THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA GIFT OF Mrs* George Papashvily THE LlLLINGSTONES OF LILLINGSTONE. BY EMMA JANE WORBOISE. ILLUSTRATED. NEW YORK : DODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS, 762 Broadway. 1873. GIFT CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. FAMILY FOIBLES CHAPTER II. THE UNBIDDEN GUEST .... * ...... 15 CHAPTER III. THE SCENE CHANGES ........... 26 CHAPTER IV. "ENAVANT!" ............. 43 CHAPTER V. THE FIRST LAURELS ........... 59 CHAPTER 71. "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING!" ....... 74 CHAPTER VII. SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS 88 037 vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Page COVE HALL .............. 371 CHAPTER X. SEPARATION ............. 381 CHAPTER XI. THE GARDEN WALKS ............ 398 CHAPTER XII. THE DOXOLOGY .............. 410 PART I. THE LILLINGSTOMS OF LILLINGSTME. PART I. CHAPTEE L FAMILY FOIBLES. IT was a beautiful afternoon in the month of May. Lillingstone looked its loveliest, with the calm, sweet sunshine on its grey mellow walls, on its flowery terraces, and its wavy upland lawns, that, half park and half field, sloped away to the broad belt of pine woods skirting the line of rocky, lonely hills, at the eastern extremity of the estate. The gardens gave rich promise of flowers and fruitage yet to come ; the hawthorns were all one sheet of pearly fragrant beauty ; the delicate green branches of the acacia waved gently in the warm, soft air, mingling their white, tress-like blossoms with the golden chains of the laburnum. The large- flowered scented lilac shed its perfume on every 2 THE LILLINGSTONES. passing zephyr; the snowy, rose-tipped spirals of the horse-chestnut were dropping their petals on the thick velvet sward ; while the silvery, foam-like balls of the guelder-rose, the pure ivory of the luscious syringa, and the glorious tints of magni- ficent rhododendrons and azaleas, made beautiful every mound and plot and terrace of the large, old- fashioned parterres of Lillingstone Hall. The house itself was such as we often see in our country rambles, and wonder whether it is ancient or modern. It was built of dark grey stone, all weather-stained and lichen-grown, and it was orna- mented with heavy balustrades and balconies, broad gables, several massy buttresses, and divers pert pinnacles, that shot up turret- wise where one would least expect to see them. There were plate-glass French windows opening on the south terrace, and heavy mullioned case- ments, with tiny leaded panes, on the north. There was the Tudor style predominant; there was also the style of Queen Anne ; and here and there un- mistakeable evidences of the style of Queen Yictoria. The nephew and assistant of the village doctor confidently pronounced Lillingstone to be "pure Grecian." Why he made such an assertion, no one ever knew ; but the rector's son, who read Buskin, and was great upon mediaeval architecture, and there- fore pitied the ignorant multitude who could not discern between a Saxon and a Norman arch, called FAMILY FOIBLES. 3 it a commingling of the Byzantine, and Renaissance, and Pointed Gothic eras. Perhaps he was right ; certainly there was no one at hand to contradict him ; but when, once upon a time, an archaeological party caine that way, they retreated in disgust, de- claring that Lillingstone was "very lase!" The house was the same jumble within as without ; there were lofty, elegant rooms, broad staircases, and noble corridors, that would not have disgraced the mansions of Belgravia ; and there were also low- ceiled, dark wainscoted chambers, narrow corkscrew stairs, and long, gloomy, vaulted passages, savouring strongly of the time when every respectable family mansion had its own legend, and its own ghost. But through and over all there was an unmistak- able air of life and brightness and comfort ; there was nothing glaring or showy in the grander rooms, and nothing mean and scanty in those of humbler aspect at least, in those of them that were inhabited. It was quite clear that Lillingstone was the abode of persons of gentle birth and refined education. In a large, low room, having no less than six windows, looking north and west, sat, on that sunny May afternoon, a party of young people, all busily occupied, save one, a girl of eighteen or nineteen years of age, who was dreamily gazing out on the broad sunshiny landscape that sloped gradually down- wards, till the soft hazy distance melted into the grey sea-line that bounded the horizon. Her work, B 2 4 THE LILLINGSTONES. some pretty trifle of embroidery, lay at her feet; and her fingers wandered unconsciously through the clustering brown curls that shaded a fair, sweet, but rather anxious countenance. At another window sat a youth of sixteen, busy with some construing, but every now and then rais- ing his handsome face to gaze cautiously at his sister Katharine, as if the shadow of care that rested on her smooth, open brow, were something that puzzled and discomfited him. At the large central table were two more girls and another boy ; the latter a pale, delicate-looking child of nine, with large, serious blue eyes, and girlish ringlets of golden hair. The young ladies, Bertha and Mildred Lillingstone, were respectively fifteen and thirteen years old. The elder of the two was copying music with extraordinary neatness and rapidity, ruling her bars with scrupulous exactness, dotting her crotchets and quavers with the preci- sion of a connoisseur, and marking clefs with all the skill and action of a practised draughtswoman. She was dressed like her sisters ; but there was an air of trimness and daintiness in her simple attire that was peculiar to herself, and presented a remark- able contrast to the costume of her younger sister who sat by her side, stooping low over a water- colour drawing, at which she was working with more speed than success. Mildred was tall and thin, with long arms and a very dingy complexion. FAMILY FOIBLES. 5 Her dark hair hung in heavy curls round a face that, in spite of its large nose and mouth, and its worse than mere absence of lilies and roses, looked bright and pleasant. But the abundant tresses were rough and sadly tangled, and quite innocent of any gloss, either natural or artificial ; while Bertha was slight and small, and exquisitely fair, with such snowy little hands, and such rosy-tipped palms and fingers, and such shining, wavy bands of golden hair, smoothed round a well-formed head, that was set on the slender white neck and drooping shoulders- like a faultless capital on a perfectly symmetrical shaft. Mildred's dress was of precisely the same fashion and material as Bertha's ; but it looked at once too large and too small ; and an apron, which seemed to have done extra duty as duster and pen- wiper, was pinned on her waist, instead of being fastened in the legitimate way. Her feet were crossed as decidedly as any crusader's in efiigy, and ever and anon one foot went poking and sliding about in quest of a disreputable-looking slipper, that was manifestly disqualified for the position it was ex- pected to fill ; and, to crown all, she had been trying her paints on the backs of her hands, and on her arms, thus giving herself a striking resemblance to a wild Indian in holiday costume. There was still another inmate of the room. Helen Lillingstone, a tall, graceful girl, in age between Katharine, the eldest of the family, and Alfred, the 6 THE LTLLINGSTONES. dark- eyed youth, who was so busy with his Euri- pides. Helen was quite as dark as Mildred, but much handsomer if, indeed, it were fair to make the comparison at all. She sat apart from the rest, lounging not ungracefully in a large easy chair, and devouring one of the green-covered numbers of " Dombey and Son " with a rapidity and a zest that evidenced her thorough enjoyment of the tale. Presently Eertha rose ; she had finished her task, and she laid her MS. music-book on the pianoforte to dry. " Katharine," she said, at length, breaking the unwonted silence of that room, " at what hour to-morrow shall we go to Sandmouth?" "To Sandmouth?" replied Katharine, dreamily; " what are we going for ? " "Is it possible you can forget? For wools, canvas, beads, tinted note-paper, stamps, the May number of ' Dombey,' and l Elackwood,' and oh ! fifty things besides !" " I suppose we must have the postage-stamps," said Katharine, still abstractedly. " We must have all the things ; we want them," returned Eertha, looking rather surprised. " Dear Kate, you made out the list yourself yesterday, and we should have gone to-day, only papa had an en- gagement with that stupid lawyer, and we could not be sure about the carriage." "While this dialogue was going on, Alfred was watching Katharine intently. He came up to his FAMILY FOIBLES. 7 sisters, and taking Kate's arm, he said, "You have that wretched headache again, old Katty. Never mind the shopping ; come with me into the garden." " Yery well only one moment ; let me put these wools into my basket." Meanwhile there was a general movement. Helen flung her "Dombey " on the piano, and it swept in its flight the yet undried page of Bertha's copying, making all the array of crotchets and quavers look like a swarm of comets, with their tails blazing one way. Walter saw the disaster first, and cried out, " Oh, Bertha, look! what a smudge !" Bertha turned quickly, the impatient crimson glowing on neck and brow as she beheld her work defaced and spoilt. Her little fingers trembled as she took up the unfortunate book, and remarked with no small asperity that perhaps Helen would re-copy it for her in the evening. " Not this even- ing," returned Helen, with very little demonstration of regret. " I am sorry, dear, I have spoilt your neat copying ; but you need not remove the page : when it dries, we can scratch out the worst of the smears ; it will read just as well ! " . " Read just as well!" returned Bertha, indig- nantly; " do you think I could ever place such a blurred, marred page before me ? I never care for a thing unless it be perfect of its kind." " I know that. Well, let me see ! to-morrow no, the day after I will try what I can do ; but I warn 8 THE LILLINGSTONES. you, Bertha, that any copy of mine is sure to be erroneous, if not illegible." "You need not trouble yourself. I know your style : your MS. music is about equal to Mildred's sewing." ""Well, I am sorry," continued Helen, opening a book; "but don't make such a fuss: it was un accident, and accidents will happen." "They need not; they ought not," said Bertha, hotly. "Oh, Bertha!" put in Mildred, "how can you say so. I don't mean things come by chance ; but there must le accidents sometimes." "Yes, if one is careless and foolish!" replied Bertha, with intense disgust, as Mildred, in order to emphasise her " must" struck her tumbler of dirty water instead of her colour-box, and deluged her drawing, and Alfred's Greek verses as well. Every one rushed to the rescue. Katharine snatched up her wools with a glance of reproof at Mildred. Bertha held out to Alfred his soaked hexameters; Walter laughed at the confusion, and Mildred her- self coolly unpinned her unfortunate apron, and began to mop up the water with it. " Mildred ! how can you ?" cried Bertha, severely. " Oh, this intolerable carelessness ! It is useless to try to keep things in order. I do so wish wo might have a governess again ! " Mildred made a face " Not one like Mademoiselle FAMILY FOIBLES. 9 Agathe Yirginie Palmyre Melanie de Montalem* bert ! " slie ejaculated, as she vigorously sopped up tlie remaining fluid, crumpled up her spoilt drawing, and threw it into the fender, and finally polished up her paint-hox with her pocket handkerchief. " Mademoiselle Anything," retorted Bertha, an- grily. Before she could say more, Katharine came quietly forward, took the handkerchief from Mildred's parti-coloured hands, and rang the hell for a servant. "Now don't, Katty!" cried Mildred; "it's all right ! " Katharine pointed gravely to the drenched table-cloth, and to the carpet, where a small lake was gradually absorbing. The servant came an elderly woman who had been in the family for more than one generation and as she carried off the cloth, she exclaimed, " One of Miss Milly's awkward tricks, I'll be bound ! " By this time Mildred had fairly succumbed to censure, and Katharine, telling her she looked like a decorated savage, gently bade her go to her room, and make herself fit to be seen. She ran off, after a hasty skirmish for the missing slipper, and then Katharine perceived that all the others, excepting Bertha, had likewise disappeared. 4 < Bertha dear, don't be vexed," she said to her sister, who was still hanging over her luckless music- book; "it is very troublesome to have one's things spoiled, and it is a great pity that Helen is so careless and Milly so untidy ; but it will do no 10 THE LILLINGSTONES. good to be angry. It is the best, and, indeed, the only way, to be patient, in a large family like ours. If we cannot bear with each other's foibles, what shall we do in the world ? If we are cross with each other's mistakes, surely strangers will be cmel and spiteful." "Mistakes need not occur ; foibles should be cor- rected," replied Eertha, impatiently. "I tell you, Katty, there ought to be another governess. It is six months since Mademoiselle went away, and I do not believe mamma has made one effort towards finding her successor. She would not even look at the advertisement I showed her the other day, and it was exactly what we wanted." Katharine looked uneasily at her sister as she replied, "I do not think, Eertha, either you or I are qualified to judge what kind of governess we require, and we maybe sure mamma's delay proceeds from some very sufficient cause. We have as little right to question her inaction as to criticise her decisions." "No one ever seems to see things," returned Eertha bitterly ; and feeling that her temper was fast escaping from her control, she wisely retreated to her chamber, where, unhappily, she found Helen lying on her own bed reading " Hyperion." The temptation to worry, and lecture about careless- ness, idleness, and selfishness, was irresistible ; and at length Helen was fairly roused, and turning FAMILY FOIBLES. 11 down the leaf at tlie legend of the Fountain of Oblivion, she set herself to answer Bertha's inuen- does with what she called proper spirit. So the quarrel that had died ont in the school-room was revived in the bed-room, and the young ladies battled on with charge and counter-charge and retort, till Bertha, felt as if she hated everybody, and Helen gave way to hysterical tears. Meanwhile, Katharine went into the garden, where Alfred was awaiting her, and for some minutes they walked up and down the broad walk without speaking. Then Alfred began "Katty! what is the meaning of all this ? What makes papa so cross, and mamma so wretched, and you so anxious ? And why do not the girls have another governess ? There is Helen reading novels the live-long day; Milly such a slattern that she is a libel on girls in general ; while Bertha's conceit and fastidiousness are growing unbearable ; and all for want of some one to exercise the proper authority ! Even little Alice runs wild, and Walter is fast becoming a juvenile hypochon- driac. I see these evils, Katty : you are in the midst of them ; and we never perceive how things increase when we look at them every day ; but if you had been from home, as I have, ever since the winter, you would be startled to find how wrong and out of joint everything and everybody in the house seems to be!" "I know I am a very bad eldest sister," began 12 THE LILLINGSTONES. Katharine, humbly; but Alfred stopped her: "I didn't mean that, old Kit, and it isn't, fair to say it of yourself. Don't you hear them their lessons, from Bertha to Alice ? don't you nurse and comfort mamma, and order the dinner, and pour out the tea ?" " The last duty is the only one I perform to my own satisfaction. Cook never obeys my orders ; and I think sometimes it is a good thing she does not ; and as for the children's lessons, they make me wretched. I have no influence with Eertha: she sets me at defiance, in her quiet way; and dear Milly, though she is humble and obedient as a little child, wearies one sadly with her untidiness and her blunders, and her curious ways, and still more curious ideas about things that the rest of us never think of. Eeally, sometimes I feel that I would rather teach two Berthas than one Milly there's less responsibility ! " "But why should you teach either? It was all very well for a few weeks, till a new governess could be engaged. Surely we might find some highly eligible person willing and able to undertake the education of the five Misses Lillingstone I beg pardon, Katty, I mean four. Of course, a governess would have nothing to do with you, and not much, I suspect, with Helen." "Helen has lost so much time that she ought to have another year ; mamma says so. As for myself, I should be only too glad to study under some nice, clever, large-minded woman. " FAMILY FOIBLES. 13 "Then why not have one? The hest governess in the world may be had for money ! " " That is exactly where it is. Papa seems to think I cannot tell what he thinks; hut he told mamma she need not trouble herself about a gover- ness at present ; and when she said I was not com- petent, he was so angry, and he muttered something about ' hundreds thrown away then.' I am afraid he meant on me." " There is something wrong," said Alfred, se- riously. "Katty, do you really think there is any trouble about money ?" " I am almost sure there is ; but, you know, papa never says anything. Mamma does not know cer- tainly, but she is sadly afraid." " I say, Kittums, it might be a good thing for us to be jolly poor for a bit. We want something to turn us round and stir us up ; we are all angles and corners, and everything that is unsatisfactory. But then how could I go to Oxford ? And if I were hindered going, I should be ready to drown myself." " I hope not, Alfred ; but whatever happens, there is the Pounder's Kin at Oldminster, and you might get an exhibition or something." "I might, I WOULD ! but fancy going to Oxford on 60 a year! Well, Katty, I don't know it might not be quite pleasant but I believe it might make a man of me to have to fight my own way in the world." 14 THE LILLINGSTONES. Katty looked doubtful. " I'll tell you what it is, old Kittums, we are all sixes and sevens, because we have nothing solid to go upon. "We are by no means a religious family. If we were I don't know, but I fancy things might take a turn and be different." THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 15 CHAPTER II. THE UNBIDDEN GTJEST* KATHAEINE and Alfred came in somewhat cheered and refreshed from their confidential tete-a-tete among the lilacs. Tea was ready in the drawing- room, and Katharine hastened to throw off her hat and take her seat at the table. Mr. Lillingstone was not present, and Mrs. Lilling- stone sat, as usual, in her lounging-chair, looking paler and more fragile than was even her wont. The shadow had passed from the sweet, blooming face of her eldest daughter, but it rested, as it seemed abidingly, on a face almost as fair and sweet, though long ago faded by illness and sorrow and anxiety a face that wore a strange, troubled ex- pression, a wistful sadness, that seemed to tell how the darkness and the storm had gathered long ago over the landscape of life, that might have been so bright, and to question piteously, though not re- piningly, WHY this were so ! Helen read and sipped her tea at the same time. 16 THE LILLINGSTONES. Her face had not Bertha's faultless beauty; her skin was dark, but clear ; her eyes deep and shadowy; and sometimes beaming with an expression that lighted up cheek and brow with a radiance that never shone on Bertha's perfect features; and her tall, slender figure, might have served as a model for the delineation of a Grace. She bent now over her volume of Tennyson, her long, dark lashes sweeping the roses that poetic enthusiasm mantled on her cheeks. The "May Queen" was thrilling her whole soul, and it was not to be expected that such sublunary things as shrimps, and bread and butter, and marmalade should command any portion of her attention. Alfred sat by his favourite Katie, managing the hot water for her, and thinking how she had said in the garden that pouring out the tea was the only duty which she performed to her own satisfaction. Bertha had by no means recovered her equanimity, and she sat the very personification of neatness and propriety, gravely spreading her dry toast, with neither too much nor too little butter, eschewing marmalade as childish, and shrimps as untidy, and stirring her tea with the unexceptionable air of a young lady accustomed to genteel society. But the perfect features and the exquisite complexion, shaded by glossy, wavy wreaths of bright hair, did not look so very lovely after all. Kate thought Bertha was unusually serious ; Alfred privately decided that she THE UNBIDDEN GUEST 17 was sulky. Mildred also liad a book before her, but she laid it aside in a moment at a glance from Katharine; and she began forthwith stirring her tea as if sugar had ceased to be soluble. After a minute's vigorous use of the spoon, she burst out, " That is a glorious verse !" " Milly, my dear, you did so startle me!" said the invalid mother, crimsoning with nervousness at the loud, abrupt tones of her young daughter. 