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 THE DAILY GOVERNESS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SELF-DEPENDENCE. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. GORDON SMYTHIES, 
 
 AUTHOE OF 
 
 « COUSIN GEOFFREY," " MARRIED FOR LOYE," &c. 
 
 • We need not bid for cloistered cell. 
 Our Tieigh1)our or our friend farewell ; 
 Nor strive to wind ourselves too liigb, 
 For mortal man beneath the sky." 
 
 The Christian Yeae. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDOjST: 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.^ 
 
 1861. 
 
 T)ie right of Translation is restrvfd.
 
 Billins, Printer, 103, llatton Garden, London, and Guildford, Surrey
 
 8^S 
 
 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LADY-DAY. 
 
 It was a morning in March, very wet, very 
 windy, very cold, and therefore very mise- 
 rable. Lady- day by the calendar, but not a 
 - day for ladies by any means. It was eight 
 ^ o'clock by the chime of St. Clement Danes, 
 J and that assertion was confirmed by the 
 ^ echoes of many distant bells. 
 ^ Neither the day nor the hour was such as 
 " to tempt any great display of kid boots, with 
 ^ military heels, and scarlet petticoats, peeping 
 j from under voluminously flounced skirts. . . 
 ^ VOL. L . B
 
 Z THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 . . No man was out who could find any 
 excuse for remaining at home. Houseless 
 wanderers of course were abroad : they always 
 are, rain or shine ; and henpecked husbands, 
 who preferred the storm without to that 
 within, and the east wind to the domestic 
 breeze. Men of business of all ranks filled 
 the omnibuses and cabs, bent, in spite of the 
 hurricane, on still raising the wind ! But 
 there was scarcely a woman, still less a lady, 
 to be seen, when a young girl issued from a 
 dingy house in Arundel Street, Strand, armed 
 with a Mrs. Gamp -like umbrella, which, so 
 far from sheltering her from the pitiless 
 storm, seemed very likely to increase her dis- 
 comfort, and add to the miseries of a walk 
 which few men would have hked to undertake 
 on such a morning. 
 
 This umbrella had, however, been forced 
 on Miss Lucy Blair, " the Daily Governess," 
 by Mrs. Bragge, the kind landlady in whose 
 house her mother and herself occupied a
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 3 
 
 second floor. Mrs. Bragge, though a London 
 lodging-house keeper, had a conscience and a 
 heart, a conscience, rare, indeed, in her line 
 of Kfe, for it made her respect tea-caddies and 
 cold meat ; and a heart rarer still in such 
 a line of life, the heart that could feel for 
 another, even when that other was only a 
 Second Floor. Lucy felt that the old umbrella 
 would be an incumbrance, but she did not 
 like to refuse what was so very kindly offered. 
 Then the keen wind, rushing under the dingy 
 canopy formed by this old umbrella, carried it 
 along like a ship in full sail, and as, among 
 other defects, it had no knob or hook, and 
 the stick from constant wear was smooth as 
 glass, it was with the greatest difficulty Lucy's 
 little numbed fingers could retain any hold of 
 it ; to keep up with it at all, she had to run 
 along the wet and muddy streets, almost 
 flooded by the rain, her teeth chattering with 
 the cold, her little feet ill-shod, soaked, and 
 muddy, and her bonnet blown awry. To add 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 to her annoyance, she was beset with mudlarks, 
 whom the swollen river had driven into the 
 streets (which were filled with their own pe- 
 culiar element — mud). They tormented her 
 with questions, jokes, jeers, and taunts; "Who's 
 your hatter ?" and " Does your mother know 
 you're out ?" being addressed to her by at 
 least a dozen imp -like, bare-legged boys, who 
 persisted in following and annoying her. 
 
 We have said it was no day for ladies ; and 
 yet, if gentle birth and breeding, a noble 
 spirit, a pure heart, a pious, cultivated, ac- 
 compUshed mind, self-control, self-depend- 
 ence, self-possession, and perfect manners 
 constitute a lady, then this poor step -child of 
 fortune, this pretty, delicate Lucy Blaii', this 
 Daily Governess, battling at once with Pate 
 and with rough weather on the 25th of 
 March, of the year of our Lord 1858, was a 
 lady indeed ! 
 
 In that poor second-floor in Arundel Street 
 she had left, what was dearest to her on
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. b 
 
 earth, a tender mother in very delicate health. 
 True, Lucy did not know that dear mother's 
 sad history well ; but she knew she had seen 
 better days, had been married, injured, for- 
 saken, and obliged to toil for the support of 
 herself and child. She had been for many 
 years head teacher in foreign boarding-schools, 
 where for her services she received a small 
 salary, but, what was far more important, a 
 home for herself and Lucy, and a brilliant 
 education for the latter. 
 
 When Lucy Blair was seventeen, her mo- 
 ther's health became impaired. She had no 
 faith in any but English physicians. She had 
 seen a French doctor prescribe nothing but 
 tisa7ie (a decoction of lime-leaves) in a brain 
 fever ; and a Flemish ^sculapius order garden 
 worms to be tied up in a rag and bound 
 round the throat of a child half suffocated 
 with tlie croop. In congestion of the brain 
 she had seen an Italian practitioner ap- 
 plying leeches to the feet. She had, be-
 
 6 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 sides, a sort of home-sickness. It came like a 
 blight over the poor exile. She tried to 
 combat it, and was resigned to die. But 
 Lucy adored her mother ; Lucy had energy, 
 talents, a strong mind, a stout heart, a head 
 to plan, and nerve to act. Mrs. Blair had 
 looked upon Lucy as a child ; in her extremity 
 she found her, a woman. 
 
 "It is my turn now to toil for you, dear 
 mamma," said the devoted girl. " Now my 
 French, German, Italian, music, drawing and 
 dancing shall be converted into current coin 
 of the realm of Great Britain. Fear not, I 
 will manage all ; luckily you have a little 
 hoard, and a quarter's salary due to you." 
 
 At this time they were at Naples. Lucy 
 consulted the English clergyman there. 
 Herself and mother had been very regular at- 
 tendants on his ministry. Lucy's artless tale, 
 deHcate beauty, and fiUal tenderness inte- 
 rested him. He called on Mrs. Blair, and 
 thought, from her wan, wasted looks and de-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 7 
 
 pressed manner, that there was no time to 
 lose. He secured a passage at a cheap rate for 
 Mrs. Blair and her daughter, recommended 
 them to apply for lodgings where he had him- 
 self lodged when he was one of the curates of 
 St. Clements, with fifty pounds a year ; and 
 hearing from Lucy of her intention of main- 
 taining, by teaching, the dear mother who 
 had so long maintained her by that arduous 
 and wearing occupation, he gave her a letter 
 of recommendation to Lady Hamilton Tre- 
 herne, saying : " Lady Hamilton Treherne, 
 wife of Sir George Hamilton Treherne, is not a 
 person I should select, had I any choice ; she 
 is cold, proud, very exacting, and very selfish. 
 But she has children, and wants a governess. 
 I was at one time tutor to her brothers, and 
 when she was at Naples she attended my 
 ministry. She has written to ask me if I 
 know either an Italian lady competent to 
 teach her daughters, or an English governess 
 who, from long residence abroad, is perfect
 
 8 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 mistress of French, Italian, and German, with 
 other accomphshments. If you are not too 
 young and pretty, you will be all she can 
 require ; for I hear from Italians themselves, 
 how perfect is your knowledge of the lan- 
 guage. You will not like Lady Hamilton 
 Trehcrne ; no one does. She is inclined to 
 be insolent, and is at once very lavish and 
 very mean. She will try to 'do' you, as we 
 say at Cambridge, as to 'terms' — don't let 
 her ; and she will attempt to awe you into 
 being ' done,' but I am certain you have too 
 much spirit for that. I shall write and say 
 all I think of your merits, if I can do them 
 anything like justice in a letter." 
 
 Lucy felt very grateful to Mr. Allgood, the 
 kind clergyman, and rather dismayed at the 
 prospect of becoming in any way dependent 
 on such a woman as Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 must be, if she answered Mr. Allgood's de- 
 scription . But this feeling shrank into insigni- 
 licancc, when she saw her mother's wan eve
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS 9 
 
 and hollow cheek, and felt the scorching 
 touch of her thin hand. The love of Lucy 
 for her mother was something beyond what 
 even affectionate and dutiful children feel for 
 their parents, in ordinary life. It was a self- 
 sacrificing, tender, passionate devotion. They 
 had lived in foreign lands, and had often been 
 the only Protestants in a Roman Catholic 
 convent or school. They were in a state of 
 isolation from all the world, and dependent 
 for love and sympathy on each other alone. 
 Lucy would gladly have died for her mother, 
 and, more still, she gladly lived for her — lived 
 to toil as a Daily Governess, and to endure 
 in silence and apparent thankfulness all the 
 trials of such a career.
 
 10 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Lucy's first situation. 
 
 Five weeks after her conversation with Mr. 
 Allgood about Lady Hamilton Treherne, 
 Lucy Blair, in answer to a haughty note from 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne, the cold comfort of 
 which she owed to Mr. Allgood's earnest 
 recommendation, waited, with a beating heart 
 and flushed cheek, on her cold, impassive 
 ladyship, and after an hour, which seemed to 
 her interminable, and in which was revived 
 the old torture of " the question," or rather of 
 a hundred and one questions — all selfish, heart-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 11 
 
 less, insolent, and some iiTelevant and cruel — 
 Lucy was told that Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 would consider of it, and that she should 
 hear from her. Lucy almost hoped for rejec- 
 tion, but, after a short interval, she received a 
 few lines which announced that she was ac- 
 cepted, and summoned her to attend at once. 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne hated Lucy for 
 her youth and beauty, her easy grace, and the 
 spirit she evinced in her determination not to 
 be ground down to a housemaid's wages, and 
 yet have all her valuable time engrossed by 
 her employer. But Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 had knowledge enough to discover that Lucy 
 was a prize not to be lost ; that she would 
 save her the expense of masters, and that her 
 beauty and youth would never be in her way, 
 as before the London world of fashion at- 
 tended her lev^e, Miss Blair's time would be 
 up and she herself out of the house. 
 
 Lucy was engaged, then, for three hours a 
 day, at thirty shillings a week. She had
 
 12 THE DAILY GOVET^^'ESS. 
 
 been about a fortnight in the habit of attend- 
 ing daily at Lady Hamilton Treherne's, in 
 Belgrave Square, at the period of the opening 
 of our tale. And as her hours were from 
 nine to twelve, she had been so lucky as to 
 have always finished her duties and taken her 
 leave before Lady Hamilton Treherne's bell 
 rano; for the ehocolate, which her French 
 maid, Annette, always brought to her bed- 
 side the first thing in the morning. 
 
 On this very wet morning Lucy had in- 
 tended getting into an omnibus, but unfortu- 
 nately there was not a place to be had. She 
 had a shilling in her glove wdth which it was 
 her own wish to purchase some little delicacy 
 to tempt her mother's failing appetite, but 
 which the latter had forced upon her in case 
 she required a cab. Before, however, she saw 
 one at all, Lucy had become very wet ; and 
 the rain ceasing to pour, though it continued 
 to drizzle, she hurried on in great discomfort, 
 but still resolved, and keeping her temper in
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 13 
 
 spite of jokes cut at her expense, until, turn- 
 ing into Belgrave Square, a sudden tempest 
 blew the old umbrella inside out, and carried 
 it out of Lucy's hands over the iron railing, 
 and into the centre of the Square gardens. 
 
 Poor Lucy ! she could have cried with 
 dismay and vexation. Mrs. Bragge set so 
 great a value on that terrible old umbrella, 
 whose whalebone ribs were literally through 
 its mummy-coloured calico skin, and whose 
 spring had a bad habit of suddenly giving 
 way without any warning. Poor old um- 
 brella ! it possessed neither ferule nor knob, 
 button nor loop, and when open it exhibited 
 two slits, a darn, and a patch. It had, indeed, 
 every disease to which the constitution of an 
 umbrella is liable. But Mrs. Bragge, who never 
 stirred out, set a great value on it " for a' that." 
 Lucy decided in her own mind that she must 
 ask Lady Treherne's butler to get it for her 
 — luckily he was very goodnatured, and fret- 
 ting about it would do no good. So Lucy,
 
 14 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 weather-beaten, wet, cold, dreary, and with 
 nothing but her brave spirit and warm heart 
 to uphold her, knocked gently, with numbed 
 fingers, at the grand entrance of Sir Hamilton 
 Treherne's princely mansion in Belgrave 
 Square; and her misery, her insignificance, 
 and her saturated, shabby drapery formed a 
 strange contrast' to that noble portico, those 
 stately pillars, and marble steps ; and to the 
 comfort and splendour of the hall — the 
 blazing fire, the porter in his great crimson 
 chair, the powdered footman reading the 
 papers and sneering at the daily governess ; 
 and the condescending courtesy of Mr. 
 Malmsey, the butler, who looked like a phy- 
 sician — He listened to her story about the 
 umbrella, and peremptorily dispatched one of 
 the powdered footmen in search of it, in spite 
 of great reluctance on the part of " Jeames," 
 and a cough he shammed as an excuse. The 
 old umbrella was captured at last, and furnished 
 amusement for the whole morning to the two
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 15 
 
 footmen, who spent a merry hour or two 
 laughing as heartily over its defects as if it had 
 been an old friend of their own ; and " Jeames," 
 who boasted a brown silk umbrella in an oil- 
 skin case, with an ivory handle, and all the 
 perfections the best maker could unite in a 
 first-rate article, felt and looked very angry 
 with Miss Blair and Mr. Malmsey, for ex- 
 posing him to the wet and the degradation of 
 such a hunt. Lucy Blair took off her go- 
 loshes and cloak in an anteroom, and repaired 
 to the schoolroom as the clock struck nine, 
 shivering, it is true, but trying to conceal the 
 fact that she was wet through.
 
 ,16 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lucy's trials begin betimes. 
 
 Poor Lucy Blair's damp feet and wet gar- 
 ments had, however, not escaped the notice 
 of Hannah, the schooboom maid, who was 
 very vain, envious, and ill-tempered ; and, who 
 being always much better dressed than Miss 
 Blair, felt very angry at having to wait upon 
 her, and at the involuntary deference inspired 
 in her own heart, in spite of herself, by Lucy's 
 gentle dignity of manner. 
 
 Hannah was a smart, neat-looking girl, 
 who would have been pretty, but for a nose
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 17 
 
 which " Jeames," the handsome footman, and 
 professed wit of the servants' hall, had said 
 was a hook, only the hook Avas turned the 
 wrong way — up instead of down; and who 
 had cherry lips, but more like the stick of 
 cherries sold at the stalls, than the " twin 
 cherries" to which ladies' lips are so often 
 compared. 
 
 Now, " Jeames," who was, or who pre- 
 tended to be, a great connoisseur in female 
 beauty, had been heard to declare that ''Our 
 daily governess was prettier than any girl at 
 the Queen's last Drawing Room, or in ' the 
 Gardens,' on Sunday," where " Jeames," with 
 a number of his fellows, (congregated outside), 
 had criticised every haughty dame and trip- 
 ping miss, who little dreamt of the severe 
 scrutiny bestowed in such a quarter on her 
 person, her dress, and even her walk. 
 "Jeames's" admiration of '^our governess" 
 had p\it the finishing stroke to Hannah's 
 hatred of that young lady, particularly when, 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
 Ai-
 
 18 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 coming down one day to dinner with a very 
 gay cap, and ridiculing the plain attire of 
 poor Lucy, " Jeames" set the table in a roar 
 by observing, " That some had all their hows 
 about their ears, and some had them all 
 dangling about their tails." Upon which 
 Mr. Malmsey had remarked, "That if he, 
 ' Jeames,' presumed to allude to Miss Blair, 
 that young lady was no fit subject for his 
 jokes ; for though her beauty and manner 
 would win all 'arts, she was much too modest 
 and particular to have any followers dangling 
 after her ; and, in any case, Mr. Jeames 
 would do well to remember she was meat for 
 his master" (probably meaning his portly, 
 handsome self). 
 
 Since this unlucky tribute (for Hannah 
 knew Mr. Malmsey was well-to-do, and woidd 
 have given him her 'and, if not her 'art), all 
 the thoughts of the schoolroom maid were 
 employed upon the ways and means of 
 getting Miss Blair either dismissed, or of
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 19 
 
 making^her so uncomfortable that she wouhl 
 be induced to resign. 
 
 It was arranged that, for the future, Lucy 
 should dine with her pupils at Lady H. Tre- 
 herne's ; and this was proposed with no re- 
 ference to her comfort or advantage, poor 
 girl, but because Lady H. Treherne had dis- 
 covered that her children, left entirely t(j 
 servants at their meals, were acquiring very 
 vulgar habits at table. It also insured a good 
 deal of conversation in French, Italian, and 
 German during dinner, and the hour after 
 the repast, which was to be devoted to re- 
 creation. Recreation ! to correct the blunders 
 of four self-willed, insolent girls, whose 
 wretched accent, and more wretched grammar, 
 positively wounded the delicate ear of poor 
 Lucy Blair. 
 
 By the arrangement about the one o'clock 
 dinner. Lady Treherne seciu-ed an additional 
 hour and a half of poor Lucy's time ; and 
 Lucy, though she hated a scheme which 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 prolonged her thraldom and her absence from 
 her mother, was so influenced by that 
 mother's wishes and entreaties, that she con- 
 sented to the plan laid out, and was to 
 preside at the schoolroom dinner for the first 
 time on this very occasion. 
 
 As to Mrs. Blair, the idea that Lucy would 
 get a good hot dinner every day, before re- 
 turning home, was a positive blessing, and 
 almost filled her thoughts during her 
 daughter's absence. 
 
 Hannah was furious at the idea of having 
 to stand behind Miss Blair's chair, to take 
 her orders, do her bidding, answer the bell, 
 and wait on her. " Shabby-genteel bit of a 
 think, as if she were a real lady, and no 
 mistake." " It was," she observed to the house- 
 maid, " so bemeaning, so aggravating, and so 
 infra Dick, that the idea of it had positively 
 quite upset her, made her feel very historical, 
 and turned her nerve." But it had not yet 
 occurred, and Hannah, seeing Miss Blair so
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 21 
 
 wet, and knowing the high spirit concealed 
 under her gentle manner, had fancied she saw 
 a way to what she called a Croesus in the 
 affair. 
 
 Hannah, pretending then a great anxiety 
 for the young ladies' health, no sooner heard 
 her mistress's bell ring for Annette, with her 
 chocolate and croiltons, than she made bold to 
 tap at Lady Treherne's door ; and being ad- 
 mitted, while that lady sipped from her Sevres 
 china the choice and fragrant beverage, and 
 " frequent cups prolonged the rich repast," 
 Hannah gave a lively description, and a very 
 spiteful one, of the damp state in which Miss 
 Blair was sitting close to Miss Augusta, who 
 had a cough already, and of the perils all the 
 young ladies incurred ; adding that '' people 
 like Miss Blair of course could stand any think, 
 but yomig ladies as fair and dehcate as their 
 own ' Mar ' didn't ought to run no risks — 
 which it was Miss Blair's duty to come in a 
 cab, rather than offer to sit among her young
 
 22 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 mistresses in such a state — that they had all 
 been sneezing and coughing ever since, and 
 Miss Augusta looked quite pale, and had the 
 shivers." 
 
 Now, Augusta was her mother's favourite, 
 and Augusta's bloom was a great source of 
 pride. They were all fine, tall, aristocratic- 
 looking girls, with perfect features, and light 
 flaxen hair, but all, except Augusta, so pale 
 as to be almost sallow ; and, owing to this 
 defect, they were not reckoned pretty by 
 people who attach (as almost every one in 
 reality does) more importance to brilliant 
 colouring than to classical outline. Augusta 
 alone had not only a rose in her cheek, but a 
 few stray sunbeams in her hair; and this, 
 with a rich dash of tm-quoise in her large 
 eyes, gave to her beauty all the brilliancy 
 und charm in which her sisters were deficient, 
 and which their lady mother scrupled not to 
 try to borrow from art. 
 
 Augusta, indeed, bore some resemblance to
 
 THE DAILY GOVEUNESS. 23 
 
 her lovely governess, both in form and face ; 
 but, pretty as she really was, Lucy Blair was 
 a thousand times prettier. " The mind, the 
 music, breathing from her face," as Byron 
 says, the intellect enthroned on her brow, 
 and the sympathetic expression of her violet 
 eyes and soft red lips, made Augusta look, 
 beside Lucy Blair, like a showy piece of wax- 
 work beside a Madonna or a Saint by some 
 old master. 
 
 In mere physical beauty, too, Lucy Blair 
 bore away the palm, and every candid person 
 who noticed the likeness remarked her great 
 superiority ; but Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 woidd have resented as an impertinence a 
 comparison between Miss Augusta and the 
 poor youn{* governess. She delighted to hear 
 it said that Augusta was her mother in 
 miniature, and all her dependents learned her 
 weakness, and of course ])]ayed upon it. 
 
 " Do you mean to say, llannali," lisped Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne, while Annette refilled her
 
 24 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 cup from the embossed silver chocolate-pot — 
 *' do you mean to say that Miss Blair has 
 presumed to walk here, on such a morning as 
 this, from the City, or the Borough, or what- 
 ever horrid place it is, she lives in ? — and that 
 she is sitting in her wet clothes, giving cold 
 to the young ladies ?" 
 
 "Yes, my -lady," said Hannah. "What 
 first struck me, my lady, was how pale Miss 
 Augusta was looking — not the least like you, 
 my lady, which she always reminds of your 
 ladyship when I look at her, on account of 
 her lovely colour — and then I heard her 
 cough, and the other young ladies sneeze, and 
 looking at Miss Blair, I saw her dress was 
 clinging round her and steaming as she sat 
 by the fire. And I went and looked in the 
 anteroom, my lady, and there's her old plaid 
 cloak, quite wet through ; and as for her 
 goloshes, they're quite a sight, my lady ! So 
 I thought it my duty to come and inform 
 your ladyship, for Miss Blair is much too 
 high for me to venture to speak to her."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 25 
 
 '' You did quite right, Hannah ; I am 
 much pleased with you. Tell Miss Blair I 
 wish to speak to her directly. A new-laid 
 egg, Annette — a turkey egg, if you have one 
 — and I could fancy a rasher of breakfast 
 bacon." 
 
 " Yes, my lady ; I am so glad you eat a 
 leetle; I thought my lady had lost her 
 charming appetite." 
 
 There was a low tap at the door.
 
 26 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A DAMP STRANGER. 
 
 '' Come in," said Lady Hamilton Treherne, 
 raising herself on her elbow, while Annette 
 arranged the swelling pillows of snowy cambric 
 and costly lace, so as to support her lady's 
 languid form, and threw a fine white cashmere 
 shawl over the richly-worked night-dress, that 
 only partly concealed her thin white arms and 
 bust — " Come in." 
 
 Lucy Blair approached. 
 
 " Oh, don't come too near me ! — I am very 
 susceptible of cold — all the Trehernes are —
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 27 
 
 not the catarrh of common people, but a cold 
 peculiar to the Trehernes ! Pray stand where 
 T can see you — but farther off, if you please. 
 I have all Beau Brummel's horror of a damp 
 stranger. I really am quite shocked, Miss 
 Blore, or Blair, or whatever it is, to see you 
 in this state." 
 
 " I am flattered beyond measure by your 
 ladyship's interest and anxiety," said Lucy, 
 pretending to ascribe some common politeness 
 and common humanity to the fine lady, yet 
 her heart burning, her cheek flushed, and her 
 tears ready to gush forth at the cruel insolence 
 of her address. '' Allow me to thank you for 
 your kindness, and to assure you that I was 
 so well protected by my cloak and umbrella, 
 that I do not think I shall take cold." 
 
 " You misunderstand me. Miss Blore," said 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne. " I have no doubt 
 you will escape cold ; of course you are used 
 to be out in all weathers, and one don't mhid 
 what one is used to. But though quite safe
 
 28 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 for you, your damp clothes are very dangerous 
 for the young ladies. Your pupils take after 
 me, and I have little doubt they will all be 
 laid up with severe attacks of the regular 
 Treherne cold. Low fever, pain in the chest, 
 and prostration of mind and body, are the 
 first symptoms ; and weeks of inaction 
 ensue." 
 
 Lucy was roused. " What you call the 
 Treherne cold, madam," she replied, " is very 
 like influenza ; and if your daughters are cer- 
 tain to have caught it from my damp clothes, 
 which surely would be more likely to aff'ect 
 me, I had better discontinue my visits. It is 
 difficult enough as it is to arouse their atten- 
 tion, and conquer confirmed habits of sloth ; 
 but if perfect prostration ensues, I can be of 
 no use here." 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne was perfectly as- 
 tounded at the calm self-assertion and digni- 
 fied independence of this speech. She gazed 
 at Lucy with a cold, insolent stare, which.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 29 
 
 however, gradually changed, as she met the 
 proud, mournful, and somewhat reproachful 
 gaze of Lucy's beautiful eyes. Amazement 
 kept her ladyship silent. Hannah and An- 
 nette looked on, almost with the interest 
 people do at a race or fight. There lav, 
 lapped in luxury, canopied with crimson vel- 
 vet, couched on down, robed in cambric, lace, 
 and cashmere, waited on by obsequious flat- 
 terers, and fed with dainties from Sevres china 
 and silver plate, the still handsome, selfish, 
 aristocratic employer; and there stood — her 
 damp, okl, black silk dress clinging to her 
 slight Psyche form, her wet hair gathered and 
 knotted up at the back of her head, ill -clad, 
 poorly fed, overworked, but with a lion heart, a 
 martyr spirit, and the flush of modest worth 
 stung to resentment by heartless insolence — the 
 Daily Governess! Andtlic native dignity of the 
 girl triumphed over the cruel insolence and 
 acquired coolness of the woman ; and Lady Ha- 
 milton Treherne dropped her eyes, aiul raising
 
 30 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 tliem with a softened, coaxing expression, 
 said — 
 
 " If I did not allude to the danger of your 
 taking cold yourself, Miss Blair, it was be- 
 cause, from your perfect indifference to the 
 state of your clothes, I thought you might be 
 used, as many very respectable people are, to 
 be out in all: weathers." 
 
 " So far from it, madam," said Lucy, " the 
 life I led, till I accepted your situation, was 
 one of so much seclusion and shelter that I 
 scarcely remember ever having been caught 
 in a shower in my hfe." 
 
 " Dear me !" exclaimed Lady Hamilton 
 Treherne ; " I had no idea of this — I wish I 
 had known it. I thought daily governesses 
 were almost (from constant exposure to the 
 elements) as weatherproof as .sailors." 
 
 " I made my debit as a daily governess in 
 this house a fortnight ago, madam ; and if, as 
 you anticipate, the young ladies will not be 
 able to attend to their studies at present, I
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 31 
 
 am quite ready to resign the office. I 
 have many more applications, and — forgive 
 me for saying so — some which promise more 
 docihty in the pupils and more sympathy in 
 the parents." 
 
 As Lucy spoke, the tears sparkled in her 
 eyes, and her cheek paled and glowed alter- 
 nately. Hannah, at the other end of the 
 room, whispered to Annette, " There's a spirit, 
 and she only a daily !" And Annette, with 
 a Frenchwoman's ready pity for the oppressed, 
 exclaimed, " Poor tin' ! lapauvrette ! she won't 
 get no sympatee here from «my lady, and no 
 doceelity from her pupils, I don't tink !" 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne, who before this 
 interview had mtended to humble, but not to 
 dismiss Lucy (whose talents were of so rare an 
 order, and who took such conscientious pains 
 with her pupils), valued her all the more 
 highly, as she saw how ready she was to resign 
 her thankless and laborious task. It was, 
 therefore, in her softest and most winninir 
 tones that Lady Hamilton Treherne said —
 
 32 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " I spoke rather too harshly at first, my dear 
 Miss Blair, because I was so vexed at the idea 
 of the children catching cold, which Hannah 
 told me they had done, assuring me, at the 
 same time, that you were used to all 
 weathers." 
 
 " So it's all laid on my shoulders !" mur- 
 mured Hanilah to Annette. 
 
 " Never mind," replied Annette ; " dey is 
 broad enough to bear more dan dat." 
 
 Lucy made no reply. Lady Hamilton Tre- 
 herne therefore continued — 
 
 " I am not a person of many words. Miss 
 Blair ; I am not demonstrative, as people say 
 now-a-days. I feel much more than I express, 
 and think much that I never utter. Little as 
 you imagine it, I thoroughly appreciate you, 
 and would not part with you on any account. 
 I see already that my girls are improved : I 
 empower you to enforce docility in any way 
 you think best, and I assure you you have my 
 warmest sympathy . ' '
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 33 
 
 An involuntary smile curled Lucy Blair's 
 lip, as she thought how very tepid was her 
 ladyship's warmest sympathy. 
 
 " I feel certain," added her ladyship, " from 
 your delicate appearance and your being (of 
 which I was not aware) unused to be wet 
 through, you will take cold, unless you change 
 all your things. If you will go into my dress- 
 ing-room, Annette shall attend you with some 
 of mine — new," of course — and which I hope 
 you will oblige me by accepting. In the 
 meantime, your own clothes shall be care- 
 fully dried. But let me hear no more of the 
 desertion you meditate, and never doubt a 
 mother's sympathy in your patient, earnest 
 efforts to improve her children. Those efforts. 
 Miss Blair, have been the theme of comment 
 and of praise both with their aunt, Lady Pry, 
 and myself. Annette, show Miss Blair into 
 my dressing-room, and come for my orders. 
 My dear Miss Blair," added the fine lady, 
 holding out her white and jewelled hand, " do 
 
 ^0L. I. D
 
 34 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 oblige me by accepting the things A^nnette 
 shall bring you." 
 
 " As a loan, madam," said Lucy — " not as 
 a gift." And she touched the hand which 
 pressed her own as she took leave.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 35 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 
 SYMPATHY. 
 
 Annette showed Miss Blair into the ele- 
 gant dressing-room, and, as she stood before 
 the cheval glass, it struck her that she was 
 the only shabby-looking thing in that costly, 
 well - appointed tiring - room of fashionabk^ 
 beauty ; and yet there was nothing there half 
 so rare or so priceless, so perfect in form, so 
 genuine, or so sterling. For what gem is half 
 so precious as such a mind and such a 
 heart as poor Lucy Blair's ? And, by way of 
 setting to the jewel, what work of art is half 
 
 D 2
 
 86 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 SO exquisite as that modest moss rosebud 
 beauty which we sometimes see in an English 
 girl of seventeen, before Passion has scorched 
 one half- unfolded petal of the flower, and 
 while her brightest moments spring from 
 home affections and mental pleasures ? . . . 
 
 Annette soon returned. She found Lucy 
 Blair standing' where she had left her. Lucy's 
 things were so old and shabby, she was 
 ashamed to take them off" and hand them 
 over to the scrutiny of the well-dressed Han- 
 nah and the smart Annette. But Annette 
 had her lady's order, Lucy saw resistance 
 was vain. The Trench are very quick, and 
 though all Lucy's under-garments were whole 
 and very clean, yet things so darned, so pieced 
 and mended, had never met Annette's view 
 before. She felt that Lucy was ashamed of 
 them (a false shame). Annette, who knew the 
 world and the value of beauty in this metro- 
 polis of sin, respected the poor child for the 
 penury which proved her pure and good.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 37 
 
 " I can dry them at home, mademoiselle," 
 said Lucy ; " only roll them up." 
 
 " No, no, Miss ; look here !" and opening 
 a door, Annette showed a small room with a 
 good fire. " Dat is my room ; no one dare 
 enter dere. I will dry dem ; no one sail see 
 one bit of dem." 
 
 " They are so old," said Lucy ; and seeing 
 tears in the Frenchwoman's eyes, she added, 
 " and poverty is such a crime in this great 
 city — and English servants are so inso- 
 lent." . . , 
 
 " Dat Hannah is — I won't say what. Don't 
 be ashamed, young lady. How many dis very 
 day, dressed like duchesses, would be glad of 
 dis poor robe, turned, mended, pieced, tread - 
 bare (and not neber no great tings when new), 
 if deir hearts could beat under it as pure and 
 light as yours — pauvrette ! , . . You say trues 
 poverty is a crime in London ; but when it is 
 de only crime of a life, it cannot make us 
 really ashame or unhappy. ... Ah 1 be poor,
 
 38 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 be eber poor. Alas ! how easy for you to be 
 very rich !" 
 
 Lucy Blair had but a dim notion of what 
 Annette meant. She had read few novels, and 
 hardly ever saw a paper ; her life had been 
 spent under her mother's eye in the seclusion 
 and safety of schools and convents abroad. 
 She knew nothing of life — life in London 
 especially — and her poor mother was not 
 much better informed. Lucy saw that An- 
 nette meant all that was kind and flattering, 
 and while the latter went of her own accord 
 to get a footbath for the poor little numbed 
 feet she had found by feeling them to be as 
 " colt as ice," Lucy hastily dressed herself in 
 the delicate and fragrant articles provided for 
 her. 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne had nothing (how- 
 ever professedly simple) that was not elegant 
 in the extreme. Her figure, by dint of pinch- 
 ing in and padding out, was much what Lucy's 
 was fresh from the hands of nature.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 39 
 
 Lucy was slight, but her form well rounded, 
 liady Hamilton Treherne was very thin. She 
 had sent in a dress that neither exactly fitted 
 nor became her : a pale brown velvet jacket 
 and a skirt of French merino (with many 
 flounces) of the same colour. There were 
 sleeves and chemisettes of Mechlin lace, with 
 turquoise blue bows. Lucy, as she gazed at 
 herself in the cheval glass, was amazed at the 
 effect her beauty produced (thus arrayed). It 
 was the only fashionable dress she had ever 
 put on in her Ufe. Annette came in and bui'st 
 into rapturous expressions of admiration, truly 
 French ! . . . She made Lucy bathe her cold 
 feet in the warm water she had brought, and 
 while she did so, without giving her any notice, 
 threw ^peignoir over her shoulders, and sud- 
 denly untwisting her long and lustrous hair, 
 proceeded rapidly to dress it in the newest 
 fashion. 
 
 She then brought Lucy in a cup of hot cho- 
 colate and some rusks, and when the latter hnd
 
 40 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 
 
 taken this refreshment, saying, " You can join 
 de young ladies, Miss, widout disturbing my 
 lady," she ushered Lucy through a passage,and 
 down a flight of back stairs, into the school- 
 room. The Misses Hamilton Treherne, who 
 had had an interview with their mamma, and 
 had raceived strict orders to be very docile 
 and good to Miss Blair, and to make no com- 
 ments on her altered dress, ventured on none 
 of the impertinent remarks Lucy had dreaded. 
 They were really beginning to like and to 
 respect her ; and, with the love of the beauti- 
 ful, natural to their age and sex, they smiled 
 the admiration they had been forbidden to 
 express. 
 
 Meanwhile Annette, true to her word, was 
 drying, in the secret recesses of her own 
 chamber, the thin old, turned, mended black 
 sarcenet dress, and the stockings so carefully 
 " footed." The old white petticoats were so 
 muddy, she decided they must go to the 
 wash ; and that all she could do was to iron
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 41 
 
 out the ribbons x)f the straw bonnet, and have 
 the plaid cloak dried and the goloshes cleaned. 
 
