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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 OCT 2 1 19^1 
 
 ^C 
 
 L161 — O-1096
 
 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 OR 
 
 MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE M. YONGE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'the HEIR OF REDCLYFFE ' ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 HonUon 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1879
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/magnumbonumormot01yong
 
 ?23 
 
 V.I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. 
 
 C- CHAPTER I. 
 
 2 PAGE 
 
 "^^^ Joe Brownlow's Fancy .... . i 
 
 "^ CHAPTER II. 
 j^. The Chickens . . 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The White Slate 36 
 
 ^ CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Stray Chickens 54 
 
 CHAPTER V. : 
 ^Brains and no Brains 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Enchanted Ground 98 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Colonel's Chickens no 
 
 > CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Folly 123
 
 iv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Flights ^45 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Ellen's Magnum Bonums . . ... 167 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Undine 190 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 King Midas 211 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Rival Heiresses 235 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Pumping Away 259 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Belforest Magnum Bonum .... 280 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Possession 296
 
 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JOE BROWNLOW'S FANCY. 
 
 The lady said, " An orphan's fate 
 Is sad and hard to bear." — Scott. 
 
 '' Mother, you could do a great kindness." 
 
 " Well, Joe .? " 
 
 " If you would have the little teacher at the Miss 
 Heath's here for the holidays. After all the rest, she 
 has had the measles last and worst, and they don't 
 know what to do with her, for she came from the 
 asylum for officers' daughters, and has no home at all, 
 and they must go away to have the house purified. 
 They can't take her with them, for their sister has 
 children, and she will have to roam from room to room 
 before the whitewashers, vrhich is not what I should 
 wish in the critical state of chest left by measles." 
 
 " What is her name ? " 
 
 VOT,. T. B
 
 MAGXUM BONUM ; 
 
 " Allen. The cry was always for Miss Allen when 
 the sick girls wanted to be amused." 
 
 " Allen ! I wonder if it can be the same child as 
 the one Robert was interested about. You don't re- 
 member, my dear. It was the year you were at Vienna, 
 when one of Robert's brother-officers died on the 
 voyage out to China, and he sent home urgent letters 
 for me to canvass right and left for the orphan's elec- 
 tion. You know Robert writes much better than he 
 speaks, and I copied over and over again his account of 
 the poor young man to go with the cards. * Caroline 
 Otway Allen, aged seven years, whole orphan, 
 daughter of Captain Allen, 107th Regiment;' yes, 
 that's the way it ran." 
 
 " The year I was at Vienna, and Robert went out 
 to China. That was eleven years ago. She must be 
 the very child, for she is only eighteen. They sent 
 her to Miss Heath's to grow a little older, for though 
 she was at the head of everything at the asylum, she 
 looks so childish that they can't send her out as a 
 governess. Did you see her, mother .? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! I never had anything to do with her ; 
 
 but if she is daughter to a friend of Robert's " 
 
 Mother and son looked at each other in congratula- 
 tion. Robert was the stepson, older by several years, 
 and was viewed as the representative of sober common 
 sense in the family. Joe and his mother did like to 
 feel a plan quite free from Robert's condemnation for 
 enthusiasm or impracticability, and it was not the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 
 
 worse for his influence, that he had been generally 
 with his regiment, and when visiting them was a good 
 deal at the United Service Club. He had lately 
 married an heiress in a small way, retired from the 
 army, and settled in a house of hers in a country 
 town, and thus he could give his dicta with added 
 weight. 
 
 Only a parent or elder brother would, however, 
 have looked on "Joe" as a youth, for he was some 
 years over thirty, with a mingled air of keenness, 
 refinement, and alacrity about his slight but active 
 form, altogether with the air of some implement, not 
 meant for ornament but for use, and yet absolutely 
 beautiful, through perfection of polish, finish, applica- 
 bility, and a sharpness never meant to wound, but 
 deserving to be cherished in a velvet case. 
 
 This case might be the pretty drawing-room, full of 
 the choice artistic curiosities of a man of cultivation, 
 and presided over by his mother, a woman of much 
 the same bright, keen, alert sweetness of air and 
 countenance : still under sixty, and in perfect health 
 and spirits — as well she might be, having preser\^ed, 
 as well as deserved, the exclusive devotion of her only 
 child during all the years in which her early widow- 
 hood had made them all in all to each other. Ten 
 years ago, on his election to a lectureship at one of 
 the London hospitals, the son had set up his name 
 on the brass plate of the door of a comfortable house 
 in a once fashionable quarter of London ; she had
 
 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 joined him there, and they had been as happy as 
 affection and fair success could make them. He 
 became lecturer at a hospital, did much for the poor, 
 both within and without its walls, and had besides a 
 fair practice, both among the tradespeople, and also 
 among the literary, scientific, and artistic world, 
 where their society was valued as much as his skill. 
 
 Mrs. Brownlow was well used to being called on to 
 do the many services suggested by a kind heart in 
 the course of a medical man's practice, and there was 
 very little within, or beyond, reason that she would not 
 have done at her Joe's bidding. So she made the 
 arrangement, exciting much gratitude in the heads of 
 the Pomfret House Establishment for Young Ladies ; 
 though without seeing little Miss Allen, till, from the 
 Doctor's own brougham, but escorted only by an 
 elderly maid-servant, there came climbing up the stairs 
 a little heap of shawls and cloaks, surmounted by a 
 big brown mushroom hat. 
 
 " Very proper of Joe. He can't be too particular, — 
 but such a child ! " thought Mrs. Brownlow as the 
 mufflings disclosed a tiny creature, angular in girlish 
 sort, with an odd little narrow wedge of a face, 
 sallow and wan, rather too much of teeth and mouth, 
 large greenish-hazel eyes, and a forehead with a look 
 of expansion, partly due to the crisp waves of dark 
 hair being as short as a boy's. The nose was well 
 cut, and each delicate nostril was quivering involun- 
 tarily with emotion— or fright, or both.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 
 
 Mrs. Brovvnlow kissed her, made her rest on the 
 sofa, and talked to her, the shy monosyllabic replies 
 lengthening every time as the motherliness drew forth 
 a response, until, when conducted to the cheerful little 
 room which Mrs. Brownlow had carefully decked with 
 little comforts for the convalescent, and with the 
 ornaments likely to please a girl's eye, she suddenly 
 broke into a little irrepressible cry of joy and delight. 
 " Oh ! oh ! how lovely ! Am I to sleep here } Oh ! 
 it is just like the girls' rooms I always did long to 
 see ! Now I shall always be able to think about it." 
 
 " My poor child, did you never even see such a 
 room .? " 
 
 " No ; I slept in the attic with the maid at old Aunt 
 Mary's, and always in a cubicle after I went to the 
 asylum. Some of the girls who went home in the 
 holidays used to describe such rooms to us, but they 
 could never have been so nice as this ! Oh ! oh ! Mrs. 
 Brownlow, real lilies of the valley ! Put there for me ! 
 Oh ! you dear, delicious, pearly things ! I never saw 
 one so close before ! " 
 
 " Never before." That was the burthen of the song 
 of the little bird with wounded wing who had been 
 received into this nest. She had the dimmest re- 
 membrance of home or mother, something a little 
 clearer of her sojourn at her aunt's, though there the aunt 
 had been an invalid who kept her in restraint in her 
 presence, and her pleasures had been in the kitchen and 
 in a few books, probably 'Don Quixote' and 'Evelina,'
 
 MAGNUxM BONUM; 
 
 SO far as could be gathered from her recollection 
 of them. The week her father had spent with her, 
 before his last voyage, had been the one vivid memory 
 of her life, and had taught her at least how to love. 
 Poor child, that happy week had had to serve her ever 
 since, through eleven years of unbroken school ! Not 
 that she pitied herself. Everybody had been kind 
 to her — governesses, masters, girls, and all. She had 
 been happy and successful, and had made numerous 
 friends, about whom, as she grew more at home, she 
 freely chatted to Mrs. Brownlow, who was always 
 ready to hear of Mary Ogilvie and Clara Cartwright, 
 and liked to draw out the stories of the girl-world, in 
 which it was plain that Caroline Allen had been a 
 bright, good, clever girl, getting on well, trusted and 
 liked. She had been half sorry to leave her dear old 
 school, half glad to go on to something new. She was 
 evidently not so comfortable, while Miss Heath's lowest 
 teacher, as she had been while she was the asylum's 
 senior pupil. Yet when on Sunday evening the Doctor 
 was summoned and the ladies were left tete-a-tete^ she 
 laughed rather than complained. But still she owned, 
 with her black head on Mrs. Brownlow's lap, that she 
 had always craved for something — something, and she 
 had found it now ! 
 
 Everything was a fresh joy to her, every print on 
 the walls, every ornament on the brackets, seemed to 
 speak to her eye and to her soul both at once, and the 
 sense of comfort and beauty and home, after the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 
 
 bareness of school, seemed to charm her above all. 
 " I always did want to know what was Inside people's 
 windows," she said. 
 
 And In the same way it was a feast to her to get 
 hold of " a real book," as she called it, not only the 
 beginnings of everything, and selections that always 
 broke off just as she began to care about them. She 
 had been thoroughly well grounded, and had a thirst 
 for knowledge too real to have been stifled by the 
 routine she had gone through — though, said she, " I 
 do want time to get on further, and to learn what 
 won't be of any use ! " 
 
 " Of no use !" said Mr. Brownlow laughing — having 
 just found her trying to make out the Old English of 
 King Alfred's ' Boethlus ' — " such as this ? " 
 
 " Just so ! They always are turning me off with 
 ' This won't be of any use to you.' I hate use " 
 
 " Like Ridley, who says he reads a book with 
 double pleasure if he is not going to review it." 
 
 " That Mr. Ridley who came in last evening ? " 
 
 " Even so. Why that opening of eyes } " 
 
 "I thought a critic was a most formidable person." 
 
 " You expected to see a mess of salt and vinegar 
 prepared for his diet ? " 
 
 " I should prepare something quite different — milk 
 and sweetbreads, I think." 
 
 " To soften him } Do you hear, mother .? Take 
 advice." 
 
 Caroline — or Carey, as she had begged to be called
 
 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 — blushed, and drew back half-alarmed, as she always 
 was when the Doctor caught up any of the little bits 
 of fun that fell so shyly and demurely from her, as 
 they were evoked by the more congenial atmosphere. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to him and to his mother to 
 show her some of the many things she had never seen, 
 v,atch her enjoyment, and elicit w^hether the reality 
 agreed with her previous imaginations. Mr. Brownlow 
 used to make time to take the two ladies out, or to 
 drop in on them at some exhibition, checking the flow 
 of half-droll, half-intelligent remarks for a moment, 
 and then encouraging it again, w^hile both enjoyed that 
 most amusing thing, the fresh simplicity of a grown- 
 up, clever child. 
 
 " How will you ever bear to go back again } " said 
 Carey's school-friend, Clara Cartwright, now a gover- 
 ness, whom Mrs. Brownlow had, with some suppressed 
 growls from her son, invited to share their one day's 
 country-outing under the horse-chestnut trees of 
 Richmond. 
 
 " Oh ! I shall have it all to take back with me," was 
 the answer, as Carey toyed with the burnished celan- 
 dine stars in her lap. 
 
 " I should never dare to think of it ! I should dread 
 the contrast ! " 
 
 " Oh no ! " said Carey. " It is like a blind person 
 who has once seen, you know. It w ill be always warm 
 about my heart to know there are such people." 
 
 Mrs. Brownlow happened to overhear this little
 
 OR. MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 
 
 colloquy while her son was gone to look for the 
 carriage, and there was something in the bright un- 
 repining tone that filled her eyes with tears, more 
 especially as the little creature still looked very 
 fragile — even at the end of a month. She was so 
 tired out with her day of almost rapturous enjoyment 
 that Mrs. Brownlow would not let her come down 
 stairs again, but made her go at once to bed, in spite 
 of a feeble protest against losing one evening. 
 
 "And I am afraid that is a recall," said Mrs. Brown- 
 low, seeing a letter directed to Miss Allen on the side- 
 table. " I will not give it to her to-night, poor little 
 dear ; I really don't know how to send her back.'' 
 
 " Exactly what I was thinking," said the Doctor, 
 leaning over the fire, which he was vigorously stirring. 
 
 "You don't think her strong enough.^ If so, I am 
 very glad," said the mother, in a delighted voice. " Eh, 
 Joe ? " as there was a pause ; and as he replaced the 
 poker, he looked up to her with a colour scarcely to 
 be accounted for by the fire, and she ended in an odd, 
 startled, yet not displeased tone, " It is tJiat — is it .'' " 
 
 " Yes, mother, it is that',' said Joe, laughing a little, 
 in his relief that the plunge was made. " I don't see 
 that we could do better for your happiness or mine." 
 
 " Don't put mine first " (half-crying). 
 
 " I didn't know I did. It all comes to the same thing." 
 
 " My dear Joe, I only wish you could do it to-morrow, 
 and have no fuss about it ! What will Robert do ? " 
 
 "Accept the provision for his friend's daughter,"
 
 10 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 said Joe, gravely ; and then they both burst out 
 laughing. In the midst came the announcement of 
 dinner, during which meal they refrained themselves, 
 and tried to discuss other things, though not so suc- 
 cessfully but that it was reported in the kitchen that 
 something was up. 
 
 Joseph was just old enough for his mother, who had 
 always dreaded his marriage, to have begun to wish 
 for it, though she had never yet seen her ideal 
 daughter-in-law, and the enforced silence during the 
 meal only made her more eager, so that she began at 
 once as soon as they were alone. 
 
 " When did you begin to think of this, Joe ? " 
 
 " Not when I asked you to invite her — that would 
 have been treacherous. No, but when I began to 
 realise what it would be to send her back to her tread- 
 mill ; though the beauty of it is that she never seems 
 to realise that it is a treadmill." 
 
 " She might now, though I tried so hard not to spoil 
 her. It is that content with such a life which makes 
 me think that in her you may have something more 
 worth than the portion, which — which I suppose I 
 ought to regret and say you will miss." 
 
 " I shall get all that plentifully from Robert, 
 mother." 
 
 " I am afraid it does entail harder work on you, and 
 later on in life, than if you had chosen a person with 
 something of her own." 
 
 " Something of her own } Her own, indeed !
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. II 
 
 Mother, she has that of her own which Is the very 
 thing to help and Inspire me to make a name, and 
 work out an idea, worth far more than any pounds, 
 shinings, and pence, or even houses or lands I might 
 get with a serene and solemn dame, even with clear 
 notions as to those same /. s. d. ! " 
 
 " For shame, Joe ! You may be as much in love as 
 you please, but don't be wicked." 
 
 For this description was applicable to the bride 
 whom Robert had presented to them about a year 
 ago, on retiring with a Colonel's rank. 
 
 " So I may be as much In love as I please t Thank 
 you. I always knew you were the very best mother 
 in the w^orld : " and he came and kissed her. 
 
 " I wonder what she will say, the dear child ! " 
 
 " May be that she has no taste for such an old 
 fellow. Hush, mother. Seriously, my chief scruple 
 is whether It be fair to ask a girl to marry a man twice 
 her age, when she has absolutely seen nothing of his 
 kind but the German master ! " 
 
 "Trust her," said Mrs. Brownlow. "Nay, she never 
 could have a freer choice than now, when she is too 
 young and simple to be weighted with a sense of being 
 looked down on. It Is possible that she may be 
 startled at first, but I think it will be only at life 
 opening on her ; so don't be daunted, and imagine it 
 is your old age and infirmity," said the mother, 
 smoothing back the locks which certainly were not 
 the clustering curls of youth.
 
 12 
 
 How the mother watched all the next morning, 
 while the unconscious Carey first marvelled at her 
 nervousness and silence, and then grew almost infected 
 by it. It was very strange, she thought, that Mrs. 
 Brownlow, always so kind, should say nothing but 
 " humph " on being told that Miss Heath's workmen 
 had finished, and that she must return next Monday 
 morning. It was the Doctor's day to be early at the 
 hospital, and he had had a summons to see some one 
 on the way, so that he was gone before breakfast, 
 Avhen Carey's attempts to discuss her happy day in 
 the country met with such odd, fitful answers ; for, in 
 fact, Mrs. Brownlow could not trust herself to talk, 
 and had no sooner done breakfast than she went off 
 to her housekeeping affairs and others, which she 
 managed unusually to prolong. 
 
 Carey was trying to draw some flowers in a glass 
 before her — a little purple, green-winged orchis, a 
 cowslip, and a quivering dark-brown tuft of quaking 
 grass. He came and stood behind her, saying — 
 
 " You've got the character of those." 
 
 " They are very difficult," sighed Carey ; " I never 
 tried flowers before, but I wanted to take them with 
 me." 
 
 " To take them with you } " he repeated, rather 
 dreamily. 
 
 '' Yes, back to another sort of Heath," she said, with 
 a little laugh ; " don't you know I go next Monday ^ " 
 
 " If you go, I hope it will only be to come back."
 
 OH, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 3 
 
 " Oh ! if Mrs. Brownlow is so good as to let me 
 come again in the holidays ! " and she was all one 
 flush of joy, looking round, and up in his face, to see 
 whether it could be true. 
 
 " Not only for holidays — for work days," he said, 
 and his voice shook. 
 
 "But Mrs. Brownlow can't want a companion ? " 
 
 " But I do. CaroHne, will you come back to us to 
 make home doubly sweet to a busy man, who will do 
 his best to make you happy } " 
 
 The little creature looked up in his face bewildered, 
 and then said shyly, the colour surging into her face — 
 
 " Please, what did you say .? " 
 
 *I asked if you would stay with us, and make this 
 place bright for us, as my wife," he said, taking both the 
 little brown hands into his own, and looking into the 
 widely-opened wondering eyes ; while she answered, 
 '' if I may," — the very words, almost the very tone, in 
 which she had replied to his invitation to come to 
 recover at his house. 
 
 "Ah, my poor child, you have no one's leave to 
 ask ! " he said ; '' you belong to us, only to us," — and 
 he drew her into his arms, and kissed her. 
 
 Then he felt and heard a great sob, and there were 
 two tears on her cheek when he could see her face, 
 but she smiled with happy, quivering lip, and said — 
 
 " It was like when papa kissed me before he went 
 away ; he would be so glad." 
 
 In the midst of the caress that answered this, a b^U
 
 14 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 sounded, and in the certainty that the announcement 
 of luncheon would instantly follow, they started apart. 
 
 Two seconds later they met Mrs. Brownlow on the 
 landing — 
 
 " There, mother," said the Doctor. 
 
 " My child ! " and Carey was in her arms. 
 
 " Oh, may I .'' — Is it real ? " said the girl in a stifled 
 voice. 
 
 After that, they took it very quietly. Carey was so 
 young and ignorant of the world that she was not nearly 
 so much overpowered as if she had had the slightest 
 external knowledge either of married life, or of the 
 exceptional thing the doctor was doing. Her mother 
 had died when she was three years old, and she had 
 never since that time lived with wedded folk, while 
 even her companions at school being all fatherless, she 
 had gathered nothing of even second-hand experience 
 from them. All she knew was from books, which had 
 given glimpses into happy homes ; and though she 
 had feasted on a few novels during this happy month, 
 they had been very select, and chiefly historical 
 romance. She was at the age when nothing is im- 
 possible to youthful dreams, and if Tancredi had come 
 out of the Gerusalemme and thrown himself at her 
 feet, she would hardly have felt it more strangely 
 dream-like than the transformation of her kind doctor 
 into her own Joe : and on the other hand, she had 
 from the first moment nestled so entirely into the 
 home that it would have seemed m.ore unnatural to be
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 1 5 
 
 torn away from it than to become a part of it. As to 
 her being an extraordinary and very disadvantageous 
 choice for him, she simply knew nothing of the matter ; 
 she was used to passiveness as to her own destiny, 
 and now that she did indeed "belong to somebody" she 
 let those somebodies think and decide for her with the 
 one certainty that what Mr. Brownlow and his mother 
 liked was sure to be the truly right and happy thing. 
 
 So, instead of being alarmed and scrupulous, she 
 was sweetly, shyly, and yet confidingly gay and 
 affectionate, enchanting both her companions, but 
 revealing by her naive questions and remarks such 
 utter ignorance of all matters of common life that Mrs. 
 Brownlow had no scruples in not stirring the question, 
 that had never occurred to her son or his little betrothed, 
 namely, her own retirement. Caroline needed a mother 
 far too much for her to be spared. 
 
 What was to be done about Miss Heath ? It was 
 due to her for Miss Allen to offer to return till her 
 place could be supplied, Mrs. Brownlow said — but that 
 was only to tease the lovers — for a quarter, at which 
 Joe made a snarling howl, whereat Carey ventured to 
 laugh at him., and say she should come home for every 
 Sunday, as Miss Pinniwinks, the senior governess, did. 
 " Come home, — it is enough to say that," she added. 
 
 Mrs. Brownlow^ undertook to negotiate the matter, 
 her son saying privately — 
 
 " Get her off, if you have to advance a quarter. I'd 
 rather do anything than send her back for even a
 
 l6 magnum bonum; 
 
 week, to have all manner of nonsense put into her 
 head. I'd sooner go and teach there myself." 
 
 " Or send me ? " asked his mother. 
 
 ** Anything short of that," he said. 
 
 Miss Heath, as Mrs. Brownlow had guessed, thought 
 an engaged girl as bad as a barrel of gunpowder, 
 and was quite as much afraid of Miss Allen putting- 
 nonsense into her pupils' heads as the doctor could be 
 of the reverse process : so, young teachers not being- 
 scarce, Carey's brief connection with Miss Heath was 
 brought to an end in a morning call, whence she 
 returned endowed with thirteen book-markers, five 
 mats, and a sachet. 
 
 Carey had of her own, as it appeared, twenty-five 
 pounds a year, which had hitherto clothed her, and of 
 which she only knew that it was paid to her quarterly 
 by a lawyer at Bath, whose address she gave. JNIr. 
 Brownlow followed up the clue, but could not learn 
 much about her belongings. The twenty-five pounds 
 was the interest of the small sum, which had remained 
 to poor Captain Allen, when he wound up his affairs, 
 after paying the debts in which his early and imprudent 
 marriage had involved him. He did not seem to have 
 had any relations, and of his wife nothing was known 
 but that she was a Miss Otway, and that he had met 
 her in some colonial quarters. The old lady, with 
 whom the little girl had been left, was her mother's 
 maternal aunt, and had lived on an annuity so small 
 that on her death there had not been funds sufficient to
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 7 
 
 pay expenses without a sale of all her effects, so that 
 nothing had been saved for the child, except a few 
 books with her parents' names in them — John Allen 
 and Caroline Otway — 'which she still kept as her 
 chief treasures. The lawyer, who had acted as her 
 guardian, would hand over to her 500/. on her coming 
 of age. 
 
 That was all that could be discovered, nor was 
 Colonel Robert Brownlow as much flattered as had 
 been hoped by the provision for his friend's daughter. 
 Nay, he was inclined to disavow the friendship. He 
 was sorry for poor Allen, he said, but as to making a 
 friend of such a fellow, pah ! No ! there was no harm 
 in him, he was a good officer enough, but he never 
 had a grain of common sense ; and whereas he never 
 could keep out of debt, he must needs go and marry a 
 young girl, just because he thought her uncle was not 
 kind to her. It was the worst thing he could have 
 done, for it made her uncle cast her off on the spot, 
 and then she was killed with harass and poverty. He 
 never held up his head again after losing her, and just 
 died of fever because he was too broken down to have 
 energy to live. There was enough in this to weave out 
 a tender little romance, probably really another aspect 
 of the truth, which made Caroline's bright eyes over- 
 flow with tears, when she heard it couched in tenderer 
 language from Joseph, and the few books and treasures 
 that had been rescued agreed with it — a Bible with 
 her father's name, a few devotional books of her 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 mother's, and Mrs. Hemans's poems with " To Lina, 
 from her devoted J. A." 
 
 Caroline would fain have been called Lina, but the 
 name did not fit her, and would not take. 
 
 Colonel Brownlow was altogether very friendly, if 
 rather grave and dry towards her, as soon as he Avas 
 convinced that " it was only Joe," and that pity, not 
 artfulness, was to blame for the undesirable match. 
 He was too honourable a man not to see that it 
 could not be given up, and he held that the best 
 must now be made of it, and that it would be more 
 proper, since it was to be, for him to assume the part 
 of father, and let the marriage take place from his 
 house at Kenmmster. This was a proposal for which 
 it was hard to be as grateful as it deserved ; since 
 it had been planned to walk quietly into the parish 
 church, be married "without any fuss," and then to 
 take the fortnight's holiday, which vras all that the 
 doctor allowed himself. 
 
 But as Robert was allowed to be judge of the 
 proprieties, and as the kindness on his part was great, 
 it was accepted ; and Caroline was carried off for three 
 weeks to keep her residence, and make the house feel 
 what a blank her little figure had left. 
 
 Certainly, when the pair met again on the eve of the 
 wedding, there never was a more willing bride. 
 
 She said she had been very happy. The Colonel 
 and Ellen, as she had been told to call her future 
 sister, had been very kind indeed ; they had taken her
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 19 
 
 for long drives, shown her everything, introduced her to 
 quantities of people ; but, oh dear ! was it absolutely- 
 only three weeks since she had been away ? It seemed 
 just like three years, and she understood now why the 
 girls who had homes made calendars, and checked off 
 the days. No school term had ever seemed so long ; 
 but at Kenminster she had had nothing to do, and 
 besides, now she knew what home was ! 
 
 So it was the most cheerful and joyous of weddings, 
 though the bride was a far less brilliant spectacle than 
 the bride of last year, Mrs. Robert Brownlow, who 
 with her handsome oval face, fine figure, and her 
 tasteful dress, perfectly befitting a young matron, 
 could not help infinitely outshining the little girlish 
 angular creature, looking the browner for her bridal 
 white, so that even a deep glow, and a strange misty 
 beaminess of expression could not make her passable 
 in Kenminster eyes. 
 
 How would Joe Brownlow's fancy turn out ?
 
 20 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE CHICKENS. 
 
 John Gilpin's spouse said to her dear, 
 
 " Though wedded we have been 
 These twice ten tedious years, yet we 
 
 No holiday have seen." — Cowper. 
 
 No one could have much doubt how it had turned out, 
 who looked, after fifteen years, into that room where 
 Joe Brownlow and his mother had once sat tete-a-tete. 
 
 They occupied the two ends of the table still, neither 
 looking much older, in expression at least, for the 
 fifteen years that had passed over their heads, though 
 the mother had — after the wont of active old ladies — 
 grown smaller and lighter, and the son somewhat more 
 bald and grey, but not a whit more careworn, and, if 
 possible, even brighter. 
 
 On one side of him sat a little figure, not quite so 
 thin, some angles smoothed away, the black hair 
 coiled, but still in resolute little mutinous tendrils on 
 the brow, not ill set off by a tuft of carnation ribbon on 
 one side, agreeing with the colour that touched up her 
 gauzy black dress ; the face, not beautiful indeed — 
 but developed, softened, brightened with more of sweet- 
 ness and tenderness — as well as more of thought —
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 21 
 
 added to the fresh responsive intelligence it had always 
 possessed. 
 
 On the opposite side of the dinner-table were a girl 
 of fourteen and a boy of twelve ; the former, of a much 
 larger frame than her mother, and in its most awkward 
 and uncouth stage, hardly redeemed by the keen 
 ardour and inquiry that glowed in the dark eyes, set 
 like two hot coals beneath the black overhanging 
 brows of the massive forehead, on which the dark 
 smooth hair was parted. The features were large, the 
 complexion dark but not clear, and the look of resolu- 
 tion in the square-cut chin and closely shutting mouth 
 was more boy-like than girl-like. Janet Brownlow was 
 assuredly a very plain girl, but the family habit was 
 to regard their want of beauty as rather a mark 
 of distinction, capable of being joked about, if not 
 triumphed in. 
 
 Nor was Allen, the boy, wanting in good looks. He 
 was fairer, clearer, better framed in every way than his 
 sister, and had a pleasant, lively countenance, prepos- 
 sessing to all. He had a well-grown, upright figure, 
 his father's ready suppleness of movement, and his 
 mother's hazel eyes and flashing smile, and there was 
 a look of success about him, as well there might be, 
 since he had come out triumphantly from the examin- 
 ation for Eton College, and had been informed that 
 morning that there were vacancies enough for his im- 
 mediate admission. 
 
 There was a pensiveness mixed with the satisfaction
 
 22 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 in his mother's eyes as she looked at him, for it was 
 the first break into the home. She had been the only 
 teacher of her children till two years ago, when Allen 
 had begun to attend a day school a few streets off, and 
 the first boy's first flight from under her wing, for ever 
 so short a space, is generally a sharp wound to the 
 mother's heart. 
 
 Not that Allen would leave an empty house behind 
 him. Lying at full length on the carpet, absorbed in 
 a book, w^as Robert, a boy on whom the same capacious 
 brow as Janet's sat better than on the feminine creature. 
 He was reading on, undisturbed by the pranks of three 
 younger children, John Lucas, a lithe, wiry, restless 
 elf of nine, with a brown face and black curly head, 
 and Armine and Barbara, young persons of seven and 
 six, on whom nature had been more beneficent in the 
 matter of looks, for though brown was their' prevailing 
 complexion, both had well-moulded, childish features, 
 and really fine eyes. The hubbub of voices, as they 
 tumbled and rushed about the window and balcony, 
 was the regular accompaniment of dinner, though on 
 the first plaintive tone from the little girl, the mother 
 interrupted a "Well, but papa," from Janet, with 
 "Babie, Babie." 
 
 " It's Jock, Mother Carey ! He ivill come into 
 Fairyland too soon." 
 
 " What's the last news from Fairyland, Babie ? " 
 asked the father as the little one ran up to him. 
 
 " I want to be Queen Mab, papa, but Armine wants
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 23 
 
 to be Perseus with the Gorgon's head, and Jock is the 
 dragon ; but the dragon will come before we've put 
 Polly upon the rock." 
 
 "What! is Polly Andromeda } " as a grey 
 
 parrot's stand was being transferred from the balcony. 
 
 "Yes, papa," called out Armine. "You see she's 
 chained, and Bobus won't play, and Babie will be 
 Queen Mab " 
 
 " I suppose," said the mother, " that it is not harder 
 to bring Queen Mab in with Perseus than Oberon with 
 Theseus and Hippolyta " 
 
 "You would have us infer," said the Doctor with 
 grave humour, " that your children are at their present 
 growth in the Elizabethan age of culture " 
 
 But again began a " Well, but papa ! " but, he ex- 
 claimed, " Do look at that boy — Well wallopped, 
 dragon ! " as Jock with preternatural contortions, 
 rolled, kicked and tumbled himself with extended jaws 
 to the rock, alias stand, to which Polly was chained, she 
 remarking in a hoarse, low whisper, "Naughty boy " 
 
 "Well moaned, Andromeda !" 
 
 " But papa," persisted Janet, " when Oliver Crom- 
 well " 
 
 " Oh ! look at the Gorgon ! " cried the mother, as the 
 battered head of an ancient doll was displayed over 
 his shoulder by Perseus, decorated with two enormous 
 snakes, one made of stamps, and the other a spiral of 
 whalebone shavings out of a box. 
 
 The monster immediately tumbled over, twisted.
 
 24 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 kicked, and wriggled so that the scandaHsed Perseus 
 exclaimed: "But Jock — monster, I mean — you're 
 
 turned into stone " 
 
 "It's convulsions," replied the monster, gasping 
 frightfully, while redoubling his contortions, though 
 Queen Mab observed in the most admonitory tone, 
 touching him at the same time with her wand, " Don't 
 you know, Skipjack, that's the reason you don't 
 grow " 
 
 " Eh ! What's the new theoiy ! Who says so, 
 Babie ? " came from the bottom of the table. 
 
 " Nurse says so, papa," answered Allen ; '' I 
 heard her telling Jock yesterday that he would never 
 be any taller till he stood still and gave himself 
 time." 
 
 "Get out, will you!" was then heard from the 
 prostrate Robert, the monster having taken care to 
 become petrified right across his legs. 
 
 "But papa," Janet's voice was heard, "if Oliver 
 Cromwell had not helped the Waldenses " 
 
 It was lost, for Bobus and Jock were rolling over 
 together with too much noise to be bearable ; Grand- 
 mamma turned round with an expostulatory " My 
 dears," Mamma with "Boys, please don't when papa 
 is tired " 
 
 " Jock is such a little ape," said Bobus, picking him- 
 self up. " Father, can you tell me why the moon 
 draws up the tides on the wrong side > " 
 
 "You may study the subject," said the Doctor;
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 2$ 
 
 " I shall pack you all off to the seaside in a day or 
 two." 
 
 There was one outcry from mother, wife, and boys. 
 
 Not without you ? " 
 
 " I can't go till Drew comes back from his outing ' 
 
 " But why should we ? It would be so much nicer 
 all together." 
 
 " It will be horribly dull without ; indeed I never 
 can see the sense of going at all," said Janet. 
 
 There was a confused outcry of indignation, in which 
 waves — crabs — boats and shrimps, were all mingled 
 together. 
 
 " I'm sure that's not half so entertaining as hearing 
 people talk in the evening," said Janet. 
 
 "You precocious little piece of dissipation," said her 
 mother, laughing. 
 
 " I didn't mean fine lady nonsense," said Janet, 
 rather hotly ; " I meant talk like " 
 
 "Like big guns. Oh, yes, we know," interrupted 
 Allen ; " Janet does not think anyone worth listening 
 to that hasn't got a whole alphabet tacked behind 
 his name." 
 
 "Janet had better take care, and Bobus too," said 
 the Doctor, " or we shall have to send them to vegetate 
 on some farm, and see the cows milked and the 
 pigs fed." 
 
 " I'm afraid Bobus would apply himself to finding 
 how much caseine matter was in the cow's milk," said 
 Janet in her womanly tone.
 
 26 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " Or by what rule the pigs curled their tails," said 
 her father, with a mischievous pull at the black plaited 
 tail that hung down behind her. 
 
 And then they all rose from the table, little Barbara 
 starting up as soon as grace was said. "Father, 
 please, you arc the Giant Queen Mab always rides ! " 
 
 " Queen Mab, or Queen Bab, always rides me, which 
 comes to the same thing. Though as to the size of 
 the Giant " 
 
 There was a pause to let grandmamma go up in 
 peace, upon Mother Carey's arm, and then a general 
 romp and scurry all the way up the stairs, ending by 
 Jock's standing on one leg on the top post of the 
 baluster, like an acrobat, an achievement which made 
 even his father so giddy that he peremptorily desired 
 it never to be attempted again, to the great relief of 
 both the ladies. Then, coming into the drawing-room, 
 Babie perched herself on his knee, and began, without 
 the slightest preparation, the recitation of Cowper's 
 " Colubriad " : — 
 
 " Fast by the threshold of a door nailed fast 
 Three kittens sat, each kitten looked aghast." 
 
 And just as she had with great excitement — 
 
 " Taught him never to come there no more," 
 
 Armine broke in with " Nine times one are nine." 
 
 It was an institution dating from the days when 
 Janet made her first acquaintance with the " Little 
 Busy Bee," that there should be something, of some
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 27 
 
 sort, said or shovrn to papa, whenever he was at home 
 or free between dinner and bed-time, and it was con- 
 sidered something between a disgrace and a misfortune 
 to produce nothing. 
 
 So when the two httle ones had been kissed and 
 sent off to bed, with mamma going vrith them to hear 
 their prayers, Jock, on being called for, repeated a 
 Greek declension with two mistakes in it, Bobus 
 showed a long sum in decimals, Janet, brought a neat 
 parallelism of the present tense of the verb " to be " in 
 five languages — Greek, Latin, French, German, and 
 English. 
 
 " And Allen — reposing on your honours ? Eh, my 
 boy .? " 
 
 Allen looked rather foolish, and said, " I spoilt it, 
 papa, and hadn't time to begin another." 
 
 " It — I suppose I am not to hear what till it has 
 come to perfection. Is it the same that was in hand 
 last time .? " 
 
 " No, papa, 7ni^c/i better," said Janet, emphatically. 
 
 " What I want to see," said Dr. Brownlow, " is 
 something finished. I'd rather have that than ever so 
 many magnificent beginnings." 
 
 Here he was seized upon by Robert, with his knitted 
 brow and a book in his hands, demanding aid in 
 making out why, as he said, the tide swelled out on 
 the wrong side of the earth. 
 
 His father did his best to disentangle the question,, 
 but Bobus was not satisfied till the clock chimed his
 
 28 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 doom, when he went off with Jock, who was walking 
 on his hands. 
 
 "That's too tough a subject for such a little fellow," 
 Sdid the grandmother ; " so late in the day too ! " 
 
 "He would have worried his brain with it all night 
 if he had not worked it out," said his father. 
 
 " I'm afraid he will, any way," said the mother. 
 " Fancy being troubled with dreams of surging oceans 
 rising up the wrong way ! " 
 
 " Yes, he ought to be running after the tides instead 
 of theorising about them. Carry him off. Mother 
 Carey, and the whole brood, without loss of time." 
 
 " But Joe, why should we not wait for you ? You 
 never did send us away all forlorn before ! " she said, 
 pleadingly. " We are all quite well, and I can't bear 
 going without you." 
 
 " I had much rather all the chickens were safe away, 
 Carey," he said, sitting down by her. "There's a 
 tendency to epidemic fever in two or three streets, 
 which I don't like in this hot weather, and I had 
 rather have my mind easy about the young ones." 
 
 " And what do you think of my mind, leaving you 
 in the midst of it } " 
 
 "Your mind, being that of a mother bird and a 
 doctor's wife, ought to have no objection." 
 
 " How soon does Dr. Drew come home } " 
 
 " In a fortnight, I believe. He wanted rest terribly, 
 poor old fellow. Don't grudge him every day." 
 
 "A fortnight!" (as if it was a century). "You
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 29 
 
 can't come for a fortnight. Well, perhaps it will take 
 a week to fix on a place." 
 
 " Hardly, for see here, I found a letter from Acton 
 when I came in. They have found an unsophisticated 
 elysium at Kyve Clements, and are in raptures which 
 they want us to share — rocks and waves and all." 
 *' And rooms .? " 
 
 " Yes, very good rooms, enough for us all," was the 
 answer, flinging into her lap a letter from his friend, a 
 somewhat noted artist in water-colours, whom, after 
 long patience, Carey's school friend, Miss Cartwright, 
 had married two years ago. 
 
 There was nothing to say against it, only grand- 
 mamma observed, " I am too old to catch things ; Joe 
 vv'ill let me stay and keep house for him." 
 
 " Please, please let me stay with granny," insisted 
 Janet ; "then I shall finish my German classes." 
 
 Janet was granny's child. She had slept in her 
 room ever since Allen was born, and trotted after her 
 in her " housewifeskep," and the sense of being pro- 
 tected was passing into the sense of protection. Before 
 she could be answered, however, there was an announce- 
 ment. Friends were apt to drop in to cofi"ee and talk 
 in the evening, on the understanding that certain days 
 alone were free — people chiefly belonging to a literary, 
 scientific, and artist set, not Bohemian, but with a 
 good deal of quiet ease and absence of formality. 
 
 This friend had just returned from Asia Minor, and 
 had brought an exquisite bit of a Greek frieze, of which
 
 30 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 he had become the happy possessor, knowing that 
 Mrs. Joseph Brownlow would delight to see it, and 
 mayhap to copy it. 
 
 For Carey's powers had been allowed to develop 
 themselves ; Mrs. Brownlow having been always house- 
 keeper, she had been fain to go on with the studies 
 that even her preparation for governessship had not 
 rendered wearisome, and thus had become a very 
 graceful modeller in clay — her favourite pursuit — when 
 her children's lessons and other occupations left her 
 free to indulge in it. The history of the travels, and 
 the account of the discovery, were given and heard 
 with all zest, and in the midst others came in — a 
 barrister and his wife to say good-bye before the 
 circuit, a professor with a ticket for the gallery at a 
 scientific dinner, two medical students, who had been 
 made free of the house because they were nice lads 
 with no available friends in town. 
 
 It was all over by half-past ten, and the trio were 
 alone together. " How amusing Mr. Leslie is ! " said 
 the young Mrs. Brownlow. "He knows how to 
 describe as few people do." 
 
 "Did you see Janet listening to him," said her 
 grandmother, "with her brows pulled down and her 
 eyes sparkling out under them, wanting to devour 
 every word ? " 
 
 " Yes," returned the Doctor, " I saw it, and I longed 
 to souse that black head of hers with salt water. I don't 
 like brains to grow to the contempt of healthful play."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 3 1 
 
 " People never know when they are well off ! I 
 wonder what you would have said if you had had a 
 lot of stupid dolts, boys always being plucked, &c." 
 
 " Don't plume yourself too soon. Mother Carey ; 
 only one chick has gone through the first ordeal." 
 
 "And if Allen did, Bobus will." 
 
 "Allenr is quite as clever as Bobus, granny, if " 
 
 eagerly said the mother. 
 
 "If " said the father; "there's the point. If 
 
 Allen has the stimulus, he will do well. I own I am 
 particularly pleased with his success, because per- 
 severance is his weak point." 
 
 " Carey kept him up to it," said granny. " I 
 believe his success is quite as much her work as his 
 own." 
 
 " And the question is, how will he get on without 
 his mother to coach him ? " 
 
 " Now you know you are not one bit uneasy, papa ! " 
 cried his wife, indignantly. " But don't you think we 
 might let Janet have her will for just these ten days ? 
 There can't be any real danger for her with grand- 
 mamma, and I should be happier about granny." 
 
 " You don't trust Joe to take care of me ? " 
 
 "Not if Joe is to be out all day. There will be 
 nobody to trot up and down stairs for you. Come, it 
 is only what she begs for herself, and she really is 
 perfectly well." 
 
 " As if I could have a child victimised to me;' taid 
 granny.
 
 32 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " The little Cockney thinks the victimising would 
 be in going to the deserts with only the boys and me," 
 laughed Carey ; " But I think a week later will be 
 quite time enough to sweep the cobwebs out of her 
 brain." 
 
 "And you can do without her?" inquired Mrs. 
 Brownlow. " You don't want her to help to keep the 
 boys in order ? " 
 
 "Thank you, I can do that better without her," 
 said Carey. " She exasperates them sometimes." 
 
 " I believe granny is thinking whether she is not 
 wanted to keep Mother Carey in order as well as her 
 chickens. Hasn't mother been taken for your 
 governess, Carey } " 
 
 " No, no, Joe, that's too bad. They asked Janet at 
 the dancing-school whether her sister was not going 
 to join." 
 
 " Her younger sister } " 
 
 " No, I tell you, her half-sister. But Clara Acton 
 will do discretion for us, granny ; and I promise you 
 we won't do anything her husband says is very 
 desperate ! Don't be afraid." 
 
 " No," said grandmamma, smiling as she kissed her 
 daughter-in-law, and rose to take her candle ; " I am 
 never afraid of anything a mother can share with her 
 boys." 
 
 " Even if she is nearly a tomboy herself," laughed 
 the husband, with rather a teasing air, towards his 
 little wife. " Good night, mother. Shall not we be
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 33 
 
 snug with nobody left but Janet, who might be great- 
 grandmother to us both ? " 
 
 " I really am glad that Janet should stay with 
 granny," said Carey, when he had shut the door 
 behind the old lady ; " she would be left alone so 
 many hours while you are out, and she does need 
 more waiting on than she used to do." 
 
 " You think so } I never see her grow older." 
 
 " Not in the least older in mind or spirits ; but she 
 is not so strong, nor so willing to exert herself, and 
 she falls asleep more in the afternoon. One reason for 
 which I am less sorry to go on before, is that I shall 
 be able to judge whether the rooms are comfortable 
 enough for her, and I suppose we may change if they 
 are not." 
 
 " To another place, if you think best." 
 
 " Only you will not let her stay at home altogether. 
 That's what I'm afraid of." 
 
 " She will only do so on the penalty of keeping me, 
 and you may trust her not to do that," said Joe, 
 laughing with the confidence of an only son. 
 
 " I shall come back and fetch you if you don't 
 appear under a fortnight. Did you do any more this 
 morning to the great experiment. Magnum Bonum } " 
 
 She spoke the words in a proud, shy, exulting semi- 
 whisper, somewhat as Gutenberg's wife might have 
 asked after his printing-press. 
 
 " No. I haven't had half an hour to myself to-day ; 
 at least when I could have attended to it. Don't be 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 afraid, Carey, I'm not daunted by the doubts of our good 
 friends. I see your eyes reproaching me with that." 
 
 " Oh no, as you said, Sir Matthew Fleet mistrusts 
 anything entirely new, and the professor is never 
 sanguine. I am almost glad they are so stupid, it 
 will make our pleasure all the sweeter." 
 
 " You silly little bird, if you sit on that egg it will 
 be sure to be addled. If it should come to any good, 
 probably it will take longer than our life-time to work 
 into people's brains." 
 
 " No," said Carey, " I know the real object is the 
 relieving pain and saving life, and that is what you 
 care for more than the honour and glory. But do 
 you remember the fly on the coach wheel ? " 
 
 " Well, the coach wheel means to stand still for a 
 little while. I don't mean to tiy another experiment 
 till my brains have been turned out to grass, and I 
 can come to it fresh." 
 
 " Ah ! 'tis you that really need the holiday," said 
 Carey, wistfully ; " much more than any of us. Look 
 at this great crow's foot," tracing it with her finger. 
 
 " Laughing, my dear. That's the outline of the 
 risible muscle. A Mother Carey and her six ridi- 
 culous chickens can't but wear out furrows with 
 laughing at them." 
 
 " I only know I wish it were you that were going, 
 and I that were staying at home." 
 
 *' ' You shall do my work to-day, 
 And I'll go follow the plough,' "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 35 
 
 said her husband, laughing. " There are the notes of 
 my lecture, if you'll go and give it." 
 
 " Ah ! we should not be like that celebrated couple. 
 You would manage the boys much better than I could 
 doctor your patients." 
 
 " I don't know that. The boys are never so com- 
 fortable, when I've got them alone. But, considering 
 the hour, I should think the best preliminaiy would 
 be to put out the lamp and go to bed." 
 
 " I suppose it is time ; but I always think this last 
 talk before going upstairs, the best thing in the whole 
 day ! " said the happy wife as she took the candle. 
 
 D 2
 
 3^ MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE WHITE SLATE. 
 
 Dark house, by which once more I stand 
 Here in the long unlovely street. 
 Doors, where my heart was wont to beat 
 So quickly, waiting for a hand — 
 A hand that can be clasped no more. 
 Behold me, for I cannot sleep. — Tennyson. 
 
 " Mother Carey," to call her by the family name 
 that her husband had given the first day she held a 
 baby in her arms, had a capacity of enjoyment that 
 what she called her exile could not destroy. Even 
 Bobus left theory behind him and became a holiday 
 boy, and the whole six climbed rocks, paddled, boated, 
 hunted sea weeds and sea animals, lived on the beach 
 from morning to night ; and were exceedingly amused 
 by the people, who insisted on addressing the senior 
 of the party as "Miss," and thought them a young 
 girl and her brothers under the charge of Mrs. Acton. 
 She, though really not a year older than her friend, 
 looked like a worn and staid matron by her side, and 
 was by no means disposed to scramble barefoot over 
 slippery seaweed, or to take impromptu a part in 
 the grand defence of the sand and shingle edition of 
 Raglan Castle.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 3/ 
 
 Even to Mrs. Acton it was a continual wonder to 
 see how entirely under control of that little merry- 
 mother were those great, lively, spirited boys, who 
 never seemed to think of disobeying her first word, 
 and, while all made fun together, and she was hardly 
 less active and enterprising than they, always con- 
 sidered her comfort and likings. 
 
 So went things for a fortnight, during which the 
 coming of the others had been put off by Dr. Drew's 
 absence. One morning Mr. Acton sought Mrs. 
 Brownlow on the beach, where she was sitting with 
 her brood round her, partly reading from a translation, 
 partly telling them the story of Ulysses. 
 
 He called her aside, and told her that her husband 
 had telegraphed to him to bid him to carry her the 
 tidings that good old Mrs. Brownlow had been taken 
 from them suddenly in the night, evidently in her sleep. 
 
 Carey turned very white, but said only " Oh ! why 
 did I go without them } " 
 
 It was such an overwhelming shock as left no room 
 for tears. Her first thought, the only one she seemed 
 to have room for, was to get back to her husband by 
 the next train. She would have taken all the children, 
 but that Mrs. Acton Insisted, almost commanded, that 
 they should be left under her charge, and reminded 
 her that their father wished them to be out of London ; 
 nor did Allen and Robert show any wish to return to 
 a house of mourning, being just of the age to be so 
 much scared at sorrow as to ignore it. And indeed
 
 38 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 their mother was equally new to any real grief ; her 
 parents had been little more than a name to her, and 
 the only loss she had actually felt was that of a 
 favourite schoolfellow. 
 
 She had no time to think or feel till she had reached 
 the train and taken her seat, and even then the first 
 thing she was conscious of was a sense of numbness 
 within, and frivolous observation without, as she found 
 herself trying to read upside down the direction of 
 her opposite neighbour's parcels, counting the flounces 
 on her dress, and speculating on the meetings and 
 partings at the stations ; yet with a terrible weight 
 and soreness on her all the time, though she could not 
 think of the dear grannie, of whom it was no figure of 
 speech to say that she had been indeed a mother. 
 The idea of her absence from home for ever was too 
 strange, too heartrending to be at once embraced, and 
 as she neared the end of her journey on that long 
 day, Carey's mind was chiefly fixed on the yearning 
 to be with her husband and Janet, who had suffered 
 such a shock without her. She seemed more able to 
 feel through her husband — who was so devoted to his 
 mother, than for herself, and she was every moment 
 more uneasy about her little daughter, who must have 
 been in the room with her grandmother. Comfort 
 them ? How, she did not know ! The others had 
 
 always petted and comforted her, and now No 
 
 one to go to when the children were ailing or naughty 
 — no one to share little anxieties when Joe was out
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 39 
 
 late — no one to be the backbone she leant on — no 
 dear welcome from the easy chair. That thought 
 nearly set her crying ; the tears burnt in her strained 
 eyes, but the sight of the people opposite braced her, 
 and she tried to fix her thoughts on the unseen world, 
 but they only wandered wide as if beyond her own 
 control,. and her head was aching enough to confuse 
 her. 
 
 At last, late on the long summer day, she was at 
 the terminus, and with a heart beating so fast that 
 she could hardly breathe, found herself in a cab, 
 driving up to her own door, just as the twilight was 
 darkening. 
 
 How dark it looked within, with all the blinds 
 down ! The servant who opened the door thought 
 Miss Janet was in the drawing-room, but the master 
 was out. It sounded desolate, and Carey ran up 
 stairs, craving and eager for the kiss of her child — the 
 child who must have borne the brunt of the shock. 
 
 The room was silent, all dusky and shadowed ; the 
 window-frames were traced on the blinds by the gas 
 freshly lighted outside, and moving in the breeze with 
 a monotonous dreariness. Carey stood a moment, and 
 then her eyes getting accustomed to the darkness, 
 she discerned a little heap lying curled up before the 
 ottoman, her head on a great open book, asleep — 
 poor child ! quite worn out. Carey moved quietly 
 across and sat down by her, longing but not daring to 
 touch her. The lamp was brought up in a minute or
 
 40 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 two, and that roused Janet, who sprang up with a 
 sudden start and dazzled eyes, exclaiming " Father ! 
 Oh, it's Mother Carey ! Oh, mother, mother, please 
 don't let him go ! " 
 
 " And you have been all alone in the house, my 
 poor child," said Carey, as she felt the girl shuddering 
 in her close embrace. 
 