11 Oh ! did I, mamma ? I am so sorry ! I wish I could be quiet like Bertha, or thoughtful like Katty ; but it is a right glorious, grand verse ! " " What is?" asked Helen, who having finished " The May Queen," drew a long breath, and began to apply herself to the comestibles. "Listen! ' Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way ; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day/ There's another, better still : ' Trust no Future howe'er pleasant ; Let the dead Past bury its Dead ! Act act in the living Present, Heart within, and God overhead ! ' * 6 ' Longfellow's ' Psalm of Life' a very old thing ! " remarked Helen, in a tone that would have been contemptuous had it been less languid. 18 THE LILLINGSTONES. " Why, Hilly, liave you never heard that before ?" asked Alfred. " Oh yes, to be sure I have ; but it never struck me before. It was just a piece of poetry, and nothing else ; but now it seems to speak to me to tell me something." " I hope it will tell you to brush your hair, and to put your things away, and to tidy your drawers and your boxes !" interrupted Bertha. Mildred looked humble and ashamed. She re- membered how that very morning she had hastily thrust her winter flannels into the drawer where she kept her muslin collars, her ribbons, and, in fact, all the little finery she possessed ; and just because she would not take the trouble to go into the next room, where Katty and Bertha had been arranging all the clothes not needed for the summer season. "But it means something higher than that," she said at length. "It doesn't mean little, common, every-day things ! " " Perhaps not," was the sententious answer ; " but turrets stand upon towers, that stand upon stones, that lie level with the ground." "Excellent, sister Bertha!" cried Alfred. "Pray may I ask whether that oracular speech is original or cribbed?" "I do not know what 'cribbed' means," rejoined Bertha, with dignity. " Oh yes, you do ! When I told you I had THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 19 cribbed your new piece of India-rubber, you re- marked that I had singular notions of property! Don't you remember?" A dignified silence was the only response. Helen's musical voice was heard next : " Your glorious poetry, Milly, is, after all, nothing more than a moral enunciation in measure and rhyme. It is terribly rough ! There is something about 'dumb, driven cattle' in another verse, a most uncouth metaphor ! " " 'Be not like dumb, driven cattle, Be a hero in the strife ! ' " shouted Mildred, growing very red in defence of her cherished " Psalm of Life." " Listen, Helen ' Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us, Footsteps on the sands of Time ! ' ' The sands of Time ! ' That is a beautiful expression ! The wild shore, with its rocks and its sands, life; the great ocean, eternity" "It may be^we," said Helen, critically; "but it is unmelodious. Now, if you want real poetry, listen to this: < Where Claribel low lieth, The breezes pause and die ; Letting the rose-leaves fall ; But the solemn oak-tree sigheth, c 2 20 THE LILLINGSTONE&. Thick-leaved, ambrosial, With an ancient melody, Of an inward agony, Where Claribel low lieth.' " Mildred acknowledged the musical rhythm of the words. To hear them in Helen's sweet, deep tones was like listening to the dying thrills of Eolian harp- strings. But she asked directly, ""Who was Claribel?" "I cannot say," replied Helen; "probably a creation of the poet's exquisite fancy." "It is very pleasant to hear," returned Mildred; " but I think my ' dumb, driven cattle ' does one more good. ' The Psalm of Life,' you see, does for everybody ; while half the people will never care whether Claribel is buried under an oak tree or in a town churchyard, with marbles rolling, instead of rose-leaves falling, on her grave." This was too much for Helen. Boys playing marbles on Claribel' s grave ! where the beetle boom- ing, and the wild-bee humming, and the clear- voiced mavis dwelling, combined to make sweetest music ! Alfred said he thought Mildred had the best of the argument, and that Tennyson was a fine fellow, and had written better stuff than that mawkish 1 1 Claribel ; " whereupon Helen withdrew into herself, with a sense of fueling and seeing beauty that no one else perceived or appreciated. "My dears, you must take a walk this evening," THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 21 said Mrs. Lillingstone, when the cause of Longfellow versus Tennyson had heen dropped. " It has been very warm all day, and the evening will be delight- ful. You had better go over Shepperton downs, and round by the Priory, and so home through the lanes. Alfred, are you busy ? Can you escort your sisters ?" " I am at their disposal, mamma. "Who is going ? all of you?' ' Everyone seemed willing to fall into Mrs. Lilling- stone' s plan, which willingness, it must be remarked, was by no means an event of daily occurrence. There were so many whims and wills to be consulted at Lillingstone, that it was no uncommon case for so much time to be wasted in debate or dispute, as to leave none for the execution of the scheme finally adopted. " Will not papa take some tea ? " asked Katty, as Alfred applied for a fourth cup. "No one answered. Mr. Lillingstone' s habits were proverbially erratic. Dinner was the only meal which he regularly honoured with his presence, and he was never waited for if he came not at the second ringing of the great bell. " I'll go and see!" cried Mildred, dropping her spoon on the tray with a clatter that brought the flush once more to her mother's pallid cheeks ; and away she rushed like the wind on a March morning. She came back before Mrs. Lillingstone had recovered her composure: "No, Katty; he's in the study, 22 THE LILLINGSTONES. very sleepy, and lie scolded me for disturbing him." "No wonder," retorted Bertha, "if you hurst upon him in your usual boisterous fashion ! " The others left the room to prepare for their walk. Bertha lingered. " Mamma, when shall we have a governess again? Mildred and the children are being ruined. Helen does literally nothing from one week to another; and there are so many branches of study I wish to pursue." Mrs. Lillingstone looked annoyed. Again the red flush mantled brow and cheek, and the thin white fingers moved nervously in the fringe of her shawl. "Bertha, my dear! it is useless to worry about a governess ! Papa says you must do without one : Katty must teach you." "Kattyhas no authority; and besides "began Bertha, but her mamma said, "My dear! I cannot enter on the subject now, I am so weak and nervous. Pray go and prepare for your walk, or the others will have to wait for you." " Ah ! Mildred has upset you with her noises and har abruptness," said Bertha, as unwillingly she went away to her room- There were fewer clashings during that evening's walk than might have been expected. Helen and Mildred both loved beautiful scenery, and they strolled amicably, arm-in-arm, over the short, thy my THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 23 turf, watching, almost in silence, the rich red light on the dark pines that skirted the solemn hills, and the golden streak that heaved and quivered far away, as the sun went down on the restless, surging sea- water. Katharine and Alfred enjoyed the quiet ramble and their pleasant converse ; while Eertha strolled apart, now and then joining them with some particular question or observation. The sun had gone down long before the walk through the winding lanes was over ; and as they crossed the upland heath that almost skirted their own grounds, they saw the young May-moon, shining like a bow of silver in the clear, calm, nightfall sky. Yenus was lustrous on the western horizon, and a few pale stars gleamed faintly in the zenith. They quickened their steps lest their mamma should be anxious, and lest their papa should bethink himself of the drawing-room and music, and, finding his daughters still absent, nurse up his wrath against them. Mildred flung open the side wicket that led into the garden, and Eertha chid her for her violence; but the others were drinking in the calm beauty of the hour, and they passed on to the house in silence. Mildred interrupted Eertha' s lecture unceremo- niously. She saw a white pony fastened near the sido entrance, and she knew it belonged to the doctor at Sandmouth. " Mamma is worse!" she cried; and, shaking herself from Eertha, who would have held her back, 24 THE LILLINGSTONES. she flew into the house. In the wide, gloomy hall, there was a single lamp hurning on the floor, as if set down by some one in urgent haste. Mildred rushed on to the drawing-room ; but there was no one there, and no light ; so she hurried to the dining-room, where there were candles ; and that, too, was deserted : only Mr. Parson's hat and whip lay on the table, testifying to his presence in the house. Again Mildred crossed the hall, and she lingered in fear of she knew not what. Presently came one of the servants, a young girl, who had been lately taken to help the cook, aad Mildred cried, with a beating heart, "Oh Ann! what is it? where is mamma?" "In the study, Miss Milly," said the girl. She looked too awe-stricken to say more. Mildred saw the white face and the awed aspect, as the lamp on the floor flickered and flashed in the draught of the open doors, and she shuddered and crept, trembling, down the long inner passage, till she came to the baize- covered door of the study. It was ajar, and she stood for a minute or more, too frightened to go in : then she heard sounds of bitter weeping, and Mr. Parson's voice, saying something that was meant to be conso- latory. Unable to bear the suspense, she went suddenly in : all the rest were there. Even Walter, and little Alice, in her nurse's arms, with her night-gown on, and wrapped hastily in a large ghawl. The child had been taken from her cot, from THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 25 her rosy, innocent slumber, into the presence of death. Alfred's arms were round his mother, who was gasping, rather than sobbing, on her son's shoulder. Katty and Helen were weeping unrestrainedly, their tears falling unheeded, more like rain than ordinary tears ! Eertha stood cold, white, and motionless, as if frozen on the spot; and on the couch, by the library table, lay Mr. Lillingstone, never again to rise and speak to wife, or child, or friend ! The fine manly form lay there, as if wrapped in quiet slumber : the dark piercing eyes were closed, never more to open till the Resurrection morning : the dust was ready to mingle with its parent-dust ; the spirit had returned to the God who gave it. All alone and troubled, he had been musing there when the summons came : "The Master is come, and calleth for THEE." Often before had the Master called, and His loving voice had been un- heeded ; but the unbidden guest, the pale messenger, who came now, brooked no delay, no temporising! And Mildred, as she stood for the first time in the presence of the dead, remembered that it was written " Therefore, be ye also ready ; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh ! " 26 THE LILLINGSTONES, CHAPTER III. THE SCENE CHANGES. ONE dull, chilly afternoon, in the beginning of October, Katharine and Alfred Lillingstone were sitting together, looking out upon the quiet, clean High Street of the little country town of Oldminster. Everything around them was in the direst confu- sion : the carpet hastily thrown down, without regard to the peculiarities of recesses; the table, roughly cleared at one end, and at the other piled with books, boxes, portfolios, and one or two articles that seemed strangely out of place, inasmuch as they belonged to the culinary department ; and the high antique mantelshelf encumbered with as many small useful and ornamental chattels as it could possibly be persuaded to accommodate. Katharine looked very weary and dispirited. Her black dress was dusty and torn, and her bright flowing curls were hidden away under a net, as if their owner wished to be as practical and as un- adorned as possible. The shadow of care that had rested on her brow in the pleasant school-room at THE SCENE CHAHGES. 27 Lillingstone was deepened now, as she lay back in an arm-chair, her hands crossed listlessly in her lap, and her head bent forward, the very personification of mental and physical exhaustion. Alfred, too, seemed jaded and worn ; but his whole aspect was less crushed and hopeless than poor Katty's. He sat erect, with his lips resolutely compressed, and his dark eyes flashing with some hidden thought as he glanced round the dull comfortless room a thought that related unmistakably to the renewal of hope, to energy fresh-born, and to a purpose both settled and definite in the boy's half sorrowful, half joyous heart. " Katty !" he said presently, as his gaze fell on his sister's pale weary face; "you are tired to death, and no wonder ! Here you have been doing the work of mistress and three housemaids com- bined since six o'clock this morning. Why does not Bertha see about tea ? We should all be much the better for it." " Bertha is busy in the drawing-room ; she wants to finish there before mamma, and Helen, and the children come. I do not think she would like to be disturbed even if tea were on the table." "Never mind what she would like; the question of like and dislike is not to be mooted by any of us just yet. What we must do, and how we shall do it best and quickest, is all that concerns us at present. I shall go and tell her we want tea." 28 THE LILLINGSTONES. Straightway lie departed to the drawing-room, where he found Bertha, who in some incomprehen- sible way had managed to keep herself and her attire in presentable order. She was daintily dusting the books, and arranging them in due order on the shelves. " Bertha!" he said, winningly, "do come and see about a cup of tea for poor Katty and me! "We have had no real dinner, and Kate is so worn out that I really think she will knock up unless she has something or other to revive her. I don't believe we could find a glass of wine if we tried." "I will come when I have finished what I am doing ; but it is impossible, you know, to attend to two things at once," replied Bertha, with her usual cold sweetness of tone. But in another moment she had descended from the chair on which she had been standing, and, duster in hand, came down to terra firma. Alfred hoped and believed that, for once, she was going to consult the convenience of others; but he was speedily undeceived: she only changed her position in order to regard with a more critical eye the result of her labours, and she ap- pealed forthwith to her brother as to whether the Humes, and the Robertsons, or the Blackwoods looked better on the second shelf than on the third. " Do not be absurd ! " replied Alfred, impatiently. " Where is the sense of arranging books and orna- ments when there is not another room in the house fit to sit down in?" THE SCENE CHANGES. 29 "At least this room is fit to sit down in; and when the fire burns np everything will be com- plete. We can have tea here properly when mamma comes," returned Bertha, complacently. " And that will be two hours hence ! Yery well ; if I have to call for smelling-salts and sal volatile on Katty's behalf you will have yourself to thank for it." " Cannot Sarah get tea ?" asked Bertha, angrily. "What is the use of a servant in the kitchen if we are to prepare our meals ourselves? " " She is not in the kitchen ; she's in chaos ! It is very clear you have avoided the back settlements to-day, or you would at least understand Sarah's position. Hampers, boxes, pots, pans, rubbish, and hay, and everything that goes to make up a medley, is tumbled into that unfortunate place that ought to be the kitchen ! Well, good-bye, Bertha ! thank you for arranging those books so geometrically ! Quite in accordance with the laws of perspective, are they not? And thank you for washing all those gim- cracks ; it does me good, and refreshes me after my hard day's work, to know that Psyche has a clean face if I haven't!" He went back to Katharine. "Well, Katty, she will not stir ! The drawing-room is ready to receive company, and you may lay your hand immediately on any volume you want, if that's any comfort to you ! Don't now, Katty dear ! don't look so mourn- 30 THE LILLINGSTONES. fill ! I know there's enough to make us all miser- able ; but crying our eyes out won't mend the matter. We have lost our old position, and we must find a new one, and make it as comfortable and as agree- able as we can. Come ! look up, Katty ; you'll feel better to-morrow ! " "Oh I Alfred, I am dreadfully ashamed of my- self; I meant to be so strong! Even leaving dear old Lillingstone did not seem to be so very bad ; but here, everything looks so wretched, so sordid ! This house will never seem like home, or feel like it either. "What can we do with this room ? It is the dining-room, you know : did you ever see anything so dark and low and ugly ; so utterly miserable and fbrlorn?" " My dear Katty, an apartment in Buckingham Palace would look miserable and forlorn if it were left in this state of confusion. Bare boards and doubled-up carpets, undraped windows, and decan- ters and sauce-tureens on the chimney-piece, would give a dolorous aspect to any room. Besides, dear, you are dreadfully fagged ; you have been working all day to make the bed-rooms habitable with only my incompetent self and poor awkward Milly to help you ! By the way, where is Milly ?" "Here!" cried a loud cheering voice, pushing open the door; " and here is something better than Milly a good cup of tea for tired folk ! " And Milly came forward in a very decided state THE SCENE CHANGES. 31 of deshabille, but bearing a small tray, on which were two cups of fragrant steaming tea, and a plate of nice buttered toast. She placed one cup in poor Katty's cold, nerveless hand, and the other in Alfred's ready grasp, and then began to watch them as a physician would watch the effect of his potion. " It will do you no end of good, Katty !" she said, as she saw her sister languidly stiring the contents of her cup. " Come, eat some toast, and let me see you enjoy yourself for a few minutes !" "Zam enjoying myself, I assure you, Milly!" said Alfred. " I never remember a cup of tea tast- ing so good before ; but surely you did not make it ?" " Indeed, but I did! I don't know who else could have found time ! Sarah is unpacking hampers yet, and she is the least bit cross ; and it was not to be expected that' Bertha would come down ; so I found the bellows in the clothes-basket, and I blew the fire and made the kettle boil ; and I found some tea, and the tea-pot, and some cups ; but I could not find the toasting-fork; however, I managed very well .without it." " And burnt your hand ! " said Alfred, taking her long, dark fingers gently in his own. " Yes ! just like me. I really have some asinine propensities. One of them is an infantile forgetful- ness of the properties of hot iron. It never occurred to me that the bars of the grate would burn if I touched them, but they did ! " 82 THE LILLINGSTONES. " The ordeal by fire would certainly not suit you, then ! But, Milly, what other mischief did you do ? " ' ' I upset the kettle on the hearth, and I might have scalded the cat, and 1 am very sorry, Katty, but I dropped one cup as I was washing it, and it broke ! " Kate smiled faintly ; the good tea was doing its work. " Never mind, dear Milly, I am afraid there will be more important breakages before the un- packing and the settling is over. It was very nice and thoughtful of you to trouble yourself about us ; the more so, because such little matters are quite out of your way." 1 l They have been, Katty, but I mean to be useful now. I think being poor will do me good. I shall try to leave off being careless ; you must scold me well whenever I begin to fall into my old bad ways. ]$~ow I must go and take Bertha some tea, but I am sure she will be angry with me for this torn frock ; and what can I do ? There are corners of things all ever the house, and I have a natural affinity to things that catch hold and tear one !" In a few minutes Mildred returned looking very grave, and ready to replenish the empty cups. She had unquestionably received the anticipated scolding. " And now," said Katty, considerably revived; " now that you have been waiting upon us, we ought to wait upon you. Sit down in this chair while I go into the kitchen on your behalf." THE SCj&XS CH^fGES. 33 "No, indeed, Katty, you'll do nothing of the kind ! I am going to give Sarah some tea, and then I will take excellent care of myself," and she was Dut of the room and out of hearing before Kate was provided with a rejoinder. " Dear, good Milly ! " said Alfred; " she has given us the first sunbeam in our dingy new home. I really believe she never thinks of herself. I dare say at this moment she is emptying the pot for Sarah, and contenting herself with the second watering!" Which was precisely the truth. Mildred cared very little for her own creature comforts. To see the tired servant gratefully drink the warm strong tea was better than imbibing nectar herself. Care- less, thoughtless, wild, and sometimes idle, Milly certainly was; but selfish never! And every now and then she mourned over continually recurring mishaps, and made up her mind to be steadier, and quicker, and more like good, thoughtful Katty, and the managing, correct Eertha. Poor, heedless Milly ! she forgot her resolution the next hour, and then submitted with the meekness of a little child to Eertha' s angry lecture, or, worse still, to her keen, stinging sarcasms. " Now then, Katty," said Alfred, when they were alone again, ' ' let us look our position full in the face. "We are no longer the Lillingstones of Lillingstone ; but in spite of adverse circumstances we mil prove ourselves true and worthy Lilling- 34 THE LILLINGSTONES. stones, worthy of our name and of our race ! If I understand things aright, we ought to have turned out long ago. The mischief hegan with those mines in poor grandpapa's time, and poor dear papa tried to mend matters hy railway speculations; hut " arid Alfred's voice hecame husky and unsteady "it was not to he ! Oh, why did he keep all the misery to himself ! I was hut a hoy ; what more am I now? But I was his eldest son after him, the head of the family and I might have devised something hefore it came to the worst !" " And now Lillingstone is gone that is, virtually gone from us, for ever ! " "No, Kate! no! Please God, we will have it again! It must he a long time first; hut I will work and toil and never weary till dear, darling mamma goes hack to the dear old house, where she came a hride twenty years ago, and where you and I and all of us were horn." "And what will you do, Alfred?" "I really cannot say yet. I suppose I am fit for very little at present. I must finish my education, to do which I must get the Scholarship without fail ! " "Yes, yes! Of course you will, you must, he successful in that: the advantages of Pounder's Kin is the great thing that reconciles me to Old- minster. And then the house heing our own, and so roomy, and, I suppose, convenient I am thankful it is left to us, though so much else is gone. After THE SCENE CHANGES. 