 The dinner went off pleasantly. The hour 
 of recreation was enlivened by Lucy Blair's 
 htstoriettes, in French and Italian, of some of 
 her schoolfellows ; and when she rose to go, 
 Annette, taking her agam to her lady's dress- 
 ing-room, informed her how impossible it vras 
 for her to re-assume her own things on that 
 day, and how earnestly her lady, who was gone 
 out in the carriage, begged her acceptance of 
 the trifles she had worn. 
 
 Lucy resolved to consult her mother as to 
 keeping them. She saw she had no choice, 
 and that slie must Avear them till her own 
 were ready. 
 
 Thanking the kind Annette again and again, 
 wrapped in the old cloak and armed with the 
 terrible umbrella (a horrible nuisance now the 
 weather Avas fine and the sun shining), Lucy, 
 passed through the hall. To her delight she 
 saw neitlier of the tall footmen. Mr. Malmsey
 
 42 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 issued from some unseen quarter, opened the 
 door for her, hoped she would take no cold, 
 ventured on the joke that good people were 
 scarce — and Lucy was once more free as the 
 birds, and almost as glad.
 
 THE PAILT GOVERNESS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 YOUNG ENGLAND. 
 
 A SET of gay men about town were lounging 
 in a bay window of one of those temples which 
 modern Sybarites rear to themselves, and on 
 whose altar they sacrifice wives, children, 
 home, domestic affections, and household 
 sympathies. It was a fashionable club, and 
 its appointments enabled bachelors to despise 
 matrimony, and Benedicks to escape from close 
 dingy houses smelhng of roast nuitton, from 
 querulous wives, noisy children, parlour-maids, 
 or pages, and to enjoy, with some few hun-
 
 44 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 dreds per annum, the luxuries otherwise 
 reserved to the possessor of annual thou- 
 sands. 
 
 " What are you all looking for ?" said a 
 fashionable man, who had been very hand- 
 some, and thought he was so still, in which 
 opinion — as he was very rich, and lavish 
 wl ere his pleasures were concerned — ball-room 
 belles and ballerinas equally conspired to 
 confirm him. " Come, don't keep the joke 
 to yourself. Let me in for a wTinkle — do, 
 Bertram !" 
 
 '' I thought I'd let you in for a good many, 
 when I introduced you last night to Miss 
 Plinlimmon," laughed Bertram — Lord Bertram 
 Papillon, son of the Duke of Pompadour. 
 " How did you get on with the heiress ? 
 Will she do?'' 
 
 "No; I'm too well off to marry merely for 
 money, and too poor to marry merely for love. 
 Old Plinlimmon won't do, though I see she's 
 of a different opinion."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 45 
 
 " And pretty Lady Clara, that dear, wild 
 Irish girl, whose face is her fortune — " 
 
 " No, I can't aflPord her. Marrying for 
 love is a luxury no man should allow himself, 
 unless he has twenty thousand a year. But 
 I saw pretty Clara would have no objec- 
 tion." 
 
 " Old coxcomb ! superannuated ass !" mut- 
 tered Henry Greville, a very handsome unpaid 
 attache, who had next to nothing per annum, 
 and lived, alas ! on bills and credit, but who was 
 or thought himself in love with pretty Lady 
 Clara's Irish black hair, blue eyes, red lips, 
 white teeth, ready wit, rich humour, and " the 
 sweetbriery fence" that "hedged in the divinity" 
 of her beauty. " Detestable fat okl coxcomb !" 
 he said to his friend Cecil Sydney — '* why, he 
 is fifty -five, wears stays, and a ventilating 
 peruke, and uses bloom of Ninon ; and }et, 
 confound him, because he has ten thousand a 
 year, he believes, perhaps knows, that Clara 
 O'Rourke would jumj) at him."
 
 46 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " I wish we could get him from the window^ 
 Hal," said Cecil. " I don't want him to- see 
 that beautiful girl, you know who ; and this is 
 the hour, nay, the very minute, she always 
 passes the window." 
 
 " Have you found out her name, and where 
 she lives ?" 
 
 " No, for my fellow, Le Fiiret, who's worth 
 all the detectives in London, for hunting out 
 man, woman, or child, is laid up with the 
 spleen or the sulks, or an aitaque de poitrine or 
 
 de mauvaise humeur^ or something And 
 
 I can trust no one else." 
 
 " But why not follow her — speak to her — 
 scrape acquaintance with her ?".... 
 
 " I'm afraid !" 
 
 " Afraid ! The Honoui'able Cecil Sydney, 
 the handsomest man about town, the pet of 
 the petticoats — whether of rich brocade, 
 white muslin, or plain cotton — afraid to speak 
 to a little, shy, simple, ill-drest girl ; who must 
 be some distressed needlewoman, or more dis-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 47 
 
 tressed penwoman, some teacher or staymaker, 
 to be always trudging along quite alone at the 
 same hour !".... 
 
 " It is because she is so shy, Hal, so simple, 
 and so poorly dressed, that I am afraid to 
 speak to her, Hal -, if she were some dashing, 
 self-possessed, showily-arrayed damsel, her 
 beauty, great as it is, would not daunt me. 
 But what can detain her ? I so dread that 
 conceited old porpoise. Sir Jasper Malvoisin, 
 getting a glimpse of her. He's such a brute, 
 such a wealthy brute too." 
 
 " But, Sydney, if he could make any way 
 with her, she isn't worth a second thought. I 
 despise any woman who tolerates for a moment 
 the pompous, sensual egotism of that atrocious 
 old coxcomb." 
 
 "Except Lady Clara; you don't despise 
 her." .... 
 
 " Last night I thought I did ; but I believe 
 it was all her mother's doing. Old Lady 
 O'Rourkc is such a terrible vixen, and she so
 
 43 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 dreads and abominates me ! Ah ! Sydney, 
 why haven't I even a younger brother's por- 
 tion Hke you ? I can't hold out much longer; 
 I must go through the Insolvent Court, unless 
 I get some appointment, to quiet Levi and Co. 
 at least, with their sixty per cent, interest.'* 
 
 "I'll speak to my father, Hal. But come, 
 man, let's walk up St. James's Street ; she is 
 sure to come down it. As I said before, I dread 
 Sir Jasper's seeing her, not, as you imagine, 
 lest he should captivate her, but lest he should 
 add to the dread which I see she already has, 
 poor child ! of every well-dressed man. I 
 know Old Jasper; he's an unmitigated brute. 
 I dare say, if he took to following her up, he'd 
 terrify her so she'd never venture out again ; 
 and, perhaps, if her daily bread depends on 
 her daily toil, she'd stance at home." 
 
 " Well, come along," said Cecil. 
 
 " But what do you mean, if you can get to 
 speak to her, and to know her?" asked Gre- 
 ville.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 49 
 
 " Ah, Hal, that I dare not ask myself. At 
 present, I feel that sort of vague, restless curi- 
 osity about her, which is the most tormenting 
 state a man can be in. I never saw a face and 
 form that pleased and interested me half so 
 much ; so I must know what sort of mind, 
 manner, voice, character, belong to that 
 exquisite Psyche." 
 
 "And if they correspond to her person, 
 what then ?" 
 
 " What then I who can tell ? If she likes 
 me — if she loves me — " 
 
 " Well, if she loves you, you will sacrifice 
 her, not yourself; take her from honest 
 poverty and praiseworthy toil to luxuries that 
 she and all her humble relatives will consider 
 shame ; and in a short time you will be very 
 thankful if Sir Jasper Malvoisin (brute though 
 he be) will take her off your hands ; thence 
 her progress downwards will be rapid and 
 horrible ! If she is a good girl, leave her so. 
 I am a sad dog — a careless fellow ; but I 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 wouldn't seduce an innocent girl, no, not to 
 be a rich man, and out of Levi's power." 
 
 "The idea of Henry Greville turning 
 moralist ! It's too absurd ! I don't say I 
 shall do the girl any harm. She may not hke 
 me ; and if I cannot make her love me, there's 
 no danger for her. Women's peril is from 
 within, not from without. But I will hear 
 her voice, and know what sort of mind lights 
 those violet eyes, and what a smile would be 
 from that sweet mouth. Now listen, Hal ; 
 I want to seem to be her friend — her de- 
 fender — her preux chevalier. She is nothing 
 to you ; you're in love with that wild flirt, 
 Clara O'Rourke. ' But, an thou love me, 
 Hal,' just help me to scrape acquaintance with 
 her — I don't know her name — ' the inexpres- 
 sive she.' Do you speak to her ; I'll pretend 
 to take her part, and call you to account ; do, 
 there's a good fellow. If you will, I'll help 
 you with Lady Clara, and I'll bother my 
 father so, that he must do something for you."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 51 
 
 "Well, I don't half like it; but—" 
 
 " Here she comes, by Jove, Cecil ! Look 
 what a wretched old umbrella she has in her 
 little hand. Come, just for a joke, ask her 
 to let you carry it for her." 
 
 At this moment Lucy Blair approached. 
 A gust of wind raised her veil, and distinctly 
 showed her fair young face to the two young 
 men. With modest dignity she avoided them, 
 but yet they made towards her. At that mo- 
 ment a cabman hailed her. Lucy, seeing an 
 intention of accosting her in the handsome 
 young fashionables, whose eyes were fixed 
 upon her, as she thought, impertinently, 
 suddenly darted across the pavement, and 
 entered the cab, the door of which the man 
 opened in obedience to her signal. 
 
 " To the Strand," she said, in a low voice 
 to " cabby ;" and away he drove the rickety 
 old cab. 
 
 Lucy threw tlie old umbrella on the o])- 
 posite scat, and, leaning back, wiped away a 
 
 E 2 
 
 UNIVERSITV Of
 
 52 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 tear — a tear wrung from her poor heart by 
 the sense of her unprotected, anxious, morti- 
 fying position ; a tear which those gay young 
 men, wild and reckless though they were, 
 would yet have been sorry to have caused 
 her, for they had some good left in their 
 natures yet; they were not quite ci)rrupt. 
 However, Lucy's sudden and spirited ma- 
 noeuvre put them on their mettle, and the 
 pursuit was becoming piquant. They hailed 
 a Hansom, got in, and ordered the driver to 
 follow the old yellow cab. 
 
 " You won't follow it far, gentlemen," said 
 the Hansom man ; " the 'oss had just picked 
 hisself up round the corner a moment afore the 
 lady hailed him. Don't ye see how that old 
 wehicle sways, just like a ship in a storm ?" 
 
 " I hope the poor girl won't be hurt," said 
 Greville. 
 
 "If she should be upset," replied Cecil, 
 "I can rush forward, like a true knight 
 errant, and offer my services."
 
 THE DAILY GOYEllNESS. 53 
 
 Lucy felt that all was not right, and pnt 
 her head out. She called to " cabby." He 
 would not hear her. She pulled the check 
 strmg, old and rotten — it snapped in her 
 hand. She saw boys grin and grimace as they 
 passed, and cabmen nod, wink, and make 
 signs to her driver. 
 
 Poor Lucy ! she began to feel very uncom- 
 fortable, and had resolved on trying to open 
 the cab door, when, just as they turned into 
 the Strand, she was thrown violently forward. 
 The wretched, groggy horse was rolling in 
 the street, and the cab, far too old and 
 rickety to sustain the shock uninjured, was 
 suddenly severed from springs and axle, and 
 gently laid on its side ! 
 
 A crowd, a thick crowd, gathered round. 
 Lucy, terrified, and a Httle bruised, Avas 
 thankful to find slic was not seriously hurt. 
 Of course, at the upset, the Hansom had 
 stopped ; and the hand that opened the cab 
 door and helped Lucy out was a hand cased
 
 45 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 in lemon-coloured kid. Cecil Sydney almost 
 bore the frightened girl into a shop; and 
 Henry Greville followed, bearing in triumph 
 the old umbrella 1
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A LONDON CABMAN. 
 
 It was into a pastrycook's shop that Cecil 
 Sydney had partly led, partly borne the 
 frightened Lucy. Confused and ashamed, 
 she had not yet raised her eyes ; but in spite 
 of many expressions of " gratitude for the 
 kindness lavished on her," and " regret at 
 giving so much trouble," added to assurances 
 that she was " not at all hurt, and was quite 
 ready to proceed home," Lucy found herself 
 placed with gentle force (and rather against
 
 56 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 her will) on the little black horse-hair sofa at 
 the farther end of the back parlour. 
 
 The room was so dark that, fresh from the 
 bright March sunshine outside, and still a 
 little dizzy and shaken by her " upset," Lucy 
 could at first scarcely see anything. By 
 degrees she glanced timidly around on small 
 marble slabs 'strewn with Fundi, The TimeSy 
 and other papers, and on a centre table laden 
 with baked custards (powdered with nutmeg), 
 jellies, buns, spongecakes, and tartlets. 
 
 At length she caught sight of her own 
 face and form in an opposite mirror (not a 
 flattering one), but it apprized her of the fact 
 that her bonnet was crushed into a most 
 ludicrous shape, something like the chapeau 
 has of the last century. Lucy was young 
 and light-hearted, and she burst out into a 
 pretty, ringing, merry laugh, as she took off 
 the bonnet to bend it back into shape. 
 
 Afraid of alarming her, Cecil Sydney and 
 Henry Greville drew back behind the glass
 
 THE DAILY GOVER.NESS. 57 
 
 door, so that she could not see thek reflected 
 forms and faces, their bare throats, loose 
 coats, short hair, and long beards ; but they 
 could contemplate at their ease the perfect 
 shape of her small head, and the profusion of 
 auburn hair which Annette had so neatly and 
 modishly arranged. 
 
 Forgetful of their presence, or perhaps 
 thinking they had kindly left her after seeing 
 she was not seriously injured, Lucy ap- 
 proached the mirror, and taking oif the plaid 
 cloak, of which the clasp was broken, and the 
 hem soiled by the mud as she had crossed 
 the pavement, her beautiful figure, in the 
 elegant jacket and skirt Lady Hamilton Tre- 
 herne had forced upon her, met the view of 
 the two young men. They exchanged looks 
 of surprise and admiration, mixed with some 
 little perplexity, for they were, or thought 
 themselves, great connoisseurs in female 
 beauty and dress, and were certainly un- 
 sparing critics of both ; but that is not at all
 
 58 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 the same thing, we know. However, they un- 
 derstood dress well enough to marvel at the 
 great discrepancy between the old plaid cloak, 
 shabby bonnet, and " Gamp" umbrella, and 
 the taste and richness of the toilet beneath. 
 They were quite bewildered. 
 
 Just at this moment Cabby came into 
 the little back parlom\ touched his hat and 
 said — 
 
 " Glad to see you're none the wuss, miss ! 
 I'm Sony to say I can't make no great shakes 
 of a r^-pair — it's a baddish job. Sorry to 
 disappoint ye, miss, but all I can do is to call 
 ye another cab." 
 
 Lucy could not help laughing at the man's 
 evident idea that she had set her heart on 
 proceeding in his rickety old vehicle. 
 
 " Ah," said Cabby, " what's fun to you 
 
 is death to me, miss It's a matter of 
 
 three -pun -ten out of my puss, or rather, 
 pusson ; for as I can't pay with one I must 
 with t'other."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 59 
 
 ''I am very, very sorry for you," said Lucy, 
 *' but here's your fare." 
 
 " Come, that's a good 'un," said Cabby ; 
 *' I s'pose you means that for a joke, miss." 
 
 " No, indeed !" said Lucy ; " it is your full 
 fare, I am sure ! — indeed, it is more. I only 
 took you from St. James's Street." 
 
 " Well, I little expected," said " Cabby," 
 tossing the shilling up and catching it again 
 and again in his horny palm, " I little ex- 
 pected money of this colour from you, mum, 
 after all that's 'appened to that 'ere blessed 
 thorough -bred oss and first-rate wehicle in 
 your sarvice. Says I to myself, when I felt 
 what wor coming, bless her hansome face 
 inside, says 1, she shan't be disappointed no 
 wise — come what will — come what will, she'll 
 not let a })oor feller, with a sick wife and nine 
 small children, be none the wuss for her, she 
 won't. So says I to a pal o' mine as says, 
 *Why, Joe, that ere's ruination, ain't it?' 
 Wait a bit, says I, there's some one inside that
 
 60 THE DAII^ GOVERNESS. 
 
 'ere shop as '11 make it up to a poor feller, and 
 something over to drink her health, and no 
 mistake, says I." 
 
 The impudence and extortion of " Cabby," 
 and the mute horror and surprise of the 
 terrified and bewildered Lucy, so convulsed 
 with laughter the young exquisites behind 
 the glass door, that, fearing to offend and 
 alarm her, they withdrew farther into the 
 front shop, but were all eyes and ears to as- 
 certain the result. 
 
 " Come, miss, come it 'ansome," said 
 Cabby. "When you lies down in your 
 warm, soft, feather bed, after a good hoister 
 supper may be, as is always werry acceptable 
 when one's been treated to the thee-ater, you 
 wouldn't like to think, that a-howing to you, 
 a poor feller's lying supperless on the bare 
 boards, with his wife and young family a 
 
 crying for bread You wouldn't 
 
 just " 
 
 " Good gracious !" at last broke from poor
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 01 
 
 Lucy, tears in her eyes and in her voice ; " I 
 can do nothing in it. It is not my fault that 
 your wretched over-driven old horse fell 
 down, and that the rickety, worn-out cab was 
 upset. All T can do is to pay you a shilhng. 
 I don't believe you're entitled to anything. 
 Your horse and cab were quite unfit for use. 
 You ought not to have offered to drive me ; 
 besides, I took you from St. James's Street, 
 and this is only the beginning of the 
 Strand." 
 
 " Ye took me from Q^ueer Street and have 
 brought me to Short's Gardens^ that's what 
 ye've done, drat ye," said Cabby, growing 
 very red and very angry, as he began to sus- 
 pect that the solitary, leaden-looking shilling, 
 now grown quite hot in his hand, and which 
 had come, not out of a fidl purse, but from 
 poor Lucy's mended glove, was all she had, 
 and therefore all he should get. 
 
 " I shall pay you nothing more," said Lucy, 
 roused by his insolence and menacing air.
 
 62 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " Well, ye're a fine article, you are, to ride 
 in cabs — ain't ye ? drat ye !" 
 
 " You deserve to be had up for insolence 
 and extortion," said Lucy, very pale, but 
 fairly roused to anger; " and I shall certainly 
 take your number." 
 
 " I wish ye may get it, but I shan't help 
 ye to it !" retorted Cabby, groTvdng very 
 brutal. " I wish I'd never set eyes on ye, ye 
 beggarly, owdacious " 
 
 But at this crisis, while Lucy, pale as 
 death, her eyes distended and her heart 
 beating wildly, was shrinking from the fist 
 Cabby had clenched to intimidate, but not 
 to strike her, Cecil Sydney and Harry Greville 
 came to her rescue. 
 
 " What is the matter ?" said Cecil, with a 
 voice and manner of the gentlest deference : 
 *' can / be of any use ?" 
 
 " This cabman is insulting and threatening 
 me," replied Lucy, her eyes on the ground, 
 " because I will not, indeed cannot, pay him
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 63 
 
 more than his fare. He seems to expect me 
 to be at the expense of repairing his cab and 
 replacing liis horse, because I was so un- 
 fortunate as to be inside when they broke 
 down." 
 
 " Lord love ye, gentlemen," said Cabby 
 (his tone quite altered now that he had men 
 to deal with — men, too, whom his quick, 
 practised eye recognized as what he called 
 "tip-top swells, up to snufF, and that know'd 
 what's what, and who's who"), "that's 
 all her fancy like. I ain't no such fool. All 
 I *spected was, that the lady 'd stand a trifle ; 
 just a pot o' beer or so, seeing this have 
 happened in her sarvice like, and through 
 obKgmg of she. For I knowed my 'oss wor 
 done up, I don't say no otherways, only she 
 seemed so eager to get in, and looked so 
 pitiful at mc — I never could bear to baulk a 
 ^ fee-male, as some can, cuss their '[ird 'arts — 
 and so I trusted in prow idcncc, and ye see 
 the upshot of that 'ere ; but as to threatcnin'
 
 64 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 or imposin' upon a fee-male, 'taint likely — 
 Tm quite t'other way ! Anybody as knows 
 me, will tell ye my character." 
 
 " Well," said Sydney, seeing clearly 
 through Cabby — indeed, having overheard 
 his attack on Lucy — but wishing to appear 
 to the poor girl both ignorant of the case and 
 very simple and amiable, and, above all, 
 anxious to put her under an obligation, 
 " here's half-a-crown, I suppose that will 
 mend matters, won't it ?" 
 
 " If not, here's another," said Henry 
 Greville, who had not heard all that had 
 passed, and rather pitied Cabby, who seemed, 
 like himself, the victim of a relentless 
 destiny ; and who, while Cecil had been 
 watching through the glass door Lucy and 
 her driver, had been flirting with a pretty 
 " counter-chQiimeT" in the shape of a young 
 pastrycook, who was much struck with both 
 our beaux.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 YOUNG ENGLAND OUTWITTED. 
 
 Poor Lucy was annoyed beyond measiu'e 
 at the obligation thus forced upon her. She 
 looked up to express her disapprobation of 
 the reward just conferred on an abusive ex- 
 tortioner, and in so doing she recognized the 
 two handsome, rather sarcastic faces of the 
 young loungers, whose approach in St. James's 
 Street had driven her into that very cab. 
 
 A feeling of intolerable annoyance and 
 confusion overcame her. Cabby, hi higli 
 glee, departed, and Lucy considered herself 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 (i(y THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 five shillings in debt to two men who had 
 cruelly annoyed her, and caused the very 
 accident that might have made her a cripple 
 for life — five shillings in debt to them for 
 feeing the wretch who had first upset, and 
 then threatened, insulted and abused her ! 
 
 The anger she felt was legible in her face. 
 Cecil, perceiving it with inward exultation, 
 yet said, mournfully — 
 
 " Don't be angry with us for ridding you, 
 even at the price of a trifling douceur (very 
 ill-deserved, I own), of the presence of that 
 brute. You, of course, can know little of 
 the race of London Cabbies. I know them 
 well, and quite dread to see a cabman ^ 
 open his lips in the presence of a lady. Had 
 you been my sister," he added, with quick 
 tact, I should have acted just as "I have 
 done." 
 
 " I," said Greville, " really felt for the poor 
 fellow, who must be half ruined by this 
 smash. If Cabby sometimes imposes on us,
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 67 
 
 his employers are always cruelly exacting 
 to him." 
 
 " Will you not take anything ? Let me 
 recommend a cup of coffee," said Cecil to 
 Lucy, very respectfully. 
 
 " Oh, no, no, thank you !" replied poor 
 Lucy, and with good reason : Cabby had 
 carried off her only shilling. 
 
 " I meant rather on account of the people 
 of the shop than your own," said Sydney. 
 " Do allow me to order something," 
 
 " Perhaps you will do so for yourself," 
 replied Lucy. " My object is to get home at 
 once," she added, blushing scarlet. '' Many 
 thanks, gentlemen. Good day." 
 
 "You must allow us to see you sale 
 home," urged Cecil. 
 
 "Oh, by no means," replied Lucy; and, 
 seizing the old umbrella, she darted out of 
 the room, through the shop, into the street. 
 
 " We shall be back in half an hour," said 
 Sydney, very softly, going close up to tlie 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 pretty, jaunty patissiere, who was all bows 
 and bugles, coquetry and crinoline ; " have 
 some soup ready for us, my dea' child ! I 
 suppose you know you're unkammon pretty. 
 You're a regular nut-brown maid." 
 
 " I'm sure, sir, I thought just now you'd 
 no hies but for hauburn 'air." 
 
 ** Courtiser la brune et la blonde, 
 Aimer voltiger au hazard,'* 
 
 hummed Cecil, saucily, trying to snatch a kiss, 
 and receiving, we rejoice to say, a sound slap 
 on the face. " Come, don't be a vixen, there's 
 a good girl. Don't take liberties." 
 
 " You keep your place, sir, and I'll keep 
 mine," she rephed, " and the next time I see 
 the hauburn beauty, which I often has a chat 
 with her," she added, ready at fibbing, " I'll 
 tell her something." 
 
 " Tell me all about her, do, there's a dear 
 soul." 
 
 " Come, Cecil !" cried Greville.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 69 
 
 " Well, when I come back, will ye ?" urged 
 Cecil. 
 
 The belle patissiere smiled and nodded. 
 
 As they left the shop, a ragged urchin came 
 up to them and said, " Ain't you the gentle- 
 men as was with the lady as was throwed out 
 o' the cab ?" 
 
 " Yes, my boy ; what of her ?" answered 
 Cecil. 
 
 " Why, I zeed a cove pick her pocket just 
 as you tooked her in there ! I can swear I 
 zeed a bit o' worked muslin, vat ve calls a 
 viper, and a sniffin -bottle, and some papers in 
 hees fist." 
 
 " Papers !" thought Sydney ; " I should 
 like to see any papers of hers. Well," he 
 said to the boy, " here's half a sovereign, and 
 if you bring the stolen goods to this address," 
 giving him a card, " you shall have a wliole 
 one besides. But, confound it, Greville ! we 
 shall miss her now, if we do not make haste. 
 A fine start these delays with the girl insid
 
 70 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and the boy out have given her. Isn't she 
 lovely, Hal ? What hair ! what eyes ! what 
 a swan throat! and yet I do beUeve that 
 ' splendid shilHng' was all she had in the 
 world. Is she not an angel?" 
 
 " Cecil," answered his companion, "if you 
 think so, leave her as she is. Your pursuit is 
 sure to injure, and may ruin her." 
 
 " I will know where she lives, Harry. I 
 don't see her ; do you ?" 
 
 " I don't wan't to see her, and I msh ^ou 
 would never see her again. Listen to me, 
 Cecil. Spare her !" 
 
 " Spare yourself any trouble on that head. 
 I'll know where she lives, and who and what 
 she is ; and then I'll make up my mind as to 
 her fate." 
 
 The coxcomb ! He felt sure Lucy Blair's 
 fate was in his hands. 
 
 "How she must have sped along! Look down 
 all the streets. I lost so much time talking 
 to that bedizened dandizette and that ragged
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 71 
 
 imp, I declare we've lost her. I'd rather have 
 lost my bay mare, though she did win the cup 
 at Ascot." 
 
 By this time they had reached Arundel 
 Street, having hurried along at a wonderful 
 pace for them ; since " fast men" are generally 
 very slow on foot. They looked down its 
 dark, narrow length, when a respectable 
 young woman, apparently a milhner or dress- 
 maker, came up to them, and said — 
 
 " Are you the gentlemen that helped a young 
 lady out of a cab that was upset just now ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Cecil, eagerly ; " what's her 
 name ?" 
 
 " Never mind that," was the reply ; " her 
 compliments, and she sends you this." So 
 saying, she thrust a little paper parcel hito 
 Sydney's hand, and, while he opened it, 
 tripped across the Strand, and disappeared. 
 
 " Done, by Jove !" said Sydney. " Look 
 here — two half-crowns, and ' With many 
 thanks !' "
 
 72 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " One's mine," said Hal, " and I could ill 
 afford to part with it." So, laughingly, he 
 seized it, and thrust it into his waistcoat- 
 pocket. *' I say, Cis, what a do !'* 
 
 " She has done me brown — little baggage !" 
 said Cecil. 
 
 " Well, it is a sell," answered Greville ; 
 "but, upon my word, I'd much rather you 
 were done than that poor girl undone. Now 
 for the soup 1 — come along !"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 73 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LUCY AT HOME. 
 
 Labour gives rest all its charm ; and of all 
 labours we should imagine that teaching most 
 requires long and entire rest. " Sweet is plea- 
 sure after pain" — sweet the repose of the poor 
 daily governess, as night draws near, and she 
 sinks down in an arm chair in her quiet 
 apartment, and exclaims, " I'm at home, I'm 
 at home, and the teacher is free !" 
 
 Relieved from the toils and trials of tlic 
 day, sat Lucy Blair on one side of tlio fire, 
 while her mother occupied the other, aucl
 
 74 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 positively feasted her eyes in gazing on her 
 rescued treasure : for though some days had 
 elapsed since the events of the last chap- 
 ter, thos3 events were still fresh in that fond 
 mother's thoughts. 
 
 "Oh, my dear child," said Mrs. Blair, 
 " may I never know such another day as last 
 Thursday ! Had your absence been pro- 
 tracted but a few minutes longer, I really think 
 the agony of my mind would have destroyed 
 my reason !" 
 
 " You must not be fearful about me, 
 mamma,'' answered Lucy ; " circumstances 
 have rendered me prematurely old and cau- 
 tious. I am now experiencing what we read 
 in Dr. Johnson to-day, at the Hamilton Tre- 
 hernes', is one of the decided symptoms of 
 age— ^viz., ' pleasure from the mere absence of 
 pain.' Were I as young as my register would 
 make out, I should be pining for excitement — 
 for plays, balls, and parties ; instead of which, 
 I would not at this moment exchange places
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 75 
 
 with the most popular * belle of the 
 season/ " 
 
 " But your philosophy, my Lucy," said Mrs. 
 Blair, " does not prevent my coveting for 
 you the pleasures and advantages other girls 
 enjoy ; and I own, I fear, that th^ profession 
 you have, in your devotion for me, adopted, 
 may shut you out not only from all society, 
 but prevent your marrying in that rank of 
 life to which, in spite of our poverty, you by 
 birth belong." 
 
 "Well, mamma," rejoined Lucy, "you 
 know the lady who lives on the first floor 
 here — Mrs. Green Brown — kindly intends 
 taking me to the Olympic to-night. We arc 
 to see that great genius, of whom Mr. Allgood 
 spoke in such raptures, Mr. F. Robson, in 
 Plot and FassioUy and in the Porter's Knot — 
 in both, they say, his humour is of that true 
 kind which is half pathos — and that he makes 
 one laugh and cry at pleasure. Think what 
 a treat that will be ! And as for adniii'ers,
 
 76 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 surely I bad enough of them last week. The 
 breaking down of that crazy old cab raised 
 me to the envied position of the heroine of 
 romance. How I wish you could have seen the 
 knights-errant who took part in my rescue !" 
 
 "I hopei may see them some day," said Mrs. 
 Blair, " I shall be very much sm^rised if I do 
 not. Having beheld you once, they'll manage 
 to get formally introduced to me, I'm sure." 
 
 " I hope not, mamma. I hate and despise 
 them, and, from the bold and mischievous 
 expression of their countenances, I was dis- 
 posed to think them, in some degree, the 
 cause of my accident. However, I must 
 acquit them of that. Mesmer himself could 
 not enable an evil eye to upset a cab." 
 
 This remark was followed by the entrance 
 of the supper-tray. Lucy declared she enjoyed 
 the light evening repast shared with her dear 
 mother much more than the plentifid early 
 dinner served up in Belgrave Square. 
 
 "■ But I should relish anything this evening,"
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 77 
 
 said the poor girl, " my heart is so light and 
 joyous with the prospect of its morrow ; for 
 you must know you are to have me with you 
 the whole day. Louisa Treherne is eight 
 years old to-morrow; and to celebrate her 
 birthday the children are all to drik^e in their 
 mamma's carriage to the Crystal Palace, 
 leaving me to enjoy my delicious freedom. 
 This ray of sunshine was preceded by a 
 black cloud, mamma; I will give you the 
 particulars. Had you been present you 
 would have smiled to see how completely my 
 struggle with a hard, grasping world is con- 
 quering my natural timidity. I was just pre- 
 paring to equip myself for my walk home, 
 and the children had left the room, when 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne entered. Her man- 
 ner was far from cordial ; but slie was much 
 more civil than she used to be before that 
 memorable demelc in her own bedroom, on 
 that wettest of wet days — " 
 
 " When, havhig so heartlessly called you a
 
 78 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 ' damp stranger/ you acted up to the character 
 by putting a damper on her impertinence," 
 laughed Mrs. Blair. 
 
 " Yes, mamma, after a little conversation 
 about her children's deportment, she said to 
 me, very caftlessly. Tray remember, Miss Blair, 
 to-morrow is a holiday.' My heart beat high 
 with the thought of spending it with you, 
 mamma. But a thorough revulsion of feeling 
 followed, when Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 added, ' Tell your friends at home not to ex- 
 pect you till nine in the evening. My children 
 have invited several young companions, and 
 supposing you or some such person were not 
 here, the riot and confusion that would prevail 
 throughout the day would be quite intolerable. 
 I am sure my nerves could not stand it for half 
 an hour. You, of course, understand all that 
 sort of thing, and are used to it. Besides, I 
 consider the instruction of the play-hour as 
 important as that of the lesson -time.' ' I 
 will not presume to dispute that point, my
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 79 
 
 lady,' I quietly replied (determined to rival 
 her coolness) ; ' but you will, perhaps, have 
 the goodness to recollect that what you now 
 requu'e, formed no part of our agreement. I 
 undertook to direct and control your children 
 in their studies, not in their recreations. Still, 
 I am far from being indifferent to the comfort 
 of my employers ; and though the task of re- 
 straining boisterous young people dming 
 hours of recreation is far from pleasant, I 
 will give you my best services to-morrow for 
 the usual period of my attendance in your 
 
 house ; but my mother's health is quite ' 
 
 * And pray. Miss Blair,' interposed Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne, rudely interrupting me — 
 (egotists, however highly born and bred, are 
 unconsciously rude ; and she is the queen of 
 egotists) — 'what am I to do with the children 
 during the whole of the afternoon ? I ex- 
 pected more gentleness, kindness, and con- 
 sideration from you. I can assure you that, 
 at your age, such decision of character and
 
 80 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 such self-possession are far from attractive. I 
 can dispense with your services altogether for 
 to-morrow ; and I shall send the whole birth- 
 day party to the Crystal Palace/ " 
 
 " A sensible determination, too," said Mrs. 
 Blair, who would have applauded any plan 
 that would have procured for her her Lucy's 
 company. 
 
 " Yet, would you believe it, mamma ?" said 
 her daughter, " my heart smote me for re- 
 fusing Lady Hamilton Treherne's request, 
 unreasonable though it was ; and it was the 
 thought of you, and, to be frank, of the visit 
 to the Olympic, that prevented my offering 
 to remain with her children the whole day ! 
 I am very glad I did not do so : I dare say I 
 should have had a scornful answer; but it 
 is difficult to a kind heart to refuse, and to 
 woman to say no." 
 
 How calm and sweet was the slumber of 
 the young governess after her day of toil. 
 Ye belles of the season, ye might envy it,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. hi 
 
 believe me. Own it frankly, you never feel 
 quite satisfied with all the incense offered to 
 your vanity. There is still the gnawing, 
 aching void : What though you have refused 
 your baronet, one of your acquaintances has 
 a chance of a baron. But grant you are the 
 favoured one, the belle of the season. Grant 
 that the rays of the midsummer sun shine on 
 you through the windows of St. George's, 
 Hanover Square, and illumine the jewels and 
 orange-flowers that adorn you as the bride of 
 
 the Duke of . Grant all this ; but also 
 
 grant that next spring a new star must arise, 
 a younger beauty, another " belle of the sea- 
 son ;" and if all your happiness consisted in 
 monopolising admiration, soon we must rather 
 pity than envy you. 
 
