alone with her sister ; ' and such a porpoise of a 
 woman ! Gillian should not have represented her as 
 a favourite.' 
 
 ' I do not remember that she did so/ returned 
 Aunt Jane. ' I wish she had waited for me. I have 
 seen more of the kind of thing than you have, Ada.' 
 
 ' I am sure I wish she had. I don't know when I 
 shall get over the stifling of that den ; but it was just 
 as if they were her clearest friends.' 
 
 ' Girls will be silly ! And there's a feeling about 
 the old regiment too. I can excuse her, though I wish 
 she had not been so impatient. I fancy that eldest 
 daughter is really a good girl and the mainstay of the 
 family.'
 
 84 BEECHCROF? AT ROCKSTONE chap, iv 
 
 ' But she would have nothing to do with you or 
 the G.F.S.' 
 
 1 If I had known that her father had been an officer, 
 I might have approached her differently. However, I 
 will ask Lily about their antecedents, and in six weeks 
 we shall know what is to be done about them.'
 
 CHAPTEE V 
 
 MARBLES 
 
 Six weeks seem a great deal longer to sixteen than to 
 six-and-forty ; and Gillian groaned and sighed to her- 
 self as she wrote her letters, and assured herself that 
 so far from her having done enough in the way of 
 attention to the old soldier's family, she had simply 
 done enough to mark her neglect and disdain. 
 
 1 Grizzling ' (to use an effective family phrase) 
 under opposition is a grand magnifier ; and it was not 
 difficult to erect poor Captain White into a hero, his 
 wife into a patient sufferer, and Alethea's kindness to 
 his daughter into a bosom friendship ; while the aunts 
 seemed to be absurdly fastidious and prejudiced. ' I don't 
 wonder at Aunt Ada/ she said to herself; ' I know she 
 has always been kept under a glass case ; but I thought 
 better things of Aunt Jane. It is all because Kalliope 
 goes to St. Kenelm's, and won't be in the G.F.S.' 
 
 And all the time Gillian was perfectly unaware of 
 her own family likeness to Dolores. Other matters 
 conduced to a certain spirit of opposition to Aunt 
 Jane. That the children should have to use the back
 
 86 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 instead of the front stair when coming in with dusty 
 or muddy shoes, and that their possessions should be 
 confiscated for the rest of the day when left about in 
 the sitting-rooms and hall, were contingencies she could 
 accept as natural, though they irritated her ; but she 
 agreed with Valetta that it was hard to insist on half 
 an hour's regular work at the cushion, which was not 
 a lesson, but play. She was angered when Aunt Jane 
 put a stop to some sportive passes and chatter on the 
 stairs between Valetta and Alice Mount, and still more 
 so when her aunt took away Adam Bede from the 
 former, as not desirable reading at eleven years old. 
 
 It was only the remembrance of her mother's 
 positive orders that withheld Gillian from the declara- 
 tion that mamma always let them read George Eliot ; 
 and in a cooler moment of reflection she was glad she 
 had abstained, for she recollected that always was 
 limited to mamma's having read most of Romola 
 aloud to her and Mysie, and to her having had Silas 
 Maimer to read when she was unwell in lodgings, and 
 there was a scarcity of books. 
 
 Such miffs about her little sister were in the natural 
 order of things, and really it was the ' all pervadingness,' 
 as she called it in her own mind, of Aunt Jane that 
 chiefly worried her, the way that the little lady knew 
 everything that was done, and everything that was 
 touched in the house ; but as long as Valetta took refuge 
 with herself, and grumbled to her, it was bearable. 
 
 It was different with Fergus. There had been
 
 v MARBLES $7 
 
 offences certainly; Annt Jane had routed him out of 
 preparing his lessons in Mrs. Mount's room, where he 
 diversified them with teaching the Sofy to beg, and 
 inventing new modes of tying down jam pots. More- 
 over, she had declared that Gillian's exemplary patience 
 was wasted and harmful when she found that they 
 had taken three-quarters of an hour over three tenses 
 of a Greek verb, and that he said it worse on the 
 seventh repetition than on the first. After an evening, 
 when Gillian had gone to a musical party with Aunt 
 Ada, and Fergus did his lessons under Aunt Jane's 
 superintendence, he utterly cast off his sister's aid. 
 There was something in Miss Mohun's briskness that 
 he found inspiring, and she put in apt words or illustra- 
 tions, instead of only rousing herself from a book to 
 listen, prompt, and sigh. He found that he did his 
 tasks more thoroughly in half the time, and rose in 
 his class ; and busy as his aunt was, she made the 
 time not only for this, but for looking over with him 
 those plates of mechanics in the Encyclopcedia, which 
 were a mere maze to Gillian, but of which she knew 
 every detail, from ancient studies with her brother 
 Maurice. As Fergus wrote to his mother, ' Aunt Jane 
 is the only woman who has any natural scence.' 
 
 Gillian could not but see this as she prepared the 
 letters for the post, and whatever the ambiguous word 
 might be meant for, she had rather not have seen it, 
 for she really was ashamed of her secret annoyance at 
 Fergus's devotion to Aunt Jane, knowiDg how well it
 
 88 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 was that Stebbinsj should have a rival in his affections. 
 Yet she could not help being provoked when the boy 
 followed his aunt to the doors of her cottages like a 
 little dog, and waited outside whenever she would let 
 him, for the sake of holding forth to her about something 
 which wheels and plugs and screws were to do. Was 
 it possible that Miss Mohun followed it all ? His 
 great desire was to go over the marble works, and she 
 had promised to take him when it could be done ; but, 
 unfortunately, his half-holiday was on Saturday, when 
 the workmen struck off early, and when also Aunt 
 Jane always had the pupil-teachers for something 
 between instruction and amusement. 
 
 Gillian felt lonely, for though she got on better with 
 her younger than her elder aunt, and had plenty of 
 surface intercourse of a pleasant kind with both, it 
 was a very poor substitute for her mother, or her elder 
 sisters, and Valetta was very far from being a Mysie. 
 
 The worst time was Sunday, when the children 
 had deserted her for Mrs. Hablot, and Aunt Ada was 
 always lying down in her own room to rest after 
 morning service. She might have been at the Sunday- 
 school, but she did not love teaching, nor do it well, 
 and she did not fancy the town children, or else there 
 was something of opposition to Aunt Jane. 
 
 It was a beautiful afternoon, of the first Sunday in 
 October, and she betook herself to the garden with the 
 1 Lyra Innocentium ' in her hand, meaning to learn the 
 poem for the day. She wandered up to the rail above
 
 v MARBLES 89 
 
 the cliff, looking out to the sea. Here, beyond the belt 
 of tamarisks and other hardy low-growing shrubs which 
 gave a little protection from the winds, the wall dividing 
 the garden of Beechcroft Cottage from that of Cliff 
 House became low, with only the iron-spiked railing 
 on the top, as perhaps there was a desire not to over- 
 load the cliff. The sea was of a lovely colour that 
 day, soft blue, and with exquisite purple shadows of 
 clouds, with ripples of golden sparkles here and there 
 near the sun, and Gillian stood leaning against the 
 rail, gazing out on it, with a longing, yearning feeling 
 towards the dear ones who had gone out upon it, when 
 she became conscious that some one was in the other 
 garden, which she had hitherto thought quite deserted, 
 and looking round, she saw a figure in black near the 
 rail. Their eyes met, and both together exclaimed — 
 ' Kalliope !' — 'Miss Gillian ! Oh, I beg your pardon !' 
 1 How did you come here ? I thought nobody did !' 
 'Mr. White's gardener lets us walk here. It is so 
 nice and quiet. Alexis has taken the younger ones 
 for a walk, but I was too much tired. But I will not 
 
 disturb you ' 
 
 1 Oh ! don't go away. Nobody will disturb us, and 
 I do so want to know about you all. I had no notion, 
 
 nor mamma either, that you were living here, or ' 
 
 1 Or of my dear father's death ? ' said Kalliope, as 
 Gillian stopped short, confused. ' I did write to Miss 
 Merrifield, but the letter was returned.' 
 ' But where did you write ? '
 
 90 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 1 To Swanage, where she had written to me last/ 
 ' Oh ! we were only there for six weeks, while we 
 were looking for houses ; I suppose it was just as the 
 Wardours w T ere gone to Natal too ! ' 
 
 ' Yes ; we knew they were out of reach.' 
 ' But do tell me about it, if you do not mind. My 
 father will want to hear.' 
 
 Kalliope told all in a calm, matter-of-fact way, but 
 with a strain of deep suppressed feeling. She was about 
 twenty-three, a girl with a fine outline of features, 
 beautiful dark eyes, and a clear brown skin, who 
 would have been very handsome if she had looked 
 better fed and less hardworked. Her Sunday dress 
 showed wear and adaptation, but she was altogether 
 ladylike, and even the fringe that had startled Aunt 
 Ada only consisted of little wavy curls on the temples, 
 increasing her classical look. 
 
 ' It was fever — at Leeds. My father was just going 
 into a situation in the police that we had been waiting 
 for ever so long, and there were good schools, and 
 Richard had got into a lawyer's office, when there 
 began a terrible fever in our street — the drains were to 
 blame, they said — and every one of us had it, except 
 mother and Richard, who did not sleep at home. We 
 lost poor little Mary first, and then papa seemed to be 
 getting better ; but he was anxious about expense, and 
 there was no persuading him to take nourishment 
 enough. I do believe it was that. And he had a 
 relapse — and '
 
 v MARBLES 91 
 
 1 Oh, poor Kalliope ! And we never heard of it ! ' 
 
 'I did feel broken down when the letter to Miss 
 Merrifield came back/ said Kalliope. ' But my father 
 had made me write to Mr. James White — not that we 
 had any idea that he had grown so rich. He and my 
 father were first cousins, sons of two brothers who were 
 builders ; but there was some dispute, and it ended by 
 my father going away and enlisting. There was nobody 
 nearer to him, and he never heard any more of his 
 home ; but when he was so ill, he thought he would 
 like to be reconciled to " Jem," as he said, so he made 
 me write from his dictation. Such a beautiful letter 
 it was, and he added a line at the end himself. Then 
 at last, when it was almost too late, Mr. White 
 answered. I believe it was a mere chance — or rather 
 Providence — that he ever knew it was meant for him, 
 but there were kind words enough to cheer up my father 
 at the last. I believe then the clergyman wrote to him.' 
 
 ' Did not he come near you ? ' 
 
 1 No, I have never seen him ; but there was a 
 correspondence between him and Mr. Moore, the 
 clergyman, and Eichard, and he said he was willing to 
 put us in the way of working for ourselves, if — if — 
 we were not too proud.' 
 
 * Then he did it in an unkind way,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' I try to think he did not mean to be otherwise 
 than good to us. I told Mr. Moore that I was not fit 
 to be a governess, and I did not think they could get 
 on without me at home, but that I could draw better
 
 92 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 than I would do anything else, and perhaps I might 
 get Christmas cards to do, or something like that. 
 Mr. Moore sent a card or two of my designing, and 
 then Mr. White said he could find work for me in the 
 mosaic department here ; and something for my brothers, 
 if we did not give ourselves airs. So we came.' 
 
 ■ Not Eichard ? ' said Gillian, who remembered 
 dimly that Eichard had not been held in great esteem 
 by her own brothers. 
 
 1 No ; Eichard is in a good situation, so it was 
 settled that he should stay on there.' 
 
 'And you ' 
 
 ' I am in the mosaic department. Oh, Miss Gillian, 
 I am so grateful to Miss Merrifield. Don't you 
 remember her looking at my little attempts, and 
 persuading Lady Merrifield to get mother to let me go 
 to the School of Art ? I began only as the girls do 
 who are mere hands, and now I have to prepare all 
 the designs for them, and have a nice little office of 
 my own for it. Sometimes I get one of my own 
 designs taken, and then I am paid extra.' 
 
 ' Then do you maintain them all ? ' 
 
 ' Oh no ; we have lodgers, the organist and his wife,' 
 said Kalliope, laughing ; ' and Alexis is in the telegraph 
 office, at the works ; besides, it turned out that this 
 house and two more belong to us, and we do very 
 well when the tenants pay their rents.' 
 
 'But Maura is not the youngest of you,' said 
 Gillian, who was rather hazy about the family.
 
 v MARBLES 93 
 
 1 No, there are the two little boys. We let them 
 go to the Xational School for the present. It is a 
 great trial to my poor mother, but they do learn well 
 there, and we may be able to do something better for 
 them by the time they are old enough for further 
 education.' 
 
 Just then the sound of a bell coming up from the 
 town below was a warning to both that the conversa- 
 tion must be broken off. A few words — ' I am so glad 
 to have seen you,' and ' It has been such a pleasure ' 
 — passed, and then each hastened down her separate 
 garden path. 
 
 1 Must I tell of this meeting ? ' Gillian asked herself. 
 ' I shall write it all to mamma and Alethea, of course. 
 How delightful that those lessons that Kalliope had 
 have come to be of so much use ! How pleased Alethea 
 will be. Poor dear thin" ! How much she has "one 
 through ! But can there be any need to tell the aunts ? 
 Would it not just make Aunt Ada nervous about any 
 one looking through her sweet and lovely wall ? And 
 as to Aunt Jane, I really don't see that I am bound to 
 gratify her passion for knowing everything. I am not 
 accountable to her, but to my own mother. My people 
 know all about Kalliope, and she is prejudiced. Why 
 should I be unkind and neglectful of an old fellow- 
 soldier's family, because she cannot or will not under- 
 stand what they really are ? It would not be the 
 slightest use to tell her the real story. Mrs. White is 
 fat, and Kalliope has a fringe, goes to St. Kenelm's,
 
 94 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 and won't be in the G.F.S., and that's enough to make 
 her say she does not believe a word of it. or else to 
 make it a fresh ground for poking and prying, in the 
 way that drives one distracted ! It really is quite a 
 satisfaction to have something that she can't find out, 
 and it is not underhand while I write every word of it 
 to mamma.' 
 
 So Gillian made her conscience easy, and she did 
 write a long and full account of the Whites and their 
 troubles, and of her conversation with Kalliope. 
 
 In the course of that week Fergus had a holiday, 
 asked for by some good-natured visitor of Mrs. Edgar's. 
 He rushed home on the previous day with the news, 
 to claim Aunt Jane's promise ; and she undertook so 
 to arrange matters as to be ready to go with him to 
 the marble works at three o'clock. Valetta could not 
 go, as she had her music lesson at that time, and she 
 did not regret it, for she had an idea that blasting 
 with powder or dynamite was always going on there. 
 Gillian was not quite happy about the dynamite, but 
 she did not like to forego the chance of seeing what 
 the work of Kalliope and Alexis really was, so she 
 expressed her willingness to join the party, and in the 
 meantime did her best to prevent Aunt Ada from 
 being driven distracted by Fergus's impatience, which 
 began at half-past two. 
 
 Miss Mohun had darted out as soon as dinner was 
 over, and he was quite certain some horrible cad would 
 detain her till four o'clock, and then going would be
 
 v MARBLES 95 
 
 of no use. Nevertheless he was miserable till Gillian 
 had put on her hat, and then she could do nothing 
 that would content him and keep him out of Aunt 
 Ada's way, but walk him up and down in the little 
 front court with the copper beeches, while she thought 
 they must present to the neighbours a lively tableau of 
 a couple of leopards in a cage. 
 
 However, precisely as the clock struck three, Aunt 
 Jane walked up to the iron gate. She had secured 
 an order from Mr. Stebbing, the managing partner, 
 without which they would not have penetrated beyond 
 the gate where ' No admittance except on business ' 
 was painted. 
 
 Mr. Stebbing himself, a man with what Yaletta 
 was wont to call a grisly beard, met them a little 
 within the gate, and did the honours of the place with 
 great politeness. He answered all the boy's questions, 
 and seemed much pleased with his intelligence and 
 interest, letting him see what he wished, and even 
 having the machinery slacked to enable him to perceive 
 how it acted, and most delightful of all, in the eyes of 
 Fergus, letting him behold some dynamite, and explain- 
 ing its downward explosion. He evidently had a great 
 respect for Miss Mohun, because she entered into it 
 all, put pertinent questions, and helped her nephew if 
 he did not understand. 
 
 It was all dull work to Gillian, all that blasting 
 and hewing and polishing, which made the place as 
 busy as a hive. She only wished she could have seen
 
 96 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 the cove as once it was, with the weather-beaten rocks 
 descending to the sea, overhung with wild thrift and 
 bramble, and with the shore, the peaceful haunts of the 
 white sea-birds ; whereas now the fresh-cut rock looked 
 red and wounded, and all below was full of ugly slated 
 or iron-roofed sheds, rough workmen, and gratings and 
 screeches of machinery. 
 
 It was the Whites whom she wanted to see, and 
 she never came upon the brother at all, nor on the 
 sister, till Mr. Stebbing, perhaps observing her listless 
 looks, said that they were coming to what would be 
 more interesting to Miss Merrifield, and took them into 
 the workrooms, where a number of young women 
 were busy over the very beautiful work by which 
 flowers and other devices were represented by inlaying 
 different coloured marbles and semi-precious stones in 
 black and white, so as to make tables, slabs, and letter- 
 weights, and brooches for those who could not aspire to 
 the most splendid and costly productions. 
 
 Miss Mohun shook hands with ' the young ladies ' 
 within the magic circle of the G.F.S., and showed her- 
 self on friendly terms of interest with all. From a 
 little inner office Miss White was summoned, came 
 out, and met an eager greeting from Gillian, but blushed 
 a little, and perhaps had rather not have had her un- 
 usual Christian name proclaimed by the explanation — 
 
 ' This is Kalliope White, Aunt Jane.' 
 
 Miss Mohun shook hands with her, and said her 
 niece had been much pleased at the meeting, and her
 
 v MARBLES 97 
 
 sister would be glad to hear of her, explaining to Mr. 
 Stebbing that Captain White had been a brother-officer 
 of Sir Jasper Merrifield. 
 
 Kalliope had a very prettily-shaped head, with short 
 hair in little curls and rings all over it. Her whole 
 manner was very quiet and unassuming, as she explained 
 and showed whatever Mr. Stebbing wished. It was 
 her business to make the working drawings for the 
 others, and to select the stones used, and there could 
 be no doubt that she was a capable and valuable 
 worker. 
 
 Gillian asked her to show something designed by 
 herself, and she produced an exquisite table-weight, 
 bearing a spray of sweet peas. Gillian longed to 
 secure it for her mother, but it was very expensive, 
 owing to the uncommon stones used in giving the 
 tints ; and Mr. Stebbing evidently did not regard it 
 with so much favour as the jessamines and snowdrops, 
 which, being of commoner marbles, could be sold at a 
 rate fitter for the popular purse. Several beautiful 
 drawings in her office had been laid aside as impractic- 
 able, ' unless we had a carte blanche wedding order,' 
 he said, with what Gillian thought a sneer. 
 
 She would gladly have lingered longer, but this 
 was a very dull room in Fergus's estimation, and per- 
 haps Aunt Jane did not desire a long continuance 
 of the conversation under Mr. Stebbing's eyes, so 
 Gillian found herself hurried on. 
 
 Mr. Stebbing begged Miss Mohun to come in to his 
 vol. 1 11
 
 98 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 wife, who would have tea ready, and this could not be 
 avoided without manifest incivility. Fergus hoped to 
 have been introduced to the haunts of his hero, but 
 Master George was gone off in attendance on his 
 brother, who was fishing, and there was nothing to 
 relieve the polite circle of the drawing-room — a place 
 most aesthetically correct, from cornice to the little rugs 
 on the slippery floor. The little teacups and the low 
 Turkish table were a perfect study to those who did 
 not — like Fergus — think more of the dainty doll's 
 muffins on the stand, or the long-backed Dachshund 
 who looked for them beseechingly. 
 
 Mrs. Stebbing was quite in accordance with the 
 rest, with a little row of curls over her forehead, a 
 terra-cotta dress, and a chain of watch cocks, altogether 
 rather youthful for the mother of a grown-up son, 
 engaged in his father's business. 
 
 She was extremely civil and polite, and everything 
 went well except for a certain stiffness. By and by 
 the subject of the Whites came up, and Mr. Stebbing 
 observed that Miss Merrifield seemed to know Miss 
 White. 
 
 ' Oh yes/ said Gillian eagerly ; ' her father was 
 in my father's regiment, the Eoyal Wardours.' 
 
 ' A non-commissioned officer, I suppose,' said Mrs. 
 Stebbing. 
 
 ' Not for a good many years,' said Gillian. • He 
 was lieutenant for six years, and retired with the rank 
 of captain.'
 
 v MARBLES 99 
 
 ' I know they said he was a captain/ said Mrs. 
 Stebbing ; ' but it is very easy to be called so.' 
 
 ' Captain White was a real one/ said Gillian, with 
 a tone of offence. ' Every one in the Eoyal Wardours 
 thought very highly of him.' 
 
 ' I am sure no one would have supposed it from 
 his family/ said Mrs. Stebbing. ' You are aware, Miss 
 Mohun, that it was under disgraceful circumstances 
 that he ran away and enlisted.' 
 
 ' Many a youth who gets into a scrape becomes an 
 excellent soldier, even an officer/ said Miss Mohun. 
 
 ' Exactly so/ said Mr. Stebbing. ' Those high- 
 spirited lads are the better for discipline, and often 
 turn out well under it. But their promotion is an 
 awkward thing for their families, who have not been 
 educated up to the mark.' 
 
 1 It is an anomalous position, and I have a great 
 pity for them/ said Miss Mohun. ' Miss White must 
 be a very clever girl.' 
 
 ' Talented, yes/ said Mr. Stebbing. ' She is useful 
 in her department.' 
 
 ' That may be/ said Mrs. Stebbing ; ' but it wont 
 do to encourage her. She is an artful, designing girl, 
 I know very well ' 
 
 ' Do you know anything against her ? ' asked Miss 
 Mohun, looking volumes of repression at Gillian, whose 
 brown eyes showed symptoms of glaring like a cat's, 
 under her hat. 
 
 ! I do not speak without warrant, Miss Mohun.
 
 ioo BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 She is one of those demure, proper-behaved sort that 
 are really the worst flirts of all, if you'll excuse me.' 
 
 Most thankful was Miss Mohun that the door 
 opened at that moment to admit some more visitors, 
 for she saw that Gillian might at any moment explode. 
 
 'Aunt Jane,' she exclaimed, as soon as they had 
 accomplished their departure, ' you don't believe it ? ' 
 
 1 1 do not think Miss White looks like it,' said Miss 
 Mohun. ' She seemed a quiet, simple girl/ 
 
 ' And you don't believe all that about poor Captain 
 White ? ' 
 
 ' Not the more for Mrs. Stebbing's saying so.' 
 
 ' But you will find out and refute her. There must 
 be people who know.' 
 
 ' My dear, you had better not try to rake up such 
 things. You know that the man bore an excellent 
 character for many years in the army, and you had 
 better be satisfied with that/ said Miss Jane for once 
 in her life, as if to provoke Gillian, not on the side of 
 curiosity. 
 
 ' Then you do believe it ! ' went on Gillian, feeling 
 much injured for her hero's sake, and wearing what 
 looked like a pertinacious pout. 
 
 ' Truth compels me to say, Gillian, that the sons of 
 men, even in a small way of business, are not apt to 
 run away and enlist without some reason.' 
 
 'And I am quite sure it was all that horrid old 
 White's fault.' 
 
 ' You had better content yourself with that belief.'
 
 v MARBLES 101 
 
 Gillian felt greatly affronted, but Fergus, who 
 thought all this very tiresome, broke in, after a third 
 attempt — 
 
 ' Aunt Jane, if the pulley of that crane ' 
 
 And all the way home they discussed machinery, 
 and Gillian's heart swelled. 
 
 ' I am afraid Gillian was greatly displeased with 
 me/ said Miss Mohun that evening, talking it over 
 with her sister. ' But her captain might have a fall 
 if she went poking into all the gossip of the place 
 about him.' 
 
 'Most likely whatever he did would be greatly 
 exaggerated,' said Adeline. 
 
 ' No doubt of it ! Besides, those young men who 
 are meant by nature for heroes are apt to show 
 some Berserherwuth in their youth, like Hereward le 
 Wake.' 
 
 ' But what did you think of the girl ? ' 
 
 1 1 liked her looks very much. I have seen her 
 singing in the choruses at the choral society concert, 
 and thought how nice her manner was. She does 
 justice to her classical extraction, and is modest and 
 ladylike besides. Mrs. Stebbing is spiteful ! I wonder 
 whether it is jealousy. She calls her artful and 
 designing, which sounds to me very much as if Master 
 Frank might admire the damsel. I have a great mind 
 to have the two girls to tea, and see what they are 
 made of.' 
 
 ' We had much better wait till we hear from Lily.
 
 102 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap, v 
 
 We cannot in the least tell whether she would wish 
 the acquaintance to be kept up. And if there is any- 
 thing going on with young Stebbing, nothing could be 
 more unadvisable than for Gillian to be mixed up in 
 any nonsense of that sort.'
 
 CHAPTEE VI 
 
 SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 
 
 On Sunday, Gillian's feet found their way to the top 
 of the garden, where she paced meditatively up and 
 down, hoping to see Kalliope ; and just as she was 
 giving up the expectation, the slender black figure 
 appeared on the other side of the railings. 
 
 ' Oh, Miss Gillian, how kind ! ' 
 
 ' Kally, I am glad ! ' 
 
 Wherewith they got into talk at once, for Lady 
 Merrifield's safe arrival and Sir Jasper's improvement 
 had just been telegraphed, and there was much rejoic- 
 ing over the good news. Gillian had nearly made up 
 her mind to confute the enemy by asking why Captain 
 White had left Eockquay ; but somehow when it came 
 to the point, she durst not make the venture, and they 
 skimmed upon more surface subjects. 
 
 The one point of union between the parishes of 
 Eockstone and Eockquay was a choral society, where- 
 of Mr. Flight of St. Kenelm's was a distinguished light, 
 and which gave periodical concerts in the Masonic Hall. 
 It being musical, Miss Mohun had nothing to do
 
 104 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 with it except the feeling it needful to give her presence 
 to the performances. One of these was to take place 
 in the course of the week, and there were programmes 
 in all the shops, 'Mr. Alexis White' being set down 
 for more than one solo, and as a voice in the glees. 
 
 ' Shall not you sing ? ' asked Gillian, remembering 
 that her sisters had thought Kalliope had a good ear 
 and a pretty voice. 
 
 < I ? Oh no ! ' 
 
 ' I thought you used to sing.' 
 
 ' Yes ; but I have no time to keep it up.' 
 
 'Not even in the choruses V 
 
 1 No, I cannot manage it ' — and there was a little 
 glow in the clear brown cheek. 
 
 ' Does your designing take up so much time ? ' 
 
 ' It is not that ; but there is a great deal to do at 
 home in after hours. My mother is not strong, and 
 we cannot keep a really efficient servant.' 
 
 ' Oh ! but you must be terribly hard-worked to 
 have no time for relaxation.' 
 
 ' Not quite that, but — it seems to me,' burst out 
 poor Kalliope, ' that relaxation does nothing but bring 
 a girl into difficulties — an unprotected girl, I mean.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ? ' cried Gillian, quite excited ; 
 but Kalliope had caught herself up. 
 
 ' Never mind, Miss Gillian ; you have nothing to 
 do with that kind of thing.' 
 
 ' But do tell me, Kally ; I do want to be your 
 friend,' said Gillian, trying to put her hand through.
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 105 
 
 '■ There's nothing to tell/ said Kalliope, smiling and 
 evidently touched, but still somewhat red ; ' only you 
 know when a girl has nobody to look after her, she 
 has to look after herself.' 
 
