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 M I 4 ?0OB 
 JAN 8 A.M.
 
 L I E) RAR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVLR.SITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 
 C3S8ee 
 
 v./
 
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Br 
 
 GEORGIANA LADY CHATTERTON. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON: 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1868. 
 
 Tht rigM of Translation is reserved.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY MACDONALD AND TUGWELL, BLENHEIM HOUSE. 
 
 BLENHEIH STREES', GILFORD STREET.
 
 C38gco 
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ^ Three Generations. 
 
 o 
 
 ^^^ A ND then you will have such pleasant 
 ^ -*-^ neighbours. I am sure you will 
 t?find Oakhampton Hall delightful," said Mrs. 
 '*s Dronington to her daughter, who had just 
 ^returned to England from a long residence 
 t' abroad. " I know there are many agreeable 
 ^families in that part of the county, and I am 
 V- so glad that at last Sir Charles is going to 
 "^ live at the old place, and take up his proper 
 'i position in the county, very glad ; and you 
 S will find the country neighbours very hos- 
 pitable and pleasant. I never enjoyed any- 
 i thing more than the winter I spent at Oak- 
 i hampton Hall, with old Sir Edward, twenty- 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ;5 
 
 VOL. I
 
 2 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 six years ago, the year before you married. 
 
 And " 
 
 " I hate country neighbours, and it will be 
 all the worse if they are hospitable. Of course 
 they are bores ; I never saw a country neigh- 
 bour that was not. Always dropping in at 
 the wrong time, and they are sure to be 
 stupid and huffy, so pray don't hold them out 
 as an inducement to like Oakhampton," said 
 Lady Lillyford, with an ill-humoured and 
 contemptuous expression on her naturally 
 handsome features. "I know I shall never be 
 able to stand England at all ; and now you 
 disgust me still more by holding out my 
 particular detestation, country neighbours, as 
 an inducement to like that poky, damp, dull 
 old place. We shall all get fevers and agues, 
 and be moped to death besides. It is so 
 particularly hard too, just as that delightful 
 Mr. Brookfield was really making up to 
 Beatrice (she was quite taken with him 
 too), that we were obliged to leave Rome all 
 of a sudden, because Sk Charles took it into
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 3 
 
 his head to come into Parliament. I am sure 
 I often wish old Sir Edward had never died, 
 for really we got on so well abroad. I hate 
 these nasty fogs, and horrible east winds too. 
 No, I hate it all, and always shall, and I don't 
 at all agree with people who are always 
 pestering me with their congratulations on 
 old Sir Edward dying and leaving us that old 
 place." 
 
 " I wonder they congratulate you on poor 
 Sir Edward's death," said Mrs. Dronino^ton, 
 with a matter-of-fact gravity that showed she 
 was equally devoid of satire and fun, "for I 
 am sure he was a very excellent man, and 
 did his duty well for all his cousins. He 
 was certainly rather gloomy, and after he 
 lost his pretty young wife and only child 
 he shut himself up at Oakhampton, and 
 scarcely saw a human being from one year's 
 end to another. I certainly am afraid the 
 place must be a good deal out of repair, for 
 he only inhabited two rooms in one wing for 
 many years." 
 
 B 2
 
 4 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " Oh, I dare say it will cost a fortune to 
 put in order; and then they say it's haunted, 
 and though I'm not so foolish as to believe in 
 ghosts myself, it's very inconvenient if the 
 servants get frightened. Dear Lady Honoria 
 Nolan v^as actually obliged to leave their 
 place in Norfolk, where there was a ghost, 
 because they could not get any servants to 
 remain. No, I hate ghosts." 
 
 " Oh, mamma! that's the only thing I have 
 heard about Oakhampton that interests me," 
 said Beatrice, who bounded into the room 
 at this moment. " I long so to see a ghost. 
 You know there really is one in that old 
 Castle near Udine, where a beautiful girl, 
 who was to have been married to its pos- 
 sessor, appears very often." 
 
 " Don't tell me such nonsense, Beatrice ; 
 and see how badly your hair is dressed, that 
 stupid Martha has no more idea of dressing 
 hair than our new English butler has of 
 dressing salad or making coffee." 
 
 Beatrice looked at herself in the glass to
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 5 
 
 see what was amiss, and seemed pretty well 
 satisfied with the result. And justly so, for she 
 had more than an average share of beauty — 
 as much so, as good features, complexion 
 and colouring can form beauty, where ex- 
 presson is wanting. Her face said nothing, 
 but whether it was ever intended to speak, 
 remained to be seen. 
 
 I have sometimes observed that sort of 
 expressionless look and manner to be the 
 result of a very desultory education, or of 
 none at all. Girls, who from early child- 
 hood have lived abroad, too often seem to 
 become the embodiment of flippancy. Is it 
 that the habit of living in a state of negation, 
 always protesting, as it were, against the 
 manners, religion, and usages of those 
 around them, whilst they are at the same 
 thne living apart from the realities and 
 distinct atmosphere of their own nation, 
 arrests the development of their sympa- 
 thies ? 
 
 Although some persons are so fond of
 
 b COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 living abroad, that, like Sir Charles and 
 Lady Lillyford, they cannot bear to (what 
 they call) settle down in England, yet these 
 very persons are often the most loud in their 
 abuse of the country they happen to be in, 
 of its religion, politics, and habits, and are 
 the least disposed to form intimacies with 
 the natives. This sort of antagonistic life is 
 peculiarly pernicious to people of indolent 
 temperament, and to those devoid of deep 
 feeling or affections. 
 
 Beatrice had better natural qualities than 
 her mother, and possessed stronger feelings, 
 therefore all would now depend upon the 
 hands into which she might fall. She had 
 been regularly out for one winter in Rome, 
 and one season at some German baths, where 
 she was much admired. She had plenty of 
 partners at all the balls, but no proposal, 
 though her mother maintained that Mr. 
 Brookfield was on the point of proposing 
 when they suddenly left Rome. It was 
 well known that Beatrice would not be rich,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 7 
 
 for she had three brothers, the eldest of 
 whom was inclined to be wild and extrava- 
 gant, and two little sisters. 
 
 If anyone had asked Lady Lillyford seri- 
 ously whether she would like to part with 
 her daughter, she would have said, " Cer- 
 tainly not." Yet she sometimes took it as 
 a personal affront that Beatrice had as yet 
 received no oifer, and had been even heard 
 to express her apprehensions that she would 
 die an old maid ; in fact, she made a con- 
 stant grievance of that sudden departure 
 from Rome. In vain Sir Charles reminded 
 her, when she spoke to him about it during 
 their journey home, that if Mr. Brookfield 
 really meant anything, he would follow them 
 to England as soon as the tour he had in- 
 tended to make in the East with his friend 
 Mr. Sterndale, was ended. 
 
 " But then he may die in the meantime 
 of Nile fever, or be eaten up by crocodiles, 
 or have some other dreadful end," moaned 
 Lady Lillyford. " Besides, the girl is broken-
 
 8 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 hearted, I know slie is, she has never cared 
 about her dress ever shice." 
 
 There did not, however, seem to be much 
 amiss with her dress, as Beatrice looked at 
 herself that morning in the glass, yet she 
 turned from the contemplation of her pretty 
 face with something approaching to a sigh. 
 Perhaps the prominent idea in her mind 
 was, "What is the use of this beauty, if 
 he — " but the question was scarcely defined 
 enough to be dwelt on, for she turned sud- 
 denly to her grandmother and said, 
 
 "You like England, though, and even 
 country houses, I think ; why should we 
 expect to find them so very dull, I can't 
 imagine." 
 
 " I don't think you will, only your 
 mamma has taken up such a prejudice 
 against country neighbours. But there is 
 the carriage at the door now, so pray put 
 on your things, or we shall be late for 
 church." 
 
 On their arrival in England a few days
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 9 
 
 before, Lady Lill^'forcl and her daughter 
 had been staying with Mrs. Dronington in 
 Wimpole Street, and were still there on the 
 morning when this narrative commences. 
 Sir Charles Lillyford had gone direct to 
 Oakhampton Hall to take possession of his 
 estates, and to ascertain hoAv far the house 
 was fit for the reception of his family. 
 Their two little girls remained in a school 
 in Paris. Of their three sons two were 
 still at school, and Roland, the eldest, who 
 had latel}^ got into difficulties and had been 
 obliged to sell out of the Guards, was now 
 making a tour of visits in country houses, 
 where his handsome person and agreeability 
 made him welcome in spite of his debts and 
 — but more of him hereafter. 
 
 This dispersion of the family enabled 
 Mrs. Dronington to receive Lady Lillyford 
 and Beatrice (the only remaining ones of 
 the party) in the one spare bed and dress- 
 ing-room her house afforded. Beatrice had 
 never been in England, nor had she ever
 
 10 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 seen her grandmotlier since she was three 
 years old. She found, to her great surprise, 
 that she felt as if she had known the old 
 lady all her life, and liked her extremely ; 
 but not so London. It was the middle of 
 November, and as she had only seen the 
 ugly opposite houses of that dull street 
 through a fog, she was not very favourably 
 impressed as yet by what she saw of Eng- 
 land. She felt, indeed, peculiarly dull on 
 that dark Sunday morning as she drove 
 through the dingy streets to Grosvenor 
 Chapel, or rather she seemed to lose the 
 contrary sensation — the recollection of hav- 
 ing ever felt otherwise ; and there was not 
 much in the monotonous service to rouse 
 her into a more hopeful condition, pro- 
 nounced, as it was, amid the dense and 
 smoky atmosphere pervading the place, 
 which seemed to stifle or obliterate the re- 
 membrance of all the sunny lands she had 
 been visiting. Yet towards the end of the 
 sermon she was awakened from this state
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 11 
 
 of torpor, not by the sermon itself, but by 
 the sight of a young girl in a pew at a little 
 distance — a face which suddenly gave her 
 a joyous bound, and reminded her of some 
 of the most beautiful scenery she had ever 
 beheld, and also of the happiest days she 
 had ever spent. 
 
 She thought the sermon never would end, 
 so great was her impatience to speak 
 to Elfrida Somerton (for that was the 
 name of the young girl) and her mother, 
 and learn where they were and all about 
 them, for she had never seen or lieaKl of 
 them since they had parted at Sorento two 
 years before. She found herself caring so 
 much, so eagerly and curiously about them, 
 that she was almost startled at her own sud- 
 den anxiety. 
 
 " It must be that Elfrida's pretty face 
 recalls those beautiful scenes, and thus helps 
 me to forget this dingy, foggy, stuffy place," 
 thought she in clearer words than her 
 thoughts had yet ever expressed themselves
 
 12 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 to lier own mind. '^And Mrs. Somerton, 
 what a beautiful old lady slie is ! How 
 much happier I should be if mamma would 
 like her, and let me be with her. And 
 Roland, I don't think he would have become 
 so wild, and ran so much into debt, if Mrs. 
 Somerton could have been much with him. 
 She always interested and amused one so, 
 and made one feel the importance of all one 
 did or said." 
 
 In this manner Beatrice continued during 
 the remainder of the sermon, to define her 
 own impressions of one of the most remark- 
 able women of modern times, and perhaps 
 the new process may have been almost of 
 as much use to her as the dull words of a 
 badly-diluted text which the clergyman 
 was droning out. 
 
 At last it was over, and Beatrice rushed 
 out of the pew with such unusual impetuo- 
 sity, that her mother and grandmother were 
 quite startled. 
 
 " Oh ! dear Elfrida, how glad I am !" she
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 13 
 
 ■whispered to the young girl who had ab- 
 sorbed her thoughts as they met each other 
 near the doorway. "Do tell me how it is 
 you are m England ! — never mind the 
 others — let's go on." 
 
 Lady Lillyford was rather shortsighted, 
 and she always made the most of the in- 
 firmity when she was unwilling to see too 
 quick or too plainly. 
 
 " Who can those people be ?" she whis- 
 pered to her mother, as her daughter disap- 
 peared with them through the open door. 
 " Oh ! I remember ; I really believe it is 
 that Blue they made such a fuss with at 
 Rome. She is a great linguist and historian, 
 and writes upon tombs and worlds and 
 stars, and all manner of uncomfortable 
 things. I never liked them, and they are 
 dreadfully poor. I'm very sorry they are 
 come to England ; I thought they lived 
 always abroad. I hope Roland will not 
 see that girl, for he was dreadfully smitten 
 with her in Rome."
 
 14 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " Yet you ought now to wish him to 
 marry/' said Mrs. Dronington — " it would 
 steady him, perhaps." 
 
 " Yes, but not a girl with no fortune, 
 like Miss Somerton ; he has too much debt 
 for that. How fast they are walking ! 
 Well, I'm sure / don't wish to renew my 
 acquaintance with them, if they don't choose 
 to turn round. Oh ! they are knocking at 
 that door. Stop, let us walk slower, till 
 they are safe in, and then I suppose Bea- 
 trice will come back and look after us." 
 
 " Mrs. Somerton ! — surely I have heard 
 the name !" said Mrs. Dronington. " Yes, I 
 knew her when she was a girl, before she 
 went abroad. Well, you must, at any rate, 
 let me go to see her when I have an oppor- 
 tunity." 
 
 " Oh ! mamma, how delightful !" said 
 Beatrice, as she joined her mother a few 
 minutes afterwards. " Only think, they 
 are actually going to live in the next vil- 
 lage to Oakhampton— an old manor-house
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 15 
 
 in a pretty garden has been left to them 
 lately ; and they know all about the place, 
 too, for they are related, you know, to the 
 late Lady Lillyford." 
 
 " And have they got any fortune as well 
 as a house ?" 
 
 " No, I believe not ; but Mrs. Somerton 
 is publishing some wonderful book, and has 
 made a great deal by it, Elfrida told me." 
 
 " Oh ! that can't be much," said Lady 
 Lillyford ; " and I daresay it is so dull, one 
 couldn't read it. I'm sure I wouldn't give 
 half-a-crown for all the ologies that were 
 ever invented. And what a bore it will be, 
 having them actually as country neighbours ; 
 they will be more unbearable than ever." 
 
 Lady Lillyford was hungry after the 
 fatigue (as she called it) of sitting out a 
 long service in such a stuffy church, and as 
 the luncheon they found ready for them on 
 their return home was very good, she was 
 for some time pleasantly employed in the 
 process of eating it. Not much conversa-
 
 16 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 tion passed, for Beatrice was more full of 
 thought than usual, and perhaps instinctive- 
 ly felt that the purport of her thoughts 
 would not be very acceptable to her mo- 
 ther, or very intelligible to her grandmo- 
 ther ; yet she had a sort of vague feelmg 
 that the latter would sympathize with her 
 most. 
 
 At last, when the slices of plum-pudding 
 which had come up from the servants' din- 
 ner had been disposed of, she ventured to say, 
 
 " You liked Oakhamptom very much, did 
 you not, grandmamma ? — and did you ever 
 hear of such a strange, dreadful thing that 
 happened there? I now remember that 
 Elfrida told me about it when we were at 
 Sorrento, but I never knew till now that it 
 was at Oakhampton tlie dreadful event hap- 
 pened." 
 
 " What was it?" inquired Lady Lillyford, 
 with her mouth full of cake, and her mind 
 full of a vague wish to know something 
 more against the old place.
 
 COUNTKY COTERIES. 17 
 
 " Surely you must have heard what I sup- 
 pose Elfrida means." 
 
 " Well, I suppose I did ; but it is so long 
 ago. Something about the poor child being 
 bm-nt alive in its cradle, and supposed to 
 have been purposely done by some girl that 
 — that — but really, Beatrice, I don't see 
 what right Miss Somerton has to talk of such 
 improper things. I should not have sus- 
 pected her of that.'' 
 
 " I am sure she did not know there was 
 an}1:hing wrong in talking of it," said Bea- 
 trice, blushing at the imputation cast by her 
 mother on her friend. " Besides, those who 
 did wrong were so awfully punished." 
 
 "Well, go upstahs now, Beatrice, and 
 read some good book, and mamma shall tell 
 me, for I'm sure it isn't proper for you to 
 know anything about it." 
 
 Beatrice gladly obeyed; but whether 
 she found any good book, and if so whe- 
 ther it did her much good, remains to be 
 seen. 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lady Lillyford wishes to knoiv the worst 
 at once. 
 
 " ATOW, tell me, for I should like to know 
 ■^^ the worst," said Lady Lillyford. 
 '' There was something, I remember, about 
 a horrible room where the poor child was 
 burnt, and old Sir Edward never would 
 have it repaired, or allow anybody to go 
 into it. Oh ! dear, it makes me quite 
 shudder to think of; I hope Charles will 
 have the sense to take it down, or build it 
 up, or something, but he is so indifferent and 
 harum-scarum, I daresay he will do nothing. 
 I know we shall be moped to death ; and I 
 daresay that was why poor Lady Lillyford 
 died so young." 
 
 '' Oh ! no ; hers was a very melancholy
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 19 
 
 history — don't you remember the particu- 
 lars?" 
 
 " No, not exactly ; except, I suppose, she 
 was jealous of that girl when she discovered 
 something wrong about her husband." 
 
 " Yes, it nearly broke her heart ; but Sir 
 Edward was so penitent and devoted to her, 
 that after the birth of her child I heard she 
 quite recovered. Never was anything like 
 his adoration of her, they said ; and she 
 was getting quite well and happy again, 
 when one night the room where the baby 
 was sleeping took fire, and the child was 
 burnt in its cradle, and the nurse suffocated 
 in the bed near." 
 
 " And the village girl was supposed to 
 have something to do with it, was she not ?" 
 
 "Yes, so it was said, but nothing could 
 be proved ; but Sir Edward never would 
 see her again, nor her child either, though 
 he had him well educated abroad. I think 
 it was very lucky for you and your children 
 that he took such a dislike to the child and 
 
 c2
 
 20 COUNTRY COTEETES. 
 
 its motlier. I believe he only left a few 
 hundreds to her, and as he had the power 
 to leave a great deal away, most people 
 thought he would have made the boy his 
 hen*. That was why I maintain that he has 
 always been wonderfully kind to his cousins 
 and cousins' children. He not only paid for 
 Eoland's commission, besides his college 
 debts, but made both him and Beatrice an 
 allowance." 
 
 ^'Yes, but Roland's allowance was so 
 small, poor fellow, that he could not help 
 getting into debt, and then was actually 
 obliged to sell out, so you see it has been of 
 no use to him at all." 
 
 "Well, but that was not poor Sir Ed- 
 ward's fault ; and he need not have paid for 
 the commission, or made him any allow- 
 ance." 
 
 " That z(;<9w/c/ have been hard indeed, for 
 I am sure we could not have afforded to 
 give our sons good educations, so I don't 
 know what would have become of them at
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 21 
 
 all. And now I don't know what is to be 
 done with Roland, if he can't keep out of 
 debt ; and he'll be sure to go and marry 
 some penniless, silly girl, like that Miss 
 Somerton, and her mother a deaf old invahd, 
 too ; but I believe it was half fancy, for she 
 could sit up all night writmg her stupid 
 books, and go poking about all day exca- 
 vating the rocks and tombs. Well, I am 
 determined I won't call upon them when we 
 get to Oakhampton. It shan't be said that 
 I was so insensible to my son's welfare as 
 to cultivate the acquaintance of such people ; 
 of a poor girl, who sets herself up for a 
 beauty and a wit." 
 
 Notliing could be more opposite from the 
 truth than this accusation of Lady Lillyford's, 
 for Elfrida Somerton was pecuUarly humble, 
 and had almost a painfully low opinion of 
 herself; but Mrs. Dronington was not ac- 
 quainted with her, and therefore could not 
 contradict the assertion, though she might 
 have suspected, from the tone of her daugh-
 
 22 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ter's voice, tliat she herself scarcely believed 
 her own v^ords. 
 
 "" I sometimes think," said Mrs. Droning- 
 ton, " that you would all have done better 
 if you had never gone and lived abroad, but 
 had settled down in that nice dower-house 
 at Oakhampton poor Sir Edward offered to 
 give his cousin Sir Charles rent-free. I don't 
 see any good it has been to the chil- 
 dren." 
 
 " Oh ! what can you mean ?" said Lady 
 Lillyford, lifting up her hands with a ges- 
 ture of horror. "Surely you would not 
 have had the children grow up without any 
 education at all — no masters or anything to 
 be had?" 
 
 " Well, I don t see that Beatrice is so very 
 accomplished, after all. To be sure, I am an 
 old-fashioned woman, and I suppose don't 
 fully appreciate modern improvements ; but 
 it seems to me she sings out of tune, and 
 does not play on the pianoforte much better 
 than I did on the harpsichord ; my playing
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 23 
 
 was really very much admired when I was 
 young (though I never had any better mas- 
 ter than the organist of Cathedral), 
 
 and so was my singing." 
 
 " Oh ! I daresay it was very fine; but then 
 you can't compare an old squeaking harpsi- 
 chord, about three octaves long, with a fine 
 Erard piano. It must have been easy 
 enough to play on such a tin-kettle as that. 
 Besides, how foolishly you talk, as if Signor 
 Maggiortuono or Fieravoce could help 
 Beatrice having a bad ear. I know it is 
 very difficult for her to keep in tune, and 
 her hands are not strong enough for these 
 grand pianos, but that's not the fault of the 
 master." 
 
 " Of course," said Mrs. Dronington ; " but 
 does it not prove that it was hardly worth 
 while to sacrifice so much for instruction in 
 things she had no natural turn for ?" 
 
 "Not at all — it would have been much 
 worse without. Besides, who was to teach 
 her French, and Italian, and German, draw-
 
 24 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 ing and dancing, if we liad been buried 
 down at Oakhampton ? " 
 
 •' Perhaps a governess ; and then remem- 
 ber she was the only girl at that time, and 
 I always thought it very hard for the boys 
 to have no home in England to come to in 
 the holidays. I doubt whether Roland 
 would have turned out so very wild if he 
 had been able to pass his vacations in the 
 country; and if you had all been settled 
 near Oakhampton, it might have drawn 
 poor old Sir Edward out of his misanthropic 
 state ; besides, as he always regarded your 
 husband and Roland as his heirs, the boy 
 would have learnt to take an mterest in the 
 place, and the county families in him." 
 
 "There you are again, always harpmg 
 upon country families and neighbours, as if 
 the railroads had not made everybody quite 
 independent of any such old nonsense as 
 that long ago." 
 
 " Well, it remains to be proved whether 
 it was nonsense or not," said Mrs. Droning-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 25 
 
 ton witli some annoyance in her tone. She 
 was a person of few words, and easily dazed 
 by her daughter's superior flow of them ; 
 but there was more solidity, if I may so ex- 
 press it, in her judgment — more of the re- 
 pose of mind produced by the spirit of her 
 age (for her childhood had begun in the 
 last century), and by the tone and manner 
 of woman's education and life in that day. 
 Her natural judgment was, moreover, too 
 good to be convinced by her daughter's 
 paradoxes, or by the flippant, superficial 
 views produced by the more extensive but 
 not better education which was usually 
 given to women in the second quarter of 
 this century.
 
 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 English Home Scenery. 
 
 "T"! TE will now leave Lady Lilly ford and 
 ' * her daughter to make the best or 
 the worst of their foggy weather in Wim- 
 pole Street, and follow the young girl who 
 seemed to have excited such a strange in- 
 fluence over Beatrice's undeveloped mind, 
 and who had, with her mother, already 
 taken up her abode in the pretty old house 
 at Oakhampton village which had been left 
 to them. 
 
 Mrs. Somerton had not lived abroad from 
 choice — her late husband had deen attacked 
 with consumption, and ordered to a south- 
 ern cUmate ; so he had been obliged to sell 
 out of the army, and (moving about in
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 27 
 
 search of health) they struggled with ex- 
 treme poverty for many years. 
 
 They first lived at Venice, near Mrs. 
 Somerton's sister, who had married Count 
 Rossi, a rich and noble Italian, possessing, 
 besides his palace at Venice, large estates in 
 Styria. • 
 
 At the time when we first become ac- 
 quainted with Mrs. Somerton in this narra- 
 tive, her husband had been dead some years. 
 She was already advanced in life, and suf- 
 fered also from ill-health. But where the 
 mind preponderates much over the body, to 
 work is easier than to rest. Mrs. Somerton 
 had been repeatedly recommended by phy- 
 sicians to lay down her pen and give her 
 mind entire rest. But she had always been 
 worse when she followed their advice. 
 
 " This is really enchanting !" said Mrs. 
 Somerton, as she entered her little drawing- 
 room at the old house where they had 
 arrived the night before. " What a lovely 
 view, and those quaint old casement win-
 
 28 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 dows and the wainscoted walls are just 
 what I admire. — No, my child, I don't re- 
 gret that it has been painted white, for I 
 shall see to write or read half an hour 
 longer every day." 
 
 "And what sunsets we shall have too!" 
 said her daughter Elfrida, who \ftis equally 
 pleased with their new abode. "If the sun 
 comes out to-day, I think it will set behind 
 those wooded heights on the right. How 
 those distant pme-trees remind me of Italy, 
 only all the near view is prettier than we 
 usually had there." 
 
 " Yes, this is a truly English rural view of 
 the best possible type, and nothing in the 
 whole world can equal the enjoyment it 
 gives me to look upon such a view once 
 more. I never knew how much I pined for 
 England — for English country life, till now. 
 I can scarcely think how I have been able 
 to exist all these years in banishment, and 
 you have never seen England before ! But 
 I know you will love it even as I do," she
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 29 
 
 added, as she watched her daughter s face, 
 and was delighted to read the expression of 
 happy admiration depicted on it, while the 
 young girl's eyes ranged from one object to 
 another in the varied yet homely landscape. 
 "That square ivy-mantled tower might 
 have given rise to the beautiful lines begin- 
 ning— 
 
 ' Tlie curfew tolls the knell of parting day,' " 
 
 said Elfrida. " And look there, surely Mil- 
 ton must have seen those meadows beyond 
 the ^vinding road ? It must be there 
 
 ' Where the milkmaid singeth blithe, 
 And the mower whets his scythe. 
 And every shepherd tells his tale 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale.' 
 
 Then the entire view seems described in 
 those lines — 
 
 * Straight mine eye hath caught more pleasures. 
 Whilst the landscape round it measures ; 
 Russet lawns and fallows grey. 
 Where the nibbling flocks do stray.' 
 
 I see to the left, in the far distance, the 
 high Imc of hills and steep downs,
 
 30 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ' Mountains on whose barren breast 
 The labouring clouds do often rest,' 
 
 and beneath tliem where the 
 
 ' Meadows brim with daisies pied, 
 Shallow brooks and rivers wide. 
 Towers and battlements it sees ; 
 Bosomed high in tufted trees.' 
 
 I never saw anything so cheering and cheer- 
 ful as this view/' said Elfrida, " and to go 
 on with your quotation, perhaps we shall 
 see 
 
 ' Many a youth and many a maid 
 Dancing in the chequered shade.' 
 
 That scene must have been in his mind when 
 he wrote 
 
 ' These delights if thou canst give, 
 Mirth, with thee I mean to hve.' " 
 
 " Yes, it must have been such a scene as 
 this/' said Mrs. Somerton, "which called 
 forth some of those delightful feelings that 
 inspired Milton and Gray, and other plea- 
 sure poets, if I may venture to call them so, 
 to write the lines which reproduce these 
 fairest of country scenes, and still continue 
 to give sensations of delight to those who
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 31 
 
 read their poems. According to my accep- 
 tation of the word sensation, we have now 
 very few authors who appeal to the senses 
 pleasantly. The harrowing tale which ex- 
 cites painful curiosity is called sensational, 
 and it produces, perhaps, what many people 
 require — distraction ; by a counter-kritation 
 it gives a kind of blistered relief from the 
 anxieties or cares of the world or of disbe- 
 lief" 
 
 " Ah ! I see now what you mean by plea- 
 sure poets, and why we have so few now-a- 
 days," said Elfrida ; " and I think I see now 
 why so few modern poets produce harmoni- 
 ous or pleasant feehngs in my mind, al- 
 though there may be no lack of harmony in 
 the mechanism of their lines." 
 
 " Yes, because in striving to be purely 
 intellectual they unconsciously despise the 
 natural good instincts that prompt us to find 
 harmony in all creation ; and thus their writ- 
 ings are often a disagreeable and most in- 
 harmonious mixture of wonderment and
 
 32 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 defiance, — an angry querulousness at not 
 being able satisfactorily to fathom the mys- 
 tery of creation without the aid of revelation. 
 They want to dispose of this perverse world, 
 and mould all created things to suit their 
 own views. But I see you are so absorbed 
 in the contemplation of that view, that you 
 scarcely heard what I said." 
 
 " You are right, dear mamma, for I was 
 looking at those gigantic oaks on the brow 
 of that high hill in the middle distance, and 
 the trees that crown that slope on the right ; 
 and I really think that must be one of the 
 oaks — King Arthur's seat, I think it is called, 
 of which I have heard so much — in Oak- 
 hampton Park. And see, is not that a 
 corner of the old house there peeping 
 through the trees ? What trees they are !" 
 
 "Yes, that is Oakhampton Hall," said 
 Mrs. Somerton with a sigh, and her counten- 
 ance became suddenly overcast with an ex- 
 pression of pain. " I am almost sorry — yet, 
 no — I am glad we can see the dear old
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 33 
 
 place. I shall think of my poor Matilda as 
 I trust she is now, or as she was in her 
 happy youth." 
 
 '' How I wish I could have seen that poor 
 Lady Lniyford," said Elfrida. ^' What an 
 interesting person she must have been, from 
 your description." 
 
 " Strange, strange, most strange," said 
 Mrs. Somerton, with a sudden vehemence 
 that made her turn quite pale. " It never 
 stiTick me so forcibly till now ; you have 
 seen a wonderful likeness to her. You may 
 remember I mentioned it one day when he 
 was very sad — the day he left Munich." 
 
 ^'Who?— Mr.Luscombe?^' saidElfrida with 
 a blush and most tell-tale expression, as slie 
 cast her eyes down to hide the tears that 
 filled them. " I remember it well; could he 
 be related in any way?" 
 
 " Oh, no, quite the reverse," said Mrs. 
 Somerton. "It is impossible, for I have 
 since heard who he really is. I had better 
 tell you now, perliaps, for I see he has made 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 a very deep impression on you. You should 
 know the worst at once. He is the son of 
 that very woman who caused the death of 
 dear Lady Lillyford — the illegitimate son of 
 Sir Edward. Fearing, or thmking, perhaps, 
 (for I loved him so much that I scarcely 
 feared), your heart was beginning to respond 
 to his most evident love for you, I made 
 inquiries and wrote to him. I will show 
 you his letter on the subject. I would not 
 talk of him all these long months, or en- 
 courage you to do so, because I wished to 
 see whether the impression was strong 
 enough to be so permanent as to counter- 
 balance all the drawbacks. He is very poor. 
 I find Sir Edward has only left him barely 
 enough to start him in some profession ; and 
 then, unless he succeeds well in it, he will 
 have nothing to live upon." 
 
 "And is that woman — is his mother 
 alive ?" 
 
 " They say not. She lived at York, and 
 I heard she was dead two or three years
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 35 
 
 ago. It was so strange that she always 
 refused to see her son, and the last tmie he 
 tried, through his guardian Mr. Mordaunt, 
 to gain access to her presence, she treated 
 the request with such contemptuous coldness 
 as to stop any further attempt. I suppose 
 she was mad. You will see now, my poor 
 Elfrida, that this parentage is a much greater 
 drawback than any poverty." 
 
 " It is indeed," said Elfrida with a shudder; 
 for if there Avas one person in the world 
 whom she really regarded with horror, it 
 was that unfortunate woman. 
 
 " Yes, it is most terrible ; but — but I 
 must and mil endeavour to find out more 
 positively whether she is really dead, and 
 question whoever was with her at the last ; 
 for I am more and more possessed with an 
 idea — a suspicion — but still it would be so 
 very improbable, that I had better not men- 
 tion it, or lead you to hope. No, you must 
 face the whole horror of the case, and if, on 
 further acquaintance, his good qualities 
 
 D 2
 
 36 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 really counterbalance the evil which he may 
 possibly have inherited from his mother, 
 why, then " 
 
 "But what is your suspicion? — do tell 
 me, for it has made me so miserable to 
 think that he had such a mother ; do — 
 quick, I shall have no peace till I know !" 
 
 "It is this strange likeness to Lady Lilly- 
 ford — but, stay, that may be accounted for 
 by the impression produced on the unfortu- 
 nate girl's mind before the birth of her 
 child, by the sight of that beautiful, happy 
 bride. Yes, it is very possible, and hence 
 proceeds her hatred of the boy. She may 
 have been struck with it, and disliked him 
 in consequence. No, I fear there can be no 
 chance — we must face the evil; we must 
 have no delusions ; we must not look away 
 from it." 
 
 Both mother and daughter remained for 
 some moments silent, while tears ran down 
 Elfrida's cheeks. But she dashed them 
 away, as if ashamed to indulge in such bitter
 
 COUNTEY COTERIES. 37 
 
 grief, and exclaimed, as if with an effort to 
 think of some pleasant subject, and with a 
 tone of voice especially intended to cheer 
 her mother, 
 
 " What a delightful old place Oakhamp- 
 ton Park must be ! See, the sun is coming 
 out, and hghts up those beautiful dells and 
 those herds of deer — look, just by the river 
 that runs through its grounds. And to 
 think that our pretty friend Beatrice is going 
 to live there ! Oh ! how happy she will 
 be, and how delightful for us to have her so 
 near. What! you don't think so?" she 
 added, on seeing a doubtful expression on 
 her mother's face. ^' You think Lady Lilly- 
 ford will not Hke us to be ultimate, per- 
 haps?" 
 
 " I am sure she will not, for many rea- 
 sons. In the first place, she dislikes country 
 neighbours, and then, you know very well ; 
 she was afraid her son " 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Elfrida, with an un- 
 embarrassed air, which showed that in this
 
 38 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 case lier heart was quite untouched. " But 
 that was two years ago, and he probably 
 has seen many girls he likes much better." 
 
 " Very probably ; but still I am convinced 
 there will be no visits exchanged between 
 
 us." 
 
 " And shall we never see Beatrice, then ?" 
 " I fear "not ; and am sorry, for I think we 
 
 were beginning to be of some little use to 
 
 her at Sorrento."
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The old Clergyman and his Sister. 
 