 Take comfort, ye who are nobly struggling 
 against misfortune in the humblest walks of 
 life: only persevere. Your object is good 
 and legitimate, and you cannot labour in vain; 
 and when you succeed, your success shall 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 satisfy you fully ; but the triumphs of vanity 
 never yet satisfied any human heart. 
 
 Thus, while our heroine sleeps, we have 
 indulged in a little moralising, and endeavoured 
 to show the vanity of vanity. Let us not be 
 misunderstood. Virtue may be found and 
 duty performed in every class ; therefore, in 
 every class we may be happy : and that the 
 fashionable world may be made the arena of 
 virtuous and noble actions, we trust the de- 
 velopment of this tale will prove.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 83 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FOLLOWERS. 
 
 Lucy did not tell her mamma everything. 
 But this reserve was owing not to want of 
 confidence, but an excess of love. Mrs. Blair's 
 health was very delicate ; she had once broken 
 a blood-vessel, and since that time Lucy had 
 dreaded for her mother the effect of any 
 shock or anxiety ; she therefore withheld all 
 that could distress or alarm. Fortunately she 
 had as yet no secrets of the heart, no love 
 sorrows to conceal ; but when aught hap- 
 pened to agitate or grieve her, she often kept 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 it to herself, lest she should increase the 
 nervous timidity that weak health had super- 
 induced in Mrs. Blair. One thing which she 
 had withheld, as calculated only to disturb 
 and mortify that dear, fond mother, was, the 
 persevering but somewhat impertinent admi- 
 ration of a fashionable middle-aged man whom, 
 not to mystify our readers unnecessarily, 
 we will at once own to be that very Sir Jasper 
 Malvoisin, whose notice Cecil Sydney had so 
 dreaded that the young daily governess might 
 attract, when he was lounging in the bay 
 window of his club, and she passing up or 
 down St. James's Street, on what errand 
 Cecil Sydney knew not. But, as the Italian 
 proverb says — " Che sara sara" (what is to be 
 wiU. be). Lucy Blair, after the adventure of 
 the cab, never returned by St. James's Street. 
 At 9 A.M. she felt safe from idlers, but at 
 2 p.M it was another matter. She never on 
 her return passed through St. James's Street, 
 and thus Cecil Sydney watched for her in
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 85 
 
 vain. But, as ill-luck would have it, Sir 
 Jasper Malvoisin was an habiUie of Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne's ; a sort of Platonic lover 
 or cavalier of her ladyship's, who, as Sir 
 George Haaiilton Treherne was one of the 
 invisible London husbands, accepted his 
 escort and encouraged his attentions. It was 
 one of those countless liaisons in which man's 
 idleness, meeting with woman's vanity, en- 
 genders intimacy without esteem, flirtation 
 without preference, flattery, on both sides, 
 without admiration ; and in which les petits 
 soins of the man, and the jealous, exacting 
 nature of the woman, make the world talk, 
 although there was, in reality, nothhig to talk 
 about. 
 
 One day that Sir Jasper had to escort 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne to a dejeilner at 
 some distance, he met Lucy Blair on X\\v. 
 steps of the mansion in ik'lgrave Square. 
 He thought her beautiful, and tried to make 
 his eyes tell her so. He found out from her
 
 86 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 pupils, the Misses Hamilton Treherne, all 
 about her. He waylaid her again and again, 
 he accosted, he persecuted her, until at last 
 she threatened him with the police, and then 
 his passion for her grew dangerous, for it was 
 darkened by revenge. 
 
 Nor was this the only annoyance Lucy had 
 riot revealed to her mother. She had another 
 source of trouble in the uneasiness which the 
 persevering and curious scrutiny of a httle 
 elderly man had occasioned her soon after her 
 engagement with the Trehernes had com- 
 menced. The old stranger had first made 
 her the object of his remark as she sat oppo- 
 site to him in an omnibus that was conveying 
 her to Paternoster Row, whither she was 
 going in quest of a book that her pupils re- 
 quired. 
 
 This inquisitive neighbom-'s eyes were not 
 the only ones fixed on Lucy, but certainly his 
 alone gazed on her malignantly. 
 
 On this occasion our heroine's attire was
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 87 
 
 remarkably simple, but it did not diminish 
 the effect of her beauty. Her soft violet eyes 
 were as heavenly, her rippled braids as 
 bright, and the glow on her cheek as rich as 
 though her form were clad in the wealth of 
 the loom. 
 
 Lucy had no attendant or duenna. There 
 were none to take care of her, save " the 
 viewless angels that protect the good ;" and 
 while West End affected spinsters of sixty 
 would not walk a hundred yards without a 
 powdered giant, armed with a club, behind 
 them, and a barking cur at their sides, Lucy, 
 in all her attractive youth and loveliness, had 
 to pace the thronged streets of London alone, 
 and often to avail herself of its crowded con- 
 veyances. 
 
 Our heroine was anything but nervous, 
 and with a mhid intent on her duties, she 
 generally felt safe. 
 
 The Paternoster Row expedition seemed 
 likely to shake her security, yet she hardly
 
 r 
 88 THE DAlLi GOVERNESS. 
 
 knew why the persevering scrutiny of her 
 opposite neighbour should alarm her as much 
 as it certainly did. 
 
 She had read of the terrors of young 
 scapegraces when creditors appeared in view 
 — but she had no creditors ; enemies pursue 
 lis with untiring malignity — she had no 
 enemies. However, we must own there was 
 something alarmingly repulsive in the very 
 diminutive old man with whom she found 
 herself in such close contact. His appear- 
 ance called to mind some mischievous mar- 
 moset. This likeness w^as partly owing to his 
 mummy- coloured skin, and his little twink- 
 ling eyes, one of which had a most refulgent 
 squint. His face had an ape-like contoui^ and 
 his upper and under Hp bulged out fright- 
 fully, in consequence of an ill-made set of 
 bluish porcelain teeth. These he had cheap- 
 ened from a Jew dentist, and obtained at less 
 than cost price, as they were a misfit ! 
 
 They had been made for a much larger
 
 THE DAILY GOVEliNESS. 89 
 
 man, but the plausible dentist had declared 
 that a little filing would render them per- 
 fectly suitable, and the 'cheapness of the 
 article was a temptation too great to be 
 resisted. 
 
 The wearer of this desirable bargain had 
 evidently taken some little pains with his 
 toilet. His linen was clean and well got up, 
 and not a speck of dust could be seen on his 
 old black suit. 
 
 Lucy, who had a keen sense of the original 
 and the ludicrous, would have noted his pe- 
 culiarities with some interest (as worthy of 
 a place in her olio of oddities), but for the 
 spiteful scrutiny with which he continued to 
 regard her. 
 
 Her uneasiness became serious when she 
 beheld him deliberately put on a pair of 
 spectacles, and taking out a note-book and 
 pencil, jot down Avhat she felt certain must 
 be particulars about herself, from the glances 
 he shot at her during the operation.
 
 90 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 While all this was taking place, she per- 
 ceived that the rumbling conveyance had just 
 passed Paternoster Row. She was close to 
 the conductor, whose attention she had no 
 difficulty in arresting. He had an eye for 
 beauty as well as his superiors, and with 
 national good nature he had felt for Lucy's 
 embarrassment, and even discovered the cause 
 of it. 
 
 In an instant he took his fare, stopped the 
 driver, and assisted Lucy to alight. To her 
 horror, she perceived her old tormentor fol- 
 lowing her. 
 
 Lucy was determined to baffle him. Re- 
 gardless of carts, cabs, and carriages, she shot 
 across the street, and proved the truth of the 
 old adage, " Fortune favours the brave," by 
 reaching Paternoster Row in safety. 
 
 A moment's delay sometimes decides om- 
 prospects in life. 
 
 The old man looked before he leaped, or 
 rather slipped. Still his eagerness was so
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 91 
 
 great that he started too soon. His foot 
 sHpped, and he would soon have been under 
 the wheel of a heavy carriage but for the 
 timely assistance of an Irish basket-woman, 
 who suddenly dragged him to safety and the 
 pavement. 
 
 " Now what do ye vally yer old self at ?" 
 said Molly O'Cree ; " for divil a bid of ye 
 had been lift by this time but for myself that 
 spakes to ye ; so out with yer gold, for Tm in 
 a reg'lar hurry to drink to yer honour." 
 
 "The devil take me if I give you a 
 farthing!" said the old man, vainly endea- 
 vouring to jostle his way through the crowd 
 this adventure had collected. 
 
 " The divil will have ye, whether or no !" 
 cried the angry daughter of Erin ; " but it 
 shan't be till ye have paid me my fair 
 airnings." 
 
 " That's right, old girl !" was lieard from 
 one of the bystanders. 
 
 Thus encouraged, Molly laid her powerfid
 
 92 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 hand on the shrivelled shoulder of the de- 
 linquent, who (like many a better man) called 
 vainly for the pohce. 
 
 " ril police ye, ye ugly old sinner !" shouted 
 Molly. " Here's what comes of such as you 
 running after the gals, when ye ought to be 
 telling yer beads, or thinking of your latter 
 end.'' 
 
 *' Hold your tongue, you vile hag !" said 
 the old man, who evidently did not relish her 
 discourse. " Loose your cursed hold of me, 
 and I'll give you all I've got about me." 
 
 " There — that's fair !" was heard from the 
 crowd ; so Molly, with the quick perception 
 of her country, seeing that the public voice 
 would uphold her no further, was fain to 
 content herself with a croAvn-piece, and to 
 allow the discomfited swain to slink off as 
 best he could. 
 
 In the meantime Lucy had rushed from 
 Paternoster Row, and taken the first street 
 that led to St. Paul's Chm'chyard. Thence
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 93 
 
 she proceeded to Ludgate Hill, and after 
 various crossings, doublings, and tiu'nings, 
 found herself quite unmolested in Bridge 
 Street, Blackfriars. When she thought the 
 old man's patience must be quite exhausted, 
 she walked leisurely back, and executed her 
 commission. 
 
 That the cause of her flight had not been 
 fatally injm-ed by Molly's severity, was proved 
 by his re-appearance a few days afterwards. 
 
 Lucy happened to be in Holborn, and she 
 caught an unwelcome glimpse of him^ as he 
 was seated in a cab, with a large blue bag by 
 his side. No glance of recognition kindled 
 in his httle grey eyes ; for this time Lucy was 
 travelhng in the thorough disguise of a 
 double brown gossamer veil. 
 
 She soon began to attach little importance 
 to the event that had alarmed her so much at 
 the time, and the more stirring adventures of 
 the cab accident almost obliterated it from 
 her memory.
 
 94 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 The fashionable heroes who had played the 
 part of her deliverers re-appeared in her 
 dreams. Perhaps Henry Greville played the 
 most conspicuous part ; but when she awoke 
 on the welcome morning of her holiday, she 
 thought of him with a smile, and not with a 
 sigh.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 95 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A MAID-OF-ALL-WORK. 
 
 " Your mamma begs you'll not get up yet, 
 miss," said Betty Botherem, as she stood 
 knocking at Lucy's door ; " Mrs. Blair means 
 to see to the breakfast herself, and hopes 
 you'll have another nap." 
 
 We are bound to confess that Lucy was 
 nothing loth. 
 
 Our great Duke was of opinion that, when 
 one thought of turning round, it was time to 
 turn out. Perhaps he was right ; but I dare 
 say some of my readers will agree with me
 
 96 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 that very sweet sleep may be enjoyed after 
 day has dawned, and we ourselves have been 
 fully cognisant of the fact. 
 
 At any rate Lucy's extra nap did her no 
 hami, and she appeared in the sitting-room 
 (about an hour and a half after Betty's 
 message), looking as blooming as if she had 
 spent the whole night in beauty-sleep. 
 
 A little surprise had been prepared for 
 Lucy by her mother. The breakfast-table 
 was laid with the greatest care, and marma- 
 lade, shrimps, chocolate and watercresses were 
 added to the usual bill of fare. 
 
 Betty Botherem, w^ho had actively assisted 
 Mrs. Blair in preparing the impromptu treat, 
 stood at the door for a few minutes, with eyes 
 and mouth wide open, to enjoy Lucy's 
 surprise. 
 
 " You have been tiring your dear self," said 
 the affectionate girl. " AVhy have you pre- 
 pared such a feast as this? To have your 
 company at breakfast was quite sufficient for
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. ^7 
 
 me ; and now I can enjoy none of these nice 
 things unless you partake of them with a 
 good appetite. 
 
 "I shall do justice to the breakfast to- 
 day," said Mrs. Blair, " for I feel unusually 
 well and cheerful. I think I see the means 
 of your giving up your too irksome situation 
 in Belgrave Square. The insolence of Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne is so trying to a girl of 
 your sensibility." 
 
 " But perhaps I shall find things still more 
 trying in another family. I had rather ' bear 
 the ills I have, than fly to others that I know 
 not of.' " 
 
 " Now don't be obstinate, Lucy. Look at 
 this," said Mrs. Blair, taking up a newspaper. 
 *' The lady who inserted this advertisement 
 seems to have had you in view, so exactly are 
 the requirements those that you possess. It 
 is a curious coincidence that the first morning 
 of my taking in The Times I shoukl meet 
 
 VOL. L H
 
 98 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 with such an advertisement as this. Read it 
 aloud." 
 
 Lucy immediately complied. 
 
 " ' Wanted — A daily governess, for the 
 only daughter of a lady residing at a short 
 distance from London. Three hours' attend- 
 ance would be expected, and, as various ac- 
 complishments and much refinement are 
 required, a liberal salary would be given. 
 Address G. K., Post Office, St. James's 
 Street.' If I secure this situation, mamma,'' 
 exclaimed Lucy, "I am determined you shall 
 not remain in these small, dark lodgings, but 
 take cheerful and airy ones in some nice part 
 of London. By a liberal salary they cannot 
 mean less than a hundred a year. I shall 
 answer G. K. directly after breakfast. But 
 now do let us talk a little about my good 
 luck in outwitting my tormentors of Thurs- 
 day last. Some fortunate accident must have 
 detained them at the pastrycook's, for I got 
 such a good start of them that they lost sight
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 99 
 
 of me. On turning down Arundel Street, I 
 caught a glimpse of them in the distance, so 
 I ran to this door, Avhich luckily I found 
 open. Miss Smart had just received her 
 money for a dress brought home to Mrs. 
 Green Brown. In a few words I told her 
 how I was placed, described the gentlemen 
 and their whereabouts. She felt quite sure 
 she should recognise them, and she offered to 
 go that very moment and pay them, as from 
 me. I have seen her since, and she tells me 
 she soon met them, gave them the money, 
 and baffled all their endeavours to find out 
 my name and abode." 
 
 " How strange it would be if you were to see 
 them to-night at the play," said Mrs. Blair. 
 " You know my presentiments have a meaning, 
 and I have a sort of impression that one of 
 them is destined to be your partner for life." 
 
 " May my good sense forbid, mamma ; I 
 hate coxcombs even for acquaintances — one 
 of them for a husband would drive me crazy. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 But now let us think of something important. 
 How ought I to be dressed to-night ? I re- 
 collect when my singing-master gave us 
 tickets for the theatre at Tours we went in 
 our best walking-dresses." 
 
 " That would not do in London," said Mrs. 
 Blair : " I am told by Mrs. Bragge that for the 
 private boxes of the Olympic, you must adorn 
 yourself as for a grand evening party. The 
 white-sprigged net and sky-blue velvet trim- 
 mings that you wore at your dancing-master's 
 ball at Dieppe are exactly suited to the occa- 
 sion. Now, dear, ring and have the breakfast 
 things removed; and while you answer the 
 advertisement I will go out and procure 
 for you some little things that are quite neces- 
 sary to enable you to make a nice appear- 
 ance." 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown, the lady on the first 
 ■floor, had also determined to shine at the 
 Olympic on this memorable evening. She 
 had engaged a private box, and ordered a
 
 THE DAILY GOVERXE-S. 101 
 
 handsome brougham (not, as she said laugh- 
 ingly, a Hansom cab). 
 
 Lucy's answer to the promising advertise- 
 ment was written, sealed, stamped, and posted 
 before Mrs. Blair returned with her purchases. 
 
 At these Lucy gazed with tears in hei- 
 eyes, for she knew how many comforts her 
 mother must deny herself in consequence of 
 this expense, Avhich she could so ill afford. 
 
 Lucy had first to admire ribbons and blue- 
 bells, which her clever fingers Avere to form 
 into a fashionable and becoming head-dress. 
 White kid gloves were not forgotten, and 
 these Mrs. Blair could not get cheap, because 
 only the small sizes Avould fit Lucy, and they 
 always keep up their price. But one real 
 bargain had been secured by the fond mother 
 —a white merino opera cloak, lined with blue 
 silk, for sixteen shillings ! 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown soon awoke Lucy to ;i 
 sense of the importance of punctuality by .1 
 message, begging that slie would dress early.
 
 102 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 as the carriage was to be at the door at half- 
 ])ast six. 
 
 Betty Botherem was in a state of great 
 excitement, and made so many mistakes and 
 had so many accidents that the house was in 
 a tumult. 
 
 Lucy, however, was too happy to be irritable. 
 Shut up in her little back bedroom, she rapidly 
 completed the head-dress. The next business 
 was to iron out the many-skirted white net dress. 
 
 In an instant Betty was at hand to procm-e 
 it from a high shelf, in which it had been 
 placed in a box to itself. 
 
 Now, as she could not detach her eyes and 
 tlioughts from the flowers in Lucy's hand, her 
 footing on the chair which was to enable her 
 to reach the box became very insecure, and 
 down she came, chair, box, and all, and with 
 her a shower of London blacks ! 
 
 All this, in spite of Lord Palmerston's 
 having ordered that every chimney should 
 consume its own smoke !
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 1 O'i 
 
 Betty occasioned most of the mishaps of 
 the day. At one time she set her cap on fire 
 while holding the candle to Mrs. Blair, who 
 had to adjust Lucy's head-dress. At an- 
 other (in her eagerness to be useful) she 
 stepped on the tail of Mrs. Green Brown's 
 pet pug, which animal immediately set up 
 the most hideous howls. 
 
 Lucy's heart smote her as she called to 
 mind the ])retty poem of the " Maiden and 
 the Crushed Butterfly." 
 
 " Ah, such," she exclaimed, " is our pride 
 in our faces, for Avhich the soul's happiness 
 too often dies." 
 
 Mrs. Blair's most sanguine expectations 
 were realized, and Almack's, in its pahny 
 days, never welcomed within its halls a love- 
 lier belle than the ])oor daily governess, as 
 she sat smiling ami li''ipj)y, awaiting the 
 summons of Mrs. Green i^i-own and the arrival 
 of the brougham.
 
 104 THE DAILY GOYERXESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MRS. GREEN BROWN. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown was a person of im- 
 mense importance in lier OAvn eyes, and in 
 those of the mistress and maid at No. 9, 
 Arundel Street, where she not merely occu- 
 pied, but seemed to fill to overflowing, the 
 first floor. 
 
 In all London houses, let out as lodgings, 
 " the first floor" takes as indisputable a pre- 
 cedence as does the Speaker in the House of 
 Commons, or the Commander-in-Chief on the 
 field of battle.
 
 THE DAILY GOYEENESS. 105 
 
 " Knowledge is power," was said of old ; 
 but tliat MONEY IS POWER is a far more widely- 
 acknowledged fact ; and of course the gene- 
 ral impression is that the first-floor lodger is, 
 in every sense, the best off. That being the 
 case, every one tries to make that fortunate 
 individual better off still. 
 
 He or she may have a " man" or a " maid" 
 with nothing to do but his or her bidding, 
 but still the maid-of-all-work will leave the 
 " parlours" without common necessaries, and 
 be equally neglectful of the " second-floor" 
 in order to administer to the luxuries and 
 superfluities of the revered " first floor." 
 
 Lucy Blair's abode formed no excei)tion to 
 this universal custom. Mrs. Green Brown 
 had a maid of her own ; but yet Betty de- 
 voted more time to the " first floor" than to all 
 the rest of the house ])ut together ; for Mrs. 
 Mincing, Mrs. Green Brown's maid, was herself 
 a very fine lady, with " narves," and of roursc 
 required a great deal of waiting on herself.
 
 106 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Mrs. Bragge, the good-natured landlady of 
 the house, was a widow, immensely fat, always 
 dressed in black bombazeen and a widow's 
 cap. She adhered to short waists and gigot 
 sleeves. She was born in this very lodging- 
 house some sixty-six years before the opening 
 of om' tale. The tenement had belonged to 
 her parents, who left it to her, and she, 
 when forty-eight, married a showy, handsome, 
 scheming fellow called Bragge (a parlour 
 lodger of hers), who would probably have 
 speculated away all her own and her parents' 
 savings, but before they had been married a 
 year (but not before he had given her a black 
 eye or two) he was blown up in a house in 
 which he was trying a new machine for clean- 
 ing chimneys with fulminating silver. Betty 
 pronounced it "good riddance of bad rub- 
 bish," and the only " weepers " were those on 
 his widow's blaek bombazeen. 
 
 She was a character in her way, this 
 Mrs. Bragge ; a London lodging-letter born
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 107 
 
 and bred, and yet neither a thief, a canter, nor 
 a vixen, but a good, kind soul, with a few 
 vanities, but no vices to speak of. 
 
 She took a great pride in her lodgers, in 
 Mrs. Green Brown especially, who had lodged 
 at No. 9 for many years, off and on, but 
 always retained the first floor ; and the first 
 floor was three guineas a week in the season, 
 and two out of the season. 
 
 Now Mrs. Bragge had been told in confi- 
 dence of Lucy's professional engagement ; 
 but she, Mrs. Bragge, was in her secret heart 
 a good deal ashamed that even her " second 
 floor" should go out teaching, and a good 
 deal touched by the contemplation of so much 
 youth, beauty, and goodness engaged in what 
 she considered such "contemptuous drudgery." 
 She had a spice of Mrs. Malaprop in her com- 
 position (all lodging-letters have). She was 
 something of a match-maker too, and rather 
 romantic, as her own silly match proved. And 
 she thought and said, " Miss Blair ought to
 
 10(S THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 many to her carriage ;" and in her own mind, 
 she decided the only way to effect so desirable 
 an object was to get Mrs. Green Brown to no- 
 tice and take her about. The august Mrs. 
 Green Brown was very idle, and was of course 
 a great gossip. She had no business of her 
 own, and so she had plenty of time for other 
 people's. Mrs. Bragge was an interminable 
 jabberer. Mrs. Mincing had found out j\Iiss 
 Blair's habit of going out at half-past eight 
 and coming in at two ; and Mrs. Bragge, in 
 order to account for this fact, without lower- 
 ing her own dignity or the Blairs', had boldly 
 announced to Mrs. Green Brown (but binding 
 her the while, Mrs. Mincing also, to inviolable 
 secrecy) that, owing to having been brought up 
 abroad, the young lady's English education had 
 been neglected, and she was obliged to go to 
 a ladies' day school at some distance, to fit 
 herself for the society in which she was one 
 day to shine. This was believed, and bound 
 by tlieir promise, neither Mrs. Green Brown
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 109 
 
 nor Mincing could trouble Lucy with any 
 questions on the subject. Mrs. Blair was, as 
 we have seen, a singularly mexperienced, siin- 
 ple-minded woman, brought up in the coun- 
 try ; she had been married at seventeen, to 
 one far above her in rank and beneath her in 
 real worth. The marriage had been private ; 
 the husband had soon ceased to be a lover' 
 and rapidly degenerated into a brute. He 
 was ordered abroad with his regiment (for he 
 w^as in the army), and he left her behind en- 
 ceinte, and so thoroughly disenchanted, that 
 she was glad to be left behind. 
 
 His noble family, who had some suspicions 
 of this mesalliance, persecuted the poor young 
 wife to such an extent, that when, after the birth 
 of Lucy, no news or money arrived from her 
 husband, in actual want and bound by him not 
 to own the marriage to his friends, Mrs. Blair 
 took counsel of a lawyer who had proposed to 
 her before she had seen the man whom slie af- 
 terwards married, and as, unknown to her, he
 
 110 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 was also the solicitor of the husband's family, 
 she, by his advice, accepted a sum to take her 
 and her child abroad, and an income sufficient 
 to maintain them till she obtained a situation 
 as a governess or teacher ; after which, if she 
 troubled them no more, she was to receive 
 forty pounds a year. Poor Mrs. Blair, at 
 eighteen, did not see that her compliance jus- 
 tified her husband's haughty family in consi- 
 dering her in the light of his cast-off mistress. 
 They insisted also that she should take the name 
 of Blair, and never mention that of him she 
 called her husband. But so cruel, so insult- 
 ing, so brutal, indeed, had been, as a hus- 
 band, the man who had seemed so enchanting 
 and devoted as a lover, that, of all things, 
 what she most dreaded was the faUing again 
 into his power. 
 
 With her former suitor. Attorney Twine 
 (Gloss Twine, Esq.), she deposited the papers 
 that proved her own marriage and Lucy's legi- 
 timacy, and then she crossed the Channel
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. Ill 
 
 and prepared to seek her fortunes. What 
 fortunes she found the reader can guess by a 
 glance at the second floor she Hves in, and 
 her pretty Lucy setting forth as a daily 
 teacher. 
 
 We have reverted so far to the past, to explain 
 and account for Mrs. Blair's total ignorance of 
 the world and its ways. She knew little of life 
 when she left Wales (a mother in her teens), 
 and, in the seclusion of foreign convents 
 and boarding-schools, she forgot even that 
 little. 
 
 But for this, she might not have been so 
 wilHng to trust so beautiful and young a girl 
 as Lucy with a woman of whom she knew 
 nothing but what Mrs. Bragge could tell of 
 her ; and, of course, ishe was loud in her 
 praise of one who for years had rented her 
 first floor furnished, [ind paid regulai'ly ; one 
 who kept her own maid, and never Avent out 
 but in a brougham ; one ^^ ho never hagi^l 
 
 o&^ 
 
 ed 
 
 about coals, milk, washing, or extras of any
 
 112 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 kind — never wished to see joint or pudding 
 twice, and never locked up tea or sugar. 
 
 " A real lady bom and bred, and as good a 
 soul as ever stepped." Such was Mrs. 
 Bragge's testimony when Mrs. Green Brown 
 retui'ned with Mincing from Brighton to take 
 re-possession of her first floor, newly painted, 
 papered, and done up ; and having exchanged 
 a few nods and smiles with pretty Lucy, and 
 talked about her for the hom^ with Mrs. 
 Bragge, that lady invited her to go with her to 
 the Olympic, in a private box she had secured, 
 to see a new piece called " Tlie Porter's Knot',' 
 with Mr. r. Robson as the principal character.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. ]13 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE FULL-BLOWN ROSE. 
 
 " Mrs. Green Brown was not a widow — 
 no such luck," said Mrs. Bragge; "her husband 
 was abroad, which, abroad or at home, he was 
 a selfish brute, and she a throwed-away angel." 
 This was Mrs. Bragge's account. Mrs. Green 
 Brown took little or no notice of Mrs. Blair ; 
 she thought her a " dull, pale, moping sort ol' 
 body ;" but she doted on beauty, of which 
 she considered herself the ((uccn. Every 
 pretty young girl was, in her opinion, only an 
 attendant grace on herself, the Venus of the 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 picture ; or a rosebud, herself the ripened rose. 
 She was a tall, very stout woman, of thirty-five, 
 but owning only to "about thirty." She had 
 been a Hebe in her youth, but her present pro- 
 portions were scarcely reconcilable with beauty, 
 at least in the opinion of all people of taste. 
 In her own eyes, and those of Mrs. Bragge and 
 Betty, as fine feathers make fine birds, and every 
 season hers grew finer and finer, so she grew 
 handsomer and handsomer ; besides, if " hand- 
 some is that handsome does," she was hand- 
 some indeed, as Betty's purse and wardi^obe 
 proclaimed. 
 
 We have said Mrs. Green Brown was tall 
 and stout, and when full- dressed, what with 
 her ample crinoline and voluminous flomices, 
 she was of a very imposing size. 
 
 Art never produced hair to surpass her 
 perruque. Regardless of expense (having 
 been remarkable in her youth for golden 
 tresses), she had obtained a wig of hair as 
 bright and even more abundant than that
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 115 
 
 which had distrngiiished her at twenty. A 
 regular coiffeicr dressed this splendid golden 
 hair, in the newest fashion, when she went 
 to the theatre. And the only people in the 
 house who knew, for certain, that it was a wig 
 were Mincing and the fair wearer herself. 
 Lucy and Mrs. Blair had no idea of it. 
 
 Of course, at thirty-five, Mrs. Green Brown 
 might still have boasted of fine hair of her 
 own, but the rufiian she had married had 
 actually, in the Brazils, where he was the ty- 
 rant of the remote estate on which they lived, 
 in a fit of jealous rage caused her to be held 
 down while her head was shaved and her front 
 teeth drawn ! !* and this he had done because, 
 in a foolish pet, she had reproached him with 
 being bald and toothless, all but two eye-teeth, 
 in either row, like tusks ! " Before niglit you 
 shall be the same, madam !" he had exclahned ; 
 
 * These acts of atrocious cruelty were committed in 
 the Brazils by a husband who had not the dread of a 
 Sir Cresswell Cresswcll before his eyes. 
 
 i2
 
 116 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and, at once summoning his slaves, had caused 
 her long, splendid, abundant, golden hair to be 
 shaved off, and her front teeth to be extracted, 
 except the four eye-teeth. A long illness en- 
 sued, and when the poor victim recovered, 
 she effected her escape to England during 
 the absence of her tyrant, and a very rich uncle 
 received her, and at his death left her his fortune. 
 The lilies and roses that in days of health 
 and youth had matched this golden hair, art 
 had reproduced, pearly teeth were admirably 
 adjusted, and pearl powder and rouge were 
 apparent to the experienced, though Lucy and 
 her mother never dreamt of them. 
 
 •' Her eyebrows, truth, 'twere vain to blink, 
 Were partly made of Indian ink ; 
 But oh ! has India aught too rare 
 To lavish on a dame so fair .'" 
 
 They were a clear, perfect arch, black and 
 formal, and they gave an unnatm-al expression 
 to a face of which the small features were em- 
 bedded in embonpoint.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 117 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown held herself up with the 
 dignity of a queen and the airs of a beauty. 
 When the brougham and pair drove to the 
 door, she sent to summon Miss Blair. Lucy 
 found her seated in great state, on a crimson 
 and gilt sofa. Her dress was a sky-blue glace, 
 with three ample skirts trimmed with a pro- 
 fusion of white bugle lace and looped up with 
 pink roses ; her head-dress was composed of 
 pink roses and white bugles ; her dress was 
 cut very low, displaying an ample bust adorned 
 with a necklace of turquoise and gold, and her 
 veiy full arms had bracelets to correspond. A 
 gorgeous burnouse opera cloak, of scarlet and 
 gold, was held ready by Mincing, and she was 
 also provided with a superb fan, smelling- 
 bottle, bonbonniere, and richly embroidered, 
 highly-scented pocket handkerchief. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown bowed to Lucy, who felt 
 herself very insignificant and iiiuler-dressed, 
 in the presence of so much splendour. " Give 
 me another cup of tea, Mincing," she said ;
 
 118 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 "and pray, Miss Blair, Avill you take tea or 
 coffee ? — we've plenty of time. I never care 
 for the hoverturs — do you ? In course I ex- 
 cept the hopera ?" 
 
 " Yes, I do. I dote on fine music any- 
 where !" 
 
 " Oh, very well, then we'll start at once. 
 Mincing, have I a pocket in this di*ess ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 " Have I any money in my purse ?" 
 les, ma am. 
 
 " Come, then. Miss Blair." She took a 
 deliberate survey of herself in the chinmey- 
 glass, then in a pier-glass, parting her vermi- 
 lion lips, so as to see thewhole set of glittering, 
 ])early teeth ; arching her neck, gazing over 
 her shoulder, and saying, " Mincing, I depend 
 on you that I'm fit to be seen," she swept out 
 of the room. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown was always rather 
 aftected, haughty, and unpleasant after an 
 elaborate toilet. Lucy had thought her so
 
 TDE DAILY GOVERNESS. 119 
 
 very smiling, affable, and amiable in her 
 morning wrapper ; now she found her so dis- 
 tant and self-engrossed, she was quite annoyed 
 at the idea of a long evening with her. Lucy 
 felt ready to cry as she kissed her hand in 
 recognition of Mrs. Blair's pale face at the 
 second-floor window. Mrs. Blair was sur- 
 prised to see Lucy, the guest, in the back 
 seat, but there was no room for her by the 
 gorgeous side of the voluminous and superb 
 Mrs. Green Brown : and with a little show 
 of making room for Lucy, and a little sham 
 reluctance, she allowed her to sit opposite to 
 her, and they drove away, Mrs. Bragge ad- 
 miring Mrs. Green Brown (not Lucy) from the 
 parlour, Betty from the area, Mincing on the 
 door-step. Several idle boys and busy-bodies 
 were dazzled by the blue glace, l)ugles, and 
 roses, and did not give a glance to })oor Lucy. 
 Mrs. Blair, dreadfully fatigued, I'eturned to 
 her now cold tea, and a stocking she was 
 mending.
 
 120 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MR. F. ROBSON. 
 
 To Lucy's impatience to see, and her gor- 
 geous chaperons eagerness to be seen, the 
 progress through the Strand appeared a veiy 
 slow one. The announcement of Mr. F. Rob- 
 son's appearance in a new character, sufficed 
 to bring to the doors of the Olympic many 
 visitors of all ranks, even more than that 
 elegant and favourite theatre could accommo- 
 date. 
 
 The first piece was " Plot and Passion," 
 a piece unrivalled for deep plot and intense
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 121 
 
 passion. Mr. Wigan as the enamoured Creole ; 
 Mr. Emery as the cabii astute Fauche ; and 
 Mrs. Sterling as the sentimental widow, 
 were all admirable. But the gem of the piece 
 was, after all, Mr. F. Robson, as the old 
 clerk. He makes himself up (wdth a true 
 artist's sacrifice of vanity to effect, and of 
 his own good looks to his part) into a most 
 sordid, ugly, mean old scrivener ; and yet the 
 force of passion and eloquence is such that 
 it seems impossible woman can hear his con- 
 fession of love unmoved, and tears rise to 
 every female eye, and sighs move every true 
 w^oman's breast as he speaks. 
 