35 all, I dare say it is an excellent thing that mamma decided on living at Oldminster." "No donbt of it. I encouraged the idea from the very first. I did not like to propose it, because it seemed selfish, I being the person most interested. The Pounder's Kin would be of little avail had not my mother chosen to reside in the town." "And when is the Scholarship to be gained?" " Next Midsummer twelvemonths. I wish it were sooner : it seems a long time to wait before I can take the first step in the road I purpose to travel : but I shall only be eighteen then." Mildred rejoined them just then, and she wanted to know whither the road alluded to was to lead her brother. Alfred explained. She listened with glowing cheeks and flashing eyes, and burst forth at last "Yes, yes! I see, Alfred! the time is come for us to act it out ! It must be only poetry no longer I " "What can you mean, Milly?" asked Kate; "you are as mysterious as a Pythoness, and almost as enthusiastic!" "Not at all! that is, I'm not mysterious; for I do feel running over with enthusiasm : but I forgot, you do not know how I have been unpacking all day, and saying to myself 'Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end and way ; But to act that each to-niorrow Find us farther than to-day ! ' " D 2 36 THE LILLINGSTONES. "Farther than what, Milly?" asked Kate won- deringly. She had no conception of the strong, high thoughts that had all day long been thronging Mildred's mind. Alfred little dreamed how, as she handed cups and saucers to Eertha, who was ar- ranging china, all morning, she was schooling her own excitable, impetuous nature, and trying to see clearly the path which duty called her to follow. Bertha merely thought she was stupid, as well as awkward, and scolded her, for want of something else to say. "Partner in doing right farther in goodness, in duty, and therefore farther in happiness," replied Mildred. "But how can we be sure about our duty?" asked Kate earnestly. She forgot that Mildred was only fourteen, and she five years older. Milly was doubtful what to answer, and she looked to Alfred for help, but he was silent ; and at last she said very gravely, " I think if we do the thing that is straight before us that comes to us as the day's work, whatever it may be that is our duty." " But suppose it is a wrong thing ?" "Then, of course, we must not do it; but the things that come to us, without choice of our own, are seldom wrong, I think, though we may make them wrong by the way we do them.. It is the things we seek out for ourselves, and to please our- selves, that generally get us into trouble." THE SCENE CHANGES. 37 "And" we can ask God's guidance," said Alfred, much struck with what Mildred put forth. " I never thought of that," replied Mildred. "Do you think we may ask His direction in little, common things? May I ask Him to make me thoughtful and tidy, like Bertha?" " Don't ask Him to make you like any human "being," quickly returned her brother; "but I am sure you may ask God's aid in all your difficulties, ordinary and extraordinary ; and till you do ask it, and seek it, Milly, you will never be really better for any length of time." "I see," was Milly' s subdued answer. A new light was breaking in on her mind ; and Katty, too, felt as if she had suddenly found a key to many a knotty problem of her young life which hitherto she had vainly tried to solve. The evening was fast closing in, and there was no more leisure for converse : it was time to prepare for Mrs. Lillingstone's arrival, and they all went to the drawing-room, where a bright fire was burning, the curtains drawn, and the glass and china of the tea equipage reflecting the flickering flames and the ruddy glow from the hearth. The two girls, and even Alfred, confessed that Bertha's labours were crowned with complete success though, by-the-bye, Bertha's share in the great work had been entirely confined to what Alfred called "titivation." And Bertha herself had changed her dress, and smoothed 38 THE LILLINGSTONES. her silken hair, and made herself as gay as her deep mourning would allow. "Milly!" she exclaimed, "do go and take off that ragged frock before mamma comes, and pray do something to your hair; and you must excuse me if I say that your hands and face would be the better for a little clean water." She glanced at Katty's soiled dress, but said nothing. "Well, I am horribly dirty!" said Mildred in- genuously, examining her hands. "Bertha, your advice is good ; I will take it." "And I will go with you," interposed Katty. " I shall do no more to-night : I may as well attend to my toilet before mamma and Helen come." And twining their arms round each other, the two sisters left the room. Alfred and Bertha were alone. !N"ever had Alfred seen his sister look lovelier. She was not wearied and dispirited like Kate. The soft, bright pink had not faded from her cheek, and her small, slight figure did not droop ungracefully as she sat by the fire, glancing round the room, evidently well satisfied with her day's work. Her black dress suited her it contrasted so well with the snowy whiteness of her skin ; and the rippling braids of her shining hair caught a richer tint from the firelight glow. Her first words, however, dis- pleased him. "I never in my life saw anyone so untidy and BO unhandy as Milly." THE SCENE CHANGES. 39 " She seemed to me the handiest person in the house when she brought us our tea a little while ago. Bertha, you underrate Milly. She is worth more than you and I put together. She will make a glorious woman, when she has conquered her girlish, childish faults." " Ah I when she has! But when will that be? It is easier to confess to bad habits than to cure one's self of them." " It is something to confess them, Bertha ; and instead of discussing Hilly 's foibles, do you not think we had better investigate our own. Reforma- tion, like charity, must begin at home. There are other things besides roughness and untidiness that mar a woman's character; but I will leave you, for I mean to follow my sisters' example, and attend to my personal appearance. Having con- cluded my labours as carpenter, light porter, and upholsterer, I may as well resume the gentleman !" The young people had scarcely reassembled when the sound of wheels was heard, and they hastened to meet their mother and Helen and the two little ones. Alfred led his mother into the house, and placed her on the sofa, which had been drawn up to the fire, while Kate gently unfastened the cloaks and shawls in which the invalid was wrapped. Helen sank on the first chair she came to ; she had suffered more than any one, except her mother, at leaving Lillingstone ; and during the long journey 40 THE LILLINGSTONES, the cliildren had harassed her, and her mother's silent grief had tortured her, and she was wearied exceedingly. Life had been to her a fairy tale a beautiful poem a lovely romance. It was so no longer ; it had become a hard, practical, pitiless reality, and the young girl shrank back trembling from the discipline from which there was no escape. She felt too hopeless to weep too tired to talk and almost too crushed to think ; and when Mildred came and offered to show her to her room, the effort of moving and answering was painful beyond con- ception. Mrs. Lillingstone was very calm and quiet. She praised Eertha for her industry in making things so complete, and hoped she was not greatly fatigued ; and Eertha smiled, and declared herself quite ready to begin the same thing over again next day. Katty could not help feeling that her own toil and fatigue were rather overlooked; and Alfred thought his aching limbs might have been considered, as well as Eertha' s soft white hands, that really had known very little of the day's drudgery. Mildred actually believed that she had been more of a hindrance than a help, and though she felt extremely tired, she was quite inclined to scold herself for laziness. JSTo one seemed disposed to talk much. The children were cross and sleepy, and Mildred felt a strong inclination to doze, and Kate could scarcely repress the fit of yawning she had caught from little THE SCENE CHANGES. 41 Alice. Bertha proposed that everybody should go to bed early, and Helen rose at once as if it would be a relief to break up the party. " Stay one minute, Helen dear! do not go, Bertha!" interposed Alfred. "I have something to say to mamma to propose to you all ! I have been thinking, mamma dear, if you do not object, and if my sisters would like it, it would be a pleasant thing to have family prayers every night before we separate ; and if we begin to-night, it would make us feel more reconciled to our new home, and we should begin the new life that we must lead here in a good and hopeful way." " I do not object, my dear," replied Mrs. Lilling- stone, "and I am sure your sisters will approve of the plan." Katty quietly signified her entire appro- bation ; Helen looked up wearily, without speaking ; Bertha thought it was very right and proper to have family prayers ; she had even thought of proposing it herself when they were settled; but they had better not sit up any longer that night. Mildred called out, " I know where there is a Bible ! " and rushed away to find it. She soon returned, and Sarah was summoned ; and then the young man opened Mildred's little school- room Bible, and read the 27th Psalm. But no ray of light stole over Mrs. Lillingstonc's faded face, though she raised her head when her son read the closing verse "Wait on the Lord; be of good 42 THE LILLINGSTONES. courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart ; wait, I say, on the Lord." The prayer that followed was very short and simple, and rather disjointed, and nervously tittered. But when they rose up, some of them felt as if the promise were beginning to be fulfilled already. They had waited on the Lord, and their hearts were strengthened ! "EN AVANT!" 43 CHAPTER IV. "EN AVANT!" SUNDAY came the first Sunday at Oldminster. It was a calm, sweet day such as often, brightens the fading beauty of the waning year. "The crimson and golden leaves waved gaily in the dying wood- laAds ; and the soft, sober sunshine slept peacefully on the quaint old houses in the town, on the grey ruined cloisters, on the grand old minster itself, and on the quiet churchyard sloping down to the river's brink the " God's acre" of that ancient country town, where the dead lay at rest beneath the shadow of the everlasting hills. A grand cathedral-like temple was the ancient parish church of Oldminster. It was very lofty, with a groined and vaulted roof ; and Gothic arches, dim and high, divided the long, shadowy aisles. It boasted a decayed but still beautiful altar-screen, a "Ladye-chapel," some fine monuments of the Cru- sading era, and a font of rare sculpture and great antiquity. Many of the windows, especially those 44 THE LILLINGSTONES. at the eastern end, were of stained glass, and many a bright, soft hue, caught from the ruby, and emerald, and amethyst tints of the antique- storied easements, rested on the marble features of the mail- clad knights and ruffled dames, who, side by side, had reposed for centuries in the venerable minster. While the deep-toned bells were yet chiming, Alfred, with his sisters, Katharine, Bertha, and Mildred, and the two children, came across the deserted market-place, through the grey, mouldering cloisters, and the deep porch which led into the southern aisle, to their appointed seat in the sanc- tuary. The church gradually filled. First came Miss West and her young ladies, to the number of twenty-seven ; then little Miss Binks, the purveyor of fashions to the female population of Oldminster ; and then Mr. Golding, the banker, with his hand- some wife and fine young family, and many others ; and each and all had a glance for the group in the pew by Sir Ralph's monument ; and Bertha became quite indignant at the coolness with which every fresh arrival turned to take a survey of the strangers. But presently the chiming ceased, and the "tolling- in bell" rang out its sharp, quick vibrations, and the congregation generally began to demean itself with propriety. The large pew before that occupied by the Lillingstones remained vacant; but just before service commenced, a sweet- looking lady, apparently between thirty and forty years of age, "EN AVANT! " 45 entered, and took her seat, without lifting her eyes to the place where the young ladies were sitting. The service began, and there was something about it that struck both Alfred and Kate im- mediately : it was not rattled through, as if both minister and people were reciting a mere formulaiy, that could neither be omitted, nor repeated with anything like pleasure ; nor was there any of that high-pitched drawling which in country places sometimes stands for "intoning" There was the usual allowance of chanting ; the Venite and Jubilate being given in good old Church of England style, the congregation joining heartily, and the school children doing their best to perpetuate the musical fame of Lord Mornington. There were no little boys or irreverent young men clad in dirty surplices ; the communion table was neither a conservatory nor a fine lady's toilet; and the rector never dreamed of marching about from desk to lectern, and from lectern to faldstool, or of turning his back on his hearers, or of making bows to gold-thread crosses and gilt candlesticks ; but he prayed the prayers of the Church to which he belonged, and read the Psalms and Lessons, with a devotion and an emphasis that attested at once his reverence and his regard for the Holy "Word of God. The sermon was simple and earnest; there was nothing about baptismal grace, or the decrees of the Church ; no assumption of priestly authority ; no jargon from " the fathers ;" 46 THE LILLINGSTONES. but a clear and forcible setting forth, of the way of salvation through. Jesus Christ. The text was, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," &c. Mildred listened as if entranced; Alfred and Kate with, breathless attention ; Bertha with due decorum and some curiosity. They walked home almost silently. Bertha opined that the gentle-looking lady in the large pew was the rector's wife ; Mildred remarked that she had never cared for the Litany before ; Alfred and Kate did not speak till they stood together on the landing leading to their rooms, and then Alfred grasped his sister's hand, and in a low voice said, "I see it now, Katty! I see where we were all wrong : first of all, there was no care about religion, and then the care was of the wrong sort. Please God, we will begin afresh, and do better !" Katharine returned the pressure of her brother's hand, but she made no answer : she was longing to be alone; her heart was full; the mists of years were rolling away, and the light of the glorious Gospel was dawning on her soul. When she had shut herself in, she knelt down and begged her Heavenly Father for Christ's sake to give her a place in the Christian Church, to own her as His child, and to grant her grace and strength to walk in the ways of holiness to her life's end. She could not linger, for she heard Alice's voice, raised in angry appeal against some one who wanted to take " EN AVANT 1 " 47 off her bonnet and prepare her for dinner. Kate knew she must go, for it was Bertha's clear, musical tones that bade the child stand still ; and somehow, Bertha's attentions to Alice always ended in loud and prolonged crying. Helen she saw walking in the garden; Mildred had enough to do to make herself presentable at the dinner-table. Alice began to whine, so there was nothing to be done but to go at once; and, with a sigh for the quiet half-hour she longed to secure, she went into the next room, where the oft-repeated scene was enacting. Katharine gravely bade the little girl come to her, and chid her for her naughty temper, while Bertha grumbled at being interfered with, and wished she might be left for once to carry her point, and Kate began to feel provoked ; but she controlled the rising impatience, and led little Alice away to her own chamber. "I won't be naughty to you, Katty!" said the child, as her sister began to comb out her long, curling hair. " I love you, Katty !" "And you love Bertha, too," replied Kate, stop- ping with a glance the baby-tirade that was tremb- ling on the quivering rosy lips. "But, Allie, my pet, you must be good to people, whether you love them or not. Now, hold that little head still, and I will teach you a verse of a pretty hymn." The little one learnt her lesson readily, for she was naturally quick, and she generally liked to do 48 THE LILLINGSTONES. anything that sister Katty wished ; and then Kate talked to her about the birds, and the flowers, and the calm sunshine that was filling all the blue dome of the clear autumnal sky with its peaceful radiance, till the wayward displeasure against Bertha was charmed away, and the childish heart was filled with sweet, serious thoughts, and happy associations of the holy Sabbath-day with the heaven that her hymn told her was " beyond the sky." The tall sister and the tiny one went down hand- in-hand little Alice thinking that it was nice to be good, and Kate feeling that she had taken one step, though only a little one, in the path of unselfishness and duty, which she. had resolved, by God's grace, henceforth to tread. In the afternoon Sarah took the children with her to church, for they were eager to see the painted windows again, and to look at the monuments in the chancel after service. Helen and her mother dozed together in the drawing-room, and Bertha took her book, which was none other than Baxter's " Saint's Rest," into the summer-house at the end of the garden. So Kate and Alfred and Mildred had the dining-room to themselves. "And to-morrow morning you go to school?" said Milly. ' ' Yes, Milly ; to-morrow morning I begin my work. There is a great deal to be done, and little time to do it in. I long to be thoroughly busy once more." " EN AVAOT ! " 49 " And you mean to get back Lillingstone ?" "I do, Hilly. I will not cease toiling till mamma and all of you are there once more." "But, Alfred, it will take years!" "I know it, Milly, but I snail not tire. I begin to-morrow, and I shall finish when I am once more master of Lillingstone. My first effort will be to gain the Scholarship ; then there will be toil enough at the University, and then the harder and more prolonged work of manhood, which must never slacken till the goal of my aspirations is reached." "Oh, Alfred dear!" exclaimed Mildred with genuine surprise, "but surely the 'goal of your aspirations' is something better than getting back dear old Lillingstone? It would be good to get that, very good ; but if I were you I would aim at something higher and nobler than mere possession. Why, you might be a missionary perhaps you might even be a martyr !" ' ' I am afraid I have not the martyr spirit, Milly. One may be killed by the enemies of the truth, and yet be no martyr at all ; and one may be a true martyr, and yet not suffer a violent death." "I know that; but but I really don't know how to say what I mean ; only I want you to have grand and noble aims. I should like you to be rich again, and to have your proper position, and I should like you to be clever and learned ; but I should like you to be more than I have said ! " 50 THE ULLINGSTONES. " ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you/ " said Kate, gently. " Alfred dear ! it is, it must be right for you to try to recover your lost inheritance ; but it must not come first the Scholar- ship must not be your highest aim now." Alfred looked troubled. " Oh, Katty ! you are a woman. Men cannot altogether look at things in such a light ; they want to succeed, they want to be foremost in this world." " ' The fashion of this world passeth away,' " said Katharine, almost involuntarily; and Mildred took up the key-note, and repeated solemnly, " 