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 The 
 
 Skeleton in the Cupboard. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 BY LADY SCOTT, 
 
 Authoress of The Henpecked Husband,' <Tbe Only Child? Sff 
 
 London : 
 
 Saunders, Otley, and Co., Conduit Street. 
 1860. 

 
 F. SHOBERL, PRINTER, 37, DEAN STREET, SOHO, W.
 
 The Skeleton 
 in the Cupboard. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN the prettiest of the London suburbs, on the 
 brink of a wide common, and standing within its 
 own iron gates, there gleamed through its nest 
 of trees one of the most imposing and complete 
 of what house agents would designate " modern 
 mansions," simply called, by its contented owners, 
 The Laurels. 
 
 There are some houses that bear about them 
 the stamp of wealth. From the moment that the 
 iron gates open to receive you on the delicate 
 gravel, to that in which you find yourself passing 
 through the richly carpeted hall into the still 
 
 VOL. i. B 
 
 2202841
 
 -I THE SKELETON 
 
 more costly drawing-room, you feel that you are 
 breathing the mysterious atmosphere of money ! 
 money ! money ! 
 
 And now that house bore an aspect of more 
 than usual beauty and comfort. There was 
 going to be a wedding there, the wedding of the 
 only daughter, the only child and heiress, and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blackstone were sparing neither 
 pains, nor time, nor trouble, nor money, to cele- 
 brate the event with all the honour due to the 
 brilliant alliance which Euphemia, their fondly- 
 loved Phemy, was about to contract. 
 
 To the astonishment almost to the consterna- 
 tion of the parents who lived only for her, and 
 who, because she had attained the age of twenty- 
 two, they had imagined they should keep with 
 them for ever, this young girl had, at last, made 
 her selection, or rather, her time had come, and 
 she was now on the eve of her grand match. 
 
 Destiny, one fine day, had brought, in a curious 
 and unexpected manner, a middle-aged baronet 
 to The Laurels Sir Felix Bohun of Bohun 
 Court and he, who had been accidentally drawn 
 thither on a matter of business in which it was 
 within Mr. Blackstone's vocation to assist him, at 
 last found himself impelled by a question, not of 
 law, but of love; and ended by laying his heart
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 3 
 
 and all his wide worldly possessions at the feet of 
 that fair creature whom he invited to become the 
 third Lady Bohun. 
 
 Dazzled and delighted, for Euphemia was am- 
 bitious, the young girl did not keep the trembling 
 captive long in suspense. It is true that Sir 
 Felix had seen more than five-and-forty summers, 
 and that in marrying him she would have to run 
 the chance of comparison with two predecessors, 
 both ladies of high degree ; but she was not one 
 to care for either of these little drawbacks. 
 
 " Had he been a widower with half-a-dozen 
 grown up daughters, mamma," said she, as she 
 watched the sealing of the letter of acceptation, 
 " we might have some just grounds for hesitation, 
 and, I dare say, I should have said no, imme- 
 diately ; but, as it is, he is a bridegroom without 
 encumbrances, and I like him all the better for 
 his age. A younger man might not have given 
 me so much my own way, and that I must have, 
 as you well know, darling mother, even if I 
 married the Marquis of Carabas." 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone had no arguments to urge 
 against this; she was only so afraid that the 
 disparity would make him an uncongenial com- 
 panion to one so full of life, and spirits, and 
 energy as Phemy ; and at this the light-hearted 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE SKELETON 
 
 girl laughed heartily. (She was incomparably 
 more worldly than that trembling anxious mother.) 
 
 " Don't fear, mamma," said she, " never mind 
 his age. It is a brilliant match, and even had he 
 been twenty years older, it is one which will be 
 envied, right and left, from one end of our circle 
 to the other ! " 
 
 Truly spoken, fair Euphemia ! you knew well 
 enough, when you accepted Sir Felix Bohun, 
 that the world would say you were marrying an 
 elderly widower; but as long as the Bohun 
 diamonds, and Bohun Court could be held up 
 against the malicious assertion, you might laugh 
 the world and its remarks to scorn. 
 
 Mr. Blackstone looked gi*ave when called upon 
 to give his sanction to what he considered the 
 unequal match. 
 
 " I do not like the idea of Phemy's marrying 
 so completely out of her sphere," said he, as lie 
 talked the subject over with his wife; but 
 feminine eyes seldom see an eligible alliance in 
 this light, and though Mrs. Blackstone had her 
 own private fears and misgivings, and had even 
 repeated the hint to Phemy that the disparity 
 between them was the point to which she could 
 not reconcile herself, she would not have a word 
 said about the inequality. Phemy, in the eyes
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. o 
 
 of her doating mother, was a fitting bride for 
 any lord in the land, and as for taking her out of 
 her sphere 
 
 " When a young girl marries, my dear," was 
 her reply, as she bridled up with proper maternal 
 pride and dignity, " one would surely rather see 
 her rise higher in the world than sink to a lower 
 place " 
 
 " I did not wish that," exclaimed Mr. Black- 
 stone, hastily, "I meant more on her own level." 
 
 " Oh, no," said his wife, in a tone of decision : 
 " Phemy is worth more than that." 
 
 So Mr. Blackstone was silenced and corrected, 
 and never ventured to interpose his objections 
 again, and the wedding preparations went on. 
 
 It still wanted three weeks to the happy day 
 that day termed, by general consent, " the happy 
 day ! " when all the parties concerned have 
 arrived at the very last pitch of confusion, excite- 
 ment, discomfort, and exhaustion; when your 
 house is turned out of windows for the guests, as 
 completely as is your purse for the trousseau, and 
 everybody, cold and smart, shivers smilingly 
 about the church and whispers to everybody else, 
 " What an uncomfortable thing a weddin< >- 
 
 o c" 1 
 
 is!" 
 
 But almost all the preparations were concluded,
 
 THE SKELETON 
 
 even to the new gravelling of the approach to the 
 house. All that money could do had been done, 
 and Euphemia Blackstone was to be attended to 
 church by as gay a bevy of bridesmaids as ever 
 crowded round a more fashionable altar. 
 
 There remained but one vacuum to be filled up 
 the future Lady Bohun must have a maid of 
 her own as yet, she had shared her mother's 
 but now there must be " my lady's maid," and 
 every train brought down some fresh "young 
 person " for the situation. 
 
 Hitherto none had suited, and Mrs. Blackstone 
 was becoming perfectly rabid. Every time the 
 footman announced that there was another " young 
 person," her gestures of impatience and despair 
 increased with such violence, that, at last, the 
 man seemed frightened to open the door. But 
 Mrs. Blackstone was particular, and it was not 
 every one who could please her. Some of these 
 applicants were too smart, some too dowdy, some 
 too stout, some too short. It must be a very 
 nice-looking person to wait on Lady Bohun-to-be, 
 not merely for the sake of personal satisfaction, 
 but because Mrs. Blackstone wished her daughter 
 to make her first appearance amongst the stately 
 old servants at Bohun Court, of whom Sir Felix 
 was never tired of talking, attended by some one
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. / 
 
 calculated to uphold both her own dignity and 
 that of her young mistress. 
 
 " Nothing like making a good show," was her 
 constant maxim ; " if you do not think well of 
 yourself, nobody else will think well of you ; I 
 can trust to your supporting your dignity up- 
 stairs, my Phemy, but it must be supported 
 downstairs too; so a meek, mild, milk-and-water 
 maid will never do for Lady Bohun " 
 
 " Say, rather, for the late Miss Blackstone,' : 
 laughed the gay bride ; " for the truth is, mamma, 
 you are a little bit afraid people may think me 
 not quite worthy to step into the shoes of the two 
 former high-born dames of Bohun Court, but 
 never fear ! I shall not want that kind of support, 
 I know pretty well how to stand up for myself 
 at the same time I wish we could find a nice- 
 person, if only that I might get accustomed to her 
 before I leave home." 
 
 Not many minutes after this wish had been 
 breathed, the footman's head was partly seen at 
 the half opened door ; he had long ceased to open 
 it boldly and show himself. 
 
 " If you please, ma'am, a young person for the 
 lady's maid's place;" and for the hundred and 
 fiftieth time she was desired to walk in. 
 
 Tall and slender, very calm of countenance, and
 
 THE SKELETON 
 
 staid in demeanour, a person of an indefinite age 
 stood immediately before the mother and daughter, 
 and at one glance the quick eye of Mrs. Black- 
 intone had taken a general and satisfactory survey 
 of her. 
 
 " This is the best we have seen," flashed through 
 her mind, and then the usual inquiries began. 
 
 " You are accustomed to all the duties of a lady's 
 
 maid ?" 
 
 "Perfectly, ma'am." 
 
 " And your last situation ?" 
 
 " Lady Mary Topham ; I lived with her lady- 
 ship six years " 
 
 " And your reason for leaving ?" 
 
 " Her ladyship died, ma'am ; but these testi- 
 monials which I have received from the whole 
 family, as well as the legacy that Lady Mary left 
 me, will speak sufficiently, I hope, as to the confi- 
 dential position I occupied." 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone gave a little cough. 
 
 " Ah ! yes; but my daughter requires merely a 
 lady's maid. You understand?" 
 
 " Perfectly, ma'am. It was Lady Mary's plea- 
 sure to place confidence in me. I never sought 
 it " 
 
 " Hem yes you seem young, rather.....," 
 
 " I am forty, ma'am."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 
 
 "Forty? good gracious! y%u look about five- 
 and-twenty. Are you sure? but of course ! good- 
 ness me forty ! Euphemia, my dear." 
 
 The young lady was pretending to write a letter, 
 and only just glanced once upwards. " I do not 
 think age signifies, mamma," she said. 
 
 "Well, then," pursued Mrs. Blackstone, on 
 whom the manners, appearance, and language of 
 the person before her were gradually making their 
 due impression, " about hair-dressing and dress- 
 making, and all that ?" 
 
 "Hair-dressing, dress-making, and millinery of 
 every description," was the reply; "but Lady 
 Mary never had her dresses made at home." 
 
 " Xor should I, of course," interposed the bride 
 elect, hastily. 
 
 " But, my dear, it is necessary that your maid 
 should possess these acquirements, even if you 
 should not require to call them into use," said 
 Mrs. Blackstone, with a sort of calm severity, and 
 then she went on. "To whom can I apply f i r 
 your character, supposing we engage you ?" 
 
 " To the Counters of Merivale, ma'am, Lady 
 Mary's mamma, with whom I lived eleven years." 
 
 " What ! before you went to Lady Mary ?" 
 
 " I was the Countess's own maid, ma'am ; bur 
 when ' Lady Mary married Mr. Topham, her 
 
 B 5
 
 10 THE SKELETON 
 
 mamma wished Mlflpto have a confidential person 
 about her. I mean that her ladyship -was very 
 young, and, in short, it was always understood 
 that " 
 
 " Dear me," ejaculated Mrs. Blackstone again, 
 " now that is quite a curious coincidence, is it not, 
 Phemy? perhaps," she added, turning to the lady's 
 maid, " you are not aware that I am requiring 
 you for my daughter under very similar circum- 
 stances in fact, on the occasion of her marriage 
 
 to to " (human nature could not contain it) 
 
 " to Sir Felix Bohun, of Bohun Court.' 1 
 
 " I know Bohun Court, ma'am," was the quiet 
 reply. 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone looked puzzled. "Really ! 
 how do you know it ?" 
 
 " In the time of the first Lady Bohun, we used 
 TO stay there, ma'am also in the time of the 
 second Lady Bohun, who was a cousin of Lady 
 Merivale's." 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone was silent from pure astonish- 
 ment. Either this was a very singular coincidence, 
 or else the young woman must have heard of Sir 
 Felix's projected marriage, and offered herself, on 
 the chance, to Lady Bohun the third. 
 
 Euphemia sat colouring to the tips of her fin- 
 gers. She could not quite make up her mind as
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 11 
 
 to whether it would be quite 'pleasant to have u 
 person about her who had actually known both 
 the former wives. Yet how nice looking she was ! 
 so simple, so neat, so quiet, and so ladylike. 
 
 " A person I might even walk out with," she 
 thought to herself; "yet still " 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone was in very much the same 
 dilemma. She wanted to ascertain her daughters 
 sentiments, but in the presence of the third person 
 she felt this was impossible. She must get the 
 young woman out of the room somehow, but not 
 out of the house, for fear of losing her. A person 
 with such recommendations would not be long in 
 finding a situation ; so, as the next train to town 
 would not start for another hour, she would offer 
 her a cup of tea, and in the mean time confer with 
 Euphemia and Mr. Blackstone. Unfortunately 
 Sir Felix, who could no doubt have told them all 
 about her, was down at Bohun Court, making the 
 final preparations. 
 
 " Well," said she, after this mental colloquy. 
 " I should like just to think over the subject for 
 a little while with my daughter, and as the train 
 does not return to town for an hour or more, it 
 will also give us both time to remember anything 
 we may have omitted to mention. I did not ask 
 you your name ?"
 
 12 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Mira Ponsford, ma'am." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Blackstone having already given 
 utterance to her astonishment on two previous 
 occasions during this interview, and been reproved 
 for such a breach of decorum and dignity by a fire 
 of looks from the bright eyes of her daughter, she 
 was afraid to utter the "good gracious" which was 
 on her lips, but she paused, nevertheless. 
 
 " Mira?" she said, interrogatively, " is that the 
 name by which you have been in the habit of 
 being called? because " 
 
 A very faint smile trembled on the lips of the 
 lady's maid. 
 
 " I have always been called Ponsford, ma'am," 
 was her answer, and there was just sufficient into- 
 nation of reproof in her voice as she spoke, to 
 make Miss Blackstone exclaim, " Of course, 
 mamma," and carry her mother emphatically out 
 of the room. 
 
 Before the next train started for London, Pons- 
 ford was engaged as the future Lady Bohun's 
 maid, and on talking it over, all parties seemed 
 pleased. Mr. Blackstone had of course a few- 
 words to say against it, but he was so much ac- 
 customed to being "put down," that he thought 
 nothing of any objection he might advance, being 
 immediately negatived.
 
 IX THE CUPBOARD. 13 
 
 He did not quite like the idea of Phemy 's being 
 attended by a person who seemed " high" he had 
 no pride, and though he was certainly elated at 
 the match his daughter was so unexpectedly 
 making, he did not hold his head a bit the higher 
 for it, nor did he wish people to think better of 
 
 
 
 him for it. Now these were sentiments which were 
 very distasteful to both his wife and daughter. 
 Phemy was going to move in a new sphere, and 
 so they both thought that the people about her 
 ought to belong to that raised sphere also. 
 
 " Ponsford looks the sort of person who would 
 be quite a comfort to Phemy," said her mother; 
 and Phemy added, " And save me such a world 
 of trouble, knowing so well all about Bohun 
 Court, and the sort of people who have been in 
 the habit of staying there." 
 
 Mr. Blackstone said, " Humph !" but did not 
 look convinced. He thought 1'orty rather old too. 
 
 "Oh dear no!" cried Mrs. Blackstone, "not 
 when the person has all the appearance of youth 
 to add to the experience of age/' 
 
 In short, it was decided that Ponefora was to 
 be the person, and so Mr. Blackstone forbore to 
 urge any further objections. He had only a few 
 words to say by way of humble caution before the 
 subject entirely dropped, and these were,
 
 14 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Well, ray dear, whatever you think conducive 
 to your comfort and happiness, shall of course be 
 done, only my old mother used to say, and I be- 
 lieve very truly, be master or mistress of your 
 establishment whatever be your station in life. 
 Be kind, but preserve your supremacy; no tyranny 
 like the tyranny of a servant !"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHAT did Mr. Blackstone, good easy man, gain 
 by his interference in domestic matters ? What 
 does anybody ever gain for giving the advice for 
 which they are solicited? Nothing. He had 
 been consulted, it is true; that compliment had 
 certainly been paid him, but his opinions had not 
 met with that respect and obedience which one 
 would have expected, considering that it was 
 generally supposed Mrs. and Miss Blackstoue 
 never did anything without " consulting Mr. 
 Blackstone." 
 
 Phemy Blackstone was young, gay, and very 
 pretty ; full of health and spirits, exuberant with 
 happiness, words of advice and caution fell lightly 
 on her ear, and the future was to her nothing but 
 a still brighter phase of what had ever been to 
 her a bright existence. All her life long, her 
 father and mother had lived but for her, and now
 
 16 THE SKELETON 
 
 another devoted heart was a toy in her hands. 
 All her life long she had been nursed in wealth 
 and luxury; now rank was to be added to these 
 advantages. In truth, it was enough to turn a 
 young girl's head ; it was as if the cup were full 
 of prosperity to the very brim, and as for any 
 drawback, how could that be ? 
 
 " How odd papa is!" were all the thanks the 
 tender, loving, anxious old man for both he and 
 the mother were old for so young a daughter 
 got for his pains. " How very odd he is ! What 
 an idea about my not being mistress of every- 
 thing, and about the tyranny of a servant, too 
 mamma. What did he mean ?" 
 
 "Oh! I know that old story so well," said Mrs. 
 Blackstone, smiling. " From the very day your 
 papa and I married, that old sentence of his has 
 'been ready for every occasion." 
 
 " But why, mamma ? How ? How can any 
 servant tyrannize ? What does he mean ?" 
 
 " My dear, there was an old story, something 
 that always made my blood run cold, of a clerk, 
 an old, old man, too, in your grandfather's count- 
 ing-house, who gained such an ascendancy in the 
 family that their very souls hardly appeared to be 
 their own, so fearful was his influence, and their 
 dread of him. At vour grandfather's death-bed
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 17 
 
 the scenes were so dreadful that, your papa says, 
 they have haunted him ever since. Had not your 
 papa worked hard slaved indeed for the for- 
 tune we are blessed with, he would have been a 
 poor man up to this day for all that his father left 
 him ! Not a farthing of your grandfather's pro- 
 perty was secured, except a large annuity to this 
 old man, and yet I have heard your papa say the 
 life he. led him! ah, well !" 
 
 " But, mamma, that was a man. No woman 
 could ever exercise tyranny? a woman, or a 
 maid servant rather, could never be in a posi- 
 tion " 
 
 " Oh ! no, my dear ; don't think any more of it. 
 You have not heard the expression so often as I 
 have, or it would not make any impression. But 
 now, about Ponsford. We must arrange about 
 her coming." 
 
 Yes, time was getting on. The trousseau was 
 coming home day by day, and day by day, too, 
 the excitement grew greater. Friends flocked in. 
 The Laurels was positively besieged, and every 
 one was charmed with the Bohun diamonds, reset, 
 not for the third time, but for the first ! The two 
 former Ladies Bohun had been content to wear 
 them as they were, proud of their purity, de- 
 lighted when people called them rococo.
 
 18 THE SKELETON 
 
 Not so the third Lady Bohun. "Dear Sir 
 Felix I like modern settings so much better 
 might I have just the ear-rings reset? Are you 
 angry at my presumption ? Have you any fancy 
 for this antiquated style ?" 
 
 So spake the fair fiancee, and what could the 
 happy man reply, but that nothing in her could 
 be presumption, and that he lived but to study 
 her pleasure and happiness. The consequence 
 was, all the diamonds were sent to Turner's, 
 where all the Bohuns had dealt for generations, 
 and drawings and designs were to be forwarded to 
 Miss Blackstone. 
 
 Sir Felix was very little at The Laurels, he 
 had so much business on his hands, but he wrote 
 a letter to his fair Euphemia regularly every day, 
 sometimes twice a day, and she read them the 
 moment she had time. 
 
 One of the bridesmaid's-to-be commented one 
 day on this stoicism, and the fair Euphemia's 
 reply was, that she was not a literary character. 
 She could not bear reading or writing, and read- 
 ing a letter was next worst to writing one. 
 
 " But does not Sir Felix expect you to answer 
 his epistles?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes ; and I do." 
 
 " What, without reading his ?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 19 
 
 " Oh ! I tell you how I manage. If I have 
 been so busy that I have not had an instant to 
 read his last two or three, I write him one 
 crossed all over, and end in a clear place in a fine 
 bold hand, * your own loving Phemy,' and he is 
 quite satisfied. Men never read crossed letters, 
 so I know I am safe ; and, to tell you a secret, he 
 is what he calls rather near-sighted. I know 
 what sort of near-sightedness it is, but never 
 mind dear old fellow ! he sees how to choose 
 jewels wonderfully well, and that is the sort of 
 sight that pleases me, my dear !" 
 
 " Lucky Phemy !" sighed her friend ; " you 
 must give us all a helping hand when you ascend 
 the throne. Are there no more of the same 
 family ? no brothers ?" 
 
 " One brother," said Euphemia, carelessly, 
 " only one a younger brother, of course, but I 
 don't know anything about him ; he will not sig- 
 nify much to me, you know. I suppose he is in 
 some sort of profession or other, and doubtless he 
 will come to the wedding, but whether he is 
 worth having or not, I cannot tell ; I should say 
 not, because a little bird whispered to me, that 
 the Bohuns were never rich, but that both the 
 first and second Lady Bohuns had large for- 
 tunes...
 
 20 TUB SKELETON 
 
 " And the third, Phemy ?" 
 
 " Ah ! my dear, but the third does not mean to 
 do what the first and second did ! die first, and 
 leave it all to Sir Felix ! But, some day, I will 
 ask all about his young brother, never fear ; and 
 if I find it worth while sending for you to Bohun 
 Court, depend upon it I will ; and now about the 
 bonnets " 
 
 Miss Blackstone was a young lady gifted with 
 a great flow of conversation, and this had hitherto 
 been the music in which the ears of her parents 
 chiefly delighted. To herself, also, at the present 
 crisis, there was no theme on which she so loved 
 to dilate, with all the powers of language, as that 
 of her future prospects, so she talked incessantly 
 of them, morning, noon, and night, to every 
 friend she had, and as the prosperous of this world 
 have many friends, the name of her listeners was 
 Legion. It was only in strictest confidence, when 
 their backs were fairly turned on The Laurels, 
 that these bosom friends ventured to whisper 
 amongst themselves, " Did you ever know any 
 one half so absurd as Phemy Blackstone? the 
 girl's head is turned !" 
 
 But there was one person to whom Phemy 
 talked without the slightest misgiving as to whe- 
 ther her wrapt attention and sympathy were inte-
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 21 
 
 rested or not ; one person who entered into all 
 her projects, assisted her by word and by act, and 
 with noiseless rapidity arranged the whole of the 
 elaborate trousseau, and disposed it away in the 
 various boxes without ever asking where should 
 that go, or what should be done with this. 
 
 Many of Phemy's young friends had an eye to 
 some of the cast-off bracelets and much of the 
 bijouterie which the Lady Bohun-to-be now con- 
 sidered beneath her notice ; she was sharp enough 
 to see all that, and a great deal more, in all those 
 who crowded round her, save one this one was 
 Ponsford, the new maid, who arrived at The 
 Laurels a week before the wedding, and who, as 
 soon as her bonnet was off, seemed to enter upon her 
 duties as though she had been Miss Blackstone's 
 maid all her life. 
 
 Phemy was delighted with her, and the first 
 day that Sir Felix arrived in town, and came out 
 to The Laurels to dine, she began to expatiate, 
 with her usual fluency, on the merits of Ponsford. 
 
 " And, dear Sir Felix " (she always called him 
 " dear Sir Felix ; " he had begged her to call him 
 Felix, but her merry young lips had never been 
 able to achieve the feat), " dear Sir Felix, she 
 knows all about you and Bohun Court; only 
 think!"
 
 22 THE SKELETON 
 
 The thought brought a shadow over the brow 
 of Sir Felix in a moment, and lie paused before 
 he answered. 
 
 " I never even heard her name," said he, at 
 last. 
 
 " Then you are a wicked, forgetful, ungrateful 
 man, for she holds you in the greatest respect 
 and admiration." 
 
 " Ponsford, Ponsford ? No. I can think of 
 no one of that name." 
 
 " Mira Ponsford ; does that help you ? A tall, 
 slight woman, very fair, very calm and concen- 
 trated (mamma calls her) in her manners ; won- 
 derful eyes, so deep, and steady, and searching ; a 
 low, clear voice, just like a stage whisper, and 
 without being the least handsome, a face that 
 clings to your memory." 
 
 " Not to mine, then, fair enthusiast," said Sir 
 Felix, smiling ; " and I only hope no accomplished 
 impostor has practised on your credulity, for I 
 certainly have not the honour of her acquaintance." 
 
 " Now, that is very odd," persisted Euphemia ; 
 " there must be some mistake, and the mistake, 
 dear Sir Felix, must be yours. She was maid to 
 a Lady Mary Topham, who was a daughter 
 of " 
 
 " Oh !"" interrupted Sir Felix, " I used to know
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 23 
 
 all the Tophams well. Topham himself is a 
 hunting man in my county, and my intimate 
 friend. Oh, I see ! Yes, yes ! Of course she 
 has been at Bohun Court in the lifetime of Lady 
 Mary." 
 
 "Yes; and of Lady Merivale, her mother," 
 said Euphemia. 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt but I never saw her ; 
 however, I dare say it is all right, and I hope she 
 may prove a perfect treasure for your sake ; but 
 as to her acquaintance, that I am reluctantly 
 obliged to ignore, for I never even heard her 
 name." 
 
 " Now, that puzzles me," continued the perti- 
 nacious bride, who was one of those people who 
 will wear a subject threadbare, "because she 
 seems to know you so well " 
 
 All at once a light appeared to break in upon 
 Sir Felix's mind, and he raised his hand with a 
 gesture of sudden intelligence. 
 
 " I know ! " he exclaimed, " I know now ! 
 How could I be so stupid as to forget ? I per- 
 fectly remember the person you mean ; not by 
 sight, but by reputation." 
 
 At this word Mrs. Blackstone became on the 
 fjni rice. 
 
 " Dear me, Sir Felix good gracious ! I hope
 
 24 THE SKELETON 
 
 we have not been too precipitate ? The character 
 we received from Lady Merivale was so very 
 satisfactory." 
 
 " Don't misunderstand me," said Sir Felix, 
 when he could edge in a word ; " I have no doubt 
 all is right, as I before said ; but what makes me 
 remember her by reputation is, a name by which 
 my brother always insisted on calling Lady Meri- 
 vale's maid your Ponsford, I imagine and which 
 used to make poor Lady Mary so angry. That 
 name was so caught up at Bohun Court, that 
 really it seemed quite to belong to the poor 
 woman." 
 
 "And what was it?" asked Euphemia. 
 
 " The Vampire," said Sir Felix abruptly, and 
 there was a dead pause. Mrs. Blackstone looked 
 at her daughter, and the latter turned very pale. 
 
 "I wish," murmured she, looking down, and 
 playing with her rings, " that you had not told 
 me, Sir Felix. How extremely horrid." 
 
 Sir Felix laughed. It had been a joke of his 
 brother's, he said, and had seemed so exactly to 
 suit the young woman ; " though," added he, " I 
 cannot, with truth, say I assented to the likeness 
 from personal experience, only my guests used to 
 say so, and Lady Mary used to scold my brother 
 for drawing such a comparison for her favourite."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 25 
 
 <e Ah ! then she was a favourite ? " 
 
 " Oh ! certainly she was. They could do 
 nothing without her. As for Lady Merivale 
 my dear Euphemia, you have never seen the 
 Countess, but I hope some day you will I can- 
 not think how she ever came to part with her, 
 even to Lady Mary ; still less can I guess why, 
 when Lady Mary died, she did not go back to 
 her old mistress; for, I assure you, it was a 
 standing joke amongst us all, down at Bohun, 
 that old Lady Merivale must fall to pieced were 
 it not for the vampire ! "" 
 
 Euphemia was curious to know the reason. 
 She was not much used to society not used at 
 all to the society of venerable grandees, com- 
 pelled, by their position, to live on the face of the 
 world, and to make the best of their appearance. 
 What did Sir Felix mean by Lady Merivale's 
 falling to pieces ? 
 
 " Because, my Euphemia " and the baronet 
 looked at his charming and unsophisticated piece 
 of innocence with delighted eyes v< there never 
 was any one, living and breathing, so completely 
 made up as that old lady. My brother had a 
 curious story about her." 
 
 " Your brother seems fond of odd names and 
 stories," said Euphemia, rather pertly. 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 26 THE SKELETON 
 
 " He is very quaint and original," smiled Sir 
 Felix ; " you will be charmed with him, my dear 
 Euphemia/' 
 
 " And what was his curious story ? '" inquired 
 the young lady, evasively. 
 
 " Oh, excellent ! He happened to be staying 
 at Lord Merivale's once when there was an alarm 
 of fire in the Castle. The galleries were filled 
 with smoke, and the rooms were filled with 
 guests, who all flew down to the great hall in any 
 attire they could find, but strange to say the 
 Countess was nowhere to be seen. Lady Mary 
 was in hysterics, shrieking for her mother, and 
 imploring every one to save her ; whilst all the 
 time the old lady was standing in the midst of 
 them, not daring to confess herself, since not one 
 of the twenty people, who sat with her every day 
 at dinner, had an idea that there, in beauty un- 
 adorned, shorn of all her fair proportions, and 
 minus all her ' substitutions,' as Guy used to call 
 them, stood the Countess of Merivale herself ! " 
 
 "And how did it end?" said Euphemia, quite 
 angrily. 
 
 "By the vampire's carrying her off in triumph, 
 and declaring the next morning that her ladyship 
 had escaped to the cellars before any of the house- 
 hold had heard the alarm given ! "
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 27 
 
 " Ha ! " exclaimed Mr. Blackstone, speaking 
 for the first time after an hour's devoted attention 
 to the conversation, "how fearful to be thus at 
 the mercy of a dependant ! of how many secrets 
 these people often possess themselves, and what 
 fatal use they might make of the power with 
 which the possession invests them ! I remember, 
 in days gone by, my old mother used to say " 
 
 " Oh, papa ! v laughed Euphemia. 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; my old mother used to say, 
 no tyranny like the tyranny of a servant." 
 
 " And I can believe it, though I never expe- 
 rienced it," said Sir Felix ; " at the same time, all 
 this casts no reflection on Ponsford." 
 
 " Mamma," said the young lady, as she went up 
 stairs, with her arm round her mother's waist, 
 when the evening closed, " I have a certain 
 conviction, though I never saw him and know 
 nothing of him, that I shall hate Mr. Bohun ! " 
 
 c2
 
 28 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TURN we now to another scene, a fairer scene 
 than the suburban villa, in spite of its nineteenth- 
 century-elevation, and all its modern improve- 
 ments ; gaze now, ye eyes that love the old 
 baronial halls of England, on that large, straggling 
 pile of buildings, gray with age and green with 
 ivy, and see what a grand old house Sir Felix 
 Bohun called his home. 
 
 Here and there a turret ; here and there a 
 projection ; windows of all sorts and all sizes ; 
 and the whole surrounded by a broad gravel 
 terrace, from the centre of which sloped a broad 
 flight of stone steps; then another gravel terrace, 
 and another flight of steps ; a third gravel terrace, 
 and one last flight of steps these leading to a 
 wide park, studded with groups of trees, sheep 
 under some, and deer under others ; and the grass 
 pressed down into little narrow paths, not meant
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 29 
 
 to be paths at all, but short cuts to different 
 distant points, too pleasant and convenient for 
 either Sir Felix or Mr. Bohun to do away with. 
 
 This was the back of Bohun Court. The 
 entrance was on the gloomy side of the house, 
 looking to the north ; and there the stone court- 
 yard, and the stone lions-rampant, and the massive 
 iron-bound oaken door, kept up all the dignity of 
 a baronial hall. 
 
 But to turn to the sunny side. On a bright, 
 fresh morning, in early spring, when the sun's 
 rays fell so warmly on the breakfast-room that it.s 
 long windows were open, a gentleman stepped out 
 on the terrace, with an open letter in his hand, 
 and looked anxiously across the park, as if watch- 
 ing for an expected visitor. 
 
 He had not to look long, for, taking advantage 
 of one of the above-mentioned short cuts, another 
 figure was soon seen emerging from an avenue of 
 chesnuts, and wending its way along one of the 
 little beaten tracks. 
 
 Mr. Bohun stood still and watched it advancing. 
 As it approached nearer, his eyes seemed to wan- 
 der to the landscape, and rest almost lovingly on 
 its beauty. The haze of a spring morning, and 
 an easterly breeze, was spread like a gauze veil 
 over hill and dale, and over the Bohun wood.- 1 ,
 
 SO THE SKELETON 
 
 though the dark tops of the fir trees peeped out 
 here and there, and the wavy outline of distant 
 downs became every moment more and more 
 distinct. 
 
 Mr. Bohun stood without his hat, and on his 
 forehead, high and somewhat bald, could be 
 counted many more wrinkles than even the eyes 
 of an enemy would have detected on that of Sir 
 Felix. It was a face of extreme gentleness and 
 benevolence ; but though nature had given him a 
 five years advantage of his brother in point of 
 youth, every one would have said the ages were 
 reversed, and pronounce in favour of Sir Felix, 
 for Mr. Bohun looked care-worn and old. 
 
 All his life long, Mr. Bohun had been the 
 working brother, and Sir Felix the man of the 
 guy world, born for society and pleasure, and 
 carefully avoiding all the worries of every-day 
 existence. Since these worries must fall to the 
 lot of some one person in a family, even if not to 
 all the members, it so happened that destiny had 
 laid them on the shoulders of Mr. Bohun. He 
 managed the estate, hired the servants, heard the 
 grievances, paid the bills, and would have laid 
 down his life (metaphorically) for Bohun Court, 
 so it was a labour of love, though a labour all the 
 same.
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 31 
 
 And yet there had been two Lady Bohuns ? 
 Yes. The first a fine lady, who looked upon the 
 venerable house as a retreat for a fortnight at 
 Easter and a few months in winter, and hated it 
 all the rest of the year. The unobtrusive useful- 
 ness of Mr. Bohun gave her no sort of concern ; 
 it was nothing to her, except that it left Sir Felix 
 at liberty to spend the springs in London and the 
 summers abroad with her. Consequently, during 
 her reign, he was acknowledged and authorised 
 regent. Even down to the village children, more 
 hats were doffed to Mr. Bohun than ever little 
 ragged brims were pulled to Sir Felix. 
 
 Then came the second Lady Bohun. She was 
 a confirmed invalid. Wealth and beauty had been 
 hers, but health had been denied her. To her 
 Mr. Bohun was the most devoted of brothers. 
 Sir Felix was invariably kind and good to her, 
 but in her state of health she could not tie him 
 down to Bohun Court it was so dull for him 
 all very well when the house was full of company, 
 for the hunting season, for instance, or for the 
 pheasants ; but in the dull season, when he had 
 always been accustomed to gad about, she would 
 not, for worlds, condemn him to a quietude 
 which depressed him no ; he should go and 
 amuse himself.
 
 32 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Guy and I will keep house ; we shall do very 
 well ; and you will come back and refresh us with 
 all the news, which will suit us far better than 
 entering into the gaiety ourselves." 
 
 And so the regency went on during all the 
 lingering years of the second Lady Bohun's fragile 
 existence, and to her Mr. Bohun was the greatest 
 of comforts, her counsellor, her almoner, her com- 
 panion, and her friend. 
 
 Day by day, all day long if she liked, Mr. 
 Bohun was at her beck and call to take her orders 
 and do her commissions, light as air as they always 
 were ! to walk by the side of her garden chair, 
 and guide its diminutive pony through the paths 
 to all her favourite flower beds, or else to the 
 doors of the cottages which she regularly visited. 
 It was his study, his happiness, and his pastime to 
 make those suffering years pass as pleasantly to 
 her as possible ; and when, at last, the garden 
 chair became too great an exertion, and Lady 
 Bohun was reduced to her sofa, the very lawn in 
 front of her morning room was cut up and laid 
 out under her directions and his superintendence, 
 that to the last she might inhale the fragrance she 
 so loved, and die in the midst of her favourite 
 occupations ; and this, in fact, she did, and "Sir 
 Felix became this time, in reality, a disconsolate 
 widower.
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 
 
 And Mr. Bohun, did he not miss her ? Yes ! 
 every hour of his busy day ; for, whilst Sir Felix 
 went abroad for change and consolation, he re- 
 mained at his post, haunted by her presence, and 
 living to execute, to the utmost of his power, 
 every wish that she had ever expressed when the 
 scene was closing to her. 
 
 And now people really looked upon Mr. Bohun 
 as safe. He had been heir presumptive (not heir 
 presumptuous) for five-and-forty years ; now they 
 said he might surely be called heir apparent, and 
 not a voice in all the country round but cordially 
 exclaimed they hoped it might be so. In fact, 
 Sir Felix himself had given it out he never in- 
 tended to marry again ; and he went abroad, and 
 ran the gauntlet of every sort of temptation, and 
 came home again .still free, resolved to settle down 
 at Bohun Court, and share Avith his brother the 
 care of an estate which the love of his lost wife 
 had hallowed. 
 
 Business, however, connected with his pos- 
 sessions, took him up to town. Now let us go 
 back to the figure advancing towards Mr. Bohun 
 with outstretched hands, the figure of a gray- 
 haired man, his long locks streaming in the air, a 
 set colour in his thin, worn cheeks, and a white 
 neck-cloth to betoken his vocation. 
 
 C5
 
 34 THE SKELETON 
 
 " My dear friend, my dear Mr. Bohun ! 1 
 have made all the haste I possibly could ; and my 
 anxiety has given wings to my feet. I see a letter 
 in your hand confirmation or refutation? Tell 
 me, in a word, is the rumour true?" 
 
 The panting breathlessness of the speaker drew 
 a hearty laugh from Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Perfectly true," said he, cheerfully ; " and 
 five pages, four of them crossed, full of excuses, 
 which are perfectly unnecessary from my brother, 
 inasmuch as I had no possible right to demand 
 them, no more than I wish him to make them. 
 The rumour is quite true. Sir Felix is really 
 going to be married again, and this is the an- 
 nouncement." 
 
 Mr. Bohun held up the letter, and the Rector 
 of Bohun sat down on a bench, overpowered by 
 his feelings. 
 
 "I did hot think it, I would not believe it," 
 said he, at last, as he flourished his pocket hand- 
 kerchief in the air ; " and I said to my wife, this 
 very morning, Mary, no one but Mr. Bohun 
 shall tell me of it ! " 
 
 " And Mr. Bohun himself tells you, my good 
 friend," said the heir presumptive, descending 
 from his temporary pedestal with all the equa- 
 nimity of his character; "indeed, I am not
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 35 
 
 knocked down by the blow, not half so much as 
 you appear yourself! cheer up, and remember 
 that twice before this has happened, and each 
 time I have been so fortunate as not to be sepa- 
 rated from you. It is only the old story over 
 again !" 
 
 " Yes, but the risk, the risk !" ejaculated the 
 old clergyman, shaking his head ; " who knows 
 what revolution the step may occasion ? My dear 
 friend, if w r e lost you, what should we do ? How 
 can we spare you if circumstances should require 
 you to give us less of your personal and moral 
 support?" 
 
 " Twice before the same risk has been run," 
 said Mr. Bohun, "and still here I am amongst 
 you. Twice before I have played the part of a 
 brother to my brother's wife, and I see no just 
 cause why my third essay should prove less suc- 
 cessful than hitherto/' 
 
 " Ah ! my dear sir," persisted the old clergy- 
 man, " it is, as I said before, the risk ! the risk ! 
 and at Sir Felix's time of life, too ! Dear me ! 
 who would have thought it ?" 
 
 " I," said Mr. Bohun, firmly ; " and I always 
 have thought it that my brother was not the 
 man to settle down quietly as a widower. As for 
 liis time of life, he is still what the world would
 
 36 THE SKELETON 
 
 call a young man ; that is to say, a middle-aged 
 man; and middle-aged men, my dear Mr. Mel- 
 ville, do not approve of being put on the shelf 
 merely because they happen to be widowers." 
 
 But Mr. Melville was not to be consoled. He 
 had made up his mind, in common with all the 
 neighbourhood, that Bohun Court was never 
 again to see a Lady Bohun a Mrs. Bohun would 
 have been welcomed as a novelty ; but to see Sir 
 Felix bring home another bride, and to have to 
 " make her acquaintance," as the saying is, was a 
 trial of fortitude. 
 
 "And then for it all to happen so suddenly !" 
 continued Mr. Melville ; " it really came upon us 
 like a thunderbolt, this rumour." 
 
 " Rumour, with her many tongues, pointed 
 them all at Bohun Court," laughed Mr.'Bohun, 
 seemingly resolved to turn the whole affair into 
 rather a pleasant occurrence than anything else ; 
 " but the singular part of it all is, that, for once 
 in a way, rumour has hit upon the truth." 
 