 Lucy forgot, as did perhaps the great artist 
 himself, that it was all a passing show, and 
 leaning back in her chair, she, to the horror 
 and surprise of Mrs. Green Brown, buried 
 her face in her handkerchief, and wept bit- 
 terly. What Mrs. Green Brown would have 
 done and said, no one can tell, had slie not, 
 in glancing restlessly round the house to see
 
 1.22 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 
 
 Avhether people were noticing her companion's 
 emotion, perceived the beautiful young daugh- 
 ter of the Duchess of S (whom she knew 
 
 by sight) equally affected, and several other 
 ladies of fashion and ion (Mrs. Green Brown 
 was a worshipper of ton) pale and in 
 tears. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown then took out her oAvn 
 costly handkerchief to conceal that she did 
 not weep, and she became kinder in her 
 manner to Lucy, which change was confirmed, 
 when, the door being opened by an official of 
 the theatre, with a tray of ices, Mrs. Green 
 Brown perceived, behind the woman who 
 ojBPered these refreshments, two very fashion- 
 able-looking young men, who rather familiarly 
 accosted Lucy, one of them, Cecil Sydney, 
 proffering his hand in a manner which made 
 it quite impossible for her (without great 
 rudeness) to refuse her own. Lucy at a 
 glance recognised her two tormentors. She 
 wished to look grave and dignified, and make
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 123 
 
 them feel that she resented as an intrusion 
 their uninvited and unwelcome presence ; but 
 the recollection of the accident, of the way in 
 which she had escaped them, and the sight of 
 Mrs. Green Brown casting affected glances 
 and giving herself languishing airs at their 
 approach, overcame her self-possession, and 
 she could not help laughing. 
 
 " Introduce me to your friends, dearest," 
 said Mrs. Green Brown. ''Their faces are 
 famiKar to me, but not their names." 
 
 " Let me be master of the ceremonies," 
 said Henry Greville, pitying Lucy's blushes 
 and confusion. Then, turning to the elder 
 lady, he added, " j\Iay I know whom I have 
 the pleasure of addressing ?" 
 
 " Mrs. Green Brown," said the lady. 
 
 " Well, then, Mrs. Green Brown, allow me 
 to introduce Cecil Sydney, second son of the 
 Earl of Hauteville." (Greville saw at a glance 
 that great names would impress Mrs, Green 
 Brown in their favour.)
 
 124 THE DAILY GOTERNESS. 
 
 "The Hon. Cecil Sydney, so often men- 
 tioned in the Court Journal?'' said Mrs. 
 Green Brown in ecstasy, and bowing low in 
 answer to the cold, stiff bend of the beau in 
 question — a mutilated bow peculiar to Young 
 England and the nineteenth century, but 
 enough to intoxicate Mrs. Green Brown ; for 
 it was the first bow she had ever had from an 
 Honourable, a son of an earl. She felt linked 
 with the peerage directly. 
 
 " Now return the compliment,'* said Henry 
 Greville ; *' introduce me.'* 
 
 " Mrs. Green Bro*\\m, allow me to introduce 
 Mr. Henry Greville, son of the late Lord Oscar 
 Greville, and grandson of the Marquis of 
 Montferrat, an unpaid attache at the Bavarian 
 Embassy, a distinguished ornament of Al- 
 mack's, a member of all the best clubs ; in 
 short, a man about to\ni. All he w^ants is 
 a rich, handsome w4fe, w^ith charms to 
 push him abroad, and yet keep liim at 
 home."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 125 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown took this as a personal 
 compliment, and said, '* Mr. Greville will have 
 no difficulty in suiting himself, I should think; 
 it's a great feather in his cap to be so 'ighly 
 connected." 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown occasionally dropped 
 her h's, but with an unconscious spirit of 
 retributive justice, picked them up to add 
 them where they were not due. Cecil ex- 
 changed glances with Henry Grenville, who 
 was pained to see Lucy start and blush to 
 the very temples. 
 
 " I am sure we have met before, sir,'' said 
 Mrs. Green Brown to Cecil. "Were you 
 never at the Lord Mayor's ?" 
 
 "Oh— ah,— Yes—ah!" drawled Cecil. 
 
 " Well, it might 'ave been there, or at 
 Lady Tape's. Were you never at one of 
 Lady Tape's grand ball and supper parties ?" 
 
 " At Lady Tape's ? — ah — in Thread— 
 needle-street?" said the sarcastic, but not 
 witty, Cecil.
 
 126 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " j^o ! But in Tavistock Square, a large 
 corner 'ouse." 
 
 " I think — ah — I have — ah — never — ah — 
 had that honour," stammered Cecil. 
 
 "Then, it must 'ave been at the Lord 
 Mayor's." 
 
 " Or at Cree—morne !" whispered Cecil 
 Sydney to Greville. 
 
 But, luckily, the curtain rose, and Mrs. 
 Green Brown did not hear what she would 
 certainly have resented, for she was very 
 easily roused. 
 
 Lucy did hear the insolent remark, and was 
 stung by it. Harry Greville saw her eyes 
 flash through their tears of wounded delicacy, 
 and frowned angrily at the nonchalant^ inso- 
 lent Cecil, who, uninvited, had taken a chair 
 behind Lucy, and was playing with her fan, 
 and snielhng her modest bunch of violets, 
 leaning over her, and whispering to her. 
 
 The painful, harrowing interest of the last 
 act engrossed Lucy so entirely, that she foi'got
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 127 
 
 the handsome coxcomb by her side, and his 
 odious famiharity, and did not once raise her 
 eyes to meet the pitying and intellectual glance 
 of Henry Greville, who could not understand 
 how so graceful, modest, and elegant a girl 
 could be intimate with so showy a vulgarian 
 as Mrs. Green Brown ; unless — and he shud- 
 dered at the thought — she were the hired 
 companion of that vain, gorgeous, and — to 
 him — odious woman. 
 
 The only thing that seemed to strike her 
 in the whole drama was the improbability 
 that so elegant a lady, in her fashionable dress, 
 should not inspire the shabby old clerk with 
 more awe. 
 
 " I am sure, sir," she said to Ilavry Gre- 
 ville, "when I'm well drest, which I call 
 being well harmed, I wouldn't bow to an 
 hemperor, much less to a beggar, or a beg- 
 garly clerk !" 
 
 " A queen might bow to such a beggar," 
 said Lucy.
 
 128 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 "Well, it may be prejudice," said Mrs. 
 Green Brown, " but I do 'ate poverty. I've 
 never been used to it. I'm like Lady Tape 
 in that." 
 
 " But what does outward poverty matter 
 where there is such inward wealth as was 
 stored in the mind of that clerk ?" 
 
 " All such, wealth, my dear, won't keep 
 your charrot and pair !'* 
 
 " Have you been amused ?" said Henry 
 Greville to Lucy, 
 
 " Oh, more than amused ! I have been 
 intensely interested." 
 
 " Come, sir," said Mrs. Green Brown to 
 the supercilious Cecil Sydney ; " since my 
 young friend has borrowed my beau, I'll set 
 my cap, 'or rather 'ead of 'air, at hers. 
 Will you go and order some hices, if you 
 please ?" 
 
 Cecil could not refuse, and lounged 
 off. 
 
 " I am so glad," said Henry Greville, to
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 129 
 
 Lucy, "that you so fully appreciate the singular 
 genius of my friend, Mr. F. Robson." 
 
 " Do you know hini ?" asked Lucy. 
 
 " Oh, very well, indeed, and I can assure 
 you he is as estimable and amiable in private 
 life as he is brilliant and impressive on the 
 stage. Many good judges think he would 
 make a great hit in genuine tragedy ; and his 
 Shylock and Uncle Zachary convince me that 
 the tragic element is as strong in him as the 
 comic ! — However, he has a style of his own, 
 and his genius, perhaps, cannot do better than 
 follow its own promptings. He is cliarm- 
 ing in society, and delightful in the company 
 of genuine artists. What a man can do and 
 say, is to me so much more important than 
 what he has ; and what he has made himself, 
 is far more interesting to mc than what liis 
 ancestors have made him !" 
 
 Lucy liked Henry Greville from this mo- 
 ment; nay, she began to look at and to Hsten 
 to him with that vague, half-})lcasing, hiilf- 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 
 
 painful interest, which is perhaps symptomatic 
 of the birth of love. 
 
 Cecil returned, with a woman carrying ices. 
 After the farce, which was, as far as Mr. F. 
 Robson was concerned, a triumph of genius, 
 not second even to that he had achieved in 
 '' Plot and Passion," Mrs. Green Brown called 
 upon Henry Greville " to put on her hopera 
 cloak," and, as she said, " be her beau, and 
 ' play the pretties ' to her." Cecil Sydney 
 forced his unwelcome attentions on Lucy; 
 and while Mrs. Green Brown clutched Henry 
 Greville's arm, Cecil compelled Lucy to ac- 
 cept his. 
 
 The coquettish minauderies, boasting vul- 
 garity, and unmistakeable " mauvais ton " of 
 Mrs. Green Brown encouraged Cecil Sydney 
 to treat Lucy with a freedom very distasteful 
 to her. When they reached the passage 
 approaching the entrance, Mrs. Green Brown 
 turned haughtily from a man of the lower 
 orders who had offered to get her a cab, and
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 13] 
 
 addressing Cecil, said aloud, " My lord " (and 
 in an under tone, " least ways as will be "), 
 " will you be so good as to call out, ' Mrs. 
 Green Brown's charrot and pair !' " 
 
 Cecil, enjoying the joke, slipped a shilling 
 into the hand of the man who had so offended 
 Mrs. Green Brown by offering to fetch a cab, 
 and whispering to him to roar out, " Mrs. 
 Green Brown's charrot and pair !" a sensation 
 was created in the laughing crowd which de- 
 lighted Mrs. Green Brown, and painfully an- 
 noyed poor Lucy. 
 
 In the crush — and there was a terrible and 
 protracted crush — Cecil, in whispering to her, 
 approached so closely, that his odious '' jeime 
 France " brushed her cheek. 
 
 " You were very rude to me the other day," 
 he drawled out. 
 
 " In what respect ?" said Lucy, coldly. 
 " You struck me at first sight ; you did, in- 
 deed." 
 
 " Well, it was a rudeness you were not 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 
 
 guilty of," said Mrs. Green Brown, who 
 thought herself a wit, and had some readiness 
 and repartee. " You did not strike her, I'm 
 sure." 
 
 " Cruel ! I didn't strike you. You cannot 
 confirm that assertion." 
 " Indeed I do." 
 
 " And if I love you, what then ?" 
 Mrs. Green Brown, overhearing him, said — 
 " Why, then, sir, the love will be all on one 
 side, I can tell you ; or, rather, as the Irish- 
 man said, ' the reciprocity is all on one 
 side.' " 
 
 Lucy stepped into the brougham, and with a 
 cold bend to Cecil, and a smiling bow to 
 Henry Greville, while Mrs. Green Brown 
 kissed her hand to both, as they drove away .
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 1:^3 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A TELEGRAM. 
 
 The young men had agreed to sup together 
 at Cecil Sydney's, and there they found Mr. 
 Perret, the detective, awaiting them in the 
 drawing-room; and on the door-steps the 
 urchin who had apprized Cacil that Lucy 
 Bhiir's pocket had ])een picked. His face was 
 smeared with niiid, formed of dirt and tcjirs. 
 He said " tlie job had Ix'cii tookcd out of his 
 liands, and most like tlie icwaid too, and 
 'twas a reg'hir do." 
 
 Detective Ferret pi'oduccd a note without
 
 134 THE DAILY GOYERNESS. 
 
 its envelope — scented, glazed; a few lines 
 only, but in a strain of high-flown gallantry, 
 and signed " Edgardo." Both the young men 
 recognised the weak, sloping handwriting of 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin. There was also a gold 
 scent-box, a small pot of rouge, an artificial 
 tooth, a little pocket mirror, and a richly em- 
 broidered pocket handkerchief, marked w^ith 
 initials they could not make out. 
 
 Detective Ferret, who saw everything in a 
 business point of view, spread out these curi- 
 ous objects without a smile or a conunent. 
 Cecil laughed aloud ; Henry Greville coloured, 
 and seemed pained. They soon agreed with 
 Eerret not to prosecute, handed him a reward, 
 bestowed the promised sovereign on the boy, 
 and, supper being announced, they swept into 
 a drawer the contents of poor Lucy's pocket 
 (she not having even discovered that in the 
 dress Lady Hamilton Treherne had sent her 
 there was a pocket, and her ladyship having 
 quite forgotten both it and its contents).
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 135 
 
 " What a little made-up baggage she mu^t 
 be/' said Cecil. 
 
 " Oh, there's some myster}^ in all this. 
 These things cannot be hers — she's almost a 
 child. She wears no rouge ; and as for her 
 teeth — little pearls ! — that odious great fang 
 would not match them." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know that ; women make wj) 
 Avonderfully now-a-days. And I, so afraid 
 that Malvoisin should see her. Why, from 
 this note, I should say he's her lover — a little, 
 artful, impudent minx ; with her coy airs. A 
 regular do !" 
 
 " I cannot make it out," said Henry Gre- 
 ville ; " but if ever truth, purity, and inno- 
 cence were " 
 
 "Put on," said Cecil. "But I'll pay her 
 out ! I'll find her out, too, to-morroAV !" 
 
 Alas! we talk of to-morrow, and per- 
 haps to-night may be heavy witli thimder- 
 bolts. 
 
 The butler came in very pale, with a
 
 136 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 message that had just come by the electric 
 telegraph in his hand. 
 
 Cecil, white as ashes, grasped it, and ex- 
 claimed : — 
 
 "A cab directly, Malmsey. My poor 
 father !" 
 
 He handed the card to Greville, and tmiied 
 to the window., Greville read : — 
 
 ** The Earl has had a bad fall from his horse. Con- 
 cussion of the brain. Little hope. Come directly. 
 Bring Sir B. B . Poechestek." 
 
 Here was a terrible change. The Earl was 
 a kind, indulgent father ; and Cecil had not 
 been the best of sons. He was in a fever to 
 be gone. Lucy was forgotten. The cab was 
 at the door. Henry Greville went Avith Imn 
 to the station, saw him off, and then returned. 
 He was not the Earl's son, and he had not 
 forgotten Lucy Blair ; and locking up the 
 curious contents of her pocket in the sofa 
 table-drawer, he put the key in his portmon- 
 naie, and went home to bed.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THE EEACTION. 
 
 ''The heart, distrusting, asks if this he 
 joy ?" thought poor Lucy, as, unsettled in 
 mind, with nerves unstrung, dejected in spirit, 
 and with aching head, she rose, after a troubled 
 night, to prepare for her daily toil for daily 
 bread. 
 
 " Theatres, dear mamma, are fine places for 
 fine ladies," she said to licr mother, who, 
 quite upset by the unwonted fatigue and ex- 
 citement of the day before, was unable to rise, 
 and was looking, to the great distress of her
 
 138 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 affectionate and anxious daughter, very ill in- 
 deed. " But oh, mamma ! although I was 
 intensely interested in the play, and delighted 
 with the performance, the evening, on the 
 whole, was so fraught with annoyance to me, 
 through the strange conduct of my chaperon, 
 and the bold, intrusive behaviour of that in- 
 solent, supercilious Mr. Cecil Sydney, that I 
 do not wish to go into public any more ; 
 vanity and poverty form the most miserable 
 vmion in the world. JMrs. Green Brown is 
 very kind and good-natured, and it would be 
 very ungrateful in me to say a word against 
 lier to any one but my own dear mother, to 
 whom I may venture to speak openly. But, 
 in spite of her age and size, she is very vain, 
 very coquettish, and with all her wealth 
 she is dreadfully vulgar ; her want of educa- 
 tion, her forwardness, and evident ignorance 
 of all rules of good breeding, put me, dearest 
 mamma, in a very false position : and then the 
 anguish I felt when I saw her, not withstand-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 139 
 
 iiig her years, which would mspire respect if 
 she carried their burden with dignity, sporting 
 with those fashionable, supercihous men, at 
 least with one of them. . . . Oh, mam- 
 ma, I never wish to go to a theatre again, 
 unless with your dear quiet self by my side — 
 you, whose simple dignity and graceful repose 
 of manner always insure respect for yoiu'seli' 
 and consideration for me." 
 
 " I am truly sorry, my dear hiicj" said 
 Mi's. Blair, " that the mistake I made in 
 listening to Mrs. Bragge's account of Mrs. 
 Green Brown has subjected you to so much 
 annoyance. Alas ! my child, I left England 
 so young, and have led so secluded a life 
 abroad, that I fear I have not sufficient expe- 
 rience of life to guide you safely, and the only 
 way for us to avoid great perils and blunders 
 will be to keep ourselves to ourselves. I did 
 say, half in sport, yesterday, that I hoped you 
 might see those gentlemen again, because I 
 have read and heard of so numy iustiiuccs in
 
 140 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Avliich men of rank and fortune, who have 
 been caught in the first instance by a passing 
 view of a pretty face or sylph-hke figure, have 
 been finally won by that virtue, dignity, in- 
 telligence, and lady-like purity of thought and 
 grace of manner, without which no beauty 
 can charm long. It struck me that if those 
 gentlemen, \A^om chance sent to your assist- 
 ance when you were upset and insulted by 
 that abusive cabman, really captivated by your 
 appearance, contrived to get properly intro- 
 duced to you and to myself, and proved to be 
 men of taste, character, rank, and fortune, they 
 would admire you the more they saw of you, 
 and one or both might, perhaps, in the end, 
 form an attachment which would make them 
 only too glad to offer their hands and hearts." 
 " Ah, dearest mamma, such things are very 
 common in books, I believe, but very rare in 
 real life. You know we had in Italian, at 
 Sienna, an abridgment of ' Pamela ; or. Vir- 
 tue Rewarded,' for the use of young people.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 141 
 
 Well, I always thought, as I read it, that not 
 for all Pamela's final triumphs would / have 
 put up with one of the insults offered her by 
 
 Mr. B before he made up his pompous, 
 
 coarse mind to condescend to marry her. No, 
 dearest mamma ! I value no love that is not 
 bom of that respect, that reverence, which 
 every noble-minded, true-hearted woman has 
 a right to expect from every man who covets 
 her affection and esteem, from a cabinet 
 minister down to the humblest clerk in the 
 dingiest office in the city. No man who has 
 once dared to look at me impatiently, accost 
 me disrespectfully, or even to speak of me too 
 freely, can or ever shall win my favour. I 
 shall never (let him alter as he may) cease to 
 dislike and despise Mr. Cecil Sydney ; nor 
 can I ever, on the other hand, forget that, 
 even in the questionable and degrading false 
 position in which he has seen me, alone in the 
 streets, and alone when thrown out of that 
 miserable old cab, ay, and worse than alone
 
 142 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 at the theatre, Mr. Henry Greville has spoken 
 to me with as graceful a deference and endear- 
 ing a sympathy as if I had been introduced 
 to him at a court ball, with a duchess for my 
 chaperon!' 
 
 " There spoke my own sweet Lucy," said 
 Mrs. Blair ; " I warmly sympathise with all 
 you have said, my child ; but only, as I see 
 no chance of your being properly introduced 
 into society, and as I am acutely anxious about 
 your prospects, and miserable at seeing that 
 your present laborious life is making you pal- 
 pably thinner and paler day by day, you must 
 not think me unmindful of the dignity of our 
 sex in general, and that of my daughter in 
 particular, if I say that I do wish some wor- 
 thy man, whom you could love, could know 
 you well enough to see you with my eyes, 
 and offer you that position in society, and 
 that establishment in life, to which yotu- gentle 
 birth, your breeding, your education, virtues, 
 and undeniable beauty alike entitle you,"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 143 
 
 Lucy reflected for a moment, and the image 
 of Henry Greville rose on her memory, with 
 his gentle, kindly, respectful manner, the soft 
 earnestness of his expressive eyes, his chival- 
 rous, devoted air, and deep yet modulated 
 voice. 
 
 For one moment, a beguiling thought of 
 what it would be to be really loved and 
 courted by such* a man suffused Lucy's face 
 with blushes, and her eyes with tears ; but 
 the next instant the maiden instinct that it 
 was not in her bosom such a fancy should 
 take root until transplanted there from his, 
 and that she " must be woo'd, and not un- 
 sought be won," even in the innermost re- 
 cesses of her own sweet thoughts, made her 
 start up and exclaim, " Don't let us dream 
 any romantic dreams, my own mamma ! You 
 say you married for love, and were not happy ; 
 and I have often heard you remark that, from 
 your own experience, you should say tlie 
 balance of comfort inclined on the side of
 
 144 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 single-blessedness. So let us hope I shall be 
 long spared to you, and you to me, unfettered 
 by any other tie. We are very, very happy 
 together ! And if I am a little worn and jaded 
 with this daily toil at Lady Hamilton Tre- 
 herne's, you know I may get a much better 
 situation soon, if my answer finds favour with 
 that advertiser in the Times. I shall think 
 no more of what are miscalled the pleasures, 
 but are only the idle vanities, of life ; for, after 
 all, the truest pleasures are those that spring 
 from the cultivation of our intellect and the 
 performance of our duties. They leave no 
 regrets, no vague longings behind. They 
 alone satisfy the appetite of the heart ; while 
 the others only excite it. Let me see you eat 
 one little bit of toast and take another cup of 
 tea before I go, dearest manmia, for it is get- 
 ting on to eight, and I must run a great part 
 of the way, to make up for this pleasant hah 
 by your dear side !" 
 
 Just as Lucy spoke, a little, deHcate knock
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 145 
 
 was heard at the door, and on going to it she 
 saw Mincing, in sky-bhie curl-papers, and a 
 yellow peignoir y standing there, with a glazed, 
 pink, scented note in her hand. 
 
 " My mistress/' said Mincing, " wrote this 
 last night, miss ; and begged me to give it to 
 you before you went out early this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " How is your mistress ?" asked Lucy. 
 
 " I have not been into her room yet, miss," 
 said Mincing. '' She has not yet rung for her 
 tea ; but I fear she will not be quite herself, 
 she was so excited last night, and sat up so 
 late, writing some verses." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! Is she a poetess, then ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, miss ! My mistress has written 
 several copy-books full of a poem, of which 1 
 only know that it is called ' Canto,' and sounds 
 very grand." 
 
 Lucy smiled ; and Mincing bowed, and de- 
 parted. 
 
 Lncy returned to licr mother's bed-side, 
 
 VOL. r. L
 
 146- THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and read, while an overpowering odour of 
 amber issued from the embossed note — 
 
 "One in the morning. 
 " My charming Feiend, 
 
 " While Mincing is brushing my hair, I pour out 
 my soul to you. At last I feel as if I had found a 
 kindred sperit. I am sure there is a cord of sympethy 
 between us. 
 
 *' I long for a tit-a-tit with you. I want to talk over 
 our beaux of last night. I shall order the carridge at 
 three, for a drive in the park ; and I hope you will dine 
 with me tit-a-tit and go to see Mr. Woodin's Oho 
 this evining. Why should we bury such charms, and 
 be ashamed to show such faces as ours ? Who can tell, 
 but in the Park, or at Mr. Woodin's, we may see — you 
 know who, again ! 
 
 " One line to say you will attend me. Mincing can 
 bring it me when I ring. 
 
 " Your most devoted friend, 
 
 " GEOEaiA-NA Geeen Beown. 
 
 '* P.S. — Not a word to mamma. 
 
 *' N.B. — I have a charming little bonet, all beads 
 and bugles, only worn once, of which I shall beg your 
 acceptence. One must be stilish to drive in the Park. 
 
 '* I can lend you a very tasty ruby- velvet morning 
 jacket — Mincing can fit it to your shape. What fun 
 we shall have ! — Adieu."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 147 
 
 Lucy quietly went into the sitting-room, 
 took her desk, wrote a note, and brought it to 
 her mamma. 
 
 " I think I know what you have said, my 
 love ; read it to me." 
 
 Lucy read. 
 
 " Dear Madam, 
 
 " Accept my thanks for your invitation and offer ; 
 but permit me, at the same time, gratefully to decline 
 both. My dear mother is so unwell that I cannot think 
 of quitting her for any evening pleasures, although my 
 morning duties do compel me to leave her some hours 
 alone. 
 
 " My visit to the theatre was my first, and it will be 
 my last * gaiety of the season.' 
 
 '* Yours, truly obliged, 
 
 **LucT Blair." 
 
 " Exactly what it ought to be," said Mrs. 
 Blair, while tears filled her eyes. 
 
 '' Now, mamma, "said Lucy, " as Mrs. Green 
 Brown is very tetchy, that will prevent any 
 further notice of me ; and so I shall be able 
 in future quietly to devote myself to duty and 
 
 you." 
 
 I, 2
 
 148 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Here Betty came in with a letter, which 
 proved to be an answer from the person who 
 had advertised for a daily governess. It was 
 cold and haughty, and merely said, — 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 " From three hundred answers I have selected six ; 
 and, if you think it worth your while to come so far as 
 the Willows, Putne^y, for the chance of being preferred, 
 I shall be happy to see you on Friday next, at five p.m. 
 But, to save trouble, I may as well observe, that if you 
 cannot give the most satisfactory references, and are 
 not of very studious, quiet habits, strict religious prin- 
 ciples, and really accomphshed mind, it will be useless 
 to apply here. If you are, and have a pure taste in 
 music (sacred music), and a perfect accent in French, 
 Italian, and German, I shall not grudge a Uberal sa- 
 lary. 
 
 " I am, madam, yours truly, 
 
 "Augusta Smith." 
 
 " We will consult about this, dear mamma, 
 when I come back," said Lucy ; " and then I 
 can answer it." 
 
 " You may safely do that in the affirmative, 
 mv love," said Mrs, Blair. " I am sure Mrs.
 
 TUE DAILY GOVEKNESS, 149 
 
 Smith will find no one so exactly suited to 
 her as my Lucy." 
 
 " Well, darling mamma, adieu for the pre- 
 sent !" said Lucy, looking at her watch. " I 
 have not a moment to spare. I wish Mrs. 
 Smith Avere not quite so serious, and so very 
 stiff and formal." 
 
 " Oh, some people who are very stiff and 
 formal at first, unbend wonderfully on inti- 
 mate acquaintance," said Mrs. Blair. " I 
 believe you will find her a very liberal, excel- 
 lent person." 
 
 " Nous verrons," said Lucy. " So farewell 
 for the present, mamma !"
 
 150 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 EVERYBODY S VICTIM. 
 
 It was with no small degree of anxiety that 
 Lucy Blair prepared to keep her appointment 
 with Mrs. or Miss Augusta Smith, at " The 
 Willows," Putney. 
 
 Her situation at Lady Hamilton Treherne's 
 ^vas become almost unbearable. 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne, whose unfeehng 
 and insolent egotism poor Lucy had in some 
 degree checked in the first instance by her 
 dignified and spirited self-assertion, had lat- 
 terly adopted a system of sharp, contemptu-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 151 
 
 ous, and almost reckless tyranny, seldom re- 
 sorted to by a woman of the world, unless to 
 compel the " governess," or " companion" (or 
 other dependent of some kind — even an hum- 
 ble relative, portionless sister, or poor cousin, 
 perhaps) — to resign her office. ^ 
 
 And, indeed, this w^as now the case. Lady 
 Hamilton Treheme was the vainest of vain 
 beauties, on the wane ; and, of course, was 
 miserably jealous and wretchedly envious of 
 all younger and handsomer women. 
 
 But it was not till she found poor Lucy's 
 beauty universally recognised and ardently 
 admired by that sex to captivate and please 
 which was with Lady Hamilton Treherne a 
 passion, that she resolved to forego the great 
 advantages which she perceived that her 
 daughters derived from the earnest, consci- 
 entious care of her all-accomplished but now 
 detested daily governess. 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne's children had 
 told their mamma, and, alas ! with many ex-
 
 152 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 aggerations and additions, of Sir Jasper Mal- 
 voisin's habit of cross-questioning them about 
 Miss Blair. They Avere pleased to be able, 
 by their highly-coloured narratives, to arouse 
 the attention and excite the animosity of their 
 generally' listless, apathetic mother. They 
 felt that they became of importance while they 
 had something to tell ; and when they had no 
 facts to draw upon, they drew, alas ! as they 
 had often known their lady mother do, upon 
 their imaginations. Vanity and cowardice 
 are the parents of falsehood. 
 
 Those young girls, whose delicate sense of 
 right had been early blasted by their mother's 
 bad example, found their vanity gratified by 
 her praise of their quickness of observation 
 and the retentiveness of their memories, and 
 were afraid of her displeasure if they owned 
 they had nothing to report ; and so they in- 
 vented when they had been unable to discover 
 anything. 
 
 What then ? They had often known their
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 153 
 
 mother do so ! She was afraid of Sir George 
 Hamilton Treherne ; and they had noticed, 
 with that quickness inseparable from their 
 years, and to which older people are so fatally 
 blind, that their mamma always had recourse 
 to falsehood (direct or indirect), prevarication, 
 or exaggeration, when the truth was likely to 
 rouse the fiery temper of their dreaded and 
 austere papa. 
 
 What " mamma" did, they had acquired a 
 habit of doing long before Lucy Blair had 
 the management of them. 
 
 Frank, brave, nobly true, and therefore very 
 unsuspecting, it w^as a long time before Lucy 
 Blair became aware of her pupils' proneness 
 to exaggerate, misrepresent, colour, and even 
 falsify. When she did so, the discovery gave 
 her great pain (not a little tinged with con- 
 tempt and disgust), it seemed so inwrought 
 into their young and otherwise not unamiable 
 nature. 
 
 Lucy was thinking seriously how to destroy
 
 154 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 a habit which is to the female mind what the 
 town-w^eed is to a garden — once admitted, of 
 rapid, spontaneous growth, almost ineradicable, 
 and choking by its vile luxuriance all the fresh- 
 est flowers of feeling and buds of promise. 
 But just as this subject occupied the thoughts 
 of one who felt the full responsibility of her 
 office, the unbearable insolence and bitterness 
 of Lady Hamilton Treherae made her deter- 
 mine (as soon as she could do so with any 
 degree of prudence) to resign that office alto- 
 gether. 
 
 Nor was it merely her ladyship's conduct 
 that drove poor Lucy to this determination. 
 Her pupils themselves, of course, took their 
 tone from their " mamma ;" and though, in 
 their little impressionable though wilful hearts, 
 they loved and respected Miss Blair, they 
 began to vie with each other in impertinence, 
 nonchalance, and disobedience. 
 
 Hannah, the school-room maid, encouraged 
 and even suggested all kinds of slight and
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 155 
 
 petty insults ; and the only friends poor Lucy 
 had in that great, cold, cruel house were the 
 French maid and Mr. Malmsey, the butler. 
 
 The evident regard of the latter was, how- 
 ever, one of the greatest trials and mortifica- 
 tions of Lucy's friendless and false position. 
 
 For poor Malmsey was very much in love ; 
 and Lucy, who knew she was born a gentle- 
 woman, was a little ashamed that a butler 
 should presume, as Malmsey evidently did, to 
 think it no impertinence in a man who had 
 laid by five thousand pounds, and meant to 
 keep a first-rate hotel in the west end, to 
 aspire to the hand of a poor daily governess. 
 
 In addition to the mortifications heaped 
 upon her by the now furiously jealous and 
 envious Lady Hamilton — in addition, also, to 
 the imitative impertinence of her ])upils and 
 of Hannah, the pompous ofF-handedness of 
 the powdered footman when out of Mr. Malm- 
 sey's view and within that of Haimali, and, 
 greatest annoyance of all, the glances, sighs.
 
 156 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 groans, and countless unwelcome attentions of 
 the portly middle-aged Malmsey, Lucy had 
 other sources of distress connected with this 
 her first situation. 
 
 All these things united made her passion- 
 ately anxious to obtain that which Mrs. 
 Augusta Smith had to offer. 
 
 Not only 'Sir Jasper Malvoisin constantly 
 accosted her on his way to and from Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne's, but very frequently of 
 late she had met the little marmoset-like 
 lawyer whom Molly M'Cree had saved from 
 being nm over, not merely on her way to the 
 Trehernes', but actually in the house. 
 
 Once, early in the morning, she went into 
 the library to seek for " Johnson's Dictionary:" 
 she started back with horror to see him writing 
 a sort of deed ; and twice he put his hide- 
 ous little face in at the schoolroom-door while 
 she was at lessons with her pupils, and 
 grinning, said, " How do, young ladies ? — how 
 do, Miss Blair ? — teaching the young idea how
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 157 
 
 to ' shoot ! ' eh ! right through the heart, eh ! 
 with darts from bright eyes — best weapons, 
 eh !" and, nodding, disappeared with a screech- 
 ing, elfish laugh. 
 
 Lucy had learnt from her pupils that this 
 little monster was by name Slimy Coil, and 
 by profession a lawyer. " One of papa s law- 
 yers," said the eldest girl ; adding, " Papa 
 has so many lawyers, and I heard Hannah 
 say Slimy Coil did all the dirty work." 
 
 " Pray do not repeat Hannah's sayings, 
 Miss Hamilton Treherne," said Lucy. " It 
 is not likely that your papa has any dirty 
 work to be done by any one ; and you do not 
 see that Hannah, in maligning Mr. Slimy 
 Coil, maligns also your own papa, Hannah's 
 master." 
 
 "Oil, as to ' master,' Hannah says papa is 
 master over every one to whom he pays 
 wages," said Miss Georgiana; and Lucy's 
 cheeks tingled at the inevitable inference. 
 
 " And as to maligning Mr. Slimy Coil,"
 
 158 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 retorted the insolent young rebel, Miss Hamil- 
 ton Treheme, " that's a good idea ! Hannah 
 told me not to tell you what she said, for she 
 Avas sure you were setting your cap at old 
 Slimy; and she said, Miss Blair, only you 
 must not repeat it, that she thought you 
 couldn't do better ; and that you should have 
 
 her consent for one, and she'd give you " 
 
 '' Drop the subject, if you please. Miss 
 Hamilton Treherne," said Lucy. " It is both 
 improper and offensive." 
 
 " Oh ! but I can't drop it till I've told you 
 that we're all sure he's in love with you. 
 He asks so many questions about you : your 
 age, yoiu" manners, what you do, and think, 
 and say, and where you've travelled, and who 
 you live with, and I cannot tell you what. 
 
 But so does Sir Jasper just the same " 
 
 " Silence, my dears," said Lucy : " and, 
 Georgiana, come to the piano." 
 
 Georgiana went to the piano, but directly 
 after Miss Hamilton Treherne resumed —
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 159 
 
 " I heard papa say you were too handsome 
 to be a daily gove^rness, and walk alone in 
 London ; and mamma said " 
 
 But a look from her sister checked her, 
 and Lucy was not sorry not to hear what 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne had said.
 
 160 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 LUCY FOR ONCE BEHIND TIME. 
 
 Lucy had been more than usually annoyed 
 and mortified at the Trehernes', on the morn- 
 ing of the day appointed for her visit to 
 " The Willows," Putney, 
 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin had joined her on her 
 way (through back streets) to Belgrave Square. 
 In spite of all her efforts to get rid of him, he 
 persisted in walking by her side, and was 
 stooping down, much against her Avill, talking 
 to her under her bonnet, when she met Henry 
 Greville face to face.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 161 
 
 She bowed, with an instinct of pohteness, 
 in recognition of one who had helped her on 
 the occasion of her accident in the cab, and 
 who had visited her with Cecil Sydney in 
 Mrs. Green Brown's private box at tlie 
 Princess's. 
 
 To her surprise, shame, and unspeakable 
 mortification, he did not bow in return. 
 
 He looked her full in the face, with a sneer 
 of contempt on his finely-curved lip, and a 
 haughty, almost mocking expression in his 
 dark eyes. 
 