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' " There was silence for several minutes in the quiet sombre room ; the only sound that broke the stillness was the regular ticking of the time-piece on the sideboard. The holy words were spoken and died away, but the strength of them lingered in the hearts of the young speakers for many and many a day. "But Katharine! Mildred! one must seek some- thing here; the earthly nature must have some " EN AVANT ! " 51 earthly treasure. God can never mean that we should be indifferent to all the good things of this life." "JSTo," rejoined Kate, "not indifferent; but not over anxious. I know there are things belonging to this life that must be sought earnestly and per- severingly ; but they must not come first. I sup- pose we ought to enjoy, and in a lawful way to strive for, the good things of this world ; but if for them we neglect the better things that will last throughout eternity, we do wrong, and, sooner or later, disappointment and suffering will follow." "Katty, you are thinking of the sermon Mr. Herbert gave us this morning." "I have thought of little else since I heard it. It seems to me that my whole life has been a mis- take. I have been trying to do right of myself ever since I was a little child, and weary work it has been, though I am glad I never quite gave up. And now, now I see how the love of Christ con- strains Christians to walk in the ways of holiness, and I think I understand what Paul meant when he said, ' Not having mine own righteousness, which, is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' " Alfred looked at Kate with some surprise, and then a gladsome smile broke over his face, and he said, "I see how it is, dear old Katty! you have E 2 52 THE LILLINGSTONBS. found the straight way to heaven, and, I suppose, the happiest way on earth. Now I know exactly what you haye found, but I cannot lay hold of it for myself. I suppose I am too worldly. The thought of Lillingstone in the possession of strangers is wormwood and gall to me ; the thought of winning it back by any toil, however painful and arduous, is my deepest joy. Even now I am impatient to begin the contest, and ready to strain every nerve for the Scholarship that will be awarded next June twelve- months. I only wish the time were nearer, and yet I shall have as much work as I can accomplish in the interim. I have lost ground, you see, by this long unavoidable holiday, and a year ago I was" not half as diligent as I ought to have been. Ah, Milly! study hard, and learn all you can; you cannot know how much or how soon your know- ledge may serve you. If I had not been idle with Mr. Meredith, I should be in the fifth form to- morrow. As it is, I may think myself lucky if I find myself in the upper fourth." " Eut you will work hard now," said Milly, con- solingly. " Listen, Alfred ! I have adopted a motto, and it is " " < Excelsior!' " cried both Alfred and Kate at once. " Wrong!" replied Milly ; "but it was reading Longfellow that made me think of it. It is l En Avant!' Always going on, you know; never turn- "EN AVANT ! " 53 ing back ; never sitting down by the wayside. I mean to be like the village blacksmith : 'Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, Onward, through life he goes ; Each morning sees some task begun, Each evening sees it close : Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.' " " I like yonr motto, Milly!" said Alfred; "but since you repudiate ' Excelsior,' I think I shall claim it." "Yes; and be found lifeless but beautiful, on some freezing Alpine height!'' retorted Katty, smilingly. "< Excelsior' is not always a safe motto : incessant climbing must, in process of time, dehumanise one. "Who cares to live on the summit of Mont Blanc?" " "Would it be safer if one were a Christian, think you?" asked Alfred. " Yes ! wouldn't it ? A Christian must have one pure ambition that will always keep under inferior aims, however dazzling and plausible. There would be little danger of his destroying himself by super- human efforts to gain any elevation below the skies." "I see, Katty! "Well! I will try to keep my aspirations within bounds ; but till I find a better, 'Excelsior' shall be my motto." "And yours, Katty?" asked Milly, with girlish eagerness ; " you must have a motto too ! " 54 THE LILLINGSTONES. Kate thought a little; presently she said, "I have found one, but it is neither French nor Latin ; only good plain English 1 1 press towards the mark!'" 1 1 l For the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus, 7 " added Hilly, gravely. " Oh, Katty ! if we can hut win that prize !" Just then Bertha came in, and Mildred, much to Alfred's annoyance, began to impart to her the mottoes they had chosen. At first she said it was foolish, and she hoped if Mildred were always to go forward, it would be in quite a new direction, since nothing could be gained by progressing in the paths of carelessness and neglect. Mildred humbly avowed her intention to turn over a new leaf, and reminded Bertha that she had folded up her things and put them away on her return from church. "Which was an exaggeration of neatness, and a waste of time," retorted Bertha ; " since I heard you say you meant to go to the evening service. It would have been sufficient to lay them neatly on your bed ; besides, you left your prayer-book on the edge of the stone vase in the garden, and if a shower had fallen it would have been spoiled." Poor Mildred looked considerably crestfallen. " Not much danger of a shower," said Alfred, rather hastily; "and if rain had come, some one or other would have brought it in ! " " EN AVANT ! " 55 " You always encourage Mildred in her heedless- ness," remarked Bertha, stiffly. " I do not, Bertha ; but I do not want her to he discouraged when she is really making an effort to break through habits that seem to have been born with her habits that are as natural to her as yours are to you. She is careless and slovenly and even rough ; but she is conscientious and unselfish and brave! You are propriety and precision itself: I never saw you do anything that was not done in the best way possible; but you are given to find fault, to domineer, and to lose your temper." "I am extremely obliged to you," returned Bertha, in a tone of great irritation. "When I require a character, I shall know where I must not apply for one 1" "Bertha, dear! don't be angry," interposed Kate. " Whatever poverty and change of position may effect, let it never cause us to be harsh with one another ; let us, despite our many faults, have unity and love among ourselves." "I am sure I do not wish to quarrel with any one," was Bertha's cold rejoinder. "I am sure you do not. We have trials enough from without ; we need not make them among our- selves. Your neat orderly habits, and your genius for managing will be invaluable, now that we can keep only one regular servant. Helen will read to mamma, while I am busy teaching Milly and the 56 THE LILLINGSTONES. children, and while you are looking after the house- keeping, and Milly must study hard and try to , make herself generally useful. Alfred will have enough on his hands by this time to-morrow ; so you see, we have each and all our proper province and our daily work and duty, and I am sure we need not clash ! " The idea of being general manager quite soothed Bertha's ruffled temper, and she entered into con- versation with spirit and urbanity. "Yes," she said, " you are right, Katty ! we must each keep to one post and do our best ; and I hope and believe," with a little air of superiority, l ' that dear Milly will become quite a different woman from what we were afraid she would one day prove ! As to Alfred, I envy him : the excitement of examinations and prizes will be delightful ; but I do not quite like the idea of his being associated with the boys of the town, though of course his acquaintance with them will be limited to the indispensable intercourse of the school-room ! " " Nonsense, Bertha ! " returned Alfred ; "I dare say there are lads there quite as much of gentlemen as any Lillingstone ever was or ever will be. Of course I shall not cultivate intimacies with really inferior persons ; but, Bertha, don't let the world say we are poor and proud! There is nothing so contemptible as exclusiveness. "We may keep our own position, which you know is no longer that " EN AYANT I " . 57 of the Lillingstones of Lillingstone, and yet we need not be frigid and haughty, and afraid of the advances of our neighbours. Depend upon it, when people are exclusive, there is something in their origin which they wish to conceal. We can do without any fictitious assumptions of rank and breeding we are sure of our own standing so do not be alarmed if you find me enjoying to the full the society of congenial class-mates!" Bertha looked doubtful; but before she could reply, Mildred began again about the mottoes, and begged Bertha to choose one for herself, remarking that it would be so pleasant to talk them over in years to come, and see how they had each acted in the spirit of them. " Here is mine, then," said Bertha, promptly, "and, like Katty's, it is a text of Scripture, and therefore to be respected ' She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.' " " Most characteristic, my fair sister," exclaimed Alfred. "I take that speech as a compliment," returned Bertha. Alfred made no answer ; indeed, there was no time, for the children came in from church, eager to tell about the christenings they had seen. Kate, Mildred, and Alfred attended the evening service, and strangely enough, to Milly's extreme delight, Mr. Herbert took for his text the very words of 58 THE LILLINGSTONES. Katty's motto. This sermon was like nothing they had ever heard before, and they walked home affirming that Oldminster did certainly present some advantages which were not to be found at dear old Lillingstone ! And so passed the first Sunday in their new home, THE FIRST LAUKELS. 59 CHAPTER V. THE PIKST LAURELS. " OH ! if Alfred would but come home ! " ciied Mil- dred, one dark afternoon in December, just fourteen months after the conversation recorded in the last chapter. "I saw Fawcett and Egerton go by ten minutes ago, and there are the Goldings. How pleased Philip seems ! I dare say he has won the divinity prize he wanted. Oh dear ! Alfred must be staying the very last ! " They were all sitting in the dining-room Milly straining her eyes down the foggy street in the direction of ]N"elsthorpe Lane, which was Alfred's usual way home from school ; Helen pretending to net, with the knottiest and most disobliging purse- silk that was ever manufactured ; Kate trying to read, but really sharing Milly 's watch at the win- dow ; and Bertha sewing with her ordinary calmness and painstaking air. Mrs. Lillingstone sat in her own rocking-chair by the fire, declaring that it was too dark to go on 60 THE LILLINGSTONES. with, her crochet; but ever and anon poring over an old, ill-printed Iliad, which she had been reading with great interest for a week past. "Walter lay on the hearth-rug, keeping up a curious chatter of mingled soliloquy and recitation. He was conning his Latin grammar, and making parenthetical re- marks: " Mamma!" he exclaimed, " Mamma dear! how can you see that pale, small type? you'll go blind for certain ! ' Ilia feminina sunt, in do et go quse desinunt!' I know Alfred's safe for the General Work and the Composition. You should have heard him spouting his verses this morning ! I could tell how fine they were, though I couldn't understand them ' Sed masculina manent cardo, Ligo, ordo, atque margo ! ' How stupid of him not to come home ! Katty, won't you make me a fishing apron like Philip Golding's next summer? l Sunt in io feminina' I shall never know this lesson. I wish one could know Latin without learning this vile grammar. Mamma, I can tell you who will have the mathematical prize in the Sixth Form ; but Alfred will have 'TheBlount,' you'll see. Louis Golding thinks Albert 's going to have it l caro (carnis) mavult se, feminina addere ' prefers in- deed ! the idea of a substantive having a preference ; but if Albert makes as many false quantities as Louis, he'll never have the shadow of a shade of a chance. Katty, won't you hear me my lesson?" "No, Walter! I am sure you do not know it. THE FIRST LAURELS. 61 I think you had better put it away till after tea : your head is too full of Alfred to retain Latin rules." " So it is ! " cried the child, springing to his feet ; " I could not think why all the words went slipping by me. "When I wanted them again, they were gone clean away. Hilly ! I'll come and watch with you. Oh ! I wish it wasn't so dark ! " Bertha made some profound remark upon the desirability of occupy- ing one's self instead of encouraging the excitement of suspense ; but no one heeded her, save Milly, who felt that she ought to be practising. Mean- while the short winter day closed in coldly and murkily, the lamps gleamed red through the fog, the rain began to descend slowly and thickly, and scarcely a foot-fall resounded on the pavement of the wet, deserted street. Sarah came in with the tea, and the curtains were drawn and the candles lighted ; but still no Alfred ! And now Mrs. Lil- lingstone began to be nervous. She knew he was disappointed, and could not bear to come home with his bad news ; but Kate and Mildred vehemently repudiated the idea, and Walter cried out, ' c Not he ! he would come straight away if they'd marked him lowest on the form. I know though : he can't get away, because the masters are complimenting him, and he doesn't know how to lug all his prizes home they're too many for one load!" A much better supposition than their mother's, all the sisters thought ; but Bertha gently observed 62 THE LILLINGSTONES. that such, brilliant success was scarcely to be ex- pected. Having tea was out of the question : he must come in five minutes ! But five, ten, twenty minutes, half an hour, went by, and still no tidings from the school-house. Even Bertha felt a little anxious, and stole once or twice to peep behind the blind. Helen's new novel was impatiently tossed aside. What were the sorrows of Lady Lucinda compared with the anxieties of Helen Lillingstone ? Seven o'clock struck: the old clock on the stairs rang out its seven strokes in its ordinary, monotonous, care-for-nothing fashion ; the time-piece pealed forth its mellow, silvery chimes, and the minster clock at the bottom of the town sounded sadly and wearily on the heavy air! Where could the truant be? All the anxious party in the dining-room asked themselves and each other that one question, with little intermission. Mildred wanted to go and look for him ; but that could not be allowed : it was now quite dark, and a fine soaking rain was falling steadily. It was all they could do, though, to keep Walter from darting away in search of the missing one. At length Kate said, despairingly, "We must have tea, I suppose ! Mamma dear ! you are looking so pale ; I will pour you out a cup at once." All gathered round the table ; Bertha was buttering bread for her mother, and Kate was busy with the sugar-basin, when the door abruptly opened, and Sarah's head and a huge cap frill were projected into THE FIRST LAURELS. 63 the room. "He's come!" she said, almost in a whisper; "he's come in by the back-door, and he be taking off his collossians " (Sarah's rendering of goloshes). And then the head was withdrawn, and the door closed with a bang, and Kate drew a long breath, dropped the sugar-tongs, and pushed her chair back from the table. Mildred immediately upset the cream-jug. Again the door was opened, and this time Alfred himself appeared, his cheeks red with running, and his hair and coat wet with rain. Otherwise, it seemed quite an ordinary coming home ; he was very quiet, and no one would have guessed that the Oldminster Grammar School Examinations were just concluded, and Alfred in the Sixth Eorm! Mrs. Lillingstone rose and threw her arms round her tall son, kissing his damp, warm brow, and his ruddy cheeks, as if to assure him that it was all one to her, whether he came home with laurels, or shorn of his pristine glories. He kissed her very tenderly and gravely ; and Bertha at once decided that he had been unsuccessful. Helen and her mother felt painfully doubtful ; but Kate, Mildred, and Walter were sure that the Champion of Old- minster School stood before them. "Is it very late, Katty?" he asked, as he untied his neckcloth, and drew near the table. "Oh, Alfred, why don't you tell us at once? Have you got a prize ?" cried Mildred, in an agony. 64 THE LILLINGSTONES. "A prize!" put in Walter, scornfully; "who doubts it ? The thing is, has he got lots ? " "I think I have done pretty well," said Alfred, coolly, a smile breaking over his grave countenance in spite of himself. " I think you'll be satisfied, mamma and sisters, and you too, Mr. Walter ! " "Walter cut a caper, and Mildred made what Alice called " great shining eyes." "Well, I have 'The Blount,' and the Composition prize." "I knew it," shouted Walter exultingly. "And the Divinity!" " /said you would take that," interposed Hatty, almost beginning to cry. "And what else?" cried Bertha, eagerly; for, to her infinite credit, she had for once forgotten all about repose of manner and control of feelings, &c. &c. " You unconscionable girl ! " returned her brother; " are not these prizes sufficient for any one ?" "Eor any one except Alfred Lillingstone," was Milly's ecstatic rejoinder. She was performing some- thing like an Indian war-dance by this time. ' ' Well, then ; there is the class prize for General Work -will that content you?" Walter and Mildred shrieked in concert. " And the German prize who has that ?" asked Helen, not daring to suppose that also could be her brother's. ' l One Alfred Lillingstone, a greedy fellow, lays THE FIRST LAURELS. 65 claim to it, I am told ! " lie answered gaily. " And now, don't expect any more, for there really is nothing else." " I should think not," said "Walter ; "but, Alfred, where are the spoils ? * The Blount ' will be three great big volumes ; Mr. Herbert told me so." "In the hall," replied Alfred: "I would not bring them in, because I wanted to have the pleasure of telling you by degrees. There were far too many for me to carry safely, so I got Jefferson to come with me. It would have been too bad to let one fall on the wet, muddy pavement." " Didn't I say there were too many for one load ?" exclaimed Walter, quite as much alive as his seniors to the luxury of triumphantly declaring; " I TOLD YOU so ! " "You have sagacity beyond your years, and pre- science that is truly alarming, "Walter!" returned Alfred. "But now come and help me bear in the trophies!" And a goodly pile they made. Three handsomely bound and splendidly illustrated volumes of Sacred Geography for " The Elount ;" two goodly tomes for the Divinity prize, and for the others, single volumes of large size and unexceptionable binding. And then his mother kissed him again, and confessed that she should have been disappointed had he brought home no prize at all. And now that he came laden with spoils, now that he had quite surpassed her 66 THE LILLINGSTONES. most sanguine expectations, she was delighted heyond measure, and it almost reconciled her to Oldminster, and made her think of old Lillingstone with less regret. Mildred hurst out "Oh! if poor papa were hut " hut she was admonished to rule her heed- less tongue by a private pinch from Bertha's snowy little fingers ; and when she saw the tears swimming in her mother's eyes, called there hy her thoughtless speech, she looked so deplorahly heart- stricken and penitent that even her self- constituted Mentoria could not help trying to comfort her ; and Alfred dis- played the costly engravings in his "Elount" prize, and created a diversion in favour of the delinquent. When tea was removed, the hooks were again hrought under discussion; they were duly passed from hand to hand, and submitted to Sarah's ready admiration when she came in for the kettle; and just as Alfred was preparing to carry them away, Alice came home from an afternoon's visit to the Bectory, and they were displayed once more for her little ladyship's inspection and satisfaction. At last they were borne off by the proud and happy owner, who, as he left the room, humbly petitioned for roasted potatoes for supper* So Kate went to the kitchen to give her orders, and found Sarah thoroughly indignant because a regular hot supper was not to be served up in honour of the occasion. She would willingly have trudged in rain and mud THE FIRST LAURELS. 