 ^' A ND so I may never see tlie inside of 
 ^^ that most interesting place," said 
 poor Elfrida, wlio thought to herself with a 
 half smile that she had unfortunately fixed 
 on a bad subject for distraction. But she 
 had been taught never to indulge in despond- 
 ency, to find good in everything, to cultivate 
 a real taste for " whatsoever things are 
 lovely." So she was soon pleasantly ab- 
 sorbed in making a sketch from the win- 
 dow, transferring to paper the effect of the 
 bright November sunshine gilding the brown 
 woods, the church tower, and the few old 
 gabled cottages, with their quaint old clipped 
 yew-trees and trim gardens dotted about
 
 40 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 here and there in the near view. There 
 was no drive up to the door of the ancient 
 house, only a paved walk from an old iron 
 gate just opposite the porch. Along this 
 walk Elfrida presently saw a lady and gen- 
 tleman coming up to the house. 
 
 " Who can these be ? I thought we should 
 have no visitors/' said she to Mrs. Somerton, 
 who was now absorbed in her writing at a 
 table near. "Oh ! I suppose it must be that 
 good clergyman and his sister you have so 
 often talked to me about?" 
 
 "Yes," said Mrs Somerton, as^e looked 
 out of the window and saw the broad back 
 of a capacious lady, " that must be Peggy 
 Mordaunt, and her shawl put on as crooked 
 as ever. I used to like everything about 
 her, even to her crooked shawl and tumbling 
 down hair." 
 
 " Well, I never heard you tolerate un- 
 graceful dress on anyone before." 
 
 " No, but Peggy and her brother are ex- 
 ceptional people, and she used to show me
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 41 
 
 sunshine in many dark places, years ago. Go 
 and open the door for them ; very likely 
 Pepita does not hear the bell, or even know 
 that she is expected to answer it." 
 
 There was a warm greeting between old 
 friends, who had not met for more than 
 fifteen years, and Mrs. Somerton said, 
 
 "I was more thankful at the notion of 
 being in your neighbourhood, than even at 
 the most unexpected blessing of this pretty 
 home." 
 
 " And so little Elfrida has grown up into 
 a beautiful young lady," said Peggy, as she 
 placed her large, strong hands on the girl's 
 shoulders, and held her at a convenient dis- 
 tance, while she examined her features with 
 a searching scrutiny, which in anyone else 
 might have savoured of impertinence. 
 
 " Yes, she is very beautiful," added Peggy 
 after a pause; "more lovely even than you 
 ever were, but she has your dark blue eyes, 
 I am glad to see, and his speaking mouth ; 
 yes, it has the same quiver of feeling — his
 
 42 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 straiglit and sensitive looking nose — and slie 
 has suffered too," continued Peggy, and her 
 rough manner became suddenly subdued, 
 as she kissed the girl's brow mth an expres- 
 sion of gentler sympathy than might have 
 been expected from the large, jolly-looking 
 woman. But before those capacious hands 
 and searching eyes were withdrawn, a look 
 of sadness for a moment overcast Peggy's 
 face, and she said, as if half to herself, 
 
 " She's more like him — very like. Ah ! 
 well, we shall all meet again some happy 
 day." 
 
 She then turned towards Mrs. Somerton, 
 who had been watching her looks with in- 
 tense interest, and although she could not 
 hear her words, she felt sure of their mean- 
 ing. 
 
 " You think her like him, and I am glad 
 of it," said she as she took Peggy's hand, and 
 held, or rather embraced it between her own, 
 with a little caressing movement peculiar to 
 her, which some people called childish.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 43- 
 
 "You will see more and more how mucli 
 she resembles him in every way." 
 
 " And you will love her all the more," she 
 added after a pause, in which some struggle 
 seemed to take place in her mind, for she 
 well knew that Peggy had loved her hus- 
 band in early youth. It had been Peggy 
 Mordaunt's only attacliment, and Mrs. Som- 
 erton's sensitive disposition and conscience 
 often reproached and troubled her with the 
 recollection that it was her own attractive 
 loveliness which had won her husband's 
 heart before she had become acquainted 
 with Peggy. She therefore always regarded 
 her ^\dth more compassionate interest than 
 perhaps was needed. For although dis- 
 appointed in this, her sole attachment, 
 Peggy's life had been peculiarly happy. 
 She was gifted with one of those rare, even 
 tempers, which usually accompany a good 
 digestion, strong muscular power, a well- 
 balanced and, in some respects, powerful 
 mind. In fact, she possessed by nature the
 
 44 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 sunniness of disposition which the delicate 
 and often suffering organisation of Mrs. 
 Somerton had only attained by constant 
 self-restraint and perseverance in cultivating 
 a taste for the beautiful and good in all 
 things. 
 
 But we are taking no notice of the good 
 clergyman all this time, nor did the others 
 for some moments, therefore he had full 
 leisure to scan the group with his little grey 
 eyes, as he stood near the window apparent- 
 ly looking at some manuscript on the table. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt formed a complete con- 
 trast to his sister in appearance as well 
 as disposition. But the result was that 
 as they agreed perfectly on all important 
 points, they invariably pulled together ; and 
 he often said that if he had not Peggy to 
 help him in his ministry, he should have 
 given up his profession long ago. 
 
 " When you have done looking at each 
 other, and finished all your sentimentalisms, 
 perhaps you will tell me, dear Mrs. Somer-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 45 
 
 ton, whether you really wish to keep that 
 crooked old gardener I wrote to you about. 
 I've no time for more this morning, but as 
 you are coming, of course, to dine with us, 
 we shall have plenty of time to talk, and 
 find out how far the last fifteen years has 
 altered us in mind and looks." 
 
 "Yes," said Pegg}^, "that's just it. I 
 can't stay a moment — only wanted to see 
 whether you looked happy in this old room, 
 and whether your foreign maid is able to 
 make you at all comfortable ; everything 
 must be so strange to her." 
 
 " Yes, she is very much puzzled, but 
 upon the whole seems pleased ; and as to 
 the cracked and morose old gardener, she 
 seems to get on with him wonderfully well, 
 for he told me he hated women." 
 
 " But you ought to know the origin of 
 this moroseness," said Peggy, " before you 
 decide against him. The poor man was 
 engaged to marry that handsome girl who 
 caused such sorrow at the old hall, and she
 
 46 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 deceived hiin to the last. It was only 
 about a week before tlie birth of her child 
 that he discovered the truth. The same 
 blow that well-nigh killed poor Lady Lilly- 
 ford drove him mad, and he was for some 
 years confined in a lunatic asylum." 
 
 Mrs. Somerton looked round anxiously, 
 to see what impression this new horror had 
 on her daughter, and seeing that Elfrida 
 was deadly pale, she whispered aside to 
 Peggy— 
 
 " Well, you shall tell me more by-and- 
 by, when we are alone, and then I will ask 
 you about that painful story, but not before 
 her." 
 
 " What can this all mean ?" said Peggy, 
 as they walked away ; " there is some mys- 
 tery. I should not wonder, now, if that 
 Edward Luscombe and Elfrida have gone 
 and fallen in love with each other. How 
 very dreadful ! — what can come of it ?" 
 
 "Perhaps some good, at least; evil dis- 
 positions are not necessarily inherited, and
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 47 
 
 the poor father suffered awfully for his sms, 
 and died, I have every reason to hope, sin- 
 cerely penitent. No one ever suffered more 
 for that one fault as you well know." 
 
 " And to think that they still continue, — 
 for I guess now plainly what that beautiful 
 girl's trouble is. Well, I daresay she will 
 die of consumption, as her father did. Well 
 — just like life," said Peggy, whose jolly face 
 and buoyant spirits told that at least her 
 own experience of life had not been one of 
 unmitigated gloom.
 
 48 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The People ivlio are not to he visited hy the 
 Great House, 
 
 rriHERE are times in one's life when, pos- 
 ^ sessed by some peculiarly dominating 
 feeling or idea, all surrounding objects and 
 persons are seen in sucli manner connected 
 with it, that we begin to doubt our own 
 identity ; for the surrounding world seems as 
 if made only for the purpose of ministering 
 to our own predominating feeling. 
 
 Elfrida felt this a few days after their 
 arrival at Oakhampton. Everybody she 
 met, all surrounding objects, the old house 
 she constantly saw from her window, were 
 connected quite unexpectedly in some painful 
 way with him to whom her heart had been
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 49 
 
 given. She found herself constantly specu- 
 lating on those windows, — wondering whe- 
 ther one of them belonged to the room 
 where the poor child had been burnt, 
 where the beautiful vouncr mother had 
 breathed her last. 
 
 Then the morose old gardener, whose 
 life seemed also to have been marred by 
 that same woman, even the sight of him 
 produced but another variation of the domi- 
 nant idea — that the author of all this wide- 
 spread mischief was liis mother, the mother 
 of Edward Luscombe ! There was no escap- 
 ing from the constant impression. The old 
 gardener's miserable face ; the wild, some- 
 times almost fiendish expression that gleam- 
 ed in his eyes, and which she fancied lie 
 directed especially at her, was peculiarly 
 distressing to her. 
 
 Even Peggy's jolly face would sometimes 
 assume a look of anxiety, which she evi- 
 denty tried to conceal when any allusion was 
 made to the Lillyfords, or anything connected 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 with them. Even her avoidance of the sub- 
 ject brought it to Elfrida's mind. 
 
 She longed to know whether the present 
 owners had arrived, and whether Beatrice 
 would try to make any attempt to see her, 
 as during that short interview after church 
 in London she had so strongly resolved to 
 do. But no one mentioned anything about 
 the Park and its inmates to her, and she 
 shrank from inquiry, because she dreaded 
 the disappointment of hearing that they had 
 arrived, and that Beatrice had not endeav- 
 oured to see her. 
 
 On the point, however, her doubts were 
 soon set at rest, for Mrs. Somerton, divin- 
 ing her daughter's anxiety on all subjects 
 connected with the family and place, in- 
 formed her, as soon as she heard it herself, 
 that Sir Charles and Lady Lillyford had ar- 
 rived, but that Beatrice was remaining for 
 some time with her grandmother in Wimpole 
 Street. 
 
 " I think it probable," said Mrs. Somer-
 
 COUNTEY COTERIES. 51 
 
 ton, "that she finds Mrs. Dronington a much 
 more companionable person than her mo- 
 ther : in fact, she is a better type of woman 
 than is often to be met with in these transi- 
 tion days." 
 
 " Is she ?" said Elfrida with surprise ; 
 " then how is it that her daughter is so — I 
 mean not exactly satisfactory." 
 
 " Ah ! I see you have trained her well," 
 said Peggy, who joined them at this mo- 
 ment, for they were walking through the 
 village on their way to the vicarage. " I 
 saw she was just going to abuse, or at least to 
 find fault with somebody, and I well remem- 
 ber your old trick of never allowing such a 
 thing. And that makes people call you so 
 fade and common-place. Not only will you 
 never abuse others yourself, but you look so 
 reproachfully when absent people .are being 
 perhaps somewhat sharply commented on, 
 that you spoil all the pleas vire of gossip." 
 
 " And much pleasure you would have, 
 dear Peggy. You know you were the first 
 
 E 2 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 52 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 person to show me the real harm of rni- 
 charitable-mindedness, as you called it." 
 
 " Yes, but you so soon outstripped me in 
 all my wise precepts, and became so very 
 good, that I began to regret my preachings. 
 Well, who was the person Elfrida was mak- 
 ing the best of? Ah! I suspect it was Lady 
 Lillyford ; by-the-by, I am so glad to hear 
 that good old Mrs. Dronington is going to 
 bring the girl here next month. I shall be 
 very glad to see the old lady, but I doubt 
 whether she will influence any of them at 
 all. She has sufficient common sense and 
 good feeling to act' well herself, but scarcely 
 power or cleverness enough to influence 
 others. Yet she is a very estimable and 
 right-judging person, and could give a 
 sounder opinion on most points than many 
 people could who have twice as much talent 
 or cleverness." 
 
 ''Yes," said Mrs. Somerton, "that is very 
 true ; but I fear Beatrice will not find her a 
 very cheering companion, because she is
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 53 
 
 totally wanting in the faculty to enjoy or 
 understand fun ; she is entirely matter-of- 
 fact, and hence in some degree arises her 
 inability to influence others." 
 
 " Still she is a great improvement upon 
 her daughter, and much better than most 
 people Beatrice would have met abroad, I 
 should think," said Peggy, who, with all her 
 charitable-mindedness, was not quite with- 
 out prejudices against foreigners. 
 
 " Whose house is that we can just see in 
 the far distance to the left — there, in a line 
 just over those poplars and the bridge ? we 
 can only see it when the evening sun lights 
 up that part of the landscape. " 
 
 "That is Ferncote Hall — a very beautiful 
 old place," said Peggy." "It has lately been 
 inherited from the old Mr. Fairleigh by a 
 distant relation, I happened to know about 
 him, as he is a great friend of my brother's 
 old pupil, Mr. Sterndale. They have been 
 travelling together in the East, and Mr. 
 Sterndale has repeatedly mentioned him
 
 54 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 in his letters, and expressed his hopes 
 that we shall know hira when he comes to 
 England. His name was — let me see — yes, 
 Brookfield — that's it ; and now his sisters 
 and himself have taken the name of Fair- 
 leigh. In Mr. Sterndale's last letter, which 
 was written from Styria, he said that he 
 was staying with your relation, Count Ho- 
 henstein, and that Mr. Fairleigh, who was 
 then at Venice, had been invited to join him 
 there by-and-by. 
 
 " Hohenstein," said Mrs. Somerton; "ah! 
 that is near the college where Edward Lus- 
 combe is, as you know. Perhaps Mr. 
 Sterndale may fall in with him ; if so, pray 
 tell me what he thinks of the young man." 
 
 Peggy's honest face clouded over, and 
 she looked as if she already knew more than 
 she liked to say. But she only shook her 
 head, and muttered that for her part she 
 thought people knew their own business 
 best, and that it is no use asking too many 
 opinions.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 55 
 
 " But I must ascertain how the case 
 really stands between Miss Somerton and 
 Edward Luscombe," was her next thought, 
 " otherwise I shall certainly be making blun- 
 ders." 
 
 At that moment they reached the Vicar- 
 age, where Mrs. Somerton and her daughter 
 had promised to spend the evening ; and 
 the result of Peggy's private inquiries that 
 night was the information that — but perhaps 
 we had better give it in Mrs. Somerton's 
 own words. 
 
 " We met him," she said, " for the first 
 time last spring, in Italy, where he came for 
 a little rest, having been reading rather too 
 hard. As he knew my relations at Hohen- 
 stein — one of the nephews being at the same 
 college — we speedily became intimate, and 
 I saw that my daughter and he were evi- 
 dently taken with each other. He spoke to 
 me about her, and asked if he might be per- 
 mitted to hope. I said that both were so 
 very young, there must be no engagement
 
 56 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 at present, but that after a year had passed, 
 if he were still in the same mind, he might 
 write to Elfrida. I have heard nothing 
 about him for some time, and therefore I 
 should be obliged if you will tell me any- 
 thing you may hear." 
 
 At that moment Mr. Mordaunt and El- 
 frida joined them, and nothing more was 
 said on the subject so interesting to them 
 both. 
 
 But Elfrida, with the quick perception 
 which affection gives, had felt that Mr. Mor- 
 daunt, and perhaps his sister, knew more 
 about Edward or his mother, or some dread- 
 ful mystery connected with him, than they 
 had told even to Mrs. Somerton; because 
 Mr. Mordaunt's countenance had that even- 
 ing been strangely compassionate when he 
 looked at her, and he had endeavoured 
 more than they did, to start other subjects 
 of conversation or interest. 
 
 Elfrida mentioned this to her mother 
 after they had gone home, but Mrs. Somer-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 57 
 
 ton attributed it to the constitutional shyness 
 which deprived him of tact, and wouhi be 
 sure to make him do, say, or look the wrong 
 thing, wherever a painful or disagreeable 
 subject was named, or purposely avoided. 
 
 " But why should it be avoided ? Why 
 not speak of Mr. Luscombe before me, un- 
 less " 
 
 " Unless there is something to be con- 
 cealed, you mean ? Not exactly. But they 
 know he has his fortune to make — that you 
 could not possibly marry until his profession 
 enables him to live with some degree of in- 
 dependence, and " 
 
 '^ And his mother. Yes, I know it must 
 be a painful subject, very; but still I wish 
 you could ascertain from Mr. Mordaunt 
 whether he does not think there is some- 
 thing worse — something that neither you 
 nor his sister are aware of. Do pray try to 
 ask him this." 
 
 Mrs. Somerton promised, but was not 
 able to discover; for with all his shyness
 
 58 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt had sufficient determination, 
 and when he thought it right to conceal any- 
 thing, no power could extract it from him. 
 Elfrida was right. Mr. Mordaunt had an 
 additional subject for dread on her account. 
 Various reports had reached him concerning 
 his ward, all tending the same way, and 
 these reports were to the effect that Edward 
 Luscombe was likely to be captivated by a 
 beautiful girl, a niece of the Count von 
 Hohenstein, who possessed no inconsiderable 
 dowry of her own, and was known to have 
 expressed a decided preference for English- 
 men. The better to explain these reports, 
 we must follow Edward Luscombe into 
 Germany.
 
 59 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Fascination. 
 
 NOT far from the celebrated caves of 
 Adelsberg may still be seen one of 
 those ancient castles that remind the travel- 
 ler of days and customs long passed away. 
 
 Hohenstein is, or was some twenty years 
 ago, inhabited by the then representative 
 of the ancient family whose name it bears. 
 The Graf von Hohenstein had an only child, 
 a young girl who lately had come from the 
 convent school at Udine where she had been 
 educated. Her mother was a Venetian of the 
 noble family of Rossi, and had died the year 
 before, just after Dorina had been betrothed 
 to her cousin's son, Count Rossi. It had
 
 60 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 been tlie mother's devout wish that this mar- 
 riage shouhi take phice, but as her health 
 ever since the birth of her child had been 
 delicate, she scarcely expected to live long 
 enough to witness the ceremony. 
 
 The young couple were in consequence 
 betrothed a year before Dorina left the con- 
 vent, but now, as she had attained her seven- 
 teenth year, the marriage was to take place 
 at Hohenstein with great splendour. 
 
 The late Graf's mother was English — Mrs. 
 Somerton's half sister — the Countess Bianchi 
 mentioned in a former chapter — and during 
 a year the Somertons passed in Friuli, they 
 became very intimate with the young heiress, 
 and also with her cousin, Cunigunda von Ho- 
 henstein, who was brought up at the same 
 convent. The latter was also the only child 
 of the Graf's younger brother, was conse- 
 quently next heiress to the possessions of that 
 family, and had besides a pretty fortune of 
 her own. She was more than a year older 
 than Dorina, but her parents had arranged
 
 COUXTKY COTERIES. 61 
 
 tliat slie should remain in the convent until 
 Dorina s education should be finished. The 
 brilliant and beautiful Cunigunda was by no 
 means so fond of the convent or its inmates 
 as-her more gentle and loving cousin, and the 
 extra year of bondage, as she called it, an- 
 noyed her so much that she gave vent to her 
 spleen by many practical jokes, to the great 
 scandal of the good nuns and dismay of her 
 confessor. 
 
 Few women liked Cunigunda except Do- 
 rina, who always endeavoured to screen her 
 wild and mischievous cousin from disgrace. 
 But she hoped that now they had left the 
 convent and were established in her father's 
 castle, her cousin would behave in a manner 
 much better and more suitable to a vouni]^ 
 lady of high birth. 
 
 Dorina had inherited her mother s delicate 
 constitution, and although her form and fea- 
 tures were lovely, yet her paleness formed a 
 contrast to her brilliant cousin. 
 
 Edward Luscombe had been sent abroad
 
 62 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 to be educated by tlie express wish of his 
 father. Old Sir Edward Lillyford desired to 
 banish as far as he could from his sight the 
 son whose birth had caused such misery, and 
 sent him to the University of G * * *, where 
 he became acquainted with some of the 
 family of Hohenstein, and afterwards with 
 the Graf himself, who took a great fancy to 
 the young Englishman and invited him to 
 the Castle. 
 
 When Edward Luscombe arrived at the 
 Castle and was first introduced to the two 
 cousins, he was startled at the beauty of 
 Cunigunda — she seemed to him the embodi- 
 ment of some strange dream. Hitherto Elfri- 
 da had been his ideal of loveliness and charm, 
 and perhaps the extreme contrast of Cuni- 
 gunda's style of beauty made him less on his 
 guard. For although he thought and said 
 that nothing could be more perfect than her 
 dazzling beauty, and that she had every 
 quality of perfect gracefulness except repose, 
 yet this very deficiency induced him to be-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 63 
 
 lieve tliat it was impossible he could ever 
 fall in love with her. 
 
 And it is most probable that such a result 
 would have been impossible, had not the 
 young lady herself determined it should be 
 otherwise. Cunigunda's greatest amuse- 
 ment, in fact passion, was to make con- 
 quests; but probably the penniless young 
 student (although she decided he was the 
 handsomest man she had ever seen) might 
 have been spared had she not found he 
 was in love, in fact engaged, she believed, 
 to that ''cold, proper English girl," Miss 
 Somerton, to whom she had taken a great 
 dislike at first sight ; which dislike had in- 
 creased to hatred when she saw that Dorina 
 also loved the English cousin even more 
 than herself Perhaps too she instinctively 
 felt that Elfrida was much more deserving 
 of it. 
 
 This determination, however, of Cuni- 
 gunda's was merely a little episode in the 
 grand business of her life, a sort of by-play
 
 64 COUNTKY COTERIES. 
 
 to try her liand as it were ; for the object of 
 her ambition was to captivate Count Rossi 
 before the ceremony should take place ; to 
 make him give up the heiress and propose to 
 herself. 
 
 Edward Luscombe soon began to suspect 
 the desperate game the dazzling creature 
 was playing, but he discarded the idea as 
 something too dreadful, for Count Rossi 
 was evidently deeply attached to his gentle 
 fiancee) and her changing colour — the joy 
 that seemed to tremble in her eyes when- 
 ever he addressed her — gave full evidence 
 of her love for him. 
 
 There Avas a large party staymg at the 
 Castle, and though Edward did not remain 
 there during the entire six weeks while the 
 fetes lasted, yet he came to and fro, and 
 passed all the Sundays there. One or two 
 English people were also staying there, and 
 it so happened that one of them was the 
 old friend and pupil of Mr. Mordaunt's, 
 John Sterndale, already mentioned. Hence
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 65 
 
 the reports which reached Mr. Mor- 
 daunt of Edward Luscombe's attentions to 
 Cunigunda became of course exaggerated, 
 as such things always do by transmission 
 from one person to another. For Edward 
 watched the splendid Cunigunda perhaps all 
 the more from his vague suspicion of her 
 designs on the Count, and in fact he en- 
 deavoured to attract her attention away 
 from them, and thus allow the fiancees more 
 liberty to talk or dance together. 
 
 The chasse in the morning was generally 
 succeeded by dancing in the evening, and 
 these dances ended with a polonaise, in 
 which guests of all ages joined, and paraded 
 the long suites of rooms, up and down stairs, 
 and into the old gallery, which extended all 
 over the upper story. Sometimes these 
 were headed by the young fiancees, but 
 more often by Cunigunda and some grandee, 
 and where this was the case, she was sure to 
 lead the procession into all kinds of out-of- 
 the-way and unexpected places. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 One night she led them down a remote 
 turret stairs into a place which had formerly 
 been a prison under the Castle, which she 
 had secretly contrived to make the good 
 seneschal illuminate with brilliant-coloured 
 lamps. Then, to the surprise of even the 
 Graf himself, who had forgotten the exist- 
 ence of this entrance into the caves, Cuni- 
 gunda tapped with a theatrically mysterious 
 air at a small door at the further end, and 
 beckoning to those behind, she bade them 
 follow her into what she laughingly called 
 an enchanted palace. It was at once opened, 
 but the doorway was so small and low, that 
 only one person could enter by stooping. 
 
 An exclamation of wonder and delight 
 was heard from the numerous guests who 
 followed Cunigunda and her partner. It 
 really looked like a scene of enchantment, 
 for a portion of the celebrated Adelsberg 
 caves, with their brilliant stalactites, was 
 disclosed to the view of the guests, illu- 
 mined with many torches, held up by
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 67 
 
 people at intervals, who had been stationed 
 there. 
 
 The old Graf was so pleased, tliat he de- 
 termined to give a regular ball to all the 
 neighbourhood in the caves, and said he 
 would light them with coloured lamps, and 
 put down a temporary floor to dance upon. 
 
 About a week before the day fixed for 
 the wedding, there was a fresh arrival of 
 guests, and amongst them was Mr. Stern- 
 dale's friend, Arthur Brookfield, mentioned 
 by Miss Mordaunt, and who, moreover, has 
 been also described by Lady Lillyford as 
 having been an admirer of her daughter's at 
 Rome. He had now taken the name of 
 Fairleigh, and inherited the place near Oak- 
 hampton where his sisters were living, un- 
 visited by Lady Lillyford. 
 
 f2
 
 68 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Will the Syren Succeed f 
 
 LADY LILLYFORD's surmises about 
 Arthur Brookfield had been right. 
 Mr. Brookfield had not only fallen in love 
 with Beatrice, but had fully intended to 
 propose at the last ball, where they met, 
 and was only diverted from his intention by 
 a sudden misgiving that she did not really 
 care for him, and was, in fact, incapable of 
 any strong attachment. He had watched 
 her as she waltzed with others, and saw the 
 same smile, the same joyous expression on 
 .her face as when he spoke to her. It is 
 most probable, however, that he would 
 have proposed, had not the death of old 
 Sir Edward rendered the return of the
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 69 
 
 Lillyforcls to England necessary. Yet he 
 had by no means endeavoured to discard 
 the pleasant hnage of Beatrice from his 
 heart. He looked forward to a renewal of 
 their intimacy, and on mature reflection at- 
 tributed her apparent indifference to the 
 undeveloped state of her mind. 
 
 A few months afterwards the distant rela- 
 tion from whom he inherited a considerable 
 property, died. This inheritance more than 
 doubled his income, which before amounted 
 to four or five thousand a year. It was to- 
 tally unexpected, and the principal effect 
 produced on his mind was a great increase 
 of responsibility. 
 
 Even before this, one of the motives which 
 made him hesitate to encourage himself in 
 his attachment for Beatrice, had been a fear 
 that she would scarcely be able to fulfil his 
 requirements as the mistress of a large 
 country place. He was essentially one of a 
 class who, I fear, are fast dying out — the 
 real old English country gentleman. His
 
 70 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 great object was to revive in the immediate 
 neighbourhood the real spirit of country 
 hospitahty which railways are fast eradicat- 
 ing from most parts of England. 
 
 He was now travelling homewards with 
 his friend, Mr. Sterndale, and as his sisters 
 were already established at the place he 
 had lately inherited, he was looking forward 
 with a nervous anxiety to have news of his 
 beautiful Beatrice from them. He had a 
 high opinion of his eldest sister's judgment, 
 and since he arrived at Venice his letters 
 were filled with questions about their neigh- 
 bours at Oakhampton, which questions, as 
 we have seen, were not likely to be answer- 
 ed in any way, for Lady Lillyford objected 
 to call on her country neighbours. She, of 
 course, was utterly ignorant of the Miss 
 Fairleighs having anything to do with the 
 Mr. Brookfield whose unfulfilled proposal 
 she still bitterly deplored ; and, moreover, 
 she took into her head that the present 
 owner of Ferncote was an old man.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 71 
 
 In the meantime Arthur Fairleigh's con- 
 stancy was destmed to be put to a most 
 severe trial at Hohenstein, for no sooner had 
 Cunigunda heard of the riches of the good- 
 looking young Englishman — whose fortune 
 had been enormously exaggerated — than she 
 put forth all her arts to win his heart. 
 With a penetration worthy of a better na- 
 ture she divined the chief characteristics of 
 his disposition, and adapted herself to them 
 in such a manner as to call forth Dorina's 
 wonder and delight, who thought her cousin 
 was really grown wise and humble. 
 
 To a looker-on it was a curious sight to 
 see the game she was playing with these 
 three men of opposite characters and posi- 
 tions, and the only person who was fully 
 aware of her intrigues was Mr. Mordaunt's 
 correspondent, Mr. Sterndale ; for the " Ar- 
 mida"-Hke enchantress contrived to blind 
 Dorina's father as well as herself, and most 
 of the other people there. 
 
 Two evenings before tliat on wliicli tlie
 
 72 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 great ball was to take place in the cave, 
 Mr. Sterndale and Edward Luscombe hap- 
 pened to be standing near each other watch- 
 ing the dancers in the saloon. 
 
 " I do not think she will remain long in 
 this world," said Mr. Sterndale to Edward, 
 looking towards Dorina, who had just re- 
 turned to the seat opposite, after dancing 
 with her intended. "And yet she might 
 live, and be happy too, if " 
 
 " You mean, if she felt as sure of the man 
 she is engaged to, Count Rossi, as she is of 
 herself?" said Edward Luscombe. 
 
 " Well, now you put it into my head, I 
 am not sure that you're far from the mark." 
 
 " It seems like it, yet she ought to be 
 sure, for he keeps following her about the 
 room with his eyes, and scowling at every 
 man who speaks to her, like the primo amo- 
 roso of an opera ; but the real fact I take to 
 be this, — and it's rather a curious study of 
 human nature, in these days when ' an un- 
 doubting Cobbett-like manner,' as Coleridge
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 7,1 
 
 has it in his ' Table-Talk,' is the normal 
 manner of the generation, — she can't under- 
 stand being preferred to her conspicuous 
 cousin Cunigunda ; she isn't jealous of her, 
 she is too thoroughly good for that, but — 
 (how shall I express it ?) — she estimates the 
 attractions of the conspicuous cousin so much 
 above her own, and her own, therefore, 
 seem to her so small by comparison, that 
 she cannot quite believe they are up to 
 the task of holding Count Rossi's affections 
 together." 
 
 " If the said affections cannot be held to- 
 gether by her, when she has once got hold 
 of them," said Edward Luscombe, — " they 
 
 must be, they really must be the epithet 
 
 is too big for the paltry trammels of a part 
 of speech that has a local habitation and a 
 name in grammars and dictionaries." 
 
 " I evolve from my inner consciousness," 
 said Mr. Sterndale, smiling, " that tlie man 
 must be a fool of the weakest type who, 
 having once fallen in love with her, could
 
 74 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 be drawn away by the magnetism of the 
 conspicuous cousin's self-asserting beauty." 
 
 ''The conspicuous cousin is wonderfully 
 attractive, though," said Edward, reflecting 
 half aloud. 
 
 " They are all infatuated about her," said 
 Mr. Sterndale, " from Dorina downwards. 
 It provokes me more than I can describe to 
 see a whole set of people led away by an 
 evil genius." 
 
 " Do you really think her so bad? Surely 
 the love of being admired, where the charms 
 are so very great, is rather excusable." 
 
 "" I fear you are one of the infatuated," 
 said Mr. Sterndale, severely. " I almost de- 
 spaired of you last week, but now that fine 
 rich countryman of yours has arrived, I 
 fancy she will leave you alone." 
 
 Edward laughed, and looked as if he 
 scarcely knew Avhetlier to take Mr. Stern- 
 dale's words literally or not. 
 
 The latter continued, "Ha! I verily be- 
 lieve the enchantress has divined what I was
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 75 
 
 saying, for here she comes with her best 
 smiles." 
 
 Certainly there seemed to be something 
 almost magical in Cunigimda's dazzling 
 beauty. She was dressed in a kind of sil- 
 very tissue, which formed a brilliant contrast 
 to her jet-black hair and star-like eyes. A 
 wreath of white water-lilies crowned her 
 head, and drooping down her shoulders, 
 was interwoven with the tresses of her 
 black hair. She came towards them with 
 downcast looks, her long black eyelashes 
 resting on a cheek delicately tinted with 
 pale pink. 
 
 "Look," said Edward, "her eyes are 
 generally downcast until she speaks, and 
 then the sudden flash with which they open 
 and, as it were, fix the beholder, is as start- 
 ling as an electric shock. She is a person 
 who makes most people feel her presence, 
 whether they will or not. There is no es- 
 caping that spell. But see, slie is not com- 
 ing here after all ; that lady has asked her
 
 fg 
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 some question, or told her something which 
 has annoyed her — she looks anything but 
 pleased. There, she is going off to the 
 Graf; she has some plan in her head, I 
 warrant you." 
 
 "I feel," said Mr. Sterndale, ^'as if I were 
 looking at some awful conflagration, yet 
 cannot turn away my eyes from watching 
 her. And sometimes, when I have suc- 
 ceeded in so doing, I have felt her glances 
 on my face smiting like the blast from a 
 furnace, and her voice or words continue to 
 vibrate in my ear long after she has ceased 
 to speak. The fact is, she is a creature of 
 stronger vitality than I ever saw before, and 
 she is likely to carry her point as soon as 
 she has fully made up her mind what she 
 wishes most. At the present moment she 
 is thinking it would be delightful to marry 
 Count Rossi, and take possession of this 
 castle and estates as well; but there is some- 
 thing considerably attractive to her also in 
 the Englishman — my poor friend Arthur
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 77 
 
 Fairleigh — and his fine country place. She 
 would like to marry both, if possible — at all 
 events, to enchain them both permanently. 
 Depend upon it, some catastrophe will take 
 place before we are many days older." 
 
 '^ And you think she really cares for nei- 
 ther?" 
 
 " Not so ; she loves Count Rossi better 
 than she does or probably ever will love 
 anyone else. But now, watch her while she 
 is talkinor to Fairleiorh. I think this even- 
 ing she is determined he shall propose. 
 Poor fellow, how I pity him ! for his heau- 
 ideal of happiness is to have a real good 
 domestic wife, and live happily at his coun- 
 try place ever afterwards. Fancy that bril- 
 liant mermaid giving out flannels at Christmas 
 to the poor cottagers, or inspectmg the vil- 
 lage school. If he marries her he will do 
 exactly the contrary to what he had in- 
 tended. I suppose some day I shall do 
 something equally foolish. Yet I thought 
 he was so safe — that pretty girl he was al-
 
 78 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ways talking of ! By-the-by, she will be his 
 
 neighbour now in shire. Ferncote is 
 
 very near the Lillyfords." 
 