 " But how did it happen ? Had you any idea 
 when Sir Felix went up to town ? How did this 
 young lady, if it is a young lady, contrive to 
 make so sudden an impression?" were a few 
 amongst the numerous questions which poured 
 from the lips of the anxious Rector of Bohun.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 37 
 
 " Sit down a moment by my side," said Mr. 
 Bohun, leading the old gentleman to a rustic 
 bench on the grass under one of the clumps of old 
 elms ; " sit down, and hear the very small cause 
 from which this great event sprung. In the first 
 place, you must know, that my brother went to 
 town on money matters; that it was absolutely 
 necessary he should see his man of business with- 
 out half an hour's delay ; that not finding him at 
 his office, he pursued him all over the City, and 
 on returning late in despair to his office, found he 
 had just left it for good, and had started for the 
 station ; you must also know, by the way, that 
 this happy man of business possesses a villa in 
 the suburbs with quite a reputation for beauty 
 and luxury. But to proceed : guess the small 
 cause of this new phase in the destiny of Sir 
 Felix !" 
 
 "My dear friend, I am all attention; but I 
 never could guess in all my life not even the 
 riddle about the first nail in the ark, which every 
 young lady makes a point of asking me in compli- 
 ment to my cloth much less can I guess to what 
 you are leading." 
 
 " Well, then, the small cause was this, the 
 stopping of my brother's watch ! A clerk hap- 
 pened to be just leaving the office as Sir Felix
 
 38 THE SKELETON 
 
 drove up ; he announced that Mr. Blaekstone had 
 just driven off, that he always went home to din- 
 ner, that he always dined and slept at The 
 Laurels. Now this was a delay which might have 
 put my brother to the greatest inconvenience, 
 and, in fact, somehow or other, he must see Mr. 
 Blackstone that night, and so it struck him that 
 the best thing he could do would be to follow 
 him down to the station it was merely an inter- 
 view of a few minutes that was required he 
 might catch him before he started. At what 
 time did he go? At 5'45. Sir Felix looked 
 at his watch, and jumped into the first Hansom. 
 He reached the station exactly as the first gate was 
 being closed, and saw Mr. Blackstone rushing 
 towards the carriages. To rush after him, and to 
 spring into a vacant seat by his side, was the 
 work of a moment in another he was steaming 
 towards The Laurels " 
 
 Well, then, the watch had not stopped?" ex- 
 claimed Mr. Melville. 
 
 " We have not come to that," returned Mr. 
 Bohun ; " we must now only imagine ourselves 
 walking up the hill to this suburban villa. Sir 
 Felix laughing at the adventure, and Mr. Black- 
 stone pressing him to stay and dine, assuring him 
 that there was a train back again at a quarter
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 39 
 
 after nine o'clock, which would just suit him ; and 
 so the unbidden guest remained, and was pre- 
 sented to Mrs. Blackstone, and last, not least, to 
 Miss Blackstone, and it seems that the charms 
 and accomplishments of the latter for I am told 
 she sings like any nightingale made the two 
 hours pass like two minutes, although my brother 
 affirms most seriously that he never had an 
 idea of losing that 9'15 train. At twenty mi- 
 nutes before nine he looked at his watch, and as 
 Miss Blackstone had just began another song, he 
 calculated that he could hear it out, and then he 
 slily looked at it again. It seems the beauty of 
 the singer and her song had completely put out of 
 his head the hour at which the hands had pointed 
 when he looked last, for seeing they now indi- 
 cated a quarter to nine, he calmly and gratefully 
 took his leave, intending to walk down to the 
 station with his host. Mr. Blackstone seemed 
 fidgetty, and remarked that they must walk fast ; 
 but my brother assured him there was no hurry, 
 and persisted in taking his time. The conse- 
 quence was, that when they reached the station 
 all was silent. We are much too soon, said Sir 
 Felix. We have lost the train, thought Mr. 
 Blackstone, and so it proved. That night my 
 brother slept at The Laurels, and spent the
 
 40 THE SKELETON 
 
 greater part of the next day there. This was his 
 first visit, but not his last by many and many. 
 The result of these visits you know. He an- 
 nounces it in this letter, and says he is coming 
 down here next week to make a few necessary 
 arrangements." 
 
 Mr. Bohun paused, and both he and the Rector 
 sat in silence for some time, each fully occupied 
 with his own thoughts. 
 
 " Then the lady is handsome," said Mr. Mel- 
 ville, at last. 
 
 " So my brother says." 
 
 " And shall you go to the wedding ?" 
 
 " I conclude my brother will wish it." 
 
 "And afterwards?" 
 
 " Oh ! return home, I suppose, and get ready 
 for them. There is so much to be done here be- 
 fore the old house can be made fit for the recep- 
 tion of a gay young bride. The best rooms have 
 not been opened for more than two years, and we 
 have let dust and mould gather a good deal about 
 cherished relics, which, I conclude, had better 
 now be swept away " 
 
 " Memories and all ?'' sighed Mr. Melville. 
 
 "Ah! no; never the memories!" exclaimed 
 Mr. Bohun ; " were fifty Lady Bohuns to succeed 
 the last in this old house, her memory would live in
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 41 
 
 it, and her presence haunt it, just as if her spirit 
 were permitted to return and remind me that 
 though lost, she need not be forgotten.' 1 
 
 " I hope it may be so," said the old clergyman, 
 " and I hope past habits and customs and memo- 
 ries may all be retained by the lady whom Sir 
 Felix has chosen." 
 
 " I do not doubt it," said Mr. Bohun, rising, 
 " because I believe my brother incapable of 
 selecting any one BO devoid of good feeling and 
 good taste as to harbour that most pitiful of 
 human weaknesses, jealousy of the dead."
 
 42 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MR. BOHUN felt rather nervous and fidgetty the 
 day that Sir Felix was expected down at Bohun 
 Court ; and as whatever Mr. Bohun felt, was always 
 felt by the whole household, no one seemed able 
 to settle to anything that day. It was a positive 
 relief when the hoofs of the carriage horses were 
 heard clattering into the court-yard, and Sir 
 Felix's heavy tread sounded in the hall, for then 
 it was over. 
 
 There was an awkwardness on both sides when 
 the brothers met, but most on the side of Sir 
 Felix. Mr. Bohun 's grasp of the hand was warm 
 and hearty, but his brother's eyes met his with an 
 anxious look, as if to say, had they dared, " Have 
 I made a fool of myself?" 
 
 No such accusation, however, welcomed him. 
 The same open, frank cordiality which was Mr. 
 Bohun"s characteristic, did not fail him now, and
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 4o 
 
 when the first few hours were over the hours of 
 explanations almost amounting to apologies the 
 brothers once more stood on precisely the same 
 footing towards each other as ever, with only one 
 slight difference, which was, that it seemed to both 
 as if years, and not weeks, had elapsed since last 
 they parted, the great intervening circumstance 
 appearing to fill up so large a space of time. 
 
 To any casual observer, it would have seemed 
 next to absurd to talk of putting Bohun Cour-t in 
 order for the reception of the new guest, so well 
 appointed were all the stately rooms; but Mr. 
 Bohun soon found that his brother had not re- 
 turned in the same contented state of mind in 
 which he had left home. The "best rooms," as 
 the old housekeeper so proudly called them, were 
 now ordered to be opened, and one bright morn- 
 ing, followed by this ancient servant and Mr. 
 Bohun, Sir Felix made the tour of inspection. 
 But in vain did the old lady expatiate on the car- 
 pets, and turn up the corners of the chintz covers, 
 to show how handsome the yellow satin looked 
 underneath. Sir Felix grumbled the sun hap- 
 pened unfortunately to be shining brightly, and 
 the bridegroom elect made no alknvance for the 
 dust and cobwebs of two years' seclusion from 
 light he called the carpets faded, and the yellow
 
 4- THE SKELETON 
 
 satin gaudy, and whispered to Mr. Bolmn that 
 " She detested yellow she wished the drawing- 
 rooms to be crimson." 
 
 " Then you will be obliged to have new carpets 
 these will not look well with crimson," said his 
 brother, inwardly marvelling the while at the pre- 
 mature interest exhibited by the future mistress 
 of the house. 
 
 " True so we shall," replied Sir Felix com- 
 posedly, and from the drawing-rooms, he went on 
 to the dining-room, then to the bedrooms, then to 
 the attics, and descended the stairs exclaiming, to 
 the intense mortification of Mrs. Dance, the house- 
 keeper, " All very dingy there must be a thorough 
 clean out, and clear out too." 
 
 And it was not Mrs. Dance alone who was 
 mortified at the remarks and behaviour of her 
 master it was not she alone w r ho looked and 
 listened, surprised and dismayed : his brother, 
 who followed in silence, was no less struck with 
 the metamorphose in Sir Felix than herself, and 
 more than once his astonishment nearly found 
 utterance in the Shakespearian exclamation, 
 " Thou art translated !" 
 
 Yes, Sir Felix teas translated. He was a new 
 man, with certainly a new pair of eyes, for Bohun 
 Court was no longer fair in his sight, the rooms
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 45 
 
 no longer grand and stately, the furniture no 
 longer handsome everything was dingy ! 
 
 Dingy ! Mr. Bohun could hardly believe his 
 ears. Dingy ! with what then could he be men- 
 tally comparing it? 
 
 Poor Mr. Bohun. What could he know about 
 it ? what could a vegetating bachelor know of 
 modern improvements ? of carpets in which your 
 feet were buried of chairs where you might 
 sleep a night through, so roomy and so luxurious 
 of curtains which looked like the costly twilled 
 silk of a lady's dress, and which perhaps our 
 great great grandmothers would have worn as 
 one in, short, what could lie know of comfort, 
 luxury, and taste, who had never seen even the 
 outside of the suburban villa, or heard the name 
 and fame of The Laurels ? 
 
 And now the survey of the whole house had 
 been taken, all save one room, and it was with a 
 visible shrinking that Sir Felix saw Mrs. Dance 
 single out a key tied with a bow of red ribbon, 
 and turn it in the lock. 
 
 This was a small room unconnected with the 
 suite of drawing-rooms, library, and dining-room. 
 It was at the southern side of the house, and looked 
 upon a flower garden cut into innumerable beds, 
 excepting just under the wide bay-window, and
 
 46 THE SKELETON 
 
 there there was a broad border in which were all 
 the clusters of violets and lilies of the valley. 
 Climbing up the window was a passion flower, 
 throwing out its long creepers amongst the nailed- 
 up branches of a luxuriant jessamine, and here 
 and there a tuft of that curious brown stock which 
 only exhales its exquisite scent at night. 
 
 They were now in this room, and Mr. Bohun 
 walked hastily to the window the moment they 
 entered. Sir Felix stood still, and looked round 
 without uttering a syllable. This was a room 
 filled with innumerable relics of the past. This 
 was the last Lady Bohun's own boudoir, where 
 she had spent all her latest hours. On that sofa 
 she had passed the suffering time ; in that chair, 
 when breath was failing her, had she been placed 
 by Mr. Bohun, and breathed her last sigh upon 
 his cheek. On the grass under that window, were 
 still the four patches worn away by the wheels of 
 her garden chair. 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Bohun turned. " You will have 
 nothing touched here?" said he to his brother, in 
 
 O * 
 
 a tone partly of entreaty, partly interrogatory. 
 " You need not," he continued, seeing that Sir 
 Felix hesitated. " This is a very small room it 
 will not be wanted it does not interfere with the 
 the octagon room between the drawing-
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 47 
 
 rooms will make a perfect lady's boudoir. Do not 
 touch this room, Felix !" 
 
 Sir Felix gulped down a feeling that rose in 
 his throat, and turned away. 
 
 "Do what you like here," said he, with an 
 effort ; " take it as your own, Guy. You have a 
 natural affection for the room, and you deserve to 
 appropriate it. Remember, Mrs. Dance, that 
 should Mr. Bohun be absent when the workmen 
 come down to do up the house, the key is to be 
 turned upon that room, and no step but my 
 brother's enter within that door." 
 
 Mrs. Dance curtsied low, and looking at Mr. 
 Bohun, coloured tearfully, as Sir Felix strode 
 away. 
 
 " I'm glad, sir," said she, in a faltering voice, 
 " I'm very glad Sir Felix gives up this room to 
 you. I was so afraid it was to be all new done 
 like the rest. Is there anything you would please 
 to have altered, sir ?" 
 
 No ; Mr. Bohun gave the strictest injunctions 
 on this point. Not a chair, nor a table, nor an 
 ornament was to be moved. 
 
 " I shall bring down a few things from my den 
 upstairs, Mrs. Dance just my books, and my 
 stuffed birds, and some of the pictures per- 
 haps I shall bring everything. Yes I think you
 
 48 THE SKELETON 
 
 may possess yourself of my den, Mrs. Dance, and 
 make a lumber room of it. I like this room 1 
 love it it is my whole home, and here I shall 
 live, and be in nobody's way. Mrs. Dance, if you 
 bring any paint, and paper, and whitewashing into 
 it, I never will forgive you. I think you under- 
 stand me ?" 
 
 " Oh, sir !" exclaimed the old lady, tottering 
 away ; " trust me, trust me. I understand you 
 perfectly ; I feel as you do yourself." 
 
 So now the worst was over, except the final 
 conversation between Sir Felix and Mr. Bohun, 
 as to whether the latter should continue to make 
 Bohun Court his home. Mr. Bohun urged that 
 such an arrangement might not be agreeable, and 
 hinted at chambers in the Albany. Sir Felix 
 scouted the idea, and declared that Bohun Court 
 could not go on without his brother, and the argu- 
 ment raged fiercely till the bridegroom conquered, 
 and the bachelor gave way. 
 
 And when this was settled all seemed smooth. 
 Sir Felix started for London, and Mr. Bohun was 
 to follow in a week, to see and be presented to the 
 bride elect, and become acquainted with her. The 
 newly married couple were then to go abroad, and 
 Mr. Bohun was to return home to make ready for 
 their reception when they came back towards 
 autumn.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TIME had now arrived to within a few days of the 
 wedding. Mr. Blaekstone had got through the 
 elaborate settlements which had made his daughter 
 mistress of forty thousand pounds, independent 
 of her expectations; and Mrs. Blaekstone had 
 achieved the trousseau, and seen it all laid out for 
 exhibition. The bride was in a great state of 
 excitement, arranging affairs of much greater 
 importance namely, the procession of the brides- 
 maids, and their programme of behaviour. Also, 
 Ponsford was in full force, regularly installed as 
 lady's maid, and doing the honours of the millinery 
 and jewellery with great effect. All Mrs. Black- 
 stone's circle were very much awed and impressed 
 with her manners on the occasion, and even 
 Euphemia allowed herself to be guided by her in 
 every respect. 
 
 "Ponsford," she exclaimed, running into her 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 THE SKELETON 
 
 room early one morning, " put me out something 
 very smart. We are going to spend the day at 
 the Crystal Palace, and Mr. Bohun is to see me 
 there for the first time. What had I better 
 wear ? " 
 
 " Not anything very smart, ma'am," was 
 Ponsford's reply, " if you wish to make a fa- 
 vourable impression on Mr. Bohun." 
 
 Euphemia's clear blue eyes grew into a circle. 
 
 "W"hy?" she exclaimed; "is he so very 
 difficult to please ? A man of his age ! " 
 
 "Oh, ma'am!" said the maid, with a smile, 
 " he may not be a very young gentleman ; but I 
 have heard the ladies at Bohun Court say they 
 were more particular about their dress when Mr. 
 Bohun was at home, than when they dressed for 
 London dinners in the season." 
 
 Euphemia bit her lips and pouted. 
 
 " Do you think he really is a judge ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, ma'am ! that I know." 
 
 "What style of people I mean dress does he 
 admire?" 
 
 Ponsford began first by describing what she 
 imagined to be Mr. Bohun's style of beauty, 
 and did it so adroitly that Euphemia looked in 
 the glass with a proud smile on her lips. She 
 flattered herself the difficult man would have
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 51 
 
 little fault to find with his brother's taste in that 
 respect ! 
 
 Meanwhile, her maid was spreading out a very 
 handsome light brown silk dress, of a shade 
 approaching fawn. 
 
 "Oh, Ponsford !" cried the young lady, "not 
 that quakerish thing ! I mean that for country 
 walks in the dust and the mud. Give me the 
 Eugenie blue for to-day." 
 
 " Miss Blackstone, this pale brown, with your 
 Spanish mantilla, and that lovely lilac crape 
 bonnet which, came last night, would, I assure 
 you, be in better taste for the occasion than 
 the bright blue." 
 
 "Why?" exclaimed Euphemia, firing up. " I 
 should think I knew pretty well what ought to be 
 worn at the Crystal Palace !" 
 
 " Of course, ma'am/' replied Ponsford, hastily. 
 " I did not mean that. I meant considering your 
 present position, ma'am ; and also, since you 
 rather wished, I thought, to wear something 
 according to Mr. Bohun's taste. Engaged young 
 ladies," she added, seeing a frown gathering on 
 Euphemia's brow, " always attract so much 
 attention. 1 ' 
 
 " So they do," interrupted the bride elect ; " so 
 perhaps, after all, I had better look rather quiet 
 
 D2
 
 .;2 THE SKELETON 
 
 than otherwise. Very well. I will wear the 
 
 brown silk. That gorgeous mantilla will set it 
 
 off. Do you know, Ponsford, that Sir Felix gave 
 
 forty guineas for that mantilla?" 
 
 " I dare say, ma'am. I know they are very 
 
 expensive." 
 
 " How do you know ? I thought they were 
 
 very rare. Sir Felix said so." 
 
 " So they are, as handsome as this, ma'am." 
 "Do you know how to put it on, Ponsford ?" 
 " Oh, yes, ma'am ! " 
 (< Are you sure ? Because Sir Felix said there 
 
 was a particular way." 
 
 " I know quite well, ma'am." 
 
 " But how do you know so well ? " 
 
 "Lady Mary wore one constantly, ma'am." 
 
 " Oh ! " Miss Blackstone was satisfied. And 
 
 then she continued, " But, Ponsford, about Mr. 
 
 Bohun is he like Sir Felix ?" 
 
 " Xot the least, ma'am. Mr. Bohun looks 
 
 much older ; more like a country gentleman, too. 
 
 He has quite a different sort of manner and voice, 
 
 and he has a very decided way of speaking." 
 "Good looking?" 
 
 " Not so handsome as Sir Felix, ma'am." 
 " I wonder why he never married ? " 
 " I cannot say, ma'am. I never heard of his
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 53 
 
 paying any lady attention. Lady Mary used to 
 say he was the most unsusceptible person she 
 ever met. Besides, ma'anr, he is so comfortable 
 at Bohun Court." 
 
 " But that cannot be like his own home," said 
 Euphemia. " By the by, I wonder where his 
 own home is?" 
 
 " Bohun Court, ma'am," said Ponsford, slightly 
 pinching in her lips. 
 
 There was a pause. A red flush came over 
 Euphemia's face, and she paused in the operation 
 of pulling out a bow with her bonnet strings. 
 The flush heightened to a glow. Something was 
 stirring in her mind, and she breathed quicker 
 than before. Ponsford was deeply engrossed with 
 the folding of the Spanish mantilla. 
 
 How was it that that " something " had never 
 stirred in Euphemia's mind before ? " How was 
 it," thought she to herself, "that I never dreamt 
 of asking Sir Felix if Mr. Bohun always lived at 
 Bohun Court ? Perhaps he does not : I shall not 
 like it if he does. I always thought Sir Felix 
 had no ' encumbrances ' (as Fanny "Washington 
 calls relations) about the house. I must find it 
 all out. I remember, when the Washingtons 
 came to congratulate, Mrs. Washington parti- 
 cularly said how completely I should be mistress
 
 54 THE SKELETON 
 
 at Bohun Court, just as if Sir Felix had been a 
 bachelor ; but if I am to have a fidgetty, difficult 
 man always watching me, planted there for life 
 (for evidently he is a regular old bachelor), I 
 shall not like it at all. Ill ask Sir Felix cleverly 
 perhaps Mr. Bohun only comes for the country 
 seasons if I don't like him, I can coax Sir Felix 
 up to town at those times ; at all events, I'll 
 sound Sir Felix this very day." 
 
 By this time the mantilla was ready. It was 
 placed over the graceful shoulders after the most 
 approved fashion, and Euphemia descended to the 
 drawing-room. 
 
 There was one difference between the feelings 
 with which she descended the staircase, and 
 those with which she had mounted them. TJien 
 she said Mr. Bohun was to see her for the first 
 time; now she felt that she was going to see 
 kirn. 
 
 " Well ! " exclaimed Mrs. Blackstone, as hep 
 daughter entered the room, "I do think, my 
 dear, that is the very prettiest bonnet I ever saw. 
 But, surely, you are very plainly dressed? I 
 should have thought that lovely blue silk would 
 have been more the thing?" 
 
 " Ponsford said not, mamma ; " replied the young 
 lady, whose temper had received a shock a few
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. -"."' 
 
 minutes before, and had not recovered ; " Ponsforcl 
 said it was too smart for the occasion." 
 
 " Too smart ? good gracious, dear child ! when 
 
 I declare I have seen the Duchess of there 
 
 in almost a ball-dress ! " 
 
 " Perhaps so, mamma, but Ponsford knows so 
 perfectly what people ought to wear ; she meant 
 that in my position I ought not to make such a 
 show, and my dress is very handsome though it is 
 quiet. 1 ' 
 
 At that instant wheels were heard on the 
 gravel, and Sir Felix sprang out of the basket 
 carriage, with its two spirited little ponies, in 
 which he was to have the privilege of driving 
 Miss Blackstone to Sydenham. 
 
 No sooner had he entered the room, than Mrs. 
 Blackstone called his attention to her daughter's 
 Spanish mantilla. 
 
 "Does it not look magnificent, Sir Felix? is 
 it not becoming ? " 
 
 " Yes," was his reply, as his eyes took a gratified 
 survey of the lady of his choice ; " but we must 
 not bestow all the praise on the mantilla. It is a 
 pleasure to give Euphemia anything pretty, for 
 she does such credit to it. Her whole dress to- 
 day is fait-ti-peindre." 
 
 The young girl laughed, but gave her mother
 
 56 THE SKELETON 
 
 a sly glance at the same time. It was Ponsford's 
 taste, and Ponsford's triumph; and whilst the 
 daughter was simply pleased at it, the mother was 
 silent from feeling obliged, somewhat reluctantly, 
 to acknowledge it. 
 
 A large party went in Mrs. Blackstone's suite 
 to the Crystal Palace that day. She had engaged 
 a room for thirty, instead of disarranging The 
 Laurels before the wedding, when a still larger 
 number of friends were invited to breakfast. 
 
 Amongst the most intimate of these friends 
 ranked the Washingtons, very wealthy people of 
 the same sphere as the Blackstones. 
 
 Mrs. Washington had several daughters, and 
 Fanny, with a younger sister, were to be two of 
 the bridesmaids. It was Fanny for whom Miss 
 Blackstone had laughingly promised to send, 
 should she find that Mr. Bohun was "worth 
 having." It was, consequently, Fanny, who, on 
 this day of the grand Crystal Palace party, was in 
 agonies (to use her own forcible expression) to 
 see her probable "futur," so the Washingtons 
 were at the place of rendezvous, by the statue 
 of Cain, long before any one else had arrived. 
 
 Some went in carriages, some went on horse- 
 back, some by train ; but these were chiefly the 
 gentlemen of the party, whose occupations
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 57 
 
 obliged them to spend their mornings in town. 
 There was no want of money in that pretty 
 suburb of London. Houses and carriages all bore 
 equally the unmistakable stamp of wealth, from 
 the well-appointed barouche of Mrs. Washington 
 with its handsome bays, down to Euphemia's own 
 basket carriage with its soft blue velvet cushions. 
 
 And their dress ! the costly silks that stood 
 alone ! the pink and blue parasols covered with 
 real point; the white ones with coral drops all 
 the way round ; the lovely bonnets covered witli 
 real Mechlin ! Every one had been anxious to 
 do honour to that party, and certainly Mrs. 
 Blackstone's guests did that day make a most 
 refulgent show. 
 
 At last the bride-elect and her intended ar- 
 rived, the former tired and dustv, although so 
 
 / J O 
 
 muffled up, for fear of the sun and dust, that no 
 one could have imagined how slender a figure all 
 those summer wraps concealed, until she emerged 
 from them. 
 
 Fanny Washington came up to her imme- 
 diately. 
 
 " My dear," she whispered, " I have been look- 
 ing everywhere for a young likeness of Sir Felix. 
 and can see nobody at all likely." 
 
 "I dare say not," said Euphemia, "for even - 
 
 D5
 
 58 THE SKELETON 
 
 body says he looks ten years older;" and her 
 quick eye ran over the assembled party. 
 
 No; certainly there was no one there who 
 could be Mr. Bohun. She did not like remark- 
 ing upon his absence to Sir Felix ; it was making 
 his brother of too much importance ; besides, she 
 had been talking conversation to him for two 
 hours, beating about the bush to find out all she 
 could without deliberately asking the plain ques- 
 tion, " Is Bohun Court his home ?" and she was 
 tired, nervous, too, for there was a little shadow 
 of annoyance in Sir Felix's manner at some of 
 her questions which showed her that she was 
 treading on dangerous ground, so she had learnt 
 nothing, but, on the contrary, had been obliged 
 to give the subject up altogether. 
 
 "However," thought she, as the party began 
 now to disperse and look about them, " I shall get 
 on better with the individual himself when he ap- 
 pears. I shall not be afraid of him." 
 
 Meanwhile, as they wandered about, Mrs. 
 Washington came to walk and talk confidentially 
 with Mrs. Blackstone. She had married three 
 daughters herself, and was therefore quite au fait 
 in such matters. She was full of delight at 
 " dear Phemy's " good fortune and happiness, but 
 thought her looking rather pale and nervous.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 5.9 
 
 Possibly it was the lilac bonnet, which was always 
 trying, or probably the prospect of being intro- 
 duced to her future husband's relations. That 
 was always a great trial for a young girl, and she 
 knew from experience how glad all the brides she 
 ever knew were when that part of the ordeal was 
 over. 
 
 " But fortunately for dear Phemy," she ran on, 
 and her voice sounded to Mrs. Blackstone like a 
 bee humming in her ear, " fortunately for dear 
 Phemy, Sir Felix has no relations but a brother. 
 I am delighted to hear we are to meet him here 
 to-day. I looked in the Baronetage and saw he 
 was five years younger than Sir Felix, but it did 
 not say if he were in the army or the navy ; per- 
 haps he is a barrister?" 
 
 Mrs. Blackstone thought not. She believed he 
 was merely a country gentleman. Mrs. Wash- 
 ington was down upon her directly. " Oh ! 
 really ? then I suppose he has a place of his own : 
 in what county, I wonder ?" 
 
 Now Mrs. Blackstone, in her own heart, had 
 always had more than a suspicion that Mr. Bohun 
 lived entirely at Bohun Court, and once or twice 
 it had occurred to her that she ought very deli- 
 cately to insinuate to Sir Felix that if that were 
 the case, Euphemia ought to be officially informed
 
 60 THE SKELETON 
 
 of the fact, and consulted as to whether such an 
 arrangement met her approbation ; but somehow 
 or other she had never had courage to attack him 
 on the subject, and, besides, there was always a 
 sort of hauteur about Sir Felix, in spite of his 
 courteous manners, which, to confess the plain 
 truth, kept her at a distance. 
 
 But this sort of delicacy and timidity would 
 not have been understood or appreciated by Mrs. 
 Washington. She was one of those maternal 
 martyrs who would sacrifice themselves and 
 everybody else upon the altars dedicated to their 
 daughters, and had she not, before their mar- 
 riages, arranged everything for the. comfort and 
 happiness of their future homes without regard to 
 the wishes or feelings of her sons-in-law, she 
 would have considered herself most culpable. 
 She feared, as she often said, neither man nor 
 beast ; but whether she used the latter term in 
 reference to any of her sons-in-law, it was impos- 
 sible to say. 
 
 No wonder that Mrs. Blackstone dreaded lest 
 her warm friend should, even at the eleventh 
 hour, discover this suspected flaw in the brilliant 
 alliance, and impart it in accents of pity to her 
 ten thousand friends ; so she turned off the con- 
 versation by saying she had lost sight of Phemy,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. l 
 
 and that Phemy had made her promise faithfully 
 not to do so, as she wished her to be present at 
 her introduction to Mr. Bohun. 
 
 Mr. Bohun was becoming rapidly magnified 
 into a person of immense consequence. 
 
 So Mrs. Blackstone hurried after her daughter, 
 and Mrs. Washington looked about for hers. 
 Phemy and Sir Felix were standing arm-in-arm 
 in the gallery, looking over at all the flowering 
 'water plants floating on the pure surface of the 
 basins. Fanny Washington had just joined them. 
 
 "Phemy, dear," she whispered, as Mrs. Black- 
 stone engaged Sir Felix in conversation on the 
 other side, " I want to know if your inamorato is 
 at all disposed to be jealous?" 
 
 " I hope he is," returned Phemy, with a co- 
 quettish smile, " but as yet I have never had an 
 opportunity of trying him. Why do you ask?" 
 
 " Because there has been a gentleman down 
 there the oddest- looking man you ever saw, 
 with an odd-shaped hat drawn over his eyes, and 
 his hand over his mouth he has been standing 
 leaning against that statue for about half-an-hour, 
 watching all your movements." 
 
 " I do not see him," said Phemy. 
 
 " Follow the direction of my eyes there he 
 is moving he sees us looking at him he is
 
 THE SKELETON 
 
 coming under this gallery to have a better view 
 of you. Oh? Phemy, he is evidently very much 
 struck. Is he not a curious figure?" 
 
 "Wait till he comes quite under," laughed 
 Phemy, in a whisper, "and then we will have 
 some fun with him." Phemy held in her 
 hand a bunch of moss rosebuds, and from these 
 she selected a blighted one, dried up into a hard 
 ball. " As he passes beneath," said she, " I will 
 drop this down upon him." 
 
 Sir Felix had no great admiration of Miss 
 Washington. He thought she was a frivolous, 
 foolish companion for his peerless Eupheinia, 
 and when he heard this whispering, joking con- 
 versation going on, he lent an attentive ear to it, 
 and answered all Mrs. Blackstoue's remarks at 
 random; but, when he saw the bouquet being 
 taken to pieces, he could refrain no longer, and 
 exclaimed, " You are surely not going to do such 
 a thing?" 
 
 He referred to the destruction of the bouquet ; 
 he had not heard the previous conversation ; but 
 Euphemia thought he meant not going to throw 
 the rosebud over, so she betrayed herself unneces- 
 sarily. 
 
 "Dear Sir Felix only our joke you 
 
 ought to be quite flattered ; there is a gentleman
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 63 
 
 down there, coming towards us now, who has 
 never taken his eyes off me for the last half hour, 
 and we thought that just as he came under this 
 gallery, we would drop this dead rosebud on his 
 hat, and such a hat as it is !" 
 
 Sir Felix looked started seized Euphemia's 
 hand, and, drawing it through his arm, exclaimed, 
 as he moved quickly away, " How thankful I am 
 you did no such thing! Euphemia, it is my 
 brother!"
 
 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE wedding was over. The carriages were 
 driving up to The Laurels in rapid succession, and 
 Lady Bohun sat in a chair of state in the drawing- 
 room, looking somewhat pale, nervous, and bewil- 
 dered as most brides do, but still receiving the 
 congratulations of the numerous friends who 
 crowded round her, with a pleased, happy expres- 
 sion just perhaps a little touch of pride in her 
 manner a little assumption of dignity, as if she 
 already felt she had risen a step in the scale of 
 society, and yet could hardly realise it. 
 
 One after the other came her friends some 
 matrons, cheering up the young daughter on 
 leaving her home some girls, admiring her costly 
 rings, and examining the rich lace about her 
 others neither girls nor matrons, telling her she 
 was a lucky girl, and that it was not everybody 
 who could catch a rich Baronet without encum- 
 brances.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 65 
 
 " And as for his brother, dear Phemy, what a 
 delightful -creature ! we have all lost our hearts. 
 There is something about Sir Felix that always 
 rather awes one ; Mr. Bohun is charming. Such a 
 kind good face very like Sir Felix too but 
 easier to get on with. Ah, you are a lucky girl!" 
 
 As yet, Phemy felt very strange with Mr. 
 Bohun. She had not exchanged ten words with 
 him, nor many more looks, so his praises did not 
 call forth any echo, but she felt he was continually 
 watching her. Sir Felix stood amongst a knot of 
 gentlemen, keeping a sly eye on the gravel sweep 
 in hopes of seeing the four greys bring round his 
 new chariot ; but Mr. Bohun was hovering near, 
 waiting till he could take advantage of some gap 
 in the circle round her, but this she did not know. 
 She thought he was merely watching, and she 
 chafed under it. 
 
 At last there was a vacant space and he stepped 
 in, bent over the orange blossoms, and spoke to 
 her. 
 
 " At last I have found an opportunity of wish- 
 ing my new sister every joy and happiness." 
 Phemy bowed and smiled. "It is late in the day 
 to do so, but that has not been for want of the 
 will, but the way ; you have had quite a bevy 
 round you."
 
 66 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Yes so many friends." 
 
 Phemy did not know what else to say. To 
 everybody else she had had answers and lively 
 repartees ready, but there was something about 
 Mr. Bohun that made her silent against her will, 
 for in her heart, she was longing to talk to him. 
 She felt that she neither liked nor admired him 
 as all the rest of the room did, but she would not 
 have had any one suspect it for the world. She 
 would not allow any soul to suspect that there 
 was the faintest cloud in the horizon of her happi- 
 ness, or the slightest tarnish on the brilliancy of 
 her triumph. 
 
 This was Lady Bohun's peculiar kind of pride 
 peculiar to herself, and yet common enough 
 amongst worldlings. 
 
 Was there ever a large circle of acquaint- 
 ance, amongst whom, when a brilliant match was 
 announced, some were not found who studiously 
 set to work to pick a hole in the fortunes, or the 
 families, of the bridegroom or the bride? Do 
 not people talk on the occasion somewhat as 
 follows ? 
 
 " Have you heard that Caroline A. is going to 
 be very well married?" 
 
 " Yes that is to say if you call it very well, 
 when I don't suppose they can muster twelve
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 67 
 
 hundred a year between them ; and as for liim, 
 poor man, though he is an honourable, he is per- 
 fectly deaf in one ear." 
 
 Or else, 
 
 " That handsome Sir Henry B. is actually going 
 to be married at last. Miss C. is a lucky girl 
 her parents are delighted, and he has seven 
 thousand a year if he has a shilling." 
 
 " I dare say he has ; but don't you remember 
 an odd story about him some years ago? All the 
 world knew it then, though perhaps it may be 
 hushed up now, and he did not get out of it very 
 Avell either." 
 
 So much for the bridegrooms, and the brides 
 fare but little better. 
 
 " Good gracious ! Mr. D. going to marry Lotty 
 Eversfield. Is the day fixed? then I hope she will 
 not change her mind before it arrives ! a good 
 match for her? Yes any match is good for such 
 a finished coquette, and I am sure her mother 
 must be thankful to have her settled." 
 
 Or else, 
 
 "Colonel E.'s daughter is engaged to Mr F., 
 who owns that lovely place down in Yorkshire. 
 Nothing can be more suitable than the match ; 
 he has wealth and a princely estate, and she has 
 youth and beauty."
 
 68 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Youth ? oh, my dear friend, I remember her 
 before she could run alone. She must be eight- 
 and-twenty, if she is a day." 
 
 " Pardon me her own mother told me she was 
 of age last birthday." 
 
 " My dear, in the first place, own mothers are 
 the last people to be believed, when a daughter's 
 age is in question, and in the next, 1 know she is 
 eight-and-twenty for a fact. Have you ever seen 
 her ?" 
 
 " Xo, but I know him well." 
 
 " She is no beauty. She has certainly a very 
 fine complexion, and if you could give yourself 
 the trouble, you might have the same; that's all / 
 have to say." 
 
 And so on in every case without an exception. 
 The world does not allow of the existence of such 
 a thing as an unexceptionable match on both sides. 
 There never was a marriage yet that somebody 
 did not try to depreciate, and, to return to our 
 subject, this the new made Lady Bohun well knew. 
 It was therefore her particular pride to be able to 
 say, " There is no skeleton in my house !" 
 
 Mr. Bohun returned to the charge. " I think 
 my brother told me you had never been abroad?" 
 
 " Never that is, only to Dieppe." 
 
 " You will be delighted with Paris. 1 '
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 69 
 
 " So I believe. I hear the shops are lovely." 
 
 " But with the buildings." 
 
 " Ah, I don't care for buildings. I am told the 
 shops are so tempting, that I shall hope to pick 
 up a great many pretty things." 
 
 " Then," said Mr. Bohun smiling, " I expect you 
 will transform Bohun Court quite into a temple 
 of the graces." 
 
 Euphemia turned her eyes quickly on him. 
 
 " Is it a very old fashioned place ?" said she. 
 
 " Not very modern you will see ]615 carved 
 in the stonework over the entrance ; but do you 
 know we are very proud of that date ? we don't 
 despise Bohun Court because of its antiquity." 
 
 This was said laughingly, but the " we" sounded 
 unpleasantly on Lady Bohun's ears. She felt she 
 did not like it, though she tried to conceal the 
 feeling, and carry it off, so that he should not 
 perceive it, so she answered 
 
 " Of course not, but I meant about the furni- 
 ture ; I suppose all that is rather rather ancient, 
 is it not?" 
 
 " It was, but a complete renovation is going on. 
 I hope, by your return, everything will be to your 
 taste and in apple-pie order. I only know it shall 
 not be my fault if it is not." 
 
 " When are you going down ?" asked Euphemia, 
 her heart beginning to beat quicker.
 
 70 THE SKELETON 
 
 " To-night," said Mr. Bohun, innocently. 
 
 Now was the moment. 
 
 " Do you always live at Bohun Court ?" 
 
 It was out at last, and Mr. Bohun seemed struck 
 with something in her voice as she asked the 
 question. He looked at her she was very pale, 
 but that she was before; had he not looked at her 
 he would have answered readily " yes," but now 
 he modified the reply : " Hitherto I have done 
 so," said he, and there was a dead pause. 
 
 Fortunately it was but of a moment's duration, 
 for Sir Felix had espied the greys coming-round, 
 and he crossed the room to where his brother 
 stood. 
 
 " You must let Euphemia go," said he, " for the 
 carriage will soon be here. The horses have 
 arrived." 
 
 And Euphemia was carried oft* by her mamma 
 and the bridesmaids. 
 
 " Are you pleased ?" whispered Sir Felix. 
 
 " She is beautiful," replied Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " But you, my dear fellow, you must be bored 
 to death." 
 
 " Not at all. I assure you I have been vastly 
 amused. I sat by an old lady at breakfast who 
 paid me immense attention. She questioned me 
 most narrowly as to my birth, parentage, and 
 education almost as to my prospects."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 71 
 
 " Mrs. Washington ! that imperial pumpkin, as 
 I always call her. The most indefatigable of 
 match makers and manoeuverers. Ah, Guy, I shall 
 be glad to withdraw Euphemia from this set she 
 is worth better things." 
 
 " Any parting commands for me ?" 
 
 " ]S T o, no, I think not. I will write if anything 
 
 occurs to me. Leave all the tables and chairs at 
 
 
 
 Bohun as they are. Perhaps we may be tempted 
 with some furniture in Paris, and if so, it will 
 only be money thrown away to make additions at 
 present." 
 
 Up-stairs the bride was attiring for her jour- 
 ney, tremulous, and very silent. The tearful 
 mother, seated sobbing by her side and unable 
 even to look at the adornment of her darling, 
 attributed this nervous taciturnity to the young 
 girl's efforts at self-command, but, could any eye 
 have peeped into the recesses of that heart, they 
 would have read a different story a story that 
 told of the blot on the brightness of her fate, and 
 her sudden consciousness of the fact. She had 
 just awoke to the conviction that, unless she took 
 great care, there would be a skeleton in her house 
 after all ! 
 
 But she was Lady Bohun at all events she 
 felt Lady Bohun every inch more especially
 
 72 THE SKELETON 
 
 when Ponsford glided up to her with a pair of 
 jewel cases in her hand, and said, as if she had said 
 it all her life, "Which of these bracelets will your 
 ladyship be pleased to wear on the journey?" 
 
 Down-stairs, all the guests were crowding into 
 the balcony, or out upon the staircase, to. take the 
 last look of the bride. Lower still in the hall, all 
 the servants were ranged to catch her eye, and bid 
 her their farewell. Who does not know all this 
 regular routine of a gay wedding ? 
 
 It was a grand day for The Laurels, even 
 though Mrs. Blackstone had concealed herself 
 behind the back drawing-room door, and was 
 crying her heart out. It was a grand day, al- 
 though the elderly couple were left childless, and 
 all that they had lived for was carried off from 
 them by Sir Felix Bohun. It was a grand day 
 for Mr. and Mrs. Blackstone, thought all their 
 guests. They did not see the big tears twinkled 
 away out of the old man's eyes, as he handed his 
 daughter into her new carriage, nor did they 
 guess what it cost him to gulp down the choking 
 in his throat as he re-entered the drawing-room 
 rubbing his hands and smiling convulsively, and, 
 suspecting his wife's hiding-place, trying to draw 
 the crowd away from it, and entice them to the 
 window to see the four grays flying along the
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 73 
 
 dusty road over the common till they turned the 
 corner and disappeared behind the trees. 
 
