THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES LIZZIE OF THE MILL. LIZZIE OF THE MILL. FROM THE GERMAN OF W. HEIMBUBGj I$Y CHEISTINA TYEKELL. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LOKDOK: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1880. (All rights reserved. ) VRIXTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BBCCLES. PT LIZZIE OF THE MILL. CHAPTEK I. A BRIGHT wood fire is blazing on the hearth in Baroness Derenberg's sitting- room, giving to the dusky apartment with its tall chimney-piece and old sculp- tured furniture a cosy, home-like air. In one of the deep window-recesses sits a young girl of about fourteen, looking out at the fading sunset glow of the short winter day. Her delicate profile appears sharply defined against the clear back- ground of the window-pane. She has folded her small hands, which lie idly in VOL. I. 1 2 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. her lap, and her thoughts are evidently wandering far away. " Mamma," she says, suddenly, turn- ing her head with its wealth of fair curls towards a pale, fragile-looking lady, who sits in an armchair by the fire, knitting. " Mamma, what a long, long while Army is staying in grandmamma's room again. We shall not get to the mill after all, and it is high time we went there. Army has only a week's leave, and four days of it have gone by already. He promised me for a certainty he would go with me to- day. What must Lizzie think, that he has not been down to see them yet ? " While speaking, the girl had risen and drawn nearer her mother. There was a look of vexation on her childish face. " Patience, Nelly," answered the mother, stroking her daughter's bloom- ing cheek. " You know, if grandmamma LIZZIE OF THE MILL. O wishes it, Army must remain with her ; he must stay as long as she likes. Grand- mamma has many things to say to him, no doubt. Practise patience, my darling; it is so necessary to us through life. Light the lamp. Bemember, there is yet much to be done to Army's linen." The slight girlish figure, still so child- like in its contours, flitted almost noise- lessly over the parqueted floor, and soon a bright light spread through the old- fashioned, but comfortable, room, making it look doubly snug and pleasant. The Baroness rose from her chair by the fire, and seated herself at a great round table. The rays from the lamp now fell on a pale, prepossessing countenance, on which care had graven many deep, sorrowful lines. Mother and daughter were alike in feature, but at this mo- ment how different in expression ! The 4 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. youthful face opposite had brightened suddenly, the long lashes were lifted, and two great blue orbs flashed with a liappj r gleam, for outside in the corridor a quick elastic step was heard approaching. The door of the room was thrown open, and a dashing young officer entered. An eager light beamed in his eyes, and the bright, hopeful confidence natural to a lad of nineteen was written on his sunny brow. Nelly rushed up to him. "Army, how glad I am you have come ! Now we can go to the mill, cannot we ? " she said, coaxingly, rais- ing herself on tiptoe and winding her arms about his neck. " I will run and fetch my hood and cloak at once, for we have no time to lose. They have supper so punctually at the mill." She would have hurried gleefully away. " Nelly," cried the young man, catch- LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 5 ing her by the arm. " Say no more about this. It it is not suitable now." "Not suitable now?" The young girl looked up at her brother inquiringly. "No, Nelly. You really must be reasonable. As a child one may asso- ciate with any one, just because one is a child ; but for a man, an officer, hold- ing a commission in the army, it would not do " " Well, you can come and see Lizzie, at least. You always used to be so ready to go there with me." " Oh, Army," said the Baroness, "you do not mean it seriously. They are most worthy people down at the mill, and have always been very good to you. It would be ungrateful - " " Mother, do reflect, I beg of you," he replied, his dark eyes sparkling angrily. " These people are a most uncivilised set. O LIZZIE OF THE MILL. Suppose the miller were to come over to B one day, and to take it into his head to call on me. A pretty state of embarrassment I should he in ! " "They are not an uncivilised set," cried Nelly; "it is just grandmamma who has been telling you that, because she cannot endure the Ervings, or ' their rags,' as she says." " Their rags, that is just it," laughed the young officer. " Let every one keep to his own class. You yourself, Nelly, will not always be able to be intimate there. With the first long skirt that trails behind you, it will be adieu, friend Lizzie of the rag-mill ! " "Never!" cried the girl, vehementlj'. " I would run over to the mill in the night if I were forbidden to go there in the day-time. Lizzie is my only friend. Whatever shall I say to explain your not going ! " She burst into tears. LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 7 " Oh, you will find some excuse, little one ; don't cry," said her brother, con- solingly. His voice was soft and tender now, just as it had often been in the old days when he had broken his sister's doll, and knew not what comfort to offer. " Dear Army," she pleaded, looking up at him hopefully; "you only meant to tease me. We are going to the mill, are we not?" He stood for a moment irresolute. Before his mental vision there flitted the well-known figure of a small maiden, as he had seen her a hundred times of old Lizzie, little Lizzie of the paper-mill down in the hollow. She looked up at him with sunny blue childish eyes ; her red lips whispered, " Army, come with me, come to Aunty. She has apples for us, and I have found a bird's nest in the