 Edward started at the name, so much so, 
 that Mr Sterndale was surprised, and in- 
 quired whether he knew that part of the 
 country. 
 
 "Yes — no — but it — there is no use in 
 making any concealment, it (Oakhampton) 
 was my father's place. I thought you 
 might have heard the story — it is a very 
 painful one," said Edward; " so painful, that 
 I often wonder how it is I can be the joy- 
 ous creature I am. Though I never knew 
 either of my parents, and I believe was 
 hated by both, I have been blessed with 
 a temperament so happy, so equably joyous, 
 that, except for one single evening, I never 
 have known what sadness is. I have ray 
 way to work in life, but the path seems so 
 easy." 
 
 " Not easy if you fall under the influence 
 of the mermaid's marvellous fascinations,"
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 79 
 
 said Mr. Sterndale, as he looked towards 
 Cunigunda, and then regarded the young 
 man with looks in which compassion, warn- 
 ing, and sternness were strangely blended. 
 " I thought, some little time ago, there would 
 be no escape for you. Nay, do not look so 
 indignant; remember that the wisest men are 
 not always proof against such a syren as- 
 that." 
 
 " Syren ! Yes, there is just enough of the 
 woman in her to serve as a cloak for quali- 
 ties wliicli, if seen as they really are, would 
 break the spell of her fascination." 
 
 "The passions, but not the heart of a wo- 
 man, eh? Xow, why don't you go and dance? 
 What a lounging lot you men of this gener- 
 ation are ! But. perhaps your thoughts are 
 elsewhere," added Mr. Sterndale, with a 
 keen glance into the young man's eyes. 
 "Well, never mind, I will not allude to a 
 feeling which 1 now see for the first time 
 exists, and with you is a sacred subject ; but 
 I rejoice in the discovery that you have some
 
 80 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 attacliment tliat is hallowed in your eyes, and 
 consequently the subject of it must be worthy. 
 There, now, you must go, they want to get 
 up the polonaise.''
 
 81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrival at Oahhampton. 
 
 TTTE will now leave tlie inmates of tlie 
 ' ' Schloss Hohenstein to enjoy their 
 festivities, and return to tlie place whither 
 many thoughts and letters were directed by 
 some of the guests. Beatrice had arrived at 
 Oakhampton with her grandmother, and she 
 was fortunately predisposed to look at the 
 old place from a favourable point of view, 
 thanks to Mrs. Dronington's description, or 
 rather to the impression of it which the old 
 lady's natural good feeling and taste had 
 prompted her to make. This somewhat 
 counteracted the luGrubrious accounts for- 
 warded by Lady Lillyford in her letters. 
 Sir Charles was absent on some country 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 business when they arrived ; they found Lady 
 Lillyford in a sort of sulky loneliness, lying 
 on a sofa at the farther end of the long 
 drawing-room, and a pile of the newest and 
 best (or worst) French novels, intermingled 
 with red and green volumes from Mudie's, 
 lay beside her on a table. 
 
 "Well, I'm glad you've come at last. I 
 had really got so nervous at being in this 
 dreadful place all by myself, that I am quite 
 ill." 
 
 "What a beautiful room!" said Beatrice, 
 who was so lost in astonishment at a style of 
 room she had never before seen, that she 
 could scarcely attend to her mother's com- 
 plaints. 
 
 It was one of those large yet most com- 
 fortable, as well as picturesque, old rooms 
 that can only belong to English country 
 houses of the olden time — full of nooks and 
 corners, and large bay and small oriel win- 
 dows, where the remains of painted glass 
 were still to be seen. The walls were partly
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 83 
 
 covered with tapestry and some good pic- 
 tures. Chinese and inlaid and Pietra-dura 
 cabinets, with antique vases and statuettes, 
 brought light into its quaint corners. 
 
 " And what a view !" exclaimed the de- 
 lighted girl, as she ran into the deep recess 
 of the south bay, and looked over the beauti- 
 ful park and its oak woods. 
 
 " Yes, it's all very well, just now by day- 
 light ; but the dark passages, and that dread- 
 ful room where the child was murdered — 
 and I really begin to beheve in ghosts. I'm 
 sure I heard the cry of a child as I passed 
 near the door of that room ; twice I heard 
 it, and nothing would induce me to go into 
 it. Nothing ! I really believe it's a judg- 
 ment on me for having so often said I didn't 
 believe in ghosts ; and Florentine declares 
 she saw a dreadful looking ghost, an old wo- 
 man witli fierce eyes, come out from that 
 room ; and she was so frightened that slie 
 let my arrowroot fall, and the light, and 
 then tumbled down the steps herself in try- 
 
 G 2
 
 84 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ing to run away. I heard her screams, arid 
 so did the French cook, and he rushed out 
 in his nightcap, — you know he goes to bed so 
 early ; and she was picked up, and I gave her 
 some salvolatile, and they all searched about 
 to see if it was a trick, but no old woman 
 with fierce eyes could be found, so it must 
 be a ghost. Nothing will induce Florentine 
 to go about by herself now after dark, and 
 Donati is obliged to sit up and escort her 
 from my room to her o\vn every night. It 
 is quite dreadful !" 
 
 " I don't believe in ghosts either," said 
 Mrs. Dronington ; " you may be sure it was 
 fancy." 
 
 "Well, you had better go and stand at 
 the door of the dreadful room yourself at 
 midnight, and try to ascertain whether any 
 mischievous person can have. played a trick." 
 
 " Do, and let me go there with you," said 
 Beatrice, with a half pleased, half frightened 
 look. For there is a mixture of pleasure 
 with the dread which youth and health often
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 85 
 
 feel at the idea of supernatural appearances. 
 
 Yet there was more of dread than plea- 
 sure in the feeling she experienced as, five 
 minutes afterwards, she passed by the door 
 of that room where she had heard such an 
 awful catastrophe had taken place. 
 
 '^ And that is the room where poor Lady 
 Lillyford died," said Lady Lillyford, pointing 
 with her finger to a door as they passed 
 along the corridor towards the apartments 
 which had been prepared for them. " I 
 have never ventured into that since the first 
 day I came, for there is such a look of sad- 
 ness about it ; — besides, it must be haunted 
 too, for the gardener and several of the 
 stable people say that lights are seen in it 
 from the outside. They could see it quite 
 plain, and the coat of arms, with the red 
 shield looking like a big drop of blood, 
 on the pane. Old Thomas told me so him- 
 self, and the other room where the poor 
 child was burnt looks as if it was all in 
 flames."
 
 86 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Beatrice shuddered, altliougtli she tried to 
 laugh, and drew closer to her grandmother. 
 
 "What does Roland think of all this?" 
 inquired Mrs. Dronington of her daughter 
 when they had reached the room prepared 
 for her. " I sometimes fancy that it might 
 be good for him if he could believe in ghosts, 
 or anything supernatural. I am afraid he 
 has no religion, and I heard him say one 
 day that he thought people had no souls." 
 
 Lady Lillyford was half puzzled to think 
 how the belief in ghosts could help anyone to 
 give credence to Revelation ; but she was 
 too indolent and dull to put her thoughts 
 into words, so she sat down in the easy 
 chair before her mother's fire and said, 
 
 " I almost wish I had fixed on this room 
 for myself; it looks quite cheerful now, I 
 fancy." 
 
 " It is a delightful room," said Mrs. Dro- 
 nington ; "I remember it well ; and there 
 is the same beautiful Pietra-dura cabinet, 
 with the little man pointing to a large but-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 87 
 
 terfly as big as himself. How glad I am to 
 see it again — what a number of pleasant 
 scenes the sight of it recalls ; and there is 
 the same smell, some old perfume in the 
 drawers. How often I have admired the 
 polished oak floor, and carved ceiling too ; 
 and the figures on each side of that chminey- 
 piece, and the portrait of poor Sir Edward's 
 grandfather over it. How like old Sir Ed- 
 ward it is, poor man ; there is the same look 
 of pain, a troubled expression on the fore- 
 head. They said that he also did some- 
 thing very wrong, and was never happy 
 afterwards." 
 
 " What a fine old picture," said Beatrice ; 
 " how I wish gentlemen would wear such a 
 picturesque dress as that, — the embroidered 
 waistcoat and point-lace ruff." 
 
 "That was just what I did not like in 
 this room," said Lady Lillyford ; " I tliought 
 that old gentleman's face looked so melan- 
 choly, and his sad eyes seemed to follow 
 one about — I felt they would look at me
 
 88 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 in bed and before I got up in the morning ; 
 but still these white and blue wainscoted 
 walls are cheerful, and the large bay win- 
 dow is very sunny by day. Yes, I think I 
 like it better than mine — I have got so 
 tired of the Chinese paper on the walls of 
 mine ; but then, it is farther from the west 
 wing, where the dreadful haunted rooms 
 are. Now, from your' door you can actually 
 see the door of Lady Lillyford's room, and 
 the other state room, and the dreadful one 
 is not far beyond." 
 
 " And where is mine ?" asked Beatrice. 
 " Oh ! I see — yes, it opens into this. Oh ! 
 how very delightful ! — I shall feel so safe 
 being near granny ; and you will let me 
 sleep with the door open, won't you ?" 
 
 Mrs. Dronington thought it necessary to 
 look grave at her grand-daughter's foolish 
 fears ; and yet when the idea for the first 
 time in her long life struck her of the use 
 supernatural appearances might have, her 
 gravity soon relaxed, and she became ab-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 89 
 
 sorbed in old recollections ; for that next 
 room had been inliabited by a favourite sis- 
 ter during one happy winter, and she had 
 died the following year. 
 
 Beatrice was rather like this pretty young 
 sister, and as the thought struck her she 
 kissed her grandchild with more than usual 
 spontaneity ; then, as if in excuse to herself 
 for this unusual demonstrativeness, she said, 
 
 " You put me in mind so sometimes of 
 my dear sister Xelly ; and she slept in this 
 room during my last visit here thirty-four — 
 no, let me see, thirty-six years ago." 
 
 "Dear Aunt Xelly! — I remember her,"said 
 Lady Lillyford, with a look of more interest 
 than her inexpressive features usually wore. 
 " She was a dear good creature, and I 
 remember she gave me such a pretty new 
 frock." 
 
 " Yes, that she was," said Mrs. Droning- 
 ton, witli a sigh ; and then it came across 
 her that if she could have been more like 
 that good, clever, and interesting sister
 
 90 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Nelly, her own daughter might have become 
 a very different and very superior person. 
 
 " Nelly could always manage other peo* 
 pie, and well too," thought Mrs. Droning- 
 ton ; "no one could resist her winning ways ; 
 and it was always for their good. Many a 
 time I have seen her take the glass of port 
 away from my father's lips, when he was 
 ordered not to drink more than four after 
 he had the gout so badly ; and if any one 
 but Nell had dared to say a word, much 
 less take the glass out of his hand, he would 
 almost have knocked them down for their 
 pains." 
 
 "And so Roland is coming soon, and 
 will bring some of his roistering friends 
 down, will he ?" continued Mrs. Dronington, 
 after a pause, during which she was think- 
 ing again that there was no one to influence 
 that wild youth in the way her sister Nell 
 might possibly have influenced him, had she 
 lived ; and she was painfully conscious how 
 inferior she was to that loved sister, and
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 91 
 
 could not help marvelling at the mysterious 
 dispensation which had deprived the world 
 of one so good and useful as Nelly, and left 
 behind one so commonplace and stupid as 
 herself. 
 
 " Yes, I have got the Skeffingtons coming 
 
 to meet him from shire, and the Nolans 
 
 and Gubbings." 
 
 " Are not you going to have any of the 
 neidibours hereabouts ?" 
 
 o 
 
 " Oh ! no : nobody can really stand meet- 
 ing neighbours, they are always so very 
 stupid. Lady Horatia Nolan begged I 
 would not ask them, for she never would 
 go to a country house if neighbours were 
 asked. She has found it so inconvenient 
 when she gives parties in London ; they 
 were often so impertinent, and expected her 
 to remember them. So I promised faith- 
 fully that she should not meet any. She 
 will remain here all the time Roland is witli 
 us, and she is so lively, I hope w^e may re- 
 vive a little then."
 
 92 COUNTKY COTERIES. 
 
 " And those Gubbings, too — are they 
 coming ? Why, surely you could find much 
 nicer people within a few miles — daughters 
 of people of the real old families. Now the 
 Gubbings are really nobodies. I can't think 
 how you came to be so intimate with them." 
 
 " It was at Carlsbad, and the Baroness 
 and Count IchsgofF were so fond of them ; 
 and the girls are very clever, and act beauti- 
 fully ; they are really very useful in a 
 country-house. Lady Horatia told me she 
 wanted to bring them." 
 
 " But it will be such a slight towards the 
 county to find that they are all left out, if 
 you are going to have theatricals, and things 
 of that kind," said Mrs. Dronington, with a 
 pained look. 
 
 " But I can't help it. I promised Lady 
 Horatia, and I shall keep my word."
 
 93 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Beatrice enjoys the old English Place and 
 Country Life. 
 
 IN spite of her dread of ghosts, and mys- 
 terious sights and sounds, Beatrice found 
 herself daily more and more pleased with 
 the old place. To English people who 
 have lived all their lives abroad, the impres- 
 sion produced by a good specimen of an old 
 country place is very striking, either for 
 good or ill, unless they have (like the sill\', 
 frivolous Lady Lillyford) acquired the worst 
 spirit of roving and unsettled habits, grafted 
 upon English prejudices. 
 
 The charm of repose, the peaceful look 
 of stately groves and herds of graceful 
 browsing deer, the neat and happy-looking
 
 94 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 cottages, with their trim gardens, quaintly- 
 clipped hedges, and bee-hives, form a most 
 charming contrast to the glaring sights and 
 sounds of foreign towns, and their filthy 
 suburbs. For it is very seldom that Eng- 
 lish travellers, or even residents abroad, are 
 admitted into the real country castles or 
 villas of the natives. Therefore English 
 country-houses ha^i^, in this case, all the 
 charm of complete novelty added to their 
 own intrinsic merits. The natural good 
 taste and good feeling of Beatrice enabled 
 her most fully to enjoy Oakhampton Hall, 
 its fine park and pretty village. 
 
 The respectful curtseys of the village chil- 
 dren, and bows of the country men, who 
 still venerated with old-fashioned fervour 
 the possessor of the old estates, the (to 
 them) Lords and Ladies of the Hall, was ex- 
 tremely gratifying to her, and tended to 
 make her feel as if her presence there was 
 of some use, or rather made some difference 
 to these simple people. It was the first
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 95 
 
 time strange children had done this to her 
 alone, and the feehng of gratified importance 
 it produced recalled more and more vividly 
 to her mind Arthur Brookfield's conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 He had often talked to her of his old 
 
 country place in shire, and she now re-. 
 
 membered with extreme pain that she had 
 sometimes felt rather bored, and that he 
 must have seen it. 
 
 " And that may have been the reason why 
 he never " 
 
 And at that unfinished thought tears start- 
 ed to her eyes. For the comparative re- 
 pose of her life since quitting Italy had not 
 only tended to develop many qualities 
 hitherto crushed and kept back by hurry, 
 constant gaiety, and never-ceasing change, 
 but greatly increased her affection for those 
 persons who had hitherto impressed her 
 most, by allowing her thoughts time to 
 dwell upon them. 
 
 Foremost among these were the Somer-
 
 96 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 tons and Arthur Brookfield. The name 
 of the latter was not pronounced in her 
 thoughts, though — perhaps, because his im- 
 age was becoming more deeply impressed on 
 her heart; so much so, that even his name 
 could scarcely be thought of Avithout pro- 
 ducing a tell-tale blush on her pretty cheeks. 
 She never mentioned his name, and her 
 mother, having another plan in her head, 
 connected with her dear friend Lady Hora- 
 tia Nolan's only son, soon forgot the annoy- 
 ance she had felt and moaned over, at what 
 she had called "that good match having 
 been so provokingly broken off before it 
 came to a proposal." 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that Beatrice 
 enjoyed the place thoroughly, but — there 
 mu.st always be a but — beside her daily in- 
 creasing regret that she had shown herself 
 so stupidly insensible to Arthur Brookfield's 
 evident partiality, the great present draw- 
 back to her happiness in Oakhampton was 
 her mother's persevering refusal to allow her
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 97 
 
 to have any intercourse with the Somertons. 
 
 The strange obstinacy of weak and silly 
 persons is sometimes very perplexing to be- 
 liolders, who wonder how it is they contrive 
 to carry some such foolish point as this, 
 against the better judgment and more right 
 feeling of all those A\dth whom they live. 
 Perhaps, however, Mrs. Dronington's argu- 
 ments might in time ha^-e produced some 
 effect, had not Mrs. Somerton herself begged 
 her not to interfere in the matter ; for of 
 course Mrs. Dronington called on the Somer- 
 tons the very day after her arrival. Mrs. 
 Somerton did not wish to be the cause of 
 any " family unpleasantness," as Mrs. Dron- 
 ington would have called it, and begged that 
 she would not do so again. 
 
 Beatrice had hoped, before she arrived at 
 Oakhampton, that she would at least see the 
 sunny and cheering faces of the Somertons 
 in church, but she found that they did not 
 go to the same. She had nut been aware 
 that there was a beautiful little old church 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 within the Park gates, and only about a few 
 minutes' walk from the Hall, in which the 
 family always attended the service. Whereas 
 the Somertons, and most of the people from 
 the cottages near, went to the larger church 
 with the square old Norman tower, that 
 stood on a little mound in the midst of the 
 village. So consequently they had no chance 
 of meeting there, 8tnd as Lady Lillyford per- 
 sistently forbade her daughter to go to the 
 village school, or enter any of the cottages, 
 she was deprived of all prospect of ever see- 
 ing her friend. 
 
 The following week the expected guests 
 arrived, and with them Sir Charles Lillyford 
 and Roland, the eldest son. 
 
 Beatrice had not seen her brother for 
 nearly a year, and various rumours had 
 reached her ears which gave her great pain. 
 Her anxiety on his account seemed to have 
 increased since her arrival at Oakhampton. 
 in a manner that both startled and perplex- 
 ed herself Her grandmother sometimes
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 9? 
 
 hinted that Roland's reckless extravagance 
 was such as to render it very doubtful 
 whether their fortune could stand it, and 
 that they never would be able to keep up 
 the old place if he went on in such a 
 thoughtless way. These gloomy forebod- 
 ings she repeated again on the afternoon of 
 the day that the guests were expected, 
 while Beatrice and she were sitting at one 
 end of the long gallery. 
 
 "And Sir Charles is too indulgent by 
 far," said the old lady, shaking her head 
 sadly, and muttering half to herself, " They 
 are all going to ruin, and not a grain of 
 sense have any one of them to keep them 
 straight. Never mind, child, what I'm say- 
 ing, for I will not teach you to look down 
 on your parents, whatever I do. Only try 
 to do the l>est you can yourself, and don't 
 lean back in your chair. In my days no 
 young girls were ever allowed to lean 
 back, and perhaps if I had been more strict 
 w^ith your mother — but people began to say 
 
 II 2
 
 100 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 that backboards were foolish, and that there 
 was no use in stocks, so I let her run about 
 wild ; then she became ungraceful and 
 slouching, and got to look pert and con- 
 temptuous, and I do believe that these 
 things, and such-like trifles, the sort of arro- 
 gant self-indulgence they foster, do really 
 spoil the character. The independence of 
 modern young ladies is such that they seem 
 to tell one by their cocked-up hats, and 
 noses high in the air, that they need no 
 sympathy, and one feels one can be of no 
 use to them." 
 
 " Then, grandmamma, that is, I suppose, 
 why I like old people so much better, be- 
 cause one feels of some use to them. It is 
 not, I think, merely because they are old, 
 but they are generally so much kinder, and 
 do not say rude and sharp things, as young 
 ladies do, and then look as if they thought 
 they had said something very clever. But 
 Elfrida Somerton never did so ; she is as 
 pleasant to talk to as any old lady."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 101 
 
 " Yes, my dear, but I think the reason 
 why you find old people more agreeable is 
 that they happen to have been brought up 
 many years ago, and the habits of those 
 days did not tend to make young girls so 
 independent as they are now. It seems to 
 me that now they are ready-made married 
 women. I am certain it's all their bringing 
 up. They are not taught to respect or obey 
 anything or anybody — not even their cler- 
 gyman, or their religion, or their parents. 
 I am very much pleased to see, dear Bea- 
 trice, that you turn your toes out well, and 
 that you don't look as if you thought your- 
 self so much better and wiser than an old 
 stupid woman like me." 
 
 " Indeed I don't, dear granny ; how 
 could I, when I am so inferior to you ?" said 
 Beatrice, as she kissed the old lady's fore- 
 head with loving reverence.
 
 102 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Lady Horatia and her Satellites. 
 
 ril HE first entrance of Roland Lillyford, 
 -■- as he walked into the drawing-room 
 with Lady Horatia Nolan on his arm, did 
 not tend to dispel the apprehensions of his 
 sister. There was, she thought, a kind of 
 contemptuous swagger in his air that she 
 had never observed so strongly before. 
 Her father followed with another lady, and 
 she thought he looked anxious and care- 
 worn. He had been obliged to go to Lon- 
 don on business connected with his son's 
 affairs the day Beatrice arrived, and there- 
 fore this was the first time she saw him at 
 Oakhampton. She had never seen such a 
 look of care before, for Sir Charles Lilly-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 103 
 
 ford was one of those easy-going men who 
 generally take the vicissitudes of life with a 
 good humour which proceeds partly from 
 a want of deep feeling, and partly from a 
 small every-day philosophy which enables 
 SDme circumscribed intellects to arrive at 
 juster conclusions than those of a larger 
 ^rasp and a greater power. As long as he 
 was sure of a good dinner, and that nobody 
 jelono^inof to him c]rrumbled or looked very 
 anhappy, he was generally cheerful, even 
 when they had been poor. 
 
 The long drawing-room where the guests 
 had assembled was looking at its best, the 
 afternoon sun shone upon the tapestry and 
 pictures, and gilded the old marqueterie 
 cabinets with its brilliant ra3^s. 
 
 " Well, you really have a nice place," said 
 Lady Horatia ; '' but from your son's de- 
 scription of it, I thought it had been so 
 gloomy ! The view would be charming if 
 you were to cut down a few of those great 
 trees; and the room would really be im-
 
 104 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 mensely improved if you took away that 
 clingy old tapestry, and had some nice lively 
 paper, or some panelling with gilt mould- 
 ings. Would it not be a great improve- 
 ment, Mrs. Dronington?" she added, turn- 
 ing towards her, and pronouncing the ^'Dro' 
 very long and plain. 
 
 Now if there was a thing that irritated 
 Mrs. Dronington more than another, it was 
 to hear her name mispronounced. From 
 what she had heard of Lady Horatia, she 
 never expected to like her ; nor were her 
 prejudices otherwise than confirmed by the 
 rough, flippant manner, and equally flippant 
 remarks, which forced themselves on her 
 attention ; but a false quantity in the pro- 
 nunciation of her own name was too much. 
 We all have our weak points, and Mrs. 
 Dronington's weak point had been hustled 
 against. She took up the knitting that she 
 had just put down, fixed her eyes blufily on 
 the knitting-needles, and replied, 
 
 " My name is Dronington, not Div-ning-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 105 
 
 ton, and I should be very sorry if anything 
 were altered in this beautiful old room." 
 
 Fortunately at this moment a fresh arri- 
 val of guests diverted people's attention from 
 this little passage of arms. The Miss Gub- 
 bingses were announced, and as Mrs. Dro- 
 nington knew they were the rich daughters 
 of a retired button-maker, and had heard 
 also various rumours about them which 
 were not to her liking, she regarded with 
 no small curiosity the (to her) new pheno- 
 menon — the new feature in fashionable life 
 which caused these girls to be not only tole- 
 rated by great and leading ladies such as 
 Lady Horatia Nolan, but sought for and in- 
 vited to country houses from which the old 
 county neighbours of good family and stand- 
 ing were excluded. 
 
 Fortunately for their ambitious views, the 
 Miss Gubbingses' poor old father, who had 
 adhered to his early frugal habits and hours, 
 and could never be prevailed on to place 
 his h's right, was dead; and as their mother
 
 106 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 had not been equally accommodating, she 
 was suppressed. No one knew exactly 
 where she lived, — whether she was secreted 
 in some remote part of the Gubbingses' spa- 
 cious London house, or lived in the comer 
 of a pretty country villa they possessed near 
 Richmond. Although invited, and even 
 sought for, very few people cared suffi- 
 ciently about these brilliant, showy, and in 
 some respects agreeable girls, to inquire 
 what they did with their mother ; so they 
 had little trouble on that score. 
 
 Mrs. Dronington soon observed that though 
 they imitated Lady Horatia Nolan both in 
 manner and dress, yet they did not appear to 
 toady her as the old lady expected them to 
 do ; but whenever that lady appeared to be 
 in want of anything, one of them was sure 
 to be at hand, whether it was to write a note 
 or recall some telling anecdote. 
 
 They flirted well, but not obtrusively — 
 were particularly discreet in their manner 
 towards Roland Lillyford; and Mrs. Dro-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 107 
 
 nington soon discovered that he was a de- 
 voted admirer of the middle-aged lady of 
 fashion, although she retained but few traces 
 of the beauty for which she had once been 
 celebrated. Sir Richard Nolan, her only 
 son, was daily expected, but when a whole 
 week passed and he did not arrive, Mrs. 
 Dronington began to suspect that his mother 
 did not show so much anxiety to make up 
 the match between him and Beatrice as 
 Lady Lillyford had represented. He and 
 Beatrice had never met, and though Lady 
 Horatia was always raving about the beauty 
 and charm of her dear Beatrice, the old lady 
 (whose perception was sharpened by her 
 anxiety concerning the fate of a girl to whom 
 she was becoming daily more and more 
 attached) began to suspect that it was all a 
 blind on the part of the great lady to get 
 herself into comfortable quarters during an 
 unengaged six weeks in the winter. Mrs. 
 Dronington, moreover, was persuaded that 
 such an apparently worldly person could
 
 108 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 not really wish that her son, whose property 
 was encumbered, and whose habits were ex- 
 pensive, should marry a girl with so little 
 fortune as Beatrice was likely to have. For 
 she had no doubt that Lady Horatia was 
 well aware of Roland's extravagance and 
 debts, and knew to a penny the rent-roll of 
 the Oakhampton estate.
 
 109 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Great Lady appears to disadvantage 
 in a Muddy Walk. 
 
 WHAT a determined wet day this is," 
 said Lad}^ Horatia, one afternoon, 
 when she had been about three weeks at 
 Oakhampton. "There will be no getting 
 out, not even for a little walk on the ter- 
 race," she added, with a suppressed yawn, 
 laying down her embroidery. "Suppose 
 you take me all over the house, Lady Lilly- 
 ford, I have not seen half of it yet." 
 
 Lady Horatia had that morning quarrelled 
 with Roland, and therefore felt the time 
 hang unusually heavy on her hands. Strange 
 to say, she had been infatuated by him all 
 through the London season. What had com-
 
 110 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 menced as an amusing flirtation, had now 
 assumed a more serious character, and to 
 her own great surprise she found her- 
 self drifting into love with this " mere 
 boy." 
 
 But the daily and hourly intercourse of 
 country-house life is a severe trial, particu- 
 larly for gentlemen, in such cases. He has 
 no longer the eyes of the world to uphold 
 him. Stripped for the time being of her 
 terrors, of her royalties, and of her nume- 
 rous devoted slaves, the lady has no longer 
 the prestige of being the acknowledged queen 
 of fashion, whose smile or frown holds in 
 obedience the gilded saloons of London and 
 Paris. 
 
 Through the levelling process of a muddy 
 walk in turnip fields, or were it even among 
 the romantic wooded glades of a park, the 
 queen of fashion becomes a woman — a wo- 
 man with dirty boots, and — well, some 
 
 « 
 figures at fifty do preserve their symmetry, 
 
 and some faces can encounter a north-east
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. Ill 
 
 wind without getting a red nose ; still, such 
 walks or rides day after day become rather 
 monotonous to a young man who has accus- 
 tomed himself, as Roland had done, to a life 
 of excitement, although he may fancy him- 
 self very much in love. Such was Roland's 
 case. He had shown symptoms of being 
 bored several times lately, more especially 
 on this particular morning, and Lady Horatia 
 had reproached him, declaring that he was 
 irreclaimable, and might go to ruin in his 
 own way, for all she cared. So they had 
 parted in anger, and he did not appear at 
 luncheon. Moreover, unless he should ex- 
 press great contrition, she felt a strong incli-. 
 nation to be vindictive. 
 
 "By all means,", said Lady Lillyford, in 
 reply to Lady Horatia's proposal to see the 
 house. " We will begin with the kitchen, 
 which is quite mediaeval, a strange old place, 
 with a gallery round the top. I believe it 
 was the old banque ting-hall of the castle, 
 before the house was rebuilt in Elizabeth's
 
 112 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 reign. And Donati will not object to our 
 passing through his domain." 
 
 We need not follow the party through 
 the quaint corridors of the picturesque old 
 house ; we can make a short cut, and meet 
 them in Mrs. Dronington's room, the last 
 they entered. 
 
 *' Really, Mrs. Dronington, you have the 
 most charming room in the house," said 
 Lady Horatia; "next time I come I shall 
 ask you to let me have it. And what a 
 beautifully painted picture. It must be a 
 Gainsborough, or a Sir Joshua, is it not ?" 
 
 "What, that of old Sir Charles," said 
 Lady Lillyford, " over the mantel -piece ? 
 Very well painted, I daresay, but he looks 
 so doleful, I could not l^ear to have him in 
 my room. However, now, as you have ar- 
 rived at the end of our survey, I will go 
 down and write some letters, and you will 
 find me in the drawing-room when they 
 bring the tea." 
 
 " So that is old Sir Charles, is it ?" said
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 113 
 
 Lady Horatia to Mrs. Dronington, when 
 Lady Lillyford had left the room, as she sat 
 herself down on the easy-chair, and put her 
 feet on the fender. ^' Do tell me about him. 
 The picture has startled me wonderfully, for 
 I have seen, somewhere, a face exactly like 
 it, and I cannot think where. Could I have 
 dreamt it? Where was it, Clementina?" 
 she continued, turning to one of the Miss 
 Gubbingses, who had accompanied her into 
 the room. 
 
 " Was it anyone we met abroad ?" inquired 
 Clementina. 
 
 *' The very thing. It is the image of that 
 handsome young Englishman whom we met 
 in the caves of Adelsberg ; I cannot think 
 what his name was, but he told me he was 
 
 studying in the University of G . And 
 
 now that I recall his face, it strikes me that 
 he is still more like the late Lady Lillyford 
 — the one who died in that terrible way — 
 whose portrait hangs in the library. Strange, 
 it has puzzled me so every mormng, while 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Sir Charles was reading prayers, to think 
 where I could have seen that face be- 
 fore." 
 
 " I wonder, could it have been Edward 
 Luscombe ?" said Mrs. Dronington, who had 
 heard about him from Mrs. Somerton, and 
 knew that he was partly engaged to her 
 daughter. 
 
 " Dear me, my letters will not be ready 
 for post ! " exclaimed Lady Horatia, looking 
 at her watch. " Do, dear girls, go and 
 finish them, they want directing and be- 
 heading;. You will find the heads and 
 sealing-wax all ready on my writing-table." 
 
 When the Miss Gubbingses were gone, 
 Lady Horatia drew her chair closer to Mrs. 
 Dronington, and said, 
 
 " I could not mention it before them, but 
 now I remember hearing afterwards that he 
 was old Sir Edward's natural son, and a 
 ward of the clergyman's here." • 
 
 " Then that must be Edward Luscombe," 
 said Mrs. Dronington ; " but his likeness to
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 115 
 
 Lady Lillyford must be fancy, for he had 
 nothing to do with her." 
 
 " I am not so sure of that," said Lady 
 Horatia, in a dogmatic tone, as she looked 
 fixedly into the fire, and seemed to ponder 
 deeply. " Years ago I heard some strange 
 rumours connected with that horrible cata- 
 strophe. I cannot now remember when or 
 where, or whether I could have dreamt 
 them ; yet, no, I cannot help having some 
 dim recollection of some old nurse telling 
 somebody that the dreadful woman who set 
 fire to the house had burnt her own child, 
 and not Lady Lillyford's. Did none of you 
 ever hear this ?" 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mrs. Dronington, 
 with some asperity. " You could only liave 
 dreamt it. I never heard such a ridiculous 
 idea in my life. What possible end could 
 the woman gain by killing her own child ? 
 It is against all the rules of probability and 
 of nature. Besides, it was well known in 
 the village that she was devoted to her 
 
 X2
 
 116 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 child until lie grew up. It was her one 
 tender feeling." 
 
 " Where is she now ?" inquired Lady 
 Horatia, with some eagerness. 
 
 " She is dead long ago," said Mrs. Dron- 
 ington — " at least, so I heard." 
 
 " Well, that young man is wonderfully 
 like the late Lady Lillyford," said Lady 
 Horatia, rising to go. "You will say so 
 whenever you see him — it is quite startling ; 
 the mouth and chin are identical, and it is 
 a peculiar mouth, with lips very delicately 
 chiselled, and the same kind of dimple in 
 the chin. He was one of the handsomest 
 and most high-bred-looking young men I 
 ever saw — the Miss Gubbingses quite fell in 
 love with him." 
 
 Curiosity, and the suspicious temper 
 w^hich often produces it, were strong charac- 
 teristics of Lady Horatia Nolan. Besides, 
 she liked to tell the first news — to prove 
 that she had always suspected or known 
 events, for it helped to give her influence.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 117 
 
 and keep up her power as a ruler in the 
 fashionable world. In this case she had, 
 moreover, in her quarrel that morning with 
 Roland, and her consequent vindictive feel- 
 ings, an additional incentive to find out all 
 she could ; and her lively imagination built 
 up a structure upon Edward Luscombe's 
 supposed likeness to Lady Lillyford, which 
 likeness Mrs. Somerton's conjectures had al- 
 ready accounted for in another way. 
 
 Lady Horatia, however, said nothing 
 more on the subject to Mrs. Dronington, 
 nor did she appear to make any further 
 attempt to ascertain from anyone at Oak- 
 hampton whether the author of all this 
 misery was really dead or not.
 