 Nobody saw all this ; nobody felt it ; for the 
 departure of the bride and bridegroom is a mo- 
 ment of great excitement, and, after that, comes 
 the excitement of trying who can get away first. 
 
 But Mrs. Washington clung to her friend in- 
 vaded her retreat behind the door, having espied 
 a corner of the gray moire-antique coming 
 through the crevice pounced on her like a 
 spider on a fly, and, with all the pertinacity of 
 the most inconvenient friendship, invited herself 
 to dinner to talk it all over. 
 
 And the bridesmaids stood in a cluster at one 
 of the open windows making remarks on Mr. 
 Bohun, who, wandering about with a talkative 
 gentleman of whose name he had not the slightest 
 idea, was learning a great many lessons about 
 ornamental gardening down on the lawn beneath, 
 and waiting impatiently for the moment when he 
 could politely take his leave, and say that he had 
 only just time to save the train. 
 
 " I like him,' ? said one ; " he is not so pompous 
 as Sir Felix." 
 
 " I look on him as a dethroned monarch," said 
 Fanny Washington ; " mamma found out that he 
 has no home but Bohun Court. Phemy won't 
 VOL. i. t
 
 74 THE SKELETON 
 
 stand that, I suspect. Mamma says she found 
 out, too, that he has always completely managed 
 the estate and the household." 
 
 " Pleasant for Phemy," exclaimed another ; 
 " Phemy, who made slaves of even those dear old 
 Blackstones, her own parents!" 
 
 " Phemy will make a slave of him, too," said a 
 fourth. 
 
 *' He does not look as if he would be a slave," 
 chimed in a fifth; "in spite of all that suavity, 
 there is a very firm cut about his mouth and chin. 
 Now, Sir Felix is too polished for my taste too 
 much of a courtier, or a gentleman of the old 
 school. Mr. Bohun is so blunt and straight- 
 forward ; Phemy will never bend him to be her 
 slave." 
 
 " Then," said Fanny Washington, " she will 
 make his residence in the house disagreeable to 
 him, and so it will come to the same thing in 
 the end." 
 
 " Unless Sir Felix brings down that temper of 
 hers before she fairly mounts the throne of Bohun 
 Court," retorted another. 
 
 " Which he is not likely to do," was Fanny 
 Washington's rejoinder, and then the group of her 
 bosom friends dispersed. 
 
 Yes, they were her bosom friends, but never
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 75 
 
 mind, she could not hear them. She was Phemy 
 Bohun now, on the pinnacle of her prosperity, 
 and on the high road to Dover ; so, of course, her 
 dear friends had a perfect right to say what they 
 pleased of her behind her back. 
 
 If we could all hear what our dear friends say 
 of us behind our backs, how many friends should 
 we go through the world with, and have left to 
 us at the last ? 
 
 E V
 
 76 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON the estate of Bohun, about a mile from the 
 house, was a pretty little cottage ornee, occupied 
 by an old lady, long a dependant on the Bohun 
 family. In her youth she had been governess to 
 the mother of the present Sir Felix, who, in her 
 old age, had installed her comfortably in this cot- 
 tage, rent free. 
 
 A passing visit to old Mrs. Trant was one of 
 the almost daily duties of Mr. Bohun's life. It 
 was a habit both he and Sir Felix had got into, 
 from its having been a habit of the late Lady 
 Hohun's, whose garden-chair nearly every day 
 conveyed her to the old lady with the first of the 
 fruits, the flowers, and the vegetables. Mrs. 
 Trant used to say, that the death of this Lady 
 Bohun had been the greatest blow she had ever 
 received ! to use her own expression, " it had 
 shaken her on the pedestal of her life."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 77 
 
 No wonder, then, that when she heard that Sir 
 Felix was going to try his chance in the great 
 lottery a third time, her anxiety was great as to 
 how far the new successor would come up in per- 
 fection to the amiable being who had preceded her. 
 
 Perhaps she was anxious on her own account 
 as well as on that of Sir Felix. Almost entirely a 
 prisoner to her cottage from feeble health, it was 
 a matter of no small importance to her as to how 
 far the coming bride would replace the friend she 
 had lost friend and companion both, had the last 
 Lady Bohun been and, in addition to this feel- 
 ing, there was her affection for Sir Felix, an affec- 
 tion of nearly half a century's growth. 
 
 Anxiously, then, she waited, the day after the 
 announcement appeared in the Times, seated in 
 her sunny little bay window, for the swing of her 
 garden gate, and the firm, heavy tread of Mr. 
 Bohun's foot on the gravel path behind the ever- 
 green hedge which skirted her lawn. 
 
 True to his promise he came, the tread, per- 
 haps, not quite so brisk, or the manner quite so 
 gay as usual ; but still there he was, faithful to 
 his habit, and once seated in the sunny little 
 corner opposite to her, he soon seemed restored to 
 himself again, and ready to answer all her queries 
 and satisfy her pardonable curiosity.
 
 78 THE SKELETON 
 
 Xaturally enough, there was but one subject of 
 conversation between them, and that, the wed- 
 ding; not the wedding in its small worldly details, 
 but the wedding as by far the most important 
 event in the life of one dear to them both 
 the wedding in all its bearings as touching the 
 future happiness or misery of the declining 
 years of a man's life ! for neither attempted to 
 conceal from the other that it was late in life for 
 another new tie to be formed, after two had been 
 destroyed. 
 
 " Is she a person suited to Sir Felix ?"" was 
 Mrs. Trant's anxious inquiry ; " does she appear 
 likely to make him happy ?" 
 
 " She is very young very gay very pretty," 
 said Mr. Bohun, evading the direct question; 
 " she looks younger still by my brother's side, 
 but as to her more intrinsic qualifications, I 
 only saw her surrounded by friends." 
 
 " Is she pleasing ? " 
 
 Mr. Bohun hesitated. " A bride," said he, 
 " is generally seen to disadvantage, running, for 
 the first time, the gauntlet of her husband's re- 
 lations. I had only a few moments conversation 
 with her, but you know how difficult Sir Felix is 
 to please, so let us give her credit for great 
 powers that way."
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 79 
 
 All this was but negative approbation, and 
 Mrs. Trant saw it, though she forbore to remark 
 upon it, and Mr. Bohun continued 
 
 " I do not know if you remember that I have a 
 peculiar theory of my own on the subject of 
 smiles. I think they are more characteristic than 
 frowns more expressive than words and Miss 
 Euphemia Blackstone's smile did not hit my 
 fancy ; otherwise, she has her full share of beauty, 
 as you will see." 
 
 " Do they propose coming down soon ? Is she 
 not anxious to see Bohun Court?" 
 
 " As if Bohun Court were the ' little bit of 
 heaven dropped on earth ' which the poets sing so 
 daintily," laughed Mr. Bohun. "No, they ;are 
 bound for Italy, and talk of remaining away till 
 September or October. 1 ' 
 
 " She will lose the Bohun woods when the 
 leaves are changing, then," said the old lady, in a 
 tone of commisseration. 
 
 " She may not appreciate all these things as 
 we do," returned Mr. Bohun ; " remember, she 
 is a town-bred young lady, and never having 
 been abroad, may be too much fascinated by 
 the gaities she will enter into in France and 
 Italy, to wish to settle down in our quiet corner 
 immediately. "
 
 80 THE SKELETON 
 
 Mrs. Trant did not augur favourably of the 
 bride from what she gleaned in this conversation. 
 She had an idea that she was a common-place 
 person. 
 
 " But, no," said Mr. Bohun, " my brother 
 would never have tolerated, much less selected, a 
 common-place person. There is a great deal of 
 character about the lady of his choice, but being 
 very young and unformed in manners, I am not 
 prepared to say whether this kind of character 
 tends to good or evil. I should say that she was 
 impressionable, and that Sir Felix may mould her 
 to anything, since she appeared ready enough to 
 give up to him in several little matters connected 
 with their future plans." 
 
 " That is a good beginning," remarked the old 
 lady ; " trifles show characters sometimes more 
 than great actions. But talking of plans, I take 
 a deep interest in other plans besides those of Sir 
 Felix and his bride. Tell me of yourself, my 
 dear Mr. Guy." 
 
 "Myself?" Mr. Bohun did not seem quite to 
 understand. " How do you mean, dear old 
 friend?" 
 
 " I mean, does this event change your arrange- 
 ments at all ? Do you still contemplate residing 
 at Bohun Court?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 81 
 
 Mr. Bohun hesitated for some time before he 
 answered. 
 
 " Do you know," said he, at last, " that this is 
 a subject to which I know I ought to have given 
 some attention, and I have not done so. Before 
 the marriage, my brother and I had a fierce 
 argument on this very point, and I gave way to 
 his earnest wish that I should remain here to 
 continue to manage affairs as I have always done. 
 Ladies don't take kindly to farm matters, and 
 land cannot well be governed by female heads : 
 so that really, in assenting to his wish that no 
 change should be made, I believed I was acting 
 for his happiness and advantage (if my modesty 
 may permit of my saying so). But now, dour 
 old friend and counsellor, that you have kindly 
 and wisely put it into my head that / ought to 
 have plans as well as they, why, I think with you, 
 and I humbly crave your advice." 
 
 " Dear Mr. Guy, I am not qualified to advise ; 
 all depends so entirely on the kind of partner 
 Sir Felix has selected. It was this that made me 
 so minute in my inquiries, for we cannot afford to 
 lose you, and yet " 
 
 " And yet what?" 
 
 " It is not often that the residence of a third 
 person with new married people answers." 
 
 E5
 
 82 THE SKELETON 
 
 "You are quite right. It never occurred to 
 me, but you are perfectly right, and I ought to 
 have given the subject more consideration. As 
 it is, I see nothing for it but just to wait and see 
 how things go on. After my promise to Sir 
 Felix, I could not well upset all the arrangements 
 at this early stage of the new administration. 
 You do not think I could, do you ?" 
 
 "No," said Mrs. Trant, "but I know your 
 nature. You have hitherto been singularly for- 
 tunate." 
 
 " You think I shall have difficulties to contend 
 with?" 
 
 " It is possible I hope not probable but the 
 ground is as yet untried ; and, as I said before, 
 these arrangements seldom do answer every day 
 you see instances of it." 
 
 " True/' said Mr. Bohun, " and perhaps I have- 
 been unwise. I see it, now that it is too late. 
 But then again the estate ! " 
 
 In Mr. Bohun's estimation, every consideration 
 was as nothing compared to Bohun Court. His 
 own happiness was bound up in it his own com- 
 fort, a trifle in the balance. 
 
 He leant back in his chair in a reverie of 
 mingled feelings. Could it be possible, thought 
 he, that the entrance of a mere girl into the
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 83 
 
 family could create a revolution which would, in 
 the most remote degree, affect plans which had 
 been in undisturbed operation for years ? Was it 
 possible for one so young, so apparently frivolous, 
 spoilt, half-educated for Mr. Bohun's penetration 
 had made all these discoveries during two short 
 days spent in her presence one so unfit to rule 
 was it possible that for her he was to upset the 
 government of Bohun Court, by withdrawing 
 himself from a share in it, and thereby put 
 Sir Felix into a position both of discomfort and 
 perplexity ? 
 
 What did Sir Felix know of business? nothing. 
 What was he but a highly polished, travelled, ac- 
 complished man of the world ? nothing ! And 
 a smile, proud, almost triumphant, curled Mr. 
 Bohun's firm lip. 
 
 " No ! " he exclaimed, forgetting that Mrs. 
 Trant could not have been following his train of 
 thought, though she could guess it by sympath} T : 
 " there can be no change of plans until a more 
 rightful heir stands in my shoes. No woman can 
 displace the male heirs of Bohun Court."" 
 
 " It is not entailed," said Mrs. Trant, gently. 
 
 " Very true," returned Mr. Bohun, hastily : 
 "and I am glad that you remind rue, for it 
 ought to be, for fear of accidents ; and it shall
 
 84 THE SKELETON 
 
 he, at the very first opportunity, even though, 
 by urging it on my brother, I cut my own 
 throat ! " 
 
 He walked home to Bohun Court hurriedly. 
 He was perturbed. For years and years his un- 
 ruffled spirit had never been so stirred up as now, 
 and he threaded the woods with a rapid step, 
 seemingly longing to cateh sight of his home, 
 even as if a spirit were at his heels making 
 a greedy clutch at the prize, the possession of 
 which depended on the issue of the race between 
 them. 
 
 The sun, like a red ball of fire, was just dipping 
 behind the belt of dark woods, which formed a 
 background to the scene, as he crossed the lawn. 
 The grim old mansion looked gray and cold 
 outside, but when he entered, the changes that 
 had taken place, consequent on the marriage of 
 Sir Felix, seemed to strike Mr. Bohun for the 
 first time. 
 
 Inside, it was now a mansion of modern days, 
 gay and costly as all the first upholsterers in London 
 could make it. There was the boudoir, glittering 
 in blue satin and white and gold furniture ; the 
 drawing-rooms radiant in cherry satin, and velvet 
 carpets with white grounds ; the dining-room a
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 85 
 
 perfect triumph of art, for it had been a gloomy 
 room, and was now a gay one. 
 
 But everything was gay everything fit for the 
 bride whom it was destined to welcome and to 
 please. But outside 
 
 " Ah ! " thought Mr. Bohun, as he retraced his 
 steps, and took a turn on the terraces, gazing 
 round him with a sort of irrritable ecstacy, " no 
 renovating hand can venture to renovate here ! 
 You want no improving hand, beautiful old house ! 
 I only hope she may admire, appreciate, and love 
 you as you deserve. Inside you seem very new 
 and strange ; but outside outside you are still 
 primitive and peerless, and thank goodness 
 unchangeable !" 
 
 So when Mr. Bohun re-entered the hall, with 
 its many-coloured new coir matting, and smelt the 
 paint and the putty, and the varnish and the oil- 
 cloth, he hurried not to say rushed into his own 
 precincts, looking straight before him; nor did 
 his own easy expression return to his face until, 
 opening a side-door, he found himself in the only 
 room in the house in which not a chair, nor a 
 table, nor a carpet, curtain, shelf, nor book had 
 been touched. 
 
 But he did not hug himself in morose solitude. 
 On the rug lay his friend and inseparable com-
 
 86 THE SKELETON 
 
 panion, Hector, a gigantic bloodhound, who, on his 
 master's entrance, rose like a lion from his lair, 
 and welcomed his return by placing his fore paws 
 with dignified gravity on his shoulders, and, with 
 an attention intended to be complimentary, licking 
 the face which he thus brought to a level with 
 his own.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SIR FELIX and Lady Bohun had been six weeks 
 in Paris. In that six weeks they managed to 
 spend two thousand pounds, what with one thing 
 and another, and then Sir Felix began to think 
 it was time to return home. But the bride thought 
 the contrary. She was delighted with her life 
 abroad, charmed with the shops, and bewildered 
 with the power thus suddenly placed in her 
 hands, of buying whatever she fancied, whether 
 of furniture, dress, or bijouterie. 
 
 In vain, when piece after piece of tasty furni- 
 ture struck her fancy and was ordered home, in 
 vain Sir Felix represented to her that it would 
 not suit Bohun Court, it was not the style of 
 the house. 
 
 " Then it must be the style of my rooms," 
 was all the answer she gave him ; and he soon 
 found it was better to be silent and submit, than
 
 88 THE SKELETON 
 
 to argue, for independently of doing no good, he 
 saw an evil would arise from the opposition to 
 her wishes, on which he had never calculated 
 she would take a dislike to Bohun Court and 
 this was too serious a matter to be lightly treated 
 or braved. 
 
 " If these lovely things will look out of place 
 in Bohun Court," she had one day exclaimed, 
 " what a horrid old place it must be ! " 
 
 And Sir Felix shivered to think any one lived, 
 bold enough to bestow such an epithet on his 
 home. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blackstone, though rich people, 
 had been, from long habit, strict economists ; and 
 though Phemy was their only child, they had 
 always thought it right to allowance her, and to 
 insist on her keeping within that allowance. At 
 the age of two-and-twenty she still received no 
 more than her sixty pounds a year, and upon 
 this, with occasional presents from her parents, 
 she managed to make a very good show. 
 
 No wonder then that when she suddenly found 
 Sir Felix expected her to spend the whole of 
 that sum quarterly, she launched out into some- 
 thing very like extravagance, and sent home four 
 new bonnets the first week of her arrival. 
 
 Even Ponsford ventured gently to expostulate,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 89 
 
 " Don't you think, my lady, I had better have 
 the bonnets you brought from home, done up 
 here a little ? otherwise, your ladyship will not 
 like them after these Paris ones." 
 
 " Oh, no, Ponsford throw them away or 
 stay, perhaps they will do for Bohun Court ; yes 
 keep them for Bohun Court." 
 
 " Ladies dress a good deal about that neigh- 
 bourhood in the shooting season, my lady. You 
 will be glad of your Paris bonnets then." 
 
 " Well, pack them all up then. I can take 
 a turn of each. How many have I?" 
 
 " Seven, my lady." 
 
 Lady Bohun reflected a moment. She was 
 not quite sure whether Ponsford did not expect 
 her to say, " you may have my old ones ; " but 
 she could not make up her mind to do that, so 
 she repeated, " Pack them all up." Euphemia 
 possessed, to use the language of a phrenologist, 
 a bump of acquisition; and she was fond of 
 accumulating things. For so young a girl, her 
 love of hoarding was singular, and more singular 
 still about her were the contradictions in her cha- 
 racter. At the very moment that she was spend- 
 ing hundreds on furniture and dresses, her gloves 
 were mended up to the very tips of her fingers, 
 and at last attracted the attention of Sir Felix.
 
 90 THE SKELETON 
 
 " My dear Euphemia, whilst you are shopping," 
 he remarked, "let me recommend you to buy 
 some gloves. Yours do not seem to me of the 
 very best." 
 
 " Oh," said she, carelessly, " my gloves will do 
 very well. Nobody sees one's gloves, and if they 
 did, there is not one hole," and she spread out 
 her fingers in evidence. 
 
 Sir Felix was rather shocked. He was so 
 particular about his gloves himself that he always 
 had them made for him, and Euphemia's, mended, 
 and worn at the tip of every finger, made a great 
 impression on him. He thought it must be 
 Ponsford's fault. 
 
 "No, indeed," exclaimed his bride; " Pons- 
 ford has nothing to do with my gloves. I always 
 mend my own. I like to do it, and mamma 
 always made me. I have dozens of pairs upstairs, 
 and if I trusted them to Ponsford she would give 
 me a new pair every day. No thank you, Sir 
 Felix. I am too good an economist for that." 
 
 And then crept into the mind of Sir Felix the 
 recollection of the expenditure of two thousand 
 pounds in six weeks certainly not spent on 
 gloves but still spent. Yet she said she was a 
 good economist! Well, perhaps, though she 
 spent in some things, she saved in others, so he
 
 IN THE CUPBOAED. 91 
 
 tried to feel satisfied, though whenever those 
 taper fingers slid within his arm, he turned 
 his eyes instinctively away, he was so afraid 
 of encountering the whitened tips of the lilac 
 gloves, and the darkened knuckles which she so 
 emphatically affirmed was entirely the fault of 
 his own coat ! 
 
 " But we really had better be thinking of 
 going home, my dear Euphemia," said he again, 
 one day, " this unsettled life is very uncomfort- 
 able, and I am so anxious to show you Bohun 
 Court." 
 
 " There will be plenty of time for that," she 
 replied, in the gay, rather flippant manner which 
 was not now quite so attractive to Sir Felix as 
 it had once been ; " Paris is so delightful. It is 
 rather early in the year to go and bury oneself." 
 
 " I hope you will not look upon Bohun Court 
 in that light, Euphemia. I should like you to 
 be fond of your home." 
 
 " Oh, I dare say I shall; only I want to enjoy 
 myself a little first. Do not fancy I shall not be 
 fond of my home ; I was always very fond of 
 The Laurels." 
 
 Sir Felix pinched in his lips and said nothing. 
 He could not quite reconcile himself to hearing 
 Bohun Court and The Laurels named in the
 
 92 THE SKELETON 
 
 same breath. They certainly stood on the same 
 earth., but that was all. 
 
 " Why are you in such a hurry to go back?" 
 asked Lady Bohun, after having waited to see if 
 he would make any reply. 
 
 " I am so anxious for your opinion " began 
 
 Sir Felix. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I know that," she interrupted ; 
 " but you know we must go some day, so I shall 
 be sure to see it in time, only I want to know 
 why you are in such a hurry ? " 
 
 " I do not call it a hurry, my dear Euphemia. 
 Our absence was intended to be about six weeks. 
 It is now going on for three months." 
 
 " And such happy months! I don't know when 
 I ever enjoyed myself so much." 
 
 This was very flattering and almost unanswer- 
 able. Still, in Sir Felix's pocket there happened 
 
 to be a letter so he returned courageously to 
 
 the attack. 
 
 " I am delighted to hear it, but we may vary 
 the scene of our happiness, I trust, Euphemia," 
 
 " Ah, Sir Felix! no shops like these at your 
 dearly beloved Bohun Court, I'm sure ! " 
 
 Sir Felix bit his lips. " No shops, but the 
 beauties of nature, my dear Euphemia." 
 
 And now it was Lady Bohun's turn to bite her
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 93 
 
 lips. She put her head on one side and began 
 playing with her rings. 
 
 " You had some letters to-day, Sir Felix?" 
 
 " Yes that is, not letters, but a letter," said 
 the matter-of-fact bridegroom. 
 
 " You never show me your letters. I thought 
 married people always saw each other's letters?" 
 
 " My dearest " Sir Felix instantly began 
 
 turning out his pockets; " all my letters are open 
 to you here are half-a-dozen can you really 
 wish to read through such a mass of uninterest- 
 ing correspondence? I wish you would always 
 do so, and take it off my hands here they are." 
 
 Lady Bohun was disappointed. " Oh, dear, 
 no," she exclaimed ; " I don't care for general 
 correspondence, only you were such a time over 
 that letter this morning." 
 
 " That was from my brother, from Guy. It is 
 very long, but if you would like to wade through 
 it and such a hand as he writes " 
 
 Lady Bohun fancied these were excuses made 
 to prevent her seeing Mr. Bohun's letter, so she 
 was all the more determined to have it. 
 
 "I don't mind the length," she said, "if it is 
 all about Bohun Court, which I suppose it is?" 
 
 " Yes, and all about the farms and the stock,
 
 94 THE SKELETON 
 
 which I fear you may find tedious," answered Sir 
 Felix, searching for it. 
 
 " No, I do not think I shall. I want to know 
 the old place well, before even I see it," said his 
 young wife, and with these little flatteries Sir 
 Felix was always so instantly overcome, that in 
 another moment the letter was in her hand, and 
 whilst he sat quietly down to his newspaper, her 
 ladyship devoured the contents of the first epistle 
 she had ever seen from Mr. Bohun. 
 
 Not but what she knew his handwriting 
 well. Every day had she seen it, and every 
 day had she determined she would summon 
 courage to assert her right over her husband's 
 epistolary correspondence, but till to-day the 
 opportunity had not so easily occurred. She was 
 a little disappointed to find that there had been 
 no difficulty made about it. This very much de- 
 teriorated the value of the letter, but still having 
 opened the door, she did not mean to allow it to 
 close again, so with exemplary patience she 
 plodded on, till she came to " your ever affectionate 
 brother, Guy Bohun." 
 
 It was all stupid enough, but fortunately there 
 was a postscript. 
 
 " I hope you are not going to be an absentee 
 much longer. People are already wondering at
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. .95 
 
 your long stay abroad, and I have made all the 
 excuses that I can possibly invent, so in pity to 
 me and the neighbours, come back." 
 
 Yes it was fortunate there was that postscript, 
 otherwise Lady Bohun's quick blood would have 
 had no chance of boiling up. That postscript con- 
 tained exactly all she expected. It was the secret 
 influence which had been at work all day, and had 
 sufficed to set her wishes on one side. Sir Felix 
 was going to obey those few lines instead of her 
 wishes, and she clenched the thin paper in her 
 hand with a suspicious smile upon her lips. It 
 was quite enough that Mr. Bohun should com- 
 mand everything at Bohun Court, but his power 
 should extend no further. What right had he 
 to hope anything about the movements of Sir 
 Felix and herself? What business had the neigh- 
 bours to make remarks? What possible claim had 
 they on her pity, that she should relinquish one 
 hour of enjoyment for their sakes ? 
 
 Not she, indeed. Before she read that letter, 
 she had been beginning to think she had had 
 enough of what Ponsford called "foreign parts," 
 but now she had altered her mind. No Bohun 
 Court for some time to come, and if Mr. Bohun 
 and the neighbours liked to wonder or complain, 
 why let them.
 
 96 THE SKELETON 
 
 " If Sir Felix insists on going back for the next 
 six weeks, Ponsford," said her ladyship that even- 
 ing, " I must have an attack of illness can you 
 manage that?" 
 
 Ponsford laughed in her gentle, respectful way. 
 
 "Oh yes, my lady, quite well." 
 
 " What shall we say or do ? because you know 
 I shall not like to shut myself up." 
 
 " Oh no, my lady. Your ladyship need not be 
 strong enough to travel, and yet quite well enough 
 to go about as usual." 
 
 " But I never was ill or delicate in my life, and 
 I always have such a colour." 
 
 " I can alter the style of your hair, my lady, 
 and if your ladyship will wear blue for a little 
 while...*.." 
 
 " But I look such a fright in blue." 
 
 " Only pale, my lady, which is what will be 
 necessary " 
 
 " So it will ! that will do famously. But sup- 
 pose Sir Felix should go and leave me? Mr. 
 Bohun may urge him so strongly " 
 
 Lady Bohun stopped short. She knew Mr. 
 Bohun's influence, but did not like to own it, 
 even to herself, much less to Ponsford, who, 
 however, was as well aware of it as if Sir Felix 
 himself had confessed it to her.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 97 
 
 But Ponsford had great tact. She never by 
 word, look, or sign, betrayed the knowledge she 
 possessed; she seemed to have the faculty of find- 
 ing out everybody's weak point without their 
 being the least aware of it ; and certainly before 
 she had lived one month with Lady Bohun, she 
 had completely fathomed the depths of her cha- 
 racter, and unravelled the thread of all her intri- 
 cate motives. 
 
 At the idea of Sir Felix going home without 
 his bride, even at the most urgent request of his 
 brother, Ponsford almost laughed. 
 
 " Oh! my lady, Mr. Bohun may be able to do a 
 good deal with Sir Felix, but not so much as that. 
 Of course, if your ladyship thinks the early 
 autumn at Bohun Court would be unhealthy 
 and sometimes the fall of the leaf is very bad for 
 people why then, it would be very unwise to 
 risk it." 
 
 Oh! wise Ponsforfl. This happy suggestion was 
 a much brighter idea than the fit of illness, because 
 it entailed no self-sacrifice ; so the next time Sir 
 Felix began upon his everlasting theme, Euphe- 
 mia was ready. 
 
 " Dear Sir Felix, is Bohun Court a very woody 
 place ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, magnificently wooded," he answered 
 
 VOL. i. F
 
 98 THE SKELETON 
 
 enthusiastically, " so much so, that I have often 
 thought of thinning the timber a little, only my 
 brother always objected." 
 
 Lady Bohun longed to say she wondered what 
 business he had to object, only as such an obser- 
 vation at that moment might not have been 
 politic, she refrained, and kept to her subject. 
 
 "Do the trees come very close up to the house, 
 Sir Felix?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear. The Bohun woods, which are 
 quite famous in the county, come as near to the 
 back of the house as I am now sitting to you." 
 
 Euphemia was at that moment in one window 
 of their apartment, and Sir Felix in the other. 
 
 "Good gracious!" she exclaimed; " but how 
 damp that must make it." 
 
 " I never heard so," said Sir Felix ; " what put 
 that idea into your head ?" 
 
 "Why common sense itself must tell one so," 
 retorted her ladyship, with more warmth than 
 politeness ; " I remember when the leaves were 
 falling round The Laurels, mamma always took 
 me away." 
 
 " And why ?" asked Sir Felix, innocently. 
 
 " Because it was unwholesome to remain ; and 
 besides, she thought it dangerous for me. You 
 know I am an only child, Sir Felix. I have been 
 used to great care."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 99 
 
 " And that you shall always continue to have, 
 I am sure," was her husband's reply ; " but I 
 doubt if the leaves have begun to fall yet round 
 Bohun Court." 
 
 " But they will begin very soon. I wish you 
 would wait another month or so, Sir Felix." 
 
 " Oh, my dear Euphemia !" 
 
 " If you do not, you will take me there just in 
 the middle of all the damp, and you will see I 
 shall be ill." 
 
 "I hope and trust not. The majority of the 
 trees round our house are nice dry firs. Oh, my 
 dear Euphemia, when I think of the delicious 
 scent of those pine woods on a warm day, when 
 the sun has been drawing out their rich fragrance, 
 I quite grieve that you have missed the summer 
 season there !" 
 
 " Never mind. Plenty of summers to come, I 
 hope; but defend me from the autumn. I can 
 stand a winter, Sir Felix, but mamma always used 
 to say my chest would never bear an autumn 
 amongst foliage." 
 
 Poor Sir Felix was sorely puzzled, and sadly 
 vexed. In vain he brought up every argument in 
 his power, but the lady was obdurate; that is, 
 she said she would go, if he wished it, with plea- 
 sure. Oh yes, if he insisted, she would certainly 
 
 F2
 
 100 THE SKELETON 
 
 go, but if she took cold and went into a decline, 
 he must not mind ; if it killed her, she could not 
 help it. And after that, what could he say ? what 
 could he do ? Why, submit, of course ; and so 
 the autumn sped on, and all the glorious tints of 
 the Bohun woods faded into a dull brown, and the 
 old house stood out gray, cold, bare, and cheerless- 
 looking, grimly waiting to welcome as solemnly 
 as possible, the tardy footsteps of Sir Felix and 
 Lady Bohun. 
 
 And still they lingered, not abroad, but absent, 
 sometimes at one gay place, and sometimes at 
 another.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 101 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AND now, behold, at last they come. 
 
 The world lay under a canopy of snow. Snow 
 covered the lawn, except where little paths had 
 been swept out. Snow hung on the bushes, the 
 hedges, the plants, and the buildings. It fringed 
 the firs, and weighed down the laurels. It gave 
 Bohun Court a white background instead of a 
 black, and the gray stones of the house with every 
 projection marked out in snow, looked like a 
 drawing on a slate. 
 
 It was in such weather as this, on a bitter, 
 damp, gusty evening, that Sir Felix and Lady 
 Bohun drove into the court-yard, and the great 
 bell rang, a sound which was immediately fol- 
 lowed by the barking of many dogs, amongst 
 which, louder than all, was heard the deep bay of 
 a bloodhound. 
 
 "Goodness!" exclaimed Lady Bohun, in the
 
 102 THE SKELETON 
 
 moment that elapsed before the carriage steps 
 were let down, " there is a horrid dog howling. 
 How unlucky !" 
 
 " Not howling," said Sir Felix, jumping out ; 
 " it is only old Hector, my brother's bloodhound, 
 and his voice is reckoned his great beauty." 
 
 Now, if I were an orthodox novelist, I should 
 describe how the servants, drawn up in two lines 
 in the hall, headed on one side by the house- 
 keeper, and on the other by the butler, welcomed 
 their new mistress as their old master led her 
 through the admiring throng. But it was not so. 
 
 The butler had certainly been waiting some 
 time in the hall, because the train happened to be 
 late, but he and the footman were the only ser- 
 vants to be seen at first, and Euphemia had 
 walked half across the hall by herself, before she 
 was met by Mr. Bohun, and then it was merely 
 the usual greetings, and a hope expressed that 
 she was hungry, and not tired, and a question as 
 to how soon they would like dinner. 
 
 All very matter-of-fact, and very simple and 
 homely, and Euphemia at once found herself 
 standing by the fire in the drawing-room as if she 
 had just returned from a drive, except that her 
 eyes wandered restlessly round the room with 
 curious interest, and she felt a restraint in the
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 103 
 
 presence of Mr. Bohun which she could not 
 conceal. 
 
 Then in came Sir Felix, rubbing his hands. 
 
 "What a night! How d'ye do, Guy? Ke- 
 joiced to be at home again, I assure you, but 
 never intend to come by that train again. Stopped 
 at every station on the line, and half an hour be- 
 hind time at the last. Well, my dear Euphemia, 
 welcome home ; this is the drawing-room ; rather 
 large for comfort, but still it was as well you should 
 be received here." 
 
 " There is a fire in the octagon for after din- 
 ner," observed Mr. Bohun, who had by this time 
 wheeled a chair to the fire, and given Euphemia 
 a screen and a footstool, " and my sister has now 
 only to say how soon she would like to have it 
 served." 
 
 Euphemia felt very strange, and very silent. 
 She allowed Sir Felix to answer for her. Even 
 at this first hour in her new home her very own 
 home she felt annoyed to see Mr. Bohun so 
 completely take the lead, so completely at his 
 ease as master of the house, whilst she, and her 
 husband, too, for the matter of that, were wel- 
 comed as though they were visitors ! 
 
 But her better nature taught her that these 
 were rebellious thoughts which must be kept
 
 104 THE SKELETON 
 
 down, so, though enveloping herself in a mantle 
 of proud reserve, she forbore uttering a word. 
 She rose from her seat, when Sir Felix said the 
 sooner they had dinner the better, and expressed 
 a wish for Ponsford. 
 
 " My maid," she added, as Mr. Bohun looked 
 inquiringly at her. 
 
 "Oh !" he exclaimed, "no doubt she is in your 
 room. Let me have the pleasure of being cicerone 
 this first evening. I shall enjoy showing you 
 through the labyrinths of passages, if I may or 
 would you prefer ?" 
 
 He paused, uncertain, from her manner, whe- 
 ther she wished it or not. 
 
 He was so open and straightforward himself, 
 that any reserve on the part of those with whom 
 he was associated puzzled him, and he attiibuted 
 hers to shyness. Perhaps she would rather Sir 
 Felix showed her about ? Yes, that must be it, 
 for her answer was, 
 
 " Oh ! thank you, Mr. Bohun, don't trouble 
 yourself, Sir Felix will show me the way. I need 
 not dress to-night, only I suppose some one has 
 taken Ponsford to my room." 
 
 "Where have I heard that name?" thought 
 Mr. Bohun to himself, as he stood on the hearth- 
 rug and watched his graceful sister swim out of
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 105 
 
 the room; "it seems as familiar to me as if 
 I had known it all my life. Where can I have 
 heard it ?" 
 
 Meanwhile, Sir Felix drew Euphemia's arm 
 through his, and led her up the immense well- 
 staircase which, branching off at the top, led to 
 rooms each way by two galleries. 
 
 " This gallery to the right leads to all our 
 rooms," said Sir Felix, " and that to the left to 
 the visitors. This is your room, my dear Euphe- 
 mia," he added, coming upon a blaze of light, a 
 bright fire and wax candles showing everything 
 off to advantage, " and my dressing-room is 
 exactly opposite." 
 
 "And Mr. Bohun's?" asked Euphemia, on the 
 impulse of the moment. 
 
 " That door at the end. Ah ! my good Mrs. 
 Dance, I am glad to see you again ! My dear 
 Euphemia " 
 
 There stood Ponsford by the dressing-table, all 
 the glittering toilet appendages already laid out, 
 herself as calm and collected as though she had 
 been there for months instead of minutes, and by 
 her side a little trim old woman, curtsying ner- 
 vously. 
 
 Euphemia had heard a great deal of Mrs. 
 Dance. Sir Felix was never weary of talking of 
 
 F 5
 
 106 THE SKELETON 
 
 his old servants ; but, for a wonder, his bride felt 
 %o jealousy of the little old housekeeper, but re- 
 ceived her welcome as graciously as possible, 
 although the moment the door had closed on her, 
 she sank into a chair and exclaimed, 
 
 " Oh ! thank goodness, Ponsford, some of the 
 ordeal is over at all events ! Shall I have to 
 shake hands with the antediluvian old butler, 
 too? And pray tell me, is this the room the 
 former Lady Bohun slept in and died in ? because if 
 it is, no power on earth shall make me sleep in it T"' 
 
 " The last Lady Bohun was a great invalid, my 
 lady, and she never slept on this floor to my 
 knowledge. Her ladyship's apartments were all 
 on the ground-floor, for I have often seen Mr. 
 Bohun wheel her from one room to the other." 
 
 " Where was Sir Felix?" asked Euphemia. 
 
 "I don't know, my. lady," was Ponsford's 
 quiet answer; and Lady Bohun, whilst a few 
 alterations were being made in her dress, fell 
 into deep thought. 
 
 When Ponsford had finished her arrangements, 
 Euphemia, still almost in a reverie, opened her 
 door to find her way down to the drawing-room. 
 The gallery was dark oak, with a strip of red 
 carpet running down the middle, and thougli 
 lighted at intervals by tall bronzed branches on
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 107 
 
 columns, each holding five candles, it still looked 
 very sombre very different to the gay landing^ 
 of The Laurels ! 
 
 But waiting in the gallery was Sir Felix, ready 
 again to draw her arm within his own, and take 
 her down to the dining-room, which he did with 
 a sort of proud, pleased, alacrity. She was just 
 on the point of making some cheerful remark on 
 his gallantry, when Mr. Bohun suddenly emerged 
 from his side door in the hall, and she froze within 
 herself and was silent. 
 
 Then Sir Felix led her to her own seat at the 
 head of what was now her own table, and, as he 
 did so, in words inaudible to any ear but hers, he 
 whispered, 
 
 " Welcome home !" 
 
 Perhaps, had there not been a third person 
 present, some word of thanks, some look of grati- 
 tude, some smile of gratified affection would have 
 
 repaid him, but as it was no she could not 
 
 speak before that third person she felt the 
 
 blood rush into her face, and she caught her hus- 
 band's pleased smile, for he knew by this time 
 that she was not a demonstrative character, and 
 that a blush from her was worth a volume of 
 words from any one else, but she could not 
 speak.
 
 308 THE SKELETON 
 
 Fortunately, however, Sir Felix was satisfied, 
 or perhaps he might have been too much occu- 
 pied the next moment in seeing that all the table 
 appointments were as they should be ; be that as 
 it might, he instantly began an animated con- 
 versation, and Euphemia sipped her soup and 
 looked round. 
 
 Her first impression of everything was, " How 
 very handsome." Her next, " But very old- 
 fashioned." 
 
 Yes, it might be old-fashioned ; but still, could 
 even she find a fault in it ? 
 
 Immediately before her was a silver soup- 
 tureen, perfectly plain, but of a form so peculiar 
 that it was a curiosity in itself; two quaint, oval, 
 silver side-dishes, also of a fashion of very many 
 days gone by ; silver salt-cellars, a curious silver 
 basket in the middle of the table, full of oranges, 
 between every one of which was stuck a little 
 sprig of laurestinus ; and at each corner of the 
 table a large silver candlestick. To complete all, 
 the plates were silver, too ; and to Enphemiafr 
 eyes, this was a very grand display, after the 
 white-and-gold china which was the every-day 
 service at The Laurels. 
 
 So she sat and looked at it all, and was pleased, 
 for it was all hers. She wondered whether it wa*
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 109 
 
 spread out for her especial welcome that day? 
 Yet hardly for everything was so quietly done 
 just as if it were the same every day of their 
 lives. And then her thoughts wandered to The 
 Laurels, and' her suburban neighbours, and she 
 thought how much she should like Mrs. Wash- 
 ington to see her at the head of such a table as this. 
 
 She had plenty of time during that first dinner 
 in her new home to indulge her thoughts, for Sir 
 Felix and Mr. Bohun talked to each other in- 
 cessantly. In vain the latter tried to draw his 
 sister-in-law into conversation ; no sooner had she 
 replied, than Sir Felix broke in with some question 
 or observation of his own, generally something 
 connected with Bohun Court or its neighbour- 
 hood, or else something about his horses or dogs, 
 and then Euphemia's chance of joining in was at 
 at end. 
 
 She was not much flattered by this. She had 
 not the justice to watch and see which of the 
 brothers led the conversation into these unin- 
 teresting channels, but immediately laid all the 
 blame upon Mr. Bohun ; so to punish him, no 
 sooner was the dessert put on the table, than, 
 afraid of venting her displeasure in words, she 
 leant back in her chair, and made no attempt to 
 conceal a wide yawn.
 
 110 THE SKELETON 
 
 Sir Felix, in the middle of a sentence, looked 
 at her, and abruptly ceased speaking. Mr. Bohun, 
 on the contrary, immediately exclaimed 
 
 " I am sure you are very tired, and all these 
 details must be very wearisome to you." 
 