 The meeting her in a back street in com- 
 pany with Sir Jasper brought vividly to his 
 mind the contents of her pocket ; the glazed, 
 scented billet-doux of the profligate Sir Jasper, 
 the rouge, &c. &c. He remembered Cecil 
 Sydney's inference and decision, he con- 
 demned, he despised her, and lie let her see 
 that he did so. It was an impulse, and 
 jealousy was at the bottom of it, but when he 
 came to reflect he suspected he had wronged 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 THE DAILY GOYEKNESS. 
 
 her, and a " late remorse of love" was busy at 
 his heart. 
 
 Lucy was much hurt and very much sur- 
 prised. Nor w^as she less so when Sir Jasper, 
 exclaiming, " Wait a minute, Greville ; I'm 
 going your way, old boy ! and I've got such 
 a prospective lark for you," rudely left her 
 side, kissing his hand with revolting fami- 
 liarity, and calling out to her as he took Gre- 
 A'ille's unAvilling arm, " Au revoir, ma belle, 
 a demain!' 
 
 Lucy's cheeks burned with shame and mor- 
 tification at Sir Jasper's insolence and Henry 
 Greville 's contempt, but some deeper feeling 
 caused the tears to gush from her eyes, and 
 the words, '' Why, oh why was I born ?" to 
 rise from her wounded heart to her pale, 
 trembling lips. 
 
 Nor was this all. Lucy could not present 
 herself at the Trehernes' till the evidence of 
 her tears and her emotion had disappeared. 
 She roamed about the streets and adjoining
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 163 
 
 squares and crescents for a long time before 
 she could quiet her throbbing bosom, and 
 conquer the hysterical spasm in her throat, 
 and hot gushing of her tears. 
 
 At length the thought of a Father in heaven, 
 who cares for the orphan, and the mother 
 on earth who had no prop, no hope, no 
 comfort, but this poor " way-trodden flower," 
 enabled her to master the agony of her 
 hmuiliation. 
 
 She went into a baker's shop, and a kind, 
 motherly w^oman, of whom she bought a bun, 
 gave her a glass of water, and let her take 
 this refreshment in her own little parlour. 
 
 There, in a Dutch plate glass, Lucy was 
 able to ascertain, after half an hour's rest, 
 that -though she looked pale and weary, no 
 one could see she had been actually crying ; 
 and satisfied on this point, she hastened to 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne*s. 
 
 Instead of nine o'clock, it was eleven when 
 she knocked at the door. Mr. Mahnsey 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 opened it himself. She was actually pale and 
 trembling while he asked her " if she was ^ill, 
 or any haccident had 'appened at 'ome to 
 make her so late," adding, " he couldn't ex- 
 actly compliment her on her looks, which she 
 was generally as fresh as a rose, but now the 
 lily was more of a comparison, if comparisons 
 was not so odorous." 
 
 Lucy thanked him civilly, and hastened up 
 stairs, conscious, as she did so, of a more than 
 wonted rudeness of stare and giggle in the 
 two powdered, tagged, and red-plushed giants 
 who were paid and fed well for looking grand 
 and doing nothing. 
 
 And in the anteroom Hannah was swelling 
 with importance, and more than usually pert. 
 She threw open the school-room door with 
 malignant officiousness, and there, in Lucy's 
 own place, at the head of the study table, 
 sat Lady Hamilton Treherne herself. 
 
 Yes, under the exciting influence of jealous 
 malice the fine lady, who generally at this hour
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 165 
 
 was lying on downy cushions in her huslied, 
 darkened, and hixurious chamber, had actu- 
 ally got up, and hurried into the school-room, 
 the better to be able to taunt, reproach, and 
 mortify Lucy. 
 
 But Lucy had, as we have seen, no small 
 share of self-respect, and a very great wish to 
 resign, as soon as prudence allowed her to 
 do so, a situation so trying to her in many 
 ways. 
 
 She gracefully bent with easy self-posses- 
 sion, apologised for being so late, saying, *' It 
 is the first time, madam, that I have not been 
 punctual to a minute, and I feel extremely 
 glad that your ladyship's health is so much 
 improved as this early appearance and ex- 
 ertion indicate." 
 
 " Oh, you are quite mistaken. Miss Blair," 
 said Lady Hamilton Treherne, " if you 
 imagine that I am at all c(|ual to tlu; fatigni; 
 of rising at this unwoutcd lionrto su])eriutend 
 the young ladies' studies. I dare say I sliall not
 
 166 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 recover this for weeks. But the feeling that I 
 nm a mother is stronger even than that I am an 
 invalid. And when I heard (for I hear everv^- 
 thing, Miss Blair) that the all-important 
 morning hours were gliding by without your 
 presence, I was moved to do what I have 
 done — and supported as one often is, almost 
 beyond one's - expectations, when acting by 
 the dictates of duty." 
 
 " I hope," said Lucy, " you have found, 
 madam, that the young ladies have made as 
 much progress as could be expected in the 
 time." 
 
 "I do not think they get on as rapidly as 
 they did at first, Miss Blair. The undivided 
 attention of both teacher and pupil is neces- 
 sary to insure success ; and when young 
 Avomen in your situation begin to think 
 more about their own advancement than 
 that of their pupils, more about outAvard 
 adorning of the person than inward adorning 
 of the mind, maternal anxiety Avill take alarm."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 1()7 
 
 " I am quite at a loss to know what you 
 mean, madam," said Lucy, proudly. 
 
 " And I am quite unequal to any discus- 
 sion on the subject. I see a great change in 
 you, Miss Blair, that's all ; and as you pique 
 yourself on your candour, I believe, I think 
 you cannot deny that there is a change within 
 and without." 
 
 " Indeed, madam !" said Lucy, blushinji: 
 scarlet, and the tears sparkling in her eyes ; 
 " indeed " 
 
 '* Not a word ! not a word more, I l)eg, 
 Miss Blair. I am quite unequal to it. May 
 I trouble you to ring the bell ? I have 
 promised to let Sir Jasper Malvoisin," slic 
 said, with a sneer, " attend me to StrawbeiTv 
 Hill; but I ain really (juite unequal to tin* 
 effort ; however, he w ill be in such despair if 
 I don't go — 1 must make the effort. Self- 
 sacrifice, alas ! for what else was woniiiii 
 made ?" 
 
 So savhi":, without answerinjir Lucv's bow,
 
 168 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 but kissing her thin, white, jewelled fingers 
 to her daughters, who were already looking 
 very saucily at Lucy, Lady Hamilton Tre- 
 herne leant on her French maid's arm, and 
 left the schoolroom.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 AN UNEXPECTED ALLY. 
 
 Poor Lucy 1 her duties to-day were very 
 trying ; and had she not been upheld by the 
 hope of being able to resign her office in a 
 few days, her spirit would have given way — 
 for once or twice she all but allowed her tears 
 to gush forth. 
 
 Not only to many of her directions the 
 answers, " Mamma ])r()ii()uii('C8 it so and so," 
 and " Mamma says that is ^^•^nn<^^" were 
 pertly given ; but at last Louisa, tlic youngest, 
 furious at being ordered to re-write a very
 
 170 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 carelessly-written exercise, in a great passion, 
 and encouraged by the looks and signs of her 
 elder sisters, threw a book at Miss Blair's 
 head — rather a thick French and English 
 Dictionary. 
 
 The great book came with more weight 
 than force ; and for a moment, as it struck 
 Lucy's head, which was bent over a drawing 
 she was correcting, she was stunned mentally, 
 morally, and physically. 
 
 There was a moment of suspense and 
 alarm. The little daring assailant (a spoilt, 
 white, fairy girl of seven, with long flaxen 
 plaits, and large blue bows) was frightened at 
 what she had done while the result was 
 doubtful, but when Lucy looked up, very 
 angry, but not seriously hurt, they all burst 
 out laughing. 
 
 Lucy's spirit was now fairly roused, and 
 she ordered the little culprit instantly to quit 
 the room. 
 
 This she refused to do, and Lucy ap-
 
 THE DAILY GOVEP.NESS. 171 
 
 proached her to enforce obedience. Upon 
 this her sisters (now in open rebelHon) rushed 
 to her rescue. 
 
 " Go to your places," said Lucy, firmly. 
 
 "Not for your orders, Miss Blair," said 
 Augusta. 
 
 " Go to your places !" said a much louder, 
 sterner voice. 
 
 And the girls, looking round aghast, saw 
 that their father. Sir George Hamilton Tre- 
 herne, their dreaded, silent, stern father, had 
 entered unperceived, with Slimy Coil, and had 
 witnessed the whole scene. 
 
 Lucy rose and bent with dignified humility 
 to the handsome, haughty, but dissipated 
 man, who said — 
 
 "I am ashamed to own you as my daugh- 
 ters, young ladies. You, Augusta and Mil- 
 dred, at once apologise to Miss Blair foi' 
 daring to interfere between her and tliis Httle 
 insolent rebel. You, Miss Louisa, I will 
 punish myself. Conic with me, if you please.
 
 172 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Come witli me, if you please. Come 
 hither." 
 
 Trembhng, very pale, and her eyes filling 
 with large tears, Louisa approached her ter- 
 rible papa, while the elder girls, in real 
 alarm, faltered forth their meekest apologies 
 to poor Lucy, who was so moved by the im- 
 ploring glance of Louisa's eyes, that she 
 ventured to approach Sir George, and blush- 
 ing deeply, to say — 
 
 " As it is the first offence of the kind, Sir 
 George, may I be allowed to intercede ? I 
 am sure Louisa is very sorry she so far forgot 
 herself." 
 
 " She shall be more sorry before I have done 
 with her," said Sir Georo^e ; " and thoudi I 
 acknowledge it is difficult to refuse so fair an 
 advocate, yet I think correction must be ter- 
 ribly needed for matters to come to such a 
 pass. I think, too, I know what influence 
 has been at work to incite this rebellion ; but 
 I know of a counter-influence, and I will use
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 173 
 
 it. Yes, Miss Augusta, even ou you, if I 
 find that, although ahnost a woman in years 
 and size, you are nothing but a naughty 
 rebel child at heart." 
 
 So saying, and bowing to Miss Blair, Sir 
 George led away the little terrified culprit. 
 
 What befell her in the library, into which 
 he led her, closing the door after him, we are 
 not at liberty to say ; but several shrill cries 
 sent the blood to her sisters' cheeks, and 
 drove it from Lucy's. For half an hour they 
 went on with their studies, patterns of dili- 
 gence and respectful attention, Slimy Coil 
 sitting the while in the room, apparently con- 
 sulting a gazetteer, but in reality watching 
 Lucy over his spectacles. 
 
 At the end of that time, and while Haimah, 
 the schoolroom maid, also much subdued and 
 very respectful, was laying the cloth. Sir 
 George returned, leading Louisa, who was 
 very red, hot, timibled, and luim])led, her 
 eyes red and swollen, and her face blistered
 
 174 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 with tears. As well as her sobs permitted, 
 she gasped out entreaties for pardon, and pro- 
 mises of amendment. 
 
 Lucy longed to clasp the little penitent to 
 her heart, but Sir George's austere manner 
 prevented her. 
 
 Then, saying, " Now, Coil, come to the 
 library," he shook hands with Lucy and left 
 the room. 
 
 It was Sir George's first visit (for years) to 
 that room, and it produced an immense effect. 
 Nor was it the last. He felt a strange, 
 grave, growing interest in the poor young 
 governess of his troublesome children. 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne attributed his 
 visits to the schoolroom to a wish to flirt with 
 Miss Blair; and though she was perfectly 
 indifferent about him herself, was furiously 
 jealous of Lucy. 
 
 But there was nothing of flirtation or even 
 admiration, in the common sense of the word, 
 in the manner of this imperious man, who.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 175 
 
 cold to others, wamied towards Lucy into an 
 almost fatherly interest, and excited in the 
 poor girl (though she knew from Justine that 
 he was a proud, dissipated, haughty man, a 
 careless husband and cold father) a regard 
 and almost affection, of which she could not 
 understand the nature, or fathom the depth. 
 
 But this was subsequent to the merited 
 punishment of the little innocent rebel, Lou- 
 isa, on that eventful day, which began by the 
 intrusion of Sir Jasper Malvoisin, who had 
 })ersisted in walking with Lucy against her will, 
 and was followed by the dead cut from Henry 
 Greville, which she attributed, of course, to 
 the false and mortifying position entailed 
 upon her by the presence at her side of this 
 bold, bad man. 
 
 Slimy Coil had endeavoured to ascertain 
 her exact address, under pretence of having a 
 niece who wished for lessons in Italian ; and 
 as she left the house, Mr. Malmsey had pro- 
 duced a basket of hot-house fruit and flowers,
 
 176 THE DAILY GOYERNESS. 
 
 and a couple of spring chickens, and had 
 said — 
 
 " I shall be disengaged for two hours this 
 evening, miss, as Sir George and my lady will 
 both dine out ; and I shall do myself the 
 honour of taking a cab, and waiting on your 
 respected Ma'r with this little present, loldch 
 a little fruit and a spring chicking is accept- 
 able to an invalid. And, I think, miss, if the 
 good old lady will give me a cup of tea, which 
 sociability helps a man to unveil the most 
 sacred emotion and the respectful homage, 
 which none but the brave desen^es the fair. 
 And faint heart " 
 
 But a thundering knock at the door cut 
 Mr. Malmsey short ; and while he was obse- 
 quiously answering some queries of the 
 Duchess of Paineant, Lucy slipped quietly 
 away. But she saw that the basket was 
 directed in Mr. Malmsey's best text hand — 
 
 Mrs. Blair, 
 
 9, Arundel Street, 
 
 Strand.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 177 
 
 Of course it was impossible to prevent his 
 calling. But Lucy rejoiced to think slie 
 should be at Putney, and determined to 
 consult with her mother whether it would be 
 better for that lady to plead indisposition, 
 and so escape an interview, or to receive him, 
 and, over a friendly cup of tea, frankly, yet 
 kindly, put a stop to his disinterested but 
 most unwelcome attentions, and for ever ex- 
 tinguish his mortifying hopes. 
 
 VOL. T.
 
 178 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AN ELDERLY LOVELACE. 
 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin, a middle-aged 
 coxcomb, a profligate, a roue, and a sybarite, 
 had, as we have seen, conceived a passion for 
 poor Lucy, with which revenge, and a deter- 
 mination not to be defied and defeated by a 
 simple girl, had a great deal to do. 
 
 With all his gallant, smooth, oily manners, 
 and a propensity to obesity, which is seldom 
 found in vindictive, designing men. Sir Jasper 
 was singularly cruel, remorseless, and impla- 
 cable. He was extremely crafjy, too ; and 
 vain almost to insanity. He had, when
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 1/9 
 
 a passion for Lucy not unlike his own, the 
 younger and shghter, had his admirers among 
 women who could not or would not look be- 
 neath the bland, smooth, rippling surface, to 
 discover the rocks, the quicksands, and the 
 slimy monsters of the deep. 
 
 He had resolved to humble Lucy ; and 
 though he would have preferred doing it by 
 what he called fair means — namely, by his 
 showy exterior, his flattering tongue, his atten- 
 tions and promises — ^yet these failing, he had 
 other, darker, and viler ways and means. 
 
 He had resorted to them before ; he would 
 again, he said, with an inward oath, if needful ; 
 and needful he had declared they were be- 
 come. 
 
 A great additional impetus had been given 
 to his passion for Lucy by tlie accidental dis- 
 covery that Cecil Sydney and Henry Grevillo 
 — of whose flat and taste he thought as a beau 
 on the wane does of those of men about town 
 in their prime — were smitten, the one with 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 other with an affectionate interest which any 
 girl might be proud to inspire. 
 
 Sir Jasper became aware of this one day 
 when riding with Henry Greville to some 
 gay picnic. They on their way saw poor 
 Lucy standing at a crossing, waiting until 
 they had passed. 
 
 " The prettiest Uttle baggage in all Lon- 
 don !" said Sir Jasper, nodding familiarly to 
 poor Lucy, and sui'prised to see the colour 
 mount to Henry Greville's temples, as he took 
 off his hat to the poor daily governess, with 
 as much deference as if she had been a prin- 
 cess of the blood royal. 
 
 " What a Quixote you are, Greville," said 
 the fat coxcomb, who, with his waist com- 
 pressed by a broad patent riding-belt, and 
 with a new and very becoming wig of light 
 hair, with a miraculous parting, thought he 
 looked slender and handsome enough for any- 
 thing. " I do think, Greville, you would raise 
 your hat to a maid-servant."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 181 
 
 " If pretty and good, I think I might do 
 so ; but that young lady is no maid-servant." 
 
 " No one knows better than I do what she 
 is," said Sir Jasper. " Why, she's here to 
 waylay me. She makes a point of passing 
 my house daily." 
 
 The fact was, that, to avoid passing through 
 Piccadilly, with its gay shops, hotels, equipages, 
 and loungers, and, above all, to steer clear of 
 the clubs in St. James's Street and Pall-mall, 
 Lucy habitually took her way through Duke 
 Street, little suspecting that Sir Jasper had in 
 that very street an elegant, luxurious bachelor 
 residence. 
 
 The exquisite display of rare })lants and 
 luxuriant creepers festooning the windows 
 and balcony always attracted Lucy's atten- 
 tion ; for, like most girls of taste and feeling, 
 she doted on flowers. Tlie glances she di- 
 rected at some lovely, rare blossom, which 
 she meant to reproduce on paper, or model 
 in wax. Sir Jasper loved to believe were sent
 
 ]82 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 in search of the full-blown person he was, 
 perhaps at that very moment, adroitly making 
 lip for the day ; and his valet, who knew his 
 weakness, would say, when he espied Lucy, 
 " Oh, Sir Jasper, what a pity you ain't ready 
 to be seen ? Couldn't you step out of your 
 bath, Sir Jasper, and throw on your wrapper ? 
 I've got the papers out of your wig. You can 
 pop it on, and have a peep from behind the cur- 
 tain at * the pilgrim of love,' as we name her 
 below. She's at the shrine already. Sir Jasper." 
 
 Certainly, Lucy's close scrutiny of his win- 
 dows did mislead the fat coxcomb. Greville 
 was much provoked, when he added — 
 
 " In spite of your presence, my preux che- 
 valier, I must say a word to her, poor little 
 thing ! Wait half a minute. I shall not be 
 more." 
 
 " But you are not going to speak to a lady 
 on foot from the altitude of your saddle, are 
 you ?" said Greville. 
 
 ''' 11 y a dame et dame r said the coxcomb
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 183 
 
 ambling up to Lucy, and leaning over his horse's 
 arched chestnut and glossyneck to speak to her. 
 
 Henry Greville watched her with intense 
 anxiety, and laughed with triumphant delight 
 to see her turn directly and proudly round, 
 without answering the vapid impertinence of 
 Sir Jasper's address, giving him thus the cut 
 direct. She then bowed gracefully to Gi'e- 
 ville, and hurried off in another direction. 
 
 • Sir Jasper ambled back to Greville, and 
 said, '' If you hadn't been by, I should have 
 had a pleasant chat with her — Httle artful, 
 coquettish puss !" 
 
 "I'm sure your vanity misleads you sadly 
 about that girl," said Greville. " She may be 
 poor — she may have to work for her daily 
 bread — an ill-paid sister of the needle or tlie 
 pen ; but she is as good and modest as she 
 is pretty ; she has that dignified, ladylikt' 
 ease of manner — that perfect breeding and 
 that proper pride — which constitute one of 
 Nature's gentlewomen. Wliatever her cir-
 
 184 THE DAILY GOVERyESS. 
 
 cumstances, such a woman is a lady, and I 
 shall always treat her as such. She has a 
 great deal of self-respect, and proper spirit 
 too : you should see how she scorns and snubs 
 Cecil Sydney." 
 
 '' What ! does he know her too ?" 
 
 " Oh, he's in love with her — at least as 
 much in love as a libertine can be." 
 
 " And you as much as a saint can be, I 
 presume ?" sneered Sir Jasper. 
 
 " When I look into that sweet, earnest, 
 pure face," said Greville, " I regret all I have 
 ever done that I should be afraid or ashamed 
 of her knowing." 
 
 " My good fellow, you're taken in," said Sir 
 Jasper. " She's a regular do ; she's no heart 
 for any man ; but she has a httle, or rather a 
 great fancy for your humble servant." 
 
 Greville grew* white with anger, and his 
 eyes flashed; his hands were involuntarily 
 clenched ; but he controlled himself, and they 
 rode side by side in silence.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 185 
 
 Sir Jasper was silent, for he was planning 
 Lucy's ruin. Henry Greville Was silent, for 
 he was building a castle, or rather a cottage, in 
 the air, with Lucy to do its simple honours. 
 
 If Sir Jasper had admired Lucy Blair before, 
 he was enthusiastic about her noAV that he 
 knew that Cecil Sydney, as well as Henry 
 Greville, was in love with her. 
 
 This was a week before that luckless day 
 when Henry Greville, having been constantly 
 watching and waiting about, in the hope of 
 seeing her, suddenly met her walking with 
 Sir Jasper by her side, and his bold face under 
 her bonnet. 
 
 Jealousy distorted his mental vision, and he 
 misjudged the poor girl, and, as we have seen, 
 cut her. 
 
 The " prospective lark," about which Sir 
 Jasper shouted so rudely to Greville, as he took 
 a cavalier farewell of Lucy, had for its principal 
 object the downfall of that })oor and spotless 
 child of misfortune.
 
 186 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Greville suspected that the detested and 
 detestable sensualist had some vile scheme of 
 abduction in his toupeed head, when he asked 
 him for the address of Le Furet, Cecil Syd- 
 ney's French valet (a perfect intrigant in such 
 matters) ; and, encouraging Sir Jasper to 
 reveal his schemes without naming their ob- 
 ject, Henry Greville became convinced that, 
 in spite of Sir Jasper's cowardly boasts and 
 falsehoods, Lucy had given him no encourage- 
 ment ; that, if he obtained possession of the 
 poor, innocent child, it would be by some 
 bold and dastardly ruse, and that even in that 
 he could not succeed without the aid of Le 
 Faret. 
 
 Le Furet was open to a bribe, and he felt 
 certain Sir Jasper meant to offer him one. 
 " But two can play at that game," said Gre- 
 ville to himself. "Sir Jasper is very mean, 
 even where his pleasures are concerned. If 
 he offers Le Furet ten guineas to help him to 
 carry the poor girl off, or otherwise entrap her,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 187 
 
 I will offer him twenty to save her. I'll tell 
 my good old aunt, Lady Sarah, the whole 
 story ; and she'll lend me the money for so 
 good a purpose, I know. If it is as I suspect, 
 I'll get it all out of LeFuret. Should it be Miss 
 Blair Sir Jasper wants his help to entrap, I'll 
 give Le Furet a hint of his master's love for 
 her ; and, though he'll pocket Sir Jasper's 
 bribe, he'll take care the poor girl doesn't fall 
 into his vile, remorseless hands. I'll get it 
 all out of Le Furet, and circumvent the obese 
 coxcomb, or my name's not Henry Greville." 
 Sir Jasper, having obtained Le Furet's ad- 
 dress, rode off to consult him ; and Henry 
 Greville awaited the end of their conference to 
 carry out his own counterplot.
 
 188 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 LUCY SETS OFF FOR PL'TNEY. 
 
 " How I wish I were well enough to ac- 
 company you, my Lucy,'* said Mrs. Blair, as, 
 after the early cup of tea, the poor daily 
 governess, still pale and agitated from the 
 many annoyances of the morning, prepared 
 for her visit to "The Willows," Putney. 
 
 '* Oh, do not think of such a thing, my 
 dearest mother, so poorly as you are to-day !" 
 said Lucy. " I shall manage very well. I can 
 walk to the Waterloo Station, and thence it 
 is a very short journey by train to Putney."
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 189 
 
 ''But you do not know where 'TheWil- 
 loAvs' is, and it would not do to be late ; 
 with such a very particular person as Mrs. or 
 Miss Smith, punctuality is a sim qua non!' 
 
 " For which reason, dearest manuna, I will 
 start at once ; and don't be at all uneasy if I 
 am late home. Mrs. Smith may ask me to 
 tea or supper — or I may miss the train ; but, 
 recollect, I can come to no harm with such a 
 very superior, steady, excellent lady as she 
 must be, judging from her letter." 
 
 '' And you feel sure this Mr. Malmsey will 
 call, my love ?" 
 
 " Alas, yes ! and I am very sorry for it too, 
 for he is extremely kind, and I dare say has 
 no idea that a poor girl who comes daily in 
 all weathers knocking at the door of a house 
 where he is a sort of viceroy, can feel morti- 
 fied and degraded by an offer from him." 
 
 '' Of course he does not know that you are 
 a lady born, and that your papa, Lucy, was 
 an officer, and that his father kept a butler
 
 190 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and footmen ; and that, by rights, his daughter 
 is more fit to hire a butler than to many 
 one." 
 
 " Well, mamma, be very kind to him," said 
 Lucy, " for I am sure he is really attached to 
 me ; and he is going to bring you a basket of 
 hot-house fruit and flowers, and a couple of 
 spring chickens." 
 
 " I shall be very glad of them, at any 
 rate, my love; and shall have one of the 
 chickens roasted with bread sauce, and the 
 fruit and flowers set out, and we'll have a 
 nice little supper when you come back from 
 Putney." 
 
 " Do I look neat and nice, dear mamma ?" 
 said Lucy, after she had changed her dress 
 and completed her, simple but becoming 
 toilet. 
 
 " Very, my love ! and I feel sure you will 
 suit that excellent Mrs. or Miss Smith. Oh, 
 I forgot to tell you! Mrs. Brown Green is 
 recovering from her fit of sulks, and has been
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 191 
 
 up here glittering with bugles, waving with 
 marabouts, pungent with otto, in the smartest 
 bonnet and amplest dress I ever saw. I 
 counted six flounces on her skirt, which was 
 of pea-green silk, and she had a ruby velvet 
 jacket, fitting so tight/' 
 
 Lucy smiled as she thought that she might 
 have sported that very jacket, had she been so 
 disposed. 
 
 " She is certainly a fine, showy woman," 
 said Mrs. Blair, " and looks much better with 
 her bonnet, which was all blonde and white 
 bugles, with rose-tipped marabouts outside, 
 and bunches of rose-buds in." 
 
 " And what did she want, mamma ? Did 
 she ask for me ?" 
 
 " Yes, she spoke of you as if she pitied 
 your want of judgment in not appreciating 
 the rare advantage of her introduction and 
 society ; but I saw what she really aimed at 
 was to ascertain the exact address, and how 
 to spell the name of one of those young
 
 192 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 fashionables you so wish to avoid — the fair 
 one, she said, 'quite a man of ton,' as she 
 called it ; Mr, Sydney, I think." 
 
 " Of course you could not enlighten her, 
 dear mamma." 
 
 " No, but I advised her to look him out in 
 the Court Guide, which she had not thought 
 of, although she had ' consulted the peerage,' 
 as she said. She wants to write to him about 
 getting his father's (the Earl's) vote for some 
 child she wishes to place in the blue-coat 
 school ; and she read me a copy of a letter 
 she has written to him — rather high-flown 
 and verbose, but eloquent and very compli- 
 mentary." 
 
 Lucy smiled ; she suspected, for she knew 
 more of Mrs. Green Brown than her mother 
 did, that the blue-coat boy was merely a myth, 
 to bring her into correspondence with the ex- 
 quisite Cecil, who had so captivated her vain, 
 idle mind. But Lucy had no time to say 
 juore ; so, kissing her mother's pale cheek,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 193 
 
 she ran down stairs, neat as a quaker, fresh as 
 a rose, modest as a violet, and pure as a hly ; 
 her Kttle white straw bonnet trimmed with 
 daisies, and the same emblematic flower in 
 the little blonde cap that shaded her small 
 oval face, and set off the rippled, glossy bands 
 of her rich chestnut hair. 
 
 Lucy wore a black silk dress, and a violet 
 velvet mantle trimmed with black lace, which 
 had been presented to her mother by a 
 wealthy pupil at Genoa ; and she set off for 
 *' The Willows," Putney, as perfect a speci- 
 men of modest English beauty and neatness 
 as was ever produced by a country so justly 
 proud of the mental, moral, and physical love- 
 liness of its daughters. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXTI. 
 
 THE SURPRISE. 
 
 Lucy reached the Putney Station without 
 having met with any adventures. She had 
 been lucky in getting a seat in a carriage with 
 men who were gentlemen, and who, therefore, 
 though they glanced at her beauty, did not stare 
 at her, but helped her in and out, gave her 
 up a corner in a front seat, let down the win- 
 dow for her, and one of whom, at the risk of 
 losing his place (for he was going on to 
 Windsor), ran after her with the neat broAvn 
 silk en tout cas, which ip ker hiu'ry and
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 195 
 
 anxiety (unused to the possession of such a 
 treasure) she had left behind. 
 ^ At the station she inquired her way to 
 " The Willows." 
 
 The people there were strangers, and kneAv 
 nothing of the neighbourhood, but suggested 
 that, from the name, it must be one of the 
 villas down by the river. They advised Lucy 
 to proceed in that direction and inquire at 
 "The Chequers," an old-established public- 
 house, near the Thames. This old-fashioned 
 inn was a mile from the station ; but it was a 
 fine, balmy spring evening, and Lucy, high in 
 hope, enjoyed the walk. 
 
 At "The Chequers," she learnt that the 
 villa called " The Willows " was half a mile 
 off, a very lonesome place, " buzzomed in 
 trees," said the landlord, " sloping down to 
 the river, very dark and damp in winter, but 
 mighty cool and shady in summer-time. Two 
 years ago it belonged to the great banker as 
 broke so sudden, 'twas full of line pictures, 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and statutes, and kickshaws then," said old 
 Boniface, "and was let furnished ; but who's 
 got it now I don't know ; they don't get nq 
 beer here — nor not so much as a drop of 
 spirits, so that 'tain't likely I should know 
 much about them." 
 
 " Of course," thought Lucy, " the admira- 
 ble and very particular lady who wdll, I hope, 
 enable me to resign my painful situation at 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne's, is, I doubt not, a 
 teetotaler, and if so, I like her all the better." 
 
 So, with full directions how to find the 
 villa, she tripped along, the shadows length- 
 ening, the sun setting with red and slanting 
 rays, and the evening closing in. 
 
 After a few mistakes and losing her way 
 more than once, Lucy reached a high wall, 
 and inquiring of a milk boy, heard to her 
 dehght that, " Yes, them there's the Willers." 
 She rang the bell, and a door opening as in a 
 convent, without any visible means, she found 
 herself in a long, dark passage. A butler,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 197 
 
 grave, stern, solemn, and in mourning, asked 
 her her name and business. Lucy sent up 
 her card. The man returned, and gravely 
 signed to her to follow him. She passed 
 through several rooms, and noted, as she did 
 so, rich frames, marble statues, soft carpets, 
 and costly furniture ; but it was chill and 
 dark, and she felt awed and nervous, she 
 scarce knew why. At length she was shown 
 into a large, lofty room, the bay windows of 
 which, stone-mullioned, diamond-paned, and 
 latticed, festooned with creepers and rich with 
 armorial bearings in stained glass, looked out 
 on the lovely Thames, reflecting the gorgeous 
 sunset. The room was exquisitely fur- 
 nished. 
 
 " You will have to wait a few minutes," 
 said the butler. " You are very late ; I un- 
 derstood no applicant was to be seen after six, 
 and it is near seven." 
 
 " I lost my way," said Lucy timidly. 
 
 The man scowled, and Lucy was alone.
 
 198 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 A few minutes elapsed — a door at the 
 fui-ther end of the room slowly opened. Lucy's 
 heart beat. She rose from the seat on Avhich 
 she had sunk, prepared to make a low obei- 
 sance to the austere and virtuous lady, who 
 had, as she thought, appointed this interview, 
 and found herself face to face with that vin- 
 dictive, vain, and remorseless roue, whose vile, 
 treacherous advertisement she had so uncon- 
 sciously answered, and who now stood before 
 her, a triumphant smile on his cruel lips, and 
 a terrible expression in his bold eyes — Sir 
 Jasper Malvoisin.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 LUCY AT THE WILLOWS. 
 
 We left poor Lucy Blair pale with surprise 
 and alarm at the sudden appearance of the 
 man she most dreaded and disliked on earth, 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin. 
 
 But though perplexed and annoyed beyond 
 measure at finding her profligate and ubiquit- 
 ous tormentor even at the remote " Villa " of 
 the austere and very particular Mrs. or Miss 
 Augusta Smith, Lucy was far too inexperi- 
 enced in the wicked ways of this wicked 
 world, and far too pure-hearted and unsus-
 
 200 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 picious, to understand the hideous perils and 
 frightful realities of her position. 
 
 She little imagined that she was the victim 
 of a heartless trick, often cruelly resorted to 
 Iw those sad wretches miscalled " gay men," 
 to entrap young and friendless governesses, 
 teachers, and companions, by the base dis- 
 appointing device of a tempting and crafty 
 advertisement. If her heart beat quick, and 
 her knees shook, and a spasm almost closed 
 her throat at the idea that the vile and odious 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin Avas an habitue at " The 
 Willows," what Avould she have felt had she 
 at once discovered the fact that Sir Jasper 
 and Mrs. Augusta Smith were one and the 
 same person ; that " The Willows," which she 
 had thought of with awe as the abode of the 
 austerest virtues, was the sybarite retreat of 
 sensuality, profligacy, and epicurism of every 
 kind ; that the libertine who held out his fat, 
 Avhite, jewelled fingers to invite her little 
 hand, cold as it felt through her glove, with a
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 201 
 
 vague presentiment of evil, was master of the 
 house into which she had been tricked, of all 
 the servants who composed its establish- 
 ment, and, as he fully believed at that mo- 
 ment, of Lucy herself. 
 
 As poor Lucy could not make up her mind 
 to place her hand in his, he drew nearer, took 
 it almost against her will, led her to her seat 
 (into which a little gentle force compelled 
 her, trembling as she was, to sink), and taking 
 a chair himself, drew it opposite to her and 
 sat down. 
 
 " I came here by appointment," said Lucy, 
 " to see Mrs. or Miss Augusta Smith. Where 
 is that lady ?'* 
 
 '' She wishes me to represent her for a few 
 minutes. She is my dearest friend," said Sir 
 Jasper, with well-affected nonchalance. 
 
 " Yours !" faltered Lucy, gazing at him 
 with eyes dilate and lips apart. 
 
 " Yes, mine — poor Jasper Malvoisin's ; he 
 whom you judge so harshly and hate so un-
 
 202 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 justly. I am to the virtuous, clear-sighted 
 Mrs. Augusta Smith, who can look beneath 
 the frothy, glittering surface into the clear 
 and jewelled depths, the beau-ideal, the all in 
 all. On my judgment, my decision, my opi- 
 nion, your fate depends. I inserted the ad- 
 vertisement which has brought you here ; and 
 I did it because I heard from the little Ha- 
 milton Treherne girls that you saw the Times 
 daily, and I felt sure that you must seek its 
 columns for an advertisement of something 
 better than your miserable situation at Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne's." 
 