 118 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Suspicion, 
 
 A FTER this conversation, Mrs. Droning- 
 -^^ ton put on her bonnet, and without 
 even waiting to ring as usual for her maid, 
 donned the rest of her walking attire, and 
 hurried downstairs, unperceived, as she 
 hoped, by any of the party. But just as 
 she was opening the hall door, Beatrice ran 
 across the hall and begged to accompany 
 her in her walk. 
 
 *' No, no, not to-day," said Mrs. Droning- 
 ton — " I am in a great hurry, and, besides, 
 it's rainmg. I want to — to go and see a 
 poor woman who is ill, and you must not 
 come ; you know your mamma objects to it 
 — there, don't detain me,"
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 119 
 
 Then she went out and closed the door 
 after her, leaving Beatrice to wonder at her 
 most unusual hurry and agitation. Mrs. 
 Dronington walked quickly towards the little 
 church, from which there was a path that 
 led direct to the village. She had not in- 
 tended to visit any of the cottages, but as her 
 conscience reproached her for having said 
 what was not exactly true to her grand- 
 daughter, she determind to call in to see an 
 old woman who lived near the church in the 
 village, and was nearly blind, before she pro- 
 ceeded on the errand which had brought her 
 out alone at an unwonted hour. 
 
 The blind woman had formerly lived as 
 housemaid at the Hall. Mrs. Dronington 
 remembered her well, for she had attended 
 upon her during the visits she paid there in 
 her early youth, long before the late Sir 
 Edward's marriage. 
 
 The old dame was rather deaf as well as 
 blind, and Mrs. Dronington had nmch diffi- 
 culty in explaining who she was. At last,
 
 120 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 however, when she became aware that the 
 good Miss Fenwick, sister of that beautiful 
 Nelly Fenwick whom everybody loved, had 
 come to her cottage, then the old dame was 
 overjoyed, and, wiping a chair, begged her 
 to be seated. 
 
 " I thought it were a voice that put me in 
 mind of them old times at the Hall, it 
 sounded so soft and cheery-like, more than 
 gentlefolk's voices do now-a-days, leastways 
 always except our good Miss Peggy and Mrs. 
 Somerton. And so a new set o' gentlefolks 
 is come to the Hall ? Ah ! well-a-day, times 
 is changed, and Tim says it's all along o' 
 them railroads, 'cause they be always taking 
 people away from every place to Lunnun, 
 or some great town, but never brings no 
 good to country folks. Well, and yet I 
 do think that if our young lady had a- 
 lived " 
 
 "Were you at the Hall when she died?" 
 inquired Mrs. Dronington, rather eagerly. 
 
 " Surely then I was, an' a awful time we
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 121 
 
 had. I often wake up now in the dead o' 
 the nights, an' think I hear the screams that 
 woke me up that night. Many a time I've 
 said to Tim, ' That's my lady's voice a-call- 
 ing out;' and sometimes I can even smell the 
 smoke — the dreadful smell of the burnt 
 Christian flesh, of the poor innocent babe as 
 was a-burnt in his cradle. It was over the 
 whole house, and my lady, I can see her 
 now running along the passages fit to break 
 her neck, and calling, 'Ob! give me the child 
 safe, my darhng baby !' And Sir Edward he 
 burst open the door, and at once the flames 
 came all across the passage, and my lady's 
 dress took fire, and her beautiful hair that 
 had fallen down all over her shoulders, and 
 Sir Edward and Mr. Jobson tried to put it 
 out, and held her back, for she tried so hard 
 to get into the room. They says she had 
 the strength of madness, so that four men 
 could scarce hold her ; and tlie pump and 
 engines was played in at the window. At 
 last the fire went out, and then Sir Edward
 
 122 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 he went in first, but was so choked with 
 smoke, he fell down quite insensible, close 
 by where the cradle had been, and they 
 couldn't hold my lady back any longer. But 
 there was such a smoke all along the pass- 
 ages we could not see our hands before us, 
 and some of the maids went to try and save 
 their own things, for they all thought the 
 whole Hall would be burnt. But I couldn't 
 a-bear to be away from my lady, so I 
 ketched up a rug and put it over my 
 shoulders, cause I'd nothing but my night 
 shimy on, and tried to get into the nur- 
 sery. My goodness, what a hawful sight it 
 were, to be sure ! The blue morning light 
 just shone in at the window, and seemed to 
 mix like with the red embers that was still 
 smouldering here and there along the walls. 
 My lady was curled up on the floor, which 
 seemed to be still burning, just as might be 
 where the baby's cradle had stood, and she 
 were a-clinging to a skeleton : there was no- 
 thing but blackened bones that she'd a-found.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 123 
 
 Sir Edward had come to hisself, and were 
 a-looking all about quite bewildered like, as 
 if he couldn't so much as understand that 
 poor blackened mass of bones was her child; 
 and the men had got to where the bed was, 
 and hoped to find the poor nurse was alive, 
 which that part seemed not so much burnt 
 as where the cradle had a-been. The nurse 
 was not burnt, but quite dead — sufficated, 
 they said, with the smoke." 
 
 " But the baby was nothing but bones, I 
 remember hearing." 
 
 ^' Nothing ; and how my lady did shriek 
 and groan, and called for her child, and 
 said that was not her baby ; and she raved 
 quite mad-like, and they couldn't get the 
 bones out of her hands." 
 
 " And she never recovered her reason ?" 
 
 " Not till a moment or so afore she died, 
 as I heard them say, for I was not let into 
 the room after she'd been carried back into 
 her own room ; not one of the servants 
 wasn't let go anigh the passages, 'cause she
 
 124 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 wasn't to hear any sound at all. But there 
 was four doctors a-attending of her all that 
 live-long day and through the night, but she 
 wouldn't touch a bit o' food, and drew back 
 scared-like from everybody, and never even 
 knowed her own husband till, as I said, just 
 afore she died ; and then, as old Nurse Ayres 
 afterwards told me, she let go the skeleton 
 of the poor child that she would have, 
 wrapped in a cloth, by her ; she pushed it 
 away like, Nurse Ayres said, and took hold 
 of her husband's hands with both o' hers, 
 and looked up into his face as if she wished 
 to speak something ; and then she clasped 
 her hands as if she was a-praying, with his 
 all the time between hers, and she smiled. 
 Her lips moved, but Nurse could hear no 
 sound, and Nurse know'd she were a-dying, 
 'cause she looked so happy, and she give 
 a great sigh and sank back. Sir Ed- 
 ward wouldn't believe she were dead, 
 and he was so happy to see her smile; 
 but after he found she was getting quite
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 125 
 
 cold he went a'most mad, and, as you know, 
 ma'am, he never was hisself again." 
 
 "I suppose you told all this to Mrs. 
 Somerton ?" inquired Mrs. Dronington after 
 a pause. 
 
 " Many's the time, for she be always a- 
 questioning me about it, and about that 
 w^icked Rachel ; and what seems to terrify 
 her most is these bones, and how it came 
 that all the flesh to be burnt away and only 
 leave a skeleton; and she wanted to know 
 whether the doctors see'd it. ' Maybe they 
 did,' says I ; but then you know, lack-a-day, 
 poor Sir Edward went mad like, and there 
 was nobody to act, and though there was a 
 great to-do about the poor child's body, and 
 all the neighbours came far and near, yet 
 nobody seed to nothing." 
 
 ''Was there not a report that Rachel 
 Harraway was somehow or other concerned 
 in the dreadful events?" asked Mrs. Dro- 
 nington. 
 
 " Yes, that there was ; cook declared she
 
 126 COUNTKY COTERIES. 
 
 heard her a-screammg under her window ; 
 she was sure it was her voice ; and gardener 
 said he see her going through the plantation 
 with a bundle in her arms. Leastways he 
 see'd a figure, but when he was questioned 
 by the crowner, and the justices axed him 
 how he came to be near the plantations at 
 that time o' night, he couldn't remember no 
 particulars about it ; but people did say that 
 was 'cause his wife were jealous, and he 
 didn't want it to be proved where he had 
 a-been that evening. So nothing was done 
 agin Rachel." 
 
 " But the cook, why did she think the 
 screaming she heard was Rachel's voice ?" 
 
 "'Cause she knowed her well afore Sir 
 Edward married, and she and Rachel had 
 many a quarrel, for she were a downright 
 termagant when she was angered, as she 
 had a-been with poor Jemmy, him as she 
 kept company with before, as ill-luck would 
 have it, Sir Edward first saw her face. 
 Poor Jemmy ! he went mad too, and was
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 127 
 
 put in a lunatic asylum, and now lives wi' 
 Mrs. Somerton as gardener ; but what was 
 I a-saying ? — oh I yes, cook had lived in the 
 next cottage to the Harraways, and seed 
 Rachel the night Jemmy found it all out, 
 and swore he'd murder her and himself too, 
 and Rachel she set up a scream as» if 'twas 
 the end of the world, and she went into 
 fits as wanted four people to hold her, she 
 did." 
 
 "But was she staying in the village at 
 that dreadful time when the poor girl was 
 burnt?" 
 
 "No, not as I know'd on; she warn't 
 never heard on here after her child was 
 born, and my lady found it all out." 
 
 " And how long was that before poor 
 Lady Lillyford was confined ?" 
 
 "Well, let me see, I think it must have 
 been — well, yes, 'twas in haymaking time, I 
 know, 'cause Tun (he was a-courting of me 
 then) comed up to the garden gate when 
 they was making hay m the meadow handy.
 
 128 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and my lady was helping — she and Sir Ed- 
 ward were tossing the hay in each other's 
 faces — I could see them at the other end of 
 the field. Deary me ! it seems only but 
 yesterday — I can think I smell the sweet 
 hay ; and the sun did shine so bright, and 
 Tun he says, says he, pointing to Sir Ed- 
 ward and my lady, ' We'll be as happy as 
 them two some day — let it be next Michael- 
 mas.' And says I, 'No, I must earn more 
 first, and so must thou.' Ah! well-a-day, 
 that was the last time the poor lady ever 
 played in the hayfield, or anywhere else, for 
 the matter of that, and that made me mind 
 it so sadly well. For the very next day, I 
 do believe it was that foreign maid of hers 
 as did the mischief, for sure nobody would 
 have gone and said a word agin master, so 
 kind as he was to all, though many of us did 
 know that Rachel had a child that night. 
 Not a word would have reached my dear 
 lady's ears if I could have saved her pain, 
 I'd have giv^n my right hand, I would, for
 
 COUNTKY COTERIES. 129 
 
 SO good and beautiful and kind as she was. 
 Sir Edward was out early that morning, 
 but whether anyone had a-told him about 
 Rachel, I can't say, but as ill-luck would 
 have it, he did not come in at the breakfast 
 hour, and my lady had had some suspicions, 
 for off she set by herself all across the Park, 
 as I heard afterwards, and never stopped 
 till she got near the copse as is a stone's 
 throw of Harraway's cottage, and there she 
 met Sir Edward. Nobody ever knew what 
 she or he said, but he carried her all the 
 way home in his arms, and when he got to 
 the hall-door Mr. Snodge (he as was butler 
 then) said Sir Edward looked twenty years 
 older, and so we all thought when we saw 
 him afterwards, and as if he could never 
 smile or laugh again ; and my lady fainted 
 dead away several times that day, and the 
 doctor as come from Hollington said he 
 didn't think she would live. And surely 
 she never held up her pretty head again, 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and never smiled, only when she saw how 
 Sir Edward took on." 
 
 "And when was Lady Lillyford's child 
 born? — I mean, how soon after Rachel 
 Harraway's ?" inquired the matter-of-fact old 
 lady. 
 
 " Let me see. Ah, well now, I mind it was 
 one of they dark dull days afore Christmas. 
 Yes, well, I mind it now, 'cause Sally that 
 was kitchen-maid was gone out for a holi- 
 day, and so cook asked me to help make 
 the mincemeat for Christmas pies ; and I was 
 a-doing of it when Mr. Snodge ran in and 
 called out to send for Doctor James, for my 
 lady was a-took ill, and I left the mincemeat 
 and run upstairs into the passage nigh by her 
 room, for I did love my lady more nor ever 
 I did any Christian mortal but Tim ; and I 
 stood there and shook, 'cause I wouldn't ven- 
 ture near the door for fear o' making a noise ; 
 and I saw Nurse Ayres after a bit come out, 
 but I couldn't see her face, 'cause it was so 
 dark, so I crept up close, for, says I to myself,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 131 
 
 if I can look on her face I shall know, 'cause 
 she did love my poor lady too. But she 
 went 'tother way, hurried like, so I feared 
 mortally, and I kneeled down and prayed, I 
 did, harder than I ever did afore or since, 
 that Almighty God would spare my dear 
 lady, and give her a living child. I prayed 
 so fervent like, that I didn't seem to 
 know how the time went or where I was, 
 till I was startled by seeing lights, and the 
 doctor and a many more coming up the 
 big staircase. I knew Sir Edward he was 
 in my lady's room, for he had never let her 
 out of sight ever since that dreadful day 
 when she found it all out. So I seed the 
 doctor go in quite quiet like, and his face 
 didn't tell me nothin', though the candle 
 shone upon it. So I crept near and tried to 
 hear, and was more frightened than even the 
 day my lady had found out all, I was, and 
 big drops o' sweat stood on my forehead. 
 And then the time seemed so long, as it 
 would never end, for I seemed too flustered 
 
 K 2
 
 132 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 like even to pray. I couldn't find no words, 
 could do nothing but listen ; but it was all 
 as quiet as deatb. At last I heard a baby's 
 cry, and I well-nigh jumped for joy; but 
 then I seemed to hear a whispering, and 
 I gan to tremble again, I did, and I prayed 
 again right down in earnest, for, says I, if 
 she can but live now she'll be happy Avith 
 her baby. And 1 was a-pra}dng still when 
 Nurse Ayres corned out at last, and I saw 
 now by her face all was right, and she look- 
 ed at me pleased like, 'cause she knowed 
 how dearly I loved my lady." 
 
 "And this," asked Mrs. Dronington, "must 
 have been about five or six months after 
 Rachel's child was born, and she was very 
 happy with her child till that dreadful fire. 
 How long was it? — nearly a year ?" 
 
 "From Michaelmas, I know, 'cause Tim 
 was a-reproaching me about it, and one of 
 Farmer Bowling's ricks were burnt when he 
 was a-working there, and they said it was a 
 'cendiary fire ; but I has my own thoughts
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 133 
 
 about that too, though Thn says it was all 
 nonsense, 'cause Rachel was at York wi' her 
 child, they said." 
 
 " And had she any grudge against Farmer 
 Dowling, that made you suspect her ?" 
 
 "Yes, she had, and says I, when a person, 
 is given up to such fearful temper and pas- 
 sions as Rachel, they ain't a-answerable for 
 what they does, no more nor my lady's par- 
 rot that bit through Mary's finger, only then 
 she is far wickeder, 'cause being a Christian 
 she ought not to give way to such evil tem- 
 pers." 
 
 "• And you have told all this to Mrs. Som- 
 erton, you say?" 
 
 " Yes, many's the tune, and to Mr. Mor- 
 daunt times upon times, and I do believe he'd 
 often been at Rachel herself, but never could 
 make nothing out of her, for says he she was 
 as hard as a 'stone, and didn't care for man 
 or devil." 
 
 At this moment the subject of their con- 
 versation (Mr.Mordaunt) entered the cottage,
 
 134 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 for it was drawing towards the dark hour, 
 as the old dame called it, when either the 
 good vicar or his sister often visited the poor 
 cottagers who most required the comfort of 
 a little cheerful talk.
 
 135 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Mrs. Dronington hears more News. 
 
 fTIHE object of Mrs. Dronington't walk had 
 -■- been to call on Mr. Mordaunt, but as 
 it was now getting dark she begged him to 
 accompany her part of the way to Oak- 
 hampton Hall. 
 
 In the course of her walk she pursued her 
 inquiry, but without mentioning the painful 
 surmise which Lady Horatia's words had 
 created in her mind. Therefore the con- 
 versation chiefly turned upon the Somertons 
 and young Edward Luscombe. 
 
 Mrs. Somerton had informed Mrs. Dron- 
 ington of that young man's proposal to her 
 daughter, and therefore she felt a gi'eat in- 
 terest in hearing all that ^Ir. Mordaunt 
 could tell about him.
 
 136 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 "And do you really consider that lie is 
 likely to be worthy of such a very charming 
 — such a superior young person as Miss 
 Somerton ?" 
 
 " I had great hopes that he was. When 
 he came over to England, in the vain hope 
 of seeing his father, and — his guilty mother, 
 he prepossessed me most favourably. He has 
 a joyous disposition, and I should say, by 
 nature, a happy mind ; yet he showed that 
 he had power to suffer deeply about the 
 melancholy state of his father, and lamented 
 the despondent spirit or seclusion which pre- 
 vented him from finding any alleviation to 
 his misery and never-ending self-reproach. 
 Young Edward thought of numerous plans 
 to win his father from his despondency, and 
 with all the enthusiasm of youth endeavoured 
 to enlist my help to carry them out. I had 
 the greatest difficulty — a difficulty I rejoiced 
 in, because it called forth his persistent 
 efforts in his father's behalf — but I did con- 
 vince him at last that nothing could be done ;
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 137 
 
 that to approach the old man, either in his 
 own name, or mider any disguise, would 
 only bring on one of those paroxysms of 
 misery which I knew well the very thought 
 of the poor boy's existence always produced. 
 Edward suffered keenly from this exclusion, 
 so that I can scarcely think of the expres- 
 sion of his countenance without a pang. In 
 fact, I sometimes regret now that I did not 
 allow him to follow his own unpulse to 
 throw himself at his father's feet. I very 
 often think I was wrong, particularly as 
 Mrs. Somerton seems to have been struck 
 with his likeness to poor Lady Lill}rford. 
 That very likeness might have soothed and 
 disarmed Sir Edward's dislike to the 
 boy." 
 
 " Well, you did it for the best, no doubt," 
 said Mrs. Dronington ; "and you are sure 
 he, young Luscombe was sincere, and that 
 no worldly motives made him wish that his 
 father should become reconciled to him ?" 
 
 " Quite sure. There was not a spark of
 
 138 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 self-interest in that open, honest face. But 
 — but I am not quite so happy about him 
 now." 
 
 " Why, what have you heard ?" 
 
 " Oh ! nothing that evinces worldliness ; 
 but — but I fear his constancy to Miss Somer- 
 ton is being put through a terrible ordeal. 
 There seems to be a marvellous syren who 
 is captivating everybody, and I heard lately 
 from my old pupil, John Sterndale, that 
 she was only diverted from her determina- 
 tion to turn the head and secure the heart 
 of Edward Luscombe by the arrival of a 
 more valuable prize; strange to say, the 
 very man who has lately succeeded to a fine 
 property on yonder hill — Fern cote." 
 
 '' Oh I the fine old place that used to be- 
 long to the Gordons ?" 
 
 " Yes, it was bought by a very eccentric 
 old gentleman, and he died not very long 
 ago, and left it, with the great bulk of his 
 property, to a distant relation, with the con- 
 dition that he should take the name of Fair-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 139 
 
 leigh. His sisters also inherited considerable 
 sums, and have taken the same name." 
 
 " And who is the syren ? Some design- 
 ing foreigner, I suppose. I always maintain 
 that people get more harm than good by 
 these foreign tours." 
 
 " She is a German, and first cousin to a 
 very charming girl, I hear, who, by-the-by, 
 is related to the late Lady Lillyford's family 
 as well as Mrs. Somerton." 
 
 " Oh ! ah ! yes. I've heard something 
 about it, and that they put her in a convent, 
 or some such dreadful place, till she con- 
 sented to marry a Venetian Count some- 
 thing. Yes. Beatrice met her somewhere 
 in Italy, and she raved about her. I re- 
 member now, and she told me lately it was 
 all right, and that the poor young lady 
 liked the count, and was not mihappy even 
 in the convent, but I could scarcely believe 
 it." 
 
 " And perhaps, then, your grand-daugh- 
 ter may have met her fascinating cousin as
 
 140 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 well, for it seems they have been brought 
 up together in the same convent." 
 
 " Ah 1 then no wonder she is trying to 
 do mischief now. Well, I only hope she 
 won't succeed, for it would be a great pity 
 that fine old place should fall into the hands 
 of such a person. But has poor Mr. Lus- 
 combe got safely away from her, and are 
 his eyes opened to her worldliness ?" 
 
 " I fear not, but I have written to him, 
 detailing the rumours that reached us, and 
 his answer will show, I hope, the state of 
 his mind and heart. For Miss Somerton's 
 sake I feel anxious about him, as well as 
 from the interest he excited in me during 
 his sad visit to England. It seems strange 
 that my old pupil, Sterndale, should have 
 fallen in with this Mr. Fairleigh, our future 
 neighbour. He met him on the Nile, and 
 they travelled together for some time ; and 
 then they went to see a brother of Stern- 
 dale's, who is staying at Gratz, and this boy 
 was a great friend of young Luscombe, and
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 141 
 
 also of a young relation of Count Hohen- 
 stein, whose late wife was, as you know, 
 half-sister to Mrs. Somerton. So Sterndale 
 and his friend were invited to the castle, 
 where there seems to be quite a sort of 
 open house just now — a constant succession 
 of fetes^ previous to the marriage of the 
 daughter." 
 
 "Yes, I remember hearmg that Mrs. 
 Somerton had some foreign relations who 
 were rich. Well, but as she has always been 
 so poor herself, would it not be a very im- 
 prudent match for her daughter ? I thought 
 old Sir Edward had only left him a hundred 
 a year, if so much ?" 
 
 " Very true, but Miss Somerton is accus- 
 tomed to do with very little ; besides, young 
 Luscombe seems to be not only full of talent, 
 but has, I fancy, both good sense and per- 
 severance. That is his character at Gratz, 
 for Sterndale told me so." 
 
 " Yet, if he is so taken with that foreign 
 young lady, it does not seem to denote
 
 142 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 much common sense or good feeling, does 
 it?" 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt could only shrug his shoul- 
 ders, for although he felt that some allow- 
 ance might be made for a very young man 
 when placed in a situation of peculiar fascin- 
 ation, he knew that, with Mrs. Dronington's 
 prejudices about foreigners and foreign edu- 
 cation, it. would be useless to say anything 
 in his defence. 
 
 " Has Miss Somerton any suspicion of his 
 inconstancy ?" 
 
 " I hope it scarcely amounts to that, for 
 Mr. Sterndale's last letter was so full of the 
 young lady's attempt to captivate Mr. Fair- 
 leigh, and of what he feared was treachery 
 towards the young cousin, in trying to en- 
 snare the heart of Count Rossi. I believe 
 Mrs. Somerton has not mentioned anything 
 about it to her daughter, yet I fear that 
 something young Luscombe must have said, 
 or omitted to say, in his late letters, had 
 made her unhappy, more so than she was be-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 143 
 
 fore. Of course she was extremely grieved 
 when she discovered he was the son of such 
 a guilty woman. She did not know of this 
 until her arrival here, whence she can look 
 from her windows on the very place, even the 
 very room, where poor Lady Lill}^ord died; 
 and to impress her still more deeply with 
 the consciousness of his mother's worthless- 
 ness, this old gardener whom they found at 
 their house is the broken-hearted suitor, the 
 man who went mad when he discovered the 
 deception practised on him by Rachel Harra- 
 way. But here we are almost in sight of the 
 Hall," he added, " and I cannot accompany 
 you farther. For you know Lady Lillyford 
 has never returned my sister's visit. We 
 thought it was our duty to call, although Sir 
 Charles has told me, after a good deal of 
 hesitation, that his wife was very — that in 
 fact she did not like country neighbours, and 
 had made up her mind not to visit any." 
 
 " Ah ! I know my poor daughter is very 
 foolish indeed, but a good deal of it comes
 
 144 COUNTRY COTERIES, 
 
 from living so long in foreign parts," said 
 Mrs. Dronington, with a blush and a self- 
 delusive attempt to excuse her daughter's 
 foibles.
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Beatrice is much perplexed at the Ways of the 
 World 
 
 MR. MORDAUNT then took leave, but 
 he was scarcely out of sight before 
 Beatrice came running along the path from 
 the Hall door, and expressing great joy at 
 her grandmother's return, for it was so 
 unusually late that she had become alarmed, 
 and was walking up and down near the 
 house under the shadows of the fine oaks. 
 
 " Dear girl," said Mrs. Dronington, as she 
 returned the joyous embrace of her grand- 
 child with affectionate warmth, '^nobody cares, 
 except 'you, whether I came home safe or 
 not : I am sure I ought to be most thankful 
 that after bemg out of England so long you 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 do care for me as mucli, even more than — 
 well, I suppose we must hurry in to dress, 
 or we shall be late for dinner. Not that 
 that is easy, either, for these fashionable peo- 
 ple do keep such late hours." 
 
 Beatrice's curiosity to know where her 
 grandmother had been, and why she was 
 so anxious to go alone, was very great. 
 However, she asked no question, but per- 
 haps Mrs. Dronington's faculties, quickened 
 by a newly-awakened affection, a daily-in- 
 creasmg love, which she had not experi- 
 enced for anyone since her favourite sister 
 Nelly's death, were able to divine her 
 grandchild's thoughts ; for she told her, 
 after they came up to their rooms that night, 
 that she had been talking with Mr. Mor- 
 daunt about the Somertons and young Mr. 
 Luscombe. 
 
 Beatrice had not before heard of her old 
 friend's engagement, and yet since their 
 meeting after church in London she had 
 often found herself wondering whether El-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 147 
 
 frida had found some one to love. Many 
 vamie ideas and fancies about Elfrida, and 
 the change of expression in her counten- 
 ance since those happy days at Sorrento, 
 entered her mind as she walked through 
 the woods at Oakhampton. 
 
 Perhaps the tranquil beauty of the 
 scenery, the reposeful influence which had 
 called forth the consciousness of her own 
 feelings towards Arthur Brookfield, made 
 her more alive to the suspicion of some 
 such sentiment in Elfrida. It was therefore 
 with the greatest interest that she now 
 heard from her grandmother the whole his- 
 tory of their engagement, and thanked her 
 warmly for allowing her to know of it. 
 
 " Edward Luscombe !" she exclaimed — 
 " why, that is the very person I heard Lady 
 Horatia whispering about to mamma, and 
 she says they all fell in love with him ; and 
 I heard her describing him to Roland after- 
 wards, and her eyes flashed so, that some- 
 how I felt quite frightened; it seemed to 
 
 l2
 
 148 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 make lier angry with him, and oh ! how 
 puzzling everything seems to me sometimes 
 now ! I often feel as if I had been asleep 
 all my life till I came here, except that 
 summer at Sorrento, when I was so much 
 with the Somertons. But when we were 
 going from one of those places to another, 
 which mamma called gay, I didn't half care 
 for anything — at least, so it seems now, 
 when I look back upon it ; all was weari- 
 some to me, yet I never felt tired. Oh ! 
 granny, how often I wish now that my two 
 dear little sisters had not been left at school 
 in Paris. I think they would be so much 
 happier and better here. How they would 
 enjoy running about in these beautiful 
 woods ! They never saw such giant oaks 
 as we have here." 
 
 " I am glad you like old England so 
 much, dear child," said Mrs. Dronington. 
 
 " Indeed I do. But oh ! dear granny, 
 what do you think ?" added Beatrice, with 
 a sudden look of pain. " While I was
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 149 
 
 waiting under the trees to-day, looking out 
 for you, I heard papa and Roland talking, 
 and oh ! I could cry to think of it — Roland 
 wants papa to cut down those splendid 
 trees, that are ever so many centuries old. 
 He says they would quite clear off his debts." 
 
 " But your papa did not consent, surely?" 
 said Mrs. Dronington, turning round sud- 
 denly from her dressing-table with a face of 
 alarm. " Surely he never would !" 
 
 " He didn't like it. I think I heard him 
 say so, but Roland looked so angry, and 
 papa so miserable, that I was afraid to let 
 them see me, and so I went farther away 
 among the evergreen oaks. But now I 
 come to think of it, I am in hopes papa did 
 not consent, because Roland was so very 
 cross and out of sorts this evening, and you 
 saw he scarcely spoke to anybody." 
 
 " This poor old place !" sighed Mrs. 
 Dronington. " To think how changed it is 
 since sister Nelly slept in your room here ! 
 Well, good night, darling, and don't let us
 
 150 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 grieve too much at misfortunes we cannot 
 help. I wish — oh ! how I do wish — there, 
 never mind. Good night," and the old 
 lady lay down to rest with the strong yet 
 unuttered wish that Beatrice should not be 
 deprived of the companionship of friends 
 who, like the Somertons, she had wit 
 enough to feel would be of use to her 
 grand-daughter.
 
 151 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Mrs. Somertons Dream. 
 
 TTTHILE Mrs. Dronington and Beatrice 
 ^ ' were sleeping peacefully in their 
 beds at Oakhampton Hall, Mrs. Somerton 
 was dreaming of that very place. She 
 dreamt that she was in the late Lady Lilly- 
 ford's bedroom, looking "\vith anxious cu- 
 riosity into the drawers of an old Indian 
 cabmet which stood in a deep recess of the 
 south bay-window. She had never been hi 
 this room in her waking hours, for although 
 the late Lady Lillyford was her first cousin, 
 and they had been brought up together like 
 sisters, yet she had not seen her since slie 
 first went to India after her own marriage, 
 and at that time the beautiful Matilda Wivs
 
 152 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 not even acquainted with her future hus- 
 band. 
 
 Mrs. Somerton loved and admired her 
 cousin with more than a sister's affection, 
 and the separation from her, when they were 
 both only eighteen, had been one of the few 
 drawbacks to her otherwise most happy 
 marriage. Soon after her arrival in India 
 she had heard of her cousin's engagement to 
 a man who, though much older than her- 
 self, was highly approved of by all her re- 
 lations. 
 
 The late Sir Edward Lillyford bore a 
 high character, and as he still retained the 
 handsome features and great personal charm 
 which had won for him extensive popularity 
 among all classes, it seemed that the intense 
 love he evinced for the beautiful young girl 
 was fully reciprocated. In fact, it had been 
 a love-match on both sides, and Mrs. Somer- 
 ton had rejoiced in the prospect her beloved 
 friend seemed to have of perfect happiness 
 in her married Kfe.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 153 
 
 Lady Lill}lford had received the same 
 careful trainmg and instruction as her after- 
 wards celebrated cousin, and possessed 
 nearly as much genius and power. During 
 the first six months after her marriage, Oak- 
 hampton Hall was a scene of true hospitality 
 and agreeable society. It had been Matil- 
 da's heau-ideal to keep up the old spirit of 
 country sociability ; and having a number of 
 near relations both of her own and her hus- 
 band's, she delighted in having all kinds of 
 amusements for them. She wrote several 
 plays, in which the parts were particularly 
 adapted to those who were to act them, 
 and she composed the music of the songs 
 and overtures, and although she never acted 
 herself, she was such a good stage-manager 
 and scene painter that the performances 
 were most successful. All this Mrs. Somer- 
 ton had heard. 
 
 Then had come the sad news of her sud- 
 den illness and its fatal cause, not by letter 
 from herself, for she did not write to Mrs.
 
 154 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Somerton from that time until after the 
 birth of her child. She would not send a 
 letter to her dear friend in India until she 
 could feel in some degree happy again. 
 This of course was the last letter she wrote 
 or Mrs. Somerton had received from her, 
 for soon afterwards occurred the fatal acci- 
 dent which deprived her of her child and 
 caused her death. 
 
 Mrs. Somerton preserved this letter with 
 all those written in the first happy days of 
 her marriage, and she had been reading 
 them over that evening. There was some- 
 thing terribly touching in the last — the 
 under-current of sadness which the writer 
 vainly tried to conceal by making the most 
 of the j'oy she really felt in possessing a 
 lovely child. 
 
 After detailing her little plans for its 
 future life, and describing its dark eyes and 
 intelhgent forehead, resembling her hus- 
 band's, the letter went on to say : 
 
 " But my child promises to have the dark
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 155 
 
 and arched eyebrows you have always liked 
 in me so much more than they deserve. If 
 anything happen to me or Sir Edward, 
 dearest sister, you must promise me to 
 watch over my child. Pray, pray promise 
 me to do this, or I could not die in peace. 
 Oh I for one hour's talk with you ! Remem- 
 ber, I have kept a diary, in which I have 
 detailed everything, and all my inmost 
 thoughts and prayers. I shall direct it for 
 you, not to be opened by any one else. 
 Remember that you must have it, and read 
 every word, and do all I ask you in it, as 
 far as you possibly can." 
 
 The passages which had succeeded this 
 had been erased, and it again ended with an 
 earnest prayer that Mrs. SomertoA would 
 watch over her poor boy. 
 
 Hearing of her dear friend's death, a short 
 time after receiving this letter, Mrs. Somerton 
 had written to Sir Edward and begged him 
 to send her the Diary Lady Lillyford had 
 spoken of in her last letter. No answer
 
 156 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 came for a long time, and then the unsatis- 
 factory intelligence that none had been found. 
 Yet during all the long years that had elapsed 
 since then Mrs. Somerton ever retained the 
 conviction that it must exist somewhere, and 
 since her arrival at Oakhampton she longed 
 to cause a search to be made, but the rude- 
 nesss of the present Lady Lillyford had 
 hitherto deterred her from attempting it. 
 
 Probably her thoughts were full of this 
 subject when she went to sleep, at any rate 
 in her dream she saw the beautiful Lady 
 Lillyford as distinctly as when she had left 
 her a blooming girl, and thought that she 
 was showing her over Oakhampton Hall. 
 She led her up the carved oak staircase and 
 along the gallery : when they had reached a 
 door half way along it, Lady Lillyford pomt- 
 ed to it with a look of sudden horror and 
 put her finger to her lips as if to enjoin 
 silence. Then proceeding farther on she 
 opened the door of a spacious bedroom, and 
 beckoned to Mrs. Somerton to enter.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 157 
 
 They then approached an old Indian cabi- 
 net which stood in the deep bay window. 
 This she unlocked, and opening a particular 
 drawer pressed a spring, which disclosed a 
 secret recess filled with manuscript; then with 
 a pleading look on her face she pointed to 
 the manuscript, and her figure seemed to 
 melt away 
 
 As is usual in dreams Mrs. Somerton did 
 not feel surprised at this, but proceeded to ex- 
 amine the contents of the secret recess. She 
 took out a sealed parcel, and found it was 
 directed to herself In trpng to burst the 
 seal and undo it she let it fall, and the noise 
 it seemed to make on the oak floor startled 
 her so that she woke up in one of the sudden 
 frights we sometimes experience when an in- 
 teresting dream comes to an unexpected 
 close. 
 