 " Mrs. Lucas came to stay with me, but I didn't 
 want her," said Janet, " so I told her she might go 
 
 home to dinner. It's father " 
 
 " Where is father .? " 
 
 " Those horrid people in Tottenham Court Road 
 sent for him just as he had come home," said Janet. 
 " He went out as usual ? " 
 
 " Yes, though he had such a bad cold. He said he 
 could not be spared ; and he was out all yesterday till 
 bedtime, or I should have told him grandmamma was 
 not well." 
 
 " You thought so ! " 
 
 " Yes, she panted and breathed so oddly ; but she 
 would not let me say a word to him. She made me 
 promise not, but being anxious about him helped to 
 do it. Dr. Lucas said so." 
 
 There was a strange hardness and yet a trembling 
 in Janet's voice ; nor did she look as if she had shed 
 tears, though her face was pale and her eyes black- 
 ringed, and when old nurse, now very old indeed, 
 tottered in sobbing, she flung herself to the other end 
 of the room. It was more from nurse than from Janet
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 4I 
 
 that Carey learnt the particulars, such as they were, 
 namely, that the girl had been half-dressed when she 
 had taken alarm from her grandmother's unresponsive 
 stillness, and had rushed down to her father's room. 
 He had found that all had long been over. His 
 friend, old Dr. Lucas, had come immediately, and had 
 pronounced the cause to have been heart complaint. 
 
 Nurse said her master had been "very still," and 
 had merely given the needful orders and written a 
 few letters before going to his patients, for the illness 
 was at its height, and there were cases for which he 
 was very anxious. 
 
 The good old woman, who had lived nearly all her 
 life with her mistress, was broken-hearted ; but she 
 did not forget to persuade Caroline to take food, 
 telling her she must be ready to cheer up the master 
 when he should come in, and assuring her that the 
 throbbing headache which disgusted her with all 
 thoughts of eating, would be better for the effort. 
 Perhaps it was, but it would not allow her to bring 
 her thoughts into any connection, or to fix them on 
 what she deemed befittincr, and when she saw that 
 the book over which Janet had been asleep in the 
 twilight was " The Last of the Mohicans," she was more 
 scandalised than surprised. 
 
 It was past Janet's bedtime, but though too proud 
 to say so, she manifestly shrank from her first night 
 of loneliness, and her mother, herself unwilling to be 
 alone, came with her to her room, undressed her, and
 
 42 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 sat with her In the darkness, hoping for some break in 
 the dull reticence, but disappointed, for Janet hid her 
 head in the clothes, and slept, or seemed to sleep. 
 
 Perhaps Carey herself had been half dozing, when 
 she heard the well-known sounds of arrival, and darted 
 down stairs, meeting indeed the welcoming eye and 
 smile ; but " Ah, here she is ! " was said so hoarsely 
 and feebly, that she exclaimed " Oh Joe, you have 
 knocked yourself up ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Lucas, whom she only then per- 
 ceived. "He must go to bed directly, and then we 
 will see to him. Not another word, Brownlow, till 
 you are there, nor then if you are wise." 
 
 He strove to disobey, but cough and choking for- 
 bade ; and as he began to ascend the stairs, Caroline 
 turned in dismay to the kind, fatherly old man, who 
 had always been one of the chief intimates of the 
 house, and was now retired from practice, except for 
 very old friends. 
 
 He told her that her husband was suffering from a 
 kind of sore throat that sometimes attacked those 
 attending on this fever, though generally not unless 
 there was some predisposition, or unless the system 
 had been unduly lowered. Joe had indeed been over- 
 worked in the absence of several of the regular practi- 
 tioners and of all those who could give extra help ; but 
 this would probably have done little harm, but for a 
 cold caught in a draughty room, and the sudden stroke 
 with which the day had begun. Dr. Lucas had urged
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 43 
 
 him to remain at home, and had undertaken his 
 regular work for the day, but summonses from his 
 patients had been irresistible ; he had attended to 
 everyone except himself, and finally, after hours spent 
 over the critical case of the wife of a small trades- 
 man, he had found himself so ill that he had gone to 
 his friend for treatment, and Dr. Lucas had brought 
 him home, intending to stay all night with him. 
 
 Since the wife had arrived, the good old man, 
 knowing how much rather they would be alone, 
 consented to sleep in another room, after having done 
 all that was possible for the night, and cautioned 
 against talking. 
 
 Indeed, Joe, heavy, stupefied, and struggling for 
 breath, knew too well what it all meant not to give 
 himself all possible chance by silent endurance, lying 
 with his wife's hand in his, or sometimes smoothing 
 her cheek, but not speaking without necessity. Once 
 he told her that her head was aching, and made her 
 lie down on the bed, but he was too ill for this rest to 
 last long, and the fits of struggling with suffocation 
 prevented all respite save for a few minutes. 
 
 With the early light of the long summer morning 
 Dr. Lucas looked in, and would have sent her to bed, 
 but she begged off, and a sign from her husband 
 seemed to settle the matter, for the old physician 
 went away again, perhaps because his eyes were full 
 of tears. 
 
 The first words Joe said when they were again
 
 44 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 alone was " My tablets." She went In search of them 
 to his dressing-room, and not finding them there, was 
 about to run down to the consulting-room, when Janet 
 came out already dressed, and fetched them for her, 
 as well as a white slate, on which he was accustomed 
 to write memorandums of engagements. 
 
 Her father thanked her by a sign, but there was 
 possibility enough of infection to make him wave her 
 back from kissing him, and she took refuge at the 
 foot of the bed, on a sofa shut off by the curtains 
 which had been drawn to exclude the light. 
 
 Joe meantime wrote on the slate the words, 
 " Magnum honumr 
 
 " Mag7mm boniim ? " read his wife, in amazement. 
 
 " Papers in bureau," he wrote ; " lock all in my 
 desk. Mention to no one." 
 
 " Am I to put them in your desk ? " asked Caroline, 
 bewildered as to his intentions, and finding it hard to 
 read the writing, as he went on — 
 
 " No word to anyone',' scoring it under, " not till one 
 of the boys is ready." 
 
 " One of the boys ! " in utter amazement. 
 
 " Not as a chance for himself!' he wrote, " but as a 
 great trust." 
 
 " I know," she said, " it is a great trust to make 
 a discovery which will save life. It is my pride to 
 know you are doing it, my own dear Joe." 
 
 " It seems I am not worthy to do it," was traced 
 by his fingers. " It is not developed enough to be
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 45 
 
 listened to by anyone. Keep it for the fit one of the 
 boys. ReHgion, morals, brains, balance." 
 
 She read each word aloud, bending her head in 
 assent ; and, after a pause, he wrote " Not till his 
 degree. He could not work it out sooner. There 
 is peril to self and others in experimenting — tempta- 
 tion to rashness. It were better unknown than trifled 
 with. Be an honest judge — promise. Say what I 
 want." 
 
 Spellbound, almost mesmerised by his will, Caroline 
 pronounced — " I promise to keep the magujim bonum 
 a secret till the boys are grown up, and then only to 
 confide it to the one that seems fittest, when he has 
 taken his degree, and is a good, religious, wise, able 
 man, with brains and balance, fit to be trusted to 
 work out and apply such an invention, and not make 
 it serve his own advancement, but be a real good and 
 blessing to all." 
 
 He gave her one of his bright, sweet smiles, and, 
 as she sealed her promise by a kiss, he took up the 
 slate again and wrote, " My dear comfort, you have 
 always understood. You are to be trusted. It must 
 be done worthily or not at all." 
 
 That was the burthen of everything ; and his 
 approval and affection gave a certain sustaining glow 
 to the wife, who was besides so absorbed in attending 
 to him, as not to look beyond the moment. He wrote 
 presently, after a little more, " You know all my mind 
 for the children. With God's help you can fill both
 
 46 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 places to them. I should like you to live at Ken- 
 minster, under Robert's wing." 
 
 After that he only used the tablets for temporary 
 needs, and to show what he wanted Dr. Lucas to 
 undertake for his patients. The husband and wife 
 had little more time for intimate communings, for 
 the strangulation grew worse, more remedies were 
 tried, and one of the greatest physicians of the 
 day was called in, but only to make unavailing 
 efforts. 
 
 Colonel Brownlow arrived in the middle of the day, 
 and was thunderstruck at the new and terrible disaster. 
 He was a large, tall man, with a good-humoured, 
 weather-beaten face, and an unwieldy, gouty figure ; 
 and he stood, with his eyes brimming over with tears, 
 looking at his brother, and at first unable to read the 
 one word Joe traced for him — for writing had become 
 a great effort — " Carey." 
 
 " We will do our best for her, Ellen and I, my dear 
 fellow. But you'll soon be better. Horrid things, 
 these quinsies ; but they pass off." 
 
 Poor Joe half-smiled at this confident opinion, but 
 he merely wrung his brothers hand, and only twice 
 more took up the pencil — once to write the name 
 of the clergyman he wished to see, and lastly to 
 put down the initials of all his children : " Love to 
 you all. Let God and your mother be first with 
 you. — J. B." 
 
 The daylight of the second morning had come in
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S EROOD. 4/ 
 
 before that deadly suffocation had finished its work, 
 and the strong man's struggles were ended. 
 
 When Colonel Brownlow tried to raise his sister-in- 
 law, he found her fainting, and, with Dr. Lucas's help, 
 carried her to another room, where she lay, utterly 
 exhausted, in a kind of faint stupor, apparently un- 
 conscious of anything but violent headache, which 
 made her moan from time to time, if anything stirred 
 her. Dr. Lucas thought this the effect of exhaustion, 
 for she had not slept, and hardly taken any food since 
 her breakfast at Kyve three days ago ; and finding 
 poor old nurse too entirely broken down to be of 
 any use, he put his own kind wife in charge of her, 
 and w^as unwilling to admit anyone else — even Mrs. 
 Robert Brownlow^, who arrived in the course of the 
 day. She was a tall, fine-looking person, with an 
 oval face — soft, pleasant brown skin, mild brown eyes, 
 and much tenderness of heart and manner, but not 
 very w^ell known to Caroline ; for her periodical visits 
 had been wholly devoted to shopping and sight-seeing. 
 She was exceedingly shocked at the tidings that met 
 her, and gathered Janet into her arms with many 
 tears over the poor orphan girl ! It was an effusive- 
 ness that overwhelmed Janet, who had a miserable, 
 hard, dried-up feeling of wretchedness, and injury too ; 
 for the more other people cried, the less she could cry, 
 and she heard them saying to one another that she 
 was unfeeling. 
 
 Still Aunt Ellen's presence was a sort of relief, for
 
 48 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 it made the house less empty and dreary, and she 
 took upon her the cares that were greatly needed in 
 the bereaved household, where old nurse had lost her 
 head, and could do nothing, and the most effective 
 maid was away with the children. So Janet wandered 
 about after her aunt, with an adverse feeling at having 
 her home meddled with, but answering questions and 
 giving opinions, called or uncalled for. Her longing 
 was for her brothers, and it was a great blow to find 
 that her uncle had written to both Allen and Mr. 
 Acton that they had better not come home at present. 
 She thought it cruel and unjust both towards them 
 and herself; and in her sickening sense of solitude 
 and injury she had a vague expectation that they 
 were all going to be left wholly orphans, like the 
 children of fiction, dependent on their uncle and 
 aunt, who would be unjust, and prefer their own 
 children ; and she had a prevision of the battles she 
 was to fight, and the defensive influence she was to 
 exert. 
 
 That brought to her mind the white slate on which 
 her father had been writing, and she hurried to secure 
 it, though she hardly knew where to go or to look ; 
 but straying into her father's dressing-room, she found 
 both it and the tablets among a heap of other small 
 matters that had been cleared away when the other 
 chamber had been arranged into the solemnity of the 
 death-room. Hastily securing them, she carried them 
 to her own desk in the deserted school-room, feeling
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 49 
 
 a'S if they were her charge, and thus having no scruple 
 in reading them. 
 
 She had heard what passed aloud ; and, as the 
 eldest girl, had been so constantly among the seniors, 
 and so often supposed to be intent on her own occupa- 
 tions when they were conversing, that she had already 
 the knowledge that inagnmn boiium was the pet home 
 term for some great discovery in medical science that 
 her father had been pursuing, with many disappoint- 
 ments and much incredulity from the few friends to 
 whom it had been mentioned, but with absolute confi- 
 dence on his own part. What it was she did not know, 
 but she had fully taken in the injunction of secresy and 
 the charge to hand on the task to one of her brothers ; 
 only, while her father had spoken of it as a grave trust, 
 she viewed it as an inheritance of glory ; and felt a 
 strange longing and repining that it could not be 
 given to her to win and wear the crown of success. 
 
 Janet, did not, however, keep the treasure long, for 
 that very evening Mrs. Lucas sought her out to tell her 
 that her mother had been saying something about a 
 slate, and Dr. Lucas thought it was one on which her 
 father had been writing. If she could find it, they 
 hoped her mother would rest better. 
 
 Janet produced it, and being evidently most un- 
 willing to let it go out of her hands, was allowed to 
 carry it in, and to tell her mother that she had it. 
 There was no need for injunctions to do so softly and 
 cautiously, for she was frightened by her mother's dull, 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 half-closed eye, and pale, leaden look ; but there was a 
 little air of relief as she faltered, " Here's the slate, 
 dear mother : " and the answer, so faint that she could 
 hardly hear it, was, " Lock it up, my dear, till I can 
 look." 
 
 Mrs. Lucas told Janet she might kiss her, and then 
 sent the girl away. There was need of anxious watch 
 lest fever should set in, and therefore all that was 
 exciting was kept at a distance as the poor young 
 widow verged towards recovery. 
 
 Once, when she heard voices on the stairs, she 
 started nervously, and asked ]\Irs. Lucas, " Is Ellen 
 there.?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; she shall not come to you unless 
 you wish it," seeing her alarm ; and she laid her head 
 down again. 
 
 The double funeral was accomplished while she was 
 still too ill to hear anything about it, though Mrs. 
 Lucas had no doubt that she knew ; and when he 
 came home. Colonel Brownlow called for Janet, and 
 asked her whether she could find her grandmother's 
 keys and her father's for him. 
 
 " Mother would not like anyone to rummage their 
 things," said Janet, like a Avatch-dog. 
 
 " My dear," said her uncle, in a surprised but kind 
 tone, as one who respected yet resented her feeling ; 
 *'you may trust me not to rummage, as you call it, 
 unnecessarily ; but I know that I am executor, if you 
 understand what that mean?, mv dear."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 51 
 
 " Of course," said Janet, affronted as she always was 
 by being treated as a child. 
 
 " To both wills," continued her uncle ; " and it will 
 save your mother much trouble and distress if I can 
 take steps towards acting on them at once ; and if 
 you cannot tell where the keys are, I shall have to look 
 for them." 
 
 "Janet ought to obey at once," said her aunt, net 
 adding to the serenity of Janet's mind ; but she turned 
 on her heel, ungraciously saying, " I'll get them ; " and 
 presently returned with her grandmother's key-box, 
 full of the housekeeping keys, and a little key, which 
 she gave to her uncle with great dignity, adding, "The 
 key of her desk is the Bramah one ; I'll see for the 
 others." 
 
 " A strange girl, that ! " said her uncle, as she 
 marched out of the room. 
 
 " I am glad our Jessie has not her temper ! " re- 
 sponded his wife ; and then they both repaired to old 
 Mrs. Brownlow's special apartment, the back drawing- 
 room, while Janet quietly dropped downstairs with the 
 key she had taken from her father's table on her way 
 to the consulting-room. She intended to prevent any 
 search, by herself producing the will from among his 
 papers, for she was in an agony lest her uncle should 
 discover the clue to the magmim bonujn, of which she 
 regarded herself the guardian. 
 
 Till she had actually unlocked the sloping lid of the 
 old-fashioned bureau, it did not occur to her that she 
 
 E 2 
 LIBRARY 
 JJNIVERSin OF ILLlMCi^
 
 52 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 did not know either what the will was like, nor yet the 
 magfium bommt, which was scarcely likely to be so 
 ticketed. She only saw piles of letters and papers, 
 marked ; some with people's names, some with a 
 Greek or Latin word, or one of the curious old 
 Arabic signs, for which her father had always a turn, 
 having, as his mother used to tell him, something of 
 the alchemist in his composition. One of these parcels, 
 fastened with elastic rings, must be magnum boniim, 
 and Janet, though without much chance of distinguish- 
 ing it, was reading the labels with a strange, sad 
 fascination, when, long before she had expected him, 
 her uncle stood before her, with greatly astonished and 
 displeased looks, and the word " Janet." 
 
 She coloured scarlet, but answered boldly, " There 
 was something that I know father did not want any- 
 one but mother to see." 
 
 " Of course there is much," said her uncle, gravely — 
 '* much that I am fitter to judge of than any little 
 girl." 
 
 Words cannot express the offence thus given to 
 Janet. Something swelled in her throat as if to suffo- 
 cate her, but there could be no reply, and to burst out 
 crying would only make him think her younger still ; 
 so as he turned to his mournful task, she ensconced 
 herself in a high-backed chair, and watched him from 
 under her dark brows. 
 
 She might comfort herself by the perception that 
 he was less likely than even herself to recognise the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 53 
 
 magnum bonum. He would scarcely have thought it 
 honourable to cast a glance upon the medical papers, 
 and pushing them aside from where she had pulled 
 them forward, searched till he had found a long 
 cartridge-paper envelope, which he laid on the table 
 behind him while he shut up the bureau, and Janet, 
 by cautiously craning up her neck, managed to read 
 that on it was written " Will of Joseph Brownlow, 
 Executors : Mrs. Caroline Otway Brownlow, Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Robert Brownlow." 
 
 Her uncle then put both that and the keys in 
 his pocket, either not seeing her, or not choosing to 
 notice her.
 
 54 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STRAY CHICKENS. 
 
 But when our father came not here, 
 
 I thought if we could find the sea 
 We should be sure to meet him there, 
 
 And once again might happy be. — Ballad. 
 
 " What was Dr. Lucas saying to you } " asked Carey, 
 sitting up in bed after her breakfast. 
 
 "He said, my dear, that you were really well now," 
 said Mrs. Lucas, tenderly ; " and that you only wanted 
 rousing." 
 
 She clasped her hands together. 
 
 "Yes, I know it. I have been knowing it all 
 yesterday and last night. It hasn't been right of me, 
 keeping you all this time, and not facing it." 
 
 " I don't think you could, my dear." 
 
 " Not at first. It seems to me like having been in a 
 whirlpool, and those two went down in it." She put her 
 hands to her temples. " But I must do it all now, and 
 I will. I'll get up now. Oh! dear, if they only would 
 let me come down and go about quietly." Then smiling 
 a piteous smile. " It is very naughty, but of all things 
 I dread the being cried over and fondled by Ellen ! "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 55 
 
 Mrs. Lucas shook her head, though the tears were 
 in her eyes, and bethought her whether she could 
 caution Mrs. Robert Brownlow not to be too de- 
 monstrative ; but it was a deHcate matter in which 
 to interfere, and after all, whatever she might think 
 beforehand, Caroline might miss these tokens of 
 feeling. 
 
 She had sat up for some hours the evening before, 
 so that there was no fear of her not being strong 
 enough to get up as she proposed ; but how would it 
 be when she left her room, and beheld all that she 
 could not have realised .'' 
 
 However, matters turned out contrary to all expec- 
 tation. Mrs. Lucas was in the drawingf-room, talkinq; 
 to the Colonel's wife, and Janet up stairs helping her 
 mother to dress, when there was a sound of feet on the 
 stairs, the door hastily opened for a moment, and two 
 rough-headed, dusty little figures were seen for one 
 moment, startling Mrs. Brownlow with the notion of 
 little beggars ; but they vanished in a moment, and 
 were heard chattering up stairs with calls of " Mother ! 
 Mother Carey ! " And looking out, they beheld at the 
 top of the stairs the two little fellows hanging one on 
 each side of Carey, who was just outside her door, 
 with her hair down, in her white dressing gown, 
 kneeling between them, all the three almost devouring 
 one another. 
 
 " Jockie ! Armie ! my dears ! How did you come ? 
 Where are the rest } "
 
 56 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Still at Kyve," said Jock. " Mother we have done 
 such a thing — we came to tell you of it." 
 
 " We've lost the man's boat," added Armine, " and 
 we must give him the money for another." 
 
 "What is it } What is it, Caroline ? " began her sister- 
 in-law ; but Mrs. Lucas touched her arm, and as a 
 mother herself, she saw that mother and sons had best 
 be left to one another, and let them retreat into the bed- 
 room, Carey eagerly scanning her two little boys, who 
 had a battered, worn, unwashed look that puzzled her as 
 much as their sudden appearance, which indeed chimed 
 in with the strange dreamy state in which she had 
 lived ever since that telegram. But their voices did 
 more to restore her to ordinary life than anything 
 else could have done ; and their hearts were so full of 
 their own adventure, that they poured it out before 
 remarking anything, — 
 
 " How did you come, my dear boys } " 
 "We walked, after the omnibus set us down at 
 Charing Cross, because we hadn't any more money," 
 said Armine. " I'm so tired." And he nestled into 
 her lap, seeming to quell the beating of her aching 
 heart by his pressure. 
 
 "This is it, mother," said Jock, pulling her other 
 arm round him. " We two went down to the beach 
 yesterday, and we saw a little boat — Peter Lary's 
 pretty little boat, you know, that is so light — and Ave 
 got in to rock in her, and then I thought I would pull 
 about in her a little."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 57 
 
 " Oh ! Jock, Jock, how could you ? " 
 " I'd often done it with Allen and Young Pete," said 
 Jock, defensively. 
 
 " But by yourselves ! " she said in horror. 
 
 " Nobody told us not," said Jock rather defiantly ; 
 and Armine, who, with his little sister Barbara, always 
 seemed to live where dreamland and reality bordered on 
 each other, looked up in her face and innocently said — 
 
 " Mrs. Acton read us about the Rocky Island, and 
 she said father and granny had brought their boats to 
 the beautiful country, and that we ought to go after 
 them, and there was the bright path along the sea^ 
 and I thought we would go too, and that it would be 
 nicer if Jock went with me." 
 
 " I knew it did not mean that," said Jock, hanging his 
 mischievous black head a little, as he felt her shudder ; 
 " but I thought it would be such fun to be Columbus." 
 
 " And then .? Oh ! my boys, what a fearful thing L 
 Thank God I have you here." 
 
 " I wasn't frightened," said Jock, with uplifted head ; 
 "we could both row, couldn't we, Armie .? and the tide 
 was going out, and it was so jolly ; it seemed to take 
 us just where we wanted to go, out to that great 
 rock, you know, mother, that Bobus called the Asses' 
 Bridge." 
 
 Carey knew that the current at the mouth of the 
 river did, at high tide, carry much drift to the base of 
 this island, and she could understand how her two 
 boys had been floated thither. Jock went on —
 
 58 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 "We had a boat-hook, and I pulled up to the 
 island ; I did, mother, and I made fast the boat to a 
 little stick, and we went out to explore the island." 
 
 " It has a crater in the top, mother, and we think it 
 must be an instinct volcano," said Armine, looking up 
 sleepily. 
 
 "And there were such lots of jolly little birds," went 
 on Jock. 
 
 " Never mind that now. What happened ? " 
 
 " Why, the brute of a boat got away," said Jock, 
 much injured, "when I'd made her ever so fast. She 
 pulled up the stick, I'm sure she did, for I can tie a 
 knot as well as Pete." 
 
 " So you could not get away ? " 
 
 "No, and we'd got nothing to eat but chocolate 
 creams and periwinkles, and Armie wouldn't look at 
 them, and I don't think I could while they were alive. 
 So I hoisted a signal of distress, made of my tie, for 
 we'd lost our pocket-handkerchiefs. I was afraid they 
 would think we were pirates, and not venture to come 
 near us, for we'd only got black flags, and it was a 
 v^ery, very long time, but at last, just as it got a little 
 darkish, and Armie was crying — poor little chap — that 
 steamer came by that always goes between Port- 
 hole and Kyvemouth on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I 
 hailed and I hailed, and they saw or heard, and sent a 
 boat and took us on board. The people all came and 
 looked at us, and one of them said I was a plucky 
 little chap ; he did, mother, and that I'd the making
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 59 
 
 of an admiral in me ; and a lady gave us such a jolly 
 paper of sandwiches. But you see the steamer was 
 going to Porthole, and the captain said he could not 
 anyhow put back to Kyve, but he must take us on, 
 and we must get back by train." 
 
 Mother Carey understood this, for the direct line 
 ran to Pbrthole, and there was a small junction station 
 whence a branch ran to Kyvemouth, from which Kyve 
 St. Clements was some three miles distant. 
 
 " Were you carried on ^ " she asked. 
 
 " Well, yes, but we meant it," said Jock. " I re- 
 membered the boat. I knew father would say we 
 must buy another, so I asked the captain what was 
 the price of one, for Armine and I had each got 
 half-a-sovereign." 
 
 " How was that } " 
 
 "An old gentleman the day before was talking to 
 Mr. Acton. I think he is some great swell, for he has 
 got a yacht, and servants, and a carriage, and lots of 
 things ; and he said, ' What ! are those poor Brow^n- 
 low's boys } bless me ! ' and he tipped us each. Allen 
 and Bobus were to go with Mr. Acton and have a sail 
 in his yacht, but they said we should be too many, so 
 we thought we'd get a new boat, but the Captain " 
 
 " Said your money would go but a little way," put 
 in Caroline. 
 
 " He laughed ! " said Jock, as a great offence ; " and 
 said that was a matter for our governor, and we had 
 better go home and tell as fast as we could. There
 
 6o MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 was a train just starting when we got in to Porthole, 
 and somebody got our tickets for us, and Armie went 
 fast off to sleep, and I, when I came to think about it, 
 thought we would not get out at the junction, but 
 come on home at once. Mother Carey, and tell you all 
 about it. When Armie woke — why, he's asleep now — 
 he said he would rather come home than to Kyve." 
 " Then you travelled all night ? " 
 "Yes, there was a jolly old woman who made us a 
 bed with her shawl, only I tumbled off three times and 
 bumped myself, and she gave us gooseberries, and 
 cake, and once when we stopped a long time a porter 
 got us a cup of tea. Then when we came to where 
 they take the tickets, I think the man was going to 
 make a row, but the guard came up and told him all 
 about it, and I gave him my two half-sovereigns, and 
 he gave me back fourteen shillings change, for he said 
 we were only half-price and second class. Then when 
 once I was in London," said Jock, as if his foot was on 
 his native heath, " of course I knew what to be at." 
 " Have you had nothing to eat .'* " 
 " We had each a bun when we got out at Charing 
 Cross, but I'm awfully hungry, mother ! " 
 
 " I should think so. Janet, my dear, go and order 
 some breakfast for them." 
 
 "And," said Janet, "must not the others be 
 dreadfully frightened about them at Kyve .? " 
 
 That question startled her mother into instant action. 
 " Of course they must ! Poor Clara ! poor Allen !
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 6l 
 
 They must be in a dreadful state. I must telegraph 
 to them at once." 
 
 She lifted Armine off gently to her bed, scarcely 
 disturbing him, twisted up her hair in summary fashion, 
 and the dress, which her friends had dreaded her 
 seeing, was on, she hardly knew how, as she bade old 
 nurse see to Jock's washing, dressing, and making 
 himself tidy, and then amazed the other ladies by 
 running into the drawing-room crying breathlessly — 
 
 " I must telegraph to the Actons," and plunging to 
 the depths of a drawer in the davenport. 
 
 " Caroline, your cap ! " 
 
 For it was on the back of the head that had never 
 worn a cap before. And not only then, but for the 
 most part w^henever they met, those tears and caresses, 
 that poor Mother Carey so much feared, were checked 
 midway by the instinct that made Aunt Ellen run at 
 her with a great pin and cry — 
 
 " Caroline, your cap." 
 
 She was still, after having had it fixed, kneeling 
 down, searching for a form for telegraphing, when the 
 door was opened, and in came Colonel Brownlow, 
 looking very pale and fearfully shocked. 
 
 '' Ellen ! " he began, " how shall I ever tell that poor 
 child } Here is Mr. Acton." 
 
 But at that moment up sprang Mother Carey, and 
 as Mr. Acton entered the room she leapt forward — 
 
 " Oh ! I was just going to telegraph ! They arc 
 safe ! they are here ! Jock, Jock ! "
 
 62 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 And downstairs came tumbling and rushing that 
 same little imp, while theastonishment of his uncle and 
 aunt only allowed them to utter the one word, " John ! " 
 
 Mr. Acton drew a long breath, and said, " You have 
 given us a pretty fright, boy." 
 
 " Here's the paper," added Carey ; " telegraph to 
 Clara at once. Ring the bell, Jock ; I'll send to the 
 office." 
 
 All questions were suspended while Mr. Acton 
 wrote the telegram, and then it appeared that the boat 
 had been picked up empty, with Armine's pocket- 
 handkerchief full of shells in it, and the boys had been 
 given up for lost, it having been concluded that, if 
 they had been seen, the boat also would have been 
 taken in tow, and not cast loose to tell the tale. The 
 two elder boys were almost broken-hearted, and would 
 have been wild to come back to their mother, had it 
 not been impossible to leave poor little Barbara, who 
 clung fast to them, as the only shreds left to her of 
 home and protection. They would at least be com- 
 forted in the space of a quarter of an hour ! 
 
 Carey was completely herself and full of vigour 
 while Mr. Acton was there, consoling him when he 
 lamented not having taken better care, and refusing 
 when he tried to persuade her to accompany him 
 back to Kyve. Neither would Janet return with 
 him, feeling it impossible to relax such watch as she 
 could keep over the Magmim Bomun papers, even 
 though she much longed for her brothers.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 63 
 
 *'I should insist on her going," said Aunt Ellen, 
 " after all she has gone through." 
 
 "I don't think I can," said Carey. "You would 
 not send away your Jessie ?" 
 
 Ellen did not quite say that her pretty, sweet, 
 caressing Jessie was different, but she thought it all 
 the same. 
 
 Carey did not fulfil her intentions of going into 
 matters of business with her brother-in-law that day, 
 for little Armine, always delicate, had been so much 
 knocked up by his course of adventures, that he 
 needed her care all the rest of the day. Nor would 
 she have been fit for anything else, for when his aunt 
 recommended a totally different treatment for his 
 ailments, she had no spirit to argue, but only looked 
 pale and determined, being too weary and dejected 
 to produce her arguments. 
 
 Jock was sufficiently tired to be quiescent in the 
 nursery, where she kept him with her, feeling, in his 
 wistful eyes, and even in poor little Armine's childish 
 questions, something less like blank desolation than 
 her recent apathy had been, as if she were waking to 
 thrills of pain after the numbness of a blow. 
 
 Urged by a restless night and an instinctive longing 
 for fresh air, she took a long walk in the park before 
 anyone came down the next morning, with only Jock 
 for her companion, and she came to the breakfast 
 table with a freshened look, though with a tremulous 
 faintness in her voice, and she let Janet continue tea-
 
 64 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 maker, scarcely seeming to hear or understand the 
 casual remarks around her ; but afterwards she said 
 in a resolute tone, " Robert, I am ready whenever you 
 wish to speak to me." 
 
 So in the drawing-room the Colonel, with the two 
 wills in his hand, found himself face to face with her. 
 He was the more nervous of the two, being much 
 afraid of upsetting that composure which scandalised 
 his wife, but which he preferred to tears ; and as he 
 believed her to be a mere child in perception, he ex- 
 plained down to her supposed level, while she listened 
 in a strange inert way, feeling it hard to fix her at- 
 tention, yet half-amused by the simplicity of his 
 elucidations. " Would Ellen need to be told what an 
 executor meant ? " thought she. 
 
 She was left sole guardian of the children, " the 
 greatest proof of confidence a parent can give," im- 
 pressively observed the Colonel, wondering at the 
 languor of her acquiescence, and not detecting the 
 thought, " Dear Joe ! of course ! as if he would have 
 done anything else ! " 
 
 " Of course," continued the Colonel, " he never ex- 
 pected that it would have proved more than a nominal 
 matter, a mere precaution. For my own part, I can 
 only say that I shall be always ready to assist you 
 with advice or authority if ever you should find the 
 charge too onerous for you." 
 
 " Thank you," was all she could bring herself to say 
 at that moment, feeling that her boys were her own.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 65 
 
 though the next she was recollecting that this was no 
 doubt the reason Joe had bidden her live at Ken- 
 minster, and in a pang of self-reproach, was hardly 
 attending to the technicalities of the matters of 
 property which were being explained to her. 
 
 Her husband had not been able to save much, but 
 his life insurance was for a considerable sum, and there 
 was also the amount inherited from his parents. A 
 portion of the means which his mother had enjoyed 
 passed to the elder brother, and Mrs. Brownlow had 
 sunk most of her individual property in the purchase 
 of the house in which they lived. By the terms of 
 Joseph's will, everything was left to Caroline un- 
 reservedly, save for a stipulation that all, on her death, 
 should be divided among the children, as she should 
 appoint. The house was not even secured to Allen, so 
 that she could let or sell it as she thought advisable. 
 
 " I could not sell it," said Carey quickly, feehng it 
 her first and only home. " I hope to see Allen 
 practising there some day." 
 
 " It is not in a situation where you could sell it to 
 so much advantage as you would have by letting it to 
 whoever takes the practice." 
 
 She winced, but it was needful to listen, as he told 
 her of the offers that had been made for the house and 
 the good-will of the practice. What he had thought 
 the best offer was, however, rejected by her with 
 vehemence. She was sure that Joe would never stand 
 that man coming in upon his patients, and when asked 
 
 VOL. T. F
 
 66 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 for her reasons, would only reply, that " None of us 
 could bear him." 
 
 " That is no reason why he should not be a good 
 practitioner and respectable man. He may not be 
 what you like in society, and yet " 
 
 " Ask Dr. Lucas," hastily interrupted Carey. 
 
 " Perhaps that will be the best way," said the 
 Colonel gravely. " Will you promise to abide by his 
 decision ? " 
 
 " I don't know ! I mean, if everyone decided against 
 me, nothing should induce me to let tJiat Vaughan 
 into Joe's house to meddle with his patients." 
 
 Colonel Brownlow made a sign of displeased ac- 
 quiescence, so like his brother when Carey was a little 
 impetuous or naughty, that she instantly felt shocked 
 at herself, and faltered, " I beg your pardon." 
 
 He seemed not to notice this, but went on, " As you 
 say, it may be wise to consult Dr. Lucas. Perhaps, 
 putting it up to competition would be the best way." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Caroline. " Have you a letter from 
 Dr. Drake 1 " 
 
 '' No." 
 
 " Then depend upon it he must have too much 
 delicacy to begin about it so soon. I had rather he 
 had it than anyone else." 
 
 " Can he make a fair offer for it 1 You cannot afford 
 to throw away a substantial benefit for preferences," 
 said the Colonel. " At the outside, you will not have 
 more than ;^500 a year, and I fear you will feel much
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 6/ 
 
 straitened after what you are used to, with four boys, 
 and such ideas as to their education," he added 
 smihng. 
 
 " I don't know, but I am sure it is what Joe would 
 wish. He had rather trust his patients to Harry — to 
 Dr. Drake — than to anyone, and he is just going 
 to be married, and wants a practice ; I shall write 
 to him. It is so nice of him not to have pressed 
 forward." 
 
 "You will not commit yourself.^" said Colonel 
 Brownlow. " Remember that your children's interests 
 are at stake, and must not be sacrificed to a pre- 
 dilection." 
 
 Again Caroline felt fiery and furious, and less in- 
 clined than ever to submit her judgment as she said, 
 "You can inquire, but I know what Joe thought of 
 him." 
 
 " His worthiness is not the point, but whether he 
 can indemnify you." 
 
 " His worthiness not the point ! " cried Caroline, 
 indignantly. " I think it all the point." 
 
 " You misunderstand me ; you totally misunder- 
 stand me," exclaimed the Colonel, trying hard to be 
 gentle. " I never meant to recommend an unworthy 
 man." 
 
 "You wanted Vaughan," murmured iMother Carey, 
 but he did not regard the words, perhaps did not hear 
 them, for he went on : " My brother in such a case 
 would have taken a reasonable view, and placed the 
 
 F 2
 
 68 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 good of his children before any amiable desire to 
 benefit a — a — one unconnected with him. However," 
 he added, " there is no reason against writing to him, 
 provided you do not commit yourself." 
 
 Caroline hated the word, but endured it, and the 
 rest of the interview was spent upon some needful 
 signatures, and on the question of her residence at 
 Kenminster, an outlook which she contemplated as 
 part of the darkness into which her life seemed to 
 have suddenly dashed forward. One place would be 
 much the same as another to her, and she could only 
 hear with indifference about the three houses possible, 
 and the rent, garden, and number of rooms. 
 
 She was very glad when it was over, and the 
 Colonel, saying he should go and consult Dr. Lucas, 
 gave her back the keys he had taken from Janet, 
 and said that perhaps she would prefer looking over 
 the papers before he himself did so, with a view to 
 accounts ; but he should much advise all professional 
 records to be destroyed. 
 
 It may be feared that the two executors did not 
 respect or like each other much the better for the 
 interview, which had made the widow feel herself even 
 more desolate and sore-hearted. 
 
 She ran downstairs, locked the door of the con- 
 sulting room, opened the lid of the bureau, and 
 kneeling down with her head among all the papers, 
 she sobbed with long-drawn, tearless sobs, " O father ! 
 O Joe ! how could you bid me live there ? He makes
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 69 
 
 me worse ! They ivill make me worse and worse, 
 and now you are gone, and Granny is gone, there's 
 nobody to make me good ; and what will become ot 
 the children ? " 
 
 Then she looked drearily on the papers that lay 
 before her, as if his hand-writing at least gave a sort 
 of nearness. There was a memorandum book which 
 had been her birth-day present to him, and she felt 
 drawn to open it. The first she saw after her own 
 writing of his name was — 
 
 " ' Magnum Bonum. So my sweet wife insists on 
 calling this possibility, of which I will keep the notes 
 in her book. 
 
 " ' Magnum Bonum ! Whether it so prove, and 
 whether I may be the means of making it known, 
 must be as God may will. May He give me the 
 power of persevering, to win, or to fail, or to lay the 
 foundation for other men, whichever may be the best, 
 with a true heart, heeding His glory, and acting as 
 His servant to reveal His mysteries of science for the 
 good of His children. 
 
 "'And above all, may He give us all to know and 
 feel the true and only Magnum Bonum, the great good, 
 which alone makes success or failure, loss or gain, life 
 or death, alike blessed in Him and throug-h Him.' " 
 
 Carey gazed on those words, as she sat in the large 
 arm-chair, whither she had moved on opening the 
 book. She had always known that religion was 
 infinitely more to her husband than ever it had been
 
 70 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 to herself. She had done what he led her to do, and 
 had a good deal of intellectual and poetical perception, 
 and an uprightness, affection, and loyalty of nature 
 that made her anxious to do right, but devotion was 
 duty, and not pleasure to her ; she was always glad 
 when it was over, and she was feeling that the thoughts 
 which were said to comfort others were quite unable 
 to reach her grief There was no disbelief nor rebellion 
 about her, only a dull weariness, and an inclination 
 which she could hardly restrain, even while it shocked 
 her, to thrust aside those religious consolations that 
 were powerless to soothe her. She knew it was not 
 their fault, she did not doubt of their reality ; it was 
 she who was not good enough to use them. 
 
 These words of Joe were to her as if he were 
 speaking to her again. She laid them on her knee, 
 murmured them over fondly, looked at them, and 
 finally, for she was weak still and had had a bad 
 night, fell fast asleep over them, and only wakened, 
 as shouts of " Mother " were heard over the house. 
 
 She locked the bureau in a hurry, and opened the 
 door, calling back to the boys, and then she found 
 that Aunt Ellen had taken all the three out walking, 
 when Jock and Armine, with the remains of their 
 money burning in their pockets, had insisted on 
 buying two little ships, which must necessarily be 
 launched in the Serpentine. Their aunt could by no 
 means endure this, and Janet did not approve, so 
 there seemed to have been a battle royal, in which
 
 OR, MOTFIER CAREY'S BROOD. 7 1 
 
 Jock would have been the victor, if his Httle brother 
 had not been led off captive between his aunt and 
 sister, when Jock went along on the opposite side of 
 the road, asserting his independence by every sort 
 of monkey trick most trying to his aunt's rural sense 
 of London propriety. 
 
 It was very ridiculous to see the tall, grave, stately 
 Mrs, Robert Brownlow standing there describing the 
 intolerable naughtiness of that imp, who, not a bit 
 abashed, sat astride on the balustrade in the comfort- 
 able conviction that he was not hers. 
 
 " I hope, at least," concluded the lady, " that you 
 will make them feel how bad their behaviour has been." 
 
 " Jock," said Carey mechanically, ** I am afraid you 
 have behaved very ill to your aunt." 
 
 " Why, Mother Carey," said that little wretch, " it is 
 just that she doesn't know anything about anything 
 in London." 
 
 *' Yes," chimed in little Armine, who was hanging to 
 his mother's skirts ; " she thought she should get to 
 the Park by Duke Street." 
 
 "That did not make it right for you not to be 
 obedient," said Carey, trying for severity. 
 
 " But we couldn't, mother." 
 
 " Couldn't .? " both echoed. 
 
 " No," said Jock, " or we should be still in Piccadilly. 
 Mother Carey, she told us not to cross till it was safe." 
 
 " And she stood up like the Duke of Bedford in the 
 Square," added Armine.
 
 72 MAGiNUM BOiNUM 
 
 Janet caught her mother's eye, and both feh a spasm 
 o( uncontrollable diversion in their throats, making 
 Janet turn her back, and Carey gasp and turn on the 
 boys. 
 
 " All that is no reason at all. Go up to the nursery. 
 I wish I could trust you to behave like a gentleman, 
 when your aunt is so kind as to take you out." 
 
 *• I dii/, mother ! I did hand her across the street, 
 and dragged her out from under all the omnibus 
 horses," said Jock in an injured tone, while Janet could 
 not refrain from a whispered comparison, " Like a little 
 steam-tug," and this was quite too much for all of them, 
 producing an explosion which made the tall and stately 
 dame look from one to another in such bewildered 
 amazement, that struck the mother and daughter as 
 so comical that the one hid her face in her hands with 
 a sort of hysterical heaving, and the other burst into 
 that painful laughter by which strained spirits assert 
 themselves in the young. 
 
 Mrs. Robert Brownlow, in utter astonishment and 
 discomfiture, turned and walked oft" to her own room. 
 Somehow Carey and Janet felt more on their ordinary 
 terms than they had done all these sad days, in their 
 consternation and a certain sense of guilt. 
 
 Carey could adjudicate now, though trembling still. 
 She made Jock own that his Serpentine plans had been 
 unjustifiable, and then she added, " My poor boy, I 
 must punish you. You must remember it, for if you 
 are not good and steady, what riv'// become of us."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 73 
 
 Jock leapt at her neck. " Mother, do anythinr^ to me. 
 I don't mind, if you only won't look at me like that I " 
 
 She sat down on the stairs, all in a heap again with 
 him, and sentenced him to the forfeit of the ship, which 
 he endured with more tolerable grace, because Arminc 
 observed, " Never mind, Skipjack, we'll go partners in 
 mine. You shall have half my cargo of gold dust." 
 
 Carey could not find it in her heart to check the 
 voyages of the remaining ship, over the uncarpeted 
 dining-room ; but as she was going, Armine looked at 
 her with his great soft eyes, and said, " Mother Carey, 
 have you got to be the scoldy and punishy one now ? " 
 
 " I must if you need it," said she, going down on her 
 knees again to gather the little fellow to her breast ; 
 "but, oh, don't — don't need it." 
 
 " I'd rather it was Uncle Robert and Aunt Ellen," 
 said Jock, " for then I shouldn't care." 
 
 " Dear Jock, if you only care, I think we .sha'n't 
 want many punishments. But now I must go to }'our 
 aunt, for we did behave horribly ill to her." 
 
 Aunt Ellen was kind, and accepted Carey's apology 
 when she found that Jock had really been punished. 
 Only she said, "You must be firm with that boy, 
 Caroline, or you will be sorry for it. My boys know 
 that what I have said is to be done, and they know it 
 is of no use to disobey. I am happy to say they mind 
 me at a word ; but that John of yours needs a tight 
 hand. The Colonel thinks that the sooner he is at 
 school the better."
 
 74 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Before Carey had time to get into a fresh scrape, the 
 Colonel was ringing at the door. He had to confess 
 that Dr. Lucas had said Mrs. Joe Brownlow was right 
 about Vaughan, and had made it plain that his offer 
 ought not to be accepted, either in policy, or in that 
 duty which the Colonel began to perceive towards his 
 brother's patients. Nor did he think ill of her plan 
 respecting Dr. Drake ; and said he would himself 
 suggest the application which that gentleman was no 
 doubt withholding from true feeling, for he had been 
 a favourite pupil of Joe Brownlow, and had been 
 devoted to him. He was sure that Mrs. Brownlow's 
 good sense and instinct were to be trusted, a dictum 
 which not a little surprised her brother-in-law, who had 
 never ceased to think of " poor Joe's fancy " as a mere 
 child, and who forgot that she was fifteen years older 
 than at her marriage. 
 
 He told his wife what Dr. Lucas had said, to which 
 she replied, " That's just the way. Men know nothing 
 about it." 
 
 However, Dr. Drake's offer was sufficiently eligible 
 to be accepted. Moreover, it proved that the most 
 available house at Kenminster could not be got ready 
 for the family before the winter, so that the move could 
 not take place till the spring. Li the meantime, as 
 Dr. Drake could not marry till Easter, the lower part 
 of the house was to be given up to him, and Carey and 
 Janet felt that they had a reprieve.
 
 OR, MOTPIER CAREY'S BROOD. 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BRAINS AND NO BRAINS. 
 
 I do say, thou art quick in answers : 
 
 Thou heatest my blood. — Lovis Labour's Lost. 
 
 Kem'STER, as county tradition pronounced what was 
 spelt Kenminster, a name meaning St. Kenelm's 
 minster, had a grand collegiate church and a foundation- 
 school, which, in the hands of the Commissioners, had of 
 late years passed into the rule of David Ogilvie, Esq., a 
 spare, pale, nervous, serisitive-looking man of eight or 
 nine and twenty, who sat one April evening under his 
 lamp, with his sister at work a little way off, listening 
 with some amusement to his sighs and groans at the 
 holiday tasks that lay before him. 
 
 " Here's an answer, Mary. What was Magna 
 Charta } The first map of the world." 
 
 " Who's that ingenious person 1 " 
 
 "Brownlow Major, of course; and here's French, 
 who says it was a new sort of cow invented by Henry 
 Vni. — a happy feminine, I suppose, to the Papal Bull. 
 Here's a third ! The French fleet defeated by Queen 
 Elizabeth. Most have passed it over entirely."
 
 76 
 
 " Well, you know this is the first time you have tried 
 such an examination, and boys never do learn history." 
 
 "Nor anything else in this happy town," was the 
 answer, accompanied by a ruffling over of the papers. 
 
 " For shame, David ! The first day of the term ! " 
 
 "It is the dead weight of Brownlows, my dear. 
 Only think ! There's another lot coming ! A set of 
 duplicates. They haven't even the sense to vary the 
 Christian names. Three more to be admitted to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " That accounts for a good deal ! " 
 
 "You are laughing at me, Mary ; but did you never 
 know what it is to feel like Sisyphus ? Whenever you 
 think you have rolled it a little way, down it comes, a 
 regular dead weight again, down the slope of utter in- 
 difference and dulness, till it seems to crush the very 
 heart out of you ! " 
 
 " Have you really nobody that is hopeful } " 
 
 "Nobody who does not regard me as his worst 
 enemy, and treat all my approaches with distrust and 
 hostility. Mary, how am I to live it down ? " 
 
 " You speak as if it were a crime ! " 
 
 " I feel as if it were one. Not of mine, but of the 
 pedagogic race before me, who have spoilt the relations 
 between man and boy ; so that I cannot even get one 
 to act as a medium." 
 
 " That would be contrary to esprit de corpsT 
 
 " Exactly ; and the worst of it is, I am not one of 
 those genial fellows, half boys themselves, who can join
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. ^J 
 
 in the sports con amove ; I should only make a 
 mountebank of myself if I tried, and the boys would 
 distrust me the more." 
 
 " Quite true. The only way is to be oneself, and 
 one's best self, and the rest will come." 
 
 " I'm not so sure of that. Some people mistake 
 their vocation." 
 
 " Well, when you have given it a fair trial, you can 
 turn to something else. You are getting the school 
 up again, which is at least one testimony." 
 
 David Ogilvie made a sound as if this were very 
 base kind of solace, and his sister did not wonder when 
 she remembered the bright hopes and elaborate 
 theories with which he had undertaken the mastership 
 only nine months ago. He was then fresh from the 
 university, and the loss of constant intercourse with 
 congenial minds had perhaps contributed as much as 
 the dulness of the Kenminster youth to bring him into 
 a depressed state of health and spirits, which had 
 made his elder sister contrive to spend her Easter 
 at the seaside with him, and give him a few days at 
 the beginning of the term. Indeed, she was anxious 
 enough about him, when he went down to the old 
 grammar-school, to revolve the possibility of acceding 
 to his earnest wish, and coming to live with him, 
 instead of continuing in her situation as governess. 
 
 He came back to luncheon next day with a 
 brightened face, that made his sister say, *' Well, have 
 you struck some sparks V
 
 y8 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " I've got some new material, and am come home 
 saying, ' What's in a name ? ' " 
 
 " Eh ! Is it those very new Brownlows, that seemed 
 yesterday to be the last straw on the camel's back ? " 
 
 " I wish you could have seen the whole scene, Mary. 
 There were half-a-dozen new boys to be admitted, 
 four Brownlows ! Think of that ! Well, there stood 
 manifestly one of the old stock, with the same oval 
 face and sleepy brown eyes, and the very same drawl 
 I know so well in the ' No — a — ' to the vain question, 
 
 * Have you done any Latin ? ' And how shall I do 
 justice to the long, dragging drawl of his reading ? 
 Aye, here's the sentence I set him on : * The — Gowls 
 — had — con — sen — ted — to — accept — a — sum — of — 
 gold — and — retire. They were en — gagged — in — wag- 
 ging out the sum — required, and — ' I had to tell him 
 what to call Brennus, and he proceeded to cast the 
 sword into the scale, exclaiming, just as to a cart-horse, 
 
 * Woh ! To the Worsted ' (pronounced like yarn). 
 After that you may suppose the feelings with which I 
 called his ditto, another Joseph Armine Brownlow ; 
 and forth came the smallest sprite, with a white face 
 and great black eyes, all eagerness, but much too wee 
 for this place. ' Begun Latin ? ' ' Oh, yes ; ' and he 
 rattled off a declension and a tense with as much ease 
 as if he had been born speaking Latin. I gave him 
 Phsedrus to see whether that would stump him, and I 
 don't think it would have done so if he had not made 
 OS a mouth instead of a bone, in dealing with the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 79 
 
 *Wolf and the Lamb.' He was almost crying, so I 
 put the Roman history into his hand, and his reading 
 was something refreshing to hear. I asked if he knew 
 what the sentence meant, and he answered, ' Isn't it 
 when the geese cackled ? ' trying to turn round the page. 
 * What do you know about the geese ? ' said I. To 
 which the answer was, * We played at it on the stairs ! 
 Jock and I were the Romans, and Mother Carey and 
 Babie were the geese.' " 
 
 " Poor little fellow ! I hope no boys were there to 
 listen, or he will never hear the last of those geese." 
 
 " I hope no one was within earshot but his brothers, 
 who certainly did look daggers at him. He did very 
 well in summing and in writing, except that he went 
 out of his way to spell fish, p h y c h, and shy, s c h y ; 
 and at last, I could not resist the impulse to ask him 
 what Magna Charta is. Out came the answer, ' It is 
 yellow, and all crumpled up, and you can't read it, but 
 it has a bit of a great red seal hanging to it.' " 
 
 " What, he had seen it .? " 
 
 " Yes, or a facsimile, and what was more, he knew 
 who signed it. Whoever taught that child knew how 
 to teach, and it is a pity he should be swamped among 
 such a set as ours." 
 