 1 Doesn't Alexis look after you ? ' said Gillian, not 
 at all satisfied to be put off with this truism. 
 
 ' Poor Alex ! He is younger, you know, and he 
 has quite enough to do. Oh, Miss Gillian, he is such 
 a very dear, good boy.' 
 
 1 He has a most beautiful voice, Aunt Ada said.' 
 
 ' Yes, poor fellow, though he almost wishes he had 
 not. Oh dear ! there's the little bell ! Good-bye, Miss 
 Merrifield ; I must run, or Mrs. Smithson will be gone 
 to church, and I shall be locked in.' 
 
 So Gillian was left to the enigma why Alexis 
 should regret the beauty of his own voice, and what 
 Kalliope could mean by the scrapes of unprotected 
 girls. It did not occur to her that Miss White was 
 her elder by six or seven years, and possibly might 
 not rely on her judgment and discretion as much as 
 she might have done on those of Alethea. 
 
 Meantime the concert was coming on. It was not 
 an amusement that Aunt Ada could attempt, but Miss 
 Mohun took both her nieces, to the extreme pride and 
 delight of Valetta, who had never been, as she said, 
 ' to any evening thing but just stupid childish things, 
 only trees and magic-lanterns'; and would not quite 
 believe Gillian, who assured her in a sage tone that 
 she would find this far less entertaining than either,
 
 106 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 judging by the manner in which she was wont to 
 vituperate her music lesson. 
 
 ' Oh ! but that's only scales, and everybody hates 
 them ! And I do love a German band.' 
 
 'Especially in the middle of lesson -time,' said 
 Gillian. 
 
 However, Fergus was to spend the evening with 
 Clement Varley ; and Kitty was to go with her mother 
 and sister, the latter of whom was to be one of the 
 performers ; but it was decreed by the cruel authorities 
 that the two bosom friends would have their tongues 
 in better order if they were some chairs apart ; and 
 therefore, though the members of the two families at 
 Beechcroft and the Tamarisks were consecutive, Valetta 
 was quartered between her aunt and Gillian, with 
 Mrs. Varley on the other side of Miss Mohun, and 
 Major Dennis flanking Miss Merrifield. When he 
 had duly inquired after Sir Jasper, and heard of Lady 
 Merrifield's arrival, he had no more conversation for 
 the young lady; and Valetta, having perceived by 
 force of example that in this waiting- time it was^ not 
 like being in church, poured out her observations and 
 inquiries on her sister. 
 
 ' What a funny room ! And oh ! do look at the 
 pictures ! Why has that man got on a blue apron ? 
 Freemasons ! What are Freemasons ? Do they work 
 in embroidered blue satin aprons because they are 
 gentlemen ? I'll tell Fergus that is what he ought to 
 be ; he is so fond of making things — only I am sure
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 107 
 
 he would spoil his apron. What's that curtain for ? 
 Will they sing up there ? Oh, there's Emma Norton 
 just come in ! That must be her father. That's Alice 
 Gidding, she comes to our Sunday class ; and do you 
 know, she thought it was Joseph who was put into the 
 den of lions. Has not her mother got a funny head ? ' 
 
 ' Hush now, Yal. Here they come,' as the whole 
 chorus trooped in and began the f Men of Harlech.' 
 
 Val was reduced to silence, but there was a long- 
 in strumental performance afterwards, during which bad 
 examples of chattering emboldened her to whisper — 
 
 ' Did you see Beatrice Varley ? And Miss Berry, 
 our singing-mistress — and Alexis White? Maura 
 says ' 
 
 Aunt Jane gave a touch and a frown which reduced 
 Valetta to silence at this critical moment ; and she 
 sat still through a good deal, only giving a little jump 
 when Alexis White, with various others, came to sing 
 a glee. 
 
 Gillian could study the youth, who certainly was, 
 as Aunt Ada said, remarkable for the cameo-like cutting 
 of his profile, though perhaps no one without an eye 
 for art would have remarked it, as he had the callow 
 unformed air of a lad of seventeen or eighteen, and 
 looked shy and grave; but his voice was a fine one, 
 and was heard to more advantage in the solos to a 
 hunting song which shortly followed. 
 
 Valetta had been rather alarmed at the applause at 
 first, but she soon found out what an opportunity it
 
 ioS BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 gave for conversation, and after a good deal of popping 
 her head about, she took advantage of the encores to 
 excuse herself by saying, ' I wanted to see if Maura 
 White was there. She was to go if Mrs. Lee — that's 
 the lodger — would take her. She says Kally won't 
 go, or sing, or anything, because ' 
 
 How tantalising ! the singers reappeared, and 
 Valetta was reduced to silence. Nor could the 
 subject be renewed in the interval between the parts, 
 for Major Dennis came and stood in front, and talked 
 to Miss Mohun ; and after that Valetta grew sleepy, 
 and nothing was to be got out of her till all was over, 
 when she awoke into extra animation, and chattered 
 so vehemently all the way home that her aunt advised 
 Gillian to get her to bed as quietly as possible, or she 
 would not sleep all night, and would be good for 
 nothing the next day. 
 
 Gillian, however, being given to think for herself in 
 all cases of counsel from Aunt Jane, thought it could 
 do no harm to beguile the brushing of the child's hair 
 by asking why Kalliope would not come to the concert. 
 
 ' Oh, it's a great secret ; but Maura told me in the 
 cloak-room. It is because Mr. Frank wants to be 
 her — to be her — her admirer,' said Valetta, cocking her 
 head on one side, and adding to the already crimson 
 colour of her cheeks. 
 
 ' Nonsense, Val ; what do you and Maura know of 
 such things ? ' 
 
 ' We aren't babies, Gill, and it is very unkind of
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE IC9 
 
 you, when you told me I was to make friends with 
 Maura White; and Kitty Varley is quite cross with 
 me about it.' 
 
 ' I told you to be kind to Maura, but not to talk 
 about such foolish things.' 
 
 ' I don't see why they should be foolish. It is 
 what we all must come to. Grown-up people do, as 
 Lois says. I heard Aunt Ada going on ever so long- 
 about Beatrice Varley and that gentleman.' 
 
 * It is just the disadvantage of that kind of school 
 that girls talk that sort of undesirable stuff,' Gillian 
 said to herself; but curiosity, or interest in the Whites, 
 prompted her to add, ' What did she tell you ? ' 
 
 ' If you are so cross, I shan't tell you. You hurt 
 my head, I say.' 
 
 ' Come, Yal, I ought to know.' 
 
 ' It's a secret.' 
 
 ' Then you should not have told me so much.' 
 
 Val laughed triumphantly, and called her sister 
 Mrs. Curiosity, and at that moment Aunt Jane knocked 
 at the door, and said Val was not to talk. 
 
 Val made an impatient face and began to whisper, 
 but Gillian had too much proper feeling to allow this 
 fiat disobedience, and would not listen, much as she 
 longed to do so. She heard her little sister rolling 
 and tossiug about a good deal, but made herself hard- 
 hearted on principle, and acted sleep. On her own 
 judgment, she would not waken the child in the 
 morning, and Aunt Jane said she was quite right, it
 
 no BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS! ONE chap. 
 
 would be better to let Val have her sleep out, than 
 send her to school fretful and half alive. ' But you 
 ought not to have let her talk last night/ 
 
 As usual, reproof was unpleasing, and silenced 
 Gillian. She hoped to extract the rest of the story in 
 the course of the day. But before breakfast was over 
 Valetta rushed in with her hat on, having scrambled 
 into her clothes in a hurry, and consuming her break- 
 fast in great haste, for she had no notion either of 
 losing her place in the class, or of missing the discussion 
 of the entertainment with Kitty, from whom she had 
 been so cruelly parted. 
 
 Tete-cc-tetes were not so easy as might have been 
 expected between two sisters occupying the same room, 
 for Valetta went to bed and to sleep long before Gillian, 
 and the morning toilette was a hurry ; besides, Gillian 
 had scruples, partly out of pride and partly out of con- 
 scientiousness, about encouraging Valetta in gossip or 
 showing her curiosity about it. Could she make any- 
 thing out from Kalliope herself? However, fortune 
 favoured her, for she came out of her class only a few steps 
 behind little Maura; and as some of Mr. Edgar's boys were 
 about, the child naturally regarded her as a protector. 
 
 Maura was quite as pretty as her elders, and had 
 more of a southern look. Perhaps she was proportion- 
 ably precocious, for she returned Gillian's greeting 
 without embarrassment, and was quite ready to enter 
 into conversation and show her gratification at compli- 
 ments upon her brother's voice.
 
 vr SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE in 
 
 ' And does not Kalliope sing ? I think she used to 
 sing very nicely in the old times.' 
 
 ' Oh yes/ said Maura ; c but she doesn't now.' 
 
 ' Why not ? Has not she time ? ' 
 
 ' That's not all,' said Maura, looking significant, and 
 an interrogative sound sufficed to brin^ out — ' It is 
 because of Mr. Frank.' 
 
 ' Mr. Frank Stebbing ?' 
 
 ' Yes. He was always after her, and would walk 
 home with her after the practices, though Alexis was 
 always there. / know that was the reason, for I 
 heard la mamma mia trying to persuade her to go on 
 with the society, and she was determined, and would 
 not. Alex said she was quite right, and it is very 
 tiresome of him, for now she never walks with us on 
 Sunday, and he used to come and give us bonbons and 
 crackers.' 
 
 ' Then she does not like him ? ' 
 
 ' She says it is not right or fitting, because Mr. and 
 Mrs. Stebbing would be against it ; but mamma said 
 he would get over them, if she would not be so stupid j 
 and he could make her quite a lady, like an officer's 
 daughter, as we are. Is it not a pity she won't, Miss 
 Gillian?' 
 
 ' I do not know. I think she is very good,' said 
 Gillian. 
 
 ' Oh ! but if she would, we might all be well off 
 again,' said little worldly-minded Maura ; ' and I should 
 not have to help her make the beds, and darn, and
 
 1 1 2 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 iron, and all sorts of horrid things, but we could live 
 properly, like ladies.' 
 
 ' I think it is more ladylike to act uprightly,' said 
 Gillian. 
 
 Wherewith, having made the discovery, and escorted 
 Maura beyond the reach of her enemies, she parted with 
 the child, and turned homewards. Gillian was at the 
 stage in which sensible maidens have a certain repug- 
 nance and contempt for the idea of love and lovers as 
 an interruption to the higher aims of life and destruc- 
 tion to family joys. Eomance in her eyes was the 
 exaltation of woman out of reach, and Maura's 
 communications inclined her to glorify Kalliope as 
 a heroine, molested by a very inconvenient person, 
 ' Spighted by a fool, spighted and angered both,' as 
 she quoted Imogen to herself. 
 
 It would be a grand history to tell Alethea of her 
 friend, when she should have learnt a little more about 
 it, as she intended to do on Sunday from Kalliope her- 
 self, who surely would be grateful for some sympathy 
 and friendship. Withal she recollected that it was 
 Indian-mail day, and hurried home to see whether the 
 midday post had brought any letters. Her two aunts 
 were talking eagerly, but suddenly broke off as she 
 opened the door. 
 
 ' Well, Gillian ' began Aunt Ada. 
 
 ' No, no ; let her see for herself,' said Aunt Jane. 
 
 ' Oh ! I hope nothing is the matter V she exclaimed, 
 seeing a letter to herself on the table.
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 113 
 
 1 No ; rather the reverse.' 
 
 A horrible suspicion, as she afterwards called it, 
 came over Gillian as she tore open the letter. There 
 were two small notes. The first was — 
 
 'Dear little Gill — I am going to give you a 
 new brother. Mother will tell you all. — Your loving 
 sister, P. E. M.' 
 
 She gasped, and looked at the other. 
 
 ' Dearest Gilliax — After all you have heard about 
 Frank, perhaps you will know that I am very happy. 
 You cannot guess how happy, and it is so delightful 
 that mamma is charmed with him. He has got two 
 medals and three clasps. There are so many to write 
 to, I can only give my poor darling this little word. 
 She will find it is only having another to be as fond of 
 her as her old Alley.' 
 
 Gillian looked up in a bewildered state, and gasped 
 'Both!' 
 
 Aunt Jane could not help smiling a little, and 
 saying, ' Yes, both at one fell swoop.' 
 
 'It's dreadful,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' My dear, if you want to keep your sisters to your- 
 self, you should not let them go to India,' said Aunt 
 Ada. 
 
 ' They said they wouldn't ! They were quite angry 
 at the notion of being so c, nmonplace,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' Oh, no one knows till her time comes !' said Aunt 
 Jane. 
 
 VOL. I I
 
 114 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Gillian now applied herself to her mother's letter, 
 which was also short. 
 
 ' My dearest Gillyflower — I know this will be a 
 great blow to yon, as indeed it was to me ; bnt we mnst 
 not be selfish, and mnst remember that the sisters' 
 happiness and welfare is the great point. I wish I 
 conld write to yon more at length ; bnt time will not 
 let me, scattered as are all my poor flock at home. 
 So I mnst leave yon to learn the bare public facts 
 from Aunt Jane, and only say my especial private 
 words to yon. Yon are used to being brevet eldest 
 daughter to me, now you will have to be so to papa, 
 who is mending fast, but, I think, will come home with 
 me. Isn't that news ? Your loving mother.' 
 
 ' They have told you all about it, Aunt Jane V said 
 Gillian. 
 
 ' Yes ; they have been so cruel as not even to tell 
 you the names of these robbers ? Well, I dare say 
 you had rather read my letter than hear it.' 
 
 ' Thank you very much, Aunt Jane ! May I take 
 it upstairs with me ? ' 
 
 Consent was readily given, and Gillian had just 
 time for her first cursory reading before luncheon. 
 
 1 Dearest Jenny — Fancy what burst upon me only 
 the day after my coming — though really we ought to be 
 very thankful. You might perhaps have divined what 
 was brewing from the letters. Jasper knew of one and 
 suspected the other before the accident, and he says it
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 115 
 
 prevented him from telegraphing to stop me, for he 
 was sure one or both the girls would want their mother. 
 Phyllis began it. Hers is a young merchant just taken 
 into the great Underwood firm. Bernard Underwood, 
 a very nice fellow, brother to the husband of one of 
 Harry May's sisters — very much liked and respected, 
 and, by the way, an uncommonly handsome man. 
 That was imminent before Jasper's accident, and the 
 letter to prepare me must be reposing in Harry's care. 
 Mr. Underwood came down with Claude to meet me 
 when I landed, and I scented danger in his eye. But 
 it is all right — only his income is entirely professional, 
 and they will have to live out here for some time to 
 come. 
 
 ' The other only spoke yesterday, having abstained 
 from worrying his General. He is Lord Francis 
 Somerville, son to Lord Liddesdale, and a captain in 
 the Glen Lorn Highlanders, who have not above a 
 couple of years to stay in these parts. He was with 
 the riding party when Jasper fell, and was the first to 
 lift him ; indeed, he held him all the time of waiting, 
 for poor Claude trembled too much. He was an 
 immense help through the nursing, and they came to 
 know and depend on him as nothing else would have 
 made them do ; and they proved how sincerely right- 
 minded and good he is. There is some connection with 
 the Underwoods, though I have not quite fathomed it. 
 There is no fear about home consent, for it seems that 
 he is given to outpourings to his mother, and had heard
 
 u6 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 that if he thought of Sir Jasper Merrifield's daughter 
 his parents would welcome her, knowing what Sir J. 
 is. There's for you ! considering that we have next to 
 nothing to give the child, and Frank has not much 
 fortune ; but Alethea is trained to the soldierly life, 
 and they will be better off than Jasper and I were. 
 
 ' The worst of it is leaving them behind ; and as 
 neither of the gentlemen can afford a journey home, we 
 mean to have the double wedding before Lent. As to 
 outfit, the native tailors must be chiefly trusted to, or 
 the stores at Calcutta, and I must send out the rest when 
 I come home. Only please send by post my wedding 
 veil (Gillian knows where it is), together with another 
 as like it as may be. Any slight lace decorations to 
 make us respectable which suggest themselves to you 
 and her might come ; I can't recollect or mention them 
 now. I wish Eeginald could come and tell you all, but 
 the poor fellow has to go home full pelt about those 
 Irish. Jasper is writing to William, and you must 
 get business particulars from him, and let Gillian and 
 the little ones hear, for there is hardly any time to 
 write. Phyllis, being used to the idea, is very quiet 
 and matter-of-fact about it. She hoped, indeed, that I 
 guessed nothing till I was satisfied about papa, and had 
 had time to rest. Alethea is in a much more April 
 condition, and I am glad Frank waited till I was here 
 on her account and on her father's. He is going on 
 well, but must keep still. He declares that being 
 nursed by two pair of lovers is highly amusing.
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 117 
 
 However, such homes being found for two of the tribe 
 is a great relief to his mind. I suppose it is to one's 
 rational mind, though it is a terrible tug at one's heart- 
 strings. You shall hear again by the next mail. A 
 brown creature waits to take this to be posted. — Your 
 loving sister, L. M.' 
 
 Gillian came down to dinner quite pale, and to 
 Aunt Ada's kind 'Well, Gillian?' she could only 
 repeat, ' It is horrid.' 
 
 ' It is hard to lose all the pretty double wedding,' 
 said Aunt Ada. 
 
 ' Gillian does not mean that/ hastily put in Miss 
 Mohun. 
 
 ' Oh no,' said Gillian ; c that would be worse than 
 anything.' 
 
 ' So you think/ said Aunt Jane ; ' but believe those 
 who have gone through it all, my dear; when the 
 wrench is over, one feels the benefit.' 
 
 Gillian shook her head, and drank water. Her 
 aunts went on talking, for they thought it better that 
 she should get accustomed to the prospect ; and, more- 
 over, they were so much excited that they could hardly 
 have spoken of anything else. Aunt Jane wondered if 
 Phyllis's betrothed were a brother of Mr. Underwood 
 of St. Matthew's, Whittingtown, with whom she had 
 corresponded about the consumptive home ; and Aunt 
 Ada regretted the not having called on Lady Liddesdale 
 when she had spent some weeks at Eockstone, and
 
 H8 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 consoled herself by recollecting that Lord Eotherwood 
 would know all about the family. She had already 
 looked it out in the Peerage, and discovered that Lord 
 Francis Cunningham Somerville was the only younger 
 son, that his age was twenty-nine, and that he had 
 three sisters, all married, as well as his elder brother, 
 who had children enough to make it improbable that 
 Alethea would ever be Lady Liddesdale. She would 
 have shown Gillian the record, but received the un- 
 gracious answer, ' I hate swells.' 
 
 ' Let her alone, Ada,' said Aunt Jane ; ' it is a 
 very sore business. She will be better by and by.' 
 
 There ensued a little discussion how the veil at 
 Silverfold was to be hunted up, or if Gillian and her 
 aunt must go to do so. 
 
 ' Can you direct Miss Vincent ? ' asked Miss Mohun. 
 
 1 No, I don't think I could ; besides, I don't like 
 to set any one to poke and meddle in mamma's 
 drawers.' 
 
 ' And she could hardly judge what could be avail- 
 able,' added Miss Ada. 
 
 1 Gillian must go to find it,' said Aunt Jane ; ' and 
 let me see, when have I a day ? Saturday is never 
 
 free, and Monday I could ask Mrs. Hablot to 
 
 take the cutting out, and then I could look up Lily's 
 Brussels ' 
 
 There she caught a sight of Gillian's face. Perhaps 
 one cause of the alienation the girl felt for her aunt 
 was, that there was a certain kindred likeness between
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 119 
 
 them which enabled each to divine the other's in- 
 quiring disposition, though it had different effects on 
 the elder and younger character. Jane Mohun sus- 
 pected that she had on her ferret look, and guessed 
 that Gillian's disgusted air meant that the idea of her 
 turning over Lady Merrifield's drawers was almost as 
 distasteful as that of the governess's doing it. 
 
 ' Suppose Gillian goes down on Monday with 
 Fanny,' she said. ' She could manage very well, I am 
 sure.' 
 
 Gillian cleared up a little. There is much con- 
 solation in being of a little importance, and she liked 
 the notion of a day at home, a quiet day, as she hoped 
 in her present mood, of speaking to nobody. Her 
 aunt let her have her own way, and only sent a card 
 to Macrae to provide for meeting and for food, not 
 even letting Miss Vincent know that she was coming. 
 That feeling of not being able to talk about it or be 
 congratulated would wear off, Aunt Jane said, if she 
 was not worried or argued with, in which case it 
 might become perverse affectation. 
 
 It certainly was not shared by the children. 
 Sisters unseen for three years could hardly be very 
 prominent in their minds. Fergus hoped that they 
 would ride to the wedding upon elephants, and Valetta 
 thought it very hard to miss the being a bridesmaid, 
 when Kitty Varley had already enjoyed the honour. 
 However, she soon began to glorify herself on the 
 beauty of Alethea's future title.
 
 120 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 What will Kitty Varley and all say ? ' was her cry. 
 
 'Nothing, nnless they are snobs, as girls always 
 are,' said Fergus. 
 
 ' It is not a nice word/ said Miss Adeline. 
 
 1 But there's nothing else that expresses it, Aunt 
 Ada/ returned Gillian. 
 
 ' I agree to a certain degree/ said Miss Mohun ; 
 ' but still I am not sure what it does express.' 
 
 'Just what girls of that sort are/ said Gillian. 
 1 Mere worshippers of any sort of handle to one's name.' 
 
 1 Gillian, Gillian, you are not going in for levelling/ 
 cried Aunt Adeline. 
 
 ' No/ said Gillian ; c but I call it snobbish to make 
 more fuss about Alethea's concern than Phyllis's — just 
 because he calls himself Lord ' 
 
 1 That is to a certain degree true/ said Miss Mohun. 
 1 The worth of the individual man stands first of all, 
 and nothing can be sillier or in worse taste than to 
 parade one's grand relations.' 
 
 ' To parade, yes/ said Aunt Adeline ; ' but there is 
 no doubt that good connections are a great advantage/ 
 
 ' Assuredly/ said Miss Mohun. ' Good birth and 
 an ancestry above shame are really a blessing, though 
 it has come to be the fashion to sneer at them. I do 
 not mean merely in the eyes of the world, though it 
 is something to have a name that answers for your 
 relations being respectable. But there are such things 
 as hereditary qualities, and thus testimony to the 
 existence of a distinguished forefather is worth having/
 
 vi SINGLE MISFORTUNES NEVER COME ALONE 121 
 
 ' Lily's dear old Sir Maurice cle Mohun to wit/ 
 said Miss Adeline. ' You know she used to tease 
 Florence by saying the Barons of Beechcroft had a 
 better pedigree than the Devereuxes.' 
 
 ' I'd rather belong to the man who made himself/ 
 said Gillian. 
 
 ' Well done, Gill ! But though your father won 
 his own spurs, you can't get rid of his respectable 
 Merrifield ancestry wherewith he started in life.' 
 
 ' I don't want to. I had rather have them than 
 horrid robber Borderers, such as no doubt these Licldes- 
 dale people were.' 
 
 There was a little laughing at this ; but Gillian was 
 saying in her own mind that it was a fine thing to be 
 one's own Bodolf of Hapsburg, and in that light she 
 held Captain White, who, in her present state of mind, 
 she held to have been a superior being to all the 
 Somervilles — perhaps to all the Devereuxes who ever 
 existed.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 AX EMPTY NEST 
 
 There had been no injunctions of secrecy, and though 
 neither Miss Mohun nor Gillian had publicly mentioned 
 the subject, all Rockquay who cared for the news knew 
 by Sunday morning that Lady Merrifield's two elder 
 daughters were engaged. 
 
 Gillian, in the course of writing her letters, had 
 become somewhat familiarised with the idea, and really 
 looked forward to talking it over with Kalliope. Though 
 that young person could hardly be termed Alethea's 
 best friend, it was certain that Alethea stood foremost 
 with her, and that her interest in the matter would be 
 verv loving. 
 
 Accordingly, Kalliope was at the place of meeting 
 even before Gillian, and anxiously she looked as she 
 said — 
 
 1 May I venture — may I ask if it is true ? ' 
 ' True ? Oh yes, Kally ; I knew you would care.' 
 ' Indeed, I well may. There is no expressing how 
 much I owe to dear Miss Alethea and Lady Merrifield, 
 and it is such a delight to hear of them.'
 
 chap, vii AN EMPTY NEST 123 
 
 Accordingly, Gillian communicated the facts as she 
 knew them, and offered to give any message. 
 
 I Only my dear love and congratulations,' said 
 Kalliope, with a little sigh. ' I should like to have 
 written, but ' 
 
 ' But why don't you, then ? ' 
 
 ' Oh no ; she would be too much engaged to think 
 of us, and it would only worry her to be asked for 
 her advice.' 
 
 I I think I know what it is about,' said Gillian. 
 
 ' How ? Oh, how do you know ? Did Mr. Flight 
 say anything ? ' 
 
 ' Mr. Flight ? ' exclaimed Gillian. ' What has he 
 to do with it ? ' 
 
 ' It was foolish, perhaps ; but I did hope he might 
 have helped Alexis, and now he seems only to care 
 for his music' 
 
 ' Helped him ! How ? ' 
 
 ' Perhaps it was unreasonable, but Alexis has always 
 been to good schools. He was getting on beautifully 
 at Leeds, and we thought he would have gained a 
 scholarship and gone on to be a clergyman. That 
 was what his mind has always been fixed upon. You 
 cannot think how good and devoted he is,' said Kalliope 
 with a low trembling voice ; ' and my father wished 
 it very much too. But when the break-up came, Mr. 
 White made our not being too fine, as he said, to work, 
 a sort of condition of doing anything for us. Mr. 
 Moore did tell him what Alexis is, but I believe he
 
 124 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 thought it all nonsense, and there was nothing to be 
 done. Alexis — clear fellow — took it so nicely, said he 
 was thankful to be able to help mother, and if it was 
 his duty and God's will, it was sure to come right ; and 
 he has been plodding away at the marble works ever 
 since, quite patiently and resolutely, but trying to keep 
 up his studies in the evening, only now he has worked 
 through all his old school-books.' 
 
 'And does not Mr. Flight know that I will help 
 him ? ' 
 
 ' Well, Mr. Flight means to be kind, and sometimes 
 seems to think much of him ; but it is all for his 
 music, I am afraid. He is always wanting new things 
 to be learnt and practised, and those take up so much 
 time ; and though he does lend us books, they are of 
 no use for study, though they only make the clear boy 
 loucy and loner the more to 2;et on.' 
 
 1 Does not Mr. Flight know ? ' 
 
 1 I am not sure. I think he does ; but in his 
 ardour for music he seems to forget all about it. It 
 does seem such a pity that all Alexis's time should 
 be wasted in this drudgery. If I could only be sure of 
 more extra work for my designs, I could set him free ; 
 and if Sir Jasper were only at home, I am sure he 
 would put the boy in the way of earning his education. 
 If it were only as a pupil teacher, he would be glad ; 
 but then he says he ought not to throw all on me.' 
 
 ' Oh, he must be very good ! ' exclaimed Gillian. 
 * I am sure papa will help him ! I wish I could.
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 125 
 
 Oh ! ' — with a sudden recollection — ( I wonder what 
 books he wants most. I am going to Silverfold to- 
 morrow, and there are lots of old school-books there of 
 the boys', doing nothing, that I know he might have.' 
 
 ' Oh, Miss Gillian, how good of you ! How de- 
 lighted he would be ! ' 
 
 ' Do you know what he wants most ? ' 
 
 1 A Greek grammar and lexicon most of all,' was the 
 ready answer. ' He has been trying to find them at 
 the second-hand shop ever so long; but I am afraid 
 there is no hope of a lexicon. They are so large and 
 expensive.' 
 
 ' 1 think there is an old one of Jasper's, if he would 
 not mind its back being off, and lots of blots.' 
 
 ' He would mind nothing. Oh, Miss Gillian, you 
 can't think how happy he will be.' 
 