 It was daylight. She started up in bed, 
 uncertain what to think of what was after all 
 nothing but a dream. She tried to get rid 
 of the impression, but, in spite of her efforts.
 
 158 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 found herself wishing to know whether all 
 she had seen in her dream was really like 
 Oakhampton Hall, and whether it could be 
 possible that this secret recess had been 
 overlooked, and that the precious diary and 
 other manuscripts were really still there. 
 
 Besides the diary her eye had caught 
 sight of two manuscript plays which she re- 
 membered having heard Lady Lillyford had 
 written for her friends to act. She saw the 
 titles outside in Matilda's clear writing. Mrs. 
 Somerton had often wished to read them. 
 
 How strange if all those valuable manu- 
 scripts could be found at last ! Musing and 
 conjecturing in this manner she fell asleep 
 again, and slept till later than usual, as if 
 fatigued by her dream. She did not wake 
 until Elfrida came into the room to ask if she 
 was ready for breakfast, and then she said, 
 in answer to her inquiries, 
 
 " I must tell you my curious dream, but 
 not before breakfast, for we are late ; and 
 besides, you know," added Mrs. Somerton
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 159 
 
 lauo"liingly, "the old superstition, if one tells 
 a dream before breakfast it will not come 
 
 true."
 
 160 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 '^ Are Ideas and Impressions floating in the 
 AtinosjjJiere f" 
 
 QOMETIMES it is impossible to avoid the 
 ^ strange conviction tliat particular ideas 
 or impressions pervade the atmosphere ; for 
 instance, when diiferent people appear to be 
 struck with the same idea at the same mo- 
 ment. It happened so then. Elfrida's first 
 question was : 
 
 " Did you dream about Oakhampton 
 Hall?" 
 
 Mrs. Somerton briefly described it, and 
 then the great object of both seemed to be 
 to see Mts. Dronington (which, under the 
 circumstances, seemed to be an impossibility), 
 and ascertain from her whether the vision
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 161 
 
 were really like Oakhampton Hall, and to 
 induce lier to search in the Indian cabinet, if 
 such existed in any bedroom like the one 
 she saw in her dream. 
 
 During breakfast they thought over every 
 possible plan, and Mrs. Somerton meditated 
 writing to Mrs. Dronington and asking her 
 to favour them with a visit on a matter of 
 some importance. 
 
 Now it so happened that Mrs. Droning- 
 ton's mind had been so filled with the old 
 housemaid's narrative on the previous day, 
 that she was herself determined to see Mrs. 
 Somerton, in the hope of learning some- 
 thing. 
 
 She therefore resolved to go there that 
 very morning before luncheon, and this time 
 she made no secret of it to her grand- 
 daughter, so it was settled that Beatrice was 
 to accompany her as far as the park gates, 
 when they had breakfasted. 
 
 Thus, while Mrs. Somerton and her daugh- 
 ter were still revolving m their minds how to 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 carry out their wishes, they saw the little 
 gate open and Mrs. Dronington approaching 
 the house. Their delight was such that they 
 both ran out into the hall to open the door 
 before the old lady had time to ring the 
 bell. 
 
 Their exclamations almost startled her 
 out of her wits. 
 
 "Oh, let me ask, dear mamma!" said 
 Elfrida. "Is there an old oak staircase 
 with carved flowers and fruits, and is there 
 an old Indian cabinet in the late Lady Lilly- 
 ford's bed-room ?" 
 
 " Yes, to be sure there is," replied Mrs. 
 Dronington ; " and who in the world says 
 there is not ? But why are you so anxious 
 to know?" 
 
 " Because I dreamt last night," said Mrs. 
 Somerton, " that I was there, and I could 
 describe to you exactly the old oak staircase 
 with a long corridor at the top, and the 
 second door on the left I knew to be the 
 burnt room, and the door at the further end
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 163 
 
 opens into what used to be the late Lady 
 Lillyford's bed-room, over the eastern end 
 of the long drawing-room, with a lovely bay 
 window in it, which looks all over the park ; 
 and at one side of this bay window I thouglit 
 that there stood an antique Indian cabinet, 
 and I dreamed that in a secret drawer in 
 one of its recesses there is a packet of papers 
 and letters of great importance addressed to 
 me by my dear cousin. It is a packet which 
 she told me she would leave for me ; she 
 told me of it in the last letter I ever received 
 from her, and though the late Sir Edward 
 looked everywhere for it, it never could be 
 found." 
 
 " How very strange !" said Mrs. Droning- 
 ton ; " and I came here on purpose to ask 
 you about her and her sad fate, and about 
 the death of her little child. The old house- 
 maid yesterday gave me a long account of 
 it, and it interested me so much I longed to 
 ask you if you could tell me any more." 
 
 " Oh, you have seen old Molly," said Mrs. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Somerton, "well, she could tell you more 
 than I could do myself; in fact, except from 
 her I never heard but the barest outline of 
 the terrible misfortune or crime which 
 caused the death of my friend ; and her 
 death was the first great grief I ever had. 
 I was in India when it happened, and I did 
 not return to England for many years." 
 
 "Well," said Mrs. Dorrington, "I'll go 
 back at once and see about it, that I will ; 
 I'm sure nothing ought to be left undone to 
 find such a document as that. When peo- 
 ple are dead, nobody thinks about their 
 wishes now-a-days." 
 
 The last sentence was added sotto voce, 
 as she was about to leave the room. 
 
 On returning to Oakhampton Hall, she 
 found Lady Lillyford and Lady Horatia in 
 the long drawing-room, leaning back in arm- 
 chairs, holding hand-screens and discussing 
 their neighbours — not country neighbours, 
 indeed, for those they quietly suppressed 
 from their gossip lists, but that section of
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 165 
 
 the general public wliich fell in the way of 
 their manners and customs. 
 
 '' It was my fault letting her leave off the 
 backboard," thought Mrs. Dronmgton. 
 
 The Miss Gubbingses were getting rid of 
 the remaining interval between breakfast 
 and luncheon by practising one of the mo- 
 dern varieties of cup and ball. 
 
 " I wish you would give me the key of 
 the Indian cabinet in the late Lady Lilly- 
 ford's bed-room, Eliza ; I want to look in- 
 side it particularly." 
 
 " The key of the Indian cabinet ! — what 
 can you want with that ?" asked Lady Lilly- 
 ford, by no means inclined to move out of 
 her easy chair. 
 
 " Mrs. Somerton has just told me of a 
 curious dream she had last night about this 
 place, relating to the finding of some miss- 
 ing papers left to her by the late Lady 
 Lill}dford. She dreamt that they were in a 
 secret drawer of the Indian cabinet in Lady 
 Lillyford's bedroom, and I promised her
 
 166 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 to open it at once and look for them." 
 
 " What nonsense ! — I thought Mrs. Somer- 
 ton was a blue, and a strong-minded woman, 
 and those kind of people never believe in 
 dreams, and omens, and ghosts — though, as 
 far as that goes, neither do I ; it is nothing 
 in the world but a ruse to get inside this 
 house, and force me to call on her, and that 
 I am determined I will not do. I hate those 
 pushing people." 
 
 " Yes, I hate pushing people," said Lady 
 Horatia. 
 
 Her audience at Oakhampton was smaller 
 and less varied than she liked, yet she would 
 not allow the number to be increased by 
 any country neighbours, and on this point 
 she considered herself very consistent and 
 conscientious. 
 
 " No, pray, dear Mrs. Dronington, do not 
 bring any pushing people here," said she, 
 "otherwise I shall go off at once ; and you 
 know, as I have often explained, I think it 
 very wrong to do as some great ladies of my
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 167 
 
 acquaintance do, to make acquaintances in 
 country neighbourhoods, and then cut them 
 if they chance to come across me in London. 
 No, I never would do such a vulgar thing 
 as that } an acquaintance once made be- 
 comes quite sacred, in my opinion, and I 
 consider it quite a sin to change or even 
 grow colder towards them. You see those 
 Gubbings girls, I never gave them up, and 
 I got them to endless balls in London, 
 though they are nobodies, merely because I 
 happened to become intimate with them at 
 Carlsbad one season." 
 
 The young ladies in question during this 
 speech, which was made in the most solemn 
 and decided manner, assumed an air penetre 
 for the occasion. 
 
 " I had no idea of bringing Mrs. Somer- 
 ton here, because I knew my daughter did 
 not wish it," said Mrs. Dronington ; " nor 
 had she the least intention of coming ; she 
 is much too well-bred to force herself upon 
 people where she is not wanted. And as
 
 168 COUNTRY COTEEIES. 
 
 to country neighbours, I am an old woman, 
 and cannot help contrasting the manners of 
 my youth with those of ladies in these days, 
 and am obliged to own that the comparison 
 is not favourable to the latter. I remember 
 that my poor mother, Lady Jane, used to 
 make it her great object, while she was in 
 London, during the time Parliament sat, to 
 collect things and subjects together to amuse 
 her country neighbours in the autumn and 
 winter. Her husband's old place, and her 
 country neighbours, had far greater attrac- 
 tion for her than the foggy streets, and 
 never was anybody so happy as she, or so 
 much beloved as she was in the North. I 
 may be excused, perhaps, for thinking her 
 way was the best. But then all her ances- 
 tors had done the same, generation after 
 generation," muttered the old lady very 
 audibly, with a tinge of colour in her 
 cheeks. 
 
 Lady Horatia pretended to be suddenly 
 interested by a paragraph in the Times, for
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 169 
 
 she knew what Mrs. Dronington alluded to, 
 and felt she had the worst of it this time. 
 
 " Well, my dear," continued Mrs. Dron- 
 ington, turning to her daughter, " cannot 
 you give me the key ; it really is not right 
 to keep papers belonging to another person. 
 I will go and look myself, and will promise 
 you not to bring anybody herey 
 
 "Really," drawled Lady Lillyford, "I 
 never had a key, and do not know anything 
 about it. Beatrice, go and ask your father ; 
 the steward gave him all the keys and things 
 when we came from abroad." 
 
 But Sir Charles had gone out, and when 
 at last he returned, tlioiigh many keys were 
 tried, the right one could not be found.
 
 170 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Great Ladys Visit is a Failure. 
 
 SINCE her quarrel with Roland, Lady 
 Horatia Nolan had become rather 
 bored at Oakhampton Hall. It suited her 
 convenience to remain there for the present, 
 so she had tried to make the best of what 
 she at first feared would be rather an un- 
 promising visit. She had, moreover, good 
 dinners at Oakhampton, which she fully- 
 enjoyed, and she had the pleasure of being 
 exclusive ruler there. Various young men 
 were invited, or sent away, exactly as she 
 wished ; nevertheless, in one letter to a 
 friend she wrote as follows : — 
 
 "Lady Lillyford is so depressingly stupid 
 and unimpressionable, that one can never
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 171 
 
 either surprise or amuse, or scarcely even 
 offend her. Yet she is full of obstinate and 
 foolish prejudices — in fact, the most unprac- 
 ticable person I ever met with. I hope you 
 -vvill return home soon, and let me come, 
 for I am dying of ennui in this gloomy old 
 place." 
 
 On her part Lady Lilhdford was much dis- 
 appointed in her fine guests, and almost as 
 little reconciled as before their arrival to a 
 "dull country life," so she was urgent in 
 her entreaty that Sir Charles would take a 
 house in London, at all events for the sea- 
 son. 
 
 " It was quite a shame," she said, " to shut 
 Beatrice up in this way, and not allow her 
 the chance of making a good match before 
 she became old and ugly, by vegetating in 
 such a dreadful old place." 
 
 In vain he protested that they could not 
 afford it just then, with the succession duty 
 to pay, besides Roland's debts; and added, in 
 an under-tone,
 
 172 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " You wouldinYite that great airified lady 
 and those two stuck-up underbred girls, be- 
 cause you wanted to make up a good match 
 with her son, and he has actually been so im- 
 pertinent as never to come ; and what's more, 
 I don't believe now his mother ever wished 
 it. It was all a blind, because she wanted 
 to dispose of herself somewhere for a few 
 weeks, and liked to do the grand before 
 those young ladies and gentlemen, to show 
 her influence, and what fools she could make 
 of us. I wonder you can be so taken in; and 
 besides, I believe she was in love with Ro- 
 land, and yet I think she is too worldly-wise 
 to make a fool of herself by marrying him. 
 But she liked to have him dangling after 
 her. However, I think he had the sense to 
 rebel, and that's the only good he has done 
 since he came. For she was downright angry 
 I saw, — in fact, I sometimes think she will try 
 to do him a bad turn, though I don't know 
 how that can be, unless she contrives to 
 make him gamble more."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 173 
 
 "Well, but he has made his peace with 
 her now ; you know she has asked hini to 
 go to Do^vnlands on the 24th, and he said 
 he should go." 
 
 Sir Charles had plenty of arguments to 
 prove the folly of taking a house in London, 
 yet, in spite of all he said, the dull obstinacy 
 of his wife gradually seemed as if it must 
 soon have its usual effect on his easy-going 
 and phant disposition. Yet he might have 
 held out longer, had not an event occurred, 
 soon after the departure of the guests, which 
 frightened Lady Lill}^ord so much, that she 
 declared it was quite impossible to remain 
 at Oakhampton any longer.
 
 174 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Although Lady Lilly ford does not believe in 
 Ghosts^ she resolves not to sleep another night 
 at Oahhampton. 
 
 /^NE day, about three weeks after the 
 ^-^ departure of the Miss Gubbingses, Sir 
 Charles and Roland went up to London on 
 business, and Lady Lillyford, having a bad 
 headache, went to bed early. 
 
 Mrs. Dronington was still at Oakhampton. 
 Beatrice had implored her to remain, and 
 although the old lady thought it was quite 
 time for her to return to her own house, as 
 she saw that her presence gave but little 
 pleasure or comfort to her daughter, yet her 
 affection for Beatrice was so great that she 
 consented to remain a few weeks longer.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 1 75 
 
 They 'had searched everywhere in vain for a 
 key to open the old Indian cabinet, but Mrs. 
 Dronington had determined, before her de- 
 parture, to ask for Sir Charles's permission 
 to break it open. Of course she was un- 
 willing to do this if it could be avoided, and 
 therefore they went on from time to time 
 trying all the keys they could find or borrow. 
 
 On this particular evening, after Lady 
 Lillyford had left the drawing-room, Bea- 
 trice and her grandmother remained there 
 for some time, as the old lady wanted to 
 finish a piece of work she had promised to 
 send the next day to an old friend for her 
 bazaar; and as Beatrice was reading aloud a 
 book which interested her very much, she 
 was glad to remain in the comfortable chair 
 by the fire. 
 
 When the old cuckoo-clock on the stairs 
 struck twelve, Mrs. Dronington started up, 
 ashamed to find how late it was, for since 
 the departure of the guests they had kept 
 much earlier hours, and as she concluded
 
 176 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 that the servants had all gone to bed, she 
 proceeded to put on the fire-guard, and take 
 off some pieces of wood. 
 
 "Who is that?" exclaimed Beatrice, as 
 she heard the door open at the farther end 
 of the long room. 
 
 " No one," said Mrs. Dronington. " You 
 must fancy it ; they are all gone to bed. 
 The only good point about those foreign 
 servants is, they do seem to like early 
 hours." 
 
 " I heard the door open, I am certain," 
 said Beatrice, looking towards the farther 
 end, which was almost dark, for the light of 
 two candles scarcely reached half-way. " See, 
 look !" she said, in a voice almost inarticu- 
 late with terror, clutching her grandmother's 
 arm. 
 
 Mrs. Dronington looked in the direction 
 she pointed to, and distinctly saw the figure 
 of a woman cross the room in a dark brown 
 dress, and approach the deep bay window. 
 At the farther end of the bay the figure
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 177 
 
 turned, and fronted them for a moment or 
 two. 
 
 It was the face of an elderly woman — al- 
 most preternaturally old, the lines in it 
 were so angular, and so strongly marked, 
 even by that dim light ; and its ashy pale- 
 ness contrasted in an unearthly manner with 
 a pair of wild and piercing eyes, which al- 
 most seemed to flash fire out of the dark- 
 ness upon them. 
 
 The figure stood there for a moment, then 
 turned suddenly and vanished in the dim- 
 ness of the farther end. Again the door 
 opened and closed, and Beatrice's quick ear 
 heard footsteps pass along the passage at the 
 back of the drawing-room. 
 
 For some moments they both seemed too 
 much alarmed to stir ; but soon Mrs. Dron- 
 ington said, 
 
 " Let us follow it; maybe somebody has 
 got in — some thief or mad woman. Come, 
 quick !" 
 
 They took up their bed-room candles, 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and leaving the drawing-room, passed along 
 the passage which led to the foot of the oak 
 staircase. As they went up, they fancied 
 that they heard the door of the burnt room 
 open and shut. 
 
 " Oh ! grandmamma, don't let us follow 
 her there. I cannot go there at this time 
 of night," said the trembling Beatrice. 
 
 The next moment they distinctly heard 
 the crying as of a child in pain, and when 
 they reached the landing, they distintly saw 
 a light shining under the door of the burnt 
 room, and through the chinks of it. Mrs. 
 Dronington was resolved to examine into 
 this strange appearance, and pressed for- 
 ward to open the door, but to her astonish- 
 ment she found it locked. 
 
 "It is always kept locked," whispered 
 Beatrice, shivering. " How could the 
 figure have entered there ? If she did, it 
 must be the ghost. Do — do — do come away 
 to our own rooms." 
 
 " Stay," said the courageous old lady.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 179 
 
 " I will not stir as long as the light remains." 
 The next moment it suddenly disappear- 
 ed, and simultaneously a blast of cold wind 
 blew out their own candles, and the door of 
 the room was heard in the darkness to open 
 and shut with a loud bang. 
 
 The terrified Beatrice afterwards declared 
 that she felt a cold hand pass over her face, 
 as if it were feelmg her features, and she 
 sank down faulting on the floor. Mrs. 
 Dronington called loudly for help, and en- 
 deavoured to raise her grand-daughter. At 
 last her maid heard her cries, and the 
 French cook also came running down the 
 upper stairs, both of them in their night 
 gear. 
 
 At that moment a loud cry from Lady 
 Lillyford's room was heard, and on hasten- 
 ing there, they found her sitting up in hei* 
 bed in hysterics, and it was some time be- 
 fore she could explain the cause of her 
 alarm. By degrees they discovered that 
 she had been awakened suddenly by the 
 
 k2
 
 180 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 cry of a child, which had seemed close to 
 the head of her bed, and looking up in 
 great terror, she saw a figure in brown 
 grinning horribly at her between the cur- 
 tains, and starmg full in her face with pierc- 
 ing, fiery eyes. 
 
 " It must have been a ghost," said Lady 
 Lillyford. " I never saw a living face of 
 such ghastly paleness. I am sure the eyes 
 were burning red-hot coals — they quite 
 seemed to scorch me. I tried to call out, 
 and I believe I fainted. Oh ! get me up — 
 I cannot stay in this room another minute ; 
 I should go mad. I cannot get the face out 
 of my head." 
 
 As soon as Lady Lillyford had partially 
 dressed, had made herself up comfortably 
 in Beatrice's room, and was somewhat paci- 
 fied, Mrs. Dronington ordered the burnt 
 room to be opened, the men-servants called 
 up, and directed them to search all over the 
 house and garden. 
 
 Every part of the house was well secured,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 181 
 
 all the outer doors were locked, neitlier did 
 it appear that any one of them had been 
 broken open. No trace of any intruder 
 was to be found. It was true that the bolt 
 of the glass door leading from the library 
 into the conservatory was found to have 
 been pushed back, and the butler declared 
 he had bolted it before he went to bed. 
 Still, the conservatory itself was locked, and 
 no one from the outside could have pushed 
 back the bolt. Therefore, Mrs. Dronington 
 began reluctantly to think, as everyone else 
 did, that the woman in brown was a super- 
 natural appearance. 
 
 While Mrs. Dronington was causing these 
 searches to be made, Beatrice was sitting by 
 her mother's bedside, endeavouring to calm 
 her fears. But she found this no easy task, 
 for it sometimes happens that those people 
 who have the least fear or belief in super- 
 natural appearances become the most alarm- 
 ed when a conviction of their possibility is 
 forced upon their minds. Lady Lillyford
 
 182 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 declared it was quite impossible she could 
 remain another night at Oakhampton, and 
 that her mother must allow her to go to her 
 house in Wirapole Street, until Sir Charles 
 had been persuaded to take a house for the 
 season in London, 
 
 This was the only idea that seemed to 
 tranquillise her fears, and Beatrice began to 
 see that it would probably be necessary for 
 her mother's health. So she did not oppose 
 the plan, although she regretted deeply that 
 her residence in a place which she had 
 grown to love better than any other, should 
 be brought to this sudden end. Her tears 
 flowed fast at the thought, and the idea of 
 leaving the place where Elfrida Somerton 
 was living, without even having once seen 
 her, was most painful. 
 
 The day had begun to dawn when Mrs. 
 Dronington returned from her search, and 
 the investigation she had caused to be made 
 in the garden and shrubberies to see if any 
 person could be concealed there. She fully
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 183 
 
 expected that this alarm would put a " fin- 
 ishing stroke," as she said, to her daughter's 
 dislike to the old country place, and was not 
 surprised at her determination to leave it 
 that very day. So she lay down to rest for 
 a couple of hours, and then wrote a note to 
 Mrs. Somerton to explain the motive of her 
 daughter's sudden departure, and express 
 the regret she felt at leaving Oakhampton 
 without seeing them again, more particularly 
 as she had never succeeded in opening the 
 Indian cabinet. But she promised to tell 
 Sir Charles, when she met him in London, 
 the reason for wishing to open it, and induce 
 him to consent that Mrs. Somerton should 
 inspect it herself while the family were 
 away.
 
 184 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Suspense. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 npHERE are few real trials so difficult to 
 -^ bear with clieerfulness as suspense. I 
 mean that the actual certainty of a misfor- 
 tune obliges us, after the first blow, to bear 
 it with some kind of philosophy or resigna- 
 tion, and make the best of it; but the uncer- 
 tain, the vague, untangible fears and appre- 
 hensions caused by a vivid imagination when 
 a series of circumstances seem to point at, 
 without forming a real cause for sorrow, 
 produce a fluctuation of hope and fear that 
 undermines cheerfulness. 
 
 Elfrida Somerton was becoming gradually 
 depressed, in spite of all her efforts to be 
 grateful for the numerous blessings she pos-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 185 
 
 sessed. She sought more than ever to find 
 enjoyment in their picturesque and comfort- 
 able old house, and in her endeavour to pro- 
 mote the happiness of those around her. 
 But she inherited her mother's sensitive and 
 dehcate organization, and this made it more 
 difficult for her to bear up against grief. 
 
 On the mornins^ after the alarm at Oak- 
 hampton, described in the last chapter, Elfri- 
 da awoke with a feeling of more than usual 
 depression, which took the form of a kind of 
 vague presentiment that her undefined^ fears 
 and anxieties would now assume some tangi- 
 ble form. Her mother observed her listless 
 and yet anxious gaze as she sat down at her 
 drawing-table in the bay window after 
 breakfast, and looked out on the road where 
 the postman came about that time. 
 
 They did not receive many letters, for 
 most of the friends they had been intimate 
 with were living abroad, and they had but 
 few relations in England. But the postman 
 often came up to their door with proof-
 
 186 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 sheets, as Mrs. Somerton was bringing out a 
 book. That day, however, he passed along 
 the road without coming up the little walk 
 to the hall-door, and Elfrida could scarcely 
 repress a tear, for she fancied a letter must 
 come from Gratz or Hohenstein that day. 
 
 Her mother saw her disappointment, but 
 said nothing ; only pointed out a passage in 
 a book she was reading, which she thought 
 would interest her daughter, and perhaps 
 change the current of her thoughts. But 
 before she began to read it they saw a ser- 
 vant in the Lill}^ord livery come up the 
 walk with a note in his hand. It was Mrs. 
 Dronington's hastily-written farewell. Her 
 account of the reason for this sudden depar- 
 ture was so confused, that they could 
 scarcely make head or tail of it. 
 
 " See what she says," said Mrs. Somerton, 
 reading out some passages. " ^ A ghost 
 frightened my daughter and stood between 
 her bed-curtains ! — a light under the door 
 of the burnt room, which was locked and
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 187 
 
 no one in it ! — a cold hand over Beatrice's 
 face and made her faint.' What can it all 
 mean? What a pity we cannot see Mrs. 
 Dronington, for she never could describe 
 anything intelligibly in writing. She says 
 at the end that she Svill try to send the key 
 of the Indian cabinet when she sees Sir 
 Charles in London.' " 
 
 " Then we shall never see Beatrice ahy 
 more," was the principal thought which El- 
 frida's already depressed mind gathered from 
 the confused note. 
 
 " I should so like to have heard what im- 
 pression the old place and this thoroughly 
 English scenery made upon her ; whether 
 she had enjoyed it as much — as much as I 
 ought and might have done." 
 
 "I have no doubt she has,'' said Mrs. 
 Somerton ; "for though extremely unde- 
 veloped and untrained, she has the kind of 
 nature to be impressed advantageously by 
 English scenery. She may have, in a far 
 less degree than you have, some little feel-
 
 188 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ing for an absent person; and if she cares for 
 no one else, I have no doubt that her walks 
 under the fine old oaks and among the fern- 
 clad dells of the beautiful park have deve- 
 loped it, if the object were at all worthy of 
 her thoughts. But see, the sun is shining 
 now and the rain over, so let us put on our 
 bonnets and go to Peggy, and show her and 
 her brother this strange note. Perhaps 
 they may have heard more, and can tell 
 what is likely to have frightened Lady Lilly- 
 ford and her daughter so much." 
 
 " You mean whether it is like the appari- 
 tion which is said to have been seen before ? 
 Oh! yes, do let us go." 
 
 They found Mr. Mordaunt and his sister 
 at home, but there was something so embar- 
 rassed in the manner of both, that it made 
 them feel that their visit was ill-timed. 
 
 Elfrida fancied that it was something con- 
 nected with herself, from the anxious looks 
 Mr. Mordaunt stealthily directed towards 
 her, though he tried to look indifferent.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 189 
 
 He was a bad actor, and the post that 
 morning had brought a letter concerning his 
 ward, which surprised and indeed vexed him 
 beyond measure. Peggy had been almost 
 as much annoyed by it, but her happier 
 temperament and robust nature enabled her 
 to bear it with more apparent calmness — not 
 indifference, for she too looked on Elfrida 
 with anxious . fondness ; and then, thinking 
 that perhaps her brother might wish to tell 
 Mrs. Somerton what he had heard, she 
 drew Elfrida into an adjoining room, under 
 pretext of showing her some frocks she had 
 just finished for the school-children. 
 
 " So there has been a sad to-do up at the 
 Hall, I find," said Peggy; "the old story, I 
 suppose, of a brown figure gliding about in 
 dark corners, and lights seen in the burnt 
 room. I really don't know what to think 
 about it. In some cases of well-attested 
 ghost stories there seemed to have been 
 some use in the supernatural appearance. 
 But unless there is, I cannot believe that
 
 190 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 the spirits of those who are gone should be 
 permitted to come and frighten people out 
 of their senses." 
 
 " Yet in all ages, from the time of the 
 witch of Endor, they seem to have appeared," 
 said Elfrida ; " and after all, are we to be 
 the judges of whether there is a use in it or 
 not ? I am inclined to think the idea men- 
 tioned by Plato may be the t^rue one, that 
 guilty souls are allowed for a time to haunt 
 the scenes of their crimes." 
 
 They continued to speak on this subject 
 for some minutes, but they both felt that the 
 under-current of their thoughts was absorbed 
 by something else, and they spoke mechani- 
 cally, as it were, merely for the sake of 
 keeping up some kind of conversation. At 
 last Elfrida could bear the suspense no 
 longer, and she said, 
 
 *' I am certain you and your brother have 
 heard some bad news. Do tell me what it 
 is — something that concerns Mr. — Edward 
 Luscombe — I am certain."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 191 
 
 Peggy looked perplexed for a minute, and 
 then said, " Well, I'm always for knowing 
 the worst of everything, and so I told Henry 
 when we read the letter, and — and — but 
 your mother had better tell you. She could 
 do it better than I can, and she has read the 
 letter by this time. Wait here and I'll fetch 
 her, for you should be alone together." 
 
 There was bad news, then, and it con- 
 cerned him. 
 
 During the few moments that elapsed be- 
 tween the departure of Peggy and her mo- 
 ther's entrance into the room, Elfrida's ima- 
 gination had ranged over every possible 
 and impossible subject for woe. The agony 
 that seems to be concentrated into a short 
 space of time when we have proof that a 
 vaguely apprehended misfortune has become 
 certain, while yet we are in ignorance of the 
 real facts, such suffering is almost beyond 
 any positive known woe. 
 
 Mrs. Soraerton's first words were, 
 
 " I don't believe it, and I will not. There
 
 192 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 must be some horrible mistake. There, you 
 may read the letter ; you must know, my 
 dear, dear child, what has been said or sup- 
 posed, but I will not believe it; nor will 
 you, I am sure ; and this, our unbelief, will 
 be our only comfort." 
 
 " But, mamma, whatever it is, I see Mr. 
 Mordaunt and his sister are evidently miser- 
 able ; how and why, then, can we disbelieve 
 it ?" said Elfrida, who was more apprehen- 
 sive, or rather, as it was apparently her own 
 self that was more unmediately concerned, 
 she could afford to be so. For there is 
 often a sort of self-justification in the dis- 
 belief we accord to the calamities of our 
 friends, whereas our conscience prompts us 
 to face the worst concerning ourselves, and 
 perhaps, in order to avoid future disappoint- 
 ment, we unconsciously exaggerate any pre- 
 sent misfortune. 
 
 So Elfrida would fsice the worst, and there- 
 fore asked to see the letter which had caused 
 this as yet undefined misery.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 193 
 
 In order to understand better than she 
 and her friends could do, the purport of Mr. 
 Stemdale's letter, we will look in upon the 
 splendid fete which was given at the Castle 
 of Hohenstein on the evening before the in- 
 tended marriage of its heiress. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A Mystery. 
 
 npHE same night on which Mrs. Somerton 
 -^ dreamt her strange dream about Oak- 
 hampton Hall, the grand ball took place at 
 Hohenstein Castle, or rather (as had been 
 arranged) in one of the caves beneath its 
 base. The Graf had placed the carrying out 
 of the fete in the hands of Cunigunda, at her 
 urgent request, and certainly she had more 
 than fulfilled the high expectations already 
 raised. 
 
 The uneven ground had been boarded 
 over, and lamps of every hue illuminated 
 the brilliant roof and columns, formed of 
 the white incrustations from the roof, which, 
 meeting those rising up from the ground,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 195 
 
 produced a variety of graceful forms, re- 
 sembling Corinthian and other pillars. Be- 
 hind one large stalactite lights were placed^ 
 and being transparent, it shone with a pale 
 pink light, producing a beautiful and magical 
 effect. Garlands of flowers formed a boun- 
 dary in some places ; in others distant vistas, 
 illuminated by chains of coloured lamps,, 
 stretched as far, apparently, as the eye could 
 reach ; in others curtains of tapestry, or of 
 Aubusson, closed up cavernous depths, which, 
 if left unscreened, would have spoiled the 
 composition, and produced a feeling of deso- 
 lation. 
 
 It was truly a scene of enchantment, a bit 
 of fairyland, a realization of some of the 
 most graceful dreams of German imagina- 
 tion, such as De la Motte Fouque loved to 
 paint, and by which he has entranced grown- 
 up children of all nations. 
 
 Some of the distant vistas were bordered 
 with what appeared like strings of l)rilliant 
 emeralds, others with rubies or sapphires ; 
 
 2
 
 196 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and they were strung in festoons, with a 
 larger light, that resembled a diamond, as a 
 centre brooch. 
 
 In fact, the effect was like splendid neck- 
 laces of precious stones, set in every kind 
 of graceful device. Some appeared to cul- 
 minate in a fanciful and intricate pattern, 
 beneath which seats covered with velvets of 
 different colours were placed. From these 
 more open, and, as it were, pubHc seats, 
 others placed in shade, and only partly il- 
 lumined, might be discerned in the boundless 
 background. These Cunigunda called '''Con- 
 versationen-Sizen^'' and pointed them out to 
 many a young pair as they passed up and 
 down the broader walks, while her malici- 
 ously-speaking eyes seemed to say, " Those 
 are flirting places." 
 
 In some of these seats the light was 
 shaded by a trellis- work of fragrant flowers, 
 which produced a kind of chequered shade, 
 and emitted the most delicious perfumes. 
 
 Mr. Sterndale was moving slowly along,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 197 
 
 contemplating this remarkable scene, wlien 
 he came upon Edward Luscombe, who ap- 
 peared to be similarly occupied, only he was 
 standing still. 
 
 " Hanging about the corners again," said 
 Mr. Sterndale. ''You remind me of the 
 old story one has heard of about the ' ele- 
 gant^ extracts,' as they were called, in the 
 days of the Prince Regent. ' The 10th don't 
 dance.' Well, I don't wonder at it, to-night, 
 anyhow, for this really is like a scene from 
 the ' Arabian Nights.' " 
 
 " And the whole thing is wonderfully 
 well managed," said Edward. " This place 
 would be as cold and damp as a cellar, if it 
 were not for those charcoal-burners behind 
 the curtains, that form a screen of warm air, 
 while the smoke goes away into the caverns 
 beyond. It must have cost a mint of money." 
 
 " Well, I've done nothing but stare as yet, 
 and not exclusively at the fairy scene eitlier. 
 I have been watching that cousin witli tlie 
 sixth-century-sounding name — Cunigunda.
 
 198 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 There is a strange kind of power in her — 
 the power of an unscrupulous will, and a 
 chameleon-like manifestation of good and 
 evil. I should advise all whom it may con- 
 cern — and, not to be vague, I should advise 
 you — to be careful of her." 
 
 " But I haven't a penny," interrupted Ed- 
 ward Luscombe. , 
 
 '' She could make a fool of you all the 
 same," said Mr. Sterndale, without any varia- 
 tion of tone. 
 