park. Come, Army, come." Mechani- 8 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. cally lie made a movement, as though to seize his cap which lay on the table. The light from the lamp caught a sparkling ring on his hand; it was a richly enchased emerald, on which glittered a hear, the Derenberg crest. His glance rested on it for a moment ; then he snatched up the cap and threw it on to a side-table. " Don't worry me," he said shortly, and turned away. A long silence ensued. The young girl went back to her place at the table, bending her head low over her work ; but the little fingers which plied the needle trembled violently, and great tears fell from her eyes on to the white material she was sewing. The Baroness sighed, and followed her son with sad, wistful looks, as he paced restlessly up and down the room. The old rococo clock struck six, and began to play some LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 9 long-forgotten love-song. The sweet simple melody echoed through the lofty chamber, then died away, and still a troubled silence reigned among these three who yet were bound together by love's tenderest ties. "Army," said the pale lady, at length, " when did grandmamma give you the ring you are wearing on your ringer ? " He stopped before the fire-place, and thrust the poker in between the glowing embers, so that the sparks flew high. Then he answered " This afternoon, just now, when I was in her room." " Do you know that it is your father's ring, Army? " The young man turned quickly. " No, mother, Granny did not tell me that. She merely spoke in a general way about the crest and its significance, and ..." 10 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. "Well, my sou, then / will tell you." The Baroness's voice faltered, and shook with repressed agitation. " It is the ring grandmamma drew from your father's cold and stiffened hand after he ... when he was dead." The last words ended with a half-stifled cry, and the speaker sank back in her chair, shattered, as it were, by her emotion. " My dear, good little mother ! " ex- claimed Army, hurrying to her side, while Nelly, stooping over her, nestled her cheek against the wan face over which bitter tears were streaming. " Don't cry, dear mother," implored the young man. " I will hold the ring high in honour, to show how proud the son is of his father's memory. I will strive to become as good, as noble of heart as he was." In these words, in the look he raised to LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 11 his weeping mother's face, there lay the genuine conviction of an unspoiled filial heart, the absolute faith which endows the dead father with all fairest qualities, and regards him as the best of men. But his speech produced a strange, an over- whelming effect. The Baroness started from her chair ; her frail form was drawn erect. She gazed at her son vacantly as one distraught, and then exclaimed, in wild tones of horror " My Army, too ! Oh, Almighty Father, spare me that, spare me but that ! " " My mother is ill," cried the young man, and hurried to the bell ; but the sound of a weak voice whispering, " Come back, Army, it is over now," recalled him to her side. She took a glass of water thankfully, and said, with- an attempt at a smile " I have frightened you both, poor 12 LIZZIE OP THE MILL. children. The remembrance of your father's death is full of anguish to me, even after this lapse of years; but now that Army is about to go out into the world, I must speak to you of the past, which I have hitherto always avoided doing. You must often have wondered to yourselves," she continued, after a pause "why we lead so simple and retired a life ; a life from which all luxury is so rigorously banished. Ah, Army, it is not for myself, it is for you both I grieve ! You will find yourself in the most cruel position imaginable, and all this trouble has been brought upon you by the boundless folly of your . . ." She stopped as though in alarm at her own words, 'and broke into a flood of bitter tears. Armand stood by the fire-place with knitted brows, watching intently and LIZZIE OP THE MILL. 13 anxiously for what should come next. The sunny expression had vanished from his face, swept away, as it were, hy some stormy gust of feeling, and about his mouth were lines telling of grievous dis- appointment. "When your father brought me home, a bride I was then a child of sixteen all was gaiety here and splendour," went on the Baroness. " Castle Derenberg had for long years been famous for its hospitality, and your grandmamma well knew how to attract guests to the house. She was at that time still very beautiful, almost as enchanting as she is repre- sented in the great picture upstairs in the portrait-gallery ; and she loved luxury and grandeur. To me she was then so kind and good, I really thought I had found in her a second mother. Ah, that brief, brilliant period was the fairest of 14 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. my life ! When I pressed you to my heart, Armand, and you, my Nelly, it seemed to me that nothing was wanting to my happiness. Then came the terrible shock of your father's sudden death. Swiftly, and without any warning, mis- fortunes poured in upon us." She shuddered, and pressed her trembling hands to her temples, as though trying to convince herself that the events she was narrating really belonged to a far bygone past. " After his death a trustee was appointed me in the person of old Councillor Hellwig. It soon appeared that our affairs were in the most terrible disorder. Look which way we might, there were mortgages, bonds, unpaid bills. Grandmamma and I suddenly found ourselves involved in a labyrinth of debt and difficulty. How many sleep- less nights, how many days of care have LIZZIE OP THE MILL. 15 passed since then ! And to this hour, in spite of all old