 " I thought you would be delighted." 
 
 " I should be, if I had him alone, but he must be put 
 with a crew who will make it their object to bully him 
 out of his superiority, and the more I do for him, the 
 worse it will be for him, poor little fellow ; and he locks
 
 8o MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 too delicate to stand the ordeal. It is sheer cruelty to 
 send him." 
 
 " Hasn't he brothers .? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I was going to tell you, two bigger boys, 
 another Robert and John Brownlow — about eleven and 
 nine years old. The younger one is a sort of black 
 spider monkey, wanting the tail. We shall have some 
 trouble with that gentleman, I expect." 
 
 " But not the old trouble .? " 
 
 " No, indeed ; unless the atmosphere affects him. 
 He answered as no boy of twelve can do here ; and as 
 to the elder one, I must take him at once into the fifth 
 form, such as it is." 
 
 '' Where have they been at school } " 
 
 " At a day school in London. They are Colonel 
 Brownlow's nephews. Their father was a medical man 
 in London, who died last summer, leaving a young 
 widow and these boys, and they have just come 
 down to live in Kenminster. But it can't be owing to 
 the school. No school would give all three that kind 
 of — what shall I call it ? — culture, and intelligence, that 
 they all have ; besides, the little one has been entirely 
 taught at home." 
 
 " I wonder whether it is their mother's doing } 
 
 " I am afraid it is their father's. The Colonel spoke 
 of her as a poor helpless little thing, who was thrown 
 on his hands with all her family." 
 
 After the morning's examination and placing of the 
 boys, there was a half-holiday ; and the brother and
 
 OR, MOTHER CARKV'S BROOD. 8l 
 
 sister set forth to enjoy it together, for Kenminster 
 was a place with special facilities for enjoyment. It was 
 built as it were within a crescent, formed by low hills 
 sloping down to the river ; the Church, school, and 
 other remnants of the old collegiate buildings lying in 
 the flat at the bottom, and the rest of the town, one of 
 the small decayed wool staples of Somerset, being in 
 terraces on the hill-side, with steep streets dividing the 
 rows. These were of very mixed quality and architec- 
 ture, but, as a general rule, improved the higher they 
 rose, and were all interspersed with gardens running 
 up or down, and with a fair sprinkling of trees, whose 
 budding green looked well amid the yellow stone. 
 
 On the summit were some more ornamental villa- 
 like houses, and grey stone buildings with dark tiled 
 roofs, but the expansion on that side had been checked 
 by extensive private grounds. There were very beauti- 
 ful woods coming almost close to the town, and in the 
 absence of the owner, a great moneyed man, they were 
 open to all those who did not make themselves ob- 
 noxious to the keepers ; and these, under an absentee 
 proprietor, gave a free interpretation to rights of way. 
 Thither were the Ogilvies bound, in search of primrose 
 banks, but their way led them past two or three houses 
 on the hill-top, one of which, being constructed on 
 supposed Chinese principles of architecture, was known 
 to its friends as "the Pagoda," to its foes as "the 
 Folly." It had been long untenanted, but this winter 
 it had been put into complete repair, and two rooms, 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 showing a sublime indifference to consistency of archi- 
 tecture, had been lately built out with sash windows 
 and a slated roof, contrasting oddly with the frilled and 
 fluted tiles of the tower from which it jutted. 
 
 Suddenly there sounded close to their ears the 
 words — " School time, my dear ! " 
 
 Starting and looking round for some impertinent 
 street boy, Mr. Ogilvie exclaimed, '' What's that .?" 
 
 " Mother Carey ! We are all Mother Carey's 
 chickens." 
 
 " See, there," exclaimed Mary, and a great parrot 
 was visible on the branch of a sumach, which stretched 
 over the railings of the low wall of the pagoda garden. 
 *' O you appropriate bird, — you surely ought not to be 
 here ! " 
 
 To which the parrot replied, " Hie, hcec, hoc ! " and 
 burst out in a wild scream of laughing, spreading her 
 grey wings, and showing intentions of flying away ; 
 but Mr. Ogilvie caught hold of the chain that hung 
 from her leg. 
 
 Just then voices broke out — 
 
 " That's Polly ! Where is she ? That's you, Jock, 
 you horrid boy." " W^ell, J didn't see why she shouldn't 
 enjoy herself." " Now you've been and lost her. Poll, 
 Poll ! " 
 
 " I have her ! " called back Mr. Ogilvie. " I'll bring 
 her to the gate." 
 
 Thanks came through the hedge, and the brother 
 and sister walked on.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 83 
 
 " It's old Ogre. Cut ! " growled in what was meant 
 to be an aside, a voice the master knew full well, and, 
 there was a rushing off of feet, like ponies in a field. 
 
 When the sheep gate was reached, a great furniture 
 van was seen standing at the door of the " Folly," and 
 there appeared a troop of boys and girls in black, eager 
 to welcome their pet. 
 
 " Thank you, sir ; thank you very much. Come 
 Polly," said the eldest boy, taking possession of the 
 bird. 
 
 " I think we have met before," said the schoolmaster 
 to the younger ones, glad to see that two — i.e. the new 
 Robert and Armine Bro\ynlow — had not joined in the 
 sauve qni petit. 
 
 Nay, Robert turned and said, "Mother, it is Mr. 
 Ogilvie." 
 
 Then that gentleman was aware that one of the 
 black figures had a widow's cap, with streamers flying 
 behind her in the breeze, but while he was taking off 
 his hat and beginning, " Mrs. Brownlow," she held out 
 her hands to his sister, crying, ** Mary, Mary Ogilvie," 
 and there was an equally fervent response. " Is it 1 
 Is it really Caroline Allen T and the two friends linked 
 eager hands in glad pressure, turning, after the first 
 moment, towards the house, while Mary said, " David, 
 it is my dear old schoolfellow ; Carey, this is my 
 brother." 
 
 "You were very kind to these boys," said Carey, 
 warmly shaking hands with him. " The name sounded 
 
 G 2
 
 84 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 friendly, but I little thought you were Mary's brother. 
 Are you living here, Mary ? How delightful ! " 
 
 " Alas, no ; I am only keeping holiday with David. 
 I go back to-morrow." 
 
 " Then stay now, stay and let me get all I can of 
 you, in this frightful muddle," entreated Caroline. 
 " Chaos is come again, but you won't mind." 
 
 " I'll come and help you," said Mary. " David, you 
 must go on alone and come back for me." 
 
 " Can't I be of use ? " offered David, feeling rather 
 shut out in the cold ; " I see a bookcase. Isn't that in 
 my line ? " 
 
 "And here's the box with its books," said Janet. 
 *' Oh ! mother, do let that be finished off at least ! 
 Bobus, there are the shelves, and I have all their pegs 
 in my basket." 
 
 The case was happily in its place against the wall, 
 and Janet had seized on her recruit to hold the shelves 
 while she pegged them, while the two friends were still 
 exchanging their first inquiries, Carey exclaiming, 
 " Now, you naughty Mary, where have you been, and 
 why didn't you write ? " 
 
 " I have been in Russia, and I didn't write, because 
 nobody answered, and I didn't know where anybody 
 was." 
 
 " In Russia ! I thought you were with a Scottish 
 family, and wrote to you to the care of some laird 
 with an unearthly name." 
 
 " But you knew that they took me abroad."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 85 
 
 " And Alice Brown told me that letters sent to the 
 place m Scotland would find you. I wrote three 
 
 times, and when you did not answer my last " and 
 
 Caroline broke off with things unutterable in her face. 
 " I never had any but the first when you were going 
 to London. I answered that. Yes, I did ! Don't 
 look incredulous. I wTote from Sorrento." 
 
 " That must have miscarried. Where did you ad- 
 dress it." 
 
 " To the old place, inside a letter to Mrs. Mercer." 
 " I see ! Poor Mrs. Mercer went away ill, and did 
 not live long after, and I suppose her people never 
 troubled themselves about her letters. But why did 
 not you get ours." 
 
 '' Mrs. M'lan died at Venice, and the aunts came 
 out, and considering me too young to go on with 
 the laird and his girls, they fairly made me over 
 to a Russian family whom we had met. Unluckily, 
 as I see now, I wrote to Mrs. Mercer, and as I never 
 heard more I gave up writing. Then the Crimean 
 War cut me off entirely even from David. I had only 
 one letter all that time." 
 
 " How is it that you are a governess } I thought 
 one was sure of a pension from a Russian grandee ! " 
 
 " These were not very grand grandees, only counts, 
 and though they paid liberally, they could not pension 
 one. So when I had done with the youngest daughter, 
 I came to England and found a situation in London. 
 I tried to look up our old set, but could not get on
 
 86 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 the track of anyone except Emily Collins, who told 
 me you had married veiy soon, but was not even sure 
 of your name. Very soon ! Why, Caroline, your 
 daughter looks as old as yourself." 
 
 " I sometimes think she is older ! And have you 
 seen my Eton boy ? " 
 
 " Was it he who received the delightful popinjay, 
 who * Up and spak ' so much to the purpose ? " asked 
 Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 " Yes, it was Allen. He is the only one you did 
 not see in the morning. Did they do tolerably } " 
 
 " I only wish I had any boys who did half as well," 
 said Mr. Ogilvie, the lads being gone for more books. 
 
 " I was afraid for John and Armlne, for we have 
 been unsettled, and I could not go on so steadily with 
 them as before," she said eagerly, but faltering a little. 
 " Armine told me he blundered in Phsedrus, but I 
 hope he did fairly on the whole." 
 
 " So well that if you ask my advice, I should say, 
 keep him to yourself two years more." 
 
 " Oh ! I am so glad," with a little start of joy. 
 "You'll tell his uncle.? He insisted — he had some 
 impression that they were very naughty boys, whom 
 I could not cope with, poor little fellows." 
 
 " I can decidedly say he is learning more from you 
 than he would in school among those with whom, at 
 his age, I must place him." 
 
 "Thank you, thank you. Then Babie won't lose 
 her companion. She wanted to go to school with
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 8/ 
 
 Armie, having always gone on with him. And the 
 other -two — what of them ? Bobus is sure to work 
 for the mere pleasure of it — but Jock ? " 
 
 " I don't promise that he may not let himself down 
 to the standard of his age and develop a capacity for 
 idleness, but even he has time to spare, and he is at 
 that time of life when boys do for one another what 
 no one else can do for them." 
 
 " The Colonel said the boys were a good set and 
 gentlemanly," said Carey wistfully. 
 
 " I think I may say that for then)," returned their 
 master. " They are not bad boys as boys go. There 
 is as much honour and kindliness among them as you 
 would find anywhere. Besides, to boys like yours 
 this would be only a preparatory school. They are 
 sure to fly off to scholarships." 
 
 '' I don't know," said Carey. " I want them to be 
 where physical science is an object. Or do you think 
 that thorough classical training is a better preparation 
 than taking up any individual line ^ " 
 
 " I believe it is easier to learn /lozu to learn through 
 languages than through anything else." 
 
 " And to be taught /lozv to learn is a much greater 
 thing than to be crammed," said Carey. " Of course 
 when one begins to teach oneself, the world has 
 become " mine oyster," and one has the dagger. The 
 point becomes how to sharpen the dagger." 
 
 At that moment three or four young people rushed 
 in with arms ^uU of books, and announcing that the
 
 88 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 uncle and aunt were coming. The next moment they 
 appeared, and stood amazed at the accession of 
 volunteer auxiliaries. Mr. Ogilvie introduced his 
 sister, while Caroline explained that she was an old 
 friend, — meanwhile putting up a hand to feel for her 
 cap, as she detected in Ellen's eyes those words, 
 ' * Caroline, your cap." 
 
 " We came to see how you were getting on," said 
 the Colonel, kindly. 
 
 " Thank you, we are getting on capitally. And 
 oh, Robert, Mr. Ogilvie will tell you ; he thinks 
 Armine too — too — I mean he thinks he had better 
 not go into school yet," she added, thankful that she 
 had not said " too clever for the school." 
 
 The Colonel turned aside with the master to discuss 
 the matter, and the ladies went into the drawing-room, 
 the new room opening on the lawn, under a verandah, 
 with French windows. It was full of furniture in the 
 most dire confusion. Mrs. Robert Brownlow wanted 
 to clear off at once the desks and other things that 
 seemed school-room properties, saying that a little 
 room downstairs had always served the purpose. 
 
 " That must be nurse's sitting-room," said Carey. 
 
 " Old nurse ! She can be of no use, my dear ! " 
 
 " Oh yes, she is ; she has lived with us ever since 
 dear grandmamma married, and has no home, and no 
 relations. We could not get on without dear old 
 nursey ! " 
 
 " Well, my dear, I hope you will find it answer to
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 89 
 
 keep her on. But as to this room ! It is such a pity 
 not to keep it nice, when you have such handsome 
 furniture too." 
 
 '' I want to keep it nice with habitation," said Caro- 
 line. " That's the only way to do it. I can't bear 
 fusty, shut-up smart rooms, and I think the family 
 room ought to be the pleasantest and prettiest in the 
 house for the children's sake." 
 
 " Ah, well," said Mrs. Brownlow, with a serene good 
 nature, contrasting with the heat with which Caroline 
 spoke, " it is your affair, my dear, but my boys would 
 not thank me for shutting them in with my pretty 
 things, and I should be sorry to have them there. 
 Healthy country boys like to have their fun, and I 
 would not coop them up." 
 
 " Oh, but there's the studio to run riot in, Ellen," 
 said Carey. " Didn't you see ? The upper story of 
 the tower. We have put the boy's tools there, and I 
 can do my modelling there, and make messes and all 
 that's nice," she said, smiling to Mary, and to Allen, 
 who had just come in. 
 
 " Do you model, Carey .? " Mary asked, and Allen 
 volunteered to show his mother's groups and bas- 
 reliefs, thereby much increasing the litter on the floor, 
 and delighting Mary a good deal more than his aunt, 
 who asked, "What will you do for a store-room then V 
 
 " Put up a few cupboards and shelves anywhere." 
 
 It is not easy to describe the sort of air with which 
 Mrs. Robert Brownlow received this answer. She
 
 90 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 said nothing but " Oh," and was perfectly unruffled in 
 a sort of sublime contempt, as to the hopelessness of 
 doing anything with such a being on her own ground. 
 
 There did not seem overt provocation, but poor 
 Caroline, used to petting and approval, chafed and 
 reasoned : " I don't think anything so important as a 
 happy home for the boys, where they can have their 
 pursuits, and enjoy themselves." 
 
 Mrs. Brownlow seemed to think this totally irre- 
 levant, and observed, ** When I have nice things, I like 
 to keep them nice." 
 
 " I like nice boys better than nice things," cried 
 Carey. 
 
 Ellen smiled as though to say she hoped she was 
 not an unnatural mother, and again said " Oh ! " 
 
 Mary Ogilvie was very glad to see the two gentle- 
 men come in from the hall, the Colonel saying, *' Mr. 
 Ogilvie tells me he thinks Armine too small at present 
 for school, Caroline." 
 
 " You know I am very glad of it, Robert," she said, 
 smiling gratefully, and Ellen compassionately ob- 
 served, " Poor little fellow, he is very small, but 
 country air and food will soon make a man of him if 
 he is not overdone with books. I make it a point 
 never to force my children." 
 
 " No, tJiat you don't," said Caroline, with a 
 dangerous smile about the corners of her mouth. 
 
 "And my boys do quite as well as if they had 
 their heads stuffed and their growth stunted," said
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 9 1 
 
 Ellen. " Joe is only two months older than Armine, 
 and you are quite satisfied with him, are you not, 
 Mr. Ogilvie .? " 
 
 " He is more on a level with the others," said j\Ir. 
 Ogilvie politely ; " but I wish they were all as forward 
 as this little fellow." 
 
 " Schoolmasters and mammas don't always agree 
 on those points," said the Colonel good-humouredly. 
 
 " Very true," responded his wife. " I never was 
 one for teasing the poor boys with study and all that. 
 I had rather see them strong and well grown. They'll 
 have quite worry enough when they go to school." 
 
 " I'm sorry you look at me in that aspect," said 
 Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 *' Oh, I know you can't help it," said the lady. 
 
 " Any more than Trois Echelles and Petit Andre," 
 said Carey, in a low voice, giving the two Ogilvies the 
 strongest desire to laugh. 
 
 Just then out burst a cry of wrath and consternation, 
 making everyone hurry out into the hall, where, through 
 a perfect cloud of white powder, loomed certain figures, 
 and a scandalised voice cried ''Aunt Caroline, Jock 
 and Armine have been and let all the arrowroot fly 
 about." 
 
 " You told me to be useful and open parcels," cried 
 Jock. 
 
 "Oh, jolly, jolly! first-rate!" shouted Armine in 
 ecstasy. "It's just like Paris in the cloud! More, 
 more, Babie. You are Venus, vou know."
 
 92 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Master Armine, Miss Barbara ! For shame," ex- 
 claimed the nurse's voice. "All getting into the 
 carpet, and in your clothes, I do declare ! A whole 
 case of best arrowroot wasted, and worse." 
 
 " 'Twas Jessie's doing," replied Jock. " She told 
 me." 
 
 Jessie, decidedly the most like Venus of the party, 
 being a very pretty girl, with an oval face and brown 
 eyes, had retreated, and was with infinite disgust 
 brushing the white powder out of her dress, only in 
 answer ejaculating, " Those boys ! " 
 
 Jock had not only opened the case, but had opened 
 it upside down, and the classical performances of 
 Armine and Barbara had powdered themselves and 
 everything around, while the draught that was rushing 
 through all the wide open doors and windows dispersed 
 the mischief far and wide. 
 
 ** Can you do nothing but laugh, Caroline ? " gravely 
 said Mrs. Brownlow. "Janet, shut that window. 
 Children, out of the way ! If you were mine, I should 
 send you to bed." 
 
 "There's no bed to be sent to," muttered Jock, 
 running round to give a sly puff to the white heap, 
 diffusing a sprinkling of white powder over his aunt's 
 dress. 
 
 " Jock," said his mother with real firmness and 
 indignation in her voice, "that is not the way to 
 behave. Beg your aunt's pardon this instant." 
 
 And to everyone's surprise the imp obeyed the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 93 
 
 hand she had laid on him, and muttered some- 
 thing- like, "beg pardon," though it made his face 
 crimson. 
 
 His uncle exclaimed, " That's right, my boy," and 
 his aunt said, with dignity, " Very well, we'll say no 
 more about it." 
 
 Mary Ogilvie was in the meantime getting some of 
 the powder back into the tin, and Janet running in 
 from the kitchen with a maid, a soup tureen, and 
 sundry spoons, everyone became busy in rescuing the 
 remains — in the midst of which there was a smash 
 of glass. 
 
 "Jock again ! " quoth Janet. 
 
 " Oh, mother ! " called out Jock. " It's so long ! I 
 thought I'd get the feather-brush to sweep it up with, 
 and the other end of it has been and gone through 
 this stupid lamp." 
 
 " Things are not unapt to be and go through, where 
 you are concerned, Mr. Jock, I suspect," said Mr. 
 Ogilvie. " Suppose you were to come with me, and 
 your brothers too, and be introduced to the swans on 
 the lake at Belforest." 
 
 The boys brightened up, the mother said, " Thank 
 you most heartily, if they will not be a trouble," and 
 Babie put her hand entreatingly into the schoolmaster's, 
 and said, " Me too ? " 
 
 "What, Venus herself! I thought she had dis- 
 appeared in the cloud ! Let her come, pray, Mrs. 
 Brownlow."
 
 94 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " I thought the children would have been with their 
 cousins," observed the aunt. 
 
 "So we were," returned Armine ; "but Johnnie and 
 Joe ran away when they saw Mr. Ogilvie coming." 
 
 Babie having by this time had a little black hat 
 tied on, and as much arrowroot as possible brushed 
 out of her frock ; Carey warned the schoolmaster not 
 to let himself be chattered to death, and he walked off 
 with the three younger ones. 
 
 Caroline would have kept her friend, but Mary, 
 seeing that little good could be gained by staying 
 with her at present, replied that she would take the 
 walk now, and return to her friend in a couple of 
 hours' time ; and Carey was fain to consent, though 
 with a very wistful look in her eyes. 
 
 At the end of that time, or more, Janet met the 
 party at the garden gate. " You are to go down to 
 my uncle's, children," she said ; " mother] has one of 
 her very bad headaches." 
 
 There was an outcry that they must take her the 
 flowers, of which their hands and arms were full ; but 
 Janet was resolute, though Babie was veiy near 
 tears. 
 
 " To-morrow — to-morrow," she said. " She must lie 
 still now, or she won't be able to do anything. Run 
 away, Babie, they'll be waiting tea for you. Allen's 
 there. He'll take care of you." 
 
 "I want to give Mother Carey those dear white 
 flowers," still entreated Babie.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 95 
 
 "I'll give them, my dear. They want you down 
 there — Ellie and Esther." 
 
 " I don't want to play with Ellie and Essie," sturdily 
 declared Barbara. " They say it is telling falsehoods 
 when one wants to play at anything." 
 
 "They don't understand pretending," said Armine. 
 ''Do let us stay, Janet, we'll not make one smallest 
 little atom of noise, if Jock doesn't stay." 
 
 "You can't," said Janet, "for there's nothing for 
 you to eat, and nurse and Susan are as savage as 
 Carribee islanders." 
 
 This last argument was convincing. The children 
 threw their flowers into Janet's arms, gave their hands 
 to Miss Ogilvie, and Babie between her two brothers, 
 scampered off, while Miss Ogilvie uttered her griefs 
 and regrets. 
 
 " My mother would like to see yoit',' said Jane ; 
 " indeed, I think it will do her good. She told me to 
 bring you in." 
 
 " Such a day of fatigue," began Mary. 
 
 "That and all the rest of it," said Janet moodily. 
 
 " Is she subject to headaches } " 
 
 " No, she never had one, till " Janet broke off, 
 
 for they had reached her mother's door. 
 
 " Bring her in," said a weary voice, and Mary found 
 herself beside a low iron bed, where Carey, shaking 
 off the handkerchief steeped in vinegar and water on 
 her brow, and showing a tear-stained, swollen-eyed 
 face, threw herself into her friend's arms.
 
 9^ MAGNUM BONUiM ; 
 
 But she did not cry now, her tears all came when 
 she was alone, and when Mary said something of 
 being so sorry for her headache, she said, " Oh ! it's 
 only with knocking one's head against a mattress like 
 mad people," in such a matter-of-fact voice, that Mary 
 for a moment wondered whether she had really 
 knocked her head. 
 
 Mary doubted what to say, and wetted the kerchief 
 afresh with the vinegar and water. 
 
 " Oh, Mary, I wish you were going to stay here." 
 
 " I wish ! I wish I could, my dear ! " 
 
 " I think I could be good if you were here I " she 
 sighed. " Oh, Mary, why do they say that troubles 
 make one good .? " 
 
 " They ought," said Mary. 
 
 "They don't," said Carey. "They make me wicked!" 
 and she hid her face in the pillow with a great gasp. 
 
 " My poor Carey ! " said the gentle voice. 
 
 " Oh ! I want to tell you all about it. Oh ! Mary, 
 Ave have been so happy ! " and what a wail there was 
 in the tone. "But I can't talk," she added faintly, 
 *' it makes me sick, and that's all /ler doing too." 
 
 "Don't try," said Mary tenderly. "We know 
 where to find each other now, and you can write 
 to me." 
 
 " I will," said Caroline ; " I can write much better 
 than tell. And you will come back, Mary } " 
 
 " As soon as I can get a holiday, my dear, indeed 
 I will."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 9/ 
 
 Carey was too much worn out not to repose on the 
 promise, and though she was unwIlHng to let her 
 friend go, she said very little more. 
 
 Mary longed to give her a cup of strong coffee, and 
 suggested it to Janet ; but headaches were so new in 
 the family, that domestic remedies had not become 
 well-known. Janet instantly rushed down to order it, 
 but in the state of the house at that moment, it was 
 nearly as easy to get a draught of pearls. 
 
 " But she shall have it. Miss Ogilvie," said Janet, 
 putting on her hat. " Where's the nearest grocer ? " 
 
 " Oh, never mind, my dear," sighed the patient. 
 *' It will go off of itself, when I can get to sleep." 
 
 ^'You shall \\dMQ it," returned Janet. 
 
 And Mary having taken as tender a farewell as 
 Caroline was able to bear, they walked off together ; 
 but the girl did not respond to the kindness of Miss 
 Ogilvie. 
 
 She was too miserable not to be glum, too reserved 
 to be open to a stranger. Mary guessed a little of 
 the feeling, though she feared that an uncomfortable 
 daughter might be one of poor Carey's troubles, and 
 she could not guess the girl's sense of banishment from 
 all that she had enjoyed, society, classes, ever3^thing, 
 or her feeling that the Magimm Bomim itself was 
 imperilled by exile into the land of dulness, which of 
 course the poor child exaggerated in her imagination. 
 Her only consolation was to feel herself the Masterman 
 Ready of the shipwreck. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENCHANTED GROUND. 
 
 And sometimes a meriy train 
 Comes upon us from the lane 
 All through April, May, or June, 
 Every gleaming afternoon ; 
 All through April, May, and June, 
 Boys and maidens, birds and bees, 
 Airy whisperings from all trees. 
 
 PetitioTi of the Flowers — Keble, 
 
 The headache had been carried .off by a good night's 
 rest ; a droll, scrambling breakfast had been eaten,, 
 German fashion, Avith its head-quarters on the kitchen 
 table ; and everybody running about communicating 
 their discoveries. Bobus and Jock had set off to 
 school, and poor little Armine, who firmly believed 
 that his rejection was in consequence of his confusion 
 between os^ ossis, and os, oris, and was very sore about 
 it, had gone with Allen and Barbara to see them on 
 their way, and Mother Carey and Janet had agreed ta 
 get some real work done and were actually getting- 
 through business, when in rushed, rosy and eager, 
 Allen, Armine, and Babie, with arms stretched and in 
 breathless haste. 
 
 " Mother Carey ! Oh, mother ! mammie, dear ! 
 come and see!"
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 99 
 
 " Come — where ? " 
 
 " To fairy-land. Get her bonnet, Bable." 
 
 " Out of doors, you boy ? just look there ! " 
 
 " Oh ! bother all that ! It can wait." 
 
 " Do pray come, mother," entreated Armine ; " you 
 never saw anything like it ! " 
 
 " What is it } Will it take long ? " said she, begin- 
 ning to yield, as Babie danced about with her bonnet, 
 Armine tugged at her, and Allen look half-command- 
 ing, half-coaxing. 
 
 "She is not to know till she sees! No, don't tell 
 her," said Armine. " Bandage her eyes, Allen. Here's 
 my silk handkerchief." 
 
 "And Janet. She mustn't see," cried Babie, in 
 ecstasy. 
 
 " I'm not coming," said Janet, rather crossly. " I'm 
 much too busy, and it is only some nonsense of yours." 
 
 " Thank you," said Allen, laughing ; " mother shall 
 judge of that." 
 
 " It does seem a shame to desert you, my dear," said 
 Carey, " but you see " 
 
 What Janet was to see was stifled in the flap of the 
 handkerchief with which Allen was binding her eyes, 
 while Armine and Babie sang rapturously — 
 
 " Come along, Mother Carey, 
 Come along to land of fairy j " 
 
 an invocation to which, sooth to say, she had become 
 so much accustomed that it prevented her from 
 expecting a fairy-land where it was net necessary to 
 *' make believe very much." 
 
 H 2
 
 lOO MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 Janet so entirely disapproved of the puerile interrup- 
 tion that she never looked to see how Allen and Babie 
 managed the bonnet. She only indignantly picked up 
 the cap which had fallen from the sofa to the floor, and 
 disposed of it for security's sake on the bronze head oi 
 Apollo, which was waiting till his bracket could be 
 put up. 
 
 Guided most carefully by her eldest son, and with 
 the two little ones dancing and singing round her, and 
 alternately stopping each other's mouths when any 
 premature disclosure was apprehended, pausing in 
 wonder when the cuckoo note, never heard before, came 
 on them, making them laugh with glee. 
 
 Thus she w^as conducted much further than she ex- 
 pected. She heard the swing of the garden gate and 
 felt her feet on the road and remonstrated, but she was 
 coaxed on and through another gate, and a path where 
 Allen had to walk in front of her, and the little ones 
 fell behind. 
 
 Then came an eager " Now." 
 
 Her eyes were unbound, and she beheld what they 
 -might well call enchanted ground. 
 
 She was in the midst of a cun^ed bank where the 
 copsewood had no doubt been recently cut away, and 
 which was a perfect marvel of primroses, their profuse 
 bunches standing out of their wrinkled leaves at every 
 hazel root or hollow among the exquisite moss, varied 
 by the pearly stars of the wind-flower, purple orchis 
 spikes springing from black-spotted leaves, and deep- 
 grey crested dog-violets. On one side v»as a perfect
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 10 1 
 
 grove of the broad-leaved, waxen-belled Solomon's 
 seal, sloping down to moister ground where was a 
 golden river of king-cups, and above was a long glade 
 between young birch-trees, their trunks gleaming 
 silvery white, the boughs over head breaking out into 
 foliage that looked yellow rather than green against 
 the blue sky, and the ground below one sheet of that 
 unspeakably intense purple blue which is only produced 
 by masses of the wild hyacinth. 
 
 "There!" said Allen. 
 
 "There!" re-echoed the children. "Oh mammy, 
 mammy dear I Is it not delicious ? " 
 
 Carey held up her hand in silence, for a nightingale 
 was pouring out his song close by ; she listened 
 breathlessly, and as it ceased she burst into tears. 
 
 " O mother ! " cried Allen, " it is too much for you." 
 
 " No, dear boy, it is — it is — only too beautiful. It 
 is what papa always talked of and would have so 
 enjoyed." 
 
 " Do you think he has better flowers up there } " 
 asked Babie. " I don't think they can be much better." 
 And without waiting for more she plunged down 
 among the primroses and spread her little self out 
 with a scream of ecstasy. 
 
 And verily the strange sense of rapture and enchant- 
 ment was no less in the mother herself There is no 
 charm perhaps equal to that of a primrose bank on a 
 sunny day in spring, sight, sound, scent all alike 
 exquisite. It comes with a new and fresh delight even 
 to those to whom this is an annual experience, and to
 
 102 
 
 those who never saw the Hke before it gives, like the 
 first sight of the sea or of a snowy mountain, a sensa- 
 tion never to be forgotten. Fret, fatigue, anxiety, 
 sorrow all passed away like dreams in that sweet 
 atmosphere. Carey, like one of her children, absolutely 
 forgot everything in the charm and wonder of the scene, 
 in the pure, delicate unimaginable odour of the prim- 
 roses, in debating with Allen whether (cockneys that 
 they were) it could be a nightingale " singing by day 
 when every goose is cackling," in listening to the mar- 
 vellous note, only pausing to be answered from further 
 depths, in the beauty of the whole, and in the individual 
 charm of every flower, each heavily-laden arch of dark 
 blue-bells with their curling tips, so infinitely more 
 graceful than their pampered sister, the hyacinth of 
 the window-glass, of each pure delicate anemone she 
 gathered, with its winged stem, of the smiling primrose 
 of that inimitable tint it only wears in its own woodland 
 nest ; and when Allen lighted on a bed of wood- 
 sorrel, with its scarlet stems, lovely trefoil leaves, and 
 purple striped blossoms like insect's wings, she 
 absolutely held her breath in an enthusiasm of reverent 
 admiration. No one can tell the happiness of those 
 four, only slightly diminished by Armine's getting 
 bogged on his way to the golden river of king-cups, 
 and his mother in going after him, till Allen from 
 an adjacent stump pulled them out, their feet deeply 
 laden with mud. 
 
 They had only just emerged when the strokes of a
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. IO3 
 
 great bell came pealing up from the town below ; Allen 
 
 and his mother looked at each other in amused dismay, 
 
 then at their watches. It was twelve o'clock ! Two 
 
 hours had passed like as many minutes, and the boys 
 
 would be coming home to dinner. 
 
 " Ah ! well, we must go," said Carey, as they 
 
 gathered up their armloads of flowers. "You naughty 
 
 children to make me forget everything." 
 
 " You are not sorry you came though, mother. It 
 
 has done you good," said Allen solicitously. He was 
 
 the most affectionate of them all. 
 
 " Sorry ! I feel as if I cared for nothing while I 
 
 have a place like that to drink up delight in." 
 
 With which they tried to make their way back to 
 the path again, but it was not immediately to be found ; 
 and their progress was further impeded by a wood- 
 pigeon dwelling impressively on the notes "Take two 
 cows, Taffy ; Taffy take TWO ! " and then dashing out, 
 flapping and grey, in their faces, rather to Barbara's 
 alarm, and then by Armine's stumbling on his first 
 bird's nest, a wren's in the moss of an old stump, 
 where the tiny bird unadvisedly flew out of her leafy 
 hole full before their eyes. That was a marvel of 
 marvels, a delight equal to that felt by any ex- 
 plorer the world has seen. Armine and Barbara, 
 who lived in one perpetual fairy tale, were saying to 
 one another that 
 
 " One needn't make believe here, it was every bit 
 real."
 
 104 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " And more ;" added the other Httle happy voice. 
 
 Barbara did however begin to think of the numerous 
 children in the wood, and to take comfort that it 
 was unprecedented that their mother and big brother 
 should be with them, but they found the park palings 
 at last, and then a little wicket gate, where they were 
 very near home. 
 
 " Mother, where have you been } " exclaimed Janet, 
 somewhat suddenly emerging from the door. 
 
 " In Tom Tiddler's ^ground, picking up gold and 
 silver," said Carey, pointing to the armsful of king- 
 cups, cuckoo-flowers, and anemones, besides blue-bells, 
 orchises, primroses, &c. " My poor child, it was a 
 great shame to leave you, but they got me into the 
 enchanted land and I forgot all about everything." 
 
 " I think so," said a gravely kind voice, and Caroline- 
 was aware of Ellen's eye looking at her as the Court 
 Queen might have looked at Ophelia if she had 
 developed her taste for " long purples " as Hamlet's 
 w^idow. At least so it struck Mother Carey, who 
 immediately became conscious that her bonnet was 
 awry, having been half pulled off by a bramble, that 
 her ankles w^ere marked by the bog, and that bits of 
 green were sticking all over her. 
 
 " Have you been helping Janet } Oh, how kind ! " 
 she said, refreshed by her delightsome morning into 
 putting a bright face on it. 
 
 " We have done all we could in your absence," said 
 her sister-in-law, in a reproachful voice.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 10^ 
 
 "Thank you ; I'm sure it is very good of you. Janet — 
 Janet, where's the great Dutch bowl — and the little 
 Salviati .? Nothing else is worthy of this dear little 
 fairy thing." 
 
 " What is it .? Just common wood-sorrel," said the 
 other lady, in utter amaze. 
 
 "Ah, Ellen, you think me demented. You little 
 know what it is to see spring for the first time. Ah ! 
 that's right, Janet. Now, Babie, we'll make a little bit 
 of fairy-land " 
 
 "Don't put all those littering flowers on that nice 
 clean chintz, children," exclaimed the aunt, as though 
 all her work were about to be undone. 
 
 And then a trampling of boy's boots being heard 
 and shouts of " Mother," Carey darted out into the hall 
 to hear fragments of school intelligence as to work and 
 play, tumbling over one another, from Bobus and Jock 
 both at once, in the midst of which Mrs. Robert 
 Brownlow came out with her hat on, and stood, with 
 her air of patient serenity, waiting for an interval. 
 
 Caroline looked up, and said, " I beg your pardon, 
 Ellen — what is it .? " 
 
 " If you can attend a moment," said she, gravely ; 
 " I must be going to my boys' dinner. But Robert 
 wishes to know whether he shall order this paper for 
 the drawing-room. It cannot be put up yet, of 
 course ; but Smith has only a certain quantity of it,, 
 and it is so stylish that he said the Colonel had better 
 secure it at once."
 
 I06 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 She spread the roll of paper on the hall table. It 
 was a white paper, slightly tinted, and seemed intended 
 to represent coral branches, with starry-looking things 
 at the ends. 
 
 " The aquarium at the Zoo," muttered Bobus ; and 
 Caroline herself, meeting Allen's eye, could not refrain 
 from adding, 
 
 *' The worms they crawled in, 
 And the worms they crawled out." 
 
 " Mother ! " cried Jock, " I thought you were going 
 to paint it all over with jolly things." 
 
 " Frescoes," said Allen ; " sha'n't you, mother ? " 
 
 "If your uncle does not object," said his mother, 
 choking down a giggle. " Those plaster panels are so 
 tempting for frescoes, Ellen." 
 
 " Frescoes ! Why, those are those horrid improper- 
 looking gods and goddesses in clouds and chariots on 
 the ceilings at Belforest," observed that lady, in a half- 
 puzzled, half-offended tone of voice, that most 
 perilously tickled the fancy of Mother Carey and her 
 brood ! and she could hardly command her voice to 
 make answer, " Never fear, Ellen ; we are not going 
 to attempt allegorical monstrosities, only to make 
 a bower of green leaves and flowers such as we see 
 round us ; though after what we have seen to-day that 
 seems presumptuous enough. Fancy, Janet ! golden 
 green trees and porcelain blue ground, all in one 
 bath of sunshine. Such things must be seen to be 
 believed in."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 10/ 
 
 Poor Mrs. Robert Brownlow ! She went home and 
 sighed, as she said to her husband, " Well, what is to 
 become of those poor things I do not know. One 
 would sometimes think poor Caroline was just a little 
 touched in the head." 
 
 " I hope not," said the Colonel, rather alarmed. 
 
 " It may be only affectation," said his lady, in a 
 consolatory tone. '' I am afraid poor Joe did live with 
 a very odd set of people — artists, and all that kind of 
 thing. I am sure I don't blame her, poor thing ! But 
 she is worse to manage than any child, because you 
 can't bid her mind what she is about, and not talk 
 nonsense. When she leaves her house in such a state, 
 and no one but that poor girl to see to anything, and 
 comes home all over mud, raving about fairy-land, and 
 gold trees and blue ground ; when she has just got 
 into a bog in Belforest coppice — littering the whole 
 place, too, with common wild flowers. If it had been 
 Essie and EUie, I should just have put them in the 
 corner for making such a mess ! " 
 
 The Colonel laughed a little to himself, and said, 
 consolingly, "Well, well, you know all these country 
 things are new to her. You must be patient with 
 her." 
 
 Patient ! That had to be the burthen 'of the song 
 on both sides. Carey was pushing back her hair with 
 a fierce, wild sense of impatience with that calm 
 assumption that fretted her beyond all bearing, and 
 made her feel desolate beyond all else. She would
 
 I08 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 have, she thought, done well enough alone with her 
 children, and scrambled into her new home ; but the 
 directions, however needful, seemed to be continually 
 insulting her understanding. When she was advised 
 as to the best butcher and baker, there was a ring in 
 her ears as if Ellen meant that these were safe men 
 for a senseless creature like her, and she could not 
 encounter them with her orders without wondering 
 whether they had been told to treat her well. 
 
 Indeed, one of the chief drawbacks to Carey's 
 comfort was her difficulty in attending to what her 
 brother "and sister-in-law said to her. Something in 
 the measured tones of the Colonel always made her 
 thoughts wander as from a dull sermon ; and this was 
 more unlucky in his case than in his wife's — for Ellen 
 used such reiterations that there was a fair chance of 
 catching her drift the second or third time, if not the 
 first, whereas all he said was well weighed and 
 arranged, and was only too heavy and sententious. 
 
 Kencroft, the home of the Colonel and his family, 
 Mrs. Robert Brownlow's inheritance, was certainly " a 
 picture of a place." It had probably been an appendage 
 of the old minster, though the house was only of the 
 seventeenth century ; but that was substantial and 
 venerable of its kind, and exceedingly comfortable and 
 roomy, with everything kept in perfect order. Caroline 
 could not quite think the furniture worthy of it, but 
 that was not for want of the desire to do everything 
 handsomely and fashionably. Moreover, in spite of
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. lOQ 
 
 the schoolroom and nurseryful of children, marvels of 
 needlework and knitting adorned every table, chair, 
 and sofa, while even in the midst of the town Ken- 
 croft had its own charming garden ; a lawn, once 
 devoted to bowls and now to croquet, an old-fashioned 
 Availed kitchen garden, sloping up the hill, and a 
 paddock sufficient to make cows and pigs part of the 
 establishment. 
 
 The Colonel had devoted himself to gardening and 
 poultry with the mingled ardour and precision of a 
 man who needed something to supply the place of his 
 soldierly duties ; and though his fervour had relaxed 
 under the influence of ease, gout, and substantial flesh, 
 enough remained to keep up apple-pie order without- 
 doors, and render Kencroft almost a show place. 
 The meadow lay behind the house, and a gravel walk 
 leading along its shaded border opened into the lane 
 about ten yards from the gate of the Pagoda, as 
 Colonel and Mrs. Brownlow and the post office 
 laboured to call it ; the Folly, as came so much more 
 naturally to everyone's lips. It had been the work of 
 the one eccentric man in Mrs. Robert Brownlow's 
 family, and was thus her property. It had hung long 
 on hand, being difficult to let, and after making 
 sufficient additions, it had been decided that, at a 
 nominal rent, it would house the family thrown upon 
 the hands of the good Colonel.
 
 1 10 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE colonel's CHICKENS. 
 
 They censured the bantam for strutting and crowing, 
 In those vile pantaloons that he fancied looked knowing ; 
 And a want of decorum caused many demurs 
 Against the game chicken for coming in spurs. 
 
 The Peacock at HotJie. 
 
 Left to themselves, Mother Carey, with Janet and 
 old nurse, completed their arrangements so well that 
 when Jessie looked in at five o'clock, with a few choice 
 flowers covering a fine cucumber in her basket, she 
 exclaimed in surprise, " How nice you have made it 
 all look, I shall be so glad to tell mamma." 
 
 " Tell her what .'' " asked Janet. 
 
 " That you have really made the room look nice," 
 said Jessie. 
 
 " Thank you," said her cousin, ironically. " You see 
 we have as many hands as other people. Didn't Aunt 
 Ellen think we had ? " 
 
 " Of course she did," said Jessie, a pretty, kindly- 
 creature, but slow of apprehension ; " only she said she 
 was veiy sorry for you." 
 
 "And why .'*" cried Janet, leaping up in indignation. 
 
 " Why ? " interposed Allen, " because we are raw
 
 Ill 
 
 cockneys, who go into raptures over primroses and 
 wild hyacinths ; eh, Jessie ? " 
 
 " Well, you have set them up very nicely," said 
 Jessie ; " but fancy taking so much trouble about 
 common flowers." 
 
 " What would you think worth setting up ? " asked 
 Janet. "A big dahlia, I suppose, or a great red 
 cactus } '* 
 
 " We have a beautiful garden," said Jessie : " papa is 
 very particular about it, and we always get the prize 
 for our flowers. We had the first prizes for hyacinths 
 and forced roses last week, and we should have had 
 the first for forced cucumbers if the gardener at 
 Belforest had not had a spite against Spencer, be- 
 cause he left him for us. Everybody said there was 
 no comparison between the cucumbers, and Mr. Ellis 
 said " 
 
 Janet had found the day before how Jessie could 
 prattle on in an endless quiet stream without heeding 
 whether any one entered into it or replied to it ; but 
 she was surprised at Allen's toleration of it, though 
 he changed the current by saying, " Belforest seems 
 a jolly place." 
 
 " But you've only seen the wood, not the gardens," 
 said Jessie. 
 
 " I went down to the lake with Mr. Ogilvie," said 
 Allen, " and saw something splendiferous looking on 
 the other side." 
 
 " Oh ! they are beautiful ! " cried Janet, " all laid out
 
 112 
 
 in ribbon gardens and with the most beautiful terrace, 
 and a fountain — only that doesn't play except when 
 you give the gardener half-a-crown, and mamma says 
 that is exorbitant — and statues standing all round — 
 real marble statues." 
 
 " Like the groves of Blarney," muttered Janet : 
 
 " Heathen goddesses most rare, 
 Homer, Venus, and Nebuchadnezzar, 
 All standing naked in the open air." 
 
 Allen, seeing Jessie scandalised, diverted her atten- 
 tion by asking, " Whom does it belong to ? " 
 
 " Mr. Barnes," said Jessie ; " but he is hardly ever 
 there. He is an old miser, you know — what they call 
 a millionnaire, or mill-owner ; which is it ? " 
 
 " One is generally the French for the other," put in 
 Janet. 
 
 " Never mind her, Jessie," said Allen, with a look of 
 infinite displeasure at his sister. " What does he do 
 which keeps him away } " 
 
 " I believe he is a great merchant, and is always in 
 Liverpool," said Jessie. "Any way, he is a very cross 
 old man, and won't let anybody go into his park and 
 gardens when he comes down here ; and he is very 
 cruel too, for he disinherited his own nephew and 
 niece for marrying. Only think Mrs. Watson at the 
 grocer's told our Susan that there's a little girl, who 
 is his own great-niece, living down at River Hollow 
 Farm with Mr. and Mrs. Gould, just brought up 
 by common farmers, you know, and he won't take
 
 MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. II 
 
 any notice of her, nor give one farthing for bringing 
 her up. Isn't it shocking ? And even when he is at 
 home, he only has two chops or two steaks, or just 
 a bit of kidney, and that when he is hterally rolHng 
 in gold." 
 
 Jessie opened her large brown eyes to mark her 
 horror, and Allen made a gesture of exaggerated 
 sympathy, which his sister took for more earnest than 
 it was, and she said, scornfully, " I should like to see 
 him literally rolling in gold. It must be like Midas. 
 Do you mean that he sleeps on it, Jessie ? How 
 hard and cold ! " 
 
 "Nonsense," said Jessie ; " you know what I mean." 
 
 " I know what literally rolling in gold means, but I 
 don't know what you mean." 
 
 "Don't bully her, Janet," said Allen ; "we are not 
 so stupid, are we, Jessie ? Come and show me the 
 walnut-tree you were telling me about." 
 
 "What's the matter, Janet.?" said her mother, 
 coming in a moment or two after, and finding her 
 staring blankly out of the window, where the two had 
 made their exit. 
 
 " O mother, Jessie has been talking such gossip, and 
 Allen likes it, and won't have it stopped ! I can't 
 think what makes Allen and Bobus both so foolish 
 whenever she is here." 
 
 " She is a very pretty creature," said Carey, smiling 
 a little. 
 
 "Pretty!" repeated Janet. "What has that to do 
 with it ? " 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " A great deal, as you will have to find out in the 
 course of your Hfe, my dear." 
 
 " I thought only foolish people cared about beauty." 
 
 " It is very convenient for us to think so," said 
 Carey, smiling. 
 
 "But mother — surely eveiybody cares for you just 
 as much or more than if you were a great handsome, 
 stupid creature ! How I hate that word handsome ! " 
 
 " Except for a cab," said Carey. 
 
 "Ah! when shall I see a Hansom again .^" said 
 Janet in a slightly sentimental tone. But she returned 
 to the charge, " Don't go, mother, I want you to 
 answer." 
 
 " Beauty versus brains ! My dear, you had better 
 open your eyes to the truth. You must make up your 
 mind to it. It is only veiy exceptional people who, 
 even in the long run, care most for feminine brains." 
 
 " But, mother, every one did." 
 
 " Every one in our world, Janet ; but your father 
 made our home set of those exceptional people, and 
 we are cast out of it now ! " she added, with a gasp 
 and a gesture of irrepressible desolateness. 
 
 "Yes, that comes of this horrid move," said the 
 
 girl, in quite another tone. " Well, some day " and 
 
 she stopped. 
 
 " Some day ? " said her mother. 
 
 " Some day we'll go back again, and show what we 
 are," she said, proudly. 
 
 "Ah, Janet ! and that's nothing now without himy 
 
 " Mother, how can you say so, when- } " Janet
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. II5 
 
 just checked herself, as she was coming to the great 
 secret. 
 
 "When we have his four boys," said her mother. 
 '''Ah! yes, Janet — if — and when — But that's a long 
 way off, and, to come back to our former subject," she 
 added, recalling herself with a sigh, " it will be wise in 
 us owlets to make up our minds that owlets we are, 
 and to give the place to the eaglets." 
 
 " But eaglets are very ugly, and owlets very pretty," 
 quoth Janet. 
 
 Carey laughed. " That does not seem to have been 
 the opinion of the Beast Epic," said she, and the 
 entrance of Babie prevented them from going further. 
 
 Janet turned away with one of her grim sighs at the 
 unappreciative world to which she was banished. She 
 had once or twice been on the point of mentioning the 
 Magmcm Bojmm to her mother, but the reser\-e at 
 first made it seem as if an avowal would be a con- 
 fession, and to this she could not bend her pride, 
 while the secrecy made a strange barrier between 
 her and her mother. In truth, Janet had never been 
 so devoted to Mother Carey as to either granny or 
 her father, and now she missed them sorely, and felt 
 it almost an injury to have no one but her mother 
 to turn to. 
 
 Her character was not set in the same mould, and 
 though both could meet on the common ground of 
 intellect, she could neither enter into the recesses of 
 her mother's grief, nor understand those flashes of 
 brightness and playfulness which nothing could destroy 
 
 I 2
 
 Il6 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 If Carey had chosen to unveil the truth to herself, 
 she would have owned that Allen, who was always 
 ready, tender and sympathetic to her, was a much 
 greater comfort than his sister ; nay, that even little 
 Babie gave her more rest and peace than did Janet, 
 who always rubbed against her whenever they found 
 themselves tcte-a-tete or in consultation. 
 
 Meantime Babie had been out with her two little 
 cousins, and came home immensely impressed with 
 the Belforest gardens. The house was shut up, but 
 the gardens were really kept up to perfection, and the 
 little one could not declare her full delight in the 
 wonderful blaze she had seen of banks of red, and 
 flame coloured, and white, flowering trees. " They said 
 they would show me the Americans," she said. "Why 
 was it, mother 1 I thought Americans were like the 
 gentleman who dined with you one day, and told me 
 about the snow^ birds. But there were only these 
 flower-trees, and a pond, and statues standing round 
 it, and I don't think they wxre Americans, for I knov/ 
 one was Diana, because she had a bow and quiver. I 
 wanted to look at the rest, but Miss James said they 
 were horrid heathen gods, not fit for little girls to look 
 at ; and, mother, Ellie is so silly, she thought the people 
 at Belforest worshipped them. Do come and see 
 them, mother. It is like the Crystal Palace out-of- 
 doors." 
 
 " Omitting the Crystal," laughed some one ; but 
 Babie had more to say, exclaiming, " O mother, Essie
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 11/ 
 
 says Aunt Ellen says Janet and I are to do lessons 
 with Miss James, but you won't let us, will you ? " 
 
 " Miss James ! " broke out Janet indignantly; "we 
 might as well learn of old nurse ! Why, mother, she 
 can't pronounce French, and she never heard of 
 terminology, and she thinks Edward I. killed the 
 bards!" For the girls had spent a day or two with 
 their cousins in the course of the move. 
 
 "Yes," broke in Barbara, "and she won't let Essie 
 and Ellie teach their dolls their lessons ! She was 
 quite cross when I was showing them how, and said it 
 was all nonsense when I told her I heard you say that 
 I half taught myself by teaching Juliet. And so the 
 poor dolls have no advantages, mother, and are quite 
 stupid for want of education," pursued the little girl, 
 indignantly. " They aren't people, but only dolls, and 
 Essie and Ellie can't do anything with them but just 
 dress them and take them out walking." 
 
 " That's what they would wish to make Babie like ! " 
 said her elder sister. 
 
 "But you'll not let anybody teach me but you, 
 dear, dear Mother Carey," entreated the child. 
 
 "No, indeed, my little one." And just then the 
 boys came rushing in to their evening meal, full of 
 the bird's nest that they had been visiting in their 
 uncle's field, and quite of opinion that Kenminster 
 was " a jolly place." 
 