67 through the town to procure the viands which she thought suitable for a hero's repast, and these were a roast goose and a handsome plum pudding. Katty reminded her that it was already late, and that neither goose nor pudding could possibly be achieved in time for that day's eating ; so she was fain to con- tent herself with adding apples to potatoes, and exerting all her skill to roast them to perfection. That night a happy party was gathered round the large dining-room table to discuss the simple fare so carefully served by the important domestic, who fully identified herself with Master Alfred's triumph ; and multitudinous and varied were the questions as to the nature of the different examinations, the manner of the examiners, and the difficulties and fears and hopes of the victorious combatant himself. But when eleven o'clock struck, Bertha seized "Walter, and hurried him off to the upper regions. Alice, long since fast asleep on the sofa, was quite ready to be carried to bed, and Mildred could not deny that she ought to be tucked up and dreaming. Mrs. Lillingstone and Helen, though unwilling to bid good-night, were dismally tired, so Bertha's movement broke up the party, and by a quarter past eleven, Katty and Alfred were sitting together by the expiring fire, glad to be quiet, and yet indisposed to go to bed. They were silent for a while, and then Katty said "Well! this important day is over at last." p 2 68 THE LILLINGSTONES. " Yes !" returned Alfred, with a yawn and a sigh of relief that showed how great had been the tension. " Yes ! I would not have many such days for all the laurels in Christendom. But you cannot think how kind all the masters were. Dr. Armstrong kept me for ten minutes, while he said civil things to me ; and as for Mr. Millar and old Dennison, I believe they would have been altogether disgusted if ' The Blount ' had gone elsewhere. It was all very well when it was over ; and it was very pleasant to hear the doctor talk about the first laurels ; but I wouldn't have such another day to-morrow for any money." ' ' You feel pretty confident about the Scholarship, I suppose? " " Why, yes ! I see no reasonable ground of anxiety. I could have taken it to-day, I believe ; so, of course, there will be no difficulty in securing it this day six months. Ah ! those will be laurels to bring home; for they say it will be no boy's play! I heard Dr. Armstrong tell one of the Oxford exami- ners that there had never been so much talent in the school since he became head master, and that was more than fifteen years ago; though for my part, I must say, I cannot see where this superlative talent lies." There was something in Alfred's tone and smile that made Hatty rather uneasy. She could not define the vague feeling of disquiet that stole over her while she listened to his joyous voice, and THE FIRST LAURELS. 69 watched his bright young face ; and she chid herself for her ridiculous misgivings. Misgivings of what ? Of Alfred, of his success, or of his ultimate pros- perity when school and college days should be over ? She could not tell : she only wished he would not seem quite so confident, and she could almost have wished that he were less elated ; but she would not say so. Alfred, however, was watching her, and he dis- cerned at once the shadow that rested on his sister's expressive countenance. " Well, old Katty," he said presently, finding that she did not intend to communicate her thoughts; " what are you pon- dering so gravely ?" "I was thinking of laurel wreaths," she said, with a smile that only deepened the gravity of her thoughtful eyes; "and I was thinking, too, how they fade and are forgotten." " * Sic transit gloria mundi,' eh! old Kittums! is that it?" " Tor all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass,' " she returned, quietly. "But, Alfred dear, I do not want to damp your pleasure to-night; I was only thinking I could not help it how everything comes and goes, and fades away, even from the memory, as years roll on ; just as in travelling we approach different points of the landscape, admire them, pass them, and then watch them gradually receding ; and after- 70 THE LILLINGSTONES. wards remember them but dimly, or not at all. And when we are safely at home, the whole journey seems so unsubstantial and unreal ! " " And you would say, that when we reach the end of the journey of life, all incidents by the way, even the most important, will seem only trivialities?" "I meant something of the kind. The text that Alice said to me this morning was 'The fashion of this world passeth away,' and somehow it has been running in my head all day ; even when we were all waiting so impatiently for your coming home I did not forget it." "But, Katty, though everything earthly will appear trivial, when, as Mr. Herbert says, we see the turnings and windings of our path here below, in the clear, piercing light of Eternity, yet it does not do to count some things trivialities/ I mean such things as success in life, and others, which it is lawful and even laudable to attend to." " No ! I suppose not : I know it does not all I meant is, that we must not set too high a value on those things which from their very nature engross so much of our time and our endeavours. "We must keep the one thing first ! " "I see what you mean, Katty dear ! and I assure you I feel the danger, as well as the duty, of enter- ing upon such conflicts as that which has terminated so happily to-day. I am glad you spoke about it, for I must own I have been forgetting everything THE FIRST LAURELS. 71 but the Examination; and now that it is over, I feel as if I could find no pleasure in anything but the prospect of next midsummer's competition. I have tested success or rather success has tested me, and I am afraid I am like the tiger cubs when they first lap blood insatiate for more. And I am ashamed to say, I have been so engrossed with my own hopes and fears and labours, that for several weeks I have not cared to have a chat with you, or to interest myself about the others. Do you think Helen is better?" "Yes! I believe she is tolerably well again: it was severe influenza, and Helen is the one among us least able to cope with any kind of indisposition. Her spirits are so unequal one day wildly elate, and the next sunk to the lowest ebb. If we could only persuade her to read something besides novels and poetry ! " "It is just like living on strawberry cream and champagne ! "When will people learn to treat their minds as well as their bodies? "What would become of any one who subsisted entirely on made dishes and stimulants ?" " What, indeed ? And then Bertha runs into the other extreme, and looks upon the purest and most beautiful fiction as a rigid teetotaller looks upon matutinal brandy and water. She feeds her mind with nothing but the most approved solids !" " I do not think Bertha's mental aliment can be 72 THE LILLINGSTONES. strictly called solid, though, it is neither light nor piquant. I think she may be classed as an intel- lectual vegetarian. You know she objects to Miss Strickland's ' Queens' because they are written in a story-telling style ; she accuses Macaulay of fri- volity ; and she repudiates all poets but Young and "Wordsworth. The latter, indeed, she classes with Cowper, and the two combined form her occasional light reading. So unnatural in a girl of her age ! " And Alfred groaned, and ended with "If she were but sixty, instead of under seventeen ! I am sure that in some occult way which we cannot understand she is full twenty years older than mamma " Katty laughed. " A curious assertion that ! " she replied; "but I am just thinking it is scarcely right of us to sit here passing judgment on our absent sisters, as if we were veritable Mentors, and they rash, impulsive Telemachuses." " As if Bertha were ever impulsive ! If she has any impulses, which I doubt, she keeps them in wonderful subjection. IsTo ! she reasons down every spark of enthusiasm, till it dies of sheer want of nourishment." " You would not say so if you had seen her when we were waiting for you to-night. And you must remember how eagerly she asked you about the prizes? She was as earnest as any of us." " Ah ! well, Katty, you are an excellent advocate : THE FIRST LAURELS. 73 you defend everybody but yourself, and a very good case you generally make out. There is no need to tell you to learn the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Come, I think we had better go to bed, as the old saw says bed will never come to us ; and it has been to-morrow morning this long time." 74 THE LILLINGSTONES. CHAPTER YL "THE CAMPBELLS ABE COMING." THE next morning the household of the Lillingstones was in anything but an industrious mood, though Bertha rose valiantly when Sarah tapped at her door and announced that it was seven o'clock. It was a hitter morning ; during the night the baro- meter had fallen rapidly, and the misty rain of the preceding evening had changed into a miserable driving sleet. Bertha stood shivering in her dressing- gown over her refractory lucifers, that refused to strike upon any terms. She looked out: all was dark and cheerless ; the earliest beams of dawn had scarcely broken the leaden gloom of the heavy clouds, and the blast came sweeping eerily up the long, wet, lonely street. Bertha glanced back wist- fully to her forsaken bed that was warm and snug she knew ; then she listened to Helen's gentle breathing, and for a moment envied her sound, undisturbed repose, and wished she too were once more ensconced beneath the friendly blankets. And "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING." 75 then came visions of her morning toilet ; anticipa- tions of the delightful temperature of the cold bath, in which she took stern enjoyment, believing that the shock braced her nerves, and strengthened her powers of resolution and her habits of self-discipline. She listened! the whole house was silent, wrapped, no doubt, in balmy slumbers ; slumbers, too, that would endure till the morning was well advanced. If she resisted the temptation to go back and have another doze, what would be gained thereby ? If she forthwith performed those terrible ablutions, and dressed as speedily as her precise habits would allow, what then? She would go down to a half- warmed room, where her patience would be sorely tried in waiting for some one else to come down to breakfast. She took up the match-box again, and struck another lucifer ; but, like its brethren, it missed fire, and it was altogether too dark to think of dressing with any comfort. So, contrary to her usual custom, Bertha yielded to the tempting luxury of " a little more sleep and a little more slumber," and the next minute saw her snugly tucked in once more, while a delicious sense of dreaminess immediately stole over her senses. Now Bertha intended as you and I have often done, dear reader to have a comfortable half hour's nap, no more! She was so habitually an early riser, that she hardly knew the seductive and deceitful nature of that delicious little snooze that extends from the 76 THE LILLINGSTONES. time of being called to tlie unceremonious announce- ment that breakfast is waiting, or half over, or finished, as the temper or habit of the family may be. She had a charming little dream of going back in grand state to Lillingstone ; of some pageant in which she herself figured prominently, and in which Alfred appeared as Lord High Chancellor ; and just as the Queen, and the Prince Consort, and a crowd of illustrious retainers were coming up to honour her with their special notice, she discovered that Milly stood by her side, with a torn, muddied frock, and fearfully splashed stockings, such as she sometimes came in with, from a long country walk in damp weather. In her anger and confusion she pushed Hilly away, who fell awkwardly against one of the pillars of the grand portico at Lillingstone; and behold ! there was a cracking and a rumbling, and the whole building seemed falling into ruins, and Bertha awoke in great horror, and sat upright in bed! There was no need of lucifer matches now; for the broad daylight shone without let or hindrance into the room, and immediately she remembered that when she had returned to bed the blind was down, whereas now it was drawn up as high as it would go ! She looked across to Helen's bed, and lo, it was empty ! She glanced at the place where her sister's morning dress generally hung, and that too was not to be seen. Bertha sprang up in great "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING." 77 dismay. Was it possible that Helen, the loiterer, the confirmed late riser, had indeed gotten the start of her ? Hastily she consulted her watch ; but it had stopped, and she remembered at once that she had forgotten to wind it up the night before, and nothing humiliated Bertha more than the conscious- ness of an act of forgetfulness. Then she recalled her dreams, and from their length and variety she concluded that she had slept a long time. Never had she made a morning toilet in such decided hurry; but in spite of all her rapidity she was rather long in dressing. Her fingers were numbed ; Helen had taken her comb in mistake for her own ; and, somehow, those luxuriant braids of hair, usually so tractable and so easily disposed of, were not to be coaxed or pulled into anything respectable. Bertha went downstairs out of temper with herself, and therefore at issue with all the world. New morti- fications awaited her when she reached the dining- room : the time-piece indicated the hour of eleven ! and at one end of the long table there was a strip of table-cloth and preparations for the morning meal of one person. Kate was in another room, busy with the children's lessons; Mildred was working away at her German, and Alfred was lounging about, too wearied and out of sorts to set himself to any kind of employment. Helen was with her mother, who always breakfasted in her own chamber. 78 THE LILLIKGSTONES. "Hallo, Bertha!" cried Alfred, when she made her appearance, "better late than never. Milly, allow me to introduce the late Miss Bertha Lil- lingstone !" " I beg you will not be ridiculous," returned Bertha; "I overslept myself, and there is an end of it. I am not in the habit of rising at this hour." And she rang the bell somewhat sharply. Sarah soon appeared with the coffee and a plate of carefully preserved toast, which Bertha ordered her to take away ; and it was a question which looked the gloomier the young lady or the domestic. Bertha sat down to her coffee in most unamiable mood, wondering that no one had taken the trouble to awake her, supposing they had all been later than they cared to own, and upbraiding Mildred for stooping so awkwardly over her exercise book. Milly drew herself up, and smiled cheerfully, but only to call down further reproaches her collar was all awry, her curls in disorder, and her right-hand fingers steeped in ink. "I always do ink myself," returned Mildred, plaintively. "I had not written three lines before my forefinger was soaked. How is it, Bertha ? I have seen you write whole sheets without a spot." "The matter is very simple," replied Bertha, with a superior air ; "it does not require any great amount of sagacity to perceive that you hold your pen too near the nib ; added to which, you plunge "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING." 79 it continually to the very bottom of the ink-stand. But you will never alter these things ; I am sure you would not be quite happy if your hands and dress, and your property generally, were in anything like order ! Your untidiness grows upon you." "Oh, Bertha!" cried Mildred, really distressed ; 11 you do not know how I have striven with my bad habits. All this year I have been keeping watch over myself, and I thought, I did think, I was a little better. Mamma said so, and so did Katty." "And you are better, Milly," interposed Alfred. " Don't be discouraged ; I wish Bertha had taken as much pains to correct her faults as you have, but I really think she is crosser and more disagreeable than ever. Now, don't fly into a passion, Bertha, you know I speak truly ; you criticise the doings of those around you till you become a real nuisance in the house, while your own actions, often of very doubtful complexion, remain unquestioned ! If you would only reform yourself, and leave us, including that everlasting culprit, Milly, to reform ourselves, I think there might be a chance of an amicable arrangement ! " " If people cannot bear to be told of their faults " began Bertha ; but Alfred stopped her. " Bertha, for mercy's sake do not talk such auda- cious humbug ! Is there any if in the business ? is there anything you dislike more than being blamed, or feeling yourself open to censure ? " 80 THE LILLINGSTONES. "I do dislike it," returned Bertha, candidly; 11 and I will tell you the reason. You always blame me with so much asperity ; you seem so glad when you can find an opportunity for dilating on my bad qualities. You are glad to see me tripping, if not falling." " Bertha, people who persist in walking on stilts must always expect an outcry and little charity when they chance to come to the ground." " I do not understand you," she said, coldly. " I am not conscious of wishing to exalt myself above others. Of course I am imperfect ; I do wrong occasionally, like my fellow-creatures ! " " Yes ; once a week you call yourself a miserable sinner ! And I dare say you are ready at this very moment to confess yourself a sinner in the aggre- gate ; but lay any one sin to your charge, and you indignantly rebut the accusation !" Bertha had finished her breakfast, so she rose up to go away, not sorry to escape the lecture which her own propensity for lecturing had brought upon her. But Mildred also sprang up, and said "Now, Bertha dear! don't go away and you shall not be teased any more. I am sorry I was vexed ; but indeed, I have tried very hard to be neat and orderly ; nice and clever, like you, I can never be, but I may get to be tolerably tidy in time!" "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING." 81 " Yes, I hope so," returned Bertha, coldly; "I am not angry with you, Milly ; indeed, I am not angry with any one ; I am only hurt ! Let me go, please." But Milly held her faster, and being much the taller and the stronger of the two, she managed to retain her capture. "Indeed, you mustn't go, Bertha, there is no fire anywhere else but in mamma's room, and in the kitchen, and in the little study where the children are doing their lessons ; besides, I have some news for you guess now what it is ? " "How can I ? Some stupid piece of Oldminster gossip ! Is Miss Golding going to be married ; or has Mrs. Armstrong given her new cook warning ; or has Mrs. Miller her twelfth baby born ? " - No ; none of these things ! It is a piece of news, not gossip ; and it concerns no one in Oldmin- ster but ourselves." "Well! what is it? I have no time to stay guessing any longer ! " "Aunt Campbell is coming!" Bertha's face lighted up. " And that is not all : Eric and Janet are coming with her ; and she has asked permission of mamma to take back with her the two of us who can be best spared ? " " I am very glad ! " replied Bertha, earnestly but quietly. " I was quite afraid we were to lose sight of our relations altogether ; and I must say I have 82 THE LILLINGSTONES. blamed aunt and uncle Campbell decidedly for not paying us more attention, and mamma Lady Camp- bell's own sister ! " " I think we are scarcely justified in blaming them," interposed Alfred, with more moderation than he had yet shown towards Bertha ; " you girls, perhaps, do not know that Uncle Campbell suffered severely by poor papa's losses, and yet to him we almost owe our present position. If it had not been for his name and influence, and for the sacrifices he so generously made, the moderate income we enjoy would never have been secured to us. You, Bertha, and the rest of you, would either be toiling now as governesses, or enduring all the untold miseries of dependency on relations, and I must have tried my luck in any situation that was likely to afford me a living! So, pray, don't say a word against Uncle Campbell." "How good and kind of him!" cried Mildred. " I wish he were coming too ; but I wonder what Aunt Campbell is like. I have never seen her since I was a little girl; and I wonder how old Janet is ? Eric must be quite grown up older than you, Alfred!" " Janet, I should say, is about your own age; Eric must be past twenty- one oh ! more, he was born before mamma was married; Aunt Campbell is the elder sister." " And when do they come, and how did you hear "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING/' 83 about it? " asked Bertha, her coldness thawing, and her ill-temper diminishing every minute. " In answer to your first question, they come in about a fortnight ; they stay several weeks, and then aunt and Eric go on to London to visit the old Lady Campbell ; and Janet, I believe, is to stay with us, because she is too young to go into society; and aunt means to be very gay, for she intends visiting all her old friends, and she would not like to leave Janet without a companion." " How very pleasant ! It will be something like old times to prepare for visitors again. And it will be delightful to associate once more with young people of our own rank in life. But you have not told me yet how you came by the news." ' ' It came simply enough, by post ! Mamma had a letter from aunt this morning, containing all, and more than all, the intelligence I have given you ; and when she had read it herself, she considerately sent it down for our perusal. And if you had not been fast asleep, you would have heard the gabble we made over it, and the innumerable questions we asked Katty and Helen, who, being the most ancient among us, remember aunt and Eric the best. As to our cousin Janet, no one seems to know anything about her; but Kate says, she remembers a lady who was going to be Miss Campbell's governess stopping one night at Lillingstone on her journey into Scotland ; and in some way or other, we have G 2 84 THE LILLINGSTONES. received the impression that Janet is wonderfully clever, angelically good, and resplendently beau- tifnl ! " " That remains to be seen," replied the matter-of- fact Bertha. She did not care about her cousin Janet's pre- supposed goodness, and she had no par- ticular objection to talent ; but she was by no means pleased at the idea of a rival beauty, for Bertha was thoroughly conscious of her own charms, and she duly appreciated every perfection, from her rippling golden hair to her tiny foot, that a Frenchwoman might have envied. "I wonder if they are very Scotch!" said Hil- drcd, while Bertha was still debating within herself the likelihood of her cousin's claims to beauty being superior to her own. "I should think they are as Scotch as they can be," replied Alfred. "Lady Campbell is English by birth, as you know; but she has lived up in those savage Highlands ever since she was married, and our cousins have been little in England ; indeed, I believe Janet has never been south of the Tweed in her life!" " Whatever her looks may be," thought Bertha, " she will have no manner, no style. I need not fear to compete with her. I wonder what Eric will think of me?" Then aloud, "Well! since we are to have visitors, I hope we shall go out a little more; the Armstrongs are always asking us, and "THE CAMPBELLS ABE COMING." 