Hellwig's exertions, no ray of light has won its way into the chaos." " Do not distress yourself, dear mother," entreated the young officer. " Of course, I have long known that our means were very limited, though I could not guess that we were so poor as you say. But, courage ! better times will surely come, and grandmamma was saying to me just now that things are not so desperate, as we may expect to inherit a considerable fortune from Aunt Stontheim." " Yes, grandmamma believes in your chance of this fortune, but ..." " She thinks," broke in the young man, eagerly, " she thinks I ought to go and pay my respects to Aunt Stontheim before I join my regiment." " I have no objection to your doing so, 10 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. my son ; and I sincerely hope that grand- mamma may not be mistaken in her views; but we must not forget that the Konigsburg Derenbergs have as good a title to inherit as we have. The daughter of Colonel von Derenberg, of the 16th, can lay claim to precisely the same right as you and Nelly." At this moment Sanna, the Baroness's old waiting-woman, opened the great folding-doors, and the elder Madame von Derenberg entered the room. Stately and commanding of aspect, she carried herself well erect, despite her sixty years, and wore the simple grey woollen dress, in which she was now clad, with the same grace and dignity wherewith she had once borne through these apartments her heavy silken trains. Her abundant hair, raven still in its hue and drawn slightly back from the temples, was LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 17 covered by a little cap, from beneath the yellowish lace of which her magnificent black eyes blazed forth with all the fire of youth. There was an aristocratic air, a look of breeding, about her whole appearance, and her delicate features wore an expression of unconquerable pride. How old the careworn, sickly daughter-in-law looked beside the im- posing figure of this gentlewoman ! Armand hastened towards her, took from her a great book she held in her hand, and led her to the fire, about which Sanna had placed several chairs in readiness. The little granddaughter had sprung from her seat at sight of the new-comer, and the pale lady furtively wiped the last lingering tears from her eyes. " What was the subject under dis- cussion ? " asked the old Baroness, taking VOL. I. 2 18 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. a seat next tlie fire, and dismissing the maid with a wave of the hand. " I heard something ahout * the same right as you and Nelly.' " " We were speaking of Aunt Stontheim and of the succession to the property," replied her daughter-in-law, taking the opposite chair ; " that made me think of the Konigsburg Derenbergs, and I was saying that Blanche was just as much entitled to inherit the fortune as our children." " Blanche! What an idea ! " cried the old lady, with a shrug of the shoulders. " That red-haired consump- tive creature ? Madam Stontheim has too good taste, thank God, to make such a mistake as that. Besides, if I remem- ber rightly, she always entertained a most well-founded dislike to that swag- gering Colonel and his washed-out look- LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 19 ing spouse, whom lie picked up, Heaven knows where in some corner of England or Scotland, I think. She was a Miss Smith, or a Miss Newman, was she not ? It was some common name of that sort. No, Cornelia, this is merely another of those groundless, far-fetched notions with which you torment yourself and others." An ironical tone pervaded this speech. The haughty dame was generally ironical when she addressed her daughter-in-law. "I only meant," returned the latter, gently, " I only meant that one must not count with too great certainty." She paused. "Life brings so many dis- appointments, that really ..." " Bah ! " interrupted the old lady, angrily. " Army will find his way to the querulous old .woman's heart, and will manage matters so that her really princely fortune will descend to him." 20 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. "What do you mean by that, Granny?" the young man's clear tones now sud- denly struck in. "I should hope you do not desire me to go legacy-hunting, as it is called. I shall behave politely to her, as a gentleman should behave to a lady, but that will be all. I can't manoeuvre and humbug. What she does not give me of her own free will, she can keep to herself." In some astonishment, the old lady raised herself from her negligent attitude in the arm-chair, and her eyes sparkled with indignation at this outspoken pro- test, as she fixed them on her grandson's face. "Would you believe this possible from a young fledgeling of his age ? " she asked, in a tone which she endeavoured to render playful, but which vibrated with real anger. "What, Army, have you LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 21 laid aside respect for your elders with your cadet's coat, and do you imagine, because your epaulets are a week old, you can instruct your grandmother, and afford to despise her counsels ? You are too young still to form a right judg- ment of the situation on which you are about to enter. Is it legacy-hunting, when one endeavours to win the heart of an old relation ? " "Yes, Granny," said Armand, stoutly, not a muscle of his handsome face relax- ing beneath her gaze. " Yes, it is fortune- hunting when one tries to win a person's heart, in the hope of getting his or her money." " Which is absolutely necessary, if one does not want to starve on a crusfc all one's life, and drag out one's days in a castle without domains or revenue," interrupted the old Baroness, angrily, 22 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. with a pettish little jerk of her chair backwards. "That I admit, Granny; and I should not have spoken so decidedly, if