 " Sir," said Lucy, " I understand neither 
 your motives nor your actions. What little I 
 do know of you makes me very unwilling to 
 be indebted to you in any way. If you have 
 the influence with Mrs. Augusta Smith which 
 you describe, she cannot be the sort of person 
 I had imagined her to be ; but having come 
 so far for the sake of an interview," she 
 added, almost with an hysterical sob, so bit-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 203 
 
 terly was she disappointed, agitated, and per- 
 plexed, "I do not like to leave the house 
 without one ; only, as it is getting very late, 
 and this place is so far from the station, if I 
 cannot see her at once, I must resign or post- 
 pone that pleasure." 
 
 " I will go and accelerate her movements. 
 In the iiieantime, take off your bonnet and 
 shawl. Miss Blair," said Sir Jasper, with distant 
 politeness, tinged with authority and even 
 hauteur ; " and pray make yourself at home. 
 I have no doubt whatever this will be your 
 home. I am myself," he added, " only just 
 arrived here, having been all day at the fete 
 with Lady Hamilton Treherne. You see I 
 am still in my morning dress." 
 
 This was true. The slave of pleasure is a 
 very great slave, indeed ; and Sir Jasper had 
 had very great difficulty in escaping his im- 
 perious and exacting task- mistress. Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne, in time for those greater 
 tyrants still — love and revenge !
 
 204 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 
 
 " I must leave you for half an hour," he 
 added (Sir Jasper had great faith in full 
 dress) ; " but if you hke to be shown to a 
 dressing-room to prepare for dinner, I will 
 send a maid-servant to you. You must dine 
 here — must, indeed ; and, as it is so late, 
 ]\Irs. Smith will of course expect you, not 
 only to dine, but to stay the night here." 
 
 " Oh, that would be quite impossible," said 
 Lucy ; " my mother expects me. She w^ould 
 be alarmed beyond measure even if I were 
 very late, and, in her state, any terror might 
 injure her so as to cause a relapse." 
 
 " Then Mrs. Smith's carriage must take 
 you to the station after dinner ; but I know 
 she expects you to dinner. It is very essential 
 to her to form an acciu-ate opinion of the 
 manners and conversation of her future com- 
 panion. The appointment is one well w^orth 
 having. Miss Blair. But you look faint and 
 very pale, my poor girl ! I will leave you 
 alone ! but pray sit or lie down, and recover
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 205 
 
 yourself. You are agitated, anxious, over- 
 fatigued. I will send you a glass of wine, 
 and go and hasten Mrs. Smith. Poor child ! 
 how it trembles !" he said placing a stool for 
 Lucy's feet, and opening a pane in the French 
 glass door, to admit the au' ; "I hope you 
 are not going to faint, my dear girl ! There, 
 now, be still for a moment ! Here is a vinai- 
 grette, and here some eau de Cologne. You 
 see I am not at all what you thought me ! 
 — not the ogre of the fairy tale, though you 
 are its wandering and lovely princess. I 
 shall not kill you, or only with kindness." 
 Lucy shuddered, as he drew near coaxingly ; 
 and, seeing this, Sir Jasper frowned, and he 
 left the room. 
 
 But Lucy, over- fatigued, startled, and much 
 disappointed, did feel faint and quite bewil- 
 dered. 
 
 The vinaigrette and the eau dc Cologne 
 revived her a little, and she rose and ap- 
 proached the glass door, which she found
 
 206 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 locked, and in which a pane which opened 
 with a hinge admitted the evening breeze. 
 As she stood gazing anxiously at the now 
 " dark flowing river," the lengthening sha- 
 dows, and the lowering sky, a man crept 
 almost on all-fours along the flower-beds and 
 among the shrubs that fronted the river-view 
 of the villa,' and from which a lawn sloped 
 down to the Thames. 
 
 Lucy started, and the blood rushed wild 
 and hot to her face and neck, when sud- 
 denly standing erect, making her a sign to 
 be quiet, and thrusting a note containing 
 something hard in at the open pane, he put 
 his finger to his lips and stole away. A cold 
 dew stood on Lucy's brow, her nerveless 
 hand could scarcely hold the note, a deadly 
 terror palsied* her limbs, and she felt sick 
 and cold and blind ; but, recollecting that to 
 yield to this weakness might be to be lost, 
 she mastered her terror, hastily opened the 
 note, which contained a key, and read, —
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 207 
 
 ** You have been deceived and entrapped. But be 
 true to yourself, and you may yet be saved ; you have 
 friends at hand. Dissemble if possible for half an 
 hour. But directly you receive this key unlock the 
 glass door, then close it, as if nothing had hap- 
 pened ; hide the key. If any violence is offered you, 
 rush out upon the lawn down to the river ; but, if not, 
 be quiet till your deliverers arrive. Appear to suspect 
 nothing. Touch no wines, or any other refreshment ; and 
 trust in Providence, and 
 
 A Feiend in Need." 
 
 Lucy was a tnie woman and a thorough-bred 
 lady ; therefore, her spirit rose with the emer- 
 gency. She felt now what she had at stake, 
 and her courage rose to defend her honour. 
 She was supported, too, by virtuous indigna- 
 tion and the blessed sense that help was at 
 hand. " My poor mother !" she murmured, 
 as, complying with the directions given her 
 in the note, she gently unlocked the glass door 
 and thrust the key into her bosom. Then 
 sinking for a few minutes on her knees, she 
 prayed fervently that the orphan's Father in
 
 208 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 heaven would deliver her from the vile hands 
 of the base, remorseless seducer, and re- 
 store her unscathed to her only parent on 
 earth.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SIR JASPER UNMASKED. 
 
 Lucy rose from her knees strengthened and 
 composed; and remembering the advice to 
 dissemble, betrayed no emotion of anger or 
 alarm, when, after about twenty terrible mi- 
 nutes had elapsed. Sir Jasper returned, dressed 
 for dhmer. So gently did the sleek Sir Jas- 
 per open the door, and so softly did he tread 
 the rich carpet of velvet pile, that a strong 
 odour of " Jockey Club Bouquet," odious to 
 Lucy as connected with him, was the first 
 intimation she received of his dreaded pre- 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 sence. Although he wished to approach 
 her, yet he was anxious she should have a 
 good view of his tout ensemble, as he stood on 
 the hearth-rug. Sir Jasper did not deceive 
 himself; he knew that he looked better at a 
 little distance, and with the red velvet drapery 
 of the mantelpiece behind him, and in the 
 light of the ruddy blaze, than he could do 
 close to the window in the cold gray twilight 
 of a spring evening. Apprized then of his 
 presence by the fragrance emitted as he opened 
 his cambric handkerchief, Lucy looked round, 
 drawing closer to the window the while, and 
 saw Sir Jasper leaning in a studied attitude 
 on the mantelpiece, gazing at her with moiu'n- 
 ful tenderness. His wig, of which the golden 
 ripples glittered in the fire-light, waved over 
 a forehead of cosmetic brilliancy, on which 
 art had described two soft auburn arches ; his 
 cheeks were delicately pink, but, alas ! a little 
 pufify ; his lips coral ; his teeth pearl ; his 
 whiskers glossy brown ; — a black lace tic — he
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 211 
 
 was too good a judge to risk a white one — set 
 him off well, and contrasted with his richly 
 embroidered shirt, and its turquoise and dia- 
 mond studs ; his dress was wisely all black. 
 He was perfection from the top of his wig to 
 the sole of his arched and highly glazed bottes 
 vernis. After one hurried glance Lucy looked 
 once more at the river, and the silent butlei- 
 entered, carrying a silver tray with wine, 
 water, and biscuits. 
 
 " I hope you feel better, dear Miss Blair,'* 
 said Sir Jasper, after the butler had departed, 
 noiselessly closing the door. " Let me per- 
 suade you to take a glass of wine," and he 
 proceeded to pour one out. 
 
 " Not just at present, I thank you," said 
 Lucy ; " I lind the air very reviving." 
 
 " Let me remove that flower-stand, thou, 
 and place you an arm-chair near the window." 
 
 Lucy was seated in a cushioned recess of 
 the bay window. 
 
 " No, I thank you ; I prefer this just for
 
 212 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 the present," said Lucy. " But it is getting 
 very late and very dark ; if Mrs. Smith is not 
 ready to see me, I must go at once." 
 
 " It is you w^ho are not ready to see her^' 
 said Sir Jasper, in a much more degage tone. 
 " Why don't you do as I bid you, you pretty 
 little rebel ? I told you to take off your bonnet 
 and mantle. "Do you think Mrs. Smith is a 
 person to buy a pig in a poke, child ? How 
 can she judge what you are like, while that 
 bonnet hides your little Grecian head, with its 
 wealth of golden tresses ? and that envious 
 mantle conceals that slender but rounded 
 shape, which Psyche might envy you? Come, 
 
 it's 
 
 * Only little Jack Horner 
 That sits in a corner ;' 
 
 take my advice, and before dinner, step up 
 stairs and set off that pretty person, for much 
 depends on looks with Mrs. Smith, She has 
 an eye for beauty, I can tell you, Lucy." 
 " I have been much deceived in Mrs. Smith,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 213 
 
 Sir Jasper," said Lucy, calmly, though her 
 blood boiled with indignation and her heart 
 beat with terror, " if beauty would influence 
 her choice at all." 
 
 '' Have you ? No, you haven't, you little 
 rogue ! for you know well enough who Mrs. 
 Smith is, and /lave known all along." As 
 Sir Jasper said this, Lucy, with a cry of 
 mingled surprise, horror, and agony, started 
 to her feet — white as sepulchral marble, her 
 fingers working convulsively, her lips hghtly 
 compressed, as if to keep in by force the 
 words of wrath and scorn that would else 
 have burst from them. The effort w^as al- 
 most too great ; denied the safety-valve of 
 passionate and indignant language, tears, large 
 and hot, gushed from her eyes ; a cold per- 
 spiration gathered on her brow. " Father in 
 heaven, pity and save !" she murmured, as, 
 heedless of the vile presence of Sir Jasper, 
 she sank on her knees by the window seat, 
 and buried her face in her hands. For a mo-
 
 214 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 inent Sir Jasper was awed — true passion al- 
 ways awes ; but rallying, he cried, " Brava, an 
 old stage trick, but neatly done ! Brava ! 
 You're a very good actress, upon my word ; 
 and I'm sure a girl who can play such a part 
 with so much apparent naivete and pathos, 
 would make a fortune on the stage, if she re- 
 (^uired it, which you won't, my love, if you 
 play your cards well here ; here you'U be 
 jjrima donna, for a time at least !" 
 
 " Remorseless, false, and shameless man ! 
 what do you mean ?" gasped Lucy, rising and 
 confronting him. 
 
 " Mean ! why, we both mean the same 
 thing. We mean, as the song says, to ' live 
 and love together.' You have known all 
 along that Sir Jasper Malvoisin is Mrs. Au- 
 gusta Smith, and Mrs. Augusta Smith Sir 
 Jasper Malvoisin — the best friend you have in 
 the world, child, if you will but let him be so. 
 Who else w^ould have taken so much trouble 
 as to advertise ?"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. CI 5 
 
 " You put in that advertisement ?" faltei'ed 
 out Lucy. 
 
 " Of course I did, and you answered it be- 
 cause you kncAv who put it in, you little 
 gipsy ! It took ' mamma ' in, I dare say, 
 but not you ; a clever girl like you, on the 
 look-out for adventures, and who knows a 
 thing or two." 
 
 " Dinner ,is served. Sir Jasper," said the 
 butler, disappearing again, and closing the 
 door at a sign from his master. 
 
 " Come now, Lucy," said Sir Jasper, ''don't 
 spoil a good dinner and a pretty face — both 
 pleasant things in their way ; tears never im- 
 proved beauty yet, and never will. Whether 
 you saw through my little device or not, at 
 first, matters very little ; you see through it 
 now, don't you ? And you know there s no 
 girl who wouldn't rather be the beloved and 
 petted companion of Sir Jasper Malvoisin 
 than the snubbed, hard- worked drudge of 
 some demure, exacting, hypocritical, canting
 
 216 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 old puritan. We can keep it very snug from 
 * manmia ' and the world. Come ! nay, no 
 temper, child. You're in my power now. Do 
 you remember threatening me with the po- 
 lice ? — ha, ha, ha ! you pretty little vixen ! I 
 swore then, as now, that I'd be revenged, and 
 that you should be mine. Here, leave off 
 sobbing, drink this glass of water." 
 
 He turned to pour one out. While he did 
 so at the further end of the room, Lucy, 
 quietly and furtively, opened the glass door, 
 and exclaiming, " Villain, heaven will punish 
 you and protect me yet ! Mean, cruel, 
 treacherous, remorseless villain !" she darted 
 out, and was on the lawn before Sir Jasper, 
 tinning round to bring her the glass of water, 
 he had poured out, perceived that she was gone.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 21 7 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT. 
 
 " Little perverse fool ! Wilful little 
 idiot !" he muttered, stepping out after her ; 
 " what does she expect to gain by going out 
 there ? — and what dolt unlocked the dooi- I 
 had fastened ? With her fine principles she 
 can't mean to throw herself into the water, 
 surely ! I'm not going to risk my life to get 
 her out if she does. I wish I'd never seen 
 the little impracticable baggage !" he added, 
 panting and puffing, as he hurried after Lucy.
 
 218 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Sir Jasper was not only very stout, but he 
 wore tight stays. 
 
 " Why, what's the meaning of this ? — two 
 men have joined her ! Oh, all's right ; I hope, 
 for one is Le Furet ! By Jove — why, he's 
 helping her clown the steps. AVhat, is he going 
 to give her a ducking, or a cold bath, or to 
 help her ' anywhere, anywhere out of the 
 world ?' If there was a boat there I should 
 think the fellow meant to play me false ; but 
 the boat's gone to be mended. Hallo, Le 
 Furet !— Le Furet !" 
 
 Sir Jasper reached the upper step just as 
 a boat comes alongside of them, and Le 
 Furet is assisting to make it fast with one 
 hand, and with the other is helping Lucy to 
 spring in ; to assist her to do which, a 
 tall figure in a Spanish cloak and slouch 
 hat (pulled over the brows), extends a 
 hand. 
 
 " Stop, Le Furet, stop !" cried Sir Jasper, 
 hoarse with passion, and with a terrible oath,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 219 
 
 springing down the steps and catching at 
 Lucy's mantle. With admirable presence of 
 mind, she undid the clasp, the mantle re- 
 mained in Sir Jasper's hand, and Lucy sprang 
 into the boat. 
 
 " If there is a gentleman among you," 
 roared Sir Jasper, " I will make him answer 
 to me for this ; it is trespass !" 
 
 " There is a gentleman here," exclaimed 
 Henry Greville, throwing his own cloak round 
 Lucy, and standing up in the boat as he sup- 
 ported her fainting form. " He will answer 
 readily enough for a justifiable trespass, and 
 make you answer for a cniel and dastardly 
 felony." 
 
 '' You shall hear from me to-morrow, sir !" 
 roared Sir Jasper, 
 
 " I hope so !" replied Greville. 
 
 Sir Jasper then darted at Lc Furet, who 
 still held the prow of the boat ; he tried to 
 push him into the water, but the agile French- 
 man, wrenching Lucy's mantle from Sir Jas-
 
 220 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 per, with one bound sprang into the boat, 
 while the latter, his foot slipping, found him- 
 self in the river, up to his w^aist ; by the aid 
 of the reeds and the long grass, he scrambled 
 up the bank just as the boat, containing four 
 figures (Lucy and three men — one a boat- 
 man), glided quietly down the stream. That 
 boat had been~ tyii^g in wait for three hours ! 
 But by this time there was no light left ex- 
 cept what a few twinkling stars and a crescent 
 moon afforded ; and Sir Jasper, though he 
 stamped, and cursed, and swore, was not 
 mad enough to court exposure, and was 
 one of those odious mixtures of the brute, 
 the bully, and the coAvard, who stop at 
 nothing if a woman is defenceless, but take 
 great care what they are about if she has 
 any male friend or relative to aid or avenge 
 her. 
 
 " I do believe," he murmured, " that it is 
 that cursed Greville, not Cecil Sydney, who is 
 my rival. I thought from what the fellow
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 221 
 
 said he admired her. I've no doubt he found 
 out I'd told him a few white Kes ; that Le Furet 
 always fishes out everything, and that treach- 
 erous, enamoured ass, Greville, has devised 
 this counterplot to save the little haughty 
 minx from what was much too great an honour 
 for her. The more fool he ! Had he let her 
 stay with me till I was tired of her, and that 
 would have been in less than a week, I dare 
 say he'd have found her a very quiet, amia- 
 ble, sensible little girl by that time. Now, if 
 she sees he's in love with her, she'll exact 
 marriage, and the mother, perhaps, a settle- 
 ment, and a fine thing that'll be for a fellow 
 without a sou, over head and ears in debt, and 
 who has nothing to look to but a city heiress, 
 which his person, birth, connections, and pros- 
 pects might secure him ! I wish them all at 
 the bottom of the river; by Jove, what a 
 storm is brewing !" 
 
 As he spoke, the dark waters became agi- 
 tated, the willows, with a sighing noise, tossed
 
 222 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 their long, green tresses wildly about; the 
 thunder growled, and finally burst out in ter- 
 rific claps, and nothing but the forked light- 
 ning enabled him to find his way up the steps 
 and on to the lawn. The wild rain gushed in 
 heavy torrents from the inky sky, and Sir 
 Jasper, full dressed for dinner, and, as he 
 thought, to captivate Lucy, already wet up to 
 the middle from his fall in the river, was 
 drenched to the skin in crossing his own 
 lawn. 
 
 He had walked out without a hat, in a dress 
 coat, silk stockings, and lackered boots. A 
 wretched object met the silent butler's view, 
 as, hearing the glass doors rattle, he came in 
 with lights. That Hyperion fabric. Sir Jas- 
 per's golden wig, was drenched, his eyebro^vs 
 smeared, the rose tint gone from his fat cheeks, 
 and the colour from his whiskers di'opping 
 on to the embroidered bosom of his shirt. 
 Quite wet through, his feet soaked, quaking, 
 shivering, and his false teeth chattering, while
 
 THE DAILY GOVEUNESS. 223 
 
 his false heart beat faint and low, never was 
 disappointed, outwitted, defeated gallant in 
 such a plight. 
 
 The violent passions whicli the fury of the 
 elements had quenched, had, by heating his 
 blood, made the danger of his subsequent im- 
 mersion, drenching, and exposure tenfold. 
 
 A free liver, and of a very full habit, the 
 accident which might have had no evil conse- 
 quences for most men, very nearly proved fatal 
 to him. 
 
 The evening on which he had expected to 
 gratify at once his love and his revenge, and 
 by means of the vilest treachery triumph over 
 the purest innocence and noblest virtue, — that 
 evening for which he had so patiently waited, 
 and so long plotted and panted, found him 
 alternately shivering with cold and burning 
 with heat, trying in vain to obtain relief 
 from a hot bath and a warm bed. Terrified 
 at his own symj)toms, and with none bnt 
 menials to attend to him, the next day saw
 
 224 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 him in racking agony, raving in delirium, two 
 doctors in his room, and a nurse by his bed- 
 side ; bUstered, leeched, bled, dosed, pleurisy 
 having ensued from the drenching of the 
 night before, and brain fever from the excite- 
 ment which preceded it. 
 
 On that day when Henry Greville, sur- 
 prised at not hearing from Sir Jasper, sent him 
 a note by his servant, to say that he awaited 
 his commands, he was startled and shocked to 
 hear that Sir Jasper w^as not exepcted to 
 live through the night. But w^hile he shud- 
 dered at the thought that it was possible that 
 this bad man might be suddenly summoned 
 before his Maker, to answer for all his long- 
 hidden and remorseless sins, he rejoiced to 
 think that it was owing to him that the ruin 
 of Lucy Blair could not be added to the 
 dread account. And at the recollection of 
 Lucy an unwonted tenderness filled his heart 
 — a vague, delicious restlessness agitated 
 his mind — tears rushed to his eyes ; and
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 225 
 
 seizing his hat, he resolved to go and in- 
 quire how Miss Blair was after the terror, 
 fatigue, and exposure of that dreadful 
 night. 
 
 VOL. I. q
 
 226 THE DAILY GOYEENESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 LUCY S FIRST OFFER. 
 
 When Lucy left her mother to keep her 
 appointment, as she thought, mth Mrs. Au- 
 gusta Smith, and, high in heart and hope, 
 hastened to the Waterloo Station, to go by 
 train to Putney, poor Mrs. Blair sat down, 
 well pleased, to work and to think. She 
 was almost as ignorant of the world as her 
 daughter, and far more gi\ en to castle-build- 
 ing, because she had more time for that un- 
 remunerative, perishable, and brittle style of 
 architecture.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 227 
 
 No suspicion of any deceit or peril ever 
 crossed her frank and simple mind. She was 
 rejoicing d'avance in the superior remunera- 
 tion and comforts of Mrs. Augusta Smith's 
 pious and well-regulated establishment. She 
 felt certain Lucy would obtain this excellent 
 and desirable appointment ; for w^ho was so 
 good, so steady, so " taking," so well-informed, 
 or so accomplished as her own darling Lucy ? 
 The idea of Mr. Malmsey, a butler, daring to 
 raise his eyes to her lovely, lady-like, gently- 
 born, beautiful girl ! 
 
 But then he had only know^n her as the 
 poor daily governess. He had no idea what 
 a real lady, born and bred, Lucy was ; and, 
 after all, to make her an offer of his hand was 
 the greatest compliment any man could pay 
 to any woman. Only it was a pity Lucy's 
 first proposal of marriage should be made 
 by a butler ! 
 
 But lie was coming to tea, and nothing was 
 ready. She must put on her best blonde cup 
 
 q2
 
 228 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 and pink ribands, and her grey silk dress. 
 Lucy would be so vexed if she received him 
 in her morning cap and wrapper ! And she 
 would borrow Mrs. Bragge's new tea-set and 
 silver teapot, and cover the old washed and 
 faded blue table-cloth, with the pale yellow 
 border, with a nice, clean, snow-white damask 
 one. The nicer Mr. Malmsey found things 
 in Lucy's home, the more he Avould respect 
 the poor child ! 
 
 Perhaps he fancied, from her going out in 
 all weathers to teach, that she was in very 
 abject poverty, and half starved at home ; and 
 that her mother was a poor old crippled, bed- 
 ridden creature ; and if so, it was no wonder 
 that he thought Lucy would be overjoyed to 
 marry even a fat elderly butler. 
 
 Thus flowed on the course of her simple 
 thoughts, varied by wonders as to what Lucy 
 was doing at that moment. Perhaps while, 
 aided by Betty, she was setting out the httle 
 tea-table to the best advantage, Lucv was set-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 229 
 
 tling about terms and hours with that pious, 
 excellent Mrs. Augusta Smith ! Of course, 
 the distance would make it quite necessary 
 Lucy should dine at the Willows, and the 
 expense of the journey there and back daily 
 ought to be defrayed by Mrs. Smith, and no 
 doubt would be so. It would do Lucy good 
 to be so much in the open air, and the plea- 
 sant little daily trip by rail to Putney, in a 
 nice first-class carriage, would be quite a treat 
 compared to the long weary trudge, in all 
 Aveathers, to Belgrave Square. 
 
 Just at this moment Mrs. Green Brown, 
 who was very liberal and good-natured, and 
 very fond of giving, and who had heard from 
 Mrs. Braggc and Betty that Mrs. Blair ex- 
 pected company to tea, sent her up a very nice, 
 large Madeira cake, and a mould of apricot 
 marmalade — made the summer before, imder 
 her directions, by Mincing, and which she 
 therefore called her own handiwork. Mrs. 
 Green Brown was a great hand at preserves.
 
 230 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 She was very fond of all the sweets of life ; 
 and her share in the somewhat monotonous 
 and wearisome task consisted in looking on, 
 tasting, and writing in her own weak, slanting 
 hand and peculiar system of orthography the 
 name and date of the contents. Mrs. Blair 
 smiled to see, on the pink glazed paper that 
 covered the pot, written in blue ink — 
 " Aprecot Marmalade, 
 
 '' AyustUh, 18—." 
 Well, she's very kind and good-natured, if 
 she's no great scholar, thought Mrs. Bl^ir, as 
 she received the cake, the marmalade, and a 
 pretty little cut-glass bowl full of some clotted 
 cream which Mrs. Green Brown had just had 
 from Devonshire. With these welcome addi- 
 tions the tea-table looked so nice that Mrs. 
 Blair thought it wanted nothing but her beau- 
 tiful Lucy to preside over what novelists call 
 " the tea equipage ;" and yet, all things con- 
 sidered, it was better Lucy was absent. 
 Just as everything was, as Betty said, in
 
 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 231 
 
 " apple-pie order," a ring at the door bell 
 announced an arrival. Mr. Malmsey loould 
 not give a single knock, and did not like to 
 give a double one ; he therefore had recourse 
 to the bell. 
 
 Betty, with her cherry cheeks and cheriy 
 ribbons, her bright yellow dress (a present 
 from Mrs. Green Brown), and her round blue 
 eyes, black hair, white apron, and red hands, 
 was such a bright showy object, particularly 
 when she opened her scarlet hps and showed 
 ker white teeth (even as Roman pearls from 
 ear to ear), that Mr. Malmsey, who, though 
 in love with Lucy in particular, was a great 
 admirer of the sex in general, smiled and 
 bowed while wiping his shoes on the door- 
 mat ; and on Betty's saying, " Beautiful out, 
 sir," gallantly replied — 
 
 " And in too, miss." 
 
 Mr. Malmsey had arrived m a cab, and liad 
 a small hamper with him. As Mr. Malmsey 
 had only given '' Cabby" his exact fare, that
 
 232 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 extortioner by nature and habit had declined 
 to " lend a hand," muttering, " I ain't one to 
 lend a hand ; no, nor give one, neither, to 
 any man as ain't no gentleman, which I might 
 liave knowed you could not be, master, when 
 I took ye up ; for if ye warn't master ye 
 must be man, kalias flunkey, but a precious 
 old and wicked" one ; and a man of your age 
 did ought to know better than to ride in 
 'ansome wehicles he can't afford, — there's 
 'busses, plenty, for the likes of you !" 
 
 "Shut the door in his face, my pretty 
 maid," said Mr. Malmsey. But as Cabby 
 was young and handsome, and had nodded 
 to Betty, her sympathies were enlisted on the 
 side of the offender ; besides, Betty's first 
 love had been a cabman, and though he 
 proved false, Betty, like a true woman, still 
 loved the fraternity for his sake, and it was 
 very slowly she shut the door, and very 
 reluctantly she helped Mr. Malmsey to carry 
 the hamper up to the second floor.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 233 
 
 " Well, I must give you a kiss for your 
 pains, my dear," said Mr. Malmsey, when 
 they reached the landing — that self-import- 
 ant individual entertaining no doubt that Betty 
 would highly appreciate the compliment, for, 
 as he was generally known to be " well to do," 
 he was much spoilt by the maids in the square. 
 
 " Must ye !" said Betty, raising her great, 
 red, useful hand. " There's two words to 
 that bargain ; as the poor Cabby said, a man 
 of your age did ought to know better, but if 
 ye don't I'll teach ye. Now, you just try 
 it on, that's all." 
 
 " Not for the world, if it's not agreeable, 
 miss. I only meant it in the way of civility, 
 just to pass the compliment. May I put the 
 basket down here for a few minutes?" he 
 added, very respectfully. 
 
 *' Put it down there, can't ye?" said Betty, 
 very authoritatively, " while I shows you up 
 to Mrs. Blair,"
 
 234 THE DAILY GOYERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A LUCKLESS WOOER. 
 
 Perhaps Mr. Malmsey had expected some 
 great evidences of poverty in Lucy's home, 
 and of sickness and wretchedness in Mrs. 
 Blair ; for when, with the very vague and 
 rather starthng announcement of "The old 
 gentleman, mum!'' blundering and rather 
 cruel Betty opened the door, and Mr. Malm- 
 sey found himself face to face with an ele- 
 gant, lady -like Avoman, scarcely middle-aged, 
 unmistakeably like Lucy — but paler, sadder, 
 and, from her years, more dignified — he felt.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 235 
 
 as lie afterwards said, " ready to sink into his 
 shoes ;" those pohsiied highlows, about the 
 blacking of which he had been so particular, 
 and for a little speck on which he had boxed 
 the knife and shoe-boy's ears so soundly I 
 
 " Pray be seated," said Mrs. Blair, motion- 
 ing, with her white, wan hand, the perplexed 
 butler to a seat. 
 
 Mr. Malmsey was perfectly at his ease 
 when, in his own place, talking to a duchess. 
 He had never felt shy even if Royalty "called;" 
 but he was out of his place now, sitting down 
 as an equal with one who, he felt, was, how- 
 ever poor, a perfect lady ; and he felt, too, 
 that — in spite of the thousands laid by, or 
 rather " placed out," which had emboldened 
 him to think of Lucy as a w ife — he was not a 
 gentleman. 
 
 '' Hope I see you quite well, ma'am," he 
 exclaimed at last, after a very awkward pause ; 
 " I had been given to understand, Mrs. \]\im, 
 that you e/fjor/ed very bad 'calth."
 
 2SG THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " I was a great invalid when I came to 
 London," said Mrs. Blair ; " but I am now 
 quite convalescent." 
 
 " Good 'ealth's a very good thing, ma'am. 
 I didn't ought to boast, but I haven't taken a 
 bottle of doctor's stuff these six year." 
 
 *' You are very fortunate," said Mrs. Blair. 
 
 '* I count myself so, ma'am. It's a great 
 trial to a young man to be a-hailing and a- 
 hailing ; and if he thinks of settling, ma'am," 
 he added, with an almost desperate courage, 
 which made him scarlet to the roots of his 
 thin, iron-grey hair, " bad 'ealth, ma'am, is a 
 bad thing to begin matrimony with ; and it's 
 a hard thing to marry a young cretur— a 
 young lady, I mean — to make a nurse of 
 her." 
 
 " I quite agree with you," said Mrs. Blair, 
 dreading what was coming next. 
 
 " With your leave, ma'am," said Mr. Malm- 
 sey, rising and going to the door, and coming 
 back with the basket, '' I've taken the liberty
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 237 
 
 of bringing you a couple of spring chickens, 
 and a little 'ot-house fruit, and a few flowers. 
 Spring chicken's very good in hillness ; and 
 grapes is remarkable cooling when one's 
 feverish, and has a thirst upon one, Mrs. 
 Blair." 
 
 " I am very much obHged to you," said 
 Mrs. Blair; " it is a most acceptable present." 
 *' They ain't none of your half-starved ones, 
 though they're small, Mrs. Blair," said Mr. 
 Mahusey, taking out the chickens and pinch- 
 ing them. 
 
 *' I never saw nicer," said Mrs., Blair. 
 " I'll lay no one ever saw nicer," said Mr. 
 Malmsey, " though I says it as shouldn't. 
 The grapes are very sweet, ma'am ; and just 
 smell that moss-rose." 
 
 " It is exquisite, and at this early season it 
 is wonderful !" 
 
 '* Forced, ma'am ! forced, Mrs. Blair ! Our 
 people value nothing that's not forced ; and 
 I've got something into the same way. When
 
 238 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 I hear the boys calHng * Cowcumbers, three a 
 penny!' 'Peas, fourpence a peck!' and 
 ' Strawberries, threepence a pottle !' it quite 
 turns my stomach, ma'am ; 'abit, 'abit, is 
 truly said to be second nature, ma'am." 
 
 " Very truly," said Mrs. Blair, rising to 
 make the tea. 
 
 " Whenever I see a moss-rose, Mrs. Blair," 
 said Mr. Malmsey, looking very bashful, anxi- 
 ous to lead the conversation to the object of 
 his visit, and really pale and trembling (for he 
 was in love), " I think of Miss Lucy, ma'am. 
 She's as nice a girl as ever stepped !" 
 
 " She is an excellent daughter to me," said 
 Mrs. Blair, the tears rushing to her eyes. 
 
 "A good daughter makes a good wife, 
 Mrs. Blair." 
 
 " That is very true," said Mrs. Blair, rather 
 posed in her turn, and getting very fidgety. 
 " Will you draw near the table, Mr. Malm- 
 sey? 
 
 "Thank you kindly, ma'am. Hope Miss
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 239 
 
 Lucy's well. Where does Miss Lucy sit ? 
 I wouldn't take her place, ma'am, at your 
 table unless I had her leave. If she's at her 
 Uoilic/ht, ma'am, I wish you'd 'uny her a bit, 
 for my time ain't exactly my own just yet ; 
 and I'm sure Miss Lucy don't need no ' foreign 
 haid of homament.' She's uncommon 'an- 
 some, ma'am. A 'ansome gal's a great charge 
 to a mother, Mrs. Blair ; particularly a hin- 
 valid. You'd be glad to have her settled 
 comfortable in life, Mrs. Blair?" 
 
 " It would be a very great trial to me to 
 part with my daughter," said Mrs. Blair, with 
 an emotion she could not suppress — (poor 
 thing, she was Aveak and nervous still !) — " we 
 have never been separated ! She has never 
 passed one night in her life from my side !" 
 
 " I assure you, Mrs. Blair, I believe it ! 
 I'd be above doubting it. But I can't exactly 
 promise you she never shall," cliucklcd Mr. 
 Malmsey ; *' 'tain't to be expected of no man ; 
 'tain't (as one may say) in human natur', Mrs.
 
 240 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Blair. But I don't say but what, except for 
 a week or two at first — ^whicli there never were 
 a mother would grudge that to a young 
 couple — I don't see no need to part you. 
 Miss Lucy's very young to be at the 'ead of 
 anythink in the fust-rate West-end Family 
 'otel line; and I don't say, putting feeling 
 aside (which in course private feelings never 
 does affect business), a sensible, lady-like, 
 motherly 'ooman, to help a young think, and, 
 as it were, put a old 'ead on young shoulders, 
 mightn't have those hinconweniences and im- 
 pediments to connubial 'appiness most men 
 finds happertaining to a mother-in-law 1" 
 
 Mr. Malmsey was drinking his tea out of 
 the saucer, and looking very red and very 
 confused while he made this long speech. 
 
 A.S Mrs. Blair, who was uncertain whether 
 at once to take it to herself or not, did not 
 hasten to reply, Mr. Malmsey proceeded. 
 
 " Shan't I have the honour of seeing Miss 
 Lucy, ma'am, before we've got through our
 
 THE DxilLY GOVERNESS. 241 
 
 business ? two 'eads is better than one, but 
 three is better than two in such a case as 
 this." 
 
 "My daughter," said Mrs. Blair, "had an 
 appointment in the suburbs, and will not be 
 home till late." 
 