85 I should not mind accepting Mrs. Golding's invita- tion to dinner. She is very well connected, I know ; Mrs. Golding's first cousin married a daughter of " " Now don't, Bertha ! Who cares whether Mrs. Golding's relations are patricians or plebeians?" "/care! There is no worse mistake than to cultivate people whose antecedents are inferior, or whose connections are vulgar !" " To worse mistake ? Oh, my dear Bertha ! " " Well, I do not -wish to dispute about it; it is enough for me to know that Mrs. Golding is really visitable. What I am anxious for is that mamma should respond a little to the advances of our friends; and there are some ' county families J too, that I have reason to know would be glad of our acquaintance." " There are the Harrops, I know ; they left their cards; but as we have no carriage, returning the call was impossible. I suppose you would not like walking ten or twelve miles in order to reciprocate the civilities of county families ?" " I suppose there are carriages to be hired in Oldminster!" "Undoubtedly; but they cost money a com- modity with which, unluckily, we are but scantily supplied. We must relinquish the county families at present!" "Yery well!" returned Bertha; but she made a 86 THE LILL1NGSTONES. secret reservation, to the effect that ere she was another year older she would try if tact and address would not supply the lack of money, "for the sake of the others," she said to herself, compla- cently. "Not only in justice to myself, but on account of Katty and Helen and really Helen is a graceful creature! I am determined to make an effort to recover our proper position in society. As for waiting till we go hack to Lillingstone, as Alfred promises, that's simply absurd ! If we wait here apathetically till that time comes we shall be too old to reap much benefit from the restoration. Katty and Helen ought to be introduced at once! It's very disagreeable ; but I suppose it would be bad taste and bad policy to have three Miss Lilling- stones out at once ! It is of no consequence about Milly ; she is sure never to marry ; she gets plainer every day!" Such were Bertha's cogitations while Mildred and Alfred further discussed the expected visit. She was roused by the entrance of Katharine, who had completed her morning's duties with "Walter and Alice ; and to her she immediately appealed. "Katty dear! surely we shall have a party or two, and see a little more society while our aunt and cousins are with us ! Now that we have laid aside our deep mourning, there can be no objection to our going out." " Except the means," returned Kate. " "Visiting "THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING." 87 is very expensive work, dear Bertha. "We should have to spend three times as much on dress as we do now, if we went to parties, and gave them which would be a matter of course in return." " We could contrive" said Bertha, earnestly; "at least / could. Only let us begin to go out as befits our age and station, and I will answer for the rest!" "But you are too young, Bertha!" interposed Mildred. " Mamma has always said she had no notion of girls coming out till they were eighteen, and you are not quite seventeen, you know." "Ah well! that objection will melt away every day. One soon gets over excess of youth ; besides, I am thinking more of the future than of the present. But I want to see Aunt Campbell's letter; where is it?" " Mamma has it. Helen took it back to her after breakfast." " Then I will go and ask for it at once." And away went Bertha upstairs. " I do believe she is a born schemer and match- maker!" said Alfred, laughing. "Hush!" cried both his sisters, and Mildred added, "You are not quite just to Bertha, Alfred; you make the worst of her, and you provoke her very much ! " 88 THE LILLINGSTONES. CHAPTER YII. SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHEKS. BEETHA was doomed that day to endure mortifica- tions. Everything went wrong, and the late rising, by throwing duties behindhand, involved irritations and discomfiture till the evening. But during the afternoon, her self-appreciation received a blow which came neither from tardiness nor neglect. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert called, and it so happened that Katty alone was in the drawing-room when they came. After some general conversation, Mr. Herbert remarked that he had come that afternoon on a special errand ; and his wife smiled, and bade Katty guess what her pastor's special business could possibly be. "Is it the flannel subscription?" asked Katty; trying to recollect how much money she had in her own little purse. " No, Miss Lillingstone ; I am come to beg, cer- tainly, but it is not for money. I want help in the Sunday-school ; I am losing some of my best SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 89 teachers, and I am here this afternoon hoping to recruit my forces ! " " I do not know," began Kate rather nervously, " but I am afraid mamma would not like me to be away from the children on Sunday." " That probability occurred to us as we talked it over," replied Mrs. Herbert, " and we decided, that valuable as your services would be, we had no right to ask them, since your first duty is unquestionably with your own family. We would not, on any ac- count, take you from Walter and Alice, who I know depend upon you for instruction on the Sabbath- day ; but we thought one of your sisters might probably be induced to give her time and her energies to this high and holy work." " And I thought of Mildred," said Mr. Herbert; "she is young, certainly; not more than fifteen, I believe ; but from all that I have seen of her, I cannot doubt that she has made the great decision, and given herself to Christ ; and if such be the case, she will be glad to avail herself of the opportunity ; she will heartily respond to the call, and work humbly and trustfully in her Master's vineyard." Katty's eyes brightened : appreciation of Milly was very sweet and precious to her sisterly heart, and she hastened to say, * ' Yes, dear Milly has for some months past been striving diligently, and in dependence upon the only source of strength, to walk in the way to heaven. I think, if mamma does not 90 THE LILLINGSTONES. object, she will be very glad to respond to your kind invitation but here she comes ! " Mildred at that moment entered the room, accom- panied by Bertha ; the former shyly, and rather awkwardly, and the latter gracefully, accosted the pastor and his wife. Mr. Herbert immediately reverted to the subject, by observing that he was in some perplexity about the arrangements of his Sunday-school ; that several of his best teachers were leaving Oldminster, and that it behoved him to beat up for recruits in the service. Milly' s heart throbbed almost painfully ; Sunday- school teaching was the acme of her desires ; but in her humility and perfect lowliness of heart, she never imagined that she would be permitted, much less asked, to engage in so blessed a work. Most genuine, therefore, was her surprise, when Mr. Herbert said, "Your sister leads me to hope, Miss Milly, that you will kindly help us in this way ; and as I trust you have already given your own heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, I think you will feel it a joy and a privilege to try to lead the little children into the pleasant pastures of the Good Shepherd !" Milly was silent from pure embarrassment, but her eyes were bright, and the colour rose to her pale cheeks, and at length she faltered out " If mamma will let me if you think I am fit if Katty thinks I know enough." Mr. Herbert was deeply touched by the young SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 91 girl's unaffected humility. In her dewy, downcast eyes, and in her faltering speech, he read the tokens of her distrust of her own worthiness ; he knew that with one hand she was ready to grasp the privilege with joy and thankfulness, while with the other she would put from her an honour which she felt was far beyond her deserts. After a while she resumed " Eut, Mr. Herbert, I am not sure that I ought to be a Sunday-school teacher ; I have learnt so little myself, I am so care- less, and so indolent ; had I not better leave it till I have in some measure conquered my faults ?" "I think," he answered, "the very act of en- gaging in Sunday work will help you. The respon- sibilities you will inevitably assume must lead you to think more seriously of the conflict to which, as God's child, you are pledged. Your anxiety for your charge will make you more jealous of yourself, and you will be lead to combat faults which hitherto you have only partially recognised. I do not think it possible to be truly in earnest about the souls of others, without deeper and closer self-examination, and renewed efforts to walk in the paths of holiness. But, of course, I am speaking now of Christian teachers only. I firmly believe that Sunday-school teaching is calculated to harden the heart of the unconverted teacher. There is but one position more awful, and, humanly speaking, more hopeless, that of an unconverted minister of God's Word ! 92 THE LILLINGSTONES. But you, my child " and lie spoke with great kindness and tenderness "you, I have reason to hope, have chosen the hetter part ; you are wishing and longing to how to the glory of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ. Is it not so ? " " I love the Lord Jesus : I wish to serve him : I want to ohey His commands ! " returned Milly, in a low, clear voice; "hut often, so very often, I forget whose I am, and who I profess to serve, and my life is not that of a true Christian. And yet I am sure of one thing I would give anything to he ahle to he really consistent ! " " St. Paul said, < I find, then, a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me ; for I delight in the law of God, after the inward man; hut I see another law in my memhers, waning against the law of my mind, and hringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ' So you see your complaint is one that Christians of old were fain to make ; and from their experience you should learn, while at the same time you are deeply humbled for sin, and earnestly desirous to be a new creature in Christ Jesus, not to be weary in well-doing, and not to slacken in any work of usefulness to which it has pleased God to call you." All this time Bertha sat silently listening to the words of her pastor. She was not pleased : she SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 93 thought it was a piece of Kate's unjust partiality to bring Mildred forward to the exclusion of herself. "What could a girl of fifteen know about the duties of a Sunday-school teacher ? And how could Milly, with her carelessness, her roughness, and her occa- sional fits of indolence, be fitted for an office that required, as a matter of course, the utmost steadi- ness, prudence, and persevering industry ? So when there was a pause, Bertha said gently and modestly, " And I, also, should be most happy to take a share in so good and delightful a work. If you see fit to give me a class, I will do my utmost for the improvement and well-being of the children committed to my "charge." Bertha doubted not that Mr. Herbert would im- mediately, and with grateful thanks, accept her offer; for it seemed to her that her undeviating propriety of demeanour, her gravity, and her general habits of decision and self-control, exactly fitted her for the post she desired to occupy. To her amaze- ment, Mr. Herbert did not seem at all delighted, neither did he express the gratification which she had supposed her voluntary proposal would call forth. He was silent for nearly a minute : then he said, " My dear Miss Bertha, have you counted the cost ? Do you know what you wish to undertake ? " "I hope so, I think so! " she replied, in a tone that betrayed through all its quiet gentleness some slight emotion of displeasure ; and in her heart she 94 THE LILLINGSTONES. wondered what lie meant ; for the bare sacrifice of her leisure, and the victimising of her dress, was all that flashed across her mind when he spoke of the "cost!" "And you recognise the great end of Sunday- school instruction?" "Certainly I do !" and seeing that he waited to hear more, she continued "It is not only to make children acquainted with the history of the Bible, and to teach them hymns and catechisms, but it is to exhort them to lead a religious life, and to show them their duty, both as regards this world and the next." Mr. Herbert was puzzled. Bertha had given an excellent exposition of the question he propounded ; but he felt convinced in his own mind that her ideas of Christianity were far from those he would have wished to be certified were hers in very truth and deed ; and how far she was fitted to be a teacher he could not determine. "My dear child!" he said, affectionately taking her hand, ' 1 1 would condense what you have said into one sentence the great end of Sunday-school teaching is to make good soldiers for the Lord Jesus Christ ! Have you enlisted under the banners of the King of kings ? Do you with your lips, and in your heart, call Him Lord and Master? Are you willing to give up the world, and to yield yourself body and soul as a faithful servant unto your life's SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 95 end ? If this be tlie case, come then, and work in the Lord's vineyard; nurse the children for Him, and He will give you your wages. But if not if the love of Christ is not the supreme emotion of your heart, then stand still, and make for yourself the momentous decision; seek your own salvation rather than preach to others the Gospel which you have not yet received V Bertha was silent, partly from embarrassment, partly from annoyance ; she felt that some answer was expected ; but never in her life had she found it so difficult to speak. That she tvas a Christian she had no manner of doubt. Had she not always attended strictly to religious duties ? Did she ever pass a day without her regular Bible reading ? Did she not reverently participate in all the ordinances of the Church to which she belonged ? Still, there was something which she could not and did not seek to understand. She could not help feeling that Mr. Herbert's and her own estimate of Christianity were widely different. She could not help seeing that her sisters Katharine and Mildred were actuated by some secret principle of which she was entirely ignorant ; and she was almost convinced in her inmost heart that the standard of Christianity proposed by her pastor, and followed by many very excellent people, was not that towards which she herself was pressing. At length she said in a cold, respectful tone, "I believe I have made the decision 06 THE LILLINGSTONES. to which you refer ; I have long since seen the error and the wickedness of a life without religion. It is my wish to make the profession, and to lead the life, of a Christian ! " "I am glad to hear you say so!" replied Mr. Herbert gently ; "and may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ grant you His Holy Spirit, to guide you into all truth ; and may you be kept firm in the faith, humble and meek, and pure from the evil that is in the world ! It is no light matter to call one's self by the holy name of Christian ! " Bertha wondered whether he would have asked for Mildred the graces of humility and meekness : she had a lurking suspicion, that notwithstanding her decided avowal, he yet stood in doubt of her, and while her fair face wore its ordinary calm gravity, her bosom glowed with irrepressible resent- ment. Presently Mr. and Mrs. Herbert rose to go ; and just as they were taking leave, Mrs. Lillingstone made her appearance. To her, at once, the question was referred, whether her two daughters, Bertha and Mildred, might be allowed to assist Mrs. Herbert in the Sunday-school as regular teachers. There was cordial and immediate permission, even a regret that their services had not been earlier called for ; and so it was settled that on the next Sunday morning the sisters should commence their labours. AVhen they were once more alone Bertha began SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 97 to talk largely of plans, and systems, and model- classes, while Mildred sat quietly in the flickering firelight, her eyes fixed intently on the glowing embers, but her thoughts far away. And when there was a pause at last, and Katty laid her hand on her bowed head, and asked her what she was thinking of, she started and smiled, but did not attempt to answer her sister's question. But when she was alone upstairs with Kate a little while afterwards, she said earnestly, " Oh ! I hope I have not been doing wrong ! I hope I shall not do the dear children any harm by my careless, naughty ways ! Katty, you must always make me prepare their lessons in good time beforehand ; and you will help me, will you not? It seems so strange, and and so out of place for me to be teaching any one ! " " If you need my help, Milly dear, most certainly you shall have it," replied Katharine; "but as you are only called upon to teach your scholars the very plainest and simplest truths, I think you will need no aid of mine ! And yet, simple and easy as the lessons you have to give may be, you will need the best help ; for it is a momentous thing to talk to the poorest and most ignorant child about the salva- tion of its immortal soul ! " "It is a very solemn thing!" returned Mildred with deep earnestness ; "so solemn that I am almost afraid to think what I have undertaken; but the H 98 THE LILLINGSTONES. work was brought to me, I did not seek it out for myself, and therefore I dared not refuse. Besides, I have so often wished I could he of some use in the world!" " And you have the best help ! " " Yes ; and so, if I do not trust at all to myself, I may hope to do something. I can always pray for my children when I pray for myself. And oh, Katty dear, do help me to watch against my faults ! I am afraid Bertha is right ; after all, I have really made very little progress. And now that I am going to be a Sunday-school teacher, I must strive harder than ever, or else how can I preach to others about duties when I neglect my own ? How can I tell the children of the evil I see in their conduct, when I know there is so much, rampant and un- checked, in my own character ? It would be down- right hypocrisy, you know. I couldn't do it, you know. I couldn't say a word!" "I think, dear Milly, you have made great pro- gress since we came to Oldminster. There is much to be done,, and you have hard work yet to do; but the war is not over in a day or a year. You we must all, be thankful for the past, and go on to watch and pray that we do not fall into temptation." "And another thing I am so stupid when I really know things ; and I have no method. When I have tried in vain to arrange matters for I don't SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. .99 know how long, Bertha comes in, and with a look and a touch or two sets all right at once. I am afraid, even in the lowest sense, I shall make a bad teacher!" "I think that need not distress yon, for there will probably be rules for teachers as well as children, and you know Mrs. Herbert so well that you will never feel shy with her, and you can always refer to her when you are in any uncertainty." " And I am sure you may come to me whenever you like," said Bertha, who had entered the room just in time to hear Mildred deploring her lack of method and her want of tact. " I shall always be ready to help you, dear Milly, whenever the slightest difficulty occurs." " Thank you!" replied Milly, sincerely grateful for Bertha's promised patronage. H 2 100 THE LILLINGSTONES. CHAPTER VIII. SCOTCH COUSINS. "!T snows harder than ever!" cried Alice, one afternoon, just before Christmas, as she sat in the deep window-seat with her doll, watching the falling of the flaky shower. ""Walter! do you think they will come ?" "Come? To be sure they will. When people are going two hundred and eighty miles to spend Christmas with their relations, they don't mind a sprinkle of snow!" "A sprinkle, indeed! "Why, Walter, the Trenton Hills have been white all over for three days, and this morning they looked like the great Twelfth-cake in Jones's window!" " They'll come, you'll see ! They are used to snow! "Why, you silly child, if they kept in for snow they wouldn't go out ten times in the year!" " Does it snow in Scotland all the year round ? " asked Alice, with wondering eyes. SCOTCH COUSINS. 