 " I am tired," was her reply ; " but not by 
 your conversation ; for, to tell you the truth, I 
 have not been listening since you began upon 
 dogs and horses." 
 
 "Then we had better adjourn," said Sir Felix, 
 rising hastily ; " and I must apologise for having 
 been oblivious to everything except the fact that 
 Guy and I have not met for six months. Let 
 me show you now to the round drawing-room as 
 we call it it makes a warm little room for the 
 winter evenings." 
 
 And he led the way with an alacrity which told 
 Mr. Bohun a tale. It whispered that he did not 
 quite know what the fair lady might say next, 
 and so the sooner he cut short her remarks 
 the better, since evidently something had put 
 her out. 
 
 " But she is tired, r thought her brother-in- 
 law; "and tired people are apt to be cross. I 
 shall see her to more advantage in the morning, 
 so to-night all that she says and does shall go for 
 nothing."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. Ill 
 
 And it was well that he made up his mind this 
 should be the case, for certainly during the whole 
 of the tedious two hours after dinner, the young 
 Lady Bohun dropped anything but pearls and 
 diamonds from her lips, but seemed determined to 
 keep her husband in a perpetual state of doubt 
 and disquietude, not unmingled with dread, till 
 he lighted her candle to retire for the night.
 
 112 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE next morning Mr. Bohun certainly saw his 
 sister-in-law to advantage in one respect, for as 
 he sat at breakfast he could not help thinking to 
 himself she was the prettiest woman he had ever 
 beheld. All he wished was, that she would 
 always laugh, and never smile. The laugh showed 
 a row of dazzling teeth what the French would 
 call a superbe rangee but the smile was the most 
 unpleasant that could be imagined. It was a 
 sort of grin, a smile that might mean anything, 
 according to the humour in which she happened 
 to be. Mr. Bohun's eyes instinctively turned 
 from it whenever they met it. 
 
 Then her dress. He knew a well-dressed 
 woman when he saw one, and she had recollected 
 what Ponsford had said on the subject, and was 
 attired to perfection. She saw he had observed 
 it, and she was pleased, for Sir Felix was one
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 113 
 
 who never observed ladies dress at all, and she 
 had often remarked to Ponsford that it was no 
 use dressing for Sir Felix. If she wore black, 
 white, or gray, it was all the same to him. His 
 eyes never wandered from her face. Mr. Bohun's, 
 on the contrary, rested flatteringly on her dress. 
 
 " My dear Euphemia," began Sir Felix, as 
 soon as he sat down to breakfast, " Guy tells me 
 that I have three hours' work before me in my 
 study, what with reading up correspondences and 
 giving audiences ; so that I fear I must reluctantly 
 depute him to have the pleasure of showing you 
 about this morning, but in the afternoon I shall 
 be at your service." 
 
 Lady Bohun turned her eyes towards the 
 window. The sun shone brightly on a dazzling 
 expanse of snow. 
 
 " I don't call this a morning for any Christian 
 to go out, if you mean me to walk," was her 
 answer. 
 
 " My dear, the choice of the morning's enter- 
 tainment rests with yourself," continued her hus- 
 band ; " and as for the means of seeing the 
 grounds, let me recommend a pony. Guy, is 
 little Surrey in the stable still?" 
 
 Before Mr. Bohun could reply, Lady Bohun 
 exclaimed
 
 114 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Oh ! don't ask on ray account. I would as 
 soon ride a donkey as a pony ; and far rather 
 walk, if I must go out." 
 
 " No must in the case, my dear ; I only thought 
 you would like to see the gardens and the 
 grounds." 
 
 " Such a day for seeing anything, dear Sir 
 Felix." 
 
 " Fine and seasonable, my dear Euphemia." 
 
 " I don't like seasonable weather. In Summer, 
 it means intensely hot ; in Autumn, so damp that 
 you catch your death ; in Spring, sharp and 
 showery; and in Winter, bitter like to-day." 
 
 Mr. Bohun laughed. "You are right," said 
 he, " it is too true. But as my brother's time is 
 so taken up this morning, would you let me show 
 you all the old family pictures in the gallery ?" 
 
 " Good gracious ! r thought Euphemia to herself, 
 " these men think of nothing but their house and 
 its possessions ! Oh, thank you !" she said aloud, 
 " but as the sun happens to shine, and I see people 
 sweeping the paths, I should not mind taking a 
 walk for once in a way ; but I tell you honestly, 
 Mr. Bohun, I cannot bear muddy lanes and 
 dripping shrubberies, and all that sort of thing. 
 On a cold day at The Laurels, I used only to 
 walk up and down the conservatory."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 115 
 
 "Not much exercise, my dear," said Sir Felix, 
 smiling innocently. 
 
 " Indeed ! " she retorted, somewhat indignantly, 
 " it was twenty feet long." 
 
 " Well, you can do the same here, if you like," 
 rejoined her husband, pointing to the end of the 
 room ; " that door opens into ours." 
 
 Lady Bohun glanced carelessly round. 
 
 "Is there a conservatory there?" said she, in 
 an indifferent voice ; " I never even saw the glass 
 doors. Is it a pretty good size ?" 
 
 "Guy," exclaimed Sir Felix, slily, "how many 
 feet long, eh?" 
 
 " Seventy," said his brother, quietly, and there 
 was a pause. 
 
 Lady Bohun spoke very little more at break- 
 fast ; only as she was passing out of the room in 
 answer to a question of Mr. Bohun's. 
 
 "Is it to be the seven leagued boots?" said 
 he, with his bright, kindly smile. 
 
 " If you please," was her answer. 
 
 "What hour would suit you?" 
 
 " About twelve, I suppose, is the best time," 
 and she sailed away without further remark. 
 
 It had been a very stiff, silent breakfast table. 
 For the first time in his life, Mr. Bohun had felt, 
 himself a third person. There was something in
 
 116 THE SKELETON 
 
 Lady Bohun's manner even on this, the very 
 onset of their acquaintance, which induced this 
 feeling. It was not fancy on his part. He felt 
 it for a fact, and could only hope that when she 
 knew him better she would like him more, and as 
 a natural consequence, make him feel this posi- 
 tion less. 
 
 And full of this spirit of conciliation he lighted 
 his cigar and walked off to the conservatory to 
 benefit the plants, and to await the lady's plea- 
 sure. 
 
 The arrival of the new Lady Bohun at Bohun 
 Court had made a great sensation in the house- 
 hold; but there was another actor on the same 
 stage whose appearance had created an almost 
 equal stir, and this was Ponsford.. 
 
 Ponsford, coming to Bohun Court with her 
 quondam mistresses as a visitor, had always been 
 a great lady ; but coming now as Lady Bohun's 
 own maid, she was a greater lady still, and when 
 old Mrs. Dance awoke on this first morning of 
 her presence in the house, it was with that weight 
 of some undefined misfortune with which one's 
 steeped senses generally awake charged, if any- 
 thing unusual or startling has occurred the night 
 before. 
 
 She and Ponsford were to breakfast together
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 117 
 
 that day, and this was the incubus, yet Ponsford 
 was a person of such suavity that the only won- 
 der was, how any one could ever be afraid of her. 
 Yet this was certainly old Mrs. Dance's sensa- 
 tion. She was afraid of Ponsford's elegance, 
 Ponsford's calm remarks, and Ponsford's graceful 
 caps. Moreover, Ponsford always spoke of Lady 
 Bohun as "her ladyship," and this struck awe 
 into all the old fashioned servants' minds, for to 
 them, the two Ladies Bohun, under whose gentle 
 sway they had all lived, had never been addressed 
 or spoken of as anything but "my lady." 
 
 " Will my lady please to come to my room, 
 Mrs. Ponsford?" asked she, when their tete-a-tete 
 was over, " or. shall I go up and take her orders 
 for dinner ?" 
 
 Mrs. Ponsford said she would go and inquire, 
 and in half an hour she returned. 
 
 " Her ladyship begs me to tell you, Mrs. 
 Dance, that she will not trouble you to come up ; 
 and as her ladyship is going out walking with 
 Mr. Bohun she intends resting in her room until 
 then; but about the dinner, provided you see 
 that there is fish, and something of chicken, and 
 something of sweetbread these are her lady- 
 ship's own words she does not the least care 
 what she has."
 
 118 THE SKELETON 
 
 Mrs. Dance was silent from perplexity. At 
 last she said 
 
 " My lady no doubt means she would wish me 
 to draw up a bill of fare." 
 
 " Not at all, Mrs. Dance, I assure you. To 
 tell you a little secret, her ladyship cannot bear 
 anything like trouble, and she is not the least 
 particular about her dinner; indeed, I always 
 ordered it for her when we were abroad. I am 
 certain she will be quite satisfied with your selec- 
 tion, provided, of course, you recollect that her 
 ladyship makes a point of fish, and chicken, and 
 sweetbreads." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Dance was still sorely puzzled. 
 This was not at all what she had expected, nor 
 anything like what she had ever been accustomed 
 to. The ordering of dinner had always been 
 quite an important ceremony at Bohun Court in 
 the lifetime of the former Ladies Bohun, and even 
 after their death, Mrs. Dance had been in the 
 habit of attiring herself especially for this cere- 
 mony in an appropriate costume, and waiting on 
 Mr. Bohun in the library to take his orders. 
 Had she lived to take orders, and such indefinite 
 orders, too, from the lady's maid? 
 
 Xo. But the old woman was meek and very
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 119 
 
 gentle, so instead of exploding, she thought she 
 would merely try again. 
 
 " Chickens, of course, my lady can have when- 
 ever she pleases, but I fear, Mrs. Ponsford, un- 
 less the coach is ordered to leave fish regularly at 
 the gate, we shall have some difficulty just at 
 first. Mr. Bohun had fish just when the man in 
 the village happened to have any over, but it is 
 so out of the way here, that we have to write a 
 general order when our dinners begin, and Mr. 
 Bohun said I was to ask my lady, when I applied 
 to him." 
 
 " Of course," said Ponsford, slightly rearing 
 her head in a manner peculiar to herself; " of 
 course her ladyship orders everything now ; but 
 fish she must have, that I know. It must be 
 arranged somehow." 
 
 " I will send directly," said Mrs. Dance, " but 
 perhaps my lady will allow me to see her, to take 
 her commands for the future." 
 
 " / dare not disturb her ladyship, you may, if 
 you like to venture," returned the lady's maid. 
 
 " I mean about the sweetbreads," persisted Mrs. 
 Dance, quite distressed ; " there can be none to- 
 day, I much fear, for they only kill veal once a 
 week, Mrs. Ponsford, and the day is past. We
 
 120 THE SKELETON 
 
 shall always have to bespeak whilst the neigh- 
 bourhood is so full." 
 
 "You do not intend to say that her ladyship 
 actually cannot have sweetbreads when she 
 pleases?" exclaimed Ponsford. 
 
 " They only kill once a week," persisted the 
 housekeeper. 
 
 "Then my good Mrs. Dance," retorted her 
 companion, impressively, preparing to swim out 
 of the room with equal grace and dignity ; " they 
 must kill a calf on purpose, that's all I have to 
 remark." 
 
 Whereupon she left Mrs. Dance to her per- 
 plexity and distress, and rejoined her mistress, 
 who was unpacking her Parisian bijouterie, and 
 brushing it with a tiny jeweller's brush dipped in 
 eau de Cologne. 
 
 " Have you got me out of it, Ponsford ?" 
 
 " Yes, my lady. I said you could not possibly 
 be disturbed." 
 
 " What will she do to-morrow, do you think ? 
 Plague me again with her clean apron and 
 curtsies ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, my lady. I can arrange it again to- 
 morrow till she becomes accustomed to my order- 
 ing dinner, and then your ladyship will have no 
 further trouble."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 121 
 
 But Ponsford, clever and useful as she was, did 
 not quite understand Mrs. Dance. The old lady 
 was not going to be silenced without a remon- 
 strance. She did not intend, meek as she was, to 
 resign her prerogative without a struggle, so 
 straightway she sought Mr. Bohun (not Sir 
 Felix Sir Felix was nobody in comparison), and 
 found him smoking in the conservatory. 
 
 It took her very few minutes to detail her 
 grievance, and to her infinite relief and consola- 
 tion, Mr. Bohun entered into it immediately. 
 
 " It was my fault, Mrs. Dance ; nobody's 
 fault but mine. Sir Felix, you know, never 
 thinks of these things, so all the arrangements 
 ought to have been cut and dried by me, and 
 placed before Lady Bohun in proper form. She 
 would then have known that it was the custom of 
 the house for you to wait on her every morning 
 for her commands. Dear old Dance, don't fret. 
 It shall all be right to-morrow." 
 
 " But, sir, I fear not. If it were only my lady 
 I had to deal with, I might hope, but it is that 
 fine maid. Then about the fish " 
 
 (f There again my fault ! How could I have 
 been so stupid as never to tell Horsman to begin 
 sending it again every day ? All my selfishness, 
 not caring for fish myself, and also, perhaps, their 
 
 VOL. I, G
 
 1 22 THE SKELETON 
 
 arrival having been so often fixed and then put 
 off again, and then so unexpected at the last. 
 However, never mind Goody Dance." 
 
 " Ah, sir, but my lady may mind very much." 
 
 "Not she. She is young, and gay, and pretty, 
 and may care for silks and satins, but not so very 
 much for good dinners." 
 
 " My ladj's maid, sir, made such a point of the 
 sweetbreads, that I think my lady does mind what 
 she has, but as for them, why, that's an impossi- 
 bility, sir." 
 
 " Then of course you said so ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, I did." 
 
 " And what did this grand lady's maid say ?" 
 
 "Why, sir, she said, as composed and cool as 
 I am now, and more, 'then,' says she, f you must 
 kill a calf on purpose.'" 
 
 Mr. Bohun could now preserve his gravity no 
 longer, but at this climax burst into a fit of un- 
 controllable laughter. 
 
 " The best thing I ever heard in my life !" he 
 exclaimed ; " I should like to see the individual 
 who made the remark. But now take my advice, 
 Mrs. Dance. Wait till I have seen and spoken 
 to Lady Bohun. I am going to walk with her 
 this morning, and I dare say I shall have an oppor- 
 tunity of setting things right. If not, Sir Felix
 
 IN THE CUPBOAED. ] 23 
 
 will. Any way, do not let a new maid put out 
 our dear old Dance, so trot along and send up as 
 good a dinner to-day as you did yesterday, and 
 all will be well in the end." 
 
 So he thought. But he had not until now come 
 into contact with any one resembling the new 
 Lady Bohun. He was "reckoning without his 
 host," as the saying is. 
 
 In a few minutes more she joined him in the 
 
 if 
 
 conservatory, and as she made her way cautiously 
 between the plants, ejaculations fell from her lips 
 at every step. 
 
 " Ugh ! ach !" and sundry others. " One can 
 see that it is some time since you entertained a 
 lady at Bohun Court, Mr. Bohun. If I have a 
 horror of anything, it is smoke cigars, I mean ; 
 I never suffer Sir Felix to smoke. If you will 
 allow me, I will put off my inspection of the con- 
 servatory until it is purified a little. I did not 
 know you were smoking." 
 
 Mr. Bohun hastily threw away the offender, 
 with many apologies. " He had no idea she would 
 have been ready so soon," he said. " He did not 
 know that his brother had given up this vice he 
 fancied Lady Bohun would by this time have 
 been quite inured to it. But, since you dislike 
 it, I shall make a point of abstaining for the 
 
 G2
 
 J24 THE SKELETON 
 
 future," he added, and Euphemia bent her head 
 in token of acceptation of the apology. 
 
 They then started on their walk, and as he fol- 
 lowed in the wake of a black moire antique of 
 fabulous dimensions, Mr. Bohun had time to exa- 
 mine and make mental comments on his new sister. 
 He regarded her rather as a curiosity, and cer- 
 tainly her dress for that country walk in the 
 depth of winter, was young female England to 
 perfection. 
 
 She had on, as I before said, a dress of black 
 moire antique. It was looped up all round over a 
 red petticoat of quilted silk. A tight black cloth 
 jacket profusely braided, a wide-awake with a red 
 feather, and turn-down collars with a red ribbon 
 under them, completed the upper part of her 
 attire. But it was on her feet that the eyes of 
 Mr. Bohun rested in profound surprise. She had 
 boots, the heels of which reminded him of nothing 
 so forcibly as the favourite chaussure of Mother 
 Shipton high pointed heels, laced with red. 
 
 (i I should like," thought he to himself, as he 
 gazed, " to show her to Mrs. Traut." And then 
 he thought better of it. " Xo, not in this guise. 
 The impression would be startling and inefface- 
 able. I could not present, in a costume like this, 
 the new I^ady Bohun."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 1 25 
 
 So she had actually at last become Lady Bohun 
 in his sight ? Yes he who had thought he never 
 could look at her except as Miss Blackstone, now 
 saw in her a Lady Bohun so completely standing 
 alone in her own fashion, that she sent the memory 
 of her predecessors back into the abyss of the past, 
 and was too utterly unlike either to provoke even 
 the faintest comparison.
 
 126 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Mil. BOHUN had come out to escort his sister 
 over the grounds, to show her the gardens, and 
 conduct her through the leafless shrubberies. Did 
 she permit him to do so? Not she. The paths 
 had all been swept a certain width, over which 
 her draperies extended on both sides at least a 
 foot ; thus, to attempt to walk by her side was 
 impossible. So he had to follow her, and as she 
 walked very fast, never asked him the way, but 
 pursued whichever path she pleased, talking in- 
 cessantly to him in a voice which rang loud and 
 clear in the frosty air, and never once turning her 
 head to see where he was, he felt very much as if 
 the tables were turned, and he was the one to be 
 shown the way. 
 
 On, and on, and on they went ; in and out of 
 the small iron gates, up and down the acclivities
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 127 
 
 and declivities, the lady still taking the lead, till 
 at last she stopped from sheer want of breath. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Bohun," she panted, " I hope you 
 are satisfied now. I am sure I have walked far 
 and fast enough to please anybody, but I tell you 
 honestly I am not going to be taken much further. 
 Are there no benches, or arbours, or any resting- 
 places anywhere ?" And her eyes glanced rest- 
 lessly round. 
 
 She looked very beautiful, eyes sparkling, and 
 cheeks glowing, otherwise he longed to say some- 
 thing severe upon the dance she had led him, but 
 unfortunately a pretty woman may go a long way 
 with an impunity denied to an ugly one, so he 
 rather coldly replied that she had wandered some 
 distance from the grounds ; they were now on the 
 confines of the Bohun woods. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Bohun, why in the world then did 
 you come so far ? How am I to get back again?" 
 
 Still preserving his equanimity, he informed her 
 that the only mode by which she could return was 
 that by which she came. If she pleased to vary 
 the route, he would be happy to show her another 
 way. 
 
 " A shorter cut ?" she asked. 
 
 "]S T o much about the same distance, only 
 through the woods instead of the open ground."
 
 128 THE SKELETON 
 
 " And get wet through ? no, thank yoiij Mr. 
 Bohun. Then I will go back the way we came, 
 though perhaps I may drop with fatigue by the 
 way. However, that will not be my fault," and 
 the emphasis was not flattering. 
 
 Mr. Bohun then bethought him of Mrs. Trant's 
 cottage. It stood just midway between where 
 they now paused, and Bohun Court, and though 
 Lady Bohun was neither in a humour nor a cos- 
 tume to render her a desirable companion to in- 
 troduce just at that moment, still it was better 
 than permitting her to over-fatigue herself, and 
 be blamed for it by Sir Felix, for though his 
 brother had hardly been at home four-and-twenty 
 hours, Mr. Bohun had discovered that the lady 
 possessed considerably the upper hand, and had 
 begun to try and mould him to her every will 
 and whim. So, very hesitatingly, he suggested 
 that there was a cottage at no great distance, 
 where, if she liked, she might rest. 
 
 " Mamma never let me go into cottages. She 
 was so afraid of infectious disorders," was Lady 
 Bohun's answer. 
 
 " Oh, but there are no children in the cottage I 
 mean. It belongs to an old lady a dear old 
 retainer, if I may so call her one of whom you
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 129 
 
 may probably have heard from my brother Mrs. 
 Trant." 
 
 " Do you mean the old governess?" asked Lady 
 Bohun. 
 
 The question was abrupt, and it jarred on Mr. 
 Bohun's nerves. It was the second time that 
 day that she had given him a similar twinge, and 
 he could not help feeling that there was a want 
 of good taste both in the tone with which she 
 had uttered the words, "the old governess?" as 
 well as in the sentence with which she had 
 greeted him in the conservatory, namely, " one 
 can see that it is some time since you entertained 
 a lady at Bohun Court !" 
 
 These words had struck him as wanting in 
 good feeling, and the former in good taste. Mr. 
 Bohun was gifted with no small amount of pene- 
 tration. He was beginning to see that his fair 
 sister was something more than a spoilt child, 
 but he answered calmly, 
 
 " Yes, the same. She was my mother's gover- 
 ness, and remains one of our most attached 
 friends ; but, Lady Bohun," (he had such a dislike 
 to the name of Euphemia, that he felt he could 
 never use it, and so began at once to call her 
 Lady Bohun), " she is very old, and not very 
 
 strong I am not quite sure but what I ought 
 
 G5
 
 130 THE SKELETON 
 
 to prepare her for your visit, if you are kind 
 enough to call on her " 
 
 " But is there anywhere else to rest?" 
 
 " Xo, not for two miles." 
 
 " Then call I must, whether I like it or not, 
 for rest I must have. Now, Mr. Bohun, lead the 
 way, if you please, and don't take me twenty 
 miles round." 
 
 So off they started again, the lady silent 
 because through the woods there were no paths 
 swept, and she was obliged to be careful, and the 
 gentleman silent, devising how he, could possibly 
 dissuade her from paying this visit. 
 
 When quite at his wit's end, she suddenly 
 rescued him from despair. 
 
 " Mr. Bohun, I feel that if I once sit down in 
 a chair you will never get me up again. I had 
 better not call on your old lady to-day, so just 
 walk on, and if it is the proper thing for me to 
 jay the visit, I can come with Sir Felix another 
 day." 
 
 And with this they rapidly pursued the wind- 
 ing paths till they came out at the back of Bohun 
 Court, and found themselves in the ivy-grown 
 quadrangle round which were ranged the dog- 
 kennels. 
 
 No sooner did Mr. Bohun appear, than every
 
 IX THE CUPBOARD. 131 
 
 tenant started out of his retirement, with a yell 
 of joy, and Lady Bohun held her hands up to her 
 ears in pretended agony. Amidst the many- 
 toned voices, rose the deep bay of Mr. Bohun's 
 bloodhound. 
 
 " Ah ! ah ! " cried Lady Bohun, " there is my 
 enemy ! I knew him by his voice. He howled 
 me a Avelcome last night, and not satisfied with 
 that, kept me awake till this morning." 
 
 "You don't mean that?" said Mr. Bohun, 
 turning quickly towards her. 
 
 " Yes, I do.- I said to Sir Felix this morning, 
 the first thing, if that dog were mine he should 
 be shot." 
 
 And now a deep colour rushed into Mr. Bohun's 
 face. His eyes gave a flash like fire, and biting 
 his lip, he turned on his heel, and left her to find 
 her way into the house alone. 
 
 On the stone steps he sat down and gave a 
 low whistle. In an instant a huge animal startetl 
 from his kennel, came bounding towards him, 
 and, placing his large paws on his master's 
 shoulders, began whining and licking his face all 
 over in an ecstacy of joy, whilst his bright intelli- 
 gent eyes sparkled with genuine happiness. 
 
 It was the hour that Hector and his master 
 always went into luncheon together; for seven
 
 132 THE SKELETON 
 
 years this had been their invariable custom, and 
 never, till this day, had Mr. Bohun hesitated 
 about it. To-day, however, two or three words 
 from careless lips, made him pause and think, 
 whilst the dog, seemingly surprised at the delay, 
 all but asked, " Why don't we go?" 
 
 But she had called him her enemy, and said, 
 
 if it had been her dog No, Mr. Bohun could 
 
 not repeat that sentence even to himself. He 
 could not imagine how anyone, after seeing the 
 noble.. er r c;ituro, could have the heart not to 
 tolerate the noise he might make, for the sake of 
 his beauty. And could anyone call that sonorous 
 voice a howl ? Had she not clearly said he 
 howled? 
 
 What would she say if they walked in to 
 luncheon side by side ? 
 
 " We can but try it, at all events," said he to 
 himself, after a few moments reflection ; and 
 rising, they entered the house together. 
 
 Luncheon had been waiting some time. Sir 
 Felix, who was the soul of punctuality, had 
 worried himself into a fever. First he thought 
 they must have lost their way, hut then that, 
 with his brother for pioneer, could hardly be 
 possible. Then he fancied his l^uphemia had 
 walked too far, would sit down on a snowy bank,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 133 
 
 and catch her death of cold. Lastly, that they 
 had gone in to see old Mrs. Trant, and this was a 
 consolatory supposition. 
 
 But when Mr. Bohun and Hector appeared 
 alone, his fears broke forth. 
 
 " What has become of Euphemia ? " 
 
 Mr. Bohun, whom nothing scarcely ever agi- 
 tated, hurried, or discomposed, detailed the pro- 
 ceedings of the morning with brief simplicity, 
 but before he had ceased speaking, the folding 
 doors, from the intermediate drawing-room, were 
 thrown open, and Lady Bohun appeared. She 
 looked annoyed. 
 
 " Not my fault, Sir Felix if anyone is to 
 blame it is not I. Ponsford tells me the whole 
 house is in a state of alarm because luncheon has 
 been on the table about ten minutes j but in the 
 first place I had not the most remote suspicion 
 we were tied to minutes so very strictly in this 
 house, and in the next, if I am late, it is not my 
 fault." 
 
 All this was uttered with a rapidity which 
 compelled Sir Felix to wait patiently for an 
 opening, of which he took the earliest advantage. 
 
 " My dearest, Pousford is mistaken " 
 
 " Dear Sir Felix, pardon me, Ponsford is never
 
 134 THE SKELETON 
 
 mistaken. She knows the ways of this house 
 better than I do, I have no doubt." 
 
 Mr. Bohun gave one of his quick upward 
 glances, and Sir Felix turned pale, but he pro- 
 ceeded temperately notwithstanding. 
 
 " My dearest, I meant that the hours at Bohun 
 Court are, of course, under your entire control, 
 but as to a state of alarm, it is I only who have 
 suffered " 
 
 " Dear Sir Felix ! how can you ?" 
 
 " My dearest, I really imagined some catas- 
 trophe had kept you out all these hours." 
 
 " Not my fault, Sir Felix. Ask Mr. Bohun, 
 he knows." 
 
 Mr. Bohun was breaking up biscuit for his 
 dog, and a curl, half a smile, came to the corner 
 of his lip, as he replied to the appeal by saying, 
 " We certainly did walk much farther than we 
 intended," and he said no more; -for just then he 
 was again puzzling himself to think where he had 
 heard that familiar name of Ponsford. 
 
 " But since you are here, safe, sound, and 
 blooming," continued Sir Felix, " take something 
 to restore your exhausted energies. My dear 
 Euphemia, chicken or some cutlets?" 
 
 Lady Bohun did not immediately answer. 
 She had caught sight of the dog, and her eyes
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 135 
 
 were fixed on it with an expression of mingled 
 haughtiness and displeasure. 
 
 " May I ask," she began, addressing her 
 brother-in-law, " if that dog is always your com- 
 panion at meals ? " 
 
 " Hitherto he has been so," said Mr. Bohun, 
 caressing the great ears affectionately ; " but if he 
 offends in any way " 
 
 " I cannot endure dogs and that one, begging 
 your pardon, Mr. Bohun, is such a monster." 
 
 " He certainly is unusually large," returned 
 Mr. Bohun, taking the word in its least objec- 
 tionable signification; "but he is as gentle as a 
 lady's lap-dog. However, if you object, Lady 
 Bohun " 
 
 " Oh, never mind to-day. I don't want to 
 create any more confusion to-day" she said, with 
 marked emphasis; "only, as I don't like dogs, it 
 is not so very pleasant." 
 
 " He shall go," said Mr. Bohun, rising. 
 
 " No, no ; I beg not. Pray sit still and let us 
 have our luncheon. Chicken, if you please, Sir 
 Felix only, as I said before, I hope it will be 
 only for to-day" 
 
 And the luncheon went on in silence.
 
 136 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " PONSFORD," said Lady Bohun, as her maid 
 attended at her toilet that night, " I have done 
 two great deeds to-day." 
 
 " Have you, my lady? " said Ponsford, smiling. 
 
 " Yes ; and I assure you it requires no small 
 courage to eradicate the bad habits of a house 
 that has been for so many years under the 
 government of a couple of bachelors, as one may 
 almost say.'' 
 
 " Very true, my lady." 
 
 " But, luckily, I am not wanting in that sort of 
 courage, Ponsford." 
 
 " No, my lady ; and it is very fortunate your 
 ladyship is not. Many a young lady would take 
 things just as they find them, and then no wonder 
 many a house is made so uncomfortable." 
 
 " Quite right, Ponsford. But you will never 
 guess how bold I have been ; only fortunately I
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 137 
 
 remembered what mamma's friend, Mrs. Wash- 
 ington, used to say, always take the bull by the 
 horns at once ; and so, when I found Mr. Bohun 
 smoking in the conservatory my conservatory 
 I very quickly gave him to understand that that 
 would never do ! " 
 
 " Dear me, my lady ! was Mr. Bohun really 
 guilty of such a thing? and your ladyship in the 
 very house ! But I remember people always said 
 the last Lady Bohun quite spoiled him." 
 
 "Then I am sure / shall not, and I flatter 
 myself I shall not find him smoking there again 
 in a hurry. Well, that was one great deed, and 
 the next was about that abominable dog of his." 
 
 " Oh, my lady ! I spoke to Mrs. Dance about 
 that, and said how it had disturbed your ladyship's 
 rest last night, and that really I thought the dog 
 had better be sent down to the kennels." 
 
 " Where are the kennels, Ponsford ? " 
 
 " In the woods, my lady." 
 
 " Then there it shall go. But what did Mrs. 
 Dance say ? " 
 
 " Oh, my lady ! she took me up quite sharply, 
 and said I had better speak to Mr. Bohun about 
 it, and see what his answer would be, insinuating 
 that I might as well expect to move Bohun Court, 
 as Hector."
 
 138 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Did she really ? Very well ; we shall see, 
 then, who has most power here. But at all 
 events, I have put a stop to its being brought 
 into the room at luncheon; that I would not 
 permit." 
 
 " I should think not, my lady. But it seems to 
 me that Mr. Bohun has lived here so long as 
 master, that perhaps he hardly knows " 
 
 " What he does not know, Ponsford, I shall be 
 very happy to teach," retorted the new Lady 
 Bohun, and with that laudable resolution, her 
 eyelids closed in sleep. 
 
 So had passed the first day of the new reign ; 
 not auspiciously, thought all parties concerned. 
 As for Mr. Bohun, it was an era in his life, and 
 he could not sufficiently express his astonishment 
 at the singularity of this young creature's cha- 
 racter. He could not conceal from himself that 
 even this slight beginning augured ill for the 
 future; and when he came to think over the 
 events of the day a day that had seemed inter- 
 minable he recollected his promise to old Mrs. 
 Dance to set all things right before the next 
 morning, in her department, and now, what had 
 he done ? nothing ! He had not had an oppor- 
 tunity of approaching the subject, and even if he
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 139 
 
 had, he doubted whether his moral courage would 
 have permitted him to enter upon it. 
 
 Such had been the effect of that day upon him, 
 and sleep overtook him as he still lay wondering 
 what the next might bring forth, and hoping 
 better things. 
 
 But before the arrival of that blissful tran- 
 quillity for which he was so sanguine, there was 
 a little affair to be settled between Mrs. Dance 
 and Ponsford, the rival queens. 
 
 The next morning, determined not to be extin- 
 guished without a struggle, Mrs. Dance prepared 
 as usual to wait upon " my lady " after breakfast, 
 to take her commands as to the various arrange- 
 ments for the day; but no sooner had she set 
 foot on the stairs leading up to " my lady's " 
 room, than, as she secretly expected, she was met 
 by the lady's maid. 
 
 " Oh ! Mrs. Dance, her ladyship thought you 
 would wish to see her about this time, so I was 
 just coming to save you the stairs. I am sorry to 
 say her ladyship is very much fatigued to-day 
 quite knocked up from having over-walked herself 
 with Mr. Bohun yesterday." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it, Mrs. Ponsford," replied 
 the old lady, drily. " Will you please to ask my 
 lady if she would be so good as to give me her
 
 140 THE SKELETON 
 
 orders now ? or would a later hour suit her lady- 
 ship better?" 
 
 " I have this moment left her ladyship, Mrs. 
 Dance, and am authorised to say she does not feel 
 able to exert herself to-day, or rather this morning. 
 I hope she may rally a little after luncheon. Her 
 ladyship cares so little what she has for dinner, 
 that provided you are good enough to see that 
 there is, in addition, of course, to the fish, a tol- 
 au-vent of something tender " 
 
 But Mrs. Dance was now upon her guard and 
 upon her dignity. She was nerved up to act 
 with the spirit which she considered necessary, 
 and, without a moment's hesitation, cut short 
 what she looked upon as the cool effrontery of her 
 rival. 
 
 " I thank you, Mrs. Ponsford," said she, drawing 
 up her prim little figure and making a stately little 
 curtsy ; " I thank you, but pray do not trouble 
 yourself to give me orders ; " and, turning round, 
 she straightway descended to the library, where, 
 deep in heaps of accumulated accounts, sat Sir 
 Felix and Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Sir Felix," began the old lady, addressing her 
 words to her master, but her looks to Mr. Bohun, 
 as though from him only did she expect the real 
 support and assistance, " I am truly sorry, Sir
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 141 
 
 Felix, to intrude on you on 'such a point as a 
 difference in the household, but I have lived here, 
 Sir Felix, fifty-five years, and never did so before, 
 so I beg your pardon humbly. But if you please, 
 Sir Felix, I wish to tell you, and Mr. Bohun, and 
 my lady, as respectfully as possible, that I cannot, 
 unless by your express orders and even then, 
 Mr. Bohun, I don't really think I can I cannot 
 take orders in this house from Mrs. Ponsford." 
 
 It was out. The fair, but faded and shrivelled 
 cheeks, of the little old woman bore a pink spot 
 of agitation, and her eyes twinkled, not tearfully, 
 but with dry anger as much anger as such pale 
 blue eyes could show. 
 
 Sir Felix leant back in his chair, and put his 
 hands in his pockets. Mr. Bohun looked down, 
 and drew pictures on the blotting paper before 
 him. Neither spoke, and then the old housekeeper 
 proceeded to narrate her grievance, and ask for a 
 remedy. She did not wish to intrude on my 
 lady she would not trouble her for the world 
 but she had considered it proper and respectful to 
 see if she would like to take the complete rule of 
 the house and the ordering of the dinners, before 
 she took upon herself to follow the old plan of 
 doing it all on her own responsibility. 
 
 " You know, Sir Felix and Mr. IJohun, vou
 
 142 THE SKELETON 
 
 know that I am capable of conducting this 
 establishment, and am ready and willing to save 
 my lady all the trouble I can ; but not knowing 
 what my lady might have been used to at her 
 own home, I thought, perhaps, she might think it 
 an undue liberty if I did not step up every 
 morning, as usual, just to ascertain her wishes, 
 and so I began at once ; but each day I have been 
 met by Mrs. Ponsford, and stopped, and had orders 
 given me; and this, sir, begging your pardon, I 
 cannot put up with again, for if you remember, 
 Mr. Bohun, I spoke to you about it yesterday, sir." 
 
 Sir Felix looked at his brother, his countenance 
 full of vexation, and then Mr. Bohun felt he must 
 speak. 
 
 " So you did, dear old Dance, and I am only 
 sorry that I had no opportunity of saying a word 
 on the subject. I am certain that to wound your 
 feelings would be the very last thing Lady Bohun 
 would wish to do." 
 
 " The very last thing, 1 ' said Sir Felix. 
 
 " So that I have no doubt that a few words of 
 explanation will, as I said yesterday, soon set 
 matters right ; and if you will let my brother and 
 myself talk it over a little, and come again in half 
 an hour, I think you will not have cause to com- 
 plain again. What do you say, Felix ? "
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 1 43 
 
 " Quite so I agree with you yes, my good 
 Dance, suppose you let Mr. Bohun talk it over 
 with me, and come again, eh?" 
 
 " As you please, Sir Felix," said the old woman, 
 and retired in silence. 
 
 The brothers then looked at each other. 
 
 " This is very disagreeable, Guy," said Sir 
 Felix. 
 
 " Very," returned Mr. Bohun. " It is what 
 most people have happening in their houses every 
 day a domestic row on a small scale ; and some 
 people enjoy it, but I cannot say I do." 
 
 " But Avhat are we to do ? " 
 
 " Confer with your wife, Felix. There is 
 nothing else to be done. Depend upon it, young 
 and inexperienced as she is, she is not aware that 
 old servants stand a good deal upon punctilio ; but 
 if you represent things in their true light, she 
 will see how very little will settle affairs quietly." 
 
 Sir Felix mused. " I think it is rather foolish 
 though of Dance," said he ; " she might as well 
 have let matters take their course till we were a 
 little settled." 
 
 " I don't think that," said Mr. Bohun ; " she is 
 an old woman of some experience, and depend 
 upon it, she would not have spoken had she not 
 seen the necessity. It is rather hard for an old
 
 144 THE SKELETON 
 
 servant like herself to be under the orders of a 
 lady's maid, probably younger and more inex- 
 perienced even than " 
 
 " Ponsford is not so very young, Guy, and by 
 no means inexperienced ; on the contrary, she is 
 quite a confidential sort of person.' 1 
 
 " Really. I have never seen her, but somehow 
 her name seems very familiar. Then I conclude 
 she was an old servant of Mrs. Blackstone's ? " 
 
 "Oh, no! She only came to us when we 
 married. But now, Guy, do suggest something. 
 How are we to arrange this ?" 
 
 " Speak to Lady Eohun. Request her to see 
 Mrs. Dance every morning for five minutes, and 
 give her own orders. If she dislikes this, ask her 
 to delegate the power to you." 
 
 "Or to you?" 
 
 " Oh, no ; not to me ! I am nobody here, 
 Felix ; and I had rather not be brought into the 
 field at all." 
 
 " But suppose Euphemia were to wish it ?" 
 
 " I do not think she will," said Mr. Bohun. 
 
 Sir Felix rose with a heavy sigh. He was 
 placed for the first time in his life in, to him, a 
 very difficult and disagreeable position. He was 
 about to undertake a most distasteful errand ; and 
 he would not have confessed, even to his brother,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 145 
 
 how doubtful he felt as to the reception his request 
 would meet. But there was no help for it. He 
 must go, for anything was better than hot water 
 in the house, and so he rose to depart. 
 
 Just as he was moving towards the door, there 
 came two or three little raps at it. 
 
 " Come in," said Sir Felix, stopping short. 
 
 The door opened and a figure entered. It 
 was Ponsford. She did not appear to see Mr. 
 Bohtm. Her eyes were on Sir Felix ; but had 
 she looked round the room, she would probably 
 have been rather flattered, than otherwise, to have 
 seen the expression of dismay with which the 
 former gazed on her, or to have heard the words 
 which were absolutely trembling on his lips. 
 
 " The vampire, by Jove ! " 
 
 " If you please, Sir Felix," said that softest of 
 voices, "her ladyship would be very glad to 
 speak to you for a few minutes." 
 
 The words were uttered in a gently interrogative 
 tone, but to the ear of Sir Felix they implied a 
 summons which demanded his immediate attention, 
 and, moreover, obtained it; so much so, that as 
 he left the room, Mr. Bohun ejaculated to himself, 
 " 1 wish him joy/' 
 
 He was absent more than an hour; Mr. Bohun, 
 meanwhile, feeling very much as that friend feela 
 
 VOL I. H
 
 146 THE SKELETON 
 
 who has accompanied a victim to the dentist's. 
 and awaits, in the ante-room, his return from the 
 room of torture. 
 
 And when he did return, those brothers knew 
 each other's faces so well, that Mr. Bohun had 
 but to give one glance to read at once the result 
 of the interview, for "defeat" was plainly written 
 on the brow of Sir Felix. 
 
 "I hope," began his brother, pacifically, li that 
 everything is pleasantly arranged." 
 
 " I found Euphemia extremely displeased," was 
 Sir Felix's reply. 
 
 " And why?" asked Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Of course ! " retorted the husband of half a 
 year, " and no wonder. I really am surprised at 
 old Dance ; she should have known better. I 
 tind she never even waited to hear the end of 
 Ponsford's sentence, but turned short round, 
 and came off' to me. She should have waited 
 patiently, and made a proper request to see 
 Euphemia." 
 
 "Whose version of the story is this?" 
 
 "Euphemia has this moment told me." 
 