 "And then," added Jock, "we got the garden engine, 
 and had such fun, you don't know."
 
 Il8 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " Yes," said Bobus, " till you sent a whole cataract 
 against the house, and that brought out her Serene 
 Highness ! " 
 
 The applicability of the epithet set the whole family 
 off into a laugh, and Jock further made up a solemn 
 face, and repeated — 
 
 ** Buff says Buff to all his men, 
 And I say Buff to you again. 
 Buff neither laughs nor smiles, 
 But carries his face 
 With a very good grace." 
 
 It convulsed them all, and the mother, recovering a 
 little, said, " I wonder whether she ever can laugh." 
 
 " Poor Aunt Ellen ! " said Babie, in all her gravity ; 
 "she is like King Henry I. and never smiled again." 
 
 And with more wit than prudence, Mrs. Buff, her 
 Serene Highness, Sua Serenita, as Janet made it, 
 became the sobriquets for Aunt Ellen, and were in 
 continual danger of oozing out publicly. Indeed the 
 younger population at Kencroft probably soon be- 
 came aware of them, for on the next half-holiday Jock 
 crept in with unmistakable tokens of combat about 
 him, and on interrogation confessed, " It was Johnnie, 
 mother. Because we wanted you to come out walking 
 .with us, and he said 'twas no good walking with one's 
 mother, and I told him he didn't know what a really 
 jolly mother was, and that his mother couldn't laugh, 
 and that you said so, and he said my mother was no 
 better than a tomboy, and that she said so, and 
 so "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. II9 
 
 And so, the effects were apparent on Jock's torn 
 and stained collar and swelled nose. 
 
 But the namesake champions remained unconvinced, 
 except that Johnnie may have come over to the 
 opinion that a mother no better than a tomboy was 
 not a bad possession, for the three haunted the 
 "Folly" a good deal, and made no objection to their 
 aunt's company after the first experiment. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, their assurances that their 
 mother could laugh as well as other people were not so 
 conclusive but that Jock made it his business to do his 
 utmost to produce a laugh, in which he was apt to be 
 signally unsuccessful, to his own great surprise, though 
 to that of no one else. For instance, two or three 
 days later, when his mother and Allen were eating 
 solemnly a dinner at Kencroft, by way of farewell 
 ere Allen's return to Eton, an extraordinarily frightful 
 noise was heard in the poultry yard, where dwelt 
 various breeds of Uncle Robert's prize fowls. 
 
 Thieves — foxes — dogs — what could it be ? Even 
 the cheese and celery were deserted, and out rushed 
 servants, master, mistress, and guests, being joined by 
 the two girls from the school-room ; but even then 
 Carey was struck by the ominous absence of boys. 
 The poultry house door was shut — locked — but the 
 noises within wxre more and more frightful — of con- 
 vulsive cocks and hysterical hens, mingled with human 
 scufPiings and hushes and snortings and snigglings 
 that made the elders call out in various tones of
 
 120 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 remonstrance and reprobation, '' Boys, have done ! 
 Come out ! Open the door." 
 
 A small hatch door was opened, a flourish on a tin 
 trumpet was heard, and out darted. In an Elizabethan 
 ruff and cap, a respectable Dorking mother of the 
 yard, cackling her displeasure, and instantly dashing 
 to the top of the wall, followed at once by a stately 
 black Spaniard, decorated with a lace mantilla of cut 
 paper off a French plum box, squauking and curtseying. 
 Then came a dapper pullet, with a doll's hat on her 
 unwilling head, &c., &c. 
 
 The outsiders were choking with breathless surprise 
 at first, then the one lady began indignantly to ex- 
 claim, " Now, boys ! Have done — let the poor things 
 alone. Come out this minute." The other fairly 
 reeled against the wall with laughter, and Janet and 
 Jessie screamed at each fresh appearance, till they 
 made as much noise as the outraged chickens, though 
 one shrieked with dismay, the other with diversion. 
 At last the Colonel, slower of foot than the rest, 
 arrived on the scene, just as the pride of his heart, the 
 old King Chanticleer of the yard, made his exit, 
 draped in a royal red paper robe and a species of 
 tinsel crown, out of which his red face looked most 
 ludicrous as he came halting and stupefied, having 
 evidently been driven up in a corner and pinched 
 rather hard ; but close behind him, chuckling forth his 
 terror and flapping his wings, came the pert little 
 white bantam, belted and accoutred as a pacre.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 121 
 
 Colonel Brownlow's severe command to open the 
 door was not resisted for one moment, and forth rushed 
 a cloud of dust and feathers, a quacking Avaggling 
 substratum of ducks, and a screaming flapping rabble 
 of chickens, behind whom, when the mist cleared, were 
 seen, looking as if they had been tarred and feathered, 
 various black and grey figures, which developed into 
 Jock, Armlne, Robin, Johnny, and Joe. Jock, the 
 foremost, stared straight up in his aunt's face, Armlne 
 ran to his mother with — " Did you see the old king, 
 
 mother, and his little page ? Wasn't It funny " 
 
 But he was stopped by the sight of his uncle, who laid 
 hold of his eldest son with a fierce " How dare you, 
 sir ? " and gave him a shake and blow. Robin stood 
 with a sullen look on his face, and hands in his pockets, 
 and his brothers followed suit. Armlne hid his face 
 in his mother's dress, and burst out crying ; but Jock 
 stepped forth and, with that impish look of fearless- 
 ness, said, " I did it, Uncle Robert ! I wanted to 
 make Aunt Ellen laugh. Did she laugh, mother } " 
 he asked in so comical and innocent a manner that, in 
 spite of her full consciousness of the heinousness of 
 the offence, and its general unluckiness, Mother Carey 
 was almost choked. This probably added to the 
 gravity with which the other lady decreed with Juno- 
 like severity, " Robin and John must be flogged. Joe 
 is too young." 
 
 " Certainly," responded the Colonel ; but Caroline, 
 instead of, as they evidently expected of her, at once
 
 122 
 
 offering up her victim, sprang forward with eager, 
 tearful pleadings, declaring it was all Jock's fault, and 
 he did not know how naughty it was — but all in vain. 
 " Robert knew. He ought to have stopped it," said 
 the Colonel. " Go to the study, you two." 
 
 Jock did not act as the generous hero of romance 
 would have done, and volunteer to share the flogging. 
 He cowered back on his mother, and put his arm 
 round her waist, while she said, " Jock told the truth, 
 so I shall not ask you to flog him. Uncle Robert. He 
 shall not do such mischief again." 
 
 " If he does," said his uncle, with a look as if her 
 consent would not be asked to what would follow.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 23 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE FOLLY. 
 
 There will we sit upon the rocks, 
 And see the shepherds feed their flocks 
 By summer rivers, by whose falls 
 Melodious birds sing madrigals. — Marlcnve. 
 
 *' How does my little schoolfellow get on ? " asked 
 Mary Ogilvie, when she had sat down for her first 
 meal with her brother in her summer holidays. 
 
 " Much as Ariel did in the split pine, I fancy." 
 
 " For shame, David ! I'm afraid you are teaching 
 her to see Sycorax and Caliban in her neighbours." 
 
 " Not I ! How should I ever see her ! Do you 
 hear from her ? " 
 
 " Sometimes ; and I heard of her from the Actons, 
 who had an immense regard for her husband, who, 
 they say, was a very superior man." 
 
 " It is hardly necessary to be told so." 
 
 " They mean to take lodgings somewhere near here 
 this next month, and see what they can do to cheer 
 her in her present life, which must be the greatest 
 possible contrast to her former one. Do you wish to 
 set out on our expedition before August, Davie ? I 
 should like you to see them."
 
 124 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 "By all means let us wait for them. Indeed I 
 should not be at liberty till the last week in July." 
 
 " And how go the brains of Kenminster } You look 
 enlivened since last time I saw you." 
 
 " It is the infusion the brains have received. That 
 one woman has made more difference to the school 
 than I could have done in ten years." 
 
 "You find her boys, at any rate, pupils worth 
 teaching." 
 
 " More than that. Of course it is something to have 
 a fellow capable of ideas before one ; but besides that, 
 lads who had gone on contentedly at their own level 
 have had to bestir themselves not to be taken down 
 by him. When he refused to have it forced upon him 
 that study was not the thing at Kenminster, they 
 found the only way to make him know his place was 
 to keep theirs, and some of them have really found 
 the use of their wits, and rejoice in them. Even in 
 the lower form, the Colonel's second boy has developed 
 an intellect. Then the way those boys bring their 
 work prepared has raised the standard ! " 
 
 " I heard something of that on my way." 
 
 "You did.?" 
 
 " Yes ; two ladies were in full career of talk when 
 the train stopped at the Junction, and I heard — 'I am 
 always obliged to spend one hour every evening 
 seeing that Arthur knows his lessons. So troublesome, 
 3^ou know ; but since that Mrs. Joseph Brownlow has 
 come, she helps her boys so with their home-work 
 that the others have not a chance if one docs not
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. 12$ 
 
 look to it oneself.' Then it appeared that she told 
 Mr. Ogilvie it wasn't fair, and that he would give her 
 no redress." 
 
 " Absurd woman ! It is not a matter of unfairness^ 
 as I told her. They don't get help in sums or 
 exercises ; they only have grammar to learn and con- 
 struing to prepare, and all my concern is that it should 
 be got up thoroughly. If their mothers help them, so 
 much the better." 
 
 "The mothers don't seem to think so. However, 
 she branched off into incredulity that Mrs. Joe Brownlow 
 could ever really teach her children anything, for she 
 was always tramping all over the country with them 
 at all hours of the day and night. She has met her 
 herself, with all those boys after her, three miles from 
 home, in a great straw hat, when her husband hadn't 
 been dead a year." 
 
 " I'm sure she is always in regulation veils, and all 
 the rest of it, at Church, if that's what you ladies want." 
 
 " But the crown of the misdoings seemed to be that 
 she had been met at some old castle, sacred to picnics, 
 alone with her children — no party nor anything. I 
 could not make out whether the offence consisted in 
 making the ruin too cheap, or in caring for it for its 
 own sake, and not as a lion for guests." 
 
 "The latter probably. She has the reputation of 
 being very affected ! ! ! " 
 
 " Poor dear ! I heard that she was a great trial to 
 dear Mrs. Brownlow," said Mary, in an imitative voice.
 
 126 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 ''Why, do you know, she sometimes is up and out 
 with her children before six o'clock in the morning ; 
 and then Colonel Brownlow went In one day at twelve 
 o'clock, and found the whole family fast asleep on 
 different sofas." 
 
 " The sensible way, too, to spend such days as these. 
 To go out in the cool of the morning, and take a siesta^ 
 is the only rational plan ! " 
 
 " I'm afraid one must conform to one's neighbours' 
 ways." 
 
 " Trust a woman for being conventional." 
 
 " I confess I did not like the tone in which my poor 
 Carey was spoken of I am afraid she can hardly 
 have taken care enough not to be thought flighty." 
 
 " Mary ! you are as absurd as the rest of them ! " 
 
 " Why ? what have you seen of her } " 
 
 " Nothing, I tell you, except once meeting her in the 
 street, and once calling on her to ask whether her boy 
 should learn German." And David Ogilvie spoke 
 with a vehemence that somewhat startled his sister. 
 
 It was a July evening, and though the walls of the 
 schoolmaster's house were thick, it was sultry enough 
 within to lead the brother and sister out immediately 
 after dinner, looking first into the play-fields, where 
 cricket was of course going on among the bigger boys, 
 but where Mary looked in vain for her friend's sons. 
 
 " No, they are not much of cricketers," said her 
 brother ; " they are small for it yet, and only take 
 their turn in watching-out by compulsion. I wish the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 12/ 
 
 senior had more play in him. Shall we walk on by 
 the river } " 
 
 So they did, along a paved causeway which 
 presently got clear of the cottages and gables of old 
 factories, and led along, with the brightly glassy sheet 
 of water on one side, and the steep wooded slope on 
 the other, loose-strife and meadow-sweet growing 
 thickly on the bank, amid long weeds with feathery 
 tops, rich brown fingers of sedge, and bur-reeds like 
 German morgensterns, while above the long wreaths 
 of dog-roses projected, the sweet honeysuckle twined 
 about, and the white blossoms of traveller's-joy hung 
 in festoons from the hedge of the bordering plantation. 
 After a time they came on a kind of glade, opening 
 upwards though the wood, with one large oak-tree 
 standing alone in the centre, and behold ! on the grass 
 below sat or lay a company — Mrs. Joseph Brownlow 
 in the midst, under the obnoxious mushroom-hat, 
 reading aloud. Radiating from her were five boys, the 
 biggest of all on his back, with his hat over his eyes, 
 fast asleep ; another cross-legged, with a basket between 
 his knees, dividing his attention between it and the 
 book ; two more lying frog-like, with elbows on the 
 ground, feet erected behind them, chin in hand, 
 devouring the narrative with their eyes ; the fifth 
 wriggling restlessly about, evidently in search of 
 opportunities of mischief or of tormenting tricks. Just 
 within earshot, but sketching the picturesque wooden 
 bridge below, sat one girl. The little one, with her
 
 128 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 youngest brother, was close at their mother's feet, 
 threading flowers to make a garland. It was a pretty 
 sight, and so intent were most of the party on their 
 occupations that they never saw the pair on the bank 
 till Joe, the idler, started and rolled round with 
 "Hollo!" when all turned, it may be feared with 
 muttered growls from some of the boys ; but Carey 
 herself gave a cry of joy, ran down the bank like a 
 girl, and greeted Mary Ogilvie with an eager embrace. 
 
 " You are holding a Court here," said the school- 
 master. 
 
 " We have had tea out here. It is too hot for 
 indoors, and I am reading them the * Water Babies.' " 
 
 " To a large audience, I see." 
 
 " Yes, and some of which are not quite sure whether 
 it is fact or fiction. Come and sit down." 
 
 " The boys will hate us for breaking up their 
 reading," said Mary. 
 
 " Why should not we listen ! " said her brother. 
 " Don't disturb yourselves, boys ; we've met before 
 to-day." 
 
 Bobus and Jock were, however, on their feet, and 
 Johnny had half risen ; Robin lay still snoring, and 
 Joe had retreated into the wood from the alarming 
 spectacle of " the schoolmaster abroad." 
 
 After a greeting to the two girls, who comported 
 themselves, according to their ages, as young ladies 
 might be expected to do, the Ogilvies found accom- 
 modation on the roots of the tree, and listened. The
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 29 
 
 •''Water Babies" were then new, and Mr. Ogilvie had 
 never heard them. Luckily the reading had just come 
 to the history of the " Do as You Likes," and the 
 interview between the last of the race and M. Du 
 Chaillu diverted him beyond measure. He laughed 
 so much over the poor fellow's abortive attempt to 
 say " Am I not a man and a brother } " that his three- 
 scholars burst out into a second edition of shouts of 
 laughter at the sight of him, and thus succeeded in 
 waking Robin, who, after a great contortion, sat up on 
 the gras.s, and, rubbing his eyes, demanded in an 
 injured tone what was the row ? 
 
 " * The Last of the Do as You Likes,' " said Armine. 
 
 " Oh I say — isn't it jolly," cried Jock, beating his 
 "breast gorilla-fashion and uttering a wild murmur of 
 "' Am I not a man and a brother } " then tumbling 
 head over heels, half in ecstasy, half in imitation of 
 ihe fate of the Do as You Like, setting everybody off 
 into fits again. 
 
 "It's just what Robin is coming to," observed 
 Bobus, as his namesake stretched his arms and 
 delivered himself of a waking howl ; then suddenly 
 becoming conscious of Mr. Ogilvie, he remained 
 petrified, with one arm fully outstretched, the other 
 still lifted to his head. 
 
 '' Never mind, Brownlow maximus," said his master ; 
 ■•' it was hardly fair to surprise you in private life, 
 -was it r' 
 
 The boy made no answer, but scrambled up, sheepish 
 
 VOL. T. K
 
 I30 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 and disconcerted ; and indeed the sun was entirely 
 down and the dew almost falling, so that the mother 
 called to the young ones to gather up their things 
 and come home. 
 
 Such a collection ! Bobus picked up a tin-case and 
 basket full of flowers, interspersed with bottles of 
 swimming insects. The trio and Armine shouldered 
 their butterfly-nets, and had a distribution of pill-boxes 
 and bottles, in some of which were caterpillars in- 
 tended to live, in others butterflies dead (or dying, it 
 may be feared) of laurel leaves. Babie had a mighty 
 nosegay ; Janet put up the sketch, which showed a 
 good deal of power ; and the whole troop moved up 
 the slope to go home by the lanes. 
 
 " What collectors you are ! " said Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 " For the museum," answered Armine, eagerly. 
 
 " Haven't you seen our museum } " cried Barbara,. 
 Viho had taken his hand. " Oh, it is such a beauty I 
 We have got an Orobanche major, only it is not dry 
 yet." 
 
 " I'm afraid Babie likes fine words," said her 
 mother ; " but our museum is a great amusement to 
 us Londoners." 
 
 They all walked home together, talking merrily, 
 and Mr. and Miss Ogilvie came in with them, on 
 special entreaty, to share the supper — milk, fruit, bread 
 and butter and cheese, and sandwiches, which was 
 laid out on the round table in the octagon vestibule, 
 which formed the lowest story of the tower. It was
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. I3I 
 
 partaken of standing, or sitting at ease on the window- 
 seats, a form or two, an old cai-ved chair, or on the 
 stairs, the children ascending them after their meal, 
 and after securing in their own fashion their treasures 
 for the morrow. The two cousins had already bidden 
 good-night at the gate and gone home, and the 
 Ogilvies followed their example in ten minutes, 
 Caroline begging Mary to come up to her as soon as 
 Mr. Ogilvie was disposed of by school hours. 
 
 " But you will be busy ^ " said Mary. 
 
 " Never mind, I am afraid we are not very regular," 
 said Carey. 
 
 It was by this time ten o'clock, and the two younger 
 children were still to be heard shouting to one another 
 up stairs about the leaves for their chrysalids. So 
 when Mary came up the hill at half-past ten the next 
 morning, she was the less surprised to find these two 
 only just beginning breakfast, Vv'hile their mother was 
 sitting at the end of the table knitting, and hearing 
 Janet repeat German poetr}^ The boys had long 
 been in school. 
 
 Caroline jumped up and threw her arms round 
 Mary's neck, declaring that now they would enjoy 
 themselves. "We are ver}^ late," she added, "but 
 these late walks make the little people sleep, and I 
 think it is better for them than tossing: about, hot 
 and cross." 
 
 Mary was father entertained at this new code, but 
 s:iid nothing, as Carey pointed out to the children how 
 
 ]; 2
 
 132 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 they were to occupy themselves under Janet's charge, 
 and the work they had to do showed that for then- 
 age they had lost no time. 
 
 The drawing-room showed indeed a contrast to the 
 chaotic state in which it had been left. It was 
 wonderfully pleasant-looking. The windows of the 
 deep bay were all open to the lawn, shaded with 
 blinds projecting out into the garden, where the parrot 
 sat perched on her pole ; pleasant nooks were arranged 
 in the two sides of the bay window, with light chairs 
 and small writing-tables, each with its glass of flowers ; 
 the piano stood across the arc, shutting off these 
 windows into almost a separate room ; low book-cases, 
 with chiffonier cupboards and marble tops, ran round 
 the walls, surmounted with many artistic ornaments. 
 The central table was crowned with a tall glass of 
 exquisitely-arranged grasses and wild flowers, and 
 the choice and graceful nicknacks round it were such 
 as might be traced to a London life in the artist 
 world, and among grateful patients. 
 
 Brackets with vases and casts here and there pro- 
 jected from the walls, and some charming crayons 
 and water-colours hung round them. The plastered 
 walls had already been marked out in panels, and a 
 growth of frescoes of bulrushes, ivy, and leaves of all 
 kinds was beginning to overspread them, while on a 
 nearer inspection the leaves proved to be fast becoming 
 peopled with living portraits of butterflies and other 
 insects ; indeed Mary started at finding herself in, as
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 133 
 
 she thought, unpleasant proximity to a pair of 
 cockchafers. 
 
 " Ah ! I tell the children that we shall be suspected 
 of putting those creatures there as a trial to the old 
 ladies' nerves," said Caroline, laughing. 
 
 " I confess they are startling to those who don't like 
 creeping things ! Have you many old ladies, Carey .'' " 
 
 "Not very many. I fancy they don't take to me 
 more than I take to them, so we are mutually 
 satisfied." 
 
 " But is that a good thing ? " said Mary anxiously. 
 
 "I don't know," said Carey, indifferently. "At 
 least I do know," she added, "that I always used to 
 be told I didn't try to make small talk, and I can do 
 it less than ever now that it is the smallest of small, 
 and my heart faints from it. Oh Mary ! " 
 
 " My poor dear Caroline ! But you say that you 
 were told you ought to do it } " 
 
 " Well, yes. Dear granny wished it ; but I think 
 that was rather with a view to Joe's popularity, and 
 we haven't any patients to think of now. I should 
 think the less arrant gossip the children heard, the 
 better." 
 
 " But is it well to let them despise everybody } " 
 
 " Then the less they see of them, the better ! " 
 
 " For shame, Carey ! " 
 
 "Well, Mary, I dare say I am naughty. I do feel 
 naughtier now than ever I did in my life ; but I can't 
 help it ! It just makes me mad to be worried or tied
 
 134 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 down," and she pushed back her hair so that her 
 unfortunate cap was only withheld from tumbllng 
 entirely off by the pin that held it. 
 
 " Oh, that wretched cap ! " she cried, jumping up, 
 petulantly, and going to the glass to set it to rights, 
 but with so hasty a hand that the pin became entangled 
 in her hair, and it needed Mary's quiet hand to set it 
 to rights; "it's just an emblem of all the rest of it ; 
 I wouldn't wear it another day, but that I'm afraid of 
 Ellen and Robert, and it perfectly drives me wild. 
 And I know Joe couldn't have borne to see me in it." 
 At the Irishism of which she burst out laughing, and 
 laughed herself into the tears that had never come 
 when they were expected of her. 
 
 Mary caressed and soothed her, and told her she 
 could well guess it was sadder to her now than even 
 at first. 
 
 " Well, it is," said Carey, looking up. " If one was 
 sent out to sea in a boat, it wouldn't be near so bad 
 as long as one could see the dear old shore still, as 
 when one had got out — out into the wide open — with 
 nothing at all." 
 
 And she stretched out her hands with a dreary, 
 yearning gesture into the vacant space, such as it went 
 to her friend's heart to see. 
 
 " Ah ! but there's a haven at the end." 
 
 " I suppose there is," said Carey ; " but it's a long 
 way off, and there's dying first, and when people want 
 to begin about it, they get so conventional, and if
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV S LROOD. I 35 
 
 there's one thing above another that I can't stand, it 
 is being bored." 
 
 " My poor child ! " 
 
 "There, don't be angr}' with me, because I'm teUing 
 you just what I am ! " 
 
 Before any more could be said Janet opened the 
 door, sa}-ing, " ^Mother, Emma wants to see you.'' 
 
 '' Oh ! I forgot," cried Carey, hurrying off, while 
 Janet came forward to the guest in her grown-up wa\-. 
 and asked — 
 
 "Have you been to the Water-Colour Exhibition. 
 Miss Ogilvie ? " 
 
 "Yes; ]Mr. Acton took me one Saturday afternoon." 
 
 " Oh ! then he would be sure to show you Xita 
 Ray's picture. I want so much to know how it strikes 
 people." 
 
 And Janet had plunged into a regular conversation 
 about exhibitions, pictures, artists, concerts, lectures. 
 &c., before her mother came back, talking with all the 
 eagerness of an exile about her native countr}-. As a 
 governess in her school-room, ^Miss Ogilvie had had 
 little more than a key-hole view of all these things ; 
 but then what she had seen and heard had been 
 chiefly through the Actons, and thus coincided with 
 Janet's own side of the world, and they were in full 
 discussion when Caroline came back. 
 
 "There, I've disposed of the butcher and baker! " 
 she said. *' Now we can be comfortable again.' 
 
 Mary expected Janet to repair to her own lessons,
 
 I 36 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 or to listen to those scales which Babie might be heard 
 from a distance playing ; but she only appealed to her 
 mother about some picture of last year, and sat down 
 to her drawing, while the conversation on pictures 
 and books continued in animated style. So far from 
 sending her away, Mary fancied that Carey was 
 rather glad to keep to surface matters, and to be pre- 
 vented from another outbreak of feeling. 
 
 The next interruption was from the children, each 
 armed with a pile of open books on the top of a slate. 
 Carey begged Mary to wait, and went outside the 
 window with them, sitting down under a tree whence 
 the murmured sounds of repetition could be heard, 
 lasting about twenty minutes between the two, and 
 then she returned, the little ones jumping on each 
 side of her, Armine begging that Miss Ogilvie would 
 come and see the museum, and Barbara saying that 
 Jock wanted to help to show it off. 
 
 "Well, run now and put your own corners tidy," 
 suggested their mother. " If Jock does not stay in 
 the playground, he will come back in a quarter of 
 an hour." 
 
 " And Mr. Ogilvie will come then. I invited him." 
 said Babie. 
 
 At which Carey laughed incredulously ; but Janet, 
 observing that she must go and see that the children 
 did not do more harm than good, walked off, and 
 Mary said — 
 
 " I should not wonder if he did act on the invitation."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 37 
 
 " I hope he will. It would have only been civil in 
 me to have asked him, considering that I have taken 
 possession of you," said Caroline. 
 
 " I fully expect to see him on Miss Barbara's 
 invitation. Do you know, Carey, he says you have 
 transformed his school." 
 
 " Translated it, like Bottom the Weaver." 
 
 " In the reverse direction. He says you have made 
 the mothers see to their boys' preparation, and wakened 
 up the intellects." 
 
 " Have I } I thought I had only kept my own boys up 
 to the mark. Yes, and there's Johnny. Do you know, 
 Mary, it is very funny, but that boy Johnny has adopted 
 me. He comes after me everywhere like a shadow, 
 and there's nothing he won't do for me, even learning 
 his lessons. You see the poor boy has a good deal of 
 native sense, Brownlow sense, and mind had been more 
 stifled than wanting in him. Nobody had ever put 
 things to him by the right end, and when he once let 
 me do it for him, it was quite a revelation, and he has 
 been so happy and prosperous that he hardly know.s 
 himself. Poor boy, there is something very honest and 
 true about him, and so affectionate ! He is a little 
 like his uncle, and I can't help being fond of him. 
 Then Robin is just as devoted to Jock, though I 
 can't say the results are so very desirable, for Jock 
 is a monkey, I must confess, and it is irresistible to 
 a monkey to have a bear that he can lead to do
 
 138 MAGNUM BON UM; 
 
 anything. I hear that Robin used to be the good 
 boy of the establishment, and I am afraid he is not 
 that now." 
 
 " But can't you stop that .?" 
 
 " My dear, nobody could think of Jock's devices so 
 as to stop them, who had not his own monkey brain. 
 Who would have thought of his getting the whole set 
 to dress up as nigger singers, with black faces and 
 banjoes, and coming to dance and sing in front of the 
 windows ? " 
 
 " There wasn't much harm in that." 
 
 " There wouldn't have been if it had been only here. 
 And, oh dear, the irresistible fun of Jock's capering 
 antics, and Rob moving by mechanism, as stiff and 
 obedient as the giant porter to Flibbertigibbet." Carey 
 stopped to laugh. " But then I never thought of their 
 going on to present themselves to Ellen in the middle 
 of a mighty and solemn dinner party ! All the 
 grandees, the county people (this in a deep and awful 
 voice), sitting up in their chignons of state, in the awful 
 pause during the dishing-up, when these five little 
 wretches, in finery filched from the rag bag, appear on 
 the smooth lawn, mown and trimmed to the last extent 
 for the occasion, and begin to strike up at their shrillest, 
 close to the open widow. Ellen rises with great 
 dignity. I fancy I can see her, sending out to order 
 them off. And then, oh dear, Jock only hopping more 
 frantically than ever round the poor man the hired
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 39 
 
 Avaiter, who, you must know, is the undertaker's chief 
 mute, and singing — 
 
 * Leedle, leedle, leedle, 
 
 Our cat's dead. 
 What did she die wi' ? 
 
 \Vi' a sair head. 
 A' you that kenned her 
 
 While she was alive, 
 Come to her burying 
 
 At half-past five.' 
 
 And then the Colonel, bestirring himself to the rescue, 
 with 'go away boys, or I'll send for the police.' And 
 then the discovery, when in the height of his wrath, 
 Jock perked up, and said, ' I thought you would like 
 to have the ladies amused. Uncle Robert.' He did 
 box his ears then — small blame to him, I must say. I 
 could stand that better than the jaw Ellen gave us 
 afterwards. I beg your pardon, Mary, but it really 
 was one. She thinks us far gone in the ways of 
 depravity, and doesn't willingly let her little girls come 
 near us." 
 
 " Isn't that a pity } " 
 
 " I don't know ; Essie and Ellie have feelings in their 
 clothes, and don't like our scrambling walks, and if Ellie 
 does get allured by our wicked ways, she is sure to be 
 torn, or splashed, or something, and we have shrieks 
 and lamentations, and accusations of Jock and Joe, 
 amid floods of tears ; and Jessie comes to the rescue, 
 primly shaking her head and coaxing her little sister, 
 while she brings out a needle and thread. I can't
 
 I40 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 help it, Mary. It does aggravate me to look at 
 her ! " 
 
 Mary could only shake her head with a mixture of 
 pity, reproof, and amusement, and as a safer subject 
 could not help asking — 
 
 " By the bye, why do you confuse your friends by 
 having all the two families named in pairs ? " 
 
 "We didn't know we were going to live close 
 together," said Carey. " But the fact is that the Janets 
 were named after their fathers' only sister, who seems 
 to have been an equal darling to both. We would 
 have avoided Robert, but we found that it would have 
 been thought disrespectful not to call the boy after 
 his grandfather and uncle." 
 
 " And Bobus is a thoroughly individual name." 
 
 " Then Jock's name is John Lucas, and we did mean 
 to call him by the second, but it wouldn't stick. 
 Names won't sometimes, and there's a formality in 
 Lucas that would never fit that skipjack of a boy. He 
 got called Jock as a nickname, and now he will abide 
 by it. But Joseph Armine's second name does fit him, 
 and so we have kept to it ; and Barbara was dear 
 grandmamma's own name, and quite our own." 
 
 Therewith Babie rushed downstairs with " He's 
 coming, Mother Carey," and darted out at the house- 
 door to welcome Mr. Ogilvie at the gate, and lead him 
 in in triumph, attended by her two brothers. The 
 two ladies laughed, and Carey said, with a species of 
 proud apology —
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 14I 
 
 " Poor children, you see they have been used to be 
 noticed by clever men." 
 
 " Mr. Ogilvie is come to see our museum," cried 
 Babie, in her patronising tone, jumping and dancing 
 round during his greetings and remarks that he hoped 
 he might take advantage of her invitation ; he had been 
 thinking whether to begin a school museum would not 
 be a very good thing for the boys, and serve to open 
 their minds to common things. On which, before any 
 one else could answer, the parrot, in a low and senten- 
 tious tone, observed, " Excellent." 
 
 " There, you have the consent of your first acquaint- 
 ance," said Carey, while the bird, excited by one of 
 those mysterious likings that her kind are apt to take, 
 held her grey head to Mr. Ogilvie to be scratched, 
 chuckling out, "All Mother Carey's chickens;" and 
 Janet exclaimed — 
 
 " That's an adoption." 
 
 The troop were climbing the stairs to the third story, 
 where Armine and Bobus were already within an 
 octagon room, corresponding to the little hall below, 
 and fitted with presses and shelves, belonging to the 
 store-room of the former thrifty inhabitant ; but now 
 divided between the six children. Mother Carey, as 
 Babie explained, being " Mine own, and helping me 
 more specially." 
 
 The table was likewise common to all ; but one of 
 the laws of the place was that everything left there after 
 twelve o'clock on Saturday was, as Babie's little mouth
 
 142 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 rolled out the long words, " confiscated by the inexor- 
 able Eumenides." 
 
 "And who are they?" asked Mr. Ogllvie, who was 
 always much entertained by the simplicity with which 
 the little maid uttered the syllables as if they were her 
 native speech. 
 
 "Janet, and Nurse, and Emma," she said ; " and they 
 really are inex-o-rable. They threw away my snail 
 shell that a thrush had been eating, though I begged 
 and prayed them." 
 
 "Yes, and my femur of a rabbit," said Armine, 
 ''and said it was a nasty old bone, and the baker's 
 Pincher ate it up ; but I did find my turtle-dove's 
 egg in the ash-heap, and discovered it over again, 
 and you don't see it is broken nov/ ; it is stuck down 
 on a card." 
 
 "Yes," said his mother, " it is wonderful how valuable 
 things become precisely at twelve on Saturday." 
 
 Each had some department : Janet's, which was 
 geology, was the fullest, as she had inherited some 
 youthful hoards of her father's ; Bobus's, which was 
 botany, was the neatest and most systematic. Maiy 
 thought at first that it did not suit him ; but she soon 
 saw that with him it was not love of flowers, but the 
 study of botany. He pronounced Jock's butterflies to 
 be perfectly disgraceful. 
 
 "You said you'd see to them," returned Jock. 
 "Yes, I shall take up insects when I have done with 
 plants," said Bobus, coolly.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. I43 
 
 "And say, 'Solomon, I have surpassed thee'?" 
 asked Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 Bobus looked as if he did not like it ; but his mother 
 shook her head at him as one who "vvell deserved the 
 little rebuke for self-sufficiency. There was certainly 
 a w^onderful winning way about her — there was a 
 simplicity of manner almost like that of Babie herself, 
 and yet the cleverness of a highly-educated woman. 
 Mary Ogilvie did not wonder at what Mr. and Mrs. 
 Acton had said of the charm of that unpretending 
 household, now broken up. 
 
 There was, too, the perception that, beneath the 
 surface on which, like the children, she played so 
 lightly, there were depths of sorrow that might not be 
 stirred, which added a sweetness and pathos to all she 
 said and did. 
 
 Of many a choice curiosity the children said, in 
 lowered tones of reverence, that " he found it ; " and 
 these she would not allow to be passed over, but showed 
 fondly off in all their best points, telling their story as 
 if she loved to dwell upon it. 
 
 Barbara, who had specially fastened herself on Mr. 
 Ogilvie," according to the modern privileges of small 
 girls, after having much amused him by doing the 
 honours of her own miscellaneous treasury. Insisted on 
 exhibiting " Mother Carey's studio." 
 
 Caroline tried to declare that this meant nothing 
 deserving of so grand a name ; it was only the family 
 resort for mal:ing messes in. She never touched clay
 
 144 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 now, and there was nothing worth seeing ; but it was 
 in vain ; Babie had her way ; and they mounted to 
 the highest stage of the pagoda, where the eaves and 
 the twisted monsters that supported them were in 
 close juxtaposition with the four windows. 
 
 The view was a grand one. Belforest Park on the 
 one side, the town almost as if in a pit below, with 
 a bird's-eye prospect of the roofs, the gardens and 
 the school-yard, the leaden-covered church, lying like 
 a great grey beetle with outspread wings. Beyond 
 were the ups-and-downs of a wooded, hilly country, 
 with glimpses of blue river here and there, and village 
 and town gleaming out white ; a large house, 
 "bosomed high in tufted trees;" a church-tower and 
 spire, nestled on the hill-side, up to the steep grey hill 
 with the tall land-mark tower, closing in the horizon — 
 altogether, as Carey said, a thorough " allegro " land- 
 scape, even to "the tanned haycock in the mead." 
 But the summer sun made the place dazzling and 
 almost uninhabitable, and the visitors, turning from the 
 glare, could hardly see the casts and models that filled 
 the shelves ; nor was there anything in hand ; so that 
 they let themselves be hurried away to share the mid- 
 day meal, after which Mr. Ogilvie and the boys betook 
 themselves to the school, and Carey and her little ones 
 to the shade of the garden-wall, to finish their French 
 r-eading, while Mary wondered the less at the Ken- 
 minster ladies.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 145 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FLIGHTS. 
 
 Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers 
 at this time of night ? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in 
 
 you t—T-cvelfth- Night. 
 
 The summer holidays not only brought home Allen 
 j^rownlow from Eton, but renewed his mother's inter- 
 course with several of her friends, who so contrived 
 their summer outing as to " see how poor little Mrs. 
 Brownlow was getting on," and she hailed them as 
 fragments of her dear old former life. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Acton came to a farmhouse at Redford, 
 about a mile and a half off, where Mr. Acton was to 
 lay up a store of woodland and home sketches, and 
 there were daily meetings for walks, and often out-of- 
 door meals. Mr. Ogilvie declared that he was thus 
 much more rested than by a long expedition in foreign 
 scenery, and he and his sister stayed on, and usually 
 joined in the excursion, whether it were premeditated 
 or improvised, on foot, into copse or glade, or by train 
 or waggonette, to ruined abbey or cathedral town. 
 
 Then came two sisters, whom old Mrs. Brownlow 
 had befriended when the elder was struggling, as a 
 daily governess, to provide home and education for the 
 
 VOL. L L
 
 146 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 younger. Now, the one was a worthy, hard-working- 
 law-copier, the other an artist in a small way, who had 
 transmogrified her name of Jane into Juanita or Nita, 
 wore a crop, short petticoats, and was odd. She 
 treated Janet on terms of equal friendship, and 
 was thus a much more charming companion than 
 Jessie. They always came into cheap sea-side lodgings 
 in the vacation, but this year had settled themselves 
 within ten minutes walk of the Folly, a title which 
 became more and more applicable, in Kenminster 
 eyes, to the Pagoda, and above all in those of its 
 proper owner. Mrs. Robert Brownlow, in the calm 
 dignity of the heiress, in a small way, of a good 
 family, had a bare toleration for professional people, 
 had regfretted the vocation of her brother-in-law, and 
 classed governesses and artists as " that kind of people," 
 so that Caroline's association with them seemed to her 
 absolute love of low company. She would have stirred 
 up her husband to remonstrate, but he had seen more 
 of the world than she had, and declared that there was 
 no harm in Caroline's friends. '' He had met Mr. Acton 
 in the reading-room, smoked pipes with him in the 
 garden, and thought him a very nice fellow ; his wife 
 was the daughter of poor Cartwright of the Artillery, 
 and a sensible ladylike woman as ever he saw." 
 
 With a resigned sigh at the folly of mankind, his 
 wife asked, " How about the others ? That woman with 
 the hair ? and that man with the velvet coat ? Jessie 
 says Jock told her that he was a mere play-actor ! "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. I47 
 
 " Jock told Jessie ! Nonsense, my dear ! The man 
 is going out to China in the tea trade, and is come to 
 take leave. I believe he did sing in public at one 
 time ; but Joe attended him in an illness which 
 damaged his voice, and then he put him in the way of 
 other work. You need not be afraid. Joe was one of 
 the most particular men in the world in his own way." 
 
 Mrs. Brownlow could do no more. She had found 
 that her little sister-in-law could be saucy, and 
 personal squabbles, as she justly thought, had better 
 be avoided. She could only keep Jessie from the 
 contamination by taking her out in the carriage and 
 to garden parties, which the young lady infinitely 
 preferred to long walks that tired her and spoilt her 
 dress ; to talk and laughter that she could not under- 
 stand, and games that seemed to her stupid, though 
 everybody else seemed to find them full of fun. True, 
 Allen and Bobus were always ready to push and pull 
 her through, and to snub Janet for quizzing her ; but 
 Jessie was pretty enough to have plenty of such 
 homage at her command, and not specially to prefer 
 that of her cousins, so that it cost her little to turn a 
 deaf ear to all their invitations. 
 
 Her brothers were not of the same mind, for Rob 
 was never happy out of sight of Jock. Johnn)- 
 worshipped his aunt, and Joe was gregarious, so there 
 was generally an accompanying rabble of six or seven 
 boys, undistinguishable by outsiders, though very 
 individual indeed in themselves, and adding a consider- 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 able element of noise, high spirits, and mischievous 
 enterprise. The man in the velvet coat, whose proper 
 name was Oriando Hughes, was as much of a boy as 
 any of them, and so could Mr. Acton be on occasion,, 
 thus giving a certain Bohemian air to their doings. 
 
 Things came to a crisis on one of the dog-days. 
 Young Dr. Drake had brought his bride to show to 
 his old friend, and they were staying at the Folly, 
 while a college friend of Mr. Ogilvie's, a London 
 curate, had come to see him in the course of a cathedral 
 tour, and had stayed on, under the attraction of the 
 place, taking the duty for a few Sundays. 
 
 The weather was very sultry, forbidding exertion on 
 the part of all save cricketers ; but there was a match 
 at Redford, and Kenminster was eager about it, so 
 that all the boys, grown up or otherwise, walked over 
 to see it, accompanied by Nita Ray with her in- 
 separable Janet, meaning to study village groups and 
 rustic sports. The other ladies walked in the cool to 
 meet them at the Acton's farmhouse, chiefly, it was 
 alleged, in deference to the feelings of the bride, who 
 could not brave the heat, but had never yet been so 
 long separated from her bridegroom. 
 
 The little boys, however, were alone to be found at 
 the farm, reporting that their elders had joined the 
 cricket supper. So Mrs. Acton made them welcome,- 
 and spread her cloth in the greensward, whence could 
 be seen the evening glow on the harvest fields. Then 
 there was a feast of cherries, and delicious farmhouse
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 149 
 
 bread and butter, and inexhaustible tea, which was 
 renewed when the cricketers joined them, and called 
 for their share. 
 
 Thus they did not set out on their homeward walk, 
 over fragrant heath and dewy lanes, till just as the 
 stars were coming out, and a magnificent red moon, 
 scarcely past the full, was rising in the east, and the 
 long rest, and fresh dewiness after the day's heat, gave 
 a delightful feeling of exhilaration. 
 
 Babie went skipping about in the silvery flood of 
 light, quite wild with delight as they came out on the 
 heath, and, darting up to Mr. Ogilvie, asked if now 
 he did not think they might really see a fairy. 
 
 " Perhaps I do," he said. 
 
 " Oh where, where, show me ? " 
 
 "Ah ! you're the one that can't see her." 
 
 "What, not if I did my eyes with that Euphrasia 
 and Verbena officinalis .? " catching tight hold of his 
 hand, as a bright red light went rapidly moving in a 
 straight line in the valley beneath their feet. 
 
 " Robin Goodfellow," said Mr. Hughes, overhearing 
 her, and immediately began to sing — 
 
 *' I know a bank " — 
 
 Then the curate, as he finished, began to sing 
 some other appropriate song, and Nita Ray and others 
 joined in. It was very pretty, veiy charming in the 
 moonlight, very like "Midsummer Night's Dream ;" but 
 Mary Ogilvie, who was a good way behind, felt a start 
 of dismay as the clear notes pealed back to her. She
 
 ISO MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 longed to suggest a little expediency ; but she was 
 impeded ; for poor Miss Ray, entirely unused to long- 
 country Avalks and nocturnal expeditions, and further 
 tormented by tight boots, was panting up the hill far 
 in the rear, half-frightened, and a good deal distressed, 
 and could not, for very humanity's sake, be left behind. 
 
 ''And after all," thought Mary, as peals of the boys' 
 merry laughter came to her, and then again echoes of 
 ** spotted snakes with double tongue " awoke the night 
 echoes ; " this is such a solitary place that it cannot 
 signify, if they will only have the sense to stop when 
 we get into the roads." 
 
 But they hadn't. Mary heard a chorus from " Der 
 Freischiitz," beginning just as she was dragging her 
 companion over a stile, which had been formidable 
 enough by day, but was ten times worse in the 
 confusing shadows. That brought them into a lane 
 darkened by its high hedges, where there was nothing 
 for it but to let Miss Ray tightly grapple her arm, 
 while the songs came further and further on the wind, 
 and Mary felt the conviction that middle-aged spinsters 
 must reckon on being forgotten, and left behind alike 
 by brothers, sisters, and friends. 
 
 Nor did they come up with the party till they found 
 them waiting in the road, close to the Rays' lodgings, 
 having evidently just missed them, for Mr. Ogilvie and 
 the clergyman were turning back to look for them 
 when they were gladly hailed, half apologised to, half 
 laughed at by a babel of voices, among which Nita's
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 
 
 was the loudest, informing her sister that she had lost 
 the best bit of all, for just at the turn of the lane there 
 had come on them Babie's fiery-eyed monster, which 
 had " burst on the path," when they were in mid song, 
 flashing over them, and revealing, first a horse, and 
 then a brougham, wherein there sat the august forms 
 of Colonel and Mrs. Brownlow, going home from a 
 state dinner, the lady's very marabouts quivering with 
 horror. 
 
 Mary stepped up to Nita, and gave her a sharp, 
 severe grasp. 
 
 " Hush ! remember their boys are here," she 
 whispered ; and, with an exaggerated gesture, Nita 
 looked about her in affected alarm, and, seeing that 
 none were near, added — 
 
 " Thank you ; I was just going to say it would be a 
 study for Punchr 
 
 " O do send it up, they'll never know it," cried 
 Janet ; but there Caroline interfered — 
 
 " Hush, Janet, we ought to be at home. Don't 
 stand here, Armine is tired to death! 1 1.5 at the 
 station to-morrow. Good-night." 
 
 They parted, and Mary and her brother turned 
 away to their own home. If it had not been for the 
 presence of the curate, Mary would have said a good 
 deal on the way home. As it was, she was so silent 
 as to inspire her brother with enough compunction for 
 having deserted her, to make him follow her, when she 
 went to her own room. " Mary, I am sorry we missed
 
 152 MAGNUiM BONUM ; 
 
 you," he said ; " I ought to have looked about for you 
 more, but I thought " 
 
 " Nonsense, David ; of course I do not mind that, if 
 only I could have stopped all that singing." 
 
 " That singing ; why it was very pretty, wasn't it ? " 
 
 " Pretty indeed ! Did it never occur to you what a 
 scrape you may be getting that poor little thing into 
 with her relations, and yourself too ? " 
 
 David looked more than half-amused, and she 
 proceeded more resolutely — 
 
 " Well ! what do you think must be Mrs. Brown- 
 low's opinion of what she saw and heard to-night ? 
 I blame myself exceedingly for not having urged 
 the setting off sooner ; but you must remember that 
 what is all very well for holiday people, only here for 
 a time, may do infinite mischief to residents." 
 
 David only observed, " I didn't want all those men, 
 if that's what you mean. They made the noise, not I." 
 
 " No, nor I ; but we swelled tfie party, and I am 
 much disposed to believe that the best thing we can 
 do is to take ourselves off, or do anything to break up 
 this set." 
 
 He looked for a moment much disconcerted ; but 
 then with a little masculine superiority, answered — 
 
 " Well, well, we'll think over it, Mary. See how it 
 appears to you to-morrow when you ar'n't tired," and 
 then, with a smile and a kiss, bade her good-night. 
 
 " So that's what we get," said Mary, to herself, half 
 amused, half annoyed; "those men think it Ms all
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. I 53 
 
 because one is left behind in the dark ! David is the 
 best boy in the world, but there's not a man of them 
 all who has a notion of what gets a woman into 
 trouble ! I believe he was rather gratified than 
 otherwise to be found out on a lark. Well, I'll talk to 
 Clara"; she will have some sense ! " 
 
 They were all to meet at the station the next 
 morning, to go to an old castle, about an hour from 
 Kenminster by railway ; and they filled the platform, 
 armed with sketching tools, sandwich baskets, botanical 
 tins, and all other appliances ; but when Mr. Ogilvie 
 accosted Mrs. Joseph Brownlow, saying, " You have 
 only half )'our boys," she looked up, with a drolly 
 guilty air, saying, " No, there's an embargo on the 
 other poor fellows." 
 
 They had just taken their seats, and the train was 
 in motion, when a heated headlong boy came dashing 
 over the platform, and clung to the door of the 
 carriage, standing on the step. It was Johnny. Or- 
 lando Hughes, who was next the window, grasped his 
 hands, and, in answer to the cries of dismay and blame 
 that greeted him, he called out, " Yes, here I am ; Rob 
 and Joe couldn't run so fast." 
 
 "Then you've got leave } " asked his aunt. 
 
 Johnny's grin said " No." 
 
 She looked up at Mr. Ogilvie in much vexation and 
 anxiety. 
 
 " Don't say any more to him now. It might put him 
 in great danger. Wait till the next station," he said.
 
 1 54 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 It was a stopping train, and ten minutes brought a 
 halt, when the guard came up in a fury, and Johnny 
 found no sympathy for his bold attempt. Carey had 
 no notion of fostering flat disobedience, and she told 
 Johnny that unless he would promise to go home by 
 himself and beg his father's pardon, she should stay 
 behind and go back with him, for she could have no 
 pleasure in an expedition with him when he was 
 behaving so outrageously. 
 
 The boy looked both surprised and abashed. His 
 affection for his aunt was very great, as for one who 
 had opened to him the gates of a new world, both 
 within himself and beyond himself. He would not 
 hear of her giving up the expedition,- and promised 
 her with all his heart to walk home, and confess, 
 " Though 'twasn't papa, but mamma ! " were his last 
 w^ords, as they left him on the platform, crestfallen, 
 but with a twinkle in his eye, and with the station- 
 master keeping watch over him as a dangerous subject. 
 
 Mr. Ogilvie said it would do the boy good for life ; 
 Caroline mourned over him a little, and wondered 
 how his mother would treat him ; and Mary sat and 
 thought till the arrival at their destination, when they 
 had to walk to the castle, dragging their appurtenances, 
 and then to rouse their energies to spread out the 
 luncheon. 
 
 Then, when there had been the usual amount of 
 mirth, mischief, and mishap, and the party had dis- 
 persed, some to sketch, some to scramble, some to
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 155 
 
 botanize, the "Duck and Drake to spoon," — as said the 
 boys, Mary Ogilvie found a turfy nook where she could 
 hold council with Mrs. Acton about their poor little 
 friend, for whose welfare she was seriously uneasy. 
 
 But Clara did not sympathise as much as she 
 expected, having been much galled by Mrs. Robert 
 Brownlow's supercilious manner, and thinking the 
 attempt to conciliate her both unworthy and useless. 
 
 *' Of course I do not mean that poor Carey should 
 truckle to her," said Mary, rather nettled at the im- 
 plication ; " but I don't think these irregular hours,, 
 and all this roaming about the country at all times,. 
 can be well in themselves for her or the children." 
 
 " My dear Mary, did you never take a party of 
 children into the country in the spring for the first 
 time ^ If not, you never saw the prettiest and most 
 innocent of intoxications. I had once to take the 
 little Pyrtons to their place in the country one April 
 and May, months that they had always spent in 
 London ; and I assure you they were perfectly mad, 
 only with the air, the sight of the hawthorns, and all 
 the smells. I was obliged to be content with what 
 they co2^ld do, not what ought to be done, of lessons. 
 There was no sitting still on a fine morning. I was 
 as bad myself; the blood seemed to dance in one's 
 veins, and a room to be a prison." 
 
 " This is not spring," said Mary. 
 
 "No, but she began in spring, and habits were 
 formed."
 
 15^ MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " No doubt, but they cannot be good. They keep 
 up flightiness and excitability." 
 
 " Oh, that's grief, poor dear ! " 
 
 "We bain't carousing, we be dissembling grief, as 
 the farmer told the clergyman who objected to merry- 
 making after a funeral," said Mary, rather severely. 
 Then she added, seeing Clara looked annoyed, " You 
 think me hard on poor dear Carey, but indeed I am 
 not doubting her affection or her grief." 
 
 "Remember, a woman with children cannot give 
 herself entirely up to sorrow without doing them 
 harm." 
 
 "Poor Carey, I am sure I do not want to see her 
 given up to sorrow, only to have her a little more 
 moderate, and perhaps select — so as not to do herself 
 harm with her relations — who after all must be more 
 important to her than any outsiders." 
 