 " Not now — that is, it's out of the ques- 
 tion." 
 
 "Well, keep it so, that's all. But it 
 doesn't seem to be out of the question with 
 Fairleigh. Look at him being made a cat's- 
 paw and an extra string to her bow." 
 
 " Well, the only string I should say; surely 
 the Count and Dorina are safe from her now, 
 seeing that their wedding-day is to-morrow.'^ 
 
 "I trust it may be so," said Mr. Sterndale, 
 shrugging his shoulders. " But I cannot get 
 rid of the feeling that something dreadful is
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 199 
 
 coming ; perhaps an earthquake. I am sure 
 there is no knowing what may not happen 
 at any moment, in a place like this, where 
 there are all kinds of horrible chasms under 
 one's feet — gloomy abysses ready to swallow 
 one up. It is so like the German mind, to 
 have fixed on a mystic place like this palace 
 of the genii, for a dance." 
 
 Edward Luscombe started, but not at Mr. 
 Sterndale's words. 
 
 " Look there !" he said. " Did you see the 
 expression of Cunigunda's face just then, as 
 her cousin and Count Rossi passed her? 
 Well, if ever the green-eyed monster " 
 
 " Of course I did, and I have seen it in 
 her before. She is of the stuff they make 
 sensation dramas of. Depend upon it, she's 
 a queerer customer than you have ever come 
 across yet. See if she does not make the 
 Count, who is going to be married to-morrow 
 morning, dance with her now — I am con- 
 vinced that she is going to do it, and very 
 much against his will, too."
 
 200 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Mr. Sterndale was right. A few minutes 
 afterwards Cunigunda went up to the bride- 
 groom (as he is called in Germany even be- 
 fore the ceremony takes place), and with her 
 playful " One dance with me, Count, this last 
 night, and Dorina be our vis-a-vis ^^^ she car- 
 ried him off triumphantly. 
 
 This conversation took place towards the 
 end of the evening, and some of the lamps 
 in the remoter avenues, which were smaller 
 than the rest, had begun to fail. It was 
 soon after one of the most spirited dances, 
 and numerous couples were pacing along the 
 avenues, or sought in their comparative re- 
 tirement a cherished place for rest amid the 
 flowery bowers. 
 
 The farther end of the chain of emeralds 
 that led from the main ball-room was quite 
 extinguished, and suddenly loud cries were 
 heard in that direction. Count Rossi had just 
 finished his dance with Cunigunda, and they 
 were standing nearer the centre column, in a 
 most conspicuous place. On hearing these
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 201 
 
 cries they both uttered exclamations of hor- 
 ror, and the first words of Cunigunda were, 
 '' Mein Gott, wo ist Dorina I" Already the 
 Count had rushed off in the direction of the 
 cries and extinguished lights, followed by 
 many others, but Cimigunda remained where 
 she had been standing, and Mr. Sterndale 
 remarked what he fancied to be a triumphant 
 look on her face. But the next moment 
 she began to call out again, and then fol- 
 lowed the rest towards the spot. 
 
 Mr. Sterndale was determined not to lose 
 sight of her, and he thought she perceived 
 his intentions, for she began to address her 
 utterances of fear and anxiety more particu- 
 larly to him, and her "Mein Gott, wo ist 
 Dorina!" sounded more pitiful than ever. 
 
 He stopped her suddenly, looking full into 
 her face, while he laid his hand on her shoul- 
 der, and asked, " Why do you mention her 
 name more than any other? What reason 
 have you to fear most for her ?" 
 
 " It is — it is because," she said, hesitating
 
 202 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and turning pale, "because I saw her last 
 going towards the emerald avenue, leaning 
 on young Mr. Luscombe's arm." 
 
 " Ha !" exclaimed Mr. Sterndale, while a 
 terrible suspicion, or rather two or three 
 suspicions, flashed across his mind. He 
 hurried off in the direction of the extin- 
 guished lamps, and consequently lost sight 
 of Cunigunda. 
 
 A scene of the utmost confusion ensued, 
 for the whole chain of emerald lights were 
 now extinguished, and most of those per- 
 sons who ran towards the spot whence the 
 cries proceeded were in total darkness. 
 Except in the long alleys, which had been 
 boarded over, not only was the ground un- 
 even, but deep fissures and chasms occasion- 
 ally appeared, into which a false step might 
 precipitate anyone to a great depth. Soon, 
 however, torches were brought by the Graf's 
 order, and he came down from the banquet- 
 ing-hall, where he had been among some 
 of his guests at supper, as soon as he heard
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 203 
 
 that an accident had happened in the cave. 
 Several persons had fallen down in their 
 efforts to follow, and at the farther end, 
 where the lights had first gone out, some of 
 the guests had fallen a considerable depth, 
 and were much hurt, but no trace of Dorina 
 or Edward Luscombe could be discovered. 
 The terrified Graf and Count Rossi seized 
 a couple of torches, and went in different 
 directions, while they sent others into all 
 the known alleys and intricacies of the cave. 
 At this moment Mr. Sterndale again saw 
 Cunigunda, and fancied that there was a 
 look of greater anxiety on her face, but 
 whether caused by real fright or the appre- 
 hended failure of some diabolical plan, he 
 could not determine. 
 
 Soon afterwards all the brilliant illumina- 
 tions in the cave went out, and only a few 
 torches were left to throw a dim li^ht on 
 the terrible scene. Mr. Sterndale could see 
 that Cunigunda was ringing her hands with 
 dismay, but she clung to Arthur Fairleigh,
 
 204 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 imploring him not to leave her, or she 
 would be sure to fall into some of the 
 dreadful depths. Mr. Sterndale saw that 
 the crowd rather impeded than otherwise 
 the search for the missing 'couple, and sug- 
 gested that the best plan would be for all 
 the guests to leave the cave, and endeavour 
 to send down more people with torches. 
 
 Cunigunda caught at the idea, and im- 
 plored Fairleigh to escort her up to the 
 castle. She said that Dorina's old nurse 
 would be in dreadful anxiety, and she 
 might be of use to her. Again Mr. Stern- 
 dale determined, as far as possible, to keep 
 his eye on Cunigunda, and followed her up 
 the winding stairs ; but she soon left Mr. 
 Fairleigh, and retreated into the private 
 apartments of the family, where it was im- 
 possible for anyone to penetrate. 
 
 No one thought of going to bed that 
 night, and although nearly all the guests 
 had left the cave, they remained in the 
 banqueting-hall, which was not far from its
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 205 
 
 entrance, in order to obtain the first intelli- 
 gence, when those parties who were search- 
 ing should return. 
 
 Towards morning the Graf and his bro- 
 ther (Cunigunda's father) returned, muddy, 
 wet, and bruised, but their search had been 
 unsuccessful, and the Graf was now deter- 
 mined to proceed to the cave of Adelsberg, 
 with which, it was said, there was a commu- 
 nication from those under the Castle, and 
 cause search to be made in every direction 
 there. He had left some servants with 
 torches in different parts underneath, and 
 the Count Rossi was still searching in an- 
 other direction. The Graf took a compass 
 with him, in order to ascertain the south- 
 eastern direction, in case they found avenues 
 from one set of caves to the other, and sent 
 down a party to start from the caves under- 
 neath, and, if possible, meet those coming 
 from the Adelsberg caves. 
 
 Just as the miserable father was leaving 
 the Castle with Mr. Sterndale on this his
 
 206 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 most uncertain expedition, one of tlie garde- 
 ners rushed into the hall, and said he feared 
 that their search would be useless, because 
 he was now sure that the two persons he 
 had seen pass along the south terrace walk 
 in the moonlight just before midnight, were 
 the Grafin and Herr Luscombe. They were 
 walking very quietly towards the stables. 
 On being asked whether he saw their faces, 
 and was sure it was the Grafin, he said he 
 could not tell, but that when he heard she 
 could not be found anywhere, he thought it 
 might be possible. 
 
 "Still," he said, "it seemed so unlikely 
 the Grafin should be going towards the 
 stables at that time of night, he would not 
 have thought of mentioning it, if Frau Wit- 
 tenheimer, Grafin Cunigunda's maid, had 
 not said she saw them from her window, and 
 was sure it must have been the Grafin, be- 
 cause she had on a white veil and a pink 
 dress." 
 
 " Have any horses been taken from the
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 207 
 
 stables?" inquired the Graf, who was by 
 this time so bewildered that he was ready 
 to fear or believe anything ; and too fever- 
 ishly anxious to wait for an answer, he hur- 
 ried there himself. There he found, to his 
 dismay, that two horses had been taken 
 away without any of the stable people's 
 knowledge, and that they could be nowhere 
 found.
 
 208 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Search. 
 
 "1 MESSENGERS were now sent in all 
 ^-^ directions to inquire of tlie country 
 people whether anyone had been seen riding 
 away from the Castle. But still the Graf 
 proceeded to Adelsberg, because it seemed 
 to be the general impression that his daugh- 
 ter had been seen entering the emerald 
 avenue, not long before those fearful cries 
 were heard which caused such alarm among 
 the company. 
 
 Count Rossi had not yet returned from 
 his search in the cave, but as the Graf 
 had met him twice in the course of their 
 search, and Jagers were stationed at intervals 
 with torches in the principal passages, they 
 did not fear for his safety, and the distracted
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 209 
 
 lover had declared his mtention never to give 
 up the search till he had found Dorina. 
 
 On the departure of the Graf for Adels- 
 berg, his brother returned to the cave, and 
 the old steward wisely sent refreshments 
 down for the Count and all those who were 
 determined to prolong their search, also re- 
 storatives for the Grafin, if they were so 
 fortunate as to find her alive. But as four- 
 teen hours had now passed since she disap- 
 peared, few among the anxious throng could 
 venture to indulge a hope that if she were 
 really in the cave she could be alive. 
 
 Dorina was loved by all the retainers and 
 peasants on her father's vast estates, and 
 bitter were the lamentations uttered by all 
 who heard of the catastrophe. That she 
 should have died in some dark recess of 
 those vast caves was fearful to think of, and 
 yet the other supposition — that she had fled 
 with the English youth on the very day 
 before she was to wed the Count, seemed 
 still more revolting. 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Mr. Stemdale and Arthur Fairleigli went 
 down into the cave, after the departure of 
 the Graf for Adelsberg, with the party who 
 had determined to examine the emerald 
 passage and its surrounding outlets, in order 
 to ascertain, if possible, the origin of the 
 cries of distress which had perhaps induced 
 Dorina and Edward Luscombe to hasten on 
 beyond the parts that were illuminated. 
 They might have taken another turn, and 
 thus lost themselves in the darkness. They 
 found that about twenty yards beyond, and 
 on the left of the flowery seat which termin- 
 ated the emerald avenue, the floor descended 
 suddenly to a much lower level, and there 
 was a narrow entrance to a much smaller 
 cavern. This lower cave had three small 
 outlets, and Mr. Sterndale and Mr. Fairleigh 
 determined to pursue the centre one, because 
 it was lower, and because it appeared to de- 
 scend more precipitously than the other 
 two. 
 
 As the Adelsberg caves were on a lower
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 211 
 
 level than those of Hohenstein^ they thought 
 that the lower they kept the more likely 
 they were to reach them. As they pro- 
 ceeded, they searched on the ground in 
 hopes of finding footmarks that might serve 
 as a guide. In one place Mr, Sterndale 
 fancied he saw the print of a small foot. 
 Again, further on^ there was another, but no 
 larger one ; therefore, if this was Dorina's, 
 they considered she must have been alone 
 at that time. Soon afterwards these pas- 
 sages became narrower, and so low that they 
 could scarcely stand upright ; but as they 
 proceeded farther, it opened out into a cave 
 so large and high, that though they held up 
 their torches for some time, no boundaries 
 were visible. Keeping close to one side 
 they went on, and to their dismay discovered 
 a great number of outlets; and here the 
 droppings from the roof formed numerous 
 pools, so that no footsteps could be dis- 
 covered. 
 
 They then began reluctantly to acknow- 
 
 V t
 
 212 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 ledge that a further search could lead to no 
 good result, and fearing to lose themselves 
 irrecoverably, they selected one of the out- 
 lets that led m a southerly direction. As 
 no footsteps could here be discovered, it 
 was evident that the people who had been 
 sent in search of Dorina had not penetrated 
 in this direction. 
 
 Soon afterwards, however, they met Count 
 Rossi and a large party of gentlemen and 
 servants, and informed him of the small 
 footprint they had seen in the narrow pass- 
 age. The Count of course wished to go 
 and search in that direction, and the two 
 Englishmen accompanied him. But they 
 found it impossible to remember which of 
 the numerous outlets from the large cave 
 which contained pools of water, was the one 
 by which they had entered it. In vain they 
 searched in all directions ; no foot-prints, nor 
 even any passage so low as the one where 
 they had seen it, could be found. 
 
 The Count had not heard the report of
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 2 1 3 
 
 his betrothed having been seen on the ter- 
 race with Edward Luscombe, but one of the 
 party had, and being either shy or tired, 
 made it known suddenly. The unhappy 
 bridegroom treated the report at first as an 
 impossibihty ; then gradually he seemed to 
 become stunned by the news — so much so 
 that, though an Italian, he was outwardly 
 quite calm, and walked back to the Castle 
 without speaking a word. His eyes had a 
 glazed and vacant look; his cheeks were 
 ashy pale ; he walked as one in a dream, and 
 the party accompanied him in dead silence. 
 
 It was late when they reached the Castle. 
 The Graf had not returned from Adelsberg, 
 nor had anything been heard of the two per- 
 sons who were said to have left the Castle 
 on horseback the night before. 
 
 Another night of terrible suspense was 
 passed by the inhabitants of the Castle. 
 Count Rossi seemed overwhelmed with 
 grief, and shutting himself up in his own 
 room, refused to see any one.
 
 214 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 The next morning the Graf returned home, 
 much injured by a fall in the Adelsberg 
 cave, which broke his arm and bruised him 
 severely. That day Mr. Sterndale wrote 
 the letters to his old friend which caused 
 such woe at Oakharapton, for as three days 
 had passed and no intelligence of the miss- 
 ing pair had arrived, there was every reason 
 to fear either that they had perished in the 
 cave, or that the gardener's report was true. 
 
 The latter alternative Mr. Sterndale was 
 most reluctant to accept ; in fact, he believed 
 it to be almost an impossibility ; 3^et he 
 thought it necessary to mention all that had 
 been said, and what many even of the in- 
 mates of the Castle seemed gradually to ac- 
 cept as the truth. 
 
 This was the news which Elfrida heard 
 at the Rectory, and in the desolation of her 
 heart she scarcely knew which alternative 
 to choose, — whether to believe that he must 
 have died in the cave while his heart still 
 beat for her alone, or — or, no — the alterna-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 215 
 
 tive was unendurable. In that respect her 
 mother was right, she thought. It could 
 not be- 
 
 Mr. Sterndale concluded his letter by say- 
 ing that if he heard any fresh intelligence 
 he would immediately write, and in a post- 
 script he added that messengers had been 
 sent to Gratz as well as the neighbouring 
 towns where Edward Luscombe was known, 
 but no one had heard anything of him.
 
 216 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 Is he Guilty ? 
 
 rpWICE Mrs. Somerton and her daughter 
 -*- read through the letter together 
 which contained all this news, and at the 
 end each gazed wistfully into the counten- 
 ance of the other, as if to ascertain the chief 
 impression produced by it. The second 
 perusal seemed to have a more crushing 
 effect on Elfrida than the first ; and Mrs. 
 Somerton persuaded her to return home 
 without seeing the good Rector and his 
 sister, for she knew that in the hour of 
 newly-awakened grief no consolation can be 
 found in any human sympathy. So she led 
 her quietly out of the room, and Mr. Mor- 
 daunt and his sister, feeling that it would
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 217 
 
 be best to leave them alone, would not 
 even venture into the little hall, but sat ap- 
 parently reading with great attention their 
 several books till they heard the hall door 
 closed softly. Even then they did not look 
 towards the casement, through which they 
 might have seen the mother and daughter 
 pass along the gravel-walk ; for to minds 
 cast in such a sensitive mould as theirs, 
 there is something so sacred and hallowed 
 about those who suffer, that they would feel 
 it a kind of desecration to intrude upon 
 them by word or look. 
 
 Neither Mr. Mordaunt nor his sister spoke 
 for some minutes, but as Peggy was the 
 first to discover that she had not turned 
 over a page of her book since she read Mr. 
 Sterndale's letter, her practical turn of 
 mind induced her to shut it up, and take 
 out of her basket some work she was doing 
 for the poor people. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt, not liaving tliat kind of 
 resource for his hands, but startled into self-
 
 218 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 consciousness by seeing her change of em- 
 ployment, said abruptly, 
 
 '^ Well, I think I shall walk over to Fern- 
 cote Hall, and try to see the Miss Fairleighs. 
 It occurs to me that their brother, who was 
 with Mr. Sterndale in his search through 
 the caves, inight have written to them, and 
 possibly thrown some light on this mysteri- 
 ous affair." 
 
 ''Oh! yes, do," said Peggy, while her 
 face brightened. " Yes, he might perhaps 
 say more about that foot-print. I am so 
 anxious to know that he is dead. I mean 
 — I mean — you know what I mean — that 
 dear girl — I am sure it would be so much 
 easier for her to get over it than if he had 
 run away with that Grafin, as they call 
 her, just on the eve of her marriage, too. 
 And they all seemed to think her so good — 
 too good for this world, you know, Mr. 
 Sterndale said in one of his letters, and that 
 she was like the picture of some beautiful 
 saint painted by those old masters. I
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 219 
 
 seemed quite to love ^her from his descrip- 
 tion. " 
 
 "Well, I'll go, then." 
 
 " But won't you have some dinner first ? 
 for it's a good three miles' walk, and you 
 wouldn't be back till quite late. No ? But 
 perhaps the young ladies will be out ; if so, 
 mind you leave word to ask them to come 
 and see me to-morrow ; they are so good 
 and kind, and seem to like coming here 
 into this little old room. And Miss Rosa 
 said she wants to come and make a sketch 
 of it the first bright day. She likes these 
 old carved gables and mullioned windows, 
 and she says the church tower composes so 
 well. I don't know exactly what that 
 means, for I thought it applied chiefly to 
 music, and I used to think it was musical 
 airs that were' composed — and I never could 
 draw a line." 
 
 And so Peggy ran on, while her brother 
 was putting on his great-coat, for the day 
 was intensely cold ; and he lingered a little
 
 220 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 over the operation, fqr he was glad to see 
 that her elastic mind was experiencing a 
 kind of under-current of relief in speaking 
 about indifferent subjects. 
 
 " And what are you going to amuse your- 
 self with while I am away ?" he said. 
 
 " Well, I think I shall go and read to old 
 Dame Farrant, the old housemaid — I am fit 
 for nothing else ; and then I will go into 
 Mrs. Coles's, and sit with her for awhile, and 
 send her niece out for a walk. Ill take my 
 work there. Oh ! never fear, I shan't catch 
 her fever ; you know those close rooms 
 don't affect me at all."
 
 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The Advantages of Graceful Dancing. 
 
 ■^^R. MORDAUNT found the two Miss 
 ^^-*- Fairleighs were at home, and as they 
 play rather an important part in the future 
 liistory of Beatrice Lillyford, we must pause 
 awhile to make the reader acquainted w^ith 
 them, and with their home. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt had been in their house 
 several times, for they had come to take 
 possession of Ferncote early in the previous 
 November, and now it was March. 
 
 Ferncote was much the same character of 
 house as Oakhampton Hall, and, strange to 
 say, had remained equally unspoiled. It 
 was entirely of stone. The south front 
 looked on the old terraced garden, which
 
 222 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 sloped down to the lake ; on the other side 
 groves of oaks and beeches sheltered it from 
 the north wind, and clothed the base of 
 some steep chalky downs, beyond which 
 stretched a broad moor, covered with gorse 
 and purple heather. 
 
 Ferncote had no long gallery like that at 
 Oakhampton. Here the great hall was used 
 as the drawing-room, the inlaid floor was 
 covered with Turkey carpets, the massive 
 high stone mullioned windows were filled 
 with old stained glass, except the lower 
 panes, which looked over the garden and 
 lake ; the high dark oak roof was decorated 
 with the armorial quarterings of the Fair- 
 leighs, and the stone walls were himg with 
 numerous fulMength portraits of their ances- 
 tors, many of them in the quaint dresses of 
 the reigns of Elizabeth and James. Two 
 great fireplaces at either end diffused an 
 agreeable warmth throughout its great ex- 
 tent. 
 
 The oak panelling which covered the
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 223 
 
 walls half way up was enlivened here and 
 there with an Indian or inlaid cabinet, whose 
 tops glistened with china ; while settees, 
 covered with old stamped leather or tapestty, 
 and a row of ebony chairs inlaid with ivory, 
 which were one of the lions of the neigh- 
 bourhood, were ranged at intervals on either 
 side of this beautiful room. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt found the elder Miss Fair- 
 leigh seated in a high-backed oak chair near 
 the fire, reading aloud; and in the large bay 
 window close by, which formed a little room 
 of itself, her sister was busily occupied 
 mounting some of her summer and autumn 
 sketches. The eldest Miss Fairleigh w^as 
 nearly twenty years older than her sister, 
 and had been brought up in what was then 
 called the Evangelical or serious school, by 
 her mother. Some of the severest opinions 
 or prejudices of that sect had become in a 
 great measure modified when she was left, 
 by her widowed mother's death, sole guar- 
 dian to her young sister of ten years old,
 
 224 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 and a brother who was just going to college. 
 She could not help liking to see them dance, 
 and could not imagine any harm could come 
 of 'it; but the idea of a regular ball, begin- 
 ning at the hour when one ought to go to 
 bed, and lasting all night, keeping up servants 
 and others who could have nothing to do but 
 gamble or drink, was alike repugnant to her 
 early prejudices and to her practical com- 
 mon-sense. She had had many offers, and 
 she was now scarcely thirty-eight, but had 
 never yet been induced to say " Yes ;" and 
 whenever remonstrated with by intimate 
 friends on her obduracy, would reply that 
 she was quite certain she never was meant 
 to go in double harness. 
 
 " It is very good of you to come so far 
 on such a cold day," were the words that 
 greeted Mr. Mordaunt on his being ushered 
 into the large room. " I hope you will not 
 feel it cold here," continued the eldest Miss 
 Fairleigh ; " but my sister and myself are 
 such lovers of space, that we take every op-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 225 
 
 portunity of persuading ourselves it is better 
 for the pictures and books to sit here prin- 
 cipally, and keep up good fires. Other- 
 wise, until my brother comes home, most 
 people would think the library or small 
 drawing-room good enough for us." 
 
 " I am quite of your opinion," said Mr. 
 Mordaunt ; " size and space are to me one 
 of the greatest luxuries ; our ancestors un- 
 derstood this, and most of their dwellings 
 have at least one large hall or room, where 
 one can breathe in comfort, free alike from 
 stuffiness and draughts. But you mention 
 your brother. Have you heard from him 
 lately?" 
 
 " Not for ages," said Rosa, the youngest. 
 " I cannot think what he is about ; we have 
 been quite uneasy. The last letter was 
 written just after he had arrived at Hohen- 
 stein ; that would be a fortnight now, and 
 he is seldom so long in writing." 
 
 " Then you have not heard of the great 
 catastrophe ?" said Mr. Mordaunt. " I 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 lioped he could have thrown some light 
 upon it." 
 
 " Catastrophe ! — no, indeed ; do tell us," 
 eagerly said both the Miss Fairleighs. 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt then related, as nearly as 
 he could remember, the contents of Mr. 
 Sterndale's letter ; and when he had ended. 
 Miss Fairleigh said, 
 
 " I never heard of anything more painful, 
 for the survivors — the poor Graf von Ho- 
 henstein and the bridegroom ; how terrible 
 must be their sufferings ! Well, it is an- 
 other of one of the many dreadful things 
 that happen in ball-rooms. How people 
 can encourage such things passes my com- 
 prehension." 
 
 " But you do not object to dancing alto- 
 gether?" inquired Mr. Mordaunt, with a 
 half smile. 
 
 '' No, I can't say but that I like to see 
 Rosa dance, for she does it well ; for in- 
 stance, to enliven an evening, when a num- 
 ber of young people are together — I think
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 227 
 
 it very useful ; it warms tlieir feet, and gets 
 the blood out of their noses before they go 
 to bed. But driving fifteen or twenty miles 
 to begin and end with nothing else but 
 dancing, and to keep themselves up all 
 night, and be fit for nothing for two days 
 after, is what Ido object to, and so I liope 
 you do too." This latter sentence was ad- 
 dressed with a pointed emphasis to Mr. 
 Mordaunt, as much as to say, " You do not 
 know your duty as a clergyman if you do 
 not." " At any rate," she added, " Rosa 
 has promised to gratify me in one thing — 
 she will not valse or galop. I am perfectly 
 certain that I should want to box the ears 
 of any man, except Arthur, who should 
 dare to put his arm round her waist and 
 spin her round nolens volens ; it is an im- 
 pertinence I cannot and will not stand, and 
 has spoiled the manners of all the young 
 ladies of this generation." 
 
 " My sister Peggy would agree with 
 you about waltzmg, and so would Mrs. 
 
 q2
 
 228 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 Somerton," said Mr. Mordaunt ; " tliey re 
 old-fashioned enough to think that all grace- 
 fulness departed with the minuet." 
 
 " Yes, I am sure it did," said Miss Fair- 
 leigh. 
 
 " I must say I often wish," said Mr. Mor- 
 daunt, " that some of the old fetes for our 
 village folk could be revived again, as when 
 they ^ danced beneath the chequered shade ' 
 in old times. In these days holidays are 
 spent at the ale-house, and relaxation, hav- 
 ing no legitimate vent, is apt to lead to sin." 
 
 " Perhaps you will accomplish it in time," 
 said Miss Fairleigh. 
 
 "Never ; I am an old man now," said he; 
 "I belong to a past generation, and shall 
 disappear with its last relics. Going over to 
 Paris in ten hours is an idea that to me 
 savours more of pain than pleasure. When 
 I see the railroad invading our rustic valleys 
 I can sympathize with the sorrow of the red 
 man when he views the smoky factories of 
 the ' Pale face ' profaning what were once,
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 229 
 
 SO short a time ago, his regal hunting- 
 grounds." 
 
 " Yet you have done a great deal towards 
 restoring old customs and old pleasures," 
 said Miss Fairleigh ; " they tell me the music 
 you have at your church is wonderful for a 
 village. Rosa is always wanting me to go 
 there on Sundays. Ours certainly is very 
 bad — the poor children have no idea of time 
 or tune, but we hope to improve them 
 gradually." 
 
 "Yes," said Rosa, "and you have what 
 our poor people call a ' comedy,' haven't 
 3^ou? All the various old instruments 
 which used to be in village churches — clario- 
 nets, and bassoons, and flutes ; and we are 
 told you have contrived to make them all 
 play good music in time and tune, so that it 
 is quite a beautiful orchestra." 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt drew a deep sigh, and 
 nmsing, said, 
 
 " Yes, it is pretty well, Ijut you know I 
 am a bit of a violoncello player myself, and
 
 230 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 therefore I have worked them all at it m 
 the evenings twice a week ; ay, and it has 
 taken me thirty long years to accomplish it. 
 Wiien I came there first I found the 'comedy' 
 in full force, as they called it; and intolerable 
 though it was, I wished to preserve if pos- 
 sible to the poor people such a source of 
 pleasure as music can be made, and develop 
 in them the talent which the people of Old 
 England had in former times. So I began 
 to instruct them. Some were offended and 
 threw it up, others could not be induced to 
 practise, but at last I conquered all obstacles, 
 and, aided by one or two of undoubted 
 talent, we have at last made it what it is." 
 
 " Thirty years to accomplish it!" said Rosa, 
 looking up with a kind of wonder depicted 
 in her face. " That is indeed the work of a 
 life." 
 
 " One of the few and imperfect works of 
 a long life," he said, with a kind of sadness ; 
 " thirty years ago next Lady-day Peggy and 
 I first came to Oakhampton ; I was five-and-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 231 
 
 forty, a man wlio loved nothing so well as 
 books, and she a buxom lass of five-and- 
 twenty. Well, well, the world has indeed 
 taken a twirl all round its axis since then. 
 I often rub my eyes and ask where I am ; 
 the things that happen now outside of the 
 quiet valley of Oakhampton are so unlike 
 what used to happen when I first left the 
 busy life of a town, and took up my abode 
 there, that I sometimes feel like one of the 
 seven sleepers suddenly awoke up to find a 
 new generation and a new set of things and 
 of ideas." 
 
 " But to return to the choir. You have 
 singers too, have you not ?" said Rosa. 
 
 " Yes, and I had a couple of splendid 
 voices in my choir, but they left the village." 
 
 " And do you approve of the operas too ?" 
 inquired Miss Fairleigh. '' Oh, Mr. Mor- 
 daunt, I see you do. But what do you say 
 to the ballet ?" 
 
 " As I never saw one, I can say no tiling 
 about it."
 
 232 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " And you have painted glass and flowers 
 too in your church, I hear ?" 
 
 " Yes, I am very glad to bring whatever 
 beauty I can into the house of God. It 
 pleases my poor people, and " 
 
 Miss Fairleigh shook her head, but said 
 nothing. There was a silence for a few 
 moments or two, for Mr. Mordaunt was too 
 shy to continue speaking when he saw the 
 impossibility of convincing his opponent, and 
 as yet he had not readiness enough to change 
 the subject. Fortunately Rosa came to the 
 rescue, by inquiring about the family at Oak- 
 hampton. 
 
 "I believe that while we are speaking 
 they are actually on their way up to Lon- 
 don," said he. "Lady Lillyford was fright- 
 ened by a ghost or something last night, 
 and would start off immediately." 
 
 " Oh ! how sorry I am," said Miss Fair- 
 leigh. " I have wanted so much to see 
 Beatrice Lillyford. For although they would 
 not call on us, I hoped when my brother
 
 S. COUNTRY COTERIES. 233 
 
 came here they might meet. You know 
 he knew them very intimately at Rome ; 
 but I forgot, you are not acquainted with 
 them either, your sister tells me. I have 
 long wished so very much to see Miss 
 Lillyford," said Miss Fairleigh ; " and was 
 very nearly coming to your church on pur- 
 pose, when I heard their family never went 
 there, only to their own little chapel in the 
 Park." 
 
 " So you would come there on purpose to 
 see a young lady at church, yet you ob- 
 jected to come for the sake of the music 
 when your sister wished it," said Mr. Mor- 
 daunt, with a mixture of quiet irony and 
 amusement. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, you have caught me there, 
 you see ; but — but I had heard so much of 
 her from my brother in his letters. I may 
 as well tell you at once, for I am sure you 
 will not talk about it, he was very much 
 struck with her ; and I do so want to know 
 exactly what kind of girl she is."
 
 234 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " You should ask Mrs. Somerton," said 
 Mr. Mordaunt; "she knew Miss Lillyford 
 intimately abroad, and T believe they liked 
 her extremely." 
 
 " Ah ! I am glad of that, for I admire 
 that dear Mrs. Somerton and her pretty, 
 graceful daughter. Rosa, let us drive there 
 to-morrow- — I long to hear their impression 
 of Miss Lillyford." 
 
 " Not to-morrow, " said Mr. Mordaunt 
 quickly, and then stopped short, for he re- 
 membered that he could give no good reason 
 for this prohibition, and yet he felt con- 
 vinced that neither mother nor daughter 
 would like to receive visitors during their 
 present state of suspense ; but it was neces- 
 sary to make some excuse, he therefore 
 muttered something about hearing that Mrs. 
 Somerton was very busy correcting the 
 proof-sheets of her new book ; " and," he 
 added, with more confidence, " Miss Somer- 
 ton is very unwell — quite unfit to see any 
 one."
 
 COU^^TRY COTERIES. 235 
 
 " Oh ! but she would not mind me, I am 
 sure," said Rosa. "You have no idea what 
 a good nurse and doctor I am. Ah ! you 
 think not, I see. Well, will you let us hear 
 when we may go to see them, for you have 
 no idea of the state of mind we are in about 
 Miss Lillyford. Poor dear Arthur begged 
 us so earnestly to cultivate her acquaintance. 
 He says she has such a fine natural dispo- 
 sition, but has had great disadvantages ; and, 
 in fact, with all the best masters, has re- 
 ceived no real education at all." 
 
 " Very probable," said Mr. Mordaunt ; 
 " and it has appeared to us quite cruel to de- 
 prive her of enjo}dng the place as well as 
 participating in the duties of country life. 
 Her grandmother told me that she was 
 never so happy before as in the old place, 
 and admires the scenery in the Park more 
 than anything she ever saw all through the 
 course of her travel." 
 
 " Well done ! " exclaimed Rosa, clap- 
 ping her hands with delight. " And so you
 
 236 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 know her grandmother — do tell us more." 
 
 ^'Well. I don't know that I have any- 
 thing to tell," said he. " You know I have 
 never even seen her but once, and that was 
 passing through the village at a distance." 
 
 " How unlucky that her mother kept her 
 so shut up, for I wanted to have told Arthur 
 about her." 
 
 At that moment luncheon was announced, 
 and Mr. Mordaunt rose to take leave. 
 
 " You are not going to be so aliabb}^ as 
 to run off in this way," said Louisa. " You 
 must come in and eat a good luncheon, or 
 rather dinner, for we do not dine late while 
 Arthur is away ; and then you must let us 
 drive you home afterwards." 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt protested that he was well 
 able to walk, but it was no use. Miss Fair- 
 leigh was determined to have her own way. 
 
 " It will be a charity to use the horses, 
 they are eating their heads off. Besides, we 
 had intended to bring your sister some of 
 our geraniums this very afternoon, so we
 
 COUNTEY COTERIES. 2e37 
 
 •v^dll drive with you, and take our work and 
 drink tea with her and you, if you are not 
 busy." 
 
 "That will be kind indeed," said he; 
 " and she will be able to tell you better than 
 I can when Mrs. Somerton would be able to 
 see you."
 