 "And did Ponsford tell her?" 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Is Ponsford quite and entirely to be relied on ? ;> 
 
 "Guy?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 147 
 
 "Yes, I ask; because that very soft-spoken 
 individual is not entirely unknown to me. Do 
 you remember the vampire ?" 
 
 " Pshaw, Guy ! how absurd to rake up that 
 old name. Pray do not utter it before my wife." 
 
 " Not I. But you remember her of old, do 
 you not? Do you remember the dread with 
 which all our servants looked forward to a visit 
 from the Tophams, because it entailed Mrs. 
 Ponsford ? How well 1 seem now to know the 
 name ! Do you remember the so-called legacy of 
 pearls left to her by Lady Mary, and the tre- 
 mendous uproar it created in the family? Do 
 you remember a certain story, carefully hushed 
 up, of a pen held in the hand of the dying Lady 
 Merivale?" 
 
 " Guy, you put me out of patience ! " cried Sir 
 Felix ; "why revive these useless stories ?" 
 
 " To put you on your guard against one who 
 may otherwise bring dissension into our peaceful 
 
 home. Don't let the vam I mean, don't let 
 
 Mrs. Ponsford set you against dear old Dance. 
 And now to business have you arranged matters?" 
 
 " Yes, but with some difficulty. At first 
 Euphemia was very anxious that Ponsford should 
 be a sort of half-and-half housekeeper, just to 
 order dinner, or hardly that, but to say what 
 
 H 2
 
 148 THE SKELETON 
 
 Euphemia wishes to have and all that ; but this I 
 thought unadvisable. Was I right ? " 
 
 "And then?" said Mr. Bohun, evasively. 
 
 " Then I suggested that she should merely go 
 through a form of seeing a bill of fare, or a list of 
 company, and all that sort of thing; but Euphemia 
 says that she cannot bear being tied to that kind 
 of ceremony : very naturally, poor young thing ! 
 she has never been used even to think for herself, 
 much less to manage a large establishment." 
 
 Mr. Bohun wished to remark that it might be 
 as well, then, if she now began to learn, but he 
 refrained, and listened patiently to Sir Felix, as 
 he continued. 
 
 " So it ended by my asking her if she would 
 like Mrs. Dance to take the whole into her own 
 hands for a time, and reign sole housekeeper ; and 
 then Euphemia will be able to judge if all is con- 
 ducted as she wishes, and either to alter, approve, 
 .or find fault, as the case may be ; and thus you 
 see there will be no more disagreeables, eh, Guy?" 
 
 "A compromise," said Mr. Bohun; "yes, a 
 very fair compromise, and I hope it may last." 
 
 "What have you any doubts?" 
 
 " It depends." 
 
 "On what?" 
 
 "On whether the whether Ponsford in-
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 149 
 
 terf'eres or not. If she should, Dance will throw 
 down the sceptre." 
 
 " Well, we can but try. Euphemia likes Pons- 
 ford ; she is very useful to her. I should be very 
 sorry to be the cause of her leaving." 
 
 " No fear of that," said Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Ah, Guy ! you are very unjust to that poor 
 woman," returned Sir Felix. 
 
 " I hope I am," was Mr. Bohun's reply, and 
 there the dialogue ended ; but his thoughts ran in 
 the same channel for several hours afterwards, 
 and the feeling uppermost in his mind was, 
 
 " I have heard that there is a skeleton in every 
 cupboard. I thought Bohun Court an exception, 
 but I suspect it has got in, even here, at last ! "
 
 150 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BOHUN COURT was full of company; four or five 
 married couples and a daughter or two staying in 
 the house, and people from the neighbouring 
 country seats coming to dinner every day. It 
 reminded the residents in the county of the old 
 days of the first Lady Bohun, who used to come 
 down for a few months in October with all her 
 London-season dresses, a little crushed and a little 
 faded, and show off to a house full of company 
 till after Christmas. 
 
 The third Lady Bohun had now been married 
 some six months or so, and was becoming accus- 
 tomed to her new position. She was completely 
 in her element. She ruled her husband, for he 
 gave way to her implicitly ; she ruled her house- 
 hold through Mrs. Dance, who gave her no 
 trouble at all ; and she ruled the fashions round 
 Bohun Court, for she was dressed by Ponsford,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 151 
 
 d,nd could have stood the scrutiny of a dozen 
 French milliners' 
 
 Lady Bohun was in the ascendant ; Sir Felix 
 sunned himself humbly in her radiance, and Mr. 
 Bohun calmly fell into the background, with a 
 quiet dignity that won him infinite admiration. 
 He and his sister-in-law rarely clashed; some 
 people said it was because they mutually avoided 
 each other, and others that it was owing to his 
 faultless temper. Yet there were well-meaning 
 friends and admirers of his who, in their mistaken 
 zeal, often drew from Lady Bohun's rosy lips 
 some of those cutting and mischievous remarks 
 for which she had already gained herself quite a 
 name. 
 
 There was one young lady, the only daughter 
 of a retired old Admiral near Bohun Court, with 
 whom Lady Bohun had this first winter formed a 
 violent intimacy. Sir Felix had a great dislike to 
 female friends. It was one of his opinions that a 
 married woman should have no bosom friends, 
 seeing that a married woman should have no 
 secrets or confidences except with her husband, 
 and so fully aware of this was Lady Bohun, that 
 she had not as yet ventured to ask him to 
 allow her to invite even her friend Fanny Wash- 
 ington to stay with her.
 
 1 52 THE SKELETON 
 
 But the intimacy with Miss Maynard had been 
 dashed into very suddenly. She had arrived one 
 day with the Admiral, her father, to dine and 
 sleep at Bohun Court, and having been snowed 
 up for three days, left the house Euphemia's 
 bosom friend. 
 
 Miss Maynard was what the world calls a very 
 fast young lady. She was the first specimen of 
 the kind that Lady Bohun had ever seen, and it 
 amused her exceedingly. Motherless, and brought 
 up entirely under her father's eye, she had re- 
 ceived a masculine education, and had no femi- 
 nine tastes. 
 
 " I cannot think how I ever came to have a 
 daughter," the old Admiral used often to shout, 
 at the top of his voice ; " I never wanted one. I 
 wanted a son, but I've made her as like a boy as 
 I could," and this he evidently considered a cir- 
 cumstance to boast of, so that Jem, as she was 
 familiarly called (having been christened Jemima), 
 never stood a chance of being polished to the 
 brilliancy of other young ladies. 
 
 The morning after the arrival of the Maynards 
 on the occasion of this their first visit, Lady 
 Bohun's eyes opened in dismay on the snow. The 
 house was full of company ho\v could she amuse 
 them all day ?
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 153 
 
 " Ponsford, the gentlemen are sure to go out ; 
 but what on earth am I to do with the ladies ?" 
 
 " Oh ! my lady, you will find Miss Maynard a 
 great assistance. I used to hear Lady Mary say, 
 she was as good as a play, and to hear her and 
 Mr. Bohun go on, was almost enough, with 
 nothing else." 
 
 " Why ? Does he not like her ?" 
 
 " I don't know, my lady. Nobody ever knows 
 who Mr. Bohun likes or dislikes " 
 
 " Very true, Ponsford ; I never met such a 
 close, reserved man in my life. But do you mean, 
 on the contrary, that there is a flirtation between 
 them?" 
 
 " Oh ! dear no, my lady. I can hardly explain ; 
 but your ladyship will soon see what I mean 
 nothing like a flirtation but, somehow, Miss 
 Maynard seemed always after Mr. Bohun, teazing 
 him, and trying to annoy him." 
 
 " Then, if she succeeded, Ponsford, she must 
 have some wit about her, for I never saw such 
 an imperturbable character as he is, in all my 
 existence. I can only say / never managed to 
 annoy him." 
 
 Ponsford said nothing, but there was something 
 peculiar in the expression of her face which 
 caught Lady Bohun's eye. 
 
 H5
 
 154 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Ponsford, you look mysterious ; do you mean 
 to say " 
 
 " Oh ! my lady, I never pay attention to what 
 people say I mean to ill-natured remarks, and 
 all that. I was only thinking just then how 
 very easily, in reality, Mr. Bohun can be an- 
 noyed." 
 
 "Can he? How do you know? About what 
 has he ever been annoyed that you know of?" 
 
 " His dog, my lady. I am sure I thought I 
 never should hear the last of that ; and yet what 
 lady could ever suffer such a monster as that 
 to be made a drawing-room pet ?" 
 
 " Oh ! that annoyed him, did it ? Serve him 
 right, Ponsford. Besides, mamma's friend, Mrs. 
 Washington, used always to say to all her young 
 married daughters, if there is anything you don't 
 like in your homes, strike at once, never hide a 
 skeleton in your cupboards : so, you see, I spoke 
 out at once. And about the smoking, too ; I sup- 
 pose that annoyed his high-mightiness as well ! 
 Did you ever hear anything of that ?" 
 
 " Never, rny lady ; but Mr. Bohun smokes all 
 the same, only in his own sitting-room, which is 
 just under my room." 
 
 " And you have the benefit of it, then ?" 
 
 " Oh ! my lady, that does not signify," said
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 155 
 
 Ponsford, with a martyr's smile, " I shut my win- 
 dow, that's all." 
 
 So Lady Bohun went down to breakfast, se- 
 cretly satisfied that, at all events, in two instances 
 during her reign, her power had not only been 
 exercised, but felt. 
 
 Miss Maynard was already in the breakfast- 
 room when Lady Bohun entered. She was seated 
 up upon the corner of the side table^ just behind 
 her father, who was reading the newspaper. Mr. 
 Bohun leant against the window opposite to them, 
 opening letters. 
 
 " Where's Jem ?" roared the Admiral, as Lady 
 Bohun approached. 
 
 " Up here, sir." 
 
 " Get down, then. Don't you see Lady 
 Bohun ?" 
 
 " I'm not blind, father dear, and Lady Bohun 
 isn't deaf," said the young lady, and sprang nim- 
 bly to the ground. 
 
 Lady Bohun shot a rapid glance at Mr. Bohun, 
 met his eyes, and saw them instantly fall again. 
 He seemed to have been watching the effect of 
 this new guest's appearance on her, but as yet 
 her only feeling was extreme surprise ; she neither 
 liked her, nor disliked her, but watched her as a 
 curiosity.
 
 156 THE SKELETON 
 
 The guests gathered, one by one, round the 
 breakfast-table, and Miss Maynard seated herself 
 next to Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " I always make a push to be next to you, don't 
 I, Mr. Bohun?" 
 
 " Yes, Miss Maynard, you certainly do, and it 
 will not, I trust, make me over-value my humble 
 powers of entertainment." 
 
 " I don't think so, since I generally find I have 
 to amuse you. Now, tell me, how have you been 
 getting on since I left you? and where is your 
 shadow ?" 
 
 " Which question am I to answer first; and 
 who is the shadow ?" 
 
 " Hector, to be sure." 
 
 " Hector, thank you, is quite well." 
 
 "And how have you fared under the new 
 rfyime? or, as papa would say, the new flag?" 
 
 " I think I sail under very fair colours, Miss 
 Maynard." 
 
 " Oh ! yes, I know you do in one sense ; she is 
 very pretty ; but, you know, I don't mean that 
 exactly ; I want to know if you get on well toge- 
 ther? People say you don't." 
 
 Mr. Bohun was accustomed to the brusquerie 
 of Miss Maynard, but even he was startled by 
 this emphatic sentence. She perceived it, and
 
 IN THE CUPBOAED. 157 
 
 immediately added, "You look guilty, so don't 
 puzzle yourself to find evasions. Let us pass on, 
 or rather go back to my opening question about 
 Hector. I am so used to feeding him at every 
 meal in this house, that I wish to hear the rights 
 of it. How has he offended?" 
 
 " He has not done so, to my knowledge." 
 
 " Then why is he not here ?" 
 
 " Because he is in his kennel." 
 
 " Very well, Mr. Bohun. I see, and I under- 
 stand. You think yourself very sharp, and very 
 cautious, but your silence betrays more than words 
 would tell. However, my lady is listening to us, 
 though she is smiling so sweetly on Captain Ber- 
 rington, so let us talk of her instead of Hector. 
 How well she looks by daylight." 
 
 " Extremely ; it is that exceeding delicacy of 
 complexion " 
 
 " That's a cut at my brown cheeks." 
 
 "Pardon me, Miss Maynard. There are as 
 many beautiful brunettes as blondes." 
 
 "Try again, Mr. Bohun; but you won't beat 
 that in a hurry." 
 
 " I was about to observe that the first time I 
 ever saw Lady Bohun was by daylight, and she 
 struck me then as she strikes me now " 
 
 " Where did you first see her ?"
 
 158 THE SKELETON 
 
 " At the Crystal Palace." 
 
 " If she stood the test of that glare, she can 
 stand anything." 
 
 " She looked then as now a perfectly beautiful 
 young woman." 
 
 Miss Maynard gave a sigh. 
 
 " Well, do you know, Mr. Bohun, I am very 
 glad." 
 
 "At what?" 
 
 " That you like her didn't you say so ?" 
 
 " You did not ask me, Miss Maynard." 
 
 " Bless the man and his evasions ! never mind 
 but I am glad, because I like her myself. I like 
 everything about her except " 
 
 " An exception already?" 
 
 " Yes except her maid. How can you and 
 the vampire exist in the same air? Are you not 
 afraid ?" 
 
 " Do I look ill, Miss Maynard ?" 
 
 " No, I don^t think it has begun its deadly work 
 yet " 
 
 Mr. Bohun gave a shiver, and at that moment 
 Lady Bohun suddenly addressed him 
 
 " Somebody walking over your grave," said she 
 with a smile. 
 
 " Two horrid prognostications in the course of
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 1 59 
 
 one second," whispered he to Miss Maynard, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Captain Berrington," said Lady Bohun to her 
 neighbour, who was an habitue at Bohun Court, 
 " I think I must begin to try a little match- 
 making. Do you think it would do?" and she 
 glanced at her brother-in-law and his tormentor. 
 
 " If matrimony ought to begin with a little 
 antipathy, or even a great deal, it would do very 
 well," was his answer. 
 
 " Why ? they have been whispering together 
 all breakfast time.' 1 
 
 " She on the offensive, and he on the defensive; 
 that is all, Lady Bohun. Bohun is not the man 
 to admire that style of girl. What do you think 
 of her?" 
 
 " I am amused. She is a character. I never 
 saw any one like her." 
 
 "In this neighbourhood they are called 'the 
 Maynards, p^re et fils? Till you know her a little 
 better, you will hardly appreciate the appropriate- 
 ness of the phrase, but when you do, you will say 
 she is well named Jem Maynard, for no other name 
 would suit her. You did not know old Lady 
 Merivalc, did you, Lady Bohun?" 
 
 " No, but I know she was a regular guest here 
 in old days."
 
 160 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Yes, and she was a marvellous old woman ; 
 but what I was going to observe was, that when 
 people used to say to her they wondered that so 
 gentle, nervous, and delicate a person as the last 
 Lady Bohun, could put up with such a visitor as 
 Miss Maynard in the house, Lady Merivale used 
 to fire up in her defence and say, ' Why not ? I 
 am sure she is very gentleman-like !' " 
 
 The trivial conversation of that breakfast table 
 sent Mr. Bohun to his den in a fit of profound 
 meditation. He had lived too long in the world 
 not to know that even in the most remote quar- 
 ters, where the fewest possible number of people 
 are gathered together, those people will talk ; but 
 human beings have very much of the ostrich in 
 their nature ; they hide their heads in the sand, 
 and flatter themselves they are invisible. Mr. 
 Bohun now saw that he had been hiding his, 
 whilst all his neighbours had been watching and 
 making remarks upon him. 
 
 " I want to know if you get on well together 
 people say you don't." 
 
 That was the sentence that rung in his ear.-, 
 that had startled him when it was uttered, and 
 startled him still more now, when he sat quietly 
 down and dissected it. Even the consolatory 
 fumes of the forbidden cigar could not dissipate
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 161 
 
 the emotion with which he pulled that sentence 
 to pieces, and weighed every word of it. 
 
 Did they get on well together ? Did his sister- 
 in-law his brother's wife and himself, get on 
 well together? that meant, did they agree? 
 
 They had lived under the same roof for three 
 months had they ever had a quarrel? a dispute? 
 or an angry word? never. But, nevertheless, 
 did they get on well together ? Mr. Bohun looked 
 in the clear depths of Hector's large loving brown 
 eyes, upraised and fixed on his face, and seemed 
 to see the silent answer there. It was, no. Did 
 even they agree? no; not in thought, or word, 
 or action ; they had not a feeling, or a taste, in 
 common; no wonder then that they did not "get 
 on" together, much less "get on well." 
 
 And the world had found it out. This, to Mr. 
 Bohun, was the worst part of the business. For 
 the honour of the Bohun name, he would have 
 hidden the thorn in his heart for ever, had not 
 that same inquisitive world, that officious throng 
 called " people,"" of whom Miss Maynard was the 
 voice, drawn it to light. 
 
 And now, what could he do ? he wanted some- 
 body to talk to. He would have liked to have 
 gone down to the library and had a long chat with 
 Sir Felix, and to have said to him candidly, " I
 
 162 THE SKELETON 
 
 want a home of my own I want a pied-a-terre 
 I am no longer of any particular use to you, since 
 stewards and bailiffs can do what I do much better 
 than myself. Let me go." But he well knew 
 that no sooner should he have seated himself to 
 have a tete-a-tete with his brother, than by some 
 mysterious agency, Lady Bohun would be in- 
 formed of the fact, and would descend with a 
 long strip of work in her hand, express a little 
 surprise at finding him there, and seat herself in 
 the deep window, with the air of a martyr. 
 
 Xo he could not go to Sir Felix. Then he 
 bethought him of his old friend the Rector 
 he who, on the first rumour of the impending 
 marriage, had flown to him on the wings of true 
 friendship, to offer what now seemed to Mr. 
 Bohun to have been prophetic condolences. But 
 it was snowing heavily, and it was not worth 
 while running the risk of a wetting, and finding 
 the Rector out for the day. 
 
 There was but one other person with whom 
 Mr. Bohun was on terms to suit the present 
 moment. That was old Mrs. Trant. No chance 
 of her being out on such a day. 
 
 " Suppose we go and see Mrs. Trant, eh, 
 Hector?" said he. 
 
 The dog testified perfect acquiescence.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 163 
 
 "We don't mind the snow, do we, Hector?" 
 And the huge animal was instantly on his feet, 
 trembling with eager impatience, and a red light 
 gleaming in his eyes. He knew he was going to 
 be taken out for a run with his master. 
 
 " So we'll go, Hector," and drawing on high 
 boots, and rolling himself in a plaid, Mr. Bohun 
 and his dog sallied forth by the window.
 
 164 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 As he crossed the snow-covered lawn, Lady 
 Bohun and Miss Maynard stood at a window 
 which was at the extreme end of the gallery up- 
 stairs. They had been looking at the old family 
 pictures, with a view of organising some tableaux 
 mvans. 
 
 " There goes my knight," remarked the young 
 lady; "what business has he to go out with- 
 out me?" 
 
 " No hope of our stirring out such a day as 
 this," said Lady Bohun, looking up at the leaden 
 sky. 
 
 " Where can he have emerged from ?" pursued 
 Miss Maynard, " he and Hector?" 
 
 " From his ' den,' as he calls it," said Lady 
 Bohun, rather contemptuously, " where they sit 
 together all day, generally."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. ] 65 
 
 " But his den used to be up-stairs in ray time ; 
 where is it now ?" 
 
 " He has always inhabited the same rooms ever 
 since I have known him," returned the young 
 hostess, " a room at the end of the passage lead- 
 ing out of the great hall." 
 
 "Why that was the last Lady Bohun's own 
 boudoir," exclaimed Miss Maynard, " and the 
 nicest room in the house." 
 
 Euphemia said nothing; but coloured, and bit 
 her lips. 
 
 " I know the room well," continued the fair 
 Jem ; " upon my word, Lady Bohun, you were 
 very kind to give it up. Isn't it the very beau- 
 ideal of a snuggery ? and such an exquisite room 
 in summer ! Just under the window is an im- 
 mense bed of lilies of the valley, the only place 
 in the whole garden where they can be induced 
 to flourish, and I always fancied the violets under 
 that window were sweeter than anywhere else, 
 not that I care for flowers particularly, only that 
 room in your predecessor's time was the very 
 Garden of Eden for fruits and flowers. Do let 
 us go down, now that he is out, and rout out the 
 bachelor's den, shall we ?" 
 
 " Not for the world," said Lady Bohun. " Mr. 
 Bohun smokes, and I assure you it is quite bad
 
 166 THE SKELETON 
 
 enough to pass even the end of the passage. I 
 had a baize door put there before I had been a 
 week in the house." 
 
 Miss Maynard laughed. " Poor dear ! Did 
 you really throw such cold water on its inno- 
 cent little bachelor vice ? Did he know why you 
 put it up?" 
 
 " Of course he did ; but what did that signify ? 
 He used to smoke in the conservatory, but I soon 
 stopped that. I cannot well prevent his smoking 
 in his own room, but I assure you my maid, 
 whose window is just over that room, is half poi- 
 soned, and I am seriously thinking what can be 
 done." 
 
 "You and I would never do to live together, 
 then," laughed her companion, " for I go halves 
 in all my old father's cigars. ,But, now, what can 
 we do to amuse ourselves? How infamous of 
 that man to go out ! Never mind ; let us find 
 Captain Berrington and some more of the gentle- 
 men, and go and have a game of billiards, shall 
 we?" 
 
 " But the ladle??" said Euphemia, " I must try 
 and amuse them." 
 
 "Don't. You are not bound to look after 
 them till after luncheon. Leave them with their 
 novels/'
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 1 67 
 
 Miss Maynard was as good as her word. She 
 found the gentlemen, as many as had not 
 ventured out, and played at billiards with them 
 till luncheon. The snow continued to descend 
 heavily, and the carriages that had been ordered 
 to take away a few of the guests were counter- 
 manded. Every one looked fearfully at the wea- 
 ther, for there was a fair prospect of being snowed 
 up, and the afternoon closed in, dull and dark, 
 before four o'clock. It was at this crisis that 
 Miss Maynard came out in brilliant colours. In 
 the evening they were to have tableaux, but how 
 to spend the time from four till seven ? 
 
 " Shut up," cried Miss Maynard, " shut the 
 shutters, clear a large table, and let us have a 
 round game." 
 
 And sure enough, when Sir Felix entered the 
 drawing-room just before the first dinner bell 
 rang, he found almost all his guests in the midst 
 of an uproarious game of lansquenet. 
 
 Never before had the sober walls of Bohun 
 Court looked down on such a sight ! But as Eu- 
 phemia seemed as much amused as any of the 
 party, Sir Felix retired to his own precincts 
 again with a satisfied smile on his face, and there 
 he fat till .she joined him, dressed for dinner. 
 
 She had something to say to him. He always
 
 ] 68 THE SKELETON 
 
 read this in the manner in which she used to 
 enter the library, and it generally made him 
 feel a little nervous. He never knew what might 
 be coming. 
 
 The fact was, she had been holding a conversa- 
 tion with Ponsford during the process of adorn- 
 ment, and a visit to Sir Felix was invariably the 
 result of these conversations. 
 
 Ever since the morning Lady Bohun had been 
 brooding over what Mis? Maynard had told her 
 about Mr. Bohun's having taken possession of the 
 late Lady Bohun's boudoir ! but she had no op- 
 portunity till the evening of exhaling all the 
 annoyance it had caused her. To Ponsford, how- 
 ever, every grievance was sure to be immediately 
 detailed, because they met with such ready sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 "Ponsford, did you know that that room ap- 
 propriated by Mr. Bohun down-stairs was always 
 the boudoir in this house ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, my lady. It is the prettiest room 
 in the house, and the sunniest, which was the 
 reason the late Lady Bohun always inhabited it.'' 
 
 " Why did you never tell me so, Ponsford ?" 
 
 Ponsford looked surprised. She thought, of 
 course, her ladyship knew it. 
 
 "Indeed, I did not. I always imagined that
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 169 
 
 the small drawing-room the room I call the bou- 
 doir was Lady Bohun's." 
 
 " No, my lady. Her ladyship was very deli- 
 cate, and required the morning sun. That is the 
 only room in the house that seems always to have 
 the sun, yet never to be too warm, so her ladyship 
 quite lived in it." 
 
 " No wonder. I am sure I am perished in the 
 drawing-rooms. I had no idea that there was a 
 more comfortable room than the one that has 
 been fitted up for me. Mr. Bohun seems to have 
 feathered his nest very completely, I must say ! 
 I never thought of there being a pretty room 
 down that dark narrow passage." 
 
 " There is a door into the drawing-rooms, my 
 lady, and that used to be open in former times."" 
 
 " You must be mistaken, Ponsford. There can 
 be no door of communication, or I should surely 
 have seen it." 
 
 " Indeed, begging your ladyship's pardon, 
 there is. Lady Bohun used to be wheeled right 
 through all the rooms twice a day, when she be- 
 came too ill to go out." 
 
 " Then that room actually belongs to the 
 suite, then?" 
 
 " That it certainly does, my lady." 
 
 " Well ! that is pretty cool of a bachelor, I 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 1 70 THE SKELETON 
 
 think, isn't it? But I think you must be mis- 
 taken about the door, Ponsford." 
 
 " Well, my lady, it may certainly have been 
 bricked up " 
 
 "Oh ! dear no; there are no signs of such a thing.'' 
 
 " Then, my lady, it is behind that large 
 
 carved ebony cabinet I know that is where 
 
 it always was." 
 
 Lady Bohun fell into a reverie. 
 
 "I must see about this," said she, half-talking 
 to herself, and when Ponsford had put the finish- 
 ing stroke to her toilette, she descended to the 
 library. 
 
 Ostensibly, she went there to await the ringing 
 of the second dinner bell (the custom of Bohun 
 Court being to ring three), but, in reality, to 
 follow her favourite custom of striking whilst the 
 iron was hot. Mr. Bohun must not remain in 
 undisturbed possession of that room if she could 
 help it. The assumption of it amounted to a posi- 
 tive impertinence ; but how to begin was rather a 
 difficulty. Fortunately, Sir Felix led to it him- 
 self. He thought Euphemia must be fagged to 
 death with her guests ; it had been a long day 
 for everybody, but more trying, of course, to 
 the hostess than to her friends, particularly as all 
 these guests were comparative strangers.
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 171 
 
 " Miss Maynard, that extraordinary girl," said 
 Euphemia, in reply, " has been a great assistance 
 to me Ponsford said she would be. But I con- 
 fess I should feel less fatigue if I had some warm 
 little snug room to retreat into. Dear Sir Felix, 
 the cold to-day has been intense. Is it possible 
 you have not felt it ? " 
 
 " I cannot say I have. I was obliged to ride 
 over to the horse-fair, and came home very far 
 from cold, I assure you. Guy generally arranges 
 the farm purchases for me, but to-day, as ill- 
 luck wonld have it, he was out of the way not 
 to be found anywhere. But, my dear Euphemia, 
 after all the pains I took, I should be extremely 
 vexed if the boudoir I prepared with so much 
 care for you, were deficient in luxury or comfort. 
 What is it you wish ? You know you have only 
 to give your orders tell me how it can be made 
 more comfortable?" 
 
 " Oh ! dear Sir Felix, it is not the furniture, 
 or the luxury, or the comfort, that I care for so 
 much as the situation and aspect of the room. 
 In the first place, it is what I call a passage room ; 
 actually it has three doors one from the hall, one 
 from the drawing-rooms, one from the dining- 
 room." 
 
 " My dearest, that is one of the peculiarities in 
 
 i 2
 
 172 THE SKELETON 
 
 the construction and arrangement of Bohun Court. 
 You may walk round the entire circle of the hall 
 through all the rooms ; every room is what you 
 call a passage room." 
 
 " Yes, but every room has not three doors, Sir 
 Felix. Three doors make a boudoir something 
 like an ice-house. Three doors and a fire-place ! 
 I wonder sometimes I do not catch my death of 
 cold." 
 
 Sir Felix smiled, for during the whole course 
 of his acquaintance with the fair Euphemia, he 
 had never seen her with anything approaching 
 a cold. 
 
 " Ah ! you may laugh," said she, testily, " but 
 if you sat there as much as I do, you would not 
 like it. Besides, there is no retirement in that 
 room ; guests in the drawing-room can hear every 
 word I say ; and as for the sun, I never see it till 
 two or three o'clock, and then in summer I shall 
 be burnt up there." 
 
 Sir Felix leant back in his chair, with his hand 
 over his mouth in an attitude of meditation, 
 Euphemia glancing at him out of the corners of 
 her eyes, watching her moment. 
 
 " I understand," said she, cautiously, " that 
 that was not originally the boudoir." 
 
 "Mo no " hesitated Sir Felix, " certainly
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 173 
 
 it was not ; but it occurred to me that this would 
 make you such a pretty room, because of the 
 view. The other has no view." 
 
 "What other?" 
 
 " Guy's little room ; that was the boudoir in 
 old days." 
 
 " So I am told," said Euphemia, coldly. 
 
 Something in her voice struck Sir Felix, and he 
 looked up hastily, but the words he seemed about 
 to utter died away. 
 
 It was Lady Bohun who continued. 
 
 " And Mr. Bohun has taken it for his own 
 room, I hear." 
 
 " Yes," said Sir Felix, briefly. 
 
 " Temporarily or for a continuance ? For as 
 long as he lives here?" 
 
 " My dear Euphemia," exclaimed her husband, 
 at last rousing from his placidity, " this house is 
 my brother's home." 
 
 Strong language, thought the young wife, but 
 it did not daunt her. It was a point of too deep 
 annoyance for that. 
 
 " I am aware of that, she rejoined ; " but is 
 he to appropriate the nicest room in the house to 
 the sacrifice of my comfort?' 1 ' 
 
 " Dearest Euphemia, have you seen it ? Have 
 you really carefully surveyed the little apartment
 
 ] 74 THE SKELETON 
 
 you seem to covet ? Believe me, it will not bear 
 a shadow of comparison with your own boudoir, 
 and whoever has told you so, has, I fear, had some 
 mischievous motive for such exaggeration. My 
 brother requested me, as a favoui', to allow him to 
 have that room he had a peculiar and touching 
 interest in it. I could no more have found the 
 heart to deny him that request, than I could now 
 have the courage to ask him to resign it." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " laughed Lady Bohun, satirically, 
 "if you do not possess the courage, Sir Felix, 
 / do! I assure you I should ask it as easily as 
 possible, but, mark me, not to be refused i If 
 you give me authority to request him to change 
 rooms with me, the request must be complied 
 with!" 
 
 " That depends upon my brother, Euphemia." 
 
 " You are not, then, master in your own house, 
 Sir Felix?" 
 
 " Not to the cost of Guy's comfort, my dear 
 Euphemia." 
 
 " My comfort, then, is of secondary importance 
 to you?" 
 
 " My dearest, I have done everything in my 
 power to endeavour to ensure it." 
 
 " And the first favour I ask you, you refuse ? " 
 
 " Ask me anything but this, Euphemia. I gave
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 175 
 
 my brother my word that nothing should disturb 
 his tenancy of that room. He is attached to it, 
 and his reasons are sacred to me. My dearest, 
 you possess my whole affection as a living wife, 
 but the dead must at least claim my respect. I 
 cannot eject Guy from his occupation of that 
 boudoir, so do not grieve me by saying you have 
 asked it as a favour." 
 
 " But I have, Sir Felix ! " cried Euphemia, her 
 eyes flashing fire ; " and, moreover, I have been 
 denied. Thank you, 1 ' she added, rising haughtily, 
 "I thank you for making me nominal mistress 
 of a house with two masters ! But remember, 
 Sir Felix, however much consideration and obe- 
 dience you may please to show Mr. Bohun, / owe 
 him none, nor will I pay him any. It is quite 
 bad enough to have an idle bachelor living in 
 
 one's house " 
 
 "' Euphemia, Euphemia ! " exclaimed Sir Felix, 
 his voice trembling with agitation. " I beseech 
 you not to utter words which, in a cooler moment, 
 you will feel are both cruel and unjust !" 
 
 " Not I ! If he is to interfere with me and 
 my happiness, I will, at any rate, let him 
 know it ! " 
 
 " Euphemia, you shock me ! The idea of Guy, 
 so good, so amiable, so unoffending "
 
 176 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Ah, yes ! so perfect and so delightful ! Xo 
 wonder he deserves to be petted ! But, my dear 
 Sir Felix, he has not been good, and amiable, 
 and unoffending to me! Remember that odious 
 dog the very first day after I arrived." 
 
 "He withdrew it the moment you objected " 
 
 "Withdrew it from our breakfast and dinner 
 table, certainly; but does it not still go on howling 
 every moonlight night till it drives me nearly 
 wild?" 
 
 " If that is the case, Euphemia, I will try for a 
 remedy by asking Guy to send it down to the 
 kennels." 
 
 " Asking Guy, indeed .* Why not send it, since 
 it annoys me?" 
 
 '"It shall be seen to," said Sir Felix, wearily. 
 
 " Then that disgusting smoking ! " 
 
 " Oh ! my dearest, you have nothing to com- 
 plain of there ! My brother most studiously and 
 scrupulously avoids smoking near any of your 
 rooms." 
 
 " He smokes in his own, which is just under 
 Ponsford's, and she is half poisoned. She cannot 
 actually open her window during the hours he 
 indulges in a habit which makes a man totally 
 unfit for ladies' society. This is another reason 
 why I wish his room to be altered. If Ponsford
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 1 77 
 
 takes my dresses into her room for any alterations, 
 they come back to me fragrant with that intolerable 
 smoke ! Is this to be borne ? " 
 
 " My dear Euphemia," exclaimed Sir Felix, 
 rising hastily, as the third dinner bell pealed 
 through the house, " everything you have said 
 shall be carefully weighed by me, and remedies 
 found if possible; but I cannot consent to any 
 plan which involves the discomfort of my brother." 
 
 "You repeat, then, that you don't mind mine?" 
 
 " I never said so at all ; but, my dearest Euphe- 
 mia, prove, by your silence to Guy on these 
 subjects, that you have some confidence in me; trust 
 to my devotion to your happiness, and spare my 
 brother the pang of feeling that he is not now as 
 much at home in this house as he has been for 
 forty years spare him this, and everything you 
 wish shall be arranged." 
 
 " Oh, skeleton in my cupboard ! " ejaculated 
 Lady Bohun to herself, as, decking her face in 
 its usual smiles, she preceeded her husband to 
 the drawing-room, and prepared, with apparent 
 sweetness and inward bitterness, to ffo the round 
 
 y O 
 
 of her guests ; " skeleton in my cupboard, you 
 shall be a rod in my hand over that weak man, 
 to mould him to my will ! Mistress will I be in 
 this house, or my name is not Lady Bohun ! " 
 
 15
 
 178 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AND in this mood she took her place at the head 
 of her brilliant table. 
 
 Are there not many, and many, and many of 
 us, who sit at our festive boards, mix smilingly 
 in our gay circles, and go cheerfully about the 
 world, doing our every-day work of pleasure or 
 business, with these self-same skeletons in our 
 hearts ? Is there one bosom so full of happiness, 
 or so free from care, that it holds no place in 
 which the grim visitor may not, at some time or 
 other, take his ghastly seat ? perhaps not all with 
 equal ghastliness, but still, is he not there, dim 
 and undefined, or else, mighty in silent power ? 
 
 A bitter, vengeful skeleton haunted Lady 
 Bohun through every room of her house, and a 
 restless, anxious dread was the skeleton that had 
 now begun to prey on the mind of Sir Felix. In 
 another bosom, too, at that table, sat the spectre,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 179 
 
 gleaming sadly from the thoughtful forehead of 
 Mr. Bohun, and " waiting by his side." Even he 
 had, at last, bowed down before it. It seemed as 
 though, having just effected an entrance into 
 Bohun Court, it was appearing before the different 
 inmates of the old place in various shapes. 
 
 At all events, there was a skeleton in the 
 house, but outwardly, the merry party went on 
 all the same. 
 
 People talked, and laughed, and demolished all 
 the good things, and Lady Bohun talked and 
 laughed more than anyone else. She carried it 
 off well ; but Mr. Bohun sat far back in his chair 
 and hardly answered the lively sallies of Miss 
 Maynard. As for Sir Felix, he had that day 
 handed to dinner a new lady-resident of the 
 neighbourhood, who rose from table with the 
 impression that she had never sat next to so 
 stupid a person in her life. 
 
 And she who had caused this disquietude, 
 secretly watched, with scarcely concealed satis- 
 faction, the working of her spells, although to the 
 ear of the assembled guests she was but planning 
 the tableaux for the evening. 
 
 There was a buoyant sort of gaiety in the 
 manner of Lady Bohun which was very fascina- 
 ting to casual acquaintances, and to Sir Felix it
 
 180 THE" SKELETON 
 
 was witchery itself. The consequence was, that 
 whilst listening to her, and admiring her, he 
 entirely forgot that it was her hand that had 
 planted the thorn which was festering at his 
 heart, but felt much more inclined to lay the 
 blame elsewhere. 
 
 " Yes," thought he to himself, as he answered 
 all his neighbours' questions wrong, " yes, it is 
 hard to bring a young girl from her home to live 
 amongst utter strangers, and not to exert every 
 nerve to make her happy. It is hard for her to 
 make requests, and to have them refused. I feel 
 for her, poor young thing, and I was harsh, 
 almost cruel, not instantly to accede to her 
 wishes. Happily, with the elasticity of her youth 
 and spirits, she seems to have forgotten it ; but 
 this very evening, if I can speak to Guy, it shall 
 be all altered." 
 
 Did not that young wife know perfectly what 
 was passing in her husband's mind? Yes, as 
 perfectly as if he had spoken for all the room to 
 hear, so she " bided her time " patiently, con- 
 vinced that, in the end, she would gain her point, 
 though, at present, things looked unpropitious. 
 
 Miss Maynard, as usual, sat by Mr. Bohun at 
 dinner, and attacked him on the subject of his 
 absence from home that day.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 181 
 
 " And my only morning here, as far as you 
 knew," said she, " for we little expected to be 
 snowed up. However, we have spent a most 
 agreeable day I have won fifteen shillings at 
 lansquenet, and a box of cigars at billiards from 
 young Montgomery. He offered to play for 
 gloves, but I said cigars were more in my line, 
 and I won them." 
 
 " Young Montgomery," as the fair Jem called 
 a gentleman who sat opposite to her, was a tall, 
 pale individual, with a glass in his eye, one of 
 those sort of people who might be any age 
 between twenty and fifty, which, perhaps, was 
 the reason that he always went by the name of 
 " young Montgomery." 
 
 " With such attractive amusements," was Mr. 
 Bohun's answer, " I hope you did not miss me as 
 much as might be expected." 
 
 " Yes, we did, because we happened to want 
 you. So shabby of you to leave us when there 
 was so much to be arranged. Nobody could find 
 the key of the old cabinet at the end of the 
 
 gallery, where Ponsford (you know the 
 
 vampire ) said there were some ancient court 
 
 dresses " 
 
 "How did she know?" asked Mr. Bohun, 
 very abruptly.
 
 182 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Because she knows everything; so the cry 
 for Mr. Bohun was universal, was it not, Lady 
 Bohun?" 
 
 " I beg your pardon?" said Euphemia, inter- 
 rogatively, smiling sweetly, pretending not to 
 hear but having heard every word. 
 
 " Did we not want Mr. Bohun, at luncheon, 
 about our tableaux ? " 
 
 " But he was at luncheon, was he not?" said 
 Lady Bohun, with a look of feigned surprise. 
 
 " Unhappy man, to be so little missed ! " 
 laughed Miss Maynard, and there was a sudden 
 silence round the table. 
 
 It might have been accident, it might have 
 been intentional, but, certainly, these " awful 
 pauses " do invariably occur at awkward moments, 
 and so it was in the present case. Lady Bohun 
 kept her eyes fixed on her plate Sir Felix set 
 his face very stiffly and over Mr. Bohun's calm 
 and chiselled countenance there came a flush, 
 but no other sign of annoyance. 
 
 Old Mr. Melville, the rector of Bohun, 
 happened to be at table that day, and something 
 in this incident/ trivial as it was, seemed to strike 
 him. He glanced uneasily at Mr. Bohun, and 
 this glance caught Mr. Bohun's eye, bringing 
 back to his memory again Miss Maynard's ex-
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 183 
 
 pression of the evening before those careless 
 words, " People say you don't." 
 
 " Ah," thought he to himself, " everybody sees 
 it, everybody knows it, even old Melville, poor, 
 good old man !" 
 
 But Miss Maynard went on. " I will tell you 
 what our first tableaux is to be. Queen Eliza- 
 beth giving the ring to the Earl of Essex. We 
 wanted you to stand for Essex." 
 
 " Not to your Queen Elizabeth, Miss May- 
 nard." 
 
 Why not, Mr. Bohun?" 
 