I had not known there was another heiress. But as Blanche " " That Blanche again ! What do you know ahout her? Are you sure even that the poor sickly creature is still living ? How distressing it is to hear children, who have harely left school, parading their wonderful wisdom ! I desire that you go to your aunt Stont- heim, Armand, and I will brook no con- tradiction. The letter announcing your arrival will be sent to-day." " Certainly, Granny. I am ready to go as soon as you wish," said Army, with cool politeness. She rose. Her proud face was suffused with a crimson flush, and there was a LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 23 hard obstinate expression in the lines about her mouth. Never had the like- ness between the old lady and her grand- son been more strikingly apparent. With flashing eyes and lips tightly set, they confronted each other in a hostile atti- tude, neither willing to yield an inch. " You will leave to-morrow by the five o'clock coach," said the grandmother, coldly and decidedly ; then, without wait- ing for the young man's bow of assent, she took leave of her dismayed daughter- in-law by a slight inclination of the head, and walked out of the room. A painful silence reigned when the folding-doors had closed behind the tall figure of the old Baroness. Though he had so audaciously ventured to oppose the haughty woman, whose word was as law to every soul in the house, the young man now stood quietly by the 24 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. chinmey-piece, looking down at the blaz- ing fire, calm and indifferent as though nothing unusual had happened. Nelly gazed over at her brother with wide, wondering eyes. He was not like him- self to-day. No one spoke. After a while old Sanna came into the room again. She carried a letter in her hand, and asked : " Does my lady want anything brought from the village ? Henry has to go to the post. It is snowing so hard just now, he might do both errands at once." The Baroness answered in the negative, and the old servant speedily disappeared. Armand meanwhile had sat down at the table, and was turning over the leaves of the book he had taken from his grand- mother's hands shortly before. " Ah, here is something about our lovely ancestress, Agneta Maud, who is LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 25 up in the portrait gallery," tie cried, joy- fully. "Here, little sis, this is interest- ing. Come and listen." The young girl went up to him, bent over the back of his chair, and looked curiously down at the ancient yellow page covered with faded written cha- racters very hard to decipher. Army read, spelling out the words with difficulty : " On the 30th November of the year 1694, the body of the high-born lady, Agneta Maud, Baroness Derenberg, Lady of the Manor of Derenberg, Schiitten- felde and Braunsbach, by birth Baroness Krobitz of the House of Trauen, was solemnly interred in the ancestral vaults of this Castle of Derenberg in a manner in all things conformable with the directions left by her in writing. To wit : the bier stood in the great hall next the chapel, the coffin being covered by two palls, 26 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. first a greater white one, and over this a black velvet pall having a cross worked in cloth of silver. Thereupon lay a silver-gilt crucifix. The sides were orna- mented with eight smaller, the ends at head and foot with larger escutcheons hearing the conjoined arms of the Deren- herg and Trauen houses richly em- broidered on yellow satin. The coffin was borne into the chapel by nobles of the country round, who had partaken of many a goodly banquet here. Imme- diately following the corpse came the six sons of the deceased together with the deeply afflicted widower. ..." u This is tiresome," said the young officer, breaking off; " but see here, a little farther on." "And this lady, Agneta Maud, Baroness Derenberg, was by all accounts a proud and discreet woman who stood faithfully LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 27 by her husband through all perils and dangers. She was tall of stature and slender, and her hair was red of hue, the which might have been taken as no good sign, according to the proverb ' In woman, horse, and hound, Beauty is the thing of worth, Beauty and good birth. Can'st find such free from trick and vice Hast a treasure of great price. But, beware ! Look to the haire ! If redde, be sure 'twill prove a snare, Let it not thee entice.' Yet it would not appear that she was more cunning or versed in tricks than others of her sex, but showed herself always a discreet and noble lady. So notable was her beauty, that a cavalier, who was enslaved by her charms, and to whom she would accord no favourable hearing, took his own life in despair at her obduracy the which may God for- give him ! And she found him stretched 28 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. in his blood before the entrance-door of her chamber, so that a great alarm seized upon her, and in that hour she was over- taken by a fever so fierce that it was thought she would miserably perish from the effects of it. But the great Giver of all blessings sent her a happy recovery; notwithstanding which, from that day forth no sound of laughter issued from her lips ; and the cavalier, who is said to have been a lord of Streit- nitz, was laid to his rest here in the Castle garden." 