 238 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Peggy thinks that a dozen eyes are required 
 to correct a Proof-sheet 
 
 /CLAMOROUS grief is generally short- 
 ^-^ lived, but grief wliich would last a 
 life-time is ofttimes born dumb. It also not 
 unfrequently happens that people who pos- 
 sess the deepest feelings are the least de- 
 monstrative of them, chiefly because the 
 strength which causes acute feelmg also 
 produces the self-control necessary to bear 
 calamities with resignation. If the well-mean- 
 ing Rector had allowed the Miss Fairleighs 
 to call on Mrs. Somerton the next day, as 
 they wished, they would have found both 
 mother and daughter, to all appearance.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 239 
 
 much the same as when they saw tliem be- 
 fore. 
 
 Elfrida was somewhat paler, and had been 
 unable to sleep the previous night, but she 
 dressed and came down at the usual hour, 
 and pursued her customary avocations with 
 rather more than wonted punctuality. All 
 great efforts become marked by something 
 of exaggeration. Her grief and anxiety 
 were so intense, and the effort to control 
 them so excessive, that her calmness was 
 necessarily exaggerated, and therefore in a 
 measure betrayed itself Until she had 
 heard of this positive misfortune, her vague 
 anxiety had made her listless and almost 
 desoeuvree. But there was no medium now : 
 the suffering was immediate and tangible, 
 and therefore she must give her whole 
 mind to controlling it. Mrs. Somerton saw 
 this plainly, and fully appreciated the power 
 and self-restraint which a first great sorrow 
 was callmg forth in her loved child. 
 
 After breakfast Mrs. Somerton saw Peggy
 
 240 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Mordaunt coming up to the door ; her soft 
 and cautious tread was so different from her 
 usually quick and energetic walk, that Mrs. 
 Somerton could scarcely refrain from smil- 
 ing. 
 
 " You will see that she will send to 
 ask whether we will see her ; in fact, she 
 must have some cogent reason for coming, 
 or she would not venture. Dear girl, thank 
 you for smiling too, that's right ; yes, go 
 into the hall yourself and bring her in, 
 darling." 
 
 Elfrida soon found herself in Peggy's ex- 
 pansive arms, and was sobbed over and 
 caressed for a few seconds, but neither of 
 them spoke till Mrs. Somerton came out. 
 
 Then Peggy dried her eyes and said, in a 
 hesitating voice, that she should not have 
 ventured to come, only she wished to know 
 how they were. 
 
 "And besides," said she, "I thought it 
 might interest you to know of a little ro- 
 mance connected with Ferncote. Mr. Fair-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 241 
 
 leigh knew Miss Lillyford abroad, and re- 
 members her still, and his sisters want greatly 
 to ask you both about her." 
 
 " It will be a great pleasure to us to tell 
 them," said Mrs. Somerton, "for we both 
 love that dear girl." 
 
 " Yes," said Elfrida, " and how delightful 
 it will be if she should become their sister, 
 and live so near us, and then we could see 
 her as often as she likes. And — but did not 
 your brother hear that that Mr. Fairleigh 
 admired poor Dorina's beautiful cousin ?" 
 
 And the thought that something of the 
 same kind of suffering as she now experi- 
 enced might be in store for Beatrice made 
 her heart sink. 
 
 " Yes, he did," said Pegg}^ " Oh ! dear 
 — oh ! dear, what a wicked thing ; and to 
 think how blind and perverse that Lady 
 Lillyford was ! All this time she has been 
 neglecting those dear affable girls, the sisters 
 of the very man perhaps her daughter carcMl 
 for. Who knows but that if she liad been 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 neiglibourly, as she ought, they would have 
 written to their brother long ago, and told 
 him all about the young lady he admired so 
 much; and then he would have hurried 
 home at once, and would never have been 
 taken so with any other." 
 
 ^' Well, there's no knowing, certainly," 
 she added, on seeing Elfrida's sorrowful 
 face. " ^Men are deceivers ever,' as the old 
 song says." 
 
 " Have they not heard from their brother 
 since ?" inquired Elfrida. 
 
 " No, they have not ; and that is just 
 w^hat we wanted to inquire yesterday after 
 you left us, in hopes — but they are sure to 
 hear soon, we think, and they will tell us, 
 because," she added hastily — "because they 
 know the young Grafin is a relation of 
 yours. There is the postman ; he must be 
 late to-day, for I thought it was past the 
 time," and Peggy turned to look at some 
 books, that she might not see Elfrida's wist-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 243 
 
 ful face as the maid entered the room and 
 laid something on the table. 
 
 " No letters, only proofs," said Mrs. 
 Somerton — " four proofs. We must work 
 hard now ; you know it requires two eyes — 
 I mean four, to correct proofs well." 
 
 •" A dozen, if they were like mine," said 
 Peggy, as she looked at the odd marks at 
 the side, and the queries, &c. "Well, to 
 be sure, to think I should be talking here 
 to you, just as I would to anybody, and 
 you a great authoress. So awful ! I feel 
 often quite ashamed of myself for not 
 being frightened at you, I do. Well, now, 
 ni go ; and I may really tell the Miss Fair- 
 leighs you will see them to-morrow ?" 
 
 r2
 
 244 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Permission. • 
 
 rnHE next morning's post brought a letter 
 -^ to Mrs. Somerton with the proofs, but 
 they were disappointed to see at the first 
 glance, as it was brought into the room, 
 that there was no foreign post-mark. On 
 closer inspection they descried the clear up- 
 right handwriting of Mrs. Dronington. Al- 
 though they did not expect that it could 
 contain any news that would relieve or com- 
 pose theu" anxieties, they read it eagerly, 
 and with a feeling of gratification for any 
 proof of interest from the old lady, to whom 
 they knew that letter-writing was a great 
 effort. 
 
 It was a pleasant letter, and contamed
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 245 
 
 the welcome permission from Sir Charles 
 Lillyford to break open the old Indian cabi- 
 net, if Mrs. Somerton wished to do so, 
 and expressed a hope that she and her 
 daughter would make any use they chose 
 of the park and gardens while the family 
 were absent. Mrs. Dronington also ex- 
 pressed the regret she knew Sir Charles felt, 
 that his wife had persisted, in depriving her- 
 self and Beatrice of the society of such 
 agreeable persons as Mrs. Somerton and 
 her daughter. 
 
 " Now, then, we shall really be able to 
 ramble over the old house," said Elfrida, 
 with a feelmg of revivmg hope, which al- 
 most made her wonder at herself. 
 
 It was a bright sunny morning, and she 
 looked with a feeling of gladness on those 
 windows which could be seen through the 
 trees from where she now stood. Mrs. 
 Dronington had told them that wing con- 
 tained the late Lady Lillyford's room, and 
 she believed that was one of the corners of
 
 246 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 the large bay Mrs. Somerton had seen 
 so plainly in her dream. For once the 
 proof-sheets were thrown aside, to take 
 their chance of being ready or not for 
 post, and the eager pair started hopefully 
 on their walk to the Hall. They entered 
 the park by the south lodge, from which 
 there was a short cut — a footpath which led 
 by the little chapel direct to the house ; but 
 as they wished to see as much of the fine 
 park as possible, they proceeded along the 
 carriage drive. This wound up a gentle 
 slope through splendid oaks to an eminence 
 which commanded a lovely view over undu- 
 lating ground, fern-clad dells, winding 
 streams, and all those graceful accessories of 
 an old English park. On the west and 
 north there was a large expanse of wood, 
 for Oakhampton Park joined that of Fern- 
 cote, where the beeches were as celebrated 
 for their size, beauty, and antiquity, as the 
 oaks of Oakhampton — or Oxenden, as it was 
 called in some of the old maps and registers.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 247 
 
 From this high spot a better view could be 
 obtained of Ferncote than of the Hall, which 
 was concealed on that side by the groves of 
 ilexes, hollies, and weeping box-trees, which 
 sheltered the terraced gardens from northern 
 blasts. Here they paused to look around 
 with delight. The grey stone walls of Fern- 
 cote, with its projecting mullioned windows 
 and numerous gables, standing on a gentle 
 slope above the river, and embosomed in 
 splendid trees, was a beautiful object in the 
 sunny landscape. 
 
 " And to think that Lady Lillyford would 
 not visit the inhabitants of that beautiful old 
 place !" sad Elfrida. " What a strange and 
 perverse woman !" 
 
 '^ Yes, I am afraid she is very silly. I am 
 almost glad she is going to try London ; 
 perhaps a season or two there may bring her 
 to her senses." 
 
 " Really ! Well, this is the first time I 
 ever heard you prescribe London as a 
 remedy for defects in character."
 
 248 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 "Not often, certainly, but it does some- 
 times succeed in a small degree, and " 
 
 " Oh ! how beautiful !" exclaimed Elfrida, 
 as a sudden turn in the road brought them 
 in sight of the south front of Oakhampton 
 Hall. 
 
 It was built round a courtyard, and pass- 
 ing under the heavy centre gateway, sur- 
 mounted by the time-worn armorial bearings 
 of the Lillyford family, they rang the deep- 
 toned bell, which resounded among the 
 picturesque towers and gables of the interior, 
 and seemed to impress them more sadly 
 with its desolation. It was answered by a 
 young gir.l, who, in reply to Mrs. Somerton's 
 inquiry, said that the housekeeper left in 
 charge of the house had gone out, and she 
 did not know when she would leturn that 
 morning. 
 
 Here was a disappointment. There was 
 nothing for it but to wait until the next day, 
 therefore Mrs. Somerton left word that she 
 would return the following morning and
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 249 
 
 begged that the locksmith might be there to 
 open tlie cabinet, into which Sir Charles had 
 given her leave to search.
 
 250 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 Lady Lilly ford carries her jpoint^ and a Large 
 House is taken for the Season in London. 
 
 T ADY LILLYFORD succeeded in per- 
 ^-^ suading Sir diaries to take a house 
 for the season in London, and they soon 
 moved from Mrs. Dronington's small one in 
 Wimpole Street, where there was only one 
 spare bed-room, to a more roomy one in 
 Portman Square. It had good reception- 
 rooms, " for they must give some parties," 
 Lady Lillyford said, "otherwise Beatrice 
 will not have much gaiety." 
 
 " And who will come to your parties ?" 
 inquired Sir Charles. " You forget that we 
 know scarcely anybody in England, having 
 been away so long."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 251 
 
 " Oh ! dear Lady Horatia Nolan will find 
 us plenty of people. You know she gets 
 those Gubbingses girls everywhere, and I am 
 sure we " 
 
 " We ought not to require that kind of 
 pushing," said Sir Charles. "If you had 
 been willing to do your duty in our own 
 county, you would not have wanted London 
 gaieties, or to be introduced by any great 
 lady. But here we are, however, so we 
 must only make the best of it ; and — my 
 clubs are pleasant enough ; there's a capital 
 cook at the 'Wanderer's !'" 
 
 For the first fortnight or three weeks. 
 Lady Lill3^ord found London extremely dull. 
 It was still early in the year, and nothing 
 was given by any one with whom she was 
 acquainted. At last an old friend of Mrs. 
 Dronington's, Mrs. Dashville, gave a ball, 
 and sent them an invitation. Lady Horatia 
 Nolan had not come to London yet, but her 
 son, Sir Richard, was in town, for Sir Charles 
 had met him several times at his club. As
 
 252 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Mrs. Dashville was a relation of Lady Ho- 
 ratia's, Lady Lillyford expected lie would 
 certainly be at the ball ; and as it was her 
 pet scheme to bring about a match between 
 him and Beatrice, she was very particular 
 about her daughter's dress. 
 
 Beatrice herself looked forward to the ball 
 with much delight, and fully entered into 
 her mother's anxiety to choose a becoming 
 dress. She was obliged to acknowledge to 
 herself that she was anxious and, moreover, 
 was fully aware of the reason. She thought 
 it possible that Arthur Brookfield might have 
 returned home from his tour in the East, and 
 he might possibly be at this very ball. In 
 the novels she had read such unexpected 
 meetings often occurred, and she contmually 
 found herself thinking of what he might say 
 or how he would look, and the loving ex- 
 pression of his dark blue eyes as she had last 
 seen them nearly a year ago, became more 
 and more vivid to memory's eye. 
 
 She was sometimes so absent that she
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 253 
 
 scarcely lieard what her mother said, other- 
 wise she might have been surprised to hear 
 how often Lady Lillyford talked of that dear 
 clever Sir Richard Nolan, and asked whether 
 she did not remember thinking him so very 
 agreeable the summer they met him at the 
 baths of Lucca. Beatrice had very little re- 
 collection of having thought so, but as her 
 mother seemed to wish that he should be 
 admired, she assented. 
 
 " Now, mind you make yourself agreeable 
 to him if — when you see him at the ball, and 
 don't be shy and backward, as you sometimes 
 used to be, for you know he is a very fine 
 gentleman here, and all the young ladies are 
 making up to him." 
 
 Beatrice did not quite understand, if that 
 was the case, why she was cautioned not to 
 be backward. But her mind was so pre- 
 occupied with its own simple interests, that 
 it took a very indistinct impression of Lady 
 Lillyford's meaning; and as Sir Richard had 
 been to her an object of pure indifference.
 
 254 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 not even amounting to absolute dislike, she 
 made no remarks on her mother's advice, 
 and the subject dropped. 
 
 Mrs. Dronington no longer went to balls, 
 but she came to their house to see her 
 daughter and Beatrice attired in their ball 
 dresses, and was much struck with her grand- 
 daughter's beauty. The dress was very be- 
 coming and the vague expectation of meet- 
 ing Arthur Brookfield gave an unusual col- 
 our to her cheeks and lustre to her sometimes 
 too sleepy eyes. 
 
 " Sh^ will be very much admired," thought 
 the fond grandmother, and she was right. 
 
 Yet that evening the dancing began and 
 two quadrilles were over before Beatrice 
 had any partner. They met Sir Richard 
 Nolan, and Lady Lillyford exerted all her 
 efforts to keep him near, and tried to make 
 her daughter join in the conversation. But 
 he did not seem inclined to ask Beatrice to 
 dance. He said the ball was too crowded, 
 " and it is impossible to victimize oneself,"
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 255 
 
 he added as a string of fat dowagers bore 
 down on them from the supper-room and 
 separated him from Lady Lillyford and 
 Beatrice, apparently not much to his regret. 
 Just then Miss Clemmy Gubbings, who was 
 really good-natured, and saw Beatrice had 
 not yet danced, brought up a young gentle- 
 man of no particular name or attraction, 
 and introduced him to her, and Beatrice 
 found herself hurried off to her place in the 
 quadrille. She was glad to dance because 
 it enabled her to see more, and she looked 
 around hi all directions, but no man resem- 
 bling Arthur Brookfield could be seen. But 
 presently, not far off, she saw a young girl 
 with dark blue eyes, so like — so wonder- 
 fully like his, looking at her with an expres- 
 sion of anxious interest. What was still 
 more strange, the eyes followed her as she 
 moved in the dance, and she soon became 
 aware that another, an older lady, was 
 watching her also. 
 
 " Who are those — that i)retty fair yuung
 
 '256 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 girl with golden hair and the other standing 
 near her in blue ?" she inquired of her part- 
 ner. 
 
 " I — I don't know," he said, putting up his 
 glass ; " she must be quite noo — never saw 
 her before." 
 
 " How very pretty ! don't you think so ? " 
 
 " Ha, yes," said he, afraid of committing 
 himself to an opinion. " Well, yes, perhaps, 
 when she has been out a little longer, but 
 she's very unformed ; not much to say for 
 herself, I should think." 
 
 " I wish I could ascertain who she is," said 
 Beatrice, somewhat heedless of her partner's 
 words. 
 
 " Not very easy, I should think, for she 
 seems to know nobody here, except that 
 tall, thi^ lady ; and she looks so amused as if 
 she had never been at a London ball in her 
 life before." 
 
 Mr. O'Mally — for that was his name — had 
 not been to many himself, for it was his first 
 season, but he was of the undemonstrative
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 257 
 
 and cautious type of Irishmen who, in the 
 endeavour to conceal what they consider the 
 vulgar Irish brogue, fall into the opposite 
 extreme which produces such words as a 
 " Meejer," and " pleese" for place, &c. This 
 genus will never be induced to admire any- 
 thing, or to evince any pleasure. 
 
 When the dance ended Beatrice insensibly 
 drew her partner towards the place where 
 those two were still standing. She longed to 
 hear their voices, but they both seemed too 
 much engrossed in their observation of her- 
 self to speak. 
 
 " I want to speak to Miss Gubbings," said 
 Beatrice, " the young lady that introduced 
 me to you," continued she, on seeing that her 
 partner did not appear to know who she 
 meant. 
 
 " Gubbings ! never heard the name be- 
 fore," he said, putting up his glass and look- 
 ing all round. 
 
 "Never heard her name! I mean the 
 young lady there with red camelhas in her 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 hair and red trimmings to lier dress, and 
 there is her sister ; are you really not ac- 
 quainted with them ?" 
 
 " Oh, I remember now ; yes, friends of the 
 Norrises, taken up by Lady Horatia Nolan. 
 I know now all about them, but really such 
 a name one could not be expected to remem- 
 ber." 
 
 " Do tell me," said Beatrice, as soon as 
 they had succeeded in searching out Miss 
 Gubbings, "who that beautiful fair girl is 
 there in blue ? " 
 
 " Where ?" said Miss Gubbings, " there are 
 so many in blue." 
 
 '* There, just by the fat gentleman in the 
 corner." 
 
 " Don't know — never saw her before — 
 quite new." 
 
 "That is just the observation I made," 
 said Mr. O'Mally, " for she seems to know 
 nobody." 
 
 At the next moment the object of their re- 
 marks was led to the dance by a very hand-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 259 
 
 some and disiiiguished-looking man, and 
 Miss Gubbings exclaimed, 
 
 " Why, who in the world could have be- 
 lieved it ? It seems she is actually going to 
 dance with the young Marquis of Ulswater." 
 
 Mr. O'Mally put up his glass with unwont- 
 ed energy, for he had once seen the Mar- 
 quis, and had a great wish to know him. 
 
 " Oh, ah, so she is ; and rather a fine look- 
 ing girl, don't you think ? " This was ad- 
 dressed to Miss Gubbings. 
 
 "Well, I can't say I admire her much — 
 too large eyes — bad mouth, and no air — no 
 toumiire, and her dress certainly was not 
 made in Paris." 
 
 "No, badly dressed, and wants a good 
 coiffure too," said the would-be critical Mr. 
 O'Mally. 
 
 " Cannot you ascertain who she is ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, easy enough now," said Miss 
 Gubbins, "for ever}^body in the room will 
 be asking." 
 
 It was a waltz. The young fair girl was 
 
 s2
 
 260 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 continually occupied in tlie dance with lier 
 partner, still, as she passed near where Bea- 
 trice stood, her dark blue eyes seemed to 
 search for and fix themselves upon her with 
 the same expression of interest. 
 
 Beatrice was standing near the tall thin 
 sister, and she heard her say to the fat old 
 lady next to her, in a voice that startled her 
 by its resemblance to Arthur's, 
 
 " I cannot bear that dance. I am so sorry 
 Rosa was persuaded into it." 
 
 " Oh ! you must get over such foolish pre- 
 judices," said the fat lady ; " besides, you 
 ought to be so proud of the Marquis wishing 
 so to be introduced to her — such an unusual 
 thing for him to do. What a pity you are 
 not going to stay in town ; your sister would 
 become quite the fashion." 
 
 " Very lucky we are not," was the tall 
 lady's answer, accompanied by a severe 
 look. "I could never stand these hours, 
 and I should not like to see my sister given 
 up to such worldly pleasures, I am sure."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 261 
 
 Lady Lillyford came up at this moment, 
 and Beatrice's partner made a low bow and 
 retired. Lady Lillyford was rather cross at 
 his not having asked to be introduced to 
 her, and said, 
 
 " Come away, Beatrice, come, I want some 
 tea." 
 
 " Oh ! mamma, don't you admire that 
 young lady ? Do let us ask Mrs. Dashville 
 who she is." 
 
 " Why do yon want to know ? I'm sure 
 I don't care." 
 
 " But she is so pretty, and so like " 
 
 " So like whom ? Why can't you speak 
 out, girl ? Well, never mind — I must have 
 some tea." 
 
 They went into the room, and there they 
 met Mrs. Dashville, who, seeing Beatrice not 
 engaged, introduced her to a young man 
 who was standing near, and he asked her for 
 the next dance. 
 
 ''There, the valz is over, and we must 
 make haste or we shall get no vis-a-vis^''
 
 262 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 said he. " Ho, Stuart, get a parner, and be 
 our vis-a-vis^'' he said to a tall man in the 
 doorway. 
 
 " Well, let me see, who is there ? H'm, 
 I'll get introduced to the new beauty the 
 Marquis has brought, Miss What's-her- 
 
 " How I wish I could ascertain who she 
 is," said Beatrice to her partner, and added, 
 " Do make him tell us." 
 
 " Because she's new ? that's all. I daresay 
 Mrs. Dashville even does not know ; but 
 never fear, she will soon be celebrated. See 
 there, Stuart has managed it. What a 
 clever fellow he is ! — actually taken her off 
 from the Marquis's arm. Did you ever see 
 such effrontery ? Well done ! Now then we 
 have our vis-a-vis .'' And to her extreme 
 satisfaction Beatrice found herself dancing 
 opposite to the stranger. 
 
 "Well, you have not yet asked your 
 friend who she is," said Beatrice to her 
 partner.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 263 
 
 " I will, but I daresay we shall be none 
 the wiser. It was something like Fernery 
 or Fairy." 
 
 " That name was not at all like Brook- 
 field, certainly," thought Beatrice ; " why 
 should she resemble him then so strangely ?" 
 
 " But you shall ask Stuart yourself," he 
 added," " for he wants to be introduced to 
 you for the next dance." 
 
 When the dance was concluded Mr. 
 Stuart was introduced ; and after a few mo- 
 ments' talk, she asked, 
 
 " What was the young lady's name whom 
 you were dancing with just now ? I cannot 
 believe it's Fernery." 
 
 " Not exactly," he said, smiling ; " it is 
 Fairleigh, and I hear they live near Hol- 
 ington." 
 
 " Then they live in the beautiful old 
 place near us, and I suppose that is why she 
 looked at me so much," thought Beatrice, 
 with a mixture of disappointment and plea- 
 sure, for she had often admired Ferncote
 
 264 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 much, and longed to know its inmates. 
 
 "If they are such near neighbours, how 
 is that you are not acquainted ?" 
 
 " They — that is, we only went there this 
 winter," said Beatrice, who did not like to 
 explain to a stranger her mother's dislike of 
 country neighbours. 
 
 " Well, shall I introduce you now ? I see 
 Miss Fairleigh looks as if she wished it." 
 
 " Oh ! yes, do ; but stay — I suppose I 
 must ask mamma," said Beatrice, with much 
 embarrassment. " She is so — so particular." 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! — well, just as you like, of 
 course. I think your chaperon is in the 
 tea-room," said Mr. Stuart, when the waltz 
 ended. 
 
 " Yes," said Beatrice, who now longed to 
 ask her mother whether she might be intro- 
 duced to the interesting girl. 
 
 " Oh ! no, no — what's the use of it ? — 
 only implicate us when we go back. Now, 
 come away ; I'm quite tired." 
 
 It is certain that if Lady Lillyford had
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 265 
 
 known that she had been dancing that even- 
 ing with the greatest ^;ar^/ of the day, and 
 should hear that she was sister to Artliur 
 Brookfield, she would have acted very dif- 
 ferently. 
 
 But it never occurred to the simple- 
 minded Beatrice to tell her mother who the 
 beautiful girl had been dancing with ; and 
 she herself was, of course, still in ignorance 
 that the stranger, who reminded her so 
 much of Arthur Brookfield, was really his 
 sister. 
 
 They were destined not to be enlightened 
 either then or subsequently, for the Miss 
 Fairleighs, who had only come to town on 
 law business, returned home two days after- 
 wards. Thus was lost one of those oppor- 
 tunities of an explanation which never re- 
 peat themselves.
 
 266 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIL 
 
 Lady Lillyford finds the London Season very 
 Up-hill Work 
 
 T ADY LILLYFORD came down to 
 -^-* breakfast in a very bad humour the 
 next morning, and was loud in her com- 
 plaints of Sir Richard Nolan's rudeness. 
 
 " He actually never asked her to dance," 
 she said to Sir Charles, " and pretended it 
 was too crowded; and then I saw him 
 afterwards dancing with that little flirt, 
 Mrs. Winchfield. By-the-by, she has got a 
 fine house in Belgrave Square — write down 
 her address, Beatrice; we'll call there to- 
 day. And now, who were those men you 
 did dance with at last ? — and who was the 
 one who found our carriage for us ?"
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 267 
 
 "Mr. O'Mally, I think, was the name. 
 But I did not hear any of the others, except 
 one — a Mr. Stuart, a very tall man, who 
 had been dancing with that pretty Miss 
 Fairleigh of Ferncote." 
 
 " Oh ! ho ! so you were obliged to meet 
 some of our country neighbours at last?" 
 said Sir Charles, as he looked up from the 
 Times. 
 
 " Yes, but I would not be introduced to 
 them. Well, but now, Beatrice, do help 
 me to remember who that Mr. O'Mally 
 is ; he seemed the only man who was at all 
 civil to us, and I can't help thinking he may 
 be related, perhaps, to those O'Mallys we 
 met at Baden. Where is the Court Guide ? 
 Let's see whether they have a house in 
 town. — — M — George — John — Ed- 
 ward — no, let me see, it was a name like a 
 surname, I remember. I have it-i—Driscol 
 0':Mally-~-that is it— No. 110, Hyde Park 
 Terrace. I'll go there this very morning, for 
 they were intimate with the best Baden set."
 
 268 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " Of gamblers," suggested Sir Charles 
 from behind the Times. 
 
 " Well, that's no concern of ours ; there, 
 they are in a good house, and no doubt give 
 pleasant parties." 
 
 " We have found it a concern of ours, to 
 our cost," grumbled Sir Charles ; " and, 
 moreover, you'll find it still more a concern 
 of ours if we have to cut down our estab- 
 lishment, and give up our London house to 
 pay Roland's debts." 
 
 " Oh 1 it was all that nasty Count de 
 Roulette ; you know very well that he has 
 given it up now." 
 
 " I wish I did know it," answered Sir 
 Charles, staring doggedly at the opposite 
 wall. 
 
 ^ '^ Well, well," said Lady Lillyford, impa- 
 tiently, " I'll go early, and find them at 
 home, so come, let's ring the bell and order 
 the carriage." 
 
 " And don't forget to call on the Temple- 
 mores," said Sir Charles; "you know they
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 2G9 
 
 are distant relations of mine, and I met him 
 at the club, and he said he should be glad 
 to make your acquaintance. Their house is 
 in Park Street, Westminster." 
 
 "Oh! dear, what a long way off; and I 
 have always heard they are such dull peo- 
 ple — no chance of their giving anything, I'm 
 sure." 
 
 " Probably not ; but they are very great 
 people, and the second daughter's quite a 
 beauty, I'm told, so you'll be sure to meet 
 them about m the world." 
 
 " I doubt that, for they are so ver}^ old- 
 fashioned — so I heard at Carlsbad; you 
 know they had been there the summer be- 
 fore." 
 
 " Well, that may be ; but I beg you will 
 call on them. Now, remember, Beatrice, 
 put down their names." 
 
 Tlie carriage was ordered, and as Beatrice 
 had promised to be at home in tlie after- 
 noon, at her mother's request, to practise 
 some duets with the Miss Gubbingses, who
 
 270 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 were to call at four, Lady Lillyford pro- 
 ceeded alone to make her visits. 
 
 " That little flirt," Mrs. Winchfield, was 
 the first she had on the list, and she had the 
 satisfaction of finding her at home. The 
 O'Mallys were out. So were some others ; 
 and as it was still early, she had no excuse 
 for not finishing her list, and so directed the 
 footman to drive to Mr. Templemore's, West- 
 minster. 
 
 "Ti\Tiat a place to poke themselves into," 
 she muttered, as she passed up a dark stair- 
 case. " I'm sure these people can be of no 
 use to us." 
 
 She was shown into a long narrow room, 
 the windows of which looked into St. James's 
 Park. Music was going on at the farther end, 
 and many people were there besides Mrs. 
 Templemore and her daughters. Lady Lilly- 
 ford did not know them by sight, but Mrs. 
 Templemore rose from her place near the 
 piano when she heard the name, and shook 
 hands with her very cordially.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 271 
 
 " That's my youngest daughter who is 
 singing the duet,'! she said in a whisper ; 
 '* the other is out there in a brown dress 
 near the fire." 
 
 Lady Lillyford was obliged to confess to 
 herself that the youngest was pretty, al- 
 though on a very small scale. " Too short, 
 certainly," she thought ; *' and looks very 
 delicate ; but she has a fine voice." A 
 gentleman who was singing with her was 
 such a perfect musician, that Lady Lillyford 
 took it for granted he was a professor — 
 probably her master, so she did not bestow 
 much attention on him. She then turned to 
 look at those around, and it seemed to her 
 the ladies were all shabbily dressed, and 
 were so plain and ordinary-looking, they 
 never could belong to a good set. So she 
 decided to go away as soon as the duet 
 ended. When it was over, Mrs. Templemore 
 introduced the daughter who had been sing- 
 ing, and the Marquis, whose name she did 
 not hear ; and as she was possessed witli the
 
 272 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 idea that he was a siiigmg-m aster, she gave 
 him a very cold bow, anc^ then said she must 
 go, for it was very late. 
 
 " Will you not stay to hear my niece 
 play on the harp ? She is such a beautiful 
 player." 
 
 " Thank you, not to-day. I am rather 
 in a hurry ; but I found Sir Charles wished 
 me to call, so I came all this way round," 
 she said, with a condescending look, that 
 amused Mrs. Templemore and her daughter. 
 
 As soon as she was gone, the eldest one 
 said, 
 
 " Well, I'm glad you did not ask her to 
 our Thursdays, for really I don't much like 
 her looks." 
 
 '' Nor I ; but Sir Charles is a relation, 
 and if I find her daughter is as pretty as her 
 father told Mr. Templemore she is, I must 
 ask them. Now, then, Marquis, if you are 
 not too tired after all your dancing last 
 night, let us have the solo. I hear you 
 danced several times with a new beauty."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 273 
 
 " Yes, and very much pleased with her I 
 was. Unluckily they are going away. She 
 said it would be her only l)all, for they were 
 to leave London this very day." 
 
 " But they will return, surely, for they 
 are immensely rich, I hear," said Mrs. Tem- 
 pleraore. 
 
 " Well, I suppose they will ; but," he 
 added in a low tone, turning to the youngest 
 Miss Templemore, " it was really not so 
 much her beauty I admired as it was her 
 freshness of mmd — she was so natural and 
 evidently unworldly." 
 
 ^' Is not everyone so ?" asked Miss Tem- 
 plemore, with a malicious twmkle in her 
 black eyes; ^'but you must tell us more about 
 her after our music is over, for we are really 
 interested ; besides, we know her brother so 
 well. You know he lived near us in the 
 country before he succeeded to tliis other 
 property ; and I am so sorry that we have 
 lost them as neighbours, though I ought not 
 to regret it for their sakes, when tliey have 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 had such a fine place left them. By-the-by, 
 it must be near Oakhampton Hall, which 
 now belongs to that unpleasant-looking rela- 
 tion of ours who called here just now. I 
 wonder whether she was able to appreciate 
 that very agreeable girl and her nice serious 
 elder sister ? You know I like serious 
 people," she added with a twinkle of fun in 
 her brilliant eyes. ^' I approve of some of 
 their notions — at least, I think they are on 
 the safe side. You know I cannot make 
 up my mind to approve of these late Lon- 
 don balls, for while I am dancing very hap- 
 pily in beautiful rooms I always find myself 
 wondering what the poor coachmen and 
 footmen are doing all those hours, some- 
 times out in the rain." 
 
 "Don't say any more," said the Marquis. 
 " If you set about making me think so 
 seriously at the beginning of the season, I 
 shall be obliged to leave London and go to 
 my poor property in Ireland, to try and do 
 some little good."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 275 
 
 ** Well, perhaps- 
 
 " Perhaps I had better," said he, looking 
 earnestly into her dark eyes ; but at this 
 moment the eldest Miss Templemore came 
 up, and asked whether he was going to 
 Mrs. Manderton s ball the next night. 
 
 " Here is your sister preaching against 
 balls, and " 
 
 " Oh ! that is because the grapes are 
 sour," said Miss Templemore. *' Selina gets 
 so soon tired, and is fit for nothing the next 
 day ; but she has promised to go to the 
 Mandertons, so I hope you will be there," 
 said she in a tone of playful decision, which 
 made an elderly dowager who was near the 
 door wonder whether the report she had 
 heard the night before was true, that the 
 Marquis really was going to marry that 
 pretty Selina Templemore. She hoped it was, 
 for she was a kindly old lady, and thought 
 that the Marquis, whose mother was one of 
 her oldest friends, and whom slie luid often 
 nursed as a baby, could not do better. 
 
 t2
 
 276 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 Beatrice endeavours to amuse the Miss Guh- 
 hingses. 
 
 "I /TE AN WHILE Beatrice was doing her 
 ■^'-^ best to amuse the Miss Gubbingses, 
 who came ostensibly to practise some duets. 
 They seemed, however, more in the humour 
 to talk, and wanted to hear her impression 
 of the ball the night before. But the fact 
 was,^ Beatrice had received no definite im- 
 pression about it, except a shade of unac- 
 knowledged disappointment mingled with a 
 very pleasant recollection of that pretty 
 Miss Fairleigh. But as she shrank from the 
 mention of either subject to the Gubbingses, 
 she looked, as they afterwards said, very 
 stupid and dull.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 277 
 
 " But didn't you like any of your part- 
 ners?" said Amelia, the elder Miss Gub- 
 bings ; ^' and what did they say ? I wonder 
 none of them have called," 
 
 " Mr. O'Mally was here just before you 
 came," said Beatrice ; ^^ but he did not come 
 in, as mamma was not at home." 
 
 " And where is Lady Lill;y^ord — gone to 
 call on people, is she ? I wish you would 
 show me her visiting list," said Clementina. 
 
 " I don t know that she has any," was 
 the reply, " except the one I made out for 
 her, which she took:" and Beatrice men- 
 tioned the names she had written. 
 
 ^'The Templemores! Good gracious! is 
 she gone there ? Why, it's one of their 
 Thursday musics : quite small and select — in 
 fact, one of the most recherche things in Lon- 
 don." 
 