 " Because I am so often offending you that the 
 ring would be coming back every day." 
 
 " Well, as it happens, Lady Bohun is the 
 Queen, and she may be a more forgiving person 
 than I am; however, it is all settled now, with 
 young Montgomery as Essex, so you are out of 
 it, but you had no business to be out of the way 
 when we wanted you, had he, Lady Bohun?" 
 
 " I think we have done pretty well," said the 
 hostess, in a very gentle voice ; " at least, I hope 
 everybody will say so." 
 
 " Yes," persisted Miss Maynard, " only no one 
 knows all the nooks and crannies of this dear old 
 house as Mr. Bohun does, and, by the by, we 
 still want some armour."
 
 184 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Sir Felix," said Lady Bohun, again, very 
 gently, but distinctly and pointedly, " we shall 
 want you, after dinner, to show us some suitable 
 armour for our second tableaux Edward receiv- 
 ing the keys of Calais." 
 
 Whilst Sir Felix was replying, Miss Maynard 
 lowered her voice to a whisper. 
 
 " Mr. Bohun, I want to scold you. You and I 
 are old friends, and I take liberties accordingly. 
 Do you know that you are behaving very badly ? 
 Why don't you conciliate that sweet creature 
 more ?" 
 
 " What sweet creature, Miss Maynard ? Young 
 Montgomery ?" 
 
 " Pshaw ! nonsense ! you know who I mean ; 
 and what I mean, too. I think her charming." 
 
 " I am delighted to hear it, Miss Maynard." 
 
 " Then why are you so cold ? so distant ? so 
 reserved? with your * Lady Bohun,' and her * Mr. 
 Bohun,' and your cat and dog looks at each other? 
 why don't you call her Euphemia (though it cer- 
 tainly is the most frightful name that ever parent 
 inflicted on a child), and then she would call you 
 Guy." 
 
 " I have almost forgotten that such is my name, 
 Miss Maynard. When we grow old, we drop our 
 names, and take to our titles."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 185 
 
 "Stuff! If I were Duchess of Diamond-eyes, 
 no soul would ever dream of calling me anything 
 but Jem, unless yourself. But you have grown 
 so stiff; you are a perfect ogre. I don't know 
 you now, Mr. Bohun, and let me tell you privately 
 as a friend, that it is not wise of you not politic 
 she is an important personage, and you are a 
 bear now don't fire up, but give me some of 
 those brandy cherries." 
 
 Oh, careless words ! careless words ! do the 
 speakers of careless words ever think them over 
 again afterwards, and repeat them to themselves ? 
 sift them ? weigh them ? and see what amount of 
 pain, grief, or vexation their utterance may have 
 inflicted ? 
 
 No, seldom; scarcely ever, perhaps never; so 
 never till that last great day, when our thoughts 
 will sound in our ears like words, and when our 
 words will stand before us like deeds, shall we 
 ever know or see, what gaping wounds these same 
 light careless words have made. Then shall we 
 see where the sword stabbed and the blow bruised, 
 but till then, no doubt we shall go on all the same 
 evil-speaking, lying, and slandering harsh 
 sounding sins, but all committed under the spe- 
 cious cloak of " careless words !" 
 
 Almost ^very sentence that Miss Maynard had
 
 186 THE SKELETON 
 
 spoken that day at dinner, had contained some- 
 thing in it to pain or annoy Mr. Bohun, and her 
 last was the climax. 
 
 What was not wise ? what was not politic ? 
 why, in his own home, was he to be wise ? why, 
 under his own brother's roof, was he obliged to 
 be politic ? and if so, what was to be his parti- 
 cular line of policy ? conciliatory ? that implied a 
 want of present, cordiality, and how did Miss 
 Maynard know that cordiality did not exist be- 
 tween this important personage and himself? 
 
 How indeed? how but because "people" 
 said so ! 
 
 The ladies rose just as Mr. Bohun was saying 
 to himself, "This is all very uncomfortable," and 
 he found his next neighbour was then old Mr. 
 Melville, a congenial spirit under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Yet he too began in a somewhat similar strain, 
 complaining of how little he had seen of his friend 
 of late. 
 
 " Then," said Mr. Bohun, " I suppose what all 
 the world says must be true, and I am really grow- 
 ing morose and ogreish ; but upon my word I have 
 taken precisely the same walks at the same hours, 
 paid the same visits, and sat in my room exactly 
 in the same place for the last four months, as I
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 187 
 
 have for the last four years how then can these 
 accusations be just ?" 
 
 " I have been wishing to speak to you on many 
 matters connected with the parish," began Mr. 
 Melville ; " in the first place, about repairing the 
 interior of the church. I have been calculating 
 that we might collect a very handsome sum in 
 subscriptions, if I might head the list by your 
 name and that of Sir Felix " 
 
 "We are always ready, my dear sir," inter- 
 rupted Mr. Bohun, " but let me beg of you to 
 lay the matter first before my brother and Lady 
 Bohun." 
 
 " I know that is the proper course," returned 
 the old Rector ; " but you are aware, dear Mr. 
 Bohun, that we are all so much in the habit of 
 appealing to you as our fountain-head, that any 
 departure from the old established custom, seems 
 to me quite like an omission." 
 
 " Thank you for the compliment, old friend," 
 said Mr. Bohun ; " but let it be understood from 
 henceforth, that it is not pleasant for me to be 
 drawn from the retirement which I have chosen ; 
 in fact, I am nobody here now, and I must not 
 be consulted first on points like these." 
 
 " I am sorry, but you shall be obeyed, because 
 you are right," was the Rector's reply; "only,
 
 188 THE SKELETON 
 
 dear sir, it never was so, and I certainly had 
 hoped things would have remained on the same 
 footing as formerly. It is a disappointment to 
 me." 
 
 Here again ! Mr. Bohun could bear it no longer. 
 He turned himself towards Mr. Melville on his 
 chair, and throwing his arm over the back of it, 
 at once dashed into his subject. 
 
 " My good old friend, you are not the first 
 person who has used similar words to me this day. 
 I have spent all this snowy morning with Mrs. 
 Trant, and we have had a long and serious con- 
 versation on my present position at Bohun Court. 
 You are quite correct in saying that things are 
 no longer on the same footing as formerly. It is 
 perfectly true ; so much so, that I consulted Mrs. 
 Trant very earnestly to-day, as to whether it 
 would not be much better for me no longer to 
 
 make this house my home " 
 
 The Rector started. 
 
 "Yes," continued Mr. Bohun, "I consulted 
 her because I have great confidence in her judg- 
 ment, as also in yours, my dear friend; so, after 
 her, I was coming to you." 
 
 "What did Mrs. Trant say?" asked the old 
 man anxiously. 
 
 " She was against any change at present."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 189 
 
 " So am I," exclaimed Mr. Melville, without a 
 moment's hesitation. " So am I, decidedly." 
 
 "On what grounds?" 
 
 "Because Bohun Court cannot do without 
 you." 
 
 "That was not Mrs. Trant's reason." 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 " She was of opinion that, for my brother's sake, 
 in the eyes of the world, it would be more 
 more " 
 
 " Politic," suggested the Rector. (Miss May- 
 nard's objectionable word !) 
 
 " It would look better," modified Mr. Bohun, 
 "that no change were made at present; but I 
 confess this is not my opinion. I think he (or she) 
 who tajcesj.rrjjiis residence with^newTy-married 
 couple, commits a great mistake, and that mistake 
 I haye made. I see it, and I am ready to rectify 
 it. My only hesitation is, from what Mrs. Trant 
 said this morning, that various unpleasant runlours 
 as to discord within the walls of Bohun Court 
 are just now afloat, and that the best contradiction 
 that could be given to them would be, my conti- 
 nued stay here." 
 
 "True, tr-ue, very true !" sighed Mr. Melville. 
 
 " But my mind is not made up," continued Mr. 
 Bohun, " and until I have consulted with my
 
 190 THE SKELETON 
 
 brother, I can come to no resolution. I did con- 
 sult with him just before his marriage. I repre- 
 sented to him that if only for my own comfort, I 
 
 wished him to let me leave him " 
 
 " And he could not spare you ? no, nor can 
 we, Mr. Bohun." 
 
 " Mr. Melville, you must remember that my 
 brother is a very easy man, disliking anything like 
 business or trouble, and hitherto I have certainly 
 been able to save him from both, partly from 
 circumstances during his married life, but still 
 more from his long absences from home, and his 
 positive refusal to attend to the estate during his 
 widowhood. The fact is, that I have been so 
 pushed into the foreground, my dear sir, that I 
 actually find it difficult to be beaten back," and 
 Mr. Bohun laughed half bitterly, half good- 
 humouredly. 
 
 " Well," said the Rector, " now that you have 
 spoke*h, let me speak. As to being beaten back, 
 I trust it may never, never, come to that." 
 
 " Exactly but I wish to retire before there is 
 a chance of it." 
 
 " Then as to Sir Felix ; the same disinclination 
 for business which he has always shoAvn, still 
 clings to him. If you leave Bohun Court, it will
 
 IX THE CUPBOARD. 191 
 
 be thrown upon the hands of servants or stewards, 
 and then " 
 
 " Pardon me," interrupted Mr. Bohun, with a 
 touch of hauteur which very rarely appeared in 
 his manner to any one, much less to this, his 
 oldest friend, " pardon me, but in that case, every- 
 thing will be in the hands of Lady Bohun." 
 
 " And is that wise ?" asked Mr. Melville. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" questioned Mr. Bohun, 
 in his turn, recalling instantly Miss Maynard's 
 mysterious warning words, and seeing now the 
 prospect of their solution ; " how do you mean 
 that it is not wise?" 
 
 " My dear friend," exclaimed the old man, 
 energetically, " when a man at your brother's 
 time of life falls into the hands of a young wife, 
 woe betide him who has been looked upon all his 
 life as heir presumptive !" 
 
 Mr. Bohun drew a very long breath. " That's 
 it, is it?" said he; "that, then, is what people 
 mean by my not being wise, and not being poli- 
 tic ? My neighbours imagine that I live under my 
 brother's roof to be a spy upon his actions, and 
 for the sake of what I can get ! My dear friend, 
 if it has come to this, it is, indeed, high time that 
 I should go." 
 
 " Y ou have taken a wrong view of the case,"
 
 192 THE SKELETON 
 
 said the Rector ; " what we mean is, that there 
 may be no heirs to Bohun Court. In that case, 
 though your position remains what it has ever 
 been, your interests, under present circumstances, 
 require more looking after." 
 
 Mr. Bohiin laughed. 
 
 " You all amuse me," said he, " you speak out 
 so openly ; but can you possibly think that Sir 
 Felix would marry a young wife, and not leave 
 her everything he had in the world ?" 
 
 " Everything, save Bohun Court," exclaimed 
 Mr. Melville, hastily ; " he has so often spoken to 
 me of his devotion to this old place, and of your 
 devotion to it, and his fears that no lady would 
 ever appreciate it, and take the care he or you 
 would wish taken of it, that I cannot conceive its 
 passing from you. Suppose now for instance, 
 the widow were to marry again ?" 
 
 " What good can I do, or what harm can I 
 prevent, by overlooking in the lifetime of the 
 rightful owners?" 
 
 " Many things ; for instance, supposing you 
 were in the direct line to inherit, should you like 
 any trees about here cut down ?" 
 
 " Certainly not ; but ladies don't often interfere 
 with the timber on an estate." 
 
 " Just before this frost I happened to be rest-
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 193 
 
 ing on a bank outside Bohun Woods; Lady Bohun 
 and her maid were standing very near me ; acci- 
 dentally I overheard the conversation. Lady 
 Bohun was lamenting the thickness of the firs, 
 and wishing to have more open views of the 
 house ; her maid was marking trees with a piece 
 of chalk " 
 
 Mr. Bohun pinched in his lips. "No orders 
 have been given for any trees to be cut down," 
 said he, temperately; but any one could have 
 seen by the expression of his face that such an 
 act would be next to drawing his own life blood. 
 
 " The next words I heard were, how much 
 better Bohun Court would look whitewashed." 
 
 " Who said that ?" cried Mr. Bohun, his eyes 
 lighting up with a flash like fire. 
 
 " The maid." 
 
 " And Lady Bohun ?" 
 
 " Lady Bohun perfectly agreed." 
 
 The disgust on Mr. Bohun's face was almost 
 ludicrous from its intensity, but he said nothing. 
 He pushed back his chair, {ftid rose. 
 
 " Well ?" inquired his old friend, " now do you 
 think it better to go or stay !" 
 
 " Stay," was the laconic reply. 
 
 " I thought so. It is wisest." 
 
 " You are right," returned Mr. Bohun, " it is 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 1.94 THE SKELETON 
 
 wisest; but if any further remarks are made, 
 remember, old friend, that I stay from wisdom, 
 not policy ; I stay to preserve Bohun Court from 
 desecration, not for any advantage / can gain, for, 
 as I said before, it is absurd to imagine that from 
 the moment Sir Felix married a young wife, any 
 soul but that young wife would have either part 
 or parcel in his worldly goods and chattels. Be- 
 sides," he added, lightly, as the guests proceeded 
 into the drawing-room, " we shall most likely hear 
 the sound of merry little voices, and the tread of 
 nimble little feet through the galleries of Bohun 
 Court before many years have passed away, and 
 then, what will have been the use of all my wis- 
 dom, and all my policy ?" 
 
 " Wait till you hear them," said the Rector, 
 prophetically ; " wait ; but Bohun Court never 
 heard them yet, and never may ; so all I say is. 
 wait !"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE old house was snowed up for many days, 
 and the prisoner-guests amused themselves as 
 best they could. Lady Bohun and Miss Maynard 
 led the revels, and when at last a bright, cheery 
 morning dawned, and nothing of the snow was 
 left save a patch here and there in a shady corner, 
 people were half sorry. 
 
 " As for me," said Miss Maynard, " I am 
 grieved. I never enjoyed a visit more. Don't 
 you regret the snow, Lady Bohun ?" 
 
 " Not I," exclaimed the young lady ; " I hate 
 snow. It makes this house look like a large 
 hearse. I never saw snow lie so heavily any- 
 where in my life. It shows how cold the situa- 
 tion is." 
 
 Two reflections upon Bohun Court in one sen- 
 tence, thought somebody in the room. 
 
 " In what happy hemisphere may you liuve 
 
 K 2
 
 1 96 THE SKELETON 
 
 resided, never to have seen a heavier fall than 
 this ?" asked young Montgomery, who was loung- 
 ing in the recess of the next window. 
 
 " I have seen many a heavier fall," retorted 
 Lady Bohun ; " but papa never allowed the snow 
 to lie about our grounds, that is what I meant." 
 
 "Ah!" said Miss Maynard, carelessly, " it is 
 easier to sweep up a lawn than such an extent of 
 park as this." 
 
 " Only the lawn at my home happens to be of 
 greater extent than the park here," was Lady 
 Bohun's answer, whilst the colour rushed into her 
 cheeks. She had a great dislike to any one 
 imagining that she had not been used to quite as 
 much luxury at home, if not more, than she had 
 found at Bohun Court. 
 
 "Berrington," whispered Mr. Montgomery, 
 " where has the beautiful simpleton lived all her 
 life?" 
 
 k Oh ! in some London suburb." 
 
 " Cockney villa, eh ?" 
 
 " I think so, only on a very large scale. The 
 father is a man of immense wealth." 
 
 " Then she doesn't know how to appreciate an- 
 tiquities." 
 
 " Not she. She despises this mouldy old man- 
 sion."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 197 
 
 Mr. Bohun heard all but the first sentence, and 
 by the colour in Euphemia's face he fancied she 
 had also, and came immediately to the rescue. 
 
 " Lady Bohun," said he, clearly and distinctly, 
 " you must introduce some modern improvements 
 amongst us. We must strike you as quite be- 
 nighted after the state of perfection to which 
 ornamental gardening has been brought in your 
 home. I "assure you, when my brother came 
 down here after a certain memorable visit to town, 
 or rather its neighbourhood, he called everything 
 at Bohun Court dingy !" 
 
 Miss Maynard came behind him and pinched 
 his arm. 
 
 " Well done," she whispered; "now that I call 
 generous and magnificent of you." 
 
 But Euphemia had not any of those finer 
 feelings which would have appreciated genero- 
 sity of this kind. She only saw in the remarks 
 of her brother-in-law a proper admission of the 
 inferiority of Bohun Court to The Laurels, and 
 her eyes sparkled triumphantly as she laughed 
 and answered, 
 
 " Oh ! we taught Sir Felix a good deal I 
 dare say, though I cannot say he has profited 
 much. However, that does not signify, for I 
 assure you I am only waiting for a little fine
 
 198 THE SKELETON 
 
 Aveather to set seriously to work and completely 
 new-model Bohun Court." 
 
 " Look, how aghast Mr. Bohun stands," whis- 
 pered Miss Maynard again, but this time the 
 whisper was to the young hostess. 
 
 " Why ?" exclaimed Euphemia, opening her 
 eyes, " what on earth is it to him !" 
 
 The look, the air, the intonation, all spoke vo- 
 lumes, and Miss Maynard felt the question unan- 
 swerable, though it was to those who heard it a 
 painful truth. It was, indeed, nothing now to 
 him, arid the day might come when it would be 
 even less. Were the little feet and the little 
 voices ever to sound through the polished oak 
 galleries of that old house, it would be nothing 
 more to him than the memory of a dream. 
 
 And now the guests were all gone, and Sir 
 Felix and Lady Bohun were left, not exactly to 
 themselves, but with only "the third person," as 
 Euphemia had now actually begun to speak of 
 Mr. Bohun to Ponsford. 
 
 It then occurred to Sir Felix that he had made 
 his young wife some sort of promise, that day of the 
 theatricals, which he had not yet performed, and 
 one morning he screwed up his courage yes, it 
 required screwing up to speak to his brother 
 as they sat over a heap of business papers, about
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 199 
 
 the various grievances which she had laid before 
 him. He resolved to begin upon the least first. 
 
 " Guy, my dear fellow, I wanted, by the by, 
 whilst I think of it, to ask you about Hector ; has 
 he not grown rather more noisy than usual ?" 
 
 " Not that I have observed," replied his brother. 
 
 " Well, it strikes me he has. I don't recollect 
 ever having heard him howl at night so much 
 before." 
 
 " Has he really been howling ? He bays at the 
 moon on bright nights, I know, but I have not 
 heard him howl. I am a good sleeper certainly, 
 but a howl from Hector would wake me in a 
 moment. ' ' 
 
 " The face of his kennel is toward our windows, 
 perhaps that may have something to do with it." 
 
 " It shall be turned." 
 
 " I doubt if that would make it much better ; 
 Euphemia is a very light sleeper, and has been 
 sadly disturbed by him lately, only, knowing your 
 aifection for the dog and indeed, mine too she 
 has forborne complaining." 
 
 Mr. Bohun was silent for a few minutes, and a 
 shadow came across his face. 
 
 "What does Lady Bohun wish?" said he, at 
 last. 
 
 " It is I who am agitating the question, my
 
 200 THE SKELETON 
 
 dear Guy," returned Sir Felix, nervously, as well 
 as evasively ; " I who am trying to see what can 
 be done, not Euphemia." 
 
 " Yes, I understand," said Mr. Bohun, coldly. 
 
 Sir Felix began to tear a pen to pieces. He 
 felt and looked extremely nervous, more so than 
 his brother had ever seen him; so much so, in- 
 deed, that Mr. Bohun sat and looked at him sor- 
 rowfully, and then for the first time he saw that a 
 change had come over him, and that he had aged 
 ten years since he had come down to Bohun 
 Court one short year before, and announced his 
 intended marriage. 
 
 So Mr. Bohun sat and looked in sorrow and 
 pity. 
 
 " Felix," said he, at last, " you don't look well. 
 You look worried." 
 
 " And so I am," was the candid and abrupt 
 reply. 
 
 "About what?" 
 
 " About fifty things." 
 
 " Not about Hector surely ?" 
 
 " Yes, he is amongst the fifty." 
 
 " You wish him sent down to the kennels ?" 
 
 " Would you object to it ?" 
 
 " Of course you know that if he goes there I 
 lose my companion. He looks for his two walks
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 201 
 
 a-day with me as regularly as clock-work, but if 
 he is sent a mile away, I must cut off one of 
 these, and that, I suspect, will make him howl in 
 reality." 
 
 Sir Felix saw a loop-hole. " If the wind sets 
 this way," said he, quickly, " we hear the dogs 
 down at the kennels distinctly." 
 
 " We certainly do," said Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Then I will tell Euphemia so," exclaimed his 
 brother, much relieved ; " and I have no doubt 
 she will then prefer matters remaining as they 
 are." 
 
 Mr. Bohun concealed a smile. It amused him 
 in a painful sort of way, to see the reign of thral- 
 dom which had just begun to dawn on the hus- 
 band of six months; it was something new, so 
 entirely new, that Mr. Bohun could hardly realize 
 it, although its effects were always presenting 
 themselves before his eyes. The worst part of it 
 was that it seemed to be affecting his brother's 
 health. Had it not been for that, he would have 
 laughed it to scorn; as it was, he tried how a 
 little cheerfulness would do. 
 
 " Come," said he, gaily " you have only told 
 me of one trouble, and there are forty-nine left. 
 Having settled one, let us get on to the next." 
 
 But instead of answering in the same spirit, 
 
 K5
 
 202 THE SKELETON 
 
 Sir Felix, to Mr. Bohun's great surprise, sud- 
 denly hid his face in his hands. 
 
 "Oh, Guy, Guy!" he exclaimed; "there are 
 times when I feel as if I had more troubles than 
 I can talk of, even to you. I don't know what 
 has come to me. I feel unhinged, shaky, not 
 myself; and yet if you ask me to put these trou- 
 bles into a tangible form, I cannot. Things 
 worry me now that never used to worry me in 
 old days, and I get one thought into my mind 
 sometimes, which preys on it for days and days, 
 and wears me to a shadow, mind and body." 
 
 " Have you such a thought now ?" asked Mr. 
 Bohun. 
 
 " Yes," was the answer, and there was a dead 
 silence. In the midst of it, there was a slight 
 rustle at the door. 
 
 "Lady Bohun !" exclaimed Sir Felix, under his 
 voice, and flushing up very red. 
 
 His brother rose, and opened the door quickly. 
 There was no one there. 
 
 "No one, Guy?" 
 
 " No one to be seen." 
 
 "How strange. I certainly fancied how- 
 ever, it must have been fancy." 
 
 " A fancy I shared with you, Felix. But to 
 return to our subject. You were speaking of a
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 203 
 
 thought sometimes preying on your mind, and 
 haunting you for days and days ; this is a morbid 
 state in which you ought not to indulge " 
 
 " Indulge ? Good heavens ! Do you suppose 
 such an incubus is any indulgence ?" 
 
 " I mean that it is weak of you to suffer a pain- 
 ful thought to master you. Rouse yourself, and 
 dispel the dream." 
 
 " If it were a dream, I could do so. It is no 
 dream. It is a reality." 
 
 " And a mystery, apparently, for I do not un- 
 derstand you." 
 
 The eyes of Sir Felix glanced towards the 
 door ; he seemed about to speak, then seemed to 
 hesitate, change his mind, and finally relapsed 
 into his former state. 
 
 " I don't think you are well," said Mr. Bohim 
 at last, having for some time attentively regarded 
 him in unbroken silence. 
 
 " Perhaps not." 
 
 " Would not a little change do you good ?" 
 
 "Where could I go?" 
 
 " The idea ! why, anywhere, everywhere, for 
 change of scene, if not for change of air. You 
 never used to think anything of running up to 
 town a little while ago ?" 
 
 " Ah ! moving en gar$on, and moving witli ;i
 
 20-4 THE SKELETON 
 
 retinue, are two very different things. I have 
 had so much moving, so much trouble and worry, 
 and fatigue, for the last six months, that really I 
 dread the very name of a journey now." 
 
 " But why not run up for a day or two by 
 yourself?" 
 
 Sir Felix hesitated. 
 
 " You would soon get rid of this thought of 
 yours," pursued Mr. Bohun ; but his brother 
 shook his head wearily. 
 
 " Will you go ?" asked Mr. Bohun, abruptly. 
 
 " I have a good deal to talk about before I think 
 of a journey for recreation," at last answered Sir 
 Pelix, " and we may not have so good an oppor- 
 tunity for some time. The next question I 
 wanted to ask you was about your " 
 
 " But Felix, will you first tell me what harasses 
 you? Don't leave that subject for a new one." 
 
 " We can go back to that, Guy." 
 
 " No time like the present, my good brother." 
 
 At that instant the door suddenly opened, but 
 till we retrace our steps half-an-hour, the intruder 
 must remain un-named. 
 
 Lady Bohun had been sitting in her boudoir, 
 the octagon, as it was still called, and being a 
 person of no pursuits, had found time hanging 
 very heavy on the hands which could neither
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 205 
 
 play, nor draw, nor work, unless the everlasting 
 strip which never advanced an inch, could be 
 dignified by the latter name. 
 
 The house was very quiet that day. She was 
 wondering where Sir Felix could be. She was 
 puzzling to think if she could not find some excuse 
 to ring for Ponsford, anything, in fact, for com- 
 pany, and to kill time, when there came at the 
 door a peculiar little rap a rap like finger nails, 
 not the usual rap with the knuckles. 
 
 " Come in, Ponsford," said her ladyship, and 
 the lady's-maid obeyed. - "Well?" 
 
 Ponsford's appearance, unsummoned, was always 
 indicative of some secret intelligence. 
 
 " My lady, Sir Felix and Mr. Bohun have been 
 in the library together for more than an hour. I 
 happened to be drying your ladyship's flowers in 
 the hall." 
 
 " I thought so ! I suspected as much ! " ex- 
 claimed Euphemia ; " and alone, of course." 
 
 " Oh, yes, my lady ! " 
 
 " What were they talking about ?" 
 
 " I think it was about the farms, my lady, 
 and the renovating of the church, but they came 
 to Hector at last." 
 
 " At last ! You may well say at last ! And 
 so Sir Felix has actually recollected that abomin-
 
 206 THE SKELETON 
 
 able dog at last ! Well, what did Mr. Bohun 
 say ? Is anything settled ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, my lady !" said Ponsford, with her 
 gentle laugh ; " settled in a very few. sentences, 
 by Mr. Bohun. Hector is not to go away." 
 
 Lady Bohun coloured crimson. " And who 
 said so, pray?" 
 
 " Sir Felix did his utmost, my lady ; but indeed, 
 as your ladyship will surely see some day, Mr. 
 Bohun always had, and always will have, his own 
 way. Sir Felix thought the dog had better be 
 sent to the kennels, but Mr. Bohun thought not, 
 and so the matter ended." 
 
 "But the matter has not ended," cried Eu- 
 phemia, starting up ; " when it ends, it shall be 
 in a very different way. Give me my strip of 
 work, Ponsford quick ! and my thimble. What 
 more did you hear?" 
 
 " Just as Sir Felix was going to say something 
 very particular, my lady, and just as Mr. Bohun 
 was drawing him out, as it were, the hall door 
 opened, and the wind came rushing up, and blew 
 my dress against the library door, upon which Mr. 
 Bohun rose like a shot " 
 
 "And you were discovered?" 
 
 " Oh, dear no, my lady ! " Ponsford's laugh was 
 a little sarcastic this time "besides, if I had
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 207 
 
 been, I should have asked for your ladyship's strip 
 of work." 
 
 " Give it me," cried Lady Bohun, "give it me, 
 quick! there, that will do why do I stand 
 gossipping here ? Thank you." 
 
 And in another moment Lady Bohun entered 
 the library. Sir Felix rose on her arrival. Mr. 
 Bohun did not stir. The former gave her the 
 chair she usually occupied on the occasions of 
 these visits, and the latter went on with some 
 calculations he was making, unfortunately quite 
 unconscious of a pair of cold blue eyes fixed with 
 unflinching steadiness on his offending head. 
 
 " Are you coming out to take a little walk, 
 Sir Felix ? " she asked. 
 
 " My dearest, it pours," was the reply. 
 
 " How provoking. Then will you come and sit 
 in my boudoir ? " 
 
 "Will you not give us the pleasure of your 
 company here ? " said Sir Felix. 
 
 Had he said " me," instead of " us," she might 
 have complied, but the objectionable plural opened 
 the vial of wrath. 
 
 " No thank you. If you and Mr. Bohun are 
 engaged, I had better go back to my solitude." 
 
 This was a pleasant speech for Mr. Bohun to 
 hear. It was intended for his special edification,
 
 208 THE SKELETON 
 
 and he knew it perfectly. Mortal man could not 
 have remained in the room after it, and the only 
 wonder was how he kept his temper and refrained 
 from a retort ; but one look at his brother's face 
 kept his tongue silent, and made his heart swell 
 with sorrow instead of indignation. 
 
 "I am going," was all he answered; "the 
 little we had to say is said and settled." 
 
 And without even a look, which could further 
 wound his already wounded brother, he quietly 
 left the room.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WHEN two people are going to have a few words 
 together, which they do not wish to utter before 
 a third person, consequently, not likely to be very 
 agreeable words, and when they only wait the 
 exit of that third person to begin the conversation, 
 the first few moments of the tete-a-tete are gene- 
 rally awkward ones for both parties. Neither 
 seems quite to know how to begin. In the present 
 case, Sir Felix courteously gave up the privilege 
 to Lady Bohun, and certainly she was the most 
 fitted, of the two, to commence the attack. 
 
 " Settled," said she, repeating the last word, as 
 if it had been ringing in her ears, which indeed 
 it had. " S.ettled ! What have you settled, Sir 
 Felix?" 
 
 This was opening the battle bravely; and it 
 showed so distinctly the spirit in which she had 
 entered the room, that Sir Felix now saw he
 
 210 THE SKELETON 
 
 must nerve himself for the emergency. Unfor- 
 tunately, he did not feel well that day, and people 
 out of sorts are indisposed to combat a point with 
 much vehemence. His reply, therefore, was very 
 mild. In few words, he explained the subjects of 
 his conversation with his brother, and ended by 
 saying, 
 
 " So I hope, my dearest, everything will be 
 arranged for your comfort. That is what Guy 
 meant by the word settled." 
 
 "But what is settled?" persisted Euphemia. 
 " I don't see that you have altered anything. 
 You have merely settled that things shall rematl< 
 as they have been all along, and to that I do not 
 agree. It is very fine to say 'settled,' but the 
 person to settle things in this house is myself, Sir 
 Felix next to you. You seem to have settled 
 that Mr. Bohun is to retain that room, the original 
 boudoir ? " 
 
 " I had not come to that point." 
 
 '" You have settled that he is to continue to 
 smoke at all hours under Ponsford's window ?" 
 
 " My dearest, you interrupted us . before I had 
 introduced that little grievance." 
 
 " Little grievance ! Do you know, Sir Felix, 
 that if it goes on, I verily believe Ponsford will 
 give warning ?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 211 
 
 " Can she not change her room, Euphemia?" 
 
 " Certainly not. Well, then, if you have not 
 spoken to him on two out of the three requests I 
 made you, have you broached the third?" 
 
 " You mean about Hector ? Yes ; I spoke 
 about Hector, and suggested his being sent down 
 to the kennels. Guy says if he is, he will howl 
 in reality, and we shall be disturbed night and 
 day. Guy suggests that we turn his kennel away 
 from the house." 
 
 "Stuff!" cried Lady Bohun, with more em- 
 phasis than politeness; "as if that would be of 
 the slightest use ! No, Sir Felix, the dog must 
 go I am quite decided about that. If you dislike 
 saying so to Mr. Bohun, I will." 
 
 "No," interrupted her husband, hastily; "if 
 you wish it so much, it shall be done. I can tell 
 Guy after luncheon. Just now I do not feel very 
 well my head seems to swim." 
 
 " All those stupid accounts. Why do you 
 trouble yourself with them ? Everybody else in 
 your position has a man to do these sort of things 
 for them." 
 
 " Guy and I have always managed Bohun 
 Court ourselves," said Sir Felix, and Lady Bohun 
 was silenced for the time in spite of herself. 
 
 But she was not dissatisfied with the result of
 
 212 THE SKELETON 
 
 that tete-ci-tete, small as the triumph was. It was 
 a triumph all the same, and every one, however 
 insignificant, told in the end. 
 
 " The dog is to go, Ponsford," said she, on her 
 return to her room, " and that is something gained, 
 at all events;" and Ponsford smiled approvingly. 
 
 That day several visitors came over to Bohun 
 Court, and stayed to luncheon. Eupheinia liked 
 company, and always made herself agreeable on 
 these occasions, except to one or two people who 
 were old friends of the family, and to these she 
 was barely civil. Mrf Trant was one of these, and 
 Mr. Melville another. 
 
 As for Mrs. Trant, she, who had always been a 
 sort of standing-dish in the time of all the Lady 
 Bohuns, her presence at the table was now a very 
 rare event. The old lady was punctilious. She did 
 not like, now that there was a mistress to the 
 house, to avail herself of the frequent invitations 
 of the master and his brother. Neither did she 
 quite like the verbal general invitations of Lady 
 Bohun. A general invitation she knew was no 
 invitation at all. 
 
 " People who give you general invitations, dear 
 Mr. Bohun," said she, one day, "never really 
 want you to come. It is a polite way of keeping 
 you away, because, if you honestly wish to. see a
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 213 
 
 friend at dinner, it is very easy to fix a day, or 
 even in extreme cases give a choice of days not 
 a general invitation. I always feel that as the 
 greatest slight that an acquaintance can inflict 
 upon me." , 
 
 So poor old Mrs. Trant, shy and sensitive, sel- 
 dom found her way to Bohun Court, and at last 
 Sir Felix noticed it not to the old lady, but to 
 his wife. 
 
 Lady Bohun extricated herself from the diffi- 
 culty with great ease. 
 
 " I ask her repeatedly, dear Sir Felix, but I never 
 can get her to come. I was there only yester- 
 day, and begged her to walk home with me and 
 dine quietly, but she would not." 
 
 " My dearest, at her age you could not expect 
 her to walk. YV r e always sent the pony carriage 
 for her." 
 
 " Well, I did not know that how could I ? I 
 could do no more than invite her. If she cannot 
 be induced to come, it is not my fault." 
 
 " She cannot be well. She always used to be 
 so ready to join all our parties. But I suppose 
 she is growing old, like the rest of us," and Sir 
 Felix laughed. 
 
 Amongst those who sat that day at the 
 luncheon table was Mr. Melville. As Sir Felix
 
 214 THE SKELETON 
 
 uttered these words, he looked up at him, and, 
 turning to Mr. Bohun, remarked how very ill his 
 brother was looking. 
 
 " I was noticing it this very morning," said Mr. 
 Bohun, " and begging him to take a trip up to 
 town for change of air and scene. He is evi- 
 dently very far from well. Look how his hand 
 shakes." 
 
 Sir Felix was pouring out a glass of wine at the 
 moment, and could hardly do it. Euphemia, who 
 had the faculty of hearing all that was said by 
 everybody at table, looked at her husband, and 
 coloured crimson. 
 
 "So!" thought she to herself, "that is what 
 they have settled, is it? something more than 
 the disposal of Hector ! but, I flatter myself, I 
 can put an extinguisher on this plan at all events, 
 if it is one of Mr. Bohun's bright ideas." 
 
 She was wary enough, however, to say nothing 
 at the time. She waited her opportunity, for she 
 knew Sir Felix would not take any steps without 
 giving her some sort of notice, so she waited pa- 
 tiently. 
 
 " What time do you wish to drive to-day Y' 
 asked her husband, as they rose from table. 
 
 " Not to drive at all," said she, " but to take a 
 ride with you ;" and Sir Felix was so much flat-
 
 IX THE CUPBOARD. 215 
 
 tered by the proposal, that, ill as he felt, he gladly 
 entered into it. 
 
 They started at three o'clock and only returned 
 home in time to dress for dinner. All the after- 
 noon Mr. Bohun had been waiting about, hoping 
 to waylay his brother, and impress upon him the 
 necessity of either change of air or medical advice. 
 Infinite, therefore, was his surprise when, at 
 dinner, Lady Bohun coolly announced that she 
 and Sir Felix were going up to town the follow- 
 ing day, "for a little change." 
 
 " Oh ! you go, too ?" said Mr. Bohun, inad- 
 vertently. 
 
 "Why," exclaimed Euphemia, opening her 
 eyes, " you do not suppose I would let dear Sir 
 Felix go alone? particularly now that he is not 
 quite well? He has moped himself to death 
 here. I intend him to have a little London 
 gaiety, and then when I come back, I hope 
 mamma and some of my friends may come and 
 enliven us." 
 
 Mr. Bohun looked down, and said nothing. It 
 was always with some amiable little speech like this 
 that Lady Bohun wound up her sentences, but 
 he had learnt now to receive them in silence. 
 
 Still, it was impossible for him not to see, with 
 poignant regret, how every day revealed some
 
 216 THE SKELETON 
 
 fresh trait of the craftiness and unamiability of 
 her character. 
 
 " To what will it lead ?" was always the thought 
 uppermost in his mind, yet what but time could 
 decide that question ? There was nothing for it 
 now but to watch, to wait, and to regret. 
 
 So Bbhun Court was to be left once more to 
 Mr. Bohun and Hector. 
 
 "By the by," said Euphemia to her husband 
 just before they started, "you told Mr. Bohun 
 about Hector, I suppose ?" 
 
 " I quite forgot," exclaimed Sir Felix ; " but, as 
 we are going away, perhaps it will keep for 
 another time." 
 
 " Oh ! never mind now," returned Euphemia 
 coolly, and she left the room. In the hall, as fate 
 would have it, she met Mr. Bohun with the 
 offender by his side. 
 
 " Mr. Bohun," said she, " Sir Felix forgot to 
 tell you that Hector disturbs me exceedingly. I 
 must beg that by the time I return, you will find 
 some other place for him." 
 
 " Certainly," replied her brother-in-law, "the 
 kennels " 
 
 " Anywhere, out of hearing," retorted Lady 
 Bohun, pointedly, and went on her way.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 217 
 
 So disagreeable was the impression made upon 
 Mr. Bohun by these words, and the tone in which 
 they were delivered, that they haunted him all 
 day. Like a restless spirit, when the confusion 
 of the departure was over, did he wander through 
 all the deserted rooms, the dog by his side, and 
 think sadly over the days gone by, when Bohun 
 Court was to him what it never could be again. 
 
 He entered, at last, Lady Bohun's boudoir, a 
 room he had scarcely seen, for she had never in- 
 vited him in, and seemed purposely to avoid doing 
 so, but now the door stood wide open, and he 
 paused and gazed round. 
 
 How altered ! how perfectly different to what 
 it once had been ! Not a vestige of the old fur- 
 niture left not even a tint on the walls the same. 
 Everything was white, and gold, and gay colour- 
 ing. The carpet dark, rich, and with a broad 
 border of rather gaudy colours ; the curtains to 
 match, and a heavy but handsome portiere hiding 
 the doors which communicated with the dining- 
 room, and recently put up to intercept the draught 
 of which Lady Bohun had once complained. 
 
 Then, on the tables and scattered about, were 
 such a multiplicity of little fancy objects, bearing 
 Paris on their faces ; statuettes on brackets, vases 
 of Bohemian glass, cups and tazzas of Sevres 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 THE SKELETON 
 
 china, books, paper-knives, inkstands, and work 
 baskets ; all, in short, heaped together in beau- 
 tiful confusion. 
 
 Then the chairs and sofas ! No wonder her 
 dainty ladyship so seldom graced the drawing- 
 room with her presence; in this, her own peculiar 
 room, was a chair or a sofa for every hour of the 
 day, and every frame of h,er fitful mind, and 
 about a dozen cushions of every form and device 
 under the sun. 
 
 " No," thought he to himself, "I never should 
 have known the room again;" and as he still con- 
 tinued to gaze, the heavy portiere was suddenly 
 put aside, and a figure stood before him Pons- 
 ford the vampire ! 
 
 A graceful start, and a shrinking back, and 
 then a sliding advance, marked her recognition of 
 his presence, and then, wita her usual patronizing 
 gentleness, she exclaimed, 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Bohun, don't let me disturb you, 
 sir" (he had evinced no intention of being dis- 
 turbed, but had walked into the recess of the 
 window, and was looking out), " I am just put- 
 ting away a few of her ladyship's things." 
 
 " Do you not accompany Lady Bohun, then ?" 
 asked Mr. Bohun, surprised to see her there. 
 
 "I follow her ladyship, sir," was the reply,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 219 
 
 uttered with a sort of dignified affability, " but I 
 could not leave before I had put away a few of 
 her ladyship's 'particular favourites which might 
 be injured by exposure to the air ; besides, I have 
 to lock up these rooms ; but," she added, "there 
 is no hurry, sir pray do not go on my account." 
 