 The artist's wife could not but see things a little 
 differently from the schoolmaster's sister, who more- 
 over knew nothing of Carey's former life ; and Clara 
 made answer — 
 
 " Sending her down to these people was the greatest 
 error of dear good Dr. Brownlow's life." 
 
 "I am not sure of that. Blood is thicker than 
 water." 
 
 " But between sisters-in-law it is apt to be only ill- 
 blood, and very turbid." 
 
 " For shame, Clara." 
 
 " Well, Mary, you must allow something for human
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 57 
 
 nature's reluctance to be treated as something not quite 
 worthy of a handshake from a little country town 
 Serene Highness! I maybe allowed to doubt whether 
 Dr. Brownlow would not have done better to leave 
 her unbound to those who can never be congenial." 
 
 "Granting that (not that I do grant it, for the 
 Colonel is worthy), should not she be persuaded to 
 conform herself" 
 
 " To purr and lay eggs } My dear, that did not 
 succeed with the ugly duckling, even in early life." 
 
 " Not after it had been among the swans ? You 
 vain Clara ! " 
 
 " I only lay claim to having seen the swans — not to 
 having brought many specimens down here." 
 " Such as t/iat Nita, or Mr. Hughes } " 
 "More like the other bird, certainly," said Clara, 
 smiling ; " but Mary, if you had but seen what that 
 house was. Joe Brownlow was one of those men who 
 make themselves esteemed and noted above their 
 actual position. He was much thought of as a 
 lecturer, and would have had a much larger practice 
 but for his appointment at the hospital. It was in 
 the course of the work he had taken for a friend gone 
 out of town that he caught the illness that killed him. 
 His lectures brought men of science about him, and 
 his practice had made him acquainted with us poor 
 Bohemians, as you seem to think us. Old Mrs. 
 Brownlow had means of her own, and theirs was quite 
 a wealthy house among our set. Any of us were wel-
 
 158 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 come to drop into five o'clock tea, or at nine at night. 
 and the pleasantness and good influence were wonder- 
 ful. The motherliness and yet the enthusiasm of 
 Mrs. Brownlow made her the most delightful old lady 
 I ever saw. I can't describe how good she was about 
 my marriage, and many more would say they owed 
 all that was brightest and best in them to that house. 
 And there was Carey, like a little sunshiny fairy, the 
 darling of everyone. No, not spoilt — I see what you 
 are going to say." 
 
 " Only as we all spoilt her at school. Nobody but 
 her Serene Highness ever could help making a pet 
 of her." 
 
 "That's more reasonable, Mary," said Mrs. Acton. 
 in a more placable voice ; " she did plenty of hard 
 work, and did not spare herself, or have what would 
 seem indulgences to most women ; but nobody could 
 see the light of her eyes and smile without trying to 
 make it sparkle up ; and she was just the first thought 
 in life to her husband and his mother. I am sure in 
 my governess days I used to think that house paradise, 
 and her the undoubted queen of it. And now, that 
 yoic should turn against her, Mary, when she is un- 
 crowned, and unappreciated, and brow-beaten." 
 
 She had worked herself up, and had tears in her 
 eyes. 
 
 Mary laughed a little. 
 
 " It is hard, when I only want to keep her from 
 making herself be unappreciated."
 
 159 
 
 " And I say it is in vain ! " cried Clara, " for it is 
 not in the nature of the people to appreciate her, and 
 nothing will make them get on together." 
 
 Poor Mary ! she had expected her friend to be 
 more reasonable and less defensive ; but she remem- 
 bered that even at school Clara had always protected 
 Carolina whenever she had attempted to lecture her. 
 All she further tried to say was — 
 
 " Then you won't help me to advise her to be more 
 guarded, and not shock them .? " 
 
 " I will not tease the poor little thing, when she has 
 enough to torment her already. If you had knov/n 
 her husband, and watched her last winter, you would 
 be only too thankful to see her a little more like 
 herself" 
 
 Mary was silent, finding that she should only argue 
 round and round if they went on, and feeling that 
 Clara thought her old-maidish, and could not enter 
 into her sense that, the balance-weight being gone, 
 gusts of wind ought to be avoided. She sat wondering 
 whether she herself was prim and old-maidish, or 
 whether she was right in feeling it a duty to expostulate 
 and deliver her testimony. 
 
 There was no doing it on this day. Carey was 
 always surrounded by children and guests, and in an 
 eager state of activity; but though again they all 
 went home in the cool of the evening, an attempt to 
 sing in the second-class carriage, which they filled 
 entirely, was quashed immediately — no one knew
 
 l6o MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 how, and nothing worse happened than that a very 
 dusty set, carrying odd botanical, entomological, and 
 artistic wares, trailed through the streets of Kenminster, 
 just as Mrs. Coffinkey, escorted by her maid, was 
 walking primly home from drinking tea at the 
 vicarage. 
 
 Still Mary's reflections only strengthened her re- 
 solution. On the next day, which was Sunday, she 
 ascended to the Folly, at about four o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and found the family, including the parrot, 
 spread out upon the lawn under the shade of the 
 acacia, the mother reading to them. 
 
 " Oh, please don't stop, mother," cried Bable ; while 
 the more courteous Armine exclaimed — 
 
 "Miss Ogilvie, don't you like to hear about Bevis 
 and Jocelin Joliffe .? " 
 
 " You don't mind waiting while we finish the 
 chapter," added their mother ; " then we break up our 
 sitting." 
 
 " Pray go on with the chapter," said Mary, rather 
 coolly, for she Avas a good deal taken aback at finding 
 them reading " Woodstock " on a Sunday ; " but 
 afterwards, I do want to speak to you." 
 
 " Oh ! don't want to speak to me. The Colonel has 
 been speaking to me," she said, with a cowering, 
 shuddering sort of action, irresistibly comic. 
 
 " And he ate up half our day," bemoaned more than 
 one of the boys. 
 
 Miss Ogilvie sat down a little way ofi", not wishing
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. l6l 
 
 to listen to " Woodstock " on a Sunday, and trying to 
 work out the difficult Sabbatarian question in her mind. 
 
 " There ! " said Caroline, closing the book, amid 
 exclamations of " I know who Lewis Kerneguy was." 
 '' Wasn't Roger Wildrake jolly ? " " O, mother, didn't 
 he cut off Trusty Tomkins' head .? " " Do let us have 
 a wee bit more, mother ; Miss Ogilvie won't mind." 
 
 But Carey saw that she did mind, and answered — 
 
 *' Not now ; there won't be time to feed all the 
 creatures, or to get nurse's Sunday nosegays, if you 
 don't begin. Then, coming up to her guest, she said, 
 '' Now is your time, Mary ; we shall have the Rays and 
 Mr. Hughes in presently ; but you see we are too 
 worldly and profane for the Kencroft boys on Sunday ; 
 .and so they make experiments in smoking, with 
 company less desirable, I must say, than Sir Harry 
 Lee's. Am I very bad to read what keeps mine round 
 ane .? " 
 
 " Is it an old fashion with you } " 
 
 " Well, no ; but then we had what was better than 
 a thousand stories ! And this is only a feeble attempt 
 to keep up a little wateiy reflection of the old 
 sunshine." 
 
 It was a watery reflection indeed ! 
 
 " And could it not be with something that would 
 be " 
 
 " Dull and goody ? " put in Carey. " No, no, my dear, 
 that would be utterly futile. You can't catch my birds 
 without salt. Can we, Polly ? " 
 
 VOL. T. M
 
 1 62 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 To which the popinjay responded, "We are all 
 Mother Carey's chickens." 
 
 " I did mean salt — very real salt," said Mary, rather 
 sadly. 
 
 " I have not got the recipe ;" said Carey. " Indeed 
 I do try to do what must be done. My boys can hold 
 their own in Bible and Catechism questions ! Ask 
 your brother if they can't. And Army is a dear little 
 fellow, with a bit of the angel, or of his father, in him ; 
 but when we've done our church, I see no ^good in 
 decorous boredom ; and if I did, what would become 
 of the boys .? " 
 
 " I don't agree to the necessity of boredom," said 
 Mary ; " but let that pass. There are things I wanted 
 to say." 
 
 " I knew it was coming. The Colonel has been at 
 me already, levelling his thunders at my devoted head. 
 Won't that do .? " 
 
 "Not if you heed him so little." 
 
 "My dear, if I heeded, I should be annihilated. 
 When he says 'My good little sister,' I know he 
 means ' You little idiot ; ' so if I did not think of 
 something else, what might not be the consequence ? 
 Why, he said I was not behaving decently ! " 
 
 " No more you are." 
 
 " And that I had no proper feeling," continued she, 
 laughing almost hysterically. 
 
 " No one can wonder at his being pained. It ought 
 never to have happened."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 63 
 
 "Are you gone over to Mrs. Grundy.'* However, 
 there's this comfort, you'll not mention Mrs. Coffinkey's 
 sister-in-law." 
 
 " I'm sure the Colonel didn't ! " 
 
 " Ellen does though, with tragic effect." 
 
 " You are not like yourself, Carey." 
 
 " No, indeed I'm not ! I was a happy creature a 
 little while ago ; or was it a very long, long time ago } 
 Then I had everybody to help me and make much of 
 me ! And now I've got into a great dull mist, and 
 am always knocking my head against something or 
 somebody ; and when I try to keep up the old 
 friendships and kindnesses — poor little fragments 
 as they are — everybody falls upon me, even you, 
 Mary." 
 
 " Pardon me, dearest. Some friendships and kind- 
 nesses that were once admirable, may be less suitable 
 to your present circumstances." 
 
 " As if I didn't know that ! " said Carey, with an 
 angry, hurt little laugh ; " and so I waited to be 
 chaperoned up to the eyes between Clara Acton and 
 the Duck in the very house with me. Now, Mary, I 
 put it to you. Has one word passed that could do 
 harm } Isn't it much more innocent than all the 
 Cofifinkey gossip > I have no doubt Mrs. Coffinkey's 
 sister-in-law looks up from her black-bordered pocket- 
 handkerchief to hear how Mrs. Brownlow's sister-in- 
 law went to the cricket-match. Do you know, Robert 
 really thought I had been there ? I only wonder how 
 
 M 2
 
 l64 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 many I scored. I dare say Mrs. Coffinkey's sister- 
 in-law knows." 
 
 " It just shows how careful you should be." 
 
 " And I wonder what w^ould become of the children 
 if I shut myself up with a pile of pocket-handkerchiefs 
 bordered an inch deep. What right have they to 
 meddle with my ways, and my friends, and my boys } " 
 
 "Not the Coffinkeys, certainly," said Mary; "but 
 indeed, Carey, I myself was uncomfortable at that 
 singing in the lanes at eleven at night." 
 
 " It wasn't eleven," said Carey, perversely. 
 
 "Only 10.50— eh?" 
 
 " But what was the possible harm in it } " 
 
 "None at all in itself, only remember the harm 
 it may do to the children for you to be heedless of 
 people's opinion, and to get a reputation for flightiness 
 and doing odd things." 
 
 " I couldn't be like the Coffinkey pattern any more 
 than I could be tied down to a rope walk." 
 
 " But you need not do things that your better sense 
 must tell you may be misconstrued. Surely there was 
 a wish that you should live near the Colonel and be 
 guided by him." 
 
 " Little knowing that his guidance would consist in 
 being set at me by Ellen and the Coffinkeys ! " 
 
 "Nonsense," said Mary, vexed enough to resume 
 their old school-girl manners. "You knozv I am not 
 set on by anybody, and I tell you that if you do not 
 pull up in time, and give no foundation for ill-natured
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 65 
 
 comments, your children will never get over it in people's 
 estimation. And as for themselves, a little steadiness 
 and regularity would be much better for their whole 
 dispositions." 
 
 "It is holiday time," said Carey, in a tone of 
 apology. 
 
 " If it is only in holiday time " 
 
 "The country has always seemed like holiday. 
 You see we used to go — all of us — to some seaside 
 place, and be quite free there, keeping no particular 
 hours, and being so intensely happy. I haven't yet 
 got over the feeling that it is only for a time, and we 
 shall go back into the dear old home and its regular 
 ways." Then clasping her hands over her side as 
 though to squeeze something back, she broke out, " O 
 Mary, Mary, you mustn't scold me ! You mustn't bid 
 me tie myself to regular hours till this summer is over. 
 If you knew the intolerable stab when I recollect that 
 he is gone — gone — gone for ever, you would understand 
 that there's nothing for it but jumping up and doing 
 the first thing that comes to hand. Walking it down 
 is best. Oh! what will become of me when the 
 mornings get dark, and I can't get up and rush into 
 those woods ? Yes "-—as Mary made some affectionate 
 gesture — " I know I have gone on in a wild way, but 
 who would not be wild who had lost him ? And then 
 they goad me, and think me incapable of proper feeling," 
 and she laughed that horrid little laugh. " So I am, I 
 suppose ; but feeling won't go as other people think
 
 1 66 
 
 proper. Let me alone, Mary, I won't damage the 
 children. They are Joe's children, and I know what 
 he wanted and wished for them better than Robert or 
 anybody else. But I must go my own way, and do 
 what I can bear, and as I can, or — or I think my heart 
 would break quite, and that would be worse for them 
 than anything." 
 
 Mary [had tears in her eyes, drawn forth by the 
 vehement passion of grief apparent in the whole tone 
 of her poor little friend. She had no doubts of Carey's 
 love, sorrow, or ability, but she did seriously doubt of 
 her wisdom and judgment, and thought her un- 
 disciplined. However, she could say no more, for Nita 
 Ray and Janet were advancing on them. 
 
 The next day Caroline was in bed with one of her 
 worst headaches. Mary felt that she had been a cruel 
 and prim old duenna, and meekly bore Clara's 
 reproachful glances.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S EROOD. 167 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ELLEN'S MAGNUM BONUMS. 
 
 He put in his thumb 
 
 And he pulled out a plum, 
 
 And cried, " What a good boy am I ! " 
 
 Jack Horner. 
 
 Whether it were from the effects of the warnings, or 
 from that of native good sense, from that time forward 
 Mrs. Joseph Brownlow sobered down, and became less 
 distressing to her sister-in-law. Mary carried off her 
 brother to Wales, and the Acton and Ray party 
 dispersed, while Dr. and Mrs. Lucas came for a week, 
 giving much relief to Mrs. Brownlow, who could 
 discuss the family affairs with them in a manner she 
 deemed unbecoming with Mrs. Acton or Miss Ogilvie. 
 Had Caroline heard the consultation, she would have 
 acquitted Ellen of malice ; and indeed her Serene 
 Highness was much too good to gossip about so near 
 ■a connection, and had only confided her wonder and 
 perplexity at the strange phenomenon to her favourite 
 first cousin, who unfortunately was not equally 
 discreet. 
 
 With the end of the holidays finished also the trying
 
 1 68 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 series of first anniversaries, and their first excitements 
 of sorrow, so that it became possible to be more calm 
 and quiet. 
 
 Moreover, two correctives came of themselves to 
 Caroline. The first was Janet's inordinate corre- 
 spondence with Nita Ray, and the discovery that the 
 girl held herself engaged to stay with the sisters in 
 November. 
 
 " Without asking me ! " she exclaimed, aghast. 
 
 " I thought you heard us talking," said Janet, so 
 carelessly, that her mother put on her dignity. 
 
 "I certainly had no conception of an invitation 
 being given and accepted without reference to me." 
 
 "Come, now. Mother Carey," said this modern 
 daughter ; " don't be cross ! We really didn't know 
 you weren't attending." 
 
 " If I had I should have said it was impossible, as 
 I say now. You can never have thought over the 
 matter ! " 
 
 " Haven't I } When I am doing no good here, only 
 wasting time .'' " 
 
 " That is my fault. We will set to work at once 
 steadily." 
 
 " But my classes and my lectures ! " 
 
 " You are not so far on but that our reading together 
 will teach you quite as much as lectures." 
 
 Janet looked both sulky and scornful, and her 
 mother continued — 
 
 " It is not as if we had not modern books, and I
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S JiROOD. 1 69 
 
 think I know how to read them so as to be useful 
 to you." 
 
 "I don't hke getting behindhand with the world." 
 
 "You can't keep up even with the world without a 
 sound foundation. Besides, even if it were more 
 desirable, the Rays cannot afford to keep you, nor I to 
 board you there." 
 
 "I am to pay them by helping Miss Ray in her 
 copying." 
 
 " Poor Miss Ray ! " exclaimed Carey, laughing. 
 *' Does she know your handwriting } " 
 
 " You do not know what I can do," said Janet, with 
 dignity. 
 
 "Yes, I hope to see it for myself, for you must put 
 this notion of going to London out of your head. I 
 am sure Miss Ray did not give the invitation — no, 
 nor second it. Did she, Janet ? " 
 
 Janet blushed a little, and muttered something 
 about Miss Ray being afraid of stuck-up people, 
 
 " I thought so ! She is a good, sensible person, 
 whom grandmamma esteemed very much ; but she 
 has never been able to keep her sister in order ; and 
 as to trusting you to their care, or letting you live in 
 their set, neither papa nor grandmamma would ever 
 have thought of it." 
 
 " You only say so because her Serene Highness turns 
 up her nose at everything artistic and original." 
 
 " Janet, you forget yourself," Caroline exclaimed, in 
 a tone which quelled the girl, who went muttering
 
 I/O MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 away ; and no more was ever heard of the Ray 
 proposal, which no doubt the elder sister at least had 
 never regarded as anything but an airy castle. 
 
 However, Caroline was convinced that the warnings 
 against the intimacy had not been so uncalled for as 
 she had believed ; for she found, when she tried to 
 tighten the reins, that her daughter was restive, and 
 had come to think herself a free agent, as good as 
 grown up. Spirit was not, however, lacking to 
 Caroline, and when she had roused herself, she made 
 Janet understand that she was not to be disregarded 
 or disobeyed. Regular hours were instituted, and the 
 difficulty of getting broken into them again was 
 sufficient proof to her that she had done wrong in 
 neglecting them. Armine yawned portentously, and 
 declared that he could not learn except at his own 
 times ; and Babie was absolutely naughty more than 
 once, when her mother suffered doubly in punishing 
 her from the knowledge of whose fault it was. How- 
 ever, they were good little things, and it was not hard 
 to re-establish discipline with them. After a little 
 breaking in, Babie gave it to her dolls as her deliberate 
 opinion that " Wegulawity settles one's mind. One 
 knows when to do what." 
 
 Janet could not well complain of the regularity in 
 itself, though she did cavil at the actual arrangements, 
 and they were altered all round to please her, and she 
 showed a certain contempt for her teacher in the 
 studies she resumed with her mother ; but after the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. I/I 
 
 dictionary, encyclopaedia and other authorities, in- 
 cluding Mr. Ogilvie, proved almost uniformly to be 
 against her whenever there was a difference of opinion, 
 she had sense enough to perceive that she could still 
 learn something at home. 
 
 Moreover, after one or two of these references, Mr. 
 Ogilvie offered to look over her Latin and Greek 
 exercises, and hear her construe on his Saturday half- 
 holidays, declaring that it would be quite a refresh- 
 ment. Caroline was shocked at the sacrifice, but she 
 could not bear to affront her daughter, so she consented ; 
 but as she thought Janet was not old enough to need 
 a chaperon, and as her boys did want her, she was 
 hardly ever present at the lessons. 
 
 Moreover, Mr. Ogilvie had a lecturer from London 
 to give weekly lectures on physical science to his boys, 
 and opened the doors ^to ladies. This was a great 
 satisfaction, chiefly for the sake of Bobus and Jock, 
 but also for Janet's and her mother's. The difficulty 
 was to beat up for ladies enough to keep one another in 
 countenance ; but happily two families in the country, 
 and one bright little bride in the town, were found 
 glad to open their ears, so that Ellen had no just 
 cause of disapproval of the attendance of her sister 
 and niece. 
 
 Ellen had more cause to sigh when Michaelmas 
 came, and for the first time taught poor Carey what 
 money matters really meant. Throughout her married 
 life, her only stewardship had concerned her own dress
 
 1/2 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 and the children's ; Mrs. Brownlow's occasional plans of 
 teaching her housekeeping had always fallen through, 
 Janet being always her grandmamma's deputy. 
 
 Thus Janet and nurse had succeeded to the manage- 
 ment when poor Carey was too ill and wretched to 
 attend to it ; and it had gone on in their hands at the 
 Pagoda. Janet was pleased to be respected accordingly 
 by her aunt, who always liked her the best, in spite of 
 her much worse behaviour, for were not her virtues her 
 own, and her vices her mother's } 
 
 Caroline had paid the weekly books, and asked no 
 questions, until the winding up of the executor's 
 business ; and the quarterly settlement of accounts 
 made startling revelations that the balance at her 
 bankers was just eleven shillings and fourpence half- 
 penny, and what was nearly as bad, the discovery 
 was made in the presence of her fellow executor, who 
 could not help giving a low whistle. She turned pale, 
 and gasped for breath, in absolute amazement, for she 
 was quite sure they were living at much less expense 
 than in London, and there had been no outgoings 
 worth mentioning for dress or journeys. What were 
 they to do .'' Surely they could not live upon less ! 
 Was it her fault } 
 
 She was so much distressed, that the good-natured 
 Colonel pitied her, and answered kindly — 
 
 " My good little sister, you were inexperienced. You 
 will do better another year." 
 
 **But there's nothing to go on upon ! "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 73 
 
 He reminded her of the rent for the London house, 
 and the dividends that must soon come in. 
 
 "Then it will be as bad as ever ! How can we live 
 more cheaply than we do ? " 
 
 " Ellen is an excellent manager, and you had better 
 consult her on the scale of your expenditure." 
 
 Caroline's spirit writhed, but before she had time to 
 say anything, or talk to Janet, the Colonel had heard his 
 excellent housewife's voice, and called her into the 
 council. She was as good as possible, too serenely kind 
 to manifest surprise or elation at the fulfilment of her 
 forebodings. To be convicted of want of economy 
 would have been so dreadful and disgraceful, that she 
 deeply felt for poor Caroline, and dealt with her 
 tenderly and delicately, even when the weekly house- 
 hold books were opened, and disclosed how much had 
 been spent eveiy week in items, the head and front 
 of which were oft repeated in old nurse's self-taught 
 writing — 
 
 "Man Glasofbeare. id. 
 
 '•Creme ^d." 
 
 For had not the Colonel's wife warned against the 
 endless hospitality of glasses of beer to all messengers ; 
 and had not unlimited cream with strawberries and 
 apple-tarts been treated as a kind of spontaneous 
 luxury produced at the Belforest farm agent's ? To 
 these, and many other small matters, Caroline was 
 quite relieved to plead guilty, and to promise to do her 
 best by personal supervision ; and Ellen set herself to
 
 174 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 devise further ways of reduction, not realising how 
 hopeless it is to prescribe for another person's house- 
 hold difficulties. It is not in the nature of things that 
 such advice should be palatable, and the proverb about 
 the pinching of the shoe is sure to be realised. 
 
 " Too many servants," said prudence. " If old nurse 
 must be provided for — and she ought to have saved 
 enough to do without — it would be much better to 
 pension her off, or get her into an almshouse." 
 
 Caroline tried to endure, as she made known that 
 she viewed nurse as a sacred charge, about whom there 
 must be no question. 
 
 Ellen quietly said — 
 
 "Then it is no use to argue, but she must be 
 allowed no more discretion in the housekeeping." 
 
 " No, I shall do that myself," said Caroline. 
 
 " An extravagant cook." 
 
 " That may be my fault. I will try to judge of that." 
 
 " Irregular hours." 
 
 " They shall end with the holidays." 
 
 There was still another maid, whom Ellen said was 
 only kept to wait on nurse, but who, Caroline said, did 
 all their needlework, both making and mending. 
 
 " That," said Ellen, " I should have thought you and 
 Janet could do. I do nearly all our work with the girls' 
 help ; I am happy to say that Jessie is an excellent 
 needlewoman, and Essie and Ellie can do something. 
 I only direct the nurserymaid ; I never trust anything 
 to servants."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 175 
 
 "I could never bear not to trust people," said 
 Caroline. 
 
 Ellen sighed, believing that she would soon be cured 
 of that ; and Carey added — 
 
 " On true principles of economy, surely it is better 
 that Emma, who knows how, should mend the clothes, 
 than that I should botch them up in any way, when I 
 can earn more than she costs me ! " 
 
 " Earn ! " 
 
 " Yes ; I can model, and I can teach. Was I not 
 brought up to it ? " 
 
 " Yes, but now it is impossible ! It is not a larger 
 income that you want, but proper attention to details 
 in the spending of it, as I will show you." 
 
 Whereupon Mrs. Brownlow, in her neat figures, built 
 up a pretty little economical scheme, based on a 
 thorough knowledge of the subject. Caroline tried to 
 follow her calculations, but a dreaminess came over her ; 
 she found herself saying " Yes," without knowing what 
 she was assenting to ; and while Ellen was discoursing 
 on coals and coke, she was trying to decide which of 
 her casts she could bear to offer for sale, and going 
 off into the dear old associations connected with each, 
 so that she was obliged at the end, instead of giving 
 an unqualified assent, to say she would think it 
 over ; and Ellen, who had marked her wandering eye, 
 left off with a conviction that she had wasted her 
 breath. 
 
 Certainly she was not prepared for the proposal with
 
 176 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 which Mother Carey almost rushed into the room the 
 next day, just as she was locking up her wine, and the 
 Colonel lingering over his first glance at the day's 
 Times. 
 
 " I know what to do ! Miss James is not coming 
 back ? And you have not heard of any one ? Then, 
 if you would only let me teach your girls with mine ! 
 You know that is what I really can do. Yes, indeed, 
 I would be regular. I always was. You know I was, 
 Robert, till I came here, and didn't quite know what 
 I was about ; and I have been regular ever since the 
 end of the holidays, and I really can teach." 
 
 " My dear sister," edged in the Colonel, as she paused 
 for breath, " no one questions your ability, only the 
 iitness of " 
 
 " I had thought over two things," broke in Caroline 
 again. " If you don't like me to have Jessie, and Essie, 
 and EUie, I would offer to prepare little boys. I've 
 been more used to them than to girls, and I know 
 Mr. Ogilvie would be glad. I could have the little 
 Wrights, and Walter Leslie, and three or four more 
 directly, but I thought you might like the other way 
 better." 
 
 " I can see no occasion for either," said Ellen. " You 
 need no increase in income, only to attend to details." 
 
 "And I had rather do what I can — than what I 
 can't," said Caroline. 
 
 " Every lady should understand how to superintend 
 her own household," said her Serene Highness.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 7/ 
 
 " Granted ; oh, granted, Ellen ! I'm going to 
 superintend with all my might and main, but I don't 
 want to be my own upper servant, and I know I 
 should make no haild of it, and I had much rather 
 earn something b}' my wits. I can do it best in 
 the way I was trained ; and you know it is what I 
 have been used to ever since my own children were 
 born." 
 
 Ellen heaved a sigh at this obtuseness towards what 
 she viewed as the dignified and ladylike mission of the 
 well-born woman, not to be the bread-winner, but the 
 preserver and steward, of the household. Here was 
 poor little Caroline so ignorant as actually to gloiy in 
 having been educated for a governess ! 
 
 The Colonel, wanting to finish his Times in peace,, 
 looked up and said, with the gracious tone he always 
 used to his brother's wife — 
 
 " My good little sister, it is very praiseworthy in you 
 to wish to exert yourself, and very kind and proper to 
 desire to begin at home, but you must allow us a little 
 time to consider." 
 
 She took this as a hint to retreat ; and her Serene 
 Highness likev/ise feeling it a dismissal, tried at once 
 to obviate all ungraciousness by saying, " We are 
 preserving our magrmm boiiums, Caroline dear ; I will 
 send you some." 
 
 " Magnum bonum I " gasped Caroline, hearing 
 nothing but the name. " Do you know } " 
 
 " I know the recipe of course, and can give you an 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 excellent one. I will come over by-and-by and explain 
 it to you." 
 
 Caroline stood confounded. Had Joe revealed all 
 to his brother .? Was it to be treated as a domestic 
 nostrum ? " Then you know what the mag7ium boimm 
 is } " she faltered, 
 
 " Are you asking as a philosopher," said the Colonel, 
 amused by her tone 
 
 "I don't know what you mean, Colonel," said his 
 wife. " I offered Caroline a basket of magrmm bonums 
 for preserving, and one would think I had said some- 
 thing very extraordinary." 
 
 " Perhaps it is my cockney ignorance," said Caroline, 
 beginning to breathe freely, and thinking it would have 
 been less oppressive if Sua Serenita would have either 
 laughed or scolded, instead of gravely leading her past 
 the red-baize door which shut out the lower regions 
 to the room where white armies of jam-pots stood 
 marshalled, and in the midst two or three baskets of 
 big yellow plums, w^hich awoke in her a remembrance 
 of their name, and set her laughing, thanking, and 
 preparing to cany home the basket. 
 
 This, however, as she was instantly reminded, was 
 not country-town manners. The gardener was to 
 be sent with them, and Ellen herself would copy 
 out the recipe, and by-and-by bring it, with full 
 directions. 
 
 Each lady felt herself magnanimously forbearing, as 
 Caroline went home to the lessons, and Ellen repaired
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1/9 
 
 to her husband on his morning inspection of his hens 
 and chickens. 
 
 " Poor thing," she said, " there are great allowances 
 to be made for her. I believe she wishes to do 
 right." 
 
 " She knows how to teach," rejoined the Colonel. 
 " Bobus is nearly at the head of the school, and Johnny 
 has improved greatly since he has been so much 
 with her." 
 
 " Johnny was always clever," said his mother. " For 
 my part, I had rather see them playing at good honest 
 games than messing about with that museum nonsense. 
 The boys did not do half so much mischief, nor destroy 
 so many clothes, before they were always running 
 down to the Pagoda. And as to this setting up a 
 school, you would never consent to have Joe's wife doing 
 that ! " 
 
 " There is no real need." 
 
 *' None at all, if she only would — if she only knew 
 how to attend to her proper duties." 
 
 " At the same time, I should be very glad of an ex- 
 cuse for making her an advance, enough to meet the 
 weekly bills, till her rent comes in, so that she may 
 not begin a debt. Could you not send the girls to 
 her for a few hours every day ? " 
 
 " That's not so bad as her taking pupils, for nobody 
 need know that she was paid for it," said his wife, 
 considering. " I don't believe it will answer, or that 
 she will ever keep to it steadily ; but it can hardly hurt 
 
 N 2
 
 l80 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 the children to try, if Jessie has an eye on Essie and 
 EUie. I will not have them brought on too fast, nor 
 taught Latin, and all that poor little Babie is learning. 
 I am sure it is dreadful to hear that child talk. I am 
 always expecting that she will have water on the 
 brain." 
 
 The decision, which really involved a sacrifice and a 
 certain sense of risk on the part of these good people,, 
 was conveyed in a note, together with a recipe for the 
 preservation of magimm bomims, and a very liberal 
 cheque in advance for the first quarter of her three 
 pupils, stipulating that no others should be admitted, 
 that the terms should be kept secret, that the hours 
 should be regular, and above all, that the pupils should 
 not be forced. 
 
 Caroline was touched and grateful, but could hardly 
 keep a little satire out of her promise that Essie and 
 EUie should not be too precocious. She wrote her note 
 of thanks, despatched it, and then, in the interest of 
 some arithmetical problems which she was working 
 with Janet, forgot eveiything else, till a sort of gigantic 
 buzz was heard near at hand. A sudden thought 
 struck her, and out she darted into the hall. There 
 stood the basket in the middle of the table, just where 
 the boys were wont to look for refections of fruit or 
 cake when they tumbled in from school. Six boys and 
 Babie hovered round, each in the act of devouring a 
 golden-green, egg-like plum, and only two or three 
 remained in the leaves at the bottom !
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. l8l 
 
 " Oh, the magimm bomnns ! " she cried ; and Janet 
 came rushing out in dismay at the sound, standing 
 aghast, but not exclaiming. 
 
 " Weren't they for us ? " asked Bobus, the first to 
 get the stone out of his mouth. 
 
 " No ; oh, no ! " answered his mother, as well as 
 laughter would permit ; '^ they are your aunt's precious 
 plums, which she gave us as a great favour, and I was 
 going to be so good and learn to preserve and pickle 
 them ! Oh, dear ! " 
 
 " Never mind. Mother Carey," mumbled her nephew 
 Johnny, with his stone swelling out his cheek, where 
 it was tucked for convenience of speech ; " I'll go and 
 get you another jolly lot more." 
 
 *'You can't," grunted Robin; "they are all gathered." 
 
 " Then we'll get them off the old tree at the bottom 
 of the orchard, where they are just as big and yellow, 
 and mamma will never know the difference." 
 
 " But they taste like soap ! " 
 
 " That doesn't matter. She'd no more taste a 
 'juagmim bo7iinn, before it is all titivated up with sugar 
 than — than — than ' ' 
 
 " Babie's head with brain sauce," gravely put in 
 Bobus, as his cousin paused for a comparison. " It's 
 a wasting of good gifts to make jam of these, for jam 
 is nothing but a vehicle for sugar." 
 
 " Then the grocer's cart is jam," promptly retorted 
 Armine, "for I saw a sugarloaf come in one yesterday." 
 
 *' Come on, then," cried Jock, ripe for the mischief;
 
 1 82 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " I know the tree ! They are just like long apricots. 
 Aunt Ellen will think her plums have been all a- 
 growing ! " 
 
 " No, no, boys ! " cried his mother, " I can't have it 
 done. To steal your aunt's own plums to deceive he? 
 with ! " 
 
 " We always may do as we like with that tree," said 
 Johnny, " because they are so nasty, and won't keep." 
 
 " How nice for the preserves ! " observed Bobus. 
 
 " They would do just as well to hinder Mother 
 Carey from catching it." 
 
 " No, no, boys ; I ought to ' catch it ! ' It was all 
 my fault for not putting the plums away." 
 
 " You won't tell of us," growled Robin, between lips 
 that he opened wide enough the next moment to 
 admit one of three surviving plums. 
 
 " If I tell her I left them about in the boys' way, 
 she will arrive at the natural conclusion." 
 
 " Do they call those things magmini bo?mm f " asked 
 Janet, as the boys drifted away. 
 
 " Yes," said her mother, looking at her rather 
 wonderingly ; and adding, as Janet coloured up to the 
 eyes, " My dear, have you any other association with 
 the name .'' " 
 
 Many a time Janet had longed to tell all she knew ; 
 now, when so good an opportunity had come, all was 
 choked back by the strange leaden weight of reserve,, 
 and shame in that long reserve. 
 
 She opened her eyes and stared as stupidly at her
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 83 
 
 mother as Robin could have done, feelmg an utter 
 incapacity of making any reply ; and Caroline, who 
 had for a moment thought she understood, was baffled, 
 and durst not pursue the subject for fear of betraying 
 her own secret, deciding within herself that Janet might 
 have caught up the word without understanding. 
 
 They were interrupted the next minute, and Janet 
 ran away, feeling that she had had an escape, yet 
 wishing she had not. 
 
 Caroline did effectually shelter her nephews under 
 her general term " the boys," and if their mother was 
 not conciliated, their fellow-feeling with her was 
 strengthened, as well as their sense of honour. Nay, 
 Johnny actually spent the next half-holiday in walking 
 three miles and back to his old nurse, whom he be- 
 guiled out of a basket of plums — hard, little blue 
 things, as unlike magniim bomims as could well be, 
 but which his aunt received as they were meant, as 
 full compensation ; nay, she took the pains to hunt up 
 a recipe, and have them well preserved, in hopes of 
 amazing his mother. 
 
 It was indeed one difficulty that the two sisters-in- 
 law had such different notions of the aim and end of 
 economy. The income at Kencroft had not increased 
 with the family, which numbered eight, for there were 
 two little boys in the nursery, and it was only by 
 diligent housewifery that Mrs. Brownlow kept up the 
 somewhat handsome establishment she had started 
 with at her marriage. Caroline felt that she neither
 
 1 84 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 could nor would have made herself such a slave to 
 domestic details ; yet this was life and duty and 
 interest to Ellen. Where one sister would be unheeding 
 of shabby externals, so that all her children might be 
 free and on an equality, if they did not go beyond her, 
 in all enjoyments, physical, artistic, or intellectual ; the 
 other toiled to keep up appearances, kept her children 
 under restraint and in the background, and made all 
 sorts of unseen sacrifices to the supposed duty of 
 always having a handsome dinner for whomsoever the 
 Colonel might bring in, and keeping the horses, 
 carriages, and servants that she thought his due. 
 
 But then Ellen had a husband, and, as Caroline 
 sighed to herself, that made all the difference ! and 
 she was no Serene Highness, and had no dignity. 
 
 The three girls from Kencroft did actually become 
 pupils at the Folly, but the beginnings were not pro- 
 pitious, for, in her new teacher's eyes, Jessie knew 
 nothing accurately, but needed to have her foundations 
 looked to — to practise scales, draw square boxes, and 
 work the four first rules of arithmetic. 
 
 " Simple things," complained Jessie to her mother, 
 " that I used to do when I was no bigger than Essie, 
 and yet she is always teasing one about how and 
 why ! She wanted me to tell why I carried one." 
 
 " Have a little patience for the present, my dear, 
 your papa wants to help her just at present, and after 
 this autumn we will manage for you to have some 
 real sfood music lessons."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 85 
 
 " But I don't like wasting time over old easy things 
 made difficult," sighed Jessie. 
 
 " It is very tiresome, my dear ; but your papa wishes 
 it, and you see, poor thing, she can't teach you more 
 than she knows herself ; and while you are there, I am 
 sure it is all right with Essie and Ellie." 
 
 " She does not teach them a bit like Miss James," 
 said Jessie. " She makes their sums into a story, and 
 their spelling lessons too. It is like a game." 
 
 Indeed, Essie and Ellie were so willing to go off to 
 their lessons every morning, that their mother often 
 thought it could not be all right, and that the progress, 
 which they undoubtedly made, must be by some super- 
 ficial trick ; but as their father had so willed it, she 
 submitted to the present arrangement, deciding that 
 '' poor Caroline was just able to teach little children." 
 
 The presence of Essie and Ellie much assisted in 
 bringing Babie back to methodical habits ; nor was 
 she, in spite of her precocious intelligence, too forward 
 in the actual drill of education to be able to work 
 with her little cousins. 
 
 The incongruous elements were the two elder girls, 
 who could by no means study together, since they 
 were at the two opposite ends of the scale ; but as 
 Jessie was by no means aggressive, being in fact as 
 sweet and docile a shallow girl as ever lived, things 
 went on peaceably, except when Janet could not 
 conceal her displeasure that Bobus would not share 
 her contempt for Jessie's intellect.
 
 1 86 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 If she told him that Jessie thought that the Odyssey 
 was about a voyage to Odessa, and was written by 
 Alfred Tennyson, he only declared that anything was 
 better than being a spiteful cat ; and when he came 
 in from school, and found his cousin in wild despair 
 over the conversion of 2,861 florins into half-crowns^ 
 he stood by, telling her every operation, and leaving 
 her nothing to do but to write down the figures. He 
 was reckless of Janet, who tried to wither them both 
 by her scorn ; but Jessie looked up with her honest 
 eyes, saying — 
 
 " I wish you hadn't put it into my head, Janet, for 
 now I must rub it out and do it again, and it won't 
 be so hard now Bobus has shown me how." 
 
 " No, no, Jessie," said Bobus ; " I wouldn't be 
 bullied." 
 
 " For shame, Bobus," said his sister ; " how is she 
 to learn anything in that way ? " 
 '' And if she doesn't .'' " said Bobus. 
 " That's a disgrace." 
 
 " A grace," said provoking Bobus. " She is much 
 nicer as she is, than you will ever be." 
 
 " Don't talk such nonsense," said Janet, with an 
 elder sisterly air. " It is not kind to encourage 
 Jessie to think anyone can care for an empty- 
 headed doll." 
 
 " Empty-headed dolls are all the go," said Bobus. 
 " Never mind, Jessie, a girl's business is to be pretty 
 and good-humoured, not to stuff herself with Latin
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 8/ 
 
 and Greek. You should leave that to us poor 
 beggars ! " 
 
 " Yes, I know, that's all your envy and jealousy," 
 retorted Janet. 
 
 All the time Jessie stood by, plump, gentle, and 
 pretty, though with a certain cloud of perplexity on 
 her white open brow, and as her aunt returned into 
 the room, she said — 
 
 " I think my sum is right now, Aunt Caroline ; but 
 Bobus helped me. Must I do it over again ? " 
 
 " You shall begin with it to-morrow, my dear," said 
 her aunt ; " then I daresay it will go off easily." 
 
 Jessie thanked with an effusion of gratitude which 
 made her prettier than ever, and then was claimed by 
 Bobus to help him in the making of some paper bags 
 that he needed for some of his curiosities. 
 
 Janet liked to fancy that it was beauty versus genius 
 that made Jessie the greater favourite. She had not 
 taken into account that she was always too much en- 
 grossed with her own concerns to be helpful, while 
 Jessie's pretty dexterous hands were always at ever>'- 
 one's service, and without in the least entering into 
 the cause of science, she was invaluable in the museum, 
 whenever her ideas of neatness and symmetry were not 
 in too absolute opposition to the requirements of system. 
 
 The two little ones, Essie and EUie, were equally 
 graceful, or indeed still more so, as being still in their 
 kittenhood, and their attitudes were so charming as to 
 revive their aunt's artistic instincts.
 
 1 88 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 All the earlier part of the year, when her time was 
 her own, it had been mere wretchedness and heart- 
 sickness to think of the art which had given her 
 husband so much pleasure, and, but for Allen, the 
 studio would never have been arranged. But no 
 sooner was her time engrossed, than the artist fever 
 awoke in her, and all the time she could steal by early 
 rising, or on wet afternoons, and birthday holidays, 
 was devoted to her clay. 
 
 Before the end of the autumn she had sent up to 
 Mr. Acton some lovely little groups of children, 
 illustrating Wordsworth's poems. She had been 
 taught anatomy enough to make her work superior 
 to that of most women, and Mr. Acton found no 
 difficulty in disposing of them to a porcelain manu- 
 factoiy, to be copied in Parian, bringing in a sum that 
 made her feel rich. 
 
 Vistas opened before her sanguine eyes of that clay 
 educating her son for the Magnum Bonum, her great 
 thought. Her boys must be brought up to be worthy 
 of the quest, high-minded, disinterested, and devoted, 
 as well as intellectual and religious. So said their 
 father ; and thus the Magnum Bonum ^had become 
 very nearly a religion to her, giving her a definite aim 
 and principle. 
 
 Unfortunately there was not much in her present 
 surroundings to lead her higher. The vicar, Mr. Rigby, 
 was a dull, weak man, of a worn-out type, a careful 
 visitor of the sick and poor, but taking little heed to
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 1 89 
 
 the educated, except as subscribers and Sunday-school 
 teachers. Carey had done Httle in the first capacity, 
 Janet had refused to act in the latter. 
 
 His sermons were very sleepy performances, except 
 for a tendency to jumble up metaphors, that kept the 
 audience from the Folly just awake enough to watch 
 for them. The hearer was proud who could repeat by 
 heart such phrases as "let us not, beloved brethren, 
 as gaudy insects, flutter out life's little day, bound to 
 the chariot wheels of vanity, whirling in the vortex of 
 dissipation, until at length we lie moaning over the 
 bitter dregs of the intoxicating draught." Some of 
 these became household proverbs at " the Folly," under 
 the title of " Rigdum Funnidoses," and might well be 
 an extreme distress to the good, reverent, and dutiful 
 Jessie. 
 
 Mrs. Rigby was an inferior woman, a sworn member 
 of the Cofifinkey clique, admiring and looking up to 
 her Serene Highness as the great lady of the place, 
 and wearing an almost abject manner when receiving 
 good counsels from her. Neither of them commanded 
 respect, nor were they likely to change the belief, 
 which prevailed at the Folly, that all ability resided 
 among the London clergy.
 
 190 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 UNDINE. 
 
 Lithest, gaudiest harlequin, 
 Prettiest tumbler ever seen, 
 Light of heart and light of limb. 
 
 WordsTvorih, 
 
 Long walks continued to be almost a necessity to 
 Mrs. Joseph Brownlow, even when comparatively 
 sobered down, and there were few days on which she 
 was not to be met a mile or two from Kenminster, 
 attended by a train of boys larger or smaller, 
 according to the demands of the school for work or 
 play. 
 
 The winter was of the description least favourable 
 to collective boyish sports, as there was no snow and 
 very little frost. The Christmas holidays led to more 
 walking than ever. The gravelled roads of Belforest 
 were never impassable, even in ' moist weather ; and 
 even the penetralia of the place had been laid open to 
 the Brownlows, in consequence of a friendship which 
 the two Johns had established with Alfred Richards, 
 the agent's son. They had brought him in to see the 
 musuem, and he had proved so nice and intelligent a 
 lad, that Mother Carey, to the great scandal of her
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 191 
 
 Serene Highness, allowed Jock to ask him to partake 
 of a birthday feast. 
 
 When Allen came home at Christmas, he introduced 
 stilt walking, and the Coffinkey world had the 
 pleasure of communicating to one another that " Mrs. 
 Folly Brownlow" had been seen with all her boys 
 walking on stilts ; and of course in the next stage, 
 Mrs. " Folly " Brownlow herself was said to have been 
 walking on stilts with all her boys, a libel, which caused 
 Mrs. Robert Brownlow much pain and trouble in the 
 contradiction. 
 
 " Poor Caroline ! walking seemed to be necessary to 
 her health, and she was out a great deal, but always 
 walking along in the lanes on foot with her little girls 
 — yes, I assure you, always on foot ! " 
 
 It was thus that Caroline, with Babie and Armine, 
 was descending a hill on the other side of Belforest 
 Park, fully employed in picking the way through the 
 mud from stone to stone, when a cry of dismay came 
 to them from a distance, and whilst they were still 
 struggling towards a gate, which broke the line of the 
 high hedge, the two Johns came back at speed, crying 
 — " Mother, Mother Carey ! come quick, here's Allen 
 had a spill — came down on his shoulder — his stilt went 
 into a hole, and he went right over ; they think he 
 must have broken something, he howls so when they 
 touch him." 
 
 Feeling her limbs and breath inadequate to bear her 
 on as fast as her spirit flew forward, Caroline dashed
 
 192 MAGXUM BONUM ; 
 
 through the slippery mud far too swiftly for poor little 
 Babie to keep up with her, leaving one boy to take care 
 of the little ones, while the other acted as her guide 
 down the long steep lane. She was unable to see over 
 the hedges till she came through a gate into a meadow, 
 where Jock looked about, rubbed his eyes, and ex- 
 claimed — " Hallo, where are they ? " pointing to the 
 place where Allen had fallen, but whence he seemed 
 to have been spirited away like Sir Piercie Shafton. 
 However, Rob and Joe came running out of a farm- 
 yard at a little distance, with tidings that Allen had 
 been taken in there, and replying to her breathless 
 question, that they could not tell how much he was 
 hurt. 
 
 A fine looking white-haired farmer met her next, 
 saying — " Your young gentleman is not very seriously 
 hurt, ma'am. I think a dislocation of the shoulder is 
 the extent of the injury. He is feeling rather faint, 
 but you must not be alarmed." 
 
 It was spoken with a kind courtesy that gave her 
 confidence, and the old man led her to the parlour, 
 where his daughter-in-law, a gentle looking person, 
 was most kindly attending on Allen, who lay on the 
 sofa, exceedingly white, and in much pain, but able to 
 smile at his mother, and assure her that he should 
 soon be all right. 
 
 " Had they sent for a surgeon } " 
 
 " No, but they had sent for a bone-setter, who would 
 be there in a minute."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. I93 
 
 The old farmer explained that it would be two 
 Jiours at the least before a surgeon could be fetched 
 from Kenminster, while Higg, the blacksmith, who 
 lived close at hand, was better for man and beast than 
 any surgeon he had known, and his son had instantly 
 set out to fetch him. As the mother doubtfully asked 
 of his fitness, instances were quoted of his success. 
 The family had a '* gift," inherited and kept up from 
 time immemorial, and :the farmer's wife declared that 
 he was as tender as possible ; she had seen him operate 
 on a neighbour's child, and should not be afraid to 
 trust him with one of her own. 
 
 The man's voice was heard ; they went out to speak 
 to him, and Caroline was left v/ith her boy. 
 
 "What do you think, Ali, my dear, she said, 
 kneeling by him, " I have often heard dear papa 
 ?peak of the wonderful instinct of those bone-setting 
 families." 
 
 " I'd have nothing to do with a humbugging quack," 
 put in Bobus. 
 
 " He may humbug as much as he likes, if he'll only 
 get me out of this pain," said poor Allen. 
 
 " He will only make it ever so much worse, and 
 then you'll have to have it done over again," croaked 
 Bobus. 
 
 " That is not the way to talk of it, Bobus," said his 
 mother. "I know a dislocated shoulder does not 
 require any great skill, and that promptness is of 
 greater use than knowledge in such a case." 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Well, if you like to encourage abominable humbug- 
 and have Allen lamed for life, I don't," said Bobus. 
 " I sha'n't stay in the house with the blackguard." 
 
 He stalked out of the room with great loftiness of 
 demeanour, just as the operator was being introduced 
 — a tall, sinewy man, with one of those strong yet 
 meek faces often to be found among the peasantry. 
 He came in after the old farmer, pulling his fore- 
 lock to the lady, and waiting for orders as if he 
 had been sent for to mend the grate ; but Caroline 
 saw in a moment that he was a man to trust in^. 
 and that his hands were not only clean, but w^ere well-- 
 formed, and powerful, with a great air of dexterity. 
 
 " I am afraid my boy's arm is put out," she said^ 
 trembling a good deal. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 "And — and," said she, feeling sick, and more 
 desolate and left to her own judgment than ever 
 before. " Can you undertake to push it in again." 
 
 " Please God, ma'am," Higg said, gravely, coming 
 nearer for examination. 
 
 Allen shrank and shuddered. 
 
 " Won't it hurt awfully ? " he asked. 
 
 "Well, sir, it won't just be a bed of roses, but it 
 won't last, not long, if you sets your will to it." 
 
 He asked for various needments, and while he was 
 inspecting them, Allen's courage began to fail, and he 
 breathed out whispers that the man was rougher and 
 more ignorant than he expected, and they had better
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. I95 
 
 wait and send to Kenminster for a doctor ; but those 
 who thought CaroHne helpless and childish would 
 have been amazed at the gentle resolution with which 
 she refused to listen to his falterings, and braced him 
 to endure, knowing well that her husband had said 
 that skill was hardly needed in such a case, only 
 resolution. She would not let herself be taken out of 
 the room, and indeed never thought of herself, only of 
 Allen, whose other hand she held, and to whom she 
 seemed to give patience and courage. When all was 
 well over, there was a hospitable^ invitation to the 
 patient to remain till he was fit to return, and an 
 extension of the invitation to his mother, but with 
 promises of every care if she must leave him, and this 
 she was forced to decide on doing, as such a house- 
 hold as hers could not well spare her, especially on 
 a Saturday evening ; and she also saw that the 
 inconvenience to her hosts would have been great. 
 
 Allen was so much relieved, that^she had no fear of 
 leaving him to these kind people, to whom shehad 
 taken a great fancy. 
 
 "I shall learn the habits of the genuine species, 
 British farmer," said he, as his mother kissed him, and 
 declared him the best and most conformable of boys. 
 
 Old Mr. Gould would not be denied driving her 
 home in his gig, and when she thought about it, she 
 found she had a strange relaxed aching of the knees, 
 which made her glad of kindness for herself and the 
 little ones. In the fine old kjtclicn she found that 
 
 O 2
 
 ig6 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Armine had had an overpowering fit of crying, which 
 had been kindly soothed by motherly Mrs. Gould, and 
 the whole party were partaking of a luxurious tea, 
 enlivened by mince pies and rosy-cheeked apples, 
 which had diverted his attention to the problem why 
 the next year's prosperity should depend on the 
 number of mince pies consumed before Christmas. 
 