1 'What do you say to that, little mother?" cried Army, quite excited by his discovery. " I can fancy a man committing suicide for her sake ! Hers is a wonderful face ! I wish I could take the picture with me, and hang it up in my quarters. She must have been a charming creature, this Agneta Maud ! " LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 29 " Why, Army," said the Baroness, smiling. "I had no idea that your first, passion had for its object a fair one long- deceased. Well, at all events, we need not fear it will prove a very dangerous affair, need we, Nelly ? " Nelly made no reply. The little party could not regain its wonted cheerfulness that evening. The young girl sat silently bending over her work, thinking what excuse she could offer for her brother to Lizzie. Armand plunged anew into his study of the old book, and the transient smile soon vanished from the Baroness's lips. Every now and then she would pass her hand across her eyes and sigh heavily, and each time a deep-drawn sigh reached her children's ears they, by common accord, would turn their heads and glance with concern and anxious enquiry at their mother's care-lined face ; then they 30 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. went back to their several occupa- tions. " My lady wishes to take tea in her own room," said old Sanna, appearing again. " She begs to be excused from coming in to supper. My lady has a bad headache." The ancient waiting-woman carried a tray on which stood an old-fashioned tea-pot, and a cup and saucer of quaint design. She was evidently about to take up her mistress's tea. As she stood at the door waiting for an answer, she scrutinised the three occupants of the room narrowly, to ascertain, no doubt, what effect her news would produce on them. The dreamy lady sitting over the fire seemed not to have heard the message; she started when her little daughter replied kindly " We are very sorry indeed to hear LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 31 that, Sanna dear; and we wish grand- mamma a speedy recovery." " Is your mistress ill, Sanna?" asked the Baroness. "Yes," replied the maid, drawing up her great angular figure to its full height, and fixing her severe grey eyes on the startled face of the lady who addressed her. " Her ladyship must have been taken ill here, for she was suffering from violent palpitation when she came up- stairs to her room. I have had to mix three soothing powders for her already. It is to he hoped no worse may come of it." There was something reproachful and impertinent in this answer less in the words themselves than in its tone, and in the expression of the old woman's face. A hot flush mounted to the Baroness Derenberg's pale cheek. 32 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. "I am sorry to hear it," she replied, raising her voice a little, and motioning to Sanna to withdraw ; " and I trust your mistress will be better to-morrow." " Very well," replied the old servant, and turned to leave the room, in obe- dience to the sign given her. There was now no mistaking the overt hostility displayed in her attitude, and stamped on the hard features beneath her quilled cap. Armand had sprung from his seat. His face was crimson with indignation, and he turned sharply on the woman as she went. " Army, I beg of you, let her be," said the Baroness. " You will only make matters worse by attempting to call her to account. She has always been the same. The hot Southern blood will show itself in her, as in her mistress and then, she fairly worships your grand- LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 33 mother. You know, Army, that she came with her from Venice, lived with her during the period of her prosperity, and now faithfully shares in all her cares and privations. Sanna has many good qualities. Fidelity such as hers is rare ; and she loves you children, and especially you, Army, with all her heart. She is very old, too, and one must make allow- ances, and pass over a good deal." Armand made no reply. He took up his cap. " I must go out for a little while, or I shall not sleep," he said, half- apologetically, kissed his mother's hand, and left the room. Outside in the cold lofty corridor, he hesitated a moment as to where he should go. " I must fetch a coat first," he thought, and strode down the long pas- sage to his own room. He was in a strange, a perturbed frame of mind to- VOL. I. 3 34 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. day. For the first time life's stern realities had been brought forcibly before him. He had known, of course, that his family was poor; but in true boyish fashion he had accepted the fact, not thinking out the matter further. Now his grandmother had spoken to him on the subject, and at the same time had set before him the prospect of a handsome fortune, to be inherited in the future. Unfortunately, there were other claims to this inheritance : there was "that little red-haired creature," as his grandmother had called her, to be taken into account. His thoughts reverted to the beautiful Agneta Maud. What was it the verse said? " Beware ! Look to the haire ! If redde, be sure 'twill prove a snare." Would the red hair bode him ill, he wondered ? But, no ; he was a man, and had no turn for such foolish fancies. LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 35 Granny had said, "All my hopes rest on you, Army, and on the Stontheim fortune," and he had replied roughly, throwing at her something about " legacy- hunting." To he sure, there was that Blanche to be thought of, that little carrotty Blanche the remembrance of her would come up again. Well, Aunt Stontheim might divide the money among the three Blanche, Nelly, and himself. Yes, that would be a way out of the difficulty. Perhaps, after all, everything would come right in the end. He began to feel chilly. Going up to the hearth he threw a handful of brush- wood on the waning fire. The flames shot up, crackling among the dry twigs, and casting a fitful, uncertain light over the parqueted floor. Their red glare brought into bright relief the gilt foliage wherewith the old chimney-piece was 36 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. ornamented, and the young man's eyes absently followed the windings of the oak leaves which ran beneath