101 ""Why, no ; not exactly," replied "Walter, feeling that he had made a very broad statement. ' ' But, you see, Alice, it is far up in the north where they live, and more snow falls in those latitudes. I dare say now it begins to snow about the middle of Sep- tember, and keeps on and off till May, or there- abouts ! " " How beautiful ! " cried Alice. " The snow melts here so fast ; just as I think it is getting deep enough to be lost in, there comes a thaw, and, next time I look, there is nothing but mud and water and patches of dirty snow !" "Where are they all?" asked Walter, after a short silence. " I have not seen any one but Katty since dinner." " Helen is reading in the drawing-room," returned Alice, " and Katty is busy ; Hilly is helping Sarah with the tea-cakes, and Bertha is dressing." " What was Bertha so savage about this morn- ing?" "Which time do you mean? She was savage more than once." " Oh ! just before dinner. I heard the knives and forks rattling, and Helen was clearing the table. Mamma said, ' I had rather be consistent, my dear ;' and then Bertha came out and nearly ran over me, and her face and her neck were red, like they always are when she is in a passion and doesn't want to show it!" 102 THE LILLINGSTONES. " Oh ! I know ! it was about Aunt Campbell. Bertha said you and I, and perhaps Milly, had better dine then ; but the regular dinner had better be put off till aunt and Eric and Janet came ; and mamma said, tea was much nicer when people came off a long cold journey, and there would be eggs and ham, and cold meat and fowl, for the travellers. But Bertha thought it was not right to dine in the middle of the day, and she was sure Lady Campbell was not accustomed to anything of the kind, and she would be surprised to find oh ! I forget the words, but she meant that Aunt Campbell would think we were grown vulgar, and lived like common people." " Bertha is a snob!" exclaimed Walter. "As if the Lillingstones of Lillingstone could be changed from what they always were ! If we were to dine at eleven in the morning, and eat onion-porridge for supper at four o'clock in the afternoon, it could make no difference to us ! Remember that, Alice ; and never forget that you were born a lady and a Lillingstone! It's horrid disagreeable to be poor; but poverty can never make us vulgar. I cannot think where Bertha got such common ideas from ! " " Oh ! she will do her hair so beautifully ! " said Alice, with a gesture of admiration ; " she's going to do it a new way all plaits down in the neck, and black velvet ends sticking to it ! And she has worked herself a new collar, and she is going to SCOTCH COUSINS. 103 wear the cameos that her godmother, Miss Har- rington, left her ! " " She's doing it extensive, then ! I thought she would," said Walter, who, Lillingstone as he was, did not disdain a little slang when it came in his way. "I say, Alice, don't you wish Eric would fall in love with her ? " < No ! I don't know. "Why ? " < Why, you little silly ? Why, if he fell in love with her, he'd want to many her, and then she would go away and live at Strathallan, and we should be so quiet and jolly ! " Alice stood considering. The idea of one of her sisters being married had never entered her young imagination. Indeed, she had not a very clear notion of the actual meaning of marriage ; only, she had some idea that Confirmation was the first step to- wards the holy estate of matrimony. After a while she said, "Girls are never married, are they, Walter?" " Aren't they ? You'll alter your tone some day, Miss Alice ! And if Bertha is only seventeen now, she will grow older every day. They will be en- gaged first, like Flora Golding, you know ; and after a time they will be married; and and I really believe, we should never quarrel when Bertha was gone!" That was more than Alice could agree to ; she thought Walter could be very cross sometimes ; but 104 THE LILLINGSTONES. then lie was kind and full of fun generally, and she fervently hoped he would not be married just yet, and leave her without a playfellow. She was rather a singular child, making from time to time precocious attempts at conversation ; but, generally speaking, thoughtless, and full of merriment, and very apt to make unfortunate disclosures, by catching from one person information never intended for her little ears, and then imparting it at the first oppor- tunity to the individual concerned. On the present occasion she was very eager to tell Bertha what Walter had said about her, and as he soon afterwards ran out into the garden to see whether there was any chance of snowballs, she was left at perfect liberty to indulge her inclination. She ran up stairs to the room where Bertha was still occupied before the glass, and, without further parley, exclaimed, ' l Bertha ! should you like to be married?" Bertha felt for a moment so transfixed with aston- ishment, that she was very near speaking the simple truth, and an involuntary " yes " was almost on her lips. But she checked herself in time. ""What do you mean, child? " she said, sternly. " Who has been teaching you to be impertinent? " Alice turned crimson, and felt at once that she had spoken unadvisedly. But there was no help for it now ; and she forthwith gave up her authority, and told how Walter had said he wished she could be SCOTCH COUSINS. 105 engaged like Flora Golding, and married to their cousin Eric ! To her extreme surprise Bertha was not angry ; she laughed and blushed, and rearranged her beautiful braids of hair ; and finally, she put on a grave face and told Alice she would not scold her that time ; but little girls ought never to talk about their sisters being married it was very naughty, and would make mamma extremely angry. " ISTow, promise me, Allie," she said, in conclusion, " pro- mise me never to say anything of the kind again !" Alice, too happy to escape the consequences of her rash confidence, was glad enough to promise ; but reassured by Bertha's serene smile, she ventured to ask " Is it wicked to be married, Bertha?" "By no means!" replied her sister; "it is quite right to marry as soon as you are properly grown up, and when the proper person asks you. But it is not a subject for little girls ; they cannot un- derstand it, and therefore they should never talk about it!" "But should you like to be married?" asked Alice again, with childish pertinacity. She was thinking how dreadful it would be to be married and taken away to the perpetual snows of far-off Strathallan. "Little girls must not ask such questions!" re- plied Bertha, fiercely. "Now, run away, and play with your new doll. Stay one moment, Alice ! I 106 THE LILL1NGSTONES. will brush, your hair again. Why do you go flying about, shaking your curls into such disorder?" While Alice was undergoing a thorough process of straightening, there were sounds of arrival down- stairs. The carriage rolled softly over the thick carpet of snow, and the bell had actually been rung before any one knew that the long-watched-for guests were really come at last. Mildred, who was in the front of the house, shrieked the welcome news to Helen and Kate in the drawing-room; and Mrs. Lillingstone, hearing the disturbance, ran down stairs, just in time to meet her sister on the threshold. "Oh, Kelly!" "Oh, Kitty!" was all that the bystanders heard, while the long-parted sisters were locked in a long and fervent embrace. So occupied with Lady Campbell was the whole group, that for the moment they forgot their cousins Eric and Janet, till Katty was roused by a manly voice and a hearty shake of the hand from the tall gentleman who stood a little behind Lady Campbell. And then Helen seized upon Janet, and led her away to the cheerful blaze in the drawing-room, and the rest followed, and for a few minutes there was a perfect Babel of voices, that rose and rose till it penetrated the upper regions of the house, and notified to Bertha and Alice the arrival of the expected guests. Bertha hurried over the remainder of Alice's SCOTCH COUSINS. 107 ruffled ringlets, put a few finishing touches to her own toilet, and hastened down stairs. Too late ! she found only Alfred and "Walter, and the former had just escorted Eric to his room, while Mrs. Lil- lingstone and her two eldest daughters were with Lady Campbell and Janet. " Well!" said Eertha, with rather less than her wonted composure, "you have seen them, Alfred?" "To be sure I have! I have just been intro- ducing Master Eric to his own quarters; and if you want to know what he is like, I really cannot tell you, only he is ridiculously tall ; but he's the pleasantest fellow I've seen this long time ! I felt right glad to think we call each other cousin. He and I will be sure to get on, whether you girls pull together or not ! " " And Janet ? is she pretty ? " " That's more than I know ! I only caught sight of a pair of black, laughing eyes under a sort of hood. She's tall too ! What a little thing you are, Bertha ! " Bertha drew herself up, and answered with seem- ing lightness, " All the better! I prefer cultivating quality to quantity! When there is too much of a woman she is always awkward, to say the least of it." "A comfortable doctrine for little bodies like you. But oh, Bertha! Aunt Campbell is so like mamma ; only mamma, though she is four years 108 THE LILLINGSTONES. younger, looks older and more worn. Poor mamma ! it's the care and sorrow she has had!" They were interrupted by the opening of the door, and Mrs. Lillingstone and her sister came in. "This must be Bertha!" said Lady Campbell, as soon as she met the gaze of her young niece; " she is exactly like the description you gave me in the last letter. And, Kitty dear ! she is very much like her father ! " "We used to call her l papa's own girl' in the old times ! " said Mrs. Lillingstone, sadly. "Alice ! Where is the little truant ? Alice, too, is a thorough Lillingstone in looks; and so is Walter. Katty, you see, is like both parents ; and Helen and Alfred and Milly are good copies of what you and I and Lina were thirty years ago ! " "Your Katty has a sweet face!" said Lady Campbell, enthusiastically. " I have not seen so fair and bonnie a maiden since I saw you on your wedding morning, Kitty ! " "Ah!" returned Mrs. Lillingstone, " Katty is far bonnier than her mother ever was ; and what is more to the purpose, far better! My Katty is beyond all praise ! " "And the best sister who ever lived!" cried Alfred, just as Eric entered. "Stop!" exclaimed Eric, "I cannot allow such broad assertions ! Why, you have not an idea what an excellent sister I have in Janet ! " SCOTCH COUSINS. 109 "Ah, well!" returned Alfred, laughing, " it not do to quarrel with you just yet, so we will agree to settle the matter like the comparative charms of Mary Stuart and old Queen Bess were settled hy that long-headed ambassador : my sister is the best in England, and yours is the best in Scotland when she is there ! Here she comes ! " Bertha looked anxiously towards the door, and saw a girl of fifteen or sixteen advancing quietly towards the group around the sofa. She had dark hair and eyes, and a very white skin, clear and healthy-looking, but perfectly colourless. " Janet, my dear! this is your cousin Bertha!" said Lady Campbell ; and Bertha came gracefully forward, kissed her Scotch cousin, French fashion, on both cheeks, and led her to the ottoman where she had been sitting herself. Eric watched her as she rose to welcome his sister ; there was something in her greeting that struck him as being cold and artificial, contrasted with the hearty English salutes, the warm pressure, and the demonstrative expres- sions of the rest of the family ; but at the same time he was fairly dazzled by her beauty. The result of Bertha's prolonged labours at the toilette was perfectly successful ; for the first time the sisters had entirely cast aside their mourning, and she had chosen Hue as the colour that best suited the almost transparent delicacy of her com- plexion. Unluckily, she and Mildred were dressed 110 THE LILLLNGSTONES. alike, according to a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance ; and the soft bright blue, that set off to the best advantage Bertha's ex- quisite lilies and roses, and shining wreaths of hair, was by no means becoming to Milly's dark skin and heavy curls. Katty had perceived the error too late to rectify it; but she privately resolved that, for the future, Mildred should wear what best became her, and not what Bertha happened to choose on her own account. So Eric was struck with the two blue dresses, and at the same time with the loveliness of the one and the plainness of the other sister. Katty and Helen, he thought, were sweet, nice-looking girls Helen might even be called handsome; but by the side of Bertha, their pretensions to beauty faded quite out of sight ! Meanwhile Sarah came in with the urn ; and the travellers were glad to draw up to the large well- lighted table, which was laden with all the requi- sites for that most satisfactory and comfortable of all repasts to tired, starved folk " a dinner-tea ! " It so happened that Eric sat between Bertha and Mildred, and he soon found out that Bertha was as conversible as she was pretty, and Milly as silent and bashful as she was plain.. Naturally enough, they began soon to talk about Scotland, and Eric waxed enthusiastic as he described to his cousins the beauties of the lochs, the glories of the Tros- sachs, and the unrivalled sDlendour of " Edina, SCOTCH COUSINS. Ill Scotia's darling queen!" and very soon he had started in the full spirit of his well-beloved bard, and was exclaiming " Caledonia, stern and wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child ! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood, Land of my sires ! what mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band That knits me to thy rugged strand !" And Bertha listened with calm interest, and re- marked that Edinburgh was universally considered to be the fairest city in Great Britain. A minute afterwards she was expatiating on the cheapness of drapery goods in Glasgow, and Eric felt as if he had fallen from fairy-land into a coal-mine. " I cannot expect you to love those lines as well as I do," he said presently, when his cousin had concluded her observations on Paisley manufactures, " but you must appreciate them ! " "Oh yes!" returned Bertha, tiying to look animated, " they are extremely pretty !" How the adjective jarred on Eric's sensitive ears and patriotic emotions! He would have dropped the conversation altogether had he not accidentally turned towards Mildred, and seen her face lighted up with something more than mere forced conven- tional interest. "You know the lines?" he said, addressing her almost for the first time. 112 THE LILLINGSTONES. "Oh. yes!" she replied hastily, "I know every word of ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel.' " Bertha had just decided that the quotation was one of Burns' s enthusiastic stanzas. "And, " continued Mildred, " I think the former part of the canto is finer still; for a reason, perhaps, that you will scarcely appreciate. Only a Caledonian can apos- trophise ' Caledonia, stern and wild ! ' but any one can claim as the emotion of his own heart 'Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ! ' " "True! you discriminate justly. But what a memory you must have ! Scotchman and poet- stricken as I am, I never accomplished anything so marvellous as a whole poem. I cannot repeat a single canto without mistakes. I only know the crack pieces !. I can whisper ' a mingled sentiment, 'twixt resignation and content.' I can tell how, 'by lone St. Mary's silent lake,' t Your horse's hoof -tread sounds too rude, So stilly is the solitude.' I can echo poor Constance de Beverley's dying de- nunciations, word for word. I can say ' Young Lochinvar' with, any school-boy north or south of the Tweed ; and of course I never forget ' Oh, woman ! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please!' Ah! you see how shallow I am! But tell me SCOTCH COUSINS. 113 honestly now ; was ' The Lay ' a school-room task, or a labour of love ? " "Partly both," returned Mildred, feeling sud- denly at ease with her poetic cousin. " Bart of the second canto was given me for a punishment lesson, and I liked it so well, that I learned the whole poem ; and I never forget poetry, or indeed any- thing I learn by heart, though I forget little common things worse than any one." "Ah!" said Eric, shaking his head, "the go- verness who gave you that task was incompetent ; she was not a clever nay more, not a sensible woman." 1 ' You think she ought to have known that she was ministering to my gratification rather than inflicting a penance ? "Well ! I told her, when she marked off the stanzas, that I had rather learn poetry than play or take a walk, and I offered to learn a portion of ' Murray's Grammar ' the small print too. Eut she did not like my interference, so she doubled the quantity of poetry already given; and very glad I was that she did, for the ' Murray ' was horrible ; it was the notes on the rules, and they would have been a punishment indeed ! " Eric was infinitely amused; and, turning again to Eertha, he inquired whether she used also to have poetical impositions ? Her answer was inter- rupted by Mildred, who abruptly informed him that she had been the black-sheep of the school- I 114 THE LILLINGSTONES. room, while Bertha had very seldom fallen under the displeasure of her governesses. " You were never punished for want of honesty, I am sure," he replied, warmly. " Ah! some day or other, when we are better acquainted, I will in- dulge you with some tales of my school and college life. They will not be exactly to my credit though." The conversation was broken by Helen carrying off Mildred to help her with a large portfolio of sketches ; and Bertha came to the decision that she liked Eric, but that she feared he was rather too frivolous, and given to talking for effect. He, on his part, thought her the loveliest girl he had ever seen ; but he did wish she had not applied to his favourite lines that tame, hacknied expression "pretty!" " But one can't have everything," he said to himself, as he watched her an hour later at the pianoforte ; ' ' and really her profile is perfect ! and though I don't care about that style of music, I must admire her execution; and her touch, is re- markably brilliant ! " TACTICS. 115 CHAPTER IX. TACTICS. " AND mamma really means to invite some people after all ? " said Bertha, when she and Helen went upstairs to dress for dinner the next day. "Yes," replied Helen, languidly, seating herself on the bed ; " will it not be a terrible bore ? " " That is your view of it," returned Eertha. " Eor my part, I think it will be as delightful as it is right and desirable." " Yes, I dare say it will be all very pleasant when we are really in the midst of it ; but it will give no end of trouble. I wish for society as much as any one ; but to my mind, the idea of giving parties, with one servant and a charwoman to help, is simply ridiculous." " Ko doubt it is; but we are not going to be reduced to such straits. Mamma settled this mom- ing, that while Aunt Campbell is with us, we must have another regular servant; and for the party itself, we must engage Jones's mar, who is generally hired out for waiting at this time of the year." i 2 116 THE LILLINGSTONES. " How quickly you plan every thing ! But, Bertha, it is very humiliating to have to hire make-believe servants. I almost think I had rather go on living in retirement. So long as there are no witnesses to our privations, they are not so unendurable ; and really there is nothing which rich people ridicule so much as pretension, and striving to keep up appear- ances, in persons who are reduced as we are." "But they must not see that there is any striving about it ! We must not, of course, attempt to imitate the barbaric splendours of the Goldings, nor the heavy, lavish state of the Armstrongs. Our entertainments must be so conducted as to call forth no comparisons with those of our guests. Taste, and the usages of a lifetime, must not only supply the place, but triumph over the apparent advantages of those, who having amassed wealth try to copy the style and manners of the higher classes. "What is an effort to them, used to be our daily life. Even now, their strained etiquette is only a meretricious copy of our regular habits. Oh ! if mamma would only give me l carte llanche? what would I not do?" " I wish she would," replied Helen, becoming infected with Bertha's animation; "I really think, Bertha, you are the cleverest amongst us : Katty has no ambition; I see how things might be managed, but then I have no strength. The mere planning of anything extraordinary, exhausts my spirits and my energies : execution is altogether beyond me. Then TACTICS. 117 Milly is clever enough ; but it is in a way that will never tell, either for her own advantage, or for ours. Clearly it is you, Bertha, who must be the leading spirit of your family. As far as I am concerned, I put myself in your hands." " You really will ? " asked Bertha eagerly, turn- ing round from the toilet-table. " You will help me, you will be my ally ? " "No! I do not promise so much as that: to be any one's ally is to render one's self responsible for action, and also to co-operate generally ; but I am quite willing that you should plan for me, and all the aid that it is in my power to give, you shall certainly receive." "I understand. Helen, if I give you any idea of my schemes for the restoration of our family fortunes, may I rely upon your fidelity ? Remember they are not to be imparted to any one ; for I must set about my work cautiously and by degrees. If mamma and Hatty suspect what I have taken in hand, they will immediately put a veto on the whole course of procedure." "I promise never to betray your confidence," replied Helen earnestly. She was fond of secrets, and the idea of a harmless conspiracy pleased her exceedingly. "You may trust me," she continued, "I am too much interested in your success to en- danger the cause by carelessness or want of reserve. Tell me all freely." 