 Bobus was not among them, having marched off in 
 his contempt of the bone-setter, and his mother was 
 not without fears that he might bring a real surgeon 
 down on her at any moment, so she quickly drank off 
 her cup of tea, and took her seat in Farmer Gould's 
 gig with Babie as bodkin in front, and Joe and Armine 
 in the little seat behind. Robin and the two Johns 
 were to stilt themselves home, while she was taken so 
 long and rugged a way, that at every jolt she was 
 ready to renew her thanks for sparing it to her son's 
 . shoulder ; and they were at home before her. 
 
 The whole family came pouring out to meet her, 
 and the Colonel made warm acknowledgments of 
 the farmer's kindness, speaking of him when he was 
 gone as one of the most estimable men in the neigh- 
 bourhood, staunch in his politics, and very ill-used by 
 old Barnes of Belforest. 
 
 Caroline looked anxiously for Bobus ; and Janet, 
 who had stayed at home to finish some papers for 
 her essay society, said that he had only hurried in 
 to tell her and take off his stilts, and had then gone 
 down to Dr. Leslie's.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. 197 
 
 " Then has Dr. Leslie gone ? We did not meet him 
 but he may have gone through Belforest," exclaimed 
 Caroline. 
 
 " O no, he has not gone ; he would not when he 
 heard about that Higg," said Janet, with uneasy and 
 much disgusted face. " He couldn't do any good after 
 his meddling." 
 
 "Do you mean that he said so .?" asked Carey, much 
 alarmed. 
 
 " Never mind," said the Colonel, " you did quite 
 right, Caroline, whatever the doctor says. Any man 
 of sense, with good strong hands, can manage a 
 shoulder like that, and I should have thought Leslie 
 had sense to see it ; but those professional men can't 
 stand outsiders." 
 
 " Where is Bobus .? " asked Caroline ; " I should like 
 to distinguish between what Dr. Leslie said to him 
 and what he told Janet. He might be more zealous 
 for Dr. Leslie than Dr. Leslie for himself" 
 
 Bobus was unearthed, and by much pumping was 
 made to allow that Dr. Leslie had told him that there 
 was nothing more to be done, and that his brother was 
 quite safe in Higg's hands ; but Bobus evidently did 
 not believe it. He kept silence while his uncle re- 
 mained, but he had hunted up his father's surgical 
 books, and went on about humeral clavicles and liga- 
 tures all the evening, till his mother felt sick, in the 
 nervous contemplation of possibilities, though her 
 better sense was secure that she had done right, while
 
 198 
 
 Janet was moodily silent and angered with her, in the 
 belief that she had weakly let Allen be injured for life ; 
 and Bobus seemed as if he had rather it should be so 
 than that he should be wrong, and Higg's native 
 endowments turn out a reality. 
 
 Caroline abstained from looking at the book herself, 
 partly because she thought she might only alarm 
 herself the more without confuting Bobus, and partly 
 because she knew that the old law which forbade 
 Janet to meddle with the medical books, would be 
 considered as abrogated if she touched them herself 
 
 Both she and Janet were much more anxious than 
 they confessed, except by the looks which betrayed 
 their broken rest the next morning. Each was bent on 
 walking to River Hollow, and they would fain have 
 done so immediately after breakfast, but to take the 
 Avhole tribe Vv-as impossible ; and to let them go to 
 Church without her, would infallibly lead to Jock's 
 getting into a scrape with his relatives, if not with the 
 whole congregation. Was it not all her eyes could do 
 to hinder palpable smiles in the sermon, and her 
 monkey from playing tricks on his bear, Avho, by some 
 fatality, always sat in front, with his irresistible broad 
 back, down which, in spite of all her vigilance, Jock 
 had once thrust a large bluebottle fly. She also knew 
 that both her husband and his mother would have 
 thought she ought to go to Church, and that if matters 
 went amiss with her^boy, she should reproach herself 
 with the omission. Her children, too, influenced her,
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 1 99 
 
 though very oppositely, for Janet was found preparing 
 to start for River Hollow, and on being told that she 
 must wait, to go with her mother, till after Church, 
 declared defiantly that " she saw no sense in staying 
 at home to hear Rigdum when she did not know how 
 ill Allen might be/' 
 
 " You would not have said that to grandmamma," 
 said Carey. 
 
 " Well, if you like to go to Church, you can. I can 
 go alone." 
 
 "No, I will not have you take that long walk 
 alone." 
 
 " Then I will take one of the boys." 
 
 " No, Janet, I mean to be obeyed. Go and put 
 on your other hat, and do not make us late for 
 Church." 
 
 Janet was forced to submit, for she never came to 
 the point of actual disobedience to her mother. Caro- 
 line's ruffled feelings were soothed by little Armine, 
 who ran in from feeding his rabbits to ask to have 
 the place in his Prayer-book shown to him where he 
 should pray for poor Allen. She marked the Litany 
 sentence for him, and meant to have thrown her own 
 heart into it, but when the moment came, her mind 
 was far astray, building vague castles about her boys. 
 
 Still she felt as if her church going had its reward, 
 for Dr. Leslie met her a little way outside the porch, 
 and, after asking after her boy, said — 
 
 " I hope his_ brother explained to you that Higg is
 
 200 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 quite to be trusted. He always knows what he can 
 do, and when a case is beyond him. If I had come 
 there would have been nothing for me to do." 
 
 " There ! " said Jock, triumphantly to his brother 
 and sister. 
 
 " Much you know about it," grunted Bobus. 
 
 " Mother Carey was right. She always is," persisted 
 Jock. 
 
 " It would have been just the same if the man had 
 known nothing about it," said Janet. " I hate your 
 irregular practitioners, and it was very weak in mother 
 to encourage them." Then, as Bobus snarled at the 
 censure of his mother — "You said so yourself yes- 
 terday." 
 
 "I didn't say any such beastly thing of mother. 
 She could tell whether it was just a simple dislocation^ 
 and she was right, having ever so much more sense 
 than j^//, Janet." 
 
 " You didn't say so yesterday," repeated Janet. 
 
 " I don't like irregular practitioners a bit better than 
 you do, Janet," said Bobus with dignity; "and I 
 thought it right to call in a qualified surgeon, but I 
 never said mother couldn't judge." 
 
 However, Bobus would not countenance the irregular 
 practitioner by escorting his mother to River Hollow ; 
 and as he was in one of the surly moods in which he 
 was dangerous to any one who meddled with him,, 
 especially Janet, his mother was glad not to have to 
 keep the peace between them.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 201 
 
 Janet, though not in the most amiable mood, chose 
 to go with her, and they set forth by the shorter way, 
 across Belforest park, skirting the gardens where the 
 statues stood up, looking shivery 'and forlorn, as if 
 they were not suited to English winters, and the huge 
 house looked down on them like a^ London terrace 
 that had lost its way, with a dreary uninhabited 
 air about it. Even by this private way they had two 
 miles and a half of park to traverse, before they reached 
 a heavy miry lane, where the beds of rrmd, alternated 
 with rusfored masses of stone, intended to choke them. 
 It led up between high hedges to the brow of one of 
 the many hills of the county, whence they could look 
 down into the hollow, a perfect cup, scooped out as it 
 were between the hills that closed it in, except at the 
 outlet of the river that intersected it, making the 
 meadow on either side emerald green, even in the 
 winter. Corn lands of rich red soil, pasture fields 
 dotted with cattle, and broad belts of copse wood 
 between clothed the slopes ; and a picturesque wooden 
 bridge, with a double handrail, crossed the river. The 
 farm-house, built of creamy stone, stood on the oppo- 
 site side of the river, some way above the bank, and 
 the mother and daughter agreed that it deserved to 
 be sketched next summer. 
 
 They had to pick their way down a lane that 
 was almost a torrent, and emerging at the foot of the 
 bridge, they stood still in amazement, for in the very 
 centre was something vibrating rapidly, surrounded
 
 202 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 by a perfect halo of gold and scarlet. It was like a 
 gigantic humming-bird moth at first, but it presently 
 resolved itself into a little girl, clad in something dark 
 purple below, and above with a bright scarlet cloaklet, 
 which flew out and streamed back, beneath the 
 floating locks of glistening gold that glinted in the 
 sun, as with a hand on each rail of the bridge she 
 swung herself backwards and forwards with the most 
 bewildering rapidity. Suddenly becoming aware of 
 the approach of strangers, she stood for one moment 
 gazing in astonishment, then fled so swiftly that 
 she almost seemed to fly, and vanished in the farm 
 buildings ! 
 
 They stood laughing and declaring that Babie 
 w^ould be convinced that fairies came out on Sunday, 
 then crossed the river and were beginning to ascend 
 the path when a volley of sounds broke on them, a 
 shrill yap giving the alarm, louder notes joining in, 
 and the bass being supplied by a formidable deep- 
 mouthed bark, as out of the farmyard-gate dashed little 
 terrier, curly spaniel, slim greyhounds, surly sheep-dog 
 of the old tailless sort, and big and mighty Newfound- 
 land, and there they stood in a row, shouting forth 
 defiance in all gradations of note, so that, though 
 frightened, Carey and Janet could not help laughing, 
 as the former said — 
 
 " This comes of gadding about on Sunday." 
 " If we went on boldly they would see we are not 
 tramps," said Janet.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 203 
 
 " Depend on it they will let no one pass in Church 
 time." 
 
 So it proved, for Janet's attempt to move for- 
 ward elicited a growl from the sheep-dog, and a leap 
 forward of the "little dogs and all," which daunted 
 even her stout heart. 
 
 However, calls were heard, and the bright vision of 
 the bridge came darting among the dogs, scolding and 
 driving them in, and Allen himself came out to the 
 gate, all bandaged up on one side, but waving his arm 
 as a signal to his mother and sister to advance. They 
 did so nervously but safely, while the growls of the 
 sheep-dog sounded like distant thunder, and the 
 terrier uttered his protest from the door. Allen de- 
 clared himself much better, and said he should be 
 quite able to go home to-morrow, only this was such a 
 jolly place ; and then he brought them into the beau- 
 tiful old kitchen with a magnificent open hearth, 
 inclosed by two fine dark walnut-wood settles, making 
 a little carpeted chamber between them. Here Allen 
 had the farmer's armchair and a footstool, and with 
 "Foxe's Martyrs" open at a flaming illustration on 
 the little round table before him, appeared to be 
 spending his Sunday as luxuriously as the big tabby 
 cat who shared the hearth with him. 
 
 " They have only one service at Woodbridge, morn- 
 ing and afternoon by turns," he explained, "and so 
 they are all gone to it." 
 
 " Who is that girl .'' " asked Janet. 
 
 " Undine," he coolly replied.
 
 204 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " She certainly appeared on the bridge," said his 
 mother, " but I should think Undine's colouring had 
 been less radiant — more of the blue and white.'.' 
 
 " She had not a whiter skin nor bluer eyes," said 
 Allen, " nor made herself more ridiculous either. Did 
 you ever see such hair, mother ^ Hullo, Elfie. There 
 she is, peeping in at the window, just as Undine did ; 
 Come in ! " he cried at the door. " No, not she," as 
 he returned baffled ; " she is off again ! " 
 
 " But, Allen, who is she ? Not Farmer Gould's 
 daughter." 
 
 "Of course not. Don't you know she was fished 
 up in a net, and belonged to a palace under the ocean 
 full of pearls and diamonds. She took such a fancy 
 to me that no power on earth would make her go to 
 Church with the rest. She ran away, and hid, and 
 when they were all gone she came out and curled 
 herself up at my feet and chattered, till I happened 
 to offend her majesty, and off she went like a shot. 
 I'm only thankful that she did not make her pearly- 
 teeth meet in my finger in true Undine fashion." 
 
 " But who is she, really } " 
 
 " I can't quite make out. They call her Elfie, and 
 she calls them grandpapa, and uncle and aunt, but she 
 has been sitting here complaining of everything being 
 cold and dull, and talking about seas and islands, 
 palm-trees, and coral caves, and humming birds, yes, 
 and black slaves, and strings of pearls, so that if she 
 is romancing, like Armine and Babie, she does it 
 uncommonly naturally."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 
 
 They saw no more of this mysterious Httle being, 
 and the family soon returned from Church. The father 
 was a fine, old-fashioned yeoman, the son had the style 
 of a modern farmer, and the wife was so quiet, sensible, 
 and matronly as to be almost ladylike. Her two little 
 girls were dressed as well as Essie and EUie, but all 
 were essentially commonplace. They were very kind 
 and friendly, anxious that Allen should stay as long 
 as was good for him, as well as pressing in their hospi- 
 tality to the two ladies. Mr. Gould was very anxious 
 to drive them home in his gig, though he allowed that 
 the road was very rough unless you went through Bel- 
 forest Park, and that he never did. 
 
 This was surprising, for Belforest had always seemed 
 as free as the turnpike-road, and River Hollow was 
 apparently part of the estate, but there was an air of 
 discouraging questions, so Carey suspected quarrels 
 and asked none. 
 
 She was enlightened the next day when Colonel 
 Brownlow brought his phaeton to fetch Allen home 
 over the smooth park road. He told her that the 
 Goulds were freeholders who had owned River Hollow 
 from time immemorial, though each successive lord of 
 Belforest tried to buy them out. The alienation 
 between them and Mr. Barnes, the present master, had 
 however much stronger grounds than these. His 
 nephew and intended heir has stolen a match with the 
 old man's pretty daughter, and this had never been 
 forgiven. The young couple had gone out to the West 
 Indian isles, where the early home of her husband
 
 206 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 had been, and where he held some government office, 
 and there fell a victim to the climate. Old Mr. Gould 
 had gone home to fetch his daughter and her child, 
 but the former had died before he reached her, and 
 he had only brought back the little girl about two 
 years ago. 
 
 Mr. Barnes ignored her entirely, and the Goulds, who 
 had a good deal of pride, did not choose to apply to 
 him. It was very unfortunate, for unless he had any 
 other relations the child must be heiress to his immense 
 wealth, though it was as likely as not that he would 
 leave it all to hospitals out of pure vindlctiveness. 
 
 They found Allen out of doors attended by the 
 three little girls, all eagerly watching the removal of a 
 sheep-fold. He was a pleasant-mannered boy, ready 
 to adapt himself to all circumstances and to throw 
 ready intelligent interest into everything, and he had 
 won the hearts of the whole River Hollow establish- 
 ment, from old Mr. Gould down to the smallest puppy. 
 
 Elfie, as he called her, stood her ground, and as she 
 looked up under her brown mushroom hat Caroline was 
 struck with her beauty, fair, but with a southern rich- 
 ness of bloom and glow — the carnation cheek of a 
 depth of tint more often found in brunette complexions. 
 The eyes were not merely blue by courtesy, but of a 
 wonderful deep azure, shaded by very long lashes, dark 
 except when the sun glinted them with gold, and round 
 her shoulders hung masses of hair of that exquisite 
 light auburn which cannot be accused of being red. 
 
 She let herself be greeted by the strangers with
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 20/ 
 
 much more ease and grace than the other two children, 
 but the slow walk of her grandfather and Colonel 
 Brownlow seemed more than she could brook, and 
 she went off, flying and spinning round like a little dog. 
 
 While all the acknowledgments and farewells were 
 being made, and Colonel Brownlow was taking direc- 
 tions for finding Higg's house and forge so as to re- 
 munerate him for his services, Elfie came hurry^ing up 
 to Allen, holding out a great, gorgeous pink-lined 
 shell, and laid within it two heads of scarlet geraniumi 
 on a green leaf. 
 
 "O Elfie, Elfie! how could you?" exclaimed he, 
 knowing them to be the only flowers in bloom. 
 
 " You must have them. There's nothing else pretty 
 to give you, and I love you," said the child, holding 
 up her face to kiss him. 
 
 " Elvira ! " said her aunt in warning, " how can you ! 
 What will this lady think of you ? " 
 
 Elvira's gesture would in any other child have seemed 
 a sulky thrust of the elbow, but in her it was more 
 like the flutter of the wing of a brilliant bird. 
 
 " You must," she repeated ; and when he hesitated 
 with " If Mrs. Gould," she broke away, dashed the 
 flowers, shell and all, into the middle of a clump of 
 rosemary, and rushed out of sight like a little fury. 
 
 "You will excuse her, Mrs. Brownlow," said Mrs. 
 Gould, much annoyed. " She has been sadly spoilt, 
 living among negro servants and having her own way, 
 so that she is sometimes quite ungovernable,"
 
 208 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Nay, nay, she is a warm-hearted Httle thing if you 
 don't cross her," said the old farmer ; " and the young 
 gentleman has been very kind to her." 
 . Mrs. Gould looked as if she thought she knew her 
 niece better than grandpapa did, but she was too wise 
 to speak ; and the little girls, having assisted Allen in 
 the recovery of the shell and the flowers, he tendered 
 them again to her. 
 
 "You had better keep them, Mr. Brownlow," she 
 said. " The shell is her own, and if you did not take 
 it she is so tenacious that she would be sure to smash 
 it to atoms." 
 
 Allen accepted perforce and proceeded with his fare- 
 wells, but as he was stooping down to kiss little five- 
 year-old Kate Gould, something wet, cold, and sloppy 
 came with great force on them both, almost knocking 
 them down and bespattering them both with black 
 drops. The missile proved to be a dripping sod pulled 
 up from the duck-pond in the next field, and a glimpse 
 might be caught of Elvira's scarlet legs disappearing 
 over the low wall between. 
 
 Over poor Mrs. Gould's apologies a veil had best be 
 drawn. Mother Carey pitied her heartily, but it was 
 impossible not to make fun at home over the black 
 tokens on Allen's shirt-collar. His brothers and sisters 
 laughed excessively, and Janet twitted him with his 
 Undine, till he, contrary to his wont, grew so cross 
 as to make his mother recollect that he was still a 
 suffering patient, and insist^on his lying quiet on the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 209 
 
 sofa, while she banished every one, and read Tennyson 
 to him. Poetry, read aloud by her, was Allen's greatest 
 delight, but not often enjoyed, as Bobus and Jock 
 scouted it, and Janet was getting too strong-minded 
 and used to break in with inopportune criticisms. 
 
 So to have Mother Carey to read " Elaine " undis- 
 turbed was as great an indulgence as Allen could well 
 have, but she had not gone far before he broke out — 
 
 " Mother, please, I wish you could do something for 
 that girl. She really is a lady." 
 
 " So it appears," said Carey, much disposed to laugh. 
 " Now, mother, don't be tiresome. . You have more 
 sense than Janet. Her father was Vice-consul at Sant 
 Ildefonso, one of the Antilles." 
 
 "But, my dear, I am afraid that is not quite 
 
 so grand as it sounds " 
 
 " Hush, mother. He was nephew to Mr. Barnes, and 
 they lived out of the town in a perfect paradise of a 
 place, looking out into the bay. Mr. Gould says he can 
 hardly believe he ever saw anything so gorgeously 
 beautiful, and there this poor little Elvira de Menella 
 lived like a princess with a court of black slaves. Just 
 fancy what it must be to her to come to that farm, an 
 orphan too, with an aunt who can't understand a 
 creature like that." 
 " Poor child." 
 
 " Then she can't get any education. Old Gould is 
 a sensible man, who says any school he could afford 
 would only turn her out a sham, and he means, when 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Mary and Kate are a little older, to get some sort of 
 governess for the three. But, mother, couldn't you 
 just let him bring her in on market days and teach 
 her a little ? " 
 
 " My dear boy, what would your aunt do ? We 
 can't have sods of mud flying about the house." 
 
 " Now, mother, you know better ! You could make 
 anything of her, you know you could ! And what a 
 model she would make ! Think what a poor little 
 desolate thing she is. You always have a fellow feeling 
 for orphans, and we do owe those people a great deal 
 of gratitude." 
 
 " Allen, you special pleader, it really will not do ! 
 If I had not undertaken Essie and Ellie, I might 
 think about it, but I promised your aunt not to have 
 any other pupils." 
 
 Allen bothered Essie and Ellie, but was forced to 
 acquiesce, which was fortunate, for when on the last 
 day of the holidays it was found that he had walked to 
 River Hollow to take leave of the Goulds, his aunt 
 administered to his mother a serious warning on the 
 dangers of allowing him to become intimate there. 
 
 Caroline tingled all over during the discourse, and 
 at last jumped up, exclaiming — 
 
 " My dear Ellen, half the harm in the world is done 
 by making a fuss. Things don't die half so hard when 
 they die a natural death." 
 
 Ellen knew Carey thought she had said something 
 very clever, but was all the more unconvinced.
 
 OR. MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 211 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 KING MIDAS. 
 
 When I did him at this advantage take, 
 An ass's nowl I fixed upon his head. 
 
 Midstanmer N'ighfs Dream. 
 
 In the early spring an unlooked-for obstacle arose to 
 ;all wanderings in the Belforest woods. The owner 
 returned and closed the gates. From time that seemed 
 immemorial, the inhabitants of Kenminster had dis- 
 ported themselves there as if the grounds had been 
 Icept up for their sole behoof, and their indignation at 
 the monopoly knew no bounds. 
 
 Nobody saw Mr. Barnes save his doctor, whose 
 carriage was the only one admitted within the lodge 
 gates, intending visitors being there informed that Mr. 
 Barnes was too unwell to be disturbed. 
 
 Mrs. " Folly " Brownlow's aberrations lost their 
 interest in the Coffinkey world beside the mystery of 
 Belforest. Opinions varied as to his being a miser, or 
 a lunatic, a prey to conscience, disease, or deformity ; 
 and reports were so diverse, that at the "Folly" a 
 journal was kept of them, with their dates, as a matter 
 of curiosity — their authorities marked : — 
 
 P 2
 
 212 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 March 4th. — Mr. Barnes eats nothing but fresh 
 turtle. Brings them down in tubs ahve and flapping. 
 Mrs. Coffinkey's Jane heard them cooing at the station. 
 Gives his cook 300/. per annum. 
 
 5th. — Mr. Barnes so miserly, that he turned away 
 the housemaid for burning candles eight to the pound. 
 (H. S. H.) 
 
 6th. — Mr. B. keeps a bloodhound trained to hunt 
 Indians, and has six pounds of prime beef steaks for 
 it every day. (Emm.a.) 
 
 8th. — Mr. B.'s library is decorated with a string of 
 human ears, the clippings of his slaves in "the Indies." 
 (Nurse.) 
 
 1 2th. — Mr. B. whipped a little black boy to death, 
 and is so haunted by remorse, that he can't sleep 
 without wax-candles burning all round him. (Mrs. 
 Coffinkey's sister-in-law.) 
 
 14th. — Mr. Barnes's income is 500,000/., and he does 
 not live at the rate of 200/. (Col. Brownlow.) 
 
 15th. — He has turned off all his gardeners, and the 
 place will be desolation. (H. S. H.) 
 
 1 6th. — He did turn off one gardener's boy for 
 staring at him when he was being wheeled about in 
 his bath-chair. (Alfred Richards.) 
 
 17th. — He threw a stone, which cut the boy's head 
 open, and he lies at the hospital in a dangerous 
 state. (Emma.) 
 
 1 8th. — Mr. Barnes was crossed in love when he was 
 a young man by one Miss Anne Thorpe, and has
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 213 
 
 never been the same man since, but has hated all 
 society. (Query : Is this a version of being a 
 misanthrope ?) 
 
 19th. — He is a most unhappy man, who has 
 sacrificed all family affections and all humanity to gold, 
 and whose conscience will not let him rest. He is 
 worn to a shadow, and is at war with mankind. In 
 fine, he is a lesson to weak human nature. (Mrs. 
 Rigby.) 
 
 22nd. — All his toilet apparatus is of "virgin gold ;" 
 he lets nothing else touch him. (Jessie.) 
 
 " Exactly hke King Midas." (Babie.) 
 
 The exclusion from the grounds was a serious 
 grievance, entailing much loss of time and hindrance 
 to the many who had profited by the private roads. 
 The Sunday promenade was a great deprivation ; 
 nurses and children were cut off from grass and shade, 
 and Mother Carey and her brood from all the delights 
 of the enchanted ground. 
 
 She could bear the loss better than in that first wild 
 restlessness, which only free nature could allay. She 
 had made her occupations, and knew of other haunts, 
 though many a longing eye was cast at the sweet 
 green wilderness, and many regrets spent on the 
 rambles, the sketches, the plants, and the creatures 
 that had seemed the certain entertainment of the 
 •summer. 
 
 To one class of the population the prohibition only 
 gave greater zest — namely, the boys. Should there
 
 214 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 be birds' nests in Belforest unscathed by the youth of 
 St. Kenelm's ? What were notice-boards, palings, or 
 walls to boys with arms and legs ready to defy even 
 the celebrated man-traps of EUangowan, " which, if a 
 man goes in, they will break a horse's leg ? " The 
 terrific bloodhound alarmed a few till his existence 
 was denied by Alfred Richards, the agent's son ; and 
 dodging the keepers was a new and exciting sport. 
 At first, these men were not solicitous for captures, but 
 their negligence was so often detected, that they began 
 to believe that their master kept telescopes that could 
 penetrate through trees, and their vigilance increased. 
 
 Bobus, in quest of green hellebore, got off with a 
 warning ; but a week later, Robin and Jock were in- 
 specting the heronry, when they caught sight of a 
 keeper, and dashed off to find themselves running into 
 the jaws of another. Swift as lightning, Jock sprung 
 up into an ivied ash ; but the less ready Bob was 
 caught by the leg as he mounted, and pulled down 
 again, while his captor shouted, "If there's any more 
 of you young varmint up yonder, you'd best come 
 down before I fires up into the hoivy." 
 
 He made a click and pointed his gun, and Robin 
 shrieked, " Oh, don't ! We are Colonel Brownlow's 
 sons ; at least, I mean nephews. Don't ! I say. 
 Skipjack, come down." 
 
 "You ass!" muttered Jack, as he crackled down, 
 and was collared by the keeper. " Hollo ! what's that 
 for?"
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 21 5 
 
 "Now, young gents, why will you come larking 
 here to get a poor chap out of his situation. It's as 
 much as my place is worth not to summons you, and 
 yet I don't half like to do it to young gents like you." 
 
 " What could they do to us } " asked Jock. 
 
 "Well, sir, may be they'd keep you in the lock-up 
 all night ; and what would your papa and mamma say 
 to that ? " 
 
 " My father is Colonel Brownlow," growled Robin. 
 
 " More shame for you, sir, to want to get a poor 
 man out of his place." 
 
 "Look here, my man," said Jock with London 
 sharpness and impudence, "if you want to bully us 
 into tipping you, it's no go. We've only got one 
 copper between us, and nothing else but our knives ; 
 and if we had, we wouldn't do such a sneaking thing ! " 
 
 " I never meant no such thing, sir," said the keeper ; 
 "only in case Mr. Barnes should hear of our good 
 nature." 
 
 " Come along, Robin," said Jock ; " if we are had 
 up, we'll let 'em know how Leggings wanted us to 
 buy off 1" 
 
 Wherewith Jock made a rush, Rob plunged after 
 him into the brambles, and they never halted till they 
 had tumbled over the park wall, and lay in a breathless 
 heap on the other side. The adventure was the 
 fruitful cause of mirth at the Folly, but not a word 
 was breathed of it at Kencroft. 
 
 A few other lads did actually pay toll to the
 
 2l6 
 
 keepers, and some penniless ones were brought before 
 the magistrates and fined for trespass, " because they 
 could not afford it," as Caroline said, and to the 
 Colonel's great disgust she sent two sovereigns by 
 Allen to pay their fines and set them free. 
 
 " It was my own money," she said, in self-defence, 
 " earned by my models of fungi." 
 
 The Colonel thought it an unsatisfactoiy justifi- 
 cation, and told her that she would lay up trouble 
 for herself by thus encouraging insubordination. He 
 little thought that the laugh in her eyes was at his 
 complacent ignorance of his own son's narrow escape. 
 
 Allen was at home for Easter, when Eton gave 
 longer holidays than did St. Kenelm, so that his 
 brothers were at work again long before he was. One 
 afternoon, which had ended in a soaking mist, the two 
 pairs of Roberts and Johns encountered him at the 
 Folly gate so disguised in mud that they hardly 
 recognised the dainty Etonian. 
 
 " That brute Barnes," he ejaculated ; " I had to 
 come miles round through a disgusting lane. I wish I 
 had gone on. I'd have proved the right of way if he 
 chose to prosecute me ! " 
 
 " Father says that's no go," said Robin. 
 
 " I say, Allen, what a guy you are," added Johnny. 
 
 "And he's got his swell trousers on," cried Jock, 
 capering with glee. 
 
 " I see," gravely observed Bobus, " he had got 
 himself up regardless of expense for his Undine, and
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 21/ 
 
 she has treated him to another dose of her native 
 element. 
 
 " She had nothing to do with it," asseverated Allen, 
 " she was as good as gold " 
 
 " Ah ! I knew he wasn't figged out for nothing," 
 put in Jock. 
 
 "Don't be ashamed, AH, my boy," added Bobus. 
 " We all understand her little tokens." 
 
 " Stop that ! " cried Allen, catching hold of Jock's 
 ear so as to end his war-dance in a howl, bringing the 
 ponderous Rob to the rescue, and there was a general 
 uieleey ending by all the five rolling promiscuously on 
 the gravel drive. They scrambled up with recovered 
 tempers, and at the sight of an indignant housemaid 
 rushed in a general stampede to the two large attics 
 opening into one another, which served as the lair of 
 the Folly lads. There, while struggling, with Jock's 
 assistance, to pull off his boots, Allen explained how 
 he had been waylaid " by a beast in velveteens," and 
 walked off to the nearest gate. 
 
 " Will he summons you, Ali } We'll all go and 
 see the Grand Turk in the dock," cried Jock. 
 
 " Don't flatter yourself ; he wouldn't think of it." 
 
 '' How much did you fork out } " asked Bobus. 
 
 Allen declaimed in the last refinement of Eton slang 
 (carefully treasured up by the others for reproduction) 
 against the spite of the keeper, who he declared had 
 erinned with malice as he turned him out at a little
 
 2l8 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 back gate into a lane with a high stone wall on each 
 side, and two ruts running like torrents with water, 
 leading in the opposite direction to Kenminster, and 
 ending in a bottom where he was up to the ankles in 
 red clay. 
 
 " The Eton boots, oh my ! " cried Jock, falling 
 backwards with one of them, which he had just 
 pulled off. 
 
 " And then," added Allen, " as I tried to get along 
 under the wall by the bank, what should a miserable 
 stone do, but turn round with me and send me squash 
 into the mud and mire, floundering like a hippo- 
 potamus. I should like to get damages from that 
 villain ! I should ! " 
 
 Allen was much more angry than was usual with 
 him, and the others, though laughing at his Etonian 
 airs, fully sympathised with his wrath. 
 
 " He ought to be sei-ved out." 
 
 " We zvill serve him out ! " 
 
 " How } " 
 
 "Get all our fellows and make a jolly good row 
 under his windows," said Robin. 
 
 " Decidedly low," said Allen. 
 
 " And impracticable besides," said Bobus. " They'd 
 kick you out before you could say Jack Robinson." 
 
 "There was an old book of father's," suggested 
 Jock, " with an old scamp who starved and licked his 
 apprentices, till one of them dressed himself up in a
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 219 
 
 bullock's hide, horns and hoofs, and tail and all, and 
 stood over his bed at night and shouted — 
 
 ** ' Old, man, old man, for thy cruelty, 
 Body and soul thou art given to me ; 
 Let me but hear those apprentices' cries, 
 And I'll toss thee, and gore thee, and bore out thine eyes.* 
 
 And he was quite mild to the apprentices ever after.'* 
 Jock acted and roared with such effect as to be 
 
 encored, but Rob objected. "He ain't got any 
 
 apprentices." 
 
 " It might be altered," said Allen. 
 
 " Old man, old man, thy gates thou must ope," 
 
 Bobus chimed in. 
 
 ** Nor force Eton swells in quagmire to grope." 
 
 " Bother you, don't humbug and put me out. 
 
 *' Old man, old man, if for aught thou wouldst hope. 
 Thy heart, purse, and gates thou must instantly ope. 
 Let me but " 
 
 "Get Mother Carey to write it," suggested his 
 cousin John. 
 
 " No ; she must know nothing about it," said Bobus. 
 
 " She'd think it a jolly lark," said Jock. 
 
 " When it's over," said Allen. " But it's one of the 
 things that the old ones are sure to stick at before- 
 hand, if they are ever so rational and jolly." 
 
 " 'Tis a horrid pity she is not a fellow," sighed 
 Johnny. 
 
 " And who'll do the verses } " said Rob.
 
 220 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 " Oh, any fool can do them," returned Bobus. "The 
 point is to bell the cat." 
 
 " There'd be no getting in to act the midnight 
 ghost," said Allen. 
 
 " No," said Jock ; " but one could hide in the big 
 rhododendron in the wolf-skin rug, and jump out on 
 him in his chair." 
 
 In Allen's railway rug, Jock rehearsed the scene, 
 and was imitated if not surpassed by both cousins ; 
 but Allen and Bobus declared that it could not be 
 carried out in the daylight. 
 
 " I could do it still better," said Jock, " if I blacked 
 myself all over, not only my face, but all the rest, 
 and put on nothing but my red flannel drawers and 
 a turban. They'd take me for the ghost of the little 
 nigger he flogged to death, and Allen could write 
 something pathetic and stunning." 
 
 " You might cut human ears out of rabbit-skins and 
 hang them round your neck," added Bobus. 
 
 '' You'd be awfully cold," said Allen. 
 
 " You could mix in a little iodine," suggested Bobus. 
 "" That stings like fun, and a coppery tinge would be 
 more natural." 
 
 There was great acclamation, but the difficulty was 
 that the only time for eflecting an entrance into the 
 garden was between four and five in the morning, 
 and it would be needful to lurk there in this light 
 costume till Mr. Barnes went out. No one would be 
 at liberty from school but Allen, and he declined
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 221 
 
 the oil and lamp-black even though warmed up with 
 iodine. 
 
 " Could it not be done by deputy ? " said Bobus ; 
 " we might blacken the little fat boy riding on a swan^ 
 the statue, I mean." 
 
 "What, and gild the swan, to show how far his 
 golden goose can carry him ^ " said Jock. 
 
 " Or," said Allen, "^there's the statue they say is 
 himself, though that's all nonsense. We could make 
 a pair of donkey's ears in Mother Carey's clay, and 
 clap them on him, and gild the thing in his hand." 
 
 " What would be the good of that .? " asked Robert. 
 
 However, the fun was irresistible, and the only 
 wonder was that the secret was kept for the whole 
 day, while Allen moulded in the studio two things 
 that might pass for ass's ears, and secreted cement 
 enough to fasten them on. The performance elicited 
 such a rapture of applause that the door had to be 
 fast locked against the incursion of the little ones to 
 learn the cause of the mirth. When Mother Carey 
 asked at tea what they were having so much fun 
 about they only blushed, sniggled, and wriggled in 
 their chairs in a way that would have alarmed a more 
 suspicious mother, but only made her conclude that 
 some delightful surprise was preparing, for which she 
 must keep her curiosity in abeyance. 
 
 Nor was she dismayed by the creaking of boots on 
 the attic stairs before dawn, and when the boys ap- 
 peared at breakfast with hellebore, blue periwinkle
 
 222 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 and daffodils, clear indications of where they had 
 been, she only exclaimed — 
 
 " Forbidden sweets ! O you naughty boys ! " when 
 ecstatic laughter alone replied. 
 
 She heard no more till the afternoon, when the 
 return from school was notified by shouts from Allen, 
 and the boys rushed up to the verandah where he 
 was reading. 
 
 " I say ! here's a go. He thinks Richards has 
 done it, and has written to Ogilvie to have him 
 expelled." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " He told me himself." 
 
 " But Ogilvie has too much sense to expel him ! " 
 
 " Of course, but there's worse, for old Barnes means 
 to turn off his father. Nothing will persuade the old 
 fellow that it wasn't his work, for he says that it must 
 be a grammar-school boy." 
 
 " Does Dicky Bird guess } " 
 
 " Yes, but he's all right, as close as wax. He says 
 he was sure no one but ourselves could have done it, 
 for nobody else could have thought of such things or 
 made them either." 
 
 " Then he has seen it ? " 
 
 " Yes, and he was fit to kill himself with laughing, 
 though his father and old Barnes were mad with 
 rage and fur}^ His father believes him, but old 
 Barnes believes neither of them, and swears his father 
 shall go."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 223 
 
 "We shall have to split on ourselves," elegantly 
 observed Johnny. 
 
 "We had better tell Mother Carey. Hullo! here 
 she is, inside the window." 
 
 " Didn't you know that," said Allen. 
 
 Therefore the boys, leaning and sprawling round 
 her, half in and half out of the window, told the story, 
 the triumph overcoming all compunction, as they 
 described the morning raid, the successful scaling of 
 the park-wall, the rush across the sward, the silence of 
 the garden, the hoisting up of Allen to fasten on the 
 ears, and the wonderful charms of the figure when it 
 wore them and held a golden apple in its hand. 
 " Right of Way," and " Let us in," had been written 
 in black on all the pedestals. 
 
 " It is a peculiar way of recommending yout 
 admission," said Caroline. 
 
 "That's Rob's doing," said Allen. "I couldn't 
 look after him while I was gilding the apple or I 
 would have stopped him. He half blacked the little 
 boy on the swan too " 
 
 " And broke the swan's bill off, worse luck," added 
 Johnny. 
 
 "Yes," said Allen, "that was altogether low and 
 unlucky ! I meant the old fellow simply to have 
 thought that his statue had grown a pair of ears in 
 the night." 
 
 " And what would have been the use of that } " 
 said Robin.
 
 224 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " What was the use of all your scrawlmg," said 
 Allen, "except just to show it was not the natural 
 development of statues." 
 
 " Yes," added Bobus, " it all came of you that poor 
 Dickey Bird is suspected and it is all blown up." 
 
 "As if he would have thought it was done by 
 nobody," said Rob. 
 
 " Why not } " said Jock. " I'm sure I'd never 
 wonder to see ass's ears growing on you. I think 
 they are coming." 
 
 There was a shout of laughter as Rob hastily put 
 up his hands to feel for them, adding in his slow, 
 gruff voice — 
 
 " A statue ain't alive." 
 
 " It made a fool of the whole matter," proceeded 
 Bobus. " I wish we'd kept a lout like you out of it." 
 
 " Hush, hush, Bobus," put in his mother, " no matter 
 about that. The question is what is to be done about 
 poor Mr. Richards and Alfred." 
 
 "Write a poetical letter," said Allen, beginning to 
 extemporise in Hiawatha measure. 
 
 ** O thou mighty man of money, 
 Barnes, of Belforest, Esquire, 
 Innocent is Alfred Richards ; 
 Innocent his honest father j 
 Innocent as unborn baby 
 Of development of Midas, 
 Of the smearing of the Cupid, 
 Of the fracture of the goose-bill, 
 Of the writing of the mottoes. 
 All the Brownlows of St. Kenelm's, 
 From the Follv and from Kencroft.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 225 
 
 Robert,, the aspiring soldier, 
 Robert, too, the sucking chemist, 
 John, the Skipjack full of mischief, 
 John, the great originator, 
 Allen, the " 
 
 "Allen, the uncommon gaby," broke in Bobus. 
 "' Come, don't waste time, something must be done." 
 
 " Yes, a rational letter must be written and signed 
 by you all," said his mother. " The question is whether 
 it would be better to do it through your uncle or 
 Mr. Ogilvie." 
 
 " I don't see why my father should hear of it, or 
 Mr. Ogilvie either," growled Rob. " I didn't do those 
 donkeyfied ears." 
 
 " You did the writing, which was fiv^e hundred times 
 more donkeyfied," said Jock. 
 
 " It is quite impossible to keep either of them in 
 ignorance," said Caroline. 
 
 " Yes," repeated all her own three ; Jock adding 
 " Father would have known it as soon as you, and I 
 don't see that my uncle is much worse." 
 
 " He ain't so soft," exclaimed Johnny, roused to 
 loyal defence of his parent. 
 
 " Soft ! " cried Jock, indignantly ; " I can tell you 
 father did pitch into me when I caught the old lady's 
 bonnet out at the window with a fishing-rod." 
 
 "He never flogged you," said Johnny contemptu- 
 ously. 
 
 " He did ! " cried Jock, triumphantly. "At least he 
 flogged Bobus, when " 
 
 VOL. T. Q
 
 226 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 "Shut up, you little ape," thundered Bobus, not 
 choosing to be offered up to the manes of his father's 
 discipline. 
 
 "You think you must explain it to my uncle, 
 mother," said Allen, rather ruefully. 
 
 " Certainly. He ought to be told first, and Mr. 
 Ogilvie next. Depend upon it, he will be far less 
 angry if it is freely confessed and put into his hands, 
 and what is more important, Mr. Barnes must attend 
 to him, and acquit the Richardses." 
 
 The general voice agreed, but Rob writhed and 
 muttered, " Can't you be the one to tell him, Mother 
 Carey .? " 
 
 ''That's cool," said Allen, "to ask her to do what 
 you're afraid of" 
 
 "He couldn't do anything to her," said Rob. 
 
 However, public opinion went against Rob, and the 
 party of boys dragged him off in their train the less 
 reluctantly that Allen would be spokesman, and he 
 always got on well with his uncle. No one could tell 
 how it was, but the boy had a frank manner, with a 
 sort of address in the manner of narration, that always 
 w^ent far to disarm displeasure, and protected his 
 comrades as well as himself. So it was that, instead 
 of meeting with unmitigated wrath, the boys found 
 that they were allowed the honours and graces of 
 voluntary confession. Allen even thought that his 
 uncle showed a little veiled appreciation of the jol;e, 
 but this was not deemed possible by the rest.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 22^ 
 
 To exonerate young Richards was the first requisite, 
 and Allen, under his uncle's eye, drew up a brief note 
 to this effect : — 
 
 " SlR^ — We beg to apologise for the mischief done 
 In your grounds, and to assure you on our word and 
 honour that it was suggested by no one, that no one 
 admitted us, and no one had any share In it except 
 ourselves. 
 
 "Allen Browxlow. 
 
 " Robert Friar Brownlow. 
 
 "Robert Otway Brownlow, 
 
 "John Friar Brownlow. 
 
 "John Lucas Brownlow\"' 
 
 This letter was taken up the next morning to Belforest 
 by Colonel Brownlow, and the two eldest delinquents, 
 one, curious, amused, and with only compunction 
 enough to flavour an apology, the other cross, dogged, 
 and sheepish, dragged along like a cur in a sling, "just 
 as though he were going to be hanged," said Janet. 
 
 The report of the expedition as given by Allen was 
 thus : — " The servant showed us into a sort of ante- 
 room, and said he would see whether his master would 
 see us. Uncle Robert sent In his card and my letter, 
 and we waited with the door open, and a great screen 
 in front, so that we couldn't help hearing every word. 
 First there was a great snarl, and then a deferential 
 voice, 'This alters the case, sir.' But the old man 
 
 o 2
 
 228 
 
 swore down in his throat that he didn't care for Colonel 
 Brownlow or Colonel anybody. ' A gentleman, sir ; one 
 of the most respected.' ' Then he should bring up his 
 family better.' ' Indeed, sir, it might be better to 
 accept the apology. This might not be considered 
 actionable damage.' ' We'll see that ! ' ' Indeed, 
 don't you agree with me, Mr. Richards, the magistrates 
 would hardly entertain the case.' ' Then I'll appeal ; 
 I'll send a representation to the Home Office.' ' Is it 
 not to be considered, sir, whether some of these low 
 papers might not put it in a ludicrous light .'' ' Then," 
 continued Allen, who had been most dramatically 
 mimicking the two voices, "we heard a crackling 
 as if he were opening my letter, and after an odd 
 noise or two he sent to call us in to where he was 
 sitting with Richards, and the attorney he had got to 
 prosecute us. He is a regular old wizened stick, the 
 perfect image of an old miser ; almost hump-backed, 
 and as yellow as a mummy. He looked just ready 
 to bite off our heads, but he was amazingly set on 
 finding out which was which among us, and seemed 
 uncommonly struck with my name and Bobus's. My 
 uncle told him I was called after your father, and 
 he made a snarl just like a dog over a bone. He 
 ended with, ' So you are Allen Brownlow ! You'll 
 remember this day's work, youngster.' I humbly 
 said I should, and so the matter ended." 
 
 " He did not mean any prosecution } " 
 
 " O no, that was all quashed, even if it was begun.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. 229 
 
 He must have been under an hallucination that he 
 was a stem parent, cutting me off with a shilling." 
 
 The worcfs had also struck the Colonel, who 
 sought the first opportunity of asking his sister-in-law 
 whether she knew the names of any of her mother's 
 relations. 
 
 "Only that her name was Otway," said Caroline. 
 *' You know I lived with my father's aunt, who knew 
 nothing about her, and I have never been able to 
 find anything out. Do you know of any connection ? 
 Not this old man ! Then you would have known." 
 
 " That does not follow, for I was scarcely in Jamaica 
 at all. I had a long illness immediately after going 
 there, was sent home on leave, and then to the depot, 
 and only joined again after the regiment had gone 
 to Canada, when the marriage had taken place. I 
 may have heard the name of Mrs. Allen's uncle, but I 
 never bore it in my mind." 
 
 " Is there any way of finding out } " 
 
 " I will write to Norton. If he does not remember 
 all about it, his wife will." 
 
 " He is the present lieutenant-colonel, I think." 
 
 " Yes, and he was your father's chief friend. Now 
 that they are at home again, we must have him here 
 one of these days." 
 
 " It would be a wonderful thing if this freak were 
 an introduction to a relation," said Caroline. 
 
 *' There was no doubt of his being struck by the 
 combination of Allen and Otway. He chose to under-
 
 •30 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 stand which were my sons and which my nephews, 
 and when I said that Allen bore your maiden name 
 he assented as if he knew it before, and spoke of your 
 boy having cause to remember this ; I am afraid it 
 will not be pleasantly." 
 
 " No," said Caroline, " it sounded much like a threat. 
 But one would like to know, only I thought Farmer 
 Gould's little granddaughter was his niece." 
 
 " That might be without preventing your relation- 
 ship ; I will do my best to ascertain it." 
 
 Colonel Norton's letter gave decisive information 
 that Barnes was the name of the uncle with whom Caro- 
 line Otway had been living at the time of her marriage. 
 She had been treated as a poor relation, and seemed 
 to be half-slave, half-governess to the children of the 
 favoured sister, little semi- Spanish tyrants. This had 
 roused Captain Allen's chivalry, and his friend remem- 
 bered his saying that, though he had little or nothing 
 of his own, he could at least make her happier than 
 she was in such a family. The uncle was reported 
 to have grown rich in the mahogany trade, and like- 
 wise by steamboat speculations, coupled with judicious 
 stock-jobbing among the distressed West Indians, 
 after the emancipation. 
 
 " He was a sinister-looking old fellow," ended Colonel 
 Norton, " and I should think not very particular ; but 
 I should be glad to hear that he had done justice to 
 poor Allen's daughter. He was written to when she 
 was left an orphan, but vouchsafed no answer."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 23 1 
 
 " Still he may have kept an eye upon you," added 
 Uncle Robert. *' I do not think it was new to him 
 that you had married into our family." 
 
 "If only those unfortunate boys have not ruined 
 everything," sighed Ellen. 
 
 " Little Elvira's father must have been one of those 
 cousins," said Caroline. " I wonder what became of 
 the others } She must be — let me see — my second 
 cousin." 
 
 " Not very near," said Ellen. 
 
 " I never had a blood relation before since my old 
 aunt died. I am so glad that brilliant child belongs 
 to me ! " 
 
 " I daresay old Gould could tell you more," said 
 the Colonel. 
 
 " Is it wise to revive the connection } " asked his 
 wife. 
 
 "The Goulds are not likely to presume," said the 
 Colonel ; " and I think that if Caroline takes up the 
 one connection, she is bound to take up the other." 
 
 " How am I to make up to this cross old man T' 
 said Carey. " I can't go and fawn on him." 
 
 " Certainly not," said her brother-in-law ; " but I 
 think you ought to make some advance, merely as a 
 relation." 
 
 On the family vote, Caroline rather unwillingly wrote 
 a note, explaining that she had only just discovered 
 her kinship with Mr. Barnes, and offering to come 
 and see him ; but not the smallest notice was taken
 
 32 'MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 of her letter, rather to her reHef, though she did not 
 like to hear Ellen augur ill for the future. 
 
 Another letter, to old Mr. Gould, begging him to 
 call upon her next market day, met with a far more 
 ready response. When at his entrance she greeted 
 him with outstretched hands, and — " I never thought 
 you were a connection ;" the fine old weather-beaten 
 face was strangely moved, as the rugged hand took 
 hers, and the voice was husky that said — 
 
 " I thought there was a likeness in the voice, but I 
 never imagined you were grandchild to poor Carey 
 Barnes ; I beg your pardon, to Mrs. Otway." 
 
 " You knew her ? You must let me see something 
 of my little cousin ! I know nothing of my relations, 
 and my brother-in-law said he thought you could 
 tell me." 
 
 " I ought to be able, for the family lived at Wood- 
 bridge all my young days," said the farmer. 
 
 The history was then given. The present lord of 
 the manor had been the son of a land surveyor. He was 
 a stunted, sickly, slightly deformed lad, noted chiefly 
 for skill in cyphering, and therefore had been placed 
 in a clerkship. Here a successful lottery ticket had 
 been the foundation of his fortunes ; he had invested 
 it in the mahogany trade, and had been one of those 
 men with whom everything turned up a prize. When 
 a little over thirty, he had returned to his own neigh- 
 bourhood, looking any imaginable age. He had then 
 purchased Belforest, furnished it sump'.uously, and laid
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 233 
 
 out magnificent gardens in preparation for his bride^ 
 a charming young lady of quaHty. But she had had 
 a young Lochinvar, and even in her wedding dress, 
 favoured by sympathising servants, had escaped down 
 the back stairs of a London hotel, and been married at 
 the nearest Church, leaving poor Mr. Barnes in the case 
 of the poor craven bridegroom, into whose feelings no 
 one ever inquired. 
 
 Mr. Barnes had gone back to the West Indies at 
 once, and never appeared in England again till he came 
 home, a broken and soured old man, to die. There 
 had been two sisters, and Caroline fancied that the 
 old farmer had had some tenderness for the elder one,, 
 but she had married, before her brother's prosperity, 
 a poor struggling builder, and both had died young, 
 leaving their child dependent on her uncle. His 
 younger sister had been the favourite ; he had taken 
 her back with him to America, and married her to a 
 man of Spanish blood, connected with him in business. 
 The only one of her children who survived childhood 
 was educated in England, treated as his uncle's heir,, 
 and came to Belforest for shooting. Thus it was that 
 he had fallen in love with Farmer Gould's prett}' 
 daughter, and as it seemed, by her mother's con- 
 trivance, though without her father's consent, had 
 made her his wife. 
 
 The wrath of i\Ir. Barnes was implacable. He cast 
 off the favourite nephew as entirely as he had cast oft~ 
 the despised niece, and deprived him of all the means
 
 234 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 he had been led to look on as his right. The young 
 man had nothing of his own but an estate in the small 
 island of San Ildefonso, of very little value, and some 
 of his former friends made interest to obtain a vice- 
 consulship for him at the Spanish town. Then, after 
 a few years, both husband and Avife died, leaving this 
 little orphan to the care of her grandfather, who had 
 Avritten to Mr. Barnes on her father's death, but had 
 heard nothing from him, and had too much honest 
 pride to make any further application. 
 
 " My little cousin," said Caroline, " the first I ever 
 knew. Pray bring her to see me, and let her stay with 
 me long enough for me to know her." 
 