the mantel-shelf garlandwise, framing in the centre a tablet bearing this legend, an old adage dating from long bygone times. " ' Luck cometh any day,' " he murmured to himself. Had he never read the words before ? They took a powerful hold on him in this hour. Might not his luck turn, and fortune smile on him again ? He looked up at the splendid antlers which decorated the room tokens, one and all, of the prowess of former Deren- bergs, as the appended labels, marked with name and date, testified the proud spoil of many a happy hunting bout in their own woods, those woods which were LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 37 now all sold or mortgaged. But it might even yet be possible why not ? that he himself should hunt and shoot there where his forefathers had so often stalked the deer. Away with sombre, foolish fancies ! Life lay before him, life so rich in hope, and so alluring surely, luck might come any day. Sunshine spread over his young face again. His heart beat high in his breast, and he felt himself strong and ready to meet all the storms before him. For- wards, on into the beating waves. The madder their fury, the better the fight. Be it pain or pleasure, he would take it as it came. A life without a struggle is not half a life. " I will beg Granny's pardon about the legacy-hunting," he thought; " and I must try and persuade my mother not to look so sad. What is the use of being so miserable ? Even the 38 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. little one hung her head. Ah, but that was about Lizzie, young Lizzie of the mill. Bah ! a trifle not worth mention- ing, as she would see herself later on ! " He whistled a merry tune as he paced down the corridor again on his way back to his mother's sitting-room. LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 39 CHAPTEE II. NEXT morning Armand, bright and buoy- ant as ever, repaired to Ms grandmother's presence, and sought forgiveness for his last night's offence. He was promptly taken into favour again. True, the old lady shrugged her shoulders and smiled, as he propounded to her his famous plan of sharing the property with the as yet unknown Blanche. "You are a fantastic boy," she said lightly. She did not attempt to con- tradict him, however, but pointed to a stool at her feet, adding, " Sit down ; I 40 LIZZIE OP THE MILL. have some things yet to say to you before we part." The Dowager's rooms were still fitted up with the luxurious furniture purchased for them in her early days, and at the first glance they almost gave the idea of splendour ; but on closer observation it became evident that the colour of the heavy crimson hangings had faded, and that the silken coverings of the seats showed threadbare here and there. Nevertheless, the curtained doors and windows, the elegant rosewood furniture and great Turkey carpet gave to the apartment an air of refined comfort, and weU-nigh of luxury. On the waUs, hand- somely mounted in gilt frames, hung a series of smiling Italian landscapes. These pictures were so many souvenirs of the happy days spent by the Baroness then the young and much-admired LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 41 Countess Luja in Venice and Naples, the memories of which days would at times help her to forget the dreary present. "I need not give you any hint as to the line of conduct you should adopt towards your Aunt Stontheim, Army," she began, cleverly avoiding the rock on which they had so nearly split the night before ; "you will know very well how to behave. Remember me kindly to her, and tell her I am nothing now but a tiresome, weary old woman." " Ah ! I must decline that commission, Granny," said Armand, gallantly. " I cannot really burthen my conscience with a lie." The old lady smiled, flattered by his little compliment, and tapped him lightly on the cheek. " For shame ! to be satirical to your old grandmother ! " 42 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. Army kissed her hand. "And what else has my grandmother to say to me?" " Ah ! yon remind me, there is one warning I must give you. You are going out into the world at an early age, and you have inherited the warm, the pas- sionate temperament of my ancestors. Enjoy your youth to your heart's content, but beware of any serious attachment. The bride you bring home must unite much in herself. We must have an old family and money, Army plenty of money. This is one of the few ways open to you by which you may retrieve the fallen fortunes of your house. Well, that is all," she concluded. " Promise to write to me occasionally, and there remains nothing more to the said between us." The young officer smiled. " Certainly, LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 43 Granny, I will write soon, for I shall have plenty of time on my hands, and you need not be nneasy ; I can hardly think of marriage yet. Why, I am only just nineteen." He laughed outright. There was no trace of yesterday's shadow to be seen on his bright face. " May I say good-bye now, Granny ? " he asked. " I want to take one turn through the portrait gallery, and pay a parting visit to the fair Agneta Maud. Look here, granny, I can set your mind at rest at once. Unless I meet with a girl with a face like hers, I'll never marry at all, for she is my ideal of what a woman should be." " Do you mean that Maud with the red hair ? " asked the old lady in surprise. He nodded. " I have a weakness for red hair. By-the-by, Granny, may I keep the book you brought downstairs yester- day evening ? " 44 LIZZIE OP THE MILL. " Certainly. It is a family chronicle, and I intended it for you." " Thanks a thousand thanks ! Well, good-bye till dinner time." Whistling a tune, he strode along the corridor to the old family portrait-gallery, and was soon standing before the picture of the fair Agneta Maud. The small, well-formed head