 " Ah, poor young think !" said Mr. Malm- 
 sey, " I can guess what sort of a happint- 
 ment. Well, all that's almost at an end. 
 It breaks my 'art, and must that of any feel- 
 in' man as respects the sect — which manly 
 'arts should guard the fair — to see her in all 
 weathers a-knocking at our door, and to see 
 her, as seem made to tread on hair, or, at 
 wust, on a good Brussels of her own, drove up 
 to that bare-floored school-room, often perished 
 with the cold. She finds only a frosty recep- 
 tion too. My lady's as jealous as jealous, en- 
 couraging the young ladies to misbehave ; 
 and as to Hannah, our school-room maid, 
 she's as pert as pert to Miss Lucy. I tohl 
 her once, if slic answered 'miss' so short, I'd 
 
 VOL. r. R
 
 242 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 stand on no repairs, but box her ears for her, 
 Avhereiipon she burst out crying ; for she's an 
 ambitious, owdacious girl, is that Hannar ! 
 all for bettering herself and rising in the 
 social scale — and she has set her cap at your 
 humble servant, a think not to be looked over 
 MS I'm positioned and as she's positioned at 
 the H. T.'s."" 
 
 " Will you take any more tea ?" said Mrs. 
 l^lair. 
 
 "No more, ma*am, thank ye!" said Mr. 
 Malmsey, carefully putting his spoon in his 
 i'up. " I've made a capital tea — and I don't 
 see no good, ma'am, in beating about the 
 bush any longer. Miss Lucy have won my 
 'art, and Tm here to offer her my 'and. I've 
 iive thousand pounds ' put out,' and eight 
 hundred by me. I've a fust-rate West-end 
 Family 'otel in view, and if Miss Lucy is 
 willing, she'll be kept like a lady, have no- 
 tliing to do but what a lady would hke to do, 
 and be drest in the best, and live on the best.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEUNESS. 243 
 
 I know of a very smart piano, new done up 
 with fluted crimson silk, and a stool and 
 ' what-not' to match, going a bargain, and I've 
 booked it, in my own mind, for Miss Lucy. 
 She'll find it a great change, ma'am, and, 
 excuse my saying so, a great rise in the social 
 scale." 
 
 Mrs. Blair tried to speak, but she felt so 
 mortified at the idea that it should be con- 
 sidered a rise in the social scale for her deli- 
 cate, elegant, Lucy to become Mrs. Malmsey, 
 that tears choked her utterance, and she could 
 not articulate. 
 
 Mr. Malmsey mistook her emotion. 
 
 " I understand your feelings, ma'am, but I 
 'ain't a brute, not exactly ; no, nor a tyrant ; 
 I honour human natur. I wouldn't be the 
 man to part you. I wish you didn't enjoy 
 such very bad 'ealth ; but Lor, ma'am, good 
 luck and good living iniglit make a cliange ; 
 and good will, wliicii \\\\ sure wouhhi't be 
 wanting on your side, goes a gre;it way. 
 
 K 2
 
 244 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 'Tain't as if any think menial or lioiit of the 
 way would be required of you ; and, of course, 
 I'm only speaking from my 'art, and, in course, 
 
 not binding myself; but " 
 
 " But if you were," said Mrs. Blair, fairly 
 roused, " it would be of no consequence. I 
 am sure you mean well, Mr. Malmsey, and I 
 ought to feel obliged to you for your kind sen- 
 timents towards Miss Blair; but as she is, 
 in spite of our present reduced circumstances, 
 born and bred a lady — in short, as her father 
 was an officer of a very ancient and affluent 
 family, and as the time may come when that 
 family will recognize my daughter's claims, I 
 must, in her name, refuse the offer, which I 
 own, as matters stand at present, is a kind 
 and liberal one." 
 
 Mr. Malmsey turned red, blue, purple, and, 
 finally, very pale. He stared, stammered, 
 and at last exclaimed, " You can't mean, Mrs. 
 Blair, that you'll stand in your own daughter's 
 light to that extent, as you're positioned too ?"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS, 245 
 
 " I mean," said Mrs. Blair, " that even if I 
 approved of you as a suitor for my daughter's 
 hand, nothing would induce Miss Blair to 
 listen to you for a moment ; and if she were 
 disposed (which I know to be impossible) to 
 encourage your hopes, I, as her mother, 
 should forbid her to do so." 
 
 " You would, ma'am ! And you've the 
 face, in your circumstances, to sit there and 
 tell an honest man, worth six thousand 
 pounds, that you'd rather see your daughter 
 a beggarly daily governess than mistress of 
 what, I daresay, would soon be the fust family 
 'otel in the West-end." 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Blair ; " I think her pre- 
 sent position less derogatory to her than that 
 which you offer, — and I know she is of the 
 same opinion." 
 
 "Well, ma'am," said Mr. Malmsey, "if 
 you don't know on which side your bread's 
 buttered, Mrs. Blair, 1 hope Miss Lucy do. 
 1 shan't take my answer but from her lips.
 
 246 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Pride's bad enough where there's wealth to 
 back it, as there is at ours ; but pride and 
 .^verty ! it makes my 'air stand a hend, and 
 my heart ache. I wish you a good evening, 
 ma'am ; and I mean no offence when I say I 
 hope you'll think better of it, and not try to 
 set Miss Lucy again' me, and make her quarrel 
 with her bread and butter, Mrs. Blair !" 
 
 Here his voice grew husky, tears filled his 
 eyes, a choking sob heaved his broad breast 
 with its snow-white " dickey" and large gold 
 studs ; and, but for a violent effort, Mr. 
 Malmsey would have wept aloud. 
 
 " I am very, very sorry that you have taken 
 this fancy to my daughter," said Mrs. Blair, 
 moved by his distress ; " but you, with your 
 advantages, Mr. Malmsey, your prospects, 
 and your six thousand pounds, will not have 
 long to look for a wife." 
 
 " Long to look, Mrs. Blair ! No ! I can 
 look higher in the social scale, a precious deal, 
 and not look in vain ! A beneficed clergy-
 
 THE DAILY GOVEUNESS. 247 
 
 man's widow for one, an officer's daughter, an 
 alderman's cousin, and an M.P.'s aunt, to say- 
 nothing of soKcitors' and surgeons' daughters 
 — half-a-dozen — fine gals, too ! I might 
 choose among twenty. But oh ! Mrs. Blair, my 
 'art's Miss Lucy's. I've thought of nothing 
 else since the first day she knocked at ' ours,' 
 her little trembling knock, for her dear little 
 hand was numbed with cold, Mrs. Blair. 1 
 never had a doubt she'd accept me. It's a 
 cruel blow, a very cruel blow ; and what aggra- 
 vates it is, that I'm sure if you and she did the 
 thing that is right, you'd not spurn a good 
 husband for her and a good friend for both 
 of you, mind — both of you. / wouldn't part 
 you; and you wouldn't drive an honest man, 
 that wished you both well, to twine the wilier 
 round a broken heart ! " 
 
 Mr. Malmsey then took his leave; and 
 Mrs. Blair shed a few tears, half of mortified 
 pride and half of womanly sympathy, for this 
 coarse but real love.
 
 248 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Betty's star in the ascendant. 
 
 Betty, who was lying in wait to have a 
 httle joke with Mr. Mahnsey, whom she 
 did not altogether dishke, and on Avhom her 
 kind heart suggested she had been too sharp, 
 saw him, his red silk pocket-handkerchief to 
 his face, and his broad chest heaving with 
 convulsive sobs. Betty had on her bonnet ; 
 she was going on an errand in Pimlico for 
 Mrs. Green Brown. Betty did not know the 
 cause of Mr. Malmsey's grief, but she saw
 
 THE DAILY GOVEHNESS. 249 
 
 he was in grief, and that was enough for 
 her. 
 
 *' Wiiat's the matter, sir?" she said, kindly. 
 " What can a fine-looking, free gentleman Hke 
 you, with plenty of money to ride in cabs and 
 make presents, and dress so nice, have to fret 
 about ? If it was a poor gal like me, w4th 
 lots of work and very low wages, up early and 
 late, and four breakfasts, dinners, and teas to 
 get, besides three suppers, and no flowers or 
 followers allowed, no parquisites, no bones, no 
 kitchen fat, not a candle-end, no hare or 
 rabbit skins — (missus sells them all herself) — 
 and only missus's tea-pot after she's done, 
 and only half a pint of very small beer — and 
 you'll scarcely believe it, sir, only one Sunday 
 evening out a month — she might take on. 
 Come, tell me what's your troubles." 
 
 "Are you going far, miss?" sobbed Mr. 
 Malmsey. 
 
 "I'm going as far as a florist's in Bclgravc 
 Road, for the fust floor."
 
 250 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Malmsey, " I'm going to 
 Belgrave Square myself. I never walk. I'll 
 give you a lift, if you like, and be glad of 
 your company, for I'm so unhappy, I'm not 
 fit to be alone !" 
 
 As he spoke, a cab passed ; he hailed it, 
 and handed Bettv in. It was a nice, new 
 cab, and Betty-, in great deHght, first leaning 
 back, and dancing herself up and down on the 
 elastic cushion, said, '' Sir, this is nice ! Well, 
 I'm in luck, any way 1 Come, do have a 
 pleasant countenance, and let's enjoy our- 
 selves — 'tain't often I gets a treat." 
 
 " I cannot be merry." 
 
 "Why not, sir?" 
 
 " I'm crossed in love, my girl !" 
 
 " Poor dear," said Betty, " I can feel for 
 you ; I wor the same oust, and now I hates 
 the feller. I'd as soon come anigh pison, yet 
 oust I had made up my mind to make away 
 with myself. I wor regular crossed in love, 
 and no mistake !"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 251 
 
 "Tell me all about it, miss," said Mr. 
 Malmsey; "perhaps it'll do me good.'' 
 
 " No, you tell your story first," said Betty, 
 who, with her sex's tact, knew how soon love 
 sorrows evaporate in words. 
 
 Mr. Malmsey saw Betty to the florist's in 
 the Belgrave Road, and part of the way back, 
 and he found such comfort in her straight- 
 forward, matter-of-fact sympathy, that hearing 
 her monthly Sunday out was fast approaching 
 — indeed, in three days — he offered to treat 
 her, by steam, to Kew ; herself, her bosom 
 friend and that friend's young man. 
 
 " Lor, how Nancy '11 laugh to see that I've 
 got a young man too," said Betty. In Betty's 
 rank in life, a girl's " young man," like a 
 ])os,t-dot/, or a French gargon, may have reached 
 his grand climacteric. " My young man's 
 not in earnest, though," she added, witli 
 a sigh. 
 
 And as she smiled honestly in his face, as 
 she said " good-bye," and thanked him for
 
 :^d2 the daily governess. 
 
 liis '' nice ride," Mr. Malmsey began, like 
 many another disappointed lover, to find that 
 the human heart may be caught on the re- 
 bound, and that, unlike some railway tickets, 
 it is transferable.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE mother's watch. 
 
 The evening closed in, and Mrs. Blair, 
 seeing it was getting dark and late, began 
 to be very anxious. But Lucy had told her 
 not to be uneasy if she were delayed ; and 
 she tried not to be so. 
 
 By eight o'clock the little supper was ready; 
 one of the chickens, so nicely roasted, with 
 bread sauce, and mashed potatoes, the cake, 
 the "aprecot marinelade," the clotted crcaiu, 
 and some excellent tea aiid toast. 
 
 How provokingi everything woukl be spoiU;
 
 254 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 the cliickens and the potatoes were consigned 
 to Mrs. Bragge's oven, and Mrs. Blair, with 
 a heart now sinking very low, now beating 
 wild and high, stood leaning out of the win- 
 dow, and gazing on the wet and dreary 
 streets. 
 
 " Lor, Mrs. Blair," said Betty; "how late 
 Miss Lucy is, "to be sure ! Sure, nothink can 
 have 'appened to her ! — but I always 'ad a 
 'orror of them ingines, since a huncle of mine 
 wor killed on the Great Western !" 
 
 " How was he killed, Betty ?" gasped Mrs. 
 Blair. 
 
 " Crushed, ma'am, crushed as I've seen 
 cruel boys crush a snail ! He wor a stoker, 
 
 ye see, ma'am " 
 
 " Oh, he was a stoker — thank heaven !" 
 " And give to drink." 
 
 " Thank heaven !" repeated Mrs. Blair. 
 ''At least, Betty, I only mean that if he was 
 a stoker and a drunkard, his having been 
 killed might have been owing- 

 
 THE DAILY GOVEllNESS. 255 
 
 " It wor owing to himself. There never 
 was such a parwarse, irregular, contrary old 
 man horned. Even mother, after a bit, owned 
 it was all for the best ; and it certainly was a 
 good riddance !" 
 
 " Hark, it is striking nine !" 
 
 To those who have watched, it is well knoAvn 
 liow rapidly the hours pass when we dread 
 their doing so. 
 
 " La, ma'am, you're going to faint !" said 
 Betty, catching the poor mother in her strong 
 arms, and uttering such piercing screams, 
 that Mrs. Bragge rushed up from her cold 
 j)ork and porter, and Mrs. Green Brown, in a 
 pink cashmere wrapper, trimmed with swan- 
 down, a gold girdle, and a donnet a la 
 jolie fcinme, from her rosewood desk and 
 " Canto." 
 
 A little brandy, a vinaigrette, and a recum- 
 bent position, brought Mrs. Blair to her senses, 
 but with her senses her agony of terror re- 
 turned. Betty, of her own accord, ran to the
 
 256 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 station to inquire if there had been any acci- 
 dent to a Putney train. 
 
 Mrs. Bragge did her best to comfort ; only, 
 with the want of tact and love for the horrible 
 common to the vulgar, she would torture the 
 poor mother with prophecies of evil and ac- 
 counts of horrible accidents by rail. 
 
 While Mrs." Green Brown was full of the 
 hair-breadth 'scapes to which her beauty had 
 exposed her, and suggested to Mrs. Blair's 
 mind perils which, ludicrous as connected with 
 Mrs. Green Brown, might, in Lucy's case, be 
 as real and more terrible than those Betty had 
 conjured up, the clock of St. Clement's struck 
 ten, and Mrs. Blair, beside herself with terror," 
 was just resolving to rush out and go herself 
 to Putney and " The Willows" — Mrs. Green 
 Brown (who doted on adventures) offering 
 to go with her — when a oab stopped at the 
 door. A thundering knock resounded through 
 the house. 
 
 A light step was on the stairs, a dear voice
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 257 
 
 was heard in anxious inquiry, and the next 
 minute the mother clasped to her poor, beat- 
 ing heart her Lucy, drenched with rain, 
 wet to the skin, her long hair streaming, 
 her bonnet a wreck ; but her eyes sparkling, 
 her cheeks flushed with the purple light of 
 love, her pretty lips dimpled Avith her heart's 
 gladness, and a merry laugh bursting from 
 her glad bosom as she said, turning to a 
 gentleman, also wet through, who stood in 
 the door-way — 
 
 "Dearest mamma, thank my preserver! 
 thank Mr. Henry Greville !" 
 
 Mrs. Blair held out her hand, which Mr. 
 Greville took with respectful cordiality ; and 
 while Mrs. Blair listened to the brief sketch 
 Lucy gave of her terrible adventure at " The 
 Willows," her rescue, the storm on the water, 
 the dangers of the dark hour, tlie landing 
 at Whitehall, and the hurried drive hom&, 
 Mrs. Green Brown, caring for no adventures 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 of which she was not the heroine, sank on 
 the sofa, murmuring — 
 
 " The friend of Cecil Sydney ! the bosom 
 friend of Cecil ! Now, then, shall I know 
 his fate — the fate of a true friend ! Little 
 fluttering heart, be still ; perhaps there is 
 comfort in store for thee T
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 LOVE WILL STILL BE LORD OF ALL» 
 
 While Mrs. Green Brown was indulging in 
 her sentimental reveries, Henry Greville had 
 faintly proposed to take his leave. 
 
 " Can you not stay and share tlie little 
 supper that has so long been waiting for 
 Lucy?" asked Mrs. Blair. 
 
 " Oh, do 1" said Lucy ; and then, the next 
 nionient, remembering how wet he must be, 
 she said, " no, do not, Mr. Greville, you will 
 be sure to take cold !" 
 
 *' And so will you, Miss Blair," answcreil 
 
 s 2
 
 200 THE DAILY GOVEENESS, 
 
 llenry Greville. *' But if you will allow me 
 as long to change my things as you will re- 
 i[\me to change your own, and will let me be 
 of your little supper party if I am in good 
 time, I will rush to my lodgings in Pall Mall 
 East, and be here as soon as any of you." 
 " A bargain," laughed Lucy. 
 And, " A -bargain !" sighed Mrs. Green 
 Brown. " I, too, vrill repair to my toilet ;" 
 but she added, soito voce, *' How one feels 
 one's charms thrown away, when the one in 
 whose eyes one would gladly die to shine, is 
 withheld by an envious fate from the presence 
 of the angel of his dreams, the idol of his 
 heart, the heaven of his fancy. Still, I will 
 adorn my beauty, for Greville is his friend ; 
 and his opinion will influence my Sydney. 
 Men are such imitative creatures, so prone to 
 bow at one shrine, to follow where one leads. 
 White muslin and blue ribands will be simple 
 and becoming for this demi'toilette occa- 
 sion/'
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 201 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown rose, and saying to Mrs. 
 Blair, " I shall be with you as soon as I am 
 fit to be seen !" she hurried back to her own 
 apartments. 
 
 Mrs. Blair had not had any intention of 
 inviting Mrs. Green Brown ; but, as she liad 
 invited herself, there was nothing to be done. 
 She had shared the anxiety and the watch. 
 It would be unkind and ungracious to exckule 
 her from the rejoicing. 
 
 While Mrs. Green Brown was putting the 
 finishing touches to her toilet, and before 
 Lucy had dried and re-arranged her long 
 and lustrous hair, a cab drove up to the 
 door. 
 
 " There he is," cried Mrs. Green Brown, 
 hastily softening off an eye-brow, and (h'aw- 
 ing on her gloves. 
 
 A loud double knock resounded through 
 the house. Tlie windows shook, the glasses 
 on ^Irs. Bragge's sideboard trembled, and so 
 did Lucy's heart and hand.
 
 262 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 " I shall never be ready, niamma," she 
 died : " I am so chilled I can scarcely insert 
 a pin or fasten a hook." 
 
 " The more haste the less speed/' says the 
 old proverb, and that night Lucy proved its 
 truth. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown had darted up stairs to 
 have a little serious talk with her Cecil's 
 " friend." She wanted to know many parti- 
 culars connected with him — his income, his 
 prospects, his tastes, his circumstances — 
 Avhat style of beauty he admired. " Of 
 coiu-se," she said, '' as I am only separated, not 
 divorced, I can only indulge Cecil and myself 
 in a platonic attachment at present ; but, if I 
 ever am a widoAV, how proud I should be to 
 endow my Cecil with all the wealth that 
 monster, Green Brown, cannot caiTy out of the 
 world with him, and which nuist be mine, in 
 addition to the large income I already enjoy." 
 Thinking thus, she hurried up into Mrs.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 263 
 
 Blair's sitting room, to make a favom-able 
 impression on Cecil Sydney's friend, and 
 found herself face to face with Cecil Sydney 
 himself.
 
 '64 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 A FRIEND IN NEED. 
 
 The extraordinary circumstance of Cecil 
 Sydney's appearance was accounted for by the 
 fact that Le Furet, his valet, on his return 
 home to his master's lodgings, had found him 
 — just arrived in town — in deep mourning, 
 and in no very pleasant mood, for the death 
 of his father, who had always been so liberal 
 to him, had left him dependent on his 
 brother, the new earl. — Now the new earl, 
 very stingy and very plain, had always dis- 
 liked the handsome spendthrift coxcomb, who,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 205 
 
 though a younger son, indulged m all those 
 expensive pleasures which the heir to the 
 earldom denied himself. 
 
 Cecil, it was true, had been provided for, 
 among other children, in the countess's mar- 
 riage-settlement ; but he had fallen among 
 thieves, alias usurers, and he had long since 
 sold all reversions and life-interests in every- 
 thing he had to look to ! 
 
 He had had a very humiliating interview 
 with his brother, who vowed he would not 
 assist him unless he shaved off his moustache 
 SLndjeune France, returned to Oxford, took his 
 degree, entered the Church, and fitted himself 
 to hold the family living. If he declined, he 
 might go through the Insolvent Court, or to 
 the diggings, the Earl cared not ! The rage 
 and despair caused by the sense of his desti- 
 tute and perilous condition (for he was dec])ly 
 in debt) was not diminished by Le Furet's 
 graphic account of Ilcnry Greville's rescue of 
 Lucy Blair.
 
 266 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 He insisted on knowing where Lucy re- 
 sided, and, perfectly reckless as to conse- 
 quences, when he found from Le Euret that 
 Greville was dressing to return and sup with 
 the rescued Lucy and her mother, he resolved 
 to be of the party ; and if he thought Lucy 
 as pretty as ever, he would tax him with his 
 treachery, confront and quarrel with him. 
 Cecil Sydney's love of the ridiculous, how- 
 ever, overpowered every other feeling when 
 Mrs. Green Brown commenced bringing to 
 bear upon him all the artilleiy of, what she 
 considered, her charms. 
 
 From her conversation, her dress, and her 
 languishing glances, Cecil Sydney made sure 
 she was a widow ; and the thought that, per- 
 haps, if she were wealthy, and so charmed with 
 him, she might lend him a sum, or, at least, 
 her name to raise one, crossed his mind, as 
 the fire-light flashed on a brilliant of value 
 which she wore on one of her fat, short, 
 little fingers.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 267 
 
 " That diamond matches the bright eyes of 
 the Avearer," said Cecil. " It is one of the 
 tirst water." 
 
 " It is better suited to a gentleman than a 
 lady," said Mrs. Green Brown. " Let me see 
 it on your aristocratic hand, my Honourable 
 Cecil Sydney." 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown was very generous, very 
 fond of giving, and she liked to be thanked. 
 
 Cecil tried it on. 
 
 " Accept it," she said, '' as a little token of 
 great regard." 
 
 "Impossible," said Cecil. ''Why, it's 
 worth " 
 
 " About two hundred pounds," said Mrs. 
 Green Brown. 
 
 " Then it's worth a great deal more than I 
 am !" said Cecil, bitterly. 
 
 " lias not your Pa'r acted handsomely by 
 you, sir ?" said the lady. 
 
 ''Oh, my poor father!" said Cecil, teai-s 
 hlluig his eyes, " he was only too good, too
 
 268 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 generous to me ; but my brother's an iiiimiti- 
 gated brute ! A great screw, too ! and, there- 
 fore, I am a beggar." 
 
 " Not while you have a wealthy sister," said 
 Mrs. Green Brown. 
 
 " I have no sister — I never had !" 
 
 "You have one now — one who will be 
 proud to be your banker, too !" 
 
 " Upon my word, you're veiy kind ; will 
 you lend me your name to raise a thousand 
 pounds on bill ?" 
 
 " I will lend you the money, that will be 
 much better," said the lady — " on one con- 
 dition, though — that you never again put the 
 name of the Honourable Cecil Sydney to a 
 vile biU." 
 
 " Agreed," said Cecil. " I make that 
 sacrifice to friendship and to you. No great 
 one either," he thought, " since there isn't 
 a Jew left who'd advance me sixpence on 
 it. 
 
 '' Call to-morrow on me, — Mrs. Green
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 260 
 
 Brown, the first floor here, and you shall have 
 it." 
 
 " You are a trump/* murmured Cecil, in a 
 paroxysm of gratitude, kissing the hand she 
 extended to him. 
 
 At that moment Henry Greville came in. 
 
 Cecil, quite heedless of the presence of 
 Mrs. Green Brown, taxed his friend with the 
 advantage he had taken of his confidence. 
 
 Henry Greville defended himself Avarmly. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown acted as a peace-maker, 
 and suggested that the preference of the lady 
 herself should decide which was to be the 
 favoured suitor. 
 
 Cecil thought of the thousand pounds, and 
 bowed to Mrs. Green Brown's decision.
 
 270 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 LUCY IN* LOVE. 
 
 At length Lucy came in, Ijlushing, her 
 eves downcast, radiant with that exquisite 
 bloom first love imparts to youthful beauty. 
 A light muslin floated around her sylph-like 
 form, and a few bows, couleur de rose, 
 matched the delightful emotions translated 
 on her peach-like cheek. Mrs. Blair was 
 very cold and stiff to the intruder Cecil ; and 
 Lucy was as forbidding as she could be to 
 any one. Henry Greville had to excuse, and 
 introduce him as Ids friend. But Cecil felt
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 271 
 
 decidedly de irojj as far as Lucy was con- 
 cerned, and but for Mrs. Green Brown, and 
 the vision of the thousand pounds, he would 
 have wished himself anywhere else. 
 
 Dignified, gentle, and reserved as was 
 Lucy, no one could have seen her without 
 perceiving that she loved ; and no one could 
 have heard her voice, or beheld her blush 
 when addressing Henry Greville, or noted 
 the soft flutter of her bosom, and the love- 
 light in her violet eyes, without perceiving 
 that he whom she loved was Henry Greville. 
 And Greville's manner, thorough-bred as he 
 was, had in it a tender deference, a chivalrous 
 courtesy, a sweet officiousness, and a soft 
 humility, which revealed to the observer the 
 manly devotion of his heart, Cecil, who was 
 not all evil, perceiving this, forgave his friend. 
 
 '' I only meant her to amuse an idle hour," 
 he said to himself ; "but Henry Greville evi- 
 dently meditates that desperate step — mar- 
 rying on nothing. Well, that folly carries its
 
 272 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 punishment with it ; so I won't add my 
 resentment to the evils he will entail on him- 
 self. He may marry for love if he will ; I 
 can't afford such folly, I'll marry for money. 
 Green Brown really is a fine woman, and so 
 good-humoured ! I wonder what her fortune 
 is ! Well, she's younger and handsomer 
 
 than was Mrs. C , when the Duke of 
 
 married her ; and she's an angel to that 
 
 poor Mrs. L , wdiom her brute of a 
 
 husband used to fleece first and horsewhip 
 afterwards. I've a great mind to propose to 
 her. My wretched 'honourable' would be 
 everything to her, and she'll save me from 
 having ' gloomy dis' prefixed to it. What 
 a fool Greville is ! That comes of read- 
 ing, writing poetry, and being a man of 
 feeling. Oh, what a great comfort that 
 thousand will be to me 1" 
 
 The clock struck one, before Lucy and 
 Henry thought half an hour had passed ; and 
 while Mrs. Green Brown was planning how
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 27eS 
 
 to introduce a recitation from her poem — 
 " Canto/' as Mincing called it — Cecil started 
 up, and Henry Greville rose to accompany 
 him ; Lucy smiled, but to conceal a sigh ; 
 Mrs. Green Brown sighed, but a smile 
 danced in her turquoise eyes and on her 
 tinted lips. 
 
 Cecil made to Mrs. Blair, for his intrusion, 
 an apology so respectful, that she, amiable, 
 forgiving creature ! was quite appeased ; and 
 the young men departed together the best 
 friends in the AA^orld. 
 
 Henry Greville owned to Cecil that ho 
 thought of telling his kind aunt, Lady Sarah, 
 of his having at last fallen really in love, and 
 with the best, loveliest, sweetest girl in the 
 world, adding, " She's such a ricli romantic 
 old soul, she covdd enable me to marry Lucy 
 at once." 
 
 And Cecil added, " The day you marry for 
 love, Hal, I marry for money. But I won't 
 trust you again, lest you steal a marcli upon 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 me once more. But, I say, Hal, what of the 
 rouge, the false tooth, that billet-doux of Sir 
 Jasper's ?" 
 
 " There's some mystery there, Cis," said 
 Henry. " No one who sees the roseate bloom 
 come and go on my Lucy's transparent cheek 
 can believe foul art ever sullied her beauty ; 
 and as to that fang, why, in her little rose- 
 bud mouth it would look like the tusk of a 
 boar ; while, with regard to Sir Jasper's hillet- 
 doux, when I have told you my adventures of 
 this very day, you'll see how likely it is that 
 Lucy ever received and treasured up a lillet- 
 doux from that brute! No, there's some 
 mystery there ; perhaps the dress was her 
 mother's. Perhaps — let me see. Sir Jasper 
 Malvoisin is a favoured beau of Lady Hamil- 
 ton Treherne's ; Lucy told me that dress we 
 first saw her in was one lent her by her lady- 
 ship one day that she was wet through. I 
 have it, Cis, by Jove, I have it ! Eureka, 
 eureka ! There was a packet in that dress,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 275 
 
 forgotten by Lady Hamilton, unsuspected by 
 Lucy Blair, and those odious contents and 
 that detestable billet-doux were Lady Hamil- 
 ton's. 
 
 "I daresay you are right," said Cecil. 
 ''But I see Lucy loves you, and that you 
 adore her ; so all I have to do is to wish you 
 joy, though, if you ask me my advice about 
 marrying, I should say with Punch, ' Don't.' "
 
 276 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ENDURANCE. 
 
 Two weeks have passed away since that 
 liappy evening when Henry Greville felt for 
 the first time the luxury of being loved, and 
 that greater still, of loving. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown, engrossed by her pla- 
 tonic attachment for Cecil Sydney, saw nothing 
 ])ut himself and herself, and young love was 
 so shy, and Henry Greville so timid and re- 
 spectful, that even ]\Irs. Blair did not know 
 how matters stood. Several times he had met 
 Lucy on her way to and from the Hamilton
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 277 
 
 Treliernes; several times he had spent the even- 
 ing with her mother and herself. One bright 
 day he told her he loved her, and he offered 
 her his hand, promising to call on his romantic, 
 old aunt, Lady Sarah, to beg her, as she was 
 such a friend to love-matches, to patronize his 
 and enable him to enjoy love in a cottage witli 
 Lucy till something turned up. Lucy agreed 
 to await Lady Sarah's consent before she 
 spoke to her mamma on the subject. 
 
 After her perilous excursion to " The Wil- 
 lows," and her almost miraculous escape from 
 worse than death, Lucy determined 
 
 *' Rather to bear the ills she had, 
 Than fly to others that she knew not of." 
 
 What risk had she not run in the vain effort 
 to better her condition ? Henceforth she re- 
 solved to make the best of what fate had as- 
 signed her — a situation that enabled her to 
 reside with her beloved mother in tolcrabli' 
 comfort, to bi; of some use in forming the 
 little Hamilton Treherncs' minds, hearts and
 
 278 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 manners on the model of her own, and more 
 tlian all, an occupation that filled up with 
 active employment the weary, dreary hours 
 that must separate her from happiness and 
 Henry Greville ! 
 
 Sir Jasper Malvoisin recovered from the 
 terrible and dangerous illness caused by his 
 evil passions ' and sudden immersion in the 
 river on the night of Lucy's escape. But he 
 never was the same man again, a thing not to 
 be deplored, for he could not be a worse one. 
 He never regained his spirits or his embonpoint. 
 He sunk into a shriveled, palsied, bent old 
 ]nan. All his artificial charms were laid aside. 
 Vanity was dead in his heart. Perhaps the 
 blow dealt it by Lucy had killed it. Instead 
 of that golden Hyperion fabric, his wig 
 (which, like himself, never recovered from the 
 effects of that mud bath on the banks of the 
 Thames), he took to a night-cap that came 
 under his chin. His dental triumphs were 
 discarded ; a wrapper and slippers replaced
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS, 279 
 
 his choice and brilliant attire. He let " The 
 Willows," and retired to Bath ; there, in a 
 Avheel chair in the day-time, and an easy chair 
 at night, Sir Jasper Malvoisin shakes his pal- 
 sied head, and dreams or dozes away his use- 
 less life. He is abandoned to servants, who 
 are often very cruel to him ; but he has no 
 relatives, and the loicked never have any trite 
 friends. 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne had called on him 
 once before he forsook " The Willows," but she 
 soon left him in a paroxysm of disgust and 
 indignation ; and as she was that sort of vain, 
 idle, coquettish woman who cannot live with- 
 out the attentions and flatteries of some male 
 flirt, she transferred her regard to a shewy 
 Polish count, and became enthusiastic in the 
 cause of Poland and the Poles. 
 
 Her feelings towards Lucy Blair had, since 
 Sir Jasper left the field, settled into a 
 cold and haughty indift'erence. Count Hum- 
 buganowski, who was superbly handsome —
 
 280 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 moustached, braided, jewelled, and decore — 
 had not, like Sir Jasper, an eye and a sigh for 
 beauty whenever it crossedhis path. He seemed 
 never to perceive any charms but those of 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne. His fated country 
 and his enchanting friend appeared to engross 
 all his thoughts. '' Barbarous Russia," he 
 said, " had stiipped him of all but his honom-, 
 his name, and his hereditary jewels, but 
 atoning Fate had given him a friend." 
 
 And that friend gave him everything else 
 he needed. She, by delicate anonymous gifts, 
 filled his purse. In the same manner she re- 
 plenished his wardrobe. She had ever a place 
 in her carriage, and at her table, for that noble, 
 virtuous, heroic martyr, Humbuganowski, the 
 hero of Warsaw. He not only did not admire 
 Lucy, he spoke of her with contempt ; and 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne gloried in her new 
 admirer, and ceased to regret one whom slie 
 called that poor old wreck, Sir Jasper.
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 2S1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 LADY SARAH. 
 
 Henry Greville was as good as his word. 
 He called on his old aunt, Lady Sarah. Pie 
 told her he was desperately in love, and the 
 romantic old soul listened with rapture to his 
 adnnssion of the irresistible power of that sex 
 to which she was, as she said, proud to be- 
 long, and of which she considered herseU' an 
 ornament. He described Lucy's youth, 
 beauty, accomphshmcnts, and virtues — and 
 Lady Sarah positively longed for her acquaint- 
 ance.
 
 282 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 He owned his lovely Lucy had not a penny. 
 Even that did not cool the old lady's ardour, 
 nor destroy her interest in Lucy. He said he 
 was resolved to marry her coitte que coilte, and 
 the old matchmaker's eyes sparkled, for she 
 was a matchmaker for others, and so is almost 
 every woman who is too old to be trying to 
 make a match for herself. 
 
 " You might live with me, you turtle doves!" 
 she said, "until you can get some appointment, 
 Harry." 
 
 Harry kissed her hand, and tears came in 
 his eyes. 
 
 " And now," said the old lady, " tell me her 
 surname, who she is, and all about her. I 
 think I can guess — the description, allowing a 
 little for the exaggeration of love, answers well. 
 I've heard you were often there ! Come, out 
 with it ! own the truth. It's Serina de 
 Beauregard, the poor ruined Duke's portion- 
 less niece !" 
 
 Poor Harry ! when he was obliged to con-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 283 
 
 fess that instead of this penniless aristocrat, 
 living on her friends till she could get some 
 one to take her off their hands, the object of 
 his love was a nobody, and worse still, a no- 
 body exerting her talents for the support of 
 her mother and herself — a poor Lucy Blair, 
 a daily governess in the family of a woman 
 whom Lady Sarah knew, visited, and especially 
 disliked, her indignation knew no bounds. 
 