 The old man began to prepare her for the child's 
 being shy and w^Ild, though perhaps her aunt was too 
 particular with her, and expected too much. Perhaps 
 she w^ould be homesick, he said, so wistfully that it 
 was plain that he did not know how to exist without 
 his darling ; but he was charmed with the Invitation, 
 and Caroline was pleased to see that he did not regard 
 her as his grandchild's rival, but as representing the 
 cherished playmate of his youth.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE RIVAL HEIRESSES. 
 
 You smile, their eager ways to see, 
 But mark their choice when they 
 To choose their sportive garb are free, 
 The moral of their play. 
 
 Keble. 
 
 One curious part of the reticence of youth is that 
 which relates to its comprehension of grown-up affairs. 
 There is a smile with which the elders greet any 
 question on the subject, half of wonder, half of amuse- 
 ment, which is perfectly intolerable to the young, who 
 remain thinking that they are regarded as presump- 
 tuous and absurd, and thus will do anything rather 
 than expose themselves to it again. 
 
 Thus it was that Mrs. Brownlow flattered herself 
 that her children never put two and two together when 
 she let them know of the discovery of their relation- 
 ship. Partly she judged by herself. She was never 
 in the habit of forecasting, and for so clever and 
 spirited a woman, she thought wonderfully little. 
 She had plenty of intuitive sense, decided rapidly and 
 clearly, and could easily throw herself in other people's 
 thoughts, but she seldom reflected, analysed or
 
 '■^6 INIAGXUM BOXUM 
 
 moralised, save on the spur of the moment. She Hved 
 chiefly in the present, and the chief events of her 
 hfe had all come so suddenly and unexpectedly 
 upon her, that she was all the less inclined to guess 
 at the future, having always hitherto been taken by 
 surprise. 
 
 So,, when Jock observed in public — " Mother, they 
 say at Kencroft that the old miser ought to leave 
 you half his money. Do you think he will .'' " it was 
 with perfect truth that she answered, " I don't think 
 at all about it." 
 
 It was taken in the family as an intimation that she 
 would not talk about it, and while she supposed that 
 the children drew no conclusions, they thought the 
 more. 
 
 Allen was gone to Eton, but Janet and Bobus had 
 many discussions over their chemical experiments, 
 about possibilities and probabilities, odd compounds of 
 cleverness and ignorance. 
 
 "Mother must be heir-at-law, for her grandmother 
 was eldest," said Janet. 
 
 "A woman can't be heir-at-law," said Bobus. 
 
 " The Salique law doesn't come into England." 
 
 "Yes it does, for Sir John Gray got Graysnest only 
 last year, instead of the old man's daughter. 
 
 "Then how comes the Queen to be Queen.'" 
 
 " Besides," — Bobus shifted his ground to another 
 possibility — "when there's nobody but a lot of women, 
 the thing goes into abeyance among them."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 237 
 
 " Who gets it, then ? " 
 
 " Chancery, I suppose, or some of the lawyers. 
 They are all blood-suckers." 
 
 " I'm sure," said Janet, superior by three years of 
 wisdom, " that abeyance only happens about Scotch 
 peerages ; and if he has not made a will, mother will 
 be heiress." 
 
 " Only halves with that black Undine of Allen's," 
 sturdily persisted Bobus. " Is she coming here, 
 Janet .? " 
 
 "Yes, to-morrow. I did not think we wanted 
 another child about the house ; Essie and Ellie are 
 quite enough." 
 
 " If mother gets rich she won't have all that teaching 
 to bother her," said Bobus. 
 
 "And I can go on with my education," said Janet. 
 
 "Girl's education does not signify," said Bobus. 
 *" Now I shall be able to get the very best instruction 
 in physical science, and make some great discovery. 
 If I could only go and study at Halle, instead of going 
 on droning here." 
 
 " Oh ! boys can always get educated if they choose. 
 You are going to Eton or Winchester after this term." 
 
 " Not if I can get any sense into mother. I don't 
 want to waste my time on those stupid classics and 
 athletics. I say, Janet, it's time to see whether the 
 precipitation has taken place." 
 
 The two used to try experiments together, in Bobus's 
 end of the attic, to an extent that might make the
 
 238 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 presence of a strange child in the house dangerous to 
 herself as well as to everyone else. 
 
 Mrs. Gould herself brought the little girl, trying to 
 impress on Mrs. Brownlow that if she was indocile it 
 was not her fault, but her grandfather could not bear 
 to have her crossed. 
 
 The elders did not wonder at his weakness, for the 
 creature was wonderfully lovely and winning, with a 
 fearless imperiousness that subdued everyone to her 
 service. So brilliant was she, that Essie and Ellie, 
 though very pretty little girls, looked faded and 
 effaced beside this small empress, whose air seemed 
 to give her a right to bestow her favours. 
 
 " I am glad to be here ! " she observed, graciously, 
 to her hostess, " for you are my cousin and a lady." 
 
 " And pray what are you ^ " asked Janet. 
 
 ^' I am la Seilora Doiia Elvira Maria de Guadalupe 
 de Menella," replied the damsel, with a liquid sonor- 
 ousness so annihilating, that Janet made a mocking 
 courtesy ; and her mother said it Avas like asking the 
 head of the house of Hapsburg if she were a lady ! 
 
 With some disappointment at Allen's absence, the 
 little Donna motioned Bobus to sit by her side at 
 dinner-time, and Avhen her grandfather looked in some- 
 what later to wish her good-bye, in mingled hope and 
 fear of her insisting on going home with him, she 
 cared for nothing but his admiration of her playing at 
 kings and queens with Armine and Barbara, in //le 
 cotton velvet train of the dressing up'wardrobe.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 239 
 
 "No, she did not want to go home. She never 
 wanted to go back to River Hollow." 
 
 Nor would she even kiss him till she had extorted 
 the assurance that he had been shaved that morning. 
 
 The old man went away blessing Mrs. Brownlow's 
 kindness to his child, and Janet was universally scouted 
 for muttering that it was a heartless little being. She 
 alone remained unenthralled by Elvira's chains. The 
 first time she went to Kencroft, she made Colonel 
 Brownlow hold her up in his arms to gather a bough 
 off his own favourite double cherry ; and when Mother 
 Carey demurred, she beguiled Aunt Ellen into taking 
 her on her own responsibility to the dancing lessons at 
 the assembly rooms. 
 
 There she electrified the dancing-master, and all 
 beholders, seeming to catch inspiration from the music, 
 and floating along with a wondrous swimming grace, 
 as her dainty feet twinkled, her arms wreathed them- 
 selves, and her eyes shone with enjoyment. 
 
 If she could only have always danced, or acted in 
 the garden ! Armine's and Babie's perpetual romantic 
 dramas were all turned by her into homage to one 
 and the same princess. She never knew or cared 
 whether she were goddess or fairy, Greek or Briton, 
 provided she had the crown and train ; but as Babie 
 much preferred action to magnificence, they got on 
 wonderfully well without disputes. There was a 
 continual performance, endless as a Chinese tragedy, 
 of Spenser's Faery Queene, in which Elfie was always
 
 240 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Gloriana, and Armine and Babie were everybody else 
 in .urn, except the wicked characters, who were repre- 
 sented by the cabbages and a dummy. 
 
 "Reading was horrid," Elvira said, and certainly 
 hers deserved the epithet. Her attainments fell far 
 behind those of Essie and EUie, and she did not mean 
 to improve them. Her hostess let her alone till she 
 had twice shaken her rich mane at her grandfather, 
 and refused to return with him ; and he had shown 
 himself deeply grateful to Mrs. Brownlow for keeping 
 her there, and had said he hoped she was good at her 
 lessons. 
 
 The first trial resulted in Elvira's going to sleep 
 over her book, the next in her playing all sorts of 
 ridiculous tricks, and sulking when stopped, and when 
 she was forbidden to speak or go out till she had 
 repeated three answers in the multiplication table, she 
 was the next moment singing and dancing in defiance 
 in the crarden. Caroline did not choose to endure 
 this, and went to fetch her in, thus producing such a 
 screaming, kicking, rolling fury that Mrs. Coffinkey 
 might have some colour for the statement that Mrs. 
 Folly Brownlow was murdering all her children. The 
 cook, as the strongest person in the house, was called, 
 carried her in and put her to bed, where she fell sound 
 asleep, and woke, hungry, in high spirits, and without 
 an atom of compunction. 
 
 When called to lessons she replied — "No, I'm going 
 back to grandpapa."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. 24I 
 
 "Very well," was all Caroline answered, thinking 
 wholesome neglect the best treatment. 
 
 In an hour's time Mr. Gould made his appearance 
 Avith his grandchild. She had sought him out among 
 the pigs in the market-place, pulled him by the coat, 
 and insisted on being taken home. 
 
 His politeness was great, but he was plainly delighted, 
 and determined to believe that her demand sprang 
 from affection, and not naughtiness. Elvira stood 
 caressing him, barely vouchsafing to look at her hostess,. 
 and declaring that she never meant to come back. 
 
 Not a fortnight had passed, however, before she 
 burst upon them again, kissing them all round, and 
 reiterating that she hated her aunt, and would live 
 with Mother Carey. Mr. Gould had waited to be 
 properly ushered in. He was distressed and apologetic, 
 but he had been forced to do his tyrant's behest. 
 There had been more disturbances than ever between 
 her and her aunt, and Mrs. Gould had declared that 
 she would not manage the child any longer, while 
 Elvira was still more vehement to return to Mother 
 Carey. Would Mrs. Brownlow. recommend some 
 school or family where the child would be well cared 
 for ? Mrs. Brownlow did more, offering herself to 
 undertake the charge. 
 
 Spite of all the naughtiness, she loved the beautiful 
 wild creature, and could not bear to think of intrusting 
 her to strangers ; she knew, too, that her brother and 
 sister-in-law had no objection, and it was the obvious 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 -'42 
 
 plan. Mr. Gould would make some small payment, 
 and the child was to be made to understand that she 
 must be obedient, learn her lessons, and cease to 
 expect to find a refuge with her grandfather when she 
 was offended. 
 
 She drew herself up with childish pride and grace, 
 saying, '* I will attend to Mrs. Brownlow, for she is m}- 
 cousin and my equal." 
 
 To a certain degree the little maiden kept her word. 
 She was the favourite plaything of the boys, and got 
 on well with Babie, who was too bright and yielding 
 to quarrel with any one. 
 
 But Janet's elder-sisterly authority was never 
 accepted by the newcomer. " I couldn't mind her, 
 she looked so ugly," said she in excuse ; and probably 
 the heavy, brown, dull complexion and large features 
 were repulsive in themselves to the sensitive fancy of 
 the creature of life and beauty. At any rate, they 
 were jarring elephants, as said Eleanor, who was 
 growing ambitious, and sometimes electrified the 
 public with curious versions of the long words more 
 successfully used by Armine and Babie. 
 
 Caroline succeeded in modelling a veiy lovely 
 profile in bas-relief of the exquisite little head, and 
 then had it photographed. Mary Ogilvie, coming 
 to Kenminster as usual when her holidays began in 
 June, found the photograph in the place of honour on 
 her brother's chimney-piece, and a little one beside it 
 of the artist herself
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY 'S BROOD. 243 
 
 So far as Carey herself was concerned, I\Iary was 
 much better satisfied. She did not look so worn or so 
 flighty, and had a quieter and more really cheerful 
 tone and manner, as of one who had settled into her 
 home and occupations. She had made friends, too — 
 few, but worth having ; and there were those who pro- 
 nounced the Folly the pleasantest house in Kenminster, 
 and regarded the five o'clock tea, after the weekh' 
 physical science lecture at the school, as a delightful 
 institution. 
 
 Of course, the schoolmaster was one of these ; and 
 when Mary found how all his paths tended to the 
 Pagoda, she hated herself for being a suspicious old 
 duenna. Nevertheless, she could not but be alarmed 
 by finding that her project of a walking tour through 
 Brittany was not, indeed, refused, but deferred, with 
 excuses about having work to finish, being in no 
 hurry, and the like. 
 
 " I think you ought to go," said Mary at last." 
 
 " I see no ought in the case. Last year the work 
 dragged, and was oppressive ; but you see how 
 different it has become." 
 
 " That is the very reason," said Mary, the colour 
 flying to her cheeks. " It will not do to stay lingering 
 here as we did last summer, and not only on your 
 own account," 
 
 '' You need not be afraid," was the muttered answer, 
 as David bent down his head over the exercise he 
 was correcting. She made no answer, and ere long 
 
 R 2
 
 244 
 
 he began again, " I don't mean that her equal exists, 
 but I am not such a fool as to delude myself with a 
 spark of hope." 
 
 " She is too nice for that," said Mary. 
 
 "Just so," he said, glad to relieve himself when the 
 ice had been broken. " There's something about her 
 that makes one feel her to be altogether that doctor's,, 
 as much as if he were present in the flesh." 
 
 " Are you hoping to wear that out ? For I don't 
 think you will." 
 
 " I told you I had no hope," he answered, rather 
 petulantly. " Even were it otherwise, there is another 
 thing that must withhold me. It has got abroad 
 that she may tiirn out heiress to the old man at 
 Belforest." 
 
 " In such a hopeless case, would it not be wiser to 
 leave this place altogether ? " 
 
 " I cannot," he exclaimed ; then remembering that 
 vehemence told against him, he added, " Don't be 
 uneasy ; I am a reasonable man, and she is a woman 
 to keep one so ; but I think I am useful to her, and I 
 am sure she is useful to me." 
 
 " That I allow she has been," said Mary, looking at 
 her brother's much improved appearance ; " but " 
 
 " Moths and candles, to wit," he returned ; " but 
 don't be afraid, I attract no notice, and I think she 
 trusts me about her boys." 
 
 " But what is it to come to ^ " 
 
 "I have thought of that. Understand that it is
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 245 
 
 enough for me to live near her, and be now and then 
 of some Httle service to her." 
 
 " You troubadour ! " 
 
 They were interrupted by a note, which ]\Ir. Ogih"ie 
 read, and handed to his sister with a smile : — 
 
 " Dear Mr. Ogilvie, — Could you and Mary make 
 it convenient to look in this evening } Bobus has 
 horrified his uncle by declining to go up for a scholar- 
 ship at Eton or Winchester, and I should be very 
 glad to talk it over with you. Also, I shall have 
 to ask you to take little Armine into school after 
 
 the holidays. 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " C. O. Browxlow." 
 
 " What does the boy mean ^ " asked Mary. " I 
 thought he was the pride of your heart." 
 
 " So he is ; but he is ahead of his fellows, and ought 
 to be elsewhere. All measures have been taken for 
 sending him up to stand at one of the public schools, 
 but I thought him very passive about it. He is an 
 odd boy — reser\'ed and self-concentrated — quite be- 
 yond his uncle's comprehension, and likely to become 
 headstrong at a blind exercise of authority." 
 
 " I used to like Allen best," said Mary. 
 
 ** He is the pleasantest, but there's more solid stuff in 
 Bobus. That boy's school character is perfect, except 
 for a certain cool opinionativeness, which seldom comes 
 out with me, but greatly annoys the undermasters."
 
 246 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Is he a prig ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, Fm afraid he is. He's unpopular, for 
 he does not care for games ; but his brother is popular 
 enough for both." 
 
 " Jock } — the monkey ! " 
 
 " His brains run to mischief. I've had to set him 
 more impositions than any boy in the school, and 
 actually to take his form myself, for simply the under- 
 masters can't keep up discipline or their own tempers. 
 As to poor M. le Blanc, I find him dancing and 
 shrieking with fury in the midst of a circle of snorting, 
 giggling boys ; and when he points out ce petit inoiistre, 
 Jock coolly owns to having translated ' Croquojis Ics^ 
 let us croquet them ; ox ' Je suis blesse,' I am blest." 
 
 '* So the infusion of brains produces too much 
 effervescence." 
 
 "Yes, but the whole school has profited, and none 
 more so than No. 2 of the^ other family, who has quite 
 passed his elder brother, and is above his namicsake 
 whenever it is a case of plodding ability versus idle 
 genius. But, after all, how little one can know of 
 one's boys." 
 
 " Or one's girls," said Mary, thinking of governess 
 experiences. 
 
 It was a showery summer evening when the brother 
 and sister walked up to the Folly in a partial clearing, 
 when the evening sun made every bush twinkle all 
 over witli diamond drops. Childish voices were heard 
 near the gate, and behind a dripping laurel were ^qqw
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 247 
 
 Elvira, Armine, and Barbara engaged in childhood's 
 unceasing attempt to explore the centre of the earth. 
 
 " What do you expect to find there ^ " they were 
 asked. 
 
 "Little kobolds, with pointed caps, playing at- ball 
 \\ith rubies and emeralds, and digging with golden 
 spades," answered Babie. 
 
 "And they shall give me an opal ring," said Elfie. 
 " But Armine does not want the kobolds." 
 
 " He says they are bad," said Babie. " Now are 
 they, Mr. Ogilvie .? I know elder women are, and erl 
 kings and mist widows, but poor Neck, that sat on the 
 water and played his harp, wasn't bad, and the dear 
 little kobolds were so kind and funny. Now are they 
 bad elves } " 
 
 Her voice was full of earnest pleading, and Mr. 
 Ogilvie, not being versed in the spiritual condition of 
 elves, could best reply by asking why Armine thought 
 ill of their kind. 
 
 " I think they are nasty little things that want to 
 distract and bewilder one in the real great search." 
 
 " What search, my boy ^ " 
 
 " For the source of everything," said Armine, 
 lowering his voice and looking into his muddy hole. 
 
 " But that is above, not below," said Mary. 
 
 "Yes," said Armine reverently ; "but I think God 
 put life and the beginning of growing into the earth 
 and I want to find it." 
 
 " Isn't it Truth } " said Babie. " Mr. Acton said
 
 248 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Truth was at the bottom of a well. I won't look at 
 the kobolds if they keep one from seeing Truth." 
 
 " But I must get my ring and all my jewels from 
 them," put in Elfie. 
 
 "Should you know Truth.?" asked Mr. Ogilvie. 
 " What do you think she is like } " 
 
 " So beautiful ! " said Babie, clasping her fingers with 
 earnestness. "All white and clear like crystal, with 
 such blue, sweet, open eyes. And she has an anchor." 
 
 " That's Hope .? " said Armine. 
 
 " Oh ! Hope and Truth go hand in hand," said 
 Babie ; " and Hope will be all robed in green like the 
 young corn-fields in the spring." 
 
 "Ah, Babie, that emerald Hope and crystal Truth 
 are not down in the earth, earthy," said Mary again. 
 
 " Nay, perhaps Armine has got hold of a reality," 
 said Mr. Ogilvie. " They are to be found above by 
 working below." 
 
 " Talking paradox to Armine } " said the cheerful 
 voice of the young mother. " My dear sprites, do you 
 know that it is past eight ! How wet you are ! Good 
 night, and mind you don't go upstairs in those boots." 
 
 'Tt is quite comfortable to hear anything so common- 
 place," said Mary, when the children had run away, to 
 the sound of its reiteration after full interchange of 
 good nights. " Those imps make one feel quite eerie." 
 
 " Has Armine been talking in that curious fashion 
 of his," said Carey, as they began to pace the walks. 
 " I am afraid his thinker is too big — as the child says
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREV'S BROOD. 249 
 
 in Miss Ty tier's book. This morning over his parsing 
 he asked me — 'Mother, which is reallest, what we 
 touch or what we feel ? ' knitting his brows fearfully 
 when I did not catch his meaning, and going on — ' I 
 mean is that fly as real as King David ? ' and then as 
 I was more puzzled he went on — ' You see we only 
 need just see that fly now with our outermost senses, 
 and he will only live a little while, and nobody cares 
 or will think of him any more, but everybody always 
 does think, and feel, and care a great deal about King 
 David.' I told him, as the best answer I could make 
 on the spur of the moment, that David was alive in 
 Heaven, but he pondered in and broke out — ' No, 
 that's not it ! David was a real man, but it is just the 
 same about Perseus and Siegfried, and lots of people 
 that never were men, only just thoughts. Ain't 
 thoughts realler than things, mother } ' " 
 
 " But much worse for him, I should say," exclaimed 
 Mary. 
 
 " I thought of Pisistratus Caxton, and wrote to I\Ir. 
 Ogilvie. It is a great pity, but I am afraid he ought 
 not to dwell on such things till his body is grown up 
 to his mind." 
 
 "Yes, school is the approved remedy for being too 
 clever," said Mr. Ogilvie. " You are wise. It is a 
 pity, but it will be all the better for him by-and-by." 
 
 " And the elder ones will take care the seasoning is 
 not too severe," said Caroline, with a resolution she 
 could hardly have shown if this had been her first
 
 ^O MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 launch of a son. "But it was about Bobus that I 
 wanted to consult you. His uncle thinks him 
 headstrong and conceited, if not lazy." 
 
 " Lazy he is certainly not." 
 
 " I knew you would say so, but the Colonel cannot 
 enter into his wish to have more physical science and 
 less classics, and will not hear of his going to Germany, 
 which is what he wishes, though I am sure he is too 
 young." 
 
 " He ought not to go there till his character is much 
 more formed." 
 
 *' What do you think of his going on here ^ " 
 
 " That's a temptation I ought to resist. He will 
 soon have out-stripped the other boys so that I could 
 not give him the attention he needs, and besides the 
 being with other boys, more his equals, would be 
 invaluable to him." 
 
 *' Well, he is rather bumptious." 
 
 " Nothing is worse for a lad of that sort than being 
 cock of the walk. It spoils him often for life." 
 
 " I know exactly the sort of man you mean, always 
 liking to lay down the law and talking to women 
 instead of men, because they don't argue with him. 
 No, Bobus must not come to that, and he is too young 
 to begin special training. Will you talk to him, ]\Ir. 
 Ogilvie ? You know if my horse is not convinced I 
 may bring him to the water, but it will be all in vain." 
 
 They had reached the outside of the window of the 
 dining-room, where the school-boys were learning their
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 25 1 
 
 lessons for the morrow. Bobus was sitting at the table 
 with a small lamp so shaded as to concentrate the 
 light on him and to afford it to no one else. On the 
 floor was a servant's flat candlestick, mounted on a 
 pile of books, between one John sprawling at full 
 length preparing his Virgil, the other cross-legged, 
 working a sum with ink from a doll's tea-cup placed 
 in the candlestick, and all the time there was a 
 wonderful mumbling accompaniment, as there always 
 was between those two. 
 
 " I say, what does pidsuui come from 1 " 
 
 " What a brute this is of a fraction ! Skipjack, what 
 will go in 639 and 852 .^ " 
 
 " Piilsuin, a pulse — volaf, flies. Eh ! Three'll do it. 
 Or common measure it at once." 
 
 " Bother common measure. The threes in " 
 
 " Fama, fame ; iwlat, flies ; pulstiin, the pulse ; 
 cecisse, to have ceased ; paternis regnis, in the paternal 
 kingdom. I say, wouldn't that rile Perkins like 
 fun .? " 
 
 " The threes in seven — two — in eighteen " 
 
 " I say, Johnny, is pulstiin irom pulco f " 
 
 " Never heard of it." 
 
 " Bobus, is it ptilco, ptilxi, pulsinn ? " 
 
 " Ptilco — I make an ass of myself," muttered Bobus. 
 
 " O murder," groaned Johnny, " it has come 
 out 213." 
 
 " Not half so much murder as this pulsinn. Why it 
 will go in them both. I can see with half an eye."
 
 252 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " Isn't \t pello—pidsiim f " 
 
 " Pello, to drive out. Hurrah ! That fits it." 
 
 ''Look out, Skipjack, there's a moth." 
 
 " Anything worth having } " demanded Bobus. 
 
 " Only a grass eggar. Fama, fame ; volat^ flies ; 
 Idomceea diicem, that Idomaeeus the leader ; ptdstcni, 
 expelled. Get out, I say, you foolish beggar " (to the 
 moth). 
 
 " Never mind catching him," said Bobus, " we've got 
 dozens." 
 
 " Yes, but I don't want him frizzling alive in my 
 candle." 
 
 " Don't kick up such a shindy," broke out Johnny, 
 as a much stained handkerchief came flapping about. 
 
 " You've blotted my sum. Thunder and ages ! " as 
 the candlestick toppled over, ink and all. " That 
 is a go ! " 
 
 " I say, Bobus, lend us your Guy Fawkes to pick up 
 the pieces." 
 
 " Not if I know it," said Bobus. " You always 
 smash things." 
 
 " There's a specimen of the way we learn our 
 lessons," said Caroline, in a low voice, still unseen, as 
 Bobus wiped, sheathed, and pocketed his favourite pen, 
 then proceeded to turn down the lamp, but allowed the 
 others to relight their candle at the expiring wick. 
 
 " The results are fair," said Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 " I think of your carpet," said Mary, quaintly. 
 
 " We always lay down an ancient floorcloth in the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 253 
 
 bay window before the boys come home," said Carey, 
 laughing-. *' Here, Bobus." 
 
 And as he came out headforemost at the window, 
 the two ladies discreetly drew off to leave the 
 conversation free. 
 
 " So, Brownlow," said Mr. Ogilvie, " I hear you don't 
 want to try your luck elsewhere." 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Do you object to telling me why ^ " 
 
 " I see no use in it," said Bobus, never shy, and 
 further aided by the twilight; ''I do quite well enough 
 here." 
 
 " Should you not do better in a larger field among 
 a higher stamp of boys .'* " 
 
 " Public school boys are such fools ! " 
 
 " And what are the Kenites .? " 
 
 " Well, not much," said Bobus, with a twitch in the 
 corner of his mouth ; *' but I can keep out of their 
 way." 
 
 " You mean that you have gained your footing, 
 and don't want to have to do it again." 
 
 " Not only that, sir," said the boy, " but at a public 
 school you're fagged, and forced to go in for cricket 
 and football." 
 
 " You would soon get above that." 
 
 "Yes, but even then you get no peace, and are 
 nobody unless you go in for all that stuff of athletics 
 and sports. I hate it all, and don't want to waste 
 my time."
 
 2 54 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 "I don't think you are quite right as to there being 
 no distinction without athletics." 
 
 "Allen says it is so now." 
 
 "Allen may be a better judge of the present state of 
 things, but I should think there was always a studious 
 set who were respectable." 
 
 "Besides," proceeded Bobus, warming with his 
 subject, " I see no good in nothing but classics. I 
 don't care what ridiculous lies some old man who never 
 existed, or else was a dozen people at once, told about 
 a lot of ruffians who never lived, killing each other at 
 some place that never was. I like what you can lay 
 your finger on, and say it's here, it's true, and I can 
 prove it, and explain it, and improve on it." 
 
 " If you can," said Mr. Ogilvie, struck by the contrast 
 with the little brother. 
 
 " That's what I want to do," said Bobus ; " to deal 
 with real things, not words and empty fancies. I know 
 languages are necessarj^ ; but if one can read a Latin 
 book, and understand a Greek technical term, that's 
 all that is of use. If my uncle won't let me study 
 physical science in Germany, I had rather go on here, 
 where I can be let alone to study it for myself" 
 
 " I do not think you understand what you would 
 throw away. What is the difference between Higg, 
 the bone-setter, and Dr. Leslie .? " 
 
 " Higg can do that one thing just by instinct. He 
 is uneducated." 
 
 "And in a measure it is so with all who throw
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 
 
 themselves into some special pursuit without waiting 
 for the mind and character to have full training and 
 expansion. If you mean to be a great surgeon " 
 
 " I don't mean to be a surgeon." 
 
 "A physician then." 
 
 " No, sir. Please don't let my mother fancy I mean 
 to be in practice, at everyone's beck and call. I've 
 seen too much of that. I mean to get a professorship, 
 and have time and apparatus for researches, so as to 
 get to the bottom of everything," said the boy, with 
 the vast purposes of his age. 
 
 " Your chances will be much better if you go up from 
 a public school, trained in accuracy by the thorough 
 work of language, and made more powerful by the ver\' 
 fact of not having followed merely your own bent. 
 Your contempt for the classics shows how one-sided 
 }'0u are growing. Besides, I thought you knew that 
 the days are over of unmitigated classics. You would 
 have many more opportunities, and much better ones, 
 of studying physical science than I can provide for 
 you here." 
 
 This was a new light to Bobus, and when Mr. Ogilvie 
 proved its truth to him, and described the facilities he 
 would have for the study, he allowed that it made all 
 the difference. 
 
 Meantime the two ladies had gone in, Mary asking 
 where Janet was. 
 
 "Gone with Jessie and her mother to a birthday 
 party at Polesworth Lawn."
 
 :56 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " Not a good day for it." 
 
 " It is the perplexing sort of day that no one knows 
 whether to call it fine or wet ; but Ellen decided on 
 going, as they were to dance in the hall if it rained. 
 I'm sure her kindness is great, for she takes infinite 
 trouble to make Janet producible ! Poor Janet, you 
 know dressing her is like hanging clothes on a wooden 
 peg, and a peg that won't stand still, and has curious 
 theories of the beautiful, carried out in a still more 
 curious way. So when, in terror of our aunt, the whole 
 female household have done their best to turn out 
 Miss Janet respectable, between this house and Ken- 
 croft, she contrives to give herself some twitch, or else is 
 seized with an idea of the picturesque, which sets every 
 one Avondering that I let her go about such a figure. 
 Then Ellen and Jessie put a tie here, and a pin there, 
 and reduce the chaotic mass to order." 
 
 It was not long before Janet appeared, and Jessie 
 Avith her, the latter having been set down to give a 
 message. The two girls were dressed in the same light 
 black-and-white checked silk of early youth, one with 
 pink ribbons and the other with blue ; but the contrast 
 Avas the more apparent, for one was fresh and crisp, 
 while the other was flattened and tumbled ; one said 
 everything had been delightful, the other that it had 
 all been very stupid, and the expression made even 
 more difference than the complexion, in one so fair, 
 fresh, and rosy, in the other so sallow and muddled. 
 Jessie looked so sweet and bright, that when she ha.d
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 257 
 
 gone Miss Ogilvie could not help exclaiming, " How- 
 pretty she is ! " 
 
 "Yes, and so good-tempered and pleasant. There 
 is something always restful to me in having her in 
 the room," said Caroline. 
 
 " Restful ^ " said Janet, with one of her unamiable 
 sneers. " Yes, she and H. S. H. sent me off to sleep 
 with their gossip on the way home ! O mother, there's 
 another item for the Belforest record. Mr. Barnes has 
 ^ent off all his servants again, even the confidential 
 man is shipped off to America." 
 
 " You seem to have slept with one ear open," said 
 her mother. " And oh ! " as Janet took off her gloves, 
 "" I hope you did not show those hands ! " 
 
 " I could not eat cake without doing so, and Mr. 
 ^alover supposed I had been photographing." 
 
 "And what had you been doing.?" inquired Mary, 
 at sight of the brown stains. 
 
 "Trying chemical experiments with Bobus," said 
 lier mother. 
 
 " Yes ! " cried Janet, " and I've found out why we 
 did not succeed. I thought it out during the dancing." 
 
 " Instead of cultivating the * light fantastic toe,' as 
 •the Courier calls it." 
 
 " I danced twice, and a great plague it was. Only 
 with Mr. Glover and with a stupid little middy. I was 
 thinking all the time how senseless it was." 
 
 " How agreeable you must have been ! " 
 
 " One can't be agreeable to people like that. Oh, 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 MAGNUM BONUiM ; 
 
 Bobus ! " as he came into the room with Mr. Ogilvie^ 
 '' I've found out " 
 
 " I thought Jessie was here," he interrupted. 
 
 " She's gone home. I know what was wrong 
 yesterday. We ought to have isolated the hypo " 
 
 " Isolated the grandmother," said Bobus. " That 
 has nothing to do with it." 
 
 " I'm sure of it. I'll show you how it acts." 
 
 " I'll show you just the contrary." 
 
 " Not to-night," cried their mother, as Bobus began 
 to relight the lamp, " You two explosives are quite 
 perilous enough by day without lamps and candles." 
 
 " You endure a great deal," said Mr. Ogilvie. 
 
 " I'm not afraid of either of these two doing any- 
 thing dangerous singly, for they are both careful, but 
 when they are of different minds, I never know what 
 the collision may produce." 
 
 " Yes," said Bobus, " I'd much sooner have Jessie to 
 help me, for she does what she is bid, and never 
 thinks." 
 
 " That's all you think women good for," said Janet. 
 
 " Quite true," said Bobus, coolly. 
 
 And Mr. Ogilvie was acknowledged by his sister to 
 have done a good deed that night, since the Folly 
 might be far more secure when Janet tried her 
 experiments alone.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 PUMPING AWAY. 
 
 The rude will scuffle through with ease enough ; 
 Great schools best suit the sturdy and the rough. 
 Soon see your wish fulfilled in either child, 
 The pert made perter, and the tame made wild. 
 
 Co-d<per, 
 
 Robert Otway Brownlow came out fourth on the 
 roll of newly-elected scholars of S. Mary, Winton, and 
 his master was, as his sister declared, unwholesomely 
 proud of it, even while he gave all credit to the Folly, 
 and none to himself 
 
 Still Mary had her way and took him to Brittany, 
 and though her present pupils were to leave the school- 
 room at Christmas, she would bind herself to no fresh 
 engagement, thinking that she had better be free to 
 make a home for him, whether at Kenminster or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 When the half-year began again Bobus was a good 
 deal missed, Jock was in a severe idle fit, and Armine 
 did not come up to the expectations formed of him, 
 and was found, when "up to Mr. Perkins," to be as 
 bewildered and unready as other people. 
 
 S 2
 
 260 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 All the work in the school seemed flat and poor, 
 except perhaps Johnny's, which steadily improved. 
 Robert, whose father wished him to be pushed on so 
 as to be fit for examination for Sandhurst, opposed, 
 to all pressure, the passive resistance of stolidity. He 
 was nearly sixteen, but seemed incapable of under- 
 standing that compulsory studies were for his good 
 and not a cruel exercise of tyranny. He disdainfully 
 rejected an offer from his aunt to help him in the 
 French and arithmetic which had become imminent, 
 while of the first he knew much less than Babie, and 
 of the latter only as much as would serve to prevent 
 his being daily " kept in." 
 
 One chilly autumn afternoon, Armine was seen, 
 even by the unobservant under-master, to be shivering 
 violently, and his teeth chattering so that he could 
 not speak plainly. 
 
 " You ought to be at home," said Mr. Perkins. 
 " Here, you, Brownlow maximus, just see him home, 
 and tell his mother that he should be seen to." 
 
 " I can go alone," Armine tried to say ; but Mr. 
 Perkins thought the head-master could not say he 
 neglected one who was felt to be a favoured scholar if 
 he sent his cousin with him. 
 
 So presently Armine was pushed in at the back 
 door, with these words from Rob to the cook — " Look 
 here, he's been and got cold, or something." 
 
 Rob then disappeared, and Armine struggled in 
 to the kitchen fire, white, sobbing and panting, and,
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 261 
 
 as the compassionate maids discovered, drenched 
 from head to foot, his hair soaked, his boots squishing 
 with water. His mother and sisters were out, and 
 as cook administered the hottest draught she could 
 compound, and Emma tugged at his jacket, they 
 indignantly demanded what he had been doing to 
 himself 
 
 " Nothing," he said. " I'll go and take my things 
 off; only please don't tell mother." 
 
 " Yes," said old nurse, who had tottered in, but who 
 was past fully comprehending emergencies ; " go and 
 get into bed, my dear, and Emma shall come and 
 warm it for him." 
 
 " No," stoutly said the little boy ; " there's nothing 
 the matter, and mother must not know." 
 
 " Take my word for it," said cook, " that child have 
 a been treated shameful by those great nasty brutes 
 of big boys." 
 
 And when Armine, too cold to sit anywhere but by 
 the only fire in the house, returned with a book and 
 begged humbly for leave to warm himself, he was 
 installed on nurse's footstool, in front of a huge fire, 
 and hot tea and " lardy-cake" tendered for his refresh- 
 ment, while the maids by turns pitied and questioned 
 him. 
 
 " Have you had a haccident, sir," asked cook. 
 
 " No," he wearily said, 
 
 "Have any one been doing anything to you, 
 then.?" And as he did not answer she continued:
 
 262 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " You need not think to blind me, sir ; I sees it as if 
 it was in print. Them big boys have been a-mis- 
 using of you." 
 
 " Now, cook, you ain't to say a word to my mother," 
 cried Armine, vehemently. " Promise me." 
 
 "If you'll tell me all about it, sir," said cook, 
 coaxingly. 
 
 " No," he answered, " I promised ! " And he buried 
 his head in nurse's lap. 
 
 " I calls that a shame," put in Emma ; " but you 
 could tell we, Master Armine. It ain't like telling 
 your ma nor your master." 
 
 " I said no one," said Armine. 
 
 The maids left off tormenting him after a time, 
 letting him fall asleep with his head on the lap of old 
 nurse, who went on dreamily stroking his damp hair, 
 not half understanding the matter, or she would have 
 sent him to bed. 
 
 Being bound by no promise of secrecy, Emma met 
 her mistress with a statement of the surmises of the 
 kitchen, and Caroline hurried thither to find him 
 waking to headache, fiery cheeks, and aching limbs, 
 which were not simply the consequence of the position 
 in which he had been sleeping before the fire. She saw 
 him safe in bed before she asked any questions, but 
 then she began her interrogations, as little successfully 
 as the maids. 
 
 " I can't, mother," he said, hiding his face on the 
 pillow.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 263 
 
 " My little boy used to have no secrets from me." 
 
 " Men must have secrets sometimes, though they 
 rack their hearts and — their backs," sighed poor 
 Armine, rolling over. " Oh, mother, my back is so 
 bad ! Please don't bother besides." 
 
 " My poor darling ! Let me rub it. There, you 
 might trust Mother Carey ! She would "not tell Tvlr. 
 Ogilvie, nor get any one into trouble." 
 
 " I promised, mother. Don't ! " And no persuasions 
 could draw anything from him but tears. Indeed he 
 was so feverish and in so much pain that she called in 
 Dr. Leslie before the evening was over, and rheumatic 
 fever was barely staved off by the most anxious vigi- 
 lance for the next day or two. It was further decreed 
 that he must be carefully tended all the winter, and 
 must not go to school again till he had quite got over 
 the shock, since he was of a delicate frame that would 
 not bear to be trifled with. 
 
 The boy gave a long sigh of content when he heard 
 that he was not to return to school at present ; but it 
 did not induce him to utter a word on the cause of the 
 wetting, either to his mother or to Mr. Ogilvie, who 
 came up in much distress, and examined him as soon 
 as he was well enough to bear it. Nor would any of 
 his schoolfellows tell. Jock said he had had an im- 
 position, and was kept in school when " it " happened ; 
 John said " he had nothing to do with it ; " and Rob 
 and Joe opposed surly negatives to all questions on 
 the subject, Rob adding that Armine was a disgusting
 
 264 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 little idiot, an expression for which his father took him 
 severely to task. 
 
 However there were those in Kenminster who never 
 failed to know all about everything, and the first after- 
 noon after Armine's disaster that Caroline came to- 
 Kencroft she was received with such sympathetic 
 kindness that her prophetic soul misgave her, and she 
 dreaded hearing either that she was letting herself 
 be cheated by some tradesman, or that she was to 
 lose her pupils. 
 
 No. After inquiries for Armine, his aunt said she 
 was very sorry, but now he was better she thought his 
 mother ought to know the truth. 
 
 "What .'' " asked Caroline, startled ; and Jessie, 
 
 the only other person in the" room, put down her work,, 
 and listened with a strange air of determination. 
 
 " My dear, I am afraid it is very painful." 
 
 " Tell me at once, Ellen." 
 
 " I can't think how he learnt it. But they have 
 been about with all sorts of odd people." 
 
 " Who ? What, Ellen ^ Are you accusing my 
 boy } " said Caroline, her limbs beginning to tremble 
 and her eyes to flash, though she spoke as quietly as 
 she could. 
 
 " Now do compose yourself, my dear. I dare say 
 the poor little fellow knew no better, and he has had 
 a severe lesson." 
 
 " If you would only tell me, Ellen." 
 
 "It seems," said Ellen, with much regret and com-
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 265 
 
 miseration, " that all this was from poor little Armine 
 using such shocking language that Rob, as a senior 
 boy, you know, put him under the pump at last ta 
 put a stop to it." 
 
 Before Caroline's fierce, incredulous indignation had 
 found a word, Jessie had exclaimed " Mamma ! " in a 
 tone of strong remonstrance ; then, " Never mind. 
 Aunt Carey, I know it is only Mrs. Coffinkey, and 
 Johnny promised he would tell the whole story if any 
 one brought that horrid nonsense to you about poor 
 little Armine." 
 
 Kind, gentle Jessie seemed quite transported out of 
 herself, as she flew to the door and called Johnny, 
 leaving the two mothers looking at each other, and 
 Ellen, somewhat startled, saying " I'm sure, if it is not 
 true, I'm very sorry, Caroline, but it came from " 
 
 She broke off, for Johnny was scuffling across the 
 hall, calling out " Holloa, Jessie, what's up .'' " 
 
 " Johnny, she's done it ! " said Jessie. "You said if 
 the wrong one was accused you would tell the whole 
 story ! " 
 
 " And what do they say } " asked John, who was 
 by this time in the room. 
 
 " Mamma has been telling Aunt Carey that Rob 
 put poor little Armine under the pump for using bad 
 language." 
 
 " I say! " exclaimed John ; " if that is not a cram ! " 
 
 " You said you knew nothing of it," said his mother. 
 
 " I said I didn't do it. No more I did," said John.
 
 266 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " No more did Rob, I am sure," said his mother. 
 
 But Johnny, though using no word of denial, made 
 it evident that she was mistaken, as he answered in an 
 odd tone of excuse, " Armie was cheeky." 
 
 " But he didn't use bad words ! " said Caroline, and 
 she met a look of comfortable response. 
 
 " Let us hear, John," said his mother, now the most 
 agitated. " I can't believe that Rob would so ill-treat 
 a little fellow like Armie, even if he did lose his 
 temper for a moment. Was Armine impertinent ? " 
 
 "Well, rather," said John. " He wouldn't do Rob's 
 French exercise." And then — as the ladies cried out, 
 he added — " O yes, he knows ever so much more 
 French than Rob, and now Bobus is gone Rob could 
 not get anyone else." 
 
 " Bobus .? " 
 
 " O yes, Bobus would do anybody's exercises at a 
 penny for Latin, two for French, and three for Greek," 
 said John, not aware of the shock he gave. 
 
 " And Armine would not ? " said his mother. " Was 
 that it .? " 
 
 " Not only that," said John ; " but the little beggar 
 must needs up and say he would not help to act a 
 falsehood, and you know nobody could stand that." 
 
 Caroline understood the gravity of such an offence 
 better than Ellen did, for that good lady had never 
 had much in common with her boys after they outgrew 
 the nursery. She answered, "Armine was quite right." 
 
 " So much the worse for him, I fear," said Caroline.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 26/ 
 
 " Yes," said John, " it would have been all very 
 Avell to give him a cuff and tell him to mind his own 
 business." 
 
 "All very well ! " ejaculated his mother. 
 
 " But you know," continued Johnny to his aunt, 
 "the seniors are always mad at a junior being like 
 that ; and there was another fellow who dragged him 
 to the great school pump, and put him in the trough, 
 and they said they would duck him till he swore to 
 do w^hatever Rob ordered." 
 
 " Swore ! " exclaimed his mother. " You don't mean 
 that, Johnny ? " 
 
 "Yes, I do, mamma," said John. " I would tell you 
 the words, only you wouldn't like them. And Armine 
 said it would be breaking the Third Commandment, 
 which was the very way to aggravate them most. So 
 they pumped on his head, and tried if he would say 
 it. ' No,' he said. ' You may kill me like the forty 
 martyrs, but I won't,' and of course that set them on 
 to pump the more." 
 
 "But, Johnny, did you see it all .^ " cried Caroline. 
 " How could you ? " 
 
 " I couldn't help it. Aunt Carey." 
 
 " Yes, Aunt Carey," again broke in Jessie, " he was 
 held down. That horrid — well, I won't say whom, 
 Johnny — held him, and his arm was so twisted and 
 grazed that he was obliged to come to me to put some 
 lily-leaves on it, and if he would but show it, it is all 
 black and yellow still."
 
 268 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Carey, much moved, went over and kissed both her 
 boy's champions, while Ellen said, with tears in her 
 eyes, " Oh, Johnny, I'm glad you were at least not so 
 bad. What ended it ? " 
 
 *' The school-bell," said Johnny. " I say, please 
 don't let Rob know I told, or I shall catch it." 
 
 " Your father " 
 
 " Mamma ! You aren't going to tell him ! " cried 
 Jessie and Johnny, both in horror, interrupting her. 
 
 *'Yes, children, I certainly shall. Do you think 
 such wickedness as that ought to be kept from him .'* 
 Nearly killing a fatherless child like that, because he 
 was not as bad as they were, and telling falsehoods 
 about it too ! I never could have believed it of Rob. 
 Oh ! what school does to one's boys ! " She was 
 agitated and overcome to a degree that startled 
 Carey, who began to try to comfort her. 
 
 "Perhaps Rob did not understand what he was 
 about, and you see he was led on. Armine will soon 
 be all right again, and though he is a dear, good little 
 fellow, maybe the lesson may have been good for 
 him." 
 
 " How can you treat it so lightly } " cried poor 
 Ellen, in her agitated indignation. " It was a mercy 
 that the child did not catch his death ; and as to 
 
 Rob ! And when Mr. Ogilvie always said the 
 
 boys were so improved, and that there was no bully- 
 ing ! It just shows how much he knows about it I 
 To think what they have made of my poor Rob I
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 269 
 
 His father will be so grieved ! I should not wonder 
 if he had a fit of the gout ! " 
 
 The shock was far greater to her than to one who 
 had never kept her boys at a distance, and who 
 understood their ways, characters, and code of honour ; 
 and besides Rob was her eldest, and she had credited 
 him with every sterling virtue. Jessie and Johnny 
 stood aghast. They had only meant to defend their 
 little cousin, and had never expected either that she 
 would be so much overcome, or that she would insist 
 on their father knowing all, as she did with increasing 
 anger and grief at each of their attempts at persuading 
 her to the contrary. Caroline thought he ought to 
 know. Her children's father would have known long 
 ago, but then his wrath would have been a different 
 thing from what seemed to be apprehended from his 
 brother ; and she understood the distress of Jessie and 
 John, though her pity for Rob was but small. What- 
 ever she tried to say in the way of generous mediation 
 or soothing only made it worse ; and poor Ellen, far 
 from being her Serene Highness, was, between scolding 
 and crying, in an almost hysterical state, so that 
 Caroline durst not leave her or the frightened Jessie, 
 and was relieved at last to hear the Colonel coming 
 into the house, when, thinking her presence would do 
 more harm than good, and longing to return to her 
 little son, she slipped away, and was joined at the 
 door by her own John, who asked — 
 " What's up, mother ? "
 
 270 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 "Did you know all about this dreadful business, 
 Jock ? " 
 
 "Afterwards, of course, but I was shut up in school, 
 writing three hundred disgusting lines of Virgil, or I'd 
 have got the brutes off some way." 
 
 " And so little Armie is the brave one of all ! " 
 
 " Well, so he is," said Jock ; " but I say, mother, 
 don't go making him cockier. You know he's only 
 fit to be stitched up in one of Jessie's little red Sunday 
 books, and he must learn to keep a civil tongue in his 
 head, and not be an insufferable little donkey." 
 
 " You would not have had him give in and do it ! 
 Never, Jock ! " 
 
 " Why no, but he could have got off with a little 
 chaff instead of coming out with his testimony like 
 that, and so I've been telling him. So don't you set 
 him up again to think himself forty martyrs all in 
 one, or there will be no living with him." • 
 
 " If all boys were like him." 
 
 Jock made a sound of horror and disgust that made 
 her laugh. 
 
 " He's all very well," added he in excuse ; " but to 
 think of all being like f/iat. The world would be only 
 one big muff." 
 
 " But, Jock, what's this about Bobus being paid for 
 doing people's exercises .'' " 
 
 " Bobus is a cute one," said Jock. 
 
 " I thought he had more uprightness," she sighed. 
 " And you, Jock .? "
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 27 1 
 
 " I should think not ! " he laughed. " Nobody 
 would trust me." 
 
 " Is that the only reason ? " she said, sadly, and 
 he looked up in her face, squeezed her hand, and 
 muttered — 
 
 " One mayn't like dirt without making such a row." 
 
 " That's like father's boy," she said, and he wrung 
 her hand again. 
 
 They found Armine coiled up before the fire with a 
 book, and Jock greeted him with — 
 
 " Well, you little donkey, there's such a shindy at 
 the Croft as you never heard." 
 
 " Mother, you know ! " cried Armine, running into 
 her outstretched arms and being covered with her 
 kisses. " But who told ? " he asked. 
 
 " John and Jessie," said Jock. " They always said 
 they would if anyone said anything against you to 
 mother or Uncle Robert." 
 
 " Against me .? " said Armine. 
 
 " Yes," said Jock. " Didn't you know it got about 
 through some of the juniors or their sisters that it was 
 Brownlow maximus gently chastising you for bad 
 language, and of course Mrs. Coffinkey told Aunt 
 Ellen." 
 
 " Oh, but Jock," cried Armine, turning round in 
 consternation, " I hope Rob does not know." 
 
 And on further pressing it was extracted that Rob, 
 when sent home with him, had threatened him with 
 the great black vaulted cellars of Kencroft if he
 
 2/2 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 divulged the truth. When Jock left them the relief of 
 pouring out the whole history to the mother was 
 'evidently great. 
 
 " You know, mother, I couldn't," he cried, as if there 
 had been a physical impossibility. 
 
 " Why, dear child. How did you bear their horrid 
 cruelty ? " 
 
 " I thought it could not be so bad as it was for the 
 forty soldiers on the Lake. Dear grandmamma read 
 us the story out of a little red book one Sunday 
 evening when you were gone to church. They froze, 
 you know, and it was only cold and nasty for me." 
 
 " So the thought of them carried you through } " 
 
 " God carried me through," said the child reverently. 
 ** I asked Him not to let me break His Command- 
 ment." 
 
 Just then the Colonel's heavy tread was heard, and 
 with him came Mr. Ogilvie, whom he had met on the 
 road and informed. The good man was indeed terribly 
 grieved, and his first words were, " Caroline, I cannot 
 tell you how much shocked and concerned I am ; " 
 and then he laid his hand on Armine's shoulder, 
 ^saying — "My little boy, I am exceedingly sorry for 
 what you have suffered. One day Robert will be 
 so too. You have been a noble little fellow, and if 
 anything could console me for the part Robert has 
 played it would be the seeing one of my dear brother's 
 sons so like his father." 
 
 He gave the downcast brow a fatherly kiss, so really
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 273 
 
 like those of days gone by that the boy's overstrained 
 spirits gushed forth in sobs and tears, of which he was 
 so much ashamed that he rushed out of the room, 
 leaving his mother greatly overcome, his uncle dis- 
 tressed and annoyed, and his master not much less so, 
 at the revelation of so much evil, so hard either to 
 reach or to understand. 
 
 " I would have brought Robert to apologise," said 
 the Colonel, "if he had been as yet in a mood to do 
 so properly." 
 
 " Oh ! that would have been dreadful for us all," 
 ejaculated CaroHne, under her breath. 
 
 "But I can make nothing of him," continued he. 
 " He is perfectly stolid and seems incapable of feeling 
 anything, though I have talked to him as I never 
 thought to have to speak to any son of mine ; but he 
 is deaf to all." 
 
 The Colonel, in his wrath, even while addressing 
 only Caroline and Mr. Ogilvie, had raised his voice as 
 if he were shouting words of command, so that both 
 shrank a little, and Carey said — 
 
 " I don't think he knew it was so bad." 
 
 " What ? Cheating his masters and torturing a 
 helpless child for not yielding to his tyranny } " 
 
 " People don't always give things their right names 
 even to themselves," said Mr. Ogilvie. " I should try 
 to see it from the boy's point of view." 
 