 Mr. Bohun could hardly conceal a smile at the 
 idea of being permitted by Ponsford to remain in 
 the room ! However, he said nothing ; but stood 
 quietly in the window, and watched her as she 
 glided about. He amused himself thus for several 
 minutes, till at last he saw that he was himself 
 being watched by her ! that instead of putting 
 away, and locking up, she flitted from table to 
 table, and chair to chair, and did nothing ! evi- 
 dently, on the contrary (and ostentatiously), wait- 
 ing for him to go. 
 
 And with inward disgust and contempt he at 
 last did go, and angrily shut himself up in his 
 den. 
 
 "That woman infuriates me with myself," 
 thought he, as he threw himself into his chair ; 
 " she rouses in me all sorts of ill feeling, malice, 
 and hatred, which would otherwise remain dor- 
 mant in my composition. Thank goodness, in 
 two hours the house will be rid of her." 
 
 Yes, in two hours,- for a glance at a Bradshaw 
 
 L2
 
 220 THE SKELETON 
 
 had shown him that in two hours the last train 
 that day would start "and in two hours," 
 thought he, " she cannot do much harm, luckily." 
 
 But in direful contradiction of this comfortable 
 self-assurance, there came in one short hour after- 
 wards, a sharp, quick knock at Mr. Bohun's door, 
 and at his rather startled permission to " Come 
 in," the figure of the trim little old housekeeper 
 instantly presented itself. 
 
 A patch of colour, like paint, was on each 
 cheekbone of Mrs. Dance's usually pale and placid 
 face, and her hands trembled nervously, as she 
 vainly endeavoured to keep her fingers decorously 
 interlaced. 
 
 " May I make bold, sir," she began, " to say ;i 
 few words to you ?" 
 
 Mr. Bohun laughed. 
 
 " Why, Dance, I suppose if you wish it, you 
 must ; but I confess I always dread * a few words,' 
 just as a burnt child you know the rest." 
 
 " Ah ! sir, I am truly sorry, and I don't won- 
 der at your dreading it, for I am sure I know 
 what it is to dread just as you do, sir ; but things 
 cannot go on as they do, sir, and now they have 
 come to a pitch that really obliges me to speak to 
 you." 
 
 " Well, Dance, say on then, but you must at
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 221 
 
 the same time bear in mind how scrupulously I 
 have for months past abstained from the slightest 
 interference, direct or indirect, with the affairs of 
 this household." 
 
 "True, sir; but in the absence of Sir Felix, 
 this is a case in which I hope you will see fit to 
 interfere. Mrs. Ponsford, not satisfied with lock- 
 ing up the reception rooms, so that if you had 
 friends to dinner you would not have a room to 
 sit in but this, has also asked for the keys of the 
 store-room, and declares that my lady ordered her 
 to lock that up too !" 
 
 Mr. Bohun was silent and perplexed. "This 
 seems strange," was all he could say. 
 
 "But is it to be allowed, sir?" asked the old 
 housekeeper, hastily. " Am I to give them up ? 
 because Mrs. Ponsford is waiting for them." 
 
 "By Lady Bohun's orders?" 
 
 " So she says, sir." 
 
 " Then give them up, Dance." 
 
 The old woman paused a moment. "You 
 desire it, sir?" said she. 
 
 " Not I, I have nothing to do with it. You 
 ask my advice, apparently, not my orders for 
 those I am not empowered or disposed to give ; 
 but my advice is, comply quietly with the com- 
 mands left by Lady Bohun."
 
 222 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Then, sir," said the little housekeeper, draw- 
 ing up the trim figure ; " may I humbly beg you 
 
 to to let me resign my place here the 
 
 situation must be filled by some one else I am 
 
 not the person to suit my lady I saw your 
 
 good father and mother married, and Sir Felix 
 and yourself christened, Mr. Guy, and I did hope 
 to live and serve you to the last, but it can't be 
 
 done, sir I have tried my utmost and it can't 
 
 be done. I humbly beg to give warning, sir 
 
 for the first time in my life and if you will 
 
 please to break it to Sir Felix " 
 
 Vexed beyond concealment, yet nearly betrayed 
 into a smile by the last expression, Mr. Bohun 
 now instantly put an extinguisher on the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 "Xo, Dance," said he, "that you must do 
 yourself. I hope, on reflection, you will see how 
 very foolish it will be of you to do any such thing, 
 but if you persist, the act must be your own. As 
 for me, you are in my eyes so completely part and 
 parcel of Bohun Court, that I should as soon 
 think of the old house itself marching, as of your 
 leaving it. However, with that I have nothing 
 to do, and let me know nothing about it. I be- 
 lieve the best advice I can give you is, to obey 
 the ruling powers."
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 223 
 
 " It is very hard at my time of life," sobbed the 
 old woman ; " and very bitter to have a young 
 woman like that set over one's head." 
 
 " We have all our trials and troubles," returned 
 Mr. Bohun; "I remember my mother used to 
 say everybody had something to bear for some- 
 body else's sake." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Guy, but then you care for them. It 
 is hard to suffer for a thankless person. I would 
 bear anything in the world for the sake of you 
 or Sir Felix, but for Mrs. Ponsford ! " 
 
 Mr. Bohun began to walk up and down the 
 room in silence the old lady took the silence as 
 a hint for her absence and the interview closed ; 
 but, as she left the room, Mr. Bohun instinctively 
 glanced at the clock one hour only remained 
 " in an hour the house will be free of her" and 
 he drew a long breath. 
 
 But again the door opens. The tall, portly old 
 butler appears. 
 
 " If you please, sir, William wants to speak to 
 you." ' 
 
 William was one of the stable men, and a 
 doubtful adherent of the family. People said he 
 was rather won over by the honeyed words of 
 Mrs. Ponsford, for whom he often rode on errands 
 to the adjacent town. He did not belong parti-
 
 224 THE SKELETON 
 
 cularly to either Sir Felix or Mr. Bohun, but was 
 a sort of supernumerary, and did work for all par- 
 ties. 
 
 He came in shamefaced, rather red, and not 
 looking Mr. Bohun straight in the face. Hector, 
 lying on the rug, gave a low growl like distant 
 thunder, as he entered. 
 
 " What is it ?" asked Mr. Bohun, almost in- 
 clined to say, " What is it, now ?" 
 
 "If you please, sir I'm to drive Mrs. Pons- 
 
 ford to the station." 
 
 " Well?" with an impatient jerk of the head. 
 
 " And please, sir, shall I take Hector down to 
 the kennels first?" 
 
 Mr. Bohun looked as if he did not understand. 
 
 " Hector, down to the kennels ? What do you 
 mean ?" 
 
 "Mrs. Ponsford, sir " 
 
 Mr. Bohun's eyes glared, and he forgot himself. 
 
 " What the devil have either you or Mrs. Pons- 
 ford to do with taking Hector down to the 
 kennels ?" 
 
 The man grew redder still. 
 
 "Beg pardon, sir, but Mrs. Ponsford said her 
 orders was, not to leave the house till the dog 
 was was " 
 
 " Was what ?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 225 
 
 " Disposed of, sir, was her words." 
 
 And now Mr. Bohun set his teeth very hard. 
 If he had a weak point in the world, it was 
 Hector. About Hector he was as foolish as a 
 child, and to think that this woman, whose rule 
 was now spreading all over the house, should 
 presume to extend her influence beyond it, and 
 dictate to the out-door servants, was beyond 
 endurance. No ! Perhaps Hector should go to 
 the kennels, but not now; not at that woman's 
 bidding. 
 
 "Leave the room," said Mr. Bohun, neither 
 calmy nor temperately ; " leave the room, and the 
 next time you dare to enter my presence on such 
 an errand, is your last hour in the service of Sir 
 Felix Bohun. Leave the room, and let me cau- 
 tion you to beware. Down ! Hector." 
 
 The dog had risen; he stood close by his 
 master's side, the corners of his mouth hanging 
 down, his eyes gleaming with the red light which 
 always gave them their fearful expression when 
 their owner was displeased ; he kept looking alter- 
 nately from master to man, as if asking permis- 
 sion to be allowed to dart forward and strangle 
 the latter, since his instinct told him that he and 
 the former were falling out, and his affection 
 prompted expeditious punishment. Butthe "Down! 
 
 L5
 
 226 THE SKELETON 
 
 Hector," restrained the hot blood, and on the 
 man's speedy retreat, the dog returned to his rug, 
 and his master to his walk up and down the 
 room. 
 
 As he did so, the words of Miss Maynard, 
 spoken in one of her wild, careless moods recurred 
 to him. 
 
 " Yes," thought he, " the poison has begun to 
 work ; the vampire has begun at her deadly trade, 
 sucking away comfort, peace, and happiness ! 
 Miss Maynard was right." 
 
 Suddenly a draught of air in the room he 
 sto.pped, started there she stood before him, 
 calm, pale, and with a face which looked like a 
 Parian lamp with the light shining behind it. 
 There was something so singular in this trans- 
 parency of Ponsford's complexion that no one 
 who ever saw her could fail to be struck with it. 
 
 Mr. Bohun stood, struck dumb at her 
 effrontery. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Mr. Bohun," said she, 
 with a smile a smile, to re-rassure him ! " but 
 I thought you said ' Come in T " 
 
 " I am not aware that you knocked at all at my 
 door," replied Mr. Bohun, in a tone which would 
 have daunted any one else. 
 
 " Indeed, I did, sir ; but the fact is, my train
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 227 
 
 obliges me to be abrupt so you will forgive the 
 intrusion, I hope. Her ladyship left several 
 orders with me which, I believe, I have now 
 executed, all excepting one your dog, excuse 
 me, sir did I understand rightly from William ? 
 Her ladyship left orders with me to see that it 
 was removed before her return that means, of 
 course, removed to-day, otherwise I could not 
 personally superintend " 
 
 "Mrs. Ponsford," broke in Mr. Bohun, "I 
 cannot believe that the orders you received from 
 Lady Bohun could possibly extend to matters 
 quite beyond your jurisdiction. Confine yourself, 
 if you please, to affairs over which you have a 
 right to exercise authority not to mine, I beg." 
 
 Another smile, soft and pitying. " Her lady- 
 ship, sir, so distinctly mentioned the dog, and ex- 
 pressed such an unmistakable wish an 'order, in 
 fact that she should not find it within hearing 
 on her return, in short, that I should see, myself, 
 that it was conveyed to a distance entirely out of 
 hearing, that unless I decidedly fail in gaining 
 your permission, I must see the orders carried 
 into effect." 
 
 " You have failed," was Mr. Bohun' s reply. 
 
 Her eyes met his. His quailed, not hers ! 
 
 "Am I at liberty to tell her ladyship this?"
 
 228 THE SKELETON 
 
 she asked, still gently, for Ponsford never raised 
 her voice, never got excited, never looked angry. 
 On occasions when most eyes sparkle or flash 
 fire, she prudently veiled hers with those large 
 white lids. 
 
 "Pray say what you please," said he. She 
 made him a curtsey which a debutante at Court 
 might have envied, and wishing him good after- 
 noon, in her usual voice, left the room. 
 
 Mr. Bohun glanced again at the clock, and saw 
 it wanted half an hour of the time. 
 
 " It will take her that to get to the station. 
 She will miss the train, by Jove ! " 
 
 And he grew uneasy, pacing the room with 
 hurried step and a quivering lip, feeling, to the 
 tips of his fingers, how, under a semblance of 
 perfect civility, a menial had that day found 
 means to insult and infuriate him. 
 
 " Will she miss the train ?" he again thought ; 
 and again the very minutes were counted. If she 
 missed it, she would return to Bohun Court 
 sleep under the same roof as himself exhale, 
 like the upas, her poison throughout the atmosphere 
 he breathed. 
 
 But, hush ! Wheels driving round his side of 
 the house. Wheels a pause and wheels again. 
 She was off; but, perhaps, not gone. She might
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 229 
 
 miss the train; and Mr. Bohun deliberately sat 
 down in his chair by the window, and, moreover, 
 sat there one whole hour, determined to watch 
 for the return of the pony chaise. From his 
 window he could see it pass behind a narrow belt 
 of young trees, to the stables. He could see if 
 the stable-helper, appointed to drive her, returned 
 alone or not. 
 
 In an hour he returned, and alone. 
 
 " Then she is fairly off," and Mr. Bohun got 
 up and breathed again. "Come, Hector!"" said 
 he, " stir up, old dog. Come, and let us shake 
 off the ugly mood that is on us. We have gone 
 through troubles hitherto unknown to-day, Hector, 
 and we have made two enemies. We have got to 
 fight the world now, Hector, and our way does 
 not lie smooth before us. Stir up briskly, my 
 old friend, and let us face our worries in the 
 open air. It blows away many a grievance. But 
 we have got a skeleton in our house, and you and 
 I must face it. Let us take a walk together, 
 and think over what we can do." 
 
 "William," said the old coachman to the helper 
 that evening, " didn't I hear as how Hector was 
 to be took down to the kennels to-night ? Wasn't 
 you to fetch him ?"
 
 230 THE SKELETON 
 
 " So Mrs. Ponsford said ; and I went to Mr. 
 Bohun, and he was mortal angry and dared 
 me to." 
 
 " Then, in course, he ain't going, and you 
 may take down that young setter of Sir Felix's, 
 and put him in the big kennel instead." 
 "But didn't I ought to take Hector, too?" 
 " When Mr. Bohun told you not?" 
 
 "But Mrs. Ponsford said particklar " 
 
 'Mrs. Ponsford be . If you go minding 
 
 Mrs. Ponsford against Mr. Bohun, I'll make the 
 place too hot to hold you. Be off with you !"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THEY went away for two or three days: they 
 remained away two months ; and all that time 
 Mr. Bohun was locked out of every room in Bohun 
 Court, except the two appropriated to himself, 
 and the large, dull, cheerless dining-room, which 
 he never entered. He could certainly have 
 invited four-and-twenty friends to dine with him, 
 had he chosen it, but he could not have asked one 
 to stay all night. Not a bedroom was left open. 
 Mrs. Dance announced the fact with a flood of 
 tears, and Mr. Bohun heard it with the composure 
 of a stoic. 
 
 But he had made up his mind to all this. No- 
 thing surprised him now j but there was stirring 
 within him by this time a resolution which solitude 
 would give him firmness to put into execution. 
 It was, no longer to reside beneath the roof that 
 had been his home so long ; and this absence of
 
 232 THE SKELETON 
 
 Sir Felix was the most opportune circumstance 
 that could have befallen him, as far as his plan 
 was concerned, since as long as his brother was 
 present, he actually had not the heart to resist 
 his entreaties that he would remain. 
 
 But now his mind was made up. The system 
 of persecution, insult, and impertinence, all veiled 
 under a specious garb, was no longer to be en- 
 dured, and the opportunity for releasing himself 
 had arrived. 
 
 " Mrs. Trant was right, 5 ' 1 he used often to say, 
 as he mused by himself; " I ought never to have 
 subjected myself to this life. I ought to have 
 retired with dignity a year ago, just as Mrs. Dance 
 has been wishing to do every month of her life 
 under the new reign ; but I was a fool, and treated 
 Mrs. Trant's hints and innuendos with carelessness 
 consequently, my punishment has overtaken 
 me. But it is over now. It is not compulsory 
 that I should live with a skeleton in my cupboard ; 
 henceforth I will have a cupboard to myself." 
 And armed with this resolution, he put on his hat, 
 took Hector by the ear, and prepared to walk 
 down to Mrs. Trant's cottage, and communicate 
 it to her. 
 
 It had been so long the custom of the Bohuns 
 to tell Mrs. Trant all their thoughts, actions, and
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 233 
 
 intentions, that he did this as a matter of course ; 
 but, as he took his way through the plantations, 
 in crossing the high road, he encountered Mr. 
 Melville, and then recollected that he had not 
 seen him for several days. 
 
 " My dear friend, what have you been doing 
 with yourself?" 
 
 " I have been in town," said the old clergyman, 
 vt and was summoned up 011 business so hastily, 
 that I had not time to ask if you had any com- 
 mands. But I saw Sir Felix." 
 
 " Did you ?" replied Mr. Bohun ; " I dare say 
 T shall see him myself before long, for I have 
 some idea of going up in a day or two." 
 
 " I am glad of it," returned Mr. Melville, so 
 pointedly that Mr. Bohun's keen eyes fixed them- 
 selves rather steadily on him ; " I am glad of it, 
 because I saw no prospect of their coming down 
 here, though a London life evidently does not 
 agree with Sir Felix." 
 
 Now Mr. Bohun and his brother were in fre- 
 quent, nay, constant correspondence with each 
 other. Not three days passed without the inter- 
 change of letters, and the former was aware that 
 Sir Felix had not derived that benefit from the 
 change which he had expected, nor which the 
 scraps invariably added by Lady Bohun to the
 
 2o4 THE SKELETON 
 
 letters, wished to lead him to infer. But this 
 kind of correspondence was not satisfactory. It- 
 was not the voluntary outpourings of an unwatched 
 pen. It was epistolization under the restraint of 
 continual supervision. 
 
 The letters were not those of Sir Felix. They 
 all bore traces of Lady Bohun. Consequently, 
 Mr. Bohun never felt sure that he had the right 
 version of either his brother's health or anything 
 else, and was quite ready to take alarm when his 
 old friend professed himself glad to hear that he 
 was going up to town. 
 
 " Then, my brother was not looking well ?" 
 was his first question, 
 
 " Very far from well, and out of spirits." 
 
 " Is it possible ? Lady Bohun describes their 
 life as a whirl of gaiety." 
 
 " Lady Bohun goes out a great deal, I believe : 
 but not Sir Felix : that is, not when he can help 
 it. I was to have dined with him one day tete-ci 
 tete, Lady Bohun being engaged to go out to her 
 father's near London, but on her return home 
 from her afternoon's drive, she positively insisted 
 on his accompanying her, and made me a great 
 many very polite apologies, begging me to fix 
 another day, which, however, I was unable to do." 
 
 How like her was even this little circumstance !
 
 IN THE CUPBOAED. 235 
 
 how like the jealousy which marked every action 
 of her life ! but Mr. Melville did not appear to 
 have seen it in this light. To him it only seemed 
 a little piece of tyranny, strongly savouring of 
 selfishness. 
 
 "I was in hopes," began Mr. Bohun again, 
 "that they would soon be thinking of home. 
 Bohun Court looks so beautiful just now." 
 
 " Ah ! my dear Mr. Bohun, the young lady 
 sees more beauty in London at the present 
 season, I fancy, and Sir Felix is under advice." 
 
 "That makes me uneasy. My brother has 
 hardly ever had a doctor in his life. Does he 
 look ill?" 
 
 " There is a look about him I do not like." 
 
 " So there was before he left home." 
 
 " True ; and it has gained upon him. He is 
 not what he was ; but as, perhaps, you know, he 
 suffers from a numbness in the limbs, and I had 
 hardly a moment alone with him, owing to the 
 presence of a servant, who was rubbing his feet 
 during the greater part of my visit." 
 
 " This is something quite new to me," ex- 
 claimed Mr. Bohun, anxiously. "Neither my 
 brother nor Lady Bohun have ever hinted at such 
 a thing. A numbness ? Good Heavens ! that 
 looks like paralysis !"
 
 236 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Let us hope not ; but, as I told you, I had no 
 opportunity to speak privately with him as to his 
 health." 
 
 " Owing to the presence of the man-servant ?" 
 
 "Not a man, my dear friend Lady Bohun's 
 own maid apparently, a very valuable servant, 
 who never leaves him when her mistress is out." 
 
 " Ponsford, by Jove !" almost burst from Mr. 
 Bohun's lips, but, drawing them in tightly, he 
 refrained. Ponsford, the vampire ! the skeleton 
 in the cupboard ! Ponsford mounting guard over 
 the invalid to the exclusion of his friends ! 
 
 " A villainous plot, to gain some end at present 
 a mystery," thought Mr. Bohun, and hastily bid- 
 ding his friend adieu, he pursued his way to Mrs. 
 Trant's, determined that two days more should 
 find him by his brother's side and no Ponsford 
 to play third hand. 
 
 st You are right," said Mrs. Trant, when after 
 an hour's conversation she had learnt all his 
 plans ; " you have come to a right decision, and I 
 only wish you could have arrived at it before your 
 reluctance to disoblige Sir Felix had brought 
 down so much annoyance upon you/ But the 
 oldest of us sometimes have to learn by expe- 
 rience, and you have bought yours dearly. When 
 do you go ?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 237 
 
 "I shall go to-morrow. I was in no haste 
 until I met Mr. Melville, but now I am uneasy ; 
 uneasy at his account of my brother's health, and 
 uneasy at the ignorance in which I have been 
 kept. Fortunately, I am not sufficiently afraid 
 of Lady Bohun to hesitate to demand the reason 
 of so much concealment. All the petty annoy- 
 ances to which I have been subjected appear 
 trifles in my sight now in comparison with this. 
 Who has a better right to know of my brother's 
 indisposition than myself?" 
 
 " His wife," said Mrs. Trant, quietly ; " take 
 care how you encroach on what she considers her 
 property and prerogative. Unless I am much 
 mistaken, she will submit to no interference 
 where Sir Felix is concerned." 
 
 " Despicable jealousy !" exclaimed Mr. Bohun, 
 getting up, and walking about the room. 
 
 " Wives don't like family interference," per- 
 sisted the old lady. 
 
 " Can she call my affection and interest inter- 
 ference?'' asked Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Go up to town and see," was the reply, " and 
 when you come back tell me who is right ; but be 
 temperate, dear Mr. Guy ! Do you know, that I 
 almost think mature age is bringing sourness to 
 your spirit ?"
 
 238 THE SKELETON 
 
 " It is !" he exclaimed, heai'tily ; " as ever, you 
 are right. I am soured ! soured by reading a 
 most unamiable page of life, and rendered bitter 
 by becoming acquainted with human nature in an 
 unpleasant form. I acknowledge it with regret ; 
 but my temper is being spoilt. Mrs. Trant, it is 
 high time that I should live alone again. It does 
 not do to try and make a family man of an old 
 bachelor." 
 
 " I say nothing to that," said Mrs. Trant, " but 
 to your having a roof of your own I cordially 
 assent. As to your temper, few people live to 
 your time of life having had so little to try them. 
 The consequence is, when you are tried, you are 
 found wanting." 
 
 " I like your truths, dear old friend," was Mr. 
 Bohun's frank rejoinder, as he prepared to take 
 his leave, "and I will endeavour to do my best to 
 keep the peace during my sojourn in town ; but 
 I go prepared for a struggle a struggle with 
 both Sir Felix and my lady ; the one will try to 
 hold me fast, the other will do her utmost to 
 shake me off." 
 
 " And she will succeed," said Mrs. Trant. 
 
 " I know it," was the answer ; and the next 
 day Mr. Bohun went up to town. 
 
 Sir Felix had taken a house for the season, in
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 239 
 
 a fashionable square. When Mr. Bohun, in a 
 cab, drove up to the door, two footmen, strangers 
 to him, were lounging at the door, and Lady 
 Bohim's carriage was waiting at a little distance. 
 
 "Is Sir Felix at home?" he asked, instinc- 
 tively. 
 
 " Not at home, sir," came immediately. 
 
 " I shall come in all the same," said Mr. Bohun, 
 coolly, "and be so good as to bring in my bag." 
 
 " Who can it be ?" whispered one man to the 
 other, and by this time Mr. Bohun was in the 
 hall. Hardly had he advanced to the dining-room 
 door than it opened, and he met Lady Bohun face 
 to face. 
 
 " Good gracious, Mr. Bohun ! how you startled 
 me!" 
 
 " How is my brother, Lady Bohun?" 
 
 " Sir Felix ! Oh ! dear, very well, thank you, 
 that is, pretty well considering ; but don't stand 
 here in the hall. Come up into the drawing- 
 room." 
 
 " My brother is out, I hear." 
 
 " Did they say, not at home ? Ah ! that was 
 because we were just going out to take a drive. 
 Come up, Mr. Bohun," and he followed her 
 into the drawing-room expecting to find Sir Felix 
 there ; but no such thing.
 
 240 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. Bohun : pretty house, is it 
 not? and when djd you come up to town?" 
 
 " I have this moment arrived." 
 
 " London is very full. It will bewilder you 
 after Bohun Court." 
 
 " If Felix is at home, will you be kind enough 
 to say in what room I shall find him, for I do not 
 like detaining you from your drive." 
 
 " Oh ! we were both going out. We always 
 hunt in couples; but you wait here a moment, 
 and I will go and tell him." 
 
 Taken off his guard, Mr. Bohun suffered him- 
 self to be left in the drawing-room, and Lady 
 Bohun went forthwith up to her room not down 
 to Sir Felix. " Ponsford," said she, in a breath- 
 less whisper, " Mr. Bohun has arrived. Now. 
 listen; go down and rub Sir Felix till I come 
 and release you. Then get ready the spare beds 
 for mamma and Fanny Washington. I shall drive 
 out to The Laurels, and bring them both back, 
 and Mr. Aylmer with them ; so get all the spare 
 rooms ready.- I am not going to have Mr. Bohun 
 here. You understand not another bed by any 
 possibility to be made up ; and if, by chance, I 
 have to go without Sir Felix, don't you leave 
 him if you can help it." 
 
 " And if I cannot help it, my lady?"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 241 
 
 " Why, then, manage the best way you can. 
 No private conversations, you know." 
 
 "No, my lady." 
 
 And away flew Euphemia, having scarcely left 
 Mr. Bohun five minutes. 
 
 She found him pacing the drawing-room im- 
 patiently, and saw at a glance that his ire was 
 rising. 
 
 " Now come and see Sir Felix," said she, with 
 
 | 
 
 a cheerfulness which irritated him still more. 
 " He seldom honours this room he prefers a 
 luxurious little boudoir that we have downstairs." 
 
 " I am sorry you thought it necessary to take 
 the trouble of preparing him to see me" said Mr. 
 Bohun, following her moodily ; "I hope his state 
 of health requires no such precaution as that" 
 
 " Oh, dear no !"-*- and she tripped lightly down 
 before him " on the contrary, your arrival will 
 be a charming surprise to him ; only you know 
 he has not been very strong for some weeks past, 
 so I generally announce any little pieces of news 
 to him myself, for fear of his being startled. Not 
 that I have done so on the present occasion ; I 
 have only ascertained that he is not taking a nap, 
 which he sometimes does after a fit of pain. This 
 is his room," and Mr. Bohun suddenly found 
 himself behind the chair of his brother, who, un- 
 
 VOL I. M
 
 242 THE SKELETON 
 
 aware of his entrance, was submitting to having his 
 feet rubbed by an individual whose lambent eyes 
 gleamed full upon Mr. Bohun, as he stood there, 
 uncertain and perplexed. 
 
 " Dear Sir Felix, how is the pain ?"" asked the 
 honeyed tongue. 
 
 " Oh, my dearest ! really quite well. I have 
 been assuring Ponsford so, only I cannot induce 
 her to believe me. I feel perfectly able to walk 
 to the carriage. Did you say I was to drive, 
 Ponsford?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Sir Felix, if you please." 
 
 " But first, dear Sir Felix, I have such a plea- 
 sant surprise for you. I have brought you a 
 visitor," said Euphemia. 
 
 " Oh, Euphemia ! I really cannot talk to Mr. 
 Aylmer again to-day. His spirits are so over- 
 powering." 
 
 "Not Mr. Aylraer somebody else;" and, 
 standing on one side, Lady Bohun held out her 
 hand to Mr. Bohun, who, an amazed spectator of 
 a scene which made his brother appear in the light 
 of a person in a state of imbecility, had stood 
 mute, until now brought forward. 
 
 The change in the countenance of Sir Felix, 
 when he saw his brother, was something marvellous. 
 It was as if light irradiated every feature ; and
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 243 
 
 though his feet were apparently held fast by 
 Ponsford, he turned himself in his chair, and held 
 out both his hands, with a gesture of delighted 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Of all people in the world, my good Guy ! 
 Why, this is new life to me ! When did you 
 come, and what powerful motive, stronger than 
 all my entreaties, has brought you up ?" 
 
 " Have you ever entreated me ? Surely not ? 
 If you had, I should have been here before." 
 
 " Entreated you in every letter. Euphemia is 
 my witness, as well as my amanuensis; these 
 flying pains have made my hands very helpless 
 lately, but she has repeatedly tried to tempt you 
 up." Mr. Bohun glanced at Lady Bohun, but 
 she was tying on her veil at the glass. " How- 
 ever, now I have got you here, Guy, I shall not 
 let you go in a hurry here, sit down. Thank 
 you, Ponsford, I will not trouble you any longer. 
 Euphemia, my dear, you will excuse my accom- 
 panying you to-day." 
 
 " Oh, dear Sir Felix ! Mr. Bohun will not 
 permit you to lose your drive, I am sure." 
 
 " Then he must go with us. Guy, where is 
 your luggage ? have they taken it up stairs ? 
 Ponsford, will you be good enough to see it taken 
 to Mr. Bohun's room ?" 
 
 M 2
 
 244 THE SKELETON 
 
 Ponsford looked pleadingly from Sir Felix to 
 Lady Bohun, and then back again. 
 
 "The rooms, Sir Felix unfortunately 
 
 the rooms are every one full." 
 
 " Yes, dear Sir Felix, how very unlucky ! 
 Don't you recollect ? Mamma, and Miss Wash- 
 ington, and Mr. Aylmer don't you remember? 
 we engaged to go and bring them all here to- 
 day." 
 
 " I don't recollect a word about it," exclaimed 
 Sir Felix ; " but, at all events, a room must be 
 found." 
 
 " Not to put .you to inconvenience," began Mr. 
 Bohun, fixing his eyes on Lady Bohun. 
 
 "Pshaw, my dear fellow! inconvenience in a 
 house that makes up two-and-twenty beds?" 
 
 " Mamma shall be put off, if you wish it," said 
 Lady Bohun ; " I dare say she will not much 
 mind." 
 
 " Not for the world, 1 ' returned her brother-in- 
 law ; " for, to tell you the truth, my arrangements 
 are all made. But now about yourself, Felix. I 
 was not prepared to find you an invalid. How is 
 it you never told me of your illness ? Have you 
 had an illness?" 
 
 " He has been ailing a little nothing very 
 serious, I am thankful to say," said Lady Bohun,
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 245 
 
 patting Sir Felix on the head like a child ; " and 
 hoping that every day would bring an amend- 
 ment, we have not liked to make you uneasy, Mr. 
 Bohun, knowing your anxious temperament." 
 
 Mr. Bohun had never heard of this ingredient 
 in his composition before, and no one possessed of 
 less perfect self-control and equanimity would 
 have borne it so well. As it was, nothing but 
 that peculiar pinch about his mouth betrayed 
 what was passing within his mind. 
 
 "Who is your medical man?" was his next 
 question. 
 
 " Dr. J , a most able, eminent man," said 
 
 Lady Bohun. 
 
 " The greatest ruffian I ever encountered," ex- 
 claimed Sir Felix in the same breath ; " so much 
 so, that I begged Mrs. Blackstone never to bring 
 the fellow here again." 
 
 " Not a doctor of your own selection, then," 
 said his brother, boldly. 
 
 " Dear Sir Felix," interrupted his wife, before 
 he could reply, " Mr. Bohun will forgive me, 
 but indeed the beauty of the clay is passing. 
 We shall see him at dinner, of course, but I am 
 sure he will join his entreaties to mine that you 
 should take your usual drive." 
 
 Mr. Bohun never uttered a syllable.
 
 246 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Usual drive ?" echoed the invalid, fractiously ; 
 " good heavens ! haven't I been tied to this chair 
 since " 
 
 Lady Bohun and Ponsford exchanged light- 
 ning glances, and before the sentence could be 
 finished, the latter said very calmly, but rapidly 
 
 " Dr. J was to come to-day, at three, Sir 
 
 Felix, and it only wants ten minutes." 
 
 Up started the victim. " Then, my dear Guy, 
 good-bye till dinner, for I'll cheat the fellow. 
 Here, give me your arm forgive me, Guy, but 
 I cannot stand that man no one else could 
 have induced me to leave you, but be sure I find 
 you here when I come home. I have volumes to 
 talk to you about, and I only grieve that you are 
 not to be under this roof my home and your's 
 should always be one." 
 
 And chattering on, with his arm through Mr. 
 Bohun's and his hand on his wife's shoulder, Sir 
 Felix passed through the hall, tottering, feeble, 
 and infirm was almost lifted into the carriage 
 and, waving his hand to his brother, was speedily 
 driven out of sight, whilst Mr. Bohun stood on 
 the steps, and heard the ostentatious order of Lady 
 Bohun given, " to The Laurels."
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MR. BOHUN turned on the step and re-entered 
 the house, absently retracing his steps to the room 
 in which he had had this interview with his 
 brother. 
 
 " I may as well wait till this doctor comes, and 
 learn the truth at once," mused he. " It wants 
 but a quarter of an hour to the time. I will 
 wait." 
 
 And he sat down lost in thought. He had had 
 a shock, and he wanted time to rally from it. It 
 was a shock to have seen Sir Felix in that state. 
 Two months had done the work of two years; 
 and, to Mr. Bohun's eyes, his brother seemed 
 either recovering from, or on the verge of, a stroke 
 of paralysis not only paralysis of the limbs, but 
 extending to the brain, for surely no one, in 
 his rational or reasonable senses, would submit 
 to such coaxing and cajoling as that to which
 
 24-8 THE SKELETON 
 
 he had just been an astonished and disgusted 
 witness. 
 
 There had been a wide march in the manner of 
 both Lady Bohun and Ponsford towards Sir Felix 
 since Mr. Bohun had last seen them all together. 
 The manner of the former was coaxing and fawn- 
 ing, as though for some hidden purpose ; the 
 manner of the latter a sort of smiling, but deter- 
 mined command, as though she knew and felt her 
 power over him. At Bohun Court there was 
 nothing like this. Neither would have dared in 
 those days, (and yet how few the days were ago,) 
 to have assumed such a tone towards Sir Felix 
 Jiohun ! 
 
 "He has had a stroke, or a touch very nearly 
 approaching it, and for their own purposes I have 
 been kept in ignorance," mused Mr. Bohun ; 
 " but I will not be baffled ; I will wait and see 
 the doctor, and fathom the truth before I leave 
 the house, and this evening, alone with Felix, I 
 shall be able to judge to what extent the mis- 
 chief or the malady has gone." 
 
 To Mr. Bohun it had at first seemed very sud- 
 den, this complete change in his brother, but now 
 that he came to think it over, he recollected how 
 ailing he had been during the early months of the 
 year how often depressed and out of spirits
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 24.9 
 
 how often looking ill without any positive com- 
 plaint. 
 
 " And I passed it all by, thinking Felix never 
 could be ill." 
 
 Such was the sort of reproach with which all 
 Mr. Bohun's mental cogitations ended. 
 
 " But they saw he was ill," he continued to him- 
 self ; " they saw and knew more than I, and took 
 their measures accordingly, blinding me at the 
 time, blinding me to the last, and wishing to blind 
 me even now, in defiance of the evidence of my 
 own senses. But never mind. To-night, alone 
 with him, I shall come at the true state of things, 
 and a few words with his doctor will set me all 
 right." 
 
 And again looking at the clock he saw the 
 
 hands on the stroke of three. 
 
 \ 
 
 Medical men are punctual. Mr. Bohun, there- 
 fore, was not impatient, but he was not suffered 
 to remain long in solitary expectation. The old 
 butler had only heard of his arrival as the car- 
 riage drove away, but instantly arming himself 
 with a tray of wine and biscuits, he hurried up as 
 fast as his ancient legs could carry him, and 
 bustling into the room, poured out his congratu- 
 lations simultaneously with the best sherry the 
 cellars boasted. 
 
 315
 
 250 THE SKELETON 
 
 His greetings occupied but few sentences ; the 
 subject uppermost in his mind was the same 
 which engrossed Mr. Bohun. 
 
 "Dear heart, sir, did you ever see such a 
 change as in Sir Felix !" uttered more as an ex- 
 clamation admitting of no doubt, than as a ques- 
 tion. 
 
 "Burley, I am shocked," was all Mr. Bohun 
 answered. 
 
 " I knew you would be, sir. I've had more 
 than half a mind for many a day to make bold 
 and write you a letter, and tell you how things 
 was going on, and how Sir Felix was failing 
 like, and how he was worretted and fidgetted, 
 what with the doctors, and the friends, and the 
 relations, and the strange gentlemen what I takes 
 
 to be " the old man sunk his voice to a 
 
 whisper, and backing to the door, closed it; 
 " what I takes to be lawyers, though, thinks I, 
 Sir Felix isn't fit for business, and it's Mr. Bohun 
 as should come and do it for him, and says I, 
 every day to myself, I'll make free and write." 
 
 " Oh, why did you not ?" exclaimed Mr. Bohun, 
 whose countenance had assumed a new and start- 
 led expression during the delivery of this sen- 
 tence ; " I knew nothing of all this ! You should 
 indeed have written."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 251 
 
 " I would, sir, but how could I, when day after 
 day I hears my lady promise to do it, and I puts 
 her letters in the post myself to make sure you 
 should get them, and every day I thinks to 
 myself, he'll come to-day, sure enough, but no !" 
 
 " Many a letter have I had, but not one to bid 
 me come to town," said Mr. Bohun, and then he 
 was sorry he had said so much, for old Burley 
 caught at the words. 
 
 " You don't mean it, sir ! bless you, then you 
 don't know half we've gone through. Oh! sir, 
 Mrs. Ponsford.. she's at the bottom of every- 
 thing. She rules Sir Felix, and my lady daren r t 
 say her soul's her own for her, though I don't 
 believe my lady feels it as Sir Felix does. My 
 lady thinks all Mrs. Ponsford says and does is 
 perfection, but poor master " 
 
 The old man sighed, and Mr. Bohun, afraid to 
 trust himself to speak, merely looked interro- 
 gatively at him. 
 
 " Poor master tided hard for his own way, at 
 first, sir, but he had such a lot about him." 
 
 " How do you mean, a lot ?" 
 
 "All my lady's but, sir, I'd better hold my 
 
 tongue you'll see, you'll see, sir. Of course, 
 
 you stay in the house, sir?" 
 
 " No, Burley. I prefer my own rooms where
 
 252 THE SKELETON 
 
 I always go in town. I'm growing old enough 
 to like independence." 
 
 " Oh ! sir, it's a blessed word ! a word we don't 
 know much of here" 
 
 " But it is the health of my brother that causes 
 me most anxiety," said Mr. Bohun. "I do not 
 like to see him in this state, Burley. How long 
 has he been so ?" 
 
 " Only really bad this last three weeks, sir." 
 
 " Three weeks ! Good heavens ! so long ! Was 
 he taken suddenly ill?" 
 
 " Can't say, sir. Everything up stairs is kept 
 so snug, only I notices little things. There was 
 two bottles of brandy went up one day in parti- 
 cular, and the new doctor came, what Mrs. 
 Washington brought." 
 
 " Who is Mrs. Washington ?" 
 
 " My lady's great friend, sir." 
 
 " By the by, why does not the doctor arrive ? 
 I am waiting for him. He was to be here at 
 three." 
 
 " Was he, sir ?" 
 
 "Was he not?" 
 
 " Not to my knowledge, sir." 
 
 " Ponsford said so." 
 
 " Did she, sir ? Then perhaps she said so to 
 make Sir Felix go out. I've heard her do it
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 253 
 
 before; it was one day that Mr. Melville was 
 calling, sir, and poor master wanted to stay at 
 home and have a talk with him, only my lady said 
 he must take his drive for his health, and he 
 is so mortal afraid of that doctor, sir, that he'd 
 run even from you, sir! to get out of seeing 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Bohun could put " two and two together," 
 as well as anybody else. This conversation en- 
 lightened him on several points,' and seeing now 
 that to wait for an individual who was evidently 
 not coming, or expected, would be rather like a 
 loss of time, he turned towards the door, and 
 ordered a cab to convey him to his own quarters. 
 
 He was no longer in a humour to talk. He 
 could not have talked any longer, even on the 
 subject nearest his heart, so full was it now of 
 grief, vexation, and perplexity. 
 
 He saw the plot that was laid, and the game 
 that was being played. The same power which 
 had prevented a tete-a-teie between Sir Felix and 
 his old friend Mr. Melville, had that day been 
 successfully exerted to prevent any private con- 
 versation between the brothers. 
 
 "The skeleton is in full play," thought Mr. 
 Hohun ; " there must be something they wish to 
 conceal ; something they are afraid of;" but his
 
 254 THE SKELETON 
 
 nature was far too unsuspicious to imagine what 
 it could be. 
 
 He looked forward, however, to the evening to 
 unravel the mystery. Between himself and Sir 
 Felix there had never, as yet, been any secrets. 
 Alone together after dinner, when Lady Bolmn 
 and her mother and her friend should have left 
 the table, he depended upon learning all that he 
 wished to know. Perhaps, even if he went half- 
 an-hour before dinner-time, he could steal a few 
 moments then ; so he started early, and had the 
 satisfaction of having the door opened by a foot- 
 man with a frown on his face, and only one arm 
 in his coat sleeve. His early appearance was evi- 
 dently looked upon as an unwarrantable liberty. 
 