 ' If there is anything else he wants very much, 
 how could he let me know ? ' mused Gillian. ' Oh, I 
 see ! What time are you at the works ? ' 
 
 ' Alex is there at seven ; I don't go till nine.' 
 
 'I am to be at the station at 8.40. Could you or 
 Maura meet me there and tell me ? ' 
 
 To this Kalliope agreed, for she said she could be 
 sure of getting to her post in time afterwards, and she 
 seemed quite overjoyed. No one could look at her 
 without perceiving that Alexis was the prime thought 
 of her heart, and Gillian delighted her by repeating 
 Aunt Adeline's admiration of his profile, and the 
 general opinion of his singing.
 
 126 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 1 am so sorry you have had to give it up/ she 
 added. 
 
 ' It can't be helped/ Kalliope said ; ' and I really 
 have no time.' 
 
 ' But that's not all/ said Gillian, beginning to blush 
 herself. 
 
 ' Oh ! I hope there's no gossip or nonsense about 
 that' cried Kalliope, her cheeks naming. 
 
 < Only ' 
 
 ' Not Maura ? Naughty little girl, I did not think 
 she knew anything. Not that there is anything to 
 tell/ said Kalliope, much distressed ; ' but it is dread- 
 ful that there should be such talk.' 
 
 1 1 thought it was that you meant when you said 
 you wanted advice.' 
 
 ' No one could advise me, I am afraid/ said the 
 girl. ' If we could only go away from this place ! 
 But that's impossible, and I dare say the fancy will 
 soon go off ! ' 
 
 ' Then you don't care for him ? ' 
 
 c My dear Miss Gillian, when I have seen gentle- 
 men ! ' said Kalliope, in a tone that might have cured 
 her admirer. 
 
 They had, however, talked longer than usual, and 
 the notes of the warning bell came up, just when 
 Gillian had many more questions to ask, and she had 
 to run down the garden all in a glow with eagerness 
 and excitement, so that Aunt Ada asked if she had 
 been standing in the sea wind. Her affirmative was
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 127 
 
 true enough, and yet she was almost ashamed of it, as 
 not the whole truth, and there was a consciousness 
 about her all the afternoon which made her soon regret 
 that conversation was chiefly absorbed by the younger 
 one's lamentations that they were not to accompany 
 her to Silverfold, and by their commissions. Fergus 
 wanted a formidable amount of precious tools, and 
 inchoate machines, which Mrs. Halfpenny had regarded 
 as ' mess,' and utterly refused to let his aunts be 
 1 fashed ' with ; while Valetta's orders were chiefly for 
 the visiting all the creatures, so as to bring an exact 
 account of the health and spirits of Eigdum Funnidos, 
 etc., also for some favourite story-books which she 
 wished to lend to Kitty Varley and Maura White. 
 
 I For do you know, Gill, Maura has never had 
 a new story-book since mamma gave her Little 
 Alice and her Sister, when she was seven years old ! 
 Do bring her Stories they tell me, and On Angel's 
 Wings! 
 
 ' But is not that Mysie's ? ' 
 
 ' Oh yes ; but I know Mysie would let her have it. 
 Mysie always let Maura have everything of hers, 
 because the boys teased her.' 
 
 I I will bring it ; but I think Mysie ought to be 
 written to before it is lent.' 
 
 ' That is right, Gillian,' said Miss Mohun ; ' it is 
 always wiser to be above-board when dealing with 
 other people's things, even in trifles.' 
 
 Why did this sound like a reproach, and as if it
 
 128 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 implied suspicion that Gillian was not acting on that 
 principle ? She resented the feeling. She knew she 
 might do as she liked with the boys' old books, for 
 which they certainly had no affection, and which indeed 
 her mother had talked of offering to some of those 
 charities which have a miscellaneous appetite, and 
 wonderful power of adaptation of the disused. Besides, 
 though no one could have the least objection to their 
 being bestowed on the Whites, the very fact of this 
 being her third secret meeting with Kalliope was 
 beginning to occasion an awkwardness in accounting for 
 her knowledge of their needs. It was obvious to ask 
 why she had not mentioned the first meeting, and 
 this her pride would not endure. She had told her 
 parents by letter. What more could be desired ? 
 
 Again, when she would not promise to see either 
 Miss Vincent or the Miss Hackets, because ' she did 
 not want to have a fuss,' Aunt Jane said she thought 
 it a pity, with regard at least to the governess, who 
 might feel herself hurt at the neglect, 'and needless 
 secrets are always unadvisable.' 
 
 Gillian could hardly repress a wriggle, but her 
 Aunt Ada laughed, saying, * Especially with you about, 
 Jenny, for you always find them out.' 
 
 At present, however, Miss Mohun certainly had no 
 suspicion. Gillian was very much afraid she would 
 think proper to come to the station in the morning ; 
 but she was far too busy, and Gillian started off in 
 the omnibus alone with Mrs. Mount in handsome
 
 tii AN EMPTY NEST 129 
 
 black silk trim, to be presented to Mr. Macrae, and 
 much enjoying the trip, having been well instructed 
 by Fergus and Valetta in all that she was to see. 
 
 Kalliope was descried as the omnibus stopped, and 
 in a few seconds Gillian had shaken hands with her, 
 received the note, and heard the ardent thanks sent 
 from Alexis, and which the tattered books — even if 
 they proved to be right — would scarcely deserve. He 
 would come with his sister to receive the parcel at the 
 station on Gillian's return — at 5.29, an offer which 
 obviated any further difficulties as to conveyance. 
 
 Mrs. Mount was intent upon the right moment to 
 run the gauntlet for the tickets ; and had it been 
 otherwise, would have seen nothing remarkable in her 
 charge being accosted by a nice-looking ladylike girl. So 
 on they rushed upon their way, Gillian's spirits rising 
 in a curious sense of liberty and holiday-making. 
 
 In due time they arrived, and were received by 
 Macrae with the pony carriage, while the trees of 
 Silverfold looked exquisite in their autumn red, gold, 
 and brown. 
 
 But the dreariness of the deserted house, with no 
 one on the steps but Quiz, and all the furniture muffled 
 in sheets, struck Gillian more than she had expected, 
 though the schoolroom had been wakened up for her, 
 a bright fire on the hearth, and the cockatoo highly 
 conversational, the cats so affectionate that it was 
 difficult to take a step without stumbling over one of 
 them. 
 
 vol. 1 K
 
 130 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 When the business had all been despatched, the 
 wedding veil disinterred, and the best Brussels and 
 Honiton safely disposed in a box ; when an extremely 
 dilapidated and much-inked collection of school-books 
 had been routed out of the backstairs cupboard 
 (commonly called Erebus) and duly packed ; when a 
 selection of lighter literature had been made with a 
 view both to Valetta and Lilian ; when Gillian had 
 shown all she could to Mrs. Mount, visited all the 
 animals, gone round the garden, and made two beautiful 
 posies of autumn flowers, one for her little sister and 
 the other for Kalliope, discovered that Fergus's precious 
 machine had been ruthlessly made away with, but 
 secured his tools, — she found eating partridge in solitary 
 grandeur rather dreary work, though she had all the 
 bread-sauce to herself, and cream to her apple tart, to 
 say nothing of Macrae, waiting upon her as if she had 
 been a duchess, and conversing in high exultation upon 
 the marriages, only regretting that one gentleman should 
 be a civilian ; he had always augured that all his 
 young ladies would be in the Service, and begging that 
 he might be made aware of the wedding-day, so as to 
 have the bells rung. 
 
 To express her own feelings to the butler was not 
 possible, and his glee almost infected her. She was 
 quite sorry when, having placed a choice of pears and 
 October peaches before her, he went off to entertain 
 Mrs. Mount; and after packing a substratum of the 
 fruit in the basket for the Whites, she began almost
 
 vii AN EMPTY NES T 131 
 
 to repent of having insisted on not returning to Eock- 
 stone till the four o'clock train, feeling her solitary 
 liberty oppressive ; and finally she found herself walking 
 down the drive in search of Miss Vincent. 
 
 She had to confess to herself that her aunt was 
 quite right, and that the omission would have been a 
 real unkindness, when she saw how worn and tired the 
 governess looked, and the brightness that flashed over 
 the pale face at sight of her. Mrs. Vincent had been 
 much worse, and though slightly better for the present 
 was evidently in a critical state, very exhausting to 
 her daughter. 
 
 Good Miss Hacket at that moment came in to sit 
 with her, and send the daughter out for some air ; and 
 it was well that Gillian had had some practice in 
 telling her story not too disconsolately, for it was 
 received with all the delight that the mere notion of 
 a marriage seems to inspire, though Phyllis and Alethea 
 had scarcely been seen at Silverfold before they had 
 gone to India with their father. 
 
 Miss Hacket had to be content with the names 
 before she hastened up to the patient ; but Miss 
 Vincent walked back through the paddock with Gillian, 
 talking over what was more personally interesting to 
 the governess, the success of her own pupils, scattered 
 as they were, and comparing notes upon Mysie's letters. 
 One of these Miss Vincent had just received by the 
 second post, having been written to announce the great 
 news, and it continued in true Mysie fashion : —
 
 1 32 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 Cousin Botkerwood knows all about them, and 
 says they will have a famous set of belongings. He 
 will take me to see some of them if we go to London 
 before mamma comes home. Bernard Underwood's 
 sister is married to Mr. Grinstead, the sculptor who 
 did the statue of Mercy at the Gate that Harry gave 
 a photograph of to mamma, and she paints pictures 
 herself. I want to see them ; but I do not know 
 whether we shall stay in London, for they do not think 
 it agrees with Fly. I do more lessons than she does 
 now, and I have read through all Autour cle mon Jar din. 
 I have a letter from Dolores too, and she thinks that 
 Aunt Phyllis and all are coming home to make a visit 
 in England for Uncle Harry to see his father, and she 
 wishes very much that they would bring her ; but it 
 is not to be talked about for fear they should be 
 hindered, and old Dr. May hear of it and be disap- 
 pointed ; but you won't see any one to tell.' 
 
 ' There, what have I done ? ' exclaimed Miss Vincent 
 in dismay. ' But I had only just got the letter, and 
 had barely glanced through it.' 
 
 ' Besides, who would have thought of Mysie having 
 any secrets ? ' said Gillian. 
 
 ' After all, I suppose no harm is done ; for you 
 can't have any other connection with these Mays.' 
 
 ' Oh yes, there will be ; for I believe a brother of 
 this man of Phyllis's married one of the Miss Mays, 
 and I suppose we shall have to get mixed up with the 
 whole lot. How I do hate strangers ! But I'll take
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 133 
 
 care, Miss Vincent, indeed I will. One is not bound 
 to tell one's aunts everything like one's mother.' 
 
 1 No,' said Miss Vincent decidedly ; ' especially 
 when it is another person's secret betrayed through 
 inadvertence.' Perhaps she thought Gillian looked 
 dangerously gratified, for she added : ' However, you 
 know poor Dolores did not find secrecy answer.' 
 
 ' Oh, there are secrets and secrets, and aunts and 
 aunts ! ' said Gillian. ' Dolores had no mother.' 
 
 ' It makes a difference,' said Miss Vincent. ' I 
 should never ask you to conceal anything from Lady 
 Merrifield. Besides, this is not a matter of conduct, 
 only a report.' 
 
 Gillian would not pursue the subject. Perhaps she 
 was a little disingenuous with her conscience, for 
 she wanted to carry off the impression that Miss 
 Vincent had pronounced concealment from her aunts 
 to be justifiable ; and she knew at the bottom of her 
 heart that her governess would condemn a habit of 
 secret intimacy with any one being carried on without 
 the knowledge of her hostess and guardian for the 
 time being, — above all when it was only a matter of 
 waiting. 
 
 It is a fine thing for self-satisfaction to get an 
 opinion without telling the whole of the facts of the 
 case, and Gillian went home in high spirits, considerably 
 encumbered with parcels, and surprising Mrs. Mount 
 by insisting that two separate packages should be made 
 of the books.
 
 134 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Kalliope and Alexis were both awaiting her at 
 the station, their gratitude unbounded, and finding 
 useful vent by the latter fetching a cab and handing 
 in the goods. 
 
 It was worth something to see how happy the 
 brother and sister looked, as they went off in the 
 gaslight, the one with the big brown paper parcel, the 
 other with the basket of fruit and flowers ; and 
 Gillian's explanation to Mrs. Mount that they were 
 old friends of her soldiering days was quite satisfactory. 
 
 There was a grand unpacking. Aunt Ada was 
 pleased with the late roses, and Aunt Jane that there 
 had been a recollection of Lilian Giles, to whom she 
 had thought her niece far too indifferent. Valetta 
 fondled the flowers, and was gratified to hear of the 
 ardent affection of the Begum and the health of Eigdum, 
 though Gillian was forced to confess that she had not 
 transferred to him the kiss that she had been commis- 
 sioned to convey. Nobody was disappointed except 
 Fergus, who could not but vituperate the housemaids for 
 the destruction of his new patent guillotine for mice, 
 which was to have been introduced to Clement Varley. 
 To be sure it would hardly ever act, and had never 
 cut off the head of anything save a dandelion ; but 
 that was a trifling consideration. 
 
 A letter from Mysie was awaiting Gillian, not 
 lengthy, for there was a long interval between Mysie's 
 brains and her pen, and saying nothiDg about the New 
 Zealand report. The selection of lace was much
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 135 
 
 approved, and the next day there was to be an 
 expedition to endeavour to get the veil matched as 
 nearly as possible. The only dangerous moment was 
 at breakfast the next day, when Miss Mohun said — 
 
 ' Fanny was delighted with Silverfold. Macrae 
 seems to have been the pink of politeness to her.' 
 
 ' She must come when the house is alive again,' 
 said Gillian. ' What would she think of it then ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, that would be perfectly delicious,' cried 
 Valetta. ' She would see Begum and Eigdum ' 
 
 'And I could show her how to work the lawn 
 cutter,' added Fergus. 
 
 ' By the bye,' said Aunt Jane, f whom have you been 
 lending books to ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, to the Whites,' said Gillian, colouring, as she 
 felt more than she could wish. ' There were some old 
 school-books that I thought would be useful to them, 
 and I was sure mamma would like them to have some 
 flowers and fruit.' 
 
 She felt herself very candid; but why would 
 Aunt Jane look at those tell-tale cheeks. 
 
 Sunday was wet, or rather ' misty moisty,' with a raw 
 sea-fog overhanging everything — not bad enough, how- 
 ever, to keep any one except Aunt Ada from church or 
 school, though she decidedly remonstrated against 
 Gillian's going out for her wandering in the garden in 
 such weather; and, if she had been like the other 
 aunt, might almost have been convinced that such deter- 
 mination must be for an object. However, Gillian
 
 136 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 encountered the fog in vain, though she walked up 
 and down the path till her clothes were quite limp and 
 flabby with damp. All the view that rewarded her 
 was the outline of the shrubs looming through the 
 mist like distant forests as mountains. Moreover, she 
 got a scolding from Aunt Ada, who met her coming 
 in, and was horrified at the misty atmosphere which 
 she was said to have brought in, and insisted on her 
 going at once to change her dress, and staying by the 
 fireside all the rest of the afternoon. 
 
 ' I cannot think what makes her so eager about 
 going out in the afternoon,' said the younger aunt to 
 the elder. ' It is impossible that she can have any 
 reason for it.' 
 
 ' Only Sunday restlessness,' said Miss Mohun, ' added 
 to the reckless folly of the "Backfisch " about health.' 
 
 * That's true,' said Adeline ; ' girls must be either so 
 delicate that they are quite helpless, or so strong as to 
 be absolutely weather-proof.' 
 
 Fortune, however, favoured Gillian when next she 
 went to Lily Giles. She had never succeeded in taking 
 real interest in the girl, who seemed to her to be so 
 silly and sentimental that an impulse to answer drily 
 instantly closed up all inclination to effusions of confi- 
 dence. Gillian had not yet learnt breadth of charity 
 enough to understand that everybody does not feel, or 
 express feeling, after the same pattern; that gush is 
 not always either folly or insincerity ; and that girls 
 of Lily's class are about at the same stage of culture
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 137 
 
 as the young ladies of whom her namesake in the 
 Inheritance is the type. When Lily showed her in 
 some little magazine the weakest of poetry, and called 
 it so sweet, just like ' dear Mr. Grant's lovely sermon, 
 the last she had heard. Did he not look so like a 
 saint in his surplice and white stole, with his holy face 
 and beautiful blue eyes; it was enough to make any 
 one feel good to look at him,' Gillian simply replied, 
 ' Oh, / never think of the clergyman's • looks,' and 
 hurried to her book, feeling infinitely disgusted and 
 contemptuous, never guessing that these poor verses, 
 and the curate's sermons and devotional appearance 
 were, to the young girl's heart, the symbols of all that 
 was sacred, and all that was refined, and that the 
 thought of them was the solace of her lonely and 
 suffering hours. Tolerant sympathy is one of the 
 latest lessons of life, and perhaps it is well that only 
 
 ' The calm temper of our age should be 
 Like the high leaves upon the holly-tree,' 
 
 for the character in course of formation needs to be 
 guarded by prickles. 
 
 However, on this day Undine was to be finished, 
 for Gillian was in haste to begin Katharine Ashton, 
 which would, she thought, be much more wholesome 
 reality, so she went on later than usual, and came away 
 at last, leaving her auditor dissolved in tears over poor 
 Undine's act of justice. 
 
 As Mrs. Giles, full of thanks, opened the little 
 garden-gate just as twilight was falling, Gillian beheld
 
 138 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 Kalliope and Alexis White coming up together from 
 the works, and eagerly met and shook hands with 
 them. The dark days were making them close earlier, 
 they explained ; and as Kalliope happened to have 
 nothing to finish or purchase, she was able to come 
 home with her brother. 
 
 Therewith Alexis began to express, with the diffi- 
 dence of extreme gratitude, his warm thanks for the 
 benefaction of books, which were exactly what he had 
 wanted and longed for. His foreign birth enabled him 
 to do this much more prettily and less clumsily than 
 an English boy, and Gillian was pleased, though she 
 told him that her brother's old ill-used books were far 
 from worthy of such thanks. 
 
 'Ah, you cannot guess how precious they are to 
 me !' said Alexis. ' They are the restoration of hope.' 
 
 1 And can you get on by yourself ? ' asked Gillian. 
 ' Is it not very difficult without any teacher ?' 
 
 'People have taught themselves before,' returned 
 the youth, ' so I hope to do so myself ; but of course 
 there are many questions I long to ask.' 
 
 1 Perhaps I could answer some,' said Gillian ; 'I have 
 done some classics with a tutor.' 
 
 ' Oh, thank you, Miss Merrifield,' he said eagerly. 
 ' If you could make me understand the force of the 
 aorist.' 
 
 It so happened that Gillian had the explanation at 
 her tongue's end, and it was followed by another, and 
 another, till one occurred which could hardly be com-
 
 vii AN EMPTY NEST 139 
 
 prehended without reference to the passage, upon which 
 Alexis pulled a Greek Testament out of his pocket, and 
 his sister could not help exclaiming — 
 
 1 Oh, Alexis, you can't ask Miss Merrifield to do 
 Greek with you out in the street.' 
 
 Certainly it was awkward, the more so as Mrs. 
 Stebbing just then drove by in her carriage. 
 
 ' What a pity !' exclaimed Gillian. ' But if you 
 would set down any difficulties, you could send them to 
 me by Kalliope on Sunday.' 
 
 ' Oh, Miss Merrifield, how very good of you !' 
 exclaimed Alexis, his face lighting up with joy. 
 
 But Kalliope looked doubtful, and began a hesitat- 
 ing ' But ' 
 
 ' I'll tell you of a better way !' exclaimed Gillian. 
 ' I always go once a week to read to this Lilian Giles, 
 and if I come down afterwards to Kalliope's office after 
 you have struck work, I could see to anything you 
 wanted to ask.' 
 
 Alexis broke out into the most eager thanks. 
 Kalliope said hardly anything, and as they had reached 
 the place where the roads diverged, they bade one 
 another good-evening. 
 
 Gillian looked after the brother and sister just as 
 the gas was being lighted, and could almost guess 
 what Alexis was saying, by his gestures of delight. She 
 did not hear, and did not guess how Kalliope answered, 
 ' Don't set your heart on it too much, dear fellow, 
 for I should greatly doubt whether Miss Gillian's aunts
 
 i 4 o BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap, vii 
 
 will consent. Oh yes, of course, if they permit her, 
 it will he all right.' 
 
 So Gillian went her way feeling that she had found 
 her ' great thing.' Training a minister for the Church ! 
 Was not that a ' great thing '?
 
 CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 Gillian's pupil 
 
 Gillian was not yet seventeen, and had lived a home 
 life totally removed from gossip ; so that she had no 
 notion that she was doing a more awkward or remark- 
 able thing than if she had been teaching a drummer- 
 boy. She even deliberated whether she should mention 
 her undertaking to her mother, or produce the grand 
 achievement of Alexis White, prepared for college, 
 on the return from India ; but a sense that she had 
 promised to tell everything, and that, while she did so, 
 she could defy any other interference, led her to 
 write the design in a letter to Ceylon, and then she 
 felt ready to defy any censure or obstructions from 
 other quarters. 
 
 Mystery has a certain charm. Infinite knowledge 
 of human nature was shown in the text, ' Stolen 
 waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant ' ; 
 and it would be hard to define how much Gillian's 
 satisfaction was owing to the sense of benevolence, or 
 to the pleasure of eluding Aunt Jane, when, after going 
 through her chapter of Katharine Ashton, in a some-
 
 142 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 what perfunctory manner, she hastened away to Miss 
 White's office. This, being connected with the show- 
 room, could be entered without passing through the 
 gate with the inscription — 'No admittance except on 
 business.' Indeed, the office had a private door, which, 
 at Gillian's signal, was always opened to her. There, 
 on the drawing-desk, lay a Greek exercise and a 
 translation, with queries upon the difficulties for 
 Gillian to correct, or answer in writing. Kalliope 
 had managed to make that little room a pleasant place, 
 bare as it was, by pinning a few of her designs on the 
 walls, and always keeping a terra-cotta vase of flowers 
 or coloured leaves upon the table. The lower part of 
 the window she had blocked with transparencies 
 delicately cut and tinted in cardboard — done, as she 
 told Gillian, by her little brother Theodore, who learnt 
 to draw at the National School, and had the same turn 
 for art as herself. Altogether, the perfect neatness 
 and simplicity of the little room gave it an air of 
 refinement, which rendered it by no means an unfit 
 setting for the grave beauty of Kalliope's countenance 
 and figure. 
 
 The enjoyment of the meeting was great on both 
 sides, partly from the savour of old times, and partly 
 because there was really much that was uncommon 
 and remarkable about Kalliope herself. Her father's 
 promotion had come exactly when she and her next 
 brother were at the time of life when the changes it 
 brought would tell most on their minds and manners.
 
 vin GILLIAN'S PUPIL 143 
 
 They had both been sent to schools where they had 
 associated with young people of gentle breeding, which 
 perhaps their partly foreign extraction, and southern 
 birth and childhood, made it easier for them to 
 assimilate. Their beauty and brightness had led to a 
 good deal of kindly notice from the officers and ladies 
 of the regiment, and they had thus acquired the habits 
 and ways of the class to which they had been raised. 
 Their father, likewise, had been a man of a chivalrous 
 nature, whose youthful mistakes had been the outcome 
 of high spirit and romance, and who, under discipline, 
 danger, suffering, and responsibility, had become ear- 
 nestly religious. There had besides been his Colonel's 
 influence on him, and on his children that of Lady 
 Merrifield and Alethea. 
 
 It had then been a piteous change and darkening 
 of life when, after the crushing grief of his death, the 
 young people found themselves in such an entirely 
 different stratum of society. They were ready to work, 
 but they could not help feeling the mortification of 
 being relegated below the mysterious line of gentry, 
 as they found themselves at Eockquay, and viewed as 
 on a level with the clerks and shop-girls of the place. 
 Still more, as time went on, did they miss the 
 companionship and intercourse to which they had been 
 used. Mr. Flight, the only person in a higher rank 
 who took notice of them, and perceived that there was 
 more in them than was usual, was after all only a 
 patron — not a friend ; and perhaps was not essentially
 
 i 4 4 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 enough of a gentleman to be free from all airs of 
 condescension even with Alexis, while he might be 
 wise in not making too much of an approach to so 
 beautiful a girl as Kalliope. Besides, after a fit of 
 eagerness, and something very like promises, he had 
 apparently let Alexis drop, only using him for his 
 musical services, and not doing anything to promote 
 the studies for which the young man thirsted, nor 
 proposing anything for the younger boys, who would 
 soon outgrow the National School. 
 
 Alexis had made a few semi-friends among the 
 musical youth of the place ; but there was no one to 
 sympathise with him in his studious tastes, and there 
 was much in his appearance and manners to cause the 
 accusation of being ' stuck-up ' — music being really the 
 only point of contact with most of his fellows of the 
 lower professional class. 
 
 Kalliope had less time, but she had, on principle, 
 cultivated kindly terms with the young women em- 
 ployed under her. Her severe style of beauty removed 
 her from any jealousy of her as a rival ; and she was 
 admired — almost worshipped — by them as the glory of 
 the workshop. They felt her superiority, and owned 
 her ability ; but nobody there was capable of being a 
 companion to her. Thus the sister and brother had 
 almost wholly depended upon one another ; and it was 
 like a breath from what now seemed the golden age of 
 their lives when Gillian Merrifield walked into the 
 office, treating Kalliope with all the freedom of an
 
 VIII GILLIAN'S PUPIL 145 
 
 equal and the affection of an old friend. There was 
 not very much time to spare after Gillian had looked 
 at the exercises, noted and corrected the errors, and 
 explained the difficulties or mistakes in the translation 
 from Testament and Delectus, feeling all the time how 
 much more mastery of the subject her pupil had than 
 Mr. Pollock's at home had ever attained to. 
 
 However, Kalliope always walked home with her as 
 far as the opening of Church Cliff Eoacl, and they talked 
 of the cleverness and goodness of the brothers, except 
 Eichard at Leeds, who never seemed to be mentioned ; 
 how Theodore kept at the head of the school, and had 
 hopes of the drawing prize, and how little Petros 
 devoured tales of battles, and would hear of nothing 
 but being a soldier. Now and then, too, there was a 
 castle in the air of a home for little Maura at Alexis's 
 future curacy. Kalliope seemed to look to working for 
 life for poor mother, while Theodore should cultivate 
 his art. Oftener the two recalled old adventures and 
 scenes of their regimental days, and discussed the 
 weddings of the two Indian sisters. 
 
 Once, however, Kalliope was obliged to suggest, with 
 a blushing apology, that she feared Gillian must go 
 home alone, she was not ready. 
 
 ' Can't I help you ? What have you to do V 
 
 Kalliope attempted some excuse of putting away 
 designs, but presently peeped from the window ; and 
 Gillian, with excited curiosity, imitated her, and beheld, 
 lingering about, a young man in the pink of fashion, 
 
 VOL. I L
 
 146 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 with a tea-rose in his buttonhole and a cane in his 
 hand. 
 
 ' Oh, Kally,' she cried, ' does he often hang about 
 like this waiting for you ? ' 
 
 ' Not often, happily. There ! old Mr. Stebbing has 
 come out, and they are walking away together. We 
 can go now.' 
 
 ' So he besets you, and you have to keep out of his 
 way,' exclaimed Gillian, much excited. ' Is that the 
 reason you come to the garden all alone on Sunday ?' 
 
 'Yes, though I little guessed what awaited me 
 there,' returned Kalliope; 'but we had better make 
 haste, for it is late for you to be returning.' 
 