118 THE LILLINGSTONES. " Very well ! I will trust you. If you know and approve my schemes, you may be able to further them without much trouble to yourself. To begin at the beginning. We really are poor, wretchedly poor ; not only poor as contrasted with our former and rightful position, but poor in comparison with the persons with whom we must at present associate ; and I do not see, as matters stand, how or when we shall get richer." "]S"or I either," interposed Helen mournfully. " Consequently matters must be altered. It was all very well during the months of our mourning to maintain the strictest retirement, and I have found the benefit of the prolonged seclusion ; for I have discovered exactly what our position really is, what it is held to be by our neighbours, and what it may or may not be in time to come, according to the course which henceforth we adopt." "I do believe Alfred will be the possessor of Lillingstone again, do not you ? " asked Helen. " I cannot say. I am quite willing to believe it. But at present it seems to me a very Utopian scheme, to say the least of it. And supposing he really does succeed, it will not be yet awhile. If he continues steadfast to his purpose, and if fortune favour him, he may be master of Lillingstone once more, in twenty years to come, by which time, Helen, we shall be a nice family of old maids ; and as Alfred will probably marry when he recovers his inherit- TACTICS. 119 ance, we shall not occupy a very enviable situation. I don't know how you may feel, but the idea of being a maiden-aunt is excessively disgusting." " It is the horror of horrors," said Helen, shutting her eyes as if unable to contemplate so terrible a fate. "I quite agree with you; and now comes the gist of mj plans we must all marry early and well! Not, of course, at present ; that is, / am not thinking of marriage for myself; but it is quite time that Katty was married, and you engaged ; and in order to form proper connections, and to gather round us an eligible circle of acquaintances, it is essential that we should immediately go into society." "I am afraid," sighed Helen, "that we have small chance of forming an advantageous circle while we remain in Oldminster. There is Mrs. Armstrong, who is somewhat of our own standing ; and there are the Harrops, if we had anything like a carriage." "' Anything like a carriage !' My dear Helen, let me tell you that an inferior equipage is decidedly worse than none ! Every one knows that we have been accustomed to carriages and horses ; and they doubtless exaggerate our faded splendours ; but if they saw us rumbling about the country in a trap like Mr. Clark's, or in a second-hand phaeton like Mrs. Millar's, we should immediately sink in the estimation of the whole population of Oldminster. They would compare our * turn out ' with their own ; and they would argue that persons who were 120 THE LILLINGSTONES. contented with so shabby an affair could never have been really accustomed to a thoroughly appointed establishment." " But does it matter so very much what the townspeople think ? "- asked Helen. "It does matter; because you see, unfortunately circumstanced as we are, they are the very persons upon whom we must commence operations. Our party next week will be composed of the Armstrongs, the Herberts, the Millars, and the Goldings ! " " Will not the clerical element be too strong? " " Not in the present case. In an ordinary way it would ; but the clergy, you know, are always admissible. Their office invests them with a rank to which they may or may not be entitled by birth and breeding; and in receiving our clerical guests there is no danger of notoriously lowering our standard; indeed, I mean to beat up for two or three curates ; but mind, Helen, you do not fancy one of them for a poor curate, without patronage and without expectations, is the worst speculation in the world." "Bertha," interrupted Helen suddenly, "I wish you would not call marriage ' a speculation? I think it is wrong ; and I am sure it is degrading to woman- hood to view it in that light ! " Bertha saw her mistake. She had forgotten for the moment the dreamy poetic tendencies of Helen's nature. She did not remember that she had been TACTICS. 121 feeding her imagination with love-stories ever since she had been out of the school-room ; and she did not know that underneath the pensiveness and the romance of her sister's character, there existed a principle of right, with great feminine delicacy, and a strong, almost passionate, admiration for that which was pure and true and self-sacrificing. If Helen could not make sacrifices herself, she could fully appreciate them in others ; and while she felt conscious of her own supineness, and knew that she had never in any one instance practised the heroism of renunciation, she flattered herself that when the time came for action, or for suffering, she would find herself as self-renouncing and as devoted as the high and imaginary ideal she had cherished in her heart of hearts from the days of childhood. It was the opportunity, not the will or the power, which was wanting to make her a veritable heroine. So Bertha hastened to correct the error. "My dear Helen," she said, apologetically, "you mistake me. Par be it from me to advocate a marriage of mere expediency : of course, the affections are the first thing to be considered; but I think you will agree with me, if I say that what is commonly called a love-match, need not be made up of love alone. You may love your husband just as strongly and deeply if he can afford to give you all the appliances of rank and fashion. Do you remember Lucy Trevelyan? " 122 THE L1LL1NGSTONES. "Not much. She was married eloped, I think, when I was a child. You cannot remember her at all, I should think." "No, I have not any distinct recollection of her, but Aunt Campbell was Celling mamma about her last night. Some friend of hers called on Lucy I forget her married name and, oh! she gave such a description of her menage ! Six children in check pinafores, with dirty faces ; two that could not walk; a sickly baby that cried eternally, one poor drudge of a servant, and such a house ! Aunt's, friend said that there did not seem to be anything, from the attic to the kitchen, that was not broken or defaced ; Lucy herself worn and faded and un- tidy, and, worst of all, lamenting her imprudent marriage, and telling the saddest tales of an unkind and selfish husband." "The more shame for her!" replied Helen in- dignantly. " There can be no excuse for a woman's discussing her husband's faults with any one ; and it does not follow that every one who marries for love should share the fate of this poor unhappy Lucy." " Certainly not. Hers is an extreme case, I confess. I believe she set both parents at defiance, and, disregarding the entreaties of the kindest of mothers, and the commands of the most indulgent of fathers, rushed blindly and wilfully to her own ruin. She deserved the misery which has been her portion." TACTICS. 123 " Poor girl ! " said Helen compassionately. " The after feeling of disobedience must be wretched. Even if she had been prosperous there must have been bitter compunction." Bertha did not see it, but she did not say so ; she was anxious not to shock Helen's romance, and she proceeded cautiously. "Well, dear, I think we need not discuss that point any more. I merely intended to remark that it would be better, for some of us at least, to be advantageously settled. If you, for instance, married as a Miss Lillingstone of Lillingstone ought to marry, think of what service you could be to your family. You would restore us to our old position ; at least, under your roof and your chaperonage, we should enjoy 'oppor- tunities for which we now seek in vain. Mamma would be so thankful to have one daughter alas, there are five Miss Lillingstones ! comfortably pro- vided for; and there is no saying how much you might be able to help Alfred, and forward his views as regards Lillingstone. You must perceive the justice of what I say ; romantic and high-flown as you are by nature and by indulgence,, you must own that I am speaking common sense." "Yes, but I misunderstood you, I suppose. I thought you were talking like a horrid worldly old woman ; and indeed, Bertha, you do seem ages older than mamma." ft Thank you for the compliment; I should feel 124 THE LILLDTGSTONES. alarmed did not a look in the glass reassure me. But to proceed, we may as well finish the subject while we are about it ; you know that Aunt Campbell wished two of us to return with her in the spring?" " Yes; and I must own I should like to be one of the two. I wonder how it will be settled : if it go by right of primogeniture it will be Katty and myself ; but then, how is Katty to be spared ? And you, too, would be very much missed. I think it ought to be Milly and I ; we are the least important personages in the house, you know." " I suppose it will be as mamma and aunt decide, and I suspect aunt will be very much influenced by the wishes of Janet and Eric." "Yery likely; Eric seems to be consulted on every occasion, and he in his turn consults Janet." "By the way, Helen, what do you think of our cousin Eric?" " Think of him ? Why, I hardly know. I take a long time to form an opinion. He is good-looking, certainly ; I dare say he may be called handsome : and it must be a delightful thing to be heir to such a grand old castle as Strathallan. He seems clever and kind, and very much attached to his sister." Bertha was satisfied : she had been rather afraid that Helen might be stricken by her stalwart High- land cousin, for she had fully resolved to captivate him herself not, as she assured herself, that she TACTICS. 125 intended vegetating in that old dungeon of a castle in Inverness-shire. If she were ever Lady Campbell she would have a house in town, and take her proper place in London society. For Bertha had a shrewd suspicion that Eric Campbell had come to England with some idea of choosing a wife. What her own tactics were to be, at present she could not tell. She was only sure of one thing, she must make herself agreeable, if not necessary to Janet, and she must conciliate her aunt's good opinion. Presently Helen asked, in her turn, "And what do you think of Janet ?" " She is such a mere child," replied Bertha, "that it is hardly fair to think anything decisive about her. She is pretty certainly, but I do not think she is clever : she seems passionately fond of Eric, and I should say he might, if he cared to do it, mould her to almost anything he pleased. She will never make a brilliant woman. I dare say she will many some good, quiet, Scottish laird, or some excellent young minister, and reign at the castle or the manse, as the case may be, universally respected and beloved." "Do you know," interposed Helen, "I differ from you : I think she is clever ! She is so quiet now ; for we are all strangers to her, and besides she is very young, not fifteen till next March. But did you not notice how her face lighted up last night when Eric and Katty were talking about the different 126 THE LILLINGSTONES. schools of painting, and the great masters? and though she only spoke once or twice, and that when pointedly addressed, she said something each time that was quite to the purpose. I know I thought I could not have answered with so much propriety and discrimination, though I am four years older. I think she has read a great deal." "Who was that author they were discussing so eagerly when I came into the room, just before bed- time?" "It was Buskin. Eric seems enthusiastic about the l Stones of Venice,' especially the t Sea Stories.' He actually recited a long piece from his favourite volume : it was about Venice, and the canals, and the salt lagoon, and the island of Murano; it was exquisite equal to any poetry and he thought so too, and so did Janet ; for her eyes were shining, and there was a beautiful colour in her cheeks all the while he spoke. The description struck me so much that I mean to try if I cannot paint it from imagi- nation." " Is there a Buskin in the house ?" "Yes; Alfred brought the * Stones of Venice' from Dr. Armstrong's only two days ago ; it is in his study." " I will fetch it ; you shall show me the passage." !N"o sooner said than done ; in two minutes the place was found, and the precise lines pointed out. Bertha read : TACTICS. 127 " The salt breeze, the white moaning sea-birds, the masses of black weed, separating and disappear- ing gradually in knots of heaving shoal, under the advance of the steady tide all proclaim it to be indeed the ocean, on whose bosom the great city rests so calmly. Not such blue, soft, lake-like ocean as bathes the Neapolitan promontories, or sleeps beneath the marble rocks of Genoa ; but a sea, with the bleak power of our own northern waves, yet subdued into a strange, spacious rest, arid changed from its angry pallor into a field of burnished gold, as the sun declined behind the belfry tower of the lonely island- church, fitly named l St. George of the Seaweed.' As the boat drew nearer the city, the coast which the traveller had just left, sank behind him into one long, low, sad- coloured line, tufted irregularly with brush- wood and willows. But, at what seemed its northern extremity, the hills of Arqua rose in a dark cluster of purple pyramids, balanced on the bright mirage of the lagoon : two or three smooth surges of inferior hill extended themselves about their roots; and beyond these, beginning with the craggy peaks above Yicenza, the chain of the Alps girded the whole horizon to the north a wall of jagged blue, here and there showing through its clefts a wilderness of misty precipices, fading far back into the recesses of Cadore, and itself rising and breaking away east- ward, where the sun struck upon its snow, into mighty fragments of peaked light, standing up 128 THE LILLINGSTONES. behind the barred clouds of evening, one after another countless the crown of the Adrian Sea, until the eye turned back from pursuing them, to rest upon the nearer burning of the Campaniles of Murano, and on the great city, where it magnified itself along the waves, as the quick, silent pacing of the Gondola drew nearer and nearer." Bertha was suddenly interrupted by the loud clanging of the dinner bell, and Helen, as usual, was not half ready ; but for once she made good haste, and Bertha helped her with her quick fingers and her ready taste. As they went down Bertha said "I am going to put 'Ruskin' back again; do not say anything about our having had it to-day I " ON THE MOOB8. 129 CHAPTER X. ON THE MOORS. MKS. LILLINGSTONE and her daughters were sitting together in the dining-room several days after the conversation just narrated. Eric was gone with Alfred to see if a large pool three miles off was ready for skating, and Lady Campbell and Janet were writing letters in their own room. " Do you not think, mamma," said Katty, looking up from her work, "that we had better settle now about this party? we may not have such another opportunity for holding a domestic parliament." Bertha was busy at her desk, and she went on writing as sedately as if the party were by no means a con- cern of hers. Mrs. Lillingstone replied " Yes, my dear, if it is to be at all, it must be soon, and the present seems a good time for arranging matters. I leave it entirely to you, my dear Katty; consult with your sisters, and form your plans. I only stipulate for a limited number of guests. liemeinber, we are nine ourselves, and our dining-table is not elastic ! " 130 TEE LILLINGSTONES. "Seven, dear mamma!" interrupted Bertha, in her sweetest, softest tones, without, however, sus- pending her occupation. There was a general chorus of dissent ; and Hilly said, roguishly, " Now, really, Bertha, you have made a mistake for once; your talent for figures has deserted you : are there not three Campbells, and, including mamma, six Lil- lingstones?" " Two Campbells and five Lillingstones, it seems to me r " returned Bertha, placidly. "Milly and Janet will be in the drawing-room, of course ; but they can hardly dine with us ! I am sure Aunt Campbell will not allow it." Mildred looked rather disconcerted, and Katty and Mrs. Lillingstone were evidently perplexed. Clearly, according to the established rules of society, young ladies of fifteen were not eligible to a place at the dinner-table on state occasions ; but no one had thought of it except Bertha. "I am afraid Bertha is right, my dear Milly," said Mrs. Lillingstone at length. We have lived so long out of the world that I had quite forgotten established usages ; and then Milly, you see, is tall and womanly-looking, and one is apt to forget that she is really a child. Of course, your aunt must herself decide about Janet, and I think that it had better be settled that if Janet appears, Mildred should do the same." " Oh, mamma, I do not care about it ! " said Milly, ON THE MOORS. 131 as her mother turned rather anxiously towards her. " I am afraid I have got into the habit of thinking myself really grown up, and it will be quite as well that I should learn my proper position." "Ah! my child, that you cannot have. Your proper place is indeed in the school-room ; but a school-room without a governess is almost ridiculous. However, I will not repine ; we have been less un- happy since we came to Oldminster than I imagined possible. For myself, I care very little, but I do grieve to see my girls shut out from the advantages to which their birth and actual station entitle them. I try not to be fretful, but there are times when I look at my children, at my five daughters especially, and wish I knew what would become of them in future days!" "My dear mamma," said Katty brightly, "what should become of us ? Some of us, perhaps, will be married ; and some of us myself among the number, very likely will be staid but happy old maids; that is, if it please God to spare our lives. Any way, mamma, we shall be cared for; and that which is best for us will happen to us : do not have any anxieties!" Mrs. Lillingstone kissed the fair brow that looked so sweet and calm, and she said, "I believe, my Katty, God will be good to you ; you are my dutiful child, and He will bless you !" At the mention of her mother's anxieties Bertha 132 THE LILLINGSTONES. "had looked significantly at Helen, but when the conversation seemed to take what she called "a sentimental turn," she became uneasy, and desirous of turning the general feeling into another current. 1 1 Had I not better make a list of those you wish to invite ?" she asked of her mother, whose thoughts were evidently far removed from the dinner-party. " Yes ; as your pen is in your hand you can do it at once, if you like. Put down Mr. and Mrs. Herbert and the Armstrongs, to begin with; and there are the Millars, of course ; and how many of the Goldings, my dears?" " Mr. and Mrs. Golding, to begin with, and Flora. I do not see how we can ask Laura, too, for we must have Mr. Granville Golding, and Alfred will be vexed if Philip is not invited. And then, mamma, Mora will expect Mr. Gaunt to be asked no one thinks of inviting one without the other: that will do for the Goldings. And I have been thinking of Mr. Earnshaw and Mr. Leigh; and, oh ! mamma, we must not forget the Han-ops !" "My dear Bertha!" remarked Mrs. Lillingstone, " it will never do to have so many people ! " "So many, mamma? I thought you would not think I had mentioned names enough." "Why, my dear, you have enumerated eighteen persons, without counting in Philip Golding; and our own family, even if we exclude Janet an:l Milly, will be seven more twenty-five in all !" ON THE MOORS. 133 "But there is room for thirty-five people in this room, and with a little contrivance the table might be made to accommodate as many as we wish. I am sure Mrs. Armstrong's dining-room is smaller than ours, and I know she frequently asks upwards of thirty!" "My dear, it is not only the room, but the trouble and the expense ! Really, I know nothing about cost, for even before we left Lillingstone we had left off entertaining company for some time. Your dear papa did not care about society, but he always said when you girls grew up there must of course be an alteration ; and in my earlier days I had so efficient a housekeeper that I left everything in her hands." "But, mamma," pleaded Bertha, "I do really think that to entertain twenty or five-and-twenty people will cost very little more than receiving half the number. At any rate, it will be one trouble, instead of two or more ; and it is best to do the thing handsomely, especially as it is our first party." " I am sure, my dear, I cannot tell what to say. Katty, what is your opinion?" " I think, mamma, we had better be content with a small party : if we make any attempt at doing things in the old style we shall certainly incon- venience ourselves very much, annoy our aunt and cousins, and expose ourselves to quizzical remarks 134 THE LILLINGSTONES. from the townspeople. Even the Harrops, if we conclude to invite them, and if they accept two very important