was brought up in relief from the background with almost a sculptor's art; a cloud of luxuriant golden, nay, red hair, was drawn back from the white brow and confined in a little cap of some silver tissue. Below the smooth forehead, below the sharply defined eyebrows, which formed so strik- ing a contrast to the bright hair, a pair of great dark eyes looked forth, gazing at the spectator with an expression of deep, unfathomable melancholy gazing dreamily, wistfully, as though ever in LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 45 quest of some lost happiness. The light which stole into the gallery was faint and suhdued. Armand drew back the curtain of the window nearest him, and the cold clear rays of the winter sun streamed in, illumining the lovely face and the warm, tints of the hair, so that it seemed to glisten with innumerable golden threads ; and again those eyes worked with their old magic on the young man those deep, dreamy eyes, full of an ineffable sadness. Suddenly he heard a light footstep, and his sister's rosy little hand was laid on his shoulder. "So here you are, Army? We are just going to dinner. Do come down. You will have to start directly, and I have not seen you the whole morning." He drew the young girl to him. " Look me in the face, Nelly," he said, putting 46 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. Ms hand under the little chin, and raising it to him. " Are you all right now, or do you feel angry with me still ? " Her eyes were moist with dew as she raised them to her brother's face, but she shook her head and smiled. " Angry? No, oh no. But do come away, it is so cold here." He took her hand, and together they walked towards the door. Before closing it, Armand turned to have one last look at the picture. " ' Beware ! Look to the haire ! If redde, be sure 'twill prove a snare. Let it not thee entice,' " he muttered to himself. Hardly an hour later old Sanna stood upstairs at one of the windows of the great corridor, looking after Army as he departed. He had taken leave of his LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 47 sorrowing mother, and was just crossing the open space in front of the Castle, Nelly following him, wrapped in her little cloak. She would not be denied the pleasure of remaining near her brother up to the very last moment. " Ah, he is his grandmamma all over," murmured old Sanaa to herself. " It gladdens one's heart just to look at him." She shaded her eyes with her hand, that she might see him better. " No one will say him nay. He may have any girl he chooses. The richest, the handsomest will be glad to take him. He'll not be as unfortunate as his father was before him. Oh, if my lady could but live to see the Castle alive with gay doings, as in the old days ! It would make her young and handsome again. Holy saints in Heaven, how I would thank ye on my knees for it ! " 48 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. Meanwhile the brother and sister stepped briskly on down the old lime avenue. Wonderfully beautiful was the winter scene which lay before them. Far away in the distance, framed as it were in the trees, glistened the snow- covered mountains. On one side could be seen the white roofs of the village, from almost every chimney of which a column of smoke rose perpendicularly in the cold clear air; on the other, a grand stretch of forest clothed the hill- side ; while everywhere, over hill and dale, a daz- zling, fleckless sheet was spread. All nature was still as death. From time to time there came only the hoarse caw, caw of a swarm of crows as they rose from the trees, scattering from the branches the gleaming snow-flakes which drifted slowly to the ground; and over the whole landscape lay the rosy shimmer LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 49 of the setting sun, declining gradually on the far horizon in a violet sea of wondrous hue. The young man's eyes wandered over the lovely picture before him. " Look, Nelly," said he ; "all this, as far as your eye can reach, was ours once." "The paper-mill, too? " asked the little sister, pointing to its slate-tiled gables. " Not the mill itself, but a considerable portion of the land now belonging to it. Our grandfather sold some of the Deren- berg woods to the miller when he was in difficulties so Granny has told me. The man has grand shooting of his own now, while we " Army passed his hand across his eyes then he laughed, and began to whistle. He was resolved not to give way to dismal thoughts. At the park gate he turned once more, VOL. I. 4 50 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. and looked back down the long avenue. The great portico of the castle gleamed white in the distance. Its broad steps were thickly carpeted with snow, which the wind had drifted and piled up against the massive doors. Beautiful as the enchanted castle of some fairy tale his ancestral home appeared, flooded by the light from the setting sun now intensely crimson in its glow. The windows shone like liquid gold over to where the young man stood roseate and golden as the dreams of the future which had dawned in his sanguine mind. " There must be a change here," he said. " There must, I am determined." He turned and followed his sister. In silence they went on together. At length the young officer stopped, and looked at his watch. " I must step out now, little sis, if I LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 51 want to catch the mail," said he. " You go back, dear. You will only get your feet chilled, trudging through this deep snow. Good-bye, little one ; my love to them all once again. Try not to mope. You must find the time long in that solitary old castle." He looked down at her almost compassionately. She shook her head. " Oh no ; I have- Lizzie, remember." They stood just at the spot where the bypath by which they had come issued into the high-road ; directly opposite them lay another path which led through a fir plantation down to the mill. Here, on the hill, stood a great lime-tree, spreading its branches wide over a snow-covered seat. From this point the high-road declined rapidly towards the village' below, whence the note of a post-horn was now distinctly heard ascending. 