 It was disappointing that Kalliope would not discuss 
 such an interesting affair ; but Gillian was sensible of 
 the danger of being so late as to cause questions, and 
 she allowed herself to be hurried on too fast for con- 
 versation, and passing the two Stebbings, who, no doubt, 
 took her for a ' hand.' 
 
 'Does this often happen?' asked Gillian. 
 
 ' No ; Alec walks home with me, and the boys often 
 come and meet me. Oh, did I tell you that the master 
 wants Theodore to be a pupil-teacher ? I wish I knew 
 what was best for him.' 
 
 ' Could not he be an artist ? ' 
 
 ' I should like some one to tell me whether he really 
 has talent worth cultivating, dear boy, or if he would 
 be safer and better in an honourable occupation like a 
 schoolmaster.'
 
 viii GILLIAN'S PUPIL H7 
 
 'Do you call it honourable V 
 
 ' Oh yes, to be sure. I put it next to a clergyman's 
 or a doctor's life.' 
 
 'Not a soldier's ?' 
 
 1 That depends/ said Kalliope. 
 
 1 On the service he is sent upon, you mean ? But 
 that is his sovereigo's look out. He " only has to obey, 
 to do or die.'" 
 
 ' Yes, it is the putting away of self, and possible 
 peril of life, that makes all those grandest,' said Kalliope, 
 1 and I think the schoolmaster is next in opportunities 
 of doing good.' 
 
 Gillian could not help thinking that none of all 
 these could put away self more entirely than the girl 
 beside her, toiling away her beauty and her youth in 
 this dull round of toil, not able to exercise the instincts 
 of her art to the utmost, and with no change from the 
 monotonous round of mosaics, which were forced to be 
 second rate, to the commonest household works, and 
 the company of the Queen of the White Ants. 
 
 Gillian perceived enough of the nobleness of such a 
 life to fill her with a certain enthusiasm, and make her 
 feel a day blank and uninteresting if she could not 
 make her way to the little office. 
 
 One evening, towards the end of the first fortnight, 
 Alexis himself came in with a passage that he wanted 
 to have explained. His sister looked uneasy all the 
 time, and hurried to put on her hat, and stand demon- 
 stratively waiting, telling Gillian that they must go, the
 
 148 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 moment the lesson began to tend to discursive talk, and 
 making a most decided sign of prohibition to her brother 
 when he showed a disposition to accompany them. 
 
 ' I think you are frightfully particular, Kally,' said 
 Gillian, when they were on their way up the hill. 
 ' Such an old friend, and you there, too.' 
 
 * It would never do here ! It would be wrong,' 
 answered Kalliope, with the authority of an older 
 woman. ' He must not come to the office.' 
 
 ' Oh, but how could I ever explain to him ? One 
 can't do everything in writing. I might as well give 
 up the lessons as never speak to him about them.' 
 
 There was truth in this, and perhaps Alexis used 
 some such arguments on his side, for at about every 
 third visit of Gillian's he dropped in with some import- 
 ant inquiry necessary to his progress, which was rapid 
 enough to compel Gillian to devote some time to 
 preparation, in order to keep ahead of him. 
 
 Kalliope kept diligent guard, and watched against 
 lengthening the lessons into gossip, and they were 
 always after hours when the hands had gone away. 
 The fear of being detected kept Gillian ready to shorten 
 the time. 
 
 1 How late you are !' were the first words she heard 
 one October evening on entering Beechcroft Cottage ; 
 but they were followed by ' Here's a pleasure for you I' 
 
 ' It's from papa himself ! Open it ! Open it quick/ 
 cried Valetta, dancing round her in full appreciation of 
 the honour and delight.
 
 viii GILLIAN'S PUPIL 149 
 
 Sir Jasper said that his daughter must put up with 
 him for a correspoudeut, since two brides at once were 
 as much as any mother could be supposed to undertake. 
 Indeed, as mamma would not leave him, Phyllis was 
 actually going to Calcutta, chaperoned by one of the 
 matrons of the station, to make purchases for both 
 outfits, since Alethea would not stir from under the 
 maternal wing sooner than she could help. 
 
 At the end came, ' We are much shocked at poor 
 White's death. He was an excellent officer, and a 
 good and sensible man, though much hampered with 
 his family. I am afraid his wife must be a very help- 
 less being. He used to talk about the good promise of 
 one of his sons — the second, I think. We will see 
 whether anything can be done for the children when 
 we come home. I say we, for I find I shall have to 
 be invalided before I can be entirely patched up, so 
 that mamma and I shall have a sort of postponed silver 
 wedding tour, a new variety for the old folks " from 
 home." ' 
 
 ' Oh, is papa coming home ? ' cried Valetta. 
 
 ' For good ! Oh, I hope it will be for good,' added 
 Gillian. 
 
 1 Then we shall live at dear Silverfold all the days 
 of our life,' added Fergus. 
 
 ' And I shall get back to Eigdum.' 
 
 ' And I shall make a telephone down to the stables,' 
 were the cries of the children. 
 
 The transcendent news quite swallowed up every-
 
 150 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 thing else for some time ; but at last Gillian recurred 
 to her father's testimony as to the White family. 
 
 'Is the second son the musical one V she was asked, 
 and on her affirmative, Aunt Jane remarked, ' Well, 
 though the Bev. Augustine Flight is not on a pinnacle 
 of human wisdom, his choir practices, etc., will keep 
 the lad well out of harm's way till your father can see 
 about him.' 
 
 This would have been an opportunity of explaining 
 the youth's aims and hopes, and her own share in 
 forwarding them ; but it had become difficult to 
 avow the extent of her intercourse with the brother 
 and sister, so entirely without the knowledge of her 
 aunts. Even Miss Mohun, acute as she was, had no 
 suspicions, and only thought with much satisfaction 
 that her niece was growing more attentive to poor 
 Lilian Giles, even to the point of lingering. 
 
 1 1 really think,' she said, in consultation with Miss 
 Adeline, ' that we might gratify that damsel by having 
 the White girls to drink tea.' 
 
 ' Well, we can add them to your winter party of 
 young ladies in business.' 
 
 ' Hardly. These stand on different ground, and I 
 don't want to hurt their feelings or Gillian's by mixing 
 them up with the shopocracy.' 
 
 ' Have you seen the Queen of the White Ants V 
 
 * Not yet ; but I mean to reconnoitre, and if I see 
 no cause to the contrary, I shall invite them for next 
 Tuesday.'
 
 viii GILLIAN'S PUPIL 151 
 
 1 The mother ? You might as well ask her 
 namesake.' 
 
 ' Probably ; but I shall be better able to judge when 
 I have seen her.' 
 
 So Miss Mohun trotted off, made her visit, and 
 thus reported, ' Poor woman ! she certainly is not lovely 
 now, whatever she may have been ; but I should think 
 there was no harm in her, and she is effusive in her 
 gratitude to all the Merrifield family. It is plain that 
 the absent eldest son is the favourite, far more so than 
 the two useful children at the marble works ; and Mr. 
 White is spoken of as a sort of tyrant, whereas I should 
 think they owed a good deal to his kindness in giving 
 them employment.' 
 
 c I always thought he was an old hunks.' 
 
 ' The town thinks so because he does not come and 
 spend freely here ; but I have my doubts whether they 
 are right. He is always ready to do his part in sub- 
 scriptions ; and the employing these young people as 
 he does is true kindness.' 
 
 ' Unappreciated.' 
 
 ' Yes, by the mother who would expect to be 
 kept like a lady in idleness, but perhaps not so 
 by her daughter. From all I can pick up, I think 
 she must be a very worthy person, so I have asked 
 her and the little schoolgirl for Tuesday evening, 
 and I hope it will not be a great nuisance to you, 
 Ada.' 
 
 ' Oh no,' said Miss Adeline, good humouredly, ' it
 
 152 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 will please Gillian, and I shall be interested in seeing 
 the species, or rather the variety.' 
 
 1 Var Musa Grceca Hibemica Militarist laughed 
 Aunt Jane. ' By the bye, I further found out what 
 made the Captain enlist.' 
 
 ' Trust you for doing that !' laughed her sister. 
 
 ' Eeally it was not on purpose, but old Zack Skilly 
 was indulging me with some of his ancient smuggling 
 experiences, in what he evidently views as the heroic 
 age of Eockquay. "Men was men, then," he says. 
 " Now they be good for nought, but to row out the 
 gentlefolks when the water is as smooth as glass." 
 You should hear the contempt in his voice. Well, a 
 promising young hero of his was Dick White, what 
 used to work for his uncle, but liked a bit of a lark, 
 and at last hit one of the coastguard men in a fight, 
 and ran away, and folks said he had gone for a soldier. 
 Skilly had heard he was dead, and his wife had come 
 to live in these parts, but there was no knowing what 
 was true and what wasn't. Folks would talk ! Dick 
 was a likely chap, with more life about him than his 
 cousin Jem, as was a great man now, and owned all 
 the marble works, and a goodish bit of the town. 
 There was a talk as how the two lads had both been a 
 courting of the same ma-id, that was Betsy Polwhele, 
 and had fallen out about her, but how that might 
 be he could not tell. Anyhow, she was not wed to 
 one nor t'other of them, but went into a waste and 
 died.'
 
 vni GILLIAN'S PUPIL 153 
 
 ' I wonder if it was for Dick's sake. So Jem was 
 not constant either.' 
 
 'Except to his second love. That was a piteous 
 little story too.' 
 
 ' You mean his young wife's health failing as soon 
 as he brought her to that house which he was building 
 for her, and then his taking her to Italy, and never 
 enduring to come back here again after she and her 
 child died. But he made a good thing of it with his 
 quarries in the mountains.' 
 
 ' You sordid person, do you think that was all he 
 cared for !' 
 
 ' Well, I always thought of him as a great, stout, 
 monied man, quite incapable of romance and sensi- 
 tiveness.' 
 
 ' If so, don't you think he would have let that house 
 instead of keeping it up in empty state ? There is a 
 good deal of character in those Whites.' 
 
 ' The Captain is certainly the most marked man, 
 except Jasper, in that group of officers in Gillian's 
 photograph-book.' 
 
 ' Partly from the fact that a herd of young officers 
 always look so exactly alike — at least in the eyes of 
 elderly spinsters.' 
 
 ' Jane !' 
 
 1 Let us hope so, now that it is all over. This same 
 Dick must have had something remarkable about him, to 
 judge by the impression he seems to have left on all who 
 came in his way, and I shall like to see his children.'
 
 154 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' You always do like queer people. 5 
 
 1 It is plain that we ought to take notice of them,' 
 said Miss Mohun, ' and it is not wholesome for Gillian 
 to think us backward in kindness to friends about 
 whom she plainly has a little romance.' 
 
 She refrained from uttering a suspicion inspired 
 by her visit that there had been more ' kindnesses ' on 
 her niece's part than she could quite account for. Yet 
 she believed that she knew how all the girl's days were 
 spent ; was certain that the Sunday wanderings never 
 went beyond the garden, and, moreover, she implicitly 
 trusted Lily's daughter. 
 
 Gillian did not manifest as much delight and 
 gratitude at the invitation as her aunts expected. In 
 point of fact, she resented Aunt Jane's making a visit 
 of investigation without telling her, and she was un- 
 easy lest there should have been or yet should be a 
 disclosure that should make her proceedings appear 
 clandestine. ' And they are not ! ' said she to herself 
 with vehemence. 'Do I not write them all to my 
 own mother ? And did not Miss Vincent allow that 
 one is not bound to treat aunts like parents ? ' 
 
 Even the discovery of Captain White's antecedents 
 was almost an offence, for if her aunt would not let her 
 inquire, why should she do so herself, save to preserve 
 the choice morceau for her own superior intelligence ? 
 Thus all the reply that Gillian deigned was, ' Of course 
 I knew that Captain White could never have done 
 anything to be ashamed of.'
 
 viii GILLIAN'S PUPIL 155 
 
 The weather was too wet for any previous meetings, 
 and it was on a wild stormy evening that the two sisters 
 appeared at seven o'clock at Beechcroft Cottage. While 
 hats and waterproofs were being taken off upstairs, 
 Gillian found opportunity to give a warning against 
 mentioning the Greek lessons. It was received with 
 consternation. 
 
 ' Oh, Miss Merrifield, do not your aunts know V 
 
 ' No. Why should they ? Mamma does.' 
 
 ' Not yet. And she is so far off ! I wish Miss 
 Mohun knew ! I made sure that she did,' said Kalliope, 
 much distressed. 
 
 ' But why ? It would only make a fuss.' 
 
 ' I should be much happier about it.' 
 
 ' And perhaps have it all upset.' 
 
 ' That is the point. I felt that it must be all right 
 as long as Miss Mohun sanctioned it; but I could not 
 bear that we should be the means of bringing you into 
 a scrape, by doing what she might disapprove while 
 you are under her care.' 
 
 ' Don't you think you can trust me to know my 
 own relations ? ' said Gillian somewhat haughtily. 
 
 ' Indeed, I did not mean that we are not infinitely 
 obliged to you,' said Kalliope. ' It has made Alexis 
 another creature to have some hope, and feel himself 
 making progress.' 
 
 'Then why do you want to have a fuss, and a 
 bother, and a chatter ? If my father and mother don't 
 approve, they can telegraph.'
 
 156 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 With which argument she appeased or rather 
 silenced Kalliope, who could not but feel the task of 
 objecting alike ungracious and ungrateful towards the 
 instructor, and absolutely cruel and unkind towards 
 her brother, and who spoke only from a sense of the 
 treachery of allowing a younger girl to transgress in 
 ignorance. Still she was conscious of not understand- 
 ing on what terms the niece and aunts might be, and 
 the St. Kenelni's estimate of the Beechcroft ladies was 
 naturally somewhat different from that of the St. 
 Andrew's congregation. Miss Mohun was popularly 
 regarded in those quarters as an intolerable busybody, 
 and Miss Adeline as a hypochondriacal fine lady, so 
 that Gillian might perhaps reasonably object to put 
 herself into absolute subjection ; so, though Kalliope 
 might have a presentiment of breakers ahead, she could 
 say no more, and Gillian, feeling that she had been 
 cross, changed the subject by admiring the pretty short 
 curly hair that was being tied back at the glass. 
 
 ' I wish it would grow long,' said Kalliope. ' But 
 it always was rather short and troublesome, and ever 
 since it was cut short in the fever, I have been obliged 
 to keep it like this.' 
 
 ' But it suits you/ said Gillian. ' And it is exactly 
 the thing now.' 
 
 ' That is the worst of it. It looks as if I wore it 
 so on purpose. However, all our hands know that I 
 cannot help it, and so does Lady Flight.' 
 
 The girl looked exceedingly well, though little Alice,
 
 vin GILLIAN'S PUPIL 157 
 
 the maid, would not have gone out to tea in such an 
 ancient black dress, with no relief save a rim of white 
 at neck and hands, and a tiny silver Maltese cross at 
 the throat. Maura had a comparatively new gray 
 dress, picked out with black. She was a pretty 
 creature, the Irish beauty predominating over the 
 Greek, in her great long -lashed brown eyes, which 
 looked radiant with shy happiness. Miss Adeline was 
 perfectly taken by surprise at the entrance of two such 
 uncommon forms and faces, and the quiet dignity of 
 the elder made her for a moment suppose that her sister 
 must have invited some additional guest of undoubted 
 station. 
 
 Valetta, who had grown fond of Maura in their 
 school life, and who dearly loved patronising, pounced 
 upon her guest to show her all manner of treasures and 
 curiosities, at which she looked in great delight; and 
 Fergus was so well satisfied with her comprehension 
 of the principles of the letter balance, that he would 
 have taken her upstairs to be introduced to all his 
 mechanical inventions, if the total darkness and cold of 
 his den had not been prohibitory. 
 
 Kalliope looked to perfection, but was more silent 
 than her sister, though, as Miss Mohun's keen eye 
 noted, it was not the shyness of a conscious inferior in 
 an unaccustomed world, but rather that of a grave, 
 reserved nature, not chattering for the sake of mere 
 talk. 
 
 Gillian's photograph -book was well looked over,
 
 158 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 with all the brothers and sisters at different stages, and 
 the group of officers. Miss Mohun noted the talk that 
 passed over these, as they were identified one by one, 
 sometimes with little reminiscences, childishly full on 
 Gillian's part, betraying on Kalliope's side friendly 
 acquaintance, but all in as entirely ladylike terms as 
 would have befitted Phyllis or Alethea. She could 
 well believe in the words with which Miss White rather 
 hastened the turning of the page, ' Those were happy 
 days — I dare not dwell on them too much !' 
 
 ' Oh, I like to do so,' cried Gillian. ' I don't want 
 the little ones ever to forget them.' 
 
 'Yes — you! But with you it would not be 
 repining.' 
 
 This was for Gillian's ear alone, as at that moment 
 both the aunts were, at the children's solicitation, 
 engaged on the exhibition of a wonderful musical-box 
 — Aunt Adeline's share of her mother's wedding 
 presents — containing a bird that hovered and sung, the 
 mechanical contrivance of which was the chief merit in 
 Fergus's eyes, and which had fascinated generations of 
 young people for the last sixty years. Aunt Jane, 
 however, could hear through anything — even through 
 the winding-up of what the family called ' Aunt Ada's 
 Jackdaw,' and she drew her conclusions, with increasing 
 respect and pity for the young girl over whose life such 
 a change had come. 
 
 But it was not this, but what she called common 
 humanity, which prompted her, on hearing a heavy
 
 vin GILLIAN'S PUPIL 159 
 
 gust of rain against the windows, to go into the lower 
 regions in quest of a messenger boy to order a 
 brougham to take the guests home at the end of the 
 evening. 
 
 The meal went off pleasantly on the whole, though 
 there loomed a storm as to the ritual of St. Kenelm's ; 
 but this chiefly was owing to the younger division of 
 the company, when Valetta broke into an unnecessary 
 inquiry why they did not have as many lights on the 
 altar at St. Andrew's as at St. Kenelm's, and Fergus 
 put her down with unceremoniously declaring that 
 Stebbing said Flight was a donkey. 
 
 Gillian came down with what she meant for a 
 crushing rebuke, and the indignant colour rose in the 
 cheeks of the guests ; but Fergus persisted, ' But he 
 makes a guy of himself and a mountebank.' 
 
 Aunt Jane thought it time to interfere. 'Fergus,' 
 she said, ' you had better not repeat improper sayings, 
 especially about a clergyman.' 
 
 Fergus wriggled. 
 
 ' And,' added Aunt Ada, with equal severity, ' you 
 know Mr. Flight is a very kind friend to little Maura 
 and her sister.' 
 
 * Indeed he is,' said Kalliope earnestly ; and Maura, 
 feeling herself addressed, added, ' Nobody but he ever 
 called on poor mamma, till Miss Mohun did ; no, not 
 Lady Flight.' 
 
 ' We are very grateful for his kindness/ put in 
 Kalliope, in a repressive tone.
 
 1 60 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 But/ said Gillian, ' I thought you said he had 
 seemed to care less of late/ 
 
 ' I do not know/ said Miss White, blushing ; ' music 
 seems to be his chief interest, and there has not been 
 anything fresh to get up since the concert.' 
 
 ' I suppose there will be for the winter/ said Miss 
 Mohun, and therewith the conversation was safely 
 conducted away to musical subjects, in which some of 
 the sisters' pride and affection for their brothers peeped 
 out ; but Gillian was conscious all the time that Kal- 
 liope was speaking with some constraint when she men- 
 tioned Alexis, and that she was glad rather to dwell on 
 little Theodore, who had good hopes of the drawing prize, 
 and she seriously consulted Miss Mohun on the pupil- 
 teachership for him, as after he had passed the seventh 
 standard he could not otherwise go on with his education, 
 though she did not think he had much time for teaching. 
 
 'Would not Mr. White help him further?' asked 
 Miss Mohun. 
 
 1 I do not know. I had much rather not ask/ said 
 Kalliope. ' We are too many to throw ourselves on a 
 person who is no near relation, and he has not seemed 
 greatly disposed to help.' 
 
 1 Your elder brother V 
 
 ' Oh, poor Eichard, he is not earning anything yet. 
 I can't ask him. If I only knew of some school I could 
 be sure was safe and good and not too costly, Alexis 
 and I would try to manage for Theodore after the 
 examination in the spring.'
 
 viii GILLIAN'S PUPIL 161 
 
 The Woodward schools were a new light to her, and 
 she was eagerly interested in Miss Mohun's explanations 
 and in the scale of terms. 
 
 Meantime Miss Adeline got on excellently with the 
 younger ones, and when the others were free, proposed 
 for their benefit a spelling game. All sat round the 
 table, made words, and abstracted one another's with 
 increasing animation, scarcely heeding the roaring of 
 the wind outside, till there was a ring at the belL 
 ' My brother is come for us/ said Kalliope. 
 1 Oh, but it is not fit for you to walk home,' said 
 Miss Mohun. ' The brougham is coming by and by ; 
 ask Mr. White to come in,' she added, as the maid 
 appeared with the message that he was come for his 
 sisters. 
 
 There was a confusion of acknowledgments and 
 disclaimers, and word was brought back that Mr. White 
 was too wet to come in. Miss Mohun, who was not 
 playing, but prompting Fergus, jumped up and went 
 out to investigate, when she found a form in an ancient 
 military cloak, trying to keep himself from dripping 
 where wet could do mischief. She had to explain her 
 regret at his having had such a walk in vain ; but she 
 had taken alarm on finding that rain was setting in for 
 the night, and had sent word by the muffin-boy that 
 the brougham would be wanted, contriving to convey 
 that it was not to be paid for. 
 
 Nothing remained to be said except thanks, and 
 Alexis emerged from the cloak, which looked as if it 
 VOL. I M
 
 162 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 had gone through, all his father's campaigns, took off his 
 gaiters, did his best for his boots, and, though not in 
 evening costume, looked very gentleman -like and 
 remarkably handsome in the drawing-room, with no 
 token of awkward embarrassment save a becoming 
 blush. 
 
 Gillian began to tremble inwardly again, but the 
 game had just ended in her favour, owing to Fergus 
 having lost all his advantages in Aunt Jane's absence, 
 besides signalising himself by capturing Maura's ' bury,' 
 under the impression that an additional E would 
 combine that and straw into a fruit. 
 
 So the coast being cleared, Miss Adeline greatly 
 relieved her niece's mind by begging, as a personal 
 favour, to hear the song whose renown at the concert 
 had reached her; and thus the time was safely spent 
 in singing till the carriage w T as announced, and good- 
 nights exchanged. 
 
 Maura's eyes grew round with delight, and she 
 jumped for joy at the preferment. 
 
 'Oh!' she said, as she fervently kissed Valetta, 'it 
 is the most delightful evening I ever spent in the whole 
 course of my life, except at Lady Merrifield's Christmas- 
 tree ! And now to go home in a carriage ! I never 
 went in one since I can remember !' 
 
 And Kalliope's ' Thank you, we have enjoyed our- 
 selves very much,' was very fervent. 
 
 ' Those young people are very superior to what I 
 expected,' said Aunt Adeline. 'What fine creatures,
 
 vin GILLIAN'S PUPIL 163 
 
 all so handsome ; and that little Maura is a perfect 
 darling/ 
 
 ' The Muse herself is very superior/ said Miss Mohun. 
 ' One of those home heroines who do the work of Atlas 
 without knowing it. I do not wonder that the marble 
 girls speak of her so enthusiastically/ 
 
 How Gillian might have enjoyed all this, and yet 
 she could not, except so far that she told herself that 
 thus there could be no reasonable objection made by 
 her aunts to intercourse with those whom they so much 
 admired. 
 
 Yet perhaps even then she would have told all, but 
 that, after having bound over Kalliope to secrecy, it 
 would be awkward to confess that she had told all. 
 It would be like owning herself in the wrong, and for 
 that she was not prepared. Besides, where would be 
 the secrecy of her ' great thing ' ?
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 GAUGING AJEE 
 
 Without exactly practising to deceive, Gillian began 
 to find that concealment involved her in a tangled 
 web ; all the more since Aunt Jane had become thor- 
 oughly interested in the Whites, and was inquiring 
 right and left about schools and scholarships for the 
 little boys. 
 
 She asked their master about them, and heard that 
 they were among his best scholars, and that their home 
 lessons had always been carefully attended to by their 
 elder brother and sister. In fact, he was most anxious 
 to retain Theodore, to be trained for a pupil- teacher, 
 the best testimony to his value ! Aunt Jane came 
 home full of the subject, relating what the master said 
 of Alexis White, and that he had begun by working 
 with him at Latin and mathematics ; but that they had 
 not had time to go on with what needed so much study 
 and preparation. 
 
 ' In fact,' said Miss Mohun, ' I have a suspicion 
 that if a certificated schoolmaster could own any such 
 thing, the pupil knew more than the teacher. When
 
 chap, ix GAUGING AJEE 165 
 
 your father comes home, I hope he will find some way 
 of helping that lad.' 
 
 Gillian began to crimson, but bethought herself of 
 the grandeur of its being found that she was the 
 youth's helper. ' I am glad you have been lending 
 him books,' added Aunt Jane. 
 
 What business had she to know what had not been 
 told her ? The sense of offence drove back any disposi- 
 tion to consult her. Yet to teach Alexis was no slight 
 task, for, though he had not gone far in Greek, his 
 inquiries were searching, and explaining to him was 
 a different thing from satisfying even Mr. Pollock. 
 Besides, Gillian had her own studies on hand. The 
 Cambridge examinations were beginning to assume 
 larger proportions in the Bockquay mind, and ' the 
 General Screw Company,' as Mr. Grant observed, was 
 prevailing. 
 
 Gillian's knowledge was rather discursive, and the 
 concentration required by an examination was hard 
 work to her, and the time for it was shortened by the 
 necessity of doing all Alexis's Greek exercises and 
 translations beforehand, and of being able to satisfy 
 him why an error was not right, for, in all politeness, 
 he always would know why it did not look right. And 
 there was Valetta, twisting and groaning. The screw 
 was on her form, who, unless especially exempted, were 
 to compete for a prize for language examination. 
 
 Yaletta had begun by despising Kitty Varley for 
 being excepted by her mother's desire, and for not
 
 1 66 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE chap. 
 
 learning Latin ; but now she envied any one who had 
 not to work double tides at the book of Csesar that was 
 to be taken up, and Vercingetorix and his Arverni got 
 vituperated in a way that would have made the hair of 
 her hero-worshipping mother fairly stand on end. 
 
 But then Lilias Mohun had studied him for love of 
 himself, not for dread of failure. 
 
 Gillian had been displeased when Fergus deserted 
 her for Aunt Jane as an assistant, but she would not 
 have been sorry if Valetta had been off her hands, 
 when it was interrupted in researches after an idiom 
 in St. John's Gospel by the sigh that ' this abominable 
 dictionary had no verb oblo' or in the intricacies of a 
 double equation by despair at this horrid Caesar always 
 hiding away his nominatives out of spite. 
 
 Valetta, like the American child, evidently regarded 
 the Great Julius in no other light than as writer of 
 a book for beginners in Latin, and, moreover, a very 
 unkind one ; and she fully reciprocated the sentiment 
 that it was no wonder that the Eomans conquered the 
 world, since they knew the Latin grammar by nature. 
 
 Nor was Gillian's hasty and sometimes petulant 
 assistance very satisfactory to the poor child, since it 
 often involved hearing ' Wait a minute,' and a very 
 long one, ' How can you be so stupid ? ' 'I told you 
 so long ago ' ; and sometimes consisted of a gabbling 
 translation, with rapidly pointed finger, very hard to 
 follow, and not quite so painstaking as when Alexis 
 ideferenally and politely pointed out the difficulties,
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 167 
 
 with a strong sense of the favour that she was doin£ 
 him. 
 
 Not that these personal lessons often took place. 
 Kalliope never permitted them without dire necessity, 
 and besides, there was always an uncertainty when 
 Gillian might come down, or when Alexis might be 
 able to come in. 
 