 "" Yes, they are wonderful musicians," said 
 Amelia — ^'the two girls and tlieir cousin, 
 I mean, and they have the most perfect 
 music, and everybody is dying to be asked ;
 
 278 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 even Lady Horatia, though she doesn't care a 
 bit about musiCy she can t bear to be left out.'* 
 
 " No, she was quite furious at not being 
 invited," said Clementina ; " but my gracious 
 goodness ! Beatrice, don't you go and say I 
 told you this," she exclaimed, with more 
 energy than grace, and with an eagerness 
 that made her accent savour strongly of her 
 early maternal instruction. 
 
 " My dear Clemmy," said Amelia, " you 
 forget you should never say ' goodness graci- 
 ous ;' remember how horrified Lady Horatia 
 was once when you said it : seriously, I know 
 Beatrice won't betray us. I suppose you 
 are going to the Mandertons' ball to-mor- 
 row night?" 
 
 " I suppose so, for they are distant rela- 
 tions, too, of papa's, and very kindly told 
 him they would like to see us." 
 
 " And the Templemores are relations too, 
 are they ? So they invited Lady Lillyford 
 to come to their music, I suppose." 
 
 *' Oh ! no, it was quite chance; and in fact
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 279 
 
 she (lid not at all like to call there, be- 
 
 cause " 
 
 "Because why?" 
 
 Beatrice did not like to give her mother's 
 leasons as to their being stiff and old-fash- 
 ioned people, for she felt that her mother 
 ^as probably doing them an injustice, and 
 she could find no other excuse except that 
 tiiey lived so far off. 
 
 "Oh! is that all? Why, everybody lives 
 far off now ; and, by-the-by, Clemmy, we are 
 to dine early, to go to the play, and we must 
 be off at once. Good-bye, then, w^e shall 
 meet at the Mandertons', and I hope there 
 will be a good set of men, for you didn't 
 dance much last night, I'm afraid." 
 
 Beatrice felt that she did not much care 
 whether she had danced or not, for the 
 sight of those dark blue eyes looking upon 
 her so pleasantly had awakened still greater 
 hopes and regrets in her heart, and she was 
 incessantly wondering whether she should 
 ever see Arthur Brookfield ac^ain.
 
 280 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. / 
 
 Beatrice is startled hy Miss Clemmy Guh- 
 hings' Mysterious Agitation. 
 
 rjlHE next day Lady Lillyford was " er- 
 -*- joying," as her maid called it, one of 
 her bad headaches, and did not seem to 
 like the idea of going to the Mandertons 
 ball. I 
 
 " I know they are such a dowdy set. 
 You remember them, Beatrice, at Rome. 
 They were always poking among the ruins 
 all day, and never went out in the evening ; 
 and they are relations of Sir Charles, too — 
 such a stiff, dull set generally, I'm sure 
 those Templemores are. I never saw such 
 a set of ill-dressed people as were at their 
 house yesterday."
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 281 
 
 " How very odd," said Beatrice, " for Miss 
 Gubbings said it was one of their Thursday 
 parties, and so very recherche^ 
 
 " Well, if she calls that recherce, I can't 
 think what she means. I am sure I saw no- 
 thing fashionable. There was a lady, per- 
 haps she was the governess, in quite a com- 
 mon — I do believe it was a cotton dress — 
 half a dozen men and women, and a singing- 
 master. Now, what are you going to wear? 
 — not one of your best dresses, I should say. 
 I want to keep them till dear Lady Horatia 
 Nolan comes to town, and we go to some 
 really good ball. I'm sure the Mandertons' 
 will not be that." 
 
 " Shall I wear my pink tarlatane ? — it's 
 not very fresh." 
 
 "Yes, that will do; and let me see, 
 I'll wear my blue brocade; it's quite stained, 
 you know Roland spilt his coffee over it." 
 
 Thus attired, two hours later Lad}' Lilly- 
 ford and her daughter entered the dancing- 
 room at Mrs. Manderton's. Beatrice looked
 
 282 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 well, in spite of the want of freshness in her 
 dress, and as Lady Lillyford wore a Brussels 
 lace shawl, the coffee-stains did not much 
 mar the gorgeousness of hers. The house 
 was larger than she expected, and there was 
 a fine ball-room at the back, well lighted 
 and decorated with choice flowers. She 
 began to regret her coffee-stained dress, and 
 felt less able to patronize the dowdy Man- 
 dertons than she had intended to do. 
 
 They received her with a cordiality that 
 still more disconcerted her ; and one of the 
 Miss Mandertons immediately found a part- 
 ner for Beatrice, while her mother compli- 
 mented Lady Lillyford on her daughter's 
 beauty, and said, 
 
 " She was only fourteen, I think, when 
 we met at Rome. She has grown very lovely 
 since. So Sir Charles would not come? 
 Too much addicted to his club, I fear." 
 
 She found Lady Lillyford a comfortable 
 seat on the raised bench, where she could 
 have a good view of the dancing, and then
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 283 
 
 returned to greet the guests who came pour- 
 ing in. 
 
 Lady Lill}^ord could hear the names of 
 several that were announced. She was sur- 
 prised at the numbers of people of high rank, 
 and still more regretted the coifee-stains, 
 which she bes^an to think showed even 
 through her Brussels lace mantle. She saw 
 so few persons with whom she was acquainted, 
 that when the Templemores were announced 
 she forgot the dowdiness of their dress, as 
 she had called it, and was quite pleased to 
 see them. The youngest daughter was not 
 there, but the eldest was tolerably well 
 dressed now, she thought, and they seemed 
 to know everybody. 
 
 " How very strange," thought she, as she 
 observed an elderly lady, who had been an- 
 nounced as the Marchioness of Lorendale, 
 greet them with extreme warmth, and find 
 places for them to sit down beside her. 
 "Could it be? Yes, it was indeed the 
 person in the cotton dress she had seen
 
 284 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 tliere the day before, and took for the 
 governess. Well, it is not always rank that 
 makes people the fashion, though," was 
 Lady Lillyford's qualifying thought; "and 
 I've always heard fashion is everything in 
 London, and that a Duchess was excluded 
 from Almack's formerly because she was 
 vulgar-looking. So I daresay, after all, this 
 Marchioness is a person of no importance." 
 
 Beatrice was dancing just opposite, and 
 Lady Lillyford saw that the Templemores 
 and the Marchioness were talking of her. 
 
 When the dance was over Lady Lillyford 
 lost sight of Beatrice, but she determined to 
 follow the Templemores, as she was tired 
 of having no one to speak to. She succeeded 
 in reaching them just as they were passing 
 near the musicians, where a door led to the 
 refreshment-room. A waltz was being 
 played by the band in that loud and ener- 
 getic manner which is considered inspiring, 
 but is not favourable to conversation. Lady 
 Lillyford endeavoured to make her greetings
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 285 
 
 heard by Mrs. Templemore. That lady 
 seemed fully to understand, although she 
 could not quite hear the words, and m re- 
 turn said something civil and complimentary 
 about Beatrice. 
 
 " We have been admiring her very much, 
 and so has Lady Lorendale," she added, as 
 she introduced Lady Lillyford to that ponder- 
 ous dowager. 
 
 The former expressed her pleasure at 
 making the acquaintance, and inwardly 
 hoped the coffee-stains were not conspicuous. 
 
 " And I find your daughter has another 
 admirer ; he wishes to secure her for the 
 next dance," said Mrs. Templemore ; and as 
 she said this she beckoned to a gentleman 
 who just then appeared. Mrs. Templemore 
 mentioned the name of the Marquis of Uls- 
 water, but just then a loud crowning crash 
 of instruments, which often bespeaks the 
 approaching end of a dance, overpowered 
 the sound, and Lady Lillyford, to her dis- 
 may, found herself introduced to the singing-
 
 286 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 master she had met the day before, and mider- 
 stood that he wished to engage her daughter 
 for the next dance. 
 
 Her annoyance was so great, that she 
 only acknowledged the intimation with 
 the coldest of bows, and said she was cer- 
 tain her daughter was engaged for all the 
 dances ; and full of resentment at what she 
 considered the impertinence of Mrs. Tem- 
 plemore, she turned away. 
 
 The Marquis was both surprised and 
 amused at his unaccustomed rebuff, and 
 whispering a few words to Mrs. Temple- 
 more, disappeared in the crowd. 
 
 Meantime, after the end of the first dance, 
 Beatrice was escorted by her partner to- 
 wards the upper bench, where they had 
 seen her mother, but as the crowd impeded 
 their progress for some moments, when at 
 last they arrived there, she was not to be 
 found. For a moment Beatrice was at a 
 loss what to do, as her partner was evident- 
 ly in a hurry to secure the lady to whom he
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 287 
 
 was engaged for the next dance, but fortu- 
 nately Miss Clementina Gubbings came up 
 and asked Beatrice to come and see the 
 pictures m the next room. 
 
 " Come, quick," she whispered, in a ner- 
 vous, hurried manner, which almost startled 
 Beatrice, from being so unlike her usual 
 undemonstrative, or rather mechanically, 
 well-taught good-breeding. ^' I do want so 
 to speak to you, and you won't mind losing 
 one dance, will you ? There are heaps of 
 men I could introduce you to, but I really 
 think that, like myself, you have something 
 on your mind which prevents 3^our enjoying 
 the dancing as much as other girls do." 
 
 Beatrice was surprised to find her real 
 feehngs were thus divined, for as she had 
 never become intimate with either of the 
 sisters, she had no idea that Clementina was 
 aware of any cause for her anxiety or low 
 spirits. 
 
 " Ah ! you are surprised, but I know all 
 about it ; I know "
 
 288 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 Here they were interrupted by a gentle- 
 man, who said he had been searching 
 everywhere for Miss Gubbings, and wished 
 to secure her for the next dance. 
 
 " No, not the next — the third afterwards, 
 if you like ; but look, there is little Julia 
 Fergusson not dancing ; do go and ask her 
 — there, quick ! for she is very pretty, and 
 will soon be carried off, if you don't make 
 haste." 
 
 " But I don't care for Julia Fergusson — I 
 only want " 
 
 " Well, but I don't," she said, mth a half 
 angry, impatient gesture. " I want to show 
 my friend the pictures, and as you have no 
 taste for art, you would only be in our 
 way," and pulling Beatrice quickly through 
 the crowded doorway, they soon arrived in 
 the comparative solitude of the farther 
 drawing-room. 
 
 " I daresay we shall be interrupted here 
 very soon, so do tell me at once when I 
 could contrive to see you alone. I have so
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 289 
 
 much to say," slie added, witli a deep blush, 
 and in an agitated manner. " You are 
 quite surprised, I see ; you thought me a 
 cold, commonplace young lady, who thought 
 of nothing but fashion and the world. I 
 see you did. I often wish I was so really, 
 for I am very, very miserable," and the 
 tears started to her eyes. 
 
 "What is it? — can I be of any use?" 
 asked Beatrice, who was touched by her 
 evident distress. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, you can ; and it would be 
 such a comfort if you knew all, and could 
 advise me in any way. There, I see those 
 tiresome Ashtons coming. Quick ! — tell 
 me where I could see you, and — and I don't 
 want my sister to know." 
 
 " Well, let me see ; I daresay I could 
 stay at home to-morrow afternoon, as I sup- 
 pose mamma mil drive, but it is really un- 
 certain, for she may want me, and I sup- 
 pose you would not wish her to know, 
 would you ?" 
 
 VOL. 1. U
 
 290 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " Not for the world !" 
 
 " Well, if you like to come for the chance, 
 I will try to remain at home." 
 
 " Yes, do ; say you have got a bad head- 
 ache, or something, for I must see you. 
 There, those Ashtons are coming, and there 
 will be no getting away. So we must only 
 submit, and I will introduce you, for they 
 are people you ought to know ; and the son 
 is a great parti Ah ! there he is too, so he 
 may perhaps be your next partner." The in- 
 troduction was then made, and Beatrice 
 found herself again hurried into the ball- 
 room, while she was still wondering what 
 Clementina could have to say to her, and 
 what could make her so miserable. Mr. 
 Ashton made himself very agreeable, and 
 Beatrice quite reproached herself for being 
 so absent and stupid, for she could not help 
 looking in all directions for the dark blue 
 •eyes of that pretty Miss Fairleigh. But, 
 alas ! they were nowhere to be seen. At 
 length she bethought herself that perhaps
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 291 
 
 Mr. Ashton might be acquainted with her, 
 so she abruptly asked him. 
 
 "No, he had not that pleasure — did not 
 think he had ever seen her." 
 
 '^ But she was at Mrs. Dashville's ball 
 last Thursday, and she was very much ad- 
 mired." 
 
 " Oh ! I was not there — I only came to 
 town yesterday." 
 
 " I want so much to see her again," said 
 Beatrice. " She is very beautiful ; and be- 
 sides, there are many reasons which mte- 
 rest me about her — they live near us in 
 shire," said Beatrice ; " it is such a beau- 
 tiful old place.'' 
 
 " She is a great friend of yours, then, I 
 suppose ?" 
 
 *' No, I have never been introduced to 
 her ; and — " 
 
 The surprise depicted on Mr. Ashton's 
 face at this announcement recalled to Bea- 
 trice how strange it must seem that she 
 was not acquainted with a near neighbour 
 
 u2
 
 292 COUNTEY COTERIES. 
 
 in the country whom she admired so much, 
 but not hking to explain her mother's ob- 
 jections, she became extremely embarrassed. 
 
 Mr. Ashton was puzzled, but he put it 
 down to shyness, and as the dance was just 
 ending, he did not take any further trouble 
 to elucidate the matter, but merely asked, 
 when it was concluded, where she w^ould like 
 to go. 
 
 " There, I see mamma at last, by the 
 door — I had lost sight of her for a long 
 time." 
 
 She found Lady Lillyford very tired w^ith 
 the heat and crowed, and quite ready to go 
 home, if anybody would " have the civility 
 to call her carriage." This was said with a 
 significant look at Mr. Ashton, whom Bea- 
 trice had introduced; but as she knew he 
 was engaged for the next dance, wdiich was 
 just beginning, she felt it would be very in- 
 convenient to him to go in search of it. So 
 she tried to persuade her mother to have 
 some tea, observing that they would be sure
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 293 
 
 to find some person in tlie refreshment-room 
 who would call their carriage. 
 
 " Ah ! that's just like you, the moment I 
 am tired now, you want to stay," said Lady 
 Lill}^ord, who was in one of her worst hu- 
 mours. 
 
 "Not that, really; I don't wish to stay — 
 indeed I don't." 
 
 Mr. O'Mally came up at that moment, 
 and asked Beatrice to dance either this or 
 the next dance. 
 
 She was about to refuse him, when her 
 mother pinched her arm and whispered, 
 
 '' Don't be so foolish — go and dance ; 
 and then," she added, with a condescending 
 look at Mr. O'Mally, "and then perhaps 
 you will have the kindness to call our car- 
 riage, for I am rather tired." 
 
 In spite of her pink tarlatane dress being 
 none of the freshest, Beatrice was very much 
 admired, and as her mother watched her 
 progress through the dance, she was grati- 
 fied to see the looks of admiration caused
 
 294 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 by her beauty ; and she saw that at the end 
 of it several good-looking men were brought 
 up by Miss Gubbings, and also by Mrs. Man- 
 derton, the hostess herself, to be introduced. 
 " She is beautiful," thought the gratified 
 mother, " and she ought to be a duchess, 
 that she ought ;" and then she began to 
 think over the good partis which that little 
 flirt, Mrs. Winchfield, had told her of. The 
 Marquis of Ulswater was at the end of the 
 list, and he was very handsome and rich. 
 Lady Lillyford had heard, and visions of 
 future triumphs, as the mother-in-law of a 
 Marchioness, gleamed gorgeously in her ex- 
 cited imagination. Ambition was not a 
 strong quality in her, but at times when she 
 became sufficiently excited to care much for 
 anything, it was capable of being stimulated 
 into a state of activity, and it was so now. 
 But Beatrice would not accept any of the 
 partners offered, because she thought her 
 mother wanted to go. So she came up to 
 her, followed by several men, who expressed
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 295 
 
 the regret they felt, and whom, as they 
 seemed to wish it, she introduced to her 
 mother as well as she could, not having 
 heard any of their names distinctly. By the 
 assistance of one or two of the most eager 
 the carriage was soon called, and Lady Lilly- 
 ford had the mingled gratification and dis- 
 appointment of seeing that her daughter had 
 made quite a sensation. ; it might have been 
 still more marked if she had not so foolisely 
 taken her at her word and got the carriage 
 called. 
 
 " She is so silly, she will mar her own 
 prospects," was the last thought in Lady 
 Lillyford's mind before she went to sleep.
 
 296 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Lady Lillyford gets confused with her visiting 
 list. 
 
 "T)EATRICE was for some time unable to 
 -^-^ sleep, for there had been much to 
 startle and perplex her. She could not 
 avoid seeing that many people admired her, 
 but she was conscious of feeling that all 
 their admiring looks gave her less pleasure 
 than the earnest gaze of that pretty Miss 
 Fairleigh. 
 
 " That is only because she is so like 
 Arthur," thought Beatrice. " I shall never 
 be able to care for anyone else ;" and then 
 she began to wonder more than ever why 
 she had seemed to care so much less for him 
 when they were together than she did now. 
 '' I feel as if I had grown so many years
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 297 
 
 older since then," thought she. " I really 
 was such a child, it was no wonder he did 
 not care." And yet the recollection of his 
 expressive face when last they met seemed 
 to assure her that he did. " How strange, 
 too," thought Beatrice, " Clementina Gubbings 
 looked to-night as if she knew of it. I quite 
 liked her, and she seemed so very miserable ; 
 what can it be about?" Still wondering, 
 she at last fell asleep, and dreamt that she 
 was at the same ball, and Miss Gubbings 
 brought up Arthur Brookfield, who asked 
 her to dance, and she was very happy but 
 not at all surprised to see him. He waltzed 
 more delightfully than ever ; and then she 
 thouglit they were at Oakhampton, in the 
 long drawing-room, and Clementina Gub- 
 bings was pointing out of the bay window to 
 the beautiful old oak trees, and told lier 
 that those fine trees would soon be cut down, 
 and she was crying ; and Beatrice felt sud- 
 denly very unliappy, for she had often been 
 haunted by the di'cad of seeing her favourite
 
 298 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 grove destroyed. Then she thought Arthur 
 looked angry, and said her brother Roland 
 did not deserve to inherit such a beautiful 
 place, and it would all go to ruin. Then 
 Clemmy Gubbings cried and threw her arms 
 round her neck and said, " Oh, let me save 
 him ! only forgive me. Forgive me, for I 
 did it for the best. He must not be arrested 
 — oh ! let me save him !" She looked round 
 for Arthur, in hopes he would be able to ex- 
 plain the meaning of these mysterious words, 
 but he had disappeared in the darkness of 
 the farther end of the gallery; and she 
 tried to call out, for a sudden fear seized 
 her, and she saw the ghost of that brown 
 figure, which had appeared the last evening 
 she had sat in that room, emerge from the 
 darkness and glide across, its dark eyes flash- 
 ing like coals of fire, just as her mother had 
 described it. Nearer and nearer it came, 
 and its eyes glared and seemed to scorch 
 her, and she could not speak or move, and 
 with a cry of oppression she awoke.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 299 
 
 It was still early, and she saw, with a feel- 
 ing of intense relief, that it was the dawn of 
 day, but she was still oppressed with a feel- 
 ing of horror at tlie vivid recollection of her 
 strange dream. The delight of the first part, 
 the waltz with Arthur, was less present to 
 her mind than the perplexed anxiety about 
 those favourite oaks and her brother Roland. 
 That there was danger of his being arrested 
 she had often heard, but why should Miss 
 Gubbings think she could save him ? And 
 then she remembered having observed some 
 looks of intelligence between her and Roland. 
 It had seemed to her once as if they had 
 some secret they did not wish anyone to 
 know, but — but she cannot care for him, can 
 she ? was now the perplexing idea which this 
 recollection, coupled with the dream, seemed 
 to produce; and the more she thought of it, 
 and recalled to mind sundry looks and words 
 not dwelt on at the time, the more the idea 
 possessed her that Clementina did care for 
 Roland.
 
 300 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 "And slie is rich, too — perhaps she can 
 save him and those beautiful oaks," mur- 
 mured Beatrice. " I hked her so much better 
 last night than I ever did before. But what 
 would Lady Horatia say if Roland really 
 cared for Clementina?" There was some- 
 thing very terrible in the idea, for Beatrice 
 had overheard her father say that he was 
 sure she was in love w^ith him, and indeed 
 she did always seem to wish to engross his 
 attentions. And the Miss Gubbings, who had 
 so much cause to be grateful to her ! Yes, it 
 must be very embarrassing and painful to 
 Clementina; and if this is true, would she 
 really encounter Lady Horatia's anger and 
 take upon herself Roland's debts? And 
 would he make her a good husband? Perhaps 
 not ; and she began to pity Miss Gubbings 
 from her heart, and to see how very sad it all 
 must be, till at last she burst out laughing at 
 the idea that after all it was only a dream. 
 She would never have thousrht of the little 
 scene at Oakhampton, their looks or perhaps
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 301 
 
 whisperings together, which might only be 
 after all some commonplace joke, had not 
 her dream and Miss Gubbings's words and 
 looks in the dream set her imagination at 
 work. " But yet that evening, wlien I found 
 them in the orangery," she thought, "how 
 they started at hearing my footsteps, and then 
 looked relieved when they saw it was only 
 me. 
 
 Hence this dream had the effect of making 
 her still more anxious to secure the teie-a-tete 
 Clementina wished to have. To manage this 
 she found herself obliged to frame several 
 excuses for not driving out with her mother 
 that afternoon ; and this, to her simple and 
 truthful nature, was both embarrassing and 
 painful. She blushed and hesitated, first 
 complaining of a headache, and then, when 
 lier mother suggested that the air would do 
 it good, said she must write a long letter to 
 her grandmother, who had gone out of town 
 for a little wliilc, as she had promised to tell 
 her all about the ball.
 
 302 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 " Well, then, I suppose I must go without 
 you, but I really get so confused with the 
 list, not knowing the different directions and 
 all those new terraces, that unless I have 
 somebody to help me to think, I go round 
 and round, and don't get through half. 
 There, put down the names as you think the 
 streets come." 
 
 " I'll try, mamma ; but you forget that I 
 know less of London than you do." 
 
 "No, but you have more time to think 
 about it than I have; and put down Mrs. 
 Winchfield, she's a sad flirt I know, but I 
 want her to tell me all about the young men, 
 and who we should try to get to our ball, 
 for we must give one. The O'Mallys said 
 it was quite requisite," 
 
 Beatrice sighed, for inexperienced as she 
 was, it occurred to her that a ball must cost 
 a good deal. And when her brother's debts 
 were so pressing as to induce her father to 
 think of cutting down the oaks at Oak- 
 hampton (the recollection of which melan-
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 303 
 
 choly fact had been vividly recalled by her 
 last night's dream), it seemed such a pity to 
 incur what seemed to her the unnecessary 
 cost of a ball. 
 
 " Yet I suppose it is very odd and un- 
 natural in me to think of objecting to what 
 most girls would like to do," she thought ; 
 and then she almost reproached herself for 
 being so engrossed by the recollection of 
 Arthur Brookfield, as it made her so differ- 
 ent from other young ladies.
 
 304 
 
 CHAPTER XXXL 
 
 The Strange Disclosure. 
 
 A T last the list was re-written to Lady 
 -^-^ Lillyford's satisfaction, and as the 
 carriage had been waiting for some time at 
 the door, she started on her visiting expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 It was now nearly three o'clock, the hour 
 Miss Gubbings had appointed, and Beatrice 
 stood at the window to watch for her in a 
 state of eager curiosity and excitement, 
 which she vainly tried to repress. In a few 
 minutes she saw her walking quickly up to 
 the door, looking back now and then as if to 
 see that no one observed her, and a minute 
 or two afterwards she entered the drawing- 
 room.
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 305 
 
 " Now, where are we likely to be the least 
 heard or interrupted, I wonder ?" whispered 
 Miss Gubbings. 
 
 " Let me see — oh ! in the third drawing- 
 room, I think, for the maid may be coming 
 in and out of my room." 
 
 So they hastened mto the third drawing- 
 room, and as soon as the door was gently 
 closed, Clemmy threw herself on Beatrice's 
 neck and burst into tears. 
 
 "I have done very wrong — wrong in 
 every way, I know ; and — and — perhaps he 
 is not worthy — but still I do love him so, 
 and — and I cannot succeed in forgetting 
 him ; and since I knew you I love him still 
 more, for with all his faults, you dear inno* 
 cent creature, you are something like him. 
 Poor Roland, if he would but give up that 
 dreadful gambling ! It — it has made him 
 her slave. He can never do now as he 
 wishes ; and I do — indeed I do think he 
 loves me still, but Meely declares he does 
 not, and never did ; and she will have it it 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 was only my fortune lie wanted, and never 
 cared for me." 
 
 Here Miss Gubbings' words were arrested 
 by violent sobs, and Beatrice attempted in 
 vain to comfort her. 
 
 " It would break my heart if I found he 
 didn't care, but I am sure he did once — that 
 summer when we were at Baden, and we 
 used to walk up the beautiful forest ; and, 
 Beatrice, oh ! how happy I was till Meely 
 found it out, and declared I should not marry 
 him, and talked and scolded so; but I would 
 have stuck by him if he hadn't been obliged 
 to go off suddenly because — oh ! it was too 
 dreadful — they said he had done something, 
 and I don't believe it ; it was all that nasty 
 Count Roulette. So Meely would have it, 
 and she told me so, and got those O'Mallys 
 to talk and try to laugh me out of it. I — I 
 had given him a cheque for — for a few hun- 
 dred pounds, and Meely found it out and 
 made such a fuss ; and then he didn't write, 
 or at least I didn't get his letters, though
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 307 
 
 he declared afterwards he had written, and 
 that Meely must have intercepted them ; but 
 I heard he was always with Lady Horatia, 
 and of course had forgotten me ; and as she 
 is so rich, too, and has rank besides, I began 
 to think it was possible. So Meely worked 
 on my pride, and I determined to forget 
 him ; and she made me see that it would 
 never do to quarrel with Lady Horatia, to 
 whom we ghls owed our position in the 
 world. So I tried hard to act right, as I 
 thought, and I flirted with other men ; and 
 many wished to marry me, but I knew in 
 their cases it was for my fortune." 
 
 "But did you care for him when you 
 were at Oakhampton ?" interrupted Beatrice. 
 
 "Yes, 1 found afterwards I had never 
 ceased to care — never, but I was determined 
 to act my part well, and wouldn't let any 
 one know I had been deserted, least of all 
 Lady Horatia. But I was afraid once or 
 twice you suspected it. Did not you the 
 evening when you found us in the orangery ? 
 
 x2
 
 308 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 It was almost the only time I trusted myself 
 to speak to him, though he wrote me notes, 
 and begged hard for an interview. He said 
 it was only from dire distress, and fear of 
 arrest, that he took to Lady Horatia. She 
 had lent him several hundreds, and he felt 
 bound not to quarrel with her — that he had 
 heard that I was going to be married to — 
 well, never mind — and so in despair he took 
 up with her. T — I — half believed it. But 
 the time is flying, and we may be interrupt- 
 ed before I have said the chief thing. I 
 heard from him the day before yesterday, 
 and he is in dreadful want of a thousand at 
 once, to save him from arrest ; and he de- 
 clares if I can send it, and will consent to 
 marry him — and — and — that my mother can 
 be induced to — to consent to promise that I 
 shall have as much as Meely — he will — he 
 wants to marry me at once. So now what 
 I want you to do is, to go with me to ma? 
 I know she'd like and love you, and if you'll 
 say you are his sister — for you do look
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 309 
 
 SO good and innocent — so unlike all other 
 girls, she'd be persuaded to consent, and I 
 know Roland would reform if once we were 
 married. I'm sure of it, and you'd have the 
 delight of knowing that you'd not only saved 
 your brother from prison now, but made him 
 happy for life. Oh ! do come with me to 
 ma — pray, pray do !" 
 
 " Now ? Where ?" inquired Beatrice, 
 who was quite bewildered with all she had 
 heard. " I thought you wished your sister 
 not to know of our meeting even to-day — 
 how then ?" 
 
 " Oh ! she'd never know we went to see 
 ma, for she scarcely ever goes near her ; nor 
 can I, except by stealth, for she lives still in 
 the little old house m the city where pa 
 died. Poor ma, she lost the use of her 
 limbs many years ago ; but she wanted U3 
 to be ladies, and so she would not interfere, 
 and we were first taken up by Lady Ho- 
 .ratia. Poor ma, I think now, often repents, 
 for she feels so very lonely, and when she
 
 310 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 sees we — that is, Meely — doesn't care for 
 her, she takes it sadly to heart, I know. But 
 she's got a great deal in her own power — 
 though we have four thousand a year a- 
 piece, and Roland, I know, ought to be satis- 
 fied with that, but he is so hard-up, and 
 made so much of, it turns his head, and they 
 all tell him nothing could be too good for 
 him. And you see, if I give him the thou- 
 sand pounds now^ Meely would find it out, 
 so I want poor dear ma to give it. So now, 
 do come, to save your brother from prison. 
 I'll manage it so that no one will ever know 
 it. If you'll be in the Square to-morrow at 
 any hour you think best, I'll have a cab in 
 the next street, and we'll go there. I do 
 think you'd like poor ma, for you are always 
 so full of pity for old and infirm people ; and 
 how she would love your beautiful face — 
 how it would comfort her to think your bro- 
 ther wanted me to marry him." 
 
 " Oh ! but really I can't go with you. , 
 Papa — or, oh! if granny were but in
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 311 
 
 town she would advise me what to do." 
 
 " But no one must know it — if you tell 
 anyone it would be sure to come round to 
 Lady Horatia, and all would be lost." 
 
 " But Lady Horatia must hear of it if you 
 marry him." 
 
 " Not till it is safe over. But I know it 
 will never be, unless you come and help per- 
 suade ma. She has been kind to me, and 
 — knows how I love him, though she is 
 afraid he will not treat me well ; but if she 
 were to see you, his own beautiful sister, 
 I'm sure she'd consent." 
 
 All this was most perplexing to Beatrice, 
 who had great misgivings that her brother 
 would not prove a good husband. It seem- 
 ed cruel to prevent what Miss Gubbings 
 seemed so anxious for, and what would save 
 her brother from arrest. 
 
 " I — I really don't know what to do or 
 say, I am so very silly, and can never act a 
 part ; they'd be sure to find out, and be- 
 sides, mamma would miss me, and make
 
 312 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 such an outcry. I should never be able to 
 keep it secret." 
 
 " Oh ! yes, you would, I'm sure, if you 
 would but remember that your dear bro- 
 ther's fate depends on it. I know you 
 would. There, now, you will consent? — 
 just promise to be in the Square to-morrow 
 at three o'clock." 
 
 " But I had great difficulty to-day in get- 
 ting off driving, and I know I made very 
 lame excuses — I never can succeed in tell- 
 ing what is not true. I know I am so very 
 stupid. Oh ! not to-morrow ; I'll try the 
 following day. I know mamma will want 
 me to-morrow." 
 
 "Well, then, I'll try to put it off; but 
 oh ! it is very urgent, you see, for if Roland 
 once gets into prison, there'll be no end of 
 debts come up against him." 
 
 " Well, I'll try to-morrow, then ; but 
 what shall I say ? Do find some excuses 
 for me to remain at home ; and then, if she 
 comes home before I get back, what then ?"
 
 COUNTRY COTERIES. 313 
 
 " Leave word you are walking in tlie 
 Square, and she won't think of sending to 
 see whether you are there or not ; the trees 
 are thick, and you would be screened from 
 the windows, and if by any chance she 
 found you were not there, you could say 
 afterwards that you saw me, and I wanted 
 you to go with me to a milliner's shop in 
 Vere Street to try something on. There, 
 now, that would do, and you will be there ; 
 and now I must run away, for fear Meely 
 should suspect anything ; she watches me as 
 a cat watches a mouse." 
 
 And before Beatrice had time to make 
 more objections to the plan, the experienced 
 young lady had left the room. 
 
 Beatrice felt so bewildered by all this 
 astounding intelligence, that for some time 
 she scarcely realised it, or felt conscious 
 of having promised to accompany Clemen- 
 tina to her mother's house in the City. 
 
 She was still in the third drawing-room, 
 revolving these , difficulties in her mind, 
 
 VOL I. y
 
 314 COUNTRY COTERIES. 
 
 when she heard a knock at the hall door. 
 Awakened to a sense of her risks and re- 
 sponsibilities by the apprehension of her 
 mother's searching looks and inquiries, she 
 hastened to assume her wonted place near 
 the writing-table in the front drawing-room, 
 and began a hurried letter to her grand- 
 mother. She trembled so much, that the 
 lines were scarcely legible or coherent ; but 
 it fortunately turned out that Lady Lilly- 
 ford was too full of the grievances and mis- 
 adventures she had met with, to take much 
 notice of her daughter. She began at once 
 a long story, in which the footman's stupid- 
 ity and the coachman's want of knowledge 
 of London, were the predominating features, 
 mingled with an undercurrent of annoyance 
 at having heard that the Marquis of Uls- 
 water had actually been at the ball the 
 ni-dit before, and she had never known it. 
 " Otherwise," she added, " I might really 
 liave made his acquaintance — you know 
 Miss Gubbings told me so. I called there
 
 COUNTRY COTEKIES. 315 
 
 at last, instead of going all the way back to 
 Kensington, when I found that you — that 
 was your fault — you had written dov/n 
 Palace Gardens, next to Grosvenor Place, 
 when it's miles away from it." 
 
 As they were engaged out to dinner. 
 Lady Lill}^ord thought it was high time to 
 dress. 
 
 '^ And really there is no knowing here 
 wliat kind of people one may not meet, so 
 wear something nice. To think of the Mar- 
 quis having been there last night, and you 
 in a tumbled tarlatane, and me in a dress 
 all over coffee stains !" 
 
 Beatrice was very glad to escape into the 
 comparative pubhcity of a dinner-party 
 from the observation of her mother, who, 
 she could not help fancying, might remark 
 some unwonted embarrassment in her look 
 or manner. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
 
 Hn