 " I suppose this is some impertinent hoax 
 planned by you and that scapegrace friend and 
 crony of yours, Cecil Sydney," she said, draw- 
 ing herself up. " But you'd better not play 
 off your pranks on me, sir, I can tell you. 
 Do you think I believe that you have any 
 serious intention of marrying a paid domestic 
 of Lady Hamilton Treherne's ? You have not 
 been so long on intimate terms with all the 
 greatest roues of the age, to be such a Simple 
 Simon as that ; and if the girl's a good indus- 
 trious girl, and you have meditated any vile de- 
 ception, and want to make me a party to it, I'll
 
 284 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 
 
 just tell you this, sir : I had made you my sole 
 heir and sole executor, but, unless you give 
 up all thought of this poor young creatm^e in 
 any way, I'll leave all I possess to public 
 charities, and bequeath you nothing but this 
 copy of ' The Whole Duty of Man,' to teach 
 you yours, sir. No, not even five guineas 
 to buy a ring 1" 
 
 " Hov^ prejudiced, how unjust is this, dear 
 aunt," said Harry. " You would have con- 
 sented to my marrying Serina de Beauregard, 
 who is a notorious flirt and husband-hunter ; 
 though I own she is a beautiful and accom- 
 plished girl ; she has not a penny, and is yet 
 most fearfully in debt ; dresses extravagantly, 
 and yet lives on her friends, and will marry 
 for a home and a position ; and you are furious 
 at the idea of poor Lucy Blair, though she is 
 of gentle blood, because she has the spirit, 
 energy, talent, and filial affection to work 
 hard to maintain her mother and herself. — 
 Now, is this reasonable ? is it kind ? is it
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 285 
 
 just ? A governess is not a domestic, dear 
 aunt !" 
 
 " I don't care what she is. She is not a 
 person that you or any gentleman ought to 
 marry ; and, as I said before, if you either 
 marry or betray this girl, whom I acknowledge 
 to be a very meritorious person, in her way, 
 I shall not leave you one penny ! And now I 
 am going out, and don't want to detain you. 
 You have made me feel very nervous, and 
 very hysterical. Ring for my maid, and don't 
 let me see you again until you are wilHng to 
 promise me that you will not persecute this 
 poor, good, little daily governess with any 
 proposals of any kind." 
 
 "Then, aunt, it Avill be very long before 
 you see me again," said Henry Greville, rising 
 in great wrath, and taking his hat. 
 
 " The longer the better," replied Lady 
 Sarah. — And so they parted. 
 
 Then turning back, Henry added: — "Do 
 not insult hej' virtue or my lionour, Lady
 
 286 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Sarah, by supposing it possible I could make 
 her any but one proposal, namely, a proposal 
 of marriage — and that one I shall and will 
 make her !" 
 
 " Leave my house, ungrateful, impertinent 
 idiot !" cried the old lady in a violent rage, 
 furiously ringing the bell.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 287 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 UNPROGRESSIVE LABOUR. 
 
 Poor Lucy, having, as we have said, nothing 
 better in view for the present, was obhged to 
 return to her mortifying, wearing duties at 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne's. 
 
 The dread of their father protected her from 
 violent acts of rebellion, personal outrage, and 
 positive impertinence ; but the whole story of 
 the ])Ook thrown at her head, of Sir George's 
 interference, and of the chastisement inflicted 
 on the little culprit, had been conveyed with 
 manv exaggerations to Lady Hamilton Trc-
 
 288 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 heme. Her jealous rage and spite knew no 
 bounds. The idea that her little darling had 
 been severely whipped by the generally invi- 
 sible papa, merely for an offence against that 
 " chit of a daily governess ;" why, it proved 
 that the influence of her envied grace and 
 beauty was extending even to the coldest of 
 cold natures; and thawing that ice of reserve 
 which Lady Hamilton Treherne herself had 
 never been able, in the least, to dissolve, either 
 by her sunniest smiles or her most passionate 
 tears. 
 
 At one time Lady Hamilton Treherne had 
 loved Sir George with that violent, almost in- 
 sane passion, which a haughty, reserved nature, 
 in a very handsome and intellectual man, does 
 inspire in a warm and passionate woman. But 
 she had never succeeded in making him re- 
 spond to the violence of her passion. 
 
 He was, even at that time, distantly polite, 
 moderately attentive, seldom at home, and as 
 studiously avoiding tcte-a-tetes with her as she
 
 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 289 
 
 was eao;er in contrivino; them with him. He^ 
 passionate love wore itself out, but it left a 
 morbid jealousy and a bitter grudge behind. 
 Her hatred of the '' minx/' the " chit," the 
 " nobody," in whose cause he had roused 
 himself from his self-centred pride, knew no 
 bounds. She did not car€ what trouble she 
 took, what inconvenience she suffered to annoy 
 and to humble poor Lucy. 
 
 She resolved to be present during the whole 
 time of Lucy's daily attendance, and to preside 
 too at the children's dinner. Cold, cutting, 
 sarcastic, full of implied censure and bitter 
 inuendoes, and her daughters, as far as they 
 dared, taking their tone from her, Lucy's situ- 
 ation was a perfect martyrdom. 
 
 The misery she suffered robbed her cheek 
 of its envied bloom, her smile of its dimpled 
 fascination, her eyes of their lustre, for she 
 wept often and slept little, and even the 
 roundness of her sylph-like form was begimiing 
 to yield to an angulai' tlniin{\ss, which it de- 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 290 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 lighted her tyrant to perceive. Yes, all these 
 changes delighted the cruel woman of the 
 world, and the absence of Sir George enabled 
 her to carry out her system of torture. And 
 it is a perpetual torture to a generous, sensitive, 
 affectionate nature, to live in an atmosphere 
 of enmity and malignant ill-will. The Hamil- 
 ton Trehernes' grand house in Belgrave Square, 
 became to poor Lucy as odious as the Bastille 
 must have been to its innocent victims. 
 
 Mr. Malmsey never opened the door to her 
 now, though occasionally he met her 'in the 
 passage, and acknowledged her proximity by a 
 cold haughty nod ; the tall footman did cer- 
 tainly open the door, but not till he had 
 allowed her often twice to repeat her timid 
 mutilated double knogk. On his rosy,, well- 
 fed face there w^as a covert sneer, and Jeames 
 (my lady's own footman) added occasionally a 
 grin and a stare. 
 
 Lucy felt ashamed of herself for allowing 
 trifles so contemptible tft make her heart swell,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 291 
 
 her cheeks burn, and her hot tears fill lier 
 eyes ; but she was only seventeen, and even 
 great and potent men, ere this, have paled before 
 the yell or jeer of a mob, and those fellows, in 
 spite of their silk stockings, powder, tags, 
 and sticks, were originally of those items 
 that form a mob ; and in spite of her resolu- 
 tion, when, as she moved on to that chamber 
 of torture, the school- room, she heard Jeames 
 and Tomlinsons's loud laugh of derision, 
 mixed with the giggle of Hannah and some 
 other maids, and caught the words-, *^ that ert; 
 pompious stuck-up Blair 1" she felt impelled 
 to throw up her odious employment, and 
 nothing but filial love and the dread of her 
 mother's coming to want, made her endure 
 the protracted agonies of so many successivt? 
 hours. 
 
 To Lady Hamilton Trehcrne'& natural in< 
 difference to the feelings of others, and her 
 instinctive hatred for, and jealousy of, Ijicy, 
 were added extreme mortification jind annoy-
 
 292 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 ance at Sir Jasper's protracted and unexplained 
 absence. 
 
 She somehow associated Lucy (though she 
 herself scarce knew how) with this inexpli- 
 cable slight to her attractions ; and as the poor 
 girl both blushed, paled, and trembled at any 
 allusion to that cruel, daring profligate, Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne felt certain there was some 
 secret between Sir Jasper and poor Lucy 
 Blair. Woman of the world as she was, she 
 had a tolerably correct notion of how matters 
 stood between them. She suspected that, 
 inconstant, dissipated and very vain, he 
 had made some overtures which she felt 
 certain had been indignantly repulsed, and 
 yet, though fully convinced of this, she de- 
 lighted by inuendoes, of which poor Lucy 
 could not presume to take any notice, to 
 imply the very reverse of ^^ hat she entirely 
 believed. 
 
 " IIow odd it is, my k)vc," she said, one 
 (lav, to her daughter Augusta, fixing her eyes
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 298 
 
 half shut up in the closest scrutiny on Lucy 
 the while — " How odd it is that we have seen 
 nothing of poor dear old Sir Jasper for sucli 
 a long time. I never knew him absent him- 
 self in this way before, except at the time, be- 
 fore you can remember, my precious pet, when 
 I had Miss Slick living with me as a com- 
 panion ; and Miss Shck so overwhelmed poor 
 Sir Jasper with her die-away looks, sighs, 
 groans, compliments, and petits soi?is, that he 
 took fright ; he thought she had a design on 
 his fat white hand, and until he heard I had 
 discharged her, he never ventured near tlie 
 house." 
 
 " I dai'c say," said Augusta, wlio had some 
 quickness and a good deal of her motlier's 
 persiflage — " I dare say, mamma, Sir Jasper 
 thinks himself in some peril again." 
 
 " Oh, I have no doubt he does ! I had a 
 good laugh with your papa about it. lie says 
 he will have it all out with him as soon as Xw. 
 lights u])()7i liiin \v^a\\\. We arc going to
 
 294 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 drive down to ' The Willows ' to see after him 
 again — but, dear me, what is the matter with 
 Miss Blair?" she cried, with exulting malice; 
 for, at the name of that terrible place " The 
 Willows," and at the recollection of all she had 
 suffered there, Lucy, whose feelings had long 
 been on the rack, had felt a sudden faintness 
 blanch her cheek, the sickness of death was at 
 her heart, she closed her eyes, leaned back in 
 her chair, and fainted awav.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 295 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 DISAPPOINTED MALICE. 
 
 One day, about a month after the scene we 
 have described between Lady Sarah and her 
 nephew, and after a succession of very sad and 
 very miserable days, Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 sat at the head of the little class formed by 
 her own daughters, her eyes full of triumphant 
 spite, her watch on the table before her, ready 
 to convict Lucy of that great cnmc in a Daily 
 (joverness, and for which hard hearts sec no 
 excuse in weather or indisposition, the being 
 after the appointed time, — ten struck, so did
 
 296 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 eleven, so did twelve, and Lucy did not ap- 
 pear. 
 
 The rain beat incessantly on the glass roof 
 of the conservatory, and the wind moaned 
 and howled ; Lady Hamilton Treherne looked 
 out. 
 
 "It is a miserable day," she said, " but 
 weather ought to be no excuse for a Daily 
 Governess. She can't be coming to-day, that's 
 quite clear ; put away your books, you shall 
 have a hohday." Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 only pretended anxiety about the children's 
 progress, to have an excuse for interfering and 
 tormenting poor Lucy. 
 
 "Perhaps she's met with some accident, 
 mamma," said little Edith ; " she may have 
 been run over." 
 
 " She had a dreadful cold and couQ;h all 
 last week," said Mirza, " and looked very ill, 
 and hardly ate anything." 
 
 " Oh, that was all pretence, because I was 
 present," said Lady Hamilton Treherne ; " and
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. :297 
 
 she does not like my superintendence. It 
 keeps her up to the mark." 
 
 "Oh, mamma," said Augusta, who had 
 some Httle instincts of candour and justice, 
 ''Miss Blair is always more particular and 
 takes more pains when you are not present, 
 than when you are." 
 
 " Oh, so she may make you think, my pret- 
 tiest," said the w^eak mother; '^but I know 
 better. AVhy, Hannah told me last Saturday, 
 because I was obliged to go and receive the 
 Count, Miss Blair seized the opportunity to 
 go up into Annette's room, and to have quite 
 a scene there; and Hannah says, that thinking 
 she was idling away time I pay her for, she 
 went up, and Annette hearing her coming, 
 shut and locked the door in her face, but not 
 till slie had seen Miss Blair stretched like a 
 heroine of romance on Annette's bed, her hair 
 all down, pretending to faint, and Hannali 
 says there was a strong smell ui' some spirit 
 or other hi the room.".
 
 29^ TRE DAILY GOVERXESS. 
 
 •'* I know she felt xevy ill, mamma," said 
 Augusta ; '• for she turned deadly white — but 
 what Annette trave her, and what Hannah 
 smelt, was only some sal- volatile." 
 
 '' Oil, I dare say," replied her ladyship ; 
 " as if Hannah did not know the smell of 
 sal-volatile I AMiy, she"s a veiy nervous, hyste- 
 rical creature herself. All heart, and so de- 
 voted ! Xo, no, if Miss Blair is ill, I shall 
 begin to fear she has fallen into the habit so 
 common among people of that class, of taking 
 something to keep out the cold, as they say ! 
 It's a vice that grows so rapidly on people, 
 and is, alas I very common even among the 
 \erv vouns;." 
 
 " Oh, mamma, you're quite mistaken, Miss 
 Blair never takes even a crlass of wine ; she 
 dislikes everything fermented or distilled," 
 said Augusta. 
 
 " Oh, so she tells you, my pretty one ! But 
 she's very deep — take my word for it — she's 
 playing a part in more-^vays than one 1"
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 209 
 
 " I wish I could think so, inaiiima," sighed 
 the young girl, whose beauty borrowed a soft- 
 ness and a charm not connnon to it, from her 
 sympathy with Lucy. " I am so afraid she 
 J nay be very ill, and perhaps die, and she is 
 so very, very good and gentle, and patient, 
 and clever, and we have tormented and 
 wounded, and distressed her so much ! If any- 
 thing happens to her, I shall never forgive 
 myself;" and a few tears fell as she spoke. 
 
 " Don't be an idiot, child," said Lady Ha- 
 milton Treherne, angrily. " And don't talk 
 such rubbish to your father, who returns to- 
 day, and who cares more for that artful 
 creature than he does for any of you. I be- 
 lieve she's perfectly well, and only absents 
 herself to enjoy some amusement, and to 
 annoy me, knowing, as she does, my intense 
 anxiety about your improvement." 
 
 Augusta was about to answer, when James 
 brought in a note ; it was from i\lrs. Blaii*, 
 and ran thus : —
 
 300 THE DAILY GOYEHNESS. 
 
 *• Mhs. Blair presents her compliments to Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne, and begs to inform her that Miss 
 Blair is confined to her bed with severe cold and high 
 fever, and would not, under any circumstances, be able 
 to continue her attendance in Belgrave Square for some 
 time ; but Mrs. Blair must also remark, that from cir- 
 cumstances which have just come to her knowledge, she 
 is convinced that her daughter has suffered much in 
 spirit from the great harshness with which she has been 
 treated by Lady Hamilton Treherne, and the extreme 
 nukindness and insubordination of the Misses Hamilton 
 Treherne. Mrs. Blair, much hurt that one so good and 
 so strict in the performance of her painful duty, should 
 have been thus ill requited, begs to inform Lady Hamil- 
 ton Treherne that she does not intend to allow ^.liss 
 Blair to resume her attendance in Belgrave Square at all ; 
 and that had she been aware of the treatment her 
 daughter daily received, she would have insisted long ago 
 on her resigning a most arduous and thankless office." 
 9, Arundel Street, Strand, 
 Mondmj, July lU/i, 1856. 
 
 As Ladv Treherne read this sensible, dio:ni- 
 lied, and straightforAvard note, she grew first 
 verv red with rao;e, and then livid with morti- 
 fication and reven2;e. 
 
 There was a lurking fear, too, in her base, 
 mean heart. Wliat if Sir George, hearing of
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 301 
 
 Miss Blair's illness, slioiild call on Mrs. Blair 
 to enquire after her ; and yet, unless she told 
 him of the Daily Governess's indisposition, 
 how was she to account for her absence ? 
 
 " How is poor Miss Blair ?" asked Au- 
 gusta. " Is she very ill, mamma ? Oh, I fear 
 she is," she cried, the colour forsaking her 
 cheeks and the tears filling her eyes. 
 
 The fine lady hesitated, and then said, 
 
 "No." 
 
 '' Then why has she not come to-day ?" 
 
 " She does not mean to come any more. 
 The fact, I believe, is, she has got an off'cr of 
 double the pay from some wealthy parvenue ; 
 ])ut she puts it off on your unkindness and 
 insubordination, young ladies ! So wlien your 
 papa retunis, you had better say nothing about 
 it, leave it to me. 1 will explain all without 
 any allusion to you ; and now amuse your- 
 selves till dinner. Angusta, you shall take the 
 head of the table to-day, and if you all be- 
 have well, keep (jiiict, and say nothing to
 
 802 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 papa about Miss Blair, I will take you to the 
 German Fair, after dinner, with that kind 
 Count, who is so fond of you all." 
 
 Lady Hamilton Treherne then hurried to 
 her own room, and taking Mrs. Blair's letter 
 from her pocket, she read it again, Avith white 
 lips, and then thrust it into the fire. 
 
 "Well,. I- suppose there's an end of her — at 
 least so far as I am concerned," said Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne to herself. "For luckily 
 there's nothing owing to her, and I cannot 
 see that she can have any excuse for ever 
 showing her odious face here again. Perhaps 
 it's all for the best ; my hatred of her was 
 growing so uncontrollable, that it might have 
 led to something I should have regretted. 
 And now she's safe off, I shall write a line to 
 Cecil Sydney, who so admires her, and order 
 him, on pain of my eternal displeasure, to 
 escort me to the Opera to-morrow. I don't 
 see how Sir George can have any explanation 
 with Miss Blair, or her impertinent old mo-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 303 
 
 tlier, since no one knows their address but 
 myself. And now I must look out for some, 
 one to supply her place ; for, as for having all 
 those unruly girls on my own hands, it's quite 
 out of the question. Indeed,. I shall not en- 
 ter the school-room again now there's no Miss 
 Blair to mortify and humble, by seeming to 
 doubt her competency."
 
 304 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 Lucy's first illness. 
 
 While in her silken boudoir Lady Hamil- 
 ton Treherne communed thus with herself, 
 and was not " still," but agitated by hatred, 
 envy, jealousy, and malice, her poor young 
 victim, Lucy Blair, lay on her little bed in her 
 darkened room, happily unconscious of past 
 and present, and, for once, without any dread 
 of the gloomy, lowering future — for she 
 was in the delirium of high fever. 
 
 It was Monday, and she had been in bed 
 since Saturday night ; for on her return from
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 305 
 
 Belgrave Square, her feet very wet, and feel- 
 ing chilled and ill, she had, after vainly trying 
 to rally and calm her mother's fears, been 
 obliged at last to own, with many tears, that 
 she felt ill, and thought she should be better 
 
 in bed Poor Mrs. Blair, who loved 
 
 Lucy with the passionate tenderness of a de- 
 voted heart which had nothing else to love, 
 roused herself from her own languid inaction ; 
 put her darling to bed — ^had a fire lighted in 
 her own room, made the tea herself, and took 
 her station by her child's couch. 
 
 Mrs Bragge, hearing from Betty the startling 
 news that poor Miss Lucy was gone to bed 
 ill, came up to offer her services, followed by 
 Mrs. Green Brown and Mincing — and as 
 all these people were of the school of Jobs 
 comforters, and of the vulgar herd who 
 delight in prophesying evil and magnifying 
 danger — poor Mrs. Blair was soon frightened 
 into sending for a medical man, wlio IIvimI in 
 an adjoining street, and who had one" attended 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 Mrs. Green Brown in a slight indisposition, 
 and was considered by her a very clever doctor, 
 and recommended as such. 
 
 Now it happened very fortunately that Mr. 
 Popkins was really clever, and much disposed 
 to believe in the vis medicatrix natur(2, espe- 
 cially in very young patients. He was a very 
 good, honest, benevolent young man — rather 
 vulgar — certainly ^ery deficient in polish and 
 tact, and sorely put to it to make a livelihood. 
 He was, therefore, all the more deserving of 
 praise that he did not pour in quantities of 
 drugs, not to benefit the patient, but his own 
 pocket, lengthening at once the illness and 
 the bill. 
 
 " What did you bleed him for ? now, tell me, villain ! 
 Sir ! he replied, I bled him for a shilling !". . 
 
 could never have been quoted with reference 
 to Mr. Popkins. 
 
 Poor fellow 1 he had left the country village 
 Avhere he had been assistant to the parish 
 doctor, not merely because the work was so
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 307 
 
 endless and laborious, and the pay so small, 
 but because it was such pain to his kind, 
 feeling heart to witness distress which he was 
 not allowed to relieve, and, added to this, his 
 employer's daughter was in love with him. 
 And, although fancy-free and heart-whole at 
 the time, not only did he 7iot return her affec- 
 tion, but even if he had done so, knowing 
 the ambitious views of her parents, he would 
 have thought it treachery to them to respond 
 to her advances. Indeed, having a high sense of 
 honour, he would not for worlds have carried 
 on a clandestine love afiliir in a house where 
 he was imphcitly trusted. 
 
 Peter Pop kins had an old aunt, who had, 
 when he was left an orphan, reared and edu- 
 cated him. She was a good, kind, httle old 
 maid, and to her he always revealed every 
 secret of his innocent life. He told her all, 
 and just at this time a small surgical busi- 
 ness was to be disposed of in Arundel 
 Street, Strand. She had a great preference 
 
 X 2
 
 308 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 for a town life, for she had been bom and 
 bred in London — doted on its bustle, noise, 
 and gaiety, and loathed the quiet and mono- 
 tony of a country town, and so she proposed 
 to Peter to purchase this business for him, 
 and to settle herself in the small house that 
 adjoined the surgery, so that he might board 
 and lodge with her, and have a happy home 
 with one whom he always called ' mother.' 
 
 Peter Popkins' kind heart was intensely 
 interested in his beautiful young patient, who 
 by this time was tossing about on her little bed, 
 her eyes wild with fever, her cheeks flushed, 
 her hair dishevelled, and quite unconscious 
 of the young doctor's presence. The terror and 
 grief of poor Mrs. Blair affected him deeply ; 
 but he was, as we have said before, very 
 blunt and artless, and when the mother said 
 in a faint voice, clasping her hands tightly 
 together the while, '* Is there any danger ?" He 
 answered, " Why, of course there is, ma'am, 
 great danger — immediate danger! It's a very bad
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 309 
 
 case of brain fever !" But he had no sooner ut- 
 tered those unguarded words than he repented 
 of them, for poor Mrs. Blair, who was standin<< 
 before him expecting comfort, no sooner heard 
 them, than she started as if she had been shot, 
 littered a piercing cry, and fell at his feet in 
 a death -like swoon — so death-like, in fact, 
 was the syncope caused by this sudden and 
 terrible dread of losing the sole joy, pride, 
 prop, and solace of her life, that for some 
 time the unlucky Popkins feared she wouhl 
 never return to life. 
 
 At length, however, the remedies he perse- 
 vered in applying, restored her to conscious- 
 ness — to misery ! . . 
 
 But he wisely administered, among other 
 cordials, a few drops of that elixir of life, 
 " Hope," and when he said that every tiling 
 would depend on the most watchful and care- 
 ful nursing — that youth and an excellent con- 
 stitution being on Miss Blair's side, the chances 
 were all in her favour — but that anv disturb-
 
 310 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 ance, noise, neglect^ or failure in the most 
 punctual administration of the remedies he 
 prescribed, might have a fatal result, the 
 mother swalloAved her tears — smothered her 
 sighs — nerved her poor, sinking, beating 
 heart, and resolved, after a fervent, inward 
 prayer to God for strength, faith, and support, 
 to forget self entirely in her devotion to her 
 child, and to be herself solely responsible for 
 the carrying out of every command the doctor 
 gave her. 
 
 '' Has Miss Blair suffered any great distress 
 of mind lately?" asked Mr. Popkins, as he 
 stood by the bedside and heard Lucy, in her 
 delirium, cry out, " Save me, Henr}^ ! dear 
 Henry, save me from that bold, bad man ! . . 
 Spare me ! Oh, spare me, Sir Jasper. — At 
 your peril, sir, approach me not ! Mother ! 
 mother !" And then again she would murmur, 
 " Lady Hamilton Treherne shall not have the 
 triumph of seeing how she tortures me. . . 
 Oh, those sneers ! those taunts ! . . Mother,
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. oil 
 
 hide me from those cold eyes — look, look, 
 how insolently Hannah glares upon me ! ! 
 Hark, that is Mr. Malmsey's voice, he is 
 coupling my name with some bad w^ords, 
 mother — that brutal laugh was his ! — and 
 that is James's — that is Tomhnson ! . . . 
 Milles remercimens, ma chere et bonne Made- 
 raoiselle Annette ! . . Oh how the wind blows ! 
 How the rain beats down upon my head ! I'm 
 very cold ! . . My feet are so wet ! Mannna ! 
 don't fear, Lady Hamilton Treherne ! . . I shall 
 not give the young ladies cold, though I am, as 
 you say, a damp stranger — ha ! ha ! ha ! . ." 
 These, and such w^anderings as these, revealed 
 to poor Mrs. Blair the state of her daughter's 
 mind, and the cause of her illness ; and the 
 result was the letter Lady Hamilton Treherne 
 received, and which nothing but inatenia) 
 anguish could have roused the meek, gentle, 
 timid Mrs. Blair to write ; but, as in the casi^ 
 of Mr. Malmsey's otter, we may perceive that 
 Mrs. Blair had a spirit — most gcntlt^womcn
 
 ol2 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 liave — which could speak out with passionate 
 eloquence and dignified rebuke when her 
 darling was injured or insulted. 
 
 Mrs. Blair's letter had filled even Lady 
 Hamilton Treherne's cold, hard heart with 
 regret and dread — regret that she should 
 have lost her victim by carrying the system 
 of quiet torture too far, and dread lest sooner 
 or later Sir George should come to the know- 
 ledge of the real cause of Miss Blair's abandon- 
 ment of her post. 
 
 It was a fortnight before Lucy was out of 
 danger, and even then she was so weak as to 
 cause great anxiety not only to her devoted 
 mother and her young and intensely interested 
 doctor, but to the warm-hearted Mrs. Green 
 Bro\Mi, old Mrs. Grimes, and even poor 
 honest Betty. 
 
 The weather was very warm ; the summer 
 had passed away ; the harvest moon had 
 looked in through the dingy windows on the 
 pale face and wasted form of poor Lucy !
 
 THE DAILY GOVEUNESS. 313 
 
 There was nothing refreshing in the air that 
 came in at those windows, and Lucy, though 
 she would not say so for fear of distressing 
 her poor mother, pined and gasped for the 
 fresh breezes of the sea, or some sweet country 
 spot. In her dreams she was again in the 
 k)vely lands where she had dwelt, with her 
 mother, only that ' He ' was by her side — 
 with him she thought she wandered hand in 
 hand through vineyards and orange groves — 
 or floated in a gondola on the blue waters of 
 the gulf of Venice, or sailed over the bright 
 bay at Naples. 
 
 And where was Henry Greville all this 
 time ? And how comes it that, for nearly six 
 weeks, he has not once written to Lucy or 
 her mother, or called at their humble lodging? 
 Can this apparent indifference to, and deser- 
 tion of, one wliom he had professed to love 
 so truly and entirely, have had anything to 
 do with the agony of mind which caused 
 Lucy's dangerous illness P
 
 314 THE DAILY GOVEENESS. 
 
 No — Lucy could, if she would, explain the 
 silence and the absence of Henry Greville, 
 but in doing so she would reveal a sacrifice 
 which she would fain conceal from her mother; 
 we, however, will let the reader into a secret 
 that, perhaps, has had something to do with 
 Lucy's recent and severe illness.
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 
 HENRY GREVILLE. 
 
 The day after his interview with his aunt, 
 Lady Sarah, Henry, not wishing to expose Lucy 
 to comment and scandal, by accosting her in 
 any thoroughfare frequented by the fashion- 
 able world, had watched for her in her own 
 street, on her return home, and in the dusk 
 had walked up and down before her door 
 with her while he told her (in the gentlest 
 words he could command) the result of his 
 interview with Lady Sarah — and the dis- 
 appointment of all his hopes in that quarter.
 
 316 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 He then urged her to consent to an immediate 
 union, and to trust to chance and the pity of 
 his friends (Lady Sarah especially), who would 
 probably, Avhen it was irrevocable, see the 
 wisdom of making the best of it. 
 
 Poor Harry ! he spoke with all the eloquent 
 sophistry of passion, and Lucy's own heart 
 pleaded for him ; but yet she was finn. 
 
 " It would be your ruin," she said gently, 
 
 but firmly. " Your aunt would hate me — 
 
 she would never forgive me — and some day, 
 
 in poverty and anguish, you would reproach 
 
 me, if not with your lips, in your dejected 
 
 and half-broken heart. Then, too, my mother! 
 
 — as your wife, Henry, I could not pursue 
 
 the humble career which yet enables me to 
 
 provide for her. I hate myself for having 
 
 listened for a moment to you, and to my own 
 
 weak heart ; — but it is over — I know my 
 
 duty, and I will do it — leave me !" 
 
 " Never !" cried Henry Greville ; " but T 
 have got one plan to propose. Let us cmi-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 317 
 
 grate. What little property T have I will 
 realize, and we will go to Australia, my 
 Lucy — I will be a farmer, and you — can 
 you bear to be a farmer's wife ?" . . 
 
 " Oh, yes ; with you I should delight in 
 such a change, such a life," said Lucy ; " but 
 my mother?" 
 
 " We will take her with us, dearest." 
 
 " No ! Henry, no ! None but very young 
 trees can bear transplanting — it would be her 
 death, she can only live in England." 
 
 " You drive me to despair," said Greville. 
 " Lucy, you do not, you cannot, love me ?" 
 
 Lucy looked up very pale, and tears in her 
 eyes. " Henry," she said, "I do love you, 
 with all my unhappy, half-broken heart ; '^ in- 
 deed I love you too w^ell to be your ruin, and 
 w^hen Duty and Inclination cannot go hand-in - 
 hand, I know which I ouglit to follow. If 
 you are ever in circumstances to claim me witli- 
 out destruction to your ])rospects, do so, and 
 you will find me true. If in the changes and
 
 318 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 chances of life my fortune should enable me 
 to marry without sinful imprudence, claim my 
 hand. Were I the heiress of a million, I 
 would select you from a world which would 
 then be at my feet. I never will, I never 
 can marry another, Henry, for I love you with 
 my w^hole heart ; but yet I must say farewell 
 now — I cannot add, forget me and be happy 
 with another ! I do not believe (judging of your 
 love by mine) that you can transfer to another 
 what is in that case a part of your very being ; 
 but I do say you are young, gifted, enterpris- 
 ing by nature, though hitherto (forgive me) 
 an idler by habit. Let us part, each resolved 
 to do our best to earn such an independence 
 as ivould justify our marrying. Is it a bar- 
 gain ?" and she held out her hand. 
 
 " It is," he cried, pressing it to his lips. 
 ''Dearest! best! angel! Lucy! with such a prize 
 in view I must win. When I see you again 
 it will be to claim you as my bride. Remem- 
 ber you are my betrothed now," he said, pull-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 319 
 
 ing off her glove and slipping a ring from his 
 little finger on to the third finger of her Httle 
 left hand. " You shall not hear from me 
 again till 1 am in the Land of Promise ; and 
 now, farewell." 
 
 " Farewell, and God bless you, dear, dearest, 
 Henry," said Lucy, in her turn taking from 
 her middle finger a curious little ring, which 
 she had found, when a child, among some ruins 
 at Rome, and which, when cleaned, proved to 
 be a great curiosity. It consisted of a very 
 small but beautifully carved head of Psyche, 
 with a brilliant on the brow, and surrounded 
 by a few very fine emeralds. She put it on 
 tlie little finger of his left hand, saying : 
 " You know the history of this ring, and you 
 know the magic power poets" assign to the 
 emerakl — wear it for my sake — and in its 
 evergreen glory behold a type of my tidcHty. 
 Parewell, beloved," she added, sobl)ing, as he 
 followed her into the dark narrow passage of 
 liei- little old abode (the door was on the latch
 
 320 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 
 
 expressly for her convenience). He clasped 
 her to his heart in a first and long embrace, and 
 then tearing himself away, darted up Arundel 
 Street, across the Strand, and was soon at his 
 own lodgings in St. James's. Having con- 
 verted into ready money what few valuables 
 he had, and realized about five hundred 
 pounds, he- a few days later set sail for 
 Sydney. 
 
 Lucy kept their last meeting to herself. 
 She would not let her mother suppose that, 
 but for her, she, poor girl, would, as a hope- 
 ful, happy bride, have shared that voyage ! 
 
 Mrs. Blair was only too prone to look upon 
 herself as a drawback and an inciunbrance 
 to her darling and only child ; but it is cer- 
 tain that no trifling stiniggle between Love 
 and Duty agitated poor Lucy during tliat 
 interview with Harry Greville, and long after, 
 too ! 
 
 It was no small matter to her to send him 
 from her ; him whom «lie loved with the first
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS. 321 
 
 fond love of her young heart ; whom it would 
 have been such joy, and bhss, and comfort, to 
 have bound to her for ever ; to have tended, 
 cheered, cherished, watched, waited upon. 
 
 " The treasures of the deep are not so pre- 
 cious as the concealed comforts of a man 
 wrapped up in a woman's love," she repeated 
 again and again to herself; " and those com- 
 forts I cannot give him, nor he, if he is true 
 and constant, can he seek elsewhere." 
 
 How dark to her seemed dingy London 
 now ! How dark and dingy London is, in its 
 meaner streets, to the poor and hard-working, 
 and how bright, in comparison, bathed in 
 the rosy tints of love and the golden hues ol' 
 hope, seemed the Queen of the South, on 
 the sunny shores of the Pacific ! 
 
 Nor did Lucy feel for herself alone, in tliis 
 great sacrifice to fihal love and duty. 
 
 JIc was gone on this long voyage of nn- 
 certain issue. Friendless and alone, perhaps 
 judging, as man is too prone to judge of a 
 
 VOL. \. Y
 
 322 THE DAILY GOVEKNESS. 
 
 Bacrifice that thwarts the passionate desires of 
 his heart and the great hope of his hfe, he 
 might imagine that Lucy was either incapable 
 of true love, or, at any rate, of love for him. 
 This unjust idea might grow into confinna- 
 tion strong in her absence, and those who 
 w^ould love him (for who could help loving 
 him?) would' seem truer and fonder, if 
 not fairer, and he' Avould forget what might 
 seem to him the lukewarm affection of Lucy, 
 and release her from her engagement, marry 
 another, and settle in the Land of Pro- 
 mise ; and then Lucy felt she never could 
 love again, and should, after a long life of 
 the dreary, unprogressive toil of a Daily 
 Governess, become a forlorn old maid, and die 
 (as so many of that worn-out sisterhood do), 
 either in a lunatic asylmn, or, at best, in the 
 Institution for aged governesses. 
 
 Thus did poor Lucy torment herself, after 
 Harry Greville was gone, and conjure up his 
 image, at one time lonely, dejected, sick, suf-
 
 THE DAILY GOVERNESS, 323 
 
 fering, and pining for her ; at another, reviv- 
 ing, trying to forget the woman who had re- 
 fused to share his uncertain prospects, re- 
 sponding to the smiles of another ! Poor 
 Lucy ! She liardly knew which picture was 
 the most intolerable. 
 
 And this secret mental conflict, added to 
 her bitter trials at Lady Hamilton Treherne's, 
 her exposure to all weathers, and the weari- 
 some excitement of teaching, ended in the 
 dreadful illness from which, in our last chapter, 
 we left Lucy slowly recovering. 
 
 END or VOL. I. 
 
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