 One day when Aunt Jane had come home with a 
 story of how one of her ' business girls ' had confessed to 
 Miss White's counsel having only just saved her from 
 an act of folly, it occurred to Aunt Adeline to say — 
 
 ' It is a great pity you have not her help in the 
 G.F.S.' 
 
 ' I did not understand enough about her before, 
 and mixed her up with the ordinary class of business 
 girls. I had rather have her a member for the sake 
 of example ; but if not, she would be a valuable 
 associate. Could not you explain this to her without 
 hurting her feelings, as I am afraid I did, Gill ? I 
 did not understand enough about her when I spoke 
 to her before.' 
 
 Gillian started. The conversation that should have 
 been so pleasant to her was making her strangely un- 
 comfortable. 
 
 ' I do not see how Gill is to get at her,' objected 
 
 the other aunt. ' It would be of no great use to call 
 
 on her in the nest of the Queen of the White Ants. 
 
 I can't help recollecting the name, it was so descriptive.' 
 
 ' Yes ; it was on her mother's account that she
 
 168 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 refused, and of course her office must not be invaded 
 in business hours.' 
 
 'I might call on her there before she goes home/ 
 suggested Gillian, seeing daylight. 
 
 ' You cannot be walking down there at dusk, just 
 as the workmen come away/ exclaimed Aunt Ada, 
 making the colour so rush into Gillian's cheeks that 
 she was glad to catch up a screen. 
 
 1 No/ said Miss Mohun emphatically ; ' but I could 
 leave her there at five o'clock, and go to Tideshole to 
 take old Jemmy Burnet his jersey, and call for her on 
 the way back.' 
 
 ' Or she could walk home with me/ murmured the 
 voice behind the screen. 
 
 Gillian felt with dismay that all these precautions 
 as to her escort would render her friend more scrupu- 
 lous than ever as to her visits. To have said, ' I have 
 several times been at the office/ would have been a 
 happy clearance of the ground, but her pride would 
 not bend to possible blame, nor would she run the risk 
 of a prohibition. ' It would be the ruin of hope to 
 Alexis, and mamma knows all/ said she to herself. 
 
 It was decided that she should trust to Kalliope to 
 go back with her, for when once Aunt Jane got into 
 the very fishy hamlet of Tideshole, which lay beyond 
 the quarries, there was no knowing when she might 
 get away, since 
 
 ' Alike to her were time and tide, 
 November's snow or July's pride.'
 
 ix GA UGING'AJEE 169 
 
 So after a few days, too wet and tempestuous for 
 any expedition, they set forth, accompanied by Fergus, 
 who rushed in from school in time to treat his aunt 
 as a peripatetic ' Joyce's scientific dialogues.' Valetta 
 had not arrived, and Gillian was in haste to elude her, 
 knowing that her aunt would certainly not take her on 
 to Tideshole, and that there would be no comfort in 
 talking before her ; but it was a new thing to have to 
 regard her little sister in the light of a spy, and again 
 she had to reason down a sense of guiltiness. How- 
 ever, her aunt wanted Yaletta as little as she did ; and 
 she had never so rejoiced in Fergus's monologue, ' Then 
 this small fly-wheel catches into the large one, and 
 
 so Don't you see ? ' — only pausing for a sound 
 
 of assent. 
 
 Unacquainted with the private door, Miss Mohun 
 entered the office through the showroom, exchanging 
 greetings with the young saleswomen, and finding Miss 
 White putting away her materials. 
 
 Shaking hands, Miss Mohun said — 
 
 ' 1 have brought your friend to make a visit to you 
 while I go on to Tideshole. She tells me that you 
 will be kind enough to see her on her way home, if 
 you are going back at the same time.' 
 
 1 1 shall be delighted,' said Kalliope, with eyes as 
 well as tongue, and no sooner were she and Gillian 
 alone together than she joyfully exclaimed — 
 
 1 Then Miss Mohun knows ! You have told her.' 
 
 ' No '
 
 170 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 1 Oh !' and there were volumes in the intonation. 
 ' I was alarmed when she came in, and then so glad if 
 it was all over. Dear Miss Merrifield ' 
 
 I Call me Gillian ; I have told you to do so before ! 
 Phyllis is Miss Merrifield, and I wont be so before my 
 time,' said Gillian, interrupting in a tone more cross 
 than affectionate. 
 
 I I was going to say,' pursued Kalliope, ' that the 
 shock her entrance gave to me proved all the more 
 that we cannot be treating her properly.' 
 
 ' Never mind that ! I did not come about that. 
 She is quite taken with you, Kally, and wants you 
 more than ever to be a Friendly Girl, because she 
 thinks it would be so good for the others who are 
 under you.' 
 
 'They have told me something about it/ said 
 Kalliope thoughtfully. 
 
 ' She fancied,' added Gillian, ' that perhaps she did 
 not make you understand the rights of it, not knowing 
 that you were different from the others.' 
 
 ' Oh no, it was not that,' said Kalliope. ' Indeed, 
 I hope there is no such nonsense in me. It was what 
 my dear father always warned us against ; only poor 
 mamma always gets vexed if she does not think we 
 are keeping ourselves up, and she had just been 
 annoyed at — something, and we did not know then 
 that it was Lady Merrifield's sister.' 
 
 This was contradictory, but it was evident that, 
 while Kalliope disowned conceit of station for herself,
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 171 
 
 she could not always cross her mother's wishes. It 
 was further elicited that if Lady Flight had taken up 
 the matter there would have been no difficulty. Half 
 a year ago the Flights had seemed to the young Whites 
 angelic and infallible, and perhaps expectations had 
 been founded on their patronage; but there had since been 
 a shadow of disappointment, and altogether Kalliope 
 was less disposed to believe that my Lady was correct 
 in pronouncing Miss Mohun's cherished society as 
 ' dissentish,' and only calculated for low servant girls 
 and ladies who wished to meddle in families. 
 
 Clanship made Gillian's indignation almost bring 
 down the office, and her eloquence w T as scarcely needed, 
 since Kalliope had seen the value to some of her ' hands ' 
 from the class, the library, the recreation-room, and the 
 influence of the ladies ; above all, the showing them 
 that it was possible to have variety and amusement 
 free from vulgar and perilous dissipation ; but still she 
 hesitated. She had no time, she said ; she could not 
 attend classes, and she was absolutely necessary at 
 home in the evenings ; but Gillian assured her that 
 nothing was expected from her but a certain influence 
 in the right direction, and the showing the younger 
 and giddier that she did not think the Society beneath 
 her. 
 
 ' I see all that/ said Kalliope ; ' I wish I had not 
 been mistaken at first; but, Miss Mer — Gillian, I do 
 not see how I can join it now.' 
 
 1 Why not ? What do you mean V
 
 172 BEECHCROFT A7 ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 Kalliope was very unwilling to speak, but at last it 
 came. 
 
 ' How can I do this to please your aunt, who thinks 
 
 better of me than I deserve, when Oh ! excuse 
 
 me — I know it is all your kindness — but when I am 
 allowing you to deceive her — almost, I mean ' 
 
 4 Deceive ! I never spoke an untrue word to my 
 aunt in my life,' said Gillian, in proud anger ; ' but if 
 you think so, Miss White, I had better have no more 
 to do with it.' 
 
 1 I feel,' said Kalliope, with tears in her eyes, l as if 
 it might be better so, unless Miss Mohun knew all 
 about it.' 
 
 ' Well, if you think so, and like to upset all your 
 brother's hopes ' 
 
 ' It would be a terrible grief to him, I know, and I 
 don't undervalue your kindness, indeed I don't ; but I 
 cannot be happy about it while Miss Mohun does not 
 know. I don't understand why you do not tell her.' 
 
 ' Because I know there would be a worry and a fuss. 
 Either she would say we must wait for letters from 
 mamma, or else that Alexis must come to Beechcroft, 
 and all the comfort would be over, and it would be 
 gossiped about all over the place. Can't you trust 
 me, when I tell you I have written it all to my own 
 father and mother, and surely I know my own family 
 best ?' 
 
 Kalliope looked half convinced, but she persisted — 
 
 ' I suppose you do ; only please, till there is a letter
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 173 
 
 from Lady Merrifield, I had rather not go into this 
 Society.' 
 
 ' But, Kally, you don't consider. What am I to 
 say to my aunt ? What will she think of you ? ' 
 
 ' I can't help that ! I cannot do this while she 
 could feel I was conniving at what she might not like. 
 Indeed, I cannot. I beg your pardon, but it goes 
 against me. When shall you be able to hear from 
 Lady Merrifield V 
 
 ' 1 wrote three weeks ago. I suppose I shall hear 
 about half-way through December, and you know they 
 could telegraph if they wanted to stop it, so I think 
 you might be satisfied.' 
 
 Still Kalliope could not be persuaded, and finally, 
 as a sort of compromise, Gillian decided on saying that 
 she would think about it and give her answer at 
 Christmas ; to which she gave a reluctant assent, with 
 one more protest that if there were no objection to the 
 lessons, she could not see why Miss Mohun should not 
 know of them. 
 
 Peace was barely restored before voices were heard, 
 and in came Fergus, bringing Alexis with him. They 
 had met on the beach road in front of the works, and 
 Fergus, being as usual full of questions about a crane 
 that was swinging blocks of stone into a vessel close to 
 the little pier, his aunt had allowed him to stay to see 
 the work finished, after which Alexis would take him 
 to join his sister. 
 
 So it came about that they all walked home together
 
 174 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 very cheerfully, though Gillian was still much vexed 
 under the surface at Kalliope's old-maidish particularity. 
 However, the aunts were not as annoyed at the 
 delay as she expected. Miss Mohun said she would 
 look out some papers that would be convincing and 
 persuasive, and that it might be as well not to enrol 
 Miss White too immediately before the Christmas 
 festivities, but to wait till the books were begun next 
 year. Plans began to prevail for the Christmas diver- 
 sions and entertainments ; but the young Merrifields 
 expected to have nothing to do with these, as they were 
 to meet the rest of the family at their eldest uncle's 
 house at Beechcroft-; all except Harry, who was to be 
 ordained in the Advent Ember week, and at once begin 
 work with his cousin David Merrifield in the Black 
 Country. Their aunts would not go with them, as 
 Beechcroft breezes, though her native air, were too 
 cold for Adeline in the winter, and Jane could leave 
 neither her, nor her various occupations, and the fest- 
 ivities of all Bockstone. 
 
 It is not easy to say which Gillian most looked 
 forward to : Mysie's presence, or the absence of the 
 supervision which she imagined herself to suffer from, 
 because she had set herself to shirk it. She knew she 
 should feel more free. But behold ! a sudden change, 
 produced by one morning's letters. 
 
 1 It is a beastly shame !' 
 
 ' Oh, Fergus ! That's not a thing to say,' cried 
 Valetta.
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 175 
 
 1 1 don't care ! It is a beastly shame not to go to 
 Beechcroft, and be poked up here all the holidays.' 
 
 I But you can't when Primrose has got the whoop- 
 ing-cousrh.' 
 
 ' Bother the whooping-cough.' 
 
 c And welcome ; but you would find it bother you, 
 I believe.' 
 
 I I shouldn't catch it. I want Wilfred, and to 
 ride the pony, and see the sluice that Uncle Maurice 
 made.' 
 
 ' You couldn't if you had the cough.' 
 
 ' Then I should stay there instead of coming back 
 to school ! I say it is horrid, and beastly, and 
 abominable, and ' 
 
 ' Come, come, Fergus,' here put in Gillian, ' that is 
 very wrong.' 
 
 ' You don't hear Gill and me fly out in that way/ 
 added Yaletta, ' though we are so sorry about Mysie 
 and Fly.' 
 
 ' Oh, you are girls, and don't know what is worth 
 doing. I will say it is beast ' 
 
 ' Now don't, Fergus ; it is very rude and ungrateful 
 to the aunts. None of us like having to stay here and 
 lose our holiday ; but it is very improper to say so in 
 their own house, and I thought you were so fond of 
 Aunt Jane.' 
 
 'Aunt Jane knows a thing or two, but she isn't 
 Wilfred.' 
 
 ' And Wilfred is always teasing you.'
 
 176 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 1 Fergus is quite right,' said Miss Mohun, who had 
 been taking off her galoshes in the vestibule while this 
 colloquy was euding in the dining-room ; 'it is much 
 better to be bullied by a brother than made much of 
 by an aunt, and you know I am very sorry for you all 
 under the infliction.' 
 
 ' Oh, Aunt Jane, we know you are very kind, 
 and -' began Gillian. 
 
 ' Never mind, my dear ; I know you are making the 
 best of us, and I am very much obliged to you for 
 standing up for us. It is a great disappointment, but 
 
 1 was going to give Fergus a note that I think will 
 console him.' 
 
 And out of an envelope which she had just taken 
 from the letter-box she handed him a note, which he 
 pulled open and then burst out, ' Cousin David ! 
 Hurrah ! Scrumptious ! ' commencing a war-dance at 
 the same moment. 
 
 ' What is it ? Has David asked you ? ' demanded 
 both his sisters at the same moment. 
 
 ' Hurrah ! Yes, it is from him. " My dear Fergus, I 
 hope " — hurrah — " Harry, mm — mm — mm — brothers, 
 
 2 Oth mm — mm. Your affectionate cousin, David Merri- 
 field." ' 
 
 1 Let me read it to you,' volunteered Gillian. 
 ' Wouldn't you like it ? ' 
 
 1 How can you be so silly, Ferg ? You can't read it 
 
 yourself. You don't know whether he really asks you.' 
 
 Fergus made a face, and bolted upstairs to gloat,
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 177 
 
 and perhaps peruse the letter, while Valetta rushed 
 after him, whether to be teased or permitted to assist 
 might be doubtful. 
 
 ' He really does ask him,' said Aunt Jane. ' Your 
 cousin David, I mean. He says that he and Harry 
 can put up all the three boys between them, and that 
 they will be very useful in the Christmas festivities of 
 Coalham.' 
 
 I It is very kind of him,' said Gillian in a depressed 
 tone. ' Fergus will be very happy.' 
 
 I I only hope he will not be bent on finding a coal 
 mine in the garden when he comes back,' said Aunt 
 Jane, smiling ; ' but it is rather dreary for you, my dear. 
 I had been hoping to have Jasper here for at least a 
 few days. Could he not come and fetch Fergus ? ' 
 
 Gillian's eyes sparkled at the notion ; but they fell 
 at once, for Jasper would be detained by examinations 
 until so late that he would only just be able to reach 
 Coalham before Christmas Day. Harry was to be 
 ordained in a fortnight's time to work under his cousin, 
 Mr. David Merrifield, and his young brothers were to 
 meet him immediately after. 
 
 ' I wish I could go too,' sighed Gillian, as a hungry 
 yearning for Jasper or for Mysie took possession of her. 
 
 ' I wish you could,' said Miss Mohun sympathetic- 
 ally; { but I am afraid you must resign yourself to 
 helping us instead.' 
 
 ' Oh, Aunt Jane, I did not mean to grumble. It 
 can't be helped, and you are very kind.' 
 
 VOL. I N
 
 178 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' Oh, dear ! ' said poor Miss Jane afterwards in 
 private to her sister, 'how I hate being told I am 
 very kind! It just means, "You are a not quite 
 intolerable jailor and despot," with fairly good in- 
 tentions.' 
 
 ' I am sure you are kindness itself, dear Jenny,' 
 responded Miss Adeline. ' I am glad they own it ! 
 But it is very inconvenient and unlucky that that 
 unjustifiable mother should have sent her child to 
 the party to carry the whooping-cough to poor little 
 Primrose, and Mysie, and Phyllis.' 
 
 ' All at one fell sw T oop ! As for Primrose, the 
 worthy Halfpenny is quite enough for her, and Lily is 
 well out of it ; but Fly is a little shrimp, overdone all 
 round, and I don't like the notion of it for her.' 
 
 1 And Eotherwood is so wrapped up in her. Poor 
 dear fellow, I hope all will go well with her.' 
 
 ' There is no reason it should not. Delicate children 
 often have it the most lightly. But I am sorry for 
 Gillian, though, if she would let us, I think we could 
 make her happy.' 
 
 Gillian meantime, after her first fit of sick longing 
 for her brother and sister, and sense of disappointment, 
 was finding some consolation in the reflection that had 
 Jasper discovered her instructions to Alexis White, he 
 would certainly have ' made no end of a row about it,' 
 and have laughed to scorn the bare notion of her 
 teaching Greek to a counting-house clerk ! But then 
 Jasper was wont to grumble and chafe at all employ-
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 179 
 
 ments — especially beneficent ones — that interfered 
 with devotion to his lordly self, and on the whole, 
 perhaps he was safer out of the way, as he might have 
 set on the aunts to put a stop to her proceedings. Of 
 Mysie's sympathy she was sure, yet she would have 
 her scruples about the aunts, and she was a sturdy 
 person, hard to answer — poor Mysie, whooping away 
 helplessly in the schoolroom at Eotherwood ! Gillian 
 felt herself heroically good-humoured and resigned. 
 Moreover, here was the Indian letter so long looked 
 for, likely by its date to be an answer to the information 
 as to Alexis White's studies. Behold, it did not appear 
 to touch on the subject at all ! It was all about 
 preparations for the double wedding, written in scraps 
 by different hands, at different times, evidently snatched 
 from many avocations and much interruption. Of 
 mamma there was really least of all ; but squeezed 
 into a corner, scarcely legible, Gillian read, 'As to 
 lessons, if At. J. approves.' It was evidently an after- 
 thought; and Gillian could, and chose to, refer it to a 
 certain inquiry about learning the violin, which had 
 never been answered — for the confusion that reigned 
 at Columbo was plainly unfavourable to attending to 
 minute details in home letters. 
 
 The longest portions of the despatch were papa's, 
 since he was still unable to move about. He wrote : — 
 ' Our two " young men " think it probable you will 
 have invitations from their kith and kin. If this 
 comes to pass, you had better accept them, though you
 
 i8o BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 will not like to break up the Christmas party at 
 Beech croft Court.' 
 
 There being no Christmas party at Beechcroft Court, 
 Gillian, in spite of her distaste to new people, was not 
 altogether sorry to receive a couple of notes by the 
 same post, the first enclosed in the second, both for- 
 warded from thence. 
 
 ' Vale Leston Priory, 
 ' 9th December. 
 
 ' My dear Miss Merrifield — We are very anxious 
 to make acquaintance with my brother Bernard's new 
 belongings, since we cannot greet our new sister Phyllis 
 ourselves. We always have a family gathering at 
 Christmas between this house and the Vicarage, and 
 we much hope that you and your brother will join it. 
 Could you not meet my sister, Mrs. Grinstead, in London, 
 and travel down with her on the 23d ? I am sending 
 this note to her, as I think she has some such proposal 
 to make. — Yours very sincerely, 
 
 'WlLMET U. HAREWOOD.' 
 
 The other letter was thus — 
 
 'Brompton, 10th December. 
 
 ' My dear Gillian — It is more natural to call you 
 thus, as you are becoming a sort of relation — very 
 unwillingly, I dare say — for "in this storm I too have 
 lost a brother." However, we will make the best of it, 
 and please don't hate us more than you can help. 
 Since your own home is dispersed for the present, it 
 seems less outrageous to ask you to spend a Christmas
 
 ix GAUGING AJEE 181 
 
 Da) 7 among new people, and I hope we may make you 
 feel at home with us, and that you will enjoy our 
 beautiful church at Vale Leston. We are so many 
 that we may be less alarming if you take us by driblets, 
 so perhaps it will be the best way if you will come up 
 to us on the 18th or 19th, and go down with us on 
 the 23 d. You will find no one with us but my 
 nephew — almost son — Gerald Underwood, and my 
 niece, Anna Vanderkist, who will be delighted to make 
 friends with your brother Jasper, who might perhaps 
 meet you here. You must tell me all about Phyllis, 
 and what she would like best for her Cingalese home. — 
 Yours affectionately, Geraldine Grinstead.' 
 
 Thus then affairs shaped themselves. Gillian was 
 to take Fergus to London, where Jasper would meet 
 them at the station, and put the little boy into the 
 train for Coalham, whither his brother Wilfred had 
 preceded him by a day or two. 
 
 Jasper and Gillian would then repair to Brompton 
 for two or three days before going down with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Grinstead to Vale Leston ; and they were to take 
 care to pay their respects to old Mrs. Merrifield, who 
 had become too infirm to spend Christmas at Stokesley. 
 
 What was to happen later was uncertain, whether 
 they were to go to Stokesley, or whether Jasper would 
 join his brothers at Coalham, or come down to Eockstone 
 with his sister for the rest of the holidays. Valetta 
 must remain there, and it did not seem greatly to
 
 182 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap, ix 
 
 distress her ; and whereas nothing had been said about 
 children, she was better satisfied to stay within reach 
 of Kitty and mamma, and the Christmas-trees that 
 began to dawn on the horizon, than to be carried into 
 an unknown region of ' grown-ups.' 
 
 While Gillian was not only delighted at the prospect 
 of meeting Jasper, her own especial brother, but was 
 heartily glad to make a change, and defer the entire 
 question of lessons, confessions, and G.F.S. for six 
 whole weeks. She might get a more definite answer 
 from her parents, or something might happen to make 
 explanation to her aunt either unnecessary or much 
 more easy — and she was safe from discovery. But 
 examinations had yet to be passed.
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 AUT CjESAB AUT NIHIL 
 
 Examinations were the great autumn excitement. 
 Gillian was going up for the higher Cambridge, and 
 Valetta's form was under preparation for competition 
 for a prize in languages. The great Mr. White, on 
 being asked to patronise the High School at its first 
 start, four years ago, had endowed it with prizes for 
 each of the four forms for the most proficient in two 
 tongues. 
 
 As the preparation became more absorbing, brows 
 were puckered and looks were anxious, and the aunts 
 were doubtful as to the effect upon the girls' minds or 
 bodies. It was too late, however, to withdraw them, 
 and Miss Mohun could only insist on air and exercise, 
 and permit no work after the seven-o'clock tea. 
 
 She was endeavouring to chase cobwebs from the 
 brains of the students by the humours of Mrs. Nickleby, 
 when a message was brought that Miss Leverett, the 
 head-mistress of the High School, wished to speak to 
 her in the dining-room. This was no unusual occur- 
 rence, as Miss Mohun was secretary to the managing
 
 1 84 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKSTONE chap. 
 
 committee of the High School. But on the announce- 
 ment Valetta began to fidget, and presently said that 
 she was tired and would go to bed. The most ordinary 
 effect of fatigue upon this young lady was to make her 
 resemble the hero of the nursery poem — 
 
 ' I do not want to go to bed, 
 Sleepy little Harry said.' 
 
 Nevertheless, this willingness excited no suspicion, till 
 Miss Mohun came to the door to summon Valetta. 
 
 1 Is there anything wrong V exclaimed sister and 
 niece together. 
 
 ' Gone to bed ! Oh ! I'll tell you presently. 
 Don't you come, Gillian.' 
 
 She vanished again, leaving Gillian in no small 
 alarm and vexation. 
 
 ' I wonder what it can be,' mused Aunt Ada. 
 
 ' I shall go and find out !' said Gillian, jumping up, 
 as she heard a door shut upstairs. 
 
 ' No, don't,' said Aunt Ada ; ' you had much better 
 not interfere.' 
 
 e It is my business to see after my own sister,' 
 returned Gillian haughtily. 
 
 ' I see what you mean, my dear,' said her aunt, 
 stretching out her hand kindly ; ' but I do not think 
 you can do any good. If she is in a scrape, you have 
 nothing to do with the High School management, and 
 for you to burst in would only annoy Miss Leverett 
 and confuse the affair. Oh, I know your impulse of 
 defence, dear Gillian ; but the time has not come yet,
 
 x AUT CMSAR AUT NIHIL 185 
 
 and you can't have any reasonable doubt that Jane will 
 be just, nor that your mother would wish that you 
 should be quiet about it.' 
 
 ' But suppose there is some horrid accusation against 
 her!' said Gillian hotly. 
 
 ' But, dear child, if you don't know anything about 
 it, how can you defend her ? ' 
 
 1 1 ought to know ! ' 
 
 ' So you will in time ; but the more people there 
 are present, the more confusion there is, and the greater 
 difficulty in getting at the rights of anything.' 
 
 More by her caressing tone of sympathy than by 
 actual arguments, Adeline did succeed in keeping Gillian 
 in the drawing-room, though not in pacifying her, till 
 doors were heard again, and something so like Yaletta 
 crying as she went upstairs, that Gillian was neither 
 to have nor to hold, and made a dash out of the 
 room, only to find her aunt and the head-mistress ex- 
 changing last words in the hall, and as she was going 
 to brush past them, Aunt Jane caught her hand, and 
 said — 
 
 1 Wait a moment, Gillian ; I want to speak to you.' 
 
 There was no getting away, but she was very 
 indignant. She tugged at her aunt's hand more than 
 perhaps she knew, and there was something of a 
 flouncing as she flung into the drawing-room and 
 demanded — 
 
 1 "Well, what have you been doing to poor little Val ? ' 
 
 ' We have done nothing,' said Miss Mohun quietly.
 
 1S6 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 1 Miss Leverett wanted to ask her some questions. Sit 
 down, Gillian. You had better hear what I have to 
 say before going to her. Well, it appears that there 
 has been some amount of cribbing in the third form.' 
 
 ' I'm sure Val never would,' broke out Gillian. And 
 her aunt answered — 
 
 ' So was I ; but ' 
 
 ' Oh ' 
 
 ' My dear, do hush,' pleaded Adeline. ' You must 
 let yourself listen.' 
 
 Gillian gave a desperate twist, but let her aunt 
 smooth her hand. 
 
 1 All the class — almost — seem to have done it in 
 some telegraphic way, hard to understand,' proceeded 
 Aunt Jane. 'There must have been some stupidity 
 on the part of the class-mistress, Miss Mellon, or it 
 could not have gone on ; but there has of late been a 
 strong suspicion of cribbing in Caesar in Yaletta's class. 
 They had got rather behindhand, and have been work- 
 ing up somewhat too hard and fast to get through the 
 portion for examination. Some of them translated too 
 well — used terms for the idioms that were neither 
 literal, nor could have been forged by their small 
 brains ; so there was an examination, and Georgie Purvis 
 was detected reading off from the marks on the margin 
 of her notebook.' 
 
 ' But what has that to do with Yal V 
 
 ' Georgie, being had up to Miss Leverett, made the 
 sort of confession that implicates everybody.'
 
 x AUT C^SAR AUT NIHIL 1S7 
 
 'Then why believe her?' muttered Gillian. But 
 her aunt went on — 
 
 ' She said that four or five of them did it, from the 
 notes that Valetta Merrifield brought to school.' 
 
 ' Never !' interjected Gillian. 
 
 ' She said/ continued Miss Mohun, ' it was first 
 that they saw her helping Maura White, and they 
 thought that was not fair, and insisted on her doing 
 the same for them.' 
 
 ' It can't be true ! Oh, don't believe it !' cried the 
 sister. 
 
 ' I grieve to remind you that I showed you in the 
 drawer in the dining-room chiffonier a translation of 
 that very book of Caesar that your mother and I made 
 years ago, when she was crazy upon Vercingetorix.' 
 
 'But was that reason enough for laying it upon 
 poor Val ?' 
 
 ' She owned it.' 
 
 There was a silence, and then Gillian said — 
 
 ' She must have been frightened, and not known 
 what she was saying.' 
 