 " I have no notion of extenuating ill-conduct or 
 making excuses ! That's the modern way ! So prin- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 2/4 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 ciples get lowered ! I tell you, sir, there are excuses 
 for everything. What makes the difference is only 
 the listening to them or not." 
 
 "Yes," ventured Caroline, "but is there not a 
 difference between finding excuses for oneself and for 
 other people } " 
 
 " All alike, lowering the principle," said the Colonel, 
 with something of the same slowness of comprehension 
 as his son. " If excuses are to be made for everything, 
 I don't wonder that there is no teaching one's boys 
 truth or common honesty and humanity." 
 
 " But, Robert," said Caroline, roused to defence ; 
 " do you really mean that in your time nobody bullied 
 or cribbed } " 
 
 " There was some shame about it if they did," said 
 the Colonel. "Now, I suppose, I am to be told that 
 it is an ordinary custom to be connived at." 
 
 " Certainly not by me," said Mr. Ogilvie. " I had 
 hoped that the standard of honour had been raised, 
 but it is very hard to mete the exact level of the 
 schoolboy code from the outside." 
 
 " And your John and mine have never given in to 
 it," added Caroline. 
 
 " What do you propose to do, Mr. Ogilvie .'' " said 
 the Colonel. " I shall do my part with my boy as a 
 father. What will you do with him and the other 
 bully, w^ho I find was Cripps." 
 
 " I shall see Cripps's father first. I think it might 
 be well if we both saw him before deciding on the
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 2/5 
 
 form of discipline. We have to think not only of 
 justice but of the effect on their characters." 
 
 "That's the modern system," said the Colonel 
 indignantly. " Fine work it would make in the army. 
 I know when punishment is deserved, I don't set up 
 to be Providence, to know exactly what work it is to 
 do. I leave that to my Maker and do my duty." 
 
 He was cut short by his son Joe rushing in head- 
 long, exclaiming — 
 
 " Papa, papa, please come ! Rob has knocked 
 Johnny down and he doesn't come round." 
 
 Colonel Brownlow hurried off, Caroline trying to 
 make him hear her offer to follow if she could be useful, 
 and sending Jock to see whether there was any opening 
 for her. Unless the emergency were very great indeed 
 she knew her absence would be preferred, and so she 
 and Mr. Ogilvie remained, talking the matter over, 
 with more pity for the delinquent than his own family 
 would have thought natural. 
 
 " It really is a terrible thing to be stupid," she said. 
 " I don't imagine that unlucky boy ever entered into 
 his father's idea of truth and honour, which really is 
 fine in its way." 
 
 "Very fine, and proved to have made many fine 
 fellows in its time. I dare say the lad will grow up to 
 it, but just now he simply feels cruelly injured by inter- 
 ference with a senior's claim to absolute submission." 
 
 ** Which he sees as singly as his father sees the 
 simple duty of justice." 
 
 T 2
 
 2/6 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 " It would be comfortable if we poor moderns could 
 deal out our measures with that straightforward military- 
 simplicity. I cannot help seeing in that unfortunate 
 boy the victim of examinations for commissions. Boys 
 must be subjected to high pressure before they can 
 thoroughly enter into the importance of the issues that 
 depend upon it ; and when a sluggish, dull intellect is 
 forced beyond endurance, there is an absolute instinct 
 of escape, impelling to shifts and underhand ways of 
 eluding work. Of course the wrong is great, but the 
 responsibility rests with the taskmaster in the same 
 manner as the thefts of a starved slave might on his 
 owner." 
 
 ** The taskmaster being the country ? " 
 
 '' Exactly so. Happy those boys who have avail- 
 able brains, like yours." 
 
 " Ah ! I am very sorry about Bobus ; what ought I 
 to do.?" 
 
 " Hardly more than write a few words of warning, 
 since the change may probably have put an end to 
 the practice." 
 
 Jock presently brought back tidings that his name- 
 sake was all right, except for a black eye, and was 
 growling like ten bears at having been sent to bed. 
 
 " Uncle Robert was more angry than ever, in a white 
 heat, quiet and terrible," said Jock, in an awe-struck 
 voice. " He has locked Rob up in his study, and here's 
 Joe, for Aunt Ellen is quite knocked up, and they want 
 the house to be very quiet."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 277 
 
 No tragical consequences, however, ensued. Mother 
 and sons both appeared the next morning, and were 
 reported as " all right " by the first inquirer from the 
 Folly ; but Jessie came to her lessons with swollen 
 eyelids as if she had cried half the night ; and when 
 her aunt thanked her for defending Armine, she began 
 to cry again, and Essie imparted to Barbara that Rob 
 was "just like a downright savage with her." 
 
 " No ; hush, Essie, it is not that," said Jessie ; " but 
 papa is so dreadfully angry with him, and he is to be 
 sent away, and it is all my fault." 
 
 " But Jessie, dear, surely it is better for Rob to be 
 stopped from those deceitful ways." 
 
 " O yes, I know. But that I should have turned 
 against him ! " And Jessie was so thoroughly unhappy 
 that none of her lessons prospered and her German 
 exercise had three great tear blots on it. 
 
 Rob's second misdemeanour had simplified matters 
 by deciding his father on sending him from home at 
 once into the hands of a professed coach, who would 
 not let him elude study, and whose pupils were too big 
 to be bullied. To the last he maintained his sullen 
 dogged air of indifference, though there might be more 
 truth than the Folly was disposed to allow in his 
 sister's allegations that it was because he did feel it 
 so very much, especially mamma's looking so ill and 
 worried. 
 
 Ellen did in truth look thoroughly unhinged, though 
 no one saw her give way. She felt her boy's conduct
 
 278 
 
 sorely, and grieved at the first parting in her family. 
 Besides, there was anxiety for the future. Rob's 
 manner of conducting his studies was no hopeful augury 
 of his success, and the expenses of sending him to a 
 tutor fell the more heavily because unexpectedly. A 
 horse and man were given up, and Jessie had to resign 
 the hope of her music lessons. These were the first 
 retrenchments, and the diminution of dignity was felt. 
 
 The Colonel showed his trouble and anxiety by 
 speaking and tramping louder than ever, ruling his 
 gardener with severe precision, and thundering at his 
 boys whenever he saw them idle. Both he and his 
 wife were so elaborately kind and polite that Caroline 
 believed that it was an act of magnanimous forgive- 
 ness for the ill luck that she and her boys had 
 brought them. At last the Colonel had the threatened 
 fit of the gout, which restored his equilibrium, and 
 brought him back to his usual condition of kindly, 
 if somewhat ponderous, good sense. 
 
 He had not long recovered before Number Nine 
 made his appearance at Kencroft, and thus his mother 
 had unusual facilities for inquiries of Dr. Leslie 
 respecting the master of Belforest. 
 
 The old man really seemed to be in a dying state. 
 A hospital nurse had taken charge of him, but there 
 was not a dependent about the place, from Mr. Richards 
 downwards, who was not under notice to quit, and 
 most were staying on without his. knowledge on the 
 advice of the London solicitor, to whom the agent had
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 279 
 
 written. There was even more excitement on the in- 
 telligence that Mr. Barnes had sent for Farmer Gould. 
 On this there was no doubt, for Mr. Gould, always 
 delicately honourable towards Mrs. Brownlow, came 
 himself to tell her about the interview. It seemed to 
 have been the outcome of a yearning of the dying 
 man towards the sole survivor of the companions of his 
 early days. He had talked in a feeble wandering 
 way of old times, but had said nothing about the 
 child, and was plainly incapable of sustained attention. 
 He had asked Mr. Gould to come again, but on this 
 second visit he was too far gone for recognition, and 
 had returned to his moody instinctive aversion to 
 visitors, and in three days more he was dead.
 
 280 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BELFOREST MAGNUM BONUM. 
 
 Where is his golden heap ? 
 
 Divine Breathings. 
 
 Mrs. Robert Brownlow was churched with all 
 the expedition possible, in order that she might not 
 lose the sight of the funeral procession, which would 
 be fully visible from the studio in the top of the 
 tower. 
 
 The excitement was increased by invitations to 
 attend the funeral being sent to the Colonel and to 
 his two eldest nephews, who were just come home for 
 the holidays, also to their mother to be present at 
 the subsequent reading of the will. 
 
 A carriage was sent for her, and she entered it, not 
 knowing or caring to find out what she wished, and 
 haunted by the line, " Die and endow a college or a 
 cat." 
 
 Allen met her at the front door, whispering — 
 " Did you see, mother, he has still got his ears ? " 
 And the thought crossed her — " Will those ears cost 
 us dear V
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 28 1 
 
 She was the only woman present in the library — a 
 large room, but with an atmosphere as if the open air 
 had not been admitted for thirty years, and with an 
 enormous fire, close to which was the arm-chair whither 
 she w^as marshalled, being introduced to the two 
 solicitors, Mr. Rowse and Mr. Wakefield, who, with 
 Farmer Gould, the agent, Richards, the Colonel, and 
 the two boys, made up the audience. 
 
 The lawyers explained that the will had been sent 
 home ten years ago from Yucatan, and had ever since 
 been in their hands. Search had been made for a 
 later one, but none had been found, nor did they 
 believe that one could exist. 
 
 It was very short. The executors were Charles 
 Rowse and Peter Ball, and the whole property was 
 devised to them, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Robert 
 Brownlow, as trustees for the testator's great-niece, 
 Mrs. Caroline Otway Brownlow, daughter of John 
 and Caroline Allen, and wife of Joseph Brownlow, 
 Esq., M.D., F.R.C.S., the income and use thereof to 
 be enjoyed by her during her lifetime ; and the 
 property, after her death, to be divided among her 
 children in such proportions as she should direct. 
 
 That was all ; there was no legacy, no further 
 directions. 
 
 "Allow me to congratulate " began the elder 
 
 lawyer. 
 
 " No— no — oh, stay a bit," cried she, in breathless 
 dismay and bewilderment. "' It can't be ! It can't
 
 282 MAGNUM BOXUM ; 
 
 mean only me. There must be something about 
 Elvira de Menella." 
 
 " I fear there is not," said Mr. Rowse ; '' I could 
 wish my late client had attended more to the claims 
 of justice, and had divided the property, which 
 could well have borne it ; but unfortunately it is 
 not so." 
 
 " It is exactly as he led us to expect," said Mr. 
 Gould. " We have no right to complain, and very 
 likely the child will be much happier without it. 
 You have a fine family growing up to enjoy it, 
 Mrs. Brownlow, and I am sure no one congratulates 
 you more heartily than I." 
 
 " Don't ; it can't be," cried the heiress, nearly crying, 
 and wringing the old farmer's hand. "He must have 
 meant Elvira. You know he sent for you. Has 
 everything been hunted over .? There must be a 
 later will." 
 
 " Indeed, Mrs. Brownlow," said the solicitor, " you 
 may rest assured that full search has been made. 
 Mr. Richards had the same impression, and we have: 
 been searching every imaginable receptacle." 
 
 " Besides," added Colonel Brownlow, " if he had 
 made another will there would have been witnesses." 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Richards ; '' but to make matters 
 certain, I wrote to several of the servants to ask 
 whether they remembered any attestation, but no one 
 did ; and indeed I doubt whether, after his arrival 
 here, poor Mr. Barnes ever had sustained power
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 283 
 
 enough to have drawn up and executed a will without 
 my assistance, or that of any legal gentleman." 
 
 " It is too hard and unjust," cried Caroline ; " it 
 cannot be. I must halve it with the child, as if there 
 had been no will at all. Robert ! you know that is 
 what your brother would have done." 
 
 "That would be just as well as generous, indeed, if 
 it were practicable," said Mr. Rowse ; " but unfor- 
 tunately Colonel Brownlow and myself (for Mr. Bali 
 is dead) are in trust to prevent any such proceeding. 
 All that is in your power is to divide the property 
 among your own family by will, in such proportion as 
 you may think fit." 
 
 " Quite true, my dear sister," said the Colonel, 
 meeting her despairing appealing look, " as regards the 
 principal, but the ready money at the bank and the 
 income are entirely at your own disposal, and you 
 can, without difficulty, secure a very sufficient com- 
 pensation to the little girl out of them." 
 " No doubt," said Mr. Rowse. 
 
 "You'll let me — you'll let me, Mr. Gould," implored 
 Caroline ; " you'll let me keep her, and do all I can 
 to make up to her. You see the Colonel thinks it is 
 only justice ; don't you, Robert }" 
 
 " Mrs. Brownlow is quite right," said the Colonel, 
 seeing that her vehemence was a little distrusted ; " it 
 will be only an act of justice to make provision for 
 your granddaughter." 
 
 " I am sure, Colonel Brownlow, nothing can be
 
 284 MAGNUM BONUM 
 
 handsomer than your conduct and Mrs. Brownlow's," 
 said the old man ; " but I should not like to take 
 advantage of what she is good enough to say on the 
 spur of the moment, till she has had more time to 
 think it over." 
 
 Therewith he took leave, while Caroline exclaimed — 
 
 " I always say there is no truer gentleman in the 
 county than old Mr. Gould. I shall not be satisfied 
 about that will till I have turned everything over and 
 the partners have been written to." 
 
 Again she was assured that she might set her mind 
 at rest, and then the lawyers began to read a statement 
 of the property which made Allen utter, under his 
 breath, an emphatic " I say ! " but his mother hardly 
 took it in. The heated room had affected her from 
 the first, and the bewilderment of the tidings seemed 
 almost to crush her ; her heart and temples throbbed, 
 her head ached violently, and while the final words 
 respecting arrangements were passing between the 
 Colonel and the lawyers, she was conscious only of a 
 sickening sense of oppression, and a fear of committing 
 the absurdity of fainting. 
 
 However, at last her brother-in-law put her into 
 the brougham, desiring the boys to walk home, which 
 they did very willingly, and with a wonderful air of 
 lordship and possession. 
 
 " Well, Caroline," said the Colonel, " I congratulate 
 you on being the richest proprietor in the county." 
 
 " O Robert, don't ! If — if," said a suffocated voice,
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 285 
 
 SO miserable that he turned and took her hand kindly^ 
 saying — 
 
 " My dear sister, this feeUng is very — it becomes 
 you well. This is a fearful responsibility." 
 
 She could not answer. She only leant back in the 
 carriage, with closed eyes, and moaned — 
 
 "Oh! Joe! Joe!" 
 
 " Indeed," said his brother, greatly touched, " we 
 want him more than ever." 
 
 He -did not try to talk any more to her, and when 
 they reached the Pagoda, all she could do was to 
 hurry up stairs, and, throwing off her bonnet, bury her 
 face in the pillow. 
 
 Janet and her aunt both followed, the latter with 
 kind and tender solicitude ; but Caroline could bear 
 nothing, and begged only to be left alone. 
 
 " Dear Ellen, it is very kind, but nothing does any 
 good to these headaches. Please don't — please leave 
 me alone." 
 
 They saw it was the only true kindness, and left 
 her, after all attempts at bathing her forehead, or 
 giving her sal volatile, proved only to molest her. 
 She lay on her bed, not able to think, and feeling 
 nothing but the pain of her headache and a general 
 weight and loneliness. 
 
 The first break was from Allen, who came in tenderly 
 with a cup of coffee, saying that they thought her 
 time was come for being ready for it. His manner 
 always did her good, and she sat up, pushed back
 
 286 MAGNUM BOXUM 
 
 her hair, smiled, took the cup, and thanked him 
 lovingly. 
 
 " Uncle Robert is waiting to hear if you are better," 
 he said. 
 
 " Oh yes," she said ; " thank him ; I am sorry I was 
 so silly." 
 
 "He wants me to dine there to-night, mother, to 
 meet Mr. Rowse and 'Mr. Wakefield," said Allen, with 
 a certain importance suited to a lad of fifteen, who 
 had just become "somebody." 
 
 " Ver}- well," she said, in weary acquiescence, as she 
 lay down again, just enough refreshed by the coffee to 
 become sleepy. 
 
 "And mother," said Allen, lingering in the dark, 
 " don't trouble about Elfie. I shall marry her as soon 
 as I am of age, and that will make all straight." 
 
 Her stunned sleepiness was scarcely alive to this 
 magnanimous announcement, and she dreamily said — 
 " Time enough to think of such things." 
 " I know," said Allen ; " but I thought you ought to 
 knovv- this." 
 
 He looked wistfully for another word on this great 
 avowal, but she was really too much stupefied to enter 
 into the purport of the boy's words, and soon after he 
 left her she fell sound asleep. She had a curious dream, 
 which she remembered long after. She seemed to 
 have identified herself with King IMidas, and to be 
 touching all her children, who turned into hard, cold, 
 solid golden statues fixed on pedestals in the Belforest
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 28/ 
 
 gardens, where she wandered about, vainly calling 
 them. Then her husband's voice, sad and reproachful, 
 seemed to say, " Magnum Bonum ! Magnum Bonum ! " 
 and she fancied it the elixir which alone could restore 
 them, and would have climbed a mountain in search 
 of it, as in the Arabian tale ; but her feet were cold, 
 heavy, and immovable, and she found that they too had 
 become gold, and that the chill was creeping upwards. 
 With a scream of " Save the children, Joe," she awoke. 
 
 No wonder she had dreamt of cold golden limbs, for 
 her feet were really chilly as ice, and the room as dark 
 as at midnight. However it was not yet seven o'clock ; 
 and presently Janet brought a light, and persuaded 
 her to come downstairs and warm herself. She was 
 not yet capable of going into the dining-room to the 
 family tea, but crept down to lie on the sofa in the 
 drawing-room ; and there, after taking the smxall 
 refreshment which was all she could yet endure, she 
 lay with closed eyes, while the children came in from 
 the meal. Armine and Babie were the first. She 
 knew they were looking at her, but was too weary to 
 exert herself to speak to them. 
 
 " Asleep," they whispered. " Poor Mother Carey." 
 
 " Armie," said Babie, " is mother unhappy because 
 she has got rich } " 
 
 Armine hesitated. His brief experience of school 
 had made him less unsophisticated, and he seldom 
 talked in his own peculiar fashion even to his little 
 sister, and she added —
 
 288 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 "Must people get wicked when they are rich ?" 
 
 " Mother is always good," said faithful little Armine. 
 
 " The rich people in the Bible were all bad," pondered 
 Babie. " There was Dives, and the man with the 
 barns." 
 
 " Yes," said Armine ; " but there were good ones 
 too — Abraham and Solomon." 
 
 " Solomon was not always good," said Babie ; " and 
 Uncle Robert told Allen it was a fearful responsi- 
 bility. What is a responsibility, Armie ? I am sure 
 Ali didn't like it." 
 
 " Something to answer for ! " said Armine. 
 
 " To who ? " asked the little girl. 
 
 " To God," said the boy reverently. " It's like the 
 talent in the parable. One has got to do something 
 for God with it, and then it won't turn to harm." 
 
 "Like the man's treasure that changed into slate 
 stones when he made a bad use of it," said Babie. 
 '' Oh ! Armie, what shall we do } Shall we give plum- 
 puddings to the little thin girls down the lane .? " 
 
 "And I should like to give something good to the 
 little grey workhouse boys," said Armine. " I should 
 so hate always walking out along a straight road as 
 they do." 
 
 " And oh ! Armie, then don't you think we may get 
 a nice book to write out Jotapata in } " 
 
 " Yes, a real jolly one. For you know, Babie, it 
 will take lots of room, even if I write my very 
 smallest."
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 289 
 
 " Please let it be ruled, Armie. And where shall 
 we begin ? " 
 
 "Oh! at the beginning, I think, just when Sir 
 Engelbert first heard about the Cfusade." 
 
 " It will take lots of books then." 
 
 " Never mind, we can buy them all now. And do 
 you know, Bab, I think Adelmar and Ermelind might 
 find a nice lot of natural petroleum and frighten 
 Mustafa ever so much with it ! " 
 
 For be it known that Armine and Barbara's most 
 cherished delight was in one continued running invention 
 of a defence of Jotapata by a crusading family, which 
 went on from generation to generation with unabated 
 energy, though they were very apt to be reduced to 
 two young children who held out their fortress against 
 frightful odds of Saracens, and sometimes conquered, 
 sometimes converted their enemies. Nobody but 
 themselves was fully kept an courant with this 
 wonderful siege, which had hitherto been recorded in 
 interlined copy-books, or little paper books pasted 
 together, and very remarkably illustrated. 
 
 The door began to creak with an elaborate noisiness 
 intended for perfect silence, and Jock's voice was heard. 
 
 " Bother the door ! Did it wake mother } No ? 
 That's right ; " and he squatted down between the 
 little ones while Bobus seated himself at the table 
 with a book. 
 
 " Well ! what colour shall our ponies be .'' " began 
 Jock, in an attempt at a whisper. 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 " Oh ! shall we have ponies ? " cried the little ones. 
 " Zebras if we like," said Jock. " We'll have a 
 team." 
 
 " Can't," growled Bobus. 
 
 " Why not ? They can be bought ! " 
 
 " Not tamed. They've tried it at the Jardin 
 d^A cclimatisation'' 
 
 " Oh, that was only Frenchmen. A zebra is too 
 jolly to let himself be tamed by a Frenchman. I'll 
 break one in myself and go out with the hounds 
 upon him." 
 
 "Jack-ass on striped-ass — or off him," muttered 
 Bobus. 
 
 "Oh! don't, Jock," implored Babie, "you'll get 
 thrown." 
 
 " No such thing. You'll come to the meet yourself, 
 Babie, on your Arab." 
 
 " Not she," said Bobus, in his teasing voice. " She'll 
 be governessed up and kept to lessons all day." 
 
 " Mother always teaches us," said Babie. 
 
 " She'll have no time, she'll be a great lady, and 
 you'll have three governesses — one for French, and one 
 for German, and one for deportment, to make you 
 turn out your toes, and hold up your head, and never 
 sit on the rug." 
 
 "Never mind, Babie," said Jock. "We'll bother 
 them out of their lives if they do." 
 
 "You'll be at school," said Bobus, "and they'll all 
 three go out walking with Babie, and if she goes out
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 29I 
 
 of a Straight line one will say ' Fi done, Mademoiselle 
 Barbe,' and the other will say, * Schamen sie sich, 
 Fraulein Barbara,' and the third will call for the stocks." 
 
 "For shame, Robert," cried his mother, hearing 
 something like a sob ; " how can you tease her so ! " 
 
 " Mother, must I have three governesses .? " asked 
 poor little Barbara. 
 
 " Not one cross one, my sweet, if T can help it ! " 
 
 " Oh ! mother, if it might be Miss Ogilvie ? " said 
 Babie. 
 
 " Yes, mother, do let it be Miss Ogilvie," chimed in 
 Armine. " She tells such jolly stories ! " 
 
 " She ain't a very nasty one," quoted Jock from 
 Newman Noggs, and as Janet appeared he received 
 her with — " Moved by Barbara, seconded by Armine, 
 that Miss Ogilvie become bear-leader to lick you all 
 into shape." 
 
 " What do you think of it, Janet ? " said her 
 mother. 
 
 " It will not make much difference to me," said 
 Janet. " I shall depend on classes and lectures when 
 we go back to London. I should have thought a 
 German better for the children, but I suppose the 
 chief point is to find some one who can manage Elfie 
 if we are still to keep her." 
 
 " By the bye, where is she, poor little thing ? " asked 
 Caroline. 
 
 "Aunt Ellen took her home," said Janet. "She 
 said she would send her back at bed-time, but she 
 
 U 2
 
 292 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 thought we should be more comfortable alone to- 
 night" 
 
 " Real kindness," said Caroline ; " but remember, 
 children, all of you, that Elfie is altogether one of us, 
 on perfectly equal terms, so don't let any difference be 
 made now or ever." 
 
 " Shall I have a great many more lessons, mother ? " 
 asked Babie. 
 
 "Don't be as silly as Essie, Babie," said Janet. 
 " She expects us all to have velvet frocks and gold- 
 fringed sashes, and Jessie's first thought was 'Now, 
 Janet, you'll have a ladies' maid.' " 
 
 " No wonder she rejoiced to be relieved of tiying to 
 make you presentable," said Bobus. 
 
 " Shall we live at Belforest ? " asked Armine. 
 
 " Part of the year," said Janet, who was in a wonder- 
 fully expansive and genial state ; " but we shall get 
 back to London for the season, and know what it is 
 to enjoy life and rationality again, and then we must 
 all go abroad. Mother, how soon can we go abroad .?" 
 
 " It won't make a bit of difference for a year. We 
 shan't get it for ever so long," said Bobus. 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 "Fact. I know a man whose uncle left him a 
 hundred pounds last year, and the lawyers haven't' let, 
 him touch a penny of it.'* 
 
 " Perhaps he is not of age," said Janet. 
 
 "At any rate," said Jock, "we can have our fun at 
 Belforest.'*
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 293 
 
 " O yes, Jock, only think," cried Babie, " all the dear 
 tadpoles belong to mother ! " 
 
 " And all the dragon-flies," said Armine. 
 
 " And all the herons," said Jock. 
 
 " We can open the gates again," said Armine. 
 
 " Oh ! the flowers ! " cried Babie in an ecstasy. 
 
 " Yes," said Janet. " I suppose we shall spend the 
 early spring in the country, but we must have the best 
 part of the season in London now that we can get 
 out of banishment, and enjoy rational conversation 
 once more." 
 
 " Rational fiddlestick," muttered Bobus. 
 
 "That's what any girl who wasn't such a prig as 
 Janet would look for," said Jock. 
 
 "Well, of course," said Janet. " I mean to have my 
 balls like other people ; I shall see life thoroughly. 
 That's just what I value this for." 
 
 Bobus made a scoffing noise. 
 
 " What's up, Bobus .? " asked Jock. 
 
 " Nothing, only you keep up such a row, one can't 
 read." 
 
 " I'm sure this is better and more wonderful than 
 any book ! " said Jock. 
 
 " It makes no odds to me," returned Bobus, over 
 his book. 
 
 " Oh ! now ! " cried Janet, " if it were only the pleasure 
 of being free from patronage it would be something." 
 
 " Gratitude ! " said Bobus. 
 
 " /'// show my gratitude," said Janet ; " we'll give
 
 29.4 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 all of them at Kencroft all the fine clothes and jewels 
 and amusements that ever they care for, more than 
 ever they gave us ; only it is we that shall give and 
 they that will take, don't you see ? " 
 
 " Sweet charity," quoth Bobus. 
 
 Those two were a great contrast ; Janet had never 
 been so radiant, feeling her sentence of banishment 
 revoked, and realising more vividly than anyone else 
 was doing, the pleasures of wealth. The cloud under 
 which she had been ever since the coming to the 
 Pagoda seemed to have rolled away, in the sense of 
 triumph and anticipation ; while Bobus seemed to 
 have fallen into a mood of sarcastic ill-temper. His 
 mother saw, and it added to her sense of worry, though 
 her bright sweet nature w^ould scarcely have fathomed 
 the cause, even had she been in a state to think actively 
 rather than to feel passively. Bobus, only a year 
 younger than Allen, and endowed with more force 
 and application, if not with more quickness, had always 
 been on a level with his brother, and felt superior, 
 despising Allen's Eton airs and graces, and other 
 characteristics which most people thought amiable. 
 And now Allen had become son and heir, and was 
 treated by everyone as the only person of importance. 
 Bobus did not know what his own claims might be, 
 but at any rate his brother's would transcend them, 
 and his temper was thoroughly upset. 
 
 Poor Caroline ! She did not wholly omit to pray 
 " In all time of our tribulation, in all time of our
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 295 
 
 wealth, deliver us ! " but if she had known all that 
 was in her children's hearts, her own would have 
 trembled more. 
 
 And as to Ellen, the utmost she allowed herself to 
 say was, " Well, I hope she will make a good use 
 of it ! " 
 
 While the Colonel, as trustee and adviser, had 
 really a very considerable amount of direct importance 
 and enjoyment before him, which might indeed be 
 — to use his own useful phrase — "a fearful respon- 
 sibility," but was no small boon to a man with too 
 much time on his hands.
 
 296 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 POSSESSION. 
 
 Vain glorious Elf, said he, dost thou not weete 
 That money can thy wants at will supply ; 
 Shields, steeds and armes, and all things for thee meet, 
 It can purvey in twinkling of an eye. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 BOBUS'S Opinion that it would be long before any- 
 thing came of this accession of wealth was for a few 
 days verified in the eyes of the impatient family, for 
 Christmas interfered with some of the necessary for- 
 malities ; and their mother, still thinking that another 
 will might be discovered, declared that they were 
 not to go within the gates of Belforest till they were 
 summoned. 
 
 At last, after Colonel Brownlow had spent a day in 
 London, he made his appearance with a cheque-book 
 in his hand, and the information that he and his 
 fellow-trustee had so arranged that the heiress could 
 open an account, and begin to enter on the fruition of 
 the property. There were other arrangements to be 
 made, those about the out-door servants and keepers 
 could be settled with Richards, but she ought to 
 remove her two sons from the foundation of the two
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 297 
 
 colleges, though of course they would continue there 
 as pupils. 
 
 " And Robert," she said, colouring exceedingly, " if 
 you will let me, there is a thing I wish very much — to 
 send your John to Eton with mine. He is my godson, 
 you know, and it would be such a pleasure to me." 
 
 " Thank you, Caroline," said the Colonel, after a 
 moment's hesitation, " Johnny is to stand at the Eton 
 election, and I should prefer his owing his education 
 to his own exertions rather than to any kindness." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I understand that," said Caroline ; " but 
 I do want you to let me do anything for any of them. 
 I should be so grateful," she added, imploringly, with 
 a good deal of agitation ; " please — please think of it, 
 as if your brother were still here. You would never 
 mind how much he did for them." 
 
 "Yes, I should," said the Colonel, decidedly, but 
 pausing to collect his next sentence. " I should not 
 accept from him what might teach my sons depen- 
 dence. You see that, Caroline." 
 
 "Yes," she humbly said. " He would be wise about 
 it ! I don't want to be disagreeable and oppressive, 
 Robert ; I will never try to force things on you ; but 
 please let me do all that is possible to you to allow." 
 
 There was something touching in her incoherent 
 earnestness, which made the Colonel smile, yet wink 
 away some moisture from his eyes, as he again 
 thanked her without either acceptance or refusal.
 
 298 MAGNUM BONUM; 
 
 Then he said he was going to Belforest, and asked 
 whether she would not like to come and look over the 
 place. He would go back and call for her with the 
 pony carriage. 
 
 " But would not Ellen like to go ? " she said. " I 
 will walk with the boys." 
 
 The Colonel demurred a little, but knowing that his 
 wife really longed to go, and could not well be squeezed 
 into the back seat, he gave a sort of half assent ; and 
 as he left the house, Mother Carey gave a summoning 
 cry to gather her brood, rushed upstairs, put on what 
 Babie called her " most every dayest old black hat ; " 
 and when Colonel and Mrs. Brownlow, with Jessie 
 behind, drove into the park, it was to see her careering 
 along by the short cut over the hoar-frosty grass, in 
 the midst of seven boys, three girls, and two dogs, all 
 in a most frisky mood of exhilaration. 
 
 Distressed at appearing to drive up like the lady of 
 the house, her Serene Highness insisted on stopping 
 at the iron gates of the stately approach. There she 
 alighted, and waited to make the best setting to rights 
 she could of the heiress's wind-tossed hat and cloak, 
 and would have put her into the carriage, but that no 
 power could persuade her to mount that triumphal 
 car, and all that could be obtained was that she 
 should walk in the forefront of the procession with 
 the Colonel. 
 
 There was nobody to receive them but Richards,
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY S BROOD. 299 
 
 for the servants had been paid off, and only a keeper 
 and his wife were living in the kitchen in charge. 
 There was a fire in the library, where the Colonel had 
 business to transact with Richards, while the ladies 
 and children proceeded with their explorations. It 
 was rather awful at first in the twilight gloom of the 
 great hall, with a painted mythological ceiling, and 
 cold white pavement, varied by long perspective lines 
 of black lozenges, on which every footfall echoed. 
 The first door that they opened led into a vast and 
 dreary dining-room, with a carpet, forming a crimson 
 roll at one end, and long ranks of faded leathern chairs 
 sitting in each other's laps. At one end hung a huge 
 picture by Snyders, of a bear hugging one dog in his 
 fore paws and tearing open the ribs of another with 
 his hind ones. Opposite was a wild boar impaling 
 a hound with his tusk, and the other walls were 
 occupied by Herodias smiling at the contents of her 
 charger, Judith dropping the gory head into her bag, 
 a brown St. Sebastian writhing among the arrows ; 
 and Juno extracting the painfully flesh and blood 
 eyes of Argus to set them in her peacock's tail. 
 
 "I object to eating my dinner in a butcher's shop," 
 observed Allen. 
 
 " Yes, we must get them out of this place," said his 
 mother. 
 
 " They are very valuable paintings," interposed 
 Ellen. " I know they are in the county history. They
 
 300 MAGXUM BOXUM ; 
 
 were collected by Sir Francis Bradford, from whom 
 the place was bought, and he was a great connoisseur." 
 
 "Yes, they are just the horrid things great connois- 
 seurs of the last century liked, by way of giving 
 themselves an appetite," said Caroline. 
 
 " Are not fine pictures always horrid } " asked Jessie, 
 in all simplicity. 
 
 The drawing-rooms, a whole suite — antechamber, 
 saloon, music-room, and card-room, were all swathed 
 up in brown holland, hanging even from the picture 
 rods along the wall. Even in the days of the most 
 liberal housekeeper, Ellen had never done more than 
 peep beneath. So she revelled in investigations of 
 gilding and yellow satin, ormolu and marble, big 
 mirrors and Sevres clocks, a three-piled carpet, and a 
 dazzling prismatic chandelier, though all was pei^vaded 
 with such a chill of unused dampness and odour of 
 fustiness, that Caroline's first impression was that it 
 was a perilous place for one so lately recovered. 
 However, Ellen believed in no danger till she came on 
 two monstrous stains of damp on the walls, with a 
 whole crop of curious fungi in one corner, and dis- 
 covered that all the holland was flabby, and all the 
 damask clammy ! Then she enforced the instant 
 lighting of fires, and shivered so decidedly, that 
 Caroline and Jessie begged her to return to the fire 
 in the library, while Jessie went in search of Rob to 
 drive her home.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREYS BROOD. 3OI 
 
 All the rest of the younger population had deserted 
 the state apartments, and were to be heard in the 
 distance, clattering along the passages, banging doors, 
 bawling and shouting to each other, with freaks of 
 such laughter as had never awakened those echoes 
 during, the Barnes' tenure, but Jessie returned not ; 
 and her aunt, going in quest of her up a broad 
 flight of shallow stairs, found herself in a grand 
 gallery, with doors leading to various corridors and 
 stairs. She called, and the tramp of the boots of 
 youth began to descend on her, with shouts of " All 
 right ! " and downstairs flowed the troop, beginning 
 with Jock, and ending with Armine and Babie, 
 each with some breathless exclamation, all jumbled 
 together — 
 
 Jock. " Oh, mother ! Stunning ! Lots of bats fast 
 asleep." 
 
 Johnny. " Rats ! rats ! " 
 
 Rob. " A billiard-table." 
 
 Joe. " Mother Carey, may Pincher kill your rats V 
 
 Armine. "One wants a clue of thread to find 
 one's way." 
 
 Janet. " I've counted five-and-thirty bedrooms 
 already, and that's not all." 
 
 Babie. "And there's a little copper tea-kettle in 
 each. May my dolls have one 1 " 
 
 Bobus. " There's nothing else in most of them ; and, 
 my eyes ! how musty they smell."
 
 302 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 Elvira. " I will have the room with the big red bed, 
 with a gold crown at the top." 
 
 A lien. " Mother, it will be a magnificent place, but 
 it must have a vast deal done to it." 
 
 But Mother Carey was only looking for Jessie. No 
 one had seen her. Janet suggested that she had 
 taken a rat for a ghost, and they began to look and 
 call in all quarters, till at last she appeared, looking 
 rather white and scared at having lost herself, being 
 bewildered by the voices and steps echoing here, 
 there, and everywhere. The barrenness and uni- 
 formity did make it very easy to get lost, for even 
 while they were talking, Joe was heard roaring to 
 know where they were, nor would he stand still till 
 they came up with him, but confused them and 
 himself by running to meet them by some deluding 
 stair. 
 
 " We've not got a house, but a Cretan labyrinth," 
 said Babie. 
 
 " Or the bewitched castle mother told us of," said 
 Allen, " where everybody was always running round 
 after everybody." 
 
 " You've only to have a grain of sense," said Bobus, 
 who had at last recovered Joe, and proceeded to give 
 them a lecture on the two main arteries, and the 
 passages communicating with them, so that they might 
 always be able to recover their bearings. 
 
 They w^ere more sober after that. Rob drove his
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 303 
 
 mother home, and the Colonel made the round to in- 
 spect the dilapidations, and estimate what was wanting. 
 The great house had never been thoroughly furnished 
 since the Bradfords had sold it, and it was, besides, in 
 manifest need of repair. Damp corners, and piles of 
 crumbled plaster told their own tale, A builder m.ust 
 be sent to survey it, and on the most sanguine com- 
 putation, it could hardly be made habitable till the 
 end of the autumn. 
 
 Meantime, Caroline must remain a tenant of the 
 Pagoda, though, as she told the eager Janet, this did 
 not prevent a stay in London for the sake of the classes 
 and the society, of whom she was always talking, only 
 there must be time to see their way. 
 
 The next proposition gave universal satisfaction, 
 Mother Carey would take her whole brood to London 
 for a day, to make purchases, the three elder children 
 each with 5/., the younger with 2/. a-piece. She 
 actually wanted to take two-thirds of those from 
 Kencroft also, with the same bounty in their pockets, 
 but to this their parents absolutely refused consent. 
 To go about London with a train of seven was bad 
 enough ; but that was her own affair, and they could 
 not prevent it ; and they absolutely would not swell 
 the number to thirteen. It would be ridiculous ; she 
 would want an omnibus to go about in. 
 
 " I did not mean all to go about together. The 
 elder boys will go their own way."
 
 304 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 But, as the Colonel observed, that was all very well 
 for boys, whose home had always been in London, 
 but she w^ould find his country lads much in her way. 
 She then reduced her demand by a third, for she 
 really wished for Johnny ; but the Colonel's principles 
 would not allow him to accept so great an indulgence 
 for Rob. 
 
 That unlucky fellow had, of course, failed in his 
 examination, and this had renewed the Colonel's re- 
 sentment at his laziness and shuffling. He was, 
 however, improved by contact with strangers, looked 
 and behaved less bearishly, and had acquired a will 
 to do better. Still, it was not possible to regret his 
 absence, except because it involved that of his brother ; 
 and, with a great effort, and many assurances of her 
 being really needed, Jessie's company was secured. 
 
 Never was the taste of wealth sweeter than in that 
 over-filled railway carriage, before it was light on 
 the winter morning, with a vista of endless possi- 
 bilities contained in those crackling notes and round 
 gold pieces, Jessie being, of course, as well off as 
 the rest, and feeling the novelty and wonder even 
 more. 
 
 Mrs. Acton's house was to be the place of rendez- 
 vous and she would take charge of the girls for part 
 of the day, the boys wished to shift for themselves ; 
 and Allen and Bobus had friends of their own with 
 whom they meant to lunch.
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 305 
 
 Clara met her friend with an agitated manner, half- 
 laughing, half-crying, as she said — 
 
 " Well, Mother Carey dear, you haven't quite soared 
 above us yet ? " 
 
 " Petrels never take high flights," said Carey ; " I 
 hope and trust that it may prove impossible to make 
 a fine lady of me. I am caught late, you see." 
 
 " Your daughters are not. You won't like to have 
 them making excuses for mamma's friends." 
 
 "Janet's exclusiveness will not be of that sort, 
 and for warm-hearted little Babie, trust her. Do you 
 know where the Ogilvies can be written to, Clara .? 
 Are they at Rome, or Florence .? " 
 
 " They were to be at Florence by the 14th. Mary 
 has learnt to be such a traveller, that she always 
 "drags her brother abroad for however short a time 
 St. Kenelm may give her." 
 
 " I hope I shall catch her in time. We want her for 
 our governess." 
 
 " Now, really, Carey, you are a woman for old friends ! 
 But do you think you will get on .? You know she 
 won't spare you," ■ 
 
 " That's the very reason I want her." 
 
 " It is very generous of you ! You always were the 
 best little thing in the world, with a strong turn for 
 being under the lash ; so you're going to keep the 
 slave in the back of your triumphal chariot, like the 
 Roman general." 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 MAGNUM bonum; 
 
 " I see, you're afraid she will teach me to be too 
 proper behaved for you." 
 
 "Precisely so, after her experience of Russian 
 countesses. I don't know whether she will let you be 
 mistress of your own house." 
 
 " She will make me mistress all the more," said 
 Caroline ; " for she will make me all the more ' queen 
 o'er myself.' " 
 
 Then began the shopping, such shopping extra- 
 ordinary as none of the family had ever enjoyed 
 except in dreams ; and when it was the object of 
 everybody to conceal their purchases from every- 
 body else. Caroline contrived to make time for 
 a quiet luncheon with Dr. and Mrs. Lucas, to which 
 she took her two youngest boys, since Jock was 
 the godson of the house, and had moreover been 
 shaken off by his two elder brothers. Happily he 
 was too good-tempered to grumble at being thrown 
 over, and his mind was in a beatific state of con- 
 templation of his newly-purchased treasures, a small 
 pistol, a fifteen-bladed knife, and a box of mis- 
 cellaneous sweets, although his mother had so far 
 succumbed to the weakness of her sex as to pre- 
 vent the weapon from being accompanied by any 
 ammunition. 
 
 As to Armine, she wanted to consult Dr. Lucas 
 about the fragile looks and liability to cold that had 
 alarmed her ever since Rob's exploit. Besides, he
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 307 
 
 was so unlike the others ! Had she not seen him 
 quietly make his way into the drawing-room, where 
 Mrs. Lucas kept a box for the Children's Hospital, 
 and drop into it two bright florins, one of which she 
 had seen Babie hand over to him .? 
 
 " I do think it is not canny," she said, as if it had 
 been one of his symptoms. 
 
 " Do you want me to prescribe for it } " 
 
 "I did try one prescription for having too big a 
 soul ; I turned my poor little boy loose into school, 
 and there they half killed him for me, and made 
 the original complaint worse." 
 
 " Happily no prescription, ' neither life, nor death, 
 nor any other creature,' can cure that complaint," said 
 the good old doctor, " though, alas ! it is only too apt 
 to dry up from within." 
 
 " Still I can't help feeling it rather awful to have 
 to do with a being so spiritual as that, and it appears 
 to me to increase on him, so that he never seems 
 quite to belong to me. And precocity is a dangerous 
 sign, is it not } " 
 
 " I see," said the doctor, smiling ; " you are going to 
 be a treasure to the faculty, and indulge in anxieties 
 and consultations." 
 
 " Now, Dr. Lucas, you know that we were always 
 anxious about Armine. You remember his father 
 said he needed more care than the rest." 
 
 Dr. Lucas allowed that this was true ; but he only
 
 308 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 recommended flannel, pale ale, moderation in study, 
 and time to recover the effects of the pump. 
 
 Both the good old friends were very kind and full of 
 tender congratulation, mingled with a little anxiety, 
 though they were pleased with her good taste and 
 simplicity and absence of all elation. But then she 
 had hardly realised the new position, and seemed to 
 look neither behind nor before. Her only scheme 
 seemed to be to take a house in London for a few 
 months, and then perhaps to go abroad, but of this 
 she could not talk in those old scenes which vividly 
 brought back that castle in the air, never fulfilled, of 
 a holiday in Switzerland with Joe. 
 
 On leaving the Lucases, she sent her boys on be- 
 fore her to the nearest bazaar, and was soon at her 
 old home. Kind Mrs. Drake effaced herself as much 
 as possible, and let her roam about the house alone, 
 but furniture had altered eveiy room, so that no 
 responsive chord was touched till she came to the 
 study, which was little changed. There she shut 
 herself in and strove to recall the touch of the hand 
 that was gone, the sound of the voice that was still. 
 She stood, where she had been wont to stand over 
 her husband, when he had been busy at his table 
 and she had run down with some inquiry, and with 
 a yearning ache of heart she clasped her hands, and 
 almost breathed out the words, " O Joe, Joe, dear 
 father ! Oh ! for one moment of you to tell me
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 309 
 
 what to do, and how to keep true to the charge you 
 gave me — your Magnum Bonum ! " 
 
 So absolutely had she asked the question, that she 
 waited, almost expecting a reply, but there was no 
 voice and none to answer her ; and she was turning 
 away with a sickening sense of mockery at her own 
 folly in seeking the empty shrine whence the oracle 
 of her life had departed, when her eye fell on the 
 engraving over the mantel-piece. It was the one 
 thing for which Mr. Drake had begged as a memorial 
 of Joe Brownlow, and it still hung in its old place. 
 It was of the Great Physician, consoling and healing 
 all around — the sick, the captive, the self-tormenting 
 genius, the fatherless, the widow. 
 
 Was this the answer .'' Something darted through 
 her mind like a pang followed by a strange throb — 
 " Give yourself up to Him. Seek the true good first. 
 The other may lie on its way." 
 
 But it was only a pang. The only too-natural recoil 
 came the next minute. Was not she as religious as 
 there was any need to be, or at least as she could be 
 without alienating her children or affecting more than 
 she felt } Give herself to Him } How ? Did that 
 mean a great deal of church-going, sermon-read- 
 ing, cottage visiting, prayers, meditations, and avoid- 
 ance of pleasure .'' That would never do ; the boys 
 would not bear it, and Janet would be alienated ; 
 besides, it would be hypocrisy in one who could not
 
 310 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 sit Still and think, or attend to anything lengthy and 
 wearisome. 
 
 So, as a kind of compromise, she looked at the photo- 
 graph which hung below, and to it she almost spoke 
 out her answer. "Yes, I'll be very good, and give 
 away lots of things. Mary Ogilvie shall come and 
 keep me in order, and she won't let me be naughty, 
 if I ever want to be naughty when I get away from 
 Ellen. Then Magnum Bonum shall have its turn 
 too. Don't be afraid, dearest. If Allen does not 
 take to it now, I am sure Bobus will be a great 
 chemical discoverer, able to give all his time and 
 spare no expense, and then we will fit up this dear 
 old house for a hospital for very poor people. 
 That's what you would have done if you had been 
 here ! Oh, if this money had only come in time ! But 
 here are these horrid tears ! If I once begin ciying 
 I shall be good for nothing. If I don't go at once, 
 there's no saying what Jock mayn't have bought." 
 
 She was just in time to find Jock asking the price 
 of all the animals in the Pantheon Bazaar, and ex- 
 pecting her to supply the cost of a vicious-looking 
 monkey. The whole flock collected in due time at 
 the station, and so did their parcels. Allen brought 
 with him his chief purchase, the most lovely toy- 
 terrier in the world, whom he presented on the spot to 
 Elvira, and who divided the journey between licking 
 himself and devouring the fragments of biscuit with
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 3II 
 
 which Jock supplied him. Allen had also bought 
 a beautiful statuette for himself, and a set of studs. 
 Janet had set herself up with a case of mathe- 
 matical instruments and various books ; Bobus's 
 purchases were divers chemical appliances and a 
 pocket microscope, also what he thrust into Jessie's 
 lap and she presently proclaimed to be a lovely little 
 work-case ; Jessie herself was hugging a parcel, which 
 turned out to contain warm pelisses for the two 
 nursery boys just above the baby. For the adapta- 
 tion of their seniors' last year's garments had not 
 proved so successful as not to have much grieved the 
 good girl and her mother. 
 
 Elvira's money had all gone into an accordion, and 
 a necklace of large blue beads. 
 
 " Didn't you get anything for your grandfather or 
 your cousins .'' " said Caroline. 
 
 " I wanted it all," said Elfie ; " and you only gave 
 me two sovereigns, or I would have had the brace- 
 lets too." 
 
 " Never mind, Elfie," cried Babie, " I've got some- 
 thing for Mr. Gould and for Kate and Mary." 
 
 " Have you, Babie } So have I," returned Armine ; 
 and the two, who had been wedged into one seat, 
 began a whispering conversation, by which the listeners 
 might have learnt that there was a friendly rivalry as 
 to which had made the two pounds provide the largest 
 possible number of presents. Neither had bought
 
 3 1 2 MAGNUM BONUM ; 
 
 anything for self, for the chest of drawers, bath, and 
 broom were for Babie's precious dolls, not for herself 
 Mother Carey, uncle and aunt, brothers, sisters, cousins, 
 sei-vants, Mr. Gould, the gardener's grandson, the old 
 apple-woman, " the little thin girls," had all been 
 provided for at that wonderful German Bazaar, 
 and the only regret was that gifts for Mr. Ogilvie 
 and Alfred Richards could not be brought within 
 the powers of even two pounds. What had Mother 
 Carey bought } Ah ! Nobody was to know till 
 Twelfth-day, and then the first tree cut at Belforest 
 would be a Christmas-tree. Then came a few 
 regrets that everybody had proclaimed their pur- 
 chases, and therewith people began to grow weary 
 and drop asleep. It was by gaslight that they 
 arrived at home and bundled into the flys that 
 awaited them, and then in the hall at home came 
 Elvira's cry — 
 
 " Where's my doggie, my Chico ? " 
 
 " Here ; I took him out," said Jock. 
 
 " That's not Chico ; that's a nasty, horrid, yellow 
 cur. Chico was black. You naughty boy, Jock, 
 you've been and changed my dog." 
 
 " Has Midas changed him to gold ?" cried Babie. 
 
 " Ah," said Bobus, meaningly. 
 
 " You've done it then, Bobus ! You've put some- 
 thing to him." 
 
 " / haven't," said Bobus, " but he's been licking
 
 OR, MOTHER CAREY'S BROOD. 313 
 
 himself all the way home. Well, we all know green 
 is the sacred colour of the Grand Turk." 
 
 " No ! You don't mean it ! " said Allen, catching 
 up the dog and holding him to the lamp, while 
 Janet observed that he was a sort of chameleon, for 
 his body, which had been black, was now yellow, and 
 his chops which had been tan, had become black. 
 
 Elvira began to cry angrily, still uncomprehending, 
 and fancying Bobus and Jock had played her a trick 
 and changed her dog ; Allen abused the horrid little 
 brute, and the more horrid man who had deceived 
 him ; and Armine began pitying and caressing him, 
 seriously distressed lest the poor little beast should 
 have poisoned himself. Caroline herself expected to 
 have heard that he was dead the next morning, and 
 would have felt more compassion than regret ; but, 
 to her surprise and Allen's chagrin, Chico made his 
 appearance, very rhubarb-coloured and perfectly well. 
 
 " I think," said Elvira, " I will give Chico to grand- 
 papa, for a nice London present." 
 
 Everybody burst out laughing at this piece of 
 generosity, and though the young lady never quite 
 understood what amused them, and Allen heartily 
 wished Chico among the army of dogs at River 
 Hollow, he did somehow or other remain at the Folly, 
 and, after the fashion of dogs, adopted Jock as the 
 special object of his devotion. 
 
 Ellen came in, expecting to regale her eyes with 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 14 MAGNUM BONUM. 
 
 A 
 
 the newest fashions. Or were they all coming down 
 from the dressmaker ? 
 
 "I had no time to be worried with dressmakers," 
 said Caroline. 
 
 " I thought you went there while the girls were 
 going about with Mrs. Acton." 
 
 " Indeed no. I had just got my new bonnet foi 
 the winter." 
 
 " But ! " 
 
 "And indeed, I have not inherited any more 
 heads." 
 
 Ellen sighed at the impracticability of her sister-in- 
 law and the blindness of fortune. But nobody could 
 sigh long in the face of that Twelfth-day Christmas- 
 tree. What need be said of it but that each member 
 of the house of Brownlow, and each of its dependents, 
 obtained the very thing that the bright-eyed fairy of 
 the family had guessed would be most acceptable. 
 
 END OF VOL. T. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 4