52 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. " Must I depart, so kiss me, sweet heart, Kiss me right tenderly ; 'tis hard to leave thee. Farewell, farewell." sang a clear childish voice, trilling forth the melody in joyous ringing tones, some- what at variance with the sorrowful refrain. Next minute a young girl stepped out from among the firs. She started on seeing the two figures on the other side of the road. A deep blush overspread the childish face, and a pair of beautiful blue eyes were lowered suddenly, as though in alarm but this was momen- tary. She went quickly up to the brother and sister, a bright smile playing about her sweet mouth, and forming two delicious little dimples in her cheeks. " Oh, Nelly, how glad I am I met you ! And you, Army," she asked, innocently, and without a trace of shyness, " you are going away already, and have not been down once to see us at the Mill ? " LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 53 The young officer crimsoned, as he met the gaze of those blue eyes, and felt the grasp of the little hand which held his in childish fashion. He was not yet sufficiently an adept in this world's ways to invent an excuse on the spur of the moment. The smile disappeared from the lovely rosy face which was uplifted to him with an enquiring, reproachful look. " Army has to leave quite suddenly," said Nelly; "else" she hesitated it was impossible to her to tell a lie to this trustful young creature. She could have cried for shame ; and in her distress she turned to her brother, as though implor- ing his aid. But the few words she had spoken were enough for her friend. " Good Army ! " she said, quite satisfied now. " I had begun to suspect you, to fancy you would never come near the mill again. I was 54 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. just going up to Nelly," she laughed, and the dimples came back to her cheeks "to see if what Aunty declares were true, if you really had grown proud. But now I can laugh at her, can't I? You would have come to-day, or to-morrow at the very latest," she said, with loyal con- fidence. He was looking at her rather absently, 'as though lost in thought. " How tall you have grown," he said, at length, surveying the slender figure before him. Lizzie had indeed shot up to a height almost equal to his own ; and very charming she appeared this afternoon in her blue velvet jacket trimmed with far. Suddenly she flushed scarlet beneath his gaze, and asked quickly "Are you going by the five o'clock coach ? Then you must hurry, Army. I am glad to have had a look at you in LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 55 your officer's uniform." She held out her hand to him again, and he took it, smiling pleasantly himself now. Memories of his childhood were stealing over him. " Touch last, Army," cried she, smote him lightly on the shoulder, and ran off. For one moment the young man stood irresolute, half inclined, it almost seemed, to hasten after her, and give her back her " touch last." It had been their invari- able custom in the old days to tease each other in this manner, whenever she left the castle, or he the mill ; they had so enjoyed the sport ! But, bethinking himself, he drew his overcoat together, nodded a last good-bye, and strode away. Not once did he glance back at the two girls, who stood arm-in-arm looking after him. He had no time to spare. Beneath the old snow-laden lime the Mends stood and watched. One pair of 56 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. blue eyes grew moist with dew, and a voice, from which all gaiety had suddenly died out, whispered a low " farewell, farewell." At this Nelly wept too, and as her brother's figure disappeared among the houses of the village, she asked anxiously, " Lizzie, you are not angry with Armand, are you? " But Lizzie made no reply. She only shook her little head, and walked on quite silently by her companion's side. The rosy glow had faded from the sky ; only a pale yellow flame lingered on the horizon. The windows of the castle looked forth drearily as ever on the changeless scene without. Once more the old monotony had set in, and both young hearts were heavy, weighed down by the pain of parting. When the girls reached the park gate, they kissed each LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 57 other tenderly far more tenderly than was their wont and Lizzie felt as if she could hardly release her friend's little hand, as again and again they whispered their " good-night." 58 LIZZIE OF THE MILL. CHAPTEE III. THE rag-mill, as the paper-works had from time immemorial been styled throughout the district, was charmingly situated among tall old trees on the bank of a noisy little river. The hand- some dwelling - house, with its gilt weather-vane on the summit of the slate- tiled roof, dated from the earlier half of the last century, and it had preserved the character of that period. The heavy oaken hall-door, with its brightly bur- nished brass knocker, was the original hall-door; no modern plate-glass had as yet replaced the small lozenge panes of .LIZZIE OF THE MILL. 59 the windows, and the inscription en- graved on the grey old balcony set forth that " This House was Built to the Honour of God in the Year 1741 by Johann Friedrich Erving and his Wife Ernestine, born Eisenhardtin." Eeady as ever were the old dragon-heads at the four corners of the roof, to drink in and sputter out the rain-water ; and the sandstone seats on either side the house-