 ' She was frightened, but she was very straightfor- 
 ward, and told without any shuffling. She saw the 
 old copy-books when I was showing you those other 
 remnants of our old times, and one day it seems she 
 was in a great puzzle over her lessons, and could get 
 no help or advice, because none of us had come in. I 
 suppose you were with Lilian, and she thought she 
 might just look at the passage. She found Maura in
 
 1 88 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKS TONE ch ap.- 
 
 the same difficulty, and helped her ; and then Georgie 
 Purvis and Nelly Black found them out, and threatened 
 to tell unless she showed them her notes; but the 
 copying whole phrases was only done quite of late in 
 the general over-hurry.' 
 
 ' She must have been bullied into it,' cried Gillian. 
 1 1 shall go and see about her.' 
 
 Aunt Ada made a gesture as of deprecation ; but 
 Aunt Jane let her go without remonstrance, merely 
 saying as the door closed — 
 
 ' Poor child ! Esprit defamille V 
 
 ' Will it not be very bad for Yaletta to be petted 
 and pitied ?' 
 
 ' I don't know. At any rate, we cannot separate 
 them at night, so it is only beginning it a little sooner ; 
 and whatever I say only exasperates Gillian the more. 
 Poor little Yal, she had not a formed character enough 
 to be turned loose into a High School without Mysie 
 to keep her in order.' 
 
 ' Or Gillian.' 
 
 ' I am not so sure of Gillian. There's some- 
 thing amiss, though I can't make out whether it is 
 merely that I rub her down the wrong way. I 
 wonder whether this holiday time will do us good 
 or harm ! At any rate, I know how Lily felt about 
 Dolores.' 
 
 ' It must have been that class-mistress's fault.' 
 
 ( To a great degree ; but Miss Leverett has just 
 discovered that her cleverness does not compensate for
 
 x AUT C^SAR AUT NIHIL 189 
 
 a general lack of sense and discipline. Poor little Yal 
 — perhaps it is her turning-point !' 
 
 Gillian, rushing up in a boiling state of indignation 
 against everybody, felt the family shame most acutely 
 of all ; and though, as a Merrifield, she defended her 
 sister below stairs, on the other hand she was much 
 more personally shocked and angered at the disgrace 
 than were her aunts, and far less willing to perceive 
 any excuse for the culprit. 
 
 There was certainly no petting or pitying in her 
 tone as she stood over the little iron bed, where the 
 victim was hiding her head on her pillow. 
 
 ' Oh, Yaletta, how could you do such a thing ? The 
 Merrifields have never been so disgraced before!' 
 
 1 Oh, don't, Gill ! Aunt Jane and Miss Leverett 
 were — not so angry — when I said — I was sorry.' 
 
 'But what will papa and mamma say V 
 
 ' Must they — must they hear ? ' 
 
 ' You would not think of deceiving them, I hope.' 
 
 ' Xot deceiving, only not telling.' 
 
 'That comes to much the same.' 
 
 1 You can't say anything, Gill, for you are always 
 down at Kal's office, and nobody knows.' 
 
 This gave Gillian a great shock, but she rallied, 
 and said with dignity, ' Do you think I do not write 
 to mamma everything I do ? ' 
 
 It sufficed for the immediate purpose of annihilating 
 Yaletta, who had just been begging off from letting 
 mamma hear of her proceedings; but it left Gillian
 
 190 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 very uneasy as to how much the child might know or 
 tell, and this made her proceed less violently, and more 
 persuasively, ' Whatever I do, I write to mamma ; and 
 besides, it is different with a little thing like you, and 
 your school work. Come, tell me how you got into 
 this scrape.' 
 
 ' Oh, Gill, it was so hard ! All about those tire- 
 some Gauls, and there were bits when the nominative 
 case would go and hide itself, and those nasty tenses 
 one doesn't know how to look out, and I knew I was 
 making nonsense, and you were out of the way, and 
 there was nobody to help ; and I knew mamma's own 
 book was there — the very part too — because Aunt 
 Jane had shown it to us, so I did not think there was 
 any harm in letting her help me out of the muddle.' 
 ' Ah ! that was the beginning.' 
 ' If you had been in, I would not have done it. 
 You know Aunt Jane said there was no harm in giving 
 a clue, and this tvas mamma.' 
 ' But that was not all.' 
 
 ' Well, then, there was Maura first, as much puzzled, 
 and her brother is so busy he hasn't as much time for 
 her as he used to have, and it does signify to her, for 
 perhaps if she does not pass, Mr. White may not let 
 her go on at the High School, and that would be too 
 dreadful, for you know you said I was to do all I 
 could for Maura. So I marked down things for her 
 and she copied them off, and then Georgie and Nelly 
 found it out, and, oh ! they were dreadful ! I never
 
 x AUT C^SAR AUT NIHIL 191 
 
 knew it was wrong till they went at me. And they 
 were horrid to Maura, and said she was a Greek and 
 I a Maltese, and so we were both false, and cheaty, 
 and sly, and they should tell Miss Leverett unless I 
 would help them.' 
 
 ' Oh ! Yaletta, why didn't you tell me ? ' 
 
 ' I never get to speak to you,' said Val. ' I did 
 think I would that first time, and ask you what to do ; 
 but then you came in late, and when I began some- 
 thing, you said you had your Greek to do, and told 
 me to hold my tongue.' 
 
 ' I am very sorry,' said Gillian, feeling convicted of 
 having neglected her little sister in the stress of her 
 own work and of the preparation for that of her pupil, 
 who was treading on her heels ; ' but indeed, Val, if 
 you had told me it was important, I should have 
 listened.' 
 
 ' Ah ! but when one is half-frightened, and you are 
 always in a hurry,' sighed the child. ' And, indeed, I 
 did do my best over my own work before ever I looked ; 
 only those two are so lazy and stupid, they would have 
 ever so much more help than Maura or I ever wanted ; 
 and at last I was so worried and hurried with my 
 French and all the rest, that I did scramble a whole 
 lot down, and that was the way it was found out. 
 And I am glad now it is over, whatever happens.' 
 
 ' Yes, that is right,' said Gillian ; ' and I am glad 
 you told no stories ; but I wonder Emma Norton did 
 not see what was going on.'
 
 192 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' Oh, she is frightfully busy about her own.' 
 
 ' And Kitty Yarley ? ' 
 
 1 Kitty is only going up for French and German. 
 Miss Leverett is so angry. What do you think she 
 will do to me, Gill ? Expel me ? ' 
 
 ' I don't know — I can't guess. I don't know High 
 School ways.' 
 
 ' It would be so dreadful for papa and mamma and 
 the boys to know,' sobbed Valetta. ' And Mysie ! oh, 
 if Mysie was but here ! ' 
 
 ' Mysie would have been a better sister to her,' said 
 Gillian's conscience, and her voice said, 'You would 
 never have done it if Mysie had been here.' 
 
 ' And Mysie would be nice,' said the poor child, who 
 longed after her companion sister as much for comfort 
 as for conscience. ' Is Aunt Jane very very angry V 
 she went on ; ' do you think I shall be punished ? ' 
 
 ' I can't tell. If it were I, I should think you 
 were punished enough by having disgraced the name 
 of Merrifield by such a dishonourable action.' 
 
 ' I — I didn't know it was dishonourable.' 
 
 ' Well,' said Gillian, perhaps a little tired of the 
 scene, or mayhap dreading another push into her own 
 quarters, ' I have been saying what I could for you, 
 and I should think they would feel that no one but our 
 father and mother had a real right to punish you, but 
 I can't tell what the School may do. Now, hush, it is 
 of no use to talk any more. Good-night ; I hope I 
 shall find you asleep when I come to bed.'
 
 x AUT CAESAR AUT NIHIL 193 
 
 Valetta would have detained her, but off she went, 
 with a consciousness that she had been poor comfort 
 to her little sister, and had not helped her to the right 
 kind of repentance. But then that highest ground — 
 the strict rule of perfect conscientious uprightness — 
 was just what she shrank from bringing home to her- 
 self, in spite of those privileges of seniority by which 
 she had impressed poor Valetta. 
 
 The worst thing further that was said that night, 
 when she had reported as much of Valetta's confidence 
 as she thought might soften displeasure, was Aunt 
 Ada's observation : ' Maura ! That's the White child, 
 is it not ? No doubt it was the Greek blood.' 
 
 ' The English girls were much worse,' hastily said 
 Gillian, with a flush of alarm, as she thought of her 
 own friends being suspected. 
 
 ' Yes ; but it began with the little Greek,' said Aunt 
 Ada. ' What a pity, for she is such an engaging child ! 
 I would take the child away from the High School, 
 except that it would have the appearance of her being- 
 dismissed.' 
 
 1 We must consider of that/ said Aunt Jane. ' There 
 will hardly be time to hear from Lilias before the next 
 term begins. Indeed, it will not be so very long to 
 wait before the happy return, I hope.' 
 
 ' Only two months,' said Gillian ; ' but it would be 
 happier but for this.' 
 
 ( No,' said Aunt Jane. ' If we made poor little Val 
 write her confession, and I do the same for not having 
 
 vol. 1
 
 1 94 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CAS TONE chap. 
 
 looked after her better, it will be off our minds, and 
 need not cloud the meeting.' 
 
 ' The disgrace !' sighed Gillian; ' the public disgrace !' 
 
 ' My dear, I don't want to make you think lightly 
 of such a thing. It was very wrong in a child brought 
 up as you have all been, with a sense of honour and 
 uprightness ; but where there has been no such 
 training, the attempt to copy is common enough, 
 for it is not to be looked on as an extraordinary and 
 indelible disgrace. Do you remember Primrose saying 
 she had broken mamma's heart when she had knocked 
 down a china vase ? You need not be in that state of 
 mind over what was a childish fault, made worse by 
 those bullying girls. It is of no use to exaggerate. 
 The sin is the thing — not the outward shame.' 
 
 ' And Yaletta told at once when asked,' added Aunt 
 Ada. ' That makes a great difference.' 
 
 ' In fact, she was relieved to have it out,' said Miss 
 Mohun. ' It is not at all as if she were in the habit 
 of doing things underhand.' 
 
 Everything struck on Gillian like a covert reproach. 
 It was pain and shame to her that a Merrifield should 
 have lowered herself to the common herd so as to need 
 these excuses of her aunts, and then in the midst of 
 that indignation came that throb of self- conviction 
 which she was always confuting with the recollection 
 of her letter to her mother. She was glad to bid 
 good-night and rest her head. 
 
 The aunts ended by agreeing that it was needful to
 
 x AUT C&SAR AUT NIHIL 195 
 
 withdraw Valetta from the competition. It would 
 seem like punishment to her, but it would remove her 
 from the strain that certainly was not good for her. 
 Indeed, they had serious thoughts of taking her from 
 the school altogether, but the holidays would not long- 
 be ended before her parents' return. 
 
 1 1 am sorry we ever let her try for the prize,' said 
 Ada. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Aunt Jane, ' I suppose it was weakness ; 
 but having opposed the acceptance of the system of 
 prizes by competition at first, I thought it would look 
 sullen if I refused to let Valetta try. Stimulus is all 
 very well, but competition leads to emulation, wrath, 
 strife, and a good deal besides.' 
 
 ' Valetta wished it too, and she knew so much 
 Latin to begin with that I thought she would easily 
 get it, and certainly she ought not to get into diffi- 
 culties.' 
 
 ' After the silken rein and easy amble of Silverfold, 
 the spur and the race have come severely.' 
 
 'It is, I suppose, the same with Gillian, though 
 there it is not competition. Do you expect her to 
 succeed ? ' 
 
 'No. She has plenty of intelligence, and a 'certain 
 sort of diligence, but does not work to a point. She 
 wants a real hand over her ! She will fail, and it will 
 be very good for her.' 
 
 'I should say the work was overmuch for her, and 
 had led her to neglect Valetta.'
 
 196 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 1 Work becomes overmuch when people don't know 
 
 how to set about it, and resent being told No, 
 
 not in words, but by looks and shoulders. Besides, I 
 am not sure that it is her proper work that oppresses 
 her. I think she has some other undertaking in hand, 
 probably for Christmas, or for her mother's return ; but 
 as secrecy is the very soul of such things, I shut my 
 eyes.' 
 
 ' Somehow, Jane, I think you have become so much 
 afraid of giving way to curiosity that you sometimes 
 shut your eyes rather too much.' 
 
 'Well, perhaps in one's old age one suffers from 
 the reaction of one's bad qualities. I will think about 
 it, Ada. I certainly never before realised how very 
 different school supervision of young folks is from 
 looking after them all round. Moreover, Gillian has 
 been much more attentive to poor Lily Giles of late, in 
 spite of her avocations.' 
 
 Valetta was not at first heartbroken on hearing 
 that she was not to go in for the language examination. 
 It was such a relief from the oppression of the task, 
 and she had so long given up hopes of having the prize 
 to show to her mother, that she was scarcely grieved, 
 though Aunt Jane was very grave while walking down 
 to school with her in the morning to see Miss Leverett, 
 and explain the withdrawal. 
 
 That lady came to her private room as soon as she 
 had opened the school. From one point of view, she 
 said she agreed with Miss Mohun that it would be
 
 x AUT C^SAR AUT NIHIL 197 
 
 better that her niece should not go up for the 
 examination. 
 
 1 But/ she said, ' it may be considered as a stigma 
 upon her, since none of the others are to give up.' 
 
 ' Indeed ! I had almost thought it a matter of 
 course.' 
 
 1 On the contrary, two of the mothers seem to think 
 nothing at all of the matter. Mrs. Black ' 
 
 1 The Surveyor's wife, isn't she ? ' 
 
 'Yes; she writes a note saying that all children 
 copy, if they can, and she wonders that I should be so 
 severe upon such a frequent occurrence, which reflects 
 more discredit on the governesses than the scholars.' 
 
 ' Polite that ! And Mrs. Purvis ? At least, she is 
 a lady!' 
 
 ' She is more polite, but evidently has no desire to 
 be troubled. She hopes that if her daughter has 
 committed a breach of school discipline, I will act as I 
 think best.' 
 
 1 No feeling of the real evil in either ! How about 
 Maura White ?' 
 
 ' That is very different. It is her sister who writes, 
 and so nicely that I must show it to you.' 
 
 1 My dear Madam — I am exceedingly grieved that 
 Maura should have acted in a dishonourable manner, 
 though she was not fully aware how wrongly she was 
 behaving. We have been talking to her, and we think 
 she is so truly sorry as not to be likely to fall into the
 
 198 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 same temptation again. As far as we can make out, 
 she has generally taken pains with her tasks, and only 
 obtained assistance in unusually difficult passages, so 
 that we think that she is really not ill-prepared. If it 
 is thought right that all the pupils concerned should 
 abstain from the competition, we would of course 
 readily acquiesce in the justice of the sentence ; but to 
 miss it this year might make so serious a difference to 
 her prospects, that I hope it will not be thought a 
 necessary act of discipline, though we know that we 
 have no right to plead for any exemption for her. 
 With many thanks for the consideration you have 
 shown for her, I remain, faithfully yours, 
 
 ( K. "White.' 
 
 1 A very different tone indeed, and it quite agrees 
 with Valetta's account,' said Miss Mohun. 
 
 'Yes, the other two girls were by far the most 
 guilty.' 
 
 ' And morally, perhaps, Maura the least ; but I 
 retain my view that, irrespective of the others, Valetta's 
 parents had rather she missed this examination, con- 
 sidering all things.' 
 
 Valetta came home much more grieved when she 
 had found she was the only one left out, and declared 
 it was unjust. 
 
 1 No,' said Gillian, ' for you began it all. None of 
 the others would have got into the scrape but for you.' 
 
 ' It was all your fault for not minding me ! '
 
 x AUT CALSAR AUT NIHIL 199 
 
 ' As if I made you do sly things.' 
 
 ' You made me. You were so cross if I only asked 
 a question/ and Yal prepared to cry. 
 
 ' I thought people had to do their own work and 
 not other folks' ! Don't be so foolish.' 
 
 f Oh dear ! oh dear ! how unkind you are ! I wish 
 — I wish Mysie was here ; every one is grown cross ! 
 Oh, if mamma would but come home !' 
 
 ' Now, Yal, don't be such a baby ! Stop that !' 
 
 And Yaletta went into one of her old agonies of 
 crying and sobbing, which brought Aunt Jane in to 
 see what was the matter. She instantly stopped the 
 scolding with which Gillian was trying to check the 
 outburst, and which only added to its violence. 
 
 1 It is the only thing to stop those fits,' said Gillian 
 ' She can if she will ! It is all temper.' 
 
 'Leave her to me !' commanded Aunt Jane. 'Go!' 
 
 Gillian went away, muttering that it was not the 
 way mamma or Nurse Halfpenny treated Yal, and 
 quite amazed that Aunt Jane, of all people, should 
 have the naughty child on her lap and in her arms, 
 soothing her tenderly. 
 
 The cries died away, and the long heaving sobs 
 began to subside, and at last a broken voice said, 
 on Aunt Jane's shoulder, ' It's — a — little bit — like 
 mamma.' 
 
 For Aunt Jane's voice had a ring in it like mamma's, 
 and this little bit of tenderness was inexpressibly 
 comforting.
 
 200 BEE CHCR OFT AT R0 CKS TONE chap. 
 
 ' My poor dear child/ she said, ' mamma will soon 
 come home, and then you will be all right.' 
 
 1 1 shouldn't have done it if mamma had been 
 there !' 
 
 ' No ; and now you are sorry.' 
 
 * Will mamma be very angry ? ' 
 
 c She will be grieved that you could not hold out 
 when you were tempted ; but I am sure she will 
 forgive you if you write it all to her. And, Val, you 
 know you can have God's forgiveness at once if you 
 tell Him.' 
 
 ' Yes/ said Valetta gravely ; then, ' I did not before, 
 because I thought every one made so much of it, and 
 were so cross. And Georgie and Nellie don't care at all.' 
 
 ' Nor Maura ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, Maura does, because of Kalliope.' 
 
 ' How do you mean V 
 
 Valetta sat up on her aunt's lap, and told. 
 
 ' Maura told me ! She said Kally and Alec both 
 were at her, but her mamma was vexed with them, and 
 said she would not have her scolded at home as well 
 as at school about nothing ; and she told Theodore to 
 go and buy her a tart to make up to her, but Theodore 
 wouldn't, for he said he was ashamed of her. So she 
 sent the maid. But when Maura had gone to bed and 
 to sleep, she woke up, and there was Kally crying over 
 her prayers, and whispering half aloud, " Is she going 
 too ? My poor child ! Oh, save her ! Give her the 
 Spirit of truth
 
 x AUT CjESAR AUT NIHIL 201 
 
 ' Poor Kalliope ! She is a good sister.' 
 
 ' Yes ; Maura says Kally is awfully afraid of their 
 telling stories because of Eichard — the eldest, you 
 know. He does it dreadfully. I remember nurse 
 used to tell us not to fib like Dick White. Maura said 
 he used to tell his father stories about being late and 
 getting money, and their mother never let him be 
 punished. He was her pet. And Maura remembers 
 being carried in to see poor Captain White just before 
 he died, when she was getting better, but could not 
 stand, and he said, "Truth before all, children. Be 
 true to God and man." Captain White did care so 
 much, but Mrs. White doesn't. Isn't that very odd, 
 for she isn't a Eoman Catholic?' ended Valetta, 
 obviously believing that falsehood was inherent in 
 Eomanists, and pouring out all this as soon as her tears 
 were assuaged, as if, having heard it, she must tell. 
 
 ' Mrs. White is half a Greek, you know,' said Aunt 
 Jane, ' and the Greeks are said not to think enough 
 about truth.' 
 
 1 Epaminondas did,' said Valetta, who had picked up 
 a good deal from the home atmosphere, ' but Ulysses 
 didn't.' 
 
 '~No; and the Greeks have been enslaved and 
 oppressed for a great many years, and that is apt to 
 make people get cowardly and false. But that is not 
 our concern, Val, and I think with such a recollection 
 of her good father, and such a sister to help her, Maura 
 will not fall into the fault again. And, my dear, I
 
 202 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE CHAr. 
 
 quite see that neither you nor she entirely realised that 
 what you did was deception, though you never spoke a 
 word of untruth.' 
 
 ' ~No, we did not,' said Yaletta. 
 
 ' And so, my dear child, I do forgive you, quite and 
 entirely, as we used to say, though I have settled with 
 Miss Leverett that you had better not go up for the 
 examination, since you cannot be properly up to it. 
 And you must write the whole history to your mother. 
 Yes ; I know it will be very sad work, but it will be 
 much better to have it out and done with, instead of 
 having it on your mind when she comes home.' 
 
 'Shall you tell her?' 
 
 ' Yes, certainly,' said the aunt, well knowing that 
 this would clench the matter. ' But I shall tell her 
 how sorry you are, and that I really think you did not 
 quite understand what you were about at first. And 
 I shall write to Miss White, and try to comfort her 
 about her sister.' 
 
 'You won't say I told ?' 
 
 ' Oh no ; but I shall have quite reason enough for 
 writing in telling her that I am sorry my little niece 
 led her sister into crooked paths.' 
 
 Gillian knew that this letter was written and sent, 
 and it did not make her more eager for a meeting with 
 Kalliope. So that she was not sorry that the weather 
 was a valid hindrance, though a few weeks ago she 
 would have disregarded such considerations. Besides, 
 there was her own examination, which for two days was
 
 x AUT CsESAR AUT NIHIL 203 
 
 like a fever, and kept her at her little table, think- 
 ing of nothing but those questions, and dreaming and 
 waking over them at night. 
 
 It was over ; and she was counselled on all sides to 
 think no more about it till she should hear of success 
 or failure. But this was easier said than done, and 
 she was left in her tired state with a general sense of 
 being on a wrong tack, and of going on amiss, whether 
 due to her aunt's want of assimilation to herself, or to 
 her mother's absence, she did not know, and with the 
 further sense that she had not been the motherly sister 
 she had figured to herself; but that both the children 
 should show a greater trust and reliance on Aunt Jane 
 than on herself grieved her, not exactly with jealousy, 
 but with sense of failure and dissatisfaction with her- 
 self. She had a universal distaste to her surroundings, 
 and something very like dread of the Whites, and she 
 rejoiced in the prospect of quitting Eockstone for the 
 present. 
 
 She felt bound to run down to the office to wish 
 Kalliope good-bye. There she found an accumulation 
 of exercises and translations waiting for her. 
 
 ' Oh, what a quantity ! It shows how long it is 
 since I have been here.' 
 
 * And indeed,' began Kalliope, ' since your aunt has 
 been so very kind about poor little Maura ' 
 
 * Oh, please don't talk to me ! There's such a lot 
 to do, and I have no time. Wait till I have done.' 
 
 And she nervously began reading out the Greek
 
 2o 4 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap, x 
 
 exercise, so as effectually to stop Kalliope's mouth. 
 Moreover, either her own uneasy mind, or the difficulty 
 of the Greek, brought her into a dilemma. She saw 
 that Alexis's phrase was wrong, but she did not clearly 
 perceive what the sentence ought to be, and she per- 
 plexed herself over it till he came in, whether to her 
 satisfaction or not she could not have told, for she had 
 not wanted to see him on the one hand, though, on the 
 other, it silenced Kalliope. 
 
 She tried to clear her perceptions by explanations 
 to him, but he did not seem to give his mind to the 
 grammar half as much as to the cessation of the lessons 
 and her absence. 
 
 ' You must do the best you can/ she said, ' and I 
 shall find you gone quite beyond me.' 
 
 ' I shall never do that, Miss Merrifield.' 
 
 ' Nonsense ! ' she said, laughing uncomfortably ; ' a 
 pretty clergyman you would be if you could not pass 
 a girl. There ! good-bye. Make a list of your puzzles 
 and I will do my best with them when I come back' 
 
 ' Thank you,' and he wrung her hand with an ear- 
 nestness that crave her a sense of uneasiness.
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 lady merrifield's christmas letter-bag 
 
 (Primrose.) 
 
 ' My dear Mamma — I wish, you a merry Christmas, 
 and papa and sisters and Claude too. I only hooped 
 once to-day, and Nurse says I may go out when it 
 gets fine. Fly is better. She sent me her dolls' 
 house in a big box in a cart, and Mysie sent a new 
 frock of her own making for Liliana, and Uncle 
 William gave me a lovely doll, with waxen arms and 
 legs, that shuts her eyes and squeals, and says Mamma ; 
 but I do not want anything but my own dear mamma, 
 and all the rest. I am mamma's own little 
 
 ' Primrose.' 
 
 (Fergus.) 
 
 ' COALHAM. 
 
 ' My dear Mamma — I wish you and papa, and all, 
 a happy Crismas, and I send a plan of the great 
 coal mine for a card. It is much jollier here than at 
 Eockquay, for it is all black with cinders, and there 
 are little fires all night, and there are lots of oars and
 
 206 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 oxhide and fossils and ferns and real curiozitys, and 
 nobody minds noises nor muddy boots, and they aren't 
 at one to wash your hands, for they can't be clean 
 ever; and there was a real row in the street last 
 night just outside. We are to go down a mine some 
 day when Cousin David has time. I mean to be a 
 great jeologist and get lots of specimens, and please 
 bring me home all the minerals in Ceylon. Harry 
 gave me a hammer. — I am, your affectionate son, 
 
 ' Fergus Merrifield.' 
 
 (Valetta.) 
 
 ' My dearest Mamma — I hope you will like my 
 card. Aunt Ada did none of it, only showed me how, 
 and Aunt Jane says I may tell you I am really trying 
 to be good. I am helping her gild fir-cones for a 
 Christmas-tree for the quire, and they will sing carols. 
 Macrae brought some for us the day before yesterday, 
 and a famous lot of holly and ivy and mistletoe and 
 flowers, and three turkeys and some hams and pheas- 
 ants and partridges. Aunt Jane sent the biggest 
 turkey and ham in a basket covered up with holly to 
 Mrs. White, and another to Mrs. Hablot, and they are 
 doing the church with the holly and ivy. We are to 
 eat the other the day after to-morrow, and Mr. Grant 
 and Miss Burne, who teaches the youngest form, are 
 coming. It was only cold beef to-day, to let Mrs. 
 Mount go to church ; but we had mince pies, and I
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELDS CHRISTMAS LETTER-BAG 207 
 
 am going to Kitty's Christmas party to-morrow, and we 
 shall dance — so Aunt Ada has given me a new white 
 frock and a lovely Eoman sash of her own. Poor old 
 Mrs. Vincent is dead, and Fergus's great black rabbit, 
 and poor little Mary Brown with dip — (blot). I can't 
 spell it, and nobody is here to tell me how, but the 
 thing in people's throats, and poor Anne has got it, 
 and Dr. Ellis says it was a mercy we were all away 
 from home, for we should have had it too, and that 
 would have been ever so much worse than the whoop- 
 ing-cough. 
 
 ' I have lots of cards, but my presents are waiting 
 for my birthday, when Maura is to come to tea. It is 
 much nicer than I thought the holidays would be. 
 Maura White has got the prize for French and Latin. 
 It is a lovely Shakespeare. I wish I had been good, 
 for I think I should have got it. Only she does want 
 more help than I do — so perhaps it is lucky I did 
 not. No, I don't mean lucky either. — Your affectionate 
 little daughter, Val.' 
 
 (Wilfred.) 
 
 ' Dear Mother — Fergus is such a little ape that 
 he will send you that disgusting coal mine on his 
 card, as if you would care for it. I know you will 
 like mine much better — that old buffer skating into a 
 hole in the ice. I don't mind being here, for though 
 Harry and Davy get up frightfully early to go to 
 church, they don't want us down till they come back,
 
 208 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 and we can have fun all day, except when Harry 
 screws me down to my holiday task, which is a disgust- 
 ing one, about the Wars of the Eoses. Harry does 
 look so rum now that he is got up for a parson that 
 we did not know him when he met us at the station. 
 There was an awful row outside here last night 
 between two sets of Waits. David went out and 
 parted them, and I thought he would have got a black 
 eye. All the choir had supper here, for there was a 
 service in the middle of the night ; but they did not 
 want us at it, and on Tuesday we are to have a Christ- 
 mas ship, and a magic -lantern, and Eollo and Mr. 
 Bowater are coming to help — he is the clergyman at 
 the next place — and no end of fun, and the biggest 
 dog you ever saw. Fergus has got one of his crazes 
 worse than ever about old stones, and is always in the 
 coal hole, poking after ferns and things. Wishing you 
 a merry Christmas. — Your affectionate son, 
 
 'Wilfred Merrifield.' 
 