 In the drawing-room a similar reception awaited 
 him. The housemaid was smoothing down the 
 furniture, and putting the chairs and tables in 
 their places. 
 
 "Has Sir Felix returned from his drive?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes, sir," said the well-known voice of the 
 vampire, at his elbow, " some time ago. Sir 
 Felix felt a little fatigued, and is resting on the 
 sofa in her ladyship's room." 
 
 In safe custody evidently ; so Mr. Bohun sat 
 down and .took up a book till the rustling of silks
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 255 
 
 and satins, like the wings of a flight of birds, 
 warned him it was seven o'clock, and time to 
 begin to play company. 
 
 "This is mamma, Mr. Bohun, whom you re- 
 member, I dare say, and Mrs. Washington, who 
 says she had the pleasure of sitting next you at 
 our wedding breakfast. I am sorry to say, my 
 
 friend Fanny could not come; but "and at 
 
 this moment Sir Felix tottered in, held in the 
 vigorous grasp of a fair young man with pendent 
 whiskers and moustaches "allow me to intro- 
 duce my cousin, Sydney Aylmer." 
 
 The young man, whose spirits Sir Felix had 
 only that afternoon so piteously declared were 
 too much for him ! A case of the spider and the 
 fly. Sir Felix seemed to writhe in the grasp 
 which had fastened on him, and appeared not 
 to intend to let him go until it had deposited its 
 burden in a chair. 
 
 "There you are, Sir Felix, safe and sound. 
 Mr. Bohun, I am delighted to make your ac- 
 quaintance. Come, cheer up, Sir Felix, you look 
 quite yourself again to-day." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Aylmer, you are very good, 
 and I know you mean to be very kind ; but if I 
 could only convince you how much better I could
 
 256 THE SKELETON 
 
 get on if you would be so obliging as to let me 
 walk unassisted " 
 
 " My dear Sir Felix, you know it keeps Lady 
 Bohun in a constant state of alarm and anxiety, 
 so you really must submit to my attentions. It 
 is no trouble. I am charmed to be of use. What 
 are looking for?" 
 
 " Nothing, thank you, Mr. Aylmer." 
 
 " I am sure you were. Tell me, and let me 
 find it. Have you dropped your handkerchief? 
 Shall I go and ask for it 7" 
 
 Sir Felix leant back in his chair, silent. 
 
 "You feel faint here are Phemy's salts." 
 
 Sir Felix had the greatest objection to any one 
 calling Lady Bohun by her Christian name, even 
 a cousin. 
 
 " I thank you, Mr. Aylmer, but Lady Bohun 
 herself would never venture to offer me salts. I 
 have a horror of them. My dear Guy, come and 
 take a chair by me. I have hardly seen you. 
 The long drive quite knocked me up, so Lady 
 Bohun insisted on my resting in her room, other- 
 wise I quite reckoned on a cKat with you ; how- 
 ever " 
 
 "Dinner, Sir Felix," said the sonorous voice 
 of the old butler, and instantly the procession 
 formed.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 257 
 
 " Sydney," whispered Lady Bohun, as they 
 went down stairs, "don't you leave Sir Felix 
 alone with Mr. Bohun after dinner. He will talk 
 him to death." 
 
 The consequence was, that Mr. Aylmer re- 
 mained a fixture in the dining-room until, worn 
 to a thread-paper by his ceaseless conversation, 
 vapid and frivolous, yet vociferously demanding 
 attention, Sir Felix begged his brother to assist 
 him upstairs, and gave up all idea of a tete-a-tete 
 as a hopeless case. 
 
 At last, Mr. Bohun managed to edge in a word 
 sotto voce. 
 
 " Felix, who is that young man ?" 
 
 " A standing-dish, of which I would give any- 
 body fifty pounds to rid me. The fellow cannot 
 take a hint, and is the most intolerable annoyance 
 to me." 
 
 "A cousin of Lady Bohun's?" 
 
 " Yes ; on leave of absence from his regiment. 
 I believe his colonel has forgotten his existence, 
 for the leave seems interminable. He makes this 
 house his home in the coolest way I ever saw, and 
 has at this moment possession of the room that 
 ought to be yours." 
 
 Two other couples had fallen into sotto voce 
 conversations in other parts of the room; Mrs.
 
 258 THE SKELETON 
 
 Blackstone and Mrs. Washington sitting so close 
 together that the artificial flowers in their respec- 
 tive caps touched, and Lady Bohun and Captain 
 Aylmer pretending to play at draughts, this being 
 the only game the fair Euphemia professed, and 
 certainly one eminently suited to the abilities and 
 capacity of her companion. 
 
 " So that is Mr. Bohun," said Mrs. Washing- 
 ton. "I recollect him now. He sat by me at 
 Phemy's wedding. My dear friend, I had no idea 
 he lived in the house." 
 
 "In what house?"" asked Mrs. Blackstone, 
 whose hearing was very imperfect. 
 
 "Bohnn Court, my dear. I found out at 
 dinner that that is his regular home. How does 
 Phemy like that?" 
 
 "Oh! delighted." 
 
 " That's very amiable of her. I don't think it 
 is a good plan, and Mr. B. looks to me like a man 
 of great determination. If I were Phemy, I 
 would not continue it, particularly in Sir Felix's 
 state." 
 
 " Oh ! he has nothing whatever to do with the 
 estate. He had at first, but Phemy has gradually 
 taken it out of his hands." 
 
 " And very right of her, too ; not that that 
 was what I said ; but it doesn't signify. What I
 
 IN THE CUPBOAKD. 259 
 
 meant was, that there being no heir, and in Sir 
 Felix's state of health you understand me, my 
 dear a brother of that firm temper (for I can see 
 it in his mouth and chin) may get rather too large 
 a slice, eh?" 
 
 " A slice of what ?" asked Mrs. Blackstone, 
 getting sleepy. 
 
 " Loaves and fishes, my dear." 
 
 " No fishing at all, I believe, but I'll ask 
 Phemy. I have never been down there yet, but 
 we accompany her on her return, I think." 
 
 " I'm glad to hear it. A young thing like that 
 wants a mother's eye to look after her interests, 
 
 &c you understand me, my dear and 
 
 there is another point I wanted to talk over with 
 you that maid of hers " 
 
 " That Bohun Court may be hers ?" said Mrs. 
 Blackstone trying hard to keep awake and answer 
 coherently. " Oh ! there is not the slightest 
 shadow of a doubt as to Bohun Court being 
 Phemy's, at all events for her life, if anything 
 happens to Sir Felix, poor dear man !" 
 
 "That is not what I said. I spoke of that 
 maid of hers, Ponsford, who seems to me to have 
 gained a very undue influence over Phemy. 
 Phemy spoils her, and the woman is gaining a 
 dangerous ascendancy. Don't you see it ?"
 
 260 THE SKELETON 
 
 " See what ? No, I see nothing particular ; I 
 beg pardon, my dear friend, but Sydney does 
 
 laugh so loud what was there to see? Are 
 
 they not playing at draughts ?" 
 
 "I'm talking of Ponsford," persisted Mrs. 
 Washington, in an offended whisper, "Phemy's 
 maid but you are going to sleep, my dear." 
 
 " Indeed, I am not," retorted Mrs. Blackstone, 
 angrily ; " I was merely closing my eyes. What 
 of Ponsford ?" 
 
 But at this moment Mrs. Washington saw that 
 her conversation had attracted the attention of 
 both Phemy and Mr. Bohun, so she wisely dis- 
 continued it, and went and sat down by Sir 
 Felix. 
 
 "Phemy," whispered Captain Aylmer, as he 
 pondered gravely over the moves of his game, " I 
 would do a good deal to oblige you, but don't set 
 me down again to play third person after dinner 
 with Sir Felix and his brother. Mr. Bohun 
 looked ready to eat me all the time I was left 
 unprotected there by you in charge of your hus- 
 band ; and as for Sir Felix, never did man breathe 
 such broad hints to get me out of the room, yet I 
 remained firm to my post." 
 
 " Good boy. To-morrow I will ask somebody
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 261 
 
 else to relieve you ; but till I do, I cannot let 
 you off." 
 
 " You don't like Mr eh ?" 
 
 " Can't endure .." 
 
 " Skeleton in the cupboard, eh ?" 
 
 "Hush! don't let Mrs. Washington hear 
 
 that, or else " 
 
 " Phemy, my dear," exclaimed Sir Felix, sud- 
 denly, " Guy's going. Have we any engagements 
 for to-morrow ?" 
 
 " It depends on how you are, dear Sir Felix." 
 
 " Then, Guy, come early, and we can settle our 
 plans when the morrow arrives." 
 
 And thus closed the first evening.
 
 262 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DAY after day passed, till the days numbered a 
 week, and the system displayed on the first 
 evening of Mr. Bohun's arrival in town, was so 
 strictly followed up, that on looking back, he 
 found to fiis surprise that, without being in the 
 least able to account for it, he had been entirely 
 unable during the whole of that time to have a 
 single hour's private conversation with his brother, 
 or indeed ever to find himself alone with him for 
 more than five minutes. 
 
 Yet this did not seem done on purpose. He 
 could not declare that it was intentional. If it 
 were so, it was so cleverly arranged that it left 
 him no power to complain, inasmuch as he could 
 never decidedly say he was denied an audience in 
 private. 
 
 He went to the house early. Lady Bohun, 
 like an exemplary wife, would be reading the
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 263 
 
 newspaper to her husband. He waited patiently 
 till that was over, and her ladyship would say, 
 "There, now I shall leave you for a gossip." 
 Before he had time to enter fully upon the interest 
 of any subject, Ponsford would glide in. 
 
 "If you please, Sir Felix, would it be con- 
 venient for me to rub your feet now ? This 
 is just a moment that her ladyship can spare 
 me." 
 
 The rubbing was a great interruption, and 
 sometimes appeared a vexatious one to the in- 
 valid ; but still it certainly was a great relief to 
 him, so it was submitted to, and Mr. Bohun had 
 to draw in again. Sir Felix spoke very openly 
 before Ponsford, He went running on, on matters 
 of business, in a manner which surprised his 
 brother ; but Mr. Bohun could not bring himself 
 to do this, consequently, all this was lost time to 
 him, and he would make up his mind to wait till 
 her hour of attendance had expired. 
 
 No sooner did she leave the room, and he 
 thought to be quiet, than the door re-opened. 
 
 "Luncheon, Sir Felix," and in tripped Lady 
 Bohun, to give her husband a dutiful arm ; saying, 
 as she did so, " What a pleasure to you, dear 
 Sir Felix, to have such a nice companion all the 
 morning. How good of Mr. Bohun, for he tells
 
 264 THE SKELETON 
 
 me he came up to town on business. We must 
 not take up all his time though, must we ?" 
 
 At luncheon, friends, or father, or mother, or 
 cousin, would be sure to drop in, and extend the 
 meal to the length of a dinner party. Then 
 Sir Felix would go exhausted to his own room, 
 and Lady Bohun would whisper to her brother- 
 in-law, 
 
 "Let him rest sometimes he dozes he is 
 ordered not to talk after his meals. Would you 
 like to sit with him, or shall I ? I generally work 
 by his side without opening my lips. Would you 
 like a book?" 
 
 Yes. Mr. Bohun would take a book, and sure 
 enough Sir Felix would go to sleep, and then 
 came the door again. 
 
 " Carriage at the door, Sir Felix. My lady 
 quite ready," she having taken about ten minutes 
 only to adorn herself. 
 
 Then Mr. Bohun would go out driving with 
 them. Lady Bohun by his side, Mrs. Blackstone 
 and Sir Felix opposite to them ; and they would 
 take a long drive up to Hampstead, or round by 
 Willesden, and Sir Felix would come home in 
 another state of exhaustion ; and then, as they 
 helped him out of the carriage, he would say, 
 " I am not strong, Guy," and Lady Bohun, with
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 265 
 
 a pretty air of sadness, would say, " You see 
 how weak he is, but don't be alarmed, he will 
 rally by dinner time." 
 
 At dinner, people joined the table every day 
 either one or two strangers, gentlemen, being 
 invariably invited, "just to break the family party," 
 Lady Bohun would say. And then the evening 
 ended as the first had done. Day after day, always 
 the same. Sir Felix was never alone, and yet 
 how could Mr. Bohun complain ? he could not. 
 What had he to complain of? nothing tangible. 
 Could he boldly desire a private conversation with 
 his brother no, not with a devoted wife who took 
 every opportunity of insinuating that she and 
 Sir Felix had but one thought, and one heart, and 
 one mind. 
 
 Yet all he, wished to say was very little. Why 
 did he make such a mountain of his molehill ? 
 It was merely to inform his brother that he had 
 resolved that henceforth their homes should be 
 separate; yet he shrank from communicating this 
 information in presence of a third person. Why ? 
 because of the opposition the determination 
 might meet ? No ! but because he dreaded the 
 ready acquiescence ! He dreaded the sparkle of 
 Lady Bohun's eye, and the insincerity of her 
 silvery-toned regrets. He dreaded the facilities 
 
 VOL. i. x
 
 26G THE SKELETON 
 
 she would place in furtherance of his plans, and 
 the insurmountable, yet almost imperceptible, 
 obstacles she would raise, should Sir Felix, for 
 once in a way, rouse up like an outraged lion, and 
 implore his brother still to remain under the 
 roof which had sheltered both equally from 
 childhood. 
 
 The anger or the sorrow of Sir Felix would be 
 easier to bear than the ill-concealed triumph of 
 Lady Bohun. Yet, mortifying as it would be, he 
 must go through it. He must hear the regrets, 
 and pretend to believe them; he must see the 
 triumph, and pretend to be blind ! 
 
 "Mrs. Trant was right," thought he to himself 
 one day ; " she has shaken me off, and yet it has 
 been without a struggle. I came to town pre- 
 pared to think the point would be contested, yet 
 she has succeeded in her aim and end without a 
 word, and without descending from her pedestal. 
 Lady Bohun, you have paved the way so well, 
 that I see I shall be permitted to resign my post 
 without opposition. So be it." 
 
 And forthwith Mr. Bohun set about the business 
 that had brought him up to town the arrange- 
 ment of the pied-a-terre which he was in future 
 to rejoice in as his own. 
 
 In the course of this transaction, chance threw
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 2G7 
 
 him in the way of one of the partners in the firm 
 of Bland and Frumpton, his family solicitors. 
 It was Mr. Bland who happened to be in the 
 office when Mr. Bohun, passing the door, looked 
 in to say how do you do. 
 
 Mr. Bland, gay and debonnaire, was always 
 charmed to see visitors, whether clients or friends ; 
 whilst Mr. Frumpton, over head and ears in 
 parchments, played the working bee in the most 
 praiseworthy manner, and never uttered an un- 
 necessary word yet one partner had just as much 
 to do as the other, in point of fact, but they 
 had different ways of doing it. 
 
 Mr. Eland's delight at the apparition of one of 
 the brothers of Bohun Court was very vociferous, 
 and he nailed him to a chair instantly. It was 
 so long since he had seen him, he really must 
 detain him for a few minutes, and he kept Mr. 
 Bohun in close conversation for two hours. 
 
 Yet the subject was sufficiently interesting to 
 render the detention far from irksome. They 
 talked entirely about Sir Felix, and Mr. Bohun 
 gleaned an immense amount of information. 
 
 "When your brother first came to town, my 
 dear sir," said Mr. Bland, in the course of his 
 ramblings, " we saw a good deal of him some- 
 times he came here, sometimes we went there 
 
 N2
 
 268 THE SKELETON 
 
 but lately, somehow, we have not been so much in 
 his confidence. We are aware that we are not 
 his only counsellors ; we do not presume to question 
 his perfect right to select his own advisers, but, 
 at the same time, my dear sir, we are quite aware 
 that he has sought legal assistance in other 
 quarters. Of course, these things are well known 
 amongst us it is no affair of ours, but we know 
 all the same. And, indeed, I expected it some 
 time ago ever since Sir Felix withdrew some of 
 his papers from our charge/' 
 
 Mr. Bohun was going to speak, but changed 
 his mind and sat silent, so Mr. Bland proceeded. 
 
 " Of course, we always imagined and anticipated 
 that from time to time Sir Felix would find it in- 
 cumbent on him to make alterations in his testa- 
 mentary documents, and we felt somewhat hurt at 
 the moment that we were not to be honoured 
 with his confidence ; however, as we were saying 
 
 but, my dear sir, you look very pale let us 
 
 offer you a glass of wine ?" 
 
 An unpleasant idea had flashed on Mr. Bohun 
 all at once, at this accidental disclosure ; and, much 
 to his vexation, he had actually felt himself turn 
 pale ; yet why ? He had suddenly awoke to the 
 fact that Sir Felix had no doubt been making a 
 new will, yet what was that to him ?
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 2fi9 
 
 Nothing and he would have felt it as nothing 
 had there been no mystery about it ; but if, indeed 
 it were nothing to him, why all this concealment 
 and mystery ? Why had the will been withdrawn 
 from the hands of Messrs. Bland and Frump- 
 ton ? Why had strange lawyers (for now he re- 
 collected what the old butler had said about the 
 "strange gentlemen" who had "worretted and 
 fidgetted" Sir Felix) been called in, and such 
 secrecy been observed? So Mr. Bohun turned 
 pale, but he was angry with himself for doing 
 so ; angry to think that he could for one instant 
 suspect his brother of any act which could by 
 any possibility come under the designation of 
 treachery, much less injury, to himself. 
 
 But still, Bohun Court was not entailed. It 
 was in the power of Sir Felix to leave it to 
 any mortal being he pleased. Since his mar- 
 riage, little conversation had passed between 
 the brothers, but even that little had served 
 to set the mind of Mr. Bohun at rest as to the 
 ultimate destination of the well-beloved home 
 of his childhood. Sir Felix had distinctly given 
 him to understand that, failing an heir (or an 
 heiress), Bohun Court would revert to him. Once 
 indeed, he uttered some very decided words about 
 it. They were these : " I once thought how bit-
 
 270 THE SKELETON 
 
 terly vexed and disappointed I should be if the 
 wife of my choice did not see Bohun Court with 
 our eyes; but now, Guy, I am actually not 
 sorry. That Euphemia has not given her heart 
 to the old place makes my way clear before me." 
 
 There was surely no mistaking these words ; 
 at least, so Mr. Bohun thought, till now ; but now 
 he by no means felt so sure of his ground. It 
 seemed pretty evident that the will had been 
 withdrawn for a purpose ; that Lady Bohun was 
 aware of the withdrawal ; and that he was to be 
 kept in ignorance of it, and this augured ill. 
 
 " What can she have been plotting and plan- 
 ning ?" thought he, as Mr. Bland rattled glasses in 
 a deep cupboard under one of his windows. 
 "How can one so green in age, have learned to 
 be so gray in artifice ?" 
 
 "By the by," exclaimed Mr. Bland, at last 
 emerging with a little round tray, on which was 
 a bottle of curapoa ; " what a very singular coin- 
 cidence it is, that that extraordinary young per- 
 son who was confidential servant in the family of 
 old Lady Merivale for so many years, should have 
 found her way back to Bohun Court again." 
 
 " Ponsford ?" said Mr. Bohun, absently ; " yes, 
 but why is she extraordinary ?" 
 
 " Singular woman a most singular woman !"
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 271 
 
 proceeded the old lawyer, pinching in his lips; 
 " there is no female of all our acquaintance that 
 has "given us more trouble and perplexity than 
 that Mrs. Ponsford, so singularly has she been 
 mixed up in the affairs of many of our clients." 
 
 " Ah ! you mean Lady Mary Topham and the 
 jewel case ?" 
 
 "That is one instance. Goodness me! the 
 trouble we had with the family about those 
 pearls! Mr. Topham swore Lady Mary never 
 could have given them, but Mrs. Ponsford had 
 her documents all safe and correct. No want of 
 black and white, and then to our infinite embar- 
 rassment, Mr. Topham declared the black and 
 white was very unlike his wife's usual hand- 
 writing ! Bless my heart, what a breeze we had 
 here, but there has been a worse than that since. 
 That blew over, for what could we say against 
 black and white? The pearls were left to the 
 individual, and she made us a low curtsey and 
 carried them off in triumph, and we thought we 
 had said good-bye to her, but not she ! she turned 
 up a little while ago, on the death of Lady Meri- 
 vale." 
 
 " That was a very awkward story," said Mr. 
 Bohun, " all the world knows it ; did not the wife 
 of the second son see, through the half-open door,
 
 272 THE SKELETON 
 
 Ponsford holding the old lady's fingers round the 
 pen that signed that most nefarious codicil ?" 
 
 " By which the old lady left all her plate to that 
 young doctor of her's ? Yes (to whom I verily 
 believe Mrs. Ponsford was at the time engaged), 
 though he wisely turned it into money soon after 
 he came into possession, and still more wisely did 
 
 not marry Mrs. Ponsford. But however what 
 
 we meant by calling her extraordinary was this, 
 that she has the faculty of obtaining over those 
 with whom she resides, and who are worth her 
 trouble, the most marvellous influence, we would 
 almost venture to say, the most dangerous in- 
 fluence." 
 
 " You are right," said Mr. Bohun, emphatically, 
 " I have seen it." 
 
 " So have I," returned Mr. Bland, shortly. 
 
 " Any case in point ?" asked Mr. Bohun. 
 
 " Yes, she turns Lady Bohun round her finger 
 already," answered the old man, courageously. 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it," was Mr. Bohun's 
 grave reply. 
 
 " And, my dear sir, if that were the extent of 
 her power we should not presume to complain 
 complain is hardly the word we mean, presume 
 to offer a word of warning, but we fear the evil 
 will not rest here. The last time we had the
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 273 
 
 honour of waiting on Sir Felix was on the occa- 
 sion of the transfer of. bless me, what was 
 
 it?" 
 
 Mr. Bland was a great talker; great talkers 
 sometimes get themselves into a tangle, and are 
 on the verge of telling secrets, and when this 
 happened to Mr. Bland, he was sharp enough to 
 pretend to lose the thread of his discourse, or 
 forget the point of his story. 
 
 " I know to what you refer," said Mr. Bohun, 
 calmly ; " but what has that got to do with Mrs. 
 Ponsford?" 
 
 "My dear sir, it was on that occasion that we 
 saw, with regret and dread, the growing influence 
 she was gaining over your brother. Had we not 
 known her previous history and all about her, we 
 might have thought nothing of it, but as it was, 
 we certainly did think to ourselves, to use a 
 homely phrase, the lady is at her old tricks again, 
 for not a sentence did Sir Felix utter, but, what 
 he added, turning to her, ' Isn't that what I said 1 
 would do, Ponsford ?' Oh ! Mr. Bohun, my dear 
 sir," exclaimed Mr. Bland, suddenly springing up 
 in a startling manner, " that's a dangerous woman. 
 Believe me, it may some day be necessary for you 
 to be on your guard, and we take the liberty of 
 old friendship to tell you so." 
 
 N 5
 
 Ii74 THE SKELETON 
 
 Mr. Bohun did not spend the rest of that day 
 comfortably. Although he had a good deal of 
 business to transact, still, as he walked hurriedly 
 from place to place, he had time enough to think, 
 and his thoughts were disagreeable ones. 
 
 Doubt and distrust had entered into his mind, 
 and though it seemed like ingratitude and in- 
 justice towards his brother to doubt him, still he 
 could not help having fears that Sir Felix, no 
 longer his own agent, had been worked on, during 
 his stay in town, by influences far more powerful 
 than his own enfeebled will, and if so, what might 
 he not have done ? 
 
 For money, Mr. Bohun cared nothing. He had 
 enough and more of his own than he wanted, but 
 for Bohun Court he worshipped every tuft of 
 moss on those ivy-covered walls ! Surely, surely, 
 it would never pass away from him? 
 
 And then wild thoughts flitted through his 
 brain, making the sober man half delirious she 
 would be a gay widow, were she to become one 
 she was very young, and might long outlive him 
 he might offer to purchase the beloved place of 
 her, and she might refuse ! and then he pulled 
 his hat over his eyes, and hurried on, he hardly 
 knew which way, and looked back with a groan 
 in his heart, on the day when Sir Felix, in a weak
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 275 
 
 hour, had for the third time, placed his liberty in 
 another's keeping. 
 
 But Guy Bohun was too high-minded to indulge 
 long in thoughts like these : they had tortured 
 him for the time, but that once over, he was him- 
 self again ; the memory of all that he heard that 
 day clung to him, but the bitterness of it passed, 
 and a quiet evening spent by himself, brought 
 back sufficient tranquillity to his spirit to enable 
 him to present himself the next morning at his 
 brother's house without a single feeling of animo- 
 sity or reproach. 
 
 What he heard, however, when he went in, 
 surprised him.
 
 276 THE SKELETON 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ALL going to Bohun Court ? The whole family 
 on the move, when, four-and-lwenty hours pre- 
 viously, no such intention had been even breathed? 
 
 " Yes, sir. Sir Felix gave the order last night, 
 sir, and Mr. Burley went down this morning." 
 
 It was one of the new footmen who spoke, and 
 when Mr. Bohun heard that it was Burley who 
 had been selected as the avant-courier, he at once 
 saw that there was not the slightest chance of his 
 discovering the real reason of the sudden flight. 
 Though not naturally suspicious, he was becom- 
 ing so by degrees, and his present suspicion was, 
 that the old butler had not been sent out of the 
 way without a motive. The frequent tetes-a-tete 
 which the ancient domestic managed to steal, had 
 evidently been observed and disapproved, so, in 
 order that no truths should be told, he was sent 
 out of the way of being asked questions.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 277 
 
 Mr. Bohun entered the house in silence, per- 
 haps rather a morose silence, and was roused by 
 the voice whose unvarying cheerfulness had be- 
 come quite a source of irritation to him Mr. 
 Aylmer's. 
 
 " How d'ye do, Mr. Bohun ? Ain't we in a 
 confusion ? I'm going to have a cigar to purify 
 the house." 
 
 " Lady Bohun is very forbearing if she permits 
 you such an indulgence," returned Mr. Bohun, 
 well remembering how early in her married career 
 it was denied to him. 
 
 " Oh ! Phemy don't mind. If she did, I don't 
 care ; I'm privileged. Are you going in to see 
 
 the old gen I beg your pardon...,..! mean Sir 
 
 Felix?" 
 
 Mr. Bohun said nothing; but passed on to- 
 wards his brother's room. Sydney Aylmer put 
 his head into the dining-room, the lighted cigar 
 between his fingers. 
 
 " Phemy, old Growler's gone into Sir Felix's 
 room. He looks like thunder." 
 
 " Thank you, Sydney ; go and talk till I can 
 come." 
 
 "Impossible, Phemy I've just lighted my 
 
 pipe of consolation."
 
 278 THE SKELETON 
 
 " Oh ! you odious creature ! then I suppose I 
 mil ft " 
 
 And she swept all the papers by which she was 
 surrounded into her writing-table drawer. This 
 took her several minutes, during which time Mr. 
 Bohun sat by his brother's chair, Sir Felix look- 
 ing nervously up into his face, having greeted 
 him still more so. 
 
 " My dear Guy alone for a moment at last! 
 
 and such volumes to say," he began, in a sort of 
 
 gasping way; "we are off, as you see I could 
 
 bear it no longer that fellow Aylmer and all 
 
 these confounded friends and relations I am 
 
 worn to death, and said so, and somehow, before I 
 knew where I was, Euphemia had settled it all, 
 and thought it best for me to go and be quiet a 
 
 little otherwise, my dear Guy, this is the very 
 
 last moment I should have chosen to leave town 
 
 just during your stay and I wanted so 
 
 much to speak to you but follow as soon as 
 
 you can it is important there's somebody 
 
 at the door just look." 
 
 " Does Sir Felix mind my cigar ?" said a voice. 
 
 " No ! devil take his cigar and him, too. No, 
 Mr. Aylrner, not if the door is shut. There, 
 Guy, bang the door, never mind politeness with 
 that insufferably cool coxcomb. Now, to business
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 279 
 
 abruptly, or we shall be sure to be inter- 
 rupted.'" 
 
 "Be calm, Felix," said the more temperate 
 brother, "there is no hurry." 
 
 " Yes, but there is" whispered Sir Felix, 
 " much more than you think. I have something 
 to explain to you that must be explained, lest you 
 should misjudge." 
 
 " My dear Felix," interrupted Mr. Bohun, tak- 
 ing his brother's trembling hands within his own, 
 " I should never do that : make your mind per- 
 fectly easy that I should never misjudge you 
 under any circumstances. 1 ' 
 
 " Not me, Guy, not misjudge me I did not 
 mean that, but misjudge those whose future hap- 
 piness and comfort I have naturally very much at 
 heart '' 
 
 " Naturally yes well?" 
 
 " And you must not think, my dear Guy, nor 
 must Bland and Frumpton think, because I have 
 not consulted them in this instance, that I have 
 
 no longer the highest opinion of their talents 
 
 and and " 
 
 "Felix," said Mr. Bohun, gravely, "you are 
 not accountable to any human being for your ac- 
 tions, and with whatever you do, I have no doubt 
 [ shall.. ..I mean..,
 
 280 THE SKELETON 
 
 It was now Mr. Bohun who stammered. He 
 had taken his seat by Sir Felix, so strongly pos- 
 sessed with the idea that he was about to have 
 the secret of alterations in the w T ill imparted to 
 him, that he was actually on the point of forgiving 
 his brother for what had never been divulged ! 
 
 But Sir Felix had worked himself up into such 
 a pitch of nervous agitation, that he seemed to 
 take no notice of any part of his brother's sen- 
 tence except the words, " you are not accountable 
 to any human being," and to these only he replied. 
 
 " True exactly just what I wished to ex- 
 plain, that I abhor tyranny, influence, and all 
 that sort of thing ; I am my own master. Cer- 
 tainly, I would rather have remained in town 
 just now, but, you see, I am very far from 
 well. Ponsford begins to understand my con- 
 stitution " 
 
 Mr. Bohun drew in a deep breath. 
 
 " Oh !" continued Sir Felix, misunderstanding 
 its import, " there really is nothing serious the 
 matter with me, only constant change of air and 
 scene seems requisite, and though your visit up 
 to town happens most unfortunately, still " 
 
 The door opened, and Lady Bohun, radiant, 
 as usual, looked in. 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Bohun ! Dear Sir Felix, I want
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 281 
 
 Mr. Bohun here a moment, just to give an opinion 
 on my alabaster group " 
 
 She took him into the hall, " a little pious 
 
 fraud of mine, Mr. Bohun; but I want to tell 
 you of our sudden departure. We are always 
 obliged to take Sir Felix when the spirit moves 
 him ; if we did not, we could do nothing, he is so 
 painfully nervous. Therefore, if you please, not 
 a word to deter him ; he is quite charmed at the 
 idea of seeing Bohun Court again, and so am I " 
 ("news," thought Mr. Bohun); "but now I must 
 go back to him ; come in, and we hope, dear Sir 
 Felix, don^t we ? that your brother will follow us 
 as soon as ever it is agreeable to him." 
 
 Thanks for the permission, again thought Mr. 
 Bohun. But she was at her post again, and the 
 interview was over ; the opportunity had come, 
 and was gone; and now she sat, holding the hand 
 of Sir Felix, and looking earnestly in his face. A 
 dew of perspiration certainly did stand on his 
 forehead. 
 
 " You have been agitating yourself," said she ; 
 " you look quite upset, dear Sir Felix. You must 
 have a glass of port wine instantly. No ? then 
 it must be your tonic yes, your tonic, dearest 
 Sir Felix, if you love me ! there's a dear good 
 patient! Please, Mr. Bohun, ring the bell
 
 282 THE SKELETON 
 
 twice many thanks. Twice means for Ponsford; 
 she knows our quantity." 
 
 The opportunity was over indeed, and what 
 could Mr. Bohun do ? What had he done V What 
 was he doing? Sitting there like a muuimy, see- 
 ing his brother treated like a child, and powerless 
 to act, for was this a moment to announce to that 
 trembling man a piece of intelligence which, even 
 in his days of health, he always met with almost 
 angry opposition ? 
 
 "I must write it," thought Mr. Bohun, and 
 thus he resigned himself to the circumstances of 
 the moment. 
 
 And how had it all been arranged ! To explain 
 it, we must go back a day. 
 
 The morning spent by Mr. Bohun in the office 
 of Messrs. Bland and Frumpton, was one destined 
 by Euphemia to-be passed at the Crystal Palace. 
 She had made up a party, consisting of all her 
 most agreeable intimates, and had arranged that 
 they should all dine there, Sir Felix should be 
 wheeled about in a Bath chair (which he de- 
 tested), that she should enjoy her usual noisy 
 flirtation with Mr. Aylmer, and that in the cool 
 of the evening all should drive home to a late 
 supper, Sir Felix being consigned to his bed 
 before that part of the entertainment commenced.
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 283 
 
 Mr. Bohun had been invited, but not in terms 
 which he would have condescended to accept, 
 even had he wished to join the party, which he 
 did not. 
 
 " I suppose you would not care to make one of 
 our number?" had been Lady Bohun's words; 
 " I am not the least superstitious about thirteen 
 at table, if you would like to join us?" 
 
 " I thank you," Mr. Bohun had replied, " but 
 I have quite an accumulation of business on hand 
 for that day, so you need not brave the unlucky 
 number on my account." 
 
 It so happened that when the morning dawned, 
 Ponsford asked leave to absent herself from her 
 duties for a few hours, as soon as she had arrayed 
 her mistress in her morning toilette. She was 
 obliged to see a lawyer who paid her a small 
 annuity, left as a legacy to her; she would be 
 sure to be back by two o'clock, in time to dress 
 her ladyship for the Crystal Palace, if she might 
 be permitted to start early. So at ten o'clock 
 Mrs. Ponsford, delicately attired in silver gray, 
 with the prettiest of simple straw bonnets, and 
 a little veil, covered with black spots, tied close 
 over her face (making her look like a patched 
 beauty of many reigns ago), set forth on her 
 errand.
 
 284 THE SKELETON 
 
 But instead of an absence of three hours, 
 which Lady Bohun expected, back came the 
 damsel in less than one. 
 
 " Why, Ponsford," exclaimed her mistress, 
 " your business did not take long." 
 
 "Oh! my lady, I was not able to transact it." 
 
 " No ? what a pity, after having all the trouble 
 of going to the ends of the earth and making 
 such a belle toilette" 
 
 " Oh, my lady !" with that passive, resigned 
 smile of hers " the trouble was very little, only 
 it was vexatious. However, as it happened to be 
 Mr. Bohun " 
 
 Euphemia rather drew up. " Mr. Bohun what?" 
 said she. 
 
 " Mr. Bohun was already with Mr. Bland when 
 
 I arrived I hope, my lady, I am not committing 
 
 an indiscretion of course I was not supposed 
 
 to know he was there ; and, of course, if he had 
 wished his visit known, he would have mentioned 
 it. But, perhaps, your ladyship did know ?" 
 
 "Not I. What could he be there about, 
 Ponsford?" 
 
 " I have not an idea at least, I cannot say, my 
 lady business, of course." 
 
 " What business, I wonder ? Nothing con- 
 nected with us, I am sure ; for I have taken good
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 285 
 
 care, and so have you, have you not ? that he 
 should not worry Sir Felix on business matters. 
 Now what could he be doing at Eland's ?" 
 
 Conscience may well be said to make cowards 
 of us all. The hearts of both those fair confe- 
 derates misgave them because of the simple fact 
 of Mr. Bohun's being found in a lawyer's office. 
 
 " I met Mr. Frumpton on the stairs, my lady, 
 and he said Mr. Bland was engaged. I said I had 
 but little time and few opportunities ; but when 
 he mentioned that it was Mr. Bohun, and that he 
 had already been there more than an hour, I 
 thought I had better come home again, and just 
 name it to your ladyship." 
 
 " How lucky ! I am so glad you found it out, 
 Ponsford ; but it is very unfortunate his having 
 gone there very unfortunate most provoking! 
 and after all our pains, too, and all my anxiety." 
 
 " Mr. Bohun can do no harm, my lady," said 
 Ponsford, in a very low voice. 
 
 " Ho\v do we know ?"" replied Euphemia, in the 
 same tone. 
 
 " The new will is signed and witnessed, my lady." 
 
 " But Sir Felix may make fifty codicils?" 
 
 " Not without your knowledge, my lady, unless 
 Mr. Bohun should have sufficient influence or 
 opportunity to induce him to do so."
 
 286 THE SKELETON 
 
 " He has influence with Sir Felix to make him 
 do anything !" exclaimed Lady Bohun vehemently. 
 (She did not see Ponsford's smile again, though 
 generally it was a book to her a book full of 
 hints and suspicions.) " He might do incalculable 
 mischief even now ! How do I know but what 
 he has drawn everything out of that old chatter- 
 box, Burley, and formed his resolutions accord- 
 ingly? Ponsford, we are in a difficulty ! " 
 
 " Not the least, my lady, indeed !" 
 
 " Xo ? I think we are, though, and I should 
 be very glad if you could prove the contrary."' 
 
 " My lady, no harm can be done, even now, 
 provided Sir Felix and Mr. Bohun are prevented 
 being alone together." 
 
 " But what a task it is to prevent that ! I am 
 sure I am sometimes at my wit's end, and Mr. 
 Aylmer often declares he will not be continually 
 mounting guard. As for me, I am tired out, and 
 I dare say you are, too." 
 
 " Oh, my lady, I would do anything to serve 
 you ! Perhaps I ought not to say so, but it 
 would have gone to my heart to have seen your 
 ladyship left, as it were, at Mr. Bohun's mercy, 
 if anything happened to Sir Felix." 
 
 " But, Ponsford, I don't feel safe even now ! 
 what can we do? If Mr. Bohun sees the new
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 287 
 
 will, he will oppose it he will terrify Sir Felix 
 
 Sir Felix will give way, and then Oh, Pons- 
 
 ford ! what could take that man to Bland and 
 Frumpton's ?" 
 
 " My lady, do not agitate yourself. I think we 
 can avert any mischief. I mean, I think your 
 ladyship can win the game yet." 
 
 " Oh, Ponsford ! I would give anybody fifty 
 pounds if they could just get Mr. Bohun out 
 of the way till we go back to Bohun Court 
 again." 
 
 Ponsford's smile returned, 
 
 " Ponsford, you have some scheme. What is 
 it ? An anonymous letter, saying Hector is 
 poisoned ?" 
 
 " My lady, I would undertake to prevent Mr. 
 Bohun's having any private conversation with Sir 
 Felix for much less than fifty pounds." 
 
 "Ponsford, you are a jewel, if you are in earnest. 
 Is it a feasible plan? I declare I would give 
 twenty pounds." 
 
 " It is quite a feasible plan if you take it in 
 hand yourself, my lady." 
 
 " That I will, with all my heart ! Ponsford, 
 what shall I give you ? Choose quick not 
 twenty pounds, though, I was joking ! Not 
 money you don't care for money ! Now, I tell
 
 288 THE SKELETON 
 
 you what you shall have my black moire antique, 
 if you do it !" 
 
 " Oh, thank you, my lady ! but it is your lady- 
 ship, not I." 
 
 " Well, but what is it ?" 
 
 " Sir Felix was very anxious to go to Bohun 
 Court the other day, my lady, just before Mr. 
 Bohun came after Mr. Melville was in town." 
 
 " I remember, so he was ; well ?" 
 
 " If he were to go now, my lady ?" 
 
 " And leave Mr. Bohun in town ? Very good. 
 But suppose he were instantly to follow us ?'* 
 
 " He will not yet, my lady ; if at all." 
 
 " Ponsford ?" 
 
 "Perhaps I am betraying a confidence; but 
 from you, my lady, somehow I feel as if I could 
 conceal nothing. Mr. Bohun has taken, or has 
 almost taken, some chambers at the Albany, kept 
 by a relation of mine." 
 
 Euphemia clasped her hands in- speechless 
 delight. 
 
 " He would not be likely to leave town at this 
 moment, therefore, my lady, and if you could 
 persuade Sir Felix to start directly " 
 
 " It shall be done, Ponsford we could go to- 
 morrow even, if you could go down by this 
 evening's train."
 
 IN THE CUPBOARD. 289 
 
 " Would it not be better to send Mr. Burley, 
 my lady ? to get him out of the way, my lady ?" 
 
 " Burley ? I don't know how we could spare 
 him. Sir Felix might not like it." 
 
 " If Mr. Burley is here when Mr. Bohun calls 
 again " insinuated Ponsford. 
 
 " I see, I see," cried Euphemia, " you are 
 quite right; it shall be Burley, and I will settle 
 it all with Sir Felix myself." 
 
 So Lady Bohun dressed for the Crystal Palace, 
 expatiated on the beauties of nature during the 
 whole drive to Sydenham, spoke to Sir Felix in- 
 cessantly of the loveliness of Bohun Court in 
 summer wished she were there at that moment 
 to see it; and ended, by having it all her own 
 way. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 

 
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