 (Mysie.) 
 
 ' Kotherwood, Christmas Day. 
 1 My own dearest Mamma — A very happy Christ- 
 mas to you, and papa and Claude and my sisters, and 
 here are the cards, which Miss Elbury helped me about 
 so kindly that I think they are better than usual : I 
 mean that she advised me, for no one touched them 
 but myself. You will like your text, I hope ; I chose 
 it because it is so nice to think we are all one, though
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER- BAG 209 
 
 we are in so many different places. I did one with 
 the same for poor Dolores in New Zealand. Uncle 
 William was here yesterday, and he said dear little 
 Primrose is almost quite well. Fly is much better to- 
 day ; her eyes look quite bright, and she is to sit up a 
 little while in the afternoon, but I may not talk to her 
 for fear of making her cough ; but she slept all night 
 without one whoop, and will soon be well now. Cousin 
 Eotherwood was so glad that he was quite funny this 
 morning, and he gave me the loveliest writing-case you 
 ever saw, with a good lock and gold key, and gold tops 
 to everything, and my three M's engraved on them all. 
 I have so many presents and cards that I will write 
 out a list when I have finished my letter. I shall 
 have plenty of time, for everybody is gone to church 
 except Cousin Florence, who went early. 
 
 1 1 am to dine at the late dinner, which will be 
 early, because of the church singers, and Cousin 
 Eotherwood says he and I will do snapdragon, if I 
 will promise not to whoop. 
 
 '4.30. — I had to stop again because of the doctor. 
 He says he does not want to have any more to do with 
 me, and that I may go out the first fine day, and that 
 Fly is much better. And only think ! He says 
 Rockquay is the very place for Fly, and as soon as 
 we are not catching, we are all to go there. Cousin 
 Rotherwood told me so for a great secret ; but he said 
 I might tell you, and that he would ask Aunt Alethea 
 to let Primrose come too. It does warm one up to 
 
 vol. 1 P
 
 210 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 think of it, and it is much easier to feel thankful and 
 glad about all the rest of the right sort of Christmas 
 happiness, now I am so near having Gill and Yal 
 again. — Your very loving child, 
 
 ' M. M. Merrifield.' 
 
 (Jasper.) 
 
 Vale Leston Priory, 
 1 25th December. 
 
 ' Dearest Mother — Here are my Christmas wishes 
 that we may all be right again at home this year, and 
 that you could see the brace of pheasants I killed. 
 However, Gill and I are in uncommonly nice quarters. 
 I shall let her tell the long story about who is who, 
 for there is such a swarm of cousins, and uncles, and 
 aunts, and when you think you have hold of the right 
 one, it turns out to be the other lot. There are three 
 houses choke full of them, and more floating about, and 
 all running in and out, till it gets like the little pig 
 that could not be counted, it ran about so fast. They 
 are all Underwood or Harewood, more or less, except 
 the Vanderkists, who are all girls except a little fellow 
 in knickerbockers. Poor little chap, his father was a 
 great man on the turf, and ruined him horse and foot 
 before he was born, and then died of D. T., and his 
 mother is a great invalid, and very badly off, with no 
 end of daughters — the most stunning girls you ever 
 saw — real beauties, and no mistake, especially Emily, 
 who is great fun besides. She is to be Helena when
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER-BAG 211 
 
 we act Midsummer Night's Dream on Twelfth Night 
 for all the natives, and I am Demetrius, dirty cad that 
 he is ! She lives with the Grinsteads, and Anna with 
 the Travis Underwoods, Phyllis's young man's bosses. 
 If he makes as good a thing of it as they have done, 
 she will be no end of a swell. Mr. Travis Underwood 
 has brought down his hunters and gives me a mount. 
 Claude would go stark staring mad to see his 
 Campeador. 
 
 ' They are awfully musical here, and are always at 
 carols or something, and that's the only thing against 
 them. As to Gill, she is in clover, in raptures with 
 every one, especially Mrs. Grin stead, and I think it is 
 doing her good. — Your affectionate son, 
 
 'J. R M.' 
 
 (Gillian.) 
 
 'Deaeest Mamma — All Christmas love, and a 
 message to Phyllis that I almost forgive her desertion 
 for the sake of the set of connections she has brought 
 us, like the nearest and dearest relations or more, but 
 Geraldine — for so she told me to call her — is still the 
 choicest of all. It is so pretty to see her husband — 
 the great sculptor — wait on her, as if she was a queen 
 and he her knight ! Anna told me that he had been 
 in love with her ever so long, and she refused him 
 once ; but after the eldest brother died, and she was 
 living at St. Wulstan's, he tried again, and she could 
 not hold out. I told you of her charming house, so
 
 212 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 full of lovely things, and about Gerald, all cleverness 
 and spirit, but too delicate for a public school. He is 
 such a contrast to Edward Harewood, a great sturdy, 
 red-haired fellow, who is always about with Jasper, 
 except when he — Japs, I mean — is with Emily 
 Vanderkist. She is the prettiest of the Vanderkists. 
 There are eight of them besides little Sir Adrian. 
 Mary always stays to look after her mother, who is in 
 very bad health, and has weak eyes. They call Mary 
 invaluable and so very good, but she is like a homely 
 little Dutchwoman, and nobody would think she was 
 only twenty. Sophy, the next to her, calls herself 
 pupil-teacher to Mrs. William Harewood, and together 
 they manage the schoolroom for all the younger sisters, 
 the two little girls at the Vicarage, and Wilmet, the 
 only girl here at the Priory ; but, of course, no lessons 
 are going on now, only learning and rehearsing the 
 parts, and making the dresses, painting the scenes, and 
 learning songs. They all do care so much about music 
 here that I find I really know hardly anything about 
 it, and Jasper says it is their only failing. 
 
 ' They say Mr. Lancelot Underwood sings and 
 plays better than any of them ; but he is at Stone- 
 borough. However, he is coming over with all the 
 Mays for our play, old Dr. May and all. I was very 
 much surprised to find he was an organist and a book- 
 seller, but Geraldine told me about it, and how it was 
 for the sake of the eldest brother — " my brother," they 
 all say ; and somehow it seems as if the house was still
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER- BAG 213 
 
 his, though it is so many years since he died. And yet 
 they are all such happy, merry people. I wish I 
 could let you know how delightful it all is. Some- 
 times I feel as if I did not deserve to have such a 
 pleasant time. I can't quite explain, but to be with 
 Geraldine Grinstead makes one feel one's self to be of a 
 ruder, more selfish mould, and I know I have not been 
 all I ought to be at Eockstone ; but I don't mind telling 
 you, now you are so soon to be at home, Aunt Jane 
 seems to worry me — I can't tell how, exactly — while 
 there is something about Geraldine that soothes and 
 brightens, and all the time makes one long to be 
 better. 
 
 ' I never heard such sermons as Mr. Harewood's 
 either ; it seems as if I had never listened before, but 
 these go right down into one. I cannot leave off 
 thinking about the one last Sunday, about " making 
 manifest the counsels of all hearts." I see now that I 
 was not as much justified in not consulting Aunt Jane 
 about Kalliope and Alexis as I thought I was, and 
 that the concealment was wrong. It came over me 
 before the beautiful early Celebration this morning, 
 and I could not feel as if I ought to be there till I 
 had made a resolution to tell her all about it, though 
 I should like it not to be till you are come home, and 
 can tell her that I am not really like Dolores, as she 
 will be sure to think me, for I really did it, not out 
 of silliness and opposition, but because I knew how 
 good they were, and I did tell you. Honestly, perhaps
 
 214 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 there was some opposition in the spirit of it ; but I 
 mean to make a fresh start when I come back, and 
 you will be near at hand then, and that will help me. 
 
 1 26 th. — The afternoon service of song began and I 
 was called off. I never heard anything so lovely, and 
 we had a delightful evening. I can't tell you about 
 it now, for I am snatching a moment when I am not 
 rehearsing, as this must go to-day. Dr. and Miss 
 May, and the Lances, as they call them, are just come. 
 The Doctor is a beautiful old man. All the children 
 were round him directly, and he kissed me, and said 
 he was proud to meet the daughter of such a distin- 
 guished man. 
 
 ' This must go. — Your loving daughter, 
 
 ' Juliana Merrifield.' 
 
 (Harry.) 
 
 1 Coalham, Christmas Bay. 
 1 It is nearly St. Stephen's Day, for, dear mother, I 
 have not had a minute before to send you or my father 
 my Christmas greeting. We have had most joyous 
 services, unusually well attended, David tells me, and 
 that makes up for the demonstration we had outside 
 the door last night. David is the right fellow for this 
 place, though we are disapproved of as south country 
 folk. The boys are well and amused, Wilfred much 
 more conformable for being treated more as a man, 
 and Fergus greatly come on, and never any trouble,
 
 being always dead-set on some pursuit. It is geology, 
 or rather mineralogy, at present, and if he carries home 
 all the stones he has accumulated in the back yard, he 
 will have a tolerable charge for extra luggage. David 
 says there is the making of a great man in him, I think 
 it is of an Uncle Maurice. Macrae writes to me in a 
 state of despair about the drains at Silverfold ; scarlet 
 fever and diphtheria abound at the town, so that he 
 says you cannot come back there till something has 
 been done, and he wants me to come and look at them ; 
 but I do not see how I can leave David at present, 
 as we are in the thick of classes for Baptism and 
 Confirmation in Lent, and I suspect Aunt Jane knows 
 more about the matter than I do. 
 
 1 Gillian and Jasper seem to be in a state of great 
 felicity at Vale Leston — and Mysie getting better, but 
 poor little Phyllis Devereux has been seriously ill. — 
 Your affectionate son, H. Merrifield.' 
 
 (Aunt Jane and Aunt Adeline.) 
 
 1 11.30, Christmas Eve. 
 ' My dearest Lily — This will be a joint letter, for 
 Ada will finish it to-morrow, and I must make the 
 most of my time while waiting for the Waits to dwell 
 on unsavoury business. Macrae came over here with 
 a convoy of all sorts of " delicacies of the season," for 
 which thank you heartily in the name of Whites, 
 Hablots, and others who partook thereof, according,
 
 2 1 6 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKSTONE chap. 
 
 no doubt, to your kind intention. He was greatly 
 perturbed, poor man, for your cook has been very ill 
 with diphtheria, and the scarlet fever is severe all round ; 
 there have been some deaths, and the gardener's child 
 was in great danger. The doctor has analysed the 
 water, and finds it in a very bad state, so that your 
 absence this autumn is providential. If you are in 
 haste, telegraph to me, and I will meet your landlord 
 there, and the sanitary inspector, and see what can be 
 done, without waiting for Jasper. At any rate, you 
 cannot go back there at once. Shall I secure a furnished 
 house for you here ? The Eotherwoods are coming to 
 the hotel next door to us, as soon as Phyllis is fit 
 to move and infection over. Victoria will stay there 
 with the children, and he go back and forwards. If 
 Harry and Phyllis May should come home, I suppose 
 their headquarters will be at Stoneborough ; but still 
 this would be the best place for a family gathering. 
 Moreover, Fergus gets on very nicely at Mrs. Edgar's, 
 and it would be a pity to disturb him. On the other 
 hand, I am not sure of the influences of the place 
 
 upon the 
 
 ' Christmas Bay, 3 p.m. — There came the Waits I 
 suppose, and Jane had to stop and leave me to take 
 up the thread. Poor dear Jenny, the festival days are 
 no days of rest to her, but I am not sure that she 
 would enjoy repose, or that it would not be the worse 
 possible penance to her. She is gone down now to the 
 workhouse with Valetta to take cards and tea and
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER- BAG 217 
 
 tobacco to the old people, not sending them, because 
 she says a few personal wishes and the sight of a bright 
 child will be worth something to the old bodies. Then 
 comes tea for the choir-boys, before Evensong and carols, 
 and after that my turn may come for what remains of 
 the evening. I must say the church is lovely, thanks 
 to your arums and camellias, which Macrae brought us 
 just in time. It is very unfortunate that Silverfold 
 should be in such a state, but delightful for us if it 
 sends you here ; and this brings me to Jenny's broken 
 thread, which I must spin on, though I tell her to take 
 warning by you, when you so repented having brought 
 Maurice home by premature wails about Dolores. 
 Perhaps impatience is a danger to all of us, and I believe 
 there is such a thing as over-candour. 
 
 1 What Jane was going to say was that she did not 
 think the place had been good for either of the girls ; 
 but all that would be obviated by your presence. If 
 poor Miss Vincent joins you, now that she is free, you 
 would have your own schoolroom again, and the locality 
 would not make much difference. Indeed, if the 
 Rotherwood party come by the end of the holidays, I 
 have very little doubt that Victoria will allow Valetta 
 to join Phyllis and Mysie in the schoolroom, and that 
 would prevent any talk about her removal from the 
 High School. The poor little thing has behaved as 
 well as possible ever since, and is an excellent com- 
 panion ; Jane is sure that it has been a lesson that will 
 last her for life, and I am convinced that she was under
 
 2 1 8 BEE CHCR OFT AT RO CKSTONE CH ap. 
 
 an influence that you can put an end to — I mean that 
 White family. Jane thinks well of the eldest daughter, 
 in spite of her fringe and of her refusal to enter the 
 G.F.S. ; but I have good reason for knowing that she 
 holds assignations in Mr. White's garden on Sunday 
 afternoons with young Stebbing, whose mother knows 
 her to be a most artful and dangerous girl, though she 
 is so clever at the mosaic work that there is no getting 
 her discharged. Mrs. Stebbing called to warn us 
 against her, and, as I was the only person at home, 
 told me how she had learnt from Mr. White's house- 
 keeper that this girl comes every Sunday alone to walk 
 in the gardens — she was sure it must be to meet some- 
 body, and they are quite accessible to an active young- 
 man on the side towards the sea. He is going in a 
 few days to join the other partner at the Italian quarries, 
 greatly in order that the connection may be broken off. 
 It is very odd that Jane, generally so acute, should be 
 so blind here. All she said was, " That's just the time 
 Gillian is so bent on mooning in the garden." It is a 
 mere absurdity ; Gillian always goes to the children's 
 service, and besides, she was absent last Sunday, when 
 Miss White was certainly there. But Gillian lends 
 the girl books, and altogether patronises her in a 
 manner which is somewhat perplexing to us ; though, 
 as it cannot last long, Jane thinks it better not to 
 interfere before your return to judge for yourself. 
 These young people are members of the Kennel Church 
 Congregation, and I had an opportunity of talking to
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIEL D 'S CHRIS TMAS LE TTER-BA G 219 
 
 Mr. Flight about them. He says he had a high opinion 
 of the brother, and hoped to help him to some higher 
 education, with a view perhaps to Holy Orders ; but 
 that it was so clearly the youth's duty to support his 
 mother, and it was so impossible for her to get on 
 without his earnings, that he (Mr. Flight, I mean) had 
 decided to let him alone that Ms stability might be 
 proved, or till some opening offered ; and of late there 
 had been reason for disappointment, tokens of being 
 unsettled, and reports of meetings with some young 
 woman at his sister's office. It is always the way 
 when one tries to be interested in those half-and-half 
 people, — the essential vulgarity is sure to break out, 
 generally in the spirit of flirtation conducted in an 
 underhand manner. And oh ! that mother ! I write 
 all this because you had better be aware of the state of 
 things before your return. I am afraid, however, that 
 between us we have not written you a very cheering 
 Christmas letter. 
 
 ' There is a great question about a supply of water 
 to the town. Much excitement is caused by the ex- 
 pectation of Eotherwood's visit, and it is even said that 
 he is to be met here by the great White himself, whom 
 I have always regarded as a sort of mythical personage, 
 not to say a harpy, always snatching away every 
 promising family of Jane's to the Italian quarries. 
 
 ' You will have parted with the dear girls by this 
 time, and be feeling very sad and solitary ; but it is 
 altogether a good connection, and a great advantage.
 
 220 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 I have just addressed to Gillian, at Vale Lestou, a 
 coroneted envelope, which must be an invitation from 
 Lady Liddesdale. I am very glad of it. Nothing is 
 so likely as such society to raise her above the tone of 
 these Whites. — Your loving A. M.' 
 
 '10.30 p.m.— These Whites ! Eeally I don't think 
 it as bad as Ada supposes, so don't be uneasy, though 
 it is a pity she has told you so much of the gossip 
 respecting them. I do not believe any harm of that 
 girl Kalliope ; she has such an honest, modest pair of 
 eyes. I dare say she is persecuted by that young 
 Stebbing, for she is very handsome, and he is an odious 
 puppy. But as to her assignations in the garden, if 
 they are with any one, it is with Gillian, and I see no 
 harm in them, except that we might have been told — 
 only that would have robbed the entire story of its 
 flavour, I suppose. Besides, I greatly disbelieve the 
 entire story, so don't be worried about it ! There — as 
 if we had not been doing our best to worry you ! But 
 come home, dearest old Lily. Gather your chicks 
 under your wing, and when you cluck them together 
 again, all will be well. I don't think you will find 
 Yaletta disimproved by her crisis. It is curious to 
 hear how she and Gillian both declare that Mysie 
 would have prevented it, as if naughtiness or deceit 
 shrank from that child's very face. 
 
 ' It has been a very happy, successful Christmas 
 Day, full of rejoicing. May you be feeling the same ;
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER-BAG 221 
 
 that joy has made us one in many a time of separa- 
 tion. — Your faithful old Brownie, 
 
 ' J. MOHUN.' 
 
 (Gillian again.) 
 
 1 Kowthorpe, 20tfi January. 
 ' Dearest Mamma — This is a Sunday letter. I am 
 writing it in a beautiful place, more like a drawing- 
 room than a bedroom, and it is all very grand ; such 
 long galleries, such quantities of servants, so many 
 people staying in the house, that I should feel quite 
 lost but for Geraldine. We came so late last night 
 that there was only just time to dress for dinner at 
 eight o'clock. I never dined with so many people 
 before, and they are all staying in the house. I have 
 not learnt half of them yet, though Lady Liddesdale, 
 who is a nice, merry old lady, with gray hair, called 
 her eldest granddaughter, Kitty Somerville, and told her 
 to take care of me, and tell me who they all were. One 
 of them is that Lord Ormersfield, whom Mysie ran 
 against at Eotherwood, and, do you know, I very nearly 
 did the same ; for there is early Celebration at the little 
 church just across the garden. Kitty talked of calling 
 for me, but I did not make sure, because I heard some 
 one say she was not to go if she had a cold ; and when 
 I heard the bell, I grew anxious and started off, and I 
 lost my way, and thought I should never get to the 
 stairs ; but just as I was turning back, out came Lord 
 and Lady Ormersfield. He looks quite young, though
 
 222 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 he is rather lame — I shall like all lame people, for the 
 sake of Geraldine — and Lady Ormersfield has such a 
 motherly face. He laughed, and said I was not the 
 first person who had lost my way in the labyrinths of 
 passages, so I went on with them, and after all Kitty 
 was hunting for me ! I sat next him at breakfast, and, 
 do you know, he asked me whether I was the sister of 
 a little downright damsel he met at Eotherwood two 
 years ago, and said he had used her truthfulness about 
 the umbrella for a favourite example to his small 
 youngest ! 
 
 ' When I hear of truthfulness I feel a sort of shock. 
 " Oh, if you knew !" I am ready to say, and I grow 
 quite hot. That is what I am really writing about to- 
 day. I never had time after that Christmas Day at 
 Vale Leston to do more than keep you up to all the 
 doings ; but I did think : and there were Mr. Hare- 
 wood's sermons, which had a real sting in them, and 
 a great sweetness besides. I have tried to set some 
 down for you, and that is one reason I did not say 
 more. But to-day, after luncheon, it is very quiet, for 
 Kitty and Constance are gone to their Sunday classes, 
 and the gentlemen and boys are out walking, except 
 Lord Somerville, who has a men's class of his own, and 
 all the old ladies are either in their rooms, or talking 
 in pairs. So I can tell you that I see now that I did 
 not go on in a right spirit with Aunt Jane, and that I 
 did poor Yal harm by my example, and went very 
 near deception, for I did not choose to believe that
 
 xi LADY MERRIFIELD'S CHRISTMAS LETTER-BAG 223 
 
 when you said " If Aunt J. approves/' you meant 
 about Alexis White's lessons ; so I never told her or 
 Kalliope, and I perceive now that it was not right 
 towards either ; for Kally was very unhappy about her 
 not knowing. I am very sorry ; I see that I was 
 wrong all round, and that I should have understood it 
 before, if I had examined myself in the way Mr. Hare- 
 wood dwelt upon in his last Sunday in Advent sermon, 
 and never gone on in such a way. 
 
 ' I am not going to wait for you now, but shall 
 confess it all to Aunt Jane as soon as I go home, and 
 try to take it as my punishment if she asks a terrible 
 number of questions. Perhaps I shall write it, but it 
 would take such a quantity of explanation, and I don't 
 want Aunt Ada to open the letter, as she does any 
 that come while Aunt Jane is out. 
 
 ' Please kiss my words and forgive me, as you read 
 this, dear mamma ; I never guessed I was going to be 
 so like Dolores. 
 
 f Kitty has come to my door to ask if I should like 
 to come and read something nice and Sundayish with 
 them in her grandmamma's dressing-room. — So no 
 more from your loving Gill.'
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 TRANSFORMATIONS 
 
 ' Well, now for the second stage of our guardianship 1 ' 
 said Aunt Ada, as the two sisters sat over the fire 
 after Valetta had gone to bed. * Fergus comes back 
 to-morrow, and Gillian — when V 
 
 1 She does not seem quite certain, for there is 
 to be a day or two at Brompton with this delightful 
 Geraldine, so that she may see her grandmother — also 
 Mr. Clement Underwood's church, and the Merchant 
 of Venice — an odd mixture of ecclesiastics and dissipa- 
 tions.' 
 
 ' I wonder whether she will be set up by it.' 
 
 'So do I ! They are all remarkably good people ; 
 but then good people do sometimes spoil the most of 
 all, for they are too unselfish to snub. And on the 
 other hand, seeing the world sometimes has the whole- 
 some effect of making one feel small ' 
 
 ' My dear Jenny ! ' 
 
 ' Oh ! I did not mean you, who are never easily 
 effaced ; but I was thinking of youthful bumptiousness, 
 fostered by country life and elder sistership.'
 
 chap, xii TRANSFORMATIONS 225 
 
 ' Certainly, though Valetta is really much improved, 
 Gillian has not been as pleasant as I expected, especi- 
 ally during the latter part of the time.' 
 
 1 Query, was it her fault or mine, or the worry of 
 the examination, or all three V 
 
 ' Perhaps you did superintend a little too much at 
 first. More than modern independence was prepared 
 for, though I should not have expected recalcitration 
 in a young Lily ; but I think there was more ruffling 
 of temper and more reserve than I can quite under- 
 stand.' 
 
 1 It has not been a success. As dear old Lily 
 would have said, "My dream has vanished," of a 
 friend in the younger generation, and now it remains 
 to do the best I can for her in the few weeks that are 
 left, before we have her dear mother again.' 
 
 'At any rate, you have no cause to be troubled 
 about the other two. Valetta is really the better for 
 her experience, and you have always got on well with 
 the boy.' 
 
 Fergus was the first of the travellers to appear at 
 Eockstone. Miss Mohun, who went to meet him at 
 the station, beheld a small figure lustily pulling at a 
 great canvas bag, which came bumping down the step, 
 assisted by a shove from the other passengers, and 
 threatening for a moment to drau; him down between 
 platform and carriages. 
 
 ' Fergus, Fergus, what have you got there ? Give 
 it to me. How heavy ! ' 
 
 vol. 1 Q
 
 226 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 ' It's a few of my mineralogical specimens,' replied 
 Fergus. ' Harry wouldn't let me put any more into 
 my portmanteau — but the peacock and the dendrum 
 are there.' 
 
 Already, without special regard to peacock or 
 dendrum, whatever that article might be, Miss Mohun 
 was claiming the little old military portmanteau, with 
 a great M and 110th painted on it, that held Fergus's 
 garments. 
 
 He would scarcely endure to deposit the precious 
 bag in the omnibus, and as he walked home his talk 
 was all of tertiary formations, and coal measures, and 
 limestones, as he extracted a hammer from his pocket, 
 and looked perilously disposed to use it on the vein of 
 crystals in a great pink stone in a garden wall. His 
 aunt was obliged to begin by insisting that the walls 
 should be safe from geological investigations. 
 
 ' But it is such waste, Aunt Jane. Only think of 
 building up such beautiful specimens in a stupid old 
 wall' 
 
 Aunt Jane did not debate the question of waste, 
 but assured him that equally precious specimens could 
 be honestly come by ; while she felt renewed amuse- 
 ment and pleasure at anything so like the brother 
 Maurice of thirty odd years ago being beside her. 
 
 It made her endure the contents of the bag being 
 turned out like a miniature rockery for her inspection 
 on the floor of the glazed verandah outside the drawing- 
 room, and also try to pacify Mrs. Mount's indignation
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 227 
 
 at finding the more valuable specimens, or, as she 
 called them, ' nasty stones ' and bits of dirty coal, 
 within his socks. 
 
 Much more information as to mines, coal, or copper, 
 was to be gained from him than as to Cousin David, 
 or Harry, or Jasper, who had spent the last ten days 
 of his holidays at Coalham, which had procured for 
 Fergus the felicity of a second underground expedition. 
 It was left to his maturer judgment and the next move 
 to decide how many of his specimens were absolutely 
 worthless ; it was only stipulated that he and Valetta 
 should carry them, all and sundry, up to the lumber- 
 room, and there arrange them as he chose ; — Aunt Jane 
 routing out for him a very dull little manual of miner- 
 alogy, and likewise a book of Maria Hack's, long since 
 out of print, but wherein ' Harry Beaufoy ' is instructed 
 in the chief outlines of geology in a manner only per- 
 haps inferior to that of Madam How and Lady Why, 
 which she reserved for a birthday present. Meantime 
 Bockstone and its quarries were almost as excellent 
 a field of research as the mines of Coalham, and in a 
 different line. 
 
 ' How much nicer it is to be a boy than a girl !' 
 sighed Valetta, as she beheld her junior marching off 
 with all the dignity of hammer and knapsack to look 
 up Alexis White and obtain access to the heaps of 
 rubbish, which in his eyes held as infinite possibilities 
 as the diamond fields of Kimberley. And Alexis was 
 only delighted to bestow on him any space of daylight
 
 228 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 when both were free from school or from work, and 
 kept a look-out for the treasures he desired. Of course, 
 out of gratitude to his parents — or was it out of grati- 
 tude to his sister ? Perhaps Fergus could have told, if 
 he had paid the slightest attention to such a trifle, 
 how anxiously Alexis inquired when Miss Gillian was 
 expected to return. Moreover, he might have told 
 that his other model, Stebbing, pronounced old Dick 
 White a beast and a screw, with whom his brother 
 Frank was not going to stop. 
 
 Gillian came back a fortnight later, having been 
 kept at Eowthorpe, together with Mrs. Grinstead, for a 
 family festival over the double marriage in Ceylon, 
 after which she spent a few days in London, so as to 
 see her grandmother, Mrs. Merrifield, wdio was too 
 infirm for an actual visit to be welcome, since her 
 attendant grandchild, Bessie Merrifield, was so entirely 
 occupied with her as to have no time to bestow upon 
 a guest of more than an hour or two. Gillian was 
 met at the station by her aunt, and when all her 
 belongings had been duly extracted, proving a good 
 deal larger in bulk than when she had left Eockstone, 
 and both were seated in the fly to drive home through 
 a dismal February Fill-dyke day, the first words that 
 were spoken were — 
 
 ' Aunt Jane, I ought to tell you something.' 
 Hastily revolving conjectures as to the subject of 
 the coming confession, Miss Mohun put herself at her 
 niece's service.
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 
 
 229 
 
 ' Aunt Jane, I know I ought to have told you how 
 much I was seeing of the Whites last autumn/ 
 
 ' Indeed, I know you wished to do what you could 
 for them.' 
 
 I Yes/ said Gillian, finding it easier than she expected. 
 1 You know Alexis wants very much to be prepared for 
 Holy Orders, and he could not get on by himself, so I 
 have been running down to Kalliope's office after read- 
 ing to Lily Giles, to look over his Greek exercises/ 
 
 ' Meeting him ? ' 
 
 ' Only sometimes. But Kally did not like it. She 
 said you ought to know, and that was the reason she 
 would not come into the G.F.S. She is so good and 
 honourable, Aunt Jane/ 
 
 I I am sure she is a very excellent girl/ said Aunt 
 Jane warmly. ' But certainly it would have been 
 better to have these lessons in our house. Does your 
 mother know V 
 
 1 Yes/ said Gillian ; ' I wrote to her all I was doing, 
 and how I have been talking to Kally on Sunday 
 afternoons through the rails of Mr. White's garden. I 
 thought she could telegraph if she did not approve ; 
 but she does not seem to have noticed it in my letters, 
 only saying something I could not make out — about " if 
 you approved.'" 
 
 'And is that the reason you have told me V 
 1 Partly ; but I got the letter before the holidays. 
 I think it has worked itself up, Aunt Jane, into a 
 sense that it was not the thing. There was Kally, and
 
 230 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 there was poor Valetta's mess, and her justifying her- 
 self by saying I did more for the Whites than you 
 knew, and altogether, I grew sorry I had begun it, for 
 I was sure it was not acting honestly towards you, 
 Aunt Jane, and I hope you will forgive me.' 
 
 Miss Mohun put her arm round the girl and kissed 
 her heartily. 
 
 ' My dear Gill, I am glad you have told me ! I 
 dare say I seemed to worry you, and that you felt as 
 if you were watched ; I will do my very best to help 
 you, if you have got into a scrape. I only want to 
 ask you not to do anything more till I can see Kally, 
 and settle with her the most suitable way of helping 
 the youth.' 
 
 1 But do you think there is a scrape, aunt ? I never 
 thought of that, if you forgave me.' 
 
 1 My dear, I see you did not ; and that you told 
 me because you are my Lily's daughter, and have her 
 honest heart. I do not know that there is anything 
 amiss, but I am afraid young ladies can't do — well, 
 impulsive things without a few vexations in conse- 
 quence. Don't be so dismayed ; I don't know of any- 
 thing, and I cannot tell you how glad I am of your 
 having spoken out in this way.' 
 
 ' I feel as if a load were off my back !' said Gillian. 
 
 And a bar between her and her aunt seemed to 
 have vanished, as they drove up the now familiar slope, 
 and under the leafless copper beeches. Blood is thicker 
 than water, and what five months ago had seemed to
 
 Xii TRANSFORMATIONS 231 
 
 be exile, had become the first step towards home, if not 
 home itself, for now, like Valetta, she welcomed the 
 sound of her mother's voice in her aunt's. And there 
 were Yaletta and Fergus rushing out, almost under the 
 wheels to fly at her, and Aunt Ada's soft embraces in 
 the hall. 
 
 The first voice that came out of the meUe was 
 Valetta's. ' Gill is grown quite a lady !' 
 
 'How much improved !' exclaimed Aunt Ada. 
 
 1 The Bachfisch has swum into the river,' was Aunt 
 Jane's comment. 
 
 ' She'll never be good for anything jolly — no 
 scrambling !' grumbled Fergus. 
 
 1 Now Fergus ! didn't Kitty Somerville and I 
 scramble when we found the gate locked, and thought 
 we saw the spiteful stag, and that he was going to run 
 at us ?' 
 
 ' I'm afraid that was rather on compulsion, Gill.' 
 
 1 It wasn't the spiteful stag after all, but we had 
 such a long way to come home, and got over the park 
 wall at last by the help of the limb of a tree. We 
 had been taking a bit of wedding-cake to Frank 
 Somerville's old nurse, and Kitty told her I was her 
 maiden aunt, and we had such fun — her uncle's wife's 
 sister, you know.' 
 
 1 We sent a great piece of our wedding-cake to the 
 Whites,' put in Yaletta. ' Fergus and I took it on 
 Saturday afternoon, but nobody was at home but Mrs. 
 White, and she is fatter than ever.'
 
 32 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 1 1 say, Gill, which is the best formation, Vale Leston 
 or Eowthorpe ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, nobody is equal to Geraldine ; but Kitty is 
 a dear thing/ 
 
 ' I didn't mean that stuff, but which had the best 
 strata and specimens ? ' 
 
 ' Geological, he means — not of society,' interposed 
 Aunt Jane. 
 
 ' Oh yes ! Harry said he had gone geology mad, 
 and I really did get you a bit of something at Yale 
 Leston, Fergus, that Mr. Harewood said was worth 
 having. Was it an encrinite ? I know it was a 
 stone-lily ' 
 
 ' An encrinite ? Oh, scrumptious ! ' 
 
 Then ensued such an unpacking as only falls to 
 the lot of home-comers from London, within the later 
 precincts of Christmas, gifts of marvellous contrivance 
 and novelty, as well as cheapness, for all and sundry, 
 those reserved for others almost as charming to the 
 beholders as those which fell to their own lot. The 
 box, divided into compartments, transported Fergus as 
 much as the encrinite ; Valetta had a photograph-book, 
 and, more diffidently, Gillian presented Aunt Ada with 
 a graceful little statuette in Parian, and Aunt Jane 
 with the last novelty in baskets. There were appro- 
 priate keepsakes for the maids, and likewise for Kalliope 
 and Maura. Aunt Jane was glad to see that discretion 
 had prevailed so as to confine these gifts to the female 
 part of the White family. There were other precious
 
 xii TRANSFORMA TIONS 233 
 
 articles in reserve for the absent ; and the display of 
 Gillian's own garments was not without interest, as she 
 had been to her first ball, under the chaperonage of 
 Lady Somerville, and Mrs. Grin stead had made her 
 white tarletan available by painting it and its ribbons 
 with exquisite blue nemophilas, too lovely for anything 
 so fleeting. 
 
 Mrs. Grinstead and her maid had taken charge of 
 the damsel's toilette at Eowthorpe, had perhaps touched 
 up her dresses, and had certainly taught her how to 
 put them on, and how to manage her hair, so that 
 though it had not broken out into fringes or tousles, as 
 if it were desirable to imitate savages ' with foreheads 
 marvellous low,' the effect was greatly improved. The 
 young brown-skinned, dark-eyed face, and rather tall 
 figure were the same, even the clothes the very same 
 chosen under her aunt Ada's superintendence, but there 
 was an indescribable change, not so much that of fashion 
 as of distinction, and something of the same inward 
 growth might be gathered from her conversation. 
 
 All the evening there was a delightful outpouring. 
 Gillian had been extremely happy, and considerably 
 reconciled to her sisters' marriages ; but she had been 
 away from home and kin long enough to make her feel 
 her nearness to her aunts, and to appreciate the pleasure 
 of describing her enjoyment without restraint, and of 
 being with those whose personal family interests were 
 her own, not only sympathetic, like her dear Geraldine's. 
 They were ready for any amount of description, though,
 
 234 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 on the whole, Miss Mohun preferred to hear of the Vale 
 Leston charities and church details, and Miss Adeline 
 of the Eowthorpe grandees and gaieties, after the 
 children had supped full of the diversions of their 
 own kind at both places, and the deeply interesting 
 political scraps and descriptions of great men had been 
 given. 
 
 It had been, said Aunt Jane, a bit of education. 
 Gillian had indeed spent her life with thoughtful, 
 cultivated, and superior people ; but the circumstances 
 of her family had confined her to k schoolroom sort of 
 existence ever since she had reached appreciative years, 
 retarding, though not perhaps injuring, her develop- 
 ment ; nor did Bockquay society afford much that was 
 elevating, beyond the Bureau de Charite that Beechcroft 
 Cottage had become. Details were so much in hand 
 that breadth of principle might be obscured. 
 
 At Vale Leston, however, there was a strong ecclesi- 
 astical atmosphere ; but while practical parish detail was 
 thoroughly kept up, there was a wider outlook, and 
 constant conversation and discussion among superior 
 men, such as the Harewood brothers, Lancelot Under- 
 wood, Mr. Grinstead, and Dr. May, on the great 
 principles and issues of Church and State matters, 
 religion, and morals, together with matters of art, music, 
 and literature, opening new vistas to her ; and which 
 she could afterwards go over with Mrs. Grinstead 
 and Emily and Anna Vanderkist with enthusiasm 
 and comprehension. It was something different from
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 235 
 
 grumbling over the number of candles at St. Kenelm's, 
 or the defective washing of the St. Andrew's surplices. 
 
 At Eowthorpe she had seen and heard people with 
 great historic names, champions in the actual battle. 
 There had been a constant coming and ^oinc, r of quests 
 during her three weeks' visit, political meetings, enter- 
 tainments to high and low, the opening of a public 
 institute in the next town, the exhibition of tableaux 
 in which she had an important share, parties in the 
 evenings, and her first ball. The length of her visit 
 and her connection with the family had made her share 
 the part of hostess with Lady Constance and Lady 
 Katharine Somerville, and she had been closely 
 associated with their intimates, the daughters of these 
 men of great names. Of course there had been plenty 
 of girlish chatter and merry trifling, perhaps some 
 sharp satirical criticism, and the revelations she had 
 heard had been a good deal of the domestic comedy of 
 political and aristocratic life ; but throughout there had 
 been a view of conscientious goodness, for the young 
 girls who gave a tone to the rest had been carefully 
 brought up, and were earnest and right-minded, accept- 
 ing representation, gaiety, and hospitality as part of 
 the duty of their position, often involving self-denial, 
 though there was likewise plenty of enjoyment. 
 
 Such glimpses of life had taught Gillian more than 
 she yet realised. As has been seen, the atmosphere of 
 Vale Leston had deepened her spiritual life, and the 
 sermons had touched her heart to the quick, and caused
 
 236 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 self-examination, which had revealed to her the secret of 
 her dissatisfaction with herself, and her perception was 
 the clearer through her intercourse on entirely equal 
 terms with persons of a high tone of refinement. 
 
 The immediate fret of sense of supervision and 
 opposition being removed, she had seen things more 
 justly, and a distaste had grown on her for stolen 
 expeditions to the office, and for the corrections of her 
 pupil's exercises. She recoiled from the idea that 
 this was the consequence either of having swell friends, 
 or of getting out of her depth in her instructions ; but 
 reluctance recurred, while advance in knowledge of the 
 world made her aware that Alexis White, after hours, 
 in his sister's office, might justly be regarded by her 
 mother and aunts as an undesirable scholar for her, 
 and that his sister's remonstrances ought not to have 
 been scouted. She had done the thing in her simplicity, 
 but it was through her own wilful secretiveness that 
 her ignorance had not been guarded. 
 
 Thus she had, as a matter of truth, conscience, and 
 repentance, made the confession which had been so 
 kindly received as to warm her heart with gratitude 
 to her aunt, and she awoke the next morning to feel 
 freer, happier, and more at home than she had ever 
 yet done at Eockstone. 
 
 When the morning letters were opened, they con- 
 tained the startling news that Mysie might be expected 
 that very evening, with Fly, the governess, and Lady 
 Eotherwood, — at least that was the order of precedence
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 237 
 
 in which the party represented itself to the minds of 
 the young Merrifields. Primrose had caught a fresh 
 cold, and her uncle and aunt would not part with her 
 till her mother's return ; but the infection was over with 
 the other two, and sea air was recommended as soon 
 as possible for Lady Phyllis ; so, as the wing of the 
 hotel, which was almost a mansion in itself, had been 
 already engaged, the journey was to be made at once, 
 and the arrival would take place in the afternoon. The 
 tidings were most rapturously received ; Yaletta jumped 
 on and off all the chairs in the room unchidden, while 
 Fergus shouted, ' Hurrah for Mysie and Fly !' and Gill- 
 ian's heart felt free to leap. 
 
 This made it a very busy day, since Lady Eother- 
 wood had begged to have some commissions executed 
 for her beforehand, small in themselves, but, with a 
 scrupulously thorough person, occupying all the time 
 left from other needful engagements ; so that there was 
 no chance of the promised conversation with Kalliope, 
 nor did Gillian trouble herself much about it in her 
 eagerness, and hardly heard Fergus announce that 
 Frank Stebbing had come home, and the old boss was 
 coming, ' bad luck to him.' 
 
 All the three young people were greatly disappointed 
 that their aunts would not consent to their being on 
 the platform nor in front of the hotel, nor even in what 
 its mistress termed the reception-room, to meet the 
 travellers. 
 
 1 There was nothing Lady Eotherwood would dislike
 
 238 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 more than a rush of you all/ said Aunt Adeline, and 
 they had to submit, though Valetta nearly cried when 
 she was dragged in from demonstratively watching at 
 the gate in a Scotch mist. 
 
 However, in about a quarter of an hour there was 
 a ring at the door, and in another moment Mysie and 
 Gillian were hugging one another, Valetta hanging 
 round Mysie's neck, Fergus pulling down her arm. 
 The four creatures seemed all wreathed into one like 
 fabulous snakes for some seconds, and when they un- 
 folded enough for Mysie to recollect and kiss her 
 aunts, there certainly was a taller, better-equipped 
 figure, but just the same round, good-humoured coun- 
 tenance, and the first thing, beyond happy ejaculations, 
 that she was heard in a dutiful voice to say was, ' Miss 
 Elbury brought me to the door. I may stay as long as 
 my aunts like to have me this evening, if you will be 
 so kind as to send some one to see me back.' 
 
 Great was the jubilation, and many the inquiries 
 after Primrose, who had once been nearly well, but 
 had fallen back again, and Fly, who, Mysie said, was 
 quite well and as comical as ever when she was well, 
 but quickly tired. She had set out in high spirits, 
 but had been dreadfully weary all the latter part of 
 the journey, and was to go to bed at once. She still 
 coughed, but Mysie was bent on disproving Nurse 
 Halfpenny's assurance that the recovery would not be 
 complete till May, nor was there any doubt of her own 
 air of perfect health.
 
 
 xil TRANSFORMATIONS 239 
 
 It was an evening of felicitous chatter, of showing 
 off Christmas cards, of exchanging of news, of building 
 of schemes, the most prominent being that Valetta 
 should be in the constant companionship of Mysie and 
 Fly until her own schoolroom should be re-established. 
 This had been proposed by Lord Eotherwood, and was 
 what the aunts would have found convenient; but 
 apparently this had been settled by Lord Eotherwood 
 and the two little girls, but Lady Eotherwood had not 
 said anything about it, and quoth Mysie, ' Somehow 
 things don't happen till Lady Eotherwood settles them, 
 and then they always do.' 
 
 ' And shall I like Miss Elbury ? ' asked Valetta. 
 
 ' Yes, if — if you take pains,' said Mysie ; ' but you 
 mustn't bother her with questions in the middle of a 
 lesson, or she tells you not to chatter. She likes to 
 have them all kept for the end ; and then, if they 
 aren't foolish, she will take lots of trouble.' 
 
 'Oh, I hate that!' said Valetta. 'I shouldn't re- 
 member them ; and I like to have done with it. Then 
 she is not like Miss Vincent V 
 
 ' Oh no ! She couldn't be dear Miss Vincent ; 
 but, indeed, she is very kind and nice.' 
 
 ' How did you get on altogether, Mysie ? Wasn't 
 it horrid ?' asked Gillian. 
 
 ' I was afraid it was going to be horrid,' said Mysie. 
 * You see, it wasn't like going in holiday time as it was 
 before. We had to be almost always in the schoolroom ; 
 and there were lots of lessons — more for me than Fly.'
 
 240 BEECHCROFT AT R0CKST0NE chap. 
 
 'Just like a horrid old governess to slake her thirst 
 on you/ put in Fergus ; and though his aunts shook 
 their heads at him, they did not correct him. 
 
 ' And one had to sit bolt upright all the time, and 
 never twist one's ankles/ continued Mysie ; ' and not 
 speak except French and German — good, mind ! It 
 wouldn't do to say, " La jambe du table est sur mon 
 exercise V" 
 
 ' Oh, oh ! No wonder Fly got ill !' 
 
 'Fly didn't mind one bit. French and German 
 come as naturally to her as the days of the week ; and 
 they really begin to come to me in the morning now 
 when I see Miss Elbury.' 
 
 'But have you to go on all day?' asked Valetta 
 disconsolately. 
 
 1 Oh no ! Not after one o'clock.' 
 
 'And you didn't say that mamma thinks it only 
 leads to slovenly bad grammar ? ' said Gillian. 
 
 ' That would have been impertinent/ said Mysie ; 
 ' and no one would have minded either.' 
 
 ' Did you never play V 
 
 ' We might play after our walk — and after tea ; but 
 it had to be quiet play, not real good games, even 
 before Fly was ill — at least we did have some real 
 games when Primrose came over, or when Cousin 
 Eotherwood had us down in his study or in the hall ; 
 but Fly got tired, and knocked up very soon even then. 
 Miss Elbury wanted us always to play battledore and 
 shuttlecock, or Les Ghrtces, if we couldn't go out.'
 
 x 1 1 TRANS FORMA TIONS 24 1 
 
 ' Horrid woman !' said Valetta. 
 
 ' No, she isn't horrid,' said Mysie stoutly ; ' I only 
 fancied her so when she used to say, " Vos coudes, 
 mademoiselle" or " Bedressez-vous," and when sjhe would 
 not let us whisper ; but really and truly she was very, 
 very kind, and I came to like her very much and see 
 she was not cross — only thought it right.' 
 
 ' And redressez-vous has been useful, Mysie,' said 
 Aunt Ada ; ' you are as much improved as Gillian.' 
 
 ' I thought it would be dreadful,' continued Mysie, 
 * when the grown-ups went out on a round of visits, 
 and we had no drawing-room, and no Cousin Bother- 
 wood ; but Cousin Florence came every day, and once 
 she had us to dinner, and that vjas nice ; and once she 
 took us to Beechcroft to see Primrose, and if it was 
 not fine enough for Fly to go out, she came for me, 
 and I went to her cottages with her. Oh, I did like 
 that ! And when the whooping-cough came, you can't 
 think how very kind she was, and Miss Elbury too. 
 They both seemed only to think how to make me 
 happy, though I didn't feel ill a bit, except when I 
 whooped ; but they seemed so sorry for me, and so 
 pleased that I didn't make more fuss. I couldn't, you 
 know, when poor Fly was so ill. And when she grew 
 better, we were all so glad that somehow it made us 
 all like a sort of a kind of a home together, though it 
 could not be that.' 
 
 Mysie's English had scarcely improved, whatever 
 her French had done ; but Gillian gathered that she 
 
 VOL. I R
 
 242 BEECHCROFT A T ROCKS TONE chap. 
 
 had had far more grievances to overcome, and had met 
 them in a very different spirit from herself. 
 
 As to the schoolroom arrangements, which would 
 have been so convenient to the aunts, it was evident 
 that the matter had not yet been decisively settled, 
 though the children took it for granted. It was pretty 
 to see how Mysie was almost devoured by Fergus and 
 Valetta, hanging on either side of her as she sat, and 
 Gillian as near as they would allow, while the four 
 tongues went on unceasingly. 
 
 It was only horrid, Valetta said, that Mysie should 
 sleep in a different house ; but almost as much of her 
 company was vouchsafed on the ensuing day, Sunday, 
 for Miss Elbury had relations at Bockquay, and was 
 released for the entire day ; and Fly was still so tired 
 in the morning that she was not allowed to get up 
 early in the day. 
 
 Her mother, however, came in to go to church with 
 Adeline Mohun, and Gillian, who had heard so much 
 of the great Marchioness, was surprised to see a small 
 slight woman, not handsome, and worn-looking about 
 the eyes. At the first glance, she was plainly dressed ; 
 but the eye of a connoisseur like Aunt Ada could 
 detect the exquisiteness of the material and the taste, 
 and the slow soft tone of her voice ; and every gesture 
 and phrase showed that she had all her life been in 
 the habit of condescending — in fact, thought Gillian, 
 revolving her recent experience, though Lady Liddes- 
 dale and all her set are taller, finer-looking people,
 
 TRANSFORMA TIONS 
 
 243 
 
 they are not one bit so grand — no, not that — but so 
 unapproachable, as I am sure she is. She is gracious, 
 while they are just good-natured ! 
 
 Aunt Ada was evidently pleased with the gracious- 
 ness, and highly delighted to have to take this distin- 
 guished personage to church. Mysie was with her 
 sisters ; Valetta was extremely anxious to take her to 
 the Sunday drawing-room class — whether for the sake 
 of showing her to Mrs. Hablot, or Mrs. Hablot to her, 
 did not appear. 
 
 Gillian was glad to be asked to sit with Fly in the 
 meantime. It was a sufficient reason for not repairing 
 to the garden, and she hoped that Kalliope was un- 
 aware of her return, little knowing of the replies by 
 which Fergus repaid Alexis for his assistance in 
 mineral hunting. She had no desire to transgress 
 Miss Mohun's desire that no further intercourse should 
 take place till she herself had spoken with Kalliope. 
 
 She found little Phyllis Devereux a great deal 
 taller and thinner than the droll childish being who 
 had been so amusing two years before at Silverfold, 
 but eagerly throwing herself into her arms with the 
 same affectionate delight. All the table was spread 
 with pretty books and outlined illuminations waiting 
 to be painted, and some really beautiful illustrated 
 Sunday books ; but as Gillian touched the first, Fly 
 cried out, ' Oh, don't ! I am so tired of all those 
 things ! And this is such a stupid window. I thought 
 at least I should see the people going to church, and
 
 244 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 this looks at nothing but the old sea and a tiresome 
 garden.' 
 
 ' That is thought a special advantage,' said Gillian, 
 smiling. 
 
 ' Then I wish some one had it who liked it ! ' 
 
 ' You would not be so near us.' 
 
 ' No, and that is nice, and very nice for Mysie. 
 How are all the dear beasts at Silverfold — Begum, and 
 all?' 
 
 ' I am afraid I do not know more about them than 
 Mysie does. Aunt Jane heard this morning that she 
 must go down there to-morrow to meet the health-man 
 and* see what he says ; but she won't take any of us 
 because of the diphtheria and the scarlet fever being 
 about.' 
 
 [.' Oh dear, how horrid those catching things are ! 
 I've not seen Ivinghoe all this winter ! Ah ! but they 
 are good sometimes ! If it had not been for the 
 measles, I should never have had that most delicious 
 time at Silverfold, nor known Mysie. Now, please 
 tell me all about where you have been, and what you 
 have been doing.' 
 
 Fly knew some of the younger party that Gillian 
 had met at Eowthorpe ; but she was more interested 
 in the revels at Vale Leston, and required a precise 
 description of the theatricals, or still better, of the 
 rehearsals. Never was there a more appreciative audi- 
 ence, of how it all began from Kit Harewood, the 
 young sailor, having sent home a lion's skin from Africa,
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 245 
 
 which had already served for tableaux of Androcles and 
 of Una — how the boy element had insisted on fun, 
 and the child element on fairies, and how Mrs. William 
 Harewood had suggested Midsummer Night's Dream 
 as the only combination of the three essentials, lion, 
 fun, and fairy, and pronounced that education had 
 progressed far enough for the representation to be 
 * understanded of the people,' at least by the 6 th and 
 7th standards. On the whole, however, comprehension 
 seemed to have been bounded by intense admiration of 
 the little girl fairies, whom the old women appeared to 
 have taken for angels, for one had declared that to 
 hear little Miss Cherry and Miss Katie singing their 
 hymns like the angels they was, was just like Heaven. 
 She must have had an odd notion of f Spotted snakes 
 with double tongues.' Moreover, effect was added to 
 the said hymns by Uncle Lance behind the scenes. 
 
 Then there was the account of how it had been at 
 first intended that Oberon should be represented by 
 little Sir Adrian, with his Bexley cousin, Pearl Under- 
 wood, for his Titania ; but though she was fairy enough 
 for anything, he turned out so stolid, and uttered 
 ' "Well met by moonlight, proud Titania,' the only lines 
 he ever learnt, exactly like a lesson, besides crying 
 whenever asked to study his part, that the attempt 
 had to be given up, and the fairy sovereigns had to be 
 of large size, Mr. Grinstead pronouncing that probably 
 this was intended by Shakespeare, as Titania was a 
 name of Diana, and he combined Grecian nymphs with
 
 246 BEECHCROFT AT ROCKSTONE chap. 
 
 English fairies. So Gerald Underwood had to combine 
 the part of Peter Quince (including Thisbe) with that 
 of Oberon, and the queen was offered to Gillian. 
 
 1 But I had learnt Hermia,' she said, ' and I saw it 
 was politeness, so I wouldn't, and Anna Vanderkist is 
 ever so much prettier, besides being used to acting 
 with Gerald. She did look perfectly lovely, asleep on 
 the moss in the scene Mrs. Grinstead painted and 
 devised for her ! There was ' 
 
 1 Oh ! not only the prettiness ; I don't care for that. 
 One gets enough of the artistic, but the fun — the dear 
 fun.' 
 
 1 There was fun enough, I am sure,' said Gillian. 
 ' Puck was Felix — Pearl's brother, you know — eleven 
 years old, so clever, and an awful imp — and he was 
 Moon besides ; but the worst of it was that his dog — 
 it was a funny rough terrier at the Vicarage — was so 
 furious at the lion, when Adrian was roaring under the 
 skin, that nobody could hear, and Adrian got frightened, 
 as well he might, and crept out from under it, scream- 
 ing, and there fell the lion, collapsing flat in the middle 
 of the place. Even Theseus — Major Hare wood, you 
 know, who had tried to be as grave as a judge, and so 
 polite to the actors — could not stand that interpolation, 
 as he called it, of " the man in the moon — not to say 
 the dog," came down too soon Why, Fly ' 
 
 For Fly was in such a paroxysm of laughter as to 
 end in a violent fit of coughing, and to bring Lady 
 Eotherwood in, vexed and anxious.
 
 xii TRANSFORMATIONS 247 
 
 1 Oh, mother ! it was only — it was only the lion's 
 
 skin ' and off went Fly, laughing and coughing 
 
 again. 
 
 'I was telling her about the acting of Midsummer 
 Night's Dream at Vale Leston,' explained Gillian. 
 
 ' I should not have thought that a suitable subject 
 for the day,' said the Marchioness gravely, and Fly's 
 endeavour to say it was her fault for asking about it 
 was silenced by choking ; and Gillian found herself 
 courteously dismissed in polite disgrace, and, as she felt, 
 not entirely without justice. 
 
 It was a great disappointment that Aunt Jane did 
 not think it well to take any of the young people to 
 their home with her. As she said, she did not believe 
 that they would catch anything ; but it was better to 
 be on the safe side, and she fully expected that they 
 would spend most of the day with Mysie and Fly. 
 
 ' I wish I could go and talk to Kalliope, my dear,' 
 she said to Gillian ; ' but I am afraid it must wait 
 another day.' 
 
 'Oh, never mind,' said Gillian, as they bade each 
 other good-night at their doors ; ' they don't know that 
 I am come home, so they will not expect me.' 
 